Chapter 6
Half of the remaining rebel Sutherlands shot up from the ground in order to pursue Clemont, while the other half remained on the ground. Fortunately for Corporal Herth and the Britannian Sutherland pilots, a large piece of debris from the modified Sutherlands hit the ground right on top of one of the Gefjun disturber's links, interrupting the connection just long enough for the Britannian soldiers to move out of the area of effect. Herth shot off of the ground in his Gawain and stopped roughly fifty feet above the rebels who had attempted to give chase to Clemont. The rebel Sutherlands kept on flying, but the corporal's Gawain was equipped with a far more advanced float unit. Flying at twice the enemy's maximum speed, the Gawain sliced through each enemy unit one by one. Down below, however, the Britannians had no such luck.
"We need some-" one soldier had attempted to call for help from the commanding officers, but the enemy's upgraded units tore through them with ease.
"Sir, down below!" Herth shouted. Looking down, Clemont saw the trouble his squad was having. He went down to assist, closely followed by the corporal. Though he was descending in order to engage the rebels, he wasn't thinking of his squad. The power that Lloyd had bestowed upon him filled him with bloodlust, and at that point all he could think of was the fresh blood that awaited him down below. He drew out the Goliath's melee weapon that had been sheathed in a metal scabbard attached to the back of the Knightmare. It at first appeared to be a simple double-edged sword that many Knightmares of that era and even before had come equipped with, but Clemont noticed what seemed to be a switch just underneath the hand guard. Upon flipping said switch, the blade and hand guard retracted into the handle and folded themselves up. The handle then extended outward so that it was almost one and a half times longer than the Goliath itself. At the top, he noticed a metal tip that had begun to spin and glow with neon green light.
The Goliath continued its descent towards the ground. Clemont adjusted the angle at which he was flying so that he was charging headfirst towards the ground. He then swooped sharply up, pointing his spear directly at the crowd of twenty Knightmares ahead of him. Clemont charged into the crowd at a speed nearly too fast for the human eye to conceive. Upon bringing himself to a complete stop, Clemont had five enemy Knightmares impaled on his spear. He noticed that whatever was making the green light at the tip of his spear was making the holes in the enemy units even bigger, and the edges of the holes were also glowing green. As they steadily increased in size, more and more blood began to drip down the shaft of the spear. Clemont shook the spear until his victims had slid off and onto the grass underneath their feet. One by one he picked up the destroyed Knightmares and, using the Goliath's enhanced physical strength, hurled them at the remaining rebel forces. Upon contact, the Knightmares exploded, taking everyone around them with it to its doom. With the enemy squad completely decimated, the Britannian soldiers left standing cheered and reveled in their glorious victory. But Clemont noticed something strange. On his energy radar he noticed an energy signal similar to the energy that emanated from the tip of the Goliath's spear. According to the radar, the energy was coming from behind him, but he saw nothing when he turned around. He dismissed it as a residual reading from his fight with the ground units, and turned back to join in the celebration. Before he could turn around, however, a green light had penetrated the Goliath's thick steel armor.
The next thing he knew, Clemont was lying across the Goliath's large outside viewing screen, blood gushing from his side. The unit had been completely disabled, and in the pitch-blackness of the cockpit, he was positive that he was dead. He forced himself to roll over, and just as he did, a light began filtering through, followed by unintelligible barking from a man whose voice he couldn't recognize. As he regained his senses, Clemont could just barely make out the man's words.
"C'mon, you ninnies!" the voice boomed. "Get the hatch open!" Finally, the hatch of the Goliath opened to its full extent. But at that point, Clemont had already passed out from the blood loss.
When Clemont awoke in a dimly lit room, it was already late at night. He had no idea how long it had been since he was dragged from the hatch, but it hardly mattered to him at that point. He moved his weary hand and felt his side, and the wound from which he lost all that blood was cleaned and bandaged. Why… did they keep me alive? I have no value to them… do I? As Clemont contemplated the possible reasons for Zero's Fist sparing him, he noticed just how bizarre this room was. The door appeared to be upside down and the ceiling was made of stone. He felt stupid when he finally realized that he was hanging upside down from the ceiling, his long light brown hair grazing the stone floor. Clemont attempted to swing himself up and untie the knot around his ankles, but to no avail, as his body was still almost too weak to move at all.
"Don't bother," a tinny, robotic male voice cooed. "You've been heavily drugged. With the amount we gave you, it's amazing that you're even conscious…. You're surprisingly strong." Out from the shadows, a tall and slender figure wearing a cloak and mask emerged holding a wooden chair. The figure placed the wooden chair just in front of Clemont's face and sat down.
"So… Zero really is… involved in this?" Clemont could barely summon up the strength to form words, and his speech was broken up into loud whispers by fits of coughing and wheezing.
"Of course I am," Zero said. "Do you really think that anyone would have the guts to falsely claim to be operating under the great and powerful Zero? The simple mention of my name sends chills running down peoples' spines."
Before Clemont could form a response, the walls of the room began to vibrate. Parts of the wooden ceiling splintered and fell to the floor. His head just a foot and a half from the floor, he felt himself fall down and spread across the floor. The dizziness went away after a few moments, but the effects of the drug still lingered. He was still far to weak to lift his body up from the ground. Zero strode across the room and opened the door. He gazed off into the night for a few seconds and closed the door. Zero walked back to his chair, his body quivering.
"J-just ignore that," Zero stuttered. Clemont thought it rather ironic to see the great Zero, the man whose mention would sent chills running down peoples' spines, quivering and stammering. Zero sighed and walked over to a chest sitting in the corner of the room. On the chest was a keypad, and he began pounding away at it. He then opened the chest and pulled out a small syringe.
Clemont heard gunshots from outside, suggesting that Britannia or the E.U. had sent reinforcements. "A small dose of this combined with the numbing drug should kill you within a minute." Zero pressed the point of the syringe to Clemont's upper arm.
This is it, Clemont thought. Now I've failed… Forgive me, Empress Nunnally… and Princess Cornelia… "All Hail Britannia…" he whispered.
"I was hoping to extract some extra information from you, but it can't be helped. If only your homeland hadn't interfered. Your life would have lasted a little longer."
Clemont continued to whisper. "All Hail Britannia… All Hail Britannia…."
A hand touched Clemont's forearm.
"You can't seriously be giving up that easily."