As the aerial battle continues to rage in Cephiro's airspace, the ships of Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren are pressing forward as the Djinn Spirits and Aska's illusions punched through the VTOL gunships in a spearhead assault. Not wanting to back down by such overwhelming odds from Cephiro's allies, Clovis ordered some of the remaining Sutherlands that haven't dropped into the forests near the castle to man the defenses on top of their battleship. The moment several Britannian Knightmare pilots heeded the prince's orders, they went on top of the ship's surface and opened fire at Chizeta's Guardian Spirits and Aska's illusions. Despite all their efforts, the Djinn and the Fahrenian Illusions were evading the enemy fire through all sorts of acrobatic moves in the sky before closing into the Britannian Sutherlands. In an instant, the Djinns summoned their huge arabic swords and hacked the Sutherlands in two and kicked several of them off their ship, much to Clovis' horror.

"Surrender, Prince Clovis!" The Blue Djinn spoke using Tarta's voice while pointing his sword at the ship's bridge. "There is no escape from the wrath of Cephiro's allies!"

"Y-You dare threaten me, Chizetian?!" Clovis shrieked in anger, with Euphy sweating in fear.

Before Tarta could say anything through her Djinn, the GTO appeared behind the Guardian Spirit and took out several more Sutherlands onboard the ship with his cannon and missiles.

"Where is the Lancelot when you need it?!" Euphy muttered to herself.

Before their siege, Suzaku and the Lancelot got called in by the Special Corps to go over a few more research assignments and to catch up on school time at the Ashford Academy. With that said, Euphy had no choice but to let Suzaku take care of business back in Area 11 until further notice. The reason why Euphy went with Clovis, Cornelia, and their men to Cephiro is because the young princess wanted to see what was Cephiro like, apart from Area 11, much to their dismay. Thanks to Euphy's stubbornness, Clovis had no choice but to take Euphy with them but only on a full escort onboard their battleship. Unfortunately, because of how aggressive the Cephirians and their allies are in battle right now, Euphy might have picked the wrong time to visit Cephiro, despite being left behind on their ship.

"Your highness, the enemy ships are launching board parties in the hangar!" The Captain shouted in fear.

"Escort us to our shuttle!" Clovis ordered the Captain before grabbing Euphy with his right hand. "Let's go sister, we need to evacuate this ship at once."

"No brother! If we can find a way to reason with the Magic Knights and their allies..." Euphy protested before her speech was interrupted by her elder brother.

"There's no time for that, my dear!" Clovis denied. "They're already cornering us before we even started attacking their castle!"

"What about Cornelia and the others?!" Euphy said in worry. "They're still over there!"

"We have to get off this ship first, then we'll contact our surviving forces to meet up with us!" Clovis suggested. "Captain, defend this ship while escorting me and Euphy to the hangar!"

"Yes, your highness!" The Captain acknowledged as he activated the P.A to carry out Clovis' orders to the rest of the crew.


Back at the Castle, the fight between the Britannians and the Cephirians gotten more intense as the Glaston Knights fought a brutal battle with Cephiro's best warriors while trading lance thrusts, gunfire, explosions, and sword-fighting with each other. For Cornelia and Hikaru, the Magic Knight is still pinning over the Viceroy with her sword still pointing at the Gloucester's face. In their surroundings, Presea is still unconscious after getting taken down by the Viceroy of Area 11 and Caldina shows up to back up Hikaru again after taking down several more Britannian Sutherlands before the Cephirian Gloucesters and Sutherlands moved in to relieve her of the illusionist's position. As Cornelia continued to look up at the Magic Knight inside Rayearth, she took a few deep breaths before say anymore.

"I didn't really think you would get very far like this just to get your revenge on me and my men, Hikaru!" Cornelia said while attempting to take a breather. "This isn't some sort of trick, is it?! A young Eleven witch that is obsessed in helping out the natives of this new world as a Knight unlike any other?"

"Why would it be, Princess?!" Hikaru said as she continued to glare at the Britannian Princess. "I've already met and befriended most of the natives in this new world and since I saved them from destruction, they were actually nice enough to give us a helping hand in saving our world as well from Britannia, especially from Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren. Besides, Master Mage Clef filled us in and taught us how to use our powers to help protect the people we care about!"

"You knew?! You all knew, didn't you?!" Cornelia gasped as she turned her face to see Master Mage Clef and several Cephirian customized Knightmares appear from the castle's rear entrance and approached her and Hikaru. "That's not true is it, Master Mage?! TELL ME THIS ISN'T TRUE!?"

"My apologizes your majesty, but I already taught Lady Hikaru everything she needs to know on how to save Cephiro three years ago!" Clef spoke in a calm tone as he pointed his staff at Cornelia's Gloucester. "Everything they did to keep you Britannians at bay is my responsibility as well! Now if you don't mind, PLEASE SURRENDER, PRINCESS CORNELIA! FOR THERE IS NO WAY OUT OF THIS!

NO! NEVER!" Cornelia roared as she grabbed her gun and aimed the Gloucester's Assault Rifle at Rayearth's face.

Just when she unleashed a barrage of bullets at Rayearth, Hikaru reacted by jumping a couple of meters backwards away from Cornelia and landed on both of her feet while Cornelia got up on hers.

"How could you Cephirians think of relying on this little Eleven witch to save your sorry asses?" Cornelia snarled in confusion.

"We always believed in Hikaru and the Magic Knights that they would win our battles for us in order to save this country!" Clef continued as she levitated himself off the ground with a barrier shield protecting him. "They don't really care if Hikaru is an Eleven or not! Since she and her fellow Magic Knights have displayed their bravery and their honor by making it this far out onto the battlefield without abusing their power, we don't have any reason to question their loyalty towards Cephiro!"

"It sounded like that you guys made another Suzaku Kururugi in this foul place!" Cornelia summarized, claiming that they made Hikaru an Honorary Cephirian. "But no matter, I'll squash you all!"

"LIGHTING BALL! COME FORTH!" Clef shouted as he raised his staff up to the sky while in mid-air.

In a few seconds, a huge ball of lighting struck at where Cornelia is standing. With on swift motion of her controller, Cornelia moved her Knightmare to the left before Clef's spell struck the ground and created a huge dent that pierced the earth a few feet from Cornelia's Gloucester. Just when Cornelia fired the Gloucester's Slash Harkens at Clef, Caldina flew towards her with her Vincent and did a jump kick, with its right leg lifting up towards the Knightmare's face. Upon impact, Cornelia barely had enough time to block the Vincent's kick with her jousting lance when the Vincent's leg made contact with the lance's shaft. In less than a second, the Jousting Lance suddenly split in two due to the strong impact that Caldina's Vincent made.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Cornelia shouted as she retaliated against the Chizetian illusionist.

As the lance broke apart, Cornelia's Gloucester whacked the Vincent with her broken half across the Vincent's face. Caldina didn't saw Cornelia's counter-attack when her Vincent got knocked over to her left. Just when the Vincent hit the ground Caldina skidded to a halt when her Knightmare crashed into the wall of the Castle Keep, knocking the illusionist out cold.

"CALDINA!" Hikaru shrieked loudly as she charged at Cornelia with all of her might.

"Are you really sure that this is what you want, Hikaru?!" Cornelia asked in a jeering tone while holding her ground against Hikaru's sword with the other half of her jousting lance. "You won't be seeing your parents or your brothers again once I'm done with you because anyone who dares to challenge me in Knightmare combat will be digging their own graves in no time at all!"

"Viceroy or not, you'll still have to pay for what you do!" Hikaru hissed as she leaned closer to Cornelia's Knightmare. "I came back here to collect!"

"FINE, THEN!" Cornelia shouted as she jumped away from Hikaru and landed her Gloucester on its two feet and 50 meters apart from Rayearth.

Before either Cornelia or Hikaru could attack each other again, Lord Guilford jumped in-between the two and drew out his MVS.

"PRINCESS STAY BACK! I'll..." Guilford shouted before seeing the shattered cockpit inside the Rayearth Knightmare. "What the? Hikaru?! T-That can't be right! Y-You where that girl seven years ago! W-Why are you...?!"

Upon seeing Hikaru inside Rayearth, Guilford's eyes widened with horror as his face started covering up in sweat and out of fear.

"Feeling scared, Lord Guilford?!" Hikaru smirked as hands started powering up with her magic and aimed it at Cornelia's Knight's Gloucester. "Well, you should be! RUBY LIGHTING!"

As the red torrent of electricity came out of Hikaru's hands, it shot out at both Guilford and Cornelia dead on. Without hesitation, Guilford steered his Knightmare towards Cornelia's, grabbed her Knightmare, and threw himself to his right along with her, landing on the ground with both of their Knightmare's torsos. In instant, Guilford and Cornelia both dodged Hikaru's thunderous magic, leaving behind a scratch on Guilford's Knightmare in the humpback cockpit. At the same time, Hikaru's Ruby Lighting accidentally struck the Castle's outer walls from behind. However, thanks to Clef's magical enhancements, the walls didn't suffer any internal damage for it was protected by a inner barrier shield. The moment both Cornelia and Guilford got up on their feet, they received another communication channel from inside their cockpits.

"Viceroy! This is the Captain speaking!" The voice from Cornelia's intercom spoke. "We're under heavy attack by Cephiro's allies. Request immediate back-GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"CAPTAIN!" Cornelia and Guilford exclaimed in unison before his channel ended in static.

As they looked towards each other and towards Hikaru, they felt in utter silence for a few seconds until Cornelia makes her speech in front of the Knight of Fire.

"We'll settle this another time, Hikaru! For now, I'll withdraw!"

Before Hikaru could say anything else, Cornelia ordered a retreat while she and Lord Guilford ran back up the outer walls and disappeared over the Castle's garrisons.

"Presea! Clef! Caldina! Are you guys, okay?!" Hikaru asked as she turned towards the two unconscious warriors and the Master Mage.

"We're fine, Hikaru!" Clef responded. "Let's clean up this area, we'll go after them later!"

"Understood!" Hikaru acknowledged as she moved away from her post to check up on her other friends.


Back inside the Battleship, Prince Clovis and Princess Euphy are making a run for it down to the hangar while being chased by Geo's Troops and Aska's guards! Both soldiers from Autozam and Fahren were pouring out from their personal transports and immediately engaged the Battleship's crew members. In the ensuring boarding party, the Britannian Marines were opening fire against the forces of Autozam and Fahren throughout the corridors and all over the main hangar of the battleship. What's worse is that, when the Captain tried to make contact with the Viceroy and Lord Guilford, he was met with a combusting explosion that consumed him while on the bridge, claiming his life for good. As soon as they reached the hangar, Clovis and Euphy were met by a group of monstrous beasts that tore away several squads of Britannian Marines with their fists, claws, and huge tails.

"GAH! MONSTERS!" Clovis shrieked in horror while being backed up by another group of 10 Marines.

While the Marines opened fire upon the monstrous creatures, Ascot appeared amongst the chaos and shot several Britannian Marines down with his lighting magic.

"Watch it, Clovis!" Ascot hissed as he pointed his finger at the Britannian Prince in a hostile manner. "Those monsters are actually all friends of mine!"

"YOU?!" Clovis gasped in shock. "That's sounds very absurd!"

"Oh really?!" Ascot smirked as he snapped his fingers.

Upon noticing Ascot's command, Griffore ran up to Clovis and Euphy and grabbed them both with his huge hands. As Griffore lifted them up off the ground, the two royal siblings were both grunting while being restrained against their own will.

"Please, don't hurt us! It's not our idea to declare war on Cephiro! Honest!" Clovis pleaded while begging for mercy.

"HANDS OFF THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES!" One of the Sutherland pilots shouted as he rammed his Knightmare at Griffore.

Upon impact, the anthropomorphic griffin roared in pain as he unwillingly let go of both Euphy and Clovis and landed right on top of the Sutherland's hands before steering away from the chaos. The Sutherland carrying the prince and princess steered towards the shuttle and dropped them off before getting back into the fight with Ascot's creatures. As soon as both siblings reached the shuttle, the ship started shaking violently from the explosions coming from outside. To make matters worse, an grim announcement blared out all over the hangar.

"Attention all crew members! The ship is now on a collision course! I repeat, it is now on a collision course. Please evacuate all personnel immediately!"

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU FOOL!" Clovis shouted at the pilot inside his shuttle as he and Euphy went to their seats and buckled up. "Get me and Euphy out of here at once!"

"Yes, your majesty!" The pilot replied as prepared the shuttle for take off.

As soon as the hangar doors opened wide, the shuttle flew off in a jiffy, zooming right past the GTO unnoticed before he helped his soldiers evacuate the falling battleship.

"Remember our mission guys!" Geo said from inside his Mecha. "As soon as the ship crashes somewhere away from the Castle, we are to secure their Sakuradite jumpdrive and haul to the Castle of Cephiro!"

"Yes, Commander!" The Autozamian soldiers acknowledged as they went back to the NSX v.i.a their transport shuttles.

While the Autozamian soldiers evacuated, the Chizetian guard ran back to their walkways as they headed towards the Bravada. After Ascot recalled all of his friends, he ordered his flying beast to escort him away from the falling Britannian Battleship. While in mid-air, Ascot could feel the intense breeze flowing through his shoulders as he flew out of harm's way.

"Someday, I'll get that Prince Clovis!" Ascot muttered to himself as he rode on the back of his flyer. "Hopefully, we'll use him as a political hostage to have his fellow Britannians stand down with a ceasefire."


As they see their battleship crash somewhere in the forest, Cornelia could not help but worry for the safety of his sister Euphy and his brother Clovis. While Cornelia is steering her Knightmare away from the battlefield back at Cephiro's Castle and deep within the forest, the Princess couldn't stop hyperventilating after her learning the true identity of one of the Magic Knights that she faced in battle. After breathing exasperatedly for a few times, Darlton's Gloucester came up to Cornelia's out of concern over her sudden, frightful behavior, while the Glaston Knights and the remaining Britannian Sutherlands moved on ahead towards their rally point.

"Princess, what's wrong?!" Darlton asked, worriedly.

"I should've known, way back seven years ago!" Cornelia said, while huffing in a panic. "It was her all along!"

"What?! Who?" The Britannian General asked further, putting pressure on the Viceroy.

"I hate to say this, Darlton! But it was Hikaru Shidou from Area 11, seven years ago!" Guilford answered for Cornelia.

"I don't believe it!" Darlton exclaimed in shock. "There has to be some sort of mistake here! I mean, why would it be that young girl back at Tokyo? It doesn't make any sense!"

"I don't want to admit it Darlton, but it looks like they made Hikaru an Honorary Cephirian of a Magic Knight here after they helped saved their world from destruction three years ago!" Cornelia summarized. "I know, it's hard to believe that Hikaru would actually grow up only to become a formidable opponent in the future!"

"If we ever get back to Area 11, should we have Hikaru arrested?" Guilford asked the Viceroy. "Or should we warn Warrant Officer Kururugi about this?!"

"No, none of that!" Cornelia denied. "If word gets out that Hikaru is one of the Magic Knights that was tearing through the ranks of the Holy Britannian Empire, there will be a panic amongst our fellow Britannians. It may even encourage more Elevens to start rebelling against us, just like when the Black Knights rose up from the shadows and started rebelling against us! For now, we'll let Suzaku deal with her in a fair fight between Knights serving for their beloved countries. We still haven't figured out who are the other two Magic Knights fighting alongside Hikaru yet!"

"I understand, your highness!" Darlton acknowledged.

"Right now, we need to met up with Euphy and Clovis at their rendezvous point," Cornelia ordered her men before moving on with her Knightmare.

Upon heeding Cornelia's orders, Darlton left the Viceroy to help back up the remaining Britannian Army on the other side of the forest.


As the Magic Knights and Cephiro's defenders went to work in fixing the garrisons all over the outer walls, Geo ordered the NSX crew to activate their tractor beam that Rakshata helped developed and mounted on top of the Autozamian Battleship. Upon hearing Geo's command, the NSX crewmen fired their tractor beam, shooting out a long green beam at the falling Britannian ship before it crashed into Cephiro's Castle. The moment they were able to hold onto the wrecked ship, the NSX Crew redirected it a few meters in front of the Castle's main gate. The moment they disengaged their tractor beam, Geo landed his GTO on the ground a few feet away from the wreckage and escorted an engineer team towards it.

"Okay, boys!" Geo announced from his GTO. "Time to secure that Sakuradite Jumpdrive and haul it into the Castle. Zazu, helped them work on it, to see if we can use it to build a gateway to Area 11!"

"Yes, sir!" Zazu acknowledged from Geo's intercom.

While Zazu went down to the courtyard by shuttle, Fuu casted her "Winds of Healing Spell" on several wounded soldiers regenerating most of their wounds while Rakshata and several Autozamian Engineers went to work on repairing the Cephirian Knightmares that we're damaged from their previous battle. As Hikaru disembarked from her Rune God she casted another spell to repair the damaged ruby crystal orb on Rayearth before helping Umi and Fuu treat the wounded. During their recovery, Ferio ordered some of his men to put out the fires caused by the previous explosions that occurred by the Britannians.

"Man, those Glaston Knights are very vicious!" Ferio muttered in frustration as he makes his attempt in repairing his Burai Kai with the aid of one of the Autozamian Engineers. "I was about to lose against them when they disarmed my Burai's Revolving Sword! That wasn't until they we're given the order to retreat by Viceroy Cornelia!"

"Well, they happened to be General Darlton's Elite Soldiers, for whom he addresses them as his adoptive sons!" Rakshata informed the Cephirian Prince.

"Someday, those insane ruffians will be sorry that they ever came here in the first place," Lafarga grunted as he drank a mug of beer. "Just be grateful that those Glaston goons didn't get past the outer walls!"

"I may not have the time to upgrade the Magic Knight's Rune God Knightmares here!" Rakshata announced. "Even though my experimental project is completed thanks the Geo and his crew, I may need to operate it back at Area 11 first."

"Are you sure, Rakshata?!" Hikaru asked as she, Umi, and Fuu walked up to the Indian Head Researcher.

"It may not be worth the risk testing the new upgrades for your Rune Gods yet, due to the situation at hand here!" Rakshata continued. "But fret not, they all happened to be Sakuradite evolution orbs that were enchanted by Clef's Magic and customized by Autozam's engineers, thanks to my research. They'll help increase most of the Rune God's stats where they are at their weakest and help you all gain new powers once they're ready to deploy."

"I can't wait to see how those will play out as!" Umi said excitedly.

"Anyway, I have to help them construct a gateway to Area 11 so that Cephiro's Army would arrive and make camp at Area 11," Rakshata explained. "Also, the ships from Cephiro's allied countries need built-in jumpdrive generators so that they can gain access to Area 11 from Cephiro or vice versa to aid the Black Knights residing there and some cloaking devices to hide their ships from Britannia's "Eye in the Sky!"

"Understood!" The Magic Knights said in unison.

"This all may take 48 hours to get all of this done, girls!" Lafarga added in. "So, one of us needs to take turns to patrol the garrison during the night shift!"

"Let's go get something to eat inside the Castle! I'm starving!" Ferio told the group as he went inside the Castle Keep.

As Ferio disappeared into the Castle, Lafarga and the Magic Knights went with him to check up on Caldina and Presea at the Medical ward. The moment Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, Lafarga, and Lantis arrived at the Medical Ward, they see a dozen of doctors and nurses from Autozam scrambling all over the area while treating the Cephirian Soldiers of their injuries. When Hikaru looked around, she sees most of the soldiers lying down on their stretchers with bandages wrapped around their heads and around their lower abdomens. Some have slings on their arms, while others were unconscious. Upon seeing all of this, Hikaru couldn't help but notice how harsh the results from Knightmare combat can really be, especially when some of the soldiers were able to use their ejector seats upon their defeat at the hands of Britannia's troops. After several minutes of looking around, Hikaru and Lafarga finally saw Caldina sitting on top of her bunk, with a bandage wrapped around her head and a patch on her left cheek. For Presea, she had bandages wrapped around both of her arms and is resting on top of her bunk, catching some Zs. Upon seeing Presea recovering from the last fight, Hikaru felt a bit relieved that the blacksmith will be okay. As soon as the illusionist saw Lafarga up front, Caldina made a weak smile, making the guard captain concerned over her health.

"Caldina, are you okay?!" Lafarga asked, showing concern over his Chizetian woman.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Caldina said in a quiet tone. "I can't believe that Britannian Witch knocked me out twice all in one day!"

"Since we took down their ship and secured their jump drive, Cornelia won't have any chance to escape Cephiro this time!" Hikaru informed Caldina, much to her relief.

"Say Hikaru, I noticed that you were speaking to the Viceroy as if she already knew about you. Is that true sweetie?!" Caldina asked, concerning over the Knight of Fire.

"The thing is Caldina, I already met the Viceroy before seven years ago," Hikaru answered in front of both the illusionist and guard captain.

"Wait! Seriously?!" Lafarga gasped in shock. "Let me guess, you didn't have any power back then when she threatened to take you away, didn't you?!"

"No I didn't. However, she spared me from my enslavement in exchange for my parents' slavery," Hikaru said as she looked down on herself. "But no matter, as soon as I'm able to get close to her and take her down, I'll squeeze as much information as I can on where my mother and father are at from Cornelia!"

"Ya sure have quite the enemy during your childhood there, little missy!" Caldina wheezed.

"I guess that's one reason to go after Britannia," Lantis pondered. "It's bad enough that one of the students from that Britannian School got a little too nosy thanks to that Baroness Viletta Nu back at Area 11."

"Wait, what do you mean by that, Lantis?" Lafarga asked.

"One of my friends, Shirley Fennette, was being used as bait by Viletta Nu during one of our fights with Britannia a few nights ago," Hikaru said before explaining the rest of her story towards Caldina and Lafarga.

"Man, that was pretty harsh for a Baroness to do in order to expose your identity in front of the public!" Lafarga gasped. "I should've captured that woman when I had the chance."

"We really need to be very careful as soon as we get back to Area 11 when meeting up with the Black Knights!" Lantis suggested towards Hikaru. "Did anyone else find out about you during the battlefield?"

"Uh Oh!" Hikaru gasped. "Lord Guilford saw me too inside my Rune God! We do need to capture both Cornelia and Guilford before they tell their fellow Britannians about me!"

"I don't think that may be necessary!" Clef said as he appeared from the doorway of the Medical Ward.

"Why not?!" Hikaru asked while sweating underneath her breath out of fear. "I was almost found out by Viletta and Shirley back in Area 11 and now this?! Those witnesses have to be dealt with before it gets worse!"

"Please calm down, Hikaru!" Clef said with sympathy. "I still felt that Princess Cornelia may be hesitant in letting her fellow Britannians know about you!"

"What makes you say that, Master Mage?" Umi asked out of curiosity and anxiety.

As Clef raised his staff up high, it shot out a large, blue oval projector on the floor near Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, Lantis, Lafarga, and Caldina. The moment Hikaru looked at the projector, it revealed Cornelia talking to Guilford and Darlton while steering her Knightmare through the forest. After hearing what Cornelia said to both of her commanding officers, Hikaru couldn't believe that Cornelia was afraid of what will the outcome would be if word gets out that she was one of the Magic Knights back at Area 11.

"It seems to me that you gave Ms. Cornelia quite the scare, Ms. Hikaru!" Fuu giggled in amusement.

"Well, it won't be the last we'll see from that Viceroy, Fuu!" Hikaru presumed. "Even then, we need to capture her and her officers before they find a way to escape Cephiro."

"Not to worry, Hikaru. Since we took away their jump drive from their wrecked ship, they won't get very far!" Lafarga said in a confident tone. "We'll rest up until nightfall and carry out several combat teams of Cephirian Gloucesters and Sutherlands accompanied by the Magic Knights and I in order to hunt the Viceroy down. However, they'll still send in another Britannian Battleship to come by and pick them up in just a couple of hours. We have until then to capture the Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire."

"Understood!" Lantis acknowledged. "Hikaru, are you and the Magic Knights up for it?"

"Yes, we are!" Hikaru replied in a positive, determined tone of voice.


As soon as Cornelia and her men met up with Euphy and Clovis at their rally point, they find themselves at the shores by sunset and made camp nearby a huge cave. After they parked their Knightmares inside the cave and Clovis' shuttle outside covered up in a camouflage net, all of the Britannian soldiers, Glaston Knights, the commanding officers, and the Viceroy disembarked. Everyone assembled in front of Cornelia as she makes her announcement to the rest of her remaining forces. When Cornelia went over their debriefing over their failed assault upon the Castle of Cephiro, she realized that their is only 30 of them left after the battle with the Magic Knights and the Cephirians. Before anyone else could say anything, Cornelia makes her announcement to her remaining soldiers and the Glaston Knights.

"I understand that we made a foolish spearhead assault upon that Castle last morning, leaving Clovis' battleship exposed out in the open above us! I will apologize for that. As a result, most of the crew onboard is either dead or captured by Cephiro's allies. In any other case, I was able to make contact with the Government Bureau. They said that they'll be sending in a fleet of Britannian ships to cover our retreat. I won't let any of you die in vain. We are to hold our ground here until they give us a lift onboard their ships. Once we have everyone on board, they'll immediate activate the jump drive to teleport all of us back to Area 11. Therefore, your orders right now are to stay alive until reinforcements arrive to pick us up! Any questions?!"

"Did you managed to find out who the Magic Knights really are?" One of the Glaston Knights asked.

"I did. Though, I made a really big mistake in not taking that female Eleven as one of my slaves!" Cornelia said, feeling disappointed.

As the Viceroy took out her PDA, she revealed a small projector screen to everyone around her. Upon seeing it, the Britannian soldiers were all shocked at noticing Hikaru's full profile in full view.

"When my spies hacked into the files from the NSX with their computer back onboard our Battleship, it turns out that Hikaru is one that shouldn't be underestimated with!" Cornelia said in a calm voice. "She already proven herself to be a very dangerous opponent despite at such a young age! Not because I faced her in battle more than once, but also because her Rune God Knightmare possesses the highest strength capabilities and resistances than any other Knightmare does. I already went over it with Darlton and Guilford. If any of you see her in battle again, don't try to get in her way! She's pretty much a loose cannon to begin with. If it hadn't been for Guilford, I wouldn't survive here at all! For now, just let Guilford deal with her!"

"What about everything that we left behind inside our wrecked battleship?" Darlton asked the Viceroy. "If the Cephirians get their hands on what was left behind back there, then..."

"OH SHIT!" Guilford gasped in shock. "Our jump drive generator is still back there on board our ship! If they get a hold of it, they'll gain access to Area 11 and we'll be forced to deal with the Armies of Cephiro there as well!"

"We can't do anything about our jump drive generator anymore, now that our ship has fallen into enemy hands. We're outnumbered and stranded in enemy territory. We're just going to have to boost up our defenses at the Government Bureau once we get back to the Tokyo Settlement!" Prince Clovis suggested. "Anyway, we have to hold our position in two hours tops until our escort unit arrives!"

"Yes, your majesty!" All the soldiers acknowledged in unison.

"Darlton, watch over Euphy and Clovis!" Cornelia ordered the general as she went back to her Gloucester. "Don't let Hikaru get anywhere near them!"

"Understood, your highness!" Darlton said as he saluted the Viceroy.

As Cornelia's men bolstered the defenses all over the beach, Darlton escorted Euphy and Clovis to the shuttle. Since most of their Knightmares are running low on Sakuradite Energy Fillers, except for Guilford's and the Glaston Knights' Gloucesters, and ammunition for their Knightmares' Assault Rifles, the Britannian pilots, Cornelia, and Darlton have no choice but to hide them all inside the cave and disembark. While they used the nearby logs at the beach to barricade their hideout and around their camouflaged shuttle, Guilford ordered some of his men to bring out their crates and weapons from inside Clovis' shuttle. The moment they laid their supply crates inside the barricade, Cornelia's soldiers loaded their Assault Rifles and mounted their heavy machine guns and missile launchers on top of the barricade, while Darlton, and Cornelia drew out their swords from within their military uniforms.


As the Magic Knights rest up for their next mission at nightfall, they spent some of their time hanging around with their friends at the courtyard. Unfortunately for Umi, she went with Ascot down to the residential quarters. The moment they got there, Ascot went on ahead to do some shopping with Umi. For Mokona, he was prancing around the residential quarters with Primera. In such crazy notice, the fluffy white rabbit was sneaking up on Umi, unaware of his presence. As soon as Mokona got close, he snatched Umi's wallet from her pocket. The moment Umi noticed Mokona's mischievous petty theft, the blue-haired girl started screaming in embarrassment and started chasing him around the residential quarters with a hammer in her hands before they ran out of the area. Just when Ascot came back to met up with Umi, he noticed that the blue-haired Magic Knight is nowhere to be seen.

"Umi, where did she go?!" Ascot muttered in confusion.

In the hallways, Umi continued her chase after Mokona as she made several failed attempts of bashing the fluff ball in the head with her comical hammer.

"MOKONA, YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Umi roared in hysterically. "GIVE ME BACK MY WALLET!"

While Umi chased Mokona all over the area, the guards and civilians had big drops on the back of their heads as if they were watching a chase scene in a cartoon show. While Mokona kept jumping up and down, just to avoid Umi, he went "Beep! Beep!" all the way to the castle courtyard. For Primera, she smacked herself on the face after seeing the white fluff ball do something insane in front of the Magic Knight of Water. The moment Hikaru and Lantis walked into the courtyard, along with Mira, Fuu, and the children, they all see the fiasco the occurring between Umi and Mokona again, with the children, Mira, and Hikaru laughing their heads off.

"Man, that Umi will never learn!" Hikaru giggled as she sees Mokona jump on her shoulder.

The moment Umi ran up to Mokona and Hikaru, she started huffing and puffing out of frustration after her chase all over the courtyard.

"Can I have my wallet back, please?!"

"Give it to her, Mokona!" Hikaru ordered.

As Mokona jumped off Hikaru's shoulders, he dropped the wallet in front of Umi's feet before he went "Pu!" "Pu!" back into the castle.

"That stupid white fur ball stole my wallet at the Residential Quarters!" Umi growled at herself. "I swear, if he ever robs me again, I'm going to skin him alive!"

"Easy there, Umi!" Hikaru launghed to the stressed out Knight of Water. "Mokona just wants to play, doesn't he?!"

"Pu! Pu!" Mokona chirped happily!

"Say Hikaru, what was it like back at your world?" Mira asked out of curiosity.

"Well Mira, ever since Britannia invaded our homeland, it pretty much fell apart the same way Cephiro almost fell apart!" Hikaru explained.

"They said that the Prime Minister of Japan, Genbu Kururugi, committed suicide just to have all of Japan stand down from their futile resistance against the Holy Britannian Empire." Umi added in. "Though he did refused to surrender to the Britannians back then!"

"The Prime Minister of your world?" Mira said curiously.

"He was Mr. Suzaku's father back then," Fuu said briefly. "For some reason, Mr. Suzaku was feeling a little aloof after hearing about his father's death!"

"We did tried asking Suzaku how his father committed suicide," Hikaru added. "Unfortunately, he said it wasn't his place to say."

"Well, for some strange reason Suzaku might be hiding something that was unexpected!" Umi pondered.

"Maybe if we faced Mr. Suzaku again, I'm sure he'll try to at least confess on what really happened between him and his father," Fuu suggested.

"I hope we'll be able to get back to Area 11 to continue our fight with Britannia there very soon," Hikaru said with determination.

"Hikaru! It's almost time!" Clef said, with his voice echoing inside the Fire Knight's head.

"Mira, we'll be heading out!" Hikaru told the little brown-haired girl.

"Good luck, Hikaru!" Mira cheered in excitement.

As the Magic Knights head out to the main gate outside of the Courtyard, Lantis stood by and see his beloved Hikaru leave the area.

"Suzaku Kururugi!" Lantis muttered to himself. "I wonder what was his connection to the Empire as an Honorary Britannian?"


As soon as the sky turned dark, the Magic Knights went inside their Rune Gods once more and went on ahead to conduct their "Search and Capture" mission. Behind the Magic Knights, Lafarga is leading a team of 5 Cephirian blue customized Gloucesters, piloted by 5 of Cephiro's Elite Guards. As for Ferio, he's leading a team of 15 green-painted Sutherlands, piloted by Cephiro's rangers dressed in green hoods and capes.

"All right, ladies! You know the drill!" Lafarga announced to his squads. "We'll sweep the area up north into three teams! The Magic Knights will proceed forward, Ferio's team will head east and we are to head west. From what Geo calculated prior to our Search parties, we have two hours to capture Cornelia before the rest of her fleet arrives! Any questions?"

After a few seconds of silence, Lafarga drew out the Gloucester's MVS and charged to the west with his Knightmare Frame.

"Good! Let's move out!"

Upon hearing the Guard Captain's orders, the remaining two teams steered their Knightmares to the unknown. When the Magic Knights proceeded forward, they were also flying above Cephiro's landscape, accompanied by the GTO.

"Hey girls, sorry I'm late!" Geo spoke from inside his fighting mecha. "I had to fuel up the GTO from the NSX. I'll be helping you all out with my navigation from inside my cockpit!"

"Sounds good to me," Umi acknowledged while gliding in mid-air with Selece's Dragon Wings.


While inside the shuttle, Euphy couldn't help but stare at the beautiful night sky, the full moon, and the soothing ocean waves from one of the windows.

"I wish we hadn't picked a fight with the natives of this new world," Euphy muttered to herself in dismay with what Clovis did earlier. "This world is so beautiful and so peaceful. I getting the feeling that the natives don't even want to fight anymore. I mean, why did we even insist on declaring war with Cephiro anyway?"

"Sorry about that, sister," Clovis replied. "We were having trouble trying to maintain control of the unstable Sakuradite with our technology back in Area 11. Our father convinced us that Cephiro is known for its infinite willpower. The main source of that energy is likely coming from inside their Castle. We believed that if we take their power source from the Castle, it may help improve our control over the Sakuradite resources at Mt. Fuji. So, if we take that Castle down, we conquer all of Cephiro, naming it Area 25 and they'll have no choice but to surrender their power source to us! Unfortunately, because the Magic Knights rose up and rallied the armies of Cephiro and their allies against us, this may be easier said than done!"

"I wonder how did those Magic Knights came to be in the first place?" Euphy said curiously. "I mean, who were they before then?!"

"Well, it's very to believe this but one of the Magic Knights turned out to be an Eleven named Hikaru Shidou, who also came from the former Japanese Homeland of Tokyo," Darlton explained briefly.

"What?! Seriously?!" Clovis shrieked in fright. "Why would they make that lowly Eleven turn into one of those legendary warriors here?"

"They did say that only those from another world have the will to do so, here in Cephiro," Darlton continued. "I know this seems very odd, but now that I think about it from what Cornelia said earlier, that little spitfire lady reminds me of Suzaku Kururugi!"

"So that means, they were all just ordinary Elevens until just now!" Euphy summarized.

"If what you said is true, we still need to bring her in before Hikaru causes more trouble in Area 11!" Clovis suggested to the General. "I've got a very bad feeling about this!"

"Not yet! I still wanted to talk to her first before we do anything else!" Euphy said with determined negotiation.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, your highness!" Darlton said negatively. "She already proved herself to be very dangerous when she almost defeated Cornelia this morning!"

"Maybe so, but I remember seeing something else in her eyes! From her sadness and her pain seven years ago, I feel pretty bad for her! Eleven or not, she's just the same like the rest of us!" Euphy said persistently.

"That's not a good excuse to make her stand down!" Clovis said in a rejected tone of voice. "Besides, you're not authorized to make any military decisions out on the battlefield for Cornelia!"

Feeling lost, Euphy grunted in dismay for not being able to talk to Darlton and Clovis out of the situation between them and the Magic Knights.

"I'm sorry, your highness. Your decisions for the Elevens can only come into play if they made you Empress of the Britannian Empire!" Darlton said to Euphy in denial.

"I hope one day, they'll find inner peace with Cephiro and its inhabitants!" Euphy said to herself as she started sulking on her seat inside the shuttle, holding her knees in with both of her arms.


After one hour of searching for the remains of Cornelia's strike force, Lafarga's team and Ferio's team were about to call off the hunt together for not being able to discover the enemy's whereabouts.

"Captain Lafarga, it seems like that we're running out of time!" Ferio said while in doubt through the communication channel inside his Green Customized Gloucester. "We only have less than a hour to capture Princess Cornelia!"

"Don't give up, your highness!" Lafarga replied from his Blue Gloucester. "We haven't searched around the beach area up north!"

Somewhere up north, above the trees, the Magic Knight trio flew above the beach area and landed on top of the sand. As they walked forward, the Magic Knights met up with Commander Topaz and his squad of soldiers piloting Red Sutherlands, bearing the emblem of Cephiro.

"Topaz, did you find their location yet?!" Hikaru asked desperately as she walked up to Topaz's Red-Orange Gloucester.

"Yes, my lady!" Topaz spoked through his communication channel from his Knightmare. "They're being hold up nearby a cave at the west edge of the Northern beach! They already setup all of their defenses with Heavy Machine Guns and Missile Launchers. Their guns will start blazing the moment they see us."

"Fuu, you know what you have to do!" Hikaru told the Knight of Wind.

"Yes, Ms. Hikaru! I'm on it!" Fuu said as she flew up into the sky with Windam.

"Let's move!" Hikaru ordered as she and Umi proceeded to the west. "We have half an hour to finish this hunt!"

"Yes, Pillar!" The Soldiers acknowledged in unison as they followed Hikaru from behind with their Sutherlands.

As soon as Euphy continued sulking inside the shuttle, she started hearing something moving on wheels from a distance. The moment the sub-viceroy looked through the window from where she was sitting at, Euphy spotted a group of Knightmares heading straight for them. When Euphy took a good look at them, they were bearing the emblem of Cephiro on their Tungsten Armor. Without further a due, Euphy took out her radio to contact her sister at the barricade.

"Cornelia! They're coming!" Euphy shouted through the radio.

At the barricade, Cornelia heard her sister's voice through the radio and issues the following orders to her remaining troops.

"Get ready to fire on my command!"

Just when Hikaru and her friends and warriors reached 200 meters close to where Cornelia is at, the Viceroy shouts out her orders at the top of her lungs!

"FIRE!"

Unfortunately, by the time they tried to shoot at Hikaru and the Cephirian Knightmares, Windam dropped from the sky in front of Cornelia and her troops and unleashed a huge wind-like barrier that warded off all small arms fire and incoming missiles.

"WINGS OF PROTECTION!"

"Britannia, it's payback time for raiding my village!" Topaz hissed from his Gloucester as he attempted to return fire with his wrist-mounted crossbow.

Unfortunately, Guilford's Gloucester intervened and knocked Topaz's Knightmare off-balance, letting the commander shoot aimlessly into the sky as he fell on his stomach. However, since Topaz refused to hold anything back, he got up and drew out his MVS before challenging Guilford to a fight. As Guilford drew out his MVS, he charged at Topaz with blades clashing into each other.

While the Cephirian Commander and Cornelia's Knight fought each other head on, Hikaru and the rest of Topaz's men closed their ranks and did a shield formation as soon as Fuu's spell disappeared. In an instant, Hikaru raised up her red shield in the front while the Cephirian Gloucesters activated their core luminous shields when the Britannians continued to open fire at them. Despite the efforts of the Britannian Soldiers, Hikaru and the Cephirian soldiers were able to get closer undamaged by their suppressing fire until Cornelia grabbed an RPG and shot at Rayearth in the face with it. Upon impact, the RPG missile exploded and knocked the Rune God a few inches backward before trying to maintain its balance. Cornelia's eyes widened in horror as she sees Rayearth kept charging closer. But before Hikaru was able to strike back at the Viceroy with her flame arrow, Guilford finally threw Topaz's Knightmare over his shoulder and rushed to the Viceroy's aid.

The moment Hikaru launched her fire spell at Cornelia, Guilford steered his Knightmare in front of her line of fire and activated his Core Luminous shield on its left hand, blocking it with ease. After the Flame Arrow exploded on the Knightmare's Luminous, Guilford swiped away the smoke it left behind and lurched his Gloucester at Rayearth with the MVS on its right hand. As the Gloucester clashed his blade against Rayearth's broadsword, they both backed away with Guilford launching his Slash Harkens at Hikaru. Rayearth moved left and right while dodging the Harkens before resuming his attack upon Guilford Knightmare.

"This has gone far enough, Hikaru!" Guilford bellowed in fury as he whacked his MVS on Rayearth's shield. "Do you really think your bright ideals here can really convince the inhabitants of this new world to fight by your side?!"

"Well, you and Cornelia should never have come here, Guilford!" Hikaru shouted as she made a counterattack on Guilford's blade with hers. "Cephiro belongs to all who lives there. I helped changed their world so that they'll all see freedom unfold before their very eyes!"

"You haven't seen anything from the Britannian Empire yet, young lady!" Guilford shouted back while holding his blade downwards, blocking Hikaru's sword from reaching the Gloucester's hip. "As long as I'm a Knight of Britannia serving under the Imperial Family, I will not let you lay a hand on any of the Princesses in the Empire! You're way in over your head, Hikaru! I'd wish you just go back in being a normal female Eleven than rather a full-fledged terrorist!"


Meanwhile back inside the shuttle, Clovis and Darlton watched the battlefield from the window, feeling safe from further harm. However, he was still sweating underneath his breath, fearing that the battle to conquer Cephiro will be turned against Clovis and his people. After watching Rayearth engage Guilford's Gloucester one-on-one, Clovis was praying that he and Euphy will be able to escape this terror before it gets worse. However, by the time Clovis turned around, he realized that Euphy isn't sitting anywhere in the passenger seats.

"What the?" Clovis gasped. "Where is Euphy?"

"Oh No!" Darlton said in shock.


Back out on the battlefield, Hikaru continued with her fight with Lord Guilford. As the battle between both of the knights intensifies, Hikaru slowly stood her ground while lashing out all sorts of torrents of magic and fire spells from her Escudo sword at Guilford's Gloucester. After dodging several of Hikaru's powers, Guilford finally moved in and lunged at Rayearth only to run into a trap that Hikaru has laid, thanks to Umi and Fuu.

"FUU! UMI! NOW!" Hikaru roared as Windam and Selece appeared from behind her.

Before Guilford could see what was going on, the green and blue Rune Gods cast their water and wind spells at his Gloucester, catching him off guard.

"SAPPHIRE WHIRLWIND!"

"EMERALD TYPHOON!"

As a stream of blue magic and a strong gust of wind headed straight for Guilford, he stood his ground and attempted to block both of Umi and Fuu's magic at the same time with his MVS. Upon impact however, Guilford slowly loses his ground as he was sent flying backwards towards the fortified barricade at the caves right where the Britannians are.

"ARGH!" Guilford shrieked as he felt his Knightmare hitting the cave walls, while the rest of the Britannian soldiers scattered to avoid the collision.

At the same time, Guilford's Gloucester also knocked out a couple of logs, machine gun emplacements, and hit one of the parked Knightmares in the rear, knocking him out cold. Upon seeing her Knight fall before them, Cornelia felt like that it is going to be the end of her war campaign in Cephiro. After seeing her downed knight for a couple of seconds, Cornelia turned around to see Rayearth approach her up front, with the other two magic Knights and their allied soldiers holding back against the Glaston Knights from outside, Cornelia drew out her sword in a nervous stance.

"If you surrender to us, I'll forfeit your life and your future, Viceroy Cornelia!" Hikaru demanded from her Rune God.

"I already told you before, Hikaru! I'll never surrender to someone as rebellious as you!" Cornelia hissed as she pointed her sword at the Knight of Fire.

"Very well, then..." Hikaru snarled as she came out of her Rune God and drew out her Escudo Broadsword.

However, before either Cornelia or Hikaru engaged in their personal fight with their blades raised up to next to their shoulders, Euphemia appeared from the darkness and stood in the way of the Fire Knight, raising her arms up wide to her sides, shielding Cornelia from Hikaru.

"Hikaru! Cornelia! Both of you, stop this foolishness at once!" Euphy shouted, ordering the two warriors to stand down. "This isn't how real women should behave, even as warriors out on the battlefield!"

"Who are you?!" Hikaru said sternly, while trying to maintain her guard.

"I am Euphemia li Britannia, 3rd Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire!" Euphy announced, making Hikaru's eyes widened with surprise.

"You don't understand what I've been through, even before all of this!" Hikaru shouted back, persistently at Euphy. "Your people have killed thousands of Japanese! And Cornelia made all of this happen! Now move aside!"

"Euphy, please stay out of this!" Cornelia ordered her sister. "Anyone who stands in our way must be neutralized at all costs!"

"Hikaru, please! It's not what you think!" Euphy continued as she stood her ground against the Knight of Fire. "I know you wanted more than just protect this country with your own heart!"

"You can't be serious, Euphemia!" Hikaru snarled. "Why do you even care about what's happening right now between Cephiro and Britannia?! This is a war!"

"She's not worth it because Cornelia is my elder sister!" Euphy answered. "So, if you think capturing her will help end the war in Cephiro, then you might as well capture me too! I don't want the people I love to die and I'm sure you don't want the same thing either!"

Before Hikaru could say anymore, Topaz's Knightmare came up beside her and makes his current report up front.

"Lady Hikaru! Enemy reinforcements have arrived and are they're launching heavy fire from above! We need to retreat!"

As Hikaru turned to face Topaz during announcing his report and looked back at the two Britannian Princesses, Hikaru took a deep breath and went back into her Rune God before taking off with the Cephirian Commander. While making her way out of the cave and regrouping with her friends, Hikaru's eyes widened with surprise as she realized that Euphy reminds herself of what she did three years ago, shielding Lafarga from Zagato and during her confrontation with Nova. For some reason, Hikaru is starting to think that there is something about Euphy that is different from the rest of the members of the Imperial Family.

"Euphemia." Hikaru muttered to herself, feeling lost.


After Hikaru and Topaz disappeared into the forest, along with her Rune God and his Knightmare, Cornelia came up to Euphy out of concern.

"Euphy, why would you protect me from Hikaru?" Cornelia asked in worry. "If anything happens to you, my heart would break!"

"I'm sorry sis, but I'm sure there has to be a way to resolve this without causing anymore conflicts with the natives in this world!" Euphy said with determination. "I'm starting to think that this land is already perfect the way it is now."

As Euphy and Cornelia head outside of the cave, they see the Avalon appear before their very eyes. It happens to be a floating battleship, bearing the emblem of the Holy Britannian Empire. The battleship happens to be the first airship to be introduced to the Empire. When the Avalon makes a safe landing at the beach of Cornelia's and Euphy's left, the landing ramps lay down on the soft ground. After a few minutes, a tall-handsome young man appeared before the two princesses. He had blonde hair and violet eyes. It was Schneizel el Britannia, 2nd Prince of the Britannian Empire and is currently the Prime Minister in their ranks. Very often, he was seen wearing a long, royal purple tunic with golden and black accents. On top of his tunic, Schneizel was wearing a stiff, black high-end collar with a crimson-silk inside and golden epaulettes on both of his shoulders. In his role, Schneizel is known for his cold-blooded strategies who is charismatic, manipulative, cunning, and ruthless. Just like Mao, Schneizel is one of the greatest adversaries that Lelouch had ever faced and is unable to beat him. The moment he stepped out on to the sand, Schneizel was met with Euphy and Cornelia with open arms.

"Brother!" Both princesses said in unison and with relief. "We didn't think you'd come for us!"

"Sorry I'm late!" Schneizel said calmly. "We had a bit of interception with two unknown ships on the way here! One was shooting out fireballs and one was shooting out yellow beams at us. Thankfully, our Core Luminous was able to withstand both of their blasts before we had our experimental Knightmare return fire."

"You mean the Gawain?" Cornelia asked.

"Yes. However, because it's weapon systems are still incomplete, it didn't do enough damage to both of the ships to send them crashing into the landscape." Schneizel said in embarrassment. "They're just heavily crippled while still in mid-air. So, what's the situation?"

"We made a failed attempt in taking down their castle in this country and they tried to finish us off here!" Cornelia summarized.

"At least I came by just in time to see them running back to their fort," Schneizel snickered. "I take it that you had trouble trying to conquer this land because of these so-called Magic Knights huh?!"

"I hate to say this, brother! But those Magic Knights are just as dangerous as the Black Knights back in Area 11," Cornelia added in. "What worse, is that they rallied the armies of this realm while fighting against us!"

"I see! Cephiro, that's the name of the new world that the Magic Knights are defending against us, isn't it?" Schneizel wagered. "Say, where's Prince Clovis?!"

"Your highness!" Darlton said as he ran up to the Britannian Prince while out of breath. "Prince Clovis has been captured during the confusion! When I went to get Euphy back, those filthy Cephirians attacked the shuttle that I came out from and grabbed Clovis red-handed!"

"No! Not Clovis!" Cornelia gasped, fearing for her other brother's safety.

"Fret not, my dear!" Schneizel said, trying to sympathize with his sister. "We'll find a way to bring him back. But for now, let's return to Area 11. We'll resume our attack upon the natives' castle later."

Feeling defeated for losing one of the Britannian Princes to the enemy, Cornelia had no choice but to help her men and Euphy pack up and bring their Knightmares onboard the Avalon in disgrace. As Euphy watched her subjects load their supplies and Knightmares onboard the battleship, Schneizel came up to her in a curious manner.

"So Euphy, did you see what did one of the Magic Knights look like?"

"Well brother, she was actually the very same girl that was suffering because of us so long ago!" Euphy said to Schneizel. "Even though she was a formidable opponent, I still noticed that deep down, she just wanted to find happiness too just like Nunnally does."

"Really?" Schneizel acknowledged. "Well, if it's about the daughter belonging to the Shidou couple that is serving us as personal servants, then I'll be damned if she comes after me next!"

"That's the last thing I would want to expect!" Cornelia grunted in embarrassment. "She was actually a lot more stronger than she looked, even with that strange Knightmare Frame of hers."

"She had a Knightmare Frame of her own?!" Schneizel asked Cornelia out of curiosity.

"I'll explain the details later! Right now, we have to go back to Area 11, before the Magic Knights and the Cephirians come after us!" Euphy told her elder brother as she went onboard the Avalon.


After heading back to the castle, the Magic Knights and the rest of their allied warriors decided to rest up until next morning. As soon as the sun rises up into the clear blue sky in the morning, Rakshata and her engineers have finally finished in constructing the Sakuradite Gateway leading back to Area 11. Just when the Magic Knights went outside of the castle to stretch their legs and arms out, they see the gateway fully operational in the courtyard.

"So darlings, what do you think?" Rakshata grinned. "This gateway will lead you all back to Area 11, right where the Black Knight base is at. I'm sure the leaders of all four countries will want to accompany you back to your homeland in order to keep Britannia at bay, right?!"

"Why, absolutely, Ms. Rakshata!" Fuu said cheerfully.

"Now that the built-in jump drives are fully installed onboard their ships, they'll be setting their courses to the outskirts of Area 11, where they slip into the enemy territory unnoticed." Rakshata continued. "The Dome of Fahren and the Bravada of Chizeta have also installed Core Luminous as their second defense shields to reinforce their protective barriers. Though, it was thanks to that Knightmare from inside the Avalon that they all received some minor damage all over their main decks. So, they still need to work on the repairs themselves when they get there."

"That's fine with us!" Umi said impatiently. "Let's pack up and head back to Area 11, everyone. We've got more work to do!"

As the Magic Knights grabbed their gear, three full detachments of Cephirians and Royal Guards proceeded to board the NSX, the Dome of Fahren, and on the Bravada of Chizeta, taking with them three full detachments of their customized Knightmare Frames. In just several hours later, they finished prepping up for their departure. Just when all three ships lifted up into the air, their crews activated their jump drives and in blink of an eye, they teleported themselves away from Cephiro. As for the rest of the inhabitants in the Castle, Mira, the kids, and the rest of the people of Cephiro bid farewell to their loved ones and the Magic Knights, praying for their victory against the Holy Britannian Empire as they see their favorite warriors head out into battle at Area 11.