~~~~~~Meanwhile, in Beijing~~~~~~
"Shanghai, Hong Kong, rest of the sea access has been secured. We have approximately conquered most of China's core provinces." Guilford showed the map. Anahiem has seized most of the cities that they care about.
The much smaller ones that still resist were relegated to smaller forces to finish the job.
"We still need to consider Indochina's peninsula. That place was oddly quiet." Xingke commented as he looked at the map. That place has some of the insurrections, but there is nothing else going on.
"Schneizel said something about this place at one time. He didn't say much. But he did mention something about Cambodia." Cornelia commented with crossed arms while looking at the map.
"...You mean to say that he had a direct influence in one of the Federation's provinces?" The Chinese warrior spoke with a bit of disbelief. However, it lasted for a second as he realised how corrupt the nation was.
"Indeed. Money is something he is good at using." The Princess smiled a bit while saying that.
"...Damn him." Xingke complained for a second before pushing it aside." We should take proper control of these lands before thinking of India." Xingke frowned while saying that.
"...That is my intention." Cornelia nodded as she looked at her force's numbers. Several new battalions are reporting to her. These were the old Chinese forces that went through retraining to pilot Anaheim machines; the same happened with the regular troops.
Her soldier numbers nearly doubled in size, and it's not even half of what she is expecting.
She is a bit surprised by how many people want to serve in the military.
"We have more than enough Setantas to do a simple invasion from all sides."
"Assuming that India won't do a thing."
"They won't, they are focusing on digging in. They revealed that they had proper Knightmares midway." Cornelia showed pictures of humanoid Knightmares reminiscent of Britannian.
"...Those… they had these and didn't say a thing!?" Xingke exclaimed in surprise.
"Surprising what happens when you allow self-governance." The Princess smiled a bit.
"...Damn them. We spend a fortune supporting them."
"No doubt that wealth was used to finance these Glasgow knockouts." She said with a frown as she looked at where their Indonesian forces were stationed.
"We have fully taken over the islands. Australia is keeping their independence. We can ignore them for now.
I will keep those forces there to maintain their positions."
The Princess then extended the view to reveal the planetary perspective. There were forces gathering in space as well.
The first-ever space fleet. These are Setantas and Scathachs that were gathering for Constantinople's descent.
"...These…we have more in space?"
"This is my little brother's toys that he is keeping stashed away from me," Cornelia commented while looking at the growing number of spaceships and mobile suits.
"...He is planning orbital descent with these?" Xingke asked as he could see shipyards and other manufacturing plants in orbit. Not to mention the bulk of the heavy factory is millions of miles away on the other side of the sun. Those were moving with Earth's movement to maintain the distance, forming a perfect defensive line.
"Yes. But not now. He is doing some research at the South Pole."
~~~~~~Meanwhile, South Pole~~~~~~
The ice has been removed to a considerable extent as Marcus, dressed in thick clothes, was accompanied by his ladies as they were exploring the frozen city.
"It does look like a primitive city." Kallen touched the stone blocks that were used to build the city walls.
"Look closer. Look how these blocks are put together. They were perfectly aligned to fit just right. It will take us ages to do this if not for the Artificial Intelligence." Leila brushed her hand on the wall while inspecting how these randomly looking stones fit just in the right place.
"...Yes… I guess you mean they had something like stone computers or…Geass?" The crimson-haired pilot commented. Not sure how it could happen.
"...Stone Computers? What is that?" Leila replied, confused. Her confusion embarrassed Kallen.
"I-I don't know! Okay? Just saying!"
"It could be unique tools, it doesn't need to be computers." Jeanne joined as she was looking around the ice world she was in. Seeing mountains of ice around them, and then a city… it is not a combination she expected to see.
"It is most likely unique tools. They should have a specific method to do this, and I have an idea what it could be."
"You do?" Kallen looked surprised.
"It is a hunch. We shall see." He smiled, not that she could see from the face mask he was wearing in this place.
"...Heh, your Geass, I am right?" The girl immediately realised how he figured it out.
"No. Not yet. I haven't looked at this with my eyes. Considering that I am wearing thick goggles at the moment. They interfere with my vision." He explained before walking into the frozen city.
One of the first things that got their attention was the massive arches. These arches remind him of gates, not something that is used to celebrate… like the one in Paris, built to honour those who died in the Revolution and Napoleonic wars.
But this one is much slimmer, like the one he remembers in America, not in Britannia but in his previous life's America… that Gateway Arch in St.Luis…
It could be an aesthetic choice to have these. But… one should be enough. Why are there several of these…
"...These Arches look incredible… but I think it's a bit too many." Leila said with a small frown. She felt that this was a bit odd.
"...I am thinking the same thing. The city walls are tall and all that, but what are these arches?" Kallen joined as well. None of them could understand the reason for these.
They are perfectly shaped and one would need tall and powerful cranes to lift slabs of stone that high…
The group continued to walk, and they noticed that regular houses were not that tall; they were a single floor, made from stone as well. But nothing like those tall walls or the arches. Or the large pyramids in the city centre.
Marcus wanted to find out the differences, so he sent out soldiers to melt the ice around these regular-looking houses.
In the meantime, they went to the pyramids where the ice was properly excavated.
As they got closer, they noticed more of those carvings. The steps on the pyramids had carvings that looked like ornaments.
"...The shows groups of people gather in specific places. The leader is holding something." C.C. looked at them closely as he placed her hand.
At that moment, her code on her forehead began to glow.
A barrage of images began to assault her mind.
She saw warm weather, with people dressed in expensive white robes, singing, and the leader of the group using some kind of instrument. They were using…music…no sounds, these sound waves would break the rocks into perfectly shaped blocks, and then they would be carried away and placed into a specifically prepared location.
This was done effortlessly by these people.
"...Ugh…" The girl stumbled for a second, but Marcus caught her.
"...Are you okay?" He asked, a bit concerned, as she just stumbled like that randomly.
"...I-I saw…things." The girl said in a slightly confused voice as she tried to process what she saw.
"...Visions?" The Inventor asked with a curious tone.
"...guys… those carvings glowed when she touched them!" Kallen mentioned the small detail.
"...All of them?" He asked her as he didn't notice that.
"No…only a section." The red-haired pilot shook her head.
"...I see…"
"The visions… they showed me the civilisation, and how they used…instruments? Music to move these boulders and cut them to such perfection." C.C. explained she never considered that music could achieve something like that!
"...Not music, vibrations. That is why some of the buildings use different stones." Marcus explained with a knowing tone.
"And they used geometrical forms, right?" He added that with a knowing tone.
The girls looked at him.
"You know about this? Your eyes?" Kallen asked, now she is certain he used his eyes!
"No. I've been using geometrical shapes for a while, and the vibrations… You do realise that we are soon to harness gravity?" He reminded them.
"...Oh…"
"Gravity is a wave at its very core. Very close to something like vibration." He clarified before looking at C.C.,
"What do you think? Are you ready to try one more time?" The Exiled Prince asked the witch as he looked at other engravings.
"...Leave it to me." She nodded before walking to different-looking carvings.
When she touched them, her code glowed, and once again, he saw something. This time it was a different thing.
"...I see…"
The witch saw sunshine, then rain, leaves turn orange and then wither away, then snow… followed by buds on branches of trees come to live again…
"...I see… seasons?"
Then the next image went to extreme as the image zoomed out to the planet from space perspective… the world rotated and faced the centre of the galaxy… it showed how the world was spinning through space, gazing at different constellations…
"... the space? The Earth is spinning through space. Different constellations… I don't understand…"
Then there was another shift; this time, it was back to Earth. She saw volcanoes, ice ages, and finally, a huge burning rock slamming into the world…
*Sharp Inhale*
The witch snapped as she looked at Marcus…
"The last…vision was catalysms…" The girl's voice sounded a bit worried and concerned.
"...This is a civilisation cycle." The Prince pondered as he slowly removed his goggles, revealing his eyes, which transformed into Geass as he looked at the pyramids.
He began to dig into the past, looking at it with his eyes.
He saw how it was built, how Code Bearers engraved the carvings…
But then his eyes widened as he realised the true purpose of these three pyramids and why they were built in the South Pole of all places!
'The sunshine! For months, this place has been getting sunshine! These things are generators!'
He then snapped his gaze into the arches, and what he saw caused his eyes to burn from information overload.
"...Shit…Shit…it hurts…damn…it."
The three girls scrambled to get to him, looking at him with concern.
"...What did you see?" Leila asked with concern. She looked worried and very spooked. She covered his face as this place was freezing cold, close to -30 degrees Celsius.
"...T-This is no… city… this is a station." He took a breather as he closed his eyes before opening them; they were bloodshot. In mere seconds, he had a 30-hour programming session.
The Prince put on his goggles as he looked at the three confused girls.
"...Station…to where?" Leila was confused, but then she looked at the arches… her confusion slowly morphed into disbelief.
"...What are you talking about? Station to where? There are no roads or highways…" Kallen commented with a confused look.
"...The arches…they are the gateway…" Leila looked around. She was awed and a bit terrified at what this could mean.
"...You mean to tell me these people were running away from an apocalypse?" C.C. asked as she realised that after seeing those images.
"This is no primitive society. They created a calendar meant for civilisation resets and even devised a method to cross realities and built power plants the size of cities. With nothing but rocks and vibrations." Marcus commented as he looked a bit embarrassed to call himself special when these guys made stuff like that with sticks and stones.
"...These arches are gateways!?" Kallen snapped and looked at the massive stone structures.
"Yes… Every 11 to 12 thousand years, there is a reset of some sort. It's specific, it can be an asteroid, a supervolcano or even a potent ice age.
This always happens… You can check the ice samples. The Britannian scientists did in Greenland. There is a cycle to this."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Wait! So the world is ending!?" Kallen exclaimed, her voice was full of horror.
Her reaction caused Marcus to chuckle, as it seemed Kallen finally processed what they were talking about.