Phase XIX: Blackest Night part II
(Slayers military base)
"WO! Did you guys see that? Man! Zero really is awesome!" Tamaki exclaimed deeply impressed by Lelouch actions.
The other present were just as impressed of the stunt Lelouch pulled to shut him up.
"What happens next? They just stopped broadcasting the battle!" Tamaki continued.
"That was all they intended to broadcast, Lelouch wanted to show that he is a powerful warrior and nothing more!" Kaguya replied.
"Still it is a shame we cannot view the battle!" Asahina said.
"We can!" Todoh said and pushed a button on the remote and the battle was shown once more, only from a different point of view than what was shown by Diethard.
"When I heard Sawasaki had landed on Kamine Island, I immediately ordered hidden cameras to be placed in every major city in Kyushu so we could have reliable data about the enemy, both of them" Todoh said and they continued viewing the battle.
(Fukuoka city)
Lelouch by now had returned to his command center and was watching the enemy army on the radar screen.
"The whole army is still on the way so they are beginning their attack with the two knightmare divisions that those seven Gun Rus were part off!" Viletta briefed her commander.
"Will you look at that! I have the best road to the beaches and their hitting me with only two divisions! Lovely! LOVELY!" Lelouch said pleased that the initial stages of the battle were going to his favor.
"Tell Odysseus that he may start firing at his own discretion, and not to use too much ammunition, we will need it all for when the main body off troops arrives here!" Lelouch told his aide du camp and he complied.
Odysseus had the habit of commanding the artillery from the front line instead of a bunker or a mobile command center behind the lines, this surprised Lelouch and it also pleased him and made Odysseus grow in Lelouch eyes.
He looked at the tactical map and saw that the above mentioned divisions had started their assault no doubt to prove their defenses, Lelouch looked at the map curious to see just how good his elder brothers performance an artillery commander he actually is.
"Understood!" Odysseus said as he got his orders.
"Range 9000 meters and closing!" Major Ito Kuribayashi said to him.
Odysseus after being given a Colonel commission and the artillery corps immediately went to work, he evaluated all of the battery commanders and found that Lt Kuribayashi was the most skilled among them, so he promoted him to Major and made him his second. Kuribayashi originally refused, since he himself a 'honorary brittannian' was rising through the ranks of the army at an alarmingly fast rate, but after Odysseus said that he needed men of skill and he was the most skilled that was why he selected him, despite being a prince Odysseus didn't have a racist bone in his body.
"Wait until they get to 5.000 meters major and then open fire, the commander said not to waste ammunition, so let's make every shot count!" Odysseus ordered.
"Yes sir!" Kuribayashi said and he transmitted the order to the artillery batteries.
Odysseus seeing the rate the enemy was advancing and their formation on the map immediately made some calculation in his head, which to an artillery officer like him was second nature and then gave the following order.
"Major tell all batteries the following!" Odysseus said and he quickly gave the firing coordinates and to hold fire until he gives the order.
Odysseus watched the map closely and when the perfect moment to fire the cannons came he roared out "Fire!" and all 600 cannons roared into the night sky.
(Clovis memorial museum)
Nina suddenly saw that a limousine and escort was pulling out of the museum's parking lot.
"Princess Euphemia!" Nina said as she ran towards the limousine.
The escort guards saw this and quickly caught her and pinned her to the ground.
"Case confirmed. Case Delta has occurred!" the squad commander said through the radio
"I beg you, I just want to thank Princess Euphemia, that's all!"Nina said as the guards and started immobilizing her.
Euphie looked on in confusion for a moment until it hit her.
"Ah! From the hotel jacking incident" she said to herself.
"The interrogation room is ready, prepare to bring her too it!" one of the guards said through the radio.
"Stop it! She is my friend!" Euphie said as she got out of the car.
(Cornelia's position, main port of Honshu)
Cornelia was sitting inside a building and looking out at the down pouring rain.
"Because of the weather we will have to wait until the storm clears before the ship from the open see can make port and we can board them with our troops" Guilford told his liege
"And how long will that take?" Cornelia asked frustrated that it was raining heavily and the massive waves were preventing the ships from getting to close to the shore.
"I'd say five to six hours my lady" Guilford replied.
At this she grunted her face and mentally said to herself "Six hours! Each minute seems as long as a day! Will Lelouch be able to last six hours more?" .
(Fukuoka city)
Lelouch and everybody else who had watched the radar screen were in s state of shock, for what they just saw truly was amazing.
In just under 30 seconds Odysseus somehow managed for all intend and purpose to destroyed the two Gun Ru divisions.
"Brigadier Nu you have command, I am going to see Colonel Odysseus to find out just what happened!" Lelouch said and he hurried out to where Odysseus position was.
After a few minutes of driving he arrived there.
"General!" Odysseus said and he saluted and snapped to attention.
"At ease Colonel, could you please tell me what just happened, the enemy was on the screen then after a few seconds they literally were annihilated!" Lelouch asked curious.
"Well Sir over the years I noticed that a knightmare was fast enough and maneuverable enough to dodge artillery fire, so I figured that the answer to that was to concentrate all of an army's artillery fire into one position and fire one massive volley simultaneously so every square inch of that field becomes a kill zone… I saw the rate of the enemy's advance and I fired the first volley in one specific area just a few moments before they reached that area so that when the enemy would get there the shells would hit them at that exact same moment" Odysseus paused to catch his breath.
"Is this really the same Odysseus the nobles nicknamed the 'blockhead of the brittannian royal family'! Lelouch mentally said to himself, who knew that his brother was such a fearsome commander.
"Well go on Colonel!" Lelouch said as he was eager to hear the rest of the story.
"Well sir, after the first volley they stopped, they were shocked by it sir, so I saw an opportunity and took advantage of it, I ordered the cannons to fire another concentrated volley and another and another and before I knew it I….I ran out of targets Sir!" Odysseus said, he himself was surprised at how well his artillery technique worked.
"Well done Colonel, but that was just the opening round, the real battle will begin soon, it will take them an hour at most until they get their own artillery from the baggage train, be prepared when that happens!" Lelouch replied "Who would have thought that making you my chief of artillery would bring me such benefits! You think you know a person!" he mentally though in his mind.
"Yes sir…Oh! Before you go sir major Kuribayashi here has been viewing the enemy with his binoculars and I think you should hear what he has to say about them sir" Odysseus said and gestured towards the major, and Kuribayashi approached Lelouch with the expression of a man who had just seen great horrors on his face.
"Go on Ito, tell him what you told me!" Odysseus encouraged his friend.
"Well sir, I saw how the divisions infantry was hit by the shells, and some of them died, but most of them was heavily wounded, I saw things like that before sir, but what those wounded men did shook me to the core!" Kuribayashi said and he took out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead of sweat.
"Well go on, what did you see major?" Lelouch asked.
"Well General Zero sir, the wounded…..they…they didn't scream sir out of pain or for a medic, they kept quiet sir…they kept their eyes focused on our positions and continued to advance, despite the fact that they were heavily wounded! I saw men with no legs pull themselves forward with their arms until they bled to death, I saw men who had one of their sides torn off from shrapnel hop towards our positions with their other good side….I…..I even saw severed arms trying for a moment to pull themselves towards our position, before the stopped dead, it….it was like viewing a George Romero zombie horror movie out their sir!" Kuribayashi said and he sat down, the sheer horror he had witnessed and forced to recount twice was to much to allow him to stand.
"The enemy has some kind of geass user, I'm sure of it…!" Lelouch said to himself mentally.
He then activated his helmet radio and said.
"Jeremiah move all off our troops to a defensive ring around the government facility, leave only the knightmares on the city's edge to draw the enemy in!" he ordered.
"Understood!" Jeremiah replied and hang up the radio to go and fulfill his orders.
"Odysseus you better move the cannons and yourself and Major Kuribayashi, there as well! The main army is going to come up soon and we have to shorten our defensive perimeter in order to maximize our firepower!" Lelouch ordered.
"Understood!" Odysseus said and gave the necessary orders.
Lelouch then left his position and went towards the knightmare loading area so he could mount his personal custom frame.
( General Tsao's command pyramid,command bridge )
"All wiped out!" Kusakabe said astonished at what he just heard.
"Well, it seems that the 'Iron Prince' meant what he said when he proclaimed to train 50.000 men as commandos!" Sawasaki said unfazed, they may have lost 20.000 men, but their army numbered 1.200.000.
"Keh ! It seems that we must be cautions, even with my Power of Absolute bloodlust imbibed into them, those troops still lost!" Kusakabe said to himself.
"We have just received the following report:Heavy rain blows from the north to the south in Honshu, Cornelia's 8th army cannot be boarded into ships, since they cannot get close to land because of the storm!" General Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus, who was the commander of the E.U forces.
"Heaven truly is on our side then, we will win this war!" Sawasaki confidently proclaimed.
"We are truly fortunate that a storm has formed over Honshu…I suggest we leave one army corps here, use the country roads which run parallel to the main ones which run through Fukuoka base, with the rain slowing Cornelia down we could make it their before here if we order a force march!" Tsao advised and Friedrich and the corps commanders who were present agreed.
"We will do no such thing! Have you forgotten that I am in command of this army and not you!" Kusakabe loudly proclaimed.
Tsao did not like Kusakabe, although Kusakabe is friends with Ludwig Beck the E.U minister of Defense and he is the reason why the E.U joined the invasion, and it was for that reason that the eunuchs gave him a field marshal's commission and command of the expeditionary force, and because of the E.U joining, the eunuchs were afraid of sharing the conquest with them and gave Tsao instead of the original 200.00 men scheduled for the invasion 900.000 men.
"Of course Field Marshall Kusakabe, the decision of what we do next lies with you!" General Tsao said and bowed his head apologetically; he hid his distaste for Kusakabe with the skill you'd expect of a professional soldier; however the other generals gathered around him shared his opinion.
"Weary well then, we will not bypass this city, we will surround and attack it from all sides and crush The 'Iron Prince' with the weight of our numbers!" he said as he pointed towards the map.
"Begging your pardon sir, build I would like permission to speak!" the voice of LI Xingke the commander of the 'Dragon Cavalry' Corps was heard.
Kusakabe nodded and Xingke began.
"Even if we have superior numbers, our spies told us that the city has been turned into a fortress and what happened to the vanguard is proof of that!" he paused to let this sink in.
"Even if we conquer it we will most likely suffer heavy casualties from it, we will lose troops which would be useful against Cornelia!".
"May I remind you that Cornelia's army is the main threat, I agree with general Tsao suggestion, we bypass the city, occupy the beaches, destroy Cornelia's army and then return here and defeat the Black Knights." Xingke suggested and the others agreed that Tsao plan made more sense.
"Do you know what you are saying! We need that city and road for our supply route, and how can we occupy the beaches with an enemy strong hold to our rear, no sir we will crush Lelouch here and then move towards the beaches!" Kusakabe replied.
Li admitted to himself that what he said about the supplies and the position of Fukuoka city had truth in them, but general Tsao's plan would mean that they could use the side roads for supplies and they could prevent an enemy attack on their rear flank by placing a corps to stop Zero from leaving the city like general Tsao suggested.
"It's not the supply routes and the enemy threatening our backwards flank that is making him order an assault, it's revenge!…..he desires revenge for what Zero did to him at Kawaguchi, and he is willing to sacrifice this army and the fate of the war because of it!" Xingke thought to himself and clenched his fists in ager at his commander stupidity, selfishness and disregard for those under his command.
"Understood….we will commence the attack as soon as we can get our troops into position" Xingke said and he bowed his head in obedience and respect, fake respect, but obedience still and the generals left to fulfill Kusakabe's order.
(Clovis memorial museum, curator's office)
"Back then…Back then when Princess Euphemia saved me….I saw a goddess! It was as if you were shining brightly….Ah! Sorry! I should have thanked you for lending me your clothes first" Nina said towards Euphie.
"Don't worry about that! Also, I'm not that great of a person. I'm completely useless compared to my other siblings" Euphie replied a bit saddened.
"You are not useless!"Nina replied.
"Huh!" Euphie said caught off guard
"Princess Euphemia being useless…I'm a good-for-nothing….Completely useless….My parents are juts commoners…I'm not pretty at all…" Nina said towards her.
"That's not true. You are really cute!"Euphie replied
"Ah…That is….I'm really useless….Completely" Nina said with a slight blush and with conviction in her voice.
"You hate yourself, Don't you? But the same goes for me" Euphie though to herself
"….I know it clearly in my head….about Suzaku too…Ah, I see! Suzaku too! That's why I can't let Princess Euphemia say that she's useless! Because….Because I need you. To me…."Nina said on the verge of breaking out in tears.
"Nina, thank you. It was great meeting you." Euphie replied happily
"Ah!" Nina said astonished.
"It seems I understand it now!" Euphie added.
(Fukuoka city)
Outside the city the Chinese were maneuvering into position just outside the range of the cannons.
While they did that their own artillery pounded the city's edge, but the guns were too and they were fired by poorly trained Chinese soldiers, so most of the shells either landed short or missed it's intended target.
Li Xingke was in a Gun Ru and had finished assembling his corps.
While Xingke watched the city being bombarded, just then Hong Gu his second in command came up to Xingke and said:
"Sir I have ridden with my own Gun Ru and saw the city myself, and I have never seen such a worse place to attack, Zero has withdrawn his forces towards the Government facility, the ghetto's are all filled with buildings which are half completed of which are a snipers playground, there are barbed wires, mine fields and obstacles all the way, that's going to slow us down greatly , and while we are advancing slow their artillery will cut us to pieces!"
"Hong, general Tsao has argued against attacking this city, I have argued against attacking, Hell! General Tsao and I have been arguing that we should go around and seize the beaches!" Li replied.
"And why don't we do that?" Hong asked curious.
"Because our brilliant commander Kusakabe said attack and as good soldiers we obey!" Xingke spat out in disgust.
"They don't even have to shoot at us to kills us; all they have to do is wait for us to faint for exhaustion from moving through the city!" Hong Lu tried once more to prevent an attack.
"Haven't you heard what I said? It's out of my hands now come on! Once more unto the breach, dear friend, once more!" Xingke said and he reluctantly led his corps in the assault.
(Tokyo concession, Schneizell's office)
"Lelouch sure knows how to put on a show!" Schneizell said to his aids a few moments after they watched the transmission.
Just then general Bartley came into the room, he was caring a battle report and had a grave look on his face.
"What is it Bartley?" Schneizell asked curiously.
"Your highness…..the battle report from when Sawasaki landed in Kyushu arrived!" Bartley replied.
He then handed the folder to Schneizell, he opened it, read it and his usual calm expression was replaced by one off sheer astonishment at what he had just read.
"All whipped out?" Schneizell asked.
"Yes sir….50.000 men manned that beach, after it was clear that they couldn't stop the Chinese from landing the 30.000 surviving soldiers tried to surrender,…..but the ground troops refused to listen and they killed them all!" Bartley said still shocked at the news.
"What on Earth could have filled those men with such bloodlust that they would slaughter troops who surrendered!" Schneizell said to himself, he decided to not let this information reach Cornelia, it would only make her more nervous than she already is for Lelouch predicament.
(Fukuoka city)
The assault had now begun and right before he ordered the attack Kusakabe used his Geass upon his soldiers, and all of them were now filled with blood lust, all except Xingke's dragon cavalry corps which was at the extreme eastern tip of the encirclement and was out of Kusakabe's range.
Within the city the Chinese and European army was advancing slowly just like Hong had predicted,Odysseus's surprisingly extraordinary skills as an artillery commander was put to good use and he made sure that each step the invader took into the city would be paid with the blood of a hundred soldiers.
But that was not what drew Sawasaki's attention, what drew his attention ,what drew his attention was reports of the Lancelot fighting a tactical withdraw to the governmental facility and was decimating the respective sectors vanguard.
"That miraculous weapon!" general Tsao said as he heard the reports.
"That means the pilot inside is…..?" Sawasaki trailed off.
Suzaku meanwhile was as the Chinese reports said decimating the enemy vanguard, him and the battalion Lelouch had given him were doing the following, the first group fired, the second group moved to the side and went behind them, when the second group got behind the first the first would duck, move to the side and the second group would fire over and next to them were the enemy was.
The tight streets of the City worked to their advantage and the tactic that was employed not just by them, but by every single knightmare in Lelouch's army worked to devastating results combined with Odysseus cannons.
Up until now after almost 30 minutes of fighting, it was estimated by Lelouch that the Chinese had crossed the former Japanese ghettos and were a mile away from the outskirts of the Brittannian settlement, and up until now they had lost 80.000 men and 400 E.U and 800 Chinese knightmares, but like madmen they were charging Lelouch's lines like mad berserkers.
"So this is what happens to men who are subjected to Geass!...I am now more glad than ever that I refused this unholy power….I really don't know how I could have lived with myself if I accepted it" Lelouch said in his mind and moved his hand towards his packet of cigarettes, he grabbed it and noticed that before nightfall it was full and now it was half empty.
"I smoked half a pack in just under an hour and a half!" Lelouch said to himself astounded at his behavior, he knew the toxic effect smoking had on his body, and he also knew that great men under pressure first would smoke heavily, then would drink heavily, then do drugs, until they were only a hollow shell of their former selves.
"If I win this battle I quit smoking, I'll find something else to help me with stress relief!" he said to himself and put the cigar pack back in his pocket.
He was in his custom knightmare, and was viewing the battle on his tactical map, seeing that the time to spring his trap was drawing near he gave the following orders
"Transmit this to all my knightmares: Retreat towards the government facility, Odysseus will provide a heavy artillery barrage for you"
" Repeat: Retreat towards the government facility, Odysseus will provide a heavy artillery barrage for you" he said towards his aid du camp and he transmitted the orders.
Back at Suzaku's position he received Lelouch's orders and quickly went to fulfill them.
"Listen up men! We have just received the order to withdraw towards the government facility, you all go ahead and I will provide covering fire!" Suzaku ordered his battalion.
"But major we just can't leave you here!" One of his captains replied.
"Don't worry about me, the Lancelot I am piloting is faster, stronger and better armed than a Sutherland, I will provide covering fire against the enemy and then meet up with all of you at the government facility!" Suzaku replied.
"U….Understood!" the captain hesitantly accepted and the battalion with equal or even more hesitance withdrew.
Suzaku liked what he just saw, he himself had helped trained those pilots during the past three months when he had free time and the fact that a brittannian soldier was hesitant to abandon his 'honorary brittannian' commander was proof to Suzaku that he was right.
"You can change the world without using the wrong methods!" he said to himself and after a few minutes of providing covering fire decided to withdraw, just then a message was heard on an open channel.
"I am Sawasaki. The one who is heading here, are you Kururugi's son? I see! HE actually has a child like this!" Sawasaki said over the monitor.
(Schneizell's office, Tokyo settlement)
Schneizell's door suddenly opened and through it came Euphie with a determine look on her face.
"Brother Schneizell, do you have a private channel I can use?" she said as she hurried towards the desk.
Schneizell's suddenly aw a look of determination and confidence in Euphie's eyes that he would have associated with Cornelia, and because off what he saw he couldn't say no and he gave her the private channel and himself and his aides exited the room to give her privacy.
(Fukuoka city)
Xingke was amazed by two things at the moment.
The first thing that amazed him was just how much casualty's they were taking, the second was how easily Lelouch was giving ground!
"Something's not right! Even with our waste numbers working to our advantage and despite are heavy casualties we are advancing at an alarmingly fast rate!" Li mentally said to himself.
"Zero is giving ground at a surprisingly fast pace… it's almost like he is….." The sudden realization of what Lelouch was planning struck him like a bolt of lightning.
"This is General Xingke to all Dragon cavalry units! All units Retreat! I repeat: All units Retreat! We must get outside the city as quickly as possible!" Li shouted frantically through the radio and his men had no trouble following that order, they themselves felt just how strong the defenses were.
"Zero has set up an enormous trap and that fool Kusakabe is Leading the army right into it…You may have ordered a million men to their deaths Kusakabe, but my soldiers will not pay the price of your stupidity" Li said and he evacuated his army, he didn't bothertrying to warn Kusakabe, he did however send a transmission to General Tsao warning him about it.
Meanwhile at Suzaku's position he was fighting against some Gun Rus that had caught up to him, the transmission distracted him momentarily and that moment gave the Gun Rus enough time to catch up to him.
"This has nothing to do with my father! I came because I myself wanted to put an end to the fighting!" Suzaku said to Sawasaki as he ran away from the Gun Rus.
"Do you intend to take away the dream of Japan's independence?"Sawasaki asked through the video transmission.
"In that case, realize that through the correct methods…" Suzaku said but was cut off by Sawasaki.
"Do you intend to live on willfully like that? Continuing on with Zero and his idealistic views of chivalry and justice?" Sawasaki asked again.
"No those ideal aren't!..."Suzaku tried to say, but once again Sawasaki managed to distract him and he was hit by enemy fire as a result.
"The VARIS IS….!" He said as the impact cause him to drop his riffle and it was destroyed by enemy fire.
(Command pyramid)
"He was distracted by just a conversation. He's still just a novice!" Sawasaki said and chuckled, Kusakabe joined in as well.
Just then general Tsao received the transmission Xingke gave him.
"Field Marshall Kusakabe, Xingke says that the 'Iron Prince' has set up a trap and has withdrawn his corps, I know that he is a capable commander and he would not break formation without good reasoning, I recommend we do the same to all off our forces!" Tsao said towards Kusakabe.
"We will do no such thing!" Kusakabe barked back "We are on the verge of crushing him, and that trap Xingke says off is a fictional one! We will deal with him after we finish this battle!" Kusakabe said and gave another all forces forward order to his men, and gave them another blast of Geass.
It was however unknown to Kusakabe that Lelouch had activated the anti-geass generator and as soon as Kusakabe's geassed men entered the city or the geass wave did the same, the affected soldiers would turn from berserkers back into normal soldiers, this combined with the one second pause in which they stopped to regain their senses made them ideal targets for artillery.
Tsao was concerned, he was now sweating like a sinner in church "Xingke knows the penalty for disobeying orders, he wouldn't do so unless he was sure those orders would have lead us to disaster!" he said to himself and he whipped his forehead with a handkerchief and knew deep down in his gut that disaster lat ahead, and they're 'brilliant' leader was charging straight into it.
(Area around government facility)
Lelouch looked at the tactical map before him and saw that all his forces were now within the Government facility area on the other side of the trench, all forces except Suzaku who was surrounded by enemies.
"I can't activated the trap with Suzaku still in the Concession, he will be crushed, but if I don't then the Chinese and Europeans will kill as all!" Lelouch said in his mind, he never had dreamed he would be caught in such a position.
"What should I do? Do I sacrifice my army to save my best friend or do I sacrifice my friend to save my army?" Lelouch said in his mind and for the first time in his life he really didn't have an answer, and he then did something he himself never really though he would do, he put his hands together and started praying.
"God almighty, please perform a miracle and help my friend escape from the enemy, save him God!" it was allLelouch could do at the moment, but he knew that after a certain amount of time he would have to trigger his trap, regardless of whether Suzaku escaped or not.
"Sometimes you must choose the lesser of two evils!" his mind repeated the words he said to Suzaku at Shikinejima, and now he had to make that choice.
"To hell with logic!" Lelouch shouted to himself as tears went down his eyes and he looked at his watch and the radar screen waiting until he could not delay the trap no longer and would have to kill one man so he could save fifty thousand.
(Fukuoka city, Suzaku's position)
Suzaku sustained another hit and this time he noticed he was now surrounded, with no way out.
"Surrender, Suzaku-kun! I promise you that I will treat you well as the orphaned child of Prime Minister Kururugi" Sawasaki said to him with a smug expression on his face.
"No thanks! A Black Knight dies, but he does not surrender! Also I couldn't forgive myself if I made use of my father's name here!" Suzaku replied back angrily.
"I see, aren't you similar to him. That stubbornness of yours is pretty similar to your father's, I will however give you five minutes to reconsider, after that I will open fire." Sawasaki replied.
Suzaku looked around himself and saw that the Gun Rus that had surrounded him had not fire a shot, he realized that they were waiting for orders.
"I'm sorry Lelouch! I let you down my friend, just trigger the trap and let the world be rid of me, the useless knight and major!" Suzaku said in his mind and he prepared for death, only for Euphie's voice to flood his speakers suddenly.
"Kururugi Suzaku!"
"Princess Euphemia?" Suzaku said as he watched her image on the monitor in confusion.
"Suzaku, I… erm….you…." Euphie said as she tried to put her feelings into words.
"Erm… right now, I'm…."Suzaku tried to reply, but was cut off.
"Erm, Please Love me!" Euphie suddenly said over the screen.
"Yes!" Suzaku said in the manner in which a soldiers accepts and order without hesitation, only for him to realize what he just agreed to do "Eh?".
"Eh? " Cecile said to herself as she was linked to the Lancelots communication devices.
"What? What happened nom?" Lloyd said frantically he saw what was happening to the machine and looked like he was to jump through the decks window, land on the ground and rescue his precious 'baby' from the mean Gun Rus.
"E-Erm…It's nothing. Just something private" Cecile said as she blushed slightly.
Meanwhile Lelouch shared Cecile's reaction, since he was also in direct link to the Lancelot.
"I pray for a miracle and this is what I get?" he said confused.
"In return, I'll fall deeply in love with you!" Euphie said and she blushed.
"Princess Euphemia…?" Suzaku said amazed at what he was hearing.
"Suzaku….Your stubbornness…Your gentleness….Your sad eyes…Your silliness…You getting bitten by cats…I like it all! So don't hate yourself!" Euphie said towards him.
"I see… I've made you worried instead…! AS a person you are always so sudden. When I first met you back at West Point, writing me letters, choosing me as your knight…You're always so…" he replied.
"That's right, I'm always sudden! Because..I suddenly realized…" Euphie replied.
"But due to that suddenness, I felt as if the door to my heart has become unlocked, Thank you!" Suzaku replied.
"Can I make one last request of you?" Suzaku asked.
"Last?" Euphie said concerned.
"Please don't hate yourself no matter what happens to me. Also, eliminate everything about me when it happens, I don't want to cause my friends any trouble, so tell them that I've transferred schools, also tell Lelouch I am sorry I let him down" Suzaku said as he drew his MASSER sword for his last stand.
"Suzaku, don't tell me…" Euphie said as the meaning of his words hit her.
"Currently there is no way for me to break through, so this is it for me!" Suzaku replied and he prepared himself to charge the Gun Rus.
"Suzaku, don't die!" Euphie said on the brink of tears.
"Open fire!" Sawasaki said to the troops.
And suddenly an artillery barrage fell upon the Gun Rus.
For a moment Suzaku was confused from where it came from.
Lelouch from his cockpit was just as confused, when he suddenly remembered that he ordered Odysseus to cover his troops with an artillery barrage.
A great smile appeared on his face, and he looked upwards and said in his mind "Thank you God, thank you from the bottom of my heart!".
"Suzaku this is Lelouch! Odysseus artillery barrage won't keep the enemy at bay for long, so get back here now! We will discuss the fact that you are dating my sister latter!" Lelouch said over the comm.'s.
"Y..Yes sir" Suzaku said and he raced towards the Government Facility, on the other side of the line, Euphie let out a breath of relief, and mentally thanked both her brothers and God for rescuing Suzaku.
"What are you doing? Don't let him get away!" Kusakabe angrily ordered his men.
The Chinese and European forces were now almost entirely concentrated within the area of the Brittannian Concession, 90% of the enemy knightmares, tanks and cannon and 500.000 infantry were there, and were pushing their way towards the Government Facility.
Only about tree corps were not within the city.
Those mentioned were Li' dragon cavalry and the other were one European and one Chinese knightmare corps who were guarding the command Pyramid.
Lelouch saw on his knightmare tactical map that Suzaku jumped the trench which surrounded the government facility, and reached the other side, rolling on the ground from the force off the inertia.
"He made it!" Lelouch said and he pressed a button on a switch he had within his hand and his trap sprang.
The entire Fukuoka city Brittannian settlement collapsed upon the enemy army, the shock wave produced by this action was like a small earthquake and hurricane striking the Black Knight at once, it made them loose their balance, but they were safe within the Area of The government facility.
(Slayers military base)
"I…Impossible!" Ohgi said his eyes wide with astoundment.
"Zero turned the entire city into his weapon!" Kaguya said, she and the others who were present were just as amazed as Ohgi was.
"Zero!...You truly are amazing" Tamaki said to himself in admiration.
(Outside Fukuoka city, Dragon cavalry position)
"Half off our men have been killed and all of our heavy equipment was destroyed in one fell swoop!" Xingke said to himself eyes wide at the destruction Lelouch caused.
"Zero and his Black Knights…..Just what the hell are they!" he added in astonishment.
(Government Facility)
"All conditions are now cleared…the only thing left to do is to check the king and we win" Lelouch said, a pleased smile on his face.
Authors note.
Well there you have it, is it over, not by a long shot!
Lelouch's trap may have turned the tide of the battle, but if you were paying attention, you know that the enemy still has 500.000 men left and three knightmare corps, which means Lelouch, is outnumbered in terms of knightmare strength 3 to 1.
Next chapter the real fight begins and this is where all those months of training will show their results!
Read and review, let me know if I should continue