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Zero, saviour and guardian of the world, was dying.
Not of old age. Not of a degenerative disease. But from the stomach full of shotgun pellets he had taken while hunting down a terrorist cell who had been behind an attack on Empress Nunally vi Brittania and Prime Minister Kaname Ohgi and other political leaders to commemorate the 12th anniversary of FLEIJA bombing in Tokyo. Thankfully the principals were secured, unfortunately among the casualties were the Prime Minister's family and several prominent members of the Black Knights, including their commander Kallen Kozuki.
The manhunt, codenamed 'Rattrap' became a year long, global chase. Ably assisted by the Black Knights under the command of Jeremiah Gottwald and Cornelia Guilford (apparently she and Sir Gilbert had got married after the Second Black Rebellion), the terrorists were hunted down, cell by cell. Financiers were bankrupted and jailed, agents were discovered, interrogated and terminated. And their fighters were hunted down to the last man.
Their leader happened to be Schneziel el Brittania. Apparently Geasses wore off over time, especially when the caster himself was dead. So, dear ol' Schnezy decided that he should go and achieve his earlier ambitions for the throne.
So, why the attack? Apparently, Geass can cause mental instabilities, especially if a person had been under it for long periods of time and have beaten it on their own. So, he should have been subjected to a strait jacket, a padded cell and kind and helpful psychologists with all kinds of medical treatments.
Instead, after serving as the Prime Minister for Brittania for five years under Nunna, he resigned from office and went travelling. And got himself an army.
Labelled 'The Knights of Avalon' they had stayed off of everyone's radar by lying doggo until the attack. He would have then used the confusion of the attack to distract everyone as all his well placed cronies would take over from their now-dead leaders, while Schneziel would have himself crowned Emperor of Brittania. Then, once he had secured his position, his cronies would handover ownership of their countries to Brittania.
Considering he had failed in his primary objective and his idiot co-conspirators jumped the gun, the Black Knights were able to immediately make a massive headway against them. Backed by a vengeful Brittanian Empress and a grief stricken Japanese Prime Minister, with a lot of global cooperation because of outrage, they had begun destroying the organisation and salting the earth with them.
Boiling down to this. Zero flat on his back, in the supervisor's office of a Knightmare production facility in the Australian Outback, that was self-destructing around him. Schneziel was dead from a bullet to the head, while Zero would be joining him soon as he bled out from the shotgun blast to the gut.
'So, this is how it all ends, huh?' Zero thought wryly as he could feel his strength leave him.
"Zero, goddamit come in!" came Gottwald over the radio. The Knight of Orange was one of the few to have forgiven him completely.
"This is Zero. Zeus is EKIA" he replied, nearly coughing up more blood. The helmet feeling heavy, Zero took it off, revealing the bearded face of Suzaku Kururugi to the world for the first time in a decade. Breathing in the superheated air surrounding him like it were a fragrant bouquet, Suzaku continued, his voice pained.
"All Black Knights, withdraw. Mission accomplished" he ordered. Gottwald's objections were overridden by the flurry of acknowledgements that Suzaku received. Looking around, Suzaku found a console nearby. Pulling himself up, he leant against it, propping himself up. Stumbling, Zero's helmet in his grasp, he exited from the office.
"Black Knights, Command. Be advised, we are reading multiple energy readings from the target area. Please identify" came the voice from the base they had launched from. The response is immediate.
"Black Dawn! I say again Black Dawn! Multiple ICBM launches! I..." whoever it was was cut off abruptly as Suzaku's world was drowned out in pink light.
Euphie.....
"Cut! Cut! This is fucking ridiculous" came a voice as Suzaku regained consciousness.
Huh? was the first intelligent thought to run through his head. This wasn't heaven, hell, or any of the various sub-dimensions of the death realm.
To be perfectly honest, Suzaku had expected to end up in the stomach of the Shinigami for all the crimes he had committed.
Kin killer. Oath breaker. Mass murderer.
The White Reaper.
If he hadn't left Euphie alone that day, none of that would have happened.
Deciding to have a look around, he saw what looked like a movie set, with a guy dressed up in a Hawaiian shirt so loud, it should have been written up for disturbing the peace, a pair of 'kill me' orange shorts, a strange green and white striped bucket hat and wooden geta. He had a paper fan in his right hand. He was blonde, with a scraggly beard, with his eyes hidden under the brim of his hat.
His crew was even more motely than him. A huge guy with a moustache and spectacles was monitoring the sound and lighting, a little boy with red hair and the most violently anti social expression on his face with a baseball bat and a sweet looking little girl with her black hair pulled into pig tails, holding a camera.
"None of that was supposed to happen!" said Hat-and-Clogs as he threw a pile of paper up in the air in disgust. He then proceeded to throw a temper tantrum as he kept screaming obscenities, while dancing around like a madman. Sharing incredulous looks with everyone else, Suzaku decides to say something when suddenly the dancing mad man just stops, points a finger at him and yells one word.
"RESET!"
And everything fades to black again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Suzaku blinked in confusion as he came to outside a truck, with a familiar limette (Is that even a word? Suzaku thinks wildly) in bondage gear, which said more than he needed to know about her captors and his Emperor and best friend Lelouch. "Private Kururugi, take this and execute the terrorist" ordered the Captain of Clovis' royal guard. Blinking a couple of times, Suzaku realised he was 11 years in the past. And in Shinjuku, where everything promptly went to hell for him and the world. Taking a deep breath, Suzaku took the pistol from the captain. And made his decision. In the moment between breaths, there is nothing. There is no firefight, no enemy battalion. No squadmates, pinned behind cover. No hostage, on their knees. There are no shadow nations, subverting boundaries, spreading their influence, like a cancer. No special deployment, no coalition of nations, and no decision to fight back. In the moment between breaths, there is nothing. No hesitation. No doubt. No noise. Pierce the darkness. "Take the shot" Suzaku whispered the mantra of his personal team's sniper, as he brought up the pistol and fired once, causing the captain's head to jerk back. Snatching up the spare magazine and taking a knee, Suzaku took advantage of their shock as he methodically started 'slotting' the members of the royal guard. As the slide pulled back on an empty mag, Suzaku tucked and rolled, bringing himself flat on the ground as he reloaded. The remaining five tried to shoot him, but he double tapped them in the head. "Breathe out" Total engagement time, 6 seconds. "Su.. Suzaku.....?" came a stunned voice from behind him. Suzaku ignored Lelouch and CC while checking the corpses, ensuring that they were all dead.Before he could respond to his friend's repeated call, the truck blew up.Oh yeah, forgot about that. "Having a bad day are we?" came an oh so familiar, yet condescending voice. Suzaku restrained the smirk he felt as he woke up again in an ambulance. To his surprise, Cecilé was pointing a pistol at him. "I've had worse Doctor" Suzaku replied as he adjusted himself to a seated position, meeting Lloyd Asplund, the Earl of Pudding, gaze evenly. Lloyd gave him one of his piercing glances, which just confirmed Suzaku's suspicions about the man's perceptiveness. "Well, I guess you would have, considering this seems to be your second go around" he mentioned in an off-hand tone. On seeing Suzaku's surprise, he said "I did major in mechatronics engineering but I did a short course on basic psychology. I needed the credits!" he said defensively, crossing his arms around himself. Suzaku felt a corner of his mouth twitch up at familiar behaviour. "And the gun?" he asked, causing Cecilé to tighten her grip on the pistol, to which Lloyd responded with a raised eyebrow."What, no claims of ignorance? No deflections? Nothing?" he said, slightly surprised. Cecilé decided to interject then."Sir, we should hand him over to the MPs" she said, her voice holding a quiver of uncertainty. Suzaku sighed then in four quick motions, stepped inside her guard, disarmed her, had her arm twisted into a half Nelson and had the gun pointed at Lloyd. He then leaned towards her and whispered, ignoring the tremor running through her, "If I really wanted to kill two of the only people who have stood with me through thick and thin, my family, I would have done it already. But I don't. And I won't" so concluded, he switched the pistol to safe, thumbed the hammer down and flipped it over to hand it to Lloyd, grip first, simultaneously releasing Cecilé.Lloyd blinked in surprise, then a warm smile spread across his face as he took the pistol from Suzaku. He then pulled out a familiar, golden Knightmare activation key."I'm sure you recognise this, don't you?" Suzaku's answering grin was all the answer he needed.Kōzuki Kallen was having a rotten day. And that was something considering the kind of shitty life that she has had till date.Firstly, their escape had been compromised from the start, resulting in Nagata dying. Secondly, she had lost one arm of her Glasgow Knightmare Frame while being doggedly chased by some Purist bastard in a Sutherland. A bit of luck came in the form of a mystery voice on the radio, and a train load of Sutherland KMFs, seemed to have turned the battle to their benefit. It also helped that Mr. Mystery Voice seemed to be a far better commander than Clovis. They managed to disable and kill a major portion of the Purist KMFs.And that's when things went promptly to Hell."What the hell..." came a strangled yell over the radio."Oh shi....." came another voice."Someone stop that monster!" A cold chuckle sounded over unsecured channels, causing ice to coat her spine."Monster? I'm the Shinigami" said the same voice, icy cold amusement lacing his words. And then she saw it.It was a KMF in white and gold, sleek and angular. And the way whoever it was piloting it had been handling it, she knew that she was dealing with someone out of her league."So you're their ace? Let's see how good you are" this statement caused more ice to form, to which Kallen reacted in a predictable manner."HIYAAH!" she screamed as she charged at the unknown ace, who sighed.A blur of white, gold and leaf green later, and the next thing Kallen knew was that she was ejected from her frame, her last image before she lost visual feeds was her dismembered Glasgow laying on the ground, with the opponent Knightmare waving at her cheekily. Cecilé Croomy honestly wondered sometimes if her boss was requiring psychiatric intervention considering his recent behaviour.I mean really? An Eleven who was holding a pistol, which he most certainly had used to kill the Viceroy Prince Clovis' Royal Guard with absolute efficiency, who claimed to have time travelled of all things and then disarms and subdues her ( And doesn't that one smart on her pride), then has the audacity to claim the most outrageous things. And Lloyd, the completely imbecilic naive fool not only believed that tripe, but handed him the keys to one of the world's most advanced Knightmare Frames in existence.Unfortunately, all of Cecilé's objections were overridden when Private Kururugi showed an astonishingly high synchronisation of 110%. And then he was launched.Cecilé was left dumbfounded when Private Kururugi made the Lancelot dance. No, dance was too pedestrian a word to describe what he was doing.It was as if the Lancelot had come alive, the sheer smoothness of his movements made it seem like the pilot and the machine were one.She then noticed something odd. All the enemy knightmares were disabled, with all their pilots safely ejected. A small chuckle broke her focus from her screen to the man sitting next to her."Welcome back, Knight of Zero" murmured Earl Asplund, as he watched Private Kururugi make mincemeat of the insurgent knightmares. He then shot her a glance from the corner of his eyes and said in a voice that demanded obedience, causing Cecilé to automatically straighten up into attention."Major Croomy, Private Kururugi is to now be inducted into ASEECs ranks. All actions taken will be covered under the confidentiality agreements taken on behalf of ASEEC. Are we clear?"As Cecilé stammered out an affirmative, Prince Clovis announced a ceasefire. Charlotte Caflisch, better known as CC was having a bad day.Which was saying something, considering the fact that she had been alive since the 9th century A.D., and had had her share of bad days. But after 5 years of methodical and inhuman experimentation on her person by her colleagues and compatriots, being freed in the middle of a warzone, then forming a contract with Marianne's little boy (And look at him, all grown up and a heartbreaker in his own right) should have just been a walk in the park. Then being carted around by Lelouch in the back of a Knightmare as he liasoned with the insurgents, then getting inside the G1 and assassinating Clovis after he recalled his forces from Shinjuku, should barely have registered on her radar.In all honesty, this did not even feature in the top 100 weirdest things that had happened to her.What bothered her was Lelouch's friend, the quisling Kururugi. Noble intentions or not, once a traitor, always a traitor. She should know. After all, she had suffered betrayals heaped on betrayals.Initially though, Kururugi's eyes were wide eyed, innocent and oh so naivë. But, when the Captain of the Royal Guard handed him the pistol, something else, someone else had taken over. A spark of recognition with shades of love, concern, self hatred and anger had flashed across his eyes as he had glanced at them before he turned and took the pistol from the Captain.And then he slaughtered the Royal Guard.Honestly, she was surprised by his actions. A truck bomb had promptly closed that line of enquiry.Afterwards, sequestered in Lelouch's room in Ashford Academy, she pondered the mystery of Suzaku Kururugi, her thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on his door."Master Lelouch, there is someone here to meet you" said the maid, Shinozaki, if she remembered her name correctly. Lelouch frowned in confusion as he exited his room. He then made a sound like a strangled cat.Curious, she poked her head around the corner to see what the fuss was about and just managed to keep in a squeak of shock as she was confronted by two of the most prominent members of the Purist Faction.Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald and Major Villeta Nu.And then things to a turn for the interesting.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
So here ends the legend of Zero thought Suzaku wryly as he grimaced and let out a wheezing breath from the broken ribs and broken nose he got at the hands of his interrogators. Amateurs he thought disparagingly of the way they jumped right into enhanced interrogation. Medea, his interrogator from his old (new?) unit had been a past master in breaking people. She would alternate from terrifying the captive and being his best chum. Within a matter of days, they would all break. As his cell door opened, Suzaku looked up into the amber eyes of Villetta Nu. "It is time" she said, and motioned to the two infantrymen, dressed in Purist colours. Grabbing a shoulder each, they dragged him out of his cell. Suzaku, his head hurting, let it loll forward. He then observed something interesting, which led him to the answer to a conundrum he had been facing all his life post Zero Requiem. No wonder she and Ohgi had five kids. Ass like that, a man wouldn't be able to resist he thought, then blinked and resisted the temptation to bang his head against a wall. Goddamn teenage hormones! General Andreas Darlton had been through an emotional rollercoaster over the past three months and had only now begun to settle down into his new normal as he joined the offensive to convert the Arabic Emirates into a new Area for the Holy Brittanian Empire. Using the regained memories of his last life, he effortlessly clove through the formations of Knightmare knock-offs, unbalancing and neutralising them with the ease of experience from both his lives. As Cornelia, his princess and commander destroyed the enemy base, a fierce rush of protectiveness rushed through his veins as he charged at the disarrayed ranks, his command right behind him. "I say General, you might just take my title away from me" ribbed Sir Gilbert Guilford, Cornelia's personal knight and not so-secret crush. Yeesh, the sexual tension between the two of them made Darlton want to throw his hands up in despair. Or lock the two of them in a closet. Whichever worked to get...wait a minute. Flash of inspiration! "Well, I need to show you whippersnappers how it's done, don't I?" his comment masking his smirk's real reason. Now, all he needed to do was get help from Suzaku and Euphemia. Maybe even the Earl of Pudding would pitch in when he saw the size of the pot that they would win. Hearty laughter rang over the radio as he surveyed the now empty battlefield, his mind already a thousand miles away in Area Eleven. Suzaku had a ringside view of his friend, and future Emperor, Lelouch performance as he was chained to the float, a shock collar around his throat. He watched in amusement as Lelouch double bluffed the leader of the guard, Kewell Soresi, by making him believe that not only did he have control over the poison gas canister via a dead man's switch, but also information on a black project called Medusa, for which Soresi was directly responsible. Honestly, last time round, he had been too deep in his self loathing and guilt to admire the sheer craftsmanship and pure guts that Lelouch had to do what he was doing. After taking the mantle of Zero, Suzaku set up an SOP called WWLD. What Would Lelouch Do. It always got brilliant results. Now if he could get his friend to drop his self sacrificial attitude and keep him on the damn throne, Suzaku could happily retire to some island paradise. And now the Geass hit Soresi. Suzaku wouldn't weep over losing him, man was a pig headed bigotic racist. He wasn't worth getting concerned over. As Suzaku jumped over the edge of the highway being smothered with purple fog, he saw Soresi being restrained by others of the Purist guards. Phase 1 accomplished. Onto Phase 2. Shinichirō Tamaki was considered an idiot by all around him. And sometimes, when in the heart of enemy territory, 'idiot' was the best cover he could have. And he was under no illusions as he secured the door to his room and then undid the stitches of his mattress, revealing the receiver of the bug he had planted on Zero. While superficially, the two men acted the same, he needed a hard confirmation that the Zero he knew, and the Zero who had approached Ohgi, Kallen and he were one and the same. "Well, that went off well" came the dry voice of the Grey Fox as Tamaki heard the sound of someone sitting on bricks and a wheezing breath of pain. Judging by the sound, broken ribs at the minimum. "You don't sound surprised, or upset that I let off a chemical weapon in a crowded area" came Zero's voice, filtered by the helmet he wore. A dry scoff was the response he got. "Oh sure, you would let off a chemical weapon in a crowded area so as to have your fledgling partisan movement wiped out before they could even make an impact. Plus I was there when that same canister was opened Lelouch. I am many things, a parricide and a traitor among them, but I am not divorced from reality" the sardonic voice of his former (future?) Commanding Officer was received clearly by Tamaki. Judging by the amused noise made by Suzaku on Lelouch's stuttering denials, Tamaki had received his confirmation. As the conversation progressed, Tamaki began making plans to get in contact with Suzaku and inform him that Ariel was in play. Hopefully, they could get the band back together. Smirking, he went about destroying the equipment, so that nothing incriminating could come back to him. Suzaku let out a deep breath as he walked out of the courtroom of his trial. After being cleared of all charges, he handed in his resignation from the Brittanian Army, stating 'irreconcilable differences'. He met Cecilé as he was leaving, who offered him a job as the Lancelot's test pilot. He didn't even think twice before accepting it. He had all kinds of ideas to make it a literal nightmare on the battlefield. "Look out!" shouted a familiar voice. A voice that haunted his dreams and every waking moment. He didn't even think. Before he registered it, he was moving, reaching out and catching her in his arms. As familiar violet eyes, framed by pink hair looked at him from the face of the one person he failed above all else, his heart, frozen over for more than a decade, decided to do something unfamiliar. It began to beat.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Suzaku let out a deep breath as he walked out of the courtroom of his trial. After being cleared of all charges, he handed in his resignation from the Brittanian Army, stating 'irreconcilable differences'. He met Cecilé as he was leaving, who offered him a job as the Lancelot's test pilot. He didn't even think twice before accepting it. He had all kinds of ideas to make it a literal nightmare on the battlefield."Look out!" shouted a familiar voice. A voice that haunted his dreams and every waking moment. He didn't even think. Before he registered it, he was moving, reaching out and catching her in his arms.As familiar violet eyes, framed by pink hair looked at him from the face of the one person he failed above all else, his heart, frozen over for more than a decade, decided to do something unfamiliar.It began to beat. [GRYFX_Euphemia li Brittania was called many things.Naivë. A fool. A child. She couldn't help being an empathetic person. Her kindness and gentle nature was what made others in the court think of her like that.But, she was not naivë, she knew how cruel and unforgiving the court was. Her favourite brother and little sister, still reeling from the shock of losing their mother, had been cast out and used as bargaining tools by their father. And she knew that she needed to build up a respectable power base of her own, which was why she jumped on the opportunity to take over as a Sub-Viceroy for Area Eleven. If she could successfully quell the insurgency with minimal bloodshed, she could ensure her own standing in the court. She was not a fool. She could here all the whispers and comments, could read all the backhanded compliments for what they were and would affect an innocent naivëty while responding in kind. She could see through the charmless flirting of all the single (and quite a few not-so-single) nobles for what they were. Heck, even sometimes her own half siblings would chance their luck with her. Those ones never failed to make her take a hot shower, where she scrubbed herself raw and then cuddle up to her big sister so that she could sleep peacefully. Even her father, whose morality was questionable, had been disturbed on seeing it, which was partly why he sent her to Area Eleven, both in recognition of her innate ability, and also because he had advised her to find a nice young man or woman there who wouldn't take advantage of her in any way. Which would help kill all interest in her. Especially from within their own family.A child, she may be physically. But her training and experience had removed any rose tinted glasses she may have had. That did not mean she did not desire peace. She just knew it would take awhile.But now, she was dealing with an unexpected problem when she tried to circumvent the guards, who were treating her as if she were crystal, as she had begun her self appointed mission to search for her siblings.He was tall, lanky with a swimmer's body (she read sports magazines to get her dose of male physiques, sue her) adorably mussed up brown hair and emerald green eyes. Eyes that flashed through recognition, shock, joy, fear, grief and painpainPAIN......"Are you alright?" came a pleasant baritone, the voice breaking through her musing (and how safe and warm his arms felt, she mused)."Ahh...th...thank you! I did not realise how high up I was!" Euphemia stuttered out, her body shaking off the excess adrenaline."Eh, don't mention it" he replied, the arm supporting her legs coming up to scratch the back of his head as he gave a big grin. Nice teeth she thought absently as her feet hit the ground."So..... I really hope I stopped a suicide attempt, cause seriously? What were you thinking?!" his words ended up becoming a growl, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly."Ah...well I....I'm trying to escape!" she blurted out, inwardly cursing her subpar lying skills. To be fair to her, she had just fallen two floors into his arms.Judging by the cocked eyebrow and amused glimmer in his eyes, he didn't believe it either."Escape, eh?" he asked, his voice failing to hide his laughter, filled with fond amusement. That prevented her from wiping off his smirk."Yes!" as she caught the sound of hurrying boots she grabbed his wrist and began pulling him saying "Come on, this way!"As she dragged him through the crowds, she noticed that their fingers had intertwined, which for some reason, made her heart leap for joy.Strange. [GRYFX_Currently, Suzaku was struggling to even think.The reason for his confusion was a pink haired princess, who he had loved and lost a lifetime ago. Who was dragging him through the streets of the Brittanian settlement in Area Eleven. Part of him.... part of him wanted to pull her close, breath in her citrusy perfume and never let her go.Part of him wanted to whisk her away to the nearest tropical island and have the both of them sit out the storm that was coming while they worked on their tans (And he wanted to see her in a bikini).And the rest of him? Wanted to put her on the first flight to the nearest friendly nation and hide her there, while he went and slaughtered everyone who could pose a threat to her.Starting with VV.Yandere, much? he mused, as they wove their way through traffic, window-shopping as they went. He couldn't resist chuckling when she started modelling the mannequins at some of the stores.Her affronted look was too much for him, so he gently flicked the tip of her nose. "You're adorable" he said, a smirk playing on his lips, causing her cheeks to get a faint dusting of pink, as she snorted. That caused the pink to become a deep red, her eyes widening into the size of saucers and her to cover her mouth and squeak out, "Oh my".That finally caused him to break out into laughter as he gripped the railing of the storefront. [GRYFX_Euphemia was enjoying herself and was frightfully worried. Suzaku Kururugi was a literal Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One second he would be charming, sweet and would lightly tease her, getting her to blush and protest. The next, anyone who looked at them funnily would get the Death Glare Of Doom from him. Brittanian or Eleven, everyone was on the receiving end of it. So, to prevent them from getting into trouble, Euphie suggested that they visit Shinjuku.He fixed her with an oddly penetrating look, his green eyes, flecked with amber, seeming to see more than what she was asking. "Of course Your Highness" he murmured with a short nod of his head. Which caused her to blush."How long.....?" she stuttered out, which was now becoming embarrassingly frequent. Gah, she wasn't exactly a man-eater like Guinevere but she knew how to deal with men. Though the one and only time she visited her eldest half sister......well Euphie definitely knew what she would not want to do when she got physically involved with someone.I mean really, the woman wasn't even discreet, practically blaring her vices to the world. Probably why OSI used her as a conduit for spreading misinformation and disinformation to the Chinese and Europeans, given her taste for ahem, exotic specimens."Since you fell into my life" Suzaku replied, giving her the same gentle, warm smile, causing her heart to beat hard and sending her stomach into free-fall.And she knew he would catch her before she hit the ground. [GRYFX_Lloyd Asplund, the brains behind the Lancelot and the newest iteration, the Lancelot Kage, was happy for his old-new friend and subordinate. He had quietly been trailing after the future couple as they explored the Settlement, watching over them with a benovelont eye. He had intercepted traffic that the Purebloods were going to kill Soresi.While taking care of that piece of filth wouldn't have made Lloyd even shed crocodile tears, unfortunately, Margrave Gottwald had gotten himself involved and was trying to protect Soresi.Resulting in Lloyd having to break up their date.When he met Gottwald again, he was going to throttle the man."This is Lancelot Kage. Launch" came the terse statement as the rejigged Lancelot vanished in a black and red blur. [GRYFX_Margrave Gottwald knew he was in over his head as he stood firm next to Soresi, facing off against 9 KMFs that had gone after Soresi to assassinate him. Just as they were going to lance the two of them, slash harkens knocked them out of the aggressors hands.Turning on his factsphere, Jeremiah looked up and to his left. "This is the Lancelot Kage. On behalf of Princess Euphemia li Brittania, I am ordering you to stand down" came a voice over the loudspeakers of the black Knightmare, with red highlights running along its sides, it's ruby eyes glaring at them."That wasn't a suggestion gentlemen" the pilot ordered as one of the Purist's tried to reach for a chaos mine, the Lancelot deploying it's MVS blades, glaring them into submission.As the princess came onto the line, ordering them to stand down, Jeremiah let out a sigh of relief.Everything was moving according to the plan. [GRYFX_