Power of the Kings: Round Two

Power of the Heart

"Recovery of all remaining Knightmares is now confirmed," a girl up front says.

"I see," Rakshata speaks up. "We're going to be holing up in the Mausoleum of Eighty-Eight Emperors?"

"The enemy will think twice about attacking us here," Diethard says. "The greatest emperors from Chinese history are buried here."

"And they can only approach us from straight on," C.C. adds.

"That way we can fire the bow-mounted hadron cannon," Ohgi says.

"Remember, it's a single fire blast," one of the front girls firmly says.

"I doubt that our Indian reinforcements will be coming," I groan, feeling the pain slowly ebbing away. "There might have still been room for negotiations in that case." The sun is no longer high in the sky, which means nighttime is upon us. This day has gone on a lot longer than anticipated.

"I never believed that the High Eunuchs would take that option," Minami says.

Off in the distance, the three Knightmares belong to Anya and Gino. The High Eunuchs must have called for help from the Britannia's once they realized that Xingke would only help them to a certain extent.

"We never anticipated the Knights of the Round getting into this fight," Ohgi says.

"Well, it seems that the High Eunuchs are intent on wiping Xingke along with us," C.C. says as the Chinses forces circle in on the Shen Hu on the screen.

"Diethard, get our little trick ready," Lelouch orders.

"What?" Diethard questions. "You mean here?"

"Everything is in place, and this will make a most excellent stage."

"Our reinforcements aren't coming!" Tamaki's voice explodes over the radio speakers. "What the hell!?"

"Calm down Tamaki!" Ohgi snaps. "We still have the Chinese Empress as a captive! They can't just start shooting at us!"

Another explosion rocks us, shocking us all after the statement Ohgi made.

"What is it?" Diethard asks.

"Full scale bombardment," Lelouch answers.

"But that means-" the purple haired girl turns in her seat.

"Yes, the Chinese Federation intends to obliterate the Mausoleum of Eighty-Eight Emperors and us along with it! As for the empress, they want her to die."

My eyes widen as it dawns on me what those damn eunuchs are going to do. "Those bastards! They're ready to add another corpse to this grave! The probably have another empress already lined up to take the young girl's place." I sneer, "I'm going to take them out, one by one for even thinking about harming a hair on that girl's head." Any pain that I was fighting moments ago is completely gone as now anger is flowing through my veins.

"I look forward to that," Lelouch says.

"I'll go out in the Akatsuki," C.C. says as she walks towards the elevator.

"C.C."

She surprisingly gasps, stopping in her tracks and looking back at him.

"In case we lose, have an escape route. Get Sakura out with you."

"If you come up with a smart trick, I won't need one," she teases, exiting the room.