Chapter 24: Battle of Area 11
"I'm not beaten yet!" Cornelia growled as she fired her Gloucester's Slash Harkens 25 feet above her head and hoisted herself away from the collapsing rubble.
During the collapse of the upper floors, the dust settled in while most of the surviving Britannian Knightmares struggled to get to higher ground. After several minutes have past, the remaining Britannian forces where able to pick themselves back up. However, several of the Britannian Knightmares were crippled by their legs as its pilots were suffering from severe head injuries while inside their cockpits, much to Cornelia's concern. After Cornelia reached to a safe spot away from the rubble, she sees most of her men trying to maintain their formation while moving away from the rubble that they got caught in.
"Is everyone okay?!" Cornelia asked most of her men.
As the Britannian Knightmares regrouped, they responded with a positive gesture that they're fine. However, the battle between Britannia, Cephiro, and Japan is yet to go underway. Guilford spots the encroaching Cephirians making their move towards them.
"Cornelia, its the Cephirian Army!" Guilford shouted, alarming the rest of her men.
The moment Cornelia turned her Gloucester around she sees Cephirian customized Knightmares charging forward, with their cavalry regiments following from behind their main force.
"Have the Glaston Knights escort the wounded out of this wreckage and retreat to the Bureau!" Cornelia ordered at the top of her lungs. "Those who are still able to stay and fight, follow me! IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY BRITANNIAN EMPIRE, ATTACK!"
As Cornelia's Gloucester drew out her lance, she charged forward with Guilford by her side and with a battalion of Britannian Knightmares following her. Just when the two mighty Armies are about to converge, Ferio orders his men to fire first up close and in person.
"NOW MEN!"
"FIRE!" One of the Cephirian Gloucesters bellowed as he aimed the Knightmare's wrist-mounted bolt caster at the enemy up front.
With just one shot, the anti-knightmare crossbow bolt flew straight at one Britannian Knightmare and penetrated its tungsten armor before it exploded and collapsed.
"TAKE THEM DOWN!"
Several other Cephirian Gloucesters fired their bolt casters at the enemy, taking several Britannian Knightmares down, before drawing out their swords and spears. At the same time, the Britannian Knightmares returned fire with their Assault Rifles as they shot down several Cephirian Knightmares while pushing forward. As soon as the Cephirians clashed into the Britannians in Knightmare combat, they traded killing blows at each other. In the ensuing fight, the two opposing armies stabbed and blasted each other apart with their weapons left and right. Behind the Cephirian battalion, the Black Knights led by Colonel Tohdou marched forward, while carrying out orders to the other Black Knight formations to their designated areas for capture and control.
During the fight, Ascot's Monolith unleashed a barrage of Staffen missiles at 6 enemy Sutherlands, obliterating them and reducing the Knightmares to rubble. After shooting out his missiles, the Monolith raised both of its Radium Claws up and opened up two purple, swirling warp gates at once. Before any of the Britannian pilots could see what was the Monolith doing, Ascot's pet beasts appeared once again. This time, they dissected two Sutherlands with their strong hands and arms before Griffore and Insectoid moved on. Just when one enemy Sutherland closed in on Ascot, the Monolith grabbed the Sutherland by its face with its right Claw and hurled it at a nearby ruined building on his left, making it crash into another Britannian Surtherland.
While the Black Crusader, the Green Ranger, and the Smitherite fought and took down several enemy Sutherlands with their swords and ranged weapons, the Black Knights opened fire with their Assault Rifles and Staffen Missiles at the encroaching Britannian Knightmares heading towards them. Up ahead, they see Lord Guilford's Knightmare impale a Cephirian Gloucester with his Jousting Lance before a squad of 5 Gloucesters rallied around him in a spear formation.
During the fight below them, the ships of Autozam, Chizeta, and Fahren immediately engaged the Britannian Fleet that is approaching the Tokyo Settlement in hopes of bombing their allied forces below them. As the ships opened fire, the Bravada started shooting out yellow beams at the oncoming Britannian bombers while the Dome of Fahren spewed out huge fireballs at them, at the will of Aska's and the Twin Chizetian Princesses' powers.
As for Cornelia's Knightmare, she fired several Cephirian and Black Knight Knightmares with her newly developed electrical rifle with sheer precision. Every time the electrical beams struck its targets, the Knightmares received an electrical shock that puts its pilots into a cardiac arrest before they exploded from the inside of the cockpit. In other words, the pilots weren't able to eject from their knightmares in time before getting struck by Cornelia's Electrical beam rifle. The moment Cornelia saw Rayearth cutting down a few Sutherlands with his Escudo Broadsword, the Viceroy aimed her Electrical Beam rifle at the Magic Knight of Fire. However, just before Cornelia pulled the trigger on her rifle, the Black Crusader appeared on her right and fired its Ion Cannon at her. In just a mere second, she had her Knightmare jump backwards, evading the ion beam by a mere inch from its landspinner. Instead of hitting Cornelia with the Ion Cannon, it struck at a nearby rubble, making it explode below Cornelia's feet.
"You're not going to beat Hikaru that easy, are you?" Lantis said omniously from inside the Black Crusader.
"You dare get in my way of stopping that Eleven Knight from the New World?!" Cornelia snarled as she aimed her Assault Rifle at Lantis' Knightmare.
"Princess, stand aside! I'll handle those wretches!" Guilford shouted as his Gloucester intercepted the Black Crusader. "Head back to the Government Bureau!"
"Guilford, wait!" Cornelia said, in a worried tone of voice. "You can't expect me to run away like this?
"I'll stop Hikaru myself!" Guilford continued. "Because I am the Knight that you choose to protect you, remember?!"
"Hello, Guilford!" Hikaru hissed as her Rune God Knightmare went up next to the Black Crusader. "Are you willing to die for Cornelia?!"
"I am because therefore, as Cornelia's Knight, it is my duty to stand my ground and fight to the bitter end!" Guilford bellowed as his Gloucester drew out his MVS.
"Guilford, your orders are to come back alive!" Cornelia said as she had her Knightmare flee the battlefield.
"Yes, your highness. I will return!" Guilford smirked as he launched his Knightmare at Rayearth Alpha.
At the same time, Rayearth charged at Guilford's Knightmare with Hikaru's Broadsword and Shield in a battle stance.
"Umi! Fuu! Let's stop this Britannian Knight for good!" Hikaru shouted as Windam Delta and Selece Omega appeared behind her and Rayearth.
While the fight between the Cephirians and Britannians continued, Zero and his squad make their way towards the Ashford Academy to pinpoint the school as its temporary Command Center. As for Diethard and his Black Knight accomplices, they took over the radio station holding the chief and his co-workers hostage. As the Black Knights took their positions, the Clef, Lafarga, Topaz, and another part of their Cephirian Knightmare Battalion took another route to prep their Knightmares for a secondary attack aiming directly at the Government Bureau while hiding in the shadows of the war-torn city.
Meanwhile, above the sky of the Tokyo Settlement, the Lancelot appeared equipped with another Float System. Inside the Lancelot's cockpit, Suzaku was going livid after learning about how Zero used his Geass on Princess Euphy unnoticed at Mt. Fuji. In his mind, Suzaku is preparing to destroy Zero whatever the cost. From what V.V told him, it was because of Zero's Geass that Hikaru fought her way through Mt. Fuji to capture Euphy as well as the reason why Cephiro and Britannia are fighting each other again. Therefore, Suzaku confirmed that Hikaru, the Black Knights, the Japanese, and all of her friends and followers were being lied to by Zero himself.
The moment the Lancelot descended from the sky, he was met by enemy fire coming from the Cephirian and Black Knight Knightmares.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Suzaku snarled as he drew out both of the Lancelot's MVS.
As the Lancelot got close up and person, the white Knightmare slashed and hacked several Cephirian Gloucesters and Black Knight Burais without hesitation. In the next scene, the GTO shows up in mid-air above the white Knightmare and fires a warning shot at the Lancelot with its shoulder-mounted Cannon.
"Where do you think you're going, Suzaku Kururugi?!" Geo jeered as he spoke out from inside his Autozamian Mecha. "If you're going in to confront Hikaru and the Magic Knights, you'll likely be digging your own grave!"
"You're all fools Autozamian, you, Hikaru, the natives of the New World, and the Japanese! Zero is lying to all of you!" Suzaku shouted in anger.
"You wish!" Geo hissed. "Well, you're the liar because your betrayal over Japan doesn't know any bounds whatsoever! Also, you dare fight for a Princess that deceived and killed innocent Japanese?!"
Before Suzaku could say anymore, an explosion erupted from his side as he sees Hikaru clashing blades with Guilford once again. The moment Guilford's Gloucester jumped a few feet away from Rayearth, he sees the Lanceltot stand right next to him.
"Sir Kururugi?! What are you doing now?!" Guilford asked from inside his Knightmare.
"I need to bring Zero to justice at once. I know he did something to Euphy at Mt. Fuji earlier!" Suzaku retorted.
"Your guess is as good as mine!" Guilford responded.
"Suzaku! If you're looking for Zero, you must as well get past me first!" Hikaru snarled as she turned her Rune God to face the Lancelot. "After all, there is no room for traitors like you in our former homeland of Japan."
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S A TRAITOR!" Suzaku roared as he charged his Lancelot towards Rayearth Alpha.
In close proximity, Rayearth empowered Hikaru's Broadsword as it ignited into a red, flaming aura around its blade and with a fast reaction, Hikaru slammed her sword on the Lancelot's two MVS. Upon impact against all three swords, wild streaks of fire and Sakuradite started spreading all over the ground between the two huge robots.
As for Guilford's Gloucester, the GTO landed on the ground and drew out its wrist-mounted laser sword before lurching at the Britannian Knight with all of Geo's might. The moment the GTO makes its first swipe with its laser sword, Guilford, again, jump backwards with his Gloucester before counter-attacking the green mecha with his MVS. When Selece and Windam appeared above the GTO, Guilford fired his Knightmare's Slash Harkens at the two Rune Gods just to ward them away from his fight with Geo Metro.
After Hikaru whacked one of the Lancelot's MVS away from its left hand with its Escudo Broadsword, the white Knightmare flew backwards with its float system away from Rayearth, drew out its VARIS and shot out a Hadron beam of Radium at the Rune God. When Hikaru raised her shield and activated its red-electrical barrier to block the oncoming beam from the Lancelot's VARIS, she gets pushed back due to the pressure from the VARIS' firepower. However, in just a few feet backwards, Hikaru struggled to stand her ground while holding her shield up to her level.
"If you tell me where Zero and Euphy are right now, I won't come after you any further and that I'll overlook your crimes against the Britannian crown!" Suzaku said, making his immediate offer towards the Knight of Fire while continuing to put pressure on the Red Rune God with the VARIS' firepower.
"You wish!" Hikaru grunted while maintaining her power shield's ability. "Besides, Euphy is in a better place right now!"
After the Hadron Beam dissipated, Hikaru charged up her sword again and let loose a red torrent of lightning at the Lancelot. In a fast reaction, Suzaku steered his Lancelot away from the oncoming red lighting as he charged at Rayearth again. This time, he fired both Slash Harkens at Rayearth's shield just to puncture it's frame and pulling the Lancelot towards the Rune God in a much more faster pace. Before Hikaru could see what Suzaku was about to do, she was meet with a double mid-air kangaroo kick by the Lancelot, almost knocking her off- balance. After landing both of it's feet on Rayearth's shield, the Lancelot jumped backwards before preparing to lunge at Hikaru with his MVS.
Refusing to let her guard down, Hikaru shoots out a "Flame Arrow" spell only to be blocked by the Lancelot's Green Energy Shield. By the time, the Lancelot shrugged Hikaru's magic away from him, Rayearth Alpha ran right next to the white Knightmare and attempted to make an execution blow with Hikaru's sword. After blocking her blade with the Lancelot's shield, Suzaku steered his Knightmare and retaliated with its MVS and vice versa.
After taking over the school, Zero receives a report that the Lancelot has been spotted on the battlefield and is currently engaging one of the Magic Knights of the New World. Sensing another opportunity, Zero embarks into the Gawain and ascends into the sky while the Kallen's Guren and her squad setup the outer defenses around the Ashford Academy.
As the fight between Hikaru's Rune God and Suzaku's Lancelot intensifies, they clashed their blades into each other while struggling to shove them up to each other's throats. In a split second, Hikaru lit up Rayearth's fist on fire and attempted to punch the Lancelot in the chest. However, just when the Lancelot lifted the MVS, redirecting Rayearth's blade above its head, the White Knightmare pulled out the VARIS and made a point-blank shot at Hikaru's fiery fist. The moment the VARIS' beam struck at Hikaru's hand, she screamed in pain as it grazed her flaming hand and blew up her red shield, sending it flying away as it broke off from her wrist. As a result, Hikaru received a burnt wound on her bare left arm while holding it with her right sword arm.
After the Lancelot ascended into the sky above Rayearth, he aimed his VARIS at Rayearth before asking her again.
"I'm not going to ask you again, Hikaru!" Suzaku hissed as he shouted from inside the Lancelot. "WHERE IS ZERO AND EUPHY?!"
"I guess we're not so different when it comes to being stubborn, are we?! If you hadn't submitted to the Britannian Empire so easily, I'm sure none of this would've happened!" Hikaru retorted in anger.
"Then, are you willing to die for the New World and for your friends instead of confessing where Princess Euphemia is?!" Suzaku sneered, while getting ready to fire upon Rayearth in hopes of finishing off Hikaru.
"WAIT!"
Before either Hikaru or Suzaku made their move against each other again, a familiar voice echoed out between the two Eleven Knights. In just moments, the Gawain appeared hovering in the sky between Rayearth and the Lancelot. It was Zero. After seeing the fight between the two Japanese, Zero makes his personal announcement towards the Honorary Britannian.
"It appears that you being allies with me is futile! Since I'm no longer interested in a would-be partnership, let's resolve this fight one-on-one!"
"FINE BY ME!" Suzaku hissed as he aimed the Lancelot's VARIS at the Gawain while muttering to himself over Hikaru's behalf. "I'll take care of you later, Hikaru!"
As the Lancelot fired several shots at the Gawain with his VARIS, the huge Knightmare flew backwards to evade the beams coming from the Lancelot's energy rifle. In return, the Gawain fired its Slash Harkens at the Lancelot. Despite the Gawain shooting out all ten of the finger Harkens at the white Knightmare, the Lancelot flew left and right while evading them all. As the Gawain flew up north, the Lancelot continued to pursue the black Knightmare.
After seeing the Lancelot and the Gawain disappear into the sky and up north of her position, Hikaru picked up her red shield before moving on. Up ahead, she sees Geo continue his fight against Guilford while trading blows with both of their swords. In the surroundings of the Autozamian Commander and Cornelia's Knight, the Black Knights advanced further while the Cephirian Army kept several Britannian Knightmares at bay with their halberds clashing against their jousting lances.
Before Hikaru got any closer, Guilford managed to gain the upper hand as his Gloucester hurled one of its MVS at the GTO's shoulder cannon, straight into its gun barrel just when the Green Mecha thrusted backwards and is about to fire at Guilford's Knightmare. In an instant, the GTO's cannon blew up, making Geo Metro grunt as his cockpit vibrated horrendously while red lights started flashing both on and off. Geo did not see Guilford ram his Gloucester straight into the GTO in the next minute. Upon impact, Guilford's Gloucester held the GTO by the neck and slammed its back up the walls of a nearby ruined building.
"ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!" Geo screamed as he kept getting flung back and forth inside his cockpit.
"WINGS OF ...!" Fuu shouted before her spell was interrupted by a barrage of missiles coming from the Glaston Knight Squad on her left. "KYYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
As the missiles struck Windam Delta at the ground near its feet, Fuu was sent flying towards the ground at her right. The moment Fuu got up, she sees the five Glaston Knights piloting their Gloucesters and are armed to the teeth. One of the Glaston Knights, Edgar, charged forward with its Jousting Lance drawn, preparing to impale the Green Rune God Knightmare immediately. However, Fuu was able to fly right above the charging Glaston Knight, missing his Jousting Lance by a mere inch, thanks to Windam's Eagle Wings.
The charging Glaston Knight wasn't done yet as he aimed his Assault Rifle at Fuu, in hopes of shooting the Knight of Wind down from the sky.
"HOLD STILL, YOU DAMN ELEVEN WITCH!" Edgar shouted in frustration as he opened fire with his Assault Rifle at Windam.
"WINGS OF PROTECTION!" Fuu shouted as she casted a wind-like barrier shield, surrounding her Rune God and blocking the enemy fire coming from the Glaston Knight.
Before the Glaston Knight could fire his Staffen Missiles, Umi appeared and launched a Ocean Wyvern Spell at him from his left. As his Gloucester moved forward and evaded Umi's spell a few feet behind him, the other Glaston knights opened fire at Selece Omega with their Assault Rifles. Thanks to Umi's agility, she took to the skies with the use of Selece's Dragon Wings and casted another spell at the other four Glaston Knights: Claudio, Alfred, Bart, and David.
"ICICLE BLADE!" Umi shouted as she launched a massive barrage of ice shards at the Gloucesters.
"Get out of range, guys!" Claudio shouted from inside his Gloucester.
Upon hearing Claudio's orders, the four Glaston Knights steered away from Umi's powerful water spell either to their right or left as they head for cover behind the collapsed rubble.
After slamming the GTO onto the wall with its back 3 more times, Rayearth leaped at Guilford's Gloucester, grabbed him by the waist with both of his hands, and pulled him away from the Green Autozamian Mecha, making the knightmare loose its grip on it. As a result, the GTO collapses on the ground with Geo Metro rendered unconscious. For Rayearth and Guilford's Gloucester, they both crashed through a nearby wall of another abandoned building as they tumbled on the ground before loosing their grip on each other. When they both got up, Guilford drew out the Gloucester's second MVS. This time, it started glowing in a blue hue, than rather a red hue, and lit up with blue flames coming out of its blade.
Not wanting to let Hikaru get the upper hand, Guilford charged forward with his Gloucester first and makes his first strike on the Magic Knight of Fire. As the blade of Gloucester's customized MVS makes contact with Hikaru's broadsword, it spewed out discharges of blue flames that dissipated in mid-air. At the same time, Hikaru's sword lit up in a white flame while engaging Guilford for the 5th time on the battlefield. In the resulting clash of both Guilford's and Hikaru's swords, they traded all sorts of explosive parries and blocks back and forth each other.
Every time they struck at each other with their blades, Hikaru could feel a bit of her stamina decreasing as she struggled to keep her guard up with Lord Guilford. Before she knew it, Hikaru loses her grip on her sword when Guilford whacked it away with his enhanced MVS. Because Hikaru lost her shield no thanks to Suzaku and the Lancelot, she wasn't able to defend herself anymore as Guilford's Gloucester continued to deliver flesh wounds all over Rayearth's body in fast repetitions. After he was done, Guilford's Knightmare kicked Rayearth in the stomach, making Hikaru fall on her back. Upon seeing Hikaru losing her fight against Guilford, Umi and Fuu frantically attempted to intervene only to get intercepted by the Glaston Knights.
"Any last word, Hikaru?!" Guilford asked sternly as he stood right on top of the Red Rune God pointed the blade at Rayearth's throat.
"Darlton wanted me to let you know that he's sorry for everything!" Hikaru gasped frantically for air after receiving so many bleeding flesh wounds on her body.
"Say goodnight, you Eleven whore!" Guilford shouted as he attempted to finish off Hikaru with his MVS.
Unknown to Guilford, Hikaru could actually feel something whispering into her ear in a split second. In a sudden reaction, Hikaru's hand suddenly reached up towards where the Gloucester's MVS is at. Much to Guilford's shock, Hikaru grabbed his MVS' blade with her right bare hand. Despite feeling the pain and blood coming out of Hikaru's hand while holding onto the blade, she threw a very hard, flaming punch with her left hand at his Gloucester in the torso, making him grunt in pain as he staggered backwards while losing his grip on the second MVS. As the flame knight got back up on her feet, Hikaru could feel Nova's power flowing into her. With just one clench of her right, bloodied hand, Hikaru broke apart Guilford's MVS, making it shatter into a million pieces before they hit the ground. Ever since Hikaru let Nova come back home, which is in her heart, the Flame Knight is secretly giving into the strength that her altered ego left behind after making amends. Without a doubt, Hikaru could feel a purple, flaming aura flowing through her and Rayearth.
Before Guilford could make another move against Hikaru, he started seeing an unknown hallucination coming from where Rayearth is standing at. As Guilford looked closely at what's in front of him, he sees a scary-looking Knightmare that replaced Rayearth's position. It's appearance is similar to that of Rayearth, except it has sinister, devilish dark-red and black armor, two red talon-like bracers, three horns on its head, purple orbs, and two obsidian wings protruding from its back. Unknown to Guilford, it is none other than Regalia, the devil Rune God from the New World. Upon looking closely at the unknown Knightmare, Guilford started getting horrendous chills crawling up his spine.
"W-What the hell is that?" Guilford muttered in horror with his eyes widened, not knowing what to do.
Inside Rayearth, Nova makes her appearance in front of Hikaru unnoticed by Guilford. As the pink-haired elvish girl smiled at Hikaru, Hikaru couldn't help but see her alter ego again during the battlefield in Area 11. Upon realizing the only chance to advance forward to the Government Bureau, Hikaru makes a request to her altered ego.
"Nova, lend me your strength!" Hikaru muttered in a deep, demonic voice.
"With pleasure, my dear!" Nova voice cackled as a mysterious essence started glowing from the inside of Regalia. "After all, this maybe my chance to express my forgiveness three years ago."
With just one swift motion, Regalia/Rayearth raised both of his hands up towards Guilford and unleashed a huge powerful yellow beam at his Gloucester. Upon impact, Guilford's Knightmare got completely engulfed by its unpredictable power.
"ARGH! I've lost!" Guilford shouted as he ejected from his wrecked Gloucester before it exploded in an instant.
"LORD GUILFORD!" Claudio shrieked in horror, showing concern for his recent, defeated commanding officer.
After seeing Guilford's ejector seat fly off into the night sky at a distance, the Glaston Knights fell back to help recover what's left of Cornelia's Knight.
"I don't know what just happened, but you will pay for what you Knight Elevens did to Lord Guilford. I SWEAR TO THE EMPEROR HIMSELF!" Claudio shouted in humiliation before he and the Glaston Knights disappeared into the rubble.
As for the other Magic knights, they came up check on Hikaru after seeing the Glaston knights retreat.
"Was that Nova?!" Umi asked.
"Yes, she actually saved me!" Hikaru said while taking a breather as Fuu casted her healing spell on her to regenerate the Flame knights injuries and reattaching her shield.
"It seems that Nova really did made it up to us!" Geo thought as he regained control of his GTO after getting back on his feet. "Let's press forward, we have yet to reach to the Britannian Government Bureau."
As the Magic Knights and Geo Metro regrouped with the other Cephirians, the Black Knights led by Colonel Tohdou were the first to advance closer to the Bureau only to get fired upon by its machine gun turrets deployed on its walls. Upon getting struck by the enemy turrets, a couple of Black Knight Burais get blown up the moment they hoisted themselves up to where the Bureau was with their Slash Harkens. In retaliation, several squads of Black Knight Sutherlands opened fire with their Giant Cannons at the outer defenses around the Bureau, along with a Shrapnel Cannon.
In addition, the Cephirian Gloucesters stayed behind the Black Knight formation as they formed a tower shield wall while protecting and escorting a huge four-legged mobile Ballista Cannon from enemy fire. During the campaign in Area 11, the Autozamians have secretly developed a mobile siege weapon for the Cephirian Army to use in the final battle at the Tokyo Settlement. The Ballista Cannon is being piloted by four crew members: two Autozamian gunners and two Cephirian guardsmen. After the Ballista Cannon stopped 1,000 meters away from the Bureau, the crewmen announced their position to the Cephirian Prince.
"The Ballista Cannon is deployed and is ready to fire!"
"Target their defenses! FIRE!" Ferio shouted from inside his Green Ranger as he raised his hand and swung it towards the Bureau in front of him.
Upon heeding Ferio's command, the Ballista Cannon fired a huge white arrow-like energy bolt from its gun barrel. As the bolt struck the Bureau, the bolt exploded into a small, blinding flash that left the walls a yellow-green cross, indicating the damage the building is receiving.
While the Britannians sought to defend the Bureau, dozen of Sutherland squads went up to the battlements and opened fire at the encroaching Black Knight Burais and Cephirian Gloucesters.
The moment the Magic Knights attempted to press forward, Geo received a communication channel from Zazu that he's finally ready to shut down the Bureau's defense systems.
"Geo, I finally hacked into the system!" Zazu announced from Geo's communicator while inside the GTO. "Permission to disable the enemy's defenses!"
"Permission granted, Zazu!" Geo replied while speaking to the young mechanic with his communicator.
Back at the bridge of the NSX, Zazu stretched out his knuckles before overriding the Bureau's defensive network. With just one press on the "Enter" key, the Bureau's defenses started malfunctioning as the enemy gun turrets stopped firing. Upon noticing that all of their defense from the Bureau are down, the Britannians started sweating in horror as they were about to lose their defensive line.
"Uh Oh!" One of the Britannian Sutherland pilots muttered in fear before opening up a channel to Viceroy Cornelia. "Princess Cornelia, something is happening to the defenses around the Bur...WAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"
In an instant, the Britannian pilot was met with a impale by a Jousting Lance that belonged to Topaz's Gloucester. After the Britannian pilot drowned in his own blood and succumbed to his wounds, Topaz slammed the fallen Sutherland to the ground before pulling it out. As the Cephirian Commander turned to face his men, he issues the following order upon Lafarga's approval.
"Warriors of Cephiro! FORWARD!"
Behind Topaz, Clef, Lafarga, and their men appeared from various burrowed holes underneath the ground right where the Bureau is, much to the confusion of the Britannians that are in their defensive positions. In such a rapid response, the Britannian Sutherlands were dragged down to their deaths by the emerging Cephirian Gloucesters before they came up to the surface and charged forward. For the three commanding officers, Clef raised the Archwizard's staff up high into the air as it unleashed a chain-lighting that struck an entire squad of 7 enemy Sutherlands, giving way to the Cephirian Knightmares and their calvary while advancing further into the Bureau. For the three ships of the New World, they proceeded forward towards the Government Bureau as their troops performed drop-in assault formations, deploying parachutes the moment they jumped ship.
On top of the Government Bureau, after hearing one of her soldiers bring forth very bad news before getting killed by Topaz, Cornelia figured that this may be the end for her occupation around Area 11 as its Viceroy. However, Cornelia's only option was to make one last stand against Hikaru and her followers from the New World and Area 11.
"So, it seems that she made it past Lord Guilford!" Cornelia thought. "But no matter, I'll crush them all even if it's the last thing I do!"
As she looked below the windows from one of the floors of the Bureau, Cornelia sees the allied forces of the New World circle around the building in attempting to secure the Sakuradite Gateway leading back to their homeland. Since Cornelia has lost contact with Lord Guilford and Suzaku Kururugi, the Princess of Britannia goes back to her customized Gloucester.
As Cornelia approached her Knightmare at Ares Villa which is all the way to the top floor of the Bureau, she smirked at it after seeing her Gloucester re-enhanced with a special anti-magic coating developed by one of her best science teams. Earlier when Cornelia left Area 11, she asked some of her best researchers and scientists to upgrade her Gloucester so that it can resist and adapt to the supernatural elements that exists from the New World. After going over some of the data they have collected from the Magic Knights' Knightmares, they were able to extract dark energy and fused it into a new plate of Tungsten Armor. In other words, Cornelia's Gloucester has been upgraded with Anti-Magic Tungsten Armor from purple to a bright, magenta-red color.
The moment Cornelia embarked onto her newly, upgraded Knightmare, she moved forward towards the edge of Ares Villa and drew out her Electrical Beam Rifle once more. The moment she aimed her Beam Rifle at the unsuspecting Rayearth down below, Cornelia smirked as she fired a warning shot at the Knight of Fire. As the beam zoomed right past Rayearth from a mere inch away from his face, Hikaru looked up to see Cornelia's Gloucester peeking out from the top floor of the Bureau.
"Cornelia!" Hikaru snarled as she glared at the Princess' customized Knightmare from a distance above her.
At the ground level, surrounding the Government Bureau, the Black Knights gave out suppressing fire while the Cephirian Guardsmen advanced towards the prison area near the Sakuradite gateway. Feeling outnumbered and outgunned by the encroaching forces of the New World and the Black Knights, and that they lost contact with Lord Guilford and the Glaston Knights, the Britannians are struggling to receive new orders from Cornelia only for her to reply to them to just stay alive for it is every man for himself! With no other option to hold their ground, they fled behind cover in hopes that their reinforcements will arrive from Pendragon very soon.
Somewhere within the shadows in the Ashford Academy, Viletta Nu, who finally got her memories back, was able to receive a royal private channel from Prince Clovis v.i.a her cell phone. After hearing what Clovis had to say, Viletta went to an abandoned radio tower and used its equipment to transmit the Prince's communication line to another channel leading straight to the Knights of the Round, the strongest warriors in all of the Holy Britannian Empire. As she could hear Prince Clovis giving out orders to the Knights of the Round outside of Area 11, Viletta Nu couldn't help but think about what she did when she faced Ohgi at the school.
"That damn Eleven! He thinks he can take advantage of me when I lost my memories after my encounter with Zero and that Magic Knight Eleven!" Viletta muttered in anger. "I don't know, but for some reason, he didn't pose too much of a threat in my presence. I wonder if I did the right thing as a Knight of Honor of Britannia?"
Flashback:
After getting turned in towards Ohgi by his fellow Black Knights, Viletta gets taken into a room that belonged to the Lamperouges just to get confronted by the very same Eleven that found her at the docks earlier.
"Why did you show up during the battlefield?!" Ohgi asked, feeling lost in what Chigusa is thinking. "Just stay with me until we can find a safe place for you!"
Not wanting Ohgi to take advantage of her any further, Viletta immediately backs away from him in a serious manner.
"Look, I'm sorry I had to do this to you, but I'm just doing all of this for the sake of peace!" Ohgi continued. "If Zero and the Magic Knights succeeded in liberating all of Japan from Britannia, then we can finally be together!"
"Stop it before I vomit!" Viletta spat on Ohgi as she grabbed his gun and shoved it up to his lower abdomen.
Upon feeling the gun close to his body, Ohgi's eyes widened with horror as he just realized that the same woman that he cared for isn't what she is anymore. Before Ohgi could say anymore, Viletta makes her statement right behind his ear.
"Together with an Eleven like you?! What a horrible thought! My name is Viletta Nu and I'm a Knight of Honor of Britannia!"
"K-Knight of Britannia?!" Ohgi murmured in fear. "W-Why would you...UGH!"
As Ohgi felt the gun shoved further into the back of his abdomen, his teeth gritted in pain as he started feeling a bit of deadly pressure coming from the gun's muzzle.
"Tell me where Hikaru and Zero is and I'll let you live!" Viletta snarled as she started her immediate interrogation with Ohgi.
"What for?! You're not going to kill them are you?" Ohgi shrieked, realizing that his commanding officer and his allied friend are going to be in danger very soon. "We'll they'll be carrying out their campaign at the Government Bureau! What do you know about Zero and Lady Hikaru?!"
"I already know everything about those two and I will not rest until I bring both of them to justice!" Viletta hissed as she shots Ohgi in the lower abdomen, making the injured Deputy Commander fall on his stomach.
"It seems that you've finally g-got y-y-your memory back!" Ohgi gasped as he collapsed unconscious from his gunshot wound.
Feeling emotionless and relentless, Viletta immediately ran up to a nearby window, opened it up. The next thing the Baroness did was that Viletta jumped out the window and landed into a hedge. Back at the room that Viletta jumped out from, the Black Knights stormed in after hearing a gunshot echoed behind their ears. Before they knew it, they see Ohgi badly wounded and immediately took him to a nearby medic to treat him of his injuries.
After seeing several Black Knights pass by while hiding behind the hedge, Viletta sneaked out of Ashford and attempts to make her way to the Government Bureau only to receive a distress call coming from her cellphone. As Viletta tried to respond to the distress call with her cellphone, her eyes widened as one of her fellow Britannian Soldiers told her that Prince Clovis is on a private communication channel. After ordering her caller to bridge the communication channel to Clovis, Viletta finally hears Clovis' voice into her ears.
"Prince Clovis, are you there?! This is Baroness Viletta Nu responding."
"Yes, I am. Listen Viletta, I need help! The Autozamians onboard the NSX are preparing to hack into the Bureau's defenses. We need reinforcements to take down that ship!"
"I'll head to a nearby radio station to make contact with the other Britannian Forces lead by the Knights of the Round!" Viletta told the Britannian Prince. "They'll be preparing a boarding party on the NSX. Just lay low until then!"
"Understood Baroness!" Clovis responded through Viletta's cellphone.
End of Flashback...
After she finished setting up a communication channel at the radio station, Viletta eventually makes contact with one of the Knights of the Round.
"Hello, this is Viletta Nu, Knight of Honor of Britannia. Please respond!"
While waiting for a few seconds, Viletta couldn't help but start sweating thinking that she needs to broaden the signal when she might accidentally draw the wrong kind of attention. But before she could say anymore, Viletta started hearing a bit of static before readjusting the tuning of the radio equipment. As soon as Viletta could hear a clear voice coming from the radio, one of the Knights of the Round spoke.
"Viletta Nu, this is Bismarck Waldstein the Knight of One. We will be arriving at Area 11 to mop up the rebels attacking the Government Bureau very soon."
"I received a report from Prince Clovis that the crewmen onboard the battleship NSX, are hacking into the Bureau's defenses in attempts to shut them all down. We need reinforcements to take down that ship!"
"Understood, my lady! I'll have Anya the Knight of Six and her squadron to take care of that!"
"Thank you, sir!" Viletta replied feeling relieved for a moment.
