Collapse Cover
Within the claustrophobic confines of the Gawain's cockpit, a scream laced with pure vitriol echoed against the reinforced monitors.
"Damn it... God damn it all!"
The hands gripping the control yoke were drained of color, trembling with a fury that bordered on the manic.
The panorama displayed across the peripheral screens was a living hellscape.
Tokyo was a sea of flames. Filling the gaps between the infernos were the clashing masses of the Black Knights and the Knightmare Frames of the Holy Britannian Empire.
It was a scene I recognized all too well—the climax of the Black Rebellion, exactly as it had been depicted in the original story.
It was the very stage of tragedy I had fought so desperately to avoid.
"That wretched, thrice-damned Plot-Purist...!"
If only I had more time. Just a little more time.
I could have forged a happy ending where everyone could look back and laugh.
I could have thwarted the Emperor's grand design and built a world where everyone lived in peace!
[Lelouch!]
An urgent voice crackled through the comms line.
It was Kallen, piloting the Guren MK-II.
[We have to move! Everyone is waiting for your command...!]
"I know! I know that!"
I spat the words out with jagged irritation.
From the forward seat, C.C. watched me with her usual detached serenity before speaking.
"The die is cast, Lelouch. It is far too late to stop the gears of fate now."
"I prayed it wouldn't come to this... Ugh...!"
I ground my teeth, a low groan escaping my throat.
Everything was unfolding precisely according to that bastard Plot-Purist's design.
A meticulous reconstruction of every single canonical tragedy.
[Zero! Your futile resistance ends here!]
The voice of Princess Cornelia, the Supreme Commander of the Britannian Forces, boomed across the theater-wide broadcast.
Regardless of how the curtains would fall... I had no choice but to step onto the stage.
I steeled my resolve. My trembling hands tightened their grip on the controls once more, now firm and unyielding.
I seared the image of this ruinous landscape into my mind, branding the failure into my very soul. Then, I depressed the activation switch for the final tectonic collapse system supporting the Tokyo Settlement.
BOOM!
With a deafening roar that shook the heavens, the earth beneath our feet began to surrender to gravity.
Fine. You want to play the canon, you miserable bastard? If this is the stage you so desperately craved, then let us play it to the end.
Let's see who remains standing when the final act concludes.
I opened the wide-range transmission frequency, my eyes bloodshot and ablaze with purpose.
"All forces, advance! Annihilate the Britannian oppressors!"
My obsidian-winged Knightmare, the Gawain, took flight toward the theater of despair.
It was the opening overture of a desperate vengeance—a war between one transmigrator and another.