Chapter 8: Knights of the Round
Knights of the Round
Summary – Days after being promoted to the Knight of the Rounds; Suzaku is ordered to face the Vampire of Britannia; Luciano Bradley in a duel by the Emperor to show all Britannians and Numbers that he's worthy to be one of them. Nunnally says her goodbyes to Lelouch before going to Britannia to start her position as Head of the Senate. Dr. Carl Marsrin tells everything he knows about the Civilization known as the Tenno to V.V. Suzaku battles an enemy Tenno in the Saitama Ghetto.
Area 11, Tokyo Settlement, Viceroy's Palace
-Throne Room-
August 13 2017 a.t.b
9:45, Friday
During two days after the initiation of Suzaku to the Elite and Respected Knight of the Rounds, an uproar started in the empire. The effects of his promotion affected not only the Britannians, but also the Elevens and other Numbers; Honorary or not. There were many reactions.
To the Civilians; this was a very disgraceful for their species and orchestrated numerous riots in the streets. To the Nobles; they viewed Suzaku Kururugi as a malevolent Demon who instantly became an Archangel under God's Approval and sent multiple death threats to him in his Cell phone, E-mail etc. to the Military; they all disapproved, especially the popular and influential Purist Faction. They let their anger and frustration loose to his fellow Honoraries; increasing their discrimination on them. To the Knights of the Round; they observed that the Emperor seems to have taken an interest on the New Knight of Two for killing a creature that their Military can't. To the Elevens; this inspired a few of them to become Honoraries while most still view him a traitor who has taken the emperor's interest. To the Honoraries; this inspired them to work harder despite the mistreatment their enduring from the angry Military and Purist Faction.
In the throne room, everyone inside during the announcement are there again called by the emperor for another announcement, he can hear most of them hoping that he will remove Kururugi from the Knights.
"Announcing the Knight of Two; Sir Suzaku Kururugi!" the Guard on the very large Cedar door said as the two guards opened the door, revealing Suzaku with his new Knight of the Round uniform and Cape.
While walking on the long red carpet, he can hear even the soft whispers from everyone due to the mass silence on the room.
"Bastardly Eleven." Whispered by Kewell Soresi the new leader of the Purists after Jeremiah stepped down by the order of Lelouch.
"Hail, Your Majesty. I, Suzaku Kururugi has come as you asked." he said when he approached the end of the Carpet and kneeled.
"Suzaku Kururugi, do you know that in the past two days after your initiation, an uproar happened in the entire empire?" the Emperor said after commanded Suzaku to stand up "Do you know that there is a possibility that they may orchestrate a plan to kill you?"
"Yes your Majesty." Suzaku said.
"I am to ask you, what would you do?" he gave the knight of two a question.
This question is very hard to answer for Suzaku, he can't think of anything.
"I don't know your Majesty." he lowered his head a little; unable to face the emperor.
"What you need to do is to show them why I gave and see that your worthy of that title." Charles stood up. "I hereby organize a duel between the Knight of Two; Suzaku Kururugi and the Knight of Ten; Luciano Bradley to be held in here."
They were all surprised by the sudden announcement and turned their heads towards the Vampire of Britannia, who made a devilish grin in his face displaying his joy that the emperor chose him. He intended to make Kururugi bleed by slashing his sword in his torso. Luciano removed his cape and left it in the ground while walking towards the carpet. Suzaku turns around and walks a few meters from his position knowing that Luciano will go to his current place.
Suzaku turned around and saw Luciano ready his sword and his sadistic eyes looking at him. He threw his cape at the carpet behind him and drew his sword from his sheath.
All cities in the Britannian Empire
All in the empire instantly switched toward the live news about the immediate duel. The Britannians cheering Luciano Bradley and jeering Suzaku Kururugi.
"Go Vampire of Britannia!" yells a businessman while he's also in the huge crowd that are currently watching the duel on a Jumbotron in the City.
"Kick that Eleven's ass!" cheered by a starlet that is a supporter of the Purists.
Area 11, Tokyo Settlement, Viceroy's Palace
-Throne Room-
"Begin the duel." the emperor said.
Both men dashed forward at the same time with their swords high on the air. They clashed their swords with each other, creating a spark. Luciano stepped backward to break the sword lock before attacking Suzaku in all directions. Fortunately Suzaku managed to block all of this using the quickness of his limbs. The Vampire of Britannia raised his sword high, intending to hit his opponent with a powerful blow. Suzaku moved his sword above his head, to block the attack. But he saw Bradley's smile widen even more; meaning that he either anticipated this or made him successfully fall for his trap. Luciano spun his sword 270 degrees clockwise and hit Suzaku's sword with a powerful strike enough to send it flying and make it bury its blade to the ceiling.
The citizens of Britannia applauses and cheered for the Knight of Ten.
Suzaku moved his eyes and head from the wall to Luciano whose sword is dashing down to his face quickly, intending to cut his face. However Suzaku avoided this by rolling backwards, making Luciano hit the carpet instead. At the time Luciano removed his sword which was buried deep within the floor, Suzaku delivered a powerful super kick in his face; sending the Vampire 4 meters backward asleep.
Everyone's jaw dropped in awe at the time Suzaku's super kick struck the Knight of Ten's bloodthirsty face; displaying the Knight of Two's fighting prowess.
Suzaku just stood in his current position and looks at the face of the knocked out Luciano whose nose was broken as a result of the powerful attack his opponent inflicts on him.
The reigning silence in the room was broken by a sound. They turned their heads and saw the emperor alone clapping his hands; impressed by the duel. He really can't believe it, only one kick and he sent Luciano in a deep sleep.
Everyone was still speechless at the results of the duel. They may be amazed but they will not praise an eleven. Only a few, including the entire Camelot clapped their hands.
Area 11, Tokyo Settlement, Viceroy's Palace
- Hallway-
9:50 AM
Suzaku is currently walking the hallways of the palace after the duel ended. Thoughts were currently running through his mind, still he kept his senses sharp while wandering in the wide halls of the palace and his left arm at the handle of his sword. Suddenly a red portal resembling a small typhoon enough for a human to fit inside appeared a meter above him. This immediately stopped him from walking.
A person wearing a black business suit with grey stripes and appears to be a Britannian dropped from the portal; both feet at the ground touching the ground and not even losing his balance. The man is in his 30s and has a white soft skin, black hair, glowing red irises and a ring-like moustache encircling his entire mouth and is attached to his short pointy beard. Behind his body is a crimson aura whose colour is similar to his eyes and is rising up in the air just like a fire.
The portal above the man dissipated which caused his aura to also dissipate and his eyes stopped glowing. Suzaku is surprised to see him again after many years.
"It's been several years my apprentice." the Man greeted him.
"It's good to see you again, Master Vual." Suzaku responded.
Dominic Vual is a Tenno and the Current head of the Vual Family; which is a member of the 72 Pillars commonly called as the Great Houses.
The 72 Pillars or Great Houses are the most powerful and influential clans of the entire Tenno Civilization as well as the descendants of the greatest commanders of the Great War.
Dominic Vual was Suzaku's mentor when he was 11 years old and is aware that he killed his father.
Vual has heard that Suzaku has been promoted to the Knight of the Rounds after killing the mysterious creature. But his promotion is opposed by many Britannians.
"You're the new Knight of Two, I'm proud of your latest achievement, Suzaku Roneve, your mother is very proud." Vual said to Suzaku and called him in his true surname.
"H-How is she?" Suzaku asked his mentor because he hasn't seen his mother since the end of the Britannian invasion. His mother is the current head of the Roneve House after his father's death at his hands.
"She is fine as always Suzaku, she has no trouble in her duties and responsibilities." he placed his right hand at the left shoulder of his former apprentice.
"So why did you came here to meet me?" Suzaku asked. Dominic's happy expression changes into a worried one.
"I am here to warn you." he said which made Suzaku curious, what should his master warn him about but he becomes nervous.
"A-about what?" he asked nervously after looking in all directions to see if there anyone that might hear or see them.
Dominic looked at the eyes of Suzaku with eyes full of concern for his and his mother's safety. "The Horsemen." Suzaku's eyes widened in fear as he backed a little. After years of doing everything to hide from their eyes and ears, they now managed to find him.
"They have discovered your survival from the war and will stop at nothing to kill your entire family." he said. Suzaku knows that the Horsemen are the elite group of an unknown Tenno Faction.
"All I know is that you are the only member that they've located yet, so don't worry for your families safety; we'll protect them and I've heard that one Commando is here in Japan, so keep your senses peeled and always remember your training." Dominic said before his glowing eyes and aura appeared again as he summoned a portal underneath him before his entire body sinks inside. Once the portal was closed, Suzaku looks on all directions again before sprinting on the hallway. The reason why the Roneve family is being hunted by the Horsemens is because of Suzaku. During the war he discovered that his father has secretly aligned himself to their faction and builds a very destructive weapon for them. Suzaku kills him before using the weapon to destroy their largest base in area 11 and hiding it somewhere.
Area 11, Tokyo Settlement, Royal Airport
-Terminal-
12:00 AM
"Mother, why?" Lelouch asked his mother in his cell phone, he went to the rest room when his phone rang leaving Nunnally with Jeremiah, Rai and the appointed speaker in the House of Commons; Alicia Lohmeyer.
"Oh Lelouch don't be so untrustworthy to Rai, he's a nice boy just like you." Marianne said. He wanted Rai to go with Nunnally in Britannia, much to Lelouch's disapproval.
"I don't want Nunnally to be with that boy, I don't want my sister to develop further feelings for him. They will fall in love with each other soon." Lelouch anticipated the time where both his sister and Rai will fall for each other, meaning that he will take away Nunnally from him.
"Then let it happen, because if you take him away Nunnally will be sad and could possibly be angry at you. Let your sister follow her heart, not your decisions, you should remove that overprotective nature of yours." his mother clarified and scolded Lelouch's decisions for Nunnally before ending the call. Lelouch exited the restroom and returns to the group.
"Rai I-I-I" Lelouch is holding his tongue back, he's fighting himself from saying it but decides to give in for his sisters happiness. "Want you to go with Nunnally to Britannia." after saying that he mentally scolds himself.
"Sure Lelouch." Rai simply said to a smiling Lelouch but inside he's actually glaring at him. Lelouch knelt before Nunnally and held her hands.
"Take care Nunnally, be safe." Lelouch and Nunnally hugged each other.
"I will big brother, I will." she said before separating with each other. she along with Rai and Alicia walks to the Shuttle to board it and fly straight to Britannia where Nunnally will begin her duties as the head of the House of Commons while Jeremiah follows Lelouch who was leaving
Area 11, Tokyo Settlement,Viceroy's Palace
-Great Hall-
1:00 PM
Lelouch entered the great hall with the assistance of the two Royal Guards outside who opens the large cedar door allowing him to enter the room. The halls only occupants are the royal guards guarding the exits who turned their eyes at him.
"All of you." Lelouch's voice echoed on the entire room which calls their attention and turns their heads at him with curious eyes "Leave this room and take a break from your duties; I want to talk with someone privately."
"Thank you your Majesty." All the guards said in unison before exiting the house through the doors they were guarding and were glad to move their seemingly frozen bones again after standing for 5 hours.
Lelouch walked to the chairs on the platform so he can have a view on the entire room and sat in the chair where the emperor was supposed to be seated. Opening the laptop he contacted Area 7's Current Viceroy.
After seconds of waiting, a young blue haired woman with a pair of blue eyes wearing a lab coat appeared. She was sitting in a chair in a room that appears to be the Viceroy's Office in the Palace of Area 7. Behind her are three tall windows that were open, viewing a forest covered island. He can also hear the flapping, chirping and singing of the birds.
"Are you the Viceroy?" Lelouch went straight to the question.
"Yes your highness, the emperor has changed my position to be your sub viceroy." Lelouch smiled in amusement after hearing the girl speak in a British RP accent. Yet he wonders why does she speak like that.
"Why do you speak like that?" he asked as the smile is still carved in his lips.
"It's our family tradition sir." the woman explained as she smiled at the Prince, it is clear that she noticed his sudden amusement on her speaking.
Lelouch wonders why did the emperor assigned a young girl to be the viceroy in Area 11 "Please introduce yourself before telling me what is your age and why did the emperor chose you to be viceroy there?"
Annabella expected a question like this from him, with a clear voice she stated.
"I am Duchess Annabella Osborn; the 20 year old eldest daughter of the Osborn Household. My family owns the Osborn Industries which manufacture Knightmares. I was chosen as a reward for my family being one of the biggest investors for weapons and technology development." she explained.
"Listen for some reasons I am unable to go to the area I was assigned to by my father, so I need you to be my eyes and ears in there, is it alright for you?" Lelouch waited for his answer.
"Of course your highness." Osborn said.
Since he doesn't know if he could trust this woman since he's nobility. So asked her a few questions regarding Britannia, Nobility, Areas, Numbers and finally his mother and sister. After a couple of minutes he learned that Annabella and her family sympathizes the numbers and their everyday conditions and treatment by the Britannians. Lelouch also discovers that they never abused their status as nobles on Numbers. What surprised Lelouch most is that Annabella was an apprentice of his mother; Marianne vi Britannia because in the past she dreams of joining the Rounds. Her family is a friend of her since that day. The Osborn's were one of the very few nobles who came to her funeral.
"So I can really trust you." Lelouch said
"Yes your highness, I will do anything and everything for the children of my late mentor." she said.
"Tell me; what is the currently active project in that Area?" Lelouch grips his palms together after placing his elbows on the desk before placing his chin at it.
"Your highness there are always dozens of active projects in here, if one is finished a new one will be assigned. There are no rests in here." she said.
"Then send me all names and details about the active projects" he told her.
"Sending it now your highness, this won't take long." she began pressing the keyboards before clicking enter.
At an instant, a new folder appeared in his desktop. It has an icon of 2 green leaves. Clicking it; 37 documents appeared in an instant. Lelouch began scrolling down to find something that will caught his attention. Upon reaching the bottom part, he saw a folder named 'Secret Weapons' that caught all of his attention.
"Secret weapons." he mentally gasped "It would seem that she gave me something I didn't expect."
When he clicked the folder, it contains nothing but a single document labelled 'BBAF-1000 Sarras' which caught his attention. Upon seeing the words'BBAF' and '1000' it means that it's an airship and a prototype.
"A prototype airship! this should be interesting." he moved his mouse from the scroll bar to the document before clicking it. A picture of the ship appears along with its name and specifications.
Sarras-Class Air Fleet Dreadnought
General Characteristics
Crew: 15+
Height: 323.83 m
Width: 238.84 m
Length: 350 m
Power Source: Yggdrasil Drive, Energy Filler
Special Equipment
Float System
4x Launch catapults
Cloak System
Manufacturing Plant
Radio/Sensor Disruption System
Blaze Luminous System
Armaments
1x Draft-inbuilt Hadron Mega Launcher
10x Phalanx CIWS
30x Missile Launchers (15x on the topside)(15x on the Beam)
20x 10m-Grade Dual Laser Cannons
"I see that you've taken interest on my precious Pet Project sir." She recognized that look of amazement when she showed her diagram to a fellow noble. This caused lelouch to look at her with a surprised expression written in his face.
"It's yours?"
"Yes your highness, The Sarras Dreadnought is a battleship with a Cloak and Radio and Sensor Disruption System designed to stealthily manoeuvre through the battlefield and unleash it's devastating firepower in the battlefield. It has a built-in Manufacturing facility inside capable of producing and modifying any ordnance inside and launch Knightmare Frames through the Launch Catapults. With all of this attributes combined in a single vessel, the Sarras has the concept of a One-Man-Army."
"Amazing." Lelouch voiced his amazement at the warship. But he suddenly thought of something "Does the emperor know this?"
"No your highness." she moved her head left and right.
"Perfect, I could use this for my plan." he looked at Annabella. "Her Loyalty and Knowledge would prove invaluable for my plans, I should bring her to my fold." "I think that's all for today Annabella, it's fancy meeting a follower of my mother. Maybe tomorrow we can have another chat if I'm not busy."
"Thank you your highness." she ended the transmission. Lelouch just laid his head on the chair, resting his mind for a prolonged amount of non-stop thinking in the past days.
Chinese Federation, Gobi Desert, Geass Order
-Rooftop-
1:30 PM
"Tell everything you know about the race you call Tenno." V.V said to Marsrin while the watch the entire city from the rooftop of the base. Upon seeing that boy yesterday fighting the Kaiser with abilities that no human possesses and hearing that Marsrin may know something about them, he has taken an interest on the seemingly powerful species. Marsrin cleared his voice before speaking.
"The Tenno is a technological civilization that are said to have existed long before mankind has been created. A Tenno can be described as a 'living energy' and looks just like us humans because we and they came from a single creator. Though both species appearances and behaviour are the same; Humans and Tenno are very different from each other. According to a friend of mine who lived exactly 2 millennia, humans recognized some Tennos as gods such as the Greek and Norse deities and angels and demons of the bible. that's all I know director."
After hearing everything Marsrin knows about the Tenno, V.V. began having a desire to meet one personally.
Area 11, Tokyo, Saitama Ghetto
-Somewhere in the Ghetto-
7:00 PM
Suzaku, still in his knight of the round suit is riding his BMW S1000RR HP4 motorcycle in the streets of the now abandoned ghetto to see if anyone was still there because the Viceroy planned to rezone this place for new purposes. He can see the remains of the leveled buildings that are now reduced to mere rubbles after the attack of that creature as well as the dead bodies the soldiers didn't even care to clean. Suddenly a person jumped from one of the still intact buildings to the road and landed in front of him 50 meters away. One of them opened his palm wide at Suzaku and fires a line of red lightning at him. Obviously his immediate reaction is to jump off his motorcycle.
BOOOM
The motorcycle exploded in contact with the energy sphere. Suzaku landed in front of his vehicle which was now in flames. He stood up and moved his head to the people. He sees a man wearing Britannian soldier uniform with red electricity emanating on his body as well as in his eyes.
"Sir, we finally found him." the blond man said to the radio in his right hand. Even if his voice was low, it's loud enough for Suzaku to hear.
"Understood." he replied before placing the radio back to his waist.
"Are you the one sent here by the Horsemen?" Suzaku's white eyes and aura appears.
"Yes, now there's no need for fighting. You could either join the easy way or. . ." he moved his right arm straight to the right with his palms open. Using his lightning powers he formed a sword made out of multiple lightning bolts. "Or the hard way."
Suzaku formed an energy sphere on his right hand and throws it at the commando, who managed to avoid it and instead explodes on the street.
"So you want the hard way, THEN YOU GET IT!" he charged at Suzaku with his sword moving down to his head. Suzaku dodged the attack using his super speed and moved behind him before punching his back using his right arm that he surrounded with white light, burning the spot he hit and sending him flying a couple of meters. he activated his super speed and slashes Suzaku's face before jumping back.
"Aaahh!" Suzaku placed his palm on his face to ease the pain. Removing his palm, he saw his glowing white blood. since a Tenno is a living energy; everything in them is energy.
His attacker charged at him with the lightning sword pushed forward with the intention of stabbing him. Suzaku retaliated by launching a beam of white energy from his hand toward his attacker, hitting and cutting his right arm before making an energy sphere and throwing it at his face; making him fall backward with his palm on his face.
Suzaku approached him and sees that half of his face is gone; revealing the crystal skull and red blood of the defeated Tenno. The cut on suzaku's wound in his face was now slowly closing. All Tenno have the capability to regenerate from any form of injury within moments depending on how large it is.
He then aimed his right hand at the face of the Tenno before firing a beam of white energy at him, killing him with one strike, but leaving his body still intact. He keeps firing beams at the rest of his body to burn the body to leave no trace of their existence.
Minutes later, he's finished on what he's doing. Nothing is left on the ground but burn marks.
"Kururugi." he heard the emperors voice in his communicator.
"Yes your Majesty." he said
"Go to the palace, I need you to do something."
"I'm on my way your majesty." he said before sprinting away from the scene.
A/N: sorry this one's short guys, I'm in a hurry for something and have no time to fix the errors in the chap. I like to tell you all that Endeavour is now in the code Geass fanon wiki, so please visit it, I am still making pages for the things I introduced in this story.
I am currently low on ideas for the next chapter so please send me some.
I intend to make Lelouch kill Carine using his Geass. I am letting you all decide what do you want Lelouch command Carine to do which will lead to her death.
See ya'll until the next chap.