Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't been updating this fic for a long time, despite my promises and (poorly made) estimates that it would be done a month or two ago. Truth be told, I got distracted by many things, watching anime, reading manga, video gaming, and my military duties. Additionally, I gotta admit that I experienced a lot of difficulty in writing this one. It's lengthy, bloody and angsty, plus I had to revise quite a few points so that characters don't appear too out of sorts. Fourteen thousand words... Nonetheless, I hope I would be able to make up for the long wait with a chapter which you guys would enjoy. Have fun reading!

Chapter 23
Bloodstained Aries

It took all of Rolo's effort to mask his troubled expression while he seemingly strolled in the corridor. He discreetly reached into a small, dark green haversack which he carried over his shoulder and retrieved a black circular device slightly smaller than his fist. He attached the said object next to the security guards' bunk, cautiously pressing a button at its side. It emitted a soft beeping noise and Rolo watched the colour of it gradually shift to match its surroundings. These bombs shared the same trait as the bugs provided to him by Infinity – they had the ability to mimic the colour of the surface they were attached to. However, their larger sizes meant that it was considerably easier to discover. Any staff with a keen eye would notice a tiny protrusion on the walls. Fortunately for Infinity, when the siege begins, the villa's defenders would be focusing on the immediate threat instead of keeping an eye out for such devices.

The bombs were primed and ready to blow the moment Rolo pressed the detonator, and each of them packed a punch belying its relatively miniature size. All of them were scattered throughout multiple strategic points in the villa – next to the guards' rooms, the elevator, cameras, the armoury and more. Their placements were designed to limit the surveillance of the villa as well as to throw the imperial guards into disarray, for the assassin was supposed to lead a group of terrorists inside the villa when the time was ripe. His numerous months masquerading as a simple servant enabled him to etch the layout of the villa into memory to the point that he was confident he knew almost every nook and cranny.

The objective of the Sword of Akasha's plan was straightforward. Infiltrate the Aries Villa, successfully capture Lelouch vi Britannia and Shirley Fenette, and withdraw quickly before their reinforcements arrive. Infinity reasoned that since Rolo's lengthy time in the imperial residence turned out to be futile, he would rather interrogate the eleventh prince himself for the knowledge of the Damocles Key's location. His lover would simply be leverage to be used against him to ensure that Lelouch would cooperate.

Imagining Shirley in the hands of the Sword of Akasha caused him to grimace. Her previous words to him echoed in his mind once more. "Rolo, we're human beings. All of us have the right to make our own choices." She paused back then, her brows furrowing deep in thought. "Being used in such a manner is horribly cruel and unfair, and it deprives the person of any hope of finding happiness."

At first, the idea of fairness and happiness to a tool like Rolo was foreign and laughable. If he had to admit it, deep down he knew he was nothing but a chess piece in Infinity's machinations long ago, but he chose not to care - so what if he was? Pawn or not, it was his only way of living for years, and it gave him ample and nourishing food, a cosy shelter, praise and a sense of purpose. All of which was more than enough to satisfy his past self, he would never obtain them if he stayed at the orphanage. However, during his stay in the Aries Villa, he began to see things in another light. The once cold and merciless assassin had found contentment and warmth, not because he completed his assignments, but due to finding someone who genuinely cared for him.

Such enjoyable feelings, sadly, did not last for Rolo. After he regained his memories, he quickly became confused - never had he experienced genuine goodwill from someone else before. It was so incredibly alien to him that he was at an absolute loss - everything that he should be able to carry out with ease, from spying and reporting the movements of his targets, was now done with hesitancy as he constantly doubted himself.

Things only got worse and more muddled for the brown-haired youth after he killed Joseph. Shirley became so withdrawn that the servant rarely saw her while doing his rounds in the villa, but he often heard her whenever he passed her room. The sounds ranged from hysterical crying to quiet sobbing, or silence so deafening that Rolo had an unexplainable desire to enter the bedroom to check in on her. He never did so, of course, because he did not understand the feelings he had - it seemed similar to when she fussed over his wounds. Wasn't that emotion called concern? But why should he worry about his target's well being? Wasn't it absurd and unheard of for an assassin? Rolo tried to sort out his rampant inner thoughts, but it was to no avail. The moment Infinity gave him new directions, he chose to drown out the disorderly emotions within by unquestioningly carrying out his instructions, since he was intimately familiar with his old lifestyle. There was a small voice in his head nagging at him, constantly asking him to reconsider his actions in favour of Shirley. Rolo ignored it, surely there was nothing wrong with obeying Infinity if he wasn't uncomfortable with it.

The persistent voice in his mind refused to let up, causing more of the youth's previous memories flooded his mind – Shirley leaning over him and dabbing medicine on his bruised eye while he laid down on the sand. His first birthday celebration, which led to his first ever gift – the white and gold heart-shaped locket, which he kept to this day. Rolo's pinkish eyes glazed over, a sensation of fondness and satisfaction welled up within him, but it was also tinged with melancholia and bitterness. He angrily shut out such queer emotions out, and firmly chided himself to focus on his mission. Rolo did not know how to deal with the strange sentiments his previous amnesiac personality had, but he prayed that once he executed his master's assignment, it would go away and finally leave him in peace.

Shirley's eyelids fluttered open just in time to hear a gentle thud from the direction of the bedroom door. Instinctively, her right hand darted to her side where Lelouch should be sleeping, but her fingers clung to nothing but warm bedsheets. She propped her unclothed form on the pillow and glanced at the closed door with a small sigh. "He must be making breakfast again." She mused aloud. She was grateful that her boyfriend - no, fiancé, she corrected herself, was considerate as always, but she wished she could have awakened to the sight of his face next to hers more often.

"Picky, picky," the redhead chided herself. Shirley slowly got off the bed, her feet tingling slightly when they laid themselves on the cool surface of the mahogany floor. The chilly autumn breeze against her unclothed frame caused her to shiver. She let out a small yawn as she made her way to the bathroom, intent on taking a hot shower. A strange feeling of deja vu filled her and her heart was suddenly seized by fear, making her freeze in her tracks. The tragic day when she learnt of her father's death was just like this as well. It was a seemingly tranquil morning, Lelouch having left her alone in the bedroom to fix them a morning meal, and they consummated their love the night before.

"A coincidence, don't think about it" Shirley tried to dissuade herself from dwelling on such traumatic memories. "It's so much more peaceful right now compared to last time. Keep thinking like this and you'll be as paranoid as Lulu." The last sentence was not thought without some mirth. Despite trying not to remember anything regarding her father's death, Shirley blanched as she recalled her mother's frenzied words to her in the past. She paused momentarily. "Mother... I should try to talk to her. After all... she's my only parent left..."

Obeying the sudden impulse, Shirley hastily yet gracefully pivoted on her right leg and made a beeline to the bedside table, where her pink cellphone was. She ignored her the annoyed protests of her naked body, which complained about the cold, and punched in her mother's number. It was only when she made the call when she realized that she had no idea how to start the conversation.

However, it was too late to turn back, for the call went through the moment Shirley wondered about the wisdom of trying to reconcile with her mother this early. "..." She opened her mouth awkwardly to speak but did not make a sound. Her tongue suddenly felt dry, and no words came to mind. She only felt astonished that Mary actually picked up her call, and extremely awkward now that neither of them seemed to be able to say anything. The orange-haired teen mentally kicked herself into action despite her own rising discomfort and finally broke the strained silence. "Mom? Mom... are you there?"

"...Yes." Shirley suppressed a sob as tears welled up in her eyes, after hearing her mother's curt response. She had not heard her voice for months. "I'm here, Shirley."

"Oh, mom... I don't know where to start... how are you? Are you doing well?" Shirley winced as she asked the last question. "What was I thinking? Dad passed away not too long ago."

"As well as I could be." There was a short pause. "How about you, Shirley?"

"I'm fine. I'm more worried about you, mom. Are you living alone?"

"Yes. I sold our old house away and moved to an apartment. Your aunts come to visit often, though." Another pause. "And you? Still living with that prince fellow, I assume?"

"Mmhmm, yeah, I'm still with him," Shirley affirmed nervously. She half-expected her mother to explode and start ranting furiously, but nothing was heard from her. "I'm sorry, mom, but despite everything that has occurred, I love him. And..." She inhaled deeply. "We're getting married."

"I see." Her mother replied slowly. Shirley crossed her fingers, praying for the civility and serenity of the conversation to continue. "Well, congratulations, Shirley-"

"Thanks, mom!" Shirley's lips curved themselves into a wide, uncontainable grin. "And um-"

"But I hope you know what you're getting into, and why I didn't approve of it in the first place. It's dangerous, and God forbid, I fear what happened to your father will befall you as well," Mary admonished her only child. She thought of apologising to Shirley about her outburst for wanting to disown her during the funeral, then decided not to bring it up. Her tone softened slightly. "However, if you insist on going through with the marriage... please send me an invitation. I can't possibly miss my own daughter's wedding... regardless of whatever misgivings I may have."

"Mom..." Shirley struggled not to cry. It felt like the wall built up between her and her mother after her father's death had finally crumbled. The estrangement, while she tried not to show it, had hurt her emotionally and to bridge the gap was an enormous relief. "Thank-" The slender girl was interrupted once more, this time not by Mary, but by the piercing shrieking of warning sirens.

"Shirley? What was that?" A disconcerted Mary inquired. Shirley blinked in bewilderment and trepidation, having recognized the disruptive noise as a warning alarm.

Shirley froze as the announcement blared the following words. "Alert! Unidentified and possibly hostile forces are heading directly towards the Aries Villa. All security elements and soldiers man your battle stations. All non-combat staff are to seek refuge in the bunker immediately!"

"We're under attack? Now?" Shirley whispered aloud in disbelief. An intense, cold sensation of dread spread through her body, and her cell phone dropped to the mahogany floor with a loud clatter from her suddenly numb fingers. Despite her fervent prayers, the wailing of the alarms refused to cease.

"I repeat, there is an unidentified and possibly hostile force are heading directly towards the Aries Villa. All security elements and soldiers to battle stations. All non-combat staff are to seek refuge in the bunker immediately!"

"What?! Shirley, get out of there now!" Her mother grew hysterical and started screaming over the phone. Unbeknownst to her, Shirley was no longer listening as panic was threatening to engulf her.

"I thought the Sword of Akasha was crippled. Who's attacking us now?!" The redhead thought in consternation. She took a deep breath to calm her overwrought self, then she flew across the room. Shirley threw on a set of underwear and the nearest bunch of clothing she could find - a sleeveless pink blouse and a white bandage skirt. Her sprinting legs carried her to the drawer next to the bed, and she wasted no time in retrieving a pistol along with two magazines. Shirley stared at the firearm in her uncontrollably shaking fingers for a split second. She hoped that things would not get to the point that she needed to use it before bolting out of the room, desperately trying to make her way to Lelouch.

Amethyst orbs scrutinized the wide monitor screen in the middle of the control room, which displayed a small but not insignificant number of Knightmares flying towards the Aries Villa. Lelouch was not surprised, but still dismayed nonetheless, to see that the enemy forces consisted of mainly Gareths - the same model his own soldiers are using. That meant that whatever technological edge they had in previous encounters has more or less vanished.

"Your Highness, we eagerly await your orders." Lelouch turned around to glance at his men. All of them had looks of absolute confidence and sobriety on their faces. "We will defeat them again with your guidance."

"Very well. Send a distress signal to both the Emperor and Third Princess Euphemia. Dispatch a warning to the unidentified group." The prince instructed. He wouldn't be able to trust whatever reinforcements which came from any other than the two, although troops coming from the former may still be suspect. "Activate all anti-aircraft turrets and howitzers. Darlton, are your Knights all in position?"

"Give us the word, Your Highness," Darlton replied over the communication channel, smirking slightly. He had already was seated in the cockpit of his Gareth. "We shall teach these fools the folly of trying to attack your home a second time."

"Just a moment." Lelouch paused. His eyes narrowed at the screen, noting that despite the rather undersized enemy force - barely above two dozen Knightmares, they were hurtling towards his location at full speed without maintaining any semblance of a formation. "Either they're up to something, or this is nothing but a desperate, last-ditch attempt to off me. Seeing how tenuous his control this Infinity person has over his troops and their sloppy performance during our last encounters, it's much more likely that it is the latter instead of the former," he mused aloud. His own troops slightly outnumbered them, and combined with his other defences such as turrets, a head-on attack by them would only lead to a crystal-clear outcome. It would only be a matter of time before the Sword of Akasha was wiped out.

"Darlton. We'll use similar tactics as before. Your troops will rise above the enemy forces and spread out before engaging them in a semi-circular formation. Try to force them to group up, which makes them easier pickings for the anti-aircraft turrets. Now, move out!"

"Yes, Your Highness!" With that, all thirty-two Gareths of Lelouch's defence forces launched out of the hangars behind the villa into the open sky, and they began to ascend rapidly to gain altitude before turning to face the nearing hostile forces. "Take note, boys, the enemy not only has the same models as us, they have the same paint job," Darlton addressed his own subordinates. "So don't be an idiot and accidentally blast one of our own. It's going to be chaotic, but we have an IFF system for that sort of thing."

"Aye, General."

Back in the control room, Lelouch continued to watch the encroaching forces. Now that they were closer, he could count them properly - and his estimate was right, there were only eighteen Gareth models. They were still outnumbered. "Did they have any response to our warning messages?"

"No, Your Highness. We sent it to them thrice, to no reply."

"From now on, we shall regard them as hostile. It's likely that they're from the Sword of Akasha. Darlton, order your Knights to spread out and assume a semi-circular formation. Has there been any word from the Emperor or the Third Princess?"

"None from Her Highness, but His Majesty did give us a notification that he would be sending reinforcements shortly…" One of the operators responded. He then glanced at the radar displayed on his screen again. "Speaking of which, there are three Knightmare models coming from the direction of the imperial palace, Your Highness."

"Three? His Majesty must be feeling rather stingy today," Lelouch furrowed his brows. Even during critical events such as this, he could not help but be snide when talking about his father. "Could you identify them?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Two Gareths… and leading them is the Percival!" The operator's tone grew excited.

"The Percival?!" The dark-haired adolescent leaned forward in amazement. The Percival was a personalized Knightmare frame belonging to Luciano Bradley, who held the title of the Knight of Ten. That meant that one of the foremost elite unit of the Britannian forces, the Knights of the Round Table, is going to be involved in the coming battle. Most men would be elated over the news of one of the Knights of the Round would be assisting them, but Lelouch was far from most men. In fact, his expression darkened, his enthusiasm morphing into suspicion. "Percival, piloted by Luciano Bradley… Do not mark that group as friendly! Consider them potential adversaries until I say otherwise!"

"Your Highness?"

"It's too strange," Lelouch murmured. Luciano Bradley may be one of the most elite Knightmare pilots, but he also carried the reputation of being extremely bloodthirsty, aggressive and sadistic, resulting in his behaviour earning him the title "Vampire of Britannia". Which made him a more than viable candidate for a servant of the elitist terrorist group. "If the Emperor really hated the Sword of Akasha as he should, he wouldn't just send three units…!"

"The battle has begun, Your Highness! The unidentified Gareths opened fire on General Darlton!" Lelouch took a quick glance at the monitor before he was forced to concentrate on what to do with the Percival. The Knight of Ten would arrive in the battlefield in less than two minutes. At least, from what little he glimpsed, they were winning the battle.

"Divert the three easternmost anti-aircraft turrets away from the fight. Lock on to the Percival, but do not fire until it reacts." The prince watched steadily as the turrets shifted their barrels away from the ongoing battle before locking on to the Percival. His worst fears were realized when the moment the Percival received notification that it was being targeted, the Knightmare simply utilized its hip-mounted Hadron cannons to fire three quick beams of crimson energy. The stationary turrets were, of course, nothing but sitting ducks, and they were promptly reduced to shards of flaming metal.

"We've lost Turret A2, A4 and B4, Your Highness!"

"Shit!" Lelouch swore under his breath. He glared at the source of his frustration as it flew straight at Darlton's troops. If Luciano and the other two Gareths came after the Emperor promising to send reinforcements, it only could mean two things. It was either he was a liar or that Infinity had done something in the Royal Palace. If it was the latter, then Infinity must have anticipated his call for reinforcements and answered it before Charles got to it. This attack did not have the makings of a usual Sword of Akasha attack - it was too well-coordinated and planned, lacking the typical brazenness and simplicity of their previous attempts. He crossed his fingers while he watched the battle unfold before his eyes for a few seconds. He just hoped that Darlton would be able to hold Bradley back until reinforcements came. "Still no word from Princess Euphemia?"

"None, Your Highness. Shall we call for reinforcements from them again?"

"Don't bother. The enemy has probably jammed our comms," Lelouch gritted his teeth in frustration. This was no last-resort attack by the enemy. It must have been orchestrated by someone with a sound tactical mind and part of the royal family to boot since the individual had to be aware of the frequencies both Euphemia and Charles were operating on to jam them. He was starting to have an extremely unpleasant feeling about the situation - their adversaries possessed greater piloting skill than his troops, they appeared to be collaborating much better than before and he lost all contact with his allies.

"Lulu!" Lelouch blinked in startlement. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he failed to hear the door slide open. Shirley stood in the doorway, holding the side of the doorway for support and gasping for air - evidently, she had sprinted on her way to the control room. "What's going on?"

The prince's expression of surprise slipped away, to be replaced by one of severeness. "Shirley, you shouldn't be here. I need you to evacuate as soon as possible."

"Why?" Now it was Shirley's turn to be surprised. "You allowed me to be here the last time we were under atta-"

"That's different," Lelouch interrupted calmly but firmly. "I was supremely confident that victory was certain for us the previous time. However, I cannot promise you the same for the outcome of today's battle. I might lose this time."

"All the more I want to stay with you!"

"I cannot permit it."

"But-!"

"I'm sorry, Shirley, but I cannot afford to be distracted. Utmost concentration is vital for this," Lelouch turned away to face the screen again. It would be harder for him to be unyielding if he looked at her. "I wouldn't be able to focus if I'm constantly worried about your well-being."

Emotions flitted across Shirley's face - disappointment, exasperation and determination. She started to take a step forward and her fiance sighed heavily. "Jeremiah, please show her the way to the bunker and the secret escape route." The hulking cyborg stepped out from the corner of the room. "Once you're done, return here. I may need you to deploy in a spare Knightmare."

"Lulu!" Shirley protested.

"Come on, Miss Fenette," Jeremiah requested as he tugged gently on her arm. Shirley did not respond and continued staring at Lelouch's back incredulously. "I understand how you feel, but what His Highness says isn't wrong.. A strategist like him requires him to make decisions based on logic, not sentiment. He can't afford to be concerned about you right now, as cold as that sounds."

Shirley hesitated before she nodded slowly. With a final and wordless glance at her lover, she tore her eyes away from him and sighed, shifting to face Jeremiah. The Margrave gave her a small, reassuring smile as he began escorting her out of the control room.

"Alright! As long as we keep this up and we'll eventually win!" Darlton barked words of encouragement to his soldiers. Another enemy Gareth went spiralling to the earth before it detonated into smithereens, its remains scattered over the grounds of the villa. He would hate to be part of the crew who had to clean up the grounds later. So far, they have already destroyed three enemy units without losing a single one of their own. He had to admit that they were relatively much more skilled than before. Additionally, although they were the ones who instigated the fight, they were often on the defensive and evasive - almost as though they didn't want to fight. It was mystifying.

"Darlton!" Lelouch's voice blared through the communication channel, and Darlton winced. His eardrums throbbed from the sheer volume of Lelouch's yelling.

"What is it, Your Highness?"

"The Percival is here, and it's siding with the enemy. Be careful! It already destroyed three of our turrets!"

"Come again?" Darlton furrowed his eyebrows, perplexed. A Knight of Round in the mainland instead of being on the frontlines of Britannia's conquest, and as an accomplice with the Sword of Akasha to boot? He risked glancing away from the raging dogfight and spotted the Knightmare in question almost instantly. The purple and white Knightmare, soared towards them, poised to strike with its quad claw in its right arm. The Percival plunged into the chaos of the melee like a hurricane. Its quad claw and slash harkens lashed out at lightning speed, tearing three of the defenders' Knightmares apart in a heartbeat.

"Bastard!" Darlton roared in horror and anger at seeing his men so easily defeated. Even as the word left his mouth, the Percival fired its missiles, which collided head-on with two more of the defenders. Either they were too slow or too nonplussed by the sight of the Percival, and they failed to evade the incoming projectiles. Both Gareths took the missiles head-on, and lost their heads, leading them to spiral down to the ground thousands of feet a moment, it felt as though every participant in the battlefield had paused, with all eyes on the Percival, which hovered in the sky idly, its armour shining resplendently in the mid-morning sun. In less than twenty seconds, it alone accomplished the elimination of approximately fifteen percent of Darlton's knights.

"Sir Bradley… is that you?" The scarred General narrowed his eyes before he asked, establishing a communication channel with the Percival.

"Oh, hello, General Darlton. Princess Cornelia's number two dog," Luciano greeted disparagingly. He made the Percival wave mockingly. "Shocking! To think that you're so far away from Her Highness's heel. What are you doing here anyway? Or are you simply too old for Cornelia's tastes nowadays?"

Darlton did not rise to Luciano's bait. "Why do you serve the Sword of Akasha now? They are working against the Britannian Royal Family, and thus they should be your enemy as a Knight of the Round Table!"

"Are you an ignorant idiot, Darlton? The person behind the Sword of Akasha is part of the Royal Family! Thus, I'm technically still serving them by fighting you, you know?. So when there's a conflict between members of royalty..." The Percival reconfigured its quad claw, splitting the four blades evenly along its right wrist before all of them began spinning rapidly to form a drill. "I'll simply choose the side which is more fun for me!"

Darlton wasted no more time on exchanging words, and quickly targeted the Percival, firing his Gareth's hadron cannon at it. However, the unique Knightmare frame was able to dodge the reddish energy beam with ease by shifting to the side. The movement almost seemed lazy. "You might want to try again, you old fart! Although I wonder about your choice to provoke me. My Knightmare can run circles around yours, and let's not bring piloting ability into this."

"Even so…" The General growled and unleashed a plethora of missiles, hadron cannon blasts and machine gun fire at the Percival. Once more, none of Darlton's attacks hit its target. "I'm the only one who can hold you back. The rest of you!" He addressed his remaining twenty-four knights. "Take care of all these small fries!" He knew that he had little hope in besting a Knight of the Round Table, but if the Percival was allowed to run rampant, they would be lucky if they lasted longer than three minutes. He had to hold him at bay and hope that his men could eliminate the rest of the enemies before all of them can gang up on Luciano. "Don't even think of helping me out on this one until every other enemy is dead! That's an order!"

"Hmph, you must have a death wish!" Luciano snorted with glee. "However, it'll be amusing to be able to see you squirm! I hope you can at least put up an entertaining fight! Come at me!"

The control's room door slid open again, announcing the return of Jeremiah. He strode back to Lelouch's side, who was engrossed with managing the battle. "How's the situation, Your Highness?"

"Terrible. We just lost eight of our own, five to the Percival. General Darlton is now engaging Luciano in single combat," Lelouch replied grimly, still examining the screen as the battle unfolded before him.

"Is Shirley safe?"

"She's in the bunker right now, and I've already shown her the escape route."

"Thank you, Margrave Gottwald."

"Please allow me to deploy, Your Highness. I assure you, my skill in Knightmare combat would not disappoint you."

Lelouch mulled over his bodyguard's request, then shook his head. "I need you here, Jeremiah. Just in case there's a secondary group of terrorists infiltrating the villa. I wouldn't put it past them to attempt cutting off the head of the snake."

"As you wish, Your Highness."

"...I'm a jerk, aren't I, Margrave Gottwald?"

Jeremiah cocked his head at Lelouch in surprise, then it dawned on him that the royal was not referring to his decision to make the Margrave stay. "Are you referring to your conversation with Miss Fenette earlier?" His liege did not reply, instead, he scowled silently at the screen, observing the Percival lazily flying around Darlton's Gareth. The cyborg took silence as consent. "You should be focusing on the fight, Your Highness. Besides, I'm sure she understands how you feel."

Lelouch shook his head, then let out a chuckle. "You're right. All forces except General Darlton split up into groups of four! Every group is to focus fire on an enemy unit." The raven-haired prince turned towards the operators. "Segregate the remaining turrets into groups as well. Use them to provide suppressing fire to keep the rest of the enemies away when the Knightmares are ganging up on an enemy unit." He required his troops to swiftly whittle away at the enemy forces. Darlton would not last long against a Knight of the Round Table, and right now with his current assets, the only way they could defeat the Percival is by using sheer numbers.

Rolo ducked instinctively as another Gareth crashed into the ground before erupting in an enormous fireball. The platoon of Sword of Akasha terrorists, which numbered slightly over twoscore, mirrored his movements. He wondered whether Infinity took the risk of him and the platoon being flattened by a falling Knightmare into account as they hastily but cautiously made their way towards the Aries Villa.

"How much longer?" The leader of the platoon asked Rolo impatiently. "We've been walking the grounds for almost twenty minutes!"

"It's just right up ahead. You can see it for yourself," Rolo answered with a hint of irritation. He raised a gloved finger and pointed towards their destination. He was unable to pinpoint a reason for his annoyance with his comrades, but he didn't care anyway.

"Right. I'll trust your word." The older man huffed and beckoned his men behind him to follow. All of them were dressed in a combat armour, its colour a purple so dark that it almost looked black. It would normally be the ideal garb to wear when infiltrating an enemy base at night, but in the bright of day, all it did was make them stand out like sore thumbs. It was all Rolo could do to stop himself from mentally writing them off as a group of imbeciles. However, Infinity assured him that regardless of what the assassin thought of them, they were not useless fanatics, unlike a good chunk of the Sword of Akasha.

The reason why they were taking so long to reach the Aries Villa after entering its grounds was that of a massive black box, which took six of them to carry. It was roughly the size of a single bed but weighed close to a hundred kilograms. Inside it was the latest and most experimental of Infinity's devices - an electromagnetic pulse bomb. The bomb itself, however, was neither nuclear nor sakuradite based, thus its effective radius was nothing more than a measly two-kilometre radius. It would have been a far more respectable area of effect if it was explosive, but for an armament targeting units in aerial combat, it was not exactly ideal. Once more, Rolo just had to trust in his master's plan.

"Halt!" The platoon leader brought up a hand as they reached two hundred metres away from the villa's main entrance. They were still partly hidden by a cluster of trees - any closer and they would be too visible to anyone keeping watch in the house. He began using a pair of binoculars to check whether any of Lelouch's guards remained via the window. "There's a pair of hostiles behind the door, standing near a staircase. They're armed with rifles."

"Fine. I'll go ahead and take out those two. Do not move into the villa until I give the signal." Without waiting for a reply, Rolo leapt out and sprinted towards his destination. The two imperial guards frowned in confusion as the assassin, still clad in his servant clothes, ran up to the front door and started knocking frantically. He hoped that one of them would recognize him and open the entrance - and the moment that happens, he would set off the bombs he had placed in the villa earlier. His left hand is already in his pocket, his thumb on the detonator.

Luck appeared to be on Rolo's side. One of the guards, after conversing animatedly with the other, hastened towards the mahogany double doors which were the main entrance and opened them. "Working in the grounds when they came, weren't you? Well, hurry up and come-" Rolo pressed the detonator, and instantly there was an earth-shattering roar as all of the explosives were triggered. The unsuspecting guards winced as their ears rang painfully and they fought to keep their balance - which was when Rolo decided to strike. He plunged into his pocket, retrieving a small dagger before he thrust it at the soldier who opened the door for him. The guard's eyes widened in shock as the blade buried itself deep inside his gut. The assassin swiftly withdrew the dagger and slashed at his enemy's neck for good measure. As his second adversary registered what happened, Rolo hurled the dagger at him with unerring aim, stabbing through his forehead, skull and his brain with seemingly equal ease.

Rolo hurried outside and made a series of beckoning gestures at the area where the Sword of Akasha raid team was hiding. They did not have much time. While the bombs destroyed all of the villa's surveillance cameras, Lelouch certainly would not take it as a coincidence and would assume that a secondary strike force had slipped into his abode. The terrorists had numbers and the element of surprise on their side, but that would not last long. "Section Alpha is to deploy the EMP bomb in the highest level of the villa! Bravo and Charlie, split up into two teams each and hold back the enemies! If Margrave Gottwald appears, maintain distance and use armour-piercing rounds and grenades! Let's go!"

The cold stone walls of the bunker did little to ease Shirley's anxiety. She paced up and down in her restlessness, sulking at her grey surroundings resentfully. The chamber was almost empty, save for an elderly male servant with balding grey hair. Everyone else had made haste to evacuate through the secret passage, which led to the grounds near the back gate. Shirley, however, refused to leave yet, for she did not want to leave Lelouch behind, regardless of whether they won or lost the battle. She merely heeded his advice to alleviate him of any further stress of him worrying about her, so as to give him a peace of mind. She was less than pleased that Lelouch still wanted to mollycoddle her, but she dismissed such petty thoughts. They were supposed to go through thick and thick together as a couple, and husband and wife soon. The prince's concern for her was obviously understandable, though nonetheless, the orange-haired teen was determined to sort it out next time.

"Lady Fenette," the servant mumbled, hobbling over to her side. "Please, we should really follow the rest and escape. There's little point in staying in here. It's dangerous."

"I know," Shirley groaned and paused her endless pacing. "But Lulu… looks so uncertain over the outcome of this fight. I never saw him like this when it comes to confronting the Sword of Akasha. Usually, he's bursting with confidence, always one step in front of them. Now he's perturbed…"

"You're hesitant to leave His Highness behind, are you not? I comprehend that, but what can you do, Lady Fenette? Besides, if we really are defeated, there's no doubt that we'd be imprisoned or slaughtered! I'm sure that His Highness would want you to escape unscathed. If we win anyway, we can simply return to the villa and continue living."

"What can I do…" Shirley murmured. She reached into her pocket, withdrawing the small pistol given to her by Darlton when he brought her to firearms training in the shooting range. Her eyebrows furrowed as she studied the weapon before her. Perhaps it was finally time for her to use it. After months after acquiring it, it never did anything save for shooting targets in the range.

"You can't be serious, Lady Fenette. Leave that unsavoury job to the soldiers. They're far better suited for such a role."

"I can't think that way! They have always been risking their lives, as well as Lulu, to protect this place. I won't simply stay back comfortably. I want to contribute too!" Shirley rambled, irked by her only companion. The servant sigh but did not reply - for he wouldn't be able to there was a series of earsplitting rumbles. Both the adolescent and elder lost balance and were sent tumbling to the ground as the entire house seemed to shake.

Shirley was the first among the two to recover, and she jumped to her feet. Within a few strides, she made her way to the servant, who was mumbling in agitation and helped him up. "What a tremor! What could have caused it?"

"I don't know," Shirley's brows knitted themselves together in unease. She turned towards the surveillance system in the bunker, but all of the cameras showed nothing but static. Her sense of foreboding deepening, she stood still in silence, straining her ears in a hopeful attempt to hear anything that could enlighten her of the current situation. After the first minute or so, she finally heard a barely audible series of crackling sounds. Although it was heavily muffled due to the bunker being underground, the sound was somehow vaguely familiar to her - peridot green eyes widened in alarm as she identified them as gunshots.

"They're here. They've entered the villa." Shirley whispered to herself, horrified. It meant that Lelouch was in immediate danger since most of the guards are deployed in the Knightmares, leaving her fiancé close to defenceless. That last line of thought was all that she needed. With her pistol in hand, she charged at the exit of the bunker.

"Miss Fenette! What are you doing?!"

"You go on ahead! Lulu's in danger!" Shirley called over her shoulder. To her surprise, her own legs came to a halt the moment she reached towards the door handle. It took her two seconds to realize that despite her brave words, she was trembling in nervousness. "I can't stop now. This is my fight too!" With a deep breath, Shirley banished her fear and wrenched the door open, dashing out to the smoke-filled corridor without a hint of hesitation. She did not look back.

"Missed again, Darlton," Luciano taunted. The Percival once more effortlessly evaded a reddish beam of energy. "And that was your sixth shot! Now I see why Princess Cornelia chose to bring Guilford with her over you. I approve of her choice, really. Leaving a doddering old fool like you behind would be a wise choice, since you would be nothing but a liability!"

Darlton tried his best to ignore the mocking words of his opponent. While he was smart enough not to let the opponent's words get to him, he had to acknowledge the superior skill of the Knight of Ten. Throughout his fifteen years of his career as a soldier, and near a decade of it as a Knightmare pilot, he had never faced a foe as formidable as Luciano before. The general had nearly a decade worth of Knightmare piloting experience under his belt, and he did not manage to scratch the Percival not even once since five minutes ago when he decided to take Luciano on. "Shut up and fight me instead, Bradley!"

"Aww, but don't you find our waltz fun?"

"You've been doing nothing except being on the defensive." The grizzled general allowed him a small smile. Perhaps it was his turn to attempt to get under his enemy's skin. "Or are you a mere coward only capable of running away? They should've called you the Fowl of Britannia instead!"

"What was that?" Luciano's tone changed. It was no longer mocking nor playful. There was an undercurrent of anger now - the Knight of Ten was affronted. Darlton congratulated himself. Hopefully, his enemy would make some unwise or easy to read moves while blinded by impatience and anger. "You dare make fun of me? You wouldn't last three seconds against me if I took this fight serio- agh!"

Darlton seized the opportunity to fire his hadron cannons at the Percival while its pilot was talking. Unfortunately for the former, despite the extremely short time window to respond, Luciano shifted the Percival sideways, causing the general's attack merely grazed the sides of the Knightmare.

"Damn it…" Darlton cursed under his breath. He did not really expect the fight to end there and then, but he was anticipating to inflict at least some significant damage that would give Luciano a handicap. "Bradley is indeed above my league..."

"That's it! Attempting to take me out while I'm talking? You're ruining the sanctity of our duel!"

"Hypocrite." Darlton did not believe that Luciano practised the concept of honour. Any man with the title "Vampire of Britannia" would be doubted of such anyway.

"I was going to go easy on you, but I've changed my mind. It's time for me to take the thing most precious to you." The Percival's quad claws began spinning rapidly again, forming a deadly drill. "Your life!"

Darlton did not retort, for he barely had time to do anything else except empty his entire arsenal of weaponry as the Percival came charging towards him. Engaging it in melee combat would be suicidal since both the pilot and his machine favoured close-quarters combat. Missiles and Hadron cannon blasts flew at the purple and white Knightmare, but the former was quickly destroyed by the Percival's own hadron cannons while it avoided the latter.

As the Percival rapidly closed the distance between itself and its target, it released a slew of missiles, all of which seemingly missed the Gareth. Darlton, however, paid the missiles no mind - he had to desperately fire his slash harkens at his adversary to buy some time for himself. To his dismay, his move proved to be futile as Luciano mimicked his movements, and both mecha's slash harkens ended up colliding uselessly against each other. The older male's eyes widened in both shock and awe at the reflexes displayed by his adversary. "Your life is mine!" Luciano crowed triumphantly, thrusting the drill at the Gareth's cockpit.

Darlton, while outclassed, was no slouch either and thus managed to avoid Luciano's killing blow, although he was only partially successful. While certain death was avoided, the Gareth's right arm was sheared off by the Percival's drill. The Gareth hefted the Hadron cannon in its remaining arm, pointed it at the Percival and let it loose.

Or rather he tried to. Just as Darlton attempted to fire, six missiles came flying towards the Gareth's left side. Four of them missed - but the rest all landed on its target. One smashed into the Knightmare's last arm, while the other crashed itself on its left leg. The Gareth was sent reeling through the sky from the impact while emitting smoke, now only possessing its right leg as the sole intact limb.

Darlton was stunned. "How…?" He looked up and saw that his adversary's six missile tubes were smoking slightly. Bradley must have anticipated that his attack would be evaded and fired the missiles as a countermeasure in case the General managed to get take advantage of his enemy's missed attack to retaliate. The Knight of Ten had somehow estimated the area his opponent would be in and sent the projectiles in the general direction in such a trajectory so that they would not be visible from Darlton's front.

"I told you. You're not even on my level. You're nothing but trash." Luciano's voice returned to its mocking, arrogant tone. "Perish like the garbage you are, Andreas Darlton!" The Percival immediately resumed its offence by charging again.

"Crap… I already lost…!" For what it felt like the thousandth time to Darlton, he found himself forced to use evasive manoeuvres again. The Percival closed in on him like a whirlwind and its drill slashed down at the smaller Knightmare. The tip barely scratched the torso of the Gareth, but the Percival's followup attack was far more successful. Its head-mounted slash harken launched just as the mech completed the slash, and with the shrieking sound of metal being shredded, it impaled the Gareth inches away from the cockpit.

The General groaned at the one-sidedness of the battle with slumped shoulders before he hastily utilised the cockpit ejection system of his mech. Just as the escape pod launched, its path of descent directed towards the Aries Villa, his Gareth finally exploded into smithereens. "Sir Darlton! Damn you!" The Percival turned to see half a dozen other Gareths flying towards him. Darlton's men clearly did not take the defeat of their General easily and are looking to avenge his loss.

Luciano bared his teeth and itched to make short work of the oncoming enemies, but he had to keep himself in check, at least for now. He eyed the area where the main battle was occurring, and he realized the Sword of Akasha was slowly but surely getting routed by Lelouch's knights, even with six of the latter leaving the fight to take him on. "Alright men, that's enough!" He announced, broadcasting his message to all of the terrorist forces. "We're fighting a losing battle here. Retreat! Retreat!"

"Don't think of running away, you filth! Vengeance for General Darlton!" The imperial troops, upon noticing that their adversaries began fleeing the battlefield, immediately gave pursuit. They relentlessly chased after their opponents, firing barrage after barrage of cannon blasts and missiles.

"Stop! All units, cease pursuit of enemy troops! I repeat all units are to cease pursuit of enemy troops immediately!" Lelouch's voice blared, startling his Knights. Most of them paused in consternation, while a minor few were too incensed to heed his orders and continued to chase after the Sword of Akasha.

"With all due respect, Your Highness, why?! We're finally beginning to chip at their numbers! We should run them down and crush them like the vermin they are!"

"That's an order! Cease all pursuit and form a defensive ring around the villa at once!" The prince shouted, slamming his fist on the table. The mounting pressure was starting to get to him - moments ago, there was a continuous series of explosions, and accompanying it was a huge tremor and all of the surveillance cameras were destroyed. Suspecting an infiltration, Lelouch had sent Jeremiah ahead to investigate and intercept them if it was true. And now the Sword of Akasha Knightmares were retreating for seemingly no good reason - such a move was simply too odd. "Something is wrong. They came here as a last-ditch attempt to kill me, and their secondary forces already managed to shut down all my surveillance cameras and infiltrate the complex. Plus they even enlisted the help of the Knight of Ten. Why would they retreat now? For a bunch of fanatics, they're showing far too little fighting spirit especially now that the odds aren't tipped in my favour. What the hell is Infinity up to?"

Lelouch glared at the fleeing forms in the distance before he resumed instructing his soldiers. "We don't have a clear advantage - the Percival has not even been damaged at all! Do not be baited into distancing yourself away from the villa, now that there is a possibility that the terrorists have entered!"

"Yes, Your Highness." It took a few moments for Darlton's angry subordinates to settle down, but nonetheless, they did not chase their opponents. The remaining seventeen Gareths formed a spherical cluster around the villa, and Lelouch finally allowed himself to feel slightly reassured.

Whatever relief the young tactician had downright vanished in the next second. All of the lights and air conditioning of the control room sputtered and failed, and so did all the monitors, screens and other electrical appliances. The room was plunged into darkness, and several operators squawked in surprise or yelled in fear. Lelouch blinked in stupefaction. There was yet another series of tremors, this time significantly more violent. He crouched down to balance himself while his mind realized that the possibility of its cause was his Knightmares crashing to the ground. "Is this… an electromagnetic pulse bomb?" He studied the theory of such a weapon before, but no one had managed to invent such a device before - until today, it seemed.

"Damn it!" Lelouch punched the floor in frustration, ignoring the pain it brought to his knuckles. He had been played like a fool by Infinity, and now he undoubtedly lost the battle. "Damn it all!" He halted himself from punching the floor again. Now was not the time to wallow in despair. The Sword of Akasha troopers would be rushing to capture him, and not even Jeremiah could save him now. The electromagnetic pulse bomb would have caused most of his systems to cease functioning, including life support. "Everyone! Grab anything that can be used as a weapon! Destroy all of our hard drives you can find! We must not allow them to fall into the wrong hands. Once done, we're moving to the bunker now!"

The terrified operators, driven by fear, quickly did what they were told, gunning down their hard drives and scrambling towards the exit. Most of them were armed with at least a pistol, so hopefully, the two dozen of them would be able to make it to the bunker with minimal losses. Once the last operator left his seat, Lelouch turned towards the exit as well. "Draw your weapons. We open the door on the count of three. Three. Two-" The prince was cut off as the door blew off its hinges, and multiple black-garbed men charged in, with assault rifles blazing.

"Eliminate them all except Prince Lelouch!" A voice which was familiar to Lelouch ordered firmly. While the operators outnumbered the terrorists two to one, most of them were inexperienced combatants, and worst of all, they were caught by surprise and some were paralyzed by shock. The eleventh prince, too, was immobilized, but only for a fleeting moment. He quickly adopted a shooting stance and fired three shots at an interloper, which struck his sternum and stomach. The terrorist yelped in pain as he went down, and Lelouch experienced a fleeting rush of satisfaction, until another enemy aimed a shot at his pistol, sending his handgun jerking out of his grip.

Lelouch swore at the top of his lungs, the expletive easily went unheard in the chaotic gunfight. He searched around wildly for the nearest available firearm and dived towards it. However, before his fingers could curl around the handle, he found himself staring down a barrel of a submachine gun. "Don't move! It's over!" The familiar voice demanded. Amethyst eyes slowly swivelled to his assailant, and they widened in shocked recognition.

"Come on. On your feet, Yo- Lelouch." Rolo coolly prodded at the prince with the tip of his firearm, his face seemingly devoid of emotion. The younger adolescent was still wearing his black-and-white servant's suit, with a much larger rifle slung on his back, which only irked the royal further.

"You." Lelouch made no attempt to move from his position. It was all he could do to stop his voice from shaking in rage. "You were a double agent all along?" He glanced around his surroundings and registered that every operator was lying dead. Most of them did not even manage to fire a single round. "So this is how it ends, huh? Betrayed and defeated. Nunnally… Shirley… I'm sorry. I failed." He thought bitterly.

"Yes," Rolo Haliburton nodded slowly, still with that stone cold expression. A savage impulse to punch him in the face took hold of Lelouch, propelling the adolescent royal to his feet. The Sword of Akasha terrorists instantly overpowered him, seizing his arms roughly and cuffing him. He glared at Rolo venomously, struggling not to flinch from the vigorous handling of his captors. "Now, where is Shirley?"

"What makes you think I'm going telling you a damn thing?!" The hapless prince snarled as he writhed about, seeking to throw off his captors to no avail.

"Fine. Your cooperation isn't required to locate her anyway. She'll find us instead." From what Rolo knew of Shirley's personality over the past few months, there was no doubt that if word of Lelouch's capture reached her ears, she would attempt to rescue him.

"Leave her alone, Haliburton!" Lelouch roared and renewed his futile struggles. "She has nothing to do with this!"

"My master's orders. Now, inform the Knightmare team to relay news of Lelouch's capture to the remaining enemies through their speakers. And while we're at it, take him away," Rolo waved the protesting royal off. For a moment, Lelouch caught a glimmer of what looked like resignation in the assassin's eyes. As four of the Sword of Akasha troops dragged the prince away, Rolo tossed the submachine gun away, adjusting the sling of his second weapon, revealing it to be a black, sleek semi-automatic sniper rifle. He grasped it firmly with his gloved hands and strode forward purposefully. There was still one last objective for him to complete.

"Rargh!" A dark-haired terrorist gasped in pain as a gunshot rang out in the corridor. He crashed into the blue carpeted floor, which was starting to get stained with crimson as his lifeblood spilt from his right shoulder. "Damn… you…!" He transferred his submachine gun to his left hand and tried to lift it to shoot back at his attacker, but he never got the chance. There was another thunderclap, and his head slammed to the ground, his eyes rolling back as the bullet ripped through his throat, mangling his windpipe and oesophagus.

Shirley panted heavily, eyeing the corpse of the infiltrator with enlarged green eyes. Bile rose within her throat and despite her nausea, she suppressed the urge to vomit. Her arms were trembling, causing the pistol to nearly drop from her tenuous grip. It was the first time she had taken the life of another. "It's just like what they said. It's far easier to shoot at the range than a living person," she mumbled to herself.

The extremist came charging towards her when she turned around the corner, and clearly, he was just as caught off guard as her. Somehow, she was the first one to fire. Shirley could not exactly remember how it happened - it all seemed like a blur to her. It felt just like in her firearms simulations, spot the target, raise the gun, squeeze the trigger twice to ensure the kill. It was only after the enemy was dead then she realised that she took the life of another human being.

"Come on, get yourself together!" The slender teenager tried to banish her horror and shock. "I need to get to Lulu's side as fast as I can!" A mental picture of her fiance in the hands of the Sword of Akasha flashed in her mind, and that alone was sufficient enough to get her shuddering legs to resume sprinting again.

However, just as Shirley lurched forward, three black-garbed men came charging around the corner. For a brief moment, they stared at each other, startled at each other's sudden appearance. "There she is! Freeze!" One of them quickly got over his surprise and shouted, raising his rifle to fire two warning shots at her. Obviously, she had no intention of heeding their words. Without thinking, she hastily dived towards the left in an instinctive attempt to dodge the bullets fired at her direction but ended up colliding with the wall instead, much to her adversaries' bemusement.

"Get up." A slightly disoriented Shirley felt a gloved hand wrest her weapon away before grasping and tugging at her upper arm. "You're coming with us." The masked visages of the terrorists stared down at her, two muzzles of assault rifles nearly touching her forehead. She gave no verbal response - only physical ones, kicking and clawing at the trio with her free hand while trying to wrestle her right arm away. To her bafflement, she succeeded doing so effortlessly, but the credit was not hers. More gunshots rang out and the terrorists collapsed in a bloody heap, all three of them terminated so suddenly that they did not even manage to face their attackers. The redhead glanced around in bewilderment, and it didn't take her long to pinpoint her saviours.

"Darlton!" Shirley couldn't be any happier to see the general and his men. Most of them were covered with cuts and abrasions, Darlton included. She scrambled to her feet while the group of imperial guards trudged forward, lowering their weapons - which mainly consisted of pistols.

"Glad we could make it in time, Miss Fenette," the scarred general rumbled, pocketing his handgun and bending down to pick up one of the terrorists' assault rifles. He inspected the gun before rummaging through the corpses for additional ammunition, tossing them and the other dropped rifles to his subordinates.

"Do you know what's going on?"

"We've lost the Knightmare fight, and all communications with the command has been severed. Margrave Gottwald is nowhere in sight, but I don't think we can count on him - whatever shut down all of our Knightmares probably affected him as well. We might chance upon him crawling somewhere. Most importantly, the enemy has informed us that His Highness has already been captured," Darlton said heavily. He did not see the point of mincing his words, for he wanted Shirley to understand the gravity of the situation. The officer noticed her stricken expression and added in a more reassuring tone. "Don't worry, Miss Fenette. We'll take it from here. I suggest that we escort you to the bunker, where you can seek refuge. It's dangerous out here."

"... Why does everyone keep telling me to hide while they risk their lives…?" Shirley asked quietly, her tone carrying an undercurrent of pent-up irritation and unhappiness.

"It's our job to protect both of your lives. Now, you must get goi-" Darlton extended a gloved hand towards Shirley.

"Enough!" Shirley snapped in response, forcefully swatting the General's outstretched hand away. The military officer was taken aback - he did expect her to argue, but Darlton never witnessed her this incensed before. "I'm going with you all to rescue him, and nothing you people can say will convince me otherwise!"

"Calm down, Miss Fe-"

"Calm down?! He's my fiance, Darlton!"

"Your concern and resolve are commendable, but please let me explain first," Darlton held up his hand firmly. He scrutinized the lithe teenager before him for a brief moment. "We'll let them come to us instead."

"Wha-"

"We'll be on the defensive. Prince Lelouch is most likely secured by them already, and going out there with all the Knightmares is suicide. However, they haven't blown the house up yet, so I guess they still require something from us… perhaps they're after you as well. Thus, I propose we head to the bunker and use it as a defensive position. If we hold out long enough, reinforcements may arrive and the tides would turn against them."

"Oh…" Shirley paused, mildly embarrassed at being interrupted mid-tirade. "What if no one is coming to help us…?"

"The certainty of death versus a slim chance at victory," Darlton's expression was grim. "I think we all agree we prefer the latter. Besides, a siege on a residence of royalty would definitely not go unnoticed and unpunished."

"What if they just wanted to capture him and leave? Then we'll just be sitting around for nothing…"

"The presence of their troops here say otherwise," Darlton tilted his head to the cadavers of terrorists. "Even if that is untrue, we can't face Knightmares with these rifles."

"Right, they didn't kill me on sight. They wanted to capture me..." Shirley bit on her lip. She was no strategist, but it was the most sound plan they had at the moment. However, the thought of leaving Lelouch in the hands of the Sword of Akasha for even just a split second was dreadful to her, to say the least. "I can't just leave him behind…" Her fists were clenched, and her tone was laden with anxiety.

"Believe me, none of us wants to, but any other alternative is a death sentence. We need to leave now. This corridor is far from a good place to mount a defence." Darlton tugged gently at his charge's upper arm, but she did not budge an inch. "Come on-" At that precise moment, his trained ears caught the faint but gradually growing sound of many pairs of booted feet stomping. "Move!" The General spared no finesse in tightening his grip on her arm, dragging Shirley along with him as he sprinted towards the other end of the corridor, where he and his men came from. The soldiers under his command were startled for a fraction of a second before they followed his lead.

Their sudden movement was almost too late, for a moment later, a thundering hailstorm of bullets blanketed the area where Darlton stood. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for three of his men - they were a fraction of a second slower than their general, and they paid the price for that heavily by having their bodies riddled with rifle rounds. Darlton could not spare his fallen men a second glance, pulling the stunned Shirley around the left corner of the corridor to take cover behind the wall while his surviving subordinates emulated his movements.

"Damn… We lost Kasper, Rickert and Johan, sir." One of the soldiers groaned, fighting to keep his voice clear of anger and grief.

"I know," Darlton grunted. He removed the transparent magazine of his rifle to inspect the remaining rounds. He cocked the rifle and inserted the magazine in before pulling at the charging handle once more. "We'll make them pay for it in their blood, William."

"I'm sorry, Darlton…" Shirley began.

"Apologies can wait until we get out of this alive, Miss Fenette," Darlton tossed her his pistol and his spare ammunition. "I trust that you still are proficient in handling this?" The redhead nodded and gripped the weapon. Misgivings aside, he reasoned that she would be at least a welcome addition to their fighting ranks since the Sword of Akasha is not out to kill her yet. Darlton frowned, quickly scanning their surroundings and finding them far from his liking. "We should get out of here. If the previous corridor was bad, staying here would be a death sentence," he growled, glaring pointedly at the multiple tall windows lining their hallway.

Without warning, one of the said windows shattered into shards of glass and a defender's head seemingly popped, spraying grey matter and blood all over his comrades. "Sniper! Get down!" As the group of remaining defenders promptly dropped to the floor in a prone position, the dreaded sound of booted feet stomping towards them was heard not only from their front but from their left-rear as well. This meant that the terrorists behind them are closing in, with another group of hostiles charging towards them from the other end of the corridor. The scarred military officer grimaced. "Great, enemies coming from our front and rear… we're beset on all sides. Plus a sniper. We're screwed."

Darlton knew that his knights came to the same conclusion as him - he saw the desperation and hopelessness in their crazed eyes. The moment a dozen Sword of Akasha terrorists, with the intention to cut off their path, came into sight, the imperial guards hollered at the top of their lungs and opened fire on the invaders. Their assailants retaliated as fiercely as they could, and the air was filled with splattering flesh and gore, and the stench of gunpowder. Shirley was simply frozen, her eyes wide and bulging and ears ringing, seemingly unable to comprehend the sheer volume of intense violence right before her eyes.

"Charge! We have to break through their encirclement!" Darlton thundered, his voice nearly drowned out by the repeated peals of gunshots. However, the rational-driven words were enough to bring Shirley out of her daze. "Fall back to where we came from! If we can get far in enough, at least we would limit the sniper's view! Right now he has a vantage point! Vincent, Elton and Alfred, you'll be the rear guard! The rest of you go now! Move!" He pulled her to her feet once more, but she shook his grip off and shot him a determined look to show that she has come back to her senses. Without another word, she took a deep breath and followed Darlton and his troops.

As the defenders turned around the corner, they were immediately greeted by the original group of pursuers. Shirley wondered why didn't they catch up to them during the brief seconds they took refuge, and now she understood. They were waiting for their comrades and the sniper to force them back and took the time to take up positions. The defenders caught a glimpse of nine men, eight pointing assault rifles straight at them while the last had a general purpose machine gun mounted on a tripod before they came under fire.

What happened in the next minute was a complete blur to Shirley. The roaring of automatic gunfire all but deafened her and she emptied her mind, repeating the lines she always recited to herself in the shooting range. "Position the target in the sight, and shoot," she thought while her body obeyed the instructions in her mind, her fingers pulling the trigger over and over again whenever a target came into her iron sight of her pistol. Pure adrenaline and desperation fuelled her actions, overpowering her sense of fear and despair. A Sword of Akasha soldier jerked backwards, crashing to the ground with a scream when a bullet tore through his diaphragm. "Position the target in the sight, and shoot." The ends of her bright orange locks snipped off as a round whizzed past her face, striking an unfortunate imperial guard's shoulder. "Position the target in the sight, and shoot." Another terrorist dropped dead when she fired twice, blood spraying when both shots landing solidly on his chest.

Before Shirley knew it, the gunfight was over. There were no more black-clad figures carrying assault rifles left for her, or any of her allies, to shoot anymore. She lowered her pistol, aghast at the scene before her. Bodies, both belonging to hostiles and friendlies, were splayed everywhere. The azure carpet was now hardly recognizable, nearly the entirety of it was stained with crimson lifeblood. "Son… of a bitch…" A voice behind her caught her attention, the expletive causing her to whirl around. A lone terrorist staggered around the corner, one arm hanging limply at his side while he struggled to bring up his submachine gun in another. "Hail the Sword of Akas-" He never got to finish his sentence, as Darlton finished him off with a gunshot to the head. Shirley flinched slightly and looked away, incidentally glancing at the people around her. There were only three of them left - Darlton, her and another soldier.

However, while they have eliminated all of their adversaries, for now, they had yet to move from the precarious position of being near the window. It proved to be a fatal mistake a second later. The intricate design of the windows smashed when the sniper fired another round, fragments of glass flying, one of it barely slicing the skin of Shirley's left cheek. The soldier, whose name Shirley never knew, let out of a wordless gurgle, collapsing to the floor with a hole in his throat. Darlton instantly started sprinting forward in an attempt to place himself in a more secure location, but the sniper was faster - while the General managed to move fast enough to place his head and neck out of his sight, the rest of his body was still visible. The bullet pierced through Darlton's upper back, mangling part of his stomach and spleen. He stumbled and fell forward on his face, and laid still.

"Darlton!" Darlton barely registered Shirley's shrill scream. His vision was hazy, and his self-preservation instincts propelled him to attempt crawling forward despite the agony coursing through his body. A pair of small hands took hold of his own, and Shirley tried her best to assist her mentor by dragging him as far away from the window as possible with all the strength she possessed.

Suddenly, the injured man released his grip and lifted a hand, chuckling to himself. "That's enough. I won't be able to make it."

"What are you saying?" Shirley scarcely believed her still ringing ears. Darlton had always encouraged her and pushed her to her limits when training her. Hearing him throw in the towel was staggering. "You'll make it! You just need to rest and hold on-"

"No. We might have won that little skirmish just now, but it's likely that there's still a number of them around, including that sniper… I'm finished, as much as I hate to admit it." Shirley gazed at him, a mixed look of guilt, terror and grief on her visage. "Don't give me… that look, Miss Fenette." Breathing was starting to hurt for him, and he gripped Shirley's hand with all his remaining strength. "We soldiers are aware that there's a possibility of us not growing old the moment we signed on that bloody paper to enlist in the army. I'd say that two and a half decades as a Britannian soldier is no mean feat."

"You can't just give up-!"

"Listen!" Darlton interrupted her sternly with a groan, looking at his charge in her eyes. "Go now. Run and hide. Buy yourself and His Highness as much time as possible, before reinforcements come. There is still hope for you and him, don't you dare abandon it by wasting time on his old, dying stooge here. Go! Leave m-" There was another roar, signifying the firing of the sniper rifle again, the gunman clearly took the time to reposition himself. The hulking general's head exploded, bits of brain, skull and crimson fluid scattered over the area - a generous amount of it showering Shirley, from her head to her waist.

Shirley stared at the corpse of her mentor with a mortified expression on her bloodstained face. Even he, who always seemed so formidable during their training sessions, had his life snuffed out so suddenly as if he was a gnat. "Darlton…" She murmured and fell to her knees, her slim frame shuddering, as the realization that the entire imperial guard was exterminated, leaving her alone as the sole survivor, sank in.

Shirley had no idea how long she spent staring at where Darlton's head should be, unable to move in shock - until she faintly detected the growing sound of footsteps. Part of her just wanted to give in to the seemingly hopeless situation - everyone else was dead or captured, and by the sound of it, the Sword of Akasha terrorists were far from defeated. "No… I can't just sit down here. If I don't move, that's when the Sword of Akasha would win, and Lulu will be killed!"

The volume of the footsteps reached a crescendo, and the lithe redhead instantly snatched up her pistol - she dropped it after trying to drag Darlton away. She didn't even know whether it still had sufficient ammunition or not, but judging by the proximity of the footsteps, she had little time to scavenge for additional ammo. Her heart pounding ferociously, Shirley took a deep breath and charged out from the corner. She'd be damned if she just sat there and let them capture her without a fight. However, whom she saw nearly made her drop the weapon instead.

"Rolo!" Shirley exclaimed in surprise, coming face to face with the young servant. "What are you doing here?" His appearance was ragged and his hair was slightly unkempt, she noted. There were multiple bloodstains on his usually pristine suit, and there was a deadened look in his pink eyes. The most striking thing, however, was the sniper rifle clutched in his right hand, kept to his side. A rather absurd, but desperate idea began to form in Shirley's mind. "You… can fight, can't you?"

Rolo merely stared at her, deadpan. For a brief second, there was a glimmer of pensiveness in his eyes, but Shirley did not notice. Instead, she pressed on urgently. "Please…! Lulu is held by them as we speak. The rest of them are trying to capture me. I know it's a lot to ask of you, but if you can fight, I need you to assist me in fighting them off! If we succeed, reinforcements can arrive and we still can save hi-" She was cut off abruptly as Rolo wordlessly brought his sniper rifle up, its barrel pointing unerringly at her. "...Rolo?"

"No," the servant rasped. His pink orbs seemed to bore intensely into Shirley's green ones. "There's no way you can save him anymore. You're outnumbered and outgunned. You should surrender."

"What are you saying…?!" Shirley was flabbergasted. She eyed his raised weapon in astonishment. There was no mistake - its iron sight rested precisely between her eyes. "What are you doing, Rolo?"

"Agent Rolo Haliburton," Rolo quietly declared. His tone was cold and monotonous. "That's how my master addresses me. Spy and assassin in the service of Infinity for six years, who is the current leader of the Sword of Akasha." Shirley flinched, her eyes widening in incredulity and horror. "That is who I am."

"This… this is a bad joke, right?" Shirley asked weakly. She laid her disbelieving eyes on the servant, hoping, perhaps foolishly, for any indication that he simply chose a bad time to pull a fast one on her. He just stood stiffly and returned her gaze before he replied.

"No. It is nothing but the honest, bald-faced truth."

"You mean… You've been helping the enemy all along since the day you came here?"

"Yes," Rolo admitted. "Aside from the period where I was an amnesiac, I assisted the Sword of Akasha. I've done many things. I bugged this villa and passed on information to my master for many months. I was the one who led the terrorists inside today, planted the explosives all over the house and set up the EMP bomb to ensure that Lelouch's Knightmares would not function in the middle of battle. I took up the role of a sniper once my allies have you cornered, and eliminated the surviving imperial guard. Also…" the assassin shifted slightly. "I killed your father."

It was as though a floodgate suddenly shattered with Shirley, and a whirlpool of unadulterated horror, incredulity, shock, grief and outrage all but poured forth, threatening to engulf her. Without the slightest hint of hesitation, her arms shot up in an instant, bringing her own pistol up to her eye level. Rolo's instincts screamed at him to roll aside and shoot her, but he resisted it. "Say that again, one more time…" Shirley demanded. He blinked, resisting the impulse to take a step back after seeing the look in her eyes. He was accustomed to seeing them overflowing with kindness. Now they were frenzied, completely devoid of any sort of benevolence. "Say that again!"

Rolo bit down on his lip painfully to distract himself from a sudden and crushing sensation of an unknown emotion. The muzzle of the heavy sniper rifle wavered, and he lowered the weapon. "It was me. I was the one who murdered your father that night."

"Why?!" Tears of fury and sorrow spilt forth, trailing down Shirley's cheeks. She never felt so betrayed in her life. "My father – he was a good man! Innocent! He could never pose a threat to you people, or anyone else! He didn't deserve– how could you do that?! Why did you have to kill him?!"

"My master ordered me to. I had to obey."

"Why does he want to kill my father of all people?!"

"I don't know."

Rolo's answer, given with a mechanical tone, only served to incense Shirley. "Why wouldn't you know?! You're the one who killed him!" She received no reply, and the assassin merely stared wordlessly at her, with a nary a trace of emotion. "… Don't you feel anything? For all you've done to us?! Especially after we've known each other for months?"

"It doesn't matter, Shirley," Rolo said. His voice cracked slightly, belying his impassive expression. "It shouldn't matter." He paused before continuing. "I was conditioned to prioritize my missions above all else, regardless of the circumstances. I've been like that my entire life ever since I served Infinity."

The trigger of Shirley's handgun creaked slightly as her index finger poised themselves on the mechanism. There was no way Rolo could be lying anymore - his own words combined with her recollections of his behaviour confirmed that he could only be a spy. She wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger and claim vengeance for her father.

However, through her tear-blurred green eyes, a part of the redhead saw the assassin in front of her as someone to be pitied - a puppet who was continuously forced to do his master's bidding while believing that it was the only way to live, regardless of how he felt.

Rolo frowned as the familiar sound of a pistol's trigger groaning reached his keen ears. Shirley's countenance disturbed him - it was one which reflected her misery and abhorrence. There was a sinking feeling in his heart, but like the many new sentiments he had experienced since he started his mission in the villa, he did not know the reason behind it. Mayhaps it was due to her refusal to back down quietly, it would be so much easier for him if his target just raised the white flag instead of using violence. "Please surrender, Shirley," Rolo asked quietly. "His Highness is already in our hands. I don't want to use force to make you submit. There's no need to fight any-"

"Shut up!" Shirley shrieked, the pistol quivering about madly in her shaky grip. It was clear that her mental and emotional state was deteriorating from immense distress. "Shut up, shut up! This is all your fault! Don't you dare tell me what to do, traitor!"

"I merely executed the will of Infinity."

"I said, shut up! You could have refused him, couldn't you?!" Shirley's tone turned bitter, and despite her own words, she knew she wasn't being reasonable. If she had learnt of the conditions surrounding Rolo's upbringing and moulding into a puppet-like assassin under normal situations, she would have been sympathetic towards him. However, right now, surrounded by dismembered and blown apart carcasses of the imperial guard and terrorists, commiseration was at the bottom of the list of things she wanted to offer to her old friend now.

"You could have turned him down when he asked you to attack us! You could have refused to kill my father!" The redhead furiously ranted. You could have done nothing when he asked you for information! You could have told us after you recovered your memories! You could have… you could have-! You could have averted this madness if you just did one of those things!" Shirley screamed.

Rolo once more did not say anything, nor did he take any action. He continued standing with the same reserved expression on his face. The look on his face brought a memory from months past came into Shirley's mind - Rolo sitting shyly in front of her while she shuffled his resume as a servant of the villa. The realization struck her - in a way, even she had indirectly contributed to her current situation - after all, she was the one who accepted Rolo into the villa. Once again, her naivety and trusting nature had led them both to a horrifying predicament, just like that time with Mao. She tightened the grip on the pistol in an attempt to steady it, to little avail. Nonetheless, the barrel was still pointing at Rolo, who instinctively responded by pointing his rifle at her.

"I must shoot him... I must...! If I let myself get caught here and now, there won't be anyone left to save Lulu...!" Just as Shirley tried to will her trembling fingers into action, she saw something that made it nigh impossible for her to do so. Through the haze of anger and vengeance, she noticed that Rolo maintained a stoic expression on his visage. He was truly nothing than a puppet dancing to the tunes of his superior. "I can't let myself feel pity for him!"

Unfortunately, Shirley found herself unable to summon the last bit of strength to squeeze the trigger. It was hard enough for her to take the lives of the Sword of Akasha terrorists - opening fire at the face of someone whom not only she was familiar with, but also would be a sympathetic figure under normal circumstances, was completely beyond her, and she knew it. And if she cannot get past Rolo, then saving Lelouch was nothing but an impossibility. "Why...? Why am I so soft?! He did too much wrong to us!"

Shirley let out a wordless cry of frustration and dismay, causing Rolo to jump backwards slightly. She finally snapped and squeezed the trigger multiple times as fast as she could. The assassin's instincts screamed at him to retaliate by shooting to either incapacitate or disarm her, but his body did not move. Regardless, her aim was wild and inaccurate - her first three shots missed him by inches and only one out of seven rounds came close, grazing the top of his left shoulder. It was almost as though she wasn't even aiming for him. Rolo stared blankly, stunned that he was unharmed.

Shirley dropped to her knees in despair, her shoulders slumped in defeat. She grasped her right arm digging the fingernails of her left hand into her triceps. A minute passed in silence, save for her sniffing, before she spoke. "Fine. I'll give in. Just so that I'll be with Lulu, I'll go with you," Shirley wiped at her still tear-filled eyes, looking away from Rolo. "I made a promise to him. No matter how painful it is, I'll stay by his side."

Rolo hesitated slightly before he drew a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. The youth quietly and slowly stepped forward, knelt down next to her and cuffed her hands together. Shirley did not even spare him a single glance while all this transpired. The spy took a deep breath and opened his mouth with an apology in mind, then closed it. Perhaps it was better if he said nothing at all. He gently tugged her to her feet with next to no resistance and led the lover of the eleventh prince of Britannia to where the Sword of Akasha was waiting.

Author's Note: That's the end of the chapter! And yes, there are a LOT of things happening, with many variables needing to be shifted away from Lelouch's favour in order for this ending to happen. Honestly, this was a truly difficult chapter for me to write because of that - the odds have to supremely stacked against Lelouch in order for the SoA to win. From bringing in the Percival to tip the scales in the Knightmare fight, jamming of all communications to Euphemia and the Emperor, and the electromagnetic pulse bomb. Plus, I had to rewrite Rolo's perspective a couple of times, I find that being in his shoes is harder... difficult. Does anyone still find him acting OOC, I wonder?

I initially wanted a Gefjun disturber type of a weapon instead, but it felt way too weird, plus I had no idea how the Gefjun disturber should work. Anyway, in case anyone was wondering, this was the planned ending of chapter 23 from the very start I conceived of this fic, and well, I hope no one found it too shocking. I pretty much brought the gore factor up as well, so I pray no one had queasy stomachs because the next one wouldn't be pretty either.

I owe all my readers an apology for taking so long (I think it was like 5-6 months?) to update this fic! My bad for being so distracted. With some encouragement, I aim to publish the next one before or when the new year comes. Please review and let me know what you guys think - too unexpected? Too bloody? Hope things go another way? Just feel free to flood my inbox with PMs or reviews! Woohoo. Cheers for reading!