Code Geass Megiddo

by Wing Zero Alpha

After the Black Rebellion, the world became a different place from what people knew it for. But in spite of that, there was still one who wished to change it for the better. This is the story of his crusade...

15. Chapter XV: Fire in the West

"A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality."
- Winston Churchill

Chapter XV: Fire in the West

Athena Palace
Pendragon, Grand Duchy of Pennsylvania, Area 1 (North America), Britannian Empire
April 11, 2025

Feeling the unmistakable chill of cold air brush against his skin, Gilbert's eyes slowly but surely fluttered open. It took several moments for him to remember where he was, as well as several moments for the daze to clear from his vision, but once those had past he stirred and looked upward into the bedroom that he was currently occupying, searching for the reason why he suddenly felt cold. Immediately he found it: the one that had been lying next to him in the bed was no longer there.

"Your Highness...?" he murmured, before finally sitting up and looking around, his eventually settling toward the nearby bedroom window. Though his vision was a little blurry without his glasses, he could still see a familiar silhouette there.

Standing in front of the window even as the rain fell against it and the lightning sounded, Cornelia seemed frozen in place, akin to a statue rather than a human being. She wore no clothes as she was, apparently unconcerned with covering herself at this time, though the darkness was enough that this could only be verified whenever lightning flashed. Beyond that detail, she was currently facing away from Gilbert, such that the knight could only see his liege's back and her magenta colored hair, while apparently staring into the distance of the storm, in a seemingly transfixed state. Needless to say, Gilbert immediately felt something was wrong and got up from the bed himself, his concern for her outweighing the fact he too was in the nude, and that he had no cover against the cold.

"So you can't sleep either Gilbert..." Cornelia murmured, just as another lightning burst lit up the sky followed by a thunderclap. Instead of her usual harsh, dominating tone, her voice was now hollowed and mellow, having taken a ghost-like quality that put her loyal knight on greater edge than he had been moments ago.

"Your Highness, it isn't safe for you to be there." Gilbert spoke up, clearly worried. Unfortunately, this had no effect on the Princess, forcing Gilbert to continue toward her, all the while speaking. "Please, come back before you become ill."

Despite the obvious concern for her safety, Cornelia only remained where she was, and even when Gilbert came up right behind her she refused to turn and face him. Instead, her eyes continued to gaze out into the black outside. "Eight years Gilbert ." she started again. "It's been eight years since I've stared out into a darkness such as this one. It's almost...nostalgic."

Gilbert gave no reply, prompting Cornelia to continue. "Don't you feel the same Gilbert? Does it not remind you of that very night, when the world you and I knew suddenly changed? The same night that came..."

The princess' head tilted down. "...after the day she died."

Even as those words were uttered, Gilbert said nothing, instead keeping his eyes trained on the back of his liege's head, unconsciously taking her violet hair into detail. More specifically, he couldn't find any words to speak at that moment, in spite of the knot growing in his stomach and the shame he felt at seeing his Princess as she was now and not being able to do anything about it. It was perhaps the hardest thing he had ever been forced to endure, and no matter how many years came and went since the day she was referring to, it never got easier for him to stand his ground. The only thing that held him back was the fear that, should he attempt to speak out, he may only damage her further, increase the number of cracks that had remained on her originally iron resolve since the Black Rebellion, which was something the knight swore to himself that he would never do. Even if it meant enduring as he was now, as he always had done.

It had been a harsh eight years, to use the least of terms. Though physically Princess Cornelia li Britannia had survived the destruction of Area 11 and all the events that had transpired beforehand, it felt as though the Witch of Britannia had still perished alongside those one hundred thirty million or so, leaving only a hollowed shell behind. Yes, she retained her strong and militant appearance around her soldiers, as well as her fierce disposition in whatever form of combat she took part in, but only Gilbert, and perhaps Prince Schneizel who Cornelia was still close to, could tell that these were all acts for the benefit of others. The real Cornelia, as it were, was the one standing in front of Gilbert now, looking out into the storm; cold, broken, defeated and suffering from wounds that would never heal, even when the cuts, bruises and broken bones that she had endured from that conflict had long passed. Such was the continuing effect of her sister's death, combined with the horrid truth she had beheld upon the roof of the Area 11 Government Bureau just before Operation Nero had been carried out.

For all of his dedication and love for her, Gilbert remained at her side and tried to ease her internal turmoil as best he could, both professionally and intimately, but it had been far from easy. Her pain ran deep and the fiery spirit that she had originally been renowned for was long diminished, and Gilbert knew that there was very little he could do as her knight and her lover. But even so, he stayed by her, in the hope that his continued service to her and whatever comfort that he could give her would be enough to alleviate at least some of her being. He had even taken to being more proactive around her at times, generally keeping her motivated in her other duties as a soldier and an Imperial.

But even so, despite everything he had done and would do for her, Gilbert knew all too well the single grave fact: the Princess Cornelia he had known, the woman that he had fallen in love with in the very beginning, was gone. One more casualty in the chaos of the modern world, and yet one that hurt him far more than anything else, including the deaths of Andreas Darlton and the Glaston Knights, minus one, during the Black Rebellion.

"I can still see her face at that time..." Cornelia continued as another pang of thunder sounded. Slowly she reached out and placed her palm upon the cold glass. "...she was so hopeful, so sure that her plans would work out, even when I kept voicing my objections." she took a moment to sigh. "I yelled at her, pleaded with her to change her mind, and when she refused, I called her naive, told her she was denying the natural order of things. And in my anger I said I would never forgive her for throwing away her title and her family name for such 'nonsensical' ideals...that I would hate her for her stupidity."

Cornelia closed her eyes as she felt tears starting to well up, taking her palm off the wall. "If only I had known that would be our last conversation..." her voice began to tremble. "...if only I could have told her, before the end, that I never meant any of it, that I never stopped loving her..." she finally turned away as the dam began to break.

"Princess..." Gilbert spoke, though he began to feel his own hands shake, and not from the cold. Again he tried to come up with something to say, some way of reassuring her that Euphemia did not die believing her older sister hated her, but he knew none of his words would be able to change Cornelia's belief in the opposite.

"And yet, there's one thing that hurts me far worse than that..." Cornelia forced herself to look forward again, only this time she allowed tears to flow out. "...something that I realized a long time ago, but never had the courage to admitting... Do you know what that is Gilbert?"

And again, Gilbert felt no words formulate in his mind, nor his voice speak out an answer.

"...that she had been right." Cornelia stated plainly, and yet sounding far more defeated than Gilbert had ever thought possible. "She had been right all along in her ideals and actions, her drive for a better world, and I was the one that had been wrong, in keeping to the status quo. She saw something that the rest of us had been blind to, something that could have changed the whole of our existence, our very reality, and it's only after her death that I came to realize it. When it was too late."

It did not take long before the knuckles popped in Cornelia's closed, trembling fist. "And now...just look out there Gilbert." she stated, her teeth clenching together as more tears fell. "The world you and I fought for is slowly destroying itself in a war brought on by tyrants, while the one hope we had in salvation is lost forever, all thanks to a cruel twist of fate. And I, for everything I've accomplished, am powerless to do anything about it."

Cornelia's breathing picked up with each word, until it seemed like she was hyperventilating. "I, the great Cornelia li Britannia, can't even do what my naive little sister was able to...!" she snarled in clear self-hate, feeling the tension wash over her like a tidal wave.

At that, before Cornelia could do anything else, Gilbert crossed the threshold and wrapped his arms around his princess, holding her against him with all the strength he could muster. Within the warmth and firmness of his embrace, Cornelia remained tense initially, but slowly her breathing began to even out and she became more and more at ease. Eventually, she allowed herself to melt into his hold, reaching her own arms up to hold onto his lovingly, even if her tears did not stop.

"You're not the only one who feels this way, Princess..." Gilbert spoke softly, trying to ease whatever tension was left out of her. "I...I also did not believe in Princess Euphemia's vision, and I regret with all my heart that it took the destruction of Area 11 to change that. It pains me further that I myself am unable to carry out that vision, not with my bloodstained hands."

Cornelia sighed with some disgust at that mentioning. "If anything it's ironic. The same deeds that made us into celebrated warriors among our Empire also keep us from accomplishing what Euphie was able to do with her purity and innocence. At least until Zero..."

The knight could feel as the princess' muscles seemed to ripple at that name. Then slowly, Cornelia turned around in the embrace, so that she could look straight into Gilbert's eyes, and again it took all of Gilbert's strength not to buckle under the gaze of the teary, violet orbs. Especially when semblances of fury began to emerge behind them.

"I swear Gilbert..." Cornelia stated, her voice now having regained its familiar edge. "...I swear I will track that bastard down and finish what started that night. If I must chase him through deserts and tundra, and the flames of Hell itself, I will not rest until Euphie's soul is vindicated."

The two stood like that for several moments longer, as Cornelia's fierce gaze continued to stare straight up into Gilbert's hesitant eyes. And then, Cornelia finally spoke again, breaking eye contact to glance away. "No, I do not think that will bring my sister's vision to life." Cornelia stated, answering Gilbert's unspoken question. "Nor do I think it will change things for the better. But even so, this is all I can do for her now Gilbert, and whether she would want me to or not, I must try."

She looked back up at him again, this time her eyes holding a softer, yet unsure glance. "Can I count on you to follow me when the time comes, no matter where the path may lead?"

This time, there was no hesitation in Gilbert's response. "You know the answer to that question, Your Highness." he spoke with a reassuring smirk. "I swore to you long ago that I would follow you to the ends of the Earth itself, and I am nothing if I can't keep my vows."

Cornelia nodded as touching reassurance appearing in her expression, though some sadness still remained in her eyes. "Thank you, my knight." she said simply, before leaning up to kiss Gilbert, who immediately returned it.

---

His Majesty's Naval Base, Pearl
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

Akin to a white falcon soaring across the night sky, the Lancelot continued on its approach vector from the east, heading straight toward the burning island of Crusoe at its top flight speed. And as he watched it through the Mordred's main cameras, which were still transmitting data to his mask's HMDS, Lelouch could almost swear he felt his left eye burn from the sight, as the memories of the one who had inflicted the scar that now lay across it entered his conscious mind. A myriad of emotions ran beside those memories, each one unique in its own nature but still merging together as if to overwhelm him.

It was a strange twist of fate to say the least. More than once, Lelouch's gaze had befallen over the white and gold armored machine, the star product of the Imperial Army's Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps "Camelot" and pinnacle of Britannian technology and ingenuity, to the point that it had long become a normal fixture to him. In fact, had it been only a few weeks ago, Lelouch would have recognized the knightmare as his ally, and its pilot as one of his dearest friends and most loyal commanders in the African campaign. At the least he would have thought nothing of the Lancelot's approach, as it had been a common sight for him to see it move up and join his Mordred in combat formation, and at the most he would have been visibly relieved to see it move toward the action, as it could only mean vital support was on the way. His radio would soon become filled with chatter as his Britannian troops would confirm its charge almost in celebration, while intercepted transmissions from Eurasian troops would only display their collective fear and hatred for the white knightmare and its pilot. And then, once the mighty Lancelot engaged in battle, it would not have been long before it would clear a way straight through the enemy's formation and defenses, and Lelouch would not waste in any time ordering his troops to advance. Victory would not be far behind.

But now everything was in reverse. Instead of welcoming the Lancelot's approach, Lelouch found himself dreading it in an all too familiar way, just like he had all throughout the Japanese Insurrection. Though he did his best to keep the emotion off of his face and out of his voice, he truly was afraid of that machine and what it was capable of, as many times in the past its mere presence on the battlefield would throw out his best laid plans. At Shinjuku it had singlehandedly wiped out his entire knightmare force, thus preventing them from securing the prefecture and capturing Clovis, and would have killed him had Kallen not intervened. At Narita it had prevented him from capturing Cornelia, fought off the Guren Nishiki in their first duel and then almost captured him in turn, only to be stalled at the last minute by C.C.'s intervention. At Yokosuka it again had prevented him from capturing Cornelia, even when Lelouch had skillfully wiped out the bulk of her forces by utilizing the JLF tanker as bait and detonating it once it was boarded, and again he was only saved by Kallen's timely intervention with the Guren Nishiki, but not before his Burai had been totaled and he had been forced to eject, leading to a far direr aftermath. And even when he had formulated an effective attack plan against it at Sagumo Prison, utilizing Tohdoh, the Four Holy Swords, and their newly outfitted Gekkas no less, he was still unable to defeat it, and the following encounters at Shikine, the SAZ and the Black Rebellion were only that much more painful to when compared to his fear of the pilot inside, Lelouch's fear of the machine itself was little more than an afterthought.

Ever since he had regained his memory and mantle as Zero, he had been outright terrified of what was about to happen in the next few moments, even if he had known it was an inevitable event. Though he had fought beside him for the last five years or so, this would be the first time Lelouch would see Suzaku again in both their true forms since their last meeting before the Emperor, when Suzaku had betrayed him to his father for ascension to the Knights of the Round. The revolutionary prince made no illusions to himself about what Suzaku thought of him now; as far as Suzaku knew, Lelouch had intentionally used Geass on the woman he loved and forced her to commit atrocities for his own gain, turned the Japanese people into his army of pawns and then set off a chain of events that led to the Devastation itself. At their last encounter on Kamine before his capture, Suzaku had claimed that his very existence was a mistake and that he had to be erased from the face of the Earth, and only the last semblance of their friendship prevented Suzaku from shooting Lelouch dead, just as it had done the same for Lelouch.

As such, even when he had known this would come to pass sooner or later, Lelouch, for one of the few times in his existence, had no plan in place or strategy to use. He had no rehearsed script, no theatric performance or waiting miracle to use against his former friend, and though he had long become acquainted to Suzaku's fighting style and the Lancelot's capabilities, he did not know whether or not he could hold his own against either pilot or knightmare in a true battle. He was literally about to face his best friend and his worst enemy with only his spirit, instinct and the power of the Mordred at his disposal. All he could hope for was that it would be enough.

Is it the same for you Suzaku? Lelouch thought as the image of the white knightmare drew ever closer. Even without a visual reference on his HMDS, he could already picture the Knight of Seven's image in his mind's eye, guiding his loyal steed toward the burning island with as impassive of an expression as he could muster. Are you feeling the same fear and anxiety as I am? Are you just as unsure at how to proceed against me, even knowing many of my weaknesses as you would, as I am against you?

No answer came of course, but it would not be long before he found out. By now the Lancelot was barely a few dozen kilometers away from the island, but even so, it did not change its course, nor did it direct itself toward any of the other Black Knight units, nor even arm its weapons. It remained in its current flight path, which would take it straight over the Mordred's position in only a matter of moments. It was only then that Lelouch understood Suzaku's intentions, and so switched his comlink to broadband. "All units, this is Gyoku One. As of this moment, I will be disengaging from the main force. My final orders are to engage whatever hostiles are following the Lancelot and either destroy or incapacitate them. Command of the operation will be transferred to B-1 and Shogun One."

"Rei Leader to Gyoku One..." Kallen's voice suddenly intervened. "I request permission to break off and engage the Lancelot."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. "Request denied. Maintain your position."

"But Zero...!" Kallen attempted to protest, grave concern breaking into her tone.

"That is an order, Q-1!" Lelouch barked with more force than he had intended. He also did not mean to use Kallen's alternate callsign, but it had slipped into the sentence in response to her referring to him as Zero. "I will deal with the Lancelot myself. You will lead Zero Squadron and engage whatever additional forces appear. Understood?"

A brief silence intervened before Kallen responded again, her voice now returned to its usual professional tone, albeit a clearly defeated one. "Understood."

"Shogun One to Gyoku One." Tohdoh's voice came in just after Kallen's reply ended. "Orders confirmed. Will move to engage incoming hostiles. Over."

"Roger. All units, good hunting. Gyoku One out." Lelouch said, before signing off for the final time. The Lancelot's transport VTOL was just coming over his position as he did.

---

Black Knights mobile battleship Izumo
Pacific Ocean

It did not take long for a new eerie calm to set upon the Izumo's bridge after Zero's last command rang out, caused by the entire bridge crew holding their proverbial breaths. They all knew what was coming, but at the same time they did not know how many would be coming over that horizon, and that unknown factor was enough to cause all those present to feel a similar level of dread. That dread was more evident with the "novice" members of the bridge crew, such as the "bridge bunny" trio at the very front, who all stared toward either the bridge's main monitor or their own stations with outright petrifaction; obviously they would do their jobs when the time came, but that didn't stop them for fearing the coming storm. The more experienced and professional, on the other hand, showed no fear physically and instead kept whatever feelings they had buried inside themselves while adopting more "hardened" expressions and postures, the most common of which was something between a leer and a frown, with their arms either crossed or at their sides and their bodies showing no sign of ease whatsoever. Like the novices however, their eyes never wavered from their stations or the bridge's main monitor.

Toward the rear of the bridge, standing at attention with his hands clasped behind his back, it could easily be observed and stated that General Kaname Ohgi was among the latter group. It was only logical; of the presently gathered, he, alongside Minami, had seen more situations like this than he cared to, and while no amount of experience could relieve himself of his own inner fears, he could at least hold back those fears and maintain his respective command and authority, which in turn was one of the factors keeping the Izumo's bridge from breaking out into hysterics. Ohgi himself was conscious of this, and had it been any other time or day, he, and several others he could imagine, would have found it all ironic; at what point down the line did he, as soft-hearted and emotional as he was, manage to adopt the hardened, commanding persona of a leader? When did the stand-in leader of a minor resistance movement finally become a full General, both in military rank and in being? And when had it finally come to the point that others relied on him for his command and leadership, believing he would bring them victory? Obviously there was much to contemplate on there, but for the time being Ohgi was more focused on getting back to Ryukyu alive alongside his wife, who was still out there with her Kyosha Squadron, and the rest of the Black Knights.

And then all at once, the hammer fell.

"Additional enemy contacts approaching from zero-nine-zero! Looks like a fleet!" Ichijiku sounded off just as yellow blips appeared on her display and the main monitor. "Distance nine hundred and closing fast!"

"How many?" Minami replied, not missing a beat and with growing concern.

Ichijiku re-read her display instantly. "Three carriers, multiple destroyers," the sensor operator replied. "Sonar contacts for enemy knightmares and submarines confirmed as well."

"Put them up on the main monitor," Ohgi ordered.

Moments later, the main monitor flashed to show the sensor signatures of the incoming fleet moving toward the Izumo's position. Alongside, several vidwindows appeared, showing the forward silhouettes of each ship as they approached, from the carriers to the various destroyers. Before anyone could react to these however, a staunch voice began to echo throughout the bridge's comm. system, just as the enemy fleet was coming into visual range.

"This is Vice Admiral Albert Glenn of the Imperial Third Fleet to the Black Battleship and all present enemy forces. For the commitment of open aggression against the Empire and her sovereign territories, you are ordered to stand down and surrender, willingly and unconditionally!" the voice ordered with clear dominating force behind it. It was obvious from the tone alone that this was not any average Brit commander. "This is your only warning. If you do not surrender, you will be destroyed!"

The gauntlet was thrown, and for a moment the only response came from Ohgi focusing his glare from under his General issue commissar cap onto the enemy ships. In spite of his inner doubts, he was far from ready to comply with that order. "Minami..."

The Izumo's captain, who held a similar glare from under his own commissar cap, immediately understood the indirect order. "Main guns, fire!"

A moment later, the Izumo's bow hyper-velocity cannons let loose a burst of electromagnetically accelerated projectiles, each one traveling at speeds up to thirteen times that of sound. In little more than an instant later, the projectiles slammed into the bows of two destroyers, obliterating them in a single barrage. The Black Knights return message was thus quite clear and to the point: the Britannians could take their surrender order and do something anatomically incorrect with it because the battle was on regardless. Meanwhile, the Britannians' reply was just as prompt as the Imperial ships returned fire with their own HV cannons and missiles, causing the Izumo to come under concentrated fire, though what managed to strike their target was repelled by Izumo's CIWS and armor.

As the mobile battleship shook from the return fire, Ichijiku's sensors beeped. "Enemy ships and knightmares are now moving on an attack vector!"

As he was forced from the shaking to sit down in the command chair usually reserved for Zero, Ohgi took the information in with grit teeth. Already he did not like the prospects of the battle. While the Izumo remained undamaged up to this point, she would be fighting alone against a full enemy fleet, one that included marine knightmares. Even with the technological edge on the Black Knights' side, the odds still valued the Britannians, especially with the Mikasa and Hiei too far out of range to provide reinforcements of BKs' own. But even so, Ohgi knew that this battle needed to be fought, both to ensure their escape and to make sure no pursuit followed them back to their safe haven.

Not far from him, Minami himself did not miss the latter facts, and so retook the captain's chair. "Helm, match bearing to zero-nine-zero and move to flank! Weapons, continue barrage and establish defensive screening!"

"Bring us closer to their formation," Ohgi added on in an even tone, very much in spite of the enemy fire and the continuous shaking around him. "We'll attack them up front."

"How close do you want it?" Minami inquired without looking back.

Ohgi's gaze only deepened. "Right down their throats."

Minami nodded and turned back toward the helm station. "Punch it Jones!" he commanded, directly addressing the Izumo's helmsman, Captain Herbert Jones, who immediately complied with the order with earnest.

Ohgi could only clasp his hands together as the bridge once more burst into full activity. A moment later, a great "hum" sounded throughout the bridge as the Izumo's Inaba Drive engaged at full power, sending the great battleship directly toward the face of the enemy.

---

Pearl City
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

Kallen sneered as she kept watch over her sensors, awaiting for the enemy to appear from the east. It was an inevitable conclusion; the Britannian reprisal force would appear soon, and the only way the Black Knights would be able to escape would be to fight it off. The Izumo was already engaging a Britannian fleet to the south, and in a matter of minutes she and her comrades would be forced to engage the follow up knightmare forces as they deployed over the island. As such, as she had her Guren remain crouched and hidden on top of the building it had chosen for cover, with the Zero Squadron and the other Black Knight units spread throughout Pearl City around her, Kallen could only wait for the first transports to appear from the horizon.

However, it wasn't the incoming Britannians she was really worried about, nor even the possibility that they may include Knights of the Round or other aces within their muster. Rather, it was the idea of Lelouch fighting Suzaku, or more specifically that homunculus that called itself Suzaku Kururugi, that bothered her to no end, to the point that she was outright afraid even. Despite Lelouch's orders to her, Kallen knew he was not ready to fight Suzaku. She had fought Suzaku before at Pendragon, she had looked into his eyes, and all she had seen was a cold abyss like no other, a being that existed only to destroy or be destroyed. And as much as Lelouch had claimed he had burned his bridges with Britannia and his artificial existence, Kallen knew all too well that he would never be able to dispense his friendship with Suzaku, nor see him as the monster that he had become; he would call him a fool, he would be angered by his "friend's" foolishness, and maybe he would be able to fight back when provoked, but he would never be able to do what was needed and put the mad dog out of his misery once and for all, whereas Suzaku only saw Lelouch as a "mistake" as he had proclaimed at Kamine and only desired to end him.

Kallen gritted her teeth at the thought. Damn it Lelouch, you can't die here...! her mind called out, more out of fear for her "King" than fury. Not when you've finally returned to us...to me...!

At that, Kallen knew she would be fighting here and now not only to for the Black Knights' escape, but also for Lelouch's survival. With his evolved piloting skills, Lelouch would obviously be able to hold his own against the Knight of Seven for a time, but he would never be able to win the battle, not when he was handicapped by his own feelings and values, while his opponent was only driven in a mad rage by his. All Kallen could do was hope that the coming battle ended before it was too late, as well as hope against hope that Lelouch held it all together long enough for her to intervene, while at the same time kept Suzaku from delivering the death blow. And for that to happen, she had to push her own feelings away and concentrate on this battle first, which would be no easy task in itself.

As if to emphasize her point, her sensors beeped in warning. A Britannian IFF was detected moving in from the east, initially confusing Kallen; why would the Britannians send only one transport? And then, as the IFF drew closer, she understood. It was a Griffin-class air cruiser, which alone could carry tens if not hundreds of knightmares in its massive hold.

"Shogun One to all units," Tohdoh's voice sounded over the radio. "Prepare to engage."

Upon that command, Kallen snapped her surger up toward the sky, where she estimated the Griffin would deploy its knightmares as it passed. Sure enough the sky was soon filled with the massive craft's form, essentially appearing as an even larger and more grandiose take on a conventional bomber or transport as it flew over Pearl City. And though Kallen was tempted to fire up at it, she knew it was too high even for her surger, or anything else within the Black Knights' present arsenal. Thus, she could only watch as her sensors detected the line of smaller signals begin to descend from the cruiser's rear; enemy knightmares parachuting in.

"Rei Leader to Zero Squadron," Kallen spoke as she reassumed her role as Zero Squadron's CO, all the while she lined her surger up for the closest signal. "We've destroyed the enemy fortress; all that remains are the follow up units! In order to finalize our escape, we must wipe them all out!" her gaze narrowed intensely as she added the next command. "Don't even think about holding back!"

"Roger!" all eleven of her subordinates responded at once, readying their Isshikis for the fight alongside their commander. When her indicator went red, Kallen fired off a radiation stream that burned through a group of descending Sutherlands, taking out at least two in a single shot. Soon enough the other Black Knights added their own fire to hers, as did the Guren Isshikis with their own surgers, while the Britannians returned that fire as best they could. Several of the incoming knightmares were destroyed as they dropped, but many, many more managed to make it through the fire, eventually touching down onto the city below and moving out to engage their foes directly.

Leaping back down to the street as several Britannian knightmares landed near its position, the Guren Nishiki lunged up towards the nearest formation and drove through them, opening fire across their ranks at every opportunity. Following her example, the other eleven Gurens moved in after her, weaving in an out in the full synchronization one would have come to expect of Zero Squadron, causing the Britannian knightmares to flounder around them. Explosions soon became common place as the most elite unit of the Black Knights went to work, doing what they were all best at.

As more Britannian knightmares attempted to head them off, Kallen put her Guren into a charge, deflecting the bullets, shells and missiles with her radiant wave shield while moving in close and cutting down her would be attackers as she went. Moving around her, Alfred, Charmelle and Benio launched their Isshikis in and supported their commander by cutting their own targets down in great succession, alternating between their fork knives and their surgers to dispatch their targets in quick efficiency. During that time, a Gloucester attempted to move in behind her with its lance posed to impale, but Kallen simply shifted her left arm and fired a single grenade into the commander exclusive unit, taking it out in one shot, before moving on.

Further in, Ageha's Isshiki was cutting off a neat swathe through the enemy formation alongside Toshiyuki's unit, while the Kobayashi twins were doing much the same but weaving in and out with each other to further confuse the Britannians, as well as making dual attacks on single units. Liliana and Marika were doing much the same on their end of the battlefield, except with certain differences, namely Liliana almost always targeting the cockpit blocks of the enemy knightmares for quick kills while Marika carried out her attacks in an almost robotic manner that matched her personality. And even further on, one could momentarily catch sight of Kentaro's Guren barreling through a formation of Sutherlands on its own, whatever attacks launched against it efficiently deflected with its radiant wave shield, while his wingman Susumu trailed behind him and expertly sniped the Sutherlands his partner missed with single bursts from his surger, one after the other.

Still pressing on herself, Kallen and her three wingmen lunged aside near simultaneously as they approached another formation, whose machine guns roared to life and filled the street with bullets to disperse their advance. The Black Knight knightmares immediately evaded their quarries' shots and continued their charge, the Gurens' radiant wave surgers blazed together, obliterating two Sutherlands in the process. The attack caused the other Sutherlands to identify the Nishiki, which was leading the charge, as the "bigger threat", and so they moved against in an attempt to overwhelm it, forcing the Guren to back away momentarily. That soon changed when Kallen drew her fork knife and then shot after her opponents, the first of which was neutralized with a diagonal slash across the torso. The other Sutherlands attempted to scatter, but this proved to be ultimately futile as the Guren was more than fast enough to move from one after the other and cut them apart in equal fashion.

In a desperate effort to defend themselves at close-range, the last two Sutherlands both swapped their rifles and engaged their stun tonfas before making dual charges of their own toward their attacker. Kallen regarded their advanced with annoyance.

With little effort, she launched the Guren forward as the Sutherlands moved into attack, both of which darted past the red knightmare as a result. From that, the Guren pilot continued on before putting her knightmare into a full one hundred eighty degree spin, all the while switching her surger to scatter mode. Once she was properly aligned with the Sutherlands, whose devicers were only then beginning to register what had happened, Kallen fired a crimson funnel of energy into the exposed backs of both knightmares. It wasn't long before both frames superheated and exploded, their proximity to the Guren and lack of proper protection ensuring that they took enough damage to be destroyed outright as opposed to merely disabled.

As her two latest victims were obliterated, Kallen turned her attention back toward her allies, who were only now making their way into the battle. With as much vigilance as their pilots could mount, in spite of all they've been through so far, the jet black, near shadowy knightmare frames of the main Black Knight forces swept across the city like an ancient cavalry, engaging the Britannian units at every presented opportunity alongside their Zero Squadron brethren. All the while, in the far off distance, the Izumo fought its own battle against the Britannian capital ships, as was likely the case with the other four ships that had made up their taskforce. The second phase of Operation Tsunami, as impromptu as it was, had begun.

We can't waste any more time here... Kallen thought in the midst of the chaos, all the while she had the Guren move deeper into the city. Once she reached her intended position, she switched her surger back to its stream setting and leveled it off before letting loose a continuous line of crimson energy. Akin to the usage of a hadron cannon, she swept the radiant wave stream across, obliterating any Britannian knightmare that got caught in its flow while her allies did well to avoid her fire, leaving only death and destruction in its wake. She continued this on for several moments until a good number of Sutherlands and Gloucesters had been properly vaporized from her attack, before swinging her claw to the side and shooting across the ground, ready to seek out new targets.

And yet even as she continued to fight the battle in front of her, Kallen's mind still dwelled on the other battle in the far distance...

---

His Majesty's Naval Base, Pearl
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

The image of the black knightmare, the one mockingly named after Britannia's most legendary traitor, was as obvious to Suzaku Kururugi as the flames that surrounded it. Even as he continued his approach, it was quite clear that the knightmare's devicer regarded him as much an enemy as he did it, yet at the same time recognizing that any provoking movement would be met with equal and opposite force. At the same time however, it appeared that enemy pilot didn't want to be the first to attack, even given the Lancelot's relatively vulnerable position. Instead, it stood by and made no such provoking movements, all the while keeping its dual camera eyes fixed on the opposite knightmare, glowing threateningly in crimson against the burning compound, as much as the Lancelot's glowed in emerald.

And then, at long last, the Lancelot reached its target point. Unhinging itself from its long-range transport VTOL, the white knightmare fell several hundred meters onto the ground below, twin metallic bangs sounding as it touched down on one knee, then slowly rose to its full height. All throughout, the Mordred remained immobile, its black cape gently swaying against the wind as it stood by and observed its twin brethren, seemingly waiting for the first move to be made. All the while purgatory blazed around them, their silhouettes cast against the fires' light.

For a time, it seemed as though hours would pass between Suzaku and his opponent before any other action was made, both he and his opposite number continuing to wait for the silence to be broken and first contact to be made, but at the same time neither had any plan or idea of how to do so. As such, all either the Knight of Seven or the one within the Mordred could do on their respective ends of the battlefield was simply stare back at one another. All while the memories of eight years ago and afterward played out between them, further complicating the situation and hindering whatever initiative either one of them had.

For Suzaku, one particular memory appeared in his mind's eye with prevalence, specifically that fateful battle at Fukuda Base, Kyushu. The scene before him was almost a complete mirror image of that night, with the burning remains of knightmares and buildings surrounding him, a black knightmare in front of him and the confusion he felt in himself at how to handle the situation. Back then it had been a Chinese invasion force that he had been sent to fight, when the Chinese Federation, supported by former members of Genbu Kururugi's cabinet, attempted to gain a foothold on Japan by claiming they had maintained the legitimate government in exile over the last seven years and were now returning it to its rightful position of power. It had been one of Suzaku's most difficult combat sorties, as he ended up fighting his father's ghost again in the form of Atsushi Sawasaki, the former chief cabinet minister of the Kururugi administration now turned Chinese mouthpiece, and the doubt he had felt throughout that battle had very nearly killed him. But then Zero appeared in the Gawain and, through both his presence and his offering a new energy filler for the depleted Lancelot, had given Suzaku a renewed initiative to continue fighting; it had been Zero, as well as Euphemia's declaration of love to him only moments prior, that had saved him that night.

But now things couldn't be any more different. The surrounding inferno was now the remnants of a former Britannian naval facility instead of the hadron melted hulks of Chinese Yaoguais, the knightmare in front of him was not kneeling before him with an energy filler in hand, but instead standing at its full height as if to purposely match the Lancelot, and its pilot was no longer offering an alliance to destroy a common enemy, but instead was anticipating full battle between them. And Suzaku himself had come here to do just that; funny how that worked out.

In that moment, he was tempted to quickdraw his VARIS and make the killing shot or draw his MVS, make a mad dash toward his opposite number and attempt the killing stroke. However, even as his thumb twitched over the rollerball trigger on his control stick, Suzaku held back from making the first move just as he had all this time. As much as his duty as the Knight of Seven dictated that he eliminate the one before him with extreme prejudice for its "contributions" to the surrounding destruction, Suzaku didn't want things to go down like that, not with his deep connection to the enemy pilot still holding precedent within him. Yes he had fallen far over the last fifteen years of his lifetime, as the image of his father's ghost had continually reminded him, but he was not an emotionless killing machine just yet; if he was going to fight, it would be because he had decided for himself that the one before him was his enemy, not Britannia's, and therefore needed to be destroyed by his hand. Just as he would otherwise decide to spare it destruction, as unlikely as that was.

Even so however, he knew that they would end up staring each other down the entire night with the way things were working out. As such, pushing back the rampant fifteen year spanning memories and his own inner doubts from the forefront, he tapped a switch on his main console and established a communication line to the Mordred. And after a moment of hesitance, Suzaku finally spoke the question that would break the silence and set everything in motion. "Lelouch..." he started with great hesitance. "...is that you?"

Immediately responding to the question, a video image quickly appeared at the corner of the Lancelot's main monitor, and Suzaku felt his breath catch as his eyes drew in the accompanying image. There sitting in the Mordred's cockpit was a phantom, dressed in an jet black pilot suit of some kind and wearing the mask of Zero over his face, its featureless purple orb-like visor seemingly staring back at Suzaku like a true incarnation of Nietzchean philosophy. After another moment passed between them, the Knight of Seven gazed with continued baited breath as the phantom's right hand reached up to the mask and clutched its fingers around its front, then slowly but surely removed it.

And in a matter of seconds that felt like hours in scope, Suzaku watched as his very existence shattered around him, as the newly unmasked Lelouch, after putting the mask into a nearby compartment, opened his eyes and returned his gaze. In his scarred left eye, the sigil of Geass glowed with crimson vehemence, confirming to Suzaku once and for all that his greatest fears had come true. The Demon King lived on.

"...It's strange," Lelouch spoke at long last, in the same dominating and sardonic tone Suzaku remembered and hated from years before. "Though we saw each other only days ago, this feels like the first time we've met in eight years."

At that, Lelouch's mouth folded into a malevolent grin. "But then, it has been that long since we have both seen each other's true face, hasn't it Kururugi?"

Suzaku's face folded in anger at the mocking usage of his last name, as only one man had ever addressed him in that fashion. "So, you have regained your memories, Zero."

"Indeed, my memories alongside my army and my power," Lelouch responded, continuing to look down at Suzaku. "And I intend to start where I left off with all of them."

Suzaku snarled in return, looking away as he could no longer meet Lelouch's gaze. "I knew I should have killed you in that damned cave," he glowered. "Just to keep you from returning and destroying the world again,"

Lelouch only laughed derisively, in the same villainous laugh that had echoed in Suzaku's nightmares since the standoff at Kamine, at that declaration. "You give me too much credit," he declared. "Look around you Kururugi! Even without my hand, the world is already on the path of destruction," he stated, as if it were obvious fact. "All thanks to you and your masters."

"Shut up...!" Suzaku shot back, closing his eyes in an effort to try and come up with a proper response.

Lelouch's grin deepened. "It hurts doesn't it, knowing that this is all the result of your decisions and ideals, knowing that everything you set out to do after your father's death has led to this time and this moment."

Suzaku's shuttered at the taunt, thus giving Lelouch greater incentive to carry on as his words were having great effect. "Tell me, was this all part of your plan to change the world from within, allowing Britannia to do to the world exactly what it did to your country?" he continued, even though he knew what he would say next would cause Suzaku to snap. "Do you truly believe this is what Euphemia would have wanted?"

At the utterance of that name, the Knight of Seven's eyes snapped open and his glare returned with three times its original intensity. His voice grew just as powerful. "You have no right to speak her name!" Suzaku roared. "It was because of you that Euphie's vision was not realized! It was because of you that Japan was annihilated, and my people were driven into the shadows! And it's also because of you that I must fight my own kind in the name of a foreign power!"

On his side of the screen, Lelouch only watched intently as the Knight of the Round carried on, causing Suzaku even greater anger toward him as he continued. "For all your rantings about justice, what goal did you accomplish!? For what purpose did Euphie and many others die for!? What change did you bring about through your rebellion!? The answer is none Lelouch! All you did was bring more death and destruction to the world!"

Despite the fury of that tangent, Lelouch's ironclad demeanor remained. However, if one looked close enough, one could see his left eye twitch ever so slightly. "And yet you consider yourself one to cast the first stone, Kururugi?"

That one hit home, as Suzaku noticeably grimaced in reply, as if he were physically wounded. At that, Lelouch once more took the initiative, his voice gaining more and more of an edge with each word. "Tell me, just how many have died because of Suzaku Kururugi's hypocrisy? How many innocents died in Japan and are dying now because you chose to join the ranks of the enemy in some naive belief that you could change everything from within, when time and again you were proven wrong? Why was it that hope came from an exile in a Halloween costume instead of the son of Japan's last Prime Minister, who so loved his people that he gave his own father and self-respect to keep them alive?"

That malevolent smile soon returned with full force. "The answer is simple: because you are a coward Kururugi!"

"A coward!?" Suzaku bellowed in reply.

"Yes, a coward! One who fears his own reflection no less!" Lelouch called out challengingly. He had no idea how literal that last sentence was, nor how it made Suzaku feel as though he were just disemboweled. "Instead of choosing to rightfully lead your people in your father's place, instead of taking the stand against injustice by joining the resistance, you ran away and became a nameless soldier so that you could die a pathetic death! Your drive to change the system from within didn't come from the needs of the Japanese, but your own regret over ending Genbu Kururugi's life! It was nothing more than a shroud to hide your shame!"

"Kisama...!" Suzaku cursed in his native tongue as the accusations continued to have their way with his spirit.

Lelouch then sat back as he let the words' effect settle in. "But then came my sister and suddenly the coward gained a purpose," he summarized at the end. "Even if the dream was impossible to accomplish."

"You're wrong!" Suzaku shouted out in clear defiance "It wasn't impossible...!"

Again Lelouch laughed derisively, and again Suzaku recoiled from that laugh. And yet at the same time, Lelouch could feel more cracks grow onto his metaphorical play mask from Suzaku's anguish, and it took some effort on his part to maintain his current image. "You're the only one who believed that! Euphie was not as naive as you; she knew what she wanted didn't correspond to reality, which is why she chose to give up the throne just to provide your people with liberty. She willingly traded her rank and status just to gain the tiniest bit of peace she could obtain for others, knowing that even though she could not fulfill her entire dream, at least she would gain Japan a measure of freedom."

More cracks came about, but Lelouch continued to maintain himself. Yet with each word he uttered, the mask grew only heavier and further broken, evidenced by the increased shakiness and volume of his voice. "If I am wrong, then tell me the reason why! Why did you abandon your ideals and Euphie's legacy, so that you could fight for the system without bringing change!? Why are you now using contemptible means to gain results when you once told me those were worthless!?"

And then as if a hammer had been dropped down, the mask shattered and all of the fury and repressed emotion of Lelouch vi Britannia, not Zero, poured out in one single burst toward his lifelong friend. "Why did you willingly become the lapdog of the same man who exiled Nunnally and I, enslaved you and your entire race, and then slaughtered them all for trying to regain what was wrongfully taken from them!? Tell me, Suzaku!"

Suzaku nearly recoiled from the rancor in that statement, clearly unprepared for its intensity. Compared to Lelouch's previous taunts, this one held far more desperation and anxiety behind it than he would have ever expected from the one who called himself Zero, the man who only mocked him and played against his weaknesses. In turn, Suzaku found himself gazing back with evident shock as Lelouch hunched over and began panting, as if the outburst itself had exhausted him.

"Tell me..." Lelouch stated, his voice now weary and the desperation remaining in its tone. "...how could you choose him over us...?

Another moment of silence soon embraced the setting as Suzaku digested the meaning behind those words. It was obvious now that the man before him was Lelouch his friend, who was openly hurt by his betrayal toward him and unable to comprehend the choices Suzaku had made for himself, and not Zero the villain, who only looked upon him as a fool and an obstacle to be removed. Seeing this, Suzaku tried to think of a proper counter, one that would answer Lelouch's inquiry once and for all. However, in spite of his great efforts, he could not find any words to respond with, as he himself could not come up with a single reason that would have justified his choosing the Emperor's service over all else. Much like a monolith, Lelouch's point stood, firm and unmoving.

Eventually, Suzaku began to speak again, but this time the hatred in his voice was not directed at Lelouch. Rather, it sounded as though it were directed at himself. "...I admit I no longer hold any belief that I myself can change Britannia nor its ways from within, not after all the blood that has been spilled because of my actions," Suzaku started to explain, looking away in clear shame. "I am also no longer worthy of calling myself Euphemia's knight, nor am I worthy of continuing her ideals.

He then closed his eyes in further admission. "I am as you said," he spoke in a near whisper. "I am nothing more than a tyrant's lapdog."

Lelouch looked up again at that admission, but made no reply or expressed any further emotion. Instead, he simply listened intently just as he had before, while Suzaku explained himself.

"But even so..." Suzaku continued on, his eyes reopening and his voice regaining its original strenght. "I can still fix everything. I can still see peace brought to the world and keep my mistakes from being repeated, so that others can make the changes from within!"

Lelouch's face became eclipsed with anger once more. "You cannot possibly believe such an idiotic notion, Suzaku...!"

"Not only do I believe it Lelouch..." Suzaku stated with finality. "...but I am also willing to fight for it!"

The Black Prince looked far from pleased with that, and both his regular right eye and his Geass embedded left eye shown with fury toward his friend's apparent foolishness. "Then you truly have learned nothing after all this time! As long as they have free will, humans will never be satisfied with such artificial peace, and another Zero would only rise up to lead them in revolution!"

Despite that, Suzaku remained grounded where he was. "Not if there's another Euphie to show the world that revolution can be made without gunfire or war or death!" he replied with fervor. "Even though Euphie may not have been able to change the entire world, all she had to do was change her portion of it just for others to follow her example! And while I may not be able to live up to her name, those of the next generation surely could, and that is what I am betting on!"

At that, Suzaku reached toward his chest and took hold of the sigil pin, the one that symbolized his knighthood under Euphemia li Britannia, grasping it hard. "That is why the system must be preserved, so that it may change without suffering!"

"A system that has remained in place for over two millennia will never change!" Lelouch responded with even greater strength, feeling his fists tighten around his control sticks until it felt like they were going crush the metal rods with their grasp. "No matter who sits on that throne, no matter who gains the title of Emperor, Britannia will always be the evil empire and will only exist to subjugate the human race!"

He then let out in one great declaration to match Suzaku's earlier one, all the while he ignored the burning sensation behind his scar and left eye. "That is why it and the system it represents must be destroyed entirely, until there is nothing left of either!"

"Such thinking is what brought the Devastation!" Suzaku shot back in his own fury.

"Such thinking is what brought hope to an oppressed people when the world abandoned them!" Lelouch returned fire with equal force.

Another pause soon came between them, as both came to realize that there was no longer any reason to argue. Both had their beliefs, and both had their willingness to see them through, no matter the personal cost and no matter what they would be thought of after. And yet even so, Lelouch was not about to let things remain that way; if there was any chance to avert what he knew was inevitable, then now was the time to reach out. As such, he let his voice drop down to a more even tone as he made his last attempt to save his friend's soul.

"It's not too late Suzaku," Lelouch offered hesitantly. "Both of us have sinned, but there is still time to find redemption. Join me, and we can start down that path by destroying Britannia once and for all!"

As if to put physical emphasis on that statement, he had the Mordred visibly reach out to the Lancelot. "After all..." Lelouch added with a small but warm smile. "Together we can accomplish anything, remember?

Suzaku let out a small "heh" at that ultimatum in acknowledgement, once more recounting their days in the Kururugi household so long ago. Back then nothing felt impossible for them as long as they remained together as brothers in arms, just as Lelouch had said now; not even their differences in blood could get in the way of that bond. At the same time however, Suzaku knew those days were long gone, that both he and Lelouch were no longer those children, nor was the world as simple as it appeared back then. Both had made their choices since that time, and there was no turning back now. Which is exactly how Suzaku answered.

"...No Lelouch, it is too late," Suzaku replied, feeling the darkness begin to overcome him again, such that he looked down and let his hair cover over his eyes. "There is no redemption for me, not after everything I have done."

He continued in solemn admission. "There is only my service to the Empire, and nothing you say will change that."

Lelouch's expression became outright pleading in response. Any anger that he had held before quickly evaporated as he tried desperately to reach toward his friend before the worst would occur.

"Don't do this..." he begged, his voice hoarse with anxiety. This was the first time Suzaku had ever seen Lelouch in such a state, as well as the first time Lelouch had ever found himself in; even when he was before the Emperor years ago protesting his lack of action over his mother's death, Lelouch had retained his full spirit and force of will, all the way up to the point he had declared his abandonment of his title and claim to the throne. "Don't make me your enemy again, not when we both want the same thing..."

His expression became outright fearful when he posed his next question. "...we're friends, aren't we?"

Suzaku did not reply to that, he only continued to look down and remain obscured from the vidscreen. At that, Lelouch called out to him once more in even greater desperation. "Suzaku...!"

"Enough!" Suzaku bellowed at long last, his eyes looking back up with all the fierceness they could muster while the Lancelot drew both of its MVS and activated them. With a swing, the white knightmare angled its right hand blade straight toward its black brethren. "As the Knight of Seven, I declare you under arrest for open hostility against the Empire! Surrender now, and I will spare your life!"

In that final declaration, Lelouch finally saw the ultimate truth with his own eyes: the Suzaku Kururugi that he had known, grown up with and seen as his first dear friend was gone. Whether he had died alongside his beloved Princess at the SAZ or had been another casualty of the Devastation, that Suzaku no longer existed in this plane. Instead, the man before him was nothing less than an imposter, a twisted analogue of his friend that adhered to degraded ideology and had long traded his soul to the system that he served, no longer holding any compassion for those who suffered around him. A true enemy to Lelouch through and through, one that chose on his own to stand in his way while dismissing what all they had left in the process.

As such, Lelouch could only grit his teeth in his own fury, feeling as though he had just been spat on in spite of his pleas for Suzaku's redemption. If the man before him would not join him, then Lelouch had no choice but to take him down here, where he stood. The course, as it were, was set.

"Go to hell..." he stated in response, before drawing and activating his own MVS. "...you traitorous fool!" he roared as he put the Mordred into a charge.

"Shine, Zero!" Suzaku roared in turn, calling out for his enemy's death in Japanese while putting the Lancelot into a charge of its own.

And thus one of the most fated battles in history, one eight years in the making, began with the thunderous clash of crimson blades.

---

Pearl City
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

Dame Helena Rowe grimaced as another Sutherland, one that had been almost beside her, was shot of the air by enemy machine gun fire. The enemy, whoever they were, was good, she could say that much; with the little amount of time they had from concluding their assault on Pearl Harbor to when she and the rest of the reprisal force had arrived on the air cruiser Gladiator, they had entered in and spread themselves throughout Pearl City in order to meet whatever incoming forces head on. And now that they had arrived and were currently descending via parachute from the Gladiator's hold, the enemy, as she could tell from her factspheres' scans, were already preparing to engage them directly, the various black knightmares maintaining their anti-air fire for so long before abandoning their initial positions entirely to take to the open areas of the city, where they could fight uninhibited. As much as she loathed admitting it, Helena was rather impressed with this enemy. Enough that she looked forward to the fight ahead, as well as certain satisfaction when she and hers finished wiping them off the face of the earth.

Remember that this is the force that struck our capital and eluded our reprisal thereafter. Do not underestimate them Helena. Schneizel's warning replayed in her memory as she continued her descent. She had taken his words to heart as she always did, though at the same time she had seen for herself what this enemy was capable of; evading both Cornelia's forces – their evident ineptness notwithstanding – in Pendragon and then the ambush within the Bering Strait. And while she would have rather had His Highness be in charge of this battle, the Prince had selected her to finish off this foe once and for all, and the knight, having long earned the epithet "Schneizel's Sword", was not about to fail her liege's faith in her. She would destroy them, one way or another, for her Prince, for Britannia and for herself. In that order.

Once she reached the right altitude, she unhinged her silver Exeter from its chute and dropped the rest of the way, landing upon the city street with a great bang. From there, she wasted no time in deploying her landspinners and speeding down the street, lest she become an easy target. Simultaneously redeploying her factspheres, she again scanned the city. As she expected, the enemy was spread out throughout, having apparently divided into single units or groups of two or four. It would take quite a bit of time to hunt them all down, and though Helena was quite sure she could take on whatever units she encountered, an assurance she also held toward the two Knights of the Round that had accompanied her forces. As for the rest however, she wasn't so assured; yes they had the skills, but their Sutherlands and Gloucesters were wholly antiquated. High losses, even the most marginal, were likely unavoidable.

But then, as Schneizel had promised her additional reinforcements from the Homeland, and Helena knew better than to doubt her liege's promises. That in itself gave her some leeway; if she and those around her couldn't wipe them out immediately, then they would simply take out as many as they could before those reinforcements came in, and then wipe out the remainders with a full hammer fall. Not her favorite stratagem admittedly, but she knew it was the best she could manage in this situation.

With that in mind, Helena faced forward as her sensors detected a set of "UNKNOWN" enemy knightmares directly ahead, moving to intercept her. Smirking, she withdrew her VARIS before calling out to her forces, which by now had were mostly deployed into the city. "All units engage at will!" she commanded, just as the first bullets began to spray around her. "Slay these invaders and avenge our lost!"

She then raised her VARIS and targeted. "Charge!"

With that, she let loose her specialized rifle, maneuvering around their machine gun shots as she fired. Two of her shots landed square into the torsos of two enemy units, destroying them in the midst of their maneuvers, while a third managed to evade and close the distance rapidly. From there, it brought its weapon, a strange sword with a chain edge, down to strike, but Helena was faster, swiftly maneuvering around its downward chop while simultaneously slipping behind to the cockpit block. The unit attempted to twist around to bring its arm gun to bear, but by then it was too late; Helena fired a single shot point blank into the cockpit block, conveniently while the unit was in its spin, and then moved away for other targets. The enemy knightmare eventually crashed through the window of a nearby souvenir shop.

Her threat indicator suddenly going off, Helena leaped away just as another black knightmare fell from above, having apparently jumped off one of the nearby buildings, its chainsword impaling into the street where she had been. At that, the knight raised her left arm and launched the mounted harken, but the enemy knightmare was fast, managing to withdraw its sword from the nice sized gash it had dug into the street and move away before impact. Sneering after it, Helena attempted to take out the enemy knightmare with her VARIS, but her shot narrowly missed as said knightmare dodged, all the while raising its hand gun and firing back. Sneer deepening, she reversed and banked around the fire, all the while her next shot clipped the enemy knightmare's left arm, and with it its hand gun.

Seemingly angering the enemy devicer, the black knightmare rebrandished its chainsword and charged again, banking around Helena's next two shots. However, upon moving in close, Helena put her Exeter forward as well, from which she jumped up and, while reaching her open left hand out to "push" off the charging knightmare, performed an aerial cartwheel that placed her unit several meters behind the black one. Once she landed, she wasted no time in firing the finishing shot, which tore through the enemy unit's chest upon its turning to face her again and destabilized the Yggdrasil drive. A rather vibrant explosion followed as Helena fired her slash harken into the side of a nearby building, from which she scaled and jumped onto the roof.

This is strangely easier than expected. Helena thought as another team of enemy knightmares jumped onto the roof, apparently having recognized her and her unit as the bigger threat outside the Rounds, after her. As the space was too confined to use her VARIS properly, she reversed the Exeter once more, narrowly evading her opponents' sword attacks, while swapping her rifle out for her maser vibration swords. Upon drawing either blade and activating them, Helena charged back, moving against one unit and slashing upward with her right sword to throw up its blade. From there, she planted the left blade into the knightmare's torso, where it drove into the cockpit. The Witch Princess and her pretty boy knight really had difficulties against these?

At the same time, as the other three enemy knightmares moved into impale her around their comrade's corpse, to which Helena withdrew her sword and leaped back onto another rooftop, she thought she felt a pang of familiarity with these particular opponents. Though she could not recall ever encountering them in battle herself, there was something about their fighting style, especially as the current three moved in as one and took slashes at her with their chainswords, to which she neatly evaded or parried, that she had at least read upon before. However, as she moved from building top to building top, beheading one of the knightmares and slashing the left side of its cockpit block in the process, she couldn't quite identify that familiarity. Even as the remaining two moved at her, attempting to flank her simultaneously.

Ultimately, the knight decided it really didn't matter at this point; they were enemies of the Empire and would be dealt with appropriately. As such, she simply stepped back twice as the knightmares swung their blades down to strike, crossing them together against the ground. From there, she kicked the one on her left away, then crouched down to evade the following slash from the one on her right, again spinning to execute a sweep kick that knocked it off its feet. After that, she brought her left sword about again and stabbed it down into the enemy frame, finishing it.

By that point its comrade had recovered at the edge of the rooftop, but it didn't matter. In the midst of her leap, Helena performed a flying kick that sent both her steed and the black one off the top of the building and onto the street below. From there, standing with her right foot planted on her now firmly trapped adversary, whose frame was indented into the street, she brought her swords overhead and impaled them straight through the torso and cockpit, killing that enemy devicer as well. She then leaped away, leaving the corpse as it was.

More bullets came flying at her as she landed, with four enemy units advancing. Licking her lips at the challenge, all the while forcing back that lingering pang of familiarity and potential danger, Helena rebrandished her swords and charged at the formation. One after another, these enemies of Britannia would pay for their brazenness, as well as their actions there and in Pendragon. Schneizel's Sword would see to it, as she always did.

---

Even as he had the Elyan dive headlong into the melee, Gino was unable to force back the upset feeling in his stomach, which had been present all the way back to when he had first launched from the Gladiator's deck. He supposed it was generated from his conscience, the idea that he was fighting on the side of the "evil empire" that was slowly conquering the world against the "righteous rebellion" that was more than likely fighting to free it. Even the knowledge that many loyal Britannian soldiers had been killed off in the Black Knights' attacks on Pendragon and now on Crusoe couldn't make Gino feel what he was doing was right, as even if those numbers were combined together they were nowhere near the numbers, and he meant that word in its literal meaning as opposed to the Britannian corruption of it, that had perished in the Devastation. No matter how much he thought about it, both in the past few days and now, Gino could not shake the feeling that he was on the wrong side of this war, and the more he fought against it the more powerful it became.

But all the same, he ended up resisting the feeling by sheer force of will alone, emphasized when he put the Elyan into greater speed across the ground. It was almost physically painful and exhausting to him, much like Sisyphus pushing a great boulder up a hill, but he endured it as much as the strain of the current battle. Like it or not, Gino was still the Knight of Three, and he had made his choice long ago just as he had declared to Charmelle not too long ago. Therefore, just as he had inwardly resolved in himself back then, he would continue to fight his enemies, whether his enemy were Japanese or Eurasian, in the same fashion as the Emperor and many others had come to expect of him, and without compromising the just and chivalrous principles of the Rounds, he would show no restraint to any of them.

Lelouch, the one reason he was still fighting for Britannia to begin with, would have told him to do the same. In his regard, Gino wished he were there now, leading the charge as he had always done in Africa and directing the Imperial forces against the Black Knights and whoever was commanding them. But until the Prince had recovered from whatever injuries he had received at that time, the Knight of Three would settle for the idea of fighting in his name.

As he maneuvered through the streets of Pearl City, Gino finally settled on his first set of targets: a set of black, mono-eyed knightmares that were making mincemeat out of a nearby squad of Sutherlands. He sneered as his computer labeled them as "UNKNOWN" in bright letters; if there was one thing he found especially frustrating with fighting the Black Knights, it was the fact that he didn't know what their knightmares were called. Oh sure, he pretty much had a feel for their capabilities now, but he hated fighting an enemy he couldn't identify, as it somehow felt as though his adversaries had an advantage over him for it. But then, if the knightmares they used in Japan were any indication, these new models were likely all named some cliché and gaudy Japanese phrase anyway, like Yamato, Masamune, Akira, Kobayashi Maru or anything else along that line. Not that it really made any difference though, as they were just targets to wipe away in the end.

"Well, guess you're as good a start as any," Gino said in a sigh he recalibrated the Elyan's course toward those enemy knightmares. Then, once more against the pains of his innards, he then allowed his usual smirk to form on his face, symbolizing his anticipation of the challenge. "Let's see how you like real opponents!"

Targeting the nearest enemy knightmare as he entered range, Gino charged headlong, his right needle blazer raised. Noticing the green knightmare's approach only too late, the black machine tried to evade, only to be struck straight on. The resultant burst tore its insides out, and it exploded not long after as its Yggdrasil drive detonated, while the Elyan moved past, neatly evading the fire from its nearby comrades.

Following this, Gino, in a swift motion that would have impressed even his fellow Knights of the Round, made the Elyan leap over its opposition, taking full advantage of his frame's lightweight and nimbleness, and then reversed upon landing, where he was facing them from behind. From there, Gino charged at the momentarily stunned black knightmares and at the same time drew his twin lances, joined them and activated them in little over a span of milliseconds. The enemy knightmare he had targeted was quick to draw its chainsword and deflect his initial attack, but Gino put more power into the Elyan's landspinners and easily pushed his opponent back. Then with an upward swipe, he knocked the chainsword blade away and took the opportunity to make a deep stroke against the opposing knightmare's torso. A reverse later, the knightmare detonated as well.

Gino then moved to strike its remaining comrade, but at the last moment the Black Knight pilot managed to evade, and the lance blade only managed to cut the left arm at the elbow, taking the handgun with it. "Not too bad, but you still lost your main gun!" Gino taunted in his usual playful fashion as he continued his attack.

As if responding to the taunt, the enemy knightmare quickly brought its chainsword down for the kill. Gino dodged right from the attack and attempted another slash at the impetuous knightmare, but again his enemy evaded his attack. At that, the Knight of Three reached out with his right arm, extended the slash harken and fired it, launching the rocket propelled wedge right into the head, which shattered on impact, and then continued to drive into the cockpit block. His work finished, Gino quickly withdrew his harken and sped off for new targets.

Before he could search new prey out however, his warning indicators beeped out, signaling enemies locking on him from nearby. Just as the bullets began to literally rain around him, Gino put the Elyan into a series of evasive maneuvers, dodging each shot with ease, while looking up to see what was shooting at him. The origin of the bullets was four enemy knightmares, one of which looked to be one of the command models. At their approach, Gino twisted the Elyan around and launched both slash harkens. Unfortunately however, all four enemy pilots were quick to realize the attack in progress and easily evaded them.

"That was actually impressive!" Gino exclaimed with a whistle. "But how good are you in close combat?"

He then pushed the Elyan once more and continued to dance around the enemy knightmares' firepower in such a way that it was frustrating just to watch. All four rushed at him with their chainswords simultaneously, but he was able to deflect their attacks with deft motion while making counters of his own, though he himself only succeeded in cutting off an arm and a portion of the left shoulder pauldron on two of his adversaries initially. This soon changed when he feinted another slash with his lance, only to move it to his right side and fire let loose his left arm mounted slash harken, which drove into one of the regular units right through the middle. Gino then took the opportunity to make a one handed twirl that cut into another of the regulars, leaving a diagonal gash through its own torso, before also falling.

Seeing two of its comrades die in a matter of seconds, the third regular unleashed a barrage of bullets at the Elyan, but Gino was quick enough to evade before they could reach him. From there, he struck it down with his left blazer, reducing it to fiery remnants as well. Needless to say this did not play well with the commander, which drew its sword up and charged madly at the Knight of the Round exclusive knightmare, its pilot obviously hellbent to take Gino down.

In turn, Gino charged back with his lance in hand, both knightmares appearing akin to their jousting namesakes throughout the attacks. Upon the point of attack however, Gino slashed the enemy knightmare's sword arm away as he passed, before the chain weapon could have connected. In response, the enemy pilot switched over to his or her handgun, but Gino slashed that away as well, before arcing around and going into a high speed dash, effectively outpacing the enemy pilots aim before turning around again and moving to strike at the torso for the kill. This only resulted in the enemy pilot banking to the left to evade the stroke entirely.

"So you still have some fight in you," Gino observed, feeling more amused than bothered at the display. This emphasized a second later, when Gino smacked the opposite blade of his pole weapon against the knightmare's side and effectively throwing it into the side of a building, momentarily stunning it. From there, he again moved against it, his lance set to impale.

But once more fate intervened, as a newcomer unit, moving at a far faster velocity than its comrades, intercepted the Elyan in its movements and deflected the blow away with a golden bladed knife.

"What the-!?" Gino yelped in surprise as the new unit moved in for the attack while its comrade got up and retreated. The Knight of Three was quick to note the details of the enemy unit: crimson armor, white faceplate with sapphire eye cameras and oversized clawed right arm with five digits. In that instant Gino's eyes widened in greater surprise as he flung the Elyan back into the counterattack; he easily recognized his opponent.

That's the knightmare that nearly captured Lelouch! Gino thought and almost spoke aloud. It was then that his memory brought up long dormant information regarding the unit, as he recalled reports from Japan about the Black Knights possessing an ace of high caliber. The Japanese had called her Akaryu, while the Britannians referred to her as the Ace of the Elevens, but her skills and deeds throughout the Japanese Insurrection only spoke for themselves, such that even Britannians in the Homeland had come to know of her. It was even claimed that her skills could match that of a Round; the irony was not lost in Gino there.

This individual had been deemed KIA alongside the rest of her army and her people after the Devastation, but here she was now, very much alive and fighting alongside that same army, and here and now going all out against one of the Empire's foremost aces. Gino could only feel his gut clench at the realization. It figures. he thought more as he deflected more attacks. Fate has a way of favoring pain-in-the-asses during catastrophic events.

Then in a spur of the moment, he twisted his lance around and ended up clashing the middle of the pole against the Guren's, and it was the Guren Nishiki, knife, holding it in place while Gino established a communication link. "Well, this is an honor," he spoke in a velvety smooth tone. "I never would have believed I would end up fighting the great Kallen Kouzuki out here."

Even without a video link showing the enemy pilot's profile, Gino knew his opponent was taken aback by surprise. "You know who I am...?" she muttered in mild shock.

"Of course. All of Britannia knows of you," Gino retorted back, before knocking the knife aside and making a series of slashes, which drove the Guren on the evasive. "How do you think their parents get their kids to behave? 'Do your homework and go to bed or the Red Dragoness will come and eat you!'"

"Don't mock me!" Kallen responded vehemently as she realigned her claw arm in an attempt to ensnare the Elyan, only for Gino to reverse his knightmare at the last moment and fire a slash harken. The harken drove forward only to impact against the Guren's arm generated energy shield, sending ripples out in all directions.

"Temper temper," Gino muttered in mock disapproval. "I can see where the 'Dragoness' moniker came from. No wonder Lelouch and Suzaku had hard times with you."

Suddenly, the Guren knocked away the harken and charged once more for the attack, firing an energy stream from its claw that Gino only barely evaded. "Congratulations Britannian, you have succeeded in thoroughly pissing me off!" Kallen called out in an outright draconic tone as she oriented her left arm and fired a grenade, which the Elyan moved around. "You are officially a dead man!" she once more tried ensnare the Elyan, but Gino was again too quick, managing to bank each time that right arm claw reached out.

Gino raised an eyebrow at the sudden burst of anger as he continued to dodge, wondering just what it was he had just said to invoke such emotion from her. Maybe she doesn't like her nickname? he thought with peculiarity, somewhat confused on the inside.

Beyond that, he couldn't quite put his finger on it either, but the Knight of the Round had the feeling that something else was on the enemy ace's mind, and that she saw his presence as more of an obstacle to contend with as opposed to a serious threat to her livelihood. A part of him was curious about that, but he knew better than to ask, as the Guren pilot would simply snub him, and it was likely along the lines of her side wanting to retreat before the rest of the Imperial forces show up anyway. As such, he simply concentrated on the fight at hand, symbolized when he knocked the knife hand back in its latest attack and jetted backwards a few meters.

"Let's see you try, Akaryu," Gino retorted as he regained the initiative, grin ever present. "And who knows? Maybe you'll do what hundreds of Eurasians and your fellow countrymen couldn't."

He then spun his lance overhead again and renewed his charge toward the Guren. "But I doubt it!"

---

Nothing. That was exactly how Anya Alstreim felt toward the enemies that she faced, and the ones in front of her now were no different. Some feared or feared for their enemies, like Suzaku did, while others took a measure amusement in fighting them, like Gino did, and even more found twisted delight in slaughtering them like cattle, like Luciano Bradley did. But for Anya, she, as in nearly all things in life, found no emotion or feeling when it came to battle; no enjoyment, no dread, not even irritation. It was simply her chosen profession and nothing more. That had been the single answer to all those "How does it feel to go into battle?" comments she got on her Facebook page, and Anya, for all of her writing skills, could not think of a better way to describe what it was like to pilot the Hector against the enemies of the Empire.

Such as it was now, as her customized knightmare moved through the streets of Pearl City while a number of pursuing enemy knightmares rained bullets, bazooka shells and those strange rockets at her direction. Any other knightmare would have easily been overwhelmed by such an assault, but the Hector had been designed specifically to survive whatever the opposition could throw at it, and as such its armor held up to the all-directional barrage. The armor did not prevent her knightmare from rumbling with each blow however, but at the same time the constant "bangs" and vibrations did little to bother Anya. In turn, she fired back with her micromissiles, sending a swarm of miniature projectiles streaking toward her opposition. Some of the enemy knightmares were fortunate enough to evade before the blow could be made, but the rest were easily dismantled one way or another. Anya only continued on from there, with a lesser number of opposition to contend with among the myriad of lights and fire.

From there, Anya continued to fire collective bursts from her micromissiles at any enemy units that were in range, playing upon the Hector's intended assault role to the extreme. Once again some enemy units were fortunate to evade her attacks in time, while others wiped away, leaving only raining shards and fire with their remains. As she continued her attacks, her threat indicator soon lit up, warning her that more enemy units were charging at her. Anya turned a stoic eye toward the incoming units, two of which were coming at her with their chainsword drawn while the others remained behind to attack with their long-range weapons.

At that point she supposed she was expected to dodge, but she decided not to for this one. As such, the enemy knightmares soon reared up in front of her and made well placed slashes against the Hector's frame, while they let loose their handguns. But in spite of their efforts, the Hector's armor held to the vicious attacks; not even the chainswords were able to leave so much as a marking on the dark violet and white colored chassis, much to Anya's expectations and more than likely the astonishment of the enemy pilots. Anya allowed this to continue for a few moments longer, until she figured the enemy were refusing to admit the futility of trying to inflict damage on her steed, to which she once more fired a barrage of missiles that cut all except one down, which had managed to "only" lose its left arm as opposed to the whole frame.

That same unit, apparently not having learned its lesson, made a renewed charge at the Hector, intending on impaling it with its sword. Anya sighed at the display, as all the enemy pilot managed to accomplish was to shatter his or her chainsword against the Hector's chest, the metal blades flying away in a series of sparks and leaving only a shaft behind. At that, Anya reached out and grabbed the enemy knightmare by the head before it could retreat.

"Tag, you're dead," Anya said simply, her quartz colored eyes looking down at the minutely struggling knightmare in her grasp. This time, the pilot seemed to have got the message, as the cockpit of the enemy knightmare ejected soon enough, and Anya in turn let go of the hulk and allowed it to fall to the ground.

A sudden flash light caused Anya's attention to move to her left, which in turn caused her eyes to widen in the smallest fraction. Another group of black knightmares were now moving against a squad of Sutherlands, who were firing desperately to hold them back even as their numbers were continuing dwindling. Seeing the proverbial blood in the water, the black knightmares only stepped up their assault, concentrating their own fire onto the group and systematically cutting them down. Not even a pair of Gloucesters, which had moved in to defend the Sutherlands, were able to stop the onslaught, as they themselves were cut down by the black knightmares' chainswords.

As such, Anya flexed her fingers and activated her stark hadron cannon, which flipped out in front of the Hector while the dual targeting scopes folded out for Anya's usage. Normally she wouldn't have used the weapon within city limits, but the Sutherlands and their antagonists were a fair distance away – such that by the time the Hector would reach them at its best speed, they would be completely wiped out – and in an open area. Besides, as long as Anya kept it at low power, she was sure that none of the nearby buildings or inhabitance would be effected.

Soon enough, her targeting reticule turned red, signaling she had lock. "Firing," she said simply once more, just as her finger began to pull back on the trigger

And then, before Anya could even realize it was happening, her entire world went white for the briefest of moments. With a thunderous roar, the stark hadron cannon exploded in front of her, rocking the Hector in its entirety and causing Anya to recoil against the back of her chair, letting out a soft cry of surprise as her head bounced off of the cushion and the magnetic restraints kept the rest of her body in place. When she checked her sensor display, she found only nothing on her scope beyond the enemy units she was already aware of, but when she turned her head camera toward what she guessed was the vector of the enemy fire, she immediately beheld her attacker.

Almost in angelic fashion, a single enemy knightmare descended from above and began raining down fire from its handgun at the Hector upon landing. Anya was quick to notice that this unit was different from the "normal" models; specifically, it traded the standard black color scheme for a rather vibrant shade of pink. However, the Knight of Six could already tell that the pilot, while colorblind, possessed very apparent fighting skill as the knightmare marauded its way through any and all opposition, namely the select Sutherlands and Gloucesters that had moved in for the Knight of Six's defense. Watching this, Anya actually began to worry; there was something different about this unit than just its outlandish color scheme.

Upon finding an opportunity, she locked onto to the pink unit and launched another swarm of missiles at it, but the enemy pilot quickly banked around her attack and returned its own fire.

"Well well, the Juggernaut of Britannia I presume," said an obviously feminine voice that seemed to border between stoic and playful, as the enemy knightmare's mono-eye stared squarely at the Hector. "Sorry, but I can't have you taking us down so easily."

With that, the pink knightmare charged. "You can, however, try your hand against me."

Anya felt something inside her freeze at that voice; for some reason, it sounded familiar to her. However, she had no time to contemplate how that was possible, as the enemy knightmare swooped in and fired, its bullets striking across the Hector's frame. After that, Anya fired back with her missiles, effectively turning the battle into a mobile gunfight.

The Knight of Six only felt her gut clench throughout. For perhaps the first time in quite some time, she actually felt something toward this enemy. And it was not a feeling that she particularly liked.

---

His Majesty's Naval Base, Pearl
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

With as much ferocity as either pilot could muster against the other, the Mordred and the Lancelot spiraled elegantly across the ground, their respective blades slashing at one another throughout. After both knightmares reached a certain point, the Lancelot abandoned its evasions and shot at the Mordred in an attempt to make a running slash, only for the Mordred to knock its sword away as it passed, turn around and launch its left arm slash harken at the white knightmare's back. Before they could impact however, the Lancelot shifted around and knocked the harkens aside with its right arm mounted Blaze Luminous, but by that point the Mordred was over it again, baring down with its swords and forcing the Lancelot to maintain its defensive. Only the two follow up counterslashes and the firing of the Lancelot's hip slash harkens made the black and gold knightmare break off from its assault, but the fight only continued from there with several more clashes between their blades.

Already feeling greater amounts of sweat run down his face, Lelouch gritted his teeth as the Lancelot knocked his blade away, only to seethe one of its own swords and draw its VARIS rifle before firing three shots at the Mordred in quick succession. Lelouch dodged the first two and then used his left "Blaze Luminous" to deflect the third, but that didn't slow the Lancelot down, as it took the opportunity to cross the threshold again and come close to slicing into the Mordred's torso, only for Lelouch to deflect that attack with a well-placed parry.

"You should never have returned to that damned mask, Lelouch!" Suzaku cried out with clear fury, putting more energy into the Lancelot's landspinners to drive his sword forward. He then followed this up by performing several more slashes, and in spite of the fact he was only wielding a single blade now, the Knight of Seven still managed to force back his opponent further. "You should have remained what you were meant to be!"

The former prince growled in response. "You mean another one of my father's pawns!?" he roared back, just as he forced the Lancelot's sword away and made his own attacks, causing the Lancelot to bank two and fro to avoid getting cut. The Mordred charged in response, catching Suzaku off guard and driving its right shoulder into the Lancelot, sending the white knightmare flying back several meters. "You mean another one of Britannia's slaves, just like you!?"

"How can you be so blind!?" Suzaku returned fire both in voice and with his VARIS, once more forcing the Mordred to abandon any follow up attacks. "You did far more to save the world as the Black Prince than you ever did as Zero! Why can't you understand that Lelouch!?"

"All I did under that title was expand the Empire's tyranny and cause unnecessary pain and suffering! How the hell is that saving the world Suzaku!?" Lelouch retorted with as much furor all the while putting the Mordred into reverse and simultaneously trading his left MVS for his own VARIS. When he found an opening, he let returned fire and sent his own blood red shots back at his opponent, turning the fight back onto his former friend quite effectively. Knowing that he would be in a better position away from open ground, Lelouch quickly maneuvered the Mordred into a position around the Lancelot, all the while evading his enemy's own VARIS shots, before withdrawing his own rifle and moving away, putting more power into his landspinners to increase its speed all the while heading straight toward a set of nearby ruins. Suzaku, feeling his fury rise at the sight of the Mordred's apparent retreat, quickly followed, putting his knightmare into a similar dash and taking the opportunity to switch from his VARIS to his MVS again.

Maneuvering around the damaged towers with practiced grace, Lelouch kept up the evasions until Lancelot swept in from behind, maser vibration swords drawn for the kill. Both were then systematically blocked and repelled with precision by the Mordred's swords. From there, Suzaku leaped over the Mordred and brought its right sword down for a vertical cut, only for Lelouch to roll aside and fire his VARIS in a full burst. Before he pulled the trigger however, Suzaku fired his left slash harken into a nearby debris and pulled the Lancelot aside, allowing the crimson orb to miss by a wide margin. At that, Lelouch withdrew his own VARIS as well while maneuvering to the right, thus allowing the Lancelot to pass by and then twist around to dash at the Mordred's side, where it scored a cut into the black and gold knightmare's side as it attempted to evade, nearly cutting away the slash harken mount there. Appearing to grimace from the wound, the Mordred brought its blades up again and smashed them against the Lancelot's, both sets meeting the other over and over, all the while both knightmares moved around the burning ruins of the former Imperial basin.

And all throughout, Lelouch could feel the strain begin to overtake his body as he forced himself into the fight. The battle had just begun and he had already expended much energy just to keep up with Suzaku, and while the latter was obviously not holding back, he couldn't have been as strained since he wasn't even fighting under the "Live" command's influence. This was especially made evident when the Lancelot intersected with the Mordred again and launched a vicious assault with both its MVS and its Blaze Luminous reinforced legs for true Suzaku form kick attacks, all of which were executed so fast that it was all Lelouch could do to block or evade each and every one rather than fight back.

Is there really that much of a rift between us...!? he thought bitterly as he fought to hold the line. Even after all this time!? After everything I learned under Bismarck and experienced through battles before this one!? At that he quickly realized a key fact: while he had long advanced from the weakling prince all these years, Suzaku would have only advanced from the level he held in Japan since becoming the Knight of Seven as well.

But even so, if there was definite advantage he held over Suzaku in this fight, it was full knowledge of his fighting style, something that he had possessed all the way back to the Japanese Insurrection and wielded to great effect on occasion, namely during Tohdoh's prison break at Sagumo. Though Lelouch couldn't beat Suzaku in performance, he could at least predict his movements and attacks, thus allowing him some leeway in the fight, which as shown now was going a long way for him. Subsequently, this was also the "big difference" between this fight and the one he held with Kallen in Tobruk: during the latter, he had held no idea what he had been fighting, but in this battle he knew both pilot and knightmare almost to an instinctive level.

And then suddenly, interrupting his mid-battle plotting, the Lancelot slammed both of its swords against the Mordred's MVS and held them there, while Suzaku put more power into his landspinners and began driving against the larger frame. "That title could have been your stepping stone..." Suzaku began to speak once again as he attempted to force his opponent into submission. "You could have used it and your service in Africa to take the throne, and then used that throne to make the changes from within that I never could! Gino, Anya and I would have supported you all the way, even if it meant standing against the current Emperor himself!"

Suzaku's eyes soon lit up with additional fury. "And you threw it all way!" As if reacting to its pilot rage on its own, the Lancelot released its blades from the Mordred's and began to once more pound its opponent's swords with continuous sword strokes of its own, one after another. All the while Suzaku sounded on with each stroke. "You threw away your one chance to save this world, and for what!? So that you could destroy everything, like you did in Japan!?"

"Better the destroyer of a decrepit world than its 'lord and savior'!" Lelouch shot back in anger, returning some strokes of his own against the Lancelot's swords. "Even if I became what you wished me to, nothing would have changed!" After the final stroke, the Mordred shot backward and fired its left arm slash harken. Suzaku attempted to dodge it, but the harken managed to get through, taking a great chunk out of the right side of the Lancelot's head and causing its pilot to glower at the damage. "I would have only been another Charles zi Britannia or another Richard el Britannia; one more in a line of tyrants to rule an evil dominion!"

He again locked blades with the Lancelot. "The world would not have changed! The tyrants would still rule and the people would still suffer!" he shouted, his voice filled with fury and determination. "That is why I have returned to the mask! That is why I reaccepted Geass!"

He then surprised Suzaku by breaking apart their blades and kicking the Lancelot, before bringing his blades down again only to be intercepted by the Lancelot's right arm Blaze Luminous shield. "To drive Britannia and this twisted world into the fires of Hell itself, so that Eden can be reborn from their ashes!"

In response, Suzaku roared and forced the Mordred's blades away, before dashing at his opponent with great vigor. Lelouch in turn did the same, turning the battle once more into a high-speed jousting match around the ruins of Pearl.

"Not if I have anything to say about it Lelouch!" Suzaku howled, almost in a scream, as he made each attack. "Before you create another Black Rebellion...!" he continued as he made another slash. "Before you create another Devastation...!" and another. "Before you damn us all...!"

He then shouted with all his might. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

Lelouch felt himself recoil from the force behind the declaration, his mind flashing back to the Black Rebellion and the memory of Suzaku then, consumed by his rage and seeking only vengeance, destroying everything in his path just to reach Zero. His voice sounded exactly the same as it did then, and it shook Lelouch to his core that Suzaku had held onto that very rage for eight years, even when he had pretended to be his friend and comrade throughout.

At that, Lelouch felt his own wrath grow in turn. "Not if I kill you first, bastard!" he declared in turn, as their blades met once more.

---

Black Knights mobile battleship Izumo
Pacific Ocean

"Finish her!"

No later than when Minami's order rang out across the bridge did the Izumo's HV cannon fire intensify, bombarding the wounded Emperor-class carrier in its scopes with a storm of hypersonic shells. Almost in a synchronized fashion, explosions rippled across the carrier's hull as key sections were struck, causing the ship to list to starboard and its lights to flicker in and out as the ship lost more and more of its power distribution. As she fell further into the sea, the Izumo advanced, her bow guns continuing to fire shot after shot into the smoldering dark grey hull while the other ships were kept at bay with the battleship's own defense systems.

And then all at once, one of the Izumo's shots found its way into the Emperor's main drive system, causing it to go critical and destabilize, cumulating into a great explosion that tore through the ship with enough destructive force to ensure nothing survived its reach. The ship instantly disappeared in the singular, collective flash, forcing those on the Izumo's bridge that watched her destruction to shield their eyes. A moment later, the flash was gone, and only open sea and metal debris remained where the proud Britannian warship had once been.

Scratch one carrier. Minami thought as he looked out over the remnants, all the while holding back a smirk as his crew cheered around him at their latest kill. They still had a long way to go, as there were at least two more carriers and a far larger amount of destroyers and submarines out there to destroy. For the moment, however, they were making headway.

At this stage the enemy fleet had dispersed into a typical ensnarement pattern. While the two remaining Emperors remained as far back as they could, the more numerous destroyers had moved to more outlying positions, where they could continue to rain missiles upon the battleship while making it more difficult for the Izumo's guns to target them. Meanwhile, fighters continued to move about the sky, making whatever missile attacks of their own upon the lone battleship that they could while taking advantage of the lack of air cover as well as the limited range of the Izumo's anti-air systems. And underneath, attack submarines remained lurking, adding their own torpedo attacks at every opportunity.

And then there were the Bristols that lurked under the waves as well. Faster and far more maneuverable than any of the capital ships, yet more lightly armed, they were only able to monitor the Izumo's position and transmit it back to their mother ships, as her Gefjun Disturber prevented the warships from directly locking on. That being said, they were tough little targets to hit even for the Izumo's advanced targeting systems, such that, despite the obvious strategy of destroying them and depriving the Britannians' their sole means of accurately targeting the battleship, Minami could only keep them at arm's length and prevent them from attacking the Big M as well. As a result, the Britannians were sight deprived, but not completely blinded.

Overall, in spite of the present triumph, they still had a long way to go before they could escape back to Ryukyu.

"Missiles incoming from one-six-four!" Ichijiku shouted in warning, as if the Britannians wanted to emphasize the point. From that, the main monitor became filled with numerous blue dots incoming from at least three destroyers.

Inwardly sighing, Minami went back to business. "Right full rudder!" he commanded. "Fire interceptors!"

At that, the Izumo's launchers lit up as its own missiles took to the sky, moving to deflect their Britannian opposers. For the moment, Minami was using the Izumo's missile stockpile strictly for defense, taking advantage of the fact that the majority of enemy ships were guided missile destroyers with little gun-based firepower, all the while attacking with her HV cannons when able. So far it had worked, but only with limited success; with the enemy spread out as it was, the Izumo could only pick off ships one at a time with her main guns, while the enemy could bombard them as much as they wished, gradually depleting the Izumo's defenses.

All at once, the sky lit up as the missiles reached their targets, causing a myriad of explosions. What few managed to make it through were, in turn, knocked out of the air by the Izumo's CIWS. All the while the Black Battleship's main cannons lit up again, sending hypersonic shells over the horizon.

"Enemy destroyer sunk!" Ichijiku called out as one of the blips on the main monitor disappeared. Then, another signal was detected, this time from the west. "Range three-zero-zero, torpedo in the water! One, two torpedoes in the water!"

Minami cursed. One of the submarines managed to slip in while they were dealing with the airborne attack. And worse, there was no time to evade. "All hands brace for shock!" he shouted as he grasped onto his chair.

Sure enough, the torpedoes detonated across the Izumo's starboard side, causing a great eruption of water as the ship quaked from the impact. Holding onto the arms of his chair, Minami could only face forward. "Report!"

"Starboard side armor down to sixty-seven percent! Starboard Inaba Drive damaged!" Futaba shouted as she read over the display. "Damage control teams en route!"

Suddenly, Ichijiku looked up. "Sonar contact! Enemy submarine bearing two-seven-one, range two-eight-zero!"

"Launch ASROC!" Minami commanded. A second later, another missile launched up from the Izumo's VLS and shot into the sky. "Come right to two-six-four and continue evasive maneuvers!"

"Two-six-four aye!" Jones acknowledged as he, with noticeable effort, brought the ship in another right turn. As he did, the ASROC fell into the water, where it deployed the torpedo it was carrying. In response, the enemy sub, as shown on the main monitor, abandoned its attack run and dove deeper into the depths, the torpedo trailing it.

However, Minami didn't have time to see if the torpedo struck or not as Ichijiku soon reported another wave of missiles launching from the nearby destroyers. And much more, faint contacts were detected coming in from the south; the enemy stealth fighters, having apparently been refurbished from their carriers, were moving in for another attack run of their own.

Against all that, Minami could only sneer as the ship continued to reverberate from the carriers' near misses. They really were getting hammered from all sides. "Standby for air assault!" he commanded. "And get a firing solution on the nearest carrier!"

---

Pearl City
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

"Still with me Chiba!?" Tohdoh called out as his Zangetsu launched down the streets, slashing its way through a group of Sutherlands. A small distance away from him, Chiba's Gekka was also using its katen yaibatou to great effect, doing its best to keep up with the custom knightmare frame.

"Hai Shogun One!" Chiba called back offhandedly, as she was momentarily focused on slamming her handgun into the factsphere of her latest victim, shattering it in one blow before letting loose a stream of bullets that ripped through the head and the cockpit behind it. After that, she grabbed hold of the now lifeless knightmare and threw it into one of its comrades, the impact smashing both into the side of a nearby building, to which Chiba promptly finished them off with a following hand gun burst. Her sensors then beeped as another Sutherland came moving in with its tonfas extended and prepared to smash in her cockpit pod, but Tohdoh moved faster, sending the Zangetsu in to shoulder slam the enemy unit before driving the seidotou through its side, then backflipping away to avoid the resulting explosion.

As he took a moment to watch Chiba disembowel another Sutherland, Tohdoh couldn't help but feel a little envious at his subordinate's focus and dedication to the battle at hand; even with her Gekka damaged as it was from both the siege on Pearl and the current skirmish, with chunks of its arm missing, she still kept to the fight. Granted, part of that focus came from the fact he was there beside her, and there was no worse fate for Chiba than looking bad in front of "her" General, but Tohdoh chose to ignore that. After all, by the number of destroyed knightmares she had been racking up in the last few minutes, some good was coming out of it.

At the very least my being here deprives her of distractions. he thought with a frown as he fired his seidotou mounted harken into a Gloucester, ripping into its frame and rendering it inoperable, thus forcing the pilot to eject. And that was where his envy originated from: while Nagisa Chiba could fight this battle without distractions, Kyoshiro Tohdoh could not. Not when he knew of the other battle that was occurring over the ruins of Pearl, and a certain White Knight's participation in it.

For a man so dedicated to the objective, Tohdoh had to admit it was taking nearly all of his willpower not to break off from the current battle and head back to Pearl to confront his wayward student once more. Of the entire timespan that the Black Knights had been active following their eight year isolation, Tohdoh had only fought Suzaku once, during that failed mission in Libya, and had only done so to allow Kallen time to incapacitate then Prince Lelouch and capture him. Since then, Suzaku had not participated during the battles in Pendragon or the Bering Strait, and so Tohdoh did not gain any more opportunities to confront him. And yet there he was, a short distance away, fighting Zero in a grand melee.

He tried hard not to think about it, all but throwing himself at the Britannians in front of him in an effort to do so. Tohdoh may not have been satisfied with it, but even he had to concede Lelouch had more claim to this battle than he did; for all that Suzaku had done to his former friend, Lelouch deserved to be the one to settle the score this time around. That and between Lelouch and Tohdoh, the "Traitor Kururugi" would be more susceptible to his former friend's words than his former master's at this time, as Tohdoh knew all too well that their friendship had been one of the few things that had survived the Devastation, and though he had not been there to witness it personally, one of the few truths about Lelouch's artificial existence as the Black Prince. But even so, that wasn't the part that bothered the Black Knight General the most.

I do not think Kururugi wants to be saved.

Senba's words continually rung throughout Tohdoh's head like a bell, even as he continued to slay every Sutherland and Gloucester that he came over. He forced himself further into the fray to ignore all of those thoughts, symbolized fully when he moved behind a Sutherland a performed a rocket assisted diagonal cut, cutting the cockpit pod into halves which caused the now brainless knightmare to collapse. After that, a pair of blue Gloucesters attempted to hem him in, but unfortunately for them the Zangetsu was far more maneuverable. He deftly evaded the feeble trap, before twisting around and letting rip with his hand gun. The proximity to both enemy knightmares was enough for the smaller caliber bullets to tear through their chassis, ripping off the head of one Gloucester and taking an arm off the other. In response, the headless Gloucester fired off its two slash harkens in a final attempt to kill its aggressor, but Tohdoh easily batted them away with one swipe of his seidotou, before closing the distance and slash that unit down the middle.

The remaining Gloucester attempt to raise its machine gun and strike the Zangetsu in the back with a grenade, forcing Tohdoh to bank the Zangetsu to the left and evade the explosive. Just as the grenade went off, the general fired his slash harken and latched it onto the Gloucester, before retracting it and dragging the entire frame toward him. He then neatly dispatched the unit with a clean slash across its torso, just as he did with the first Gloucester.

I do not think Kururugi wants to be saved.

Again Tohdoh forced those words back as he turned his attention a trio of Sutherlands that had emerged from the conflagration around him and made their approach toward him and Chiba. With a roar the Black Knight General took off toward them, activating the rockets in the seidotou for greater velocity. Once close in he easily dispatched the first Sutherland with a running slash, its attempt to defend itself with its stun tonfas proven utterly futile, while the remaining two open fired with their machine guns.

Tohdoh spiraled around and made another running slash, cutting into the Sutherland's torso and proceeding toward its wingman. Its pilot apparently not as stupid as one would have expected, the last Sutherland put its landspinners in reverse and attempted to back away from the charging Zangetsu, all the while raining bullets at it. In turn, Tohdoh banked around the fire effortlessly, his seidotou set to kill.

I do not think Kururugi wants to be saved.

As she was about to move for another target of her own, Chiba just caught sight of the second Sutherland, which in spite of the gash along its torso, attempt to level its machine gun, ready to strike the Zangetsu in the back. And unlike the Gloucester, Tohdoh had not noticed it, as he was too busy taking out its partner.

"General!" Chiba almost screamed out as she put her Gekka into high gear. In nearly an instant she threw her knightmare in front of the Sutherland. Near point blank, the Sutherland's machine gun fire riddled across the Gekka's black form, taking off its head and left arm in a matter of seconds. But even as sparks flew around the cockpit and main monitor began to fizzle, having temporarily blacked out from the loss of its main camera, Chiba pushed her unit forward, weathering each bullet shot as evasion would only mean their striking the Zangetsu, before impaling the Sutherland with her katen yaibatou.

"Chiba!" Tohdoh called out from behind as he attempted to move in to support, having long finished off his own Sutherland prey. Unfortunately he only managed to bridge the distance after the last Sutherland had been dispatched, but much to Tohdoh's relief the Gekka withdrew its chainsword and moved away as the Britannian knightmare fell. He quickly came up to it and reached out onto its shoulder, initiating skin to skin transmission. "Are you alright!?" he barked with more concern than he had intended.

"Yes..." Chiba spoke with some pause as she gazed over her instruments. "...none of the bullets hit my cockpit. I can still fight."

"Negative Seiken Four." Tohdoh responded, his voice adopting a cold tone in order to disguise the fact he was worried about her. "Your unit is too damaged. Withdraw to safe distance."

Chiba felt her hand tighten around her control stick. "I cannot comply Shogun One."

"You will comply Chiba!" Tohdoh responded with greater intensity. "You're no use out here in a broken knightmare!"

"I can still fight!" Chiba repeated with desperation, her voice wavering in the face of Tohdoh's displeasure. "And as long as I can, I will not abandon you!"

At that, Tohdoh would have responded to that with even greater force, fully intent on getting her out of the fight before she got herself killed. While he didn't return her feelings, or so he believed, she was still his subordinate and one of the few that had survived for so long beside him; he had already lost too many friends and loved ones in his life, and so he could not and would not allow her to die a stupid and wasteful death. Especially not one out of sacrifice for his own stupidity, as had just nearly occurred.

Unfortunately, Kami once again had other plans as Tohdoh's sensors detected another Sutherland coming into range and moving to finish Chiba's wounded Gekka with a single burst. Without thinking he returned the favor she had bestowed him, throwing her Gekka out of the way and then firing one of his radiant wave rockets, obliterating the Sutherland.

After this, more contacts were detected incoming, and before Tohdoh could tell her otherwise, Chiba put her Gekka into an attack vector and brandished her katen yaibatou once again, intent on killing more Britannians. Tohdoh moved in to support her, but he could only barely his displeasure toward her at bay, inwardly cursing at Chiba's stubbornness and utter devotion to him as he slew more enemies.

So focused was he on the battle and making sure to keep his wingman alive, Tohdoh did not realize that Senba's voice was finally silenced from his mind. In fact, it would only be after the battle ended that his inner turmoil toward his wayward pupil would reemerge...

---

With a fierce bellow, Ageha drove her fork knife through the side of her most recent victim's cockpit pod, then ripping away the blade a moment later and then flying back while firing a single grenade to finish off the newly pilotless Sutherland. It exploded not long after, marking yet another kill to her tally, whatever the hell that was; she stopped counting at "hundredzillionth" sometime ago.

"You wonder brats still out there!?" Ageha called out to her wingmen as she hurtled towards other targets. Not far from her position, two other Isshikis were making their way through the Britannian forces with great effect.

"Fuck you ama!" Shunsuke and Shunsui growled as one, their Gurens both firing off rapid surger bursts on another group of Sutherlands. Two of the Sutherlands were easily obliterated, but the last managed to evade, losing only its left arm for its effort. At that, the Kobayashi twins each launched at the last Sutherland, with Shunsuke striking first, slashing it across the center with his knife, and then Shunsui moving in and "kicking" it away as its cockpit ejected.

The twins more or less accounting for themselves, Ageha switched her attention back, proceeding to slaughter several more of the enemy knightmares in true Zero Squadron fashion. A bazooka holstering Gloucester took a shot at her, but Ageha was more than able to evade the shot, before she herself drew up to the commander exclusive knightmare, slashed the barrel off the weapon with her knife, then fired a grenade into the open hole. The explosive immediately struck the loaded rocket within and detonated it along with the others, the result explosion enveloping the Gloucester while Ageha simply raised her radiant wave shield to deflect the shards.

As she reversed back however, she saw another Gekka attack a Sutherland with its chainsword, while the said Britannian knightmare defended itself with its stun tonfas. Immediately Ageha's well above average battle perception kicked in and, realizing what was about to happen, she attempted to broadcast a hurried warning toward the fellow Black Knight. Unfortunately, she was a little too late, as a pair of lance bearing units, another Gloucester and Sutherland apiece, moved in on either side and impaled the vulnerable Gekka on their weapons.

"KISAMA!" Ageha roared as shepushed her Isshiki to its maximum speed, the twins' units doing the same from behind her. While she didn't appear the type to be concerned with her comrades, the Zero Squadron pilot did not enjoy losing any, especially to the Britannians; after all, for each who fell in this battle marked another survivor of the Devastation to die at the hands of the thrice damned Imperials. As such, she launched at the Sutherlands and fired more rapid shots from her surger, but only the one not armed with a lance was taken out by her initial burst. In turn one of the lancer units attempted to charge her as well, but she deflected its blow with her fork knife, while Shunsuke moved in and slashed it across the waist with his own blade. Shunsui dispatched the last unit just as quickly, firing a surger beam into its side.

Trash. Ageha thought with a deep sneer as she watched the last Sutherland of the group bubble and explode. Then before she realized what happened, Ageha felt her whole knightmare shake violently as another explosion sounded to her left. Looking at her displays, she found that the whole left arm had been blown away by another Sutherland's rifle launched grenade, taking the grenade launcher and knife with it. Ageha snarled and returned fire with her surger, but the enemy Sutherland was able to move away and avoid them. And much worse, as Ageha saw on her monitor, several of its friends were showing up to support it.

"Goddammit they're crawling out of the fucking woodwork!" Shunsuke stated as he and Shunsui moved in to attack the newcomers.

"Even so, they still squash as easily as the rest...!" Ageha responded in turn, locking onto the first newly arrived Sutherland she came over and then firing off her slash harken in the blink of an eye. Just as quickly the harken decapitated the Sutherland, therefore allowing Ageha to get close and finish it off with her surger. She then switched her main weapon back to its rapid fire mode and sprayed the other knightmares, softening them up and allowing the brothers to move in and dispatch them easily. Not to be outdone herself, Ageha also moved in and attacked at near melee level, though the loss of her "Ryogo Otsugata Tozantou" and grenade launcher limited her ability to fight.

Then once more, her sensors beeped out a warning of an incoming Sutherland. In response, Ageha swung her machine around to see the blue knightmare hurtling towards her, one that had already apparently taken much damage judging from its missing left arm. She responded by firing her surger across it, in turn knocking away its right hand manipulator and the machine gun with it. Yet the Sutherland kept up its charge, and Ageha realized then that it was attempting a kamikaze run. Now in a panic, Ageha attempted to shoot out the unit's legs, but it kept on its charge, maneuvering around her shots to keep from getting hit in any vital areas while not abandoning its course.

Shit, shit, shit! Ageha's mind cried out as she realized she was going to get hit. At the last second she threw up her radiant wave shield, just after which the Sutherland rammed into the Guren Isshiki with more force than she had expected and almost immediately it exploded. The collision and resulting explosion shock the Guren violently and Ageha's vision was obscured for several seconds, as her body was thrown about the cockpit while her magnetic restraints kept her from taking any serious injuries.

"Rei Nine, get out of there!" one of the twins yelled out in warning, though Ageha was too dazed to figure out which. The warning was enough to snap Ageha back to reality, to which she discovered that while her shield had deflected most of the explosion, it still collapsed toward the end, costing her a good portion of her knightmare's armor. But much worse, her sensors were picking up six more Sutherlands closing in on her position, all lining up to take her out from the flanks.

Damn it, and I'm almost out of radiant wave energy! Ageha thought, her teeth clenched as she prepared herself to go down fighting. After all, she was not just any Black Knight; she was a member of Zero Squadron, Zero's elite guard and the best that the Order of the Black Knights had to offer. As such, if she was going to go out, she was going to take at least one of her killers with her.

But just as she was about to cry out "REMEMBER JAPAN!" and make her last stand, another Guren Isshiki moved in from behind, firing a surger spray that took out one Sutherland, then downing a second with a follow up. The third attempted to raise its machine gun up to fire back, but the Guren charged with its knife out and slashed it down the middle as it passed, causing its cockpit block to eject as the frame fell. In turn, Ageha used the opportunity to put her knightmare back into motion, during which she closed the gap between two of her would be killers, one after the other, and incinerated them apart with her surger, while the last was taken out by her savior's slash harken.

After the last was destroyed, Toshiyuki's face quickly appeared in the monitor. "Rei Ten to Rei Nine, you alright Ageha?" he started, concern obvious.

Ageha sighed with moderate relief and nodded. "I'll be alright..." she said, feeling her ego bruised somewhat due to the fact she needed saving, but still grateful for the assistance. Just isn't my time to die yet.

But then after the moment passed, her eyes flickered with malice once more. "...after I stomp a few more Brit roaches!" she called out, swinging her surger out and charging back into the fight once more, moving in to rejoin the twins.

"Wait Nine...!" Toshiyuki started, but was unable to keep his comrade from her renewed assault. Sighing himself, he soon charged in after her.

---

In a snapshot, Kallen launched off another radiant wave stream, only for the Elyan to move out of the way and counter with its right slash harken. In turn, Kallen had the Guren bank to the side as the harken lanced out and reached its wire length, forcing the Elyan to retract it and then follow up with its left needle blazer. The ace of the Black Knights evaded this as well, having the Guren bank to the left at a greater velocity than the Knight of Three could track, with the Elyan launching past its opponent without doing any damage whatsoever.

"Damn, I gotta say I'm impressed...!" Gino stated out loud over the open communication channel. He twisted around and attempted to strike the Nishiki again with his right blazer, but his opponent was far quicker in evading than he was in attacking. "Not every day I run into an enemy that can fight on the level of the Rounds!"

The Elyan then brought its maser vibration lance back up and moved in for a mighty slash, forcing Kallen to block with her fork knife. His lips then reformed into a smile as he stared down at the red knightmare's twin sapphire eyes. "It's really a damn shame you're not on our side; you would have made a great Round yourself."

This only annoyed Kallen further. "Goddammit, do you ever shut up!?" she retorted as she broke the locked swords and made a counter slash of her own, which the Elyan performed a backward leap to avoid. She followed this up by angling her grenade launcher and firing a pair of grenades to try and catch the Knight of Three while he was still open, but Gino merely dashed to the left to avoid either explosive. "Not even Jeremiah Gottwald blathered this much when I fried him!"

"Do I look like an orange to you?" Gino replied with mock offense, somehow feeling amusement toward his opponent's lack of patience or willingness to hold a conversation during a fight. He was then forced to bank again when the Guren launched its radiant wave surger out with its harken booster, in turn just barely managing to keep from getting snagged. "In fact, I should feel insulted; you dare compare the illustrious Knight of Three to that failure?"

"I could care less what you are...!" Kallen roared as she attempted to dodge another swipe from the Elyan's lance. Unfortunately she wasn't able to completely avoid it and a chunk of armor was cut out of her left shoulder, but that did not hinder her in the slightest. "You're just going to be another victim of mine anyway!"

She then countered by firing her slash harken at near point blank, smashing it against the Elyan's torso, though it was able to deflect it with minimal damage. She took the oppurtunity to dive in close and try to ensnare the Britannian knightmare in her claw once again, but her opponent was quick to recover and put his knightmare into reverse. He then turned around and fired off both harkens simultaneously, but Kallen was able to evade that with ease as she climbed up to meet him.

With its harkens still deployed and the Guren out of the line of fire, it seemed impossible for the Elyan to be able to defend itself as the red knightmare moved right up to it and moved in to grasp it with its right arm. At least, until Gino reversed at the last possible second, speeding backward several meters and evading the Guren's grasp once again. It was only then that he charged with his needle blazer again raised to strike, forcing the Guren to dodge.

Once she was out of the way, Kallen put her machine into a charge as well, moving against the Elyan's flank with her knife to brought to bare. To this, Gino did something that she hadn't expected. He simply spun his lance around and swatted aside the Guren's left arm with the pole. At this, Kallen reacted by bringing around her surger claw, but the Elyan swatted that away as well. In the middle of that "maneuver", it managed to bring about its lance blade, cutting a neat sized gash across the Guren's chest, such that sparks erupted from the opening like blood, and with enough force to send the red knightmare flying back.

"You...!" Kallen growled as she leveled her surger once more and fired off a stream, to which the Elyan dodged in a nearly obnoxious fashion.

"Not my fault that I'm very good at this," Gino replied as if it were simple fact, all the while he continued to dodge each shot the Guren launched at it with certain flourish. Soon enough it moved to close the gap between the two machines with its lance ready, while Guren itself moved in with its fork knife as well. The running melee battle resumed not long after, as the two knightmares continued to dance around the streets, maneuvering past the other skirmishes between the Britannian and Black Knight knightmares.

From there, the Elyan launched one of its harkens out and brought itself up onto the roof of a nearby building. Once again cursing her opponent, Kallen put her knightmare into overdrive and gave chase, launching herself onto the building top to follow. "Don't think you can get away from me that easily!" she called out as she brought her knife against the Britannian knightmare's lance again. "I've hunted down much worse than you back in Japan!"

"On the contrary, I don't want to get away from you," Gino replied with a faux "lady killer" grin. "I just prefer it where the woman is chasing after me...!"

"...with pitch forks and torches I would imagine!" Kallen shot back as she put much greater force against her knife.

Gino whistled in response as he deflected another blow. "Nice, you made a joke; we've made good progress. Maybe there's hope for you yet Kallen Kouzuki!" he twirled the lance around and attempted to behead the Guren, but the red frame was fast enough to dodge to the side.

"But not for you Britannian!" Kallen growled as she fired her slash harken, only for the Elyan to evade. She followed this up by firing another surger beam. "I swear I'm going to make an example of you by the time we're through here!"

Gino let out a drawn out sigh at that. "If only I got a shilling for every time a girl tells me that..." he muttered in false disappointment, before dodging yet another radiant wave shot in a backflip.

---

His Majesty's Naval Base, Pearl
County of Crusoe, Area 7 (Sandwich Islands), Britannian Empire

The VARIS shots screamed through the air in their course toward the Lancelot, and with a scream of his own Suzaku threw the throttle up, forcing his knightmare into a leap to avoid them. He switched back to his own rifle afterward and returned fire, but by that time the Mordred was on the move, banking to its right and moving too fast for Suzaku's aim to connect, the black and gold frame all but running circles to narrowly avoid the Lancelot's fire. Suzaku couldn't help but glower at that as he fired several more shots, which the Mordred also dodged outright or simply deflected with its crimson Blaze Luminous.

You've only made your enemy stronger. Genbu's words echoed throughout Suzaku's mind as he fought on, and somehow he could almost hear his late father's laughter echo alongside them as once more he was proven right. Indeed, it was only now, when he was once again trying to kill him, that Suzaku saw the height of strength Lelouch had reached through these last eight years. Though obviously Suzaku still had him beat in battle experience and overall skill, Lelouch was still able to hold his own and even push back against him, using his knowledge of his former ally's combat style in tandem with his own methods of fighting with the Mordred. All enough that while Suzaku had yet to recognize him as a threat to his life and therefore bring the "Live" command out of dormancy, he was still unable to beat Lelouch himself, and the damage being done to the Lancelot was slowly but surely building up.

The latter part especially was brought back into light when Lelouch again fired his VARIS, this time on Burst Mode. Instinctively Suzaku banked to the right to evade the shot as it launched, but it was only after he executed the maneuver that he realized Lelouch hadn't been aiming for him at all. Rather, the orb shot into a nearby building, a hangar that had somehow been spared from the Black Knights' earlier blitzkrieg, which then caused the vehicles still inside to detonate in a grand explosion. All at once shards of metal and machinery embedded themselves into the Lancelot's side, not doing enough damage to disable the seventh generation knightmare's internals but still enough to tear into its armor and cause the whole frame to rock with Suzaku inside it. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about Lancelot's VARIS, which had ended up being embedded with a significantly larger shard around its barrel.

"Damn it, I should have known you would resort to cheap tricks!" Suzaku cursed the now charging image of the Mordred, which replaced its own VARIS for its blade, as his diagnostics read his rifle was now inoperable. In a matter of near milliseconds he redrew a MVS with his left hand to deflect the Mordred's blow, all the while throwing away the VARIS remains from his right.

"Oh? And how are those 'cheap tricks' any different from you running up a wall to kick a gun camera?" Lelouch shot back with bemusement, bringing his left sword down with a crash, which was only deflected and knocked away when the Lancelot raised its right arm and knocked the blade away with the Blaze Luminous shield mounted there. From there, Suzaku redrew his right MVS and made a slash of his own, but Lelouch had no trouble deflecting that attack either. "Besides, to quote a certain Britannian, the purpose of any fighting is to win! Only a simpleton would believe in 'clean' fighting!"

As if to emphasize the point, Lelouch fired out his left arm slash harken, which Suzaku knocked away with a mere swipe of his right arm Blaze Luminous, only to be left open to entanglement when Lelouch fired his right arm slash harken a moment later. Then putting all power into his landspinners, Lelouch placed the Mordred into a spin, swinging the Lancelot into the remains of a nearby control tower and smashing it through the burning ruins of twisted metal with enough force to crush a Sutherland on impact, before releasing the white knightmare from his hold. He then charged in to strike his opponent with his maser vibration swords once more, but to no real surprise Suzaku managed to recover from his daze before then, his rage now increased by a fraction, and had the Lancelot shoot out of the crevasse and intercept the Mordred. With a furious roar, Suzaku smashed his swords against the Mordred's, driving it back some distance as it put more power to its float system.

Lelouch, gritting his teeth as his hand gripped the control stick with enough force to crush a man's throat, put more power into his own landspinners and just managed to halt the Lancelot's drive against him, before knocking the MVS blades away and moving in to make an attack of his own. The Lancelot shot back in turn, the crimson blade sweeping where it had once been, before firing off all four of his slash harkens as a counter. To these, Lelouch reengaged both of his Blaze Luminous and systematically deflected each harken.

The Lancelot only pressed on the attack as it retracted its harkens, moving around the Mordred, just as the opposite unit dropped its shield; a moment later, the Lancelot slammed its right foot into the Mordred's side, the Blaze Luminous generator easily breaking through the black armor upon impact and leaving a large gash into the Mordred's hip. Lelouch attempted to counter that by driving his MVS downward, thereby cutting the Lancelot through the middle, but Suzaku backed away before the blade could impact, then launched a slash attack of his own, which Lelouch only narrowly dodged himself at the cost of a fair chunk of the Mordred's right shoulder assembly. Unfortunately Lelouch wasn't able to dodge the following slash, which cut a deep wound into the Mordred's right leg and when he attempted to bring up his Blaze Luminous again Suzaku feinted his attack and struck against the unguarded side.

Lelouch snarled as the last slash cut deep into the Mordred's torso, nearly grazing the Yggdrasil drive. Suzaku was going further over the edge as the fight went on, and Lelouch knew that he would be absolutely no match for him if he went into a true berserker state like he did during the Black Rebellion, in which he wiped out an entire Black Knight squadron singlehandedly and nearly killed Kallen before Lelouch finally stepped in and ensnared him in a carefully laid trap. And then there was the "Live" command that he had to still worry about, which Lelouch had no doubt would activate at any point he were able to push Suzaku into a corner. With those factors, Lelouch knew the only way he was going to bring Suzaku down would be through a single attack, one that Suzaku would not see coming yet powerful enough to at least disable the Lancelot. But what would it be?

And then, when Lelouch managed to cast a side glance at his sensor display while parrying another of Suzaku's attacks, he saw what he needed and a plan formulated automatically thereafter. Not long after, the Mordred swung its sword to the side, knocking the Lancelot's sword away from its next cut, and then reversed and turned away to run. Suzaku followed with earnest, pushing his machine to its maximum speed and not being obstructed by anything. Even when Lelouch cut down the ruins of a nearby gun tower to fall across Suzaku's path, the Knight of Seven merely slashed the ruins into two more pieces and continued pursuit.

"You can't run from me this time Lelouch!" Suzaku called out, his voice even more fanatical than it was at the beginning. "And I'm never going to let you go either!"

"Who says I'm trying to run from you?" Lelouch responded, ignoring the clenching of his stomach at the crazed tone in Suzaku's voice. There was something off there, more so than simple bloodlust for him or absolute loyalty to Britannia's cause or his own foolish beliefs. But Lelouch had no time to think about it.

At that, the Lancelot leapt into the air and moved to strike its opponent from behind. In truth however, Lelouch had long anticipated that attack and shifted the Mordred into a one hundred eighty degree turn that caused it to face back against its opponent, while raising its right arm up and reforming the Blaze Luminous to block the slash. This caused the Lancelot to spin around in an effort to attack with its other sword, but Lelouch was able to raise his own left MVS to parry the attack, just before firing his own hip mounted harkens, which Suzaku was only able to evade by having the Lancelot leap back upon sight of the two rocket units flipping up before launch.

Now evenly distanced from each other, their respective steeds silhouetted against the glow of the surrounding flames, the two combatants circled each other, both looking for an opening to exploit in the other's defenses. Their breathing hampered, their faces covered with sweat and their eyes retaining eight years' worth of freshly unrestrained fury at the other, it was almost impossible to describe either as even remotely human instead of bestial. For a seemingly unknown amount of time, the two former friends just continued their circle, with neither speaking up nor averting their gaze, waiting for the other to be the first to cross the line and attack.

And yet in the end, it would be apparent that Suzaku's rage was much greater than Lelouch's, as the glow from his left eye, the cursed sigil embedded in it, and all the painful memories associated to it proved too much for his restraint. With a roar, he drove the Lancelot forward again, swords ready to impale the Mordred once it closed the gap.

Unfortunately for the Knight of Seven however, Lelouch was more than prepared for his charge. At the very last second, the Mordred banked right, all the while ejecting its cape. As a result, the Lancelot ran head first into the garment, which covered over its head and main cameras, temporarily blinding the enraged knight.

Now even more enraged, Suzaku slashed at the cloth, dividing it in halves and causing them to fall away before charging once more at where he believed the Mordred would be. What he and his blades found however, was empty space, as the black knightmare had apparently vanished at some point before his strike.

"Coward!" Suzaku roared with clear anger as he had the Lancelot's head turn to and fro, trying to find some visual sign of the Mordred. "Even with all that power and skill, you still duck back and hide at the first opportunity! You're still the same coward I chased down throughout Japan!"

No verbal response came, even after several moments past. Yet there was a flickering signal emanating some distance away from Suzaku's position, one that was not yet identifiable but more than likely the Mordred's heat signature. Needless to say, it didn't take that much on Suzaku's part to know Lelouch was leading him on, and that there was likely a trap waiting for him on the other side. At the same time however, he was too pissed off to care, evidenced when he turned the Lancelot toward that direction.

"Fine Lelouch!" Suzaku glowered, his face still twisted with rage. "I'll play it your way!" he shouted, as he had the Lancelot take off toward the flickering signal.