Chapter Summaries

Lin Cuo proposed a global tournament to boost the Great Han’s prestige and test military equipment, while the government redirected resources toward anti-BETA forces and logistics. He recruited Rakshata to lead a new mobile headquarters design and research program, and baited her with the prospect of competing against Earl Lloyd.

• Lin Cuo persuaded Jiang Lihua that a tournament could provide public relief and let nations compete without risking territory, despite the likelihood of injuries.
• The Ordnance Standards Committee approved slower, more heavily armored anti-BETA KMF designs, support variants of the Gao Hai, Kitty Vehicles, and fiber-optic drones.
• Lin Cuo presented Rakshata with plans for the Mirage Bird of Paradise and proposed making IS Core technology and its supporting systems reproducible without relying on Tabane.
• Lin Cuo offered Rakshata a large pool of technical personnel and said Earl Lloyd would bring a new Lancelot to the world tournament.
• Rakshata agreed to lead the core machine design and research, motivated in part by the chance to beat Earl Lloyd.

Leila and the judges escaped Great Han’s detention zone as Lin Cuo launched a worldwide mobile-weapons tournament to promote human unity and challenge rival powers. Just as the broadcast was ending, military sensors detected three artificially accelerated objects near Mars’s Hellas Basin.

• Leila and five other judges left the detention zone through an escape route Lin Cuo had quietly prepared, and Montfort mistakenly assumed Leila had made a personal sacrifice to secure their freedom.
• Lin Cuo announced the first Human Common Defense World Mobile Weapons Tournament, inviting nations to compete in Luoyang and challenging Britannia and the E.U. to enter their machines.
• Lin Cuo named Kallen Kouzuki and Li Xingke as Great Han representatives, while Li protested his selection and Leila’s allocation of 360 TQ-21s.
• Li Xingke’s stress-triggered trait evolution gave him the Legacy of Han Restoration, and his old injuries and chronic conditions were fully healed.
• Celestial Balance One and other international sensors detected three high-intensity thermal events near Mars’s Hellas Basin and confirmed that three objects had accelerated artificially.

Lin Cuo reviewed Li Xingke’s preparations for the coming decisive battle, including military deployments, Western Regions garrisons, and uncertain orbital targets. The three objects were expected to enter near-Earth space in about forty-two days, half the time Great Han had before the Kashgar crisis.

• Li Xingke told Lin Cuo that Takemi Tae was preparing drugs to improve neural-load tolerance and recovery, and that Lin Cuo had to attend the next human trials.
• Li Xingke sent Lin Cuo military reorganization orders placing ten Category A divisions in the Second Echelon and preparing Great Han’s main forces for a decisive battle.
• Lin Cuo approved using India’s mobilized troops to hold the front while Great Han’s main forces attacked the Landing Units’ production nodes and Brain-class units.
• Lin Cuo objected to the Western Regions garrisons’ slow mobilization, but Li Xingke and Cao Yuanming chose to preserve their troops’ readiness and defer investigations until after the war.
• Lin Cuo checked the system’s estimate that the three targets would enter near-Earth space in about forty-two days and realized the warning period was half as long as during the first Kashgar crisis.

Clovis allowed residents of Area 11 to use the name Japan and accepted that many resistance supporters had left for Goryeo. After learning Lelouch and Nunnally were alive, Jeremiah asked Clovis to release him from his military posts so he could go to them, and Clovis told him to go.

• Clovis rejected an official’s demand to ban the name Japan from schools and local newspapers in Area 11.
• Clovis explained that most people still willing to fight Britannia had left for Goryeo, and he cared more about order and taxes than what residents called their homeland.
• Clovis showed Jeremiah records confirming that Lelouch and Nunnally were alive in Goryeo.
• Jeremiah knelt before Clovis and begged to resign from his military posts so he could go to Lelouch and Nunnally.
• Clovis praised Jeremiah’s loyalty and gave him permission to go.

Lin Cuo launched nationwide broadcasting and unified wartime messaging, turning communications into a tool for mobilization as Great Han prepared for continued war. In Pendragon, Schneizel rejected a wholesale shift away from KMFs and proposed expanding KMF production while restoring conventional military industry.

• Lin Cuo adjusted Luoyang’s signal network and launched the Voice of Weiyang broadcast across Great Han, announcing free National Receivers and unified wartime communications.
• Lin Cuo’s broadcasts increased recruitment and community services, and the system completed national broadcasting and unified messaging before he started synchronized broadcasting and community mobilization together.
• Dietrich praised Lin Cuo’s propaganda skills, while C.C. observed that his methods shaped what people saw before they formed their thoughts.
• Schneizel dismissed proposals to convert KMF factories and trained pilots wholesale to conventional forces, then ordered the reactivation of six artillery and Armored Vehicle Factories alongside expanded KMF production.

Schneizel advanced Britannia’s anti-BETA weapons and satellite plans as the Empire competed with Great Han for control of orbital defenses. In Paris, Leila returned with the six judges, learned her family had ended her engagement, and was appointed interim prime minister while Smilas took command of the military.

• Schneizel presented the upgraded Anti-BETA Sutherland and argued that Britannia needed to rebuild its conventional army while keeping Knightmare Frames as its striking force.
• After Great Han and Britannia launched rival satellite networks, Schneizel backed competing orbital weapons plans so Luoyang would not set the rules for space warfare.
• Leila arrived near Paris with the six judges and became furious over tabloids’ rumors about her and Lin Cuo.
• Leila learned that her family had terminated her arranged engagement, citing the danger of remaining connected to the eastern Regent.
• Montfort told Leila that the emergency assembly had passed the National Reconstruction Act and made her E.U.’s interim prime minister.
• Smilas learned that he would become supreme military commander while Leila led the government and Montfort and the judges held emergency judicial review powers.

Jean Smilas learned that Leila Malcal had become the E.U.’s provisional prime minister and was being sent to Great Han for the Orbital Competition. As Great Han prepared to host the World Mobile Weapons Tournament, Schneizel decided the Britannian Empire would participate, with Suzaku Kururugi’s Lancelot entering as an experimental unit.

• Smilas reviewed the provisional constitution naming him Supreme Military Coordinator and Leila Malcal provisional prime minister, then heard the press had called Leila’s rescue of six judges from Great Han the “Trafalgar of the East.”
• E.U. officials assigned Leila to lead a visit to Great Han for the Orbital Competition, and she objected that she had only just returned before accepting the burden.
• Jiang Lihua returned exhausted from factory and public-site inspections, while Lin Cuo tried to soothe her after her visits had prompted longer shifts at each factory.
• Lin Cuo reviewed the risks and events planned for the World Mobile Weapons Tournament, including combat, repairs, and simulated Hive assaults.
• Schneizel decided Britannia would enter the tournament, and Suzaku Kururugi’s Lancelot was designated an experimental unit of the Area 11 Governor-General’s Office.

As the World Mobile Weapons Tournament began, Great Han and the Holy Britannia Imperium accelerated their special-machine programs to prepare for the coming BETA threat. Lin Cuo made Kallen and her Guren Shen Hu the first obstacle for challengers, while E.U. General Andrei Farnese entered the arena to expose the gap in military technology and judge whether a new era of warfare had arrived.

• The Holy Britannia Imperium advanced Vincent production and upgraded its ace machines, while Tabane fitted Kallen’s Guren Shen Hu with a two-person load-sharing interface to manage its strain.
• Lin Cuo opened the tournament by naming Kallen Kouzuki and the Guren Shen Hu as the Defender’s Platform, requiring challengers to defeat her before facing the top aces.
• Lelouch noticed Suzaku Kururugi listed as a Lancelot entrant, while Lloyd read insults about Suzaku aloud and Cecile rebuked him for treating Suzaku as a test instrument.
• Leila warned Andrei Farnese not to challenge the Defender’s Platform for personal reasons, but Andrei said the E.U. needed a public demonstration of the technological gap to force military investment.
• Andrei submitted the E.U.’s challenge and said he also wanted to confirm whether the next generation of warfare had arrived.

Lin Cuo introduced Kallen Kouzuki as the defending champion while needling her on the global broadcast, then Milly Ashford revealed Kallen’s Britannian noble background. Kallen and Lin Cuo entered their first combat test against Andrei’s heavily armed Iron Man, where their new two-person cockpit system caused as much friction as the enemy fire.

• Great Han approved the E.U.’s challenge, and Lin Cuo mocked the delegation before presenting Kallen as an inexperienced, hot-tempered champion.
• Milly Ashford read Kallen’s public file, revealing that she was registered as Kallen Stadtfeld and had Britannian noble ancestry, startling Clovis and officials in Pendragon and Area 11.
• Andrei began the match by firing the Iron Man’s paired guns and using recoil to retreat, while Kallen and Lin Cuo struggled to coordinate their two-person controls.
• Kallen deployed the Guren Shen Hu’s Radiation Barrier and directional defense to deflect Andrei’s first volley as Milly calmly described the cockpit argument on air.
• Andrei maintained his distance with successive volleys, and Kallen used missiles and limited radar to disrupt his retreat while Lin Cuo misread her movements.
• Kallen realized Lin Cuo was distracted by her posture data and threatened to turn his interference into a tournament accident.

Kallen defeated Andrei’s Iron Man in forty-seven seconds with Guren Shen Hu, demonstrating the experimental machine’s power. After the battle, Lin Cuo connected its two-person interface to his ideas about mind synchronization and began imagining a future machine that could transform through a mental link.

• Kallen used Guren Shen Hu’s flight wings and Gefjun interference units to disrupt Iron Man’s targeting, then destroyed both of its cannon arms with a focused energy attack.
• Andrei’s Iron Man lost combat capability, and he uploaded the battle data before telling Leila that a new era of warfare had arrived.
• Kallen confronted Lin Cuo about his distraction in the rear cockpit, and he explained that the two-person interface had inspired him to consider mind synchronization technology.
• Lin Cuo proposed expanding the interface, while Kallen warned him not to treat her driving posture as a private hobby.
• Lin Cuo seized on the idea of man-machine unity and began considering how mind synchronization, KMF technology, and World of C consciousness connections might be combined.

Lin Cuo ended his first copilot test with Kallen and proposed developing a more advanced consciousness-linking system, while Kallen admitted she might be willing to test two-person piloting again. After the E.U. lost every qualifying match, Leila ordered the tournament report made public and demanded military reforms.

• Lin Cuo imagined a giant shared-piloting machine, and Rakshata and Tabane discussed improving the two-pilot system as Milly urged Kallen to face her next challenger.
• Lin Cuo returned control to the IS Core, but Kallen privately said she would consider trying ordinary two-person piloting again.
• Kallen defeated the remaining E.U. challengers, and none of the E.U.'s machines qualified for the Highest-Tier Competition.
• André gave Leila the match statistics, which showed how the E.U.'s training and military systems fell short in high-mobility combat.
• Leila ordered the report published and told the Military-Industrial Commission not to delay reforms supported by combat data.

Lin Cuo arranged to keep Suzaku Kururugi in Great Han for an identity verification while considering whether Anya Alstreim carried memories of Marianne. Suzaku was intercepted by Li Xingke, and the competition’s Knights of the Round entrance was delayed as his screening went public.

• Lin Cuo told Chou Xianglin that Li Xingke would help verify Suzaku Kururugi’s identity and prevent him from leaving Great Han without provoking a fight.
• Lin Cuo asked C.C. whether Marianne’s consciousness had survived her death, and C.C. warned him that Marianne was not a harmless adviser and that Anya’s body had its own owner.
• Suzaku left the Britannian maintenance area hoping to speak with Kallen, but Great Han officers stopped him in a controlled corridor for an identity check.
• Li Xingke told Suzaku that Lin Cuo wanted to speak with him and that the security procedure barred him from entering other areas until verification was complete.
• The competition venues announced Suzaku’s special identity verification, delaying the Knights of the Round’s entrance as Cornelia, Lloyd, and Cecile noticed his restricted status.

Britannia’s delegation began evacuating as Lin Cuo used the tournament’s safety procedures to keep Suzaku under review. After Li Xingke stopped Suzaku’s escape, Lin Cuo warned that fleeing would trigger consequences for the entire delegation and put thousands of spectators at risk.

• Lloyd ordered Britannia’s delegation to evacuate with its technical documents and spare parts, leaving Suzaku behind.
• Milly discovered that she and the Ashford Family had guaranteed the tournament’s safety procedures, and Lin Cuo admitted he had used their credibility to bring Britannian officials and Lancelot to the event.
• Li Xingke refused to let Suzaku leave before his identity review was complete, and Suzaku tried to escape through the maintenance passage.
• Li Xingke fought Suzaku and took him down after Lin Cuo warned that Suzaku was nearing the imperial landing pad.
• Lin Cuo threatened to freeze Britannian assets and detain personnel if Suzaku continued fleeing, and warned that entering the spectator area could endanger hundreds of thousands of people.

Kaguya Sumeragi confronted Suzaku over his service to Britannia and persuaded him to stay and speak with her, while Great Han publicized his protection as proof of its commitment to allies. Lin Cuo then framed the incident as part of Great Han’s political credibility and announced that the competition and wage payments would continue.

• Kaguya Sumeragi entered the passage and struck Suzaku before confronting him about serving the empire that had conquered their country.
• Kaguya told Suzaku that Great Han recognized her country, unlike the empire he served, and asked him to hear her out.
• Suzaku agreed to stay if the others could leave, but insisted he had not transferred citizenship or relinquished his military post.
• A news broadcast announced that Suzaku had decided to remain and speak with his country's political representative, prompting him to protest that this was not what he meant.
• Lin Cuo presented Great Han’s protection of Suzaku as a national commitment to its allies and said the competition would proceed as usual.
• Workers in a Luoyang factory canteen focused on the announced back payment of technical-post allowances.

The Ashford and Stadtfeld families publicly disowned Milly and Kallen while secretly moving assets and influence toward Great Han, sparking rumors about their relationships with Lin Cuo. In Goryeo, Lelouch watched Nunnally’s recovery and faced Shirley’s anger, then received Lin Cuo’s latest provocative wager about his feelings.

• The Ashford Family froze Milly’s inheritance and authority while transferring technology trusts and other assets into accounts she could influence, then spread rumors about her closeness to Lin Cuo.
• Earl Stadtfeld publicly disowned Kallen while secretly routing assets through the Kouzuki Culture and Military Dependents Relief Fund, and planted a rumor that her future eldest son could inherit the Kouzuki surname.
• Lin Cuo denied making promises about Milly and Kallen as Dietrich praised the rumors’ political effect; Milly and Kallen called to challenge him, and he told Kallen that she could build a family of her own.
• In Goryeo, Lelouch watched Nunnally practice standing and reflected on his work with Great Han, while Shirley confronted him for ignoring her messages.
• Lin Cuo sent Lelouch a wager about developing complicated feelings toward a young-looking girl, leaving Lelouch to explain the message awkwardly to Nunnally and Shirley.

Lin Cuo turned the Britannian delegation’s departure into a diplomatic incident, earning damaging system traits and a nickname. When he noticed three Knights of the Round still escorting technicians, he declared the tournament ongoing and put them back on the global broadcast as continuing competitors.

• The event results showed that foreign trust and Lin Cuo’s prestige had plummeted, while the system awarded him the traits Infamous Banquet Host and Credit Arbitrageur and the nickname Let the Guests Run First.
• Lin Cuo spotted the Tristan, Mordred, and Galahad escorting Britannian technicians and learned that Gino Weinberg, Anya Alstreim, and Bismarck Waldstein piloted them.
• Lin Cuo told Dietrich to resume the global broadcast, arguing that the tournament had not ended and the three Knights of the Round remained in the competition zone.
• Lin Cuo announced that the Britannian knights were still ready to compete, while Gino and Anya privately confirmed that they had never agreed to continue the tournament.

Lin Cuo provoked the Knights of the Round into a one-against-three demonstration, and Kallen accepted the challenge to face them alone. After catching up with the escort formation, she confronted the knights over the Imperium’s conquest of Area 11 and prepared to fight.

• Lin Cuo announced a last-minute demonstration pitting Kallen against Bismarck, Gino, and Anya, while Bismarck maintained that the knights were escorting the departing transports.
• Kallen angrily challenged Lin Cuo’s arrangement but agreed to fight after he reminded her why she had joined the military; she also demanded that he publicly deny the Guren was a gift to his mistress if she won.
• Kallen launched the Guren and pursued the Knights of the Round, while Lin Cuo ordered Dietrich to film her as the sole representative.
• Bismarck ordered Kallen to stop, and Gino questioned her loyalty to Lin Cuo and suggested she had received the Guren through personal connections.
• Kallen rejected Gino’s judgment, defended her choice to fight, and declared that defeating the Imperial knights would be worth celebrating because they represented the empire that conquered Area 11.

Kallen defeated Gino, Bismarck, and Anya in the Guren Shen Hu, securing a victory for Area 11. Seventeen days later, she watched an unknown force unleash beams of light that tore through Indian armor and destroyed artillery fire.

• Kallen engaged the Knights of the Round and disabled Gino's Tristan by targeting its transformation joints and propulsion assembly.
• Kallen used missiles, Gefjun interference, and precise Radiation Fluctuation attacks to damage Bismarck's Galahad until it could no longer fight.
• Anya continued the match in the Mordred, but Kallen destroyed its Hadron Cannon generator mount, triggering an unfamiliar vision for Anya before her emergency separation.
• Kallen celebrated Area 11's victory after all three Knights of the Round were unable to continue combat.
• Seventeen days later in northeastern Persia, Kallen saw beams of light destroy Indian tanks and intercept artillery shells and rockets.

A BETA Landing Unit struck the Persia-Khorasan border with more than 4,700 confirmed Laser-Class organisms, forcing Great Han and Britannia to confront the loss of orbital surveillance and the failure of exposed forces. Li Xingke and Todo shifted the response toward retreat, evacuation, and protecting supply routes while seeking ways to disrupt the BETA’s command and energy supply.

• Kallen lowered Guren to the ground after Lin Cuo warned her, but a beam hit its shield and destroyed an Indian Gao Hai nearby.
• Wangshu’s first images revealed that the BETA Landing Units had adapted directional laser organs to destroy orbital probes and satellites, and the system revised the second wave’s arrival estimate from thirty-four days to sixteen days and twenty-two hours.
• The Persia-Khorasan Landing Unit deployed about 236,000 organisms, including more than 4,700 confirmed standard Laser-Class, and began advancing across the border between Area 18 and Great Han’s territory.
• Li Xingke ordered the Eastern Theater to halt massed high-trajectory artillery fire and pull exposed troops back toward prepared defensive positions.
• Todo organized two composite brigades southeast of Mashhad, assigned the Four Holy Swords to cover the eastern railway, and had engineers lay String Kite fiber-optic cables.
• Li Xingke and Todo agreed to prioritize transport routes and personnel evacuation, then seek nodes that could sever the Laser-Class command and energy supply.

Three BETA Landing Units were confirmed, and an interception diverted the third from India toward Madrid. As the E.U. scrambled to respond, Leila Malcal and Smilas clashed with young military-industrial representatives over authority and command, leaving the response to Madrid unsettled.

• Li Xingke warned Lin Cuo that Kallen’s Guren could not withstand more high-energy attacks, and Kallen agreed that Lin Cuo should stop interfering with her piloting.
• Chou Xianglin reported that the third Landing Unit had been knocked off course by a joint interception and was now heading for Madrid instead of Bhopal.
• Leila Malcal learned that the E.U. had little time to prepare for the Landing Unit, while Smilas lamented the burdens of his new military authority.
• Smilas questioned the young representatives on the emergency Military-Industrial Commission, but learned their companies and wartime credentials made them difficult to replace.
• Laura Bodewig challenged Smilas’s command structure and offered Ironblood and IS forces for the Madrid response, while Leila ordered unified theater command and formal deployment approval.