The first part of this was meant to make up the last part of the previous chapter but got moved thanks to the word limit. Either way, this would mark the end of the first act, and because of all the stuff that needs to happen, this chapter will be 9k instead of the 6k limit. I will not make a habit of this, so enjoy.

Chapter 8: Sword of Damocles Strikes

With the F.L.E.I.J.A. on their right flank, their battle line nearly crumbled with only their numbers and the determination of their troops to maintain some level of order. But as Xingke observed their lines, he ground his teeth as he could tell they were being pressed. With Schneizel's forces boasting those modified float ships, they were starting to make good progress, with only the center, where Kallen was, remaining stable.

'Our left line is being cut to pieces!'

'Right line is holding, but only barely!' He listened to the controllers as they relayed information, looking at Minami and Xianglin, giving both a nob before he turned to the rest of them, standing up as he did so.

'I'll be taking to the field; prep the Shen-hu immediately, have our forces scatter, no large groups!' He ordered them, they couldn't stop Schneizel from firing them, but they could prevent him from having suitable targets. As he walked out, their forces scattering gave them a clear shot at the fortress.

'We have a clear shot at the Damocles!' Minami thought about it for a moment, thinking of Lady Kaguya, who was undoubtedly held captive inside the thing, but he hardened his resolve.

'Charge up Bow mounted hadron cannon!' He ordered, getting a frantic, enraged look from his fellow officer before the Chinese woman calmed herself, hoping that they wouldn't destroy it in a single shot; damaging it would be the best solution. With this mindset, they started to prep the hadron cannon for fire as its massive weapons began to charge up.

'Target locked.' They aimed for the upper portion of the Damocles, betting that the essential propulsion and other facilities were closer to the bottom.

'Gefjun controls synced.' The ominous red energy started to build as the few remaining troops they had in the firing line fled, all knowing the power that the Ikaruga could dish out.

'Cannons charged and ready to fire. Fire!' The duel beams of hadron energy shot out, burning through the sky with a terrifying roar as many of Schneizel's knightmares were caught in the blast, being reduced to dust and debris in mere seconds. As they traveled towards the Damocles faster than most could even react, instead of slamming into the finely built exterior of the fortress, the duel blasts crashed into a familiar green barrier, one far larger and thicker than anything they'd seen before. Xianglin waited for all systems to hit green before she sent a silent prayer to the heavens for the empress to survive.

Tohdoh, having seen this, paused in his ferocious duel with Suzaku. 'What!' His machine was damaged, and its pilot sweating from the intensity of the battle as the Lancelot pulled back, an air of boredom coming from it.

'Sky Fortress Damocles was designed to achieve absolute aerial supremacy. While it lacks weapons as powerful as the hadron cannons, it was equipped with hundreds of blaze luminous shield generators, creating many layers of overlapping shields.' He explained to his former teacher, looking towards the fortress momentarily before his gaze returned to the opponent before him. 'It's a defense that not even the Shinkiro could hope to match. You can't win, Tohdoh, surrender.' He wasn't sure he would be allowed to live, but it would save him the energy to kill him now, more so because this battle wasn't' as engaging as he had hoped.

'Suzaku!' Tohdoh, predictable, acted as he charged the Albion, his massive blade coming in to strike him only to be blocked by a blaze luminous. 'You turned your back on your country to climb your way through the ranks, I will never accept that, but I could understand your goals.' He told him, his machine's one eye seemingly glaring at him with the same disappointment as its pilot. Still, Suzaku was far too gone to care for it anymore. The two broke off, getting right back into it as they flew around the area; Suzaku maintaining the upper hand as little by little, he chipped away at the Zangetsu.

Tohdoh, seeing this, tried to buy himself some time as he saw the continued flow of error and warning messages as he pushed his ever-weakening machine to push its limits. 'So why side with Schneizel? Why plunge the world into further chaos? What do you hope to gain from this madness?' Suzaku was silent for a bit as they once more locked blades, the battle around them lighting up the skies with explosions, gunfire, and the small struggles of hundreds of knightmares clashing like armies of old.

'A free Japan,' Tohdoh snarled when he heard the response, from how Suzaku stated it like it was a fact to how he would dare say such a thing after all he had done, all he hoped to do.

'Japan was already free; we have gained its freedom; what you're doing is only going put it back into shackles, along with the rest of the world! Don't make me laugh, boy!' For once, Tohdoh won the blade lock, gaining some ground against the Albion as he swung his blade with more speed and strength than before, his desire to kill his student stronger. The Albion once more blocked his strike, but the power behind it forced it back inside its cockpit. Suzaku was calm as he observed his opponent.

'And in that future, there'll be no more war or conflict. Peace will reign, and if it needs to be enforced through fear, so be it.' He enlarged his energy wings and fired on Tohdoh, forcing him to pull back as the bolts of blaze luminous energy smashed into around a dozen black knights and loyalist knightmares, even damaging one of their small ships.

Keeping up this barrage, Tohdoh saw that he couldn't get in close to attack again as all around him, he was forced to watch as allies died by the dozens from Suzaku's attack. 'Your peace is a false reality!'

'Tohdoh, it's time that I carried out your execution.' Suzaku replied. Having grown tired of this duel with his former teacher, he decided it was time to end things as he halted his energy wing barrage. Gripping his controls with a little more strength, he dashed towards the Zangetsu, far faster than he had before, finally showing off the actual difference in performance between a 7th-gen machine and a 9th. He started as she sped past his teacher, appearing above it as he shot right for him. Before Tohdoh could even respond to this burst of speed, Suzaku fired a single shot from his Super V.A.R.I.S. rifle, not aimed at the machine but its primary weapon.

The blast destroyed the hand holding into the Brake-Sword, and the handle for the massive blade. A moment after this, two of Lancelot's slash harkens came down on the machine like hammers, piercing into its mid-section and right shoulder, pulling it closer to the Lancelot, which swiftly impaled the unit through its chest-and cockpit on its red M.V.S. sword.

'For what it is worth, I do not hate you, merely pity you for this pointless death.' Suzaku didn't know if he was still alive, but he felt he owed him that much. Inside the ruined cockpit, Tohdoh could feel himself slipping away, even if he couldn't feel any pain thanks to the sensory overload from the blade that had near bisected him in two from the stomach down. As he looked at the sole functional monitor towards the Lancelot, he didn't know what he expected to see, a sense of guilt, perverse joy, victory maybe, but as he looked at the machine controlled a boy he had known and trained, he didn't sense anything from him. He could hear reinforcements on the coms, being led by his sole remaining sword, Chi…Nagisa.

He cracked a broken smile at that, having known about her feelings for him for years after Urabe accidentally spilled the beans once. Still, now he'll never be able to tell her anything else, what he felt, what he wanted…what they could have had. As the silent abyss started to take him, he could only feel shame at the fact he'll be facing all his fallen comrades and not being able to tell them he brought meaning to their deaths, that Japan was free at long last, and the dread as he looked towards the Damocles, thinking of its master and how he played them. Lelouch was a manipulative demon…but he was also their best chance at fighting his brother-at stopping this. How foolish of them to have been tricked into thinking he was a lesser evil when he was merely a beast that could mask its wickedness behind charismatic words and fake sympathy.

Kyoshiro Tohdoh, Tohdoh, the Miracle worker, felt these feelings of shame and dread before he breathed his last. In the same few moments, Suzaku didn't say anymore as he retracted his slash harkens, letting the weight of the now defeated frame slide off his blade, specks of blood on the metal as the Zangetsu silently fell for a few moments before it exploded, joining the hundreds of others that had lost.

There was a pause amongst the Black Knights at this as they saw one of their greatest meets his end. And with their Miracle worker, their morale began to plummet at the same time that Schneizel's forces started to create holes in the right and left flanks, allowing them to flank their center, increasing the strain on the coalition forces. But while many began to give in to fear and despair, others gave in to anger. 'Kyoshiro!' He turned to a large group of Akatsuki and Vincents heading towards him, led by one Akatsuki Command Model he recognized. Inside that same machine, Chiba teared up from losing her dear commander and the rage at seeing the man who killed him. 'Kill him, don't let him escape!' She fired her last

'Is this a joke?' He felt his brow twitch at the insolence of these fools. Did they really think they could do what Tohdoh could not? He didn't even bother to entertain their delusions as he vanished again, appearing in front of a Vincent, which he blew to pieces with a single shot, the blast powerful enough to punch through the target and the knightmare behind it. After that, he went on a rampage, cutting down their number faster than most could even react, filling their airwaves with confusion, panic, and fear as the White Reaper tore through them like a hot knife through butter. 'You should have stayed back.' He told Nagisa, having saved her for last, he kicked her back, she had managed to block the strike, just barely, but the force behind it still destroyed her unit's sword-carrying arm; before he could end her as well, he was forced to turn to face a new threat.

Coming towards him was a familiar Grey and purple knightmare. 'Kururugi!' Guilford called out as he rushed him, his spear meeting the Lancelot's Sword as he forced him back from the damaged Akatsuki, saving Nagisa's life. Inside the Britannian machine, though, Guilford focused on something other than that. Instead, he kept his full attention on his fellow knight of honor. 'Why do this, any of this?' He pulled back before Suzaku could fire his super V.A.R.I.S. at him, activating his shields to defend him from it as he started to dash around, never staying still to keep Suzaku guessing.

'I already explained this to Tohdoh-' He started, but Guilford cut him off.

'Not that,' He hadn't heard what he told his mentor, and he didn't care for it. He was here for other reasons. 'If you have betrayed us, then why warn me about the attack on the capital? Why save us?' All this chaos, all this death. If he was against them, why bother saving them when he must have known they would never side with this? He hoped there was a reason for it, one that gave him even the slightest hope that he wasn't too far gone, that he could be reasoned with. Still, those hopes were dashed when Suzaku replied, his tone frigid and straight to the point like a machine.

'It was done to honor my princess's memory by saving her sister, despite her hands being as bloodstained as my own. Consider it my last act of honor.' He replied, sparing a glance at the pin he kept on his suit before he returned his gaze towards Guilford, firing off another blast from his blaze luminous wings, which the Vincent blocked with its own shields.

With Guilford, his rage only built at that response, so much so that he nearly ignored the warning he was getting about the strain on his shields as he moved out of the line of fire, attacking from above as he engaged the Lancelot in a high-speed melee, using his experience to keep up with the superior machine. 'You did it for Princess Euphemia yet side with this madness? She would have never wanted this, any of this!' He raged at him.

'You're right, she wouldn't have wanted this, she would hate this,' Suzaku said, a little remorse and guilt slipping into his voice as he fought against the Vincent, but before it could continue, that was strangled in the crib as Suzaku returned to his cold rage. 'Hate me, but the dead have no say on the actions of the living.' He finished. Unknown to him, he was quoting the words of his most hated enemy. He continued to fight against him, even holding his own when Nagisa tried to enter the fight, firing from a distance. But like with his other opponents, this proves to be too little to stop him. In a quick strike, he disarmed the Vincent and would have finished him himself, but pulled back when he noted a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead coming in hot.

All three managed to avoid the blast, but the Vincent and Akatsuki came out far worse for wear, with Guilford's machine losing both legs in the explosion. In contrast, the Akatsuki lost its head when one of the other machines slammed into it while being sucked into the void created by the F.L.E.I.J.A. explosions. The damaged and battered machines barely remained airborne. At the same time, the Lancelot pulled back to defend Damocles, hoping he'll get someone else worth his time.

Away from the battle, in Tokyo Settlement, they could feel the effects of it raging in the distance. Not in tremours or the sounds of explosions but in the change in weather as the extreme changes to the atmosphere caused by the detonation of so many F.L.E.I.J.A. caused the local temperature to drop, producing snow in July of all times. This unexpected weather event caused major disruptions as people tried to go about their lives, hoping things would remain normal.

However, some chose to stay inside, with two people, in particular, choosing to hunker down at Ashford, which had opened its doors to the masses in these uncertain times, though the gym area was still sealed off, the blood stains not yet cleaned away. 'Hey, Rivalz.' The downtrodden teen looked up to his friend and former classmate as she gazed out the window at the snow-covered school grounds.

'What's up, prez?' He asked, placing the yearbook he had been looking at down, wondering how much of their lives and memories of Ashford had been altered or deleted.

'It's crazy, isn't it? When you think about it, our student council had some of the most influential people in the world in it, and now two of them are off fighting for the fate of the entire world.' Milly said, her smile anything but happy as she couldn't stop thinking about it. How crazy it was that their little group would contain so many people, from two royals, the Knight of Round, a world-renowned scientist, and an international terrorist.

'Is that some kind of joke? Because I am the normal one that couldn't protect Nina, right?' Rivalz's mood didn't lift as he looked at his mirror in the corner, one that showed that his face was still beaten up from his failed attempt to save Nina, a thick bandage keeping his broken nose in place while it healed.

'It wasn't, and you did your very best. They wouldn't have given you the shiner otherwise.'

'But I wasn't…If I could have only-' Milly moved to him, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him down before he broke down further than he did when he finally managed to contact her to tell her the bad news.

'You went far and beyond, Rivalz, and if Nunna was still with us, she'd be telling you the same thing.' She told him. Her mind was clear on that, as it had been since she started remembering things as they were, not as they seemed. Neither she nor Rivalz knew how they recalled things, only that they were seated in their council room the previous day, and just like that, it was like a trance had been broken. Neither really knew what to make of it, from how they met the emperor who just appeared at Ashford one day to his strange power that messed with their heads or how for some reason, Nunnally was replaced with Rolo, if that was his real name.

'Yeah…she world.' Lucky for her, Rivalz didn't pick up on her mental turmoil over all the crazy; he was dealing with enough of his own as he looked back at the photo album, at the memories they and the rest had made…memories that had been altered. 'When did things become so messed up, prez? When did we all get roped into this madhouse? Why did…why did we forget?' He asked as in every image, Nunnally was gone, replaced with that Rolo guy.

'We were forced to because there were some things that others decided we didn't need to know.' Milly replied she knew more about court life than him, having been born into it-but this went far beyond it. She didn't know what the emperor and Suzaku were trying to accomplish, and she was afraid she wouldn't like it if she did.

'And Suzaku was right there the entire time. What a friend he turned out to be,' Rivalz, in a rare burst of anger, threw the book of lies aside, holding his head in his hands. 'But what do I know? I have a terrible track record at picking them.'

As the fight continued to rage back on the battlefield, Suzaku watched it all with a critical eye, his arms folded as his unit received a new energy filler. Things were looking good for them, as Kallen was in check with only the Guren maintaining the enemy center. Their flanks were in a far worse state than an F.l.E.I.J.A. to the right side had destroyed around a third of the forces that Cornelia had there, forcing the remainder back. 'Looks like they're starting to fall apart.'

'Looks that way, my lord.' The Vincent that had just finished loading his new energy filler replied, his screens displaying his power pulling back to a 100%

'Status on the Damocles.' He asked, sparing a glance at the fortress as it continued to ascend, forcing the battle to climb with it.

'Everything is proceeding as Lord Schneizel planned. It's already broken the 60,000ft boundary and will soon reach the 70,000ft one.' He nodded at that. If they reach 80,000ft, they'll be able to shake off most of them, knightmares included.

'Dammit, at this rate…' Cornelia felt her rage increasing as she looked at the reports of her forces falling like flies; even their massive ships couldn't penetrate Schneizel's lines now that they had reformed. And with Damocles ascending, it didn't take a genius to figure out he was just buying time. 'Continue to have units charged at the F.L.E.I.J.A.!' She near bit her tongue as she spoke. Still, she was no stranger to such demands, but the soldiers under her were horrified as they turned to her.

'But, your majesty-' She didn't care for the morality of sending dozens to die. It was their only play; if they allowed their damned warheads to get any closer to them, they'd lose hundreds, something they can't afford after losing 7,500 and countless knightmares.

'Did I stutter? Do it!' Her glare silenced any opposition as her orders were relayed to the troops, who thankfully understood the situation and didn't question them. One of those troops was the last remaining Knight of Round in service, but Gino wasn't in any place to ask them as he fought through what felt like an endless horde.

He avoided the frankly, slow assault from the sunderlands before he slammed his slash harkens together, creating his signature energy beam that destroyed 6 of the 8 sunderlands. Still, even before the smoke cleared, he had to avoid fire from one of the traitorous Logres class, which tried to destroy him with its hadron cannon. This gave time for another 9 Sunderlands and 5 Gloucesters to move in to engage him. 'Dammit! We must end this quickly before that thing ascends higher than we can.' He ground his teeth as he transformed into fortress mode to avoid the intensified assault, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

'The Lancelot…!' His eyes widened at the sight of their 2nd greatest obstacle, at the man that even cut down his mentor. More than that, he was the last person that saw Anya, and he claimed she was okay if he had been working with Schneizel for as long as he had…

'Another F.L.E.I.J.A…' Kallen despaired as she looked on, seeing that another blast tore through their forces. 'It just keeps rising; how far does he intend to go?' She barely had to pay attention now as she blitzed through Schneizel's forces, a full-powered blast from her R.W.S. piercing the shields on one of the Caerleon-class, sending it crashing down to earth in flames.

The only silver lining, if it could even be called that, was that Cornelia's orders were carried out without hesitation as a few Vincents had charged it, forcing it to detonate early, which saved hundreds.

'I assume he's trying to escape your flight ceiling; even the Guren can't ascend above 85,000ft. from there, he could rain down those F.L.E.I.J.A.s on our heads without restraint.' Rakshata replied over her comms, the Indian scientist looking over the data as it came in.

'So we need to stop him before then, but how? Our hadrons couldn't pierce their shields.' Ohgi asked, the man feeling helpless as they had fired on the thing 3 more times with the hadron, only for those damn shields to protect Damocles each time.

'Perhaps a concentrated strike at multiple points that forces their shields to overwork themselves.' Rakshata theorized.

'Alright, great, but what do we have with that firepower? Besides the Guren's Radiant Wave surger, Kallen can't do it alone.' Minami asked the obvious question as a Gareth crashed into the Ikaruga's shields.

'Minami! Pull back.' Kallen, thinking of a quick plan, ordered them back.

'We can't. We need to stop that thing!' Ohgi told her the man was scared for her life and for a good reason, but this wasn't the time.

'The Ikaruga can't survive a direct hit from those things. You need to fall back and act as fire support.' She told him as while the Guren wasn't any less armored, it was a smaller target and far nimbler.

'She's right. We'll also send in reinforcements,' Xianglin replied, hating what they were doing, especially when the empress was still in danger. Lord Xingke was in the thick of this madness. 'Hopefully, 'we'll exhaust their supply of warheads.' It was a cruel thought, but Cornelia had the right idea. Their only hope was to exhaust the enemy's supply of warheads or force them to stop firing them while they tried to penetrate those shields. Even if a single machine could get through them, it could do enough damage to force a surrender, as Schneizel wouldn't have any means of escaping.

'…Right.' Kallen replied, closing the channel as she focused on the battle, her emotions running high as she watched as more enemies approached her, trying to keep her busy. At the same time, they continued to kill her comrades. 'Dammit, why did it all have to go this way?' She asked them, at first softly as he danced around the enemy knightmare, faster than any could react as she destroyed them one by one.

As the last one fell, a gareth tried to sneak up on her, but she noticed it coming simultaneously as her rage spilled over. 'Why are you fighting!' She demanded of them, but none replied, not that she'll care as she dodged the blast and used her slash harkens to tear the unit to shreds before she went on the rampage, reducing dozens of units to scarp, with few pilots managing to eject from their frames before her claws, slash harkens, or the power of the R.W.S. could finish them off. As she shot through the sky like a red comet, wrecking shop, she paused to look up at the damned white knightmare that had been a thorn in her side since Shinjuku, and with that image, her rage only grew.

'Suzaku, I promise you'll pay for this, for all of it!' She shot towards it, blasting right through a Logres class in her way, piercing through its underbelly and exploding out of the top like a bat out of hell.

'Kallen, the Tristan's moving to engage the Lancelot. We need to help him before he's killed.' She didn't need to be told; she was already on her way.

'I'm on it.' 'Out of my way…' she replied, her gaze landing on a small unit of Vincents and Gareths that flew to oppose her. She wouldn't let them stop her, and she'll show them the hell that was her fury with a mere few moments of her time.

'Suzaku!' Suzaku turned to the new threat, quickly grabbing the Tristen slash harken in his hands.

'Guilford, I was expecting, but I'm surprised you're still alive, Gino.' He replied, breaking the slash harken in two and tossing the broken pieces aside, forcing Gino to detach the cable connected to one of them as he transformed back into knightmare mode, pulling out his polearm M.V.S.

'I have a guardian angel watching over me,' He replied as his weapon clashed with the Lancelot's, the two former comrades looking eyes. 'Though I gotta say that it's a shame she watches over only me.' He added as he broke off, remembering that the Lancelot Albion was a far superior machine to his own. He couldn't fight him like he would others.

'What?' Suzaku didn't seem all that interested in this.

'Was she your first target? Did she find out about your betrayal, so you silenced her?' Gino demanded of him, jumping back in to attack. Still, the Lancelot moved out of the way, pulling its super V.A.R.I.S. out and shooting at him, forcing him to avoid the shots, some of which came close to hitting him.

'We didn't kill Anya if that's what you're so upset about, and we don't know where she ran off to, but that doesn't matter.' Suzaku was sure she must have run off with that demon, but considering he was hiding in some hole, who knows where it wasn't worth his time to think about it.

'Doesn't matter? She was your friend; we were your comrades! Does that mean nothing to you?' Gino yelled back at him as they clashed again, but the Lancelot proved stronger as it forced him back from the Damocles.

'We were never friends, Gino. You just thought we were.' Suzaku's reply only got his blood boiling to an even greater extent. He disengaged and tried to surprise him with his other slash harken. Still, it met the same fate as the last one as Suzaku shot it to pieces, leaving him with only his polearm and arm-mounted guns, but those weren't going to do much against him, and both knew it.

'What did you just say?' Gino asked of him, barely avoiding the four slash harkens the Lancelot fired as they chased him around before returning to the Lancelot, which came at him with a spinning kick, an attack he barely managed to block even as it bent the shaft of his weapon.

'I will admit, I appreciate the company, but the simple fact is that we were co-workers, fellow killers, and conquerors, nothing more.' Suzaku said as he kept at it, forcing him back and further damaging his unit. 'Why did you challenge me, Gino? You know you couldn't beat me?' Suzaku was growing tired of all these fights; it was always the same with these people. They fought, knowing they couldn't win, only adding to the pile of bodies for something as foolish as pride.

'You're thrown away, your honor, Suzaku!' Gino yelled back; in a desperate move, he fired his arm-mounted gun and scored a lucky hit as it destroyed the Lancelot's rifle, surprising its user before his rage showed itself.

'You-!' Done with these games, Suzaku fired all four of his slash harkens once more, this time the Tristan wasn't fast enough to dodge or block as two of them slammed right into it, the one severing an arm at the shoulder, the other striking its chest, nearly hitting its Yggdrasil drive before Suzaku finished him off by slicing off the unit's head, damaging its float pack as the Tristen started to fall back to earth, no longer functional enough to maintain its own float. 'I threw that away a long time ago. This is nothing new.' He told him, watching his opponent fall as he drew his second super V.A.R.I.S.

'All you did was waste your time.' He glared at him, but Gino didn't feel disappointed in his loss; instead, he smiled.

'Oh, I wouldn't say that.' Suzaku didn't know what he was talking about before his geass command activated, forcing him t activate his shields right as a blast of radiant wave energy came down on him, he turned to see the source, and to his lack of surprise, it was the Guren coming in from the top at high speed.

'Suzaku, today's the day,' Kallen told him, her tone as cold as ice but her glare as hot as the sun. 'That I end our battle, once and for all!' She stopped the blast but only increased her speed towards him. Seeing this, Suzaku removed Gino from his mind to focus on this one, the only person that could make him sweat and feel the possibility of dying in battle.

'You'll welcome to try.' He replied as he rushed her.

With this, the two engaged in their final clash with no reservations, no hesitations-they fought with the clear intent to kill. Their machines moved faster than most could even track, and even fewer could dare to intervene. They used all that they could, all their skills, all their might. A battle was so fierce that any that got close was destroyed in the crossfire, forcing any help that dared to stay back. As their wings of red and green carried them, they continued their dialogue, their frustrations leaking into it. 'You intend to force everyone to obey; that isn't peace; that's a dictatorship!' She yelled at him as she fired her R.W.S. surger, which he deflected with his shields.

'How it's done means nothing, so long as a new order is created that will see all this pointless fighting end, it's worth it.' Suzaku replied as he brought his blade down on her. Still, she grabbed it with her R.W.S., sending enough power through it to destroy an entire frame, forcing Suzaku to abandon it, drawing his other. At the same time, he fired his super V.A.R.I.S. at her, to which she avoided each of his shoots, some slamming into enemy and friendly units alike.

'That's why I sided with the resistance, to bring about a new order. This isn't the way, and you know it!' She told him, thinking back to all their encounters, to how he angered her with almost every action he took despite it all. Underneath it all, he still cared for Japan and didn't want to hurt others.

'Don't make me laugh; you have Britannian noble blood, you have the skill, and you could have used the system to bring about change!' He yelled at her, his own anger for her coming through as when he first met her, he didn't know much, only that she had a Britannian father and that she could pass for one, but over time he started to wonder why she sided against the system, against logic, against Euphemia and her dream! She had a better chance of achieving her goal but chose terrorism!

'What about those who couldn't use the system? How would they ever voice their objections?' She demanded of him, getting close to land a kick to his chest that left a nasty dent. 'I'll never join a system that oppresses people!' the woman thought about all the suffering she saw in the ghettos, that she saw as she and C.C. lived on the run.

'And you think people don't? That they don't spread pain? Silence opposition? Throw away the lives of millions for some selfish goal?' Suzaku yelled back, destroying one of her slash harkens with his rifle while the other grazed him.

'What you fight for is chaos, is a world where all it takes is one bastard to turn everything upside down!' He would have done it; he and Euphemia could have changed things, but every time Zero was there! Even when they had a chance to end the fighting, he and those Black Knights chose violence.

'So, your solution is to force them, to keep them in line with Damocles? How is that any better?' Kallen demanded of him, her mind jumping back to when he tried to inject her with refrain to get to her spill, how terrified she was at that moment. Damocles was no drug, but it was the same thing, one monster imposing itself on others.

'Systems are cold, rational creations that always work for the best outcome; that's why they're better than the discord that is free will.' Suzaku remembered that he told Cecile during the hotel jacking, an event that only happened because of the illogical nature of one ma. He didn't trust himself, but he did now. He knew that through a system, his goals could be achieved, that they could achieve all their goals, but they just set aside their stupid pride!

'Systems can be cruel; they force people to be what they're told to be and destroy whoever doesn't fit that, you know that, don't you?' Kallen shot back as they slammed down on a Logres-class, their battle, the two dashing to engage the other in close-quarters melee where they made their respective machines move in ways neither creator could have predicted.

'People can be just as discriminatory, cruel, and hate-filled. Or are you forgetting how you let your anger guide you for years? How many have you killed; did you ever consider your victims to be people with lives? Hopes? Families? Or did you kill them for being Britannians like every other terrorist?' He yelled back at her as he fired his blaze luminous daggers at her, forcing her back as one struck her machine's leg, destroying its landspinner and much of the upper portion of the deck of the Logres-class they were on.

'I've made mistakes, killed people I wish I didn't. But there's no point crying about it, not when I can be a better person. That's why I'm here, fighting for a future where others also have the free will to change!' She thought of her mother and how much she endured to be close to her. She wouldn't lie and say he wasn't right, but she had changed. Just like Lelouch told her when he made her the Guren's pilot, she had reason to fight.

'People will free will take self-serving ends, as they have done since the beginning. Your right to choose has led to savagery and wars!' Suzaku recalled what he saw in C's World when Charles and Marianne tied to carry out their plans. Throughout history, wars could have been avoided if people could see past themselves, but they didn't. Those who did rarely cared because they got something out of it.

'You're wrong, people may have chosen to fight, to kill one another, but it was always to achieve something greater. To find and secure their place in this damned world.' Kallen fired a missile barrage at him. While. While he avoided those, he didn't see her follow-up attack. Her last slash harken destroyed his final super V.A.R.I.S., eliminating his best-ranged attack as she closed the distance. 'I fight, we ALL fight to build that better world than the one we were born into, where we can be with our friends and families!' She finished as she slammed her R.W.S. into his arm, the blaze luminous straining under its power as Suzaku growled.

'What family? A dead brother and druggie mother you ignored because she wasn't as murder happy as you?' He demanded of her. She didn't know who he knew that, but she didn't care as it only infuriated her more than he would dare speak of them.

'I loved my brother. I mourned him!' She nearly teared up, but her fury suppressed her grief over them for the moment as they crashed down onto another Logres class, her R.W.S. keeping him in check as he defended himself with his blaze luminous, but she could see start to ripple, if she could overload it, she would have his head! 'I'm trying to make it up to my mother for all of it. Where do you get off mocking that when you killed your dad because he wasn't willing to do what you said?'

The power struggle continued momentarily, with both pouring more energy into their defense and offense. The area around them raised in temperature as the radiation bounced off the shield ran around them. But fate wasn't on her side as, in an instant, her R.W.S. powered down, leaving her stunned as she instinctively lumped back for Suzaku would impale her. 'What?' She looked at her screens, wondering what happened, only for fear to pour down her spine as she saw her energy status: 5%.

With Suzaku, he didn't need to see it to know what she was feeling right now. He spared his own power a glance, seeing it as around 63%. Still, even then, it was a close call as his right-arm-mounted blaze luminous generator was offline, having been pushed past its limits. It wasn't like the rest of his unit was any better, as Kallen had done more to him than Gino, Nagisa, Guilford, Tohdoh, and the rest of the fodder combined. Despite this, he couldn't resist the urge to laugh at it, his dark joy only making Kallen nervous as she got back up, trying to think of an option to play. She was too far from anyone that could help or give her a new energy filler. Kallen wouldn't be able to outrun him before the power depleted either; now, use the R.W.S. unless Kallen overrode the energy-saving protocols, but that would burn through her remaining energy-a one shot deal at best. The Guren itself was damaged from their battle as despite the month-long testing she put it through, they never had the chance to for her duel another 9th gen machine. This being the most demanding workout it had ever gotten, and combined with the battle damage, she wasn't looking to ht.

'It seems you haven't learned a thing from your duel with Xingke. That recklessness, that free expression…that's why you lost.' Suzaku moved, his speed being too much for the near-drained Guren as he kicked it onto its back, knocking Kallen's head into the screens with enough force to cut her forehead open, she saw through the crimson-stained view that the Lancelot was poised to run her through, its blade aimed right for the cockpit, but if she was going to die, she was dragging his arrogant ass to hell with her!

'I still have one move up my sleeve!' She pulled the emergency lever, shutting the energy-saving mode, and in the same action, she aimed her R.W.S. and fired. The arm shot out of its socket right for the Lancelot, grabbing onto its head. Suzaku's live command once more activated, but Kallen proved to be the faster of the two as she fired. She didn't have the time for that, so she fired off a blast of R.W.S. energy as if he was a distance target instead. It wasn't the same attack she used on foes usually caught in this situation.

'Wha-' Suzaku didn't have the time to react before the blast of power and radiation blew apart Lancelot's head. Still, unfortunately for him, it sent shards of radiated metal from the head right into his cockpit, penetrating its thick armor and striking him. Kallen could hear the agony in his scream as he got hit with this shrapnel, the headless Lancelot dropping its blade as its pilot reached for his face, screaming in pain and rage as the pain shooting through his body was unlike anything he had ever felt, like lava flowing through his veins. Despite this, his bloodied eyes turned their ire towards the Guren, trying to get up as it retracted its R.W.S.

'Damn you!' He screamed like a beast as he kicked it so hard that the cord connecting the R.W.S. to the machine was severed, the force of violent outburst nearly knocking Kallen out as the Guren was knocked off the side of the ship, the screams of her foe being the only thing she could hear as she plummeted back to earth.

'Kallen!' She heard Gino cry out to her. Still, she could barely keep her eyes open thanks to her injuries and the emotional and physical exhaustion she put herself through. But she did feel the sudden jerk as someone managed to catch her machine. 'I got you.'

'G-gino…?' She looked at her savior, but instead of the white, blue, and red of the Tristan, she saw silver and purple.

'Not quite.' Guilford replied, having been lucky to catch her as his energy filler ran empty. To the side, Gino was being carried by Nagisa, the woman having been notably quiet since Tohdoh's death, not that he blamed her. But as he watched the Damocles ascend further and the Lancelot being executed by several of the enemy's Vincents, he couldn't help but wonder if they'd lost.

'Their battle has ended, Nunnally.' Schneizel's voice rang through the speakers of the garden she had been in the entire time.

'I can see that. Though it appears it was another tie.' Nunally replied as she watched the end of the battle on a large screen that came out of the floor. She thought the day she would regain her sign would be full of joy and laughter…but she didn't feel anything. How could she when the people she wanted to celebrate this with weren't there? 'Still, he did what he was supposed to.' She signed, wondering how badly Suzaku was wounded before moving her mind to other things, namely the .I.J.A firing switch in her hands and the blood of thousands she had killed with it.

'Nunnally, we'll reach the Kármán line in 5 minutes; once we do, we'll switch to bombardment mode.' If Schneizel was trying to make her feel better, she would prefer that he didn't, but she wouldn't make a fuss about it.

'I'll be ready, brother…I'll be ready.' She explained as the screen showing the battle shut off, allowing her to see herself for the first time in years. She moved some of her hair out of her face, inspecting it before she concluded that she looked just like a killer, just like her parents.

'God…if you're listening, let this evil act end all fighting.' She prayed, but leaving her eyes open as she was about to commit a great evil, the least she could do was see it through with her own eyes.

'Dammit, what is he planning up there?' Ohgi asked. The Ikaruga, like the rest of the forces, had pulled back from the thick of it. With the threat of F.L.E.I.J.A.s much lower, they were making good progress in wiping them out. Still, with the Damocles well above their heads and continuing to rise, they only had to deal with the remaining parts of the forces that Schneizel had brought for the battle.

'How high are they?' Xianglin asked, taking stock of the situation as she grimly noted that they only had a 3rd of their forces still fighting, the rest either destroyed or too severely damaged like the Guren to fight.

'They're approaching 328,000ft.' One of the controllers replied, getting Rakshata to raise an eyebrow.

'They're trying to reach the Kármán line?' 'The official boundary where the sky ends and space begins.' she elaborated at the confused looks she got from the rest of the command staff.

'Can anyone reach them?' Minami asked; he nor they knew what Schneizel was planning, but they knew it wouldn't be good.

Before they could continue to talk, one of the controllers relayed their worst fears. 'There isn't a knightmare or ship that can go further than 90,000ft. We can't even attack them anymore. The distance is too great for them to not see anything coming and just throw up their shields.' She told them.

'We have a-no, multiple F.L.E.I.J.A. launches!' At that, all eyes turned to the girl.

'How many?' Ohgi asked, wondering if he really did plan to wipe them out wholesale. Still, with the numerous vacuums they created, he didn't need a scientist like Rakshata to know that such forces happening all around them could rip the ship apart. Even if they had avoided groups, multiple F.L.E.I.J.A.s could do the trick, not just from the initial blasts.

'9 of them, their speed is increasing. They're already near Mac 2.5!' No missile surpassed 600km, but they'll hit them in seconds at that speed! The controller's eyes widened, as this was far faster than all the others.

'Targets?' Xianglin was already trying to find ways to move their people away from the worst. Still, the controller's response made that unneeded.

'…It's not us.' She replied, tracking the missiles as they flew and seeing they weren't aimed at them. Instead, they flew another 10km up before they all separated, their white streaks all trailing them as they went in separate directions.

'What?' Minami asked.

'What do you mean not us? Who else could they be aiming for?' Ohgi asked; the only other target he could think of would be Horai island, but just one would be enough for that; what else was there?

'…Oh no.' Xianglin realized that realization also appeared on the faces of the others, like Xingke and Cornelia, as they listened in but prayed they were wrong.

'Judging from their trajectory…they're targeting cities.' The controller's shocked and quiet response silenced the bridge; it silenced all their ships as, despite the battle continuing to rage outside, no one who heard this could speak. In this silence, the controller gulped down her saliva and her fears before she continued relaying what she saw.

'Confirmed. Suspected targets coming it. Shanghai; Mumbai; Sydney; Berlin; Istanbul; Cairo; London; Paris; Toronto.' With so many cities being named and so many lives at risk, their morale cratered as Ohgi fell into his seat, his legs losing all strength.

'Oh God no…Please let this be a dream…' Cornelia whispered, begging that this was a mistake, but it was for naught as she held her head in her hands, frustrated, hopeless tears starting to pour.

'E.T.A. for Shanghai impact…30 minutes.'

'Send word to all of them. Get them to start moving people out of the city now!' Xianglin tried to order them to act, to do something, but Xingke's appearance on the line stopped that.

'They won't be able to…it's not enough time.' The man looked tired and worse than she had ever seen him, but more than that, he looked resigned.

As they feared, the F.L.E.I.J.A.s, each attached to smaller versions of the rockets that the E.U. had developed, flew at speeds exceeding Mac 5 and struck their targets before anyone could even hear them coming. Local radar picked up the arrival, but no one could raise the alarm fast enough to evacuate people. The first to go was Shanghai, the city of over 15 million being near wiped off the face of the earth as the rocket and its payload detonated over its busy city center. Followed by Mumbai, then Sydney, then Berlin. One by one, each of the targets was it, reducing millions to nothing as the dreaded weapons cleared away any and everything in their way. Within less than an hour, over 71 million were killed, over 30 million severely wounded, and without proper medical facilities to treat them, many of those would soon join the dead.

'Here me, people of the world, as I bring you great news!' In the aftermath of such destruction, as the world could only stare in shock, disbelief, grief, and awe, Schneizel's voice carried over the airwaves to every tv, every news station, and every phone.

'On this day, we welcome a new era, one without war or conflict, but one of peace! With the defeat of the Black Knights and the Britannian forces that aided them, all powers of the old world have been crushed and sentenced to the pages of history.' on the Damocles, Schneizel stood triumph over a map of the world, the destroyed cities being nothing more than red crosses on it as the man who started it all stood with a smile, one of the most real he had ever given.

'Through the power of Damocles, we have destroyed the last vestiges of the old world and can now march forward to a bright tomorrow!' He raised his hands as if offering a prayer to some God as his people cried out in victory, the Black Knights fell to despair, and the people of the world trembled under the shadow of Damocles.

As he continued his speech, one that was as pleasant as a sandpaper message, across the world in Northern Britannia, a particular group watched the events as they unfolded. Many of the children hid behind the adults, and while parents and older relatives did their best to calm them, many more were just as scared as them. Near the back of the group, where most of their luggage had already been packed, stood two silently watching the news. 'Looks like someone finally won, C.C. With this, the fighting will finally end.' Lelouch told his accomplice, C.C. looking his way as she recalled his words from the past, a frown on her face.

'Remember, people,' Lelouch stood forward, grabbing the attention of the amassed group of over 70 people. 'We leave for England in the morning, so get plenty of sleep.' Some nodded, still shocked at the events they had seen, but Lelouch got his point across as he returned to his room after checking on Sayoko, who was still resting. As he approached the stairs, C.C. stopped him.

'Are you really okay with this?' She asked him. He paused in his step, his back to her as he said nothing, making her worry that he wouldn't say anything. This wasn't like him, far from it, and even though he was never a saint, he must have felt…something after seeing that.

'…There's no point in fighting without a cause, without reason.' He told her, turning to look at her over his shoulder, his visible eye, with its crimson geass shining bright, looking like a cold furnace.

p-a-treon . com (slash) Ducksmakegreatminers