"These are His Majesty the Emperor's orders!"
"Annihilate the rebels! Annihilate Gilkestan!"
"Accept no surrender!"
"I repeat."
"This is an annihilation operation. Accept no surrender!"
"Deploy! All units, deploy!"
The aerial battleship fleet carried soldiers and weapons toward Gilkestan at full speed, escorted by Knightmares equipped with flotation systems.
Seventh Generation Knightmares, modeled after the Lancelot, had entered mass production in multiple batches.
Most of the commanders had switched to Seventh Generation Knightmares.
The soldiers, however, still piloted Sixth Generation Knightmares equipped with flotation systems.
Two Knights of the Round had also been deployed-
Dorothea and Anya.
Nonette, who had finished suppressing the Middle East, would rendezvous with them as well.
And Suzaku Kururugi was already there.
Four Knights of the Round and a massive army-no single power could withstand such a force alone.
Upon receiving his orders, Suzaku immediately escorted Cornelia away from the scene.
Then...
They disregarded international treaties.
Without filing any notice, let alone issuing a declaration of war, the battleships began indiscriminately bombarding Gilkestan the moment they arrived.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom-!
Inside the Imperial Palace, Schneizel had received permission to seek an audience with Ask.
Standing before the throne, he frowned and said:
"Even with legitimate grounds, recklessly launching a war without going through the Joint Conference will have considerable international repercussions. Just what are you planning?"
His tone betrayed how overwhelmed he was.
Calls from the Chinese Federation and the United States of Japan had already blown up his phone.
Although he knew Ask was not someone who acted recklessly, he was completely in the dark about the specifics. For now, he could only offer stock responses or turn off his phone and ignore the matter.
But that would not buy him much time.
In stark contrast to him, Ask chuckled.