"A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
Chapter XXV: Red Rebellion
Luoyang Settlement, Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
August 1, 2025
It was all or nothing now, Hong knew. Either the CLA and the Black Knights won this battle and liberated China once and for all, or they lost and forever doomed the Motherland to Britannian oppression. Unlike at Xiaopei, or so many other battles over the last seven years, there would be no retreat, no matter how bad the fight turned out, while it was completely certain that many of the men and women Hong fought alongside, perhaps even himself, would not return. Needless to say, the portly Chinese general only felt that much more anxious at the prospect, even as he charged forward against the enemy in front of him, a feeling that he was sure the rest of the CLA, and the Black Knights too he supposed, felt as they rushed to meet the enemy head on. Seven years of war and blood would be decided here and now, across the scape of the Motherland itself. No pressure.
Forcing back both those thoughts and whatever apprehension he had remaining, Hong, upon putting his Yaoguai to full speed, extended his knightmare's machine guns, as did the other knightmares around him. Though closing rapidly, there remained a fair amount of distance between the Chinese forces and the Britannians, who were also now charging at their respective machines' full speed toward the enemy. Zooming in on the enemy, Hong could depict several of the frontrunner Sutherlands and Gloucesters, all colored in the standard Britannian blue, thrusting themselves forward on their landspinners as the armored knight cavalry they emulated. Behind them, past the massive land battleships that were also moving forward, the outer boundary of the city of Luoyang could be seen alongside several of the taller skyscrapers, as well as the gunnery towers that made up the Argus defense net.
Upon his eyes meeting the city in detail, Hong felt a pang of nostalgia enter him. It had been seven years since he had laid eyes upon the capital; seven years since he and the rest of General Li's contingent had been forced to flee the city after liberating Tianzi from her wedding to Prince Odysseus. It almost felt surreal to him, as Hong had almost come to believe that he would never see the city again, that he would die upon another battleground before ever being able to set foot in Luoyang again. And now here he was, about to do precisely that; to force his way through the lines and enter the capital once again, to finish what had started so long ago. Overall, Hong couldn't think of a more fitting place for him to lay down his life, as well as the lives of those beside him, for his nation.
With this blow... Hong thought as he switched back to the present, shifting his main camera away from the city and back to the enemy knightmare formation. After a moment, he targeted a lance wielding Gloucester to be his first kill. May history be forever changed.
And with the suddenness of a thunderclap, the knightmare forces at last reached the point of no return. In that, it was the Britannians that drew first blood, their bazooka armed units naturally having entered firing range first, launching several shots that took down a fair number of Yaoguai from the onset, but as had been the case at Xiaopei, the Chinese were far too numerous for the Britannians to seriously hinder in that fashion, and soon enough the front units entered into range for their cannons, taking down an equal number of Sutherlands on approach. Behind them, the Britannian landships also open fired with their HV cannons, only to be countered by the Mao and her escorts as they fired their own cannons in support, while the Izumo and the other Black Knight ships also began to exchange blows with their Britannian contemporaries. Win or lose, the battle for the fate and future of China was on.
Once they reached the appropriate range, Hong transmitted a certain signal, marking the first stage of their assault. Upon that transmission, the massive Yaoguai formation split into six smaller groups, from which they charged into the Britannian forces head on. Now within machine gun range, Hong and the outer most Chinese knightmares let loose their weapons upon the Sutherlands and Gloucesters, who only responded in kind with their own weapons, damaging or destroying several more of the Chinese before the two armies clashed, with the Britannians being forced to break formation lest they be overwhelmed by the six Yaoguai masses. From there, the Yaoguais charged through and engaged in melee, using their machine guns to keep the Britannian units from drawing close while they maneuvered in synchronized grace, the Chinese once more moving as one force and one will. And though several of their number continued to fall around them, the Chinese remained undeterred, sweeping through their enemies as six tempests of metal and fire, the Britannians being forced to encircle each one as they returned their fire.
Holding down both triggers, Hong rained his machine guns upon the passing enemies, managing to take down two Sutherlands from an initial barrage as his formation swept through. Through the melee, he caught sight of a Gloucester charging at the formation with its lance poised to strike, apparently attempting to bifurcate the formation down the middle. Hong wasted no time in bringing his cannons to bear and dispatching the enemy knightmare before it got close, though in its place two more Sutherlands moved in, reversing on the landspinners as they fired into the mass, taking down several more Yaoguais around Hong as he and several others fired back with their machine guns. One Sutherland crumpled under the onslaught, while the second fired off a grenade, which barely avoided hitting Hong's unit but ended up detonating behind him, taking down additional Yaoguais in the resultant explosion. Cursing, Hong took that Sutherland down as well by tracing machine gun rounds across its torso, forcing the cockpit pod to eject before the frame exploded.
The enemy wasn't just attacking from the ground however. Overhead, Viper gunships flitted about and strafed the Chinese lines, launching chaingun rounds and missiles into their ranks. Several of the Yaoguais within the center of the formation raised their gun arms upward, spraying death into the sky above with several of the Britannian gunships falling to the earth below as a result. However, even as allied Yamakaze and Sanzuwu gunships moved into provide fire support, taking down several more of the gunships with their AA weapons, the damaged was wreaked upon the Chinese regardless, with more and more of their number perishing by the second, all the while Britannian knightmares took ruthless advantage on the ground. Once again Hong, as he turned and fired back at another Sutherland, just managing to blow off its right arm as it passed, wished the CLA had held proper eighth generation knightmares of their own. Knightmares that would provide an even or superior ground against their enemies, with or without the need of mass warfare.
For the time being however, he could only content himself to banging away with his machine guns and cannons, switching from ground targets to airborne threats as the formation continued across the landscape. Several more Yaoguais fell around him, but by some miracle Hong's unit had still been missed, and the formation was still moving. By now it was turning back to the south while the others were altering into similar vectors, weaving through the Britannians and diminishing their own numbers as they passed. Though Hong wanted to, they were not ready to make a run on Luoyang itself yet; to enter the city at that point would simply cause the present Britannians to turn inward on them, while those that remained in the city would also converge, effectively catching the Chinese ground forces in a pincer attack. And then there were the enemy landships that still had to be dealt with, which remained guarding the city boundaries. No, as Hong knew all too well, they still needed to thin the Imperialist ranks a bit more before they could stage a proper assault.
Of course, as Hong directed his machine guns against another Sutherland, this one attempting break through with its silver lance, he reflected on another problem with that stratagem. Would they even be able to last that long? Especially with how fast their own numbers were falling against the Britannian horde? As his bullets at last struck the Sutherland's legs, causing it to tumble across the ground, its cockpit pod ejecting somewhere within, Hong found himself holding doubts. Doubts that were only amplified as more gunships moved in from above, striking at more of the Yaoguais in well performed dives. And this time, only a select few were caught in the resultant anti-air fire.
"Daoji One to Mao, we need fire support dammit!" Hong hollered as he shot at flyers, just managing to clip a Viper but not heavily damage it. The VTOL gunship twisted around and returned fire with its machine gun as it ascended, raining bullets across the general's knightmare. Fortunately its own aim hadn't been that precise, and Hong's unit remained operational, though with a range of bullet holes across its front.
That's when his threat indicators went off once more, to which Hong let out another curse. The enemy landships had launched a combined volley of missiles, with a fair portion of them veering after the Chinese formations. Knowing that to break formation would mean death, Hong instead signaled the Yaoguais units to go into evasive patterns and maneuver around the impact zones, while whatever units in range attempted to shoot the missiles out of the air with their machine guns. The allied landships soon launched interceptor missiles of their own, taking out an additional number of the enemy's, but more than enough were breaking through in spite of their efforts. The interference of the airborne Britannians only hindered their efforts that much further, as it was for Hong's people.
Soon enough, the missiles fell to the Earth, explosions ripping across the Yaoguai lines and striking down additional numbers. Even within the metal confines of his unit, Hong could feel the shockwaves ripple across, almost throwing his knightmare off course. Only through sheer focus did he keep it moving in formation, as did the other pilots around him, with whatever holes had been punched into their line quickly being filled in by surviving units. The Chinese may have been hurt in that attack, but they remained far from beaten.
Again Hong could only wonder how long that would last as he turned his attention to another Gloucester, which was moving at him with MVS drawn in either arm. Gritting his teeth at its approach, the CLA general twisted his Yaoguai's frame around and let loose his machine guns once more. As close as he was to the capital, and to liberation, he was not about to let down.
"Zero and Raiden Squadrons, advance and open a path to the city," Lelouch commanded as he had the Mordred charge into the fray. "Tengu and Kitsune Squadrons, maintain support for the Chinese forces. All others engage at will."
He then zoomed in upon their objective through the enemy formations: the government bureau, baring the Britannian banner proudly upon its side, looming in the distance. Lelouch smirked. "Once we seize the government bureau and wiped out all resistance, Luoyang will be ours…"
He then switched over to his VARIS, his mask's HMDS lighting up with targets. "And with it, all of Area 22!"
Depressing his trigger, the Demon King let loose his VARIS in Burst Mode, obliterating several Sutherlands while the rest were forced to evade. Through the smoke of one of the explosions, a lance wielding Gloucester charged through, forcing Lelouch to raise his right arm and deploy his Blaze Luminous. As he expected, the lance shattered upon impact with his crimson shield, to which the Gloucester reversed direction so that it could draw its MVS. However, Lelouch was faster, moving up close as he swapped his rifle for his swords and slashing it apart upon the draw, forcing the pilot to eject right before the frame detonated. The cockpit pod then disappeared into the melee, while the uncaring Lelouch turned away for other targets.
As he had commanded, the Black Knights were doing all in their power to assert battlefield supremacy, though with obvious mixed success. Now with their backs against the proverbial wall, the Britannians were fighting with their all, charging on both the Black Knights and the Chinese with the intent on breaking their assault, and any lingering chance of China being wrestled away from them, once and for all. Such morale was only further extended by the presence of three Knights of the Round - including the Knight of Two himself - fighting alongside them, acting as the incarnate will of their Emperor. No, they would not back down; at least, not unless the battle took a serious turn, which Lelouch was very much intending.
Other than that, the battle was more or less standard in convention with what the Black Knights had faced to this point, though obviously much more spread out. As usual, the Britannians, both around Luoyang and elsewhere, outnumbered the Black Knights by a fair margin, their ground and air forces easily dwarfing their opposition's smaller groups, while the Black Knights retained their technological superiority with their eighth generation knightmares and support craft. In that regard, as Lelouch watched the black Gekkas, as well as the crimson Gurens of Zero Squadron, combat their blue Britannian adversaries, he could see that both sides were roughly matched; the Britannian numbers and the Black Knights' better tech effectively overrode the other, such that the battle, or at least this stage of it, would be determined by the skill of the devicers. Meanwhile, the Chinese had neither numerical nor technological superiority over their enemies, but their skill in mass maneuvering more than made up for those inadequacies, also putting them roughly on par with their opposition.
Overall, it was a battle between two combined armies of equal standing. Lelouch supposed that was fitting; chess always began with an equal number of pieces on either side after all. Neither he nor Johann, in clear spite of their respective positions and obligations, would have wanted it any other way.
His sensors beeped in warning again, detecting a bazooka wielding Gloucester in the distance, taking aim. Twisting the Mordred around, Lelouch launched a slash harken in response, but the Gloucester was quick enough to go into evasion just as Lelouch was about to depress the trigger, surging upward and firing off a line of shells. Glowering behind his mask, Lelouch threw up his Blaze Luminous yet again, deflecting the initial shots and allowing him to go into evasion on his own, from which he attempted to close the distance and utilize his MVS. Unfortunately the Gloucester devicer saw what he was about to do and so launched himself back, firing more shells, just as a pair of Sutherlands swooped into with their machine guns blazing for support. Not bothering with his shield this time, Lelouch dodged their fire, then ensnaring one of the Sutherlands with his slash harkens and drawing it in, from which he bifurcated it with a well-placed MVS slash.
The other two were more cautious, both firing a grenade at their much larger target, forcing Lelouch to dodge to the left. He then countered by firing both of his arm harkens, but he only managed to take out one Sutherland that way, while the other launched back, continuing to rain machine gun fire down on top of him. At that, the former prince raised his left arm and used the mounted Blaze Luminous to deflect the fire, all the while speeding upward after his opponent. As he moved closer, the Sutherland extended the stun gun mount in its left arm and lunged just as the black and gold knightmare met it, but Lelouch predicted the attack just in time, reforming the right arm Blaze Luminous around the Mordred's right hand to deflect it. The Sutherland then attempted to fire its machine gun at point blank range, but Lelouch was once again faster, impaling the enemy knightmare on his left blade and then twisting around, flinging the corpse into the air. With purposeful aim, the dead Sutherland ended up careening into the back of a Gloucester and causing both knightmares to crumple across the ground.
With that matter taken care of, Lelouch turned the Mordred around and redrew his VARIS, this engaging its Burst Mode yet again. The resulting shot swept into the distance, destroying a few more enemy knightmares for good measure, but otherwise not holding any greater effect. Some of the enemy ships were in range as well, but other than grazing over their armor, his attack would have had negligible effect. That being said, that didn't stop them from targeting him, and the next moment Lelouch's threat indicators ignited, warning him that he was being targeted. Just as a spray of missiles and accompanying HV cannon fire erupted, putting him back into the evasion.
All but sneering at the attack, Lelouch banked to the left, evading the fire altogether. Through the explosions however, more Sutherlands and at least two Gloucesters charged through, firing at him with their machine guns and bazookas, forcing him to duck behind his shield again. Lelouch had to admit, as he watched his present adversaries advance, that they were being more aggressive than even he had initially predicted; he would have thought his deeds at Pearl Harbor, as well as his dueling successfully against two Knights of the Round to this point, would have dissuaded the average cannon fodder from making an attempt on him. But then there was always the fact killing the great Zero would do honor to both his would be slayer and by extension the rest of his or her family in Britannian tradition, so perhaps he should have expected as such.
Either way, he moved forward and began slashing about with his swords, cutting off the extended arm of the nearest Sutherland with one sword, the one holding the assault rifle, and then twisting around and beheading it with the opposite, forcing its devicer to eject. He then grabbed the lifeless frame and threw it in front of one of the Gloucesters, which ended up charging into it with its lance, to which he moved above and slashed into the cockpit block. From there, he grabbed that lifeless frame, whose lance was still intertwined with the first and flung it to his side, just in time to intercept a bazooka shot from another Sutherland. Through the resultant explosion, the Mordred charged through, ruby eyes lit with fury, from which it slashed the Sutherland's bazooka in half with one stroke, and then slashed the Sutherland itself diagonally in the next. By that point, the second Gloucester made its presence known by moving in and throwing its lance at the Mordred's back, only for Lelouch to twist around, replacing his left blade in the process, and then grab the impromptu projectile with his left hand. He then turned around fully and launched his right hand slash harken, the rocket anchor easily smashing into the enemy knightmare and forcing its pilot to eject as well.
Now what do I do with you? Lelouch thought as he looked over the lance. The answer came when the last Sutherland of the group moved at his side, stun tonfas extended and ready to clobber the seventh generation knightmare's cockpit. Letting out a short but no less amused laugh at his enemy's brazen attempt, Lelouch dodged the stroke, from which he proceeded to drive the lance straight through the Sutherland's own cockpit. He then grabbed the right shoulder and spun, the momentum of which caused the entire frame to go sailing into the distance, where it fell upon the Britannian rear lines. Lelouch wasn't able to see if it hit anything or not, as he was on the move again, advancing deeper into enemy ground.
"Where are you Johann?" Lelouch let out as he fired his VARIS yet again, scoring three more enemy knightmares to his growing kill count, but by no means crushing the Britannians' initiative. Additional Sutherlands and Gloucesters charged forward from there, intent on finishing off the Demon King once and for all. "Don't tell me these pawns are all you have for me."
As if to emphasize the point, missile fire erupted from the Black Knight mobile ship line, sending hundreds if not thousands of projectiles screaming into the air. Now faced with a full barrage against them, the Britannian forces under target lock went into evasion, allowing the Black Knights, Lelouch among them, to charge into the resultant openings.
Streaking and maneuvering through the impromptu hailstorm with all the efficiency his knightmare could muster, Johann grit his teeth as he was forced to twist and turn at great velocity. Once he reached a relative clear zone, he spun the Dinadan around, firing his hadron launcher into a sweeping arc. Several explosions erupted as he struck a number of the raining missiles, but enough got through all the same. The result only came moments later as holes were punched within the Britannian formation and death cries erupted over the radio, then followed by the voices of various sub-commanders ordering their respective units to plug those holes. Johann was quite pleased with the latter; for whatever inferiorities they had held under Calares' direction, the lower commands of the Area 22 garrison were as quick and assertive as any other Britannian unit.
"Continue defensive maneuvers," Johann swiftly commanded as he deployed the Dinadan's factsphere sensors, scanning the enemy formation in front of him. If any reply came to his order, Johann didn't hear it; instead, he focused his attention upon the resultant data that flooded his cockpit monitors. The Black Knights' and CLA's combined strategy was straight forward enough; in fact, as if purposely in line with Tianzi's declaration, it was a near perfect reenactment of the Black Rebellion. As the Black Knights provided support, the Chinese would break through the outside lines and enter their target cities, from which they would converge upon the Imperial command centers – in Luoyang's case, the Government Bureau – and then capture them. From there, the Imperial forces would lose their ability to coordinate effectively, allowing both the Black Knights and Chinese to expel them in short order, thereby laying the ground work for Area 22's eventual reclamation.
A prudent strategy, Johann thought, but not one without its weaknesses. The central one, of course, was the overreliance on the CLA itself, and not just because of its antiquated forces. Unless he wished to conquer Area 22 away with the Black Knights alone – which he was neither willing nor capable of doing – Zero had no choice but to rely on them. Not only did the Black Knights lack the necessary numbers to free the Area themselves, but any attempt on their part would go against their proclaimed modus operadi: that the Black Knights would aid the local Numbers in retaking their homelands, so that any following administration would be, though supported by Zero and his entourage, legitimately be of the people's creation. Therefore, it had to be the CLA, for all of its weaknesses, that wrestled Luoyang and the other cities away from Britannia, not the Black Knights. Anything otherwise would simply appear as a transition from one dictator to the other.
Through this, Johann had made his own strategy accordingly, namely in the bulk of his forces concentrated on the Chinese. Though this left the other enemy force less opposed than it could have been, it was of little consequence; the aforementioned reliance meant that the Black Knights would have no other option than to support their apparent allies, which they were already straining to do. As powerful as the Black Knights had become, even they could be tied back by allied forces that could not keep up with them, much less match their overall strength. Thus they would be held down appropriately, while Johann's forces would fight completely unhindered, itself giving them an edge their enemies could not reciprocate.
After that, it all boiled down to accomplishing the core objectives: wiping out the CLA in its operational entirety and capturing Tianzi. Once those two objectives were met, the Black Knights, having lost the bulk of their manpower as well as their claim to Area 22, would have no choice but to retreat to whatever safe haven they had established following the Devastation. And though Johann would have preferred to wipe them out as well at the opportunity, the fact was their defeat was just as strategically acceptable; with Zero's first attempt at liberating an Area ending in failure, the world would lose faith in the Demon King and his rabble, and Britannia would be quick to take advantage of the despair. The Black Knights' destruction and Zero's demise could happen at any time thereafter.
A warning from his sensors snapped Johann back to the battle, alerting him to the incoming Gekkas jetting toward his direction. It had taken some effort, but through the destroyed remains of one such model from Xiaopei, Johann and the rest of Britannia at last knew the true names, and accompanying data to some degree, of the Black Knights' hardware, from their various knightmares to the battleship Izumo to their other warship and submarine classes. Tactically speaking, it meant very little, but for Johann it provided some degree of reassurance; at last they had something on their erstwhile enemies. With that in mind, he targeted the closest Gekka and fired his hadron launcher again, obliterating it before it could enter range. This caused the bazooka wielding units to return fire, at which Johann brought the Dinadan back into evasion before charging himself.
Two of the incoming Gekkas switched to their handguns upon his approach, but before they could fire, Johann was already upon them, taking out both of them with twin shots from his hadron rifle. He then arced up around and fired even more, finishing off those left in his wake just as effectively. Through the melee however, another Black Knight unit charged through and fired one of those curious radiation rockets at the Dinadan as it angled around. At that, Johann twisted his knightmare around and, reenacting Luciano Bradley's move from Pendragon, grasped onto the rocket's motor, crushing it within its grasp. From there, he put his own little twist on the maneuver; moving faster than the enemy devicer could realize, he flung the rocket back into its host, where it smashed into the black knightmare's chestplate. At that, the Black Knight unit bubbled as the rocket pumped radiation into its frame, detonating only a few seconds later.
Impressive… Johann thought as the glow of the explosion died away, his mind automatically recalling the data on Rakshata Chawla's principle weapon system, as had been provided to the Rounds by Camelot. But utterly impractical.
Despite his opinion, and the previous display, two more rockets streaked at him, which Johann deftly maneuvered. From there, their originators moved in, chainswords drawn, clearly intent on a melee. Quickly stowing his hadron rifle, Johann was just quick enough to draw his daggers and intercept both blades, their whirling edges grinding against the maser vibration blades. At that, Johann twisted the Dinadan's upper torso, cutting into one of the Gekkas with his right dagger, forcing the enemy devicer to eject. This left its comrade unsupported, thereby allowing Johann to flip overhead and stab both daggers into the cockpit block. He then moved back and fired a single blast from his hadron launcher into the now dead knightmare, completing its destruction, before moving onto the nearest enemy units.
"Goddamn!" Johann heard a familiar voice over the radio, accompanied by the image of the Caius charging into a Black Knight formation, slashing at anything and everything with its broadswords. Another Gekka attempted to cut into the orange knightmare from behind, but Michael was faster, turning around and deflecting the intended blow with his Blaze Luminous before eviscerating the enemy unit with one well diagonal swing. "This is exactly what I've been waiting for! A real battle for the ages!"
He then launched his right arm slash harken into one moreGekka, beheading it in one stroke. "Or at least the closest we can get to one in this godforsaken wasteland!" he called out as he charged at the headless unit and slashed it in half.
Before Johann could cut in and order his subordinate to keep the chatter down, the Safir made its own appearance known, flitting into the scene with its scythe extended. Several more Black Knight units were cut down as a result, though a few managed to avoid fatal strikes, thereby allowing them to counterattack with their handguns. Nena merely responded by going into another dance-like spin, her scythe easily swatting the bullets out of the air, before at last slashing into their originators.
"Enjoy it while you can Paladin One!" Nena called out as she launched past two more Gekkas, leaving hot red lines in their torso before they detonated simultaneously. "Once we're done here, it's back to Eurasia and the weaklings therein!"
Again Johann opened his mouth to command the pair to concentrate, and again he was interrupted by new entries: another Gekka team gunning for his position. Shaking his head, he withdrew his daggers and brought his rifle back online, firing a beam straight into the team leader. The other Gekka moved around the resultant explosions, firing their handguns as they passed and forcing Johann to evade. He then countered by firing his slash harkens, smashing into the chests of two of his attackers, their cockpit pods ejecting thereafter. Withdrawing the harkens, he let loose another spray of hadron fire that destroyed two more of the Gekkas, giving enough room to reverse back. At that, he circled around and launched through the remainders, destroying them one after the other.
At least they're focused. Johann thought as he swept his hadron launcher once more. This time however, he aimed toward the Chinese formations, the crimson blast obliterating a line of Yaoguais and, in the true fashion of conscripts, forcing the rest to break formation and scatter. The nearby Sutherlands and Gloucesters were only too eager to take advantage, converging on the now broken Chinese lines and cut into them, all the while the other Yaoguais could do nothing to support them.
Johann would have moved into engage the Chinese further as well, but his threat indicators quickly gave pause to that action. A second later, he was forced to evade another Gekka's chainsword slash, reversing his landspinners before the whirling blades could strike. From there, he twisted around and maneuvered behind the charging Black Knight, to which he fired his hadron rifle at the enemy unit's exposed back.
Black Knight mobile battleship Izumo
Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
"All lines advancing," Ichijiku reported as she read over her sensor data. "The Chinese are taking heavy casualties."
As to be expected. "All ships maintain support fire," Ohgi commanded evenly. "Concentrate missile fire on Sectors Lambda Three, Five and Six. Continue engaging enemy landships with cannons."
"We should divert some fire to Lambdas Eight and Nine as well," Minami added from his post. "That will open up some holes in their rear lines."
"Not until we've dealt with those landships," Ohgi replied, gazing out over the distant warships, which loomed over the fighting knightmares as the mobile mountains that they were. Explosions visibly rained across them as the HV shells of the Izumo and the other allied landships continued to strike, but so far their Britannian opponent weathered the attacks as well as the Black Knight flagship and the rest did theirs. If we could destroy at least two of them, we'd open up a wide enough hole to storm through.
That was more or less the key to the operation of course, which even Ohgi was aware of. Once they opened up a way for the Chinese to enter Luoyang – with several Black Knight units moving with them to support – the road to victory would be generally complete. Granted, there were still the surviving forces, as well as those that had remained in the city, to deal with, but the general wasn't particularly worried about them; they would be dealt with summarily when the time came, just like everything else. Overall, Operation Akatsuki, or as Tianzi had titled it the "Red Rebellion", was proceeding accordingly.
And that was precisely what Ohgi was worried about. Things were going a little too smoothly from the onset, despite the serious beating the Yaoguais were taking. If Calares had been in command of the Britannians, he could see the battle going exactly as was planned, but as he knew all too well, someone far more capable was in charge. Surely the Owl of Britannia had more in store for them than what was out there now. If so, then why hadn't he deployed those little surprises already? Or was he biding his time, waiting for the Black Knights and/or the Chinese to reach a certain position before deploying his first trap?
Tilting his head a little, Ohgi resisted the urge to message his eyes. The battle had just begun and he was getting anxious. Yes it was all too likely that their progress would be impeded as they marched closer and closer to Luoyang, especially given past experience from Xiaopei, but there was no point in wringing his head over what may or may not happen. Any real general, as well as Zero himself, would retain his calm in such situations, and that's what Ohgi would do in this one. Regardless of how anticipating he was of the Owl's hammer strike.
Still, something isn't right. Ohgi thought as he continued to gaze over the city in the distance, even as the Izumo rumbled from enemy weapons fire impacting her shields. He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something about what he was seeing now that didn't correspond to the enemy stratagem. What was it…?
"New sensor signatures detected!" Ichijiku reported just as a new smearing of blue dots appeared on the main monitor. As the technical data appeared on the corner, the sensor operator elaborated. "Typhoons!"
Right, here come the strafing runs. Ohgi mused. In truth, the Typhoon multi-role fighter wasn't much of a threat against knightmares, or at least the traditional kind; anything equipped with a gyroscopic landspinner could simply maneuver out of the way of their missiles and cannon fire. The Yaoguais, on the other hand, did not have gyroscopic landspinners and fought in massed formations, making them more ideal targets. It helped even less that said massed formations also meant the Chinese had far less room to maneuver by themselves. "Jinzu and Kurobe target with AA batteries," he commanded. "All available fighters move to intercept."
Moments later, an additional round of missiles lifted off from the designated Suzuka-class destroyers' VLS, while Black Knight Taka aerospace fighters flew in from overhead, adding their own payloads to the sky. Several of the oncoming Typhoons were immediately destroyed, but more than a few managed to evade in time, from which they proceeded on their attack runs and dropped their own payloads on the Yaoguai formations. An additional Yaoguais were obliterated as a result, even as the Chinese formations began to move in more evasive patterns as well as retaliate by firing their machine guns into the air.
Inwardly sighing to himself as the latest casualty figures came in, Ohgi could simply tip his cap a little. Yes Akatsuki was proceeding and proceeding smoothly, but the good guys were still taking a beating all the same, and they hadn't even broken into the city yet. And as Ohgi knew well, the longer it took to break into Luoyang, the more the Black Knight and Chinese numbers dwindled, such that they wouldn't hold the necessary forces to occupy the city even if and when Zero's latest miracle was triggered. And that was all before the Owl's own defense stratagem, which Ohgi could almost feel being out there, waiting to be unleashed. The experience at Xiaopei almost ensured it to him.
That all being considered, the General was not anxious enough not to realize that there was nothing he could do about it. Tilting his cap slightly – a habit that was slowly growing on him – as he continued to watch the data come in through the main monitor, Ohgi could only settle back in his chair further, relaxing himself ever so slightly. There was no point in worrying now; the battle had only started after all, and the real fighting had yet to begin in itself. He could only continue to perform his duties, as well as ensure the rest of the Luoyang taskforce continued theirs. All of which would, slowly but surely, bring the Black Knights and the Chinese beyond the city gates and bring about the Dawn in full force.
Thus firmly resolved, Ohgi continued to gaze up at the main monitor as the battle data kept flowing in, giving the appropriate commands as they followed. All while the usual inferiorities he felt toward his position failed to register to him throughout.
The missiles screamed through the air, falling across the Yaoguaiformations like meteors, their detonations obliterating several more of the Chinese knightmares with each impact. Seeing this, Kallen and Alfred both raised their surgers into the air and fired twin beams sweeping away several of the incoming missiles and at least one Typhoon, which ended up crashing several kilometers away from the battleground. Other than that, however, their attempted defense was negligible at best, emphasized as the Typhoons started to come around again for another pass. Only allied fighters, as well as support missile fire from the landships, kept the Britannian aircraft from completely decimating the Chinese formations, though one or two still managed to drop a warhead or two, as well as a fair number of bullets, upon their targets.
As she momentarily watched the aerial side of the battle, in which a Taka intercepted and blasted a Typhoon out of the air, Kallen once again found herself wishing that Rakshata and her Science Division had succeeded in reverse engineering, and perfecting, the float system. She could only imagine the kind of damage the Guren could inflict if it could fly like the Gawain and Lancelot had been able to eight years ago. Alas, she had no choice but to let the fighters play amongst themselves, instead concentrating on the ground with the rest of Zero Squadron. There were already plenty of enemies to deal with there anyway.
We're really in it now. Kallen thought grimly as she and Alfred waded through the chaos, progressing more and more toward the city and opening up a path for the rest of the Black Knights to follow as Lelouch had ordered of them. At that, it wasn't long before another unit of Sutherlands came to impede her and her wingman, their assault rifles and bazookas already blazing away upon their approach.
Sneering in response, Kallen pushed her knightmare forward while Alfred followed after her, both Gurens zigzagging around the incoming fire with contemptuous ease, brandishing their fork knives as they drew in. Closing upon the first pair, both Kallen and Alfred slashed the two Sutherlands across the chests, destroying their Yggdrasil drives in one pass, before Alfred twisted around and launched a grenade into a third Sutherland, which had been attempting to shoot him from behind. Simultaneously, Kallen turned to her left and threw up her radiant wave shield just as another Sutherland fired its bazooka, which exploded harmlessly against the crimson barrier. She then dispatched it with her slash harken, and then jumped to the side as its partner charged in with its lance set to impale. A snapshot grenade took care of that Sutherland as well.
No sooner than when she landed did her threat indicator sound off; she was being targeted from the air. At that, she turned around to see a Viper loom overhead, firing off a spray of rockets from its wing pods at her. Smirking in response, Kallen switched her surger into its own spray setting, then launched a crimson energy funnel into the air, the rockets falling into its range detonating prematurely. That being said, the Viper pilot was quick enough to gain altitude and evade Kallen's attack, from which it turned around to bring its chin gun upon her. Before it could fire a burst however, Alfred's Guren launched its slash harken into its underbelly, latching on to pull the red knightmare upward and thereby allow it to slash the VTOL with its fork knife. By the time Alfred unlatched his harken and, rather stylishly in Kallen's opinion, dropped back down to the earth, the Viper was falling from the air, eventually landing somewhere in the distance with a thunderous crash.
Both knightmares were moving again immediately after that as bullet and shell fire rained around them. More Sutherlands moved in from there, with the lance equipped units charging while their assault rifle and bazooka equipped brethren remained back, firing support fire. Fortunately their tactics weren't anything either ace had not dealt with before, as Kallen was quick to throw up her shield once more to deflect while Alfred grasped onto his opponent's lance entirely with his surger, sending a small pulse of radiation into it to cause it to bubble and explode. The Sutherland managed to let go of the lance before the latter occurrence, but it didn't matter; by the time it reversed back to draw its own assault rifle, Alfred charged at its left, then put his Guren into a spin with his fork knife outward, slashing its cockpit block.
Had she been able, Kallen would have mouthed a "Showoff" to her wingman, but instead she was too concentrated on killing her own Sutherland. Following up, she banked her Guren to her opponent's right, dropping her shield in the process and thereby causing the Britannian knightmare to lurch forward, from which she continued on behind it and planted her right foot into her target's cockpit block. The Sutherland tumbled over as a result, falling face first into the ground, where Kallen finished it off with a single radiant wave blast. The whole process only lasted a few seconds, allowing her to catch up with Alfred and charge upon the other Sutherlands, who were reversing quickly while blazing away with their guns, desperately trying to keep either Guren from advancing.
"This really is the Black Rebellion all over again Lead," Alfred quipped as he banked around the bullets and rockets, returning fire with a rapid shot from his surger, which destroyed two of the retreating Sutherlands. A third attempted to flank him from the left, but Alfred was faster in blowing its head off with a grenade shot, which was enough to dissuade the devicer and cause him to eject the cockpit block. He frowned as he watched the pod disappear into the background, once again remembering how, eight years ago, he had fought alongside knightmares such as these while trying to kill Black Knights in defense of Area 11's Government Bureau.
Knowing what was going through her subordinate's mind at that point, Kallen was quick to reply. "Stay focused Two," she commanded as she leaped up and smashed her knee into the faceplate of another Sutherland, knocking it over, from which she herself landed on her surger's palm, then performing a handspring that flipped the Nishiki back onto its feet. Another radiant wave beam obliterated her target as it clamored back to its own feet, after which Kallen sped away as one of its allies threw a chaos mine toward her position. "Now's not the time to be distracted."
Subconsciously nodding as he continued his offensive, Alfred focused back as a Gloucester, colored in standard Britannian blue as opposed to the purple he was used to, came charging at him from the distance, golden lance set to impale. At first, Alfred thought it was going to drive the lance directly at him, but at the last second the Gloucester devicer switched tactics; he or she instead engaged the lance's rocket motor and launched it out from the hilt. Though it was a capability he was well aware of, it had been years since Alfred had seen a Gloucester lance used in that manner and so was initially caught off guard. Fortunately his instincts made up for it, as he threw his Guren to the left and neatly evaded the rocketing lance head.
As he evaded, the Gloucester moved against his left side, drawing an MVS in the process. However, Alfred was just as fast, raising his fork knife to deflect the incoming blow. "Sorry," he commented as he held the knife against the Gloucester's sword, his opponent too focused on overcoming the Guren's strength to realize he was about to be beat. "But you're not Gilbert!"
With that, he threw the blade aside and brought about his surger, grasping onto the Gloucester's chest. The Britannian knightmare attempted to move its sword around to cut the claw, but before the devicer could manage it, Alfred had already engaged his Guren's primary weapon, radiation flowing into his captured enemy, bubbling its frame in a few seconds.
"Much less Cornelia,"Alfred commented disdainfully as he, almost casually, tossed the stricken machine away. The Gloucester's Yggdrasil drive went critical only a few moments later, obliterating the frame in midair, its remnants raining across the ground.
"Heh," Kallen couldn't help but smirk a little at her wingman's comment, just as another Gloucester was moving on her. "And they sure as hell aren't Andreas Darlton!" she replied as she ducked the Gloucester's lance thrust, and then performed a landspinner assisted sweep kick that knocked the enemy knightmare on its side. A single grenade as she leaped back was enough to finish the ace/commander exclusive unit for good.
Needless to say, Alfred was quick to reflect his commander's smirk. "Damn straight Lead," he replied as he put his Guren back into full speed, falling back into formation. More enemy knightmares were moving against on them now, as were additional enemy support craft, but the two crimson knightmares charged forward all the same, returning fire with their surgers as they maneuvered.
Sparks flying as her whirling chainblade met the Sutherland's lance, Chigusa asserted the superior strength of her knightmare frame and threw back the enemy knightmare. From there, it was a simple matter of engaging her landspinners and slashing the enemy knightmare across the chest, causing it to fall back against the ground inactive. No sooner than when it hit the ground however that two more lance wielding Sutherlands charged in, both set to impale. Detecting their approach, Chigusa reversed on her landspinners and evaded, then taking down one of the enemy knightmares with a handgun spray. From there, she finished off the second by charging forward and, narrowly evading its lance thrust, cutting it down with katen yaibatou as she had done with its earlier comrade.
Another day… Chigusa thought as put more power into her landspinners, sending her Gekka forward at full speed, all the while zigzagging around the incoming fire, her wingman quick to follow. Another glorious victory in the making.
The Sutherlands scattered upon the two Gekkas' approach, but not wide enough that Chigusa wasn't able to cut down one of the enemy knightmares from the onset, while her wingman also managed to impale another. At that, she twisted around and fired her handgun into the side of another of the enemy knightmares, which crumpled over from the bullet spray, while two more of its comrades brought their machine guns about and returned fire. By then Chigusa was already on the moving and returning their fire, from which she was able to shoot down another Sutherland while its partner reversed, then fired a grenade. It was only by a narrow dodge that Chigusa was able to evade the explosive, from which she countered by firing her slash harken into the enemy knightmare's head, crushing it. His or her main sensor destroyed while facing down a superior knightmare model, the enemy devicer had no choice but to eject, which all well enough for the Black Knight. She had more enemy to choose from after all.
"There's no end to them Lead," Kyosha Two sounded as he beheaded another Sutherland, then spun around to impale the cockpit before speeding away. From the tone of his voice, the lieutenant colonel could tell her subordinate was more bemused by the enemy's superior numbers than anything else. The fact he seemed to have little issue in cutting down another Sutherland, then turning his handgun on a third, only lent additional credence to that assessment. "It's going to be Aka no Yugure by the time we're through."
"So long as we win Two," Chigusa replied as she evaded the bazooka shot of another Sutherland. Responding fast, she again fired her slash harken, this time smashing the artillery weapon out of the enemy knightmare's hands, before charging forward with her katen yaibatou brought to bear. This time however, the enemy was quick enough to raise his knightmare's left tonfa to deflect the initial strike, as well as throw her back and counterattack with the right tonfa. However, Chigusa remained quicker, raising her left hand and catching the Sutherland's arm midswing, from which she proceeded to slash it through the waist. Again the cockpit pod ejected.
Before she could pursue the enemy further however, the shrill noise of her threat indicator alerted her that she had just been locked on. And much more, a swarm of missiles was angling toward her and Kyosha Two from the distance. Gritting her teeth subconsciously, Chigusa and her wingman went into a dual evasive pattern, all the while turning their handguns onto the incoming missiles as jetted at them, striking them down with one bullet apiece. It was obvious from the missiles' approach vector that they hadn't been fired from the air, and it was doubtful that the enemy landships and missile batteries had targeted her specifically. This only left one other possibility.
Sure enough, no more than a few second later, the Black Knights' sensors picked up another group of Sutherlands, as well as accompanying Gloucesters, moving into attack. As Chigusa had expected, the telltale boxy forms of missile launchers were mounted on either side of their cockpit blocks, projectiles streaking out of their tubes with each passing second. And much worse, Chigusa noted that she and her wingman weren't the only ones being targeted; that several of the missiles were flying after other Black Knight units, as well as toward the nearest Yaoguai formation.
"Kyosha Two, flank them!" Chigusa commanded as she re-angled her Gekka for the attack, then charging forward at full power, her wingman following her in. The enemy knightmares noticed their approach and launched another volley of missiles to hinder them, to which the two Gekkas broke formation, Chigusa taking the right flank while Kyosha Two took the left. From there, both closed the distance quickly, moving in while returning fire with their handguns. A Sutherland and a Gloucester were both destroyed as a result, but their comrades were just as quick to fire back with their assault rifles, sending bullets and grenades at the two black knightmares as they charged in from opposite vectors.
Possessing the faster of the two models, Chigusa was naturally the one to draw first blood against this particular group of enemies with her blade, launching herself at another Sutherland and executing a diagonal cut as she passed, her revolving blade easily striking the Yggdrasil drive underneath. By the time the enemy frame detonated, a Gloucester came at her with its lance brought to bear, whose thrust she reversed to evade. After that, she brought her sword down again, cutting the lance off from the handle, before reangling to behead the Gloucester. The enemy frame responded by firing both of its slash harkens, which Chigusa again reversed and weaved around, before following up with another swarm of missiles. At that, Chigusa charged forward again, narrowly evading the missiles as they looped downward at her, from which she executed yet another running slash that finished off the Gloucester as well.
Two more Sutherlands came charging in from there, firing more missiles as they approached, lances in hand. Again weaving through the missile fire, Chigusa closed the gap before the Sutherlands could properly angle their lances, allowing her to cut them down with well-placed slashes apiece. Another pair attempted to move on her as well, this time from her right, but Kyosha Two managed to spray one of them in the back with his handgun before reengaging its running battle with a Gloucester. Briefly signaling her thanks, turned her attention to the remainder, rebrandishing her katen yaibatou and charging in as she had before, maneuvering around the bullets, grenades and missiles as she approached. This time however, the Sutherland managed to extend its tonfas to deflect her initial slash, and even counterattack with a swipe of its own. However, Chigusa, long familiar with such tactics, simply jumped back to evade the counter, before lunging forward again to slash the Sutherland across the waist. Once jettisoning the missile launchers, the cockpit pod ejected there as well.
Checking her tactical data, Chigusa saw that Kyosha Two had just finished off its Gloucester opponent while other Black Knight units had moved in and taken out the rest of the squad, effectively ending the missile threat. At least from that particular unit, as her threat indicator lit up again; another wave of Typhoons were making a strafing at the Yaoguais, air-to-ground missiles practically hailing from above. Cursing, Chigusa raised her handgun to take out whatever of the incoming projectiles that she could, but there were far too many and most of them were out of her range anyway. As a result, more Chinese knightmares were obliterated, though as usual the remaining knightmares continued to "flow" around their brethren, regardless of the casualties.
"So long as we win," Chigusa repeated as she watched the Yaoguais press on, right before her threat indicator lit up again: another team of Sutherlands advancing on her position. Without another thought, she signaled Kyosha Two to renew their attack and charged on.
Twisting the Zangetsu around, Tohdoh was just quick enough to parry the Sutherland's lance with the flat of his seidotou, the silver polearm striking almost harmlessly against the especially hardened golden blade's side. At that, the general pushed the lance away and then reoriented his sword to strike, from which he engaged the seidotou's rocket thrusters to accelerate the blade. One slash later, the Sutherland was bifurcated from the waist to which it fell against the ground. To Tohdoh's surprise however, the cockpit pod didn't eject; that surprise nearly doubled over as he watched the top half of the knightmare attempt to launch its slash harkens into his own back. Without so much as dropping his speed or present velocity, Tohdoh turned his frame around again and deflected both anchors before returning fire with his hand gun. Its Yggdrasil drive struck, the Sutherland half detonated as Tohdoh reoriented the Zangetsu and sped on.
More Sutherlands moved against him after that, weaving in and while spraying assault rifle fire at his frame, attempting to at least hinder him. Despite the obvious threat, Tohdoh couldn't help but smirk. Either his opposition was carried away by the fact he was alone – he had earlier deployed the Four Holy Swords forward to aid the Chinese advance – or they had recognized him as Kyoshiro Tohdoh and so, in Britannian tradition, were aiming to gain honor and glory for themselves and their families.
Regardless, they were nothing he hadn't dealt with before, and so he banked the Zangetsu around their shots while firing his hand gun and a radiant wave rocket, striking down two of the Sutherlands before closing in at melee range. From there, he executed a series of running slashes – each aimed at the torso or cockpit block – which cut down each and every one of the charging Sutherlands, their attempts to defend ultimately futile, as the black, red haired knightmare moved forward. It was only the last of the group that managed to evade Tohdoh's attack, just banking out of the way at the right time, to which Tohdoh simply spun the Zangetsu around as he had before and launched his seidotou mounted harken, which smashed into the Sutherland's head and knocked it back. Whether that was enough to disable the frame and cause the devicer to eject or not Tohdoh didn't know as he righted the Zangetsu again and pressed on, additional enemies moving against him.
Though he was reluctant to admit it, Tohdoh felt a strange exhilaration as he launched his custom knightmare further into the field. Yes, the thrill of battle certainly couldn't be ignored, and there was always something pleasing about cutting down Imperials and other such adversaries, but neither was the source of the exhilaration. Rather, he realized, it was from the Chairwoman's earlier words, and her christening of the battle they were now engaged in.
The Red Rebellion… Tohdoh thought as he parried another attack, this time from a MVS equipped Gloucester. He supposed he should have expected as much; eight years ago he and the rest of the Black Knights had held their own specially colored rebellion to win Japan's freedom, only for their impending victory to be stolen away in the most horrific way possible. Now, they were fighting another rebellion, this one of a different color and for the freedom of another country, an old enemy of Japan's no less. And yet, in a strange way, this Red Rebellion would not only serve to be China's liberation, but a vindication for those who fought in the Black; that the victory that had been denied to them long ago would at last be fulfilled, here and now. And much more, it would be the first in a full line; one that would culminate in Britannia's destruction and Japan's reemergence.
Thus, feeling his spirit surge at the prospect, Tohdoh drove forward, forcing down the enemy Gloucester. Knowing it could not defeat the superior eighth generation knightmare in contest of power, the Gloucester abandoned the blade lock and reversed, switching over to its assault rifle to dissuade the Black Knight unit while attempting to flank it. Tohdoh, however, had no trouble evading the attack and charging forward himself, where he cleaved the Gloucester with a diagonal cut. The Britannian knightmare then promptly detonated as its powerplant faltered, the Zangetsu driving on from there.
Soon enough however, Tohdoh's sensors beeped in warning; he was being targeted from multiple sources. Frowning, Tohdoh zoomed his main camera toward the designated vector, nearly widening his eyes at what he saw. In the distance, well out of his immediate range, pakfront of bazooka equipped Sutherlands had formed up and was taking a bead on him.
All at once the world turned ablaze around Tohdoh as the enemy artillery units fired as one, forcing the Black Knight general to return to the evasive. It was all he could do to reverse and skim around their shells, staying ahead of their aim as they rained High Explosive after High Explosive upon him. Every often he would try to advance, but the Sutherlands refused to give him any leeway, themselves moving about and encircling him, thereby concentrating their fire that much more. It helped even less that several outsider units were also moving in as well, firing their own respective weapons as the Zangetsu danced across the field, just barely managing to remain unscathed from the bullets, shells and missiles.
If anything however, Tohdoh was even more flattered by the assault. Clearly the Britannians considered him a viable threat; otherwise they would not have focused so much firepower against a single knightmare.
And it would be a shame to disappoint them. Tohdoh thought maliciously as he at last found an opening. Twisting around after narrowly evading another barrage, he launched his seidotou mounted harken out and latched it onto a Sutherland that had inadvertently entered into range. Rather than draw the frame toward him however, he engaged his landspinners while retracting the harken, substantially increasing his velocity. Rapidly approaching the frame, he leaped up and, copying the maneuver of one of Zero Squadron's devicers, landed atop the enemy frame and then jumped again, effectively using it as a springboard. This allowed him to reach the nearest edge of the pakfront, where he at last struck, firing another radiant wave rocket into one of the artillery units before landing.
Just as he predicted, the maneuver threw the pakfront into disarray, the bazooka equipped Sutherlands scrambling to reform it while their comrades continued to spray fire and hold Tohdoh down long enough. Unfortunately for the Britannians, the Zangetsu was too fast for any of them to do as such, and it was all too easy for Tohdoh to close-in on the artillery units, one after the other, and destroy them with a killing slash apiece. The last of which did well to abandon its bazooka and draw for its assault rifle, managing to spray off a few shots before the Black Knight unit closed the distance and cut it down with the others. Once that was complete, Tohdoh twisted the Zangetsu around to face the other knightmares in the vicinity, firing off another hand gun burst to dissuade them from pursuit, then turning around and speeding through the battlefield.
Or more precisely, through the Rebellion…
With a great slash, Lelouch cleaved another Sutherland through the torso, causing both halves to scatter across the ground, cockpit pod ejecting from the top half. From there he leaped back, just as another Sutherland sped in and slammed both of its tonfas against where he had previously been positioned, to which he banked to the left and launched his right arm slash harken. Unfortunately the Sutherland pilot, apparently somewhat more skilled than most, saw it coming and so deflected the harken with its left tonfa, before bringing out its machine gun again and firing a burst. To that end, Lelouch deployed the Mordred's left Blaze Luminous to deflect the burst, all the while putting power into his landspinners and closing the distance, MVS at the ready. And this time the Sutherland was unable to deflect in time – not that it could properly defend itself against Maser Vibration Swords – leading to Lelouch executing a running slash that bifurcated the top third of the enemy knightmare from the rest of the body. Devicer and all.
More Sutherlands came charging in from there, firing their machine guns in tandem as they weaved on their landspinners. Plebeians. Lelouch thought in annoyance as he banked around their fire, using his Blaze Luminous to deflect the bullets that he couldn't dodge completely. From there, he moved against the enemy knightmares and cut them down, one after the other, maneuvering around their poor attempts to defend or evade. One of them even tried to strike him with its stun gun – clearly attempting to reenact the tactic that had been utilized at Xiaopei - to which Lelouch simply beheaded with his right arm slash harken, then finished off with a running slash. Needless to say, it didn't take him long to finish off that particular group.
Lelouch didn't have time to pause however, as his threat indicator soon sounded. This was enough for him to turn around and parry the slash of an oncoming Gloucester, one that was armed with MVS of its own. T-visor glaring into the Mordred's dual eye cameras, followed by the overhead factsphere deploying, Lelouch grit his teeth as he forced the fifth generation machine back, then followed up with a counterslash. However, the enemy devicer was prepared for it and easily deflected the blow, then sweeping his opposite sword around for a thrust, only for Lelouch to deflect in turn with his Blaze Luminous. From there, Lelouch tried to surprise the enemy by firing his hip mounted slash harkens at point blank, but the Britannian devicer also foresaw this and had his machine leap back to evade. At that, Lelouch took advantage of his own knightmare's superior speed and charged, intercepting the Gloucester as it landed, only to have his attack deflected once again.
Sneering at the upstart, Lelouch parried its following strike once more with his Blaze Luminous, then forced it back before executing a thrust. This time the Gloucester was unable to evade, though it managed to avoid the killing stroke by moving over to the left, thereby ensuring the Mordred's blade struck deeply into its right shoulder. At that, it ejected the limb, to which Lelouch flung off his blade before charging again, to which the fifth generation knightmare raised its own sword to intercept. At the last second before impact however, Lelouch banked to his own left in an attempt to strike at the Gloucester's open right side, but again the enemy knightmare managed to keep up and parry his strike, right before launching its slash harkens to dissuade Lelouch from further assault, forcing Lelouch to reverse and evade. By the time he moved to strike again however, the Gloucester beat him to the draw, forcing Lelouch to cross his swords to hold his opponent's back.
It was then Lelouch's threat indicator beeped in warning again, to which he instinctively knew what was about to happen. At the precise second, he put the Mordred into a full reverse, the motion causing the Gloucester to overcompensate and lunge forward. From there, a hadron blast launched into it – or more specifically where the Mordred had originally been – obliterating the fifth generation knightmare in a single surge. All the while the surviving black and gold knightmare turned to face its own long awaited adversary.
Moving into view, heat emanating from the barrel of its hadron launcher, the Dinadan tracked its opponent in a mirror of its devicer's observance, factspheres deploying to gather additional data. Mirroring the motion, the Mordred deployed its own factspheres, its ruby eyes locked upon its enemy's magenta. For a time, it seemed the two knights were content to look upon the other as the battle thundered around them, at least until Lelouch opened a comlink.
"So," Lelouch began evenly. "It all comes down to this, Sir Johann."
"Yes," Johann confirmed from his end. "Our long awaited endgame has come at last, Zero."
Lelouch let out a laugh at that, in his usual villainous fashion. "The end of our game perhaps," he corrected. "But not the one I'm playing against your Emperor."
He then slashed his MVS about, challengingly. "A game that only now will move past its Opening," he exclaimed. "And see its first White Rook vanquished from the board."
Johann narrowed his gaze. "Only if you claim checkmate in this game, Demon King," he pointed out as he had the Dinadan draw its daggers, which flashed red upon activation. "Something that will not come easily or assuredly, I promise you."
The Dinadan readied itself. "White Knight to c7."
The Mordred assumed its own combat stance. "Black King to b7."
"Check!" both shouted simultaneously as their knightmares ground their landspinners and charged, blades locking in an instant.
Government Bureau
Luoyang Settlement, Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
"Sir Johann has engaged Zero," one of the operators announced, then bringing up the appropriate screen on the central monitor. Elicitations of awe erupted throughout the command center toward the resultant footage.
"Incredible," Cheng Zhong exclaimed as he watched the Dinadan deflected a sword slash from the Mordred, then counterattack with a slash harken. "So this is the power of the Knight of Two."
"Indeed," Xia Wang commented alongside, nodding in approval as the black and gold knightmare attempted to flank its opponent, only for the Dinadan to deflect that attack as well with its own Blaze Luminous. "Not only a skilled commander, but also as much a warrior as the rest of his order. It's no wonder His Majesty knighted him as Britannia's Owl."
"I don't care what animal he's fancied as," Zhao Hao muttered to himself, his arms folded as he watched the Dinadan with clear disdain. "So long as he wins this damned war already."
Calares just barely resisted smirking toward Zhao Hao over that; obviously the fat upright pig in a suit remained stung from his last encounter with the Knight of Two. Well, that suited the Viceroy just fine. If there was one thing the Duke of Henan needed a healthy injection of, it was humility. Not that Calares thought it would last of course, especially once this apparent Red Rebellion was over and done with.
Rather than watch Sir Johann's battle with the rest of the command center's occupants, much less listen in on the continued banter between the Eunuchs, Calares kept his gaze toward the various tacscreens and the rebellion at large, both at Luoyang proper and throughout the Area. For the time being, it was all going to the Knight of Two's plan; the Black Knights and Chinese were fighting viciously around their targeted cities, but had yet to break the defense lines and advance into any of them. The Chinese were bearing the worst of it, again per Sir Johann's orders, while the Black Knights were at least hindered in their approach, having yet to open a hole anywhere that the rest of their forces could break through. All the while numbers – namely Chinese – dwindled throughout, which, in combination with the time allotted and the fighting remaining outside the respective cities, granted additional favor toward an Imperial victory. Not an assured victory, but a likely one.
This only caused Calares to frown, his frustration momentarily rising to the surface. Yes, Sir Johann's plan was undeniably effective; fighting the Black Knights and the Chinese in a battle of grinding attrition would surely win the day for Britannia, as there was no way either adversary could compete with the Imperial forces in the long run. The Chinese especially couldn't afford a prolonged battle, given that their only real advantage was their sheer numbers; an advantage that would not last them, especially given the additional contingencies Sir Johann had put in place. As things were now, it would have been all too easy to simply outlast them, even with the Black Knights acting in their present support.
Rather, Calares' issue was with the efficiency of the plan: why grind the enemy down when they could simply wipe them - including the Black Knights - out entirely, and in one fell swoop? Argus had been designed specifically for that purpose, such that even Sir Johann couldn't deny its power and effectiveness as a defensive weapon. Yet, instead of fulfilling that purpose, it remained inactive and out of use while His Imperial Majesty's Forces were fighting the present battle. A grandiose engagement that could have otherwise been avoided with the rain of missiles and the sweep of hadron cannons throughout the Area.
Even so, the Viceroy knew that was a battle he would not win. No matter his feelings, Sir Johann had made it clear that Argus was not to be activated, not even in the direst turn of events, for reasons that still escaped Calares. And even if he hadn't held his newfound respect for the Knight of Two, the Imperial Army General was duty bound to obey such a command. Only a direct line from the Knight of One, or the Emperor himself, would have been able to overturn the Owl's directives.
And yet, the temptation to see Britannia's enemies literally wiped off the map remained with the Viceroy. In spite of his best attempts to ignore that increasingly nagging feeling, much less force it back…
"Viceroy," one of the operators called out, snapping Calares back to the present. "Ballista Team is online and ready to deploy."
Blinking back to reality, Calares felt his lips turn into a smirk. While he did not entirely agree with Sir Johann's strategy, he could not deny that, if it proceeded accordingly, would win them the day. And though it was nowhere near as spectacular as Argus would have been, he had to admit that some parts of it would come rather close.
"Have Ballista Team deploy to Positions Alfa and Bravo," Calares replied, anticipation welling up with each word. Ugly those particular machines may have been, but once more next to Argus, they were undoubtedly the most powerful offensive weapons the Imperial forces had in their present arsenal. "They may both fire when ready."
Temperature meter reaching 3500+, the Sutherland glowed and bubbled under the Guren grip. Only when it reached the bursting point did Kallen disengage from her victim and reverse, the frame detonating almost immediately after. From there, two more Sutherlands rushed at her, one wielding a lance while the other supported with its assault rifle, forcing Kallen to generate a radiant wave shield as the lance unit moved to flank her. Alfred intercepted the lance unit with his own shield while Kallen unleashed a radiant wave beam into the machine gun unit, turning it to smoldering remains as well. Simultaneously, her wingmate dispatched the other enemy knightmare with a near point-blank grenade shot.
This is taking too long. Kallen thought as another Gloucester moved in, its own lance poised to strike at her, while another pair of Sutherlands moved against Alfred. She quickly deflected the lance with her shield, and then moved to take it out with a grenade shot. However the enemy enemy unit reversed at the last second, narrowly evading the explosive shot, to which it drew its assault rifle and fired off a burst, once more forcing Kallen behind her shield as she herself maneuvered. We should have broken into the city by now!
Circling around, the Gloucester continued to rain bullets at her, to which Kallen evaded by banking to her left, then firing another radiant wave stream to counterattack. However, the Gloucester pilot foresaw the shot and reversed his or her direction, narrowly dodging the stream and counterattacking with his or her own grenade shot, forcing Kallen to leap away to dodge herself. Quickly capitalizing on its advantage, the Gloucester then angled its lance and renewed its charge, poised to strike. To this, Kallen sidestepped the charging knightmare at the last second, allowing it blaze passed her without inflicting any damage. From there, with the enemy's back now firmly exposed, the Guren simply fired another grenade into it, finishing it a great explosion.
Before Kallen could move on however, her sensors picked up another knightmare moving to intercept. One accompanied by an all too familiar, chiding voice. "Found you little dragon!"
Gritting her teeth, Kallen reversed just as her newest opponent moved in, slashing with its maser vibration scythe. Crimson blade tip sweeping over where the Guren had originally been, the Safir continued its charge, narrowly banking the responding radiant wave stream. All the while Nena let out an ecstatic, blood-crazed laugh as she further pressed the attack.
"I hope you weren't thinking Xiaopei would be our only waltz!" the Knight of Eight called out as she slashed at the Guren once more, which managed to deflect the first attack with its shield and then maneuver around the second. Responding quickly, the red knightmare fired another grenade, only to watch the Safir swat it out of the air before it could reach, let alone detonate. "Or that this Red Rebellion of yours is as good as won!"
"Far from it Knight of Eight," Kallen retorted as she dodged both responding slashes, then counterattacked with her slash harken. Naturally the Safir evaded this as well, but the attack did force it to abandon its charge and reverse, to which the Guren drove forward in turn, fork knife bared to strike. "I had a feeling I would be taking you on again." Thereby keeping you tied down and away from the others…
She then slashed at her target, only for the maroon knightmare to throw up its Blaze Luminous to deflect. "As for the second however, it is as good as won!" Kallen declared as she banked at the Safir's right and extended her surger to grasp it. "You just haven't seen it yet!"
More laughter escaping her, Nena dodged right before the surger claw could ensnare her. "Whatever you say Eleven!" she responded as she countered with another slash, causing the Guren to leap back again before it could land. "I'll let Johann contend with that!"
She then had the Safir spin as it charged, scythe twirling about as the Guren banked away, firing another radiant wave stream to hinder. Unfortunately, the stream was easily dissipated by the flails before the custom Britannian knightmare righted itself, eye cameras flaring at its opponent. "You on the other hand…!" she shouted as she dashed at the Guren, slashing at it simultaneously. "Are mine!"
"Fine by me!" Kallen shot back, both verbally and with another grenade at the Safir's left, only for the Britannian knightmare to again slash it out of the air. She then followed up with two more grenades, both of which were also intercepted, before firing another stream, this time forcing the Safir to evade, slashing as it went. Naturally the Red Dragoness evaded this counterattack as well, before circling around and again brandishing her fork knife. "Let's make this one to remember, Reaper of Britannia!"
"By all means Red Dragoness!" Nena gleamed back as she again deflected the fork knife with her Blaze Luminous, then knocking her back and slashing at her once more. "Let's dance!"
Bullets and explosives flying around him, Tohdoh maintained his charge, having the Zangetsu bank and evade as he went. Coming upon one of the attacking Sutherlands, the enemy knightmare attempted to force him away by firing both of its slash harkens, but the general easily foresaw the attack and skated to the left, from which he easily bifurcated the knightmare as he passed. Another Sutherland, this one armed with a bazooka, fired a shell at him in the process, but Tohdoh ducked the Zangetsu right before the rocket could contact, then retaliating with the seidotou mounted slash harken. Unfortunately his aim was a little off, and as a result the harken "merely" knocked the bazooka out of the Sutherland's hands rather than strike the frame itself. Even so, it gave the devicer pause just long enough for Tohdoh to close the distance and cut it down as well, diagonally slashing its torso as he passed.
From there, a Gloucester came charging in with both maser vibration blades drawn, to which Tohdoh was forced to twist around and parry its attacks. As usual the Gloucester pilot was more skilled than his or her Sutherland counterparts - which were now moving to entrap Tohdoh in a pincer attack – deflecting Tohdoh's counterattack and then reversing his or her frame right before the Black Knight could follow up. At that, Tohdoh fired off a hand gun spray after the Gloucester, but it banked wide left to evade these as well. It was only then that the Sutherlands moved in for the kill, firing a crisscross of bullets and rockets at the black knightmare, one that would have easily overwhelmed him had Tohdoh not reacted as fast as he did.
Pulling back hard on the control sticks, Tohdoh reversed the Zangetsu, barely escaping the intended killbox while returning fire with his hand gun. A few of the Sutherlands fell as a result, just enough to break the concentration of fire, to which Tohdoh banked around the responding attacks and rebrandished his seidotou. He then went work, cutting down Sutherland after Sutherland as he passed, all the while evading the responding bullet and slash harken fire with relative ease. One of the more daring ones, apparently realizing that there was no way it could land any projectiles on him, ditched its assault rifle and extended its tonfas, apparently set on taking out Tohdoh of Miracles up close and personal. It managed to get two solid swipes in, which the Zangetsu easily moved around, before the Black Knight general finally cut it down as well.
The Gloucester made its prompt return right after, this time charging at Tohdoh's right, again with both MVS drawn to strike. Once more Tohdoh parried the strike and the follow up attack, firing his chest mounted slash harken to counter, only for the Gloucester to reverse yet again and evade. It then circled around, firing its own slash harkens in the process, which the general simply knocked aside while surging forward, seidotou raised high to strike from overhead. It was only then that the Gloucester made a fatal mistake, crossing its MVS to deflect. For whatever reason, the blades failed to withstand the force of the Zangetsu's rocket assisted sword, both shattering upon impact of the hammer blow. As a result, the seidotou cut the Gloucester through the middle, cockpit and all, with both halves falling to either side like split fruit. Grimacing to himself, Tohdoh did well not to stare at the contents of the cockpit, instead turning to progress further into the battle.
Before he could do so however, his sensors suddenly beeped in warning, to which he instinctively banked away. Just as a pair of slash harkens, ones that quite clearly did not belong to any Sutherland or Gloucester, shot by where he had been.
"Ki-yo-shi-ro!" Michael sang as the Caius charged in, retracting its harkens as it moved against its target, broadswords brandished. Leaping up into the air upon approach, the Caius brought both of its blades down with heavy slam, the Zangetsu reversing just before they could impact. Despite that however, the Knight of Five was quick to recover, then driving his knightmare forward and bringing both broadswords against the Black Knight's seidotou. "Glad you made it! Things were getting boring way too fast!"
The Caius' eyes cameras flashed viciously into the Zangetsu's mono-eye. "You can only stomp tadpoles for so long until redundancy sets in!" Michael taunted as Tohdoh grit his teeth holding their respective blades in place. "To say nothing of Elevens and traitors!"
Tohdoh almost felt insulted by the obvious baiting. "I sympathize Round," he shot back, just as he knocked both blades away. "Slaughtering your kind in droves can also become tedious."
He then made a rocket powered slash at the Caius' head, only for the orange knightmare to narrowly evade. In turn, the Knight of Five attempted to blind his opponent with his flash cannon, but Tohdoh saw the attack and banked left just in time. "And besides," Tohdoh quipped with a smirk as he maneuvered away, then launching forward, seidotou rockets ablaze. "I'm still inclined to take your head."
Dodging the attack, Michael laughed as he again fired his slash harkens at the Zangetsu, which simply knocked them away with the seidotou. "As am I Ki-yo-shi-ro!" he howled, retracting the harkens before charging forward with his broadswords, bring them down against the black knightmare's sword once more. "So let's see which of us gets the silver platter!"
"By all means," Tohdoh finished, smirk now encompassing as he held the Caius' blades back, then raising his hand gun. "Have at you, Britannian!"
With that, the Zangetsu fired a spray directly into the Caius' face, the force of which was enough to knock the enemy knightmare off balance. Taking quick advantage, the general then drove forward, knocking away its opponent's blades so that it could circle around to strike the cockpit. However, Michael recovered just as fast, parrying the seidotou with his Blaze Luminous before bringing his swords about again, forcing Tohdoh to reverse and evade. The Caius then renewed its charge, both knightmares attacking and defending in rapid succession thereafter.
Leaping back from the Dinadan's dagger slash, Lelouch countered by firing the Mordred's right arm slash harken, to which its dark grey adversary raised its Blaze Luminous to deflect. Despite that attack's nullification, it gave Lelouch enough time to dash his knightmare to the right, to which he moved to attack the Britannian unit's left side. However, Johann was just as fast, dashing to his own right to evade the slash, then turning to bring the Dinadan's hadron launcher back to bear. From that, Lelouch was forced to leap away as a crimson and black lance erupted over where he had been, then landing and speeding forward once more attack up close. The Knight of Two efficiently raised his Blaze Luminous to deflect the initial slash, and then parried the following one with his own dagger. From there, Johann fired off his own slash harken, forcing the Mordred to maneuver to its left to evade, during which Lelouch raised his own shield to deflect the Dinadan's next dagger attack.
"I must admit you surprise me this time, Sir Johann," Lelouch commented as he continued to exchange blades with the Knight of Two, evading another dagger slash before moving to impale with his right MVS, which the Dinadan banked around. "From what I saw at Xiaopei, as well as assessed of your past tactics and strategies, you hardly fit the overly conventional type."
Knowing the Knight of Two would ask, Lelouch clarified that much faster. "While I'm aware you do not value overelaborate stratagems like Prince Schneizel and myself, I at least believed you would have had something special saved for the CLA in this battle, especially when it came to light that we were supporting them," he explained as the Dinadan again fired its slash harken, to which Lelouch knocked aside with his reengaged Blaze Luminous and then drove forward, executing a cross slash that never bifurcated the grey knightmare's chest, only for it to reverse at the right moment. "Instead, this battle, and those others waging across Area 22, are all standard fare, with your armies on the strict defensive, mine on the complete offensive and everything playing out accordingly."
"Your point Zero?" Johann inquired as he slashed at the Mordred's head, only for the black and gold knightmare to deflect his slash with the flat of its own sword. A near point blank slash harken launch nearly took the Dinadan's own head, but Johann banked away at the right moment. Before he could he retaliate and cut the harken's chord however, his opponent retracted it, then proceeded to counterslash, to which Johann intercepted with his dagger.
"My point Sir Johann," Lelouch continued as he pressed his own offensive forward, executing a dual slash combo that caused the Dinadan to reverse, all the while maneuvering its daggers to parry each blow. "Is that I expected more of you."
Then, in an attempt to catch his opponent offguard, Lelouch spun the Mordred around, moving to smash the hilt of his right MVS against the Dinadan's head. Johann managed to intercept this as well, but the centrifical force was enough to throw the Britannian knightmare off balance, to which Lelouch then proceeded to slash at its torso. Only another timely reversal kept the Dinadan from being cleaved, though a fair sized gash now appeared over its chest. Lelouch would have capitalized on the attack even more, but another slash harken launch prevented him from closing the distance.
"In fact, I'm rather disappointed," Lelouch continued as he fired both of his hip mounted slash harkens in response, the Dinadan dodging the first and then knocking the second away with its shield. It then retaliated by firing another blast from its launcher, but Lelouch was able to bank around this as well, driving forward again to bring his swords against the Knight of Two's daggers. "After putting so much onto our endgame, I was expecting something more…effective, perhaps even awe-inspiring, than basic defensive maneuvers."
As he held his blades against the Dinadan's shield, Lelouch stole a glance toward Luoyang in the corner of his mask's HMDS. Where he saw one of the still inactive hadron cannon towers loom over the city, standing silent. "Even though you have such means at your disposal."
Hearing that, Johann cast a corner glance of his own toward the city. Though he obviously couldn't see his opponent's face, he knew exactly what Zero was referring to. "As you said Zero, the tactics I value tend to be more straightforward," he explained as he again slashed at the Mordred, which deflected the dagger strike with its own sword. "Artificial terrain effects and other such 'miracles' are undeniably 'effective' and 'awe-inspiring', but utterly pointless when such objectives can be accomplished with the conventional."
The Knight of Two then unleashed his hadron launcher again, forcing the Mordred to reverse and maneuver around its fire. "But then, unlike you, I do not have a cult of personality to maintain," he pointed out as his opponent banked to his left to evade the shots. "Much less a reputation as a Demon King."
"As opposed to Emperor Charles' pet owl?" Lelouch retorted as he moved to the Dinadan's left and charged again, nearly slashing the grey knightmare's arm away. Unfortunately Johann foresaw the attack and leaped back as the Mordred slashed.
At that, Johann brought his daggers up to intercept the Mordred's next sword attacks, which occurred in rapid succession. "Unlike demons, owls do not need malevolent powers to accomplish their whims," he explained, firing another hadron at point blank, which nearly blasted the black and gold knightmare's head off its body. "Simply their wings, talons and superior intellect suffice them."
Lelouch opened his mouth to retort to that as well, but Johann continued to speak. "But do not worry," he continued, then performing another pair of slashes that caused the Mordred to leap back, one a short distance and the second further away, where the Dinadan fired its slash harkens once more. "Though it would be a simple affair to let the battle play out as it is, thereby allowing basic attrition to decimate your armies…"
He then retracted the harkens and drove toward the Mordred with daggers ready. However, rather than drive back, the Lancelot twin continued to reverse, before banking left to try to flank the Dinadan once more. Johann responded by keeping his own knightmare facing its adversary, causing the two units to circle one another. "I have in fact retained a surprise or two for this game."
"Oh?" Lelouch commented as he fired his own left arm mounted harken, this one aimed to take out the Dinadan's hadron launcher, only for the grey knightmare to bank to the side before it could connect. Though he put on a front of bemusement, Lelouch couldn't help but feel disturbed underneath. As conventional as his opponent presented himself, Johann was far from predictable. "Maneuvering your bishops behind your pawns and knights Sir Johann?"
In response, the slightest of grins encompassed Johann's lips. "My rooks actually," he answered, before glancing at his side monitor once more. Where a tacwindow containing two specific signals was displayed. "And despite what you may think of my 'overly conventional' methods, I believe even you will be impressed Zero."
"Maintain advance!" Li commanded as he drove the Shenhu on, the Tianshou moving in formation with him. With a flick of his knightmare's wrist, he launched one of his 'Sheng Biaos' out and struck another charging Sutherland, detonating the knightmare with a following electrical surge. After that, he deployed his second 'Sheng Biao' and spun it, deflecting the oncoming machine gun fire at his right. From there, the Shenwu moved in and cleaved the two attacking Sutherlands with its guan dao, all without diminishing its velocity. Yin and Bai were just as quick in dispatching the other surrounding Sutherlands, while Li engaged and fired a semi-charged shot – he dared not use the Shenhu's main weapon at full capacity in the present setting – from his baryon cannon, destroying several more enemy units in front of them.
More Britannian units moved into fill the openings, but that was to be expected. Though the enemy remained concentrated on the Yaoguais and the other CLA units, more than enough of them were focused on keeping the Four Beasts at bay, if not attempting to capture or destroy the Chinese Tiger altogether. Li wasn't worried too much about them; unless one of the Knights of the Round came after them, he and the Tianshou were more than able to handle Imperialist cannon fodder. Alongside, whatever enemy forces came after them meant there were less units pursuing the Yaoguais – as well as mounting an offensive against the Mao, though the Britannians had yet to get that far altogether – thereby allowing the CLA to endure that much longer. Li only hoped they would last long enough to break into Luoyang and the other target cities proper, as well as whatever would occur after. Even if it hadn't been strategically necessary for the Chinese to retake their own cities, there was no way they were going to let the Black Knights do it in their place.
For the moment however, Li and his subordinates still had to deal with the Britannians in front of them. As such he focused forward, brandishing his jian as he put the Shenhu into a dash, having it barrel toward the next Britannian formation. A Gloucester attempted to intercept him with its lance, but it was child's play for Li to bank to his left and then bifurcate the commander issue knightmare at the waist, the cockpit ejecting before the top half fell. He then redeployed his left 'Sheng Biao' and spun it to deflect a grenade shot from another Sutherland, then twisting around to launch his right 'Sheng Biao' into it, electrically destabilizing and detonating it in redundant fashion. Another Gloucester attempted to flank him during this, MVS drawn to strike, but Li was faster, retracting his harken so he could parry the intended sword blow. He then leaped back from the following slash, before rushing forward again to impale the Britannian knightmare through the torso and into the cockpit. After that, he withdrew his own blade fluidly before moving away, the now dead knightmare slumping to the ground as he gained distance.
More Sutherlands attempted to move on him from behind, but Li knew better than to turn around. Instead, he watched as the Shenlong moved in to cover him, shuang gous brandished as it launched toward the Britannian knightmares with vicious glee. Though the Long Xin was inactive, Yin tore through the enemy regardless, slashing and hacking apart every knightmare she came across. One enemy unit managed to launch a grenade at her, but she easily banked around it, and then countered by lashing out her own 'Sheng Biao'. Rather than send an electric surge into the Sutherland however, she whipped her ensnared Sutherland around and smashed it into the side of a nearby Gloucester, toppling both frames over and causing their cockpits to eject near simultaneously. Not far from her, the Shenque charged into the scene as well, cutting down two additional Gloucesters with its dadao before striking a Sutherland's head with its own harken, the resulting electric pulse causing the frame to expectedly detonate.
"How much longer is this going to take!?" Bai called out as he performed a flying kick into another Sutherland, which had been lining up a grenade shot toward his sister's knightmare. As he then finished it off by performing a running slash into its exposed cockpit block, Yin returned to favor by moving at his left, using her rotating 'Sheng Biao' to deflect the machine gun burst of another Sutherland. From there, Bai banked the Shenque out and lashed at that blue knightmare as well. "We're going to be here to winter if this keeps up!"
We should be so lucky. Li thought dryly, knowing that they wouldn't last the day, let alone the season, if things continued the way they were. However, knowing that fact would only diminish morale, he instead voiced a more appropriate reply to his subordinate. "Stay focused Tianshou Two," he answered as he cleaved another Sutherland at the waistline. "It shouldn't be much longer."
"As you say Shangdi One," Yin answered for her brother as she moved up to another Sutherland, then brought the crooks of her swords against its head, proceeding to tear it apart. She then finished it by moving around and striking the cockpit block. Though we really should have at least breached the outer city by now…
A moment later, the Shenwu was back on the scene, slashing down another Gloucester with its guan dao, and then smash the weapon's pole tip against the faceplate of another Sutherland, one that had moved against it from behind. One spin slash later, that enemy knightmare was dealt with as well, though more of its brethren were quick to move in its place. That being said, Hei was just as quick to deploy a baryon shield to absorb their fire, then surge forward with it still deployed so that he could tackle the formation head on, smashing the Britannian units wholesale. Only two cockpits ejected from that.
Hei was just about to set upon another target when his eye caught something in his right side monitor, which held Luoyang in the distance. Though he wasn't quite sure he actually saw it, he could have sworn a flash of light had occurred from well within the city. And that was precisely when the world around him shuttered.
In the form of a thundercrack, a great and powerful explosion of light erupted across the battlefield, the force of which was enough to send shockwaves surging through the plains. Such was its power that several units within its vicinity toppled over, while several more struggled to keep standing, let alone fighting. Only the Britannians seemed to have anticipated the detonation, as those in proximity managed to keep their knightmares grounded enough to withstand it, though even they had to pause in the midst of combat.
However, none of that mattered to Li or the Tianshou so much as where the eruption had occurred. For it had struck well within one of the Yaoguai formations, wiping out dozens if not hundreds of frames at once, such that there was now a gaping hole within its ranks.
"What was that!?" Yin let out as she and her brothers gaped at the resultant destruction. Li himself was already demanding a report from the Mao Zedong.
Black Knight mobile battleship Izumo
Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
What was that!? Ohgi managed to think as he reflexively shielded his face from the flash. It was as if a second dawn had emerged, and much more rapidly, upon the Earth itself. And much more, upon the present battleground. "Report!"
"Analyzing now," Ichijiku replied as the Izumo's Druid System operated, herself having to blink the glare out of her eyes. A moment later, the resultant data was displayed on her console, causing a wave of cold shock to wash over the sensor operator. "General you might want to see this yourself!"
At that, the data was placed upon the bridge's main monitor, and the result was almost as immediate. As the rest of the bridge crew gazed over the readout, which covered everything from the estimated shot trajectory and origin point to the composition of the shell, a pure and all too familiar dread began to weigh in among the present Black Knights. Namely upon the latter data, which was quick to bring certain memories to mind.
"A sakuradite weapon!?" Minami gaped in horror, voicing the general reaction of the present crew. And potentially all others who had realized it as such.
Ohgi had to force back his own horror – and the associated memories of the Devastation – lest they overwhelm him. However, it was precisely that moment when the second round fell, causing another dome of magenta colored light to emerge as another formation of Yaoguais were wiped out. Again shielding himself from the glare, Ohgi shouted over the resultant boom. "Triangulate and identify! Standby for counter-barrage!"
Upon those commands, Ichijiku adjusted the Druid System and associated ELINT systems to focus on the origin points – the second had struck too fast for it to be fired by the same artillery – while Futuba factored in the data to the targeting computer. Both looked on expectedly as the Druid System identified their sought targets and calculated their positioning. And were promptly shocked once again when they realized a key fact: the targets were moving, and moving rapidly.
The same shock again swept through the bridge once more as the readings were again placed on the main monitor, the two designated blips moving through the gridded streets of virtual Luoyang. At much faster rates than any conventional artillery units could hope.
Knightmares!? Ohgi thought as he looked on. They had to be – only landspinner equipped units could hope to move that well.
A moment later, another round data was placed on the bridge monitor. And again the bridge occupants were surprised, but this time for a different reason. Specifically that the Izumo's computer system was not only able to identify the units in question, but also provide visual images and associated technical notes.
"What is that?" Minami murmured to Ohgi as his eyes looked upon both the actual units – which indeed seemed to be knightmares, but not any kind he was expecting – alongside the projected gridline images and databoxes. "It looks like a Raikou…"
The general felt a similar inclination as he gazed over the units. From his perspective, they looked less like knightmares and more like ancient prehistoric beasts; the kind with massive bodies atop four towering legs. Of course, those legs were equipped with landspinners, which allowed the beasts in question to move through the streets of Luoyang faster and much more efficiently than if it had been walking. From there, while the beasts lacked 'heads' of any kind, they made up for it with massive cannons under their respective frames. A design in which energy cackled along the triangular barrel.
At that, the first unit came to a complete stop and fired another round, the telltale flash emanating from its gun barrel. A near instant later, another dome of magenta light erupted, sending more Yaoguais, and whatever Black Knight units in proximity, to oblivion.
"Canterburys…" Lelouch exclaimed upon the newly emerged image, which was now prominently displayed in the corner of his HMDS. He couldn't stare too long at it however, as the Dinadan surged at him once more, slashing its dagger at the Mordred's chest plate. The former prince naturally leaped back and again proceeded to launch his hip slash harkens, which were promptly deflected by Blaze Luminous. Biting back the sting of the attack, Lelouch was forced to - rather grudgingly - admit to his opponent. "Indeed I am impressed Sir Johann."
The Demon King then drove his knightmare forward, right blade set to impale, to which the Dinadan banked to evade. In response to that, he executed a spin slash that would have cleaved the grey knightmare at the waist, but again Johann was fast enough to move out of the way. "I was under the impression that the Canterbury was never adopted by the Imperial Army, as it was deemed 'too ugly'," he commented as he raised his own Blaze Luminous to deflect the counterslash. "And yet you not only managed to procure them, but also equip them with sakuradite tipped shells, which are ideal for wiping out mass formations. Such as those the CLA employs."
He then stepped back into the offensive, driving his swords at the Dinadan as he continued. "And much more, because the Canterburys are equipped with landspinners, counter-artillery has been rendered ineffective," he said as he slashed at the Dinadan's head. "By the time proper targeting coordinates have been inputted, the units will have moved onto their alternate firing positions," he then attempted to thrust his sword into the Britannian unit's torso, but Johann merely smacked the blade away with a Blaze Luminous assisted swipe. "All the while abundant AA throughout the city nullifies air attacks as well."
He then slashed at the Dinadan's neck, only for the enemy knightmare to reverse before the blade could connect. "Yes, it is a most impressive move," Lelouch repeated. "Owl of Britannia."
In spite of himself, Johann actually nodded at the compliment. "You are too kind Zero," he answered, before firing his own right arm slash harken at the Mordred's head, which forced the black and gold knightmare to reverse and then bank to its left. "Yet you do not seem to be overly alarmed."
Lelouch let out a villainous laugh at that, though mostly to cover his uncertainty. In truth, he was alarmed by the Knight of Two's unforeseen move – and the resultant consequences thereof - though thanks to his mask his opponent had no way of reading that. "And why should I be, Sir Johann?" Lelouch commented as a tacwindow appeared at the left upper corner of his HMDS, displaying the battlegrounds across Area 22. "From what I see, you were only able to employ two of them, and both are here at Luoyang."
As he spoke, Lelouch drove forward to smash his left Blaze Luminous against the Dinadan's side – a move that Johann actually did not predict – and knock it off balance. From there, he attempted to bring his right MVS down to strike, but that time the Knight of Two was ready, bringing up his left arm to deflect the strike at the Mordred's elbow. This forced Lelouch to leap away, before the Dinadan launched the slash harken on that arm. "Had all of your forts been equipped with them, I might have been worried," the former prince continued as he zigzagged his frame in reverse, the opposite knightmare pursuing just as quickly. "But not so much just one…"
"And yet Zero," Johann pointed out as he thrust his daggers at the Mordred's chest, which deflected the first with its shield and then banked out of the way of the second. "You and I both know that 'one' makes all the difference."
Through their duel, Johann again found himself looking upon the still untouched city. "Whether under the Chinese Federation or Britannia, Luoyang is very much the heart of this land," he exclaimed as he deflected another sword slash with his dagger. "So long as it is under Imperial control, we will retain our foothold here, even if you were able to capture the other cities."
Dagger grinding against sword, the Dinadan came face to face with the Mordred. "Thus, unless you do in fact take this 'one' city with the rest of them," Johann continued. "It will be I who claims checkmate, Zero."
Behind his mask, Lelouch found himself gritting his teeth at the Knight of Two's declaration. As much as he wished it otherwise, it was as Johann said; Luoyang hadn't just been the administrative center of China, it had also been its symbolic capital, as much as Pendragon was to Britannia and Berlin was to Eurasia. For China to be liberated and the Federation to be reborn – in both status as well as in symbolism – the capital needed to be taken, with Tianzi publically ascending to the Chairmanship in front of the Vermillion Forbidden Palace. They could not allow the enemy to retain it, even if it meant giving up the other cities.
By contrast, the Britannians held another advantage there, which the Canterburys firmly exploited. With the Chinese placing so much weight on Luoyang, as well as Tianzi, General Li and other high profile CLA commanders being present, the Imperials didn't need to repel every assault across the Area. Though it would not have been a complete victory, their decimating the advance on Luoyang would still win them the day, once more even if the other cities fell. And even worse, it would open up a means for them to take Tianzi, thereby eviscerating the morale of the CLA and leaving them open to full destruction.
Another dome of light erupted across the battlefield as Lelouch, while still fighting the Knight of Two, continued to process this. Such only understated the true direness of Lelouch's side of the game.
"I suggest you make your countermove quickly," Johann went on, only then breaking the blade lock so he could execute another slash. One that Lelouch just narrowly evaded. "Otherwise you will lose the bulk of your pawns, and potentially your own bishops and knights, here and now."
Lelouch was unable to respond to that, his mind already racing for the counterattack. In actuality he did have a countermove in place, and he had designed for such an advent. However, he was still hesitant to use it; beside the fact it would only be able to deal with one Canterbury, it would also unveil a key part of his strategy to Johann. And yet, given the circumstances, Lelouch knew that it was his only real choice.
As such, as he continued to battle the Dinadan, the former prince discreetly transmitted a specific signal…
Goddammit! Hong inwardly cursed as the shockwaves struck his Yaoguai – despite it being in the middle of the present formation – threatening to send it toppling into another of its brethren. It was only by some miracle that the shockwave hadn't totally disrupted the formation; instead, it had swayed a bit, but Hong and the other devicers had managed to maintain composition as well as vector. Even so, the damage was done, as a fair chunk of the "river" had been obliterated. With many more to follow unless someone did something about that damned artillery.
"Continue assault!" Hong commanded as the Yaoguais went on their surge, their machine guns and cannons firing at anything and everything that possessed a factsphere sensor. Though discipline and cohesion were holding throughout the Chinese ranks, the Britannians were still trying to capitalize on the situation, with more and more Sutherlands and Gloucesters charging at the increasingly diminished Yaoguais. In response, Hong signaled the formations, which had remained together up to this point, to break into smaller groups; smaller "rivers" compared to the Yangtze surges that they had been employing. Each one have less power than previously, but it would make them more mobile and spread out, and therefore more difficult to target by either those damned self-propelled guns or the knightmares they were presently dealing with. And therefore they would last that much longer.
Thus, twisting his Yaoguai around, he unleashed both of his machine guns into the incoming Sutherlands, managing to total one before they entered firing range themselves. Several more Yaoguais fell around him, but again by some miracle Hong's unit remained untouched, allowing him to return fire in earnest. Two more Sutherlands fell as a result, one to bullets and another to a cannon shot. In their place, a Gloucester moved in and fired its own machine gun at the Chinese General's Yaoguai, yet, in an amazing display given his tight quarters, Hong managed to crouch and maneuver his Yaoguai so that the bullets passed over and around. Unfortunately this meant another Yaoguai in the formation was struck, the bullets ripping into its cockpit area, killing the devicer and causing the frame to topple over. Ignoring the pang of guilt in that, Hong proceeded to return fire on that Gloucester as well, but as usual the devicer of that particular knightmare was better skilled than average, zigzagging around the general's shots while continuing fire, taking down two or three additional Yaoguais alongside. Only another cannon shot from one of the remaining units ended that knightmare's terror.
Moments later, another of those sakuradite shells struck, destroying yet another Yaoguai formation. Squinting his eyes while keeping his own Yaoguai, Hong looked toward his tacwindow to see that one of the smaller groups had been destroyed all at once.
"Daoji One to Mao, we need cover dammit! That artillery is wiping us out!"" he called out, loud enough that it drowned out the battleground chatter momentarily. No reply came to that, though Hong didn't really care as he was too preoccupied. That being said, he did note the fire from the Mao and her fellow landships had increased, a combination of her cannons and missile launchers firing over the Britannian landships and into Luoyang proper.
Unfortunately Britannian anti-air was just as quick to engage, with a virtual wave of counter gun and missile fire erupting from the city. Though there was initially no way of telling if the Chinese shells had reached their targets, the attacking missile wave was completely wiped out in a matter of seconds, the corresponding signals blipping out from Hong's sensors. And much worse, the answer to the former inquiry was soon ratified as another dome of light erupted, this time too close to Hong's position for comfort. Another substantial amount of Yaoguais were destroyed as a result, with those remaining scattering into even smaller formations, making them easier prey for the Britannian knightmares in proximity.
Teeth gritting almost painfully, Hong, having managed to ride out the shockwave once more, strained himself in keeping his knightmare in its own formation, as did the other devicers around him. For the life of him he didn't know how they were going to get out of this one. And they hadn't even set foot into Luoyang yet, much as it continued to grate against him.
And again the Britannians were quick to capitalize, with Hong's sensors beeped in warning as more Sutherlands charging forward, their assault rifles blazing away. Several more Yaoguais in his formation were destroyed as a result, but once more Hong managed to escape the brunt of it. Thus, he continued firing back at the oncoming Britannians, all the while hoping Zhao or Li did something about those shells, before they lost too much. Something that Hong feared they already had.
Chinese land cruiser Mao Zedong
Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
The situation was becoming grimmer by the minute, and at a far greater rate than previously. In spite of the continuing salvos from the CLA ships – the Black Knights were covering them from their Britannian counterparts – the two artillery units had yet to be touched, so much as neutralized. Missiles were constantly being shot out from the air via AA batteries spread around the city, while the units' landspinner assisted mobility allowed them to evade the bigger guns' targeting systems. And Zhou knew better than to send Sanzuwus after them; the aforementioned AA batteries aside, VTOLs were notoriously vulnerable to landspinner equipped units, and she had a feeling these Canterburys, or so the Black Knights had identified them as, were equipped with their own anti-air systems. Naturally that left fewer options, and very little time to implement them.
If there was any consolation Zhou noted, it was that the explosive yield of their ammunition type, despite being sakuradite fueled, was not powerful enough to damage more heavily armored targets like landships. Though it had a large range, and certainly made a large bang, its estimated explosive yield was only effective against conventional forms of armor, such as tanks and, as demonstrated, knightmares. Zhou took some solace in that, not wanting to imagine what the Britannians would have done with a more powerful shell. Not that it made the present issue any easier of course.
If only we had units inside the city…! Zhou gratingly thought as she looked over the displayed tacscreen, trying to find some way of reaching those two insipient blue signals. Both units were spread out in different areas of the city - conveniently areas that were around the west end of the city - and both were constantly moving, switching from one firing position to another with a rate and precision that made the CLA Vice Commander nauseous. Their accuracy wasn't hindered in the least through all this; if Zhou had to guess, one of the enemy landships was providing the necessary targeting data. And above all else, they remained completely out of reach; air attacks were all but completely useless, and even if the Chinese could get their forces into Luoyang in the present, the Canterburys were on the other side of the city and, again, in constant flux.
Another erupting dome of light - though from Zhou's perspective it only appeared as a great blue mass on the tacscreen - seemed emphasize the direness that much more. Yet again a fair number of Yaoguais were designated "LOST" on that same screen. And again Zhou grit her teeth at that. She - and it had be her, as Li was otherwise preoccupied - needed to come up with a counterstrategy and fast, before their forces became too diminished for an incursion.
"General!" one of the operators shouted, causing all attention to shift. "We're receiving a signal from the Izumo!"
Though she was tempted to glower, Zhou was too intent on getting the present threat neutralized. And she already knew that's what General Ohgi or whoever was contacting them on. "What is it?"
A moment later, the signal – apparently a word message – was displayed on the main monitor. It read as followed: WE HAVE TARGET YI DEALT WITH. TARGET LIANG IS LEFT TO YOU. This was then followed with the tacscreen updated, with Target Yi (One) and Target Liang (Two) being designated.
Despite herself, Zhou founder herself marginally smirking at that. Well, that makes things easier. Though she didn't know how "Target Yi" was to be dealt with, she was at least assured that the Black Knights had it handled, which meant that the Chinese only had to deal with one target now instead of two. Of course, Zhou was still unsure of how to deal with that one, though a few more options were now available.
Fortunately it didn't take long for Zhou to pick one, though it was not one she would have preferred. "Engage the main cannon," she commanded, causing more than a few eyes to light up. "Set targeting coordinates on Target Liang."
"Ma'am!?" Colonel Tao gaped in near incredulousness, the implications of that already setting in.
"You heard my order," Zhou gravely responded, though she didn't blame Tao's reaction in the least. The Mao Zedong's main guns were the largest conventional weapons ever made. Dual shells from those would not only destroy the target, but also a fair amount of Luoyang in the process. However, they were the single weapon Zhou knew the Canterbury would not be able to outrun or outmaneuver, or be defended against. "It's our only choice."
For further verification, Zhou turned toward Tianzi, from which she received a solemn nod. "The city can be rebuilt," the Chairwoman stated with finality.
Though Tao wondered about the people within, he bit back that thought and turned back to his crew. "Engage main cannons!" he commanded to the gunnery officer. "Fire when ready!"
Johann had just deflected another slash harken attack when his eye caught motion in his right monitor: that being the Mao Zedong positioning itself, the giant sized cannons in its center adjusting. Eyes widening – albeit only slightly – in uncharacteristic shock, he could only watch as the massive weapons each fired once, the resultant 'booms' surging across the field in a way that, despite being in the confines of a cockpit, the Knight of Two felt against his skin. It wasn't a hard guess toward what the Chinese battleship was firing on.
An instant later, the dual shells, having been accelerated to several times the speed of sound, fell upon their preset coordinates, only several dozen meters away from its intended victim and its escorts. For their part, neither the Canterbury crew nor their escorts realized that they had been hit; they had been in the process of setting up for another salvo when the mighty landship had fired. That being said, the effect was immediate as the shells landed in the middle of a street crossing, causing a combined explosion far greater than anything the Canterburys could hope to fire, which obliterated the knightmares in proximity alongside whole buildings and streets. This was only emphasized by the aftermath of the attack; whereas the Britannians had elicited white domes of light, the Chinese had generated two full on mushroom clouds, each rising well into the sky and casting a great shadow upon the rest of the city.
"Well, that was rather excessive," Johann commented toward the cloud as he again deflected a sword slash from the Mordred with his Blaze Luminous. He then turned back to face Zero, or at least the visage of his knightmare. "Though I suppose it was their only real counterattack."
"Apparently," Lelouch commented with some minor distaste. In spite of its effectiveness, it - not unlike his opening move at Narita long ago - remained a rather sloppy move, the collateral damage being quite abundant. However, knowing the opponent in front of him, he wasn't too afraid of the latter. "I trust you evacuated the civilians beforehand?"
"But of course," Johann replied simply, as if it were obvious fact. "There's no need for them to be caught up in this," he said as he threw back the Mordred's sword, then proceeded to slash back with his daggers. The Mordred took a minor jump back to evade both, then engaged its own Blaze Luminous when the Dinadan drove forward, deflecting the follow up attack. "Anyway, you may have taken out one rook, but I obviously retain the other."
Once again the Knight of Two drove his knightmare forward so that it could "gaze" into its opponent's camera eyes. "And in spite of the…effect of that last attack, I can assure you that it will not work again," he proclaimed, before reversing as the Mordred performed a sword thrust with its opposite MVS, which would have impaled the Dinadan through its Yggdrasil drive. "Thus, it remains your move Zero."
Once again, whether through his mask or the fact they were communicating sound only, Lelouch was glad his opponent couldn't see his face. Namely because it, despite Johann's points of fact, it now held his ubiquitous, all-encompassing grin.
"Ballista One, now arriving at Fire Point Hotel," the Canterbury pilot reported over the comm. to headquarters as his unit and the escorting Sutherlands came upon the designated cross street. For obvious reasons, he and his gunner remained quite shaken by the turn of events; no one had predicted the Chinese would retaliate in the way they had, obliterating a whole chunk of Luoyang just to get at Ballista Two. The mushroom cloud was still quite visible in the sky, though much to the devicers' benefit, it was largely obscured by the surrounding buildings. Or the ones that were still intact anyway.
Despite their emotions however, the battle was still on, and they remained Britannian soldiers. As such, once the pilot brought the Canterbury to a stable position, the gunner bit back his own emotions and began to filter in the targeting data. And as much as he would have liked to knock out the Chinese battleship with the oversized gun – despite knowing the Canterbury's payload would not be able to even dent it – he retained to his orders and targeted the next Yaoguai formation. All the while the Sutherlands stood watch around them.
As such, they were all completely unprepared for the next turn of events. Without apparent cause or warning, the lead Sutherland recoiled as if struck, a large gash appearing in its torso as it fell. Before anyone could react, a second Sutherland soon fell as well, its cockpit cleaved through. At that, the remainder began to train their weapons, as did the Canterbury, but it didn't matter. One by one, swiftly and efficiently, they were struck and cut down before any proper retaliation. In such ways that there was no explosion or excess of sound.
"What the hell!?" the pilot let out as he suddenly reversed the Canterbury, the gunner acting just as quickly in firing the mounted machine gun. Bullets sprayed across the street, but none seemed to hit their intended targets. Not that the gunner had any way of tracking such enemies; even the Canterbury's outer cameras failed to visually detect them.
That is, until the last possible second. As suddenly as the Sutherlands had fallen, the Canterbury's rear left landspinner was disabled – as if struck by a slash harken – causing the giant artillery knightmare to nearly topple as the pilot fought to control it. After a moment it managed to remain standing, struggling like a wounded beast on its four legs, but once more it didn't matter. That single pause in movement was enough for the enemy to make its move.
Thus, directly before the struggling Canterbury's main camera, two magenta colored "eyes" appeared from thin air, gazing vehemently toward the crippled artillery vehicle and the devicers within. After that, it took only a single hadron shot to finish the Britannian machine and its controllers off.
Black Knight mobile battleship Izumo
Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
"Target Yi destroyed," Ichijiku reported as the designated blue blip faded from existence, a "LOST" indicator flashing in its place.
Letting out a breath that he didn't know he was holding, Ohgi's eyes remained on the tacscreen for a moment longer, where the last Canterbury had been. It was gone, yes, but for some reason he felt that the price had been too high, perhaps even more so than the Chinese employing their most powerful weapon to take out the other. He again wondered what sort of arrangement Zero had with Iga to get them to cooperate like that, and much more, what would it cost them in the future.
However, that was something to be considered later. For the time being, the enemy's special artillery had been neutralized, but they still had yet to break into Luoyang. Again the more time they spent fighting on the outside, the less they would have for the incursion. And it didn't help in the least that, largely thanks to those damned Canterburys, the CLA had lost over thirty percent of its Yaoguais already.
We need a breakthrough, and now. Ohgi thought as he studied the tacscreen, all the while trying to come up with applicable tactic in Zero and Tohdoh's place. It was at that point his standard inferiorities tried to push their way back onto him, make him realize yet again that he held a position and role that he was not adequate for, but he forced those back. Too much was on the line for him to think that way now, no matter how true they might have been.
Then, he saw one of the signals on the tacscreen – one corresponding to a Formidable-class battleship – begin to flicker as the Izumo's Druid System took in a new reading. Taking his eyes off that screen and toward his personal monitor, Ohgi then zoomed in on the designated battleship, which even from a distance looked like it had taken quite a beating. Enough that its main drive system was fluctuating from the stress. "Status on enemy battleship?"
Hearing that, Ichijiku read over the scan. "Enemy battleship crippled," she replied dutifully. "Sakuradite reactor is in runaway state."
That's it! something in the back of Ohgi's mind shouted as his idea was ratified. He might have not been an engineer any more than he was a military commander, but even he knew how unstable sakuradite became when utter continuous assault - after all, the Devastation wouldn't have occurred if the opposite were the case. And with the battleship's current position…
He quickly looked over to Mutsuki. "Open a channel to Shangdi One!"
In the midst of his attack on another Sutherland, which he had impaled with his jian, Li had listened to the Black Knight Vice Commander's plan and was now in something of an uncharacteristic, though minor, state of shock. Not only was the plan tactically valid, but it would indeed take care of all their present hindrances at one time. Something that he might have expected from Zero, but not the former terrorist Kaname Ohgi.
"Confirm Shangdi One," Ohgi called out, suddenly unsure if the Chinese general had even heard his plan. Or if it turned out to be so poor that the Chinese Tiger was trying hard not to overly react to it in the middle of combat.
"Confirmed," Li replied, again in the midst of his fighting. Whatever the case, he knew he wouldn't have much time to implement it. "Send me the targeting data."
A moment later, the Shenhu's computer was updated with data from the Izumo's Druid System. Li now had his target. "Tianshou Team, cover me!" he commanded as he engaged his baryon cannon, which began charging. "I'm making the run now!"
Government Bureau
Luoyang Settlement, Duchy of Henan, Area 22 (China), Britannian Empire
"Vector change on the Shenhu!" one of the operators alerted those watching. "Now moving at two-seven-zero! Speed eighty km/h and rising!"
Hearing that, Calares turned back to one of the tacscreens. Indeed, the designated signal of the Shenhu was speeding up, now charging deep into the Britannian lines while the Tianshou knightmares struggled to keep up. And much more, there appeared to be an energy build up, indicating that its baryon cannon was energizing.
"What's Li doing?" Zhao Hao commented from the side, visibly dumbfounded at the Tiger's sudden charge. The other Eunuchs didn't seem to understand either, not that anyone cared.
However, it wasn't long before Calares saw. With the force of lightning, realization dawned on the viceroy as he saw where the enemy knighmare's new vector would take it. And much to his horror, what would happen once its attack was enacted. No!
Quickly he turned to the comm. station. "All knightmares move to intercept! Now!" he commanded, not even bother to hide his alarm. Such was its power that even Zhao Hao and the rest jumped in response. "Stop the Shenhu!"
Putting all power into his landspinners, Li charged on with the other three Beasts following him in. By now the Britannians had seemingly figured out his intentions, as well as detected the charge up in the Shenhu's baryon cannon, and so were now moving to intercept him en masse. However, Li knew he couldn't be hindered – lest he be forced to break off his attack – and so concentrated on closing the distance, allowing the Tianshou to fight in his stead.
That being said however, he didn't ignore the enemy so much that they couldn't benefit him. Upon the last segment of his charge, he watched as a Sutherland, whose devicer was either more daring or stupid than average, move in front of him to take aim with its assault rifle. At that, Li, smirking at his newfound benefactor, jumped up and over the resulting bullet spray, from which he ended up landing on top of the enemy knightmare. Then, right as the Sutherland began to fall forward from the Shenhu's weight, he power leaped again, gaining considerable altitude.
Upon doing so, Li now had a clear shot at the stricken Britannian battleship. And his baryon cannon was at full charge. "TIANCHAO WAN SUI!"
With that cry, the golden surge erupted from the Shenhu's chest and shot straight into the Formidable, easily burning its way deep into the landship's hull. And as Li saw from his targeting computer, his aim had been true. The beam had pierced the sakuradite reactor, and the final result was imminent.
In a manner not unlike the Canterbury attack before, the enemy land battleship disappeared under an expanding dome of light, which expanded well past its origin and into its surroundings, taking much of the Britannian rear guard, and at least one of the other landships, within its maw. But that was of little concern compared to the area that Li and the others were counting on it to destroy. For in that same instant, the dome reached out and encompassed a sizeable portion of Luoyang's boundary wall – which the enemy battleship captain had been so considerate in parking his landship a fair distance in front of – obliterating it wholesale. From this, an equally sizeable breach had been erected. One that was not protected by Britannian knightmares.
"We have a breach!" Li called out upon landing, he and the Tianshou already speeding toward their new entry point. "Commence incursion!"
How unexpected. Lelouch thought, despite the gleaming expression behind his mask. He almost thought he would have to come up with a plan to breach the outer wall, but it seemed to have been handled anyway. From this, he glanced over to his tacwindow to see both Black Knight and Chinese signals already converging on the breach while the Britannians scrambled – and ultimately failed – to close it.
"The gate has fallen, Sir Johann," Lelouch commented as he reversed away from the Dinadan, making a run toward the breach as well. Even so, the Knight of Two was quick to follow, even firing another shot from his hadron launcher, which Lelouch neatly evaded. "My pawns and knights have reached your territory."
In spite of the obvious setback, Johann found himself nodding at his opponent's assessment. "So they have Zero," he acknowledged while driving his daggers at the Mordred, their blade fight now turning into a running battle. "But the endgame continues on."
Again, as he brought his daggers against the Mordred's MVS, the barest semblance of a grin entered Johann's face. "And you remain far from claiming it."
As he parried the dagger attacks and slashed back, Lelouch couldn't help but feel a certain hauntedness behind the Knight of Two's words. Yes, he didn't expect the game to be completely turned upon the breach, but it disturbed him how Johann seemed unaffected – even with his natural inscrutability accounted for – by the enemy entering his territory. In fact, Lelouch had a sinking feeling that he had anticipated the breakthrough, and had made his plans accordingly.
Regardless however, the game had reached its second phase. As Lelouch saw from another tacwindow within his HMDS, additional breakthroughs had been made among the other target cities, while those that hadn't were well on their way toward. Thus the Red Rebellion would no longer be fought on the outside, but within the next battleground. The very core of China itself.
With that in mind, he and Johann continued their own battle, even as they passed into Luoyang with the rest of their respective forces.