When Fates Converge

by Arthurian knight

It has been a year since the fall of the Demon Emperor and it seems that peace have finally come. However, dark forces are arising once again and it threatens this fragile equilibrium of this world. This time it would take more than a symbol to stop it...

22. Chapter 7: Into the Shadow of Death

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. I was busy with My Queen first then I was extremely busy with my school work as this is my final year. Well, yup. Arthur and Kallen finally meet and now the real drama could begin! It was kinda like squeezed up a bit but since I made you guys wait for so long I hoped to give you a longer chpt. :)

---

White Cliffs of Dover

The British Isles are lands that have not been touched by foreign powers for three decades. The former homeland of the Britannians had suffered much hardship since the fall of the British Empire.

The British themselves have had enough of it. Having warred with Romans, Saxons, Europeans and even their Britannian cousins, the average Briton realised that the only one he could trust was himself.

A lone figure stood on top of one cliff. His deep blue cloak danced as the wind passed him though it was barely visible in the night. Underneath the darkness, the golden dragon symbol on the shoulder seemed to come alive under the breeze's bombardment.

A second figure also cloaked approached the first man and stood at his side.

"You actually came." The second figure muttered.

The first figure impatiently waved the comment. "Not without risks. What is it this time?"

The second figure turned to face him. "You know why, B.B.! I told you that this would be a disaster! He has now openly brought out our operations to the world!"

"He has achieved what he was ordered to do, Booth."

"At the cost of revealing what was hidden for centuries! He could undo everything we have done in a single sweep!"

B.B. scoffed. "But in the end, he managed to cover our tracks."

"How could you trust him to lead it? Lelouch vi Britannia! The Demon Emperor! How could he be the heir to the Once and Future King? They've nothing in common."

The gray haired figure gave him a stern look. "I happened to lived through Camelot's rise and fall. Don't you forget that."

Booth cowered at that. "Of course, my lord. But still...to entrust...this...this...project to him. You saw how Lelouch reacted once you showed him the book! He changed completely!"

"Lelouch changed because he knew what he had to do. And if you remember rightly, Booth, it was his decision to be the knight."

"From prince to rebel, then rebel to Emperor and now Emperor to knight...doesn't really sound like anything heard before."

"Reality never is." B.B. turned back to the seas. He took up his phone. "Bedford here. Yes? Proceed. Follow Peregrine. The Emperor must be protected. That Templar stronghold can only be accessed by the Knight-Captain. The data is in his mainframe."

He closed his phone and sighed. "I believe in him. He has Arthur's strength in him."

Booth turned back. "I hope you're right."

---

Tokyo, Japan

"It is clear now from the raging conflict and death tolls that the Britannian civil war has expanded more than expected."

A tide of murmurs swept across the room.

"It is clear that the Imperial Britannian government cannot control the war. I propose that the country be shut down in accordance with UFN martial law until the rebels have been defeated."

Schneizel stepped forward. "Honourable senators, I must humbly remind the UFN that the presence of more Black knight forces would increase the resistance. The rebel forces are now a threat but they do not represent the people of Britannia."

"Senator Schneizel," A French senator spoke. "It is no secret that the rebels have your armies outgunned and outnumbered. If your government could not afford to protect your own people, then you have no right to defend it."

"Furthermore," A Middle-eastern delegate joined in. "If the rebel forces should control Britannia, the old Empire will return! No one in this room will allow for such a thing to happen."

The former prince shook his head. "The presence of a Black Knight occupation force in Britannia would turn the purists from rebels to liberators in the eyes of the populace. There has been enough distrust between our peoples. The Empress herself has done all she can do hold on to her peaceful ideals."

"I agree." Chairman Kaguya spoke up. "If we sent in our full military to Britannia, the Britannian people would see it as an act of aggression. The troops sent to maintain peace have already been forced to fight the war and that itself has already increased the size of the rebellion. We cannot afford to allow the rebels to gather more strength."

"With all due respect, Chairman," Senator Ryoma said. "It looks from here that the rebels would win anyway. The Empress' close encounters to her own end have already shown this."

The statement caused some uproar from the senators.

"Order!" Xingke as chief enforcer shouted. Xianglin came at his side.

"This doesn't look good." The Chinese aide whispered. "They've already prepared at least 500,000 troops and at least 12,000 knightmares, tanks and support units! They want you to lead it."

"I know." Xingke replied. "Everyone's shouting for blood." He gritted his teeth. "It's not as if the civil wars and terrorist attacks weren't enough."

By now Schneizel spoke again. "I have but my utmost faith in Her Majesty and Lord Zero to end this conflict."

"Zero's name won't hold up for too long." Xianglin murmured. "I can only hope Kouzki and this...Britannian knight can end this quickly."

---

Back in Britannia

"This should be it." Milly said, lowering her binoculars.

Rivalz raised an eyebrow. "A pile of rocks?"

The blonde woman sighed. "They're supposed to be beautiful. Anyway, there was supposed to be some battle here."

Arthur brushed some dust off his coat. "Yes, between the Britannian army and the Spanish colonial forces."

The white haired Lelouch returned to his binoculars and zoomed in. "This was supposed to be one of the last before Central Britannia was finally completed."

Rivalz grumbled. "There are a lot of caverns and rocks. How the heck are we supposed to find ruins in the middle of that?"

"I don't like the idea about snooping around those caves. No telling what could happen there." Kallen's brows furrowed in frustration.

"Heh, I thought you loved challenges." Arthur scoffed and leapt up to a boulder and walked ahead.

"Yea," Kallen said absently before she realised what he said.

"Eh...What? Look I never said that..." She began following the knight down.

"That doesn't sound very professional." Lelouch's ghost continued. "Not very fitting for a Knight of the Round..."

Kallen snarled as the red knight calmly walked quickly away from the raging woman. "If you're asking for a punch in the gut..."

Rivalz blinked. "You sure that guy's not Lelouch?"

Milly chuckled to herself and shrugged, watching the two bicker on their way down. The white haired Lelouch muttered something which resulted in Kallen shouting after him.

"Well, well, well. Some things never change..."

---

Richmond, Duchy of Virginia

"Which one of you is Lieutenant Kenneth William Sterling?" Ogami asked.

The six blue and red uniformed officers standing in conversation in the hanger deck's check stations turned to look at him. Alarm flashed across their faces when they realised the man was a Black knight. Ogami had come in with a full squad of Federation Security Service (FSS) soldiers.

A young brown haired Imperial officer stepped forward. "I am."

"We will converse." Ogami said. "Come here."

"Begging your pardon, sir," Sterling replied, "but I'm a little busy now. We are in the middle of an operation here."

The Britannian officer turned back to the conversation comparing data.

"I believe, Kenneth Sterling," Ogami said, "you took my instruction to be optional. It is not. We will converse here now."

Sterling tensed. His fellow officers looked on in concern, as Sterling turned and travelled to the Black knight.

"What?" He was a tall man but had to look up to Ogami's visored face.

"We shall converse, Sterling."

Sterling grunted. "So you keep saying. How about some courtesy, sir? Remove your helmet so I can see your face."

"Why?" Ogami asked.

"Because that's what men do when they converse."

Ogami didn't move for a moment. Then he raised his hands, unlocked his helm straps and took off the helmet. As he tucked it under his arms, long black hair dropped down to his sides. His face was hard and drawn, and his eyes chilled Kenneth Sterling's soul.

"Thank you," Sterling said. "Your name? You seem to know mine."

"Ogami, captain, Federation Security Service."

"Well, Captain Ogami, Federation Security Service, how can I help you this day?"

"You can walk with me for a moment, you can answer my questions, and you can dispense with the verbal sport."

Sterling shrugged. They began to walk along the edge of the observation deck overlooking the knightmare catapults. A Vincent Ward zipped past them.

"This is a busy day for us, Captain," Sterling said. "Get on with it."

"What can you tell me about Arthur Peregrine?"

"Why?"

"Because I heard that you had fought under him at Richmond."

Sterling frowned. "Not much. He is a knight under the Lord of Bedford's paramilitary forces and I was assigned to help communicate with the locals for their strike force."

"You grew up around Richmond?" Ogami asked.

"A born and bred Virginian."

"Why you?"

Sterling shrugged. "They needed someone who knows the area well and my Colonel picked me."

"Then what can you tell me about Peregrine?"

Sterling gave him a look. "The Red Knight? Why are you asking me this?"

"You are only required to answer my questions, Britannian."

Sterling shook his head. "Nothing you probably haven't heard. Never saw his face but he has this very commanding tone and seems to be aware of everything around him."

The two walked pass a pair of chatting crewmen.

"I heard he pulled off a miracle there."

"You can say that again. He took us underground and gave us orders without being around and blew a hole in the ground and threw and entire building on top of two companies! I've been in the military for at least six years and I've never seen anything like it."

"Sounds perhaps like what Emperor Lelouch did in Mt. Fuji?" Ogami said quietly.

"Yea! Like that...wait." Sterling caught himself and turned to look at Ogami closely. "What are you trying to imply?"

The Japanese officer stared back woodenly. "You heard me. What he did was unlike anyone in the military history except for one man..."

Sterling walked up close to the Black knight. "Look here, Captain. Whatever it might be, the Red Knight saved a lot of men that would have died in that siege! And I'm sure you've also heard that he saved Her Majesty's life too at Pendragon. I'm sure that counts in your assessment."

"Of course, Sterling." A new voice spoke and an officer dressed in the purplish-maroon uniform of the Imperial Guard entered. "But what would you say if I tell you that, our Red knight is actually a Demon Loyalist?"

Sterling turned to glare at the newcomer. "Look Guardsman, you and I both know that this war is dragging far too long and we're going to need to need all the help we get. Lelouch loyal or not, he's fighting for us and has sworn loyalty to the Imperial government. That's all that matters."

"And what if he is not?" Ogami asked, revealing a video clip from his wrist computer.

And Sterling could not believe the contents inside it.

---

Arthur rubbed a gloved hand over the dusty wall, feeling a solid shape underneath the sand.

"Templars." He muttered at the pointed Red Cross emblem.

"You got to be kidding me. The Knights Templar was just a bunch of legends from history books right?" Rivalz asked, looking at the symbol in fear.

Milly shook her head. "They say that when our forefathers came to the New World...many Templars came with us."

"And rightly too." The former student council president continued. "The French were the ones who started to outlaw them in the first place. My grandfather said they're called the Freemasons now."

Arthur nodded. "Though it doesn't explain what the Templars would be doing in the middle of a desert."

Rivalz glanced behind. "Maybe that's why the soldiers were so tense."

"No one's that worried about security unless you've got something to protect." The white haired Lelouch walked over to a pillar. Kallen followed suit.

They had gotten to the ruins without incident except for Arthur irritating the shit out of her. He was still reserved and quiet as if he saw her as a Black knight spy, which by duty she was and did not seem to believe that she was loyal to Lelouch either. From Lelouch's perspective however, assuming Arthur did not share Lelouch's memory, she could believe that. After all Lelouch had always been wary of others.

She was still unsure of what to think of his identity. Arthur was almost like Lelouch should he have grown up to be a knight rather than an exiled prince. There was a new sense of confidence that he was burdening the weight of the world and would face it with or without an army.

"Hurry up, Rivalz!" Milly shouted Rivalz as he unpacked his camera.

"Alright, Prez. You'll be up in fifteen."

The blond woman winked at Kallen's confused expression. "This place is a landmark. Might as well do some kind of report for a documentary while we're at it."

Kallen shrugged and turned to find Arthur who had somehow climbed up on top of high rubble of neo-roman styled pillars.

Ok, in this regard he's definitely not like the old Lelouch. Kallen thought as she followed him. The white haired knight stood up on top of a fallen pillar and scanned the area with his binoculars.

"You're not going to let them snoop around like that?" She asked sitting near him.

"They're not going to do anything that would risk Her Majesty." And he continued watching without another word.

Kallen watched him curiously. He's still just as irritating though.

"You want to ask me a question?" Arthur asked without looking back.

Startled, Kallen quickly thought of what to say. "You said you were Lelouch's knight?"

"I was." He agreed. "Though only in name. Of the things I had to do, it became more than just that. I was more of an Imperial Agent. And you could probably guess that I had to play Emperor at times."

As Arthur being Lelouch or Lelouch being Arthur? Kallen wondered.

"But you're alright with serving the Britannian throne?" The red-haired woman asked, kicking a stone down the rubble.

"Like you told me, Lelouch is different." Arthur answered. At that point Kallen could not argue.

Why am I telling her this? Arthur thought. But it feels so right to trust her...why? Wasn't she the one who betrayed Lelouch? Then why do I trust her? No. Why do I want to trust her?

The half-Japanese woman sat near him idly kicking small pebbles revealing her smooth lean legs. Shaking his head at the distraction, Lelouch's knight focused on the ruins.

Many of them were old neo-roman styled buildings that the Britannian nobility were so fond of. It was odd given the area they were in. Many Britannians here were far-less traditional than those in the east. That meant the involvement of the Knight Templars.

"Templars?" Arthur whispered to himself. That was a bit of a problem. The Knights Templar, unlike how Rivalz and Milly would know them as: an ancient order of Christian knights, were actually the name of two very different groups.

One actually belonged to the Geass Directorate or the Geass Church as it was known back then. The priests and knight commanders were normally Geass users until the Catholic Church with the aid of the Arfon knights found out about them and had the order burnt at the stake for heresy.

It was a double-bladed sword as the other group was actually the Arfon Knights themselves since the Knights Templar was actually the real name the Order had been called in medieval times.

By right, Arthur's rank was that of a Knight-Captain within the Templars.

However, they had long since abandoned the name and had taken up the name Arfon knights as the Order was founded by the surviving members of the Knights of the Round Table at Cantref Arfon thousands of years ago.

Legends say that the Knights were created to prevent the Geass from being abused by man. And if that was compromised...wipe Geass off the face of the earth.

"I'm actually quite surprised to see all of this here." Kallen muttered. "I never noticed any of this because of the war."

Arthur lowered his binoculars and sat down as well. "I'd be surprised if you did. From the way the ruins are left, there was someone here playing with all of this."

Kallen turned to look at him. "You mean this place was deliberately hidden from outsiders?"

The knight nodded. "There are traces here that suggested there have been people here."

The red-haired woman gritted her teeth. "Those sneaky bastards! When I get my hands on Dante I'm going to tear him apart!"

Arthur grinned slightly. "You'll probably get your chance soon enough. I doubt he's going to stand still after this. Which may mean trouble later..."

He paused.

"Something's wrong." Arthur whispered catching her off guard. Lelouch's Ghost glared into the open space.

Kallen tried to listen for the same sound.

"And yours truly, Milly Ashford."

"And cut!" Rivalz stopped the camera. "That's good. We can put it up on BNN later." He grinned. "With these live images, it'll be a blast!"

"Watch out!"

"They better!"

"No, you idiot! Get out of the way!" Kallen shouted and tackled him away as the building behind him exploded.

At once, a torrent of gun fire rained down on them.

"Shit!" Kallen pulled out her pistol and fired back while pulling Rivalz to cover. Arthur leapt down firing two rounds as he led Milly to Rivalz.

The blond woman sighed. "I guess it's too good to be true..."

A bullet ricocheted from the broken pillar they were taking shelter from. Arthur brought his pistol out and fired two shots which were followed by a grunt of pain.

"That sound!" Kallen shouted.

"A guy screaming in pain!" Rivalz shouted, closing his ears. "I know right?"

"No! Not that! The gun fire. Those aren't AR-28s!"

Arthur fired another two shots.

"They're not." He agreed. "They're using old Springfields." A bullet whistled past his ear. "Not that it gives us anything to celebrate."

He was right. The Springfield S7-assault rifles were longer and heavier than the current issued AR-28s. They were used back during the Japanese invasion where infantry still played a prominent role. Since Knightmares had become the more dominant force in the battlefield, the rifles were shortened to the AR-28s and other submachine guns for foot soldiers to face in close-quarter combat.

Since then the Britannian army has kept a smaller though still numerous and skilled infantry force armed and armoured with the latest technological advancements.

Whoever their attackers were, they were certainly not Britannian Regulars. The soldiers Kallen saw wore khaki flak vests and peaked caps instead of the usual combat armour.

They swarmed all over the ruins in the dozens.

"We can't win this." Arthur shouted. "Head to that building!" He gestured at the larger structure that was directly left towards them.
Kallen nodded and leapt out. She landed right in front of a couple of troopers. To her pleasure, the soldiers were too startled to react quickly and

Kallen fired two shots into their chests. The pistol rounds were not powerful enough to pierce through their vests but it was enough to knock them both down.

A third soldier appeared and unleashed a barrage of super-sonic rounds that scraped through the sand leaving clouds of dust in their wake.

She turned and pressed the trigger blowing a hole in the man's shoulder. The soldier screamed in pain dropping his weapon allowing Kallen to fire another round into his chest.

Pushing herself up, she leapt up and began to run towards the advancing soldiers.

She charged into a soldier with a side kick in his chest sending the man flying back. He fell and hit his head hard against the ground.

A female officer appeared with a long pony tail appeared and aimed down a nasty looking shotgun.

"Shit!" Kallen cursed as the cluster bullets rained pass her. One scrapped her arm but she shook the pain away and focused on the woman who fired. The officer cocked her weapon and fired another round with practiced calmness.

The clustered bullets came close to ripping Kallen to shreds if she hadn't dropped flat to the ground subsequently getting her elbow injured by a buried piece of brick. Ignoring her bruised elbow, she brought her pistol out and fired a couple of rounds at the woman which all went wide.

The female officer advanced upon her from her blind side but before she could get close her right shoulder exploded in a mist of blood.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Kallen turned and kicked the shrieking woman in the chin knocking her down.

"Hurry!" She saw Lelouch waving his black and gold pistol at her from the entrance of the ruined temple.

Abandoning all of the flying bullets around her, Kallen ran with all her might. Arthur continued to provide her covering fire as the Black knight captain jumped over rocks and debris and gun fire to reach the temple.

One soldier stepped up to a ruin and aimed down with a scoped rifle. Kallen did not see him and continued to run towards the temple.

Arthur saw the man and cursed. He continued to try and fire at the sniper but the man was simply too far away.

Deciding that he had to do something quickly, Arthur took the risk that may entirely expose who he truly was.

He blocked the view the half-Japanese woman might see of his face and glared hard at the sniper.

Look at me and despair!

The sniper was calmly aiming when he caught sight of two glowing blue eyes. Startled, the soldier missed his target by an inch.

Arthur nodded in grim satisfaction and fired at the closed chasing soldier.

"Get ready to jump forward!" He shouted at Kallen who was too busy running for her life. He gathered three small but deadly spherical grenades in his hand. He waited for her to get close.

Closer. Closer. Now!

He hurled the grenades just nicely over Kallen's head and towards the soldiers.

"Come on!" He shouted and spread his arms to her. Running in full speed, Kallen slammed right into his chest sending both into the temple as the ground behind them exploded.

It was nicely timed and the roof of the temple entrance crashed down, blocking the entrance, naturally.

"Well, there goes our way out." Milly muttered.

Rivalz smacked himself in the head. "Oh, don't tell me this place is some cursed ruins that no one is supposed to trespass and are filled with zombies."

"Relax, Rivalz." Milly assured him. "This isn't science-fiction."

Arthur grunted as he tried to pull himself together. "Well, at least it would still take some time before they can get through that."

He looked down at Kallen who was still huddling on top of him.

"Any bones broken?" He asked as the woman groaned in response. The knight blinked as he felt her chest pressing against his own and felt his cheeks burning up.

Kallen shook her head and sat up and for a moment Arthur could not think of anything except her deep blue eyes that contrasted with her fiery red hair.

The half-Britannian woman met his gaze and her face reddened in response to it.

Arthur felt a sudden familiarity to it. Somehow, even though he had just met her but a few days ago it felt like he had known her for years, sharing the same hardships, shed blood and endured pain together as comrades, as friends...and maybe something even more...

To Kallen, it felt the same way when she had literally fallen on Lelouch back in the Chinese Federation before the kidnapping attempt on the Empress where they had stared at one another with that single moment belonging to them and only them alone.

Lelouch...She could feel her eyes growing teary.

Arthur's eyes widened momentarily as if remembering something then his face hardened again resuming the cold mask.

"Good. Now we must hurry." He gently pulled himself from her arms as Kallen fought the urge to hold on to him. She wanted to cry out to him to tell him to stop acting and explain to her why he had done what he did.

He brushed himself up from the dust and offered his hand. As Kallen cleaned the dirt of her shirt, shouting and grunting came from the barrier.

"We'd better not be here when they've finished cleaning this place."

"Hey, Le...I mean Arthur do we really need to go down there?" Rivalz asked shivering.

"Either that or fight through an entire regiment with sticks and stones." Arthur said, taking a flash light from Milly who had amazingly brought four of them in her bag.

Seeing his face, the former student council president winked. "It's always good to be prepared."

Arthur couldn't resist the urge to grin and shook his head.

Kallen snatched the flashlight from Rivalz and shoved pass Arthur. "Come on. We don't have all day." She growled suddenly.

Arthur looked at her confused and followed her. "Be careful. There's no telling what's in here."

Kallen just scoffed in reply and walked even faster.

---

Ohio

Sun rays gleamed on the golden parts of the ebony Knightmare that stood at the head of massed Imperial air ships.

Loyalist air cavalry patiently floated along their sides while on the ground, tanks and other ground based knightmares stood waiting to charge at a single command.

They faced a large town that was filled with knightmares and tanks bearing the orange flame of the House of Bradley.

These were the survivors with much of their unit having fallen in the battle that had occurred in the middle of the night.

"There is no need to fight on." Zero's voice came from the dark knightmare.

"We will never surrender you bastards!" Returned the answer. "The Empire will rise again! The Empress and those damn black knights will soon be lying in the dirt!"

Gino sighed. "These guys won't quit would they."

"It appears not." Zero agreed. "However, if you are willing to fight on then at least release the innocents that are trapped in this battle ground."

A mocking laugh returned from the Gloucester that floated on top of a skyscraper surrounded by Sutherlands that were covered with explosives.
Suzaku shook his head. "I was afraid you'd say that..."

Before anyone knew it, the knightmare had flashed pass them and knocked the rebel leader's torso off with a slash of his sword. Zero hovered above the surprised rebels.

His emerald eyes glared and the Lancelot Rei's wings flared open and a torrent of energy beams struck the Sutherlands with precise accuracy taking out cockpits and chest plates without igniting the mines that they protected.

Imperial snipers fired at the same time eliminating those that attempted to detonate the explosives.

The crippled Gloucester desperately tried to initiate the blast by attempting to self-destruct, but the former knight saw it early and had flung a sword down into the cockpit pinning the noble inside nicely from reaching out to the controls.

"Get those explosives off now!" Gino cried as the army surged forward, taking down rebel forces and preventing them from blowing up the town.

Zero took the moment to land near the enemy Gloucester and approached the wounded rebel in the cockpit. The master-vibration sword had taken the man's arm off and the noble dying from blood loss.

Surprisingly, the noble was a young boy barely a teenager.

Suzaku knelt by his side.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked calmly. The boy glared but instead of the usual curses that many nobles gave, this one said nothing.

"You were Geassed weren't you?" Suzaku muttered sadly knowing that death was the only cure for him. Taking his pistol, he put the boy out of his misery.

Behind the mask, Suzaku watched as Gino and the rest of the army secured the town. This had been the eighth rebel he had discovered to be an unwilling pawn of Geass. And there were many evidences that proved that this. But who was the user was the great question.

This Geass was a command given one and thus could easily be led to one man. With the recent events that had occurred already, it was likely that that man was still alive...

Though he loathed admitting it, Suzaku knew that was what he wanted to think. Making it look like Lelouch's old messes made things much simpler than what it was more likely appearing.

Even the dead Emperor would not go as far as this new enemy was going.

Thus, Suzaku realised that he needed to find out from someone who knows more about Geass than anyone else...

---

Back in the Ruins

The place was clearly of Templar origin with highly ruined but still clear pictures and statues of the red-crossed knights.

The walls were clearly painted with the deeds and battles of the Order. At times, Kallen could not help but wonder what these enigmatic holy warriors were really part of. She wondered if there was a connection between the Geass attackers and this place. Clearly they had stumbled upon a desperately hidden secret.

If Arthur had any knowledge of this, he never said anything of it. He had become cold to her again and wondered if she had offended him. Lelouch never seemed to be affected by anything save it concerned Nunnally or his plans.

Perhaps he did know that he was Lelouch but was just trying to hide it from her.

This is just really irritating. Kallen thought.

Milly was happily taking record of the contents while Rivalz was still whining about how they would be stuck forever.

It was unlikely that they would be. Especially since the barrier that Arthur made was very fragile. The worse case was being killed by the soldiers.

Before long, they settled on a crossroad with two tunnels.

"It'll be a while." Arthur told them. "From this old map," He pointed at a badly preserved portrait on the wall. "They'll lead into a religious chamber," indicating the cross symbol on the map.

He scoffed. "Too bad they didn't say anything about what's on the paths."

The red knight drew out his gold and black pistol and checked the rounds. Kallen did the same and pulled out her old Japanese model and ejected the magazine.

There were five rounds left and she exchanged it with another magazine and slammed another round in place.

Arthur did the same and nodded. "We'll need to split up. Those soldiers will be following us. That way we'll at least be able to split them up and lose them in the channels.

"Rivalz and I will take this one, you girls take the other."

Kallen wanted to go with him but she knew that it was necessary as they needed to protect Rivalz and Milly.

"Alright!" Rivalz said brightening up. "It'll be like old times!" He suddenly slapped Arthur's back and walked right into the corridor, startling both him and Kallen knowing fully that he was almost untouchable.

Arthur stared at him then shrugged with a grin and followed.

"Come on, Kallen." Milly nudged a half frozen Kallen who had barely recovered. Did he just acknowledge Rivalz calling him Lelouch?

But she shook herself from the shock and focused on the task at hand. With her pistol at the ready, she followed.

There was far more room than it seemed as the two women were dwarfed in the passageway and from the little illumination the flashlights gave it was clear that it was done on purpose.

"I think this has to be the main hallway." Kallen said.

The blond woman nodded. "Yeah, from the size of it must allow dozens of people to go through. This place might have been a cathedral."

That only meant that they were close to whatever they were looking for.

Both did not speak for a time as the two continued their way through the terrible darkness.

"So..." Milly started, breaking the silence. "You seem to be acting strange."

"Why do you say that?"

"For one, you seemed to be more like your usual self. All feisty and snarling." The reporter laughed.

Kallen was suddenly glad of the darkness as her face reddened with embarrassment.

"Not at a..." Milly's flashlight suddenly shined at her face.

"Haha, you're blushing!" Milly gave her an evil grin.

"No! Something's wrong with your eyes!" Kallen quickly moved out of the light.

The older woman laughed and shook her head. "Is it because of that tiny little possibility?"

Kallen frowned and sulked in the dark.

Chuckling, Milly put an arm around her shoulder.

"I miss him too you know."

---

Formosa, United States of China

"Move along men." A sergeant shouted at a group of soldiers in black and green body armour marching.

Behind them a unit of massive French battle tanks rolled down and formed a battle line in the square and Senator Ryoma could feel the ground rumble under his feet.

The Japanese politician then suddenly felt his hair bellowing as a full flight of Akatsuki knightmare frames zoomed above him.

The island has long been used for defence by the Chinese Federation especially when the Britannian armies had been spread around.

But now in the eyes of Ryoma, the port was massed with troops from over twenty different countries.

A large plump man in a dark green uniform marched along side a company of men in full attention inspecting each man's weapon. He was General Shin Fai, formerly a leader of the Chinese Federation Army best known for his infantry tactics that allowed him to overrun much of Southeast Asia during their uprisings.

Shin Fai was obvious to the gaze and barked a laugh and continued with the troopers. Ryoma continued his tour with his FSS guards.

The tall thin Japanese man made his way through to the knightmare hanger. He jumped as a loud crash echoed in hanger.

Two tall dark blue knightmares slammed their swords into each other, sparks shot out as the revolving blades clashed. They separate then clash blades again and again.

A loud voice shouted in Japanese as the two Akatsuki Commander Models paused and listened.

Lt. General Shinzo Nagumo gestured from the top of the tower as he instructed the men in their swordplay. The Japanese knightmare commander caught Ryoma's gaze as the knightmare officers continued to train and nodded.

"Sir?" One of his FSS bodyguards asked.

"Nothing, Lieutenant." Ryoma replied and moved on to the docks. The combined fleets of China, Japan, France, Spain and Russia stood afloat. The night roared with explosions as the gunnery crews drilled day and night.

The Senator and his men stopped by the lead flagship Ikaruga II where a trio of black uniformed officers stood in discussion with a tall bald man in a dark blue EU uniform.

Admiral Henri Dupere, formerly the Fleet commander of the European Maritime Force now the Admiral of the Fleet for the Order of the Black Knights.

"You're here rather early, Senator." Dupere muttered without looking up from the datapad he was looking at. His deep French accent betrayed his ethnicity.

"Just here to see the progress, Admiral." Ryoma replied.

The Frenchman chuckled. "Well, you'll see that our progress is to your liking."

Ryoma watched the fleet's bombardment first, and then turned to the duelling knightmares and finally the marching infantrymen.

The Japanese senator grinned. "It's really impressive, Admiral...Impressive indeed."

---

Arthur and Rivalz had somehow ended up in a store room of sorts.

"Whoa, looks like we hit the jackpot." Rivalz exclaimed in glee.

"I doubt that term would be appropriate for us. Be careful. There's no telling what's down here."

Rivalz swallowed hard. "You'll be around here right?"

Arthur nodded and began walking around.

When blue haired man was finally out of view, Arthur sighed and pulled out the box Lelouch sent him.

"A Geass relic here? In the hands of the Templar?" Arthur wondered.

It was supposed to represent something old England though at least that's what Lelouch said. The first had been the Mace of Mercia or rather known as the Jewelled Mace of Offering. It had been wielded by the Kings of old Britain. The Mace left behind in London during Napoleon's invasion but was somehow stolen, likely by Britannian agents and taken to the New World so that the new pretenders would never get it.

The red knight saw that more than half the things in the place were made up of medieval trinkets.

He sighed. "It's going to be a long day..." Unfortunately they're not going to have that amount of time.

He checked the box again.

All it showed was an image of a scarlet cross on a white shield with a prancing lion behind it.

Arthur flashed the light past a pile of brass of cups and a Templar shield. He held it for a moment taking a good look at it and mentally comparing it with the image Lelouch gave.

"I'm wasting my time..." He murmured and dropped the shield.

"Hey, look at this picture." Rivalz called.

Lelouch's Ghost turned and saw his former liege's school friend staring at a portrait. He shined his torchlight at it and jumped.

It was a painting of a young blond haired knight in full jet black armour killing a great wicked looking bird.

More specifically the knight was actually Prince Arthur himself and the bird was...

"Quite a sight huh?" Rivalz continued as if nothing had happened. "It just seemed to stand out from the other stuff since you mentioned this was a Templar place."

Arthur nodded and just stared at the man.

He could suddenly see the fire burning in the painting, a child crying over his dead mother, ranks of knights smashing into each other...A great explosion awoke in their midst.

A great sea of robed figures kneeled over an avian like altar and the leader's eyes glowed with crimson. Suddenly a golden dragon appeared from the foreground and engulfed the cultists with flame.

"Uh...dude?" Rivalz waved at him and realised how much the black knight in the painting resembled Lelouch save for the slightly heavier built. In fact, he almost looked like an exact copy of the man standing right in front of him.

Arthur shook his head. "My apologies." He took a deep breath and spoke again. "We need to hurry."

He made his way towards door deep down the room where it was surprisingly unlocked.

"Looks like this is the passage to that chamber." Rivalz said happily as he gazed into it and started to take a step when Arthur grabbed his shoulder.

"Wait." He took a small statue from a pile and threw it across the opening. Before their eyes, a torrent of arrows fired from the sides.

"That would be so cliché if it wasn't so real." Rivalz muttered. "So what do we do?"

"Well, unlike your movies, these medieval engineers wouldn't have been so smart." Arthur took another junk from the pile and hurled it again this time. Nothing happened as it landed to the side near the walls.

Arthur calmly walked near the wall with Rivalz glancing frightfully at the arrow holes.

"That's just the first trap." He told Rivalz who was just beginning to sigh in relief.

It took fifteen minutes to get pass two more traps with a surprise one later near the door which was a large blade that almost took their heads off.

"That was interesting." Arthur grinned at Rivalz who looked as if he was going to faint.

Rivalz shook his head as he followed the red knight. "Man! It really is like old times...he's always trying to scare me..."

The two young men made it into the chamber. Arthur was right. It looked like a mass hall like the one at Ashford though this was clearly one for religious purposes especially with the altar. Behind were five different Templar shields revealed by Arthur's torch.

Just then, Kallen and Milly appeared from another side.

"Took you long enough." Kallen muttered. Her clothes were rather dustier than usual.

"What happened to you?" Rivalz asked.

Milly laughed. "She fell into a pit of quick sand if you can believe it." Kallen muttered a curse as she poured sand out of her shoe.

"Ha! We were almost sent to heaven without our heads!" Rivalz put a finger across his neck.

Arthur chuckled at the scene. Despite the life threatened situation they were all in, they laughed at it as if nothing had happened. He walked towards the red haired woman who was still brushing all the sand from her.

"Take off your jacket." He told her. Kallen obeyed and Arthur tried not to look at her hourglass shaped body. He brushed it hard twice rather loudly.
Before Kallen could say anything, a small scorpion dropped from it.

"You're welcome." Arthur said and left the scowling Kallen to the centre of the room.

"Since this is a religious temple, this should be the centre of the whole structure." The red knight announced.

"That means we just need to find another exit."

Milly looked around. "But since we're here. I'd like to take a few shots around." She glanced at Arthur who shrugged.

"Keep an eye out for a map though." Arthur said and they fanned out the place.

He at once went to the altar and the five shields taking out Lelouch's box and pretending that he was scanning for something. He tried to make sense of the message.

A shield representing England huh?

The first Templar shield was an uneven cross like those worn by the first crusaders. That was unlikely Arthur knew as it had little link to Geass. The second one had a golden shield in the centre with the three lions of England in it. It was a likely choice but too obvious.

The third was the new Templar cross with a black and white rampart. The fourth was an odd shield where the cross was designed to look like a sword.

The final one was a shield with a black background. It looked like something that Edward the Black Prince would have worn.

So which one is it? Arthur tried to think. He moved away from the shields to make it less obvious that he was studying them so intently.

He turned to a wall and looked at a portrait containing a uniformed Templar from the 18th century in a white and red coat.

So this place is only a few centuries old? That means that the relic would likely be here.

Although she's impulsive, she was far from a fool. Kallen knew that there was far more than met the eye. For one, Arthur or Lelouch was here for something. He likely knew the way out or at least suspected a way but was delaying it.

Geass. It had to be it. Kallen told herself. Hooded assassins, massive rebel armies, ancient legends and old temples...of course it would have to be Geass.

However, Kallen was also aware that the only way she would find out about this was only if Arthur told her himself and to do that she needed to gain his trust. She tried to look for anything that might be related to Geass or something. Perhaps it was an artefact?

Like that one that the old Eunuch used on Ashford on Lelouch's birthday. It was most likely it. She also started to fan out the place and kept her eyes peeled. It was dark and they often had to be careful not to trip or bump into anything.

This is taking too long...Arthur thought. He couldn't hide the fact that he was here looking for the relic without alerting the others. They were Lelouch's friends and that Kouzki seemed to be rather honest about her relationship with him too. Perhaps he should...

"Hey, guys. Stop moving." Milly suddenly announced.

"What?"

"You heard me. Just stop and listen carefully." They did.

"I can't hear anything." Rivalz grumbled.

"Wait, I hear it too." Arthur whispered. "Rumbling. Low and consistent. Machinery!"

"Where is it coming from?" Kallen asked.

Arthur flashed his light towards the direction of the sound he heard and pressed his ear against the walls. He slowly made his way across to hear the sound.

Milly grinned the scene. "There's gotta be a door or something. Start looking around everyone! Wow, this is as almost as exciting as the festivals at school!"

Kallen and Rivalz snickered knowing that was an understatement. However, the only door they could find was locked. Rivalz proposed blowing it up but Arthur countered that it could attract unwanted attention.

"Whoever they are, they're not supposed here."

"Neither are we." Rivalz grumbled.

"We have the Knight of Two herself here to vouch for us." Arthur said it with a half smile causing Kallen to roll her eyes.

A loud boom echoed from the entrance.

"Shit!" Arthur shouted. "Company!" He pulled out his pistol and kicked one of the benches down as a make shift barricade.

Seconds later armed soldiers entered with guns blazing. Kallen and her companions dove for cover as she pulled out her pistol. Arthur was already returning fire and a shot took one of the attackers in the chest.

The Knight of Two leapt out of her cover and fired on two of the soldiers but their gun fire was far too hot for her to stay in one place so she was forced to go down beside a bench for cover.

The wooden benches splintered as automatic rounds peppered them. She saw Arthur who had gotten behind a pillar then calmly came out and shot one of their adversaries. He lobbed one of his small grenades down the other path which Kallen and Milly had entered. A cry of pain came as it exploded.

Despite their successes, they were outnumbered and were too lightly armed to take on such men in combat gears.

Before they knew it, a grenade fell down towards them and exploded stunning them with smoke and pieces debris.

As Kallen struggled to regain her vision, a soldier swung his rifle at her. She managed to dodge the blow and returned by punching the man in the face.

"Don't move!" A strong female voice shouted and she aimed a combat shotgun right at Kallen's face.

However, Arthur's pistol shot knocked the weapon out of her hand and the red haired woman used the time to give the other woman an upper cut.

But the female officer was made of sterner stuff and recovered quickly enough to block Kallen's next blow. She returned a punch into Kallen's chest even as the Black knight dove her foot into the woman's stomach.

"Surrender! Or your friend will die!" Another voice shouted and a soldier held his grenade launcher at Milly's position even as Kallen re-aimed her pistol into the face of a dark skinned soldier.

The female officer gotten to her feet and pressed her pistol right at Kallen's forehead.

"Who the hell are you people?" Kallen snarled.

"I could ask you the same thing." The officer snarled back, her arm bloodied from the earlier skirmish. "You come in wounding half-a dozen of my men and almost blowing the hell out of us."

"They're Dante's scouts!" A young male voice shouted. "Let's just kill them here and now!"

"Dante! We're not that asshole's dogs!"

The female officer scoffed. "Like hell. First you take our mining equipments away, and then you took our families. So what now? You want to kill the rest of us like dogs is it?"

"We're the Empress' agents." Arthur replied. "We're here to investigate what's happening here."

"That's right. My name is Capt...LLady Kallen Kouzki, Knight of Two and a commander of the Black knights."

A soldier scoffed. "Yeah, and I'm Lord Zero."

Arthur turned to the man. "If she isn't, try and see what'll happen if you press that trigger on her head. You'll make enemies out of both the rebels and the Crown."

That made the soldiers pause.

"And the Empress would never order such a thing to be done to her people and go unpunished."

"Ha! And you two are going to hunt them down?" The soldiers laughed.

Arthur walked into the light of their torches and stared into their eyes.

"Of course." The soldiers gaped at the face of the man they were facing and the piercing eyes that he held.

"Uh...Captain Valois. I think they're telling the truth."

"Shut up!" Valois snarled, lowering her weapon and signalling the others to do so. "I'm still not going to trust a damn Round Table. You people promised freedom then left us in the hands of those noble born bastards. Especially a former Eleven Knight."

"We're doing our best." Kallen protested anger flaring from the racist insult. "And what? Look who's talking. You're the ones being hunted down because of your not of pure breed."

Kallen knew that she shouldn't be trying to provoke them but she was too angry and couldn't stop herself. "Geez, so Britannians don't appreciate what we're doing for them after all the innocents you murdered and all the humiliation you put on others. Thanks. And that's coming from people who so worshiped Camelot and its foundations. What an irony..."

"Say anymore, bitch and I'll blow your pretty little head off."

"Come on then. Do it." Kallen stepped up to face Valois. The soldiers suddenly raised their weapons again seeing their officer threatened.

It was Milly however who intervened before things could go out of hand. "We could really do this all day but unfortunately none of us do. So could we please get on with it?"

The two women stared at each other as if going to come to blows but before they could, Arthur suddenly spoke.

"What's this?" He asked, leaning down and picking up a piece of cloth. He shone it with his torch and revealed to be a cotton blue cloth.

"Wait! Let me see that!" Valois leapt to Arthur forgetting her quarrel with Kallen. The red knight handed it to the female officer.

The woman studied it for a while. "This belongs to someone from our town, Fallon." She said softly.

"What exactly has been happening here?" Lelouch's ghost asked gently.

"People from our town had been disappearing for some time already. Since the war started. At first we thought they were all just coincidences but they started to disappear in the dozens and even the hundreds."

"Maybe they volunteered?" Rivalz asked. "As in press ganged?"

Kallen grimaced. "Her Majesty decreed that one the only ones who should fight are those who are willing to." Kallen was surprised that she sounded more like a Britannian knight than her usual self when she said it. Arthur saw it and grinned at her reaction.

"But that means the rebels are here..." Arthur said, rubbing his chin. "And they're purists; they'd rather burn themselves than recruit other ethnics."

All the soldiers had a variety of skin tones and facial features that was obvious even in the darkness.

"That's why we've decided to fight for our own." A tall sergeant said. "We've been searching the desert for months already."

Kallen nodded, remembering her time as a freedom fighter. "And you ran into Dante?"

The huge man's eyes were filled with hate. "He told us that we're acting in treason against the Empress by carrying arms. He already came earlier taking away all the mining equipment we had, saying it for the Empress' Army. Then everyone started to disappear."

"Could you find any trace of them?"

"No."

Milly stared up at the temple. "Then they're probably here. No one could survive in the desert with that many people."

Valois said, grimly. "We thought that was the case but we've run into Dante's forces several times here and that's why we attacked."

"They have Knightmares." Rivalz pointed out.

"Yeah, we know," Valois said grudgingly. "And military class ones too. But hell will freeze before we let this town die."

"Well, now that's been clear, shall we start trying to save a few hundred people?" Milly asked, cheerfully.

Arthur nodded. "We're going to need to go deeper. Open that door." He pointed at the end of the hall.

A bespectacled soldier grinned at him. "With pleasure!"

---

"Gino, take the men back to the base and wait there for my command."

"Sure thing, Zero. But where are you going?" The Knight of Three asked.

"I want to look into some matters here." Suzaku replied.

"At least, take a unit with you or let me come along. If anything happens to you, the world's going to sink back to the abyss."

Despite himself, Suzaku appreciated his old comrade's concern.

"I can take care of myself. Protect the men."

"True that. Alright. Take care."

With that Suzaku terminated the communication. He took the Lancelot Rei out of formation from the Imperial Task Force.

With all communication gone, the Japanese knight took off the mask and leaned against the chair.

He took a moment to look at the Zero helmet.

"The mask is still heavy." Suzaku murmured. But he had known that since he agreed to the Zero Requiem. Still, he admired the will that Lelouch had to be able to do what he had done. He still did not entirely agree to all of it but Suzaku had learnt to accept them when he became the Knight of Zero.

But to actually do some of the methods was definitely another thing. To maintain spy networks, contacts, military organisations, training, deploying them, relationships with the other nations it was like another world for the Japanese knight.

He was actually fortunate as Nunnally was the one taking the full brunt of the nation's welfare. Despite the ongoing war, she had constantly made speeches of peace to her soldiers which greatly contrasted with the blood thirsty war mongers of the rebel leaders.

If this war was just an ordinary uprising, the second Zero doubted that there might be a war at all. However, like all true wars things were never simple and he must make sure it doesn't destroy this new fragile world that both Lelouch and many other bled and died for.

The Lancelot Rei s dispersed a group of clouds and studied the forested area that he had arrived.

It was a place that he had not thought to ever visit.

Suzaku landed his knightmare neatly at what seemed to be a random region in the forest.

He got out of the machine and jumped down walking straight towards no particular direction.

The Japanese knight continued on without regarding his surroundings. He did not look around. He did not even bother to wear his helmet.

Then he stopped.

"So this is the witch's cottage?" Suzaku spoke.

"At least it's near a town that makes good pizza." A female voice returned.

A young woman with long green hair appeared in front of him.

"Lord Zero," C.C. spoke. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

---

They managed to go down to the lowest level without incident and disturbingly without a trace of enemies. The soldiers were tolerable. They were certainly not happy about working with Arthur and Kallen especially with the fact that they had shot them and whom Arthur represented, but did nothing of it.

The stairs were damp and the place was just as dark. It felt like they were walking down a black-hole that they could never return from. At least, there were now about a dozen or so all together and made that made searching much easier. While Arthur understood that their presence would ultimately help his group, his own duty would be hindered because of it. He still needed to find the relic, whatever it was.

Though that problem would likely be solved too when they found the survivors. Whatever the relic was though, it was beyond doubt a powerful item.

"Wait." Arthur stopped and pointed to the door in front. Two soldiers moved in front and flanked the door. Val

Valois gestured and nodded.

"Breaching." With that, one of the soldiers kicked the door open and stormed in.

They did not fire but gasped instead.

Confused, the rest barged in and saw the source of confusion.

Rows and rows of sarcophaguses filled their view. There were dozens...no...Hundreds of them...spread through the entire chamber.

"By the gods..." A soldier muttered. "What have we gotten ourselves into here?"

"Quiet!" Valois said angrily. "Spread out and search. Be careful."

Arthur said nothing and walked cautiously among them. He took each step carefully and looked up to see the avian symbol of the Geass order.

Suddenly his head was in pain. It felt as if his brains were going to come inside out.

The knight tried to shake it off but the headache became...worse and worse.

Lelouch struggled to stay on his feet and had to brace himself against the pain.

"Arthur?" Launcelot asked, worried.

"Arthur? Are you alright?" Kallen's worried expression filled his view.

Arthur shook his head and raised a hand. "I'm alright. Let's keep moving."

They headed down the corridor. Lelouch walked on with his comrades silently aware that they had no idea what they were going to face down here. He did not like that. The prince had always preferred to know his enemy and what he was going to face and disliked going into the unknown that would risk his men.

Regardless, Lelouch and his knights made their way through though Launcelot kept a close watch on his friend and prince.

"By the Gods what is this place?"A knight muttered, gripping his sword...rifle with both hands.

"I'm not sure." Captain Valois replied. "Keep an extra eye out for it in case."

The soldier pressed his rifle closer. Arthur blinked, telling himself what he had been hearing and seeing was due to the terrible darkness.

The place seemed to be rumbling. A strange rumbling. He could not stop it. It was hard because there was little light in the room. Arthur took deep controlled breaths. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Slowly, he managed to control the pain rather than letting it control him. It was then Arthur realised that the rumbling was not his imagination. There was a low rumble.

No not a rumble but murmurs. Words...complete words...

"No..." Arthur muttered and dashed forward with urgency.

"Arthur!" Kallen called after him and they all chased after him as the red knight.

"Where are you going?"

Arthur did not stop until he found the split of light that directed to the source of the words. Lelouch knew that he had to find out if what he was hearing was true.

He found and he was right...

It was like as if they had entered into another world completely. Where the outside was made up of sands and rocks with darkness and death...here was brightness and full of life.

Before him down below was a sea of jewelled white robed figures all kneeling down to a man dressed like a priest in ebony robes on a platform.

It was where the murmurs were coming from. It was a prayer...the words were known to him.

Launcelot arrived at his side. The white knight's face went pale as he stared at the scene of the robed figures. The black robed man raised his hands in a chorus and the worshippers mimicked the movement.

"What the hell is happening here?" Valois muttered as she and the rest stared at the scene.

Kallen had thought that the Geass operators were here but she did not in any way imagine it to be like this. This was far from a small terrorist like cell. It was a full professional organisation. Aside from the worshippers, there were men and women in uniforms moving about in great motion.

She looked up and saw on a balcony, two figures, one in the same robes as the others while the other was in a Britannian officer's uniform.

The officer saw her and Kallen recognised him.

"That's Robert Lambert! The bastard who took over Iowa." Lambert seemed to be startled and quickly turned his companion who turned slowly at them.

The priest laughed. "Well, well. What do we have here?"

"What the hell? It's those meddling commoners from Fallon. How did they get in here?" The young nobleman demanded.

"They're new recruits!" The priest announced and projected his voice. "Greetings, brothers and sisters! You have joined us in good timing. We have just initiated several dozens of new novices to our grand order!"

"Like hell." Kallen muttered.

Valois turned to look at the worshippers and shouted. "So is this what you have done to our people? Where are they? Where have you taken them?"

She called to the young woman with brown hair. The girl did not respond to her at all but continued to look to the priest on the platform.

Her eyes were tingled with red rings.

In fact all of them had the same blank look with crimson rings in their eyes. Other soldiers tried with no avail to call them.

"What have you done with them you bastard!" Valois demanded pointing her gun at the duo. This prompted a dozen of black uniformed soldiers with red goggles to appear from all over the rooms.

They were the same troopers Kallen saw during the assassination attempt on Nunnally.

"Me? Don't be absurd, my dear. I have done nothing. It is they who seek us. You should consider joining us yourselves!"

Kallen stood up. "For the impressments of innocent civilians into military forces, I order you to cease all operation in the name of the Empress!

"Like I'd take an order from a filthy number even if I were serving that little bitch!" Robert resorted.

The priest sighed in what seemed to be deep disappointment. "Then I am sorry, children. But you must be removed. Lord Lambert, could you please send them to the lower deck?"

The young nobleman asked. "At the point of a bayonet, Ghull?"

"With it in their hearts." The priest added viciously and disappeared.

Robert grinned and drew his sword. "With pleasure!" He waved the blade and pointed at the group.

"MOVE IT!" Kallen shouted as their position came under fire. A grenade shell was launched and struck the tip of the door collapsing their only exit.

"That's bad." Rivalz muttered as he was dragged away by Milly and another soldier.

"We need to get to cover!" Arthur as he took cover from a stream of bullets. He took a small peek to look for the grenadier amongst the group.

One of their men was struck in the head and fell without a word. The rest managed to spread out and took cover with expert ease.

"Arthur!" Kallen shouted as she readied her pistol. Lelouch's twin was staring at the firing soldiers then suddenly fired a single shot. One of the ebony clad troopers fell firing a grenade launcher that struck the nearby wall.

Arthur then leapt forward to them as bullets trailed behind him.

"Cover him!" Kallen cried and one of the soldiers armed with a scoped rifle took position near her and began sniping.

Between the pings of the bullets on the floor and blast from the marksmen, the red knight managed to dash his way through the gun fire. A rebel took careful aim to take him down but was counter-sniped before he could do so.

"We need to push forward!" Arthur told them as he slide down near Kallen. The sniper fired another shot that took down another.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" Milly asked pointing at the worshippers who seemed to be completely oblivious to the fire fight around them.

"MOVE!" Arthur shouted, firing his pistol. "Split up! Flank them!"

The red knight with two riflemen moved towards the left while Kallen, Valois and the rest advanced on the right.

Kallen being the most agile leapt forward first dodging the bullets from cover to cover. She ducked for a few seconds then opened up and fired. Her first shot went wide but her second struck one in the chest and a third blasted his brains out.

Her quick movement caught her attackers off guard and that was enough for her companions to take them down.

Arthur and the two soldiers rushed from their own side firing as they came at the same time and between them they managed to make quick work of their enemies. Lambert appeared from one side and fired his pistol before turning tail.

"After him!" Valois shouted. "We need to know where they're keeping the others!"

"Wait!" Kallen called after them but the soldiers were so filled with anger and vengeance they ignored her.

They followed the Fallon men as they chased the treacherous noble. The worshippers haven't moved an inch since the shooting started. Something was really wrong.

Several armed men tried to protect Lambert but they were brutally slaughtered by the vengeful soldiers. One man was blasted point blank range by Valois' shotgun leaving the man with a large hole in his chest.

Then finally Lambert was cornered in a study meeting room of sorts.

"Nowhere to run, bastard." The sergeant cursed aiming his rifle at the noble's head.

Despite his situation, Lambert laughed. "Ha! Damn, commoners. You really think I'd run from the likes of you."

Kallen heard Arthur whisper a curse and before she knew it the lights suddenly turned off leaving the flash lights of the group as the only source of illumination.

Suddenly, pairs of glowing red symbols appeared all over the place.

"Oh, my god, not these guys again!" Kallen complained. "Run! All of you run!"

"Kill them!" Lambert's voice shouted.

"Lead them out!" Arthur tapped Kallen's shoulder and ran after a random direction where he disappeared into the darkness.

"But...right. Follow me!" Kallen shouted as someone screamed.

The attack came at the perfect timing for Arthur to finish his mission but the thought of sacrificing Kouzki and the rest for it plagued his mind. They were not Arfons and all of them knew they were risking their lives here. He had never felt like that before.

Regardless, the red knight knew he needed to finish off what he was here to do first before he could help the others.

But somehow, he knew that Kozuki could take care of them. He did not know how but he just knew it.

---

"Don't scatter! Keep together." Kallen shouted.

The soldiers were in terror and several of them were too frightened by what had appeared before them.

One lost himself completely in fear began firing wildly. A shadow strider dodged the bullets with ease then leapt onto him and buried a dagger into the man's chest.

The hooded figure drew an arm back and flung his weapon into the head of another. A second strider closed in on Kallen but having fought them before she quickly managed to dodge the lunge and fired her pistol.

The assassin staggered before the shots and Kallen used the advantage to shoot it in the eye at point blank range.

Valois to her credit kept her cool and blasted one with her shotgun which sent it flying back.

"What the hell are those things?" The Fallon captain demanded.

"Monsters!" Rivalz shouted in terror as he desperately tried to avoid the swipes of a shadow strider. Luck seemed to be with him as none of the blows came home.

Kallen wondered how Arthur fared and hoped he was alright.

"Watch out!" A burst of machine gun fire forced a strider to withdraw as his arm was hit.

The half-Britannian turned to see Milly with a smoking rifle. She looked like a war goddess from some film.

"Hey, I'm the heir of the Ashford family remember? I can take care of myself." She said with a wink as the blonde reporter turned her fire on the strider who just beheaded one of the solders.

Kallen grinned at her friend and stood side by side with her as they made an orderly retreat from the striders.

"This way!" The sergeant shouted, standing by an electronic door. They were going to rush through it but before they could a strider dagger flew passed Kallen's face in inches and struck the control panel disabling it.

"Smart bastards." Kallen muttered and she fired into the face of one before running back.

---

"Damn creepy things were useful after all." Lambert muttered as he wore his cape and walked back to his shuttle flanked by his household guards who had been waiting for him.

"Think of what'd happen if we unleashed that on every Imperial garrison. We'd win the war without wasting any knightmares."

"Yes, my lord." The escort said dutifully.

As Robert Lambert turned, two gun shots fired killing two of his escorts. A third shot struck his shoulder.

"Agrah!" The noble gripped his wounded shoulder and glared at his assailant. The other guards turned their rifles and fired into the direction.

They sprayed entire room but a fourth shot took down another guard.

A lithe figure leapt forward began firing at them with a pistol with deadly accuracy. The last guard fell as his brains disappeared in a mist of blood. Another shot struck his leg and he was down.

Biting his tongue in the fall, Lambert turned to stare at the new comer and startled. "Lelouch!"

"Lord Lambert, a pleasure to finally meet you." He gave a mocking bow and walked up. The former noble stared at the figure with disbelief.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked the white haired version of the Emperor. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Can't rest in peace with the racket you people have been making." Lelouch replaced his magazine with another clip.

"So care to tell me what's the rebellion doing with these cultists?"

Lambert grimaced as he shifted his shoulder. "Take a guess."

"I suppose not." Lelouch walked towards him with his left hand fisted for an upcoming punch.

Once he opened it however, his palm was glowing blue with a bird like symbol.

"Fuck! You're one of them too!" Robert tried to move away but his wounds made it hard.

He grabbed the rebellious noble's forehead and gripped it hard. A blast of blue energy shot out as the former noble screamed. He scratched and beat at him but the demon was relentless.

Lelouch gritted his teeth as images of the nobleman's memories and knowledge course through his mind as well as Lambert's abilities, all the selfish thoughts, all the power hungry desire, the cold-blooded murders...

When he was done, though Lambert was breathing hard Lelouch seemed to be staggering as well.

"I can't believe people like you actually exist in this world..." The white version of the Emperor muttered.

Despite himself, Lambert laughed. "You have no idea. Ha! I didn't think the great Demon Emperor would be so naive."

"You don't deserve to live." Lelouch raised his pistol.

"Then I'm glad I have demons of our own!"

A dark figure slammed into him knocking away his gun and Lambert took the chance to limp away.

"NO!" The former Emperor shouted as he struggled with the Shadow Strider on him.

"Call me a coward, Lelouch. But cowards live the longest!"

"DAMNIT!" Arthur cursed as the assassin kicked him to the ground. The red knight kicked the dark figure off but the strider came back with a lightning fast side kick that sent him back to the ground.

Before he could recover, the strider grabbed him by his collar and with a monstrous strength for even for a heavily built man threw him against the wall.

His face struck hard and bit his lips in the collusion.

The dark assassin flung a dagger at him but it missed Arthur. The knight recovered and returned the dagger back at its owner but the strider knocked it aside with his metal gloves.

Brandishing the knife long claws, the Shadow Strider advanced towards him with murder in its eyes.

The Strider poured down a fury of slashes down on Arthur who raised his left hand to block the blows but the assassin did not let up and continued to attack more fiercely.

Yet, despite several powerful blows and cuts Arthur's arm withstood it all without bleeding.

It made the Strider pause to stare at what made even his fearsome attacks ineffective.

Arthur let out a dark chuckle. "Yea, even you would probably realise that I'm no mere human."

The same hand shot out and grabbed the strider in the neck and slammed it against the wall.

Then with a simple crunch, the deadly assassin was still.

Dropping the body, the red knight knelt by the corpse's side and gripped its forehead to absorb its strength and knowledge.

"I don't have the Emperor's Power of Kings and forgive me if it's real Geass but at least it allows me to complete my mission. Besides it is what you people installed into me anyway..."

His palm shot out a small burst of azure light then he let go and walked away.

"Now that was much easier." Arthur muttered and his eyes glowed with the blue artificial Geass and vanished into the darkness...

---

"Block the way!" Kallen shouted as she slotted another magazine into her pistol. A Strider leapt pass the wall dodging a torrent of machine gun fire.

Kallen looked around her. From about at least two dozen strong, there were less than 10 men left standing and those left were struggling to survive against horrors beyond their wildest imaginations.

A trio of daggers flew pass her face and Kallen had to perform a swift black-flip to dodge a lung by one of the dark assassins. Valois got up close and fired her shotgun at the assassin even as Kallen landed.

"Fire in the hole!" The bespectacled demolition expert shouted and prepared to throw the C-4 when a dagger suddenly flew out of the entrance and struck him in the chest.

"Anders!" Valois shouted as the soldier fell to his knees. But he was not defeated yet as he struggled to attach a wire on to himself.

His companions tried to reach for him but the Striders kept to pushing them out. Kallen thanked the gods that they were in a narrow passage otherwise they would have been overrun minutes ago.

"Get out!" Anders charged for the door despite the heavy bleeding. He was quickly caught in between the crossfire and the Striders as his entire body blew up in a massive flame.

"Look out! Rivalz!" Milly shouted. The cameraman stumbled away from the rest of the group as the ceiling fell in on them.

Rivalz couldn't recall what was happening in the past ten to fifteen minutes. One moment he was following a bunch of commandos to storm into some evil lair which from some ancient temple ruins turned miraculously into pseudo-scientific yet religious base? Was he even making sense?

Then all of a sudden everyone's shooting everyone and boogiemen appeared and start attacking. The former student councillor did not know what else to do but run for his life as he was not a soldier and even if he was he had no weapons.

Rivalz tried to get away from the rubbles by jumping into a doorway which he never recalled from entering.
There was a door and he quickly used it to shut the cave in away.

"Phew…thank heavens…" He sighed in relief and leaned against the wall.

This was worse than that time the whole Ashford had rioted over his new...ok maybe not that bad.

He allowed himself to take some deep breaths before checked for any broken bones. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken. Even his camera was untouched from what he felt! His torch was gone though and it was pitch black.

"Wait, I still have the damn camera light!" He felt for the light switch but it was hard. Finally he felt he felt a familiar texture.

"There we go! Huh? Agra..." He quickly closed mouth shut.

He was back in that old tomb...only it wasn't really a tomb. The sarcophagus here had some wires on them and that same funny symbol they've been seeing all along the place.

Rivalz walked towards it slowly and staring into the darkness where the first sarcophagus was. He could feel a cold shiver going down his spine even as he looked at it. Despite himself, he reached for the face.

Then the eyes glowed red with the bird like symbol.

"Agrah!" Rivalz yelped and jumped back. As he did, he bumped into someone.

Startled, that he wasn't alone the former student flashed the light at it and gasped.

It was a man dressed in some black robes the cultists were wearing. On his forehead was that symbol. And he was together with at least several dozens of them crowding around Rivalz.

Swallowing his sliver, the blue haired man smiled weakly, expecting them to all lunged at him.

Yet, they did not move a muscle. And literally not a muscle! Not even their eye lids. They just stood there staring at him. Or rather what was behind him?

The foremost of them stepped forward and Rivalz gladly moved out of his way. The others did not stop him either as their attention was completely on the leader. The man went to the sarcophagus and raised his hands muttering in some strange language.

Rivalz was scared and wanted nothing more than to get away from the place but curiosity urged him to stay.

The wires on the sarcophagus began to glow and he sensed that something terrible was going to come out of it. In the light of their intrusion and the fighting earlier, it was probably meant for his friends. Especially with those boogiemen chasing them. Heck, they might even be in those sarcophaguses like the Egyptian mummies!

Despite his fear, Rivalz knew that this was the time to act to protect his friends. The wires meant that there was something powering the sarcophaguses. Since the cultists did not consider him a threat to him, Rivalz quietly made his way around them to find what was linked. Apparently these people here think that all the stuff the rebels are doing are due to some divine power. So there was probably a control panel of some sort controlling the power.

He found a door behind the gathering cultists who began chanting something. Rivalz used his torch to look for the wire and found the panel behind a slab.

"Ah, nuts!" Rivalz cursed as he saw the language was not in English. Unlike in the movies, he probably wouldn't be able to do much even if the panel was in English. He heard the sarcophagus opening up and turned to see one of those black hooded figures that attacked them. It did not look as fit as those that attacked them but he had no doubt even this one could a lot of damage. More of the sarcophaguses began to open up as well.

"Oh crap. What to do?" He muttered in panic. Rivalz began to press everything on the panel which suddenly switched on the lights and various other effects but nothing to stop the sarcophaguses from opening. There were a dozen now.

"Ah, damn it!" Rivalz reached for a large sharp rock and brought it hard on the panel's base.

The sarcophaguses stopped at their tracks but it did not completely shut down either. Seeing this, he threw the rock at what's left of the base and pushed it right in the middle of the wires.

The panel exploded and there was a loud alarm where the sarcophaguses began sparking fire and exploding. The monsters that appeared also began to react wildly.

"YES!" Rivalz shouted in victory. Behind him were a hundred angry eyes watching him...

---

Base on alert. All security forces to Sector 2, 6 and 7.

Arthur lowered his smoking pistol as he entered room. He casually stepped over the pool of blood from guard he slain and silently entered the room.

Two more black guards appeared and opened fire on him.

The red knight's eyes glowed blue and disappeared into darkness as the bullets came. Two gun shots sounded and both guards fell without a sound.

Arthur reappeared behind them and walked calmly to the control panel.

Alert! Vault being breached! Alr...

"The Power of Duplication is useful." The red knight mused.

"The package is compromised! Hurry up, you fools! The Arch-duke wants it transported to a safe house!" A voice snarled.

He entered a room filled with a squad of rebel Britannian soldiers. Two of them were carrying a metal container.

Arthur fired at them first killing one and wounding the other.

"Kill the Imperial!" They turned their rifles on him but Arthur used the Strider's Geass and disappeared.

"Good God! They're got these freaks too! Hurry and get that stuff out of here! I've had enough of these freaks for one day!"

The Geass was not truly what it seemed. It was imperfect and was artificial, created for the ultimate assassins. The ability to bend light. But what little of it was enough for Arthur's own powers.

And Lelouch's clone used it to his advantage.

He leapt into different corners of the room and fired at different angles each time then leapt to other parts.

"Agrah!" It made quick work of the soldiers.

"Where is he?" The sergeant shouted as his brain exploded in blood.

"Corporal!" The officer shouted. "Get that thing out of here! The rest of you, kill him!"

The NCO turned his carbine around. "Squad 1, cover the left. Squad 2 cover right. The rest of you..."

"Cover centre. Typical." Arthur reappeared in front of him and shot the soldier in the face. He walked calmly towards the officer.

"What are you doing?" The officer stared at him in disbelief as Lelouch's ghost was trailed by 8 rifles.

"Getting the object." Arthur opened the container as two explosions finished off the remaining soldiers. "Just go back to your master."

"Not without your head!" The officer drew his sabre and lunged at him. Arthur casually drew his side arm and shot him before sheathing it.

The red knight opened the container.

"So this is the relic?" He thought it was a shield but it wasn't. It was...

"A sabre?" That was strange. Why would a Templar relic be a 19th century blade instead of a medieval long sword? It does make sense that the blade was a British heavy cavalry sabre...

"Of course. The Templars here were part of the Britannian forces. And British sabres were...well popular..." He took the sword and examined the hint.

"A red cross. Heh."

He began to turn away from the carnage and head back to the others when his skull felt like exploding.

"Agrah!" Arthur screamed. Lelouch could feel his brain being literally squeezed as he watched the man with the avian symbols in his eyes staring at him.

"Intruders will be persecuted. No one must interfere with the work." The cloaked man rasped. Hooded armoured guards joined in with their weapons drawn.

"Arthur!" Launcelot leapt in throwing off his black cloak revealing his white and gold armour. The knight slashed a guard with his sword then tossed his dagger at the warlock who was attacking Lelouch.

The cloaked man avoided the weapon with a curse and Lelouch used the moment to recover and lunged forward with his sword at the ready and ran the faltering wizard through before he could do such a thing again.

"You won't infect anyone with your sorcery, demon." Lelouch snarled.

The warlock laughed. "Haha, you think this is a matter of good and evil? You are naive. There is no such thing in this world..." He coughed blood. "It doesn't matter. You will one day die with it..."

Lelouch threw the corpse down and gestured his best friend.

"We need to move now!" The prince and the knight rushed down the stairs and burst into the chamber filled with the cultists.

"Now!" Lelouch waved his sword at Gwaine who had entered with his forces. A dozen archers appeared from the hiding places and loosed their crossbow bolts into the guards and worshippers.

They also knocked down the altars and brought them down on escaping tunnels and cut them off.

"CHARGE!" The doors slammed open and armoured horsemen rode in bristling with blades.

The lead horsemen rode down the hapless guards then turned on the cultists.

"Slaughter them!" Their captain shouted, beheading a female cultist who tried to raise her hands in protest. His horse trampled over her body.

The foot soldiers entered and joined the fray, killing the enemy indiscriminately.

"Look for the prisoners!" Lelouch shouted. "Kill the rest!"

These cultists will suffer for the torture they did on his people. The Britannian prince would make sure the group would never rise again on this earth.

Arthur shook his head then found himself staring at a wooden door with a heraldic shield bearing St. George's Red Cross.

"How did I end up here?" He looked around confused. Arthur was at the older part of the temple again and there was no trace of the military base. He looked at his left palm which was glowing blue with the Geass sigil again. The light from it spread to the room which lit up in bright blue revealing a large treasury filled with weapons, scrolls, books and paintings.

The blue light spread from the brick walls and flowed about like electrons particles. They all gathered around the shield at the door.

There was another shield in the middle of it though unlike the arms of Richard Lionheart which bore the three lions of England in the middle of those of England, this one held a golden dragon in a black foreground.

The crest of the Pendragons...the blue energy surrounded the dragon...and the dragon came to life and breathed blue flame into him...

---

A grenade bounced down their position in a ping then exploded.

"Don't get pinned down!" Valois shouted, peppering the enemy position with her boomstick.

Kallen held a fallen warrior's rifle and added to the salvo of lead that was falling around.

Someone cocked his grenade launcher but the unnamed sergeant stopped him.

"We're going to need that later." He snapped, instead he reached for one of his pouches then hurled a small cylinder at the mass of black uniforms cornered at the entrance.

A burst of light flashed from the flashbang and their opponents cried as they covered their eyes.

The temporal blindness gave the ragged group of warriors the time to attack and the last one fell with Valois' shotgun blasting his head off.

"That was quick." Sergeant muttered. He cocked an empty shell from his rifle.

"Too quick." Valois agreed.

"You people seemed to be used to this kind of thing." Kallen commented at the way how the soldiers operated.

"Most of us were part of the Knight Police. Some of us were part of the military but the rest of us learnt it the hard way from Lelouch's purges."

The red haired woman nodded, controlling his emotions. Lelouch had brought most of his people united together.

Together against himself...as he did with the rest of the world.

"Captain! Something's up ahead."

"You two, follow me." Sergeant gestured and moved forward with his rifle primed down. He raised his hand after a few steps and cocked his weapon.

There was a small shift.

"Anyone there?"

A faint voice replied though no one could make out what the words were.

"Hold fire." Sergeant said. He walked up ahead.

A small young girl, probably around the age of eight to ten in a black cloak appeared and stared mutely at the armed men and women.

"Diana!" Sergeant cried dropping his rifle and holding the young girl. "My young girl...I thought I lost you."

The girl did not return the embrace of her father but stared mutely at Kallen and the rest. She never blinked for a single moment.

Kallen felt uneasy about the girl.

"Wait, Sergeant. There's something."

"Of course, there's nothing wrong!" The sergeant snapped. "This is just my sweet daughter. What have they done to you?" He asked, as he touched her cheek gently.

The girl's mouth opened to speak something.

"What...Agrah..." The sergeant looked down to see an iron claw in his chest. The girl stared at him blankly as she withdrew her hand.

"Diana..." Sergeant muttered as he fell before the feet of his daughter.

"Oh my god!" The soldiers re-aimed their weapons at the girl. "What the hell is going on here?"

More shapes were appearing behind the girl and from the size of them; they were similar to that of the girl.

Kallen was dumbstruck by the scene what she witnessed. Did...did the girl just killed her father so cold-bloodedly? Diana advanced on to her with the horde and they were armed with those metallic gloves covered in blood.

Then suddenly the girl's head exploded in a mist of blood. An explosion rocked behind them sending most of the crowd blasted and away from them.

Arthur reappeared with a smoking pistol and a sabre in his belt.

"You can't trust anything here." Arthur said, coldly. "Not even children."

He turned his weapon into what was left of the crowd and fired several shots.

"We can't save them can we?" A soldier asked, staring at those who were their friends and relatives before.

"I'd be lying if I say anything that would make you feel better." Arthur said. "The reality is not as forgiving."

Valois nodded sombrely. "They will pay."

Several angry voices sounded along the hall as well as some strange screeches.

"The entire cult is coming." Arthur said. "We could only honour the deaths of your friends and family if we get out of here alive. I saw the map. We could only reach the surface faster from here."

Arthur pointed to the direction.

"What about Rivalz?" Milly asked.

"I'll get him." Arthur nodded. "You need to get yourselves out of here first."

Kallen stepped up. "I'm going with you." It wasn't a request.

Arthur looked to protest but then nodded. "Go."

They moved to their respective paths.

"What happened to you?" Kallen asked as she ran beside Lelouch's ghost who somehow was able to keep up with her.

"Ran into Lambert and had a nice chat with him. He had to leave without my authority though. I'll be seeing him soon."

They were running towards the voices when suddenly the door in front of them slammed open.

"ZOMBIES!" Rivalz screamed running as fast as the wind pass them.

Kallen and Arthur gave each other a blank face and grinned.

"That solves that." Behind the door however was a mob of cultists screaming and shouting. A knife flew pass Arthur.

"Time to go." The two followed their blue haired friend as they turned their weapons behind to thin the enemy chasing them.

They rush fast as explosions crumbled down.

"Looks like Rivalz did more than disable the Stiders..." Arthur mused.

"Rivalz did this?" Kallen asked as she avoided a sharp rock falling on her. "No wonder I recognise the chaos."

The two laughed despite their situation around them.

However a large mob of cultists appeared from the different rooms and they blocked the way to the elevator that would send them to the surface.

"Infidels! Blasphemers!" The cultists shouted and waved down them with weapons from rocks to swords and halberds from the ancient treasury.

Arthur tossed his pistol to Kallen and un-sling the rifle on his back.

"This is it." Arthur told her as he cocked a round into his barrel. Kallen duel wielded the side arms. They were going to do this together again like that day they took the Gawain.

And if they die, they would do so together.

Smiling, Kallen nodded. "Let's go!"

They charged the mob with guns blazing. Kallen fired each shot into anything blocking her way. Arthur provided her cover fire with his rifle thinning the crowd considerable. He smashed the rifle butt into the face of a bearded cultist and shot him again to make it count.

Kallen took the advantage to take down individual cultists shooting or kicking them aside.

One tried to thrust her with a spear which she expertly parried then smashed a kick in the man's face. She leapt forward to deliver a spinning kick that broke the neck of a bellowing cultist.

She tripped a second one as Arthur rushed forward with his rifle to take down what remained of the crowd. Then he tossed his empty rifle at another cultist then drew his sword to cut him down.

He had reached the elevator which Rivalz held open.

"Come on!" Rivalz shouted.

Kallen had emptied both his pistols and so she ran and leapt over the surviving cultists and landed to safety in the elevator.

"Doors closing."

---

Phew! That was ONE HELL OF a long chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it. It was kinda like squeezed up a bit but since I made you guys wait for so long I hoped to give you a longer chpt. :)