Chapter 208
He knew how difficult it was to deal with Geass users, and he had to be fully prepared to face them again.
"Don't worry. That's a girl I rescued in Europe 12 years ago, a Britannia noblewoman who defected... a descendant of von Bleisgau, a traitor to the Hohenzollern faction under your sister Vera. Considering your sister's recent actions in Europe, the contract was terminated at this time, and she may have died on the battlefield."
CC raised the corner of her eye slightly, spoke lightly, and took another step forward, passing Lelouch.
"Is that so? It seems we need to put our infiltration of European Britannia on the agenda as soon as possible."
After removing his mask and chewing two painkillers, Lelouch followed.
As they entered the elevator, CC watched Lelouch awkwardly change out of his ZERO outfit, her expression complex.
In fact, she didn't tell the whole story. The contract wasn't just terminated; it seemed that a part of it was also transferred.
"VV, did you do this?"
The palm of the Excalibur.
Current.
"Ah!"
As Vera let go, Layla screamed and collapsed into the capsule-shaped cockpit, her limbs limp and convulsing. Large beads of sweat covered her exposed skin, making it look like it was dripping wet.
"What... did you... do...?"
The burning sensation in her eyes and brain quickly subsided after a sharp pain, and there was some fear in her voice.
"It's nothing, just punishing the traitor and compensating Hohenzollern for the damage to his reputation caused by your father's betrayal."
Vera looked down at her, her left eye flashing with blue Geass light.
"Now, get a good night's sleep."
Although I really want to explore and practice on the spot, we're still on the battlefield, like meat wrapped in iron. It's not good to stand outside. Let's deal with the current battle first.
"You... I... no..."
Layla tried to force herself to stay awake, but she was too exhausted, both mentally and physically. Faced with overwhelming fatigue and drowsiness, she collapsed and passed out.
Seeing this, Vera turned to return to the control room of Excalibur, then paused, as if she had thought of something, and then turned and jumped into the cockpit where Layla was unconscious.
After some trial and error.
He took out a needleless syringe from the survival kit that was always available in the KMF mech cockpit, injected a sedative into the unconscious Layla's neck, fastened her seatbelt, and then jumped back to the control room of [Excalibur].
Well, just to be on the safe side, to prevent any mistakes.
After all, the Geass she seized was [Shared Emotion], or rather, spiritual connection, sharing, and infection. She emphasized Layla's fatigue and drowsiness, causing her to faint from exhaustion, but it was not an absolute command to rape the other's brain and soul with a single sentence.
Click.
The heavy main armor of her torso unfolded and closed tightly. Vera, operating [Excalibur], stood up, gripping 'Cockpit Lock Layla', ready to put her Geass into practice. "Hmm?"
She could feel multiple sources of emotion rapidly converging on her.
It's Manfredi.
A squadron of Gloucester captains with capes roared in, led by Manfredi's new, larger Gloucester private jet, adorned with gold and red patterns, and featuring a more ornate crown and shoulder armor.
"Your Highness!"
On the cockpit visual interface, Manfredi's half-body portrait appeared in a small window, Vera had temporarily disabled Geass, nodded.
"Order all units to feign a hasty retreat and disengage. Artillery and rocket forces, launch an artillery barrage on the area in three minutes. Latvia is your responsibility. Prepare for a defensive counterattack, Lord Manfredi."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
Only then did Vera turn her gaze to the dense forest where the fierce battle was still raging.
She composed herself, closed her eyes again, and skillfully entered the Geass connection state.
Found them: Suzaku Kururugi and Akito Hyuga.
From Vera's perspective, the Geass marks inflicted on their souls, spirits, and wills are as conspicuous as a light bulb in a dark room.
She had anticipated the latter, but the former, even after arriving in Europe, was still subjected to Geass by Lelouch.
So, "release".
Targeting the mental infection of Akito Hyuga.
In the arena, [Alexander Type-01] was badly damaged, its face shield shattered, revealing a terrifying red demon face beneath. Inside the cockpit, Akid roared with a ferocious face that was no different from that of a demon, his irises completely stained red, devoid of any rationality.
His remaining Wyvern Team teammates, whose teamwork had drastically decreased, were no longer able to offer him any assistance.
"Go to hell, go to hell—ugh!!"
Just as he was completely consumed by madness and was running towards Lancelot on all fours, a glimmer of crystalline blue appeared in Akid's eyes, instantly covering the original crimson, and his expression froze.
"Flaw!"
The longsword, gleaming with a red glow that rippled with microwaves, swept through the spray of sparks and slashed down from above with tremendous force. With a 'crack', the beast-shaped mech was split in half and rendered immobile.
Why did he make such a serious mistake?
Before Suzaku Kururugi could figure out the problem, he ordered, "All troops retreat! Quickly gather the wounded! Our artillery barrage is about to arrive!"
The order from the Knight of Michael came over the radio.
Upon hearing this, Suzaku looked at the blue-haired boy under the damaged cockpit canopy of the EU mech.
So young.
Are they child soldiers who were forcibly conscripted into the army?
Without a second thought, Suzaku made a completely instinctive decision: he manipulated the machine to break off the capsule-shaped cockpit and pick it up, then, in coordination with Heze, quickly withdrew from the area of fire coverage marked on the instrument panel.
Before long, the roar of the giant cannon tore apart the forest riddled with holes.
Vera watched all of this quietly.
An active skill, instead of a passive one that targets Geass attacks, brings an unprecedented sense of refreshment!
Before her eyes and in her ears were the heart-wrenching screams of the remaining members of the Wyvern Team and the relieved discussions of her soldiers.
The loudest and most emotionally charged among them was the man who shouted "Sachiya, Ayano!" and cursed the EU and Britannia, until he was hit by a rocket while prying open his companion's hatch and fell silent.
But, "Still alive?"
Vera looked toward the location of the Area 11 Special Task Force.
How did Akito end up on Suzaku Kururugi?
Never mind, it's not important.
This 'Hannibal's Wraith' does not possess Geass.
Instead, it was a Geass that his older brother Shin Hyuga, used to kill him when he was a child. However, because he was too young to understand the meaning of 'death,' the Geass did not activate. This "bug" became the switch that allowed his potential to be unleashed under certain conditions.
The 'Geass Outburst' state can enhance his combat power and bring salvation through death to others. At the same time, through the brain parallel BRS System equipped on [Alexander], he can influence his teammates. The side effect is that he will gradually lose himself and become uncontrollably bloodthirsty.
Through this experience, Vera roughly estimated the limits of her current abilities.
There is no limit to the number of times or people she can seize Geass.
The stage where one eye can be controlled.
Besides the degree and distance of spiritual infection, which still need to be put into practice, one-sided and multi-sided spiritual connections and sharing are beyond doubt. Moreover, when forcibly connecting with and infecting someone's mind, even if the other person has been subjected to Geass, she can forcibly cover and neutralize it, which can be regarded as another kind of Geass eliminater (for example, in the original work, Akito was subjected to Geass and it was covered by Layla's emotional connection).
"Abandon Daugavpils and retreat!"
After giving the order, Vera piloted the Oath in low-to-medium altitude cruise mode and sped off towards the northwest.
In the control cabin, once she calmed down, she naturally wanted to share this joy with the other "her"s in outer space.
Then.
"Huh? Why does your effect look so much like a monkey's?"
Vera frowned, realizing that things were not so simple.
202
Chapter 202 All in? The power of the 'Wei' among the masses.
Vera left with a heart full of knowledge and a desire to explore.
The roar of the long-range cannon, after firing a standard load of ammunition, finally subsided.
Obeying orders, Manfredi quickly cleaned up the battlefield and gathered the wounded before leading his troops away from the countryside and fleeing north.
Shortly after the Order of Saint Michael withdrew, the siege of the city of Daugavpils, about 40 miles away, also ended.
The vanguard of the EU coalition forces 'Minsk Front Army quickly arrived at the devastated jungle—or rather, the battlefield, a scene of utter ruin, filled with ash, shell craters, and burning forest vegetation, with thick black smoke billowing into the sky.
"Putain!" (French for "fuck")
The EU soldiers who arrived first got out of the vehicle, kicked Alexander's head, which was covered in hot mud and ash, and muttered, "What grudge do they hold against him that they're bombing him like this?"
Has the W-ZERO force responded?
He asked.
"Not yet."
The reconnaissance soldier, carrying a communications bag and constantly making calls, shook his head.
"Report to your superiors. Send a group to expand the reconnaissance area and open fire immediately upon detecting anything unusual. The other group will come with me to clean up the battlefield..."
Peeking out of the cockpit of the Wild Bee reconnaissance KMF mech, the lieutenant surveyed the severely damaged and ravaged landscape, gritted his teeth, and said, "Find the wounded."
Before long, with the capture of Daugavpils, more EU soldiers followed closely behind.
"The wreckage of the Knights of Order of Saint Michael's G-1 command mothership has been discovered; the entire Wyvern Team has been wiped out?!"
This was the answer the colonel received from the reconnaissance company commander.
In other words, the reason why the garrison of Daugavpils was caught off guard was because the Wyvern Team destroyed their forward command post.
This is a serious matter, so the colonel reported it to his superiors again.
"Report to General Neville."
In the morning, Neville arrived at the site of the enemy command mothership wreckage and the location of the 'Sakura Dite' bomb explosion. Looking at the large Britannia ground command flagship, which was mostly melted down, he looked serious.
Combining the shattered KMF mechs he saw along the way—the broken and damaged large new long- and short-range weapons of the KMF, those attacked by some kind of bomb, and even the ubiquitous wreckage of the Alexander Type 02 Modified and the Gloucester captain's mech...
Each one silently testifies to the intensity of the battle at that time.
"Although the Wyvern Team has achieved its initial operational objectives, the cost was the complete annihilation of the entire force, and Marukal is also missing. Continuing to advance may be a trap. What is the general's decision?"
The staff officer stepped forward and said solemnly, "If we stop the attack now, should our troops rebuild the damaged city defenses?"
"No."
Upon hearing this, Neville gave the staff officer a deep look and said, "The Paris side already knows about the victory of Daugavpils, and the good news will soon be made public. The Committee of Forty needs this victory. We cannot stand still, much less retreat."
Given the current situation, the Minsk Front Army essentially only has two paths.
The first principle is to maintain the status quo, to fight, but not to fight big or fiercely. If Daugavpils occupies the territory, so be it, but the main focus should still be on fulfilling our duties and sticking to our posts, namely: stationing troops in the Belarus theater to support and cooperate with General Pétain in the Ukrainian war zone.
Do less, make fewer mistakes; do nothing, make no mistakes.
However, they inevitably suffered from attacks from Paris and the media.
Coward, incompetent general, military criminal who squandered the hard-won opportunity of friendly forces and lingered on his own... and so on. Such labels could even lead to his dismissal.
His only choice, and the only option he could have, was the second one.
As expected by General Smilas of the Paris Allied Forces Headquarters and the Committee of Forty, they would cooperate with the W-ZERO forces in a proactive attack, just as the martyred General Foch said, to fulfill their duties and seek survival even in the face of death.
Britannia's national power is growing, but the EU, despite its strength, is unable to effectively transform it. If things don't change, it's clear to everyone that Eastern Europe and the European Union will eventually be lost, and they will be pushed to the doorstep of Central Europe.
After the major defeat in the Baltic Sea, in order to maintain the situation on the eastern front and even seize the opportunity to launch a counterattack, it was necessary to flatten the salient, cut off the retreat route of the enemy's northern forces, stabilize the Warsaw supply line, and give confidence to General Pétain, the EU's most defensive general, so that he could hold Ukraine.
Speaking of Pétain, Neville had to admit that the old general was truly capable of defending the country well.
He frequently went to the front lines to listen to the soldiers' opinions, and dared to go to the front lines to live and die with the soldiers crawling under the fire of the Britannian Army. He was prestigious and won the hearts of the army.
If it were him, he would be good at offense and not interested in trying to build rapport with ordinary soldiers. He wouldn't be able to guarantee that he could hold Ukraine against the fierce attacks of Southern Army Group under the command of Moltke, the Fifth Round Table Knight.