"How do you suppose you're going to do that?" Peter Creede
Cornelia checked all around herself. Most of her units we're offline and or destroyed. Radio contact with most of the area had been cut off. As for her location, she was in a state of vulnerability (No matter how much she told herself she was fine). She began to radio in all the members of any surviving units. Most didn't respond, but she got a report from some of the scouts nearby.
"It is confirmed that another unit has appeared on the mountain." It radioed in. "Kallus' unit has gone to intercept them."
"They intend to make use of the confusion?" Cornelia said.
Cornelia herself was still wondering what was going on. She still had no idea how a landslide could occur in such a short time. However, she soon didn't wonder any longer when the scout re-radioed in.
"Emergency call in from Kallus' unit!" The scout shouted.
"What!?" Cornelia shouted.
"The enemy is not the Japanese Liberation Front!" He said. "The enemy is the Order of the Black Knights!"
"What!?" Cornelia said. "Then…"
"Zero!" Jeremiah shouted.
Jeremiah wasted no time after. He smashed down on the accelerator of hi Knightmare and began to drive forward into the forest.
"I am coming for you Zero!" Jeremiah said.
"Lord Jeremiah; if you leave your position…" Villeta shouted.
"It's an emergency situation!" Jeremiah shouted as his unit drove forward. "Follow me if you wish to be powerful once again!"
It was indeed the Order of the Black Knights. Within minutes after the transmission, several Black Knightmares appeared out of top of the mountain. They all looked like the Japanese Burai, except they we're painted with darker colors. Most of the Knightmares we're carrying machine guns; but there was a select few using Cerveau's equipment. Seven of the fifteen Burai we're using the plasma rifles designed for quick elimination of the enemy forces. Four of those seven also wore an armor system on their chest; one of them being Lelouch with a more advanced armor system. Lelouch's Knightmare looked the same as the others with the armor, except the head design was red and gold. His Knightmare also had a beam saber on the side, of which Lelouch had no intention of trying to use. His plasma rifle would be enough. In addition to the Knightmares, there were also several units of infantry and Reploids scattered among the trees of Narita. These troops ran through the woods, completely undetected. The Britannians we're too scrambled to notice them. Each one of these units we're carrying RPLs and heavy machine guns. The Reploid truck followed these units around.
As for the head Reploids, Leviathan associated herself with the infantry to protect them from surprise attacks. Phantom went up ahead on his own so was nowhere to be found; be on radar or communication. Zero on the other hand, was on top of Lelouch's Knightmare. He was on his right knee, looking forward at the Britannian Knightmares, holding the D-Glave in his hand. The Britannians who noticed him, looked upon him, as if he was an "Angel of Death."
"Cornelia's reinforcements have been disdained; but there are still plenty of troops in the area." Lelouch said. "Finish them off in one blow!"
"Okay let's do this!" Tamaki shouted.
There we're fifteen Britannian Knightmares guarding the area. They began to fire at the Black Knights. Lelouch and his knights scattered all around the area and unleashed a barrage of lead and plasma at them. Zero leapt off Lelouch's Knightmare as soon as the fighting had begun. Tamaki drove his Knightmare behind one of the first Britannian Knightmares and turned around, pointing his plasma rifle at the first.
"Let's see what this piece of junk can do!" He shouted.
Tamaki pulled the trigger of his rifle. The weapon core made an RPM of two hundred; in a single second. While it span, the rifle emitted a blue line of searing plasma. The weapon penetrated straight through the Britannian Knightmare and out the other side. The Knightmare exploded shortly after.
"Now this is a weapon!" Tamaki shouted as he aimed at a second Knightmare and fired a second shot, destroying it.
The Black Knights continued their assault. The Britannian's stood no chance against the brand new Burai and they're new weapons. Lelouch himself charged into the fray, his rifle firing several shots. Lelouch scored two kills as the Knightmares all around blasted their weapons, destroying the Knightmares all around him. The Black Knights easily vanquished the fifteen Knightmares without the loss of a single unit. And it was just the beginning.
Ten more units poured in from the forest and began to fire at the Black Knights. But they forgot to notice that Zero had returned from the sky. Zero landed on the first lead Knightmare and plunged his D-Glave into the cockpit of the first. Several of the Knightmares fired at the unit, destroying the Knightmare, but missing Zero. Zero jumped and fired two Z-Busters, destroying two of the Knightmares in the area. Zero landed and trusted the D-Glave into the Sakuradite tank of another Knightmare, igniting it. Zero left the D-Glave for the time being in the Knightmare and pulled out the Z-Saber, using the Ryuenjin technique on another unit. The unit behind Zero exploded as Zero carved up three more units. The remaining units began to split apart as the Black Knights charge ripped up the remaining units to shreds. Zero grabbed the D-Glave, which was launched into the air after the one unit who was stabbed by it exploded in midair and charged towards the enemy as the Britannian units split up and began to retreat.
"You thought that you were better than you were." Zero said, staying behind the flames of the dead.
The infantry moved around the area, almost completely unnoticed. Kinoue and Leviathan led the troops to battle as tanks began to charge towards Lelouch's unit.
"Listen!" Kinoue said. "Our job is to protect the backs of Zero's unit."
Kinoue allowed some of the Britannian tanks to move towards Lelouch's unit. Once the twelve tanks we're all in their sight range, Kinoue ordered her unit to fire. Each member launched a barrage of rockets on the unsuspecting tanks. Half of the squad was destroyed in the first volley. The other half was destroyed in the second.
Jeremiah was monitoring the transmission for the tank reinforcements. He gasped when all the signals for the unit disappeared.
"They destroyed Kalius's unit?" He said.
He watched as the LOST symbols with consumed his radar on Kalius' unit fade off the radar. Contacting them on the radio proved to be ineffective as well.
I better get there quick before they overrun the Princess!
"Jeremiah!" Villeta called out on transmission.
"Villeta!?" Jeremiah shouted. "So…you came after all…"
Fighting with one's back to the River. I had no idea how classic tactics would be so effective.
Lelouch's thoughts we're cut off when he heard an array of gunfire to his right. Two of Lelouch's Burai's we're disabled. Luckily, the two pilots managed to eject and avoid possible serious damage. Lelouch stopped his Knightmare and looked as three additional Sutherlands approached him.
"Zero!" Jeremiah shouted on his radio. "Is Zero here!? If you are, then fight me, Jeremiah Gottwald!"
"Ooohhh…" Lelouch said in tone of pure joy. "It's been awhile. I see you are still in the army. Unfortunately, I do not have time to deal with you…Orange."
Jeremiah felt a huge surge of anger as soon as he had heard that. HE still couldn't remember what had happened, but he knew for a fact that Lelouch had done something to him.
"O…O…Orange!?" He said, barely able to form words when Lelouch had said that. "ORANGE!? DIE!"
Jeremiah pushed the accelerator on max and charged at the Knightmare in front of him. Before he could close to Lelouch, a red streak from out of the trees intercepted his attack. Jeremiah looked on his Knightmare's structural integrity scanner to see that the right arm had been sliced off. He looked to see a red armored Reploid appear from the air, holding a lance. A Red armored Reploid with gold-blonde hair. Zero landed on the ground, still holding his D-Glave. Jeremiah backed up and activated the left arm blade attachment to his Knightmare.
"Lord Jeremiah!" Villeta shouted.
Jeremiah just stood speechless as the Red armored Reploid stood in front of him.
"Leave now soldier!" Jeremiah shouted. "Less you wish to have me run you over!"
"I don't listen to lectures from losers." Zero said.
"Wait a minute…" Jeremiah said. "Red armor…long Blonde hair…YOU'RE THE SECOND ZERO!"
"Accurate assessment." Zero asked. "Least you get to know who is the one who killed you."
"Killed me!?" Jeremiah said. "How do you suppose you're going to do that!?"
"With my blade in your Sakuradite tank." Zero said.
"We will see!" Jeremiah shouted, charging at Zero.
Jeremiah pushed the accelerator on his Knightmare and charged at Zero. He used his left arm to smash the blade on top of Zero. Zero looked at the blade coming down. He dodged the blade stroke and used his beam saber to cut the left arm off. Jeremiah now was completely disarmed.
"No!" He shouted. "It's not possible!"
"You're pathetic." Zero said. "You couldn't even last more than few mere seconds. That title and color of Orange fits you perfectly."
"Orange!?" Jeremiah shouted. "Why you little…"
"You're not worth my blade." Zero said. "I'll have her finish you."
"Her!?" Jeremiah asked.
Zero turned around and pulled out the D-Glave. As soon as he did, the Guren Mk II leaped from over Lelouch's Knightmare. The Guren drove over towards Jeremiah's Knightmare and attached its claw onto the top of Jeremiah's Knightmare. Jeremiah was unable to do react defensively since the attack was so sudden.
"Can you see this!?" Kallen shouted. "Can you see this weapon? The Guren MK II signals our counter attack!"
Jeremiah attempted to struggle out of the claw, but the grip Kallen had was too damn strong. He couldn't move or do anything. He sat where was he was, cursing at the Elevens as Kallen made sure there was no way for him to pop out and attack her. Zero leaped over to her Knightmare and landed on top of her's.
"Forgive me." Kallen said.
Kallen used the radiation emitted in her Knightmare's arm and emit a radiation level of 3500 into Jeremiah's Knightmare. Jeremiah watched as systems all around him began to fail and burst open one by one. He watched in horror as the outside of his Knightmare began to swell up bit by bit. Pieces of his thing we're falling off. And he was beginning to…feel offly strange. Sickly even.
"What's happening to me?" Jeremiah shouted.
"Lord Jeremiah; eject!" Vlletta shouted on radio.
"How can I!?" He shouted. "Zero is right there! Both of them! They're both right in front of me!"
Jeremiah's Sakuradite tank core was on complete overload. The auto eject sequence began.
"Not the auto eject!" He shouted. "Don' you dare eject me! Zero! ZERO! I CAN STILL GET BOTH ZEROS…ARGH!"
Jeremiah was already beginning to bleed from his nose and mouth. He could feel himself beginning to faint. The radiation was severely damaging him. He wasn't receiving all of it, but enough to do in any regular person. Before the radiation killed him, the auto eject activated and burst the pod away. Unfortunately, it was moving at top speed and could burst on impact when it hit the ground.
The swollen Knightmare collapsed behind Kallen and Zero and exploded in a massive array of flame. Kallen and Zero stood at the opposing Knightmares with fierce determination. The Knightmares looked at them with fear.
"They got Jeremiah..." Vlletta said. "Just who are the Black Knights?"
"What's going on up there!?" X shouted on the radio as he approached the position where fire was burning all around.
"It's not good X." A pilot said. "The Black Knights are everywhere. They have infantry deployed all around here. They got Knightmares too."
"They even deployed Reploids around the whole area!" Another shouted. "They're all over us over here…huh…WAAHHH!"
X listened as the radio died for the second who talked.
"Hey where did that Red armored…BLUAAHH!" The first one shouted.
X's eyes widened when he heard "Red armored." The pilot didn't get the chance to finish, but X knew who it was. He pulled out his blue beam saber and began to run up the mountain, pulling in as much energy to his acceleration system.
"How many of our units are left?" Dolton asked on the radio.
"I'm only getting readings on twenty-percent of our soldiers." A pilot called back.
"Twenty percent!?" Dolton shouted. "They took out our entire command structure!"
Lloyd and Cecile continued to monitor all the radio transmissions that we're echoing back and forth. Lloyd was also using this as an opportunity to analyze the mudslide as quickly and as accurately as possible. Not that he honestly cared about the military and wouldn't give his information out to the troops anyway, but still continued to research it anyway.
"This is Marceau unit!" One shouted. "I can't raise General Alex!"
"It looks like the second division has been completely wiped out." Another pilot called out on the radio.
Suzaku was prepping the Lancelot for deployment at anytime. Although he couldn't help to listen into what was going on on the radio. He looked over to Lloyd, who was studying the screen intently for something unusual.
"Yes." He said at one point. "Quite unnaturally actually."
"Unnatural?" Suzaku asked.
"It's unconfirmed, but it looks like the Black Knights have appeared in the area." Lloyd said.
"Black Knights." Suzaku said. "Zero?"
"Congratulations!" Lloyd shouted. "I think we may get a turn in this after all!"
"Mr. Lloyd!" Suzaku shouted.
"That's reckless!" Cecile shouted.
"Oh, why is that?" Lloyd asked.
"Shall I tell you why?" Cecile asked.
"Oh spare me." Lloyd said. "Anyway, until high command gets all the Intel, we're stuck here trying to figure out what to do."
The battle continued to escalate far out of control where the mountain was. The battle continued to intensify. The infantry we're locked in a struggle with a large group of tanks that we're approaching their position. Leviathan stood with the infantry and Reploid truck as they hid on an elevated position. The Britannian tanks continued to fire upon their position.
"Damn." Kinoue said. "We can't move any further with those fucking panzers in our way!"
"Give me some cover fire!" Leviathan said.
"…okay got it!" Kinoue said. "Men, load your rockets. On the count of three, give Leviathan as much cover as you can."
The Black Knights infantry began to load up all of their RPL's and waited for Kinoue's signal. When she gave the signal, the Black Knights popped up and unleashed a barrage of rockets. Two members we're killed from machine gun fire by infantry. The barrage of rockets aimed towards the different lines of tanks. Leviathan jumped from where she was and charged at the units. Britannian infantry tried to fire at her, but she easily moved in and out from those infantry. She swung her new D-Glave at some that she passed by, killing some. The rest she left after she dealt with the tank lines. Leviathan charged at the fifteen tanks (seconds later seven; due to the rockets impacting on them). Leviathan sliced the fuel tanks of the first two in her way and wiped them out. She then leaped up in the air and unleashed a massive blizzard type attack on a large group of tanks that approached her. The area around them immediately changed from tall smooth grace to a thick white blanket of snow, freezing the tanks in their place. Kinoue and her unit fired another volley, finishing off the rest of them. Leviathan then turned her attention to the Britannian infantry that survived. The infantry we're looking in horror as they we're flanked on both sides, taking fire from Kinoue's unit from the left, and Leviathan charging on the right. She hacked and slashed through them as the rest we're shot up. After eliminating the rest of the panzers, Leviathan pointed her lance forward as the units and Reploid truck moved forward.
So this is what Zero felt when he led the resistance to victory. It feels…kind of right actually. Like…I can actually feel proud of myself for what I'm doing. Not killing the people though. I was taught not to. Beforehand, I cringed at the thought of possibly being able to do that. Now here I am and I don't have a second thought about it. Is…is…there something wrong with me?
Kallen attacked another Sutherland using her claw. She attached her claw to Lord Ghuel's Knightmare and activated the radiation pulse. Lord Ghuel soon felt the same effects that Jeremiah felt. He attempted to reach for his ejector seat. However, Kallen attached her claw to the cockpit area. The ejector seat function had been melted within second. Ghuel was unable to get the chair to move, regardless of how hard he tried to budge it.
"C'mon move damn it!" He shouted. "Move damn it! I, a proud Britannian, won't be killed by a putrid Eleven…"
Try as much as he could, Ghuel could no longer deny that his fate was sealed. He closed his eyes and was consumed in a massive fireball, and became no more.
"Lord Ghuel!" Vlletta shouted.
Zero ran on Kallen's arm and began to use it to jump towards the enemy. Before doing so, he touched the arm with his own and turned on his learning system. The learning system analyzed the specs of the entire claw weapon and created a new weapon for Zero to use in his hard drive. Zero leapt off from the Guren and activated his new found weapon. His right arm became a claw, which he promptly shot at a Knightmare. Zero then unleashed similar effects from Kallen are Knightmare to his enemy and obliterated it within seconds.
"No way!" A Britannian pilot shouted. "Not only is the second Zero one of those machines, but he can copy each one of ours and they're weapons!"
The pilot turned to aim at Zero, but did not notice Lelouch charging at him with his beam saber in hand. Lelouch moved to the Knightmare and slashed at it with all his might. The saber cut straight through the Britannian, exploding shortly later.
That was enjoyable. I see why Zero prefers to fight melee. You have more satisfaction with your accomplishment since it requires more skill to pull off.
"Right!" Lelouch said while he charged. "Guren, proceed to designated area. The rest follow me! We're going after Cornelia!"
"Right!" Everyone shouted. "Gotcha! We'll pull this off!"
Lelouch and the others charged at the position Lelouch was talking about. On his way down there, Vlletta returned after them with a fresh new squad.
"Defend this position at all costs!" She shouted firing and Lelouch's units.
Three Burai's exploded from the sudden counter attack. One was disabled, but the pilot managed to get out all right. Zero drove up the Knightmare to check on the pilot.
"Hey Sugiyama!" He shouted. "You okay!?"
"Yeah." He said. "No serious injuries."
"Head to the escape point; you've done all you can." Zero said.
"Roger." He said, jumping out of the cockpit and retreating into the forest.
Zero reached towards his back and pulled out the Triple Rod. HE angled it like a spear and hurled it at one of the Knightmares firing at Lelouch's unit. That Knightmare was caught by the point and exploded. Zero charged at the approaching horde of machines; but not before he heard an all too familiar voice to his right.
"ZZZEEERRROOO!" X shouted as he ran towards him.
Zero attempted to defend himself, but X was much stronger. He smashed into Zero using his elbows as a battering ram. Zero was pushed far towards the right and vanished from view.
"X!" Vlletta said. "Thanks for the help!"
"I'll deal with Zero!" X said. "You deal with the Black Knights!"
"Roger." She said, firing at the Burai.
X continued to charge into the forest and vanished. Harpuia flew somewhat behind him; as a gunfire battle resumed on the field.
The Black Knights infantry began to come under fire from both Britannian infantry and tanks. Several members we're killed on their way to pursue Cornelia. The Black Knights countered with gunfire of their own, scoring some skills themselves. They had lost twenty-five infantry already. The Britannians had lost sixteen; although they had lost far more men the Black Knights had.
Leviathan ran with a group of three. A large shell smashed into the ground where they we're. Leviathan, a young girl, and two men we're launched into the air. Leviathan got up quickly and checked on her unit. The first male in addition to being launched was shot in the back. He was already dead. The girl herself died on impact when her face smashed into a rock. The man himself was still alive, although his shoulder had been ripped open. Leviathan picked up the man and moved him towards the Reploid truck.
"Dammit!" A member shouted. "C'mon keep moving! Death to Britannia."
Lelouch continued his charge at the Pureblood units. He used his massive beam saber and sliced another Knightmare to pieces as his units began a charge towards there's.
That's right. Move. If you survive this, you will become true warriors. And then…
Zero managed to get up after X's sudden attack. He looked up to see that when X smashed into him, it forced through the brush; which after cleared, revealed a massive hill. Zero sighed angrily, remembering the massive flight of stairs that he had to fall down three consecutive times in a row.
He returned to the battle at hand when X appeared from the bushes and fired an X-Buster at Zero. Zero leapt to the side to avoid the attack. X landed on the ground and fired another. Zero moved to the side and charged at X with his beam saber. X fired several more busters; charging one of them, but alas it was to no avail. X drew his sapphire blue saber and collided blades with Zero. X moved to attack Zero's chest. Zero put the Z-Saber in front of him to block. X spun around to attack him from the side. Zero put the saber behind him to block. X then slashed downwards. Zero dodged the attack, and then punched X in the stomach, pushing him away. X got back to his feet and put his blade in a fighting position. Zero did the same. The two then waited for something to happen.
"The purebloods have engaged the Black Knights!?" A commanding officer in the bridge said.
"Yes; under lady Vlletta's command." Another said.
"Good!" The earlier officer had said. "Have our units reinforce the Viceroy's position. We will smoke out this rebellion now before…"
Euphy was looking at the screen. The plan seemed confident. It seemed like it could work.
Seemed.
She however noticed two small blimps on the radar approaching the Viceroy.
"Wait…" She said. "What is that?"
Tohdoh and the Four Holy Blades we're now within reach of the Viceroy's position. They we're still prepping their Burai customs ready for battle. Axl was still driving the car as instructed, but he knew that soon would be the time to fight. Axel stood as he drove; ready to fight, as Tohdoh began to call out orders on the radio.
"All units!" Tohdoh called out. "Are you ready!?"
"Yes sir!" Everyone, including Axl called out.
"All right!" Tohdoh said. "Deploy the Burai Customs."
On the top of the truck, five large Knightmares appeared. These looked similar to that of the Burai's owned by the Black Knights. They we're however much thinner and less armored. They also had a more samurai look to them. In addition to machine guns, each one had a blade on them. But it wasn't just a blade. It was also a massive chainsaw too. Each Burai was silver by color; Tohdoh's being a different color to pick him out of a crowd.
"If this landslide is man-made, I think we can take Cornelia from behind." Tohdoh said. "Capture her! Pay her back for what happened seven years ago!"
"Yes sir!" Everyone except Axl called out. "By the honor of the Four Holy Blades!"
Cornelia and her unit turned around to see one of the custom Burai's charge right at her squad. One of her units was way too far away from the squad. His Sutherland was easily torn in two and his cockpit exploded. Seconds later, the other four appear. The Sutherlands attempted to fight the Burai, but the Britannians couldn't even land a bullet on them. Half of her squad was torn up in seconds, as the custom Burai swarmed over and slaughtered fifteen of her forces. The other half was slaughtered within the next few seconds.
Several of the Elites guarding Cornelia charged at the Burai to engage them. However, three of them suddenly had their head units blown off from seemly out of nowhere. Axl had set up a sniper position, and proceeded to pick off other Knightmares. Axl beheaded seven Knightmares with his sniper scope. Promptly which, the Burai customs finished them off with swift strokes to the cockpits.
Three Knightmares saw Axl at his position and began to charge at him. Axl saw them. He used his power to make his sniper disappear and then used his data to spawn a large cannon like object. He gripped it with both hands. The cannon that he held were bigger than the Knightmares charging at him. The Knightmare pilots shrieked in fear.
"Yeah look at me." Axl said. "I got the bigger gun!"
Axl fired three shells from the unnecessarily big gun. All three Knightmares exploded instantly.
"Your highness!" Gilford shouted as he charged at Tohdoh. "Please! Let me fight this! Retreat for now!"
Gilford charged at Tohdoh and clashed his blade with his lance. A small struggle for power began as the sword and lance tried to shift the other out of position. Although the fight seemed to last for hours.
"Very well Gilford." Cornelia said. "I have an idea on how to turn this around. Once you chase them off, proceed with me to Point 9."
"Understood." Gilford said.
One of the members charged to attack Cornelia. Cornelia fired her Slash Harkens and disorientated the pilot. She then used her lance to damage a portion of his Knightmare. Unfortunately, she didn't make a fatal wound and had no time to turn around and do so. Upon damaging the unit, she turned and fled the area.
Lelouch and his units had been pinned down by Vlletta. Vlletta and her squad used a suppressive fire tactic and kept Lelouch from moving his units anywhere. Lelouch stood there with his Burai on bended knee below some large sturdy rocks, unable to make any move of any kind.
"C'mon Zero!" One pilot said. "We should ask Kallen to get back over here and help us!"
"No!" Lelouch shouted. "Doing that and we shall lose this mission."
All though he is correct. We cannot stay like this forever. Speaking of which, where is Zero when I need him?
"ARGH!" X shouted as he was blasted with a Z-Buster.
X flew from where he was and crashed into a boulder, breaking it into pieces upon impact. Zero knew X was powerful and wasted no time after he hit to finish him. X got up and saw Zero approaching him with his saber out. X reached his arms behind his back and began to form a blue energy sphere in his hands.
As soon as Zero was about to cut him, X pushed both arms forward.
"Hadouken!" X shouted, unleashing a sphere of blue energy into Zero.
Zero was blasted from where he was into the inside of the hill. A massive eruption of stone and gravel came all over and concealed Zero's position. X got up and looked at his hands.
I can't believe I still remember how to do that technique. That's one of the most powerful ki energy based techniques around. I'm even more surprised on how controlled I was with it. I guess I'm more powerful than I perceived.
Zero got up from where he was and redrew his saber. However he looked above him and saw Harpuia coming straight down at him. Zero rolled to the side and then began to deflect the many sword slashes that Harpuia delivered at him. Zero back flipped over Harpuia and kicked him in the face, throwing him to where X was. Harpuia got up and went over by his master.
"Don't wait." Zero said. "The party's just begun."