"It's like being a Knight of the Garter: It's an honor, but it doesn't hold up anything." Fulton J. Sheen

Clovis' military was in disarray. Somehow the Elevens in the middle of the ghetto had come up with a spectacular defense against the mightiest weapon of the Common Era: The Knightmare. Although the ghetto was full of ruins, rubble, and bodies, the Britannia's were now in terror. Many Helicopters were flying all around the ghetto attempting to find some form of sign of the rebels. But there was almost no sign of them. Somehow they disappeared. And when they tried to escape, they were gunned down with Slash Harkens. Britannia could not afford any more loses. They had already lost good soldiers like Lazlo and Grounbe. Anymore loses would be unnecessary and unacceptable. Clovis could not believe what was happening.

Clovis' Military barracks was still safe from attack. He had positioned his military HQ right next to the bridge back to the city. If something went completely wrong (as it hasn't gone bad already), he could retreat back into the city. However, that would look bad if the Viceroy was retreating away from some monkeys. Clovis still vowed to fight on.

The screen on Clovis's screen currently displayed all the available units on the field. Most of them were currently moving towards the center of the city, going through all the rubble and destroyed buildings, crushing bodies of both Eleven and Britannian as they went by. Jeremiah observed as the formation that kept Elevens from escaping finally broke and proceeded inside hostile territory.

"They're breaking formation?" He asked himself.

Lelouch hide in the abandoned building that had concealed his Knightmare for the entire battle. Although it wasn't even necessary to keep it on and possibly a giveaway should a Knightmare have Thermal sensors, Lelouch could most likely take him out as he both tactical and superior firepower and cover. Lelouch looked on his radar as he saw each and every enemy unit proceeding to the center. Once again the enemy fell for his trap.

"Well that's an even stupider move than I expected." Lelouch said.

He picked up his radio and contacted the Pink Glasgow that was in the area.

"Q-1! Is this map accurate?" He asked.

"Yes as far as I can tell." Kallen responded. "There may have been some changes though."

She was right. The local damage inflicted by Britannia had left some temporary to permanent changes to the map. However, he really just needed the surface exterior to be accurate. Upon further examination, it appeared to be.

"It will do." Lelouch said.

His plan wasn't exactly to kill them on the surface anyhow.

"Alright!" Clovis yelled to Bradley. "Send in Larzus troops!"

"Mission number 3." Lelouch said. "Zero, charge your Z-Pistol. Full power."

"Understand." Zero said as the energy began to build around him.

"Enclose them!" Clovis yelled. "The main enemy stronghold is in the center. Crush them!"

But when the army arrived to the enemy position, all they uncovered was an empty field of nothingness.

"What?" Clovis yelled in pure disbelief. "The enemy isn't even there!"

That was only half true. They were there, just not at the right altitude. The troops were currently moving around the old subway system. The subways weren't the big. They still had tracks, but there wasn't any trains moving around them anymore. There was still electricity moving around the cables on the ceiling, but it wasn't concentrated, and sometimes highly unstable. It can't kill someone, but it can definitely inflict brain damage should it go off and someone is nearby.

Kallen's pink Glasgow turned and fired her Slash Harken at the exact position that the enemy Knightmares was at. The Slash Harken made a large crack on the ceiling that severely damaged the structure. The ceiling collapsed right under the Knightmares, creating s shockwave that spread dust everywhere into the sky. Clovis watched in pure fear as one by one all the Knightmare's signals stopped transmitting.

Zero made his move. He leaped off the building that he was on and pointed his pistol at the hole. He fired all full powered shot straight into the hole where the Knightmares fell. Within seconds after he cleared the area to safety, a series of massive explosions were seen underground as one by one the Knightmares began to be destroyed by the others explosion.

When Lelouch saw the resulting damage of his two pronged attack, he began to laugh manically.

"I can do it!" He shouted. "I can crush Britannia!"

Clovis began to back away. He couldn't believe it. He was stupefied. All of his remaining defenses were annihilated. It wouldn't be long before the enemy began to move up into his perimeter and destroy his forces; and more importantly himself.

"Who am I fighting?" He asked himself. "Who is doing this? Does he know what I'm thinking?"

Suddenly Clovis remembered: Lloyd's new weapon.

"Lloyd!" He shouted.

"Ahh yes?" He asked. He had remained listening in the entire time.

"Can your new toy win us this fight?" Clovis asked desperately.

Lloyd finally called a surge of pride. His and X's prediction ended up coming true after all. The once Glorious Sutherland had been defeated. Apparently a Knightmare was only good until it faced another Knightmare. The only way to counter that would be the next logical thing to do: Use a stronger Knightmare. And boy was this one strong.

"My dear prince." Lloyd said proudly. "Please call it the Lancelot."

"Deploy it then!" Clovis ordered. "And the X weapon as well! That machine will earn his place here!"

Clovis severed the link from HQ to Lloyd's place. Lloyd looked over at X who was listening in with Suzaku the whole time.

"Well you heard him boys." Lloyd said. "We have work to do."

"Activating the new weapon." Cecile called out on the radio. "Z-01: Lancelot."

A large truck carrying a Knightmare wrapped in a tarp was being carried out. The car itself was as big as the Knightmare. The R&D lab wanted to make sure they could carry their weapon wherever it was necessary. All they did now was wait for their pilot. Smoke and energy began to exhume from the truck as the Lancelot was beginning the release phase. Cecile continued to relay orders to all the R&D lab members as they began to release their new weapons.

"Activating the Lancelot. Hatch has been released. Removing the final safety locks."

X was currently on the ground already. He was requested by Lloyd to stay near the Lancelot and keep an eye on Sazaku. He was ordered to disable the Lancelot with a high energy volt in case Sazaku decided to go rouge with it. Lloyd already knew exactly what the machine could do.

X himself was already beginning to activate his combat mode. He hadn't done this in a while, so he was hoping that after running a bit, it would come back naturally. He remembered how it was at Neo Arcadia, being confined to a machine for a long time. He was hoping that none of his skills diminished while being sealed away for so long. He still wondered how his body was rebuilt, but for the time being, decided to find out when war wasn't being declared. He was busy running diagnostics on his body, weapon system, armor system, and his acceleration system. He also armed himself with a Green beam saber: The one he collected when Zero was killed by Sigma when the Sigma Virus was released. Although he excelled at range combat, his saber had saved him several times when the Zero Nightmare was unleashed. When his combat mode activated, he fired several busters at targets, nailing each of the bull's-eyes at the 100% mark. His accuracy had not diminished in the least.

Meanwhile Suzaku himself was preparing to be the first pilot in the Lancelot.

"Read the Manual?" Cecile asked on radio.

"Most of it." Suzaku replied.

"Good." She said back. "Although it's only been in simulations, you're at the top of your class."

"Umm… about that." Suzaku said, noting the fact he was the only one in his class.

"Well…." Cecile asked, not exactly sure what to say.

"The possibility is there, but the likelihood is close to zero." She said.

"But it isn't zero?" He said back.

"Well I suppose. But don't try anything stupid. The escape mechanism on the C system has been disabled."

"Right." Suzaku said. "I understand that Cecile."

X walked by Suzaku.

"You're coming to aren't you?" Suzaku asked.

"Clovis asked me to." X said.

"Are you really ready to do this?" Suzaku said.

"I'm a little rusty when it comes to combat." X said. "But I should be fine."

"I just wonder why Lloyd wanted to make me a Knight." Suzaku asked.

"It's like being a Knight of the Garter: It's an honor, but it doesn't hold up anything." Lloyd said on radio.

X and Suzaku walked by as the tarp around the Lancelot were removed. The Lancelot was definitely not a normal Knightmare. It held colors of silver and gold all around it. The head was modified to look like a Knight from the medieval era. The shoulder plates and leg plating was far more armored and the sub systems looked a hell of a lot different. The mere appearance of it gave a sense of awe to both X and Suzaku.

"So this is Lancelot?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes." Cecile said. "Our newest secret weapon produced by our most advanced manufacturing techniques: Lancelot."

"Not to mention all their money they had from the government grant." X whispered to Suzaku.

Both X and Suzaku gave a silent chuckle.

"It's the only Seventh generation Knightmare in existence." Cecile said.

"Well Suzaku, let's get it set up." Lloyd said. "X, why don't you show us some of these advanced armor systems you have?"

"Yes sir!" X said.

The buster on X's arm opened up to reveal a hidden keypad. X quickly pressed several buttons on his keypad. A holo screen with more commands opened up. X pressed a series of keys on the screen. After he was done, a holographic version of an armor system came up: The Hyper armor. An armor system that he used against the X-Hunters.

While X was setting up his armor system, Suzaku went over to activate his Knightmare.

"Begin activation from phase twenty! Attach the energy filter!"

A same cartage like thing was attached into the Knightmare's back. In a mere second, the entire Knightmare came to life. Flashes of energy came on all sides of the armor plating.

"Energy filter is attached and charging internal components. Thirty seconds to total activation!"

The Knightmare main activation sequence was now complete. Now Suzaku had to set up from the inside.

"Devicer Z-01! Entry confirmed." Cecile said as Suzaku entered the Lancelot.

"Man Machine interface activation confirmed." Cecile said as Suzaku inserted the USB key into the port.

"Yggdrisal visual interface confirmed." Cecile said as the lights within the helmet activated.

"Force feedback active." Cecile continued. "Devicer stress is within operational levels. All systems go."

X activated the Hyper armor. X's entire body glowed blue for a mere second. A moment later, X's being became incased in a new armor system. The chest plate transformed from a plain blue top armor to a clear white armor with a yellow belt somewhere around the sides. The shoulder plating was white with the sides red. X's boots were also white with a red top. The buster doubled in size: The opening to insert X's arm into red with the end side blue. The inside looked far more dangerous. The Helmet gained spikes on the sides and the center above the red jewel in X's helmet. Half of the helmet was white while the rest was blue.

"Hyper armor system: Online." X said. "Checking systems for errors: No errors detected. Acceleration system proceeding normal. Weapon energy is at 300%. Giga attack is prepped and ready for use. I'm all ready over here Suzaku."

"Alright!" Suzaku said. He made the Lancelot gain an unusual pose, stretching both of his legs out and its left arm touching the ground with two fingers. All of the cables were disconnected from the Lancelot as the wheels came down and the Lancelot prepared to move out. Meanwhile, X's thrusters in his legs began to build up energy. He was prepared to move out just as quick as he stretched his legs quickly before getting ready to fly.

"Haven't done this sort of thing for a while now." X said. "I hope I'm not rusty."

"As well as I hope not to do this again."

"Lancelot. ME Boost." Suzaku said.

In a mere moment, the Lancelot launched into the fray. Almost hitting 90 MPH in a single second, then speeds exceeding 150MPH three seconds later. X activated his thrusters as soon as Sazaku launched and began to follow directly behind him at a much faster speed. The Hyper armor pumped in energy as X tried to keep up with Suzaku.

The acceleration in itself knocked Lloyd and Cecile right off their feet. While Cecile was ducking for cover, Lloyd was laughing with joy as his weapon was working.

X and Suzaku entered into the city. A new battle of different scales began.

"This is even better than the manual suggested." Suzaku thought. "Surely I'll…"

Suzaku stopped talking as a sharp pain hit his stomach. His body had not stopped thinking it was in pain.

"Hey what's that?" Tamaki asked as X and Suzaku approached his Sutherland. "For a Sutherland its offly-"

X and Suzaku attacked the Knightmare together: X kicked straight into the Sutherlands body while Suzaku knocked off the IFF with a single punch. Tamaki was defeated in less than a second.

"Just a little longer and I'll have penetrated their defenses." Lelouch said. Currently, Zero was out destroying any all retreating units and advancing up territory on his own. He was clearly capable of surviving on his own so Lelouch let him do as he pleases.

"This is B-group! We're under attack!" An Eleven's voice called.

"Reinforcements?" Lelouch asked curiously. He thought Zero had destroyed them all. He must have missed some.

"I guess real combat's totally different." Lelouch said as he grabbed a radio. "What's the situation?"

"They all ejected safely, but four units got hit in a flash." He responded.

"How many is there?"

"Two!"

Lelouch was surprised. Two units nailed four of his under his nose. Surely he was jesting.

"It must have been a new model." The Eleven continued. "I've never seen them before. They even have a new secret weapon as well. It was about the size of a foot soldier and wasted three of our guys... Wait…ARGH!"

The radio acted fuzzy for a minute and then died out. No voice was heard.

A machine just as big as Zero but just as dangerous. This began to worry Lelouch. He heard other contacts specifically give out similar observations minutes. The machine was definitely similar to that of Zero except his armor was blue and white and his attacks seemed far more powerful.

You will face enemies that you will never have seen before, or ever believed in.

"Zero!" Lelouch called out.

"Busy here." Zero asked.

Zero flipped over a Knightmare and plugged his Triple rod lance into the cockpit of a Britannian Knightmare, killing the pilot. He then leaped of it and fired a charged round into it to destroy it.

"Some of our allies we're just disabled by an unknown weapon that has similar features to you." Lelouch said. "Keep yourself hidden and find out what's going on."

"…Similar to me?" Zero asked. "What did he mean by that?"

Suzaku nailed another Knightmare using a Slash Harken. The Knightmare ejection pod flew out as the model fell dead on the floor. The mere energy from the Lancelot was so intense that the dust that was around everyone at the time blew away. Suzaku's scanners activated as he located two other enemy Knightmares with clear locks on them. Suzaku quickly activated a shield generator on the Knightmare as the Sutherlands released a barrage of ammunition at it.

X made his move seconds later. He leaped over the Lancelot and charged his buster to full blast. His left fired the first shot which slammed into the hip of the Knightmare knocking it out of place.

"Shit!" The pilot said as he attempted to hit X but could not land a shot. X thrusted up into the air and fired a second buster disabling the arm. X activated his green beam saber and slashed at the head, cutting it right off. Without the ability to see, the Eleven decided not to continue and ejected out.

Four more encountered Lancelot. One of them had an armor piercer on it and tried to fire it at Suzaku. X's fired out a rolling shield projectile and destroyed the round. Sazaku thanked X for even his shield would not have blocked that. Lloyd did not have the money to make it stronger yet. Realizing X was just as big as a threat; and thinking that since he's smaller, he would be easier to kill, the Knightmares fired at him. X however dodged each one of the shots. He charged up the rolling shield and used it to create a shield around him that deflected each of the ammo that hit him as he charged at the Knightmares.

"I'm not going to kill you." He said. "But I will not allow you to continue this battle."

X leaped up in the air, saber in hand. When he did, Suzaku fired his Slash Harken and hit one of the Knightmares and disabled it. X then activated the "Strike Chain," firing an electrified coil with a claw attached to it. X used the claw to hook onto a machine gun. He swung it to the side and knocked the machine gun weapons out of their hands. X then began to land on the ground and pointed his buster on the ground.

"Shotgun ice!" He shouted firing an crystal of ice on the floor. The crystal once it collided with the unit, smashed into pieces and went for each of the Knightmares. The pieces hit the Knightmares and froze their legs arms and or otherwise. X then charged up his buster and fired at all three, destroying each one.

"P4, N1." Lelouch called out. "Slow it down. Surround it and wait for additional forces."

"Got it!" They said and then fired their weapons.

It did no good. X easily dodged each shot and Suzaku's shield prevented any of the bullets from hitting. Suzaku disabled one by slashing at its head and then destroyed the others arm.

"We can't stop this thing!" N1 called out to Lelouch. He tried firing his Slash Harken, but X leaped on top of it and began to glide on top of the wire. He leaped off and kicked the Knightmare knocking it off its feet. To prevent it from coming after them, Suzaku hit the Knightmare's hip with a Slash Harken and destroyed it.

"Good lord what is going on?" Lelouch shouted in fear. "Is there really only one enemy? Where is he! Where the hell is Zero?"

Lelouch then remembered that Zero used a large amount of energy to teleport both him and his Knightmare. That was it. Zero was not going to be able to arrive on time. Plus enemy activity was high where he was so Lelouch expected delays. All he could hope for now is for the Elevens to hold out as long as possible until he arrived.

Four Knightmares attempted to fire at X. X however took each one of the attacks as he absorbed it with his damage barrier. After a while, the crystal on his head glowed.

"Max power." X said. He grabbed both of his arms as energy began to build up around him. The entire vicinity turned darker as X built up power and the crystal glowed with a blinding red light. X then unleashed his giga attack on the four enemy units: A blinding shockwave of pure energy sonic energy smashed into each unit so fast they didn't know what hit them; completely dismembering the entire Knightmares, knocking the cockpit straight out of the Knightmare itself.

"If me and X stop all the Knightmares, the battle will be over." Sazaku said to himself. "I have to save Lelouch and the girl at all costs."

An alert icon appeared on Suzaku's scanner. Suzaku looked up to see a large heat source hiding in a building at the time.

"Suzaku; I got a large heat source from a building nearby. Confirm?" X asked.

"Yeah!" Sazaku said. "I'll take him out."

"I'll continue to secure the area and look for survivors from our army." X said. "If you need assistance, contact me."

"I'll do that." Suzaku said.

Suzaku fired the Slash Harken at the building and began to scale up it.

"What!" Lelouch said.

Lelouch looked on his IFF to see a white Knightmare scale up and make an attack on him. Lelouch however knew when to put up his defense and blocked the kick, though he was not holding up to this Knightmare's superior might.

"So you're the one who ruined my plans?" Lelouch screamed.

"So you're the leader?" Suzaku asked Lelouch.

"How dare you pilot!" Lelouch again yelled.

The ground under them collapsed. The two wheels in the Knightmare continued to erode the ground until it was no more. Lelouch and Sazaku fell through three different floors. Lelouch managed to recover quickly, but Suzaku initiated another attack, knocking Lelouch's Sutherland off of its feet. Suzaku aimed his Slash Harken at Lelouch, but the pink Glasgow appeared and tried to attack the Lancelot.

"This makes us even!" Kallen said.

She tried to fire the Slash Harken at Suzaku, but he caught the weapon and it broke. Finally, the damaged unit could no longer function in battle. Kallen ejected out of the Knightmare and flew off, leaving Lelouch to run away.

"I have to learn from this battle." Lelouch said. "The trick of real combat is that everyone is human."

Lelouch looked on radar to see that Suzaku was still hot on his tail. He fired more rounds at him, but could not land any successful hits. He then decided to try an indirect form of attack and fired at the buildings, making rubble and debris fall over Suzaku. However, the Lancelot easily evaded each and every one of the rubble, using impossible to do maneuvers.

"What the hell is that monster?" Lelouch asked.

"He doesn't even care about casualties." Suzaku told himself. Suzaku then looked on camera to see an Eleven mother fall from the building he had just shot at. Sazaku then disregarded orders and leaped up to catch her, which he did successfully.

Lelouch looked in pure amazement as he had witnessed that.

"He saved a bystander in the middle of a battle." Lelouch thought.

He then decided it was too risky to continue battle with this getup.

"I'll let you have as many tactical victories as you like. As long as…"

Lelouch didn't finish his sentence. He then endured the pure annoyance of an escape pod.

About a few minutes later, a green saber began to saw open Lelouch's escape pod. The pod door was then ripped open by Zero who then helped Lelouch out.

"You're late." Lelouch said.

"I got held up." Zero said.

Lelouch made a grin.

"We'll have to a better eye on when we should teleport again." Lelouch said. "Your assistance would have been appreciated."

"I had some trouble on the way here." Zero said. "Did you see the other secret weapon?"

"No I missed it." Lelouch said.

Zero handed Lelouch a Britannian military combat suit.

"Ahh…" Lelouch said. "You got what I wanted from my transmission."

"What do you need that for?" Zero asked.

"You'll see." Lelouch said. "Zero at this point, I want you to leave."

"Hmm?" Zero asked.

"I have no further need of you for the time being." Lelouch said. "Go to the Tokyo settlement and wait for me to give you further instructions. Until then, occupy your time in doing something."

"Like what?" Zero asked.

"You have freewill." Lelouch said. "You can figure out."

Lelouch left Zero in the wilderness as Lelouch made his way to Clovis' command HQ. Zero just stood as Lelouch walked away from the field. Eventually Zero leapt away from the battle and disappeared into the horizon.

It was only then that Zero began to contemplate on how many times he had broken the law…and the realization of what had just happened.