Chapter 13: Cornelia's Sneak Attack
The moment Hikaru and her group arrived in Cephiro again, they found themselves in the middle of the Castle Courtyard. On both their right and left, the Magic Knights, Lantis, Lafarga, Ferio, and Zazu see two rows of Cephirian customized Sutherlands raising their lances up high above their heads, as a gesture to pave way for their allies and heroes. Without further a due, the Magic Knights and Zazu disembarked from Lantis' and Lafarga's Knightmares before they proceeded forward to the Castle entrance. As soon as Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu reached the stairs leading to the Castle's keep, they were greeted by Clef, Presea, Caldina, Topaz, and Geo Metro.
"So guys, what's the situation?" Hikaru asked first.
"It seems that Prince Clovis is preparing to launch an attack upon this castle in retaliation," Geo announced to the Magic Knights. "And this time, they'll be lead by Princess Cornelia's commanding officers, Lord Guilford and General Darlton!"
Upon hearing this, Hikaru and Lafarga had their eyes twitching out of anxiety due to the fact that they'll be facing Cornelia's Knights again out on the battlefield.
"What about Viceroy Cornelia?" Umi asked out of concern over the Britannian Witch from Area 11. "Is she going to show up again?!"
"It's possible, yes!" Geo explained further. "Though we don't know what they're planning yet. We are to hold our ground at the Castle's garrison at all costs!"
"And Tarta and Aska will give us covering fire from their ships above the battlements!" Clef added in.
"You're in luck, Magic Knights!" Rakshata spoke out loud as she appeared behind Clef. "The Cephirian Army has about 150 Knightmares fully deployed out on the battlefield. This will be an ultimate test for the Cephirian soldiers to make up to their losses by facing the Britannians with their own customized Knightmares out on the frontlines here!"
"Don't forget, that Presea, Caldina, and Topaz will be aiding you Magic Knights with their own customized Knightmares as well!" Geo continued.
"Seriously?!" Umi gasped in excitement.
"Why absolutely, sugar!" Caldina smiled. "I was able to gain control of a Vincent Glinda after securing it from a Britannian Elite soldier at this one village raid in the south, thanks to you Fuu!"
"And I have an Agravain ready for battle, though I'd rather keep my distance while giving off suppressing fire with it," Presea explained nervously.
"So Clef, where do we start off with?!" Hikaru asked the Master Mage, willing to get into the battlefield once again in Cephiro.
After hearing Hikaru's question, Geo took out a handheld GPA and, with just one touch of the screen, it displayed a 50 by 50 inch map grid that covers up the entire garrison from an external view.
"The Britannian Main force will be split into two groups: One will by lead by General Darlton and the other will be lead by Lord Guilford. Darlton will be accompanied by the Glaston Knights and Guilford will be accompanied by a platoon of 400 Sutherlands," Geo spoke out loud as he announced his battle plan in defending the Castle of Cephiro. "They'll strike first by attacking the left and right garrisons! Lantis and Lafarga will be defending the left garrisons. Umi and Fuu will be stationed at the right garrison while deploying our defenses. Hikaru will be on the outlook for any other enemy reserve forces and defend the south garrison with all her might. Presea, you'll let Hikaru pinpoint any locations of where the enemy will appear at and give her covering fire with your Agravain. Caldina, you and Ascot help backup Hikaru while on the battlefield!"
"Understood!" The Magic Knights and Cephrio's warriors acknowledged in unison.
"Zazu, you help me engage the Britannian Flagship!" Geo continued. "Our analyzer indicates that they're using a jumpspace teleporter to travel to Cephiro from Area 11. We need to disable that ship so that we can secure it at all costs! This also means, that we need to prepare a boarding party on their enemy ship while Cornelia's forces are preoccupied with laying a siege upon Cephiro's Castle. So, go prep my GTO and met me back at the NSX!"
"Yes sir!" Zazu saluted before he ran off into the crowd of scrabbling soldiers all over the courtyard.
Back onboard Clovis' Caerleon-Class Floating Battleship, Cornelia is in the hangar, prepping her customized Gloucester. As she worked on activating all of her weapon systems from inside her cockpit, the Viceroy received a message from one of her Communication Channels. As the screen pulled up in front of Cornelia, General Darlton appeared before her.
"Your highness, we received word that the Magic Knights have arrived at the Castle of Cephiro!"
"What of the Black Knights and Zero?!" Cornelia asked Darlton.
"They're still in Area 11 and they won't be showing up this time!" Darlton answered.
"Then we'll still proceed with the plan!" Cornelia suggested to the Britannian General. "This might be easier for us to smash those Cephirian scum into a million pieces now that the Black Knights are not their to support them. But remember, that Fiery Magic Knight Eleven is mine!"
"Understood, your highness!" Darlton acknowledged as his screen disappeared before Cornelia's eyes.
As soon as Guilford's Gloucester appears at the hangar of the flagship, he makes his first order for his attack formation.
"All units, prepare to drop on my command!"
In an instant, several of Guilford's men appeared next to both of his sides and readied their assault rifles and jousting lances.
"3...2...1! DROP! DROP!" Guilford ordered at the top of his lungs.
Upon hearing Guilford's command, he was the first to jump out of the hangar and activated his Gloucester's parachute. Without further a due, Guilford's men jumped off and activated their parachutes in order to reduce the impact of landing on the ground below them. Back at the Castle, Commander Topaz, who is now piloting an Orange customized Gloucester and is standing up from his open cockpit, spotted the enemy Britannian Knightmares landing down at the forest. With one wave of his hand, several of Topaz's men opened fire with their wrist-mounted crossbows and assault rifles up towards the sky, in hopes of shooting down their enemy before they safely land on the ground.
As soon as Guilford heard enemy fire coming from below, he orders his men to evade and increase their speed towards their landing zone. Those that didn't evade were struck by the enemies' crossbow bolts and shot at a few times by their assault rifles before they exploded in mid-air. Those who survived getting fired upon from below mostly landed in the forest. The moment they landed, the Britannian Sutherlands detached their parachutes and drew out weapons and charged forward towards the castle's garrisons from all sides.
"Here they come, sugar!" Caldina spoke from her Vincent Glinda as she drew out her two lancer-MVS.
After hearing what the illusionist just said, Hikaru drew out her Escudo Broadsword and summoned forth her Rune God once more. The moment Rayearth landed behind Hikaru, she went inside her Rune God as his eyes started lighting up.
"Umi! Fuu! Everyone! Get ready! They're attacking from the forest!" Hikaru announced through her communicator that Geo gave the Magic Knights earlier.
The moment they see the enemy Sutherlands appear from the forest 500 meters away from the Castle, they opened fire at the outer walls of Cephiro's Castle while on the move with their landspinners. After taking cover behind the walls, several Cephirian Sutherlands opened fire from at the enemy. As for Presea, Hikaru launched a Flame Arrow as a flare to indicate on where to fire at. The moment Hikaru's flame spell flew over a few enemy Sutherlands, Presea activated the Agravain's dual Hadron Cannons. With just one click from her controller, Presea unleashed two powerful dark-red beams at the enemy Sutherlands with deadly accuracy. As the beams flew right past the Sutherlands, they blew up in a straight Presea, she felt a bit shaken after firing the Hadron Cannons on the battlefield. However, the blacksmith knew that she needed to stay alive while on the battlefield so Presea did her best to show endurance while firing several times with the Agravain's Hadron Cannons from afar.
The moment the Sutherlands reached the outer walls, they activated their Slash Harkens and hoisted themselves up in order to scale the castle walls. As soon as they jumped over the outer walls, the Britannian Sutherlands were met by a couple of Cephirian Knightmares that came charging at them with their jousting Lances and Stun Tonfas! While the Britannians and Cephirians engaged each other on the walls of the left garrisons, Umi and Fuu who are now inside Selece and Windam flew up to the garrisons and engaged the Britannians once again, with their swords drawn. When the fight began, Cephirian swords clashed into Britannian lances, explosions erupted on the walls and from within the courtyard, and shouts and blood-curdling screams echoed throughout the battlefield.
While the Knights of Water and Wind jumped into the fight with heroic interventions and intercepted several more enemy Knightmares before taking them down one by one, Lord Guilford appeared from the forest with his Gloucester and hurled his lance straight towards the walls that the two Magic Knights are in. In a sudden surprise, Guilford's Jousting Lance zoomed right past Selece's face by a mere inch from where he was standing, much to Umi's startled reaction.
"Well, if it isn't Lord Guilford of Cornelia's Knights!" Umi sneered as she turned to face towards Guilford's Knightmare.
As Guilford's Gloucester scaled up the walls that Umi was on, he smashed on top of a Cephirian customized Sutherland and drew out his Maser Vibration Sword before going after the Knight of Water.
"Magic Knight of Cephiro, you are mine!" Guilford hollered as he charged forward with his Knightmare straight at Umi's position.
In one quick motion, Umi pointed her rapier at the Gloucester in the face and made several straight jabs at him, only for Guilford to dodge it left and right. After evading Umi's sword for less than a minute, Guilford made his move by counter-attacking it with his MVS, in attempt to break off Umi's guard. As a result, Guilford shoved his sword at Umi's sword, pushing her back with sheer force.
"UGH!" Umi grunted as she was thrown off her jabbing attacks.
The moment Guilford attacked Selece with a horizontal swipe with his sword, Umi jumped backwards and skidded to a halt before resuming her attack upon the Knight of Cornelia.
"Nice reflexes, Magic Knight!" Guilford muttered to himself as he continued to engage the Knight of Water while lifting his sword up to his left side.
Before Umi could attack back, Guilford unleashed his Slasher Harkens at the Knight of Water. Upon reaction, Umi raised her hand up high above her head and summoned her water magic before aiming it at the Gloucester's Harkens.
"WATER DRAGON!"
As the blue dragon appeared in front of Umi, it opened up its jaws and shot itself towards the harkens, knocking both of them off course and continued to head towards Guilford's Gloucester.
"Water, you say?!" Guilford hissed as he chopped Umi's spell in two with his MVS. "Don't make me laugh!"
Undaunted by such retaliation, Umi charged second and thrusted her rapier at Guilford's Gloucester like a spear. As the fight between the Knight of Water and Lord Guilford continued, Windam slashed one enemy Sutherland twice with her two-handed sword before intercepting the fight between the two.
"MS. UMI! CLEAR!" Fuu shouted from inside Windam.
Upon hearing Fuu coming up from behind her, Umi disengaged with Lord Guilford and flew 40 meters above from where Guilford's Gloucester was standing. Before Guilford could see what was going on, he spotted Windam's hands glowing in a bright-green aura as Fuu casted one of her wind spells at him.
"EMERALD CYCLONE!"
"No way!" Guilford shrieked as he jumped off the outer walls and landed inside the Castle's Courtyard, evading Fuu's spell.
As Guilford's Knightmare turned around, he sees Windam and Selece jumped down to the courtyard and held their swords up high before facing them two against one. Not wanting to back down, Guilford drew out his second MVS before engaging the Knights of Water and Wind head on.
On the other side of the garrison, Lantis shot down 5 enemy Sutherlands with his Sutherland's Giant Cannon while giving Lafarga covering fire with his platoon of customized Cephirian Sutherlands outside of the Castle garrisons.
"Sir Lantis, watch our backs!" Lafarga said from his Gloucester.
"Understood, Captain!" Lantis replied as continued firing down on the Britannian Knightmares.
After Lafarga stabbed two enemy Sutherlands with his Jousting Lance, General Darlton's Gloucester appeared from the forest in from of him and fired his assault rifle at the Guard Captain of Cephiro.
"Hello, Lafarga! Prepare to die you maggot!" Darlton glared while opening fire at Lafarga's Gloucester.
"YOU AGAIN?" Lafarga growled as he steered his Knightmare away from enemy fire.
"And this time, my special squadron will be pitching into this siege! Glaston Knights! ATTACK!" Darlton commanded as five more enemy Gloucesters appeared behind the Britannian General.
In an instant, the Glaston Knights' Knightmares are all armed with Staffen Missile Launchers and with a blink of an eye, they unleashed a massive volley of missiles at Lafarga and his men. As a result, most of the ground was erupting with multiple explosions, nearly decimating most of Lafarga's guards as their customized Sutherlands blew up to smithereens.
"SOLDIERS, FALL BACK TO THE GARRISON!" Lafarga shouted while giving out orders to his soldiers.
As the surviving guards heeded Captain Lafarga's orders, they steered away from the Glaston Knights and went back behind the castle's outer walls. However, before Lafarga could catch up to his men, he was met with two Glaston Knights as they drew out their swords and engaged him immediately. In retaliation, Lafarga drew out his Gloucester's MVS and fought back against the Glaston Knights with seer strength and swordmaster skills. Lantis dropped his Giant Cannon from his black Sutherland and drew out both of his Stun Tonfas before jumping off the outer wall to aid Lafarga in fighting against the Glaston Knights.
"Watch out boys!" Darlton spoke out loud from his Knightmare. "These Cephirian Warriors happened to be Commanding Officers of Cephiro's Army!"
"Understood, sir!" One of the Glaston Knights spoke as he engaged Lantis' Sutherland head on.
When two of Cephiro's best warriors faced off the five Glaston Knights, another Knightmare Frame flew over the outer wall and attacked General Darlton with his revolving Sword. It was Ferio and his customized Burai Kai.
"HI-YAH!" Ferio shouted as he swung his sword at Darlton head on.
As Ferio continued with his flurry of attacks with his Burai's Revolving Sword, Darlton steered backwards in a straight line with his Gloucester and fired his Assault Rifle at him. At the same time, Ferio steered his customized Knightmare left and right to evade enemy fire coming from Darlton.
"And if I remember correctly from Prince Clovis' meeting, one of the warriors of Cephiro happens to be the Prince of Cephiro himself!" Darlton announced to his Glaston Knight Squad.
In an instant, Ferio rushed in and struck at Darlton head on with his Revolving Sword only to get parried by the Britannian General's Jousting Lance up front.
"That's right! I am Prince Ferio of Cephiro!" The green-haired Cephirian Noble shouted dauntlessly as he stood his ground against Darlton.
"Guys, help me out here! Ferio is onto me!" Darlton ordered while trying to resist Ferio's advances.
"Yes, my lord!" The Glaston Knights acknowledged as they attempted to close in Ferio's position.
Before any of the Glaston Knights could help out Darlton, Lafarga and Lantis intercepted and continue their fight with them.
At Hikaru's position, she and Caldina were hacking every single enemy Sutherland that was scaling the castle walls with their Slash Harkens. In such swift movement, Caldina was able to do all sorts of acrobatic, assassin-like killing blows with her Vincent Glinda as she performed various blows with its lancer MVS's. For Hikaru, she casted several ruby lightings from the outer walls while Presea had the Agravain flew right next to her and fired one of its cannons at the advancing enemy Britannians.
Unfortunately, they didn't see Cornelia's Knightmare blend in through the advancing Britannian Sutherlands until it is too late. As soon as Cornelia appeared from amongst her reserve forces, she fired her Assault Rifle at Presea's Agravain, making the blacksmith lose her accuracy from her firing range, destroying its left cannon.
"AGH!" Presea screamed as she attempted to back away from the outer walls while covering the Agravain's face with its left hand.
To make matters worse, Cornelia jumped up high above the outer walls with her Slash Harkens and pounced onto Presea's Knightmare with both of its feet, scaring the living vibes out of the Cephrian Smith. The next thing Presea saw was Cornelia grabbing her Agravain with the Gloucester's left hand by its face.
"PRESEA!" Hikaru shouted as she attempted to intercept Cornelia's Knightmare. "GET AWAY FROM HER, CORNELIA!"
"Let's Dance! MAGIC KNIGHT ELEVEN SCUM!" Cornelia shouted ruthlessly as she turned to face Rayearth with her Jousting Lance.
"FLAME ARROW, YAH!" Hikaru shouted as she hurled a flaming missile at Cornelia's Gloucester.
After throwing Presea's Knightmare off the outer walls in front of her with her right hand, Cornelia thrusted her lance at the oncoming flame and made it burst in a medium-sized explosion a few meters in front of her, unfazed by its effects, leaving behind a small red cloud. As Cornelia appeared from the red cloud, she charged straight at Rayearth as it held its ground with her shield up in front of the Viceroy. Just when Cornelia's lance hit Rayearth's shield, Hikaru lifted her shield up high and struck back by swinging her sword from above her head. As Cornelia block Hikaru's sword with her lance, she rotated her lance with the end pointing at Rayearth and jabbing in the knee. However, Hikaru wasn't done yet. Ignoring the impact from the other end of Cornelia's lance, Hikaru swiped her sword across the Gloucester's torso only for Cornelia to steer backwards away from the Flame Knight's 3rd attack.
During the fight between the Fire Knight and the Viceroy of Area 11, Caldina jumped up in mid-air and attempted to slam the Vincent's right leg on top of Cornelia's Gloucester's head. In just by a mere inch, Cornelia broke away from her fight with the Knight of Fire and dodged the Vincent's attack from above.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY, CEPHIRIAN FREAK!" Cornelia snarled as she opened fire upon Caldina's Vincent.
Despite Cornelia's fury and shootout, Caldina steered her Vincent left and right as she tried to close in on the Viceroy herself. However, before Caldina could deliver any damage onto Cornelia's Gloucester, she was met with a huge whack on Vincent's head with Cornelia's Jousting Lance. Upon impact, Caldina's Knightmare fell off the outer walls and landed onto the dirt ground below.
"Why you...?!" Caldina grunted in pain as she struggled to get her Vincent back on its knees.
The moment Caldina turned around to resume her attack on Cornelia, the illusionist was met with a barrage of Slash Harkens by a group of enemy Sutherlands. Not wanting to get struck again, Caldina had the Vincent jump up above the ground and cartwheeled into the enemy group as she engaged them again, leaving Hikaru dealing with Cornelia back at the outer walls.
After knocking Caldina's Vincent out of the way, Cornelia resumes her fight with the Knight of fire only to be met with a torrent of white flames coming from Hikaru's sword. In less than a second, Cornelia's Gloucester jumped off the outer walls and landed in the courtyard, with Rayearth following from behind. As Rayearth landed on two feet and facing Cornelia's Gloucester, Hikaru charged with her sword raised up behind her left shoulder while preparing to strike at the Viceroy again.
"You really think you can take us on like this, do you?!" Cornelia taunted as she blocked another of Hikaru's sword attacks with her jousting lance. "IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT?!"
Before Hikaru had another chance of attacking Cornelia again, she was met with a strong thrust in the ruby orb on Rayearth's chest by Cornelia's Jousting Lance. Hikaru barely had enough time to dodge it when the lance shattered a bit of the ruby orb cockpit. As a result, Rayearth's orb cockpit was left damaged with an huge hole that is exposing Hikaru from inside the Rune God. The moment Cornelia turned her Knightmare around to face Rayearth again, she gasped in total shock. After taking a good look at pilot inside Rayearth's exposed, shattered orb, Cornelia felt totally stunned upon realizing that the Magic Knight that she is facing in battle is actually the very same little girl that she encountered after raiding her hometown and rounded her up, along with the rest of the survivors at Area 11 during their invasion.
"N-No way! HIKARU SHIDOU?! I-It was you the entire time, seven years ago?!" Cornelia shrieked as her eyes widened in horror. "H-How is this possible?!"
"I already told you, Princess Cornelia!" Hikaru snarled as she stared at Cornelia's Knightmare straight in the eye. "I haven't forgotten about how you took our parents away from me and my brothers! Well, let's just say that I've been pretty busy here in Cephiro long before you and your people came to this country and threatened them with violence. Now that I'm able to have my powers adapt to Area 11 as a Magic Knight of Fire, I'll do anything to get my parents back, for my brothers and for all of Japan!"
Before Cornelia could say anything else, she grunted in pain as she felt her cockpit shake violently. The Viceroy was met with shield bash in the Gloucester's Tungsten Armored Torso by Rayearth himself.
"UGH! CURSES!" The Viceroy shouted in horror as she felt her Knightmare falling on its back.
The next thing that happened is when Rayearth jumped on top of Cornelia's Gloucester and held her down with Hikaru's sword pointing at the Knightmare in its neck.
Meanwhile during the fight below them, the Chizeta Bravada and the Dome of Fahren are accompanying the NSX as they prepare to attack the Britannian Battleship up in the sky. From the bridge, the alarms went off as the ship's crew have all visual sights of approaching ships from the three countries converging on their position.
"Prince Clovis, Cephiro's allied ships are heading straight for us! What should we do?!" The Britannian Captain reported at the bridge.
"Send out the VTOL Gunships! Drive wretched infidels of Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren away at once!" Prince Clovis ordered.
"Yes, your highness!" The Captain acknowledged as he carried out orders to dispatch their gunships into battle.
Upon seeing the Britannia's VTOL gunships flying towards the three ships, the princesses of Chizeta and Fahren used their magic to raise their shields as the gunships opened fire with their Ventral Cannons and Rocket Pods while firing yellow beams and fireballs at them and blasting several of them away. For the Battleship NSX, however, Geo ordered his crew to activate all gun turrets and missiles and opened fire upon the enemy gunships.
"Lady Aska! Tarta! Tatra! HOLD NOTHING BACK!" Geo shouted as he opened up their communication channels from the NSX's bridge. "Push forward with all of your might!"
"Understood, Commander Geo!" The three princesses said in unison while they continued their fight against the Britannian Gunships.
"Zazu, get my GTO ready! As soon as we reach 300 meters towards that Britannian Battleship, I'll be heading out and providing back up!" Geo ordered the young mechanic.
"Yes, sir!" Zazu acknowledged.
