Chapter 13: The Power of the Utsuri
Zero called Kallen, Nunnally, Cornelia, Xingke, and the Knights of Round: Gino, Anya, and Nonette. He went through the plan to take back the Saitama Ghetto, with Nunnally's Guinevere, they should be able to pull it off. They would split up into four groups of 2 and come in at different ends of the Ghetto. Kallen and himself with come from the north side, Gino and Anya would enter at the west end, while Xingke and Nonette came from the east, leaving the south to Cornelia and Nunnally. When all of them got into position, using the radars, they could tell that there were only about 100 KnightCrawlers here to guard the Ghetto.
"Ready everyone?" Zero asked through the radio.
"Roger," Kallen replied.
"Anytime," Gino said.
"Ready," Anya said.
"All set," Xingke said.
"Whenever your ready," Nonette said.
"I'm in position," Cornelia said.
"I'm prepared," Nunnally said.
"Then let the operation begin." Zero told them and they all charged in, catching some people off guard as they entered.
Zero used his sword to destroy one of the KnightCrawlers, then made a vibration wave to destroy 2 more in the distance. Kallen destroyed one with her pulsar arm, then flew forward with Zero. The KnightCrawlers were operating in small groups, making it harder to take them out, and then the KnightCrawlers were close in strength to their 9th generation Knightmares, so taking them out was already no easy task.
"Oh, lucky me, I got Zero to fight here, along with Kallen, the 'Ace of the Black Knight.'" A voice came from behind, and Kallen and Zero turned to see and Utsuri behind them.
Gino and Anya charged through, their improved Knightmares easily destroying and avoiding the enemy KnightCrawlers. With Gino's fortress mode, he could slip strait passed enemies, then take them out from behind before they could react, His MVS were also given the same upgrade as Zero's, so he could take out more faster. Anya's Knightmare was able to use it's Stark Hydron Cannons to take out any enemies in front of her, and her missiles now had a homing system, and were made to be faster than the enemies energy wings, so it was extremely difficult to dodge, and made it easy to take out large numbers at once.
"I thought Zero said these KnightCrawlers were as good as any 9th generation Knightmare, what gives?" Gino wondered, taking the Crawlers out in general ease.
"Their all inexperienced, most of them never piloted a Knightmare until joining with Infinite." Anya answered.
"I guess that makes sense, most Britannians who can pilot Knightmares worked for the empire, and wouldn't ever think about betraying them."
"Most," A voice came. "But not all." Anya and Gino looked at where the voice came, and saw two KnightCrawlers that looked different from the others. These Crawlers looked more like what Zero described Infinite's fifth being at the fight for the Academy.
"We are the advanced troops that did betray the Britannian Empire and have experience piloting Knightmares." The second man said. "Prepare to be disassembled by our Utsuri's."
Xingke and Nonette drove through with general ease, their Knightmares making a good team. With Xingke's Electronic Slash Harken, he could strike through most of the KnightCrawlers or smash them into each other without even stopping. Then Nonette's Knightmare, the Lionel, had a Hydron cannon in both of its palms, not only giving it power, but since they are in the hands, she could move the blasts around fluently without turning the whole Knightmare.
"Keep moving, don't give an inch." Xingke told Nonette.
"Right, this sure is easy though." Nonette replied.
"No matter how tough the KnightCrawler is, it's almost useless without a good pilot." Xingke said.
"Especially when it comes to us when we have a lot of experience with our Knightmares." Nonette added.
"Too easy is it? Then allow us to provide you with a challenge." A voice came from above.
Xingke and Nonette didn't stop until they looked upward at one of the Utsuri's Nunnally defeated with her Genevieve, at which they halted.
"I take it you are one of the advanced troop, to be given a special KnightCrawler." Nonette guessed.
"That is correct. We who pilot an Utsuri are those of us that abandoned the Britannian empire to join forces with Infinite. Now come, let me show you my power."
"Lloyd and Rakshata really outdid themselves making your Knightmare Nunnally." Cornelia said as they just flew through, wiping out the KnightCrawlers almost as soon as they appeared.
"Well, they understood everyone's concern for my safety, so they wanted to make certain you didn't have anything to worry about." Nunnally replied.
"Just don't get too laid back Nunnally, anything can happen on the battlefield."
"How true!" Someone suddenly said from above. Nunnally and Cornelia looked up at a pair of Utsuri's.
"Don't be too happy about that victory you pulled against me last time Nunnally Vi Britannia, I was just taken by surprise." The pilot of the Utsuri said, the same pilot that was the fifth participate of Infinite's side in the battle for the Academy.
"Empress Cornelia, we will not ask for you to forgive us." The second pilot said.
"What?" Cornelia was surprised by these words.
"Don't tell me word never reached you. There were a large number of betrayers in your army, those that left to join with Infinite."
"What was that, betrayers among my own troops?" Cornelia couldn't believe it.
"Many of us never wished to be rid of Emperor Lelouch. When you took over after his death, we merely went along with it, some secretly plotting against you, but before that, Infinite appeared to us, and we wanted to join him out of our loyalty to Emperor Lelouch."
"Now it is time for you to die, Empress Cornelia." The first pilot said, then charged.
"An Utsuri, there are more of them?" Kallen asked.
"Of course there are more, there are plenty more, and you will find us much harder than those second-rate pilots." The man in the Utsuri replied.
"Still, we won't lose." Zero said, flying toward him and swinging his Vibration Blade at him, and the Utsuri caught the blade between its hands.
Then the small cannons on the Utsuri's wrist began to charge. "Say good-bye Zero." The man said.
"Forgetting someone?" Kallen said, coming up from the side, and making to grab him with her right arm, but he then flew backward.
"Just as I predicted you'd do." The man said, and fired his cannons.
Zero and Kallen just barely managed to get out of the way. What came from the cannons were indeed Hydron blasts, but rather than a beam, they were like bullets, smaller and less powerful, but for sure much faster. And that wasn't all, it was multiple fire, he didn't just shoot single Hydron Bullets from each one, he shot one after another, and with their speed, they were becoming hard to dodge.
Zero and Kallen had to be going at top speeds just to keep from getting hit by the bullets, so they didn't even have room to try and attack. The bullets seemed to be endless, not giving even a second for them to do anything but dodge.
"Kallen, use the cloaking systems!" Zero shouted as he used his own, vanishing before their eyes. Kallen used hers right after, and after a moment, the Utsuri ceased fire.
A moment past and nothing happened, but then the pilot of the Utsuri snickered. "Fools," He said, turning and firing at what seemed to be empty space, but Kallen and Zero uncloaked themselves in order to use their energy wings and dodge.
"What, how did he know where we were?" Kallen wondered.
"I don't know, but let's not give him time to fire again." Zero said, pulling out his Master Vibration Sword and flying at the Utsuri. He swung his blade, but the Utsuri dodged back. "Take this!" Zero shouted, swing the sword again, and making a vibration pulse go toward the Utsuri.
The Utsuri put its arms up to defend. The pulse struck it back a bit, but didn't do much in the way of damage. Then Kallen came up behind it, ready to hit it with it's energy pulsar, but before she hit it, it flew to the side.
"It appears I will need more than this regular Hydron to catch you two." The pilot of the Utsuri said, pulling out the sword it held on its waist.
"Is that a Master Vibration Sword?" Zero guessed by its look.
"Close, but no," The pilot of the Utsuri replied, stabbing the blade forward, and it shot off like a Slash Harken, surprising Zero, and managing to scratch a hole in the Lancelot's armor. The Utsuri then wiped the hilt it held and made the blade swing around and strike Kallen, also just scratching it.
"It's like a combination of the Master Vibration Sword and a Slash Harken." Kallen stated.
"What's more, it was able to cut through our armor." Zero added.
"Do you like it?" The pilot of the Utsuri asked. "This is the power of the Utsuri!"