"Princess!" Cornelia's knights rushed over to assist the reckless Princess who tried to stab the alien machine with her lance.
But before they can do anything, the machine pushed the lance forward and then yanked it back, causing the Princess' Gloucester to fly back.
She recovered quickly before pulling out a rifle and opening fire at the flying machine.
Her knights followed her and did the same. Six Knightmares began to rain bullets on the floating machine. Not that the opponent reacted to the incoming projectiles.
"Nothing… not even after using the whole magazine!" Cornelia's eyes trembled, and a small amount of fear manifested in her gut!
This thing… was it indestructible?!
"Guilford! Dolton! Spread out! Look for weak spots!" Cornelia's voice had a hint of fear as she ordered her soldiers.
"Understood!"
The squad of Gloucesters spread into smaller ones as they tried to circle the flying mech.
But the Princess was a bit naive to expect it to do something, as the moment they tried this, the dark purple machine rushed towards her followers.
The towering machine appeared in front of Dolton and his two followers. The mech grabbed Gloucester's head and squeezed it.
It turned into scrap metal before a kick into the chest caused the ejection system to prematurely kick in and send the commander flying out.
"Dolton!" Cornelia nervously exclaimed as she realised that this was suicidal! Their machines can't do a thing! She hoped that she could damage it somehow, as in the videos, none of the Sutherlands tried anything!
The machine was high in the air, and it was sniping them, but now she saw it firsthand that nothing worked.
She needs stronger weapons!
But all that can wait, because the alien machine dealt with her subordinates!
"Princess! Retreat! I will cover you!" Her Knight covered for her, but that moment, the blue beam erased her knight's Gloucester lower half, and the ejection system sent him flying away from the battlefield.
It only left her and the alien machine.
Her brain forgot the fear, and for a moment, as she processed the battlefield's situation.
This machine didn't kill any of her men, even most of St Michael's men should be fine. The only thing that is wrecked is the Knightmares themselves.
"...What are you?" Her battle instincts are telling her that nothing here makes sense!
She doesn't sense any hostility from this mech.
Then…her Knightmare's systems went haywire as notification windows began to pop up all over the screens before her mech turned off…
'W-What!?'
They tried to move the control sticks and the power button… nothing!
Her eyes darted around as she was about to use the emergency exit button.
But then she felt that someone had picked her whole Gloucester.
'That machine has enough thrust to lift my whole unit?'
Her eyes trembled at the idea of the sheer power of this thing!
Before long, she felt that the movement stopped…
There was silence; the only thing she could hear was her breathing and heartbeat.
Then… her machine's audio system was back on!
"Why don't you come out so that we have a heart-to-heart? Sister."
'Sister?' Her eyes widen. It was a male voice, an unfamiliar male voice. Was he one of her siblings?!
Sure enough, her cockpit functions were back online, and she could leave her Gloucester.
Once out, she realised that they were somewhere a considerable distance away. She can't see any city, and it was snowing…
Her eyes eventually ended up in front of her Knightmare.
What she saw was a guy sitting on his machine's hand and looking at her.
Cornelia looked back at him. The pair stared a bit at each other for a bit. Black hair, purple eyes, she looked longer and longer until she was able to put a name to a face.
"...You are… Lelouch…" She realised that after a bit of pondering.
What she recalled was a lanky boy with a proud face. This was a bit different. His gaze was a bit different; it's not pride… more like confidence? Or even arrogance.
That short hair and a more robust frame caused her not to recognise her sibling!
"You have grown, Lelouch." She slightly relaxed, but was still on edge.
"Hn. Well, in this situation, I would say that you, my dearest sister, became more heroic." He countered her flattery with his own.
"Flattery from my little brother. Well, well, you have grown, Lelouch." For a second, she sounded amused, but then she pulled out a musket and pointed at him. It was classic Cornelia.
"Tell me! Why did you kill Clovis? He was my brother just as much as yours!" She demanded to know.
"I did not do such a thing." Instead of being angry, he was ready; he pulled out a memory stick.
"In here, you will find what our brother Clovis was up to. In fact, he did something behind our esteemed father's back.
Not that he could hide anything from him." Lelouch sounded amused as he threw the memory stick at her. The Princess caught it with her free hand. Midway, she lowered her gun.
"Then what did you do? You are the pilot of this machine, are you not?" She can't call it Knighmare as there is nothing Knightmareish about it… Now that she saw it up close.
"A short version of the story will do in this situation. In the future, we can discuss this over a dining table." He shook his head, making her frown. It sounds like it's some sort of story for him!
"Simply put, our father got into something fascinating, think of it as a legacy of ancient civilisation that was around the whole world many, many years ago.
These temples are all over the world; one of them is built right beneath Pendragon."
Her eyes looked confused for a second.
"Never wondered why our capital is built in a desert instead of next to a coast or a river delta like most empires with a common sense do?"
For a second, his words got to her; why indeed was their capital in a desert?
"Because of an ancient temple underneath the palace. But that's not the point. The point is the true legacy of this civilisation.
Two people in our world have it. This legacy comes in the form of a red tattoo of a bird. When one has this special tattoo, they become eternally young and immortal.
Our dear brother stumbled upon this girl and began to run tests on her. He did that since he became Viceroy of Area 11."
What he was explaining to her sounds… bullshit… but for some reason she believes it…
The only reason she doesn't brush it aside is the machine, because it was alien, like the story she was hearing…
"I know you won't believe it just because I am telling you."
Lelouch sighed.
"That is why." He motioned at the memory stick. " I gave you that. When you check it, have something to drink because you will see some serious torture and abuse.
Clovis got drunk on this power. Hoping that he can crack the secrets of this supernatural power.
Sadly, terrorists got wind of it and raided the secret facility. I eventually got wind of it and interfered, took the girl under my protection.
To get her trust, I allowed her to do whatever she wanted to do with the person who captured her." He explained to her.
"...So you allowed him to die!" Cornelia realised what this meant!
"He had to answer for inhumane research. As a scientist and engineer myself, he crossed the line. I rarely get annoyed, but this is something I won't allow to happen in my area." Marcus looked angry
"..."
"...Tell me why you never resurfaced. I looked for you, Clovis did as well…
I spent years trying to figure out what happened." Cornelia, all of a sudden, dropped her cold face. She did understand him.
She doesn't accept mindless torture either; she has standards. If Clovis did all that he said, then she would accept Lelouch's explanation… not that he directly ended Clovis' life in the first place.
Now that this was out of the way. She asked the next important question: where Lelouch had been the whole time.
"...Because I could not."
"...Why?"
"Because special forces wanted my sister and me dead. Someone…very high up, someone who has the Emperor's trust, tried to kill us."
Cornelia's eyes bulged out; it was like Enlightenment! It made sense! She tried to figure out what happened to Marianne all this time!
But it was the special forces!
"So you figured it out." He smiled at her.
The 2nd Princess stiffly nodded. All of a sudden, she felt like watching over her shoulder.
"...and this ridiculous machine?" She asked after a couple of moments of processing information.
Lelouch smiled at her as he stood up.
"Something I designed and made myself, if you are to join me, and my cause to make humanity interstellar, then I will handcraft one for you."
She looked surprised and then even shocked.
'Even more ambitious than father…'
"I will see you soon, Cornelia. I haven't seen my precious little sister Euphie. I heard that she should be arriving in Tokyo in a few hours." He got into the cockpit of the mech. The mech's purple eyes glowed as it began to float.
"We shall meet in Tokyo, until then I apologise for one of my girls' behaviour, she lost friends and family to Britannians, so her anger is justifiable."
With that said, the mech flew away, and Cornelia's machine powered up on its own!
"...Lelouch…what is going on!?"
She was more confused than ever before!!!
~~~~~~A Few Minutes Later~~~~~~
As Britannians were thinking how to survive against this killer machine with clawed hands… all of a sudden, it stopped. Then turned around and flew away at absurd speeds…
"What is going on?"
"No idea…"
The two remaining Sutherlands communicated with each other. They were the two remaining pilots from the entire group that were supposed to reinforce St Michael's Order.
The order itself only had a few machines left… how are they supposed to continue the war now?
Then, all of a sudden, the Princess returned. She commanded her knights and soldiers to return to the planes and continue their trip to Area 11.
The Princess didn't say anything, simply told to move out, not that anyone can demand anything of her.
~~~
Cornelia took a sip of whiskey as before her on the Computer screen were videos, pictures, files… documents about something called Project R.
She saw a bunch of notes that said 'For Emperor's Eyes Only'.
'This is what you are working on? Immortality? Eternal Youth? But, Pendragon is not a new city… it has been there close to 300 years.'
The Princess' brain began to wander and question everything about her homeland.
Is this some sort of old project that Emperors have been working on for multiple generations?
"Princess… apart from your Gloucester, we have two functioning machines… the rest we had to leave behind for Euro Britannia." Guilford gave a quick rundown of their situation.
Cornelia lost close to 40% of her entire army that she was taking with her to Area 11, which only had meagre forces after those machines appeared.
"...I see…"
"..."
"..."
For a while, there was silence.
"...Guilford… I meet the pilot of that winged machine."
Her knight's eyes trembled when she heard that.
"To my complete surprise… it was my long lost brother."
His mouth opened wide! That's… wild!
"It's not all… he is the maker of it, and he told me a secret so large…that I am questioning the purpose of all of this." The Princess explained in a resigned voice.
"...This…is…" He had no idea what to say…
"I know… before this, I was fighting for Britannia. Now I learned that Britannia killed an Empress Consort and tried to kill my siblings."
Her Knight's trembled; what he just heard was wild! He quickly put dots in his head. Cornelia was talking about Empress Marianne and her children!
Then the one who is piloting that winged machine is Lelouch Vi Britannia! The Eleventh Prince!
'What is going on? There is some sort of civil war going on?!'