Chapter 23: Kill or Be Killed
The Gawain that was piloted by Infinite was pushing back the Lancelot piloted by Zero until the two machines rammed through the ceiling of an abandoned skyscraper. Finally, the Lancelot was able to get away from the Gawain and the two pilots stared at the other before clashing once more.
"Just what is it you want?" Suzaku asked. As he asked that question, he was speaking with Lelouch, and hoped that since they were alone here, he would pull off the rouse of being Infinite.
"The end of this; that is my wish." Infinite replied with an oddly solemn tone.
But before Suzaku could respond to Infinite's answer, the Gawain flew forward and struck with its claws to cleave into the Lancelot's armor. To defend, Suzaku brought up one of the Lancelot's EVS and deflected the Gawain's claw and then swung its second blade for an attack.
But then the Gawain brought up its second claw and grabbed the blade of energy. This was the first time two 10th Generation models did battle against one another. Against each other, their speeds were perfectly matched, and both machines only had one source of attack. It would not be speed or power that would decide the victor of this battle; it would all be up to skill. How well the two of them could control their deadly weapons was all that mattered.
The answer would be seen with the victor of this battle. But the battle itself was no longer a simple situation. Suzaku knew it was Lelouch piloting the Gawain, and Lelouch of course knew he was attacking Suzaku. Even worse, Lelouch had the Geass 'Code', which made him immortal; even if he tried, Suzaku would not be able to kill him.
The Lancelot and the Gawain broke from each other and skidded back using the wheels on their heels. There was only a second of stillness before the Lancelot charged in again, swinging its blades to attempt to cease the Gawain's movement rather than destroy it. Suzaku wanted to force Lelouch out to speak face to face, if he could make it impossible for the Gawain to fight, he would easily achieve that goal.
As he charged the Gawain, the black machine began to move forward as well, throwing its claws to deflect the Lancelot's blade as they zoomed past each other and quickly spun around to face each other and continue to battle with an even greater furiousness than before.
In the air where the main forces battled, Kallen desperately tried to get past the Utsuri in front of her to go help Zero who had been forced away by Infinite. More importantly, she wanted to go to meet with Lelouch and punch him for putting them through this.
The Guren flew up at the Utsuri and stretched its pulsar arm at it. Knowing full well the dangers of that arm, the Utsuri pulled away and flew to the side to avoid it and then took out its M.V. Harken Blade and shot it out at the Guren, but Kallen performed a strategic roll to the side and avoided the blade's edge.
"Get out of my way!" Kallen shouted at the Utsuri's pilot and flew at it again.
The Utsuri retracted its blade and prepared to swing it straight at the Guren when it approached. However, mid-approach, the Guren activated its cloaking systems and appeared to vanish from in front of him, taking him slightly off guard.
In haste, the Utsuri simply stabbed its sword forward, and then was surprised to find that it did not hit anything. However, the pilot did not remain confused for very long. Activating the cloaking systems like that had surprised him, but the KnightCrawlers were already equipped with sensors strong enough to detect the Knightmares even in that state.
"You're not getting away!" The man inside warned Kallen and turned his machine around and fired off its Hydron Bullets from its wrist guns.
At first they looked like random shots and none of them hit anything, but suddenly all the shots twisted in mid-air and converged on a single point. When the shots collided they exploded, however they did not hit the Guren. To save herself, Kallen had pulled herself to an emergency stop before she got to the point the bullets had converged on. The blast blew her Guren back a bit and her cloaking device was damaged, making her visible again.
Of course, the cloaking was not the only system that had been impacted from the explosion. Even the normal flight motion of the Guren had been impeded, although it might have just been temporary disturbance like jetlag. However the effect was not so major it would cause Kallen's immediate loss. She turned back around to face the Utsuri and found it flying at her with its sword at the ready.
Immediately, Kallen moved her pulsar arm and – just before the sword cut into the machine – caught the Utsuri's hand. Without hesitation, she activated the pulsar arm. The Utsuri's arm expanded rapidly, and then the pilot hurriedly detached the arm and flew away just before it exploded.
However, the Guren's attack was not over, using the lasers embedded in its pulsar arm to surprise the Utsuri and pierce through its main body and then swung the arm down to cut down through the Utsuri, causing the whole thing to blow up and completely destroy it.
Kallen sighed with relief and then made to go in the direction the Lancelot and Gawain had flown. However, just as she turned the Guren around, a new enemy appeared in front of her – The Nerug.
But the half backed copy of her Knightmare was no longer on the same level. That was the first time Kallen had used the lasers in the Pulsar arm, so Kallen's opponent was now at a disadvantage.
The Nerug shoved its pulsar arm at the Guren, and Kallen made a sloppy retreat backward from the system malfunction caused by the explosion a moment ago, but still got in the clear before her machine was touched.
Even if Kallen had an advantage, that did not quell the rage she contained from being stopped twice in a row in her advance. "Out. Of. My. Way!" She screamed each word at the Nerug's pilot and swung her Pulsar arm to the side without approaching the enemy KnightCrawler and fired off its lasers to attempt to cleave the copy in half.
However, the Nerug flew up and over the lasers and then lurched itself at Kallen again, stretching its pulsar arm at her yet again.
The Lancelot's blade stabbed forward. The Gawain's claw grabbed and halted it, holding it to the side. The second sword swooped down but it was caught again. Suzaku continued to press its blades against the Gawain as if he were trying to break its arms through sheer force. But that was not his plan; instead he held the Gawain in place like that and moved one of the Lancelot's legs up to kick the Gawain's chest, knocking it back.
The Gawain took the attack and was knocked back a little before stopping itself and then racing back at the Lancelot, throwing its right claw at the Lancelot's head. But this was actually a chance that Suzaku had been waiting for.
Using the Gawain's own charge against it, the Lancelot ducked down to the side and allowed the enemy to pass by past its shoulder while it drew its energy blade back to strike. It did not aim for the cockpit or the arm, but rather for the Energy Wing on its back. If Suzaku managed to hider Lelouch's speed in a battle that was based solely on that exact aspect, he might as well have the battle won already.
The Gawain did not have time to dodge as the Lancelot's blade approached its left wing, ready to clip its feathers to prevent flight like a bird. Instead, it moved its already extended arm and twisted it back as far as it could go. When the Lancelot's blade cut through the Gawain's wing, the Gawain's momentum was shifted into a half roll to the side. Using that momentum, the Gawain swung its arm and used its claw to rip into the Lancelot's own Energy Wing, ripping the mechanism of speed off its enemy's back and managing to keep them.
Strategically, Suzaku knew Lelouch had him beat; however, this battle now was obviously not previously planned and had been forced because Lelouch had not expected the F.L.E.I.J.A -BEAM-. But in terms of sheer fighting ability, Suzaku could defeat Lelouch.
The two of them operated their machines with these aspects that they excelled in. So while Suzaku attacked Lelouch, Lelouch planned out the best counter to it as it happened. Because of that, they remained on equal footing in combat against one another.
Suzaku had meant to trigger the end of the battle there, but because Lelouch had managed to keep them on the same level, their battle would rage on longer. But Suzaku would try to make sure it did not extend too much longer. He knew he wouldn't get Lelouch with the same trick twice, so his best choice now was to make a continuous full-throttle attack that backed him into a corner he couldn't get out of and strike then.
Whether or not Lelouch would expect it to come, so long as Suzaku could land the first attack, it would be over. With that in mind, Suzaku controlled the slowed Lancelot and charged once more at the Gawain.
The Lancelot plunged forward and the Gawain stood its ground, waiting for the attack. The Lancelot stopped in front of the Gawain and swung its sword down. When it did, the Gawain blocked with its claw, but Lelouch knew it was not ending there.
The Lancelot pulled its sword back up and twisted its body, spinning its second blade up at the Gawain. Reacting quickly, the Gawain but its claws in the way and deflected the blade and then moved back to try and gain room to start a counter-attack. However, this was just what Suzaku wanted.
Without giving his enemy a second, the Lancelot moved forward to close the gap before it even became on and swung both swords from the side at the Gawain's head. The Gawain just barely reacted in time and put both its hands in the way and blocked the swords, shoving them to the sides and moving back more just before the Lancelot swung the blades back again from both sides.
And yet the assault still didn't end. Moving forward only an instant after the Gawain, the Lancelot threw the swords that were now above its head down directly on top of the Gawain. Once again, the Gawain just barely put its claws in the way, to block.
However, this time the Lancelot did something different. One of its swords had not been directed at its head, but to the side. Because of that, it was now at the side of a cornered Gawain with both its arms pinned above its head. The Lancelot swung the sword in and up, cutting through the Gawain's right arm at the shoulder and severing it completely from the machine.
In that moment the Gawain's arm fell to the ground, the Lancelot pulled its second sword back from above the Gawain and held it back, following by striking forward at the should of the Gawain's remaining arm.
The Gawain ducked; and not a moment too soon. The blade of the Lancelot stabbed into the wall behind the Gawain and then the Gawain struck its claw forward and ran through the shoulder joint of the Lancelot's right arm, once again just managing to keep the two machines on equal footing in the fight.
Suzaku became enraged. Knowing he was fighting Lelouch was hard enough, but he was continually wondering what the purpose behind his actions were. He couldn't imagine Lelouch not having a rational goal for causing this much chaos. To learn what that reason was, Suzaku fought as hard as he could.
The Lancelot swung its remaining arm to swing its sword at the Gawain's remaining arm. If he could sever that arm as well, Lelouch would no longer be able to fight. At that point, he would get his answers.
But he knew it would not be that easy to accomplish. The Gawain used its single Energy Wing to unsteadily jump into the air and land behind the Lancelot. Flight was nearly impossible with only one wing as the balance would be completely off, but momentary lift was easily doable.
The Gawain took to the offensive, it charged at the Lancelot as it turned around and thrust its claw at its head. The Lancelot ducked and rolled to the side and then swung its sword at the Gawain in turn. The Gawain shifted the direction of its arm and knocked the blade to the side to keep out of harm's way and then swung it down.
Instead of running or blocking, the Lancelot burst forward suddenly and crashed itself into the Gawain to avoid the attack and knock them both back into a wall. From that position, Suzaku had the machine roll back while swinging its sword at the same time. This time, it cleaved off the remaining arm of the Gawain.
Stopping in front of his enemy, the Suzaku pointed the Lancelot's sword at the now defenseless Gawain. The Gawain did not move, standing there in defeat. With the situation now in his favor, Suzaku gave the pilot an order. "Come out of there."
Complying, the hatch of the Gawain opened up, and then a man clad in white stood up. Infinite still wore his helmet before Suzaku, which only aggravated him since he knew it was Lelouch.
Suzaku put on his helmet as well and then opened up his cockpit as well. He clicked a few buttons and then a compartment at his feet opened up to show a sword that he could use. Taking the sword, he and Infinite both used their safety wires to lower themselves to the ground.
"Take off that helmet. You should realize I know who you are." Suzaku told Lelouch, who stood there before him.
"You as well." Infinite stated, and then slowly reached a hand up to his mask.
Suzaku did the same in kind, putting a hand upon the mask of Zero. At the same time, both of them removed their masks from their heads and then held it in front of their faces. After another moment, the two discarded the masks by throwing them to the ground, no longer any use.
Finally, everything was laid bare. Suzaku stared forward, peering into the eyes of his best friend, Lelouch. For a moment there was nothing but silence and the noticeable grip Suzaku had on his sword tightening to the point it shook.
"It's been a long time, Suzaku." Lelouch said slowly, as if forcing himself to.
Lelouch's expression was solid and showed no emotion, just raw focus on the situation before him. In response, Suzaku yelled. "Tell me why!?" He asked, clenching his teeth and baring a look of utter resentment that hid the sorrow he felt inside. "What was the reason you started this war!?"
Lelouch's expression did not waver in the slightest as he answered. "Because I needed you."
Suzaku did not know how to respond to that. For a moment his expression went straight from resentment to startled. "Needed me… for what?" He asked.
He felt he was getting down to the truth, the real reason behind all of Lelouch's actions. Answering him, Lelouch spoke in a solemn voice. "Kill me." He said. Suzaku went from startled to absolute shock. "I need you to kill me." He repeated.
"Lelouch, what are you…" He started, but lost the words in his confusion.
Lelouch was immortal. He could not die. Why then, would Lelouch tell him that he needed to be killed? It was a contradiction, and one Suzaku felt he might not get an answer to.
"I told you already, I wish to end all of this." Lelouch said. "To do that, I must die. So kill me."
"Stop saying that! That's not what I want to hear!" Suzaku screamed out, taking a step forward. "Why did you start this war? What is the final goal you meant to accomplish?"
Instead of giving an answer, Lelouch just repeated himself. "Kill me, Suzaku."
"Answer me!"
"Kill me," Lelouch said once more, and then reached behind his back inside his cape. He grabbed a gun from a holster on his waist, and when he did the holster began blinking with small lights. Lelouch pulled out the gun and pointed it straight at Suzaku. "Kill me, or I will kill you."
Suzaku's eyes widened so much he felt as if his eyes would pop out of their sockets. He could feel it; Lelouch was serious. The reason was that he felt the unprecedented instinct to defend himself from the impending threat, the instinct he felt when Lelouch's order to 'Live on' came into effect. It only happened when his life was in genuine danger that he might be killed if it didn't activate.
But Suzaku couldn't believe it was a serious threat. He couldn't believe Lelouch would actually plan to kill him. "Why… Lelouch?" Suzaku muttered while using every inch of his will to fight the overpowering instinct to defend his life. Lelouch did not answer. Instead, all he did was pull the trigger of that pistol in his hand.
All will left Suzaku's body, the Geass command now had complete control of his limbs and made him tighten the grip on his sword even more than it already was. In the exact instant the trigger was pulled, Suzaku's body ducked to the side to where the bullet only just grazed his head, a few drops of blood dripping down.
After that, Suzaku's feet were forced to run forward at Lelouch. Sadness, anger, hatred, worry, confusion, shock, relief, depression, anguish, rage, and even more emotions tore through Suzaku's heart like a hurricane so much so that it was as if he could die from the strain it put on his heart. And with that dangerous and indescribable mix of emotions stabbed at his heart and mind, Suzaku unwillingly ran his sword through Lelouch's chest.