Lelouch's anti-Britannia resistance was far from ideal.
Although he had taken on the persona of ZERO, successfully raising the banner of the Black Knights and fighting fierce battles against the Holy Britannian Empire throughout Area 11, things had not gone smoothly.
In the Shinjuku Incident, the Orange Incident, and the Lake Kawaguchi Incident, he openly and harshly criticized Britannia's authorities and their national policies.
Militarily, the results were mixed. While he had managed to weave alliances and break Britannia's myth of invincibility in direct combat, it came with heavy strain.
Notable victories like the Mount Narita offensive that dented Cornelia's pride, and the Chofu battle that rescued the 'miracle' Lieutenant Colonel Tohdoh, gave the Black Knights glory and replaced the Japanese Liberation Front as the standard-bearer of resistance in Area 11.
But.
What about the cost?
The Six Houses of Kyōto, who had secretly funded the Black Knights and underground resistance in Area 11, were wiped out by Cornelia in a lightning strike.
The spiritual leader of the Six Houses of Kyōto—the so-called last survivor and heir of the old Japanese Imperial family—barely escaped with his life, thanks only to the Black Knights' desperate cover and the Federation's rescue.
Britannia shifted from proxy governance through local collaborators to direct control over Area 11's resources. The remnants of old Japan, stripped of their usefulness, were purged en masse, families ruined.
The Black Knights suddenly lost more than half their financial and military backing.
On top of this came Cornelia's relentless, dogged pursuit of Area 11's insurgents.
It was said the Second Princess even ignored the rebellion in her former jurisdiction, Middle East Area 18, and after reporting to Pendragon, handed it over to Euro Britannia's Third Princess, Vela.
Against such opponents, after multiple campaigns, even though the battles were less intense than those of the Eastern European front, the Black Knights' amateur nature was fully exposed.
Scarce veteran elites continued to be lost. Reliable sources of new recruits were lacking. Mid-level officers were few. New soldiers who had joined with nothing but hot-blooded enthusiasm suffered extremely high casualties…
The Black Knights had hit a bottleneck.
Meanwhile, the Britannian military grew sharper with every engagement.
It seemed that no matter how many battles Lelouch won, in the end, he was on the path to losing everything.
How could Lelouch not feel anxious?
And with anxiety came mistakes.
And mistakes came at a cost—
"Cornelia and Vela… as I thought, they are the true enemies I must overcome… hiss…"
Excited, Lelouch's movement pulled at his wounds, forcing a muffled groan as pain surged through him.
On the sickbed, seeing her co-conspirator's clenched teeth, spasming limbs, and twitching face, C.C. sighed softly. Rising, she silently placed a few painkillers in her palm, then poured hot water from a thermos and handed it over.
"Even when I shield you from bullets, you really are a hopeless klutz."
Watching him swallow the medicine in one gulp, C.C. continued her sharp tongue: "Relying too much on that power isn't good."
"Your Geass requires direct eye contact to work. It cannot function through indirect vision. Its effective range is around 270 meters. And you can only use absolute command on the same person once. Really—when your Geass awakened, what sort of purity obsession was that?"
"Cough, cough… I'm not relying. I'm only using it—when necessary."
Lelouch's exhausted voice was weak.
He had no strength to banter with C.C. His whole body was limp and sore, especially the gunshot wound at his waist that made even the slightest movement send waves of pain through him.
"Haa… haa…"
Taking deep breaths, whether from the medicine's effect or sheer willpower, Lelouch felt slightly better. Suddenly, he recalled something.
"The Euro Britannian exchange forces—how many men do they have? And their cybernetic limb and eye technology, how widespread is it in their military?"
He asked in a solemn tone.
"Not sure. At most, no more than three thousand."
C.C. shrugged.
"They are directly under your Third Princess sister. In Area 11, only Cornelia can deploy them. Even Vice-Governor Euphemia cannot. That's why they've always been stationed in the Tokyo Settlement. If you hadn't recklessly launched a strike at Cornelia's main force last time, you probably wouldn't have run into them. Hoh hoh, feeling crushed?"
"If conditions were equal! I wouldn't lose—hiss, hiss… cough, cough."
Clenching his fists, Lelouch pulled at his wound again, coughing raggedly.
"Still unwilling to admit defeat, Lelouch."
C.C. dropped onto the sofa, crossing her legs on the coffee table. Picking up the broken, bloodstained ZERO mask at her side, she tossed it in her hand and said: "This is war, not chess."
"Being able to gather those conditions is a form of ability too. And didn't you give it up yourself at age nine? What now, regretting it?"
"..."
Lelouch fell silent.
His fists clenched tighter.
Those amethyst-like eyes locked on the broken ZERO mask in C.C.'s hand, and in their depths a murky shadow flickered.
In the last battle, he had caught a flaw in Cornelia's lines.
Without hesitation, he had led the Black Knights' main force, including his personal guard's ace, Kallen Kozuki, in a sudden strike against Cornelia, who habitually fought at the front. He employed terrain-destroying floor-upheaval tactics, and used Geass to set up insider pawns in advance. He had nearly maximized his advantages, and indeed, he reached Cornelia's position.
Then—the unexpected happened.
What he had feared, the white seventh-generation prototype Lancelot from the Shinjuku Incident, did not appear. But in its place, he faced Cornelia's Royal Guard equipped with the new seventh-generation [Vincent Early Mass Production Prototype].
His trump card—
Kallen's [Guren Mk-II], a seventh-generation Knightmare funded by the Six Houses of Kyōto and developed by foreign engineers, handed to the Black Knights before their annihilation—was worthy of its title. In battles like Mount Narita, it had decided the outcome.
Against Britannia's fifth-generation [Sutherland], and even against Cornelia's 5.5-generation [Gloucester] (pseudo-sixth-generation, not the newly upgraded Euro Britannia sixth-gen), it held overwhelming advantage. In combat, it had cut through foes like paper.
But this time, the [Guren Mk-II] was stopped.
These Euro Britannian-made Knightmares, whatever else could be said, were undeniably superior in build, electronic muscle torque output, energy capacity, operating systems, communications, and security protocols compared to models from elsewhere.
Surrounded, Kallen was forced onto the defensive, unable to support other fronts.
And under Britannia's superior multi-arms coordination and better-trained soldiers—
Even Japan's last "miracle commander," Kyoshiro Tohdoh, together with the Four Holy Swords piloting the Six Houses of Kyōto's final legacy—the [Gekka], comparable to seventh-gen units—could not break through.
Especially once large numbers of new Euro-produced sixth-gen [Gloucester]s entered the field, the battle slid into stalemate.
And stalemate for the Black Knights meant disadvantage.
Their "top horses" were pinned down, their "middle horses" too few, their "low horses" untrained and uneven in quality.
By chance, Britannia's vast corps of "middle horses" and stronger "low horses" were able to fully exert their advantages.
Especially with fearless "first-to-climb warriors" to stabilize morale and lead the charge.
The Euro Britannian exchange forces had given Lelouch and the Black Knights a vivid, merciless lesson in war.
Not just the new Knightmare instructors from afar, but also the veteran soldiers rotated back from the Eastern Front meat grinder—using skilled anti-armor maneuvers to destroy countless Black Knight vehicles, including Knightmares.
Infantry against cavalry.
Grenadiers crushing armored riders.
One side had fought countless battles, rich in combined-arms combat experience. A single gesture from a superior officer, a glance from a comrade—and they instantly knew how to cooperate.
The other side, while boasting a capable commander and some strong mid-to-high-level fighters, utterly lacked qualified officers to coordinate the whole army. The soldiers' tactical proficiency was low. Even many Knightmare pilots moved stiffly, awkwardly, as if trained for only a few months.
War was never won by the commander's lips alone. Even the best strategy required people to execute it. That demanded a strong, cohesive team. The Black Knights clearly did not have one.
When the battle ended—
The Black Knights suffered their most devastating defeat since their founding.
Their founder and leader, ZERO, was wounded.
Deputy Commander Ohgi Kaname was shot and left unconscious.
Military chief Kyoshiro Tohdoh was gravely injured and rushed into the ICU.
Among the Four Holy Swords, Chousa Ubume fell while covering the retreat, and Asahina Kouzaburou succumbed to his wounds after withdrawing.
Senior members Toru Yoshida and Naomi Inoue were killed.
Countless others were injured.
...
Even now, Lelouch could not forget that life-and-death moment.
During the retreat, right before his eyes—
A Black Knight piloting a Knightmare to protect him had its legs blown off by Euro Britannian grenadiers who had maneuvered ahead. The machine toppled, and those merciless killing machines shredded its cockpit with anti-armor grenades. They dragged the pilot out and executed him on the spot.
Lelouch's own [Burai] had, at some point, been tagged with a magnetic charge. Its drive wheel was blasted off. Crippled, unable to flee at high speed, he was forced to abandon it and escape on foot.
While retreating, he called for Kallen—but instead ran into Britannian soldiers.
As usual, he tried to use his Geass to order his way out. But the absolute command failed to trigger. The soldier simply pulled the trigger, and only at the last instant did C.C. throw herself in front of him, taking multiple fatal shots meant for him.
His ZERO mask was struck by a bullet—only grazing his forehead. But the rounds that pierced through C.C.'s body also tore through his waist and abdomen.
He had nearly died…
At the last moment, Kallen arrived in the battered [Guren Mk-II] and rescued both him and C.C.
Lelouch was thus forced to reveal his identity to her, forming a secret alliance.
That battle—shaped by Euro Britannia's involvement—was a brutal awakening for him.