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Chapter 88 ~ Chaos

“So it has begun.”

Zero remarked casually as he saw the imposing sight of the army of Britannian Knightmare Frames all sortied and gathered around the mountains of Narita. 

“What the…”

“What the hell…! You’ve got… You’ve gotta be kidding me, Zero!!!”

Tamaki shouted, facing Zero with an expression of distress and anger. And almost every single member of the black knights, who saw the descent and gathering of the Britannia army, all shared the same expression.

“Those guys are coming and have already gotten the entire area surrounded! There’s no way out anymore!!!”

“We’ve already been cut off! The only way to survive now is to fight!”

“Fight…? With the Britannians…?”

“Fight them head-on?!  Even though we’re surrounded?!”

“Besides, we’ll be facing Cornelia’s forces! They’re way stronger than anyone we’ve been fighting so far! Even if we have the Guren and Excalibur…”

“Yes… It’d be a miracle if we win this. But we will.”

Zero said in a matter of fact way. After all, it was indeed a fact.A fact he knew from asking the “World” with his [Mind of the World] ability. 

Well, even without using it, he knew they’d succeed. After all, he had his friends from the Group Chat here; people who had otherworldly powers that even a knightmare frame would be a mere slight annoyance to them. 

But those without such knowledge and confidence were panicking. 

“Zero, what are you saying?!”

Ohgi raised his voice, his voice almost cracking from the sheer panic, fear, and desperation in his voice. He wasn’t only afraid for his life, but for all the life of the Black Knights. His friends. His comrades. His brother in arms. The Japanese who were courageous enough to fight instead of rotting away in the corner of some abandoned ruin. The light of hope for their country. 

“Even messiahs need to perform miracles to be acknowledged. Which means we have to produce a miracle of our own, don’t we?”

For the Black Knights to be considered a real force to be reckoned with and be trusted by the Japanese ruling government who would be able to give them tremendous support in their fight against Britannia, they’d need to show it. 

And what better way to prove their skills by performing a miracle?

“Now look, miracles don’t come that easily! I knew it was crazy to make you our leader! It should’ve been me!”

Tamaki took the rifle he had slung over his shoulder into his hands, ready to aim it at Zero. But before he could, Tamaki froze when he noticed a gun pointing at him. 

“!!!”

Zero had a gun aimed at him. But to his further surprise, Zero actually turned the gun around, pointing the handle towards Tamaki and the muzzle towards himself. 

“Our retreat path has already been cut off. If you think you can win without me, then someone shoot me! Anyone!”

Silence fell, utterly. Everyone who had raised their voice, and even Tamaki, were now dead silent, shocked. 

“Since you’ve joined the Black Knights, you have two choices. Either live with me… or die with me.”

Karen shook. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. And her body trembled the moment she felt the gravity of Zero’s words. All her technical knowledge about her knightmare, their plan, their strategy, all disappeared, leaving only her realization. The realization of the situation they’re in. 

Surrounded from all sides by Cornelia’s forces, the famously powerful force even within Britannia. No way out. No retreat. Only death or victory. 

A normal 17 year-old girl might not be able to imagine and understand such a thing. But as a fighter and a resistance soldier, she knew. She had came so close to death and seen death so many times. She knew what would be of her if she lost. And the mere thought of it scared her. 

But suddenly, a hand landed on her shoulder, dispersing all the dark thoughts from her mind. 

And then, a warm, soothing voice entered her ears. 

“Everything will be fine. Don’t worry. We’ll win.”

Her head slowly turned towards Mordred. Her eye still wide in shock from the frightening premise of going against such a large Britannian army, completely surrounded. 

But the warmth from his hand on her shoulder spread throughout her body, and his words, spoken in the tone of a comforting mother, were ever so calming. 

Her heart thumped loudly in her chest once again. But this time… Not out of panic. 

An unexplainable warmth began to spread across her chest. It felt… comforting, cozy, and safe…

Even though she knew that there was a massive Britannian army led by the famous Princess Cornenelia and her knights right before her, it almost felt… insignificant now. 

Karen stared at the demon-masked man before her. She didn’t know his true name. She had never seen his true appearance. And she didn’t know a thing about him nor his past. 

But she felt safe… by his side. 

She nodded. Her lips curled into a small smile.

“Thanks.”

Mordred turned towards her and nodded, and although she couldn’t see his face, she could tell that he was also smiling. 

“Let’s do our best, Karen. Good luck.”

“Mm. Good luck to you too.”

The pregnant silence continued to linger. The realization of the truth in Zero’s words seeped into their hearts and minds. Until finally, a deafening shout of the Black Knights broke it. 

“...Alright, fine! We’ll follow you for now! Happy?!”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Tamaki, albeit still dissatisfied by the arrangement, lowered his gun and backed down. The rest of the Black Knights followed suit and accepted Zero as their leader once more and began to prepare according to their respective roles, either as a foot soldier or a Knightmare Frame Pilot. 

Karen and Yuuji also boarded the Guren and Excalibur respectively and activated it. 

Like the eyes of a devil that shone in the midst of darkness, piercing crimson light shone from the eyes of the jet-black, crimson knightmare frame as it came to life and rose to its feet. Its engine humming with power and might. 

The screen around Yuuji lights up, showing a 360 degrees view of his surroundings. He saw Tatsuya and Satoru both working together with the other members of the Black Knights in charge of ground attacks and support. They both chose not to pilot a knightmare frame, leaving the mission for defeating the Lancelot with Excalibur to Yuuji, and instead supported the ground troops using their “abilities”. 

Tatsuya’s combat prowess was evident, while Satoru had also summoned the phantom of “Momonga” and “Peroroncino” to help them if they’re in trouble. 

They were both concealed with “Perfect Knowable” and “Momonga” had cast several protective spells onto Satoru, Tatsuya, and a few of the core members of the Black Knights, such as Ohgi, Karen, and a few others. 

With the two of them acting as a support, Yuuji wouldn’t have to worry about a thing and focus on his own duty. 

“Alright… Let’s do this.”

This was the moment the Grim Reaper of Britannia was born.

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

“An evacuation order had been issued for this area! If anyone is still present within this area, then please evacuate promptly! I repeat, an evacuation order has been issued…”

The announcement made through loudspeakers by soldiers going around the streets of Narita resounded throughout the city. And as the evacuation order was issued, Cornelia’s forces continued to push up the mountain, unhindered and uncontested aside from meager disturbance that couldn’t even be considered an “enemy force”. 

“Too fragile…”

Cornelia personally led her squad as her customized Gloucester jumped high into the air and pierced down onto a Burai from the Japan Liberation Front from above with her lance. 

Along with her knight, Guildford, her advance was unstoppable. The few Burais the JLF placed before here couldn’t even be considered a threat. 

Her army didn’t advance “slowly but surely”. They were advancing rapidly and overwhelmingly, sweeping off the front forces of the JLF. It was a one sided war. 

And as she continued to advance, she soon saw a flare going up from a few distance away.

“Up there… Darlton?”

Considering the location of the flare, Cornelia immediately deduced it to be a signal from one of her Generals who led his own platoon. 

“So that’s where the main enemy base is?”

Guilford commented, understanding the meaning behind the flare signal fired. 

“Right. We’ll secure this position here.”

Cornelia commanded.

“Are you sure about that?”

She snorted at Guilford’s “question” and smirked. 

“I have no interest in stealing achievements from my subordinates. Send the reserve force to back up Darlton! Looks like he’ll be welcoming another medal.”

“Yes!”

Meanwhile, stationed far away from the heat of action was a squad of Sutherland type knightmare frames. Amongst them were the recently disgraced and demoted Jeremiah, nicknamed “Orange” in disdain by his fellow soldiers and purists faction. 

Villetta, a beautiful silver haired woman with gleaming tanned skin, was also amongst their squad, which was by a brown-haired man in light blue knightmare pilot’s suit. 

Jeremiah, frustrated and desperate for a chance to redeem himself from his previous “blunder” of releasing the suspect of Prince Clovis’ murder, slammed his hand above the cockpit of his knightmare when he couldn’t sortie despite having heard about the order to support General Darlton’s advance.

“Why…? Just why?! Weren’t the reserve units supposed to form up around General Darlton?!”

“R-Right. But our unit is to secure Viceroy Cornelia’s rear line.”

“This is the rear line?! This is the furthest you can get from the main battlefield! How am I supposed to clear my name here-”

Jeremiah shouted, his voice filled with apparent frustration, desperation, anger, and regret. But he was immediately silenced by a loud bang that resounded when the brown-haired man slammed his fist onto the top of his cockpit.

“Shut your mouth, Orange!!! One more word from you and I will punish you in a court martial for insubordination!!!”

Jeremiah’s face paled as he looked at the brown-haired man… A former comrade and friend of his from the purist faction, Kewell Soresi.

He… didn’t expect to hear such harsh words from him.

“I can’t believe how far you’ve fallen… You are a disgrace. A disgrace to our faction. A disgrace to our Lord Anderson and the Britannian Empire!!! You have lost your mind!”

“N-No… I…”

“Enough! From now on, I shall be the one to carry the torch that Lord Anderson left behind for us.”

“...”

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

Cornelia’s army continued to advance as the leader of the JLF tried his best to hold on in hopes for Tohdoh and his squad to reach them in time before they were destroyed. 

And just as Cornelia was about to claim victory, Lelouch began his plan. 

“Alright! All preparations are complete! All Black Knights, prepare to sortie!”

One by one, the members of the black knights readied their weapons; their rifles, their bazookas, their knightmare frames. 

“Aarrgh! Screw it! We’re in deep shit already! There’s no other way but to do this!!!!”

“I don’t want to die yet! So I’ll freaking do my best!”

“I’ll make those Britannian dogs lick the ground today!”

“We have Zero on our sides! The man of miracles! We will win this!”

“We’ll make a miracle happen!”

Zero, having boarded his knightmare, announced through their communication channel.

“We Black Knights are going to launch a surprise attack on the Britannians from the mountain summit! On my orders, charge down on point three! The operation’s objective is to capture Cornelia, the second princess of Britannia! Our breakthrough route will be opened by the Guren and Excalibur!”

Then, into Karen’s private channel, Zero gave his order to her.

“Karen! Use penetrating electrode number 3. Settle things with one blow, got it?”

“Right!”

Karen moved her knightmare and put the large, silver, clawed right hand of the Guren onto the electrode, lining it up with the Radiant wave Surger at the center of its palm. 

“Output confirmed! Radiant wave Surger maintaining level status!”

She took a deep breath, and fired.

“Induction!”

Crimson light and lightning burst forth from the clawed right hand of the Guren as the Radiant Wave penetrated into the electrode, sending massive amounts of energy and power unto the water below the ground and rocks of the mountain. 

A used energy pack was ejected from the Guren’s Right arm. One use of the Radiant Wave Surger was enough to consume all of the energy from an energy pack. 

She panted slightly as sweat dripped down from her face. She had been extremely nervous. 

When suddenly, a window on her screen showed the familiar figure of “Mordred”. 

“Good job. Though you seemed tired already. The battle has just begun, you know?”

Seeing his figure and hearing the clear teasing tone in his voice, Karen snorted with a smirk.

“Say for yourself. I’ve still got more in me.”

Just then, the ground began to rumble. And soon, the shaking intensified as the rocks and earth before her collapse and burst into a landslide.

“It worked!”

“Nice!”

Starting at the summit of the mountain, the landslide rapidly brought with it more rocks, trees, and debris down in a snowball effect. 

The entire mountain shook as the “natural disaster” indiscriminately and utterly swept through JLF and Britannian forces alike. 

“W-What’s happening-?!”

“I-Impossible… A landslide at a time like this?!”

“Darlton and Alex’s units are getting wiped out!”

Both the Britannian headquarters at the ground and the JLF headquarters within the mountain were thrown into chaos. 

“Report the casualties to me!!!”

Cornelia roared from within her knightmare as she saw the landslide occurring before her.

“W-We’re still trying to confirm!”

“Your highness, pull back! You’re in danger there!”

Guilford’s worried voice resounded from outside of his knightmare frame. 

“I don’t care! Where’s Alex?! Find out about Darlton! What’s their status!”

“W-We don’t know, your highness!”

“Then find out!!!”

Meanwhile, sitting in his commander-unit Burai, Lelouch looked down at the devastation he had caused with a flat expression.

“This was… even more destructive than what I saw in the anime.”

The moment the Group Chat mission started, he consulted Yuuji and Tatsuya about this plan. And with their help with the calculations, the results… were beyond his expectations. 

Not only did he manage to wipe out a majority of Cornelia’s army. She and her unit had also been perfectly isolated from the rest of the army. 

A perfect result. 

“I should thank them later.”

Another report came towards Cornelia in the midst of the chaos. Unfortunately, it wasn’t news about her General. 

“New enemy forces confirmed moving in from the summit! The Carius unit is moving to engage them!”

“Hoping to take advantage of the confusion, are they?”

Cornelia remarked rhetorically. But then, an even more urgent news came.

“Emergency communication from the Carius unit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s not the Japan Liberation Front! They think it’s the Black Knights!”

“The Black Knights?! That means…”

“It’s ZERO!”