Phase XX: Blackest Night Part III.
(Honshu island main port)
The rain had finally stopped and Cornelia quickly ordered her troops to board the ships.
"Hang on Lelouch! Well get there and save you and your men from those Chinese bastards" Cornelia said in her mind as she supervised the loading of her troops, wishing if it was humanly possible for it to go faster.
(Fukuoka city, General Tsao's command pyramid)
Kusakabe had witnessed what happened and to say he was stunned was an understatement, after seeing the Concession collapse, and the army within it disappear beneath it all he did was stay where he was stone silent like a statue staring at the city.
He wasn't the only one; Sawasaki did the same thing as Kusakabe.
While around him general Tsao and his staff tried desperately to piece together what had just happened and figure out how much force they had left.
"Your forces are intact? Well that's the best news I've heard all year, can you see if any off our troops within the city survived?" General Tsao asked Xingke over a radio.
He then looked at the radar and saw just how many troops they had left.
"500.000 of our soldiers remained outside the city because there wasn't enough room for them to enter and not impede the advance of the tanks and knightmares, also from Xingke reports and our thermal imagery 300.000 of those of which the settlement collapsed upon have survived….However we do not know how much of our heavy equipment survive, without knightmares, tanks or at least guns we will be like pigs to the slaughter" Tsao thought to himself, just then the dust started clearing which permitted the radar to pick up the Panzers and Gun Rus IFF signal.
There were approximately 800 Chinese Gun Rus and 500 Panzers that survived the collapse, the reason they survived was that they were packed together along the main highway and there was more space between the buildings along the road which went through Fukuoka.
The surviving knightmares were all stretched in a long line along the highway and the giant snake stretched from the Government facility within the Concession to the edge of the settlement, where the former Japanese ghetto was.
"Alright! Now that I know how much heavy armor we have, we can now salvage the situation! First we withdraw from this city, we are in no condition to stop Cornelia from landing, so we must retreat to an area which favors a defensive battle…Kagoshima!...we can use the remaining three corps to act as a vanguard and retreat to Kagoshima, we should be able to get reinforcements, and although the battle is lost we could salvage the war from there!" Tsao thought to himself and conveyed his idea to general Frederick who approved it.
Just then Kusakabe snapped from his days, he looked at the tactical map and saw the survivors.
"Sent the survivors and the reserves forward, we must crush Zero before he counterattacks!" Kusakabe shouted in panic.
"Commander, this situation is unsalvageable! Even if we defeat him, we cannot hold the beaches against Cornelia as was our original intention, we are now trying to save this army by moving it towards Kagoshima!" General Frederick said eying Kusakabe.
Kusakabe then looked at his surrounding and saw that all the generals were eying him with malice in their eyes "No…No…Not when I am so close to revenge! The heavens are with me, the angel they sent called V.V who gave me this holy power is proof of that! The rain was also a sign from the heavens….It cannot end like so….I WILL NOT LET IT END LIKE SO" Kusakabe screamed to himself in his head and then pulled out the gun and pointed it at General Frederick.
His hand was shacking and there was a look of insanity within his eyes.
"We will not run, we will fight AND WE WILL KILL ZERO!" Kusakabe said as he pointed the gun at Frederick.
Frederick calmly raised his arms and with a soothing voice said:
"Field Marshall Kusakabe, we cannot win here and if we attack what is left off our men will be all butchered so it would be wise to….."
"I DON'T CARE IF THEY ALL DIE, I DON'T CARE IF WE WIN OR LOOSE THIS WAR! ALL THAT MATTERS IS THE DEATH OF ZERO! DO YOU HEAR ME! THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS!" Kusakabe screamed like a madman.
He then took a deep breath, and with a madman's tremble in his voice said:
"Tell the men to attack Zero!" he saw that General Frederick did not comply so he cocked the gun and said it once more "Tell the men to attack Zero!" he was about to fire when a chair hit him from behind knocking him unconscious.
Frederick looked and saw that it was General Tsao who did it.
"I thank you General for your assistance!" Frederick said with a smile
"It was my pleasure!" Tsao replied with a wide grin.
"What about him?" Frederick said and he gestured to Sawasaki.
Tsao looked at him and saw that he was still in shock from the settlements' collapse, and was not aware of what had transpired here.
"Leave him, he's not even present here" Tsao replied.
"Take Kusakabe to the emergency evacuation jet from within the pyramid, the eunuchs will want someone to blame for this disaster and they will have him!" Tsao said and his orders were carried out and the staff present returned to their duties as if nothing of which what had transgressed had ever happened.
He then picked up the radio and was prepared to issue the orders for the survivors to withdraw and the necessary troop deployment for a retreat to Kagoshima, when a voice was heard which would signal their end, he looked towards the city and saw shapes appearing in the dust that was settling down.
"HEAR ME FORCES OF CHINA AND EUROPE, I AM….ZERO!" Lelouch said and the wind carried those demonic words from the loudspeakers and towards what was left of Tsao's army.
(Slayers military base)
"He won didn't he? War's over now isn't it?"Tamaki asked around curiously.
"Not necessarily! How a commander exploits a victory is as important and gaining that victory!" Todoh replied to Tamaki's question.
"What do you mean Todoh-san?" Ohgi asked curious.
"Lelouch's actions have tipped the scale in his favor; however the enemy has three knightmare corps who weren't in the Concession when it collapsed so the battle still hangs in the balance" Todoh answered.
"Also if Sawasaki manages to withdraw successfully he will be able to receive replacement knightmares from China and the E.U, making Lelouch's victory worthless!" Kaguya added.
"Ohhh! Man, Zero has it rough!...I feel sorry for the guy!" Tamaki replied.
"Zero up until now has only used his cannons and long range rifled knightmares in skirmish against the enemy, his troops and knightmares will stop skirmishing and begin the real battle only now…..only now will we truly se the 'Iron Prince's power. Kallen said in her mind.
Just then as the dust started to settle, you could see shapes appearing from the Fukuoka government concession and then a demonic voice flooded the airways.
"HEAR ME FORCES OF CHINA AND EUROPE, I AM….ZERO!" Lelouch said and the Slayers held their breaths in anticipation at what was about to follow.
(Fukuoka city, Lelouch's position)
"HEAR ME FORCES OF CHINA AND EUROPE, I AM….ZERO!" Lelouch said and the dust settled and him and his knightmares shape was revealed, the shape of the Colgrevance Shinkiro became visible (Authors note: it's basically the same Shinkiro that was seen within the series, but the major difference is that it has a round black Spartan shield with the symbol of the Black Knights on it and on its left arm and a yellow bladed , black handle thracian falx within its right arm.
"I AM A LEADER OF MEN, I HAVE WORKED HARD TO ENSURE THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN HAD A ROOF OVER THEIR HEAD, PROPER FOOD ON THE TABLE, CLOSE ON THERE BACK AND A FUTURE FOR THEIR CHILDREN….BUT YOU!... YOU HORDES OF CHINA AND LEGIONS OF EUROPE HAVE COME HERE RAISING A FALSE FLAG OF EVEN FALSER FREEDOM TO BRING WAR TO THESE LANDS WHICH I HAD WORKED SO HARD TO HEAL, DESTRUCTION TO THE CITIES I PUT SO MUCH EFFORT INTO REBUILDING, AND DEATH AND MISERY TO THE PEOPLE WHICH WITH ALL MY HEART I TRIED TO IMPROVE THERE LIVES AND MAKE THEM HAPPY…YOU HAVE COME HERE TO BURN, PILAGE, STEAL, RAPE AND KILL….BUT THE ONLY RECEPTION YOU WILL RECEIVE WILL BE THAT OF IRON SWORDS AND LEAD SHOTS, JEREMIAH NOW! " Lelouch said over a pair of powerful speakers.
"Yes my lord! AL HAIL LELOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH!" Jeremiah shouted as he piloted the Siegfried from its cover within the unsettled dust and towards the Knightmare which survived the collapse.
"Feel the power of the Black Knights! Feel the power of the Iron Prince!" Jeremiah shouted towards his enemy, and he activated the Siegfried's rotation system and he went through the surviving enemy frames like the sharp blades of grass cutter through a patch of grass, mowing them down.
"Alright! Good Job Jeremiah, now take command of the helicopters and fighter jets and together with the Siegfried destroy the enemies air power, Kewell, Viletta, Suzaku ,George and Omar with myself will take the knightmares and tanks and infantry we have and attack the two surviving knightmare corps to the west, Odysseus use your artillery to prevent the knightmare corps to the east from attacking our rear flank!" Lelouch ordered.
"Yes sir!" the above mentioned officers said and they began to carry out the orders.
The army shouted "Awhoooooooooo!" as it advanced which terrified the Chinese and Europeans, history would call this the first time the 'Black Battle Cry' was heard.
The 42nd knightmares and tanks charged forward through the path created by Jeremiah's Siegfried, they were in a giant wedge formation with Lelouch at its tip, Suzaku, George and Omar at his right and Viletta and Kewell to his left.
The enemy infantry which survived the collapse was not sparred by capture from Lelouch own infantry, and after a few moments the 42nd's heavy armor hit the two remaining armored corps like a tidal wave hits the sand grains of a beach.
(Tokyo settlement, outside Schneizell's office)
Despite the fact that Schneizell was outside he heard everything that transpired between Euphie and Suzaku, since he had his office bugged.
To be hones to himself he thought that Euphie's choice for a boyfriend was…decent so say the least!
Schneizell was not a racist, he saw that talent can come from almost anywhere and racism was stupid, plain and simple.
Suzaku was a West Point graduate, he was a strong and loyal knight of the empire, he was good friends to Lelouch and he was a hero to a portion of his people, if he had been born a brittannian Schneizell had no doubt that they would be engaged by now or even married.
"Marriage huh?... Well it would ensure his loyalty to the royal family, and the children produce by such a union would surely be either mighty warriors or great leaders, when you consider who their potential parents are!" Schneizell said in his mind, but his small game of playing matchmaker was interrupted by recent news of Fukuoka brought to him by Cannon.
"Lelouch really did all that?" Schneizell asked eyes wide in surprise at what he just heard.
"Yes sir! With that trap we estimate that he has killed almost 300.000 enemy soldiers and 90% of their infantry, the battle now is entering its final phase" Cannon replied.
At this Schneizell smiled and walked away.
"Were you going my lord?" Bartley asked.
"To bed Bartley, the battle is already over, Lelouch will win, so I suggest you do the same and go get some rest, and we will have a busy day tomorrow!" Schneizell said and went to his room.
(Fukuoka city)
The final battle began and this brought Sawasaki from his dazed state and he witnessed the onslaught.
Suzaku stabbed on knightmare in the chest with the MASSER sword in his right arm and then activated the shield within his left arm and hit a second one from downward up smashing it to pieces, and he kept the shield activated and continued fighting like a Spartan warrior.
He advanced forward like single plow through a field of snow, Lelouch and the rest of the knightmares followed behind him, cutting down whatever frames escaped his blade.
Suzaku stabbed another knightmare and it collapsed to the ground, a Gun Ru charged him and landed on his energy shield,he used his shield to throw him over his back, he passed two more Gun Rus when a Panzer jumped at him, he blocked the Panzers strike with his shield and moved one, letting his comrades finish it, he then stabbed another Panzer which was in front of him right between the legs, cutting it in two and it fell to the ground, a Gun Ru charged him and tried to hit him with a blow from above, but he blocked it with his shield, spun around to the left and sliced a second Gun Ru which was behind the first with his sword, he raised his sword, moved it upwards and back to the left, and arched his body accordingly, and then swung his sword like a baseball bat and sliced in half two enemy frames, a third frame tried to cut him, but he blocked the blow with his shield and sliced both legs of the third frame.
Suzaku then saw that the next wave of enemy's was a few feet away and hurled his sword against one of them and hit one Panzer in the neck area, the Panzer falling down from the force of the blow dragged down with him to the ground another panzer which was to close enough to the first.
Suzaku quickly recovered his blade, he saw that a Gun Ru charged him, so he crouched down, covered himself with his shield and rolled the enemy knightmare over him, it fell behind him were Lelouch finished him off with a blow from his falx.
A Panzer then jumped in front of him and tried to crush him, but Suzaku stopped, let him land in front of him, blocked a blow from his right arm and cut off his left arm, the force of Suzaku's blade made the enemy frame fall forward and into the ground.
With his right arm moved to the left he then quickly swung it to the right slicing in half a Gun RU which was in front of him and he continued his advance with the others close behind.
Another Panzer this time tried to stab him with his arms right bayonet, but he deflected the blow with his sword, rolled his body to the left again and smashed an advancing Panzer with his energy shield.
He then swung his sword to the right and sliced from behind a Gun Ru which was to his right side, a second Gun Ru came up from behind the first and Suzaku blocked his blow with his sword, leaned slightly to the left and then cut off the second Gun Ru's right leg making it crash to the ground.
A third Gun Ru came up from behind the second and Suzaku swung his body around once more and smashed it with his shield.
Just then Lelouch block a blow from a Panzer and cut off its head, he then saw that half of the knightmare from the western Corps had been destroyed, and the other half were 100 meters away, he quickly ordered his men to advance upon the remaining half.
(Xingke position, eastern part of the city)
Xingke was moving his forces around the south of the city, so they could participate in the battle and help their allies, but unfortunately for him Odysseus's artillery was doing a great job in depleting their numbers and slowing down their advance.
Just then a transmission was received for Xingke.
"General Li stop your current movements at once and get move your army back to Saga province for evacuation" General Tsao ordered.
"But sir we cannot abandon the main army like this!" Li protested.
"The main army is already lost! Zero has destroyed the surviving knightmares from the collapse and has cut down half of the knightmares of the two remaining corps…it's only a matter of time before the destroys what's left..so you see this army is now lost! Your army is the only one which can now escape 'The Iron Prince' , also….also you are a good leader Li….you shouldn't have to pay the price for Kusakabe's idiocy, and we will need all the good men we have after this disaster! I will stay here and try to buy you some time, so you can escape!" Tsao replied.
That made Li eyes grow wide in admiration, despite general Tsao being from a noble family and a supporter of the Eunuchs, which meant he would one day be Li's enemy, Li could tell he was a good an honorable man.
"Understood! And general….It has been an honor serving under your command!" Li replied and he was sincere, and he then led his men back to Saga prefecture for evacuation, but as he went he looked back towards general Tsao position in regret that he had to abandon such a man to the enemy.
(General Tsao's command pyramid)
"Zero, you claim you are a friend of the Japanese people, why are you fighting to prevent them a better future!" Sawasaki said over the comm.'s desperately trying to persuade him to stop.
"Prevent them a better future? I have rebuilt their homes, gave them back their livelihood and am working against the number system; all you have done was bring meaningless destruction and death to these lands." Lelouch calmly replied, unfazed by Sawasaki's comments and he hurled his shield at one Panzer disabling it, the shield had a cable attached to it, so Lelouch brought the shield back to his grip
"Meaningless! I'm doing this for Japan's sake!" Sawasaki angrily replied.
"Sawasaki-san, why did you escape to the Chinese Federation if you are doing it for Japan's sake? You should have stayed for the sake of everyone!" Suzaku asked him accusingly.
"You brat!" Sawasaki yelled out in frustration and anger.
Tsao had just got off the phone with Xingke and he saw on the tactical map that the assault on the remaining half of their knightmares had begun.
"General Frederick, you and your staff should evacuate and leave immediately!" Tsao advised him.
"What! We cannot abandon you like this General Tsao, come with us! You are not responsible for this disaster" Frederick protested.
"I cannot! The army which will inevitably be captured are my soldiers, and a true commander dies with his men! But you! You general have seen Lelouch and know just how big of a threat he is, journey back to your country and warn them, do not worry about me! I am a high ranking general, my country will pay a ransom and I will go free! Also I know it's a burden but could you take Sawasaki and Kusakabe back to China on your way to Europe?" Tsao replied.
"Yes sir….God be with you General!" Frederick replied and saluted the other officers present did the same and they left and fulfilled Tsao request.
Alone now in the command center, Tsao looked out and saw that the knightmares had been almost entirely destroyed.
He picked up a radio transmitter and broadcasted.
"This is general Tsao! I…..surrender!" to the enemy in front of him, but he also secretly broadcasted a retreat order to the infantry which were not engaged hoping that as many as possible will teach Saga.
He then moved toward the screen and watched as the enemy cheered their victory.
"A true soldier looks death and defeat in the eye when it comes to claim him!...We could have bypassed the city, defeated Cornelia and even win the war!...We had superior forces, but we also had Kusakabe with us….." Tsao mentally lamented to himself as he watched the approaching Sutherlands
(Sword of Akasha)
"Ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa! He did it, he actually did it!"Charles laughed with pride and joy at his son's accomplishments.
He then quickly continued to view the monitor and waited for the grand finally.
(Outside general Tsao's command pyramid)
Patton and his battalion were using the same Spartan fighting technique that Suzaku had employed and were turning the remaining knightmares into mince meat.
Patton had pinned a Panzer to the ground, placed his foot over the knightmares torso and the with one slash of his sword cut off both heads.
A second Panzer charged him and tried to slash his head with his bayonet, but George ducked and sliced the Panzer across his torso, a Gun Ru then came from behind, he quickly turned and blocked the blow with the energy shield on his left arm and slashed the knightmares chest cutting it in two and making it fall to the ground.
A second Gun Ru came at him and tried to hit his head, but he ducked, went past the second knightmare and stabbed a third Gun Ru which was behind the second, he then turned around and stabbed the above mentioned second Gun Ru as to tried to attack George from behind.
A Panzer then came from his left side, he turned , dodged its bullets and sliced of one of its heads, disabling it, a second panzer came from behind the one he disabled, tried to slash Patton, he blocked the blow with his shield, and then rotated his body backwards and to the left ,and he cut off both heads with a slash from behind the Panzer.
A Gun Ru then attacked him from his right side, George blocked the blow with his shield, he then tried to slash the Gun Ru's head, but surprisingly the pilot managed to duck down and avoid the blow, the enemy knightmare then got up, tried a forward stab into George's head, but George sliced off its arm as it tried to do so, and then finished the frame with a stab in the head.
A second Gun Ru came from in front of him, it tried to shoot at him, but George ducked and sliced off its legs, he then got back on his feet, jumped a little up and sliced a second Gun Ru in half, from the left came fire from a Panzer but he blocked it with his shield and slashed it across the torso destroying it.
George noticed that he was now back to back with Omar.
"You still here?"George jokingly asked Omar.
"Somebody's got to watch your back!" Omar replied, enemy knightmares attacked them again and both of them went to confront them.
"Not know I'm a little busy!" George replied and he slashed an enemy frame.
One Gun Ru came at Omar, he slashed it with his sword severing it in half, a second frame came at Omar's right, he stabbed it in the head making it collapse, behind him, George ducked to dodge a slash from a Panzer and he stabbed it in the stomach forcing the pilot to eject.
Another Panzer then came for Omar, but he blocked the blow with his shield and slashed it with his sword, behind him George also slashed a Gun Ru to his right, and smashed the head of a Panzer with his energy shield.
The finished the knightmares that were around them and both charged another group of enemies, they both blocked their respective foes blows, with their shields, both then turned their bodies 360 degrees around and slashed their opponents which exploded upon impact.
Just then George looked and Omar and saw an Gun Ru about to hit him from behind, Omar saw the same thing was about to happen to George from a Panzer , so both men threw their swords at the opponents behind their comrade and both the Gun Ru and the Panzer exploded.
The enemy was dead.
"I got more than you did!" George said suddenly to Omar.
"Says who!" Omar replied, just then they noticed that the enemy knightmare survivors had gathered into a semicircle around the pyramid, there were about 17-20 enemy frames remaining, the ones which Suzaku , George and Omar Didn't get were killed by the other Sutherlands.
"Well Brad, the only way to settle this is with a sudden-death round!" George said and both himself and Bradley marched towards what remained of the enemy frames.
Only to be stooped by what looked like an evacuation helicopter that suddenly exited the pyramid and left the battlefield, jus then the voice of Tsao was heard.
"This is general Tsao! I…..surrender!" and at this Lelouch poped open the top of his frames cockpit, raised himself to a standing position and said:
"Gentleman, the day is ours!" at which his warriors replied with cheers and hurrahs at their great victory.
Just then George came up to Lelouch and said:
"Sir, I have just detected a secret order to the enemy infantry which is around us, Tsao has told them to make a run for Saga!".
"I see, take 250 frames and prevent that!" Lelouch said to George which caught him off guard.
"Well what are you waiting for? Hurled your wolves at them and round all the sheep…now go on, go on, they won't stand!" Lelouch said to George.
"Y-Yes sir! All knightmare batallions except Lancelot Squadron and Royal guards, this is Major Patton, we have order to round up the enemy infantry which is escaping…let's get them boys! Awhooooooooooooo!" George shouted and he charged to catch them like a real wolf charges after defenseless sheep.
Lelouch, victory was now complete, but the night was not yet over!
Authors note:
Read and review, let me know if I should continue?