"A knight` s horse is his companion in war and peace. It is an extention of his soul as like his weapons. Thus, he must have a horse of the finest breed he can find. Then look after it like a person and relative, for now it a part of the family. Remember, your soul and that of your horse are always one at all times."

The handbook of Knights, of the year 200atb

Chapter 2

The Horses of the Knights: - relics of a bygone era

Camelot

It was a typical day at Camelot. It was chaos and madness, perfectly orchestrated by the genuinely eccentric Lloyd and reined in by his sane, but no less a genius, Cecile. It was hardly befitting for the place, which held the highest reputation for research and science. Though, it shared the title with Izumo.

"Okay men, it is time to test the Gareth. Please make sure not to damage them or-Owahh, what was that for?"

"What Lloyd was saying was to stay safe, isn`t that so?" said Cecile while sending him a particularly dark look.

"Yeah, whatever. Just send me data worth using" he shrugged it off and went to monitor the conditions for the simulation. As soon as the confused regiment of test pilots left for the frames, Cecile joined up with Lloyd. She went over the final checklist and cleared them for the trials.

"You know, Good devicers never come by these days."

"Lloyd, I believe we went over this before." She reprimanded him harshly. "But it is the truth, If only his majesty didn`t go through with his plan, we could have finished the-"

"Don`t you dare speak of him like that. I saw those boys go through more than enough. They went to hell and back for their dreams. At least be sensitive about what they did for world peace." They were among the only few who knew of Zero Requiem

"I know" slumped Lloyd "It`s just that I can`t help but think they would be unbeatable at this." While it was known that Suzaku was devicer par excellence, Lelouch was a designer and engineer who outdid Lloyd. In fact Lancelot Albion was completely redesigned by him to fit with Suzaku`s requirements. "You know Cecile" He said with a contemplative tone "This peace that was created feels like the calm before the storm. I hope I am wrong, but human are such…" he trailed off at that.

Cecile placed her hand on his shoulder and comforted the rarely emotional scientist "I know what you mean to say, but we must defend the peace. Now chin up and change the conditions. The simulation is still on. Besides, you have to meet with the chief of Izumo." Lloyd groaned at that and got up.

The Gareth is a modular frame which was also heavily redesigned. The main idea of having a modular chassis/skeleton was by Lelouch. This ensured a wider skill set from the same production line, reducing time and cost. The general appearance was sleeker than any previous knightmare and it resembled a medieval knight. The Yggdrasil drive was improved and made more energy efficient. Basic weaponry included 4 boosted slash harkens, an assault rifle, an MVS dagger and an MVS sword. Vario-landspinners made them more agile and it was very user friendly. Sync rates for its operation were low. They were still not on the level of the 8th gen frames but made 7th gen tech more usable than in the Vincent. Currently, some of the latest upgrades were being tested.

The Holy Paladins had their frames made completely bespoke though invariably based on the modular architecture. Gino`s frame "Roland" had most of the functions of Tristan Divider. Only now, there was the addition a bespoke flight system which allowed him to reach mach5 and the twin swords made of a lighter but stronger alloy, akin to graphene. But the material had a higher oscillation tolerance than previous alloys. It also had a cape which could be used as a distraction, but in flight mode, covered the knightmare to aid aerodynamics. All this made the power consumption of the frame less than half of its predecessor.

Anya`s knightmare, "Oliver" featured a float system heavily based on energy wings. Her frame was based solely on heavy firepower. Weaponry included 4 the super VARIS with the pinpoint hadron shooters automated rifles and a blaze luminous. Baryon tech was still elusive for the Britanians though. As back up, she had a MVS long sword similar to Gino`s and the dagger like the Gareth. All in all, it is a power intensive frame but could be a game changer in war if handled well. Currently, it`s blaze luminous is being updated. Cornelia however settled for a heavily modified Gareth and Jeremiah used the Sutherland Sieg.

"Ugh… that`s enough testing for today. Please leave or else." Lloyd chased away the now apprehensive group. It must be noted though that this is his fourth batch of workers and engineers in 2 years. His reputation created urban legends among the schools of Britannia.

"You know, you should be nicer to them."

"Nah! They should be thankful I hire them. Besides let's analyze the data" he said with the enthusiasm of a child in a candy store.

"You do realize, the Izumo chief, Rakshata is coming to visit you for the final check list and maintenance at about 7.00pm"

"Who cares? She will never reach in time now. It is 6.15pm, so cancel it"

"Don`t speak so fast, my dear earl of pudding" came a musical, cultured Asian voice from the doorway. He cringed at the voice and turned to the women who seemed to love smoking more than life.

"You know, you should stop smoking, Begum of tobacco. Besides, how come you decided to grace us mere mortals at this early hour?"

She just shrugged of the insult. "Indian standard time. It allows us to arrive early or late, but never on time. Now keep your dry sense of humour to yourself. I have come to see how my son is. So hurry up we may need to cut the pudding route." Lloyd scowled darkly at that. He wanted to correct her that it was their joint project along with Cecile. But he gave that up a year ago after nearly being murdered over the said. "Follow me" was all that he mumbled. They walked down the corridor and unto the training ground which held a small hanger. As they neared it, the blond Indian spoke up "I hope that you have been looking after my son well"

"Yes indeed, we even installed the upgrades you asked." Cecile said as she stopped the near mad scientist from speaking.

"I trust you dear, but not that mad pudding man next to you"

"Whom are you calling pudding man you-"

"Now, now settle down kiddo. Open up the hanger now." She said as she smacked him on the head with the pipe. Lloyd just huffed and entered the code which sealed the contents of the hanger. As it they entered, they were greeted by the sight of a black and gold knightmare.

Knightmare frame Shinkiro L was a jointly remade after the Zero requiem by Lloyd, Rakshata and Cecile. It was also the brainchild of Lelouch, who wanted it done with no bar on budget and also the only 10th generation frame which was piloted by Suzaku. It had a solid graphene- silicon chassis and backbone allowing the greatest rigidity possible. Powering the frame was a fusion tempered- Yggdrasil drive giving 7 times the original output. The alloy panels for the body were even more bespoke metal mixture. The frame also had a cape, whose material was of a highly viscous non- Newtonian fluid solution which was almost a like cloth. Thus, when an attack hit it, the cape would harden to a strength proportional to the magnitude of the attack. But, it could hold of as such for a limited time period. Also it is used to aid aero dynamics along with its energy wings by sending an electric pulse through it. This alters the orientation of the molecules thus making the material solid. All this plus a discreet pressure manipulation device could make the gigantic frame fly up to Mach 8. Movement on land was done by the vario- landspinners similar to Lancelot Albion but displacing 3 times the power. This enabled land speeds in excess of 120mph Weaponry included 2 silicon-carbon-iron nanoparticle alloyed MVS katana, 1 long sword of same alloy, 8 boosted directional slash harkens, 2 super VARIS rifles which formed the pin point nose in flight and 4 cannons firing the ZERO beam, Hadron and Baryon beams in various modes.

The biggest news however was the intelligent druid system. Since, the older model needed a dedicated person to pilot and to execute commands, the newer one had the execution part removed completely. All decisions for tracking, surveying, shield setting etc. were done by the onboard 6th gen computers. This enabled that the devicer could concentrate on the task at hand. It was the most challenging thing to make the frame think. Although, manual override was possible. This was a huge blessing for Suzaku, who was not as mentally gifted as Lelouch. Till now, the systems accuracy was 100percent in decision making and logic operations. Also data input of the devicer`s fighting style could be loaded to accurately deliver power to given parts, launch of weapon etc. All this made Shinkiro a true beast among other Knightmare frames and worthy of its devicer.

"You have done a good job, pudding. I wouldn`t expect anything less from you"

"I that the compliment from the Begum of India?"

She once again smacked him on the head " No, but I might reconsider what I said"

"One of these days, I will have a concussion." Lloyd groaned.

"And the world would be a better place too." Added Rakshata cheekily.

Before Lloyd could make a comeback, Cecile intervened to diffuse the tension. "How is the Shinshi coming along ma`am? I heard Todhoh was getting a new frame."

"It`s coming along nicely dear. I would love to send some of the data to you for processing."

"I would be honored"

Seeing the dark face Lloyd was making she said to him "Don`t worry, pudding Todhoh frame, won`t beat our masterpiece, but it will make Albion grovel."

Lloyd saw murder and was after Rakshata who was surprisingly fast at sprinting while still puffing at the pipe. Cecile sighed in fond exasperation at her boss`s behavior and made a mental note to inform she said 'our' not 'her' masterpiece and proceeded to secure the hanger.

Shinshi are the Japanese equivalent to the Gareth. They however focused on close combat over long range. The concept of the frame however was simplicity. Rakshata designed them such that even a small time mechanic could fix it. Also the construction had some natural materials like strengthened bamboo in it. This ensured even lighter weight, ease in maintenance and use. Also, due to its concept, it was easy to make specialized frames on it. Weaponry included an MVS katana, 5 slash harkens, a low intensity radiation and a rifle. Todhoh frame "Susanoo" was inspired by the same concept only with added weaponry and input data to surpass its predecessor.

The ace in the pack however was still Kallen. Her ability to keep up with Suzaku had become a legend among the Japanese. In her honour, the black knights had Guren 8 elements to be rebuilt. It still had all the same weaponry and looks. That was because, all the changes were under the skin. Optimization of parts meant that speed increased and sync rates for operation were even higher, not that it was a problem. The biggest change were the land spinners. They adopted the same one that was on the Shinkiro L.

"Thank God that smoke factory has left. Now chop-chop everyone! We now disperse for the day" Lloyd proclaimed much to the workers who he had summoned in the middle of the maintenance check, relief.

"Have you updated Shinkiro L`s system command, Cecile?"

"Just finishing it up. Then we can have some dinner which I have prepared."

"What did you make?" Lloyd asked in a quiet, cautious voice.

"Sushi". That made Lloyd want to run away and hide in some closets.

Elsewhere in Izumo.

"Good evening, Rakshata .I take it your visit was pleasant?" Said a Kallen as she proceeded into the lab. "Yes dear, the fact I met Pud-"

"Lloyd" Kallen corrected.

"Yes that buffoon, my day was automatically made just seeing him."

"You know, you should stop messing with him."

"And lose my only competitor to sanity, I think I might as well give up smoking."

"Whatever" Kallen rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, simulation time. I can`t let my firstborn be attention deprived now can we?"

"Yes ma`am."

Kallen had grown into a mature person with a fiery passion which she held under control. Currently, she has graduated out of Ashford and is a full time member with the Black Knights. Her relation with the scientist was quite good as 'no one did justice to her child as she did' quote from Rakshata.

As simulation went on, on either side of the globe, the peace being held was less shaky than before. But it was shaky. It would be foolish to ban knightmares when they could be made mainstream for civilian use. Also, if a rogue nation were to declare war, other nations needed to have an answer to it. In war, knightmares were the weapon of choice. It was in these interests that Nunnally reluctantly allowed their operation in Britannia and by extension now, the world.

Fate and Time go on in a single direction. But who does fate obey or time wait for? That no one knows, not even Zero…

Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter. I know it` a bit technical but I couldn`t resist thanks to my background. This is where the knightmares make an entrance. What role they could play in the future along with the angels?

Please read and review. Criticism of the constructive kind is welcome.

Enjoy