The Black Emperor

by Primordial Vortex

Being forced to carry his innocent sister through a sea of bodies would have broken much older men. For Lelouch, it merely strengthened his resolve. But he was only human, and let his mission slip to one other. Confronted with the possibility of failure and staunch allies in his corner, he swallows his pride and actually prepares himself for his rebellion. AU, harem

7. Turn 07 - Crushing Earth

How we doing everyone? Initially I was going to do all of Narita in one go, but ultimately I decided to tear the chapter in half. It wouldn't be Code Geass without some cliffies would it? Haha

Didn't get as much writing done as I had wanted the past three weeks. Only got one chapter and some change out of it instead of the two I had hoped for. Ended up doing a whole lot of editing and expansion to the next three instead.

I liked the responses to the new Geass I introduced. I'd like to mention something about Nina's; Yes, I'm aware that brains and computers don't think in the same way. Work with me here.

Keep the Knightmares and weaponry/technology coming!

Once again, thanks to X009 for his help on designing the mass production Knightmare debuting in this chapter.

-]|[-

Turn 07 – Crushing Earth

-]|[-

"…word that the Japan Liberation Front is sending Tōdō and his Four Holy Swords to us within the week."

The oldest of the men sitting around the fire had his arms crossed, "Then it is truly your intention to gift them our new Burai-Kai units to test?" Almost his entire face was covered in a beard and he was a bear of a man. He looked more like what one would have expected of an old Britannian than an old Japanese. He even wore a top hat.

Another shook his head silently, "The JLF have gotten rather hard to support of late." He said softly, "Support for them has dropped to an all-time low. Not that that's saying much. They haven't had good recruitment since the goodwill of Tōdō's victory ran dry." He had a gray goatee and mustache and his gray hair was done in a ponytail. His features were pretty sharp, and a fu manchu wouldn't have looked out of place on his face.

"Do you doubt Tōdō's ability, Kubouin-dono?" The man who had initially started the conversation – one Tatsunori Osakabe – was younger looking than his compatriots. He had a full head of hair and long sideburns reaching to his chin.

Hidenobu Kubouin shook his head, "I do not doubt his ability, merely his actions. There is no doubt that Tōdō is a good leader and he is an excellent combatant. However, he is also accustomed to sitting in his tent if he feels a situation isn't a hundred percent in his favor or if he does not have enough information. When was the last time Tōdō took a risk? How many operations has he called off? How many of those do we now know would have been successful if they had just taken a chance? One in particular was a disastrous waste. We could have had dozens of intact Sutherlands to examine."

"That has kept the Japan Liberation Front alive." Osakabe protest, "they-"

"Have been stagnating for years." The bearded man rumbled.

"You as well, Munakata-dono?" Osakabe could hardly believe the way the conversation had turned. He began to bluster, "Regardless, Tōdō is already coming. It is a bit too late to deny him the Knightmares now."

"That is correct." Munakata allowed, "But I will not agree to any more unless I see some results."

Osakabe relaxed, but he frowned as well, "I don't see why not. It's not like there is anyone else that we could give them to."

"Isn't there?" A female voice spoke up for the first time, and all of the men turned their heads to the young woman sitting seiza behind a screen-door.

Osakabe sneered, "You speak of Zero again, Kaguya-hime?" He crossed his own arms now, "Your infatuation is apparent."

"And your own pride prevents you from seeing what is right in front of your nose, Osakabe-dono." She replied daintily, as she took a sip from her green tea. She was the only female in the Six Houses of Kyoto, and by far the youngest member of the most powerful and exclusive group in Japan. She was wearing a kimono in various shades of red, white and pink. Her black hair was long and perfectly combed. She had a golden circlet with a single red gem on her head, with her bangs falling over it on the sides of her face.

He growled, "I refuse to support that man! You saw what he did just the same as I did! He admitted on live TV that he killed Lieutenant-Colonel Kusakabe himself!" He just barely held himself back from slamming a fist down, "Not to mention he won't even show us his face! What exactly does he have to hide?!"

"Then am I to assume you are for the slaughter of unarmed civilians as well?" Kaguya's voice held nothing but calmness, but it was clear to all of them that her words held venom. "Think what you want about him, but unlike the Japan Liberation Front he actually provides results."

Osakabe turned red, and was about to retort when Munakata spoke, "He indeed provides results." He said calmly, "And yet not with our support. Nor for that matter, has he provided any results against Cornelia. By all reports, Clovis was as foolish a General as he was an ineffectual leader. All he has done since the Black Knights announced their existence is take out Refrain dens. A noble objective to be sure, but not anything that makes me want to provide more resources to him."

Osakabe smirked, "That's right! He has done nothing to prove himself in actual combat!" He said triumphantly, "He has not even deigned to use the gifts you had us provide to him! There has not been a single report of our Burai OR the Guren!"

Kaguya smiled slightly, "Indeed. There have not."

Kubouin was frowning lightly, "It is slightly worse than that, my friends. I have been in contact with one Kaname Oghi recently. I was the one who initially supplied that Glasgow to them after all. From what he's told me, we will never see our Burai in the Black Knights hands. They've turned them into training simulators. Even he hasn't seen the Guren."

"What!" Osakabe shouted, "Of all the nerve! Does this masked idiot intend to insult us?!"

"My, my, your bias is showing, Osakabe-dono." Kaguya smiled demurely behind her sleeve.

"What was that?!" He stared furiously at her, "Did you not hear what he did with our gifts?"

"I heard fine." Kaguya replied coolly, "And if you weren't so set on disliking Zero-sama you might even be inclined to think on what his reasoning could be in rejecting perfectly good Burai." She stared disdainfully at the man, as if he were a bug. Of all of the Six Houses, Tatsunori Osakabe was the one she got along with the least.

He sneered back at her, "Oh, do enlighten me then."

She held back a smile, eager to tear strips into his hide, "Very well then, Osakabe-dono. First, his tearing down of our Burai into training simulators indicates to me that he has full intention of fighting against Britannia. He merely does not intend to do so with our Burai. Now, why might that be?" She took another small sip from her tea, "Would my Lords care to remind themselves of what exactly our Burai are?" She smirked lightly behind her cup as she saw Osakabe clench his fists, "No? Then allow me. Our Burai are Glasgow frames that have had their hand-to-hand abilities reinforced through our modifications to their arms. They also had a single anti-personnel cannon underneath their cockpits. With these adjustments, they perform better than their now-obsolete forbearers, but they are still Glasgows. We did nothing to their servomotors or even their armor."

"You…!" Osakabe was clenching his teeth.

"As a result, they still share the same weaknesses of the Glasgows. Their servomotors are weak. Some of their parts – particularly joints - are exposed. Their armor can't handle as many shots as a Sutherland either. And to top it off, they are more prone to slash-harken malfunction. All of this makes them inferior to the even the weakest of Britannia's current offerings; the Sutherland. All facts I reminded you all of back when we first started building them. I even suggested that we focus on capturing a Sutherland to base our machines off of instead. Even one in ill-repair would have been sufficient. I was of course, overruled. You preferred the quick solution rather than the right one." Munakata and Kubouin looked suitably embarrassed, but Osakabe looked like he was about to blow a gasket, "Knowing all of this, it is hardly surprising that Zero-sama would give our Burai all the respect they deserve when reports state that he has been using Sutherlands in his operations."

"You think he found a way to supply himself with Britannia's weaponry?" Munakata raised an eyebrow.

"Indeed." Kaguya smiled at one of them becoming visibly interested, "I'd like to remind you that the two constants we have been seeing in the reports have been the red and black Gloucesters."

Munakata chuckled deeply, a rumbling sound that reminded her of thunder occasionally, "Sutherlands I could see. Gloucesters are another story entirely. I do believe you may be onto something, Kaguya-hime."

Kubouin was looking like he tended to Kaguya's side as well, but he was still unsure, "That is indeed true. Not even those blasted Purebloods were equipped with Gloucesters."

"And what of the Guren!" Osakabe blustered, "Are you saying that our Guren is lackluster too?"

"And that is why Zero is the General getting results and not you." Kaguya said primly, smiling as the man almost stood before Munakata jerked him back down, "The Guren hasn't been seen because that's the smart thing to do. Why in the world would he want his best machine seen before it has a chance to prove itself against Britannia? He is most likely training his forces right now. I certainly wouldn't waste the Guren on a Refrain bust."

"Enough." They all stiffened as the last man in the room finally spoke. Old, bald and weathered, Taizō Kirihara still cut an imposing figure. When he spoke, they all listened, "You have made your points and I am more inclined to agree with Kaguya-hime than you, Osakabe-dono." The two smiled and bit back a growl respectively, "However, I am not set on this Zero quite yet. Osakabe-done has a point when he says Zero has not proven himself against Britannia. Should he have another success, then we shall invite him here."

"You intend to see his face?" Osakabe smirked viciously.

"Indeed. I shall see for myself this whelp's worth." Kirihara said with finality.

Kaguya had to hold back from rolling her eyes. Why couldn't these old fogies just accept her woman's intuition? "Very well." She agreed demurely, "Then I shall join you when that day comes, Kirihara-dono."

-]|[-

It was currently the dead of night, and the light of the moon shone brightly through the currently-opened stadium roof. The five main collaborators of the Black Knights were relaxing in a secluded area of the school; the pool, which was usually locked up at night. Lelouch, Kallen and Milly were all in casual swimwear and laying together on a large inflatable mattress in the middle of the pool. All of them were glistening from a previous swim. Nina was on her own float enjoying a cool lemonade, while C.C. was up on the tallest diving board, enjoying the night air. Then, she looked down to make sure the mattress wasn't in her path, and pulled off a flawless reverse somersault in the pike position. Shirley would have been jealous of it, if she were around. "You going for the gold, C.C.?" Lelouch sounded amused.

"I think she'd actually get it with that one." Kallen snickered.

"Ten out of ten!" Milly yelled cheerfully, "And I'm not talking about the dive either." She leered at C.C., much to Kallen's exasperation.

"Do you come with an off switch?" The redhead asked fondly.

"Right next to the spot." She said cheerfully and held back a giggle as Kallen flushed slightly, "Or is that the on switch?" She leered at the redhead.

C.C. chuckled as she lay on her back and floated in the pool. "As fun as this is, we have things to discuss, no?" She laughed, "We've gotten hundreds of applicants recently."

"Surprising really." Milly commented, "The Japanese generally haven't been too eager to actually join resistance groups in the past. Yeah, they've always provided support, but most of them stay at home."

"While I hate Britannia, I can't condone terrorism." Kallen paraphrased with a small smile, "But we're not terrorists. We're Knights of Justice." She kissed Lelouch's neck, "Isn't that right?"

"Of course." He smiled back as a small shudder raced down his spine. He and Milly were beyond ecstatic that Kallen was finally comfortable enough to start initiating some affection gestures on her own. "Anyway, what are we going to do about that one Britannian guy?"

"He's looks too proud to be a spy." Milly commented lazily.

"Ah, I looked him up with my Geass." Nina piped up finally from her float, "I've been getting pretty good with it! He was the one in charge of Suzaku's Court Martial parade and he personally filmed some of Zero's parts. He also got demoted recently for refusing to shut you down during Lake Kawaguchi."

"Hoh, looks like you have a fan Lelouch. Should Milly and I be worried?" Kallen teased.

He snorted, "He seems like an opportunistic little journalist, doesn't he?" He lightly pinched Kallen's backside, drawing a yelp from the girl for her comment, "I also looked him up. He's had no tragedies in his life, nor has he lost anyone to Britannia. He has no personal ties to this… which leads me to the conclusion that he's perfectly willing to commit treason just to get a scoop." He snorted derisively, "Typical vulture."

"Bleh." Milly wrinkled her nose, "Which means we'll constantly have to be worried that he'll find a bigger scoop than us."

Kallen scowled, "I want to defeat Britannia as much as the next girl but I feel wary about accepting scum like him."

"He's scum, but he can serve his purpose." Lelouch said, "I hesitate to put him in a position of power, so he will not be allowed command over anyone else. But he will be a good information officer if nothing else. Besides, his is a knife we'll know is coming if he ever does discover something huge to attract his attention."

"Agreed." C.C. said, "Though if he tries anything, I might have to break him."

"Be my guest." He smirked maliciously, "On to other applicants…"

-]|[-

"Oii! Kallen, why aren't you getting in on this?" Tamaki yelled as his seat rolled backwards from the monitor bank. Those Burai units had been a big help, in that they provided plenty of cockpits for them to turn into Knightmare simulators. While they were in the process of designing and building actual Knightmares rather than knockoff Glasgows, their growing army was getting plenty of training. The ones who did the best in the simulators were allowed to pilot the Sutherlands they had during missions. Despite the fact that they were almost ready to unveil the new field units, these simulators would still be very useful. Tamaki had claimed one simulator for himself and practically planted his flag down. He was waving to Kallen from it. "If you get all uppity and don't practice I'll get better than you!"

Kallen bit back a snort, "Maybe if you actually completed a run without losing an arm I'd start to get a little worried. Maybe." She smirked and teased her fellow redhead, "In a million years or so."

"Oii!" Tamaki predictably blew a fuse, "What's that supposed to mean!"

"It means you suck." She deadpanned, and everyone chuckled at his furious face. "Besides, I've been one of the primary pilots helping Zero design our new Knightmares. I get practice almost daily." Everyone froze and looked at her in shock. They had made the decision to start easing her former cell into the fact that she was a leader amongst the Black Knights. It would help if anyone caught her acting a bit too familiar with their leader.

"Kallen!" Oghi looked surprised, "When have you had the time to do that?"

"Why do you think I've been so tired for most of the time." She said grouchily, "Luckily, that's mostly in the past. We finished getting all the data that they needed and the Knightmares are already in their first production phase."

"No, that's not…" Oghi stalled, "I meant why only you? I know you're the best amongst us but still… We all could have helped. And where in the world have you been doing this?"

"It hasn't been only me." She told them, "Zero has been participating as well. Another member you've yet to meet has been helping us too." She detected a small amount of jealousy start to form in some of the members. "The reason you all haven't been requested is that the facility is secret." She told them, which was the truth, "The fewer people who know where it is the better. We can't risk it being discovered, or we'd be in hot water. I can move a bit more freely than you all after all."

"Ah, that's understandable then." Oghi said, losing his slight apprehension and smiling, "You sure are doing well, huh Kallen? Can you give us any hints?"

She smirked, "Of course."

"No need!" They all jumped as Zero's powerful voice echoed in the room, "I can inform you myself."

"Sir!" Oghi looked a little embarrassed, "Sorry about this. We were all just a little surprised that Kallen kept it secret." He stopped and stalled for a moment, "Also, I'm not exactly complaining… these simulators have been an amazing help but… why did we just ignore these Burai that Kyoto sent us?"

"No need for apologies." Zero said easily. Then he snorted, "And the answer to that question is simplicity itself. Those Burai units were garbage. I wouldn't hesitate to call them wastes of space."

Kallen picked up, "They were all basically just Glasgows. You remember how easily even I was put in a corner by Sutherlands when I was in mine. They wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance against Cornelia's Gloucesters, even with their reinforced hands."

"Precisely." Zero said, "I never had any intention of accepting such lackluster offerings. There's a reason Britannia phased them out of the military."

"I see." Oghi smiled, "Does that mean that our new units were already in production before you met us?"

"No, they were being planned out." Kallen corrected him, "Zero lacked actual battle data so his machines were only slightly better than the Burai. He also had a few prototypes that never made it anywhere. It was only after we started dueling each other and collecting proper data – on top of stealing Sutherlands and Gloucesters from Britannia – that he was able to really refine his designs."

"That's right. And now, we're almost ready to unveil them." He smirked as he saw them staring in rapt attention, "The units are all 5th gen to 6th gen. We were working closely to try to match the capabilities of the Britannian Gloucester for our regular field units. Unfortunately, the technology in them is mostly the same as is found in those units. We have several experimental weapons we're testing on Kallen personal unit as well as my own, but they're too expensive to field test on mass production units." They couldn't see his face, but they figured he was smirking, "Those of you who perform with distinction in our coming operations will have the chance to use other pre-production units."

Kallen smirked as she saw the fire light up under their asses, "So I would get back to practicing if I were you!" She barked, and they all saluted.

"Yes ma'am!"

-]|[-

"She's moving on the JLF already?" Kallen asked incredulously. She was currently sitting on a couch with Lelouch, Milly, C.C. and Nina. The petite girl was currently awake, though moments before she had been passed out from using her Geass. She had gotten used to using every opportunity she could to practice, and her power was proving incredibly useful. Thus far, she had learned that she was able to hack into enemy computers without a care for any resistance posed by anti-viral software. Any that even had the potential to threaten her were examined and defeated on the fly. She had just gotten back from infiltrating the Viceroy's palace to ensure Euphie had privacy when she called Lelouch.

The pink-haired Princess herself was the picture of calmness on the video, "That's right. She wants to cripple the biggest group of resistance in the hopes that the smaller groups might disband."

"The JLF is ultimately unimportant." Lelouch said carelessly, "General Katase was a fine leader back when Japan still had its independence and managed to keep the group afloat for the past seven years. Nevertheless, he's a relic far past his time. The JLF haven't done a single meaningful thing in years. Even Tōdō has failed to produce a miracle since Itsukushima."

"I know that." Kallen sighed, "Hell, even their propaganda broadcasts just get jammed. Usually as soon as they're put up even." She ran a hand through her hair, "But this will cripple the morale of the Japanese. Even if they're useless, they're still the biggest resistance in the country. If they're taken out…"

Milly smirked, "Then we must give the people a new hope. Isn't that right, Lulu?"

He snorted, "Yes, I do feel up for a hike this weekend. The mountains should be quite beautiful."

-]|[-

"How are you doing Princess?" Lelouch placed a small kiss on his sister's forehead.

"I'm a lot better now, big brother." Nunnally smiled brightly up at him, "I was so worried about you a few weeks ago."

"Sorry for worrying you, Nunna." He chuckled lightly, "Isn't that just my luck though? I decide to go have some fun with Milly and get captured by terrorists."

"It's not funny!" She pouted cutely, "You can't keep worrying me like that big brother! I don't know what I would do without you…"

"Same here…" He kissed her forehead again. He hesitated, "What did you think of the Black Knights?"

Nunnally bit her lip, "I… I'm not sure." She admitted, "I hate fighting. You know I do. They killed all of those Japanese soldiers but…" She looked down, a light tear starting to build in her left eye, "But if it hadn't been for them… I might have lost you…" She let the tear stream down, "But I'm worried. What will happen if they start fighting for real?"

"Zero doesn't seem the type to involve innocent people." Lelouch said gently as he wiped away the tear, "He made sure I was protected when I asked for it. I couldn't be seen on cameras after all. He didn't question me, even when he had every right to."

"Thank goodness." She sniffled.

"Anyway, I'll be leaving tomorrow night on a trip. We'll be gone for three days." He mussed up her hair, making her puff up angrily. He grinned, "Think you can be a good girl for Sayoko, Nunna?"

"Where will you be going, big brother?" She asked curiously after she gently pawed his hand away.

"We're going to go up to the mountains for some hiking." He said, 'Among other things.' It was a lucky thing his sister couldn't see, because she would definitely be unnerved by the smile on his face, "We'll be back on Monday."

"Okay!" She said, "Have fun big brother!" She held her arms up to him and he picked her up gently, "Be safe!" She scolded, "No getting kidnapped this time!" She squeezed him tightly in a loving hug.

He laughed as he tucked her into her bed, "Don't worry Nunna. We'll be just fine."

-]|[-

"Lelouch, we have a problem." Nina stated seriously. Lelouch looked up from his impromptu make-out session with Milly and sat properly on the couch. With Nina being that serious, they would give her their full attention.

"What is it Nina?" Kallen got up and took a seat between Milly's legs, allowing her to rest her feet on his thighs, "Is something the wrong?"

"Yes." Nina sighed and took out her laptop, plugging in a flash drive, "After you told us about the plan for your hiking trip, I decided to create a simulator to test everything out." She looked a little unnerved, "With it, I was able to simulate some famous landslides from the past and I managed to match their destruction with 95% accuracy." She sighed heavily, "When I ran it to test out your plan…" She trailed off, and clicked the run button.

The simulation shown was done in a polygonal mesh. The entirety of the Narita Mountains were shown, and underneath the shadow of the mountain were the obvious structures of the town that sat there. Euphemia had told them which direction they intended to attack from as well as the general search plans. They watched as the summit of the mountain practically exploded, and the ensuing rockslide. Only it didn't stop after smashing through the areas where the enemy units were supposed to be. Oh no, the rockslide barreled straight into the closest buildings in the small settlement and continued smashing straight through them. Dozens of buildings were completely demolished by the gigantic flow. By the time the rockslide stopped, almost nothing remained standing.

"Oh no!" Kallen looked distraught, her hand covering her mouth.

"Damn it!" Lelouch had his head inclined downwards and his right hand was clutching at his hair.

"Hundreds of people staying peacefully in that settlement would die…" Milly was mirroring Lelouch, with her right hand in her hair with the palm over her right eye.

Nina nodded solemnly, "This was with full power on the Radiant Wave Surger." She reset the simulation and changed some of the parameters, "I then ran it about a dozen more times to be sure, as well as to see what it would take to keep the destruction to a minimum; at most the first wave of buildings get some rock in their lobbies." She turned it around and ran it again. This time, the wave was both slower and less powerful. Where the previous simulation had shown a titanic wave, this one was a lumbering beast, crushing all that happened to be in its path. Slowly. Too slowly. It lost all of its energy a few feet short of smashing into the first buildings. "That was at forty-seven percent."

"Would it even be powerful enough or fast enough to catch her forces in it?" Kallen asked in frustration, clenching her fists.

"No it wouldn't be." Lelouch growled, sitting back and frowning, "At the very least, the Gloucesters would be able to get away from it. Some of the Sutherlands might even be able to use their Slash Harkens to get out of the flow."

"But we can't just use full power!" Nina said, verging on shrilly, "All of those people! That's not what a Knight of Justice would do!"

"Become murders or die ourselves…" Kallen said hoarsely as Lelouch took his phone out of his pocket and connected the jammer so he could talk with Euphie, "What the hell kind of choice is this…?"

-]|[-

"Sister… we need to change the plan." Euphie sounded more serious than she usually ever did. She especially never used that commanding tone with her, which was what actually caught Cornelia's attention.

She raised her eyebrow, "Whatever for?"

"When you told me about the battle against the Blood of the Samurai, you mentioned that they had transformed their mountain into a firebase, correct?" Cornelia nodded indulgently, "That mountain was practically an anthill compared to the Narita Mountains." Euphie said seriously, "Plus the Japan Liberation Front is the most well-funded group in all of Japan. That entire mountain could be crawling with artillery."

Cornelia smiled in fond amusement, "Yes, we had already considered that Euphie." She didn't quite sound condescending – this was Euphie after all – but it was clear she wasn't taking her sister seriously, "This isn't my first rodeo little sister. Artillery are relics of a bygone age. They're almost useless against Knightmares as obsolete as Glasgows, much less our Sutherlands and Gloucesters."

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm fully aware of how inferior they are as weapons." Euphie said quietly, "I'm worried about the town… What if they get so desperate that they aim their howitzers at the settlement?" Cornelia's smirk dropped from her lips as she understood what her sister was so antsy about, "They could take the entire town hostage without even having to leave their base. Or worse!"

Cornelia pursed her lips, "If we evacuate it, the JLF will most definitely be alerted." She said, thinking out loud.

"I know… but even if they are, that'll only mean that they'll have a bit more time to deploy their countermeasures. We have the entire mountain surrounded with our main forces and our reserve forces beyond that." Euphie replied, "There's no way that they'll be able to get most of their equipment out anyway. They'd definitely have to leave most of their Knightmares behind. The only ones who could escape would be personnel, and they'll be scattered to the winds anyway."

"But they could delete their data." Cornelia said heavily, "Which is what we're truly after with this operation. We want their funders, lists of members and collaborators… everything. That's the only reason we're not just bombing the mountains out of existence."

"You really think they would just leave information like that lying around?" The pinkette asked dryly, "This isn't their first rodeo either sister. Even if they did, they could have a failsafe that destroys all of their computers anyway." Euphie clenched her fists, "I'm really not comfortable with just leaving things as is. If those people die…" She turned her head, not having to fake her distraught expression, "The regular soldiers!" She said suddenly, turning back to her sister.

"What about them?" The magenta-haired woman frowned in confusion.

"They'd be useless in a fight on the mountains, wouldn't they?" Euphemia asked, "Same for the APCs! We could send them to the settlement instead and evacuate the people with them! Our APCs and our trucks can carry over a dozen people each right? We have hundreds of them which would just be sitting about uselessly."

"You're really determined aren't you." Cornelia smiled fondly, and gently cupped her sister's cheek, "Alright Euphie. You win this one. I'll allow you to start the evacuation ten minutes before the operation starts. That's the most time I can give you."

Euphie gave her sister one of the tightest hugs they'd shared yet, "Thank you sister!" She said happily, 'And thank you, Lelou.' She thought to herself. Without his suggestions on what arguments she could make and their order, this might have gone much worse.

"Anything for you…" Cornelia smiled affectionately, "Anything for you."

-]|[-

"Sugoi!" Tamaki was almost in love. A sentiment shared by the vast majority of the men and women behind him. Their leader had summoned them to a warehouse pretty far out of the way. It had taken them more than half an hour to get there. Once they did, they entered a blackened room, and many had even started suspecting a trap. They had started taking out guns and cautiously walking into the building, their training from Zero over the past weeks taking them over. And then the floodlights kicked on to either end and illuminated one of the most wondrous sights they'd ever laid eyes on. A wall of machines in charging brackets to either side of them.

The machines stood 4.31 meters tall and looked to be a tiny bit bulkier than traditional Gloucesters. If Oghi had to put a word to their look, he would describe them as based on Samurai armor. The helm looked like a classic kabuto helmet and even had a crest that looked like a 'U' with flared, hook point tips. The facemask had four red, evil looking eyes and would split twice down the middle to reveal its Factsphere like traditional Frames. There were sode-like shoulder guards that looked segmented on both arms – shoulder to wrist – and the cockpit hump was framed by optional weapons modules on either side. The Frames were jet black with silver accents. On the front chest-plate was the symbol of the Black Knights; the same warped Geass symbol with the sword through it that Lelouch wore on his cape. Framed on either side were the standard Slash Harkens. On their hands seemed to be reinforced guards.

"These are amazing!" Oghi yelled among the rest of the Black Knights. He wasn't one to usually go starry-eyed, but this was a hell of a special occasion.

"Glad you like them." Kallen came out of the darkness with a smug grin on her beautiful face, "We worked so hard on them. It's nice to be appreciated." For some strange reason, her hair was a little messed up and she was a little flushed. Thankfully none of them noticed.

"What are they?!" Inoue asked in wonder.

"And how cool are they?!" Predictably came from Tamaki. They translated it to, 'how do they perform?'

Zero's echoing tones provided the answer as he stepped out from the darkness right next to Kallen. "They're our new mass-production models; the Onryō." He smirked, "They control pretty similarly to Sutherlands too, so you guys should be right at home. They surpass Sutherlands easily, and in our testing at home they've gone 45-55 against Gloucesters."

Kallen put her hands behind her head and smiled at all of the original crew members. The newbies were all still drooling over the frames. "They're not quite in their final forms yet though. We weren't able to finish their main weapons quite yet, but they work quite well." Well, more like they hadn't had time to mass-produce their main weapons. Britannia would regret sleeping on Lloyd's MVS once the Black Knights started equipping them. As it was, Kallen already had the Guren's knife upgraded.

"What about your frames?" Inoue asked with a smile, still marveling at their new Knightmares, "You haven't so much as allowed us to take a peek at them! We don't even know what the Guren looks like and we've had it for weeks!"

Kallen grinned and clicked her fingers. Two more spotlights turned on, revealing two Knightmares at the head of the room. Kallen's Knightmare was immediately apparent. It was a much nastier looking frame, emblazed in Kallen's signature crimson. The right arm looked absolutely vicious. It was longer than the other arm for one, and was left bare, rather than covered in crimson armor. Its clawed hand looked like it could simply crush a Knightmare's head or even punch straight through armor on its own. The cockpit was framed in orange and the helmet had a silver faceplate. It looked vaguely gladiatorial, with a huge spike coming out of its head. Its midsection was very thin and had black ribs. This was the Guren Mark III.

On the left was Zero's personal unit. It had a black and gold theme and was a slightly taller than the other Knightmares in the hangar. Its forearms were slightly bulkier and it seemed to look more like the Lancelot than the other frames in the room, though its helm was samurai-like, the same as the Onryō. Regal would be an apt description. On each hip were two black weapons they had never seen before with golden barrels. They were obviously guns of some sort since they had a hand grip and a trigger, but curiously they seemed pretty solidly attached to the frame. He had decided to call it the Raijin.

"They're so awesome!" Tamaki had both fists trembling in front of his chests. "When are we going to get to use them?"

"Within the next few days." They all froze at Zero's voice. "You all better get some sleep early tonight. We're going on a hiking trip."

-]|[-

"Sector five. Nothing to report here." A JLF soldier said into his microphone. The two men in the small cabin had been enjoying a game of shogi, though sadly it had been interrupted by what they felt was a pointless gesture. "Next scheduled update will be in two hours." He turned around and went to rejoin the game.

His partner was smirking in relaxation, "Of course there's nothing to report." He snorted, "This area is completely under the Japan Liberation Front's control. No one can just waltz in and…" Outside Lelouch was snickering as he opened the door. They really should have known better than to tempt fate like that, "ZERO!"

"Relax." Zero said as his mask's eyepiece slid open, "I want you to ignore any unusual activity during your watch. Enjoy your game."

"Sure, no problem." He put his gun down gently on the table.

The other man picked his chair up, "Come on man, it's your turn."

"What's the rush? We're just on regular duty, you know." He moved one of his black pieces.

…

Down in the lower reaches of the mountain, Oghi's Onryō flipped its Factsphere sensor shut. "There's the signal! Let's move people!" The entire procession started going uphill, with Kallen's Guren taking up the rear.

Tamaki hadn't stopped salivating over his machine yet, but he had the mental faculty to ask, "Hey, why doesn't Zero just use the radio in his Raijin?"

"And what do you suppose he meant when he said hiking?" Inoue was wondering that herself.

"Obviously we're treating this as a real military operation." Minami responded casually.

"Why's only Zero in another location then?" Tamaki shot at him.

"Maybe we'll dig a hot spring…" Sugiyama chuckled to himself. He was referring to the excavators they had been told to bring with them. They couldn't fathom why Zero would need those things.

'Not quite.' Kallen thought to herself dryly. When Tamaki shot his mouth off once again, asking her if she knew anything, she responded, "Of course I know what we're doing." She put on a haughty smirk just for the other redhead. "You'll just have to wait to find out." Predictably, the man blew up and had to be silenced and almost hogtied by his friends. Her smirk became a little bloodthirsty. She was quite eager for today. She hoped to get a shot at Cornelia herself, though she knew Zero wanted to face her. She'd probably have to settle for Cornelia's knights.

…

"C.C." Lelouch said in exasperation as he left the cabin, "How'd you get up here on foot so quickly? And what are you doing here?"

"I have to protect my precious contractors, don't I?" She smiled as she did a little twirl.

"If you wanted a Knightmare we would have made you one." He deadpanned, "Besides, you should be more worried about yourself. Milly's going to kill you if she sees you in that thing. Didn't we burn it?" Why the witch wanted to wear that prisoner's outfit was beyond him.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." She smirked, "And besides, I need a custom outfit, befitting my grace." She said haughtily.

"Try saying that when not wearing a prisoner's outfit." He answered back dryly.

She turned back around and stared at the descending slopes, "Hey Lelouch… there's something I've been wondering about." She said as he approached her silently, "Why are you Lelouch?"

"Philosophy?" He raised an eyebrow, "Quite out of left field, don't you think?"

"You changed your family name to Lamperouge, but you kept Lelouch. The name that was given to you at birth. Can't let go of the past?"

He chuckled, "I quite like my name. I think it fittingly regal. I could do without other people turning it into Lulu though." She smiled lightly, "And isn't C.C. going too far the other way?"

Her smile dimmed, "Lelouch, do you know why snow is white? Snow is white because it's forgotten what color it's supposed to be."

Lelouch looked at her out of the corner of his eyes, before he surprised her by coming behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. She let out a little gasp of shock and felt her cheeks warm as he pulled her close, "I don't know why snow is white…" he smiled softly, "Yet it is still quite beautiful, no?"

-]|[-

" We're certain that the Japan Liberation Front headquarters are in this area." Darlton's deep voice rang through the nearly-silent G1 planning room, "We've already split four battalions into seven units and hidden them in the vicinity. We've only to wait for the viceroy signal then we'll surround them in one fell swoop and wipe them out."

"Have we already begun the evacuation?" That was what Euphie was most concerned about. She dreaded the thought of Lelouch's plan coming to fruition without the town being cleared. The pinkette was wearing a tight, form-fitting white dress with flared sleeves and an off-pink and gold corset.

"We have not, Princess Euphemia." Guilford bowed with his hand over his heart, "The troops are on standby and the evacuation vehicles are standing by. They're ready to race towards their destination at our command."

"Thank you Sir Guilford." Euphie sighed in light relief before turning to Darlton, "And are we confident that the enemy won't show up outside the encirclement line?"

"You mean Zero, don't you?" Cornelia spoke up for the first time, "It would be a poor move for him to show up." She smirked lightly, "They won't be any better equipped than these fools from the JLF. Zero doesn't strike me as the type to run a suicide mission."

'Oh sister, if only you knew…' Euphie was very careful to keep her face blank, 'You are not going to have a good day today. Hopefully you take something out of this. You can't be this arrogant against Lelouch.'

"Regardless of if he wants to show his mask or not, we will be blocking off the surrounding highways and mountain routes once the operation begins." Darlton told the pink-haired Princess.

"Plus, we have reserve units. If Zero is stupid enough to show up, it'll be the end of him." Cornelia smiled lightly, "However, one part of our reserve forces included Camelot." The others started in surprise, turning to stare at the Viceroy, "It is Britannia's policy to discriminate against the numbers. However, I am grudgingly forced to admit that that Eleven pilot has impressed me." Euphemia was blinking in shock at her sister, while Darlton had to hide a small grin, "Therefore, I will leave Camelot's involvement in this operation up to you, Euphemia. I see no need to launch them, but if you believe the situation has changed, by all means."

"Yes Viceroy." Euphie smiled happily. This was progress with her sister that she hadn't expected at all.

…

" All units are in position." The voice of one of her men sounded in her radio before it crackled off. Cornelia smirked, eager to get the festivities started. She was sitting in the cockpit of her custom Gloucester. It was a brighter, more vibrant purple with golden ornamentation on its armor. It had a white cape and it had larger horn-like protrusions on its head that acted as an antenna array. It was also far more high-spec than a regular Gloucester. A fitting unit for an imperial Princess.

"Understood." She replied, "Euphemia will provide logistical support From G1 as planned.
Have her command the medical group. I trust that she has already gotten the evacuation under way?"

"Yes, your Highness!"

"That girl." Cornelia smiled in fond exasperation, "I tell her ten minutes and she goes and takes twenty. What am I going to do with her?"

"She should be in the palace." She heard her Knight Guilford grumble.

She started to chuckle, "She's being extremely stubborn about this. She told me she wanted to see actual combat for herself. I never did allow her to actually put any of the piloting I taught her to the test after all." She shrugged, not that anyone could see her "I'm not too worried in any case. She knows more than enough to be able to at least escape should things go sour."

-]|[-

"Zero, what exactly is the point of all this?" Oghi sounded quite bewildered. Why had they just started digging into the mountain with these excavators? What purpose did this whole thing serve? Several of them were spewing a very smelly mud from some escape nozzles.

"They are quite essential to today's festivities." Zero replied.

Oghi felt a light shiver run down his spine. He wasn't entirely sure he could claim it was the cold, "Festivities?"

"Today, we fight Cornelia." Zero replied, a smirk on his face.

He said this quietly, so only Oghi heard him. The rest continued on with their work, heedless of the danger they were about to find themselves in. "But Zero!" Oghi gasped in a light amount of fear, "We've only faced Knightpolice up until now. Several of our men are still green!" He slid his front teeth side to side in his mouth, "Will we not be working with the Japan Liberation Front?"

"It is quite late to start doubting me, Kaname Oghi." Zero replied without concern, "Have I not delivered the impossible before?"

"I…" Oghi sighed, "Yes Zero, you have. And I was the one who asked you to be our leader." He bowed lightly, "Forgive me."

"There is nothing to forgive." Lelouch smiled, "For today we will taste victory against the best Britannia has to offer."

-]|[-

Truth be told, Cornelia had not been planning to annihilate the JLF so soon. They were a known quantity, and it amused her that even their propaganda broadcasts were shut down. These broadcasts worked against them, serving to lower morale. She knew for a fact that they had started losing members, though she had no numbers. Over the years, their operations had only gotten smaller and smaller. Frankly, they had turned into a larger, slightly more successful version of the Blood of the Samurai. All in all, they were merely nuisances who didn't know when to give up.

That had all changed weeks ago when Lieutenant-Colonel Kusakabe had seized the Lake Kawaguchi hotel and not only taken hundreds of her citizens hostage, but had put her sister in mortal peril. And it burned her to admit that Zero's presence might have been the only thing that kept her sister alive.

Beyond all else, that was unforgiveable. At that point, they had stopped being nuisances and were upgraded to threats. Threats served only to be destroyed. She heard Darlton's voice crackle in her radio, "Princess, it's time."

"Excellent." A bloodthirsty smirk grew on her gorgeous face, "Commence the operation!" Immediately, the electromagnetic rails that her Gloucester's Landspinners were held in propelled her forward, shooting her Gloucester like a cannonball from the G1. "The Japan Liberation Front…" Several Sutherlands shot out of trains that were in the area, "You all forgot basic human kindness and dignity…" Planes carrying more Knightmares sped through the sky, dropping their cargo in on parachutes, "You and your misbegotten dreams of a great nation shall fall… and rot to nothingness."

-]|[-

"What!" General Katase gasped as he raced to the briefing room, "We're under attack?!" He stared in resigned fear and rage at the red radar-like screen that filled up the room. It showed hundreds of enemy units.

"Yes sir." The JLF information master sounded quite shaken, "The entire mountain has been surrounded sir… They have over a hundred units and that number is only rising…"

Another man shouted in panic, "There's no way out! Even our underground reserve forces have been captured! How the hell did they do this without us knowing?! Our scouts had to have seen something!"

"General! We've received a single message from Cornelia! They're asking for our immediate surrender…"

"Imbecile!" Katase snarled, "If we die here the whole resistance is lost!"

They turned to their leader, "Then do we dig in or fight?"

Katase ignored them, "What about Tōdō? Where is he?!"

Not a small number of his soldiers bowed their heads in despair. Even now, all their general cared about was Tōdō's miracle. They had grown far too reliant on that man. Only one answered, "He should be on his way back from Kyoto with the Four Holy Swords, but there's no way they'll get here in time. Not without knowing we're under attack, and enemy ECM means we can't send a message."

One man snarled under his breath, "And he's only one man anyway…"

Katase didn't hear him, to the man's fortune. The general clenched his fists, "Send out the Burai! We have to break through one side of the encirclement and escape! We'll show them our Japanese spirit and pride. This is our moment of truth!"

-]|[-

The fledgling Black Knights were (mostly) watching in horror as the mountains were swarmed by Britannian personnel. There had to be dozens – if not hundreds – of Knightmares crawling about the lower reaches of the mountains. "And so it begins."

Tamaki was shaking in horror, "What the hell, Zero!" He gasped and whirled around furiously, "What the hell is this?! Did you know about this?! We're completely surrounded! There's no way out!"

"Correct." Lelouch smirked beneath his mask, "Which means the only way out is to fight."

Inoue was shaking, "This is crazy! We can't fight hundreds of them like this!"

Sugiyama turned around and showed his pale, sweating face, "And this is Cornelia! Her forces are far stronger than any we've encountered before!"

Zero tutted in disappointment and turned his mask towards Tamaki, who immediately started feeling more than a little uncomfortable. "Is this all it takes to shake your determination, Shinichiro Tamaki?" He turned his head to every single one of them, his mask catching each of their eyes, "Is this all it takes to frighten you, my Black Knights?!" Several of his men and women flinched, "Did you expect to gain back your pride and your names with such flimsy resolve?!" He roared, his voice echoing around them in the air.

Kallen stepped forward, "Have you forgotten what one good Knightmare did to us in Shinjuku?" Her voice cracked like a whip. Several of the original members started to murmur to themselves, "Have we not armed ourselves to the teeth with the finest weaponry we were able to create?! Knightmares that outstrip every Britannian Sutherland? Don't forget, we have TWO Seventh Generation Knightmares behind us!" She smirked proudly, "And more importantly, WE HAVE ZERO!"

Oghi took a step back in shock, staring at his best friend's little sister in awe. She had practically taken command and he could see that several of them had loosened their shoulders slightly. When… when had Kallen…?

Lelouch was smirking behind his mask, before Tamaki regained some of his bravado, "Oi, oi! This isn't going to be walk in the park! The price here is our lives! You could have at least told us! We're going to need a miracle!"

Lelouch stepped forward, "Yes… we will." The effect of Kallen's speech – which had served to lessen some nerves – were now lost again, "Even Messiahs need to perform miracles if they're to be acknowledged! Which means we need to perform a miracle of our own, don't we?"

Tamaki spat to the side and sneered at him, "Yer talking like miracles are cheap! I knew it was nuts to make you our leader! It should have been me!" He started removing his gun, but Zero beat him to the punch, removing a weapon from his suit and aiming it at his forehead

Zero chuckled darkly, "Then by all means…" He spun it on his finger, catching it by the barrel and offered it to Tamaki, "If you feel you can win without me… shoot me." Tamaki grimaced and took a step back. Oghi stared at their leader in shock, his breath coming in short little gasps. He just couldn't believe the sheer audacity of this man. Zero's confidence was plain to see, and it started infecting several of their members. Their eyes and stances hardened as they found their hearts once more, "Nobody?" He looked from side to side, "Anyone at all?"

Tamaki turned his head to the side, "Alright, alright already! Do whatever you want."

Sugiyama had wiped his brow and his heartbeat had slowed, "We chose you as our leader Zero. We will follow that through!"

"My thanks."

Kallen smiled in excitement, "We're all Black Knights now!" She yelled, "Either we live together… or we perish as one!"

-]|[-

Euphemia stood next to three decently-ranked individuals inside the G1 as it travelled. One of them had a long, thin rod in his hand that he was using as a pointer, "We believe the main enemy base is inside one of these mountains. Unfortunately, we don't have a precise location yet. We would like to just start dropping bombs, but we believe they have vital information on their collaborators."

Euphemia frowned, "There's no need to burn down a perfectly good mountain." She pointed to the tallest of the peaks, "Logic states that an operation as large as the JLF once was and still is needs a lot of space. Furthermore, it'll need a lot of hidden lifts for their Knightmares and their artillery. Therefore, it is likely that this mountain is the site of their main base." The three men stared at her in surprise, "Regardless of if I'm right, I do wonder how in the world they managed to do this. They had to have been under watch after the war ended. How did they manage to construct what must be a massive compound and series of tunnels right underneath our noses? Were the leaders before Clovis just as incompetent as he was?"

One of the men burned in embarrassment, having been one of the few to escape the li Britannia sister's purges of the former government, "We don't know your Highness. Several of us suspected bribery."

"Even worse then." She eyed the map, "Oh, it appears I may have been right." She clapped her hands together with a smile. The map had changed, and several red dots had appeared, "It appears they're going to try to break through the encirclement, as expected."

"Indeed." The commander was grudgingly impressed. They had not expected Euphemia to be anywhere near as observant or as intelligent as she had shown, "Our forces are divided into three fronts. The units let by General Darlton here, General Alex here, and Viceroy Cornelia here.
As for our flanking forces... what?" He blustered as the map started crackling and fizzling.

"ECM." Euphemia frowned, "Deploy ECCM."

…

A few minutes before, Darlton had been leading his charge up the mountain, " The enemy's main force should be coming out anytime now." He told his men. His Gloucester was a darker purple than the two following closely behind him, and unlike Cornelia and Guilford he did not equip a cape, "We're switching to ECCM mode. Link up on channel alpha-four!" He then let out a rumbling chuckle, "The enemy units… what are they called again?"

"I believe they're called Burai, father." His wingman and adopted son Alfred G. Darlton told him.

He smirked in amusement, "Right, those Glasgow knockoffs." Several of his men had to suppress snickers, "Do watch out for them. I would be fairly disappointed if any of our men were forced to eject."

"Yes, My Lord!" They yelled as suddenly, the trees in front of them slid to the sides as though they were on rails. And clearly they were, because an elevator brought three Burai up to meet them.

Before he could say another word, two of his sons raced past his Gloucester. The lead Knightmare jumped over a wave of gunfire and fired two Slash Harkens. The Burai had all turned their guns up to him and two had their arms cut clean off. Underneath the frame, his brother Bart L. Darlton rolled his eyes, "Did they seriously take their eyes off the main forces?" He chucked his lance forward, impaling the last Burai and knocking it into the air. Sparks were flying from the gashes in its armor and Bart screeched by, grabbing the lance before the Knightmare even had a chance to land from the impact and wrenched it to the side. The Knightmare got torn in half and the pieces finally crashed into the earth, exploding behind him. Bart didn't even glance back as Edgar N. Darlton landed like a comet into the chest of one of the standing Knightmares. His Gloucester's feet crashed into the Burai's cockpit and crushed it under heel. His gun fired five shots into the last Burai, shredding it.

General Darlton shook his head in amusements, "Cheeky kids. Always in such a hurry." He muttered fondly.

…

The same sight met Cornelia and Guilford on another part of the mountain, "Hoh, so they turned the whole mountain into a fortress. How surprising." Cornelia said in droll amusement, not surprised in the slightest.

She and her knight continued charging forward, though her personal knight had stepped on the gas and had started to overtake her, "Your Highness, please fall back."

She barely held back an eye roll. Barely, "Guilford, don't take me for another one of your women." She suddenly surged right past her knight at blinding speed. The Burai all started firing at her, and she weaved around the bullets as easily as if she could see them coming in slow motion. "Insolent worms!" She roared as – with a single swing of her jousting lance – she knocked all three enemy machines backwards and one into the air. She landed and immediately went after the airborne unit, impaling it through the cockpit. Crackles of electricity surrounded the hole, before the entire machine exploded and rained broken bits all around her. She somersaulted out of the ash cloud and her Slash Harken fired forward, instantly destroying a turret.

"Well then." Guilford said blandly, "We'll just cover your rear, shall we."

She huffed in amusement, "Well? Cornelia is here!" She declared with. It was a silly boast, but it was one that struck fear in the hearts of those who knew that yes, she was that damn good. "Is there no one else who can challenge me?! Is there NO ONE ELSE?!" Her voice echoed through the mountains, even causing one soldier to decide that discretion was the better part of valor. The man left his post and went to go hide in a nearby cave, hoping that they would miss him entirely.

-]|[-

Over in the town, the evacuation had already been well underway for almost half an hour at this point. Hundreds if not thousands of people had already been evacuated – some even at gunpoint if they had refused to leave their homes peacefully. Euphemia had been very adamant that they get every soul they could get out of that town.

Which was why one man wearing a trench coat over his business attire was having to be very stealthy as he went through the city. Inside his destination, one man was sweating heavily, "Why did they choose this place?!"

"If the military should find the experimental data on Code R, it's all over!" Another bemoaned.

They were all standing around yet another of the containers meant to trap C.C., "Damn it all. Setting up in terrorist-controlled territory was supposed to make it easier to hide…"

"It's all general Bartley's fault. He picked this location, so there's no use complaining about it."

-]|[-

"Guilford…" Cornelia was speaking in a sad tone, "When did even battle become boring?" Her monitor flashed as yet another Knightmare exploded in her face, impaled on her lance. Her Knightmare was basically vaulting over the dead machine, "We used to at least have a challenge." She lamented, "These damn things are way too fragile."

…

Darlton had lost his smile and was completely focused on the mission now, "These things seem unusually concentrated here. I do believe we may have discovered their base. Split up now!" The three leading Gloucesters all split to separate locations and hid behind rocks. A mere second later, a massive explosion erupted where they had been driving. They popped back out and fired their rocket launchers.

…

Underground, the JLF were nearing panic "It's no good!" A soldier yelled as they watched as dozens of their friendly dots vanished on the map, only to be replaced with kanji reading LOST, "Our second wave was as ineffective as the first! We got maybe three of the enemy Gloucesters!"

"Their sheer dominance…" Katase's fists were clenched at his side, "They're incredible."

…

The voice of yet another of his adopted sons - David T. Darlton - was coming in through the radio, "Father; I've analyzed the enemy movements and deployment patterns. I've determined that the entrance to the JLF main base may be located near that lodge up on the mountain."

Darlton grinned widely, "I do believe the word here is 'Bingo!'"

"Well…" His son stalled in bemusement, "That's not actually…"

"Just humor me here, mister literal." Darlton chuckled, his deep tone rumbling, "Call it in boys!"

…

"So, looks like we owe Darlton a pint." Cornelia let out a little laugh.

"He always wins." Guilford grumbled in his Gloucester, in a rare mood, "Looks like the main base is over there!"

"Indeed. We'll be securing our position right here." She declared, "Let no enemy pass!"

"You sure, your Highness?" he asked her.

She scoffed, "I'm not one to steal my subordinate's achievements." She smiled, honestly happy for the man, "Send the reserves in. Looks like Darlton will be getting yet another medal."

"Not like he doesn't have enough of the bloody things." Guilford let out a rare chuckle. "I swear, he's going to run out of room on his uniform."

"He already did!" Cornelia chuckled again as she casually backhanded a Burai that had tried to impale her with a silver lance. She was fairly sure it came from that depot that had gotten raided some months ago. She sneered at the enemy as she stapled it to the ground, "Last I checked he has them pre-clipped onto several uniforms and just picks one to wear."

-]|[-

"Excellent deployment, sister." Lelouch was in his cockpit lounging, "You've gone for overwhelming force, and even without your Gloucesters you would have won. These Burai are just as bad as I had feared."

Kallen's disgusted voice came in through the only active radio channel right now, "They're worse." He chuckled lightly at her indignation. Frankly, she had a right to be angry. These machines were – frankly – jokes, and they were currently the best Japan apparently had to offer. Why in the world did they base them off of Glasgows? At the very least, they should have based them off of Sutherlands. Even if they were completely outmatched due to their enemy's mobility, occasionally an artillery piece or a tank could get a lucky shot on an unaware pilot. A weapon meant to take out a 60 ton behemoth could no doubt take out a Knightmare that didn't even hit 8 tons. They had to have been able to capture at least one since their launch, and if Kyoto House was who he suspected they were, then they certainly had the capital. Frankly, these offerings were paltry at best and suspicious at worst. "An entire bloody wave barely managed to take out three enemy machines."

"There's a reason I decided not to even bother with them and took them apart for parts and our simulators." Lelouch replied silkily, "I saw the writing on the wall for these hunks of junk before we even got our hands on one. I even set my expectations as low as they could go and I was still disappointed. They don't even have improved servomotors compared to the Glasgow."

"Bah, let's just stop talking about them. How much longer?" She was grinning in anticipation.

"Soon." Lelouch said, "We already know where their units are. We just need them closer. We're almost ready… We just need Euphie's signal."

-]|[-

"Damn it all! How are we supposed to prove ourselves if they keep us off the front line!" Jeremiah Gottwald had not been having a good couple of weeks. At first, he had thought he had escaped punishment. Princess Euphemia had even praised his skills and his handling of the situation that got Kewell and his allies demoted for life. They were stuck cleaning latrines, if they hadn't already just left the military. Last he heard, Kewell was back in the homeland drinking himself into a stupor. The man probably hadn't shaved since Princess Euphemia had smacked him down. Jeremiah on the other hand had lost much of his prestige and the respect of most of the men he had once called friends. But despite that, he had remained in a good position in the military.

That had all changed when Cornelia and her Knights had arrived. The Witch of Britannia had relentlessly grilled him on what Orange was, much to his protests. He couldn't even remember releasing Kururugi. He hadn't been lying when he told them that one second he had been staring at Zero's mask, and the next his Knightmare was in tatters on the pavement of that bridge. But he hadn't been believed, and her Highness had personally ripped the rank insignia off of his uniform. Jeremiah had almost never regretted anything as much as he regretted making that monkey circus public. Hell, he wished he had never conceived the foolish idea in the first place! It should have been easy. What kind of idiot would announce his involvement in the murder of a Prince? It should have been an open and shut case.

And yet, Zero had appeared, and with it his chances for redemption and glory had gone up in smoke. Britannia's name had been dragged through the mud with Zero's presentation. No doubt the homeland was utterly furious. But he was Jeremiah Gottwald. He was one of Britannia's strongest pilots. He had survived the ridicule of an Empress' death on his hands. Surely he could prove himself… prove his loyalty once again!

Except he just wasn't being given the chance! Guilford in particular seemed to delight in dangling opportunities in front of his nose and then yanking them away. It was maddening! Next to him, Villetta sighed, "We were supposed to be assigned to General Darlton." She snorted sadly, "And to think I got my hopes up again."

He clutched his controls tensely. Villetta had been the only Pureblood to stick with him, yet even she mistrusted him a little now. His lack of memory of a deed he saw himself doing on live fucking television was suspicious. He knew that! But it was the truth! He just didn't remember doing it. "I'm sorry Villetta." He said, a little hoarsely, "It's because of me that you're stuck here. If only they would give us the chance…!"

She shook her head, "I'm as much to blame as you are. I could have spoken out against the plan. It was stupid to depend on someone not taking credit. We rolled the dice and they came up snake eyes." She eyed him flatly, "Frankly your lack of memory was a bit suspicious… until I remembered…"

"Remembered what?" He looked askance at her.

"That General Bartley and the rest of those men claimed the same thing." His eyes widened, remembering that little detail, "It seems more than just a little strange that every time Zero shows up and does something big, someone loses their memory."

"That's right…" He breathed in shock, "What in the world…?"

"Lord Jeremiah… if either of us want to even have a chance of rising again… we need to capture him." She said with finality, sliding back into her cockpit.

-]|[-

"We've lost contact with Nakamura's unit!"

"No response from sector three!"

"Major Tamata has been killed!"

"Kuroda and Kurata are also gone!"

"WHAT ABOUT NAGAI?!"

Katase was gritting his teeth as his men visibly became more and more panicked by the second. 'Damn it all.' He cursed inside the safety of his own mind, his head dipping downwards, 'Where is Tōdō?! If only he were here! The divine winds would blow once more! We'd have another miracle of Itsukushima!' He was entirely unaware that it was thoughts like these that contributed the JLF's success. Or lack thereof. Putting all their hopes and faith on a single man had strained the organization beyond belief. After Tōdō's miracle win against Britannia, they had promoted him immediately. Tōdō did not become a figurehead in the organization – for he was indeed one of their most skilled pilots – but he became their unwilling messiah. He had no desire to be seen as such. He knew for himself that he was not the man that others made him out to be, but the people needed a symbol regardless of his desires. Japanese had joined the JLF – which was merely the rotting corpse of the Japanese Army at the time – in droves, eager to see his miracle repeated once they had actual weapons.

But weeks and months had gone by without another miracle. Then years came and went, with some depots raided. They were no closer to liberating Japan than they had been seven years ago, and it was starting to show. Many had realized that Tōdō was a false messiah. Someone who was more interested in taking only fights he knew he could win. He was an excellent leader in his own right, but he stood no chance against someone like Cornelia. He simply wasn't that charismatic. And so recruitment had slowed. And then it had stalled.

Seven years later, the JLF was a shell of its former glorious size, as men abandoned their posts and tried to tough it out under Britannia.

…

The man himself ordered his two-carrier convoy to barrel straight through the blockade, "Sir, don't you think this is a little extreme?" The one speaking was one Shōgo Asahina, a member of the Four Holy Swords; Tōdō's personal unit.

Tōdō's deep voice commanded their obedience instantaneously, "Asahina, Chiba, prep the custom Burai immediately. Tell Urabe and Senba behind us to do the same. They've entirely blocked out all traffic in this area. Our men could already be under attack." He opened his eyes and glared at the road, "I only pray that we are in time."

-]|[-

Down the slope, Darlton's group of Gloucesters were using their Slash Harkens to climb a sheer cliff. Darlton had the air of victory surrounding him, "And with this…"

On another part of the mountain, Cornelia unknowingly finished his statement, "The Resistance in Area Eleven is finished…"

She had no idea how wrong she was. Up on the white-peaked summit of the tallest Narita Mountain, Lelouch received a tiny text message on his phone from his beloved sister. He snapped his book shut, "All preparations have been completed!" He roared, and the machines started whirring to life, "Black Knights… Prepare to move out!"

"Finally!" Kallen cheered as several lights flashed on her Guren. Its cockpit was different from regular Knightmares. The seat was in a motorcycle style and the cockpit closed like a fighter jet's cockpit might, from the top down. The head – which had been retracted – flipped up and flashed ominously.

Several of the soldiers had gotten into their Knightmares and were reaffirming themselves, while others were doing the same on foot. Lelouch opened up his radio to the Black Knights, "We the Black Knights are going to launch a surprise attack on the Britannians from the summit of the mountain! On my mark, charge down on point three! The purpose of our operation is the capture of Viceroy Cornelia! Our secondary objective is to test the capabilities of our Knightmares!"

"Wait, we're not here to aid the JLF?" One of the Knights gasped.

"Of course not." Kallen snorted, "What have the JLF actually done in the past seven years?" She asked, and after a moment's silence, she roared, "NOTHING! They have done nothing of value! They never took out a single important official! They never succeeded in stopping the Refrain trade! Even their propaganda is useless!"

"The JLF are relics of the past! They are no closer to defeating Britannia than they were all those years ago when our enemy were the only ones with Knightmares!" Lelouch continued from Kallen's mark, "And worse, they have no plans in place for actually securing Japan should a miracle happen and the Britannians get forced out! Not one! They have yet to realize that the glory days of the old Japan are long gone!"

Several of the men – mostly the original members of the Kōzuki resistance – flinched as they remembered the diatribe Zero had delivered on that train. Kallen got them back on track, "Our breakthrough route will be opened by my Guren!"

"Indeed!" Zero confirmed, "Use penetrating electrode number three. Settle things with one blow!"

"Got it!" She confirmed, stepping to the excavator with a '3' on its slightly-muddy surface. She grinned madly as the vicious silver claw closed on the electrode. "Output confirmed.
Wave Surger is maintaining level status." She took in a deep breath of anticipation. "Induction!" Her right hand clenched on the motorcycle-esque handle and she revved it up to the maximum output. The indicator on her screen filled up all the way as she jammed her thumb on the button.

Outside the Guren, a hellish red and black light shone from her hand. If they didn't know any better, they would have thought that the gates of hell were being opened up right at her palm. Underneath the ground, the hellish light continued down the electrode and then straight into the reservoir of water beneath their feet. The water flash-boiled.

The Radiant Wave Surger fell silent once more, before a cartridge ejected from the arm. Kallen let out the breath she had been holding. They all sat for a moment. Several worried that perhaps it hadn't worked. And then the ground started to shake.

-]|[-

"What in the world!" Cornelia's eyes widened as the whole damn mountain started to shake, "An earthquake? NOW of all times?!" She would never admit this to anyone, but she actually jumped in her seat as an ear-splitting crack rang through the heavens. She turned her cameras to the mountain's summit and her features went slack as she watched it practically collapse. She had heard stories in the homeland about the historic eruption of Mount Saint Helens. Even the oldest of them – Odysseus – had yet to be born when that eruption had happened. The landslides and pyroclastic flows had completely wiped out a city that had been built by the mountain, killing millions of Britannians. In some circles, it even became known as the Vesuvius of the modern era. "Brace yourselves!" She screamed across all friendly channels, a rare note of panic entering her voice. And then came what she feared.

The gigantic mass of sliding rock may as well have been a wall of freight trains derailing. The earth rumbled as the advancing wall of death charged downward, ripping trees asunder and annihilating all in its path. Cornelia breathed a small sigh of relief as she realized it wasn't coming for her group. A plume of dust and grit was rising into the air, and her breath caught as she realized who was in its path, "Darlton!"

The man in question had his anchors smashed into the ground, "Climb!" He roared to his regiment, "GET TO HIGHER GROUND!" Unfortunately, his Gloucester was one of the few machines built tough enough to survive. The Sutherlands of his squad didn't stand a chance. Their Harkens snapped from the strain and they were carried away, screaming in their cockpits. Thankfully, all of his sons fared as well as he was able to.

"STATUS REPORT!" Cornelia roared furiously as she watched the landslide smash through her forces. On her monitors, she watched as dozens of Knightmares were replaced by LOST symbols.

"Your Highness! Fall back! You're in danger there!" Guilford's voice cut across her cockpit.

She snarled, "I don't give a damn! Forget about me! Find out about Darlton! And where's Alex?"

…

Underneath them, the Japanese Liberation Front weren't fairing any better. "Will this place hold?!"

Katase's teeth ground as another yelled, "We've lost communication with site B! This center area should hold together but one of our escape routes has been cut off!"

…

"Oh my…" Lloyd's lackadaisical voice didn't actually sound concerned, "At this rate they'll be swept all the way to the bottom."

Cécile on the other hand, definitely was feeling it, "These heat readings are abnormal! This has to have been artificial!" She told him as she skid to a stop by his terminal, "Did someone set off a steam explosion?" They watched as the wave of death – colored purple against the red terrain on their terminal – continued down the mountain and closer to the town.

"That's impossible." Lloyd told her, "Not even Rakshata's Radiant Wave Surger could do this."

Despite the situation, her lips twitched, "You don't sound too convinced of that."

He frowned, and was about to reply when Suzaku called over from inside the Lancelot, "What's going on? Has something happened?!"

Somehow, Lloyd and Cécile both came to the decision to keep their mouths shut for now, "Nothing you need to worry about! Just relax and continue waiting!" The last thing they needed was for Suzaku to charge out without an order.

…

Lelouch and Kallen were staring in morbid fascination, "Holy shit…" He heard Kallen whisper in their personal radio.

"I'll never doubt Nina again." He declared with a hidden shudder, "If anything it's even worse than she predicted."

They both winced as they realized the landslide was in no mood to even slow down. "I really, really hope Euphie came through for us…" Kallen's voice sounded as meek and small as her Stadtfeld persona usually did. A voice totally unfitting the Ace of the Black Knights.

"I know she did." Lelouch told her reassuringly, 'She had to.' He bit his lip, "Now's not the time for those thoughts. We need to be focused."

"Right." She still sounded unsure of herself and both of them cringed as the first of the wave hit the city. Even from the top of the summit, they heard the sounds of shattering glass and groaning metal. Entire buildings were literally uprooted and carried away, crumbling and turning into more projectiles. One building was carried away and smashed right into another, sending shards of concrete and bricks exploding outward. Grit and dust soon started engulfing the town, and they could see no more.

He let out a breath and hardened his heart, "Black Knights… MOVE OUT!"

…

"New enemy force confirmed to be moving in from the summit." Cornelia's attention was caught by the radio, "Carius' unit is moving to engage them!"

She sneered, "Hoping to take advantage of all the confusion, are they?" She snarled out, "It won't help them."

The soldier's voice came on again, this time sounding a little bit more panicked, "Wait! Emergency message coming from Carius! It's not the JLF!" Her eyes widened as he paused, sounding almost like he had choked, "Carius' entire unit is down! They were wiped out in less than three seconds!"

"What?!" She gasped in shock. Carius had been in a Gloucester! How in the world had these garbage Burai succeeded in taking him and his backup out?!

"That symbol!" The voice gasped, "IT'S THE BLACK KNIG-ARGH!" The radio cut to static.

Cornelia grit her teeth, "Zero? He was already here?!"

…

"Zero!" Jeremiah gasped, breaking out into a flop sweat with a slightly mad look on his face, "HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE!" His Landspinners started screeching and kicking up dirt, "ZERO!" He shot forward like a rocket.

"Lord Jeremiah!" Villetta gasped, and after a moment's hesitation, had her Knightmare screaming forward as well. If she could capture Zero, she could not only help clear Jeremiah's name, but she'd be set for life. She who dared won. Right?

"This requires drastic measures! If you want glory in life, then follow me!"

…

"Cornelia's reinforcements are incredibly limited." Lelouch said over the radio, "Your jobs are to delay or pick off any enemy units trying to reach Cornelia. Q1 and I shall be enough for this!"

"Yes sir!" The four Onryō that had been flanking him and Kallen split off, two going right and vanishing into the trees and the other two going up the cliff. He smirked as he saw a couple enemy Sutherlands racing towards them, trying to cut them off from Cornelia. They would regret that.

Inoue's voice popped up through the radio, "Sir, we've already taken out three waves of regular tanks as well as three Gloucesters and five Sutherlands! We lost two Onryō! Your backs are clear!" He tutted in disappointment that they had already lost some machines, but it was acceptable.

"Well done, Inoue." He smiled and praised the only other woman of the Kōzuki Resistance.

…

Jeremiah's jaw slackened for a moment, "They took out Carius' unit?! Damn it!" He clenched his fist furiously, "There won't be another dead royal on my watch! Never again! If I can finish this before Zero reaches Princess Cornelia, then I'll be golden!"

"Lord Jeremiah!" Villetta's voice popped up on his radio and he smiled in glee, knowing she and his other former subordinates were behind him. With her behind him they couldn't lose!

"Villetta! I knew that you would come! Let's do this! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

…

Zero was cut off from speaking further by a slightly furious voice, "ZERO!" Lelouch casually dodged the gunfire as several Sutherlands appeared in front of him. "Is Zero here?! IF YOU ARE, THEN FACE ME, YOU COWARD! COME FORWARD AND FIGHT JEREMIAH GOTTWALD!"

Lelouch chuckled in amusement, "Hoh, how are you, Lord Jeremiah? Still in the army I see." He smirked, "I'd love to stay and chat but I'm afraid I have an appointment with our beautiful Princess." He held back a snigger as he heard several of them start to choke, "We'll have to play another time, my dear Orange."

"Or-" The slightly mad glint in Jeremiah's eye went the full mile as he started to choke on his own words, "Ora-" The man trembled in his seat and his eyes were almost popping out of his skull, "ORANGE?!" He sent his Sutherland hurtling forward in a mad charge, "DIE!"

Kallen burst into action as she brushed past Lelouch and kicked the Sutherland's rifle clean out of its hand, "Don't you know the rules, Orange boy?" She was smirking in amusement. Neither she nor Lelouch had honestly expected Orange to catch on – C.C. had been the one to take out the enemy machines after all – but Jeremiah's reaction clearly showed that he had not had a good time of it. Clearly he had lost his position, and the loss of his prestige had gone to his head, "You can't just go straight for the King. He's a very busy man you see."

"Damn you!" Jeremiah snarled as he activated his Stun Tonfas. The hunks of metal on his forearms swung into position.

"Lord Jeremiah!" Villetta yelled in panic, "I've never seen a Knightmare like that! Neither of them look normal! Could it be-!"

"Fool!" He yelled, "You think these Elevens have that kind of technology?!" He ignored his more rational wing woman and charged.

"Too slow!" Kallen even yawned as she easily avoided the man's attacks. After spending weeks fighting Lelouch to get their prototypes made and then practicing in her Guren against his Raijin, the Sutherland was as boring for her as the Burai had been for Cornelia. She took out her Guren's fork knife which turned an almost-purple red and sliced straight through Jeremiah's Stun Tonfa. It continued on through the weapon and then turned his Sutherland's arm into a banana peel.

"What?!" Jeremiah gasped in utter shock, "That's! That's an MVS! HOW THE HELL DID YOU ELEVENS GET YOUR HANDS ON THAT!" He grunted as a blazingly-fast kick from the Guren to his right knee actually snapped the joint straight in half. Wires sparked dangerously and fluids spewed from the joint before he crashed to one knee on the dirt.

Now immobile, he was even easier pickings. Guren's silver claw grabbed his Sutherland by the head, "Sorry!" She smirked as she revved her Surger, "Not sorry!" Jeremiah's Knightmare was engulfed by that hellish red glow of her Radiation Surger. Something very strange started happening to the Sutherland. The metal started to bulge and crumple, almost looking like it was trying to bubble. First the head and then the rest of the machine started to deform, screws and other vital pieces popping off as the machine no longer conformed to manufacturing tolerances.

"What the?!" Jeremiah snarled as his controls became unresponsive, "NO! WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!"

"Lord Jeremiah! EJECT!" Villetta's panicked voice sounded in his radio before even it started to get scrambled.

Jeremiah was sweating horribly. His hair was a mess and only his iron will kept him from howling in agony. His eyes were bulging in their sockets and a thin stream of blood started running down his nose, "I can't run now! Zero's right here in front of me! He's standing right here!" The alarms started blaring in his cockpit, and one in particular caught his attention as he started to tremble, "Damn it! The auto-eject! Don't you dare activate!" Blood was now pouring in rivulets from both nostrils, "I can still…! I CAN STILL GET ZERO!" His body was twitching horribly, "GAHHH!" With drool leaking from his lips, he twitched one final time, almost breaking his own neck as it snapped to one side before he slumped over. His instrumentation went silent as his cockpit block shot away from the ruined Knightmare Frame.

Villetta sat in stunned horror as the remnants of the Sutherland exploded, framing the new monster in a macabre inferno. "She got Lord Jeremiah…" She swallowed heavily, "He was our best…"

Kallen smirked victoriously, "With this Guren Sanshiki… I can't lose!"

-]|[-

Here we get to see the consequences of some earlier actions. Villetta is very suspicious of Zero but she has nowhere to direct those suspicions. She doesn't remember even a faceless student, so she can't be suspicious of Lelouch (nor for that matter, use Shirley as bait.) So she and Jeremiah never see Diethard, who can't relay the Narita information to Zero. That puts him with slightly less standing in the Black Knights even discounting the core group's opinions on the man. Good thing Lelouch already knew Narita was coming. Instead, it's turned out that she's suspicious about the memory losses everyone keeps suffering, but that's not exactly something she can follow up on. It does however, make her slightly less suspicious of Jeremiah, which is why she remains his partner.

Yep, we're skipping the Guren Mark II and going straight into the Mark III. Not much different between them, but there are a few. The RWS is slightly improved and the Fork Knife has already been made into a MVS.

Hope you all liked the Onryō! I know we haven't actually been able to see what Lelouch's Raijin can do yet, but this seemed like a good place to end it. I'm sure some of you may have an interesting guess or two All will be revealed on the next episode of Dragon Bal-.

This chapter and the next won't have very much fluff, if any. A story needs balance after all. Hope the action we got in this was good. More in the next chapter, where we'll wrap up Narita.

See you all next time!

Cheers!

Primordial