Random Curiosity

Summary:

With the Gefjun Disturbers disabling all fifth-generation and older Nightmares, Lelouch orders the Black Knights to finish off the rest of the defenses before Schneizel’s main unit arrives. Schneizel is already directing the Britannian forces, and he wants the Lancelot to first take out the Gefjun Disturbers. The question, however, is if Suzaku will pilot it. At that moment, Lloyd and Cecile are trying to convince Nina that she can’t pilot the Lancelot, and the issue is finally settled when Suzaku appears in his flight suit and questions if Nina has the resolve to not shoot the FLEIJA. After Suzaku launches, he quickly joins the battle and tries to convince Zero to end hostilities because the Lancelot is now equipped with a heavy tactical-class warhead. Lelouch doesn’t believe him though and orders Jeremiah in the Sutherland Sieg to attack. Suzaku is surprised to see Jeremiah there, and back on the Ikaruga, Rakshata is curious as well about why both Jeremiah and Guilford are on their side. Nina urges Suzaku to fire the FLEIJA after Guilford joins the battle against him, but Suzaku is determined not to use the weapon, and he gets some relief when Gino arrives piloting the Tristan.

Meanwhile, both Rolo and Sayoko are making their way through the Tokyo Government Building, and Rolo has plans to kill Nunnally because he feels that he alone should be Lelouch’s family. Miss Romeyer is at this moment trying to convince Nunnally to leave, but she resists until she hears Schneizel ordered it. Back outside, Suzaku thinks that Lelouch started this battle because of him, but Lelouch denies it and points out how Suzaku betrayed his parents, Japan, and their friendship. Lelouch’s thoughts are interrupted when his Shinkirou suddenly gets charged by the Mordred, and he’s forced to fight Anya on his own. Unfortunately, the tide of battle is turning all around him as Schneizel’s forces succeed in taking out some of the trains carrying Gefjun Disturbers, and power to the main government building is restored. Even after Anya drops out of the battle because she experiences another reaction, Lelouch has to deal with the arrival of Luciano. To make matters worse, he gets word that the Emperor’s flagship is coming, and he doesn’t have Schneizel’s confidence the Emperor won’t come to the battlefield.

The one thing working in the Black Knights’ favor is that Sayoko has now rescued Kallen and has taken her to the newly upgraded Guren. Using the Guren’s new speed, Kallen is able to come to Lelouch’s rescue, and since she can easily handle all of the Percival’s weapons, she soon destroys Luciano. Suzaku and Gino then rejoin the fight, and Gino observes that Kallen chose her Kouzuki name over her Stadtfeld one. When Kallen wonders aloud if she should be happy or sad that they’re meeting on the battlefield, Gino suggests that she enjoy it. Meanwhile, Toudou launches an attack on Schneizel’s ship, but it gets interrupted when Asahina sends him the testimonial data from the killed-in-action Kinoshita. Asahina thinks that this proves they can’t trust Zero, and he plans to enter the government building to capture Rolo. By now, Sayoko has located Nunnally, and Rolo is in the process of securing a Knightmare to guard the escape shuttle. Lelouch subsequently orders Kallen to take out Suzaku so that they’re rid of all obstacles, and Lloyd urges Suzaku to run because the Lancelot can’t stand up to the Guren.

Suzaku stays in the battle though, and the Guren starts shredding the Lancelot piece by piece. In this situation, Nina continues to yell for Suzaku to fire the FLEIJA, but Suzaku continues to refuse. He soon realizes that he can’t win and is ready to accept his death as atonement, but Lelouch’s Geass order to live then kicks in, and Suzaku does what he needs to survive: he escapes Kallen’s attack and fires the FLEIJA. Lelouch realizes too late what Suzaku has just done, and he can only yell out Nunnally’s name as the blast envelopes the main government building, killing everyone inside. His own life is saved only after Guilford uses his Vincent to push the Shinkirou out of the blast radius, though this claims Guilford’s life in the process. In the aftermath of the blast, Lelouch radios Rolo and asks to speak with Nunnally, but Rolo tells him that she’s dead. Lelouch thinks that this is a lie, and he begs Rolo to let him speak with Nunnally for just a little while.

Preview

RIP Nunnally? Color me at least a little skeptical. The fact that Sayoko was with her makes me suspicious that they could have somehow magically survived, and even if that’s not the case, I doubt that this is the last we’ll hear from her. She’s too much of a key of a character to leave completely dead, and I think one possible scenario could be that Nunnally ends up in Marianne’s world while her death acts as a catalyst for Lelouch to go insane and start to make some really stupid moves. I’m not very optimistic about his prospects because each additional death of someone dear to him decreases the chances that he’ll get some sort of happy ending, and it doesn’t help either that he appears to be losing his grip on the Black Knights now that Asahina might have finally convinced Toudou not to trust him.

Assuming that Nunnally is indeed dead, determining who’s at fault is rather complicated. Suzaku is the one who pulled the trigger, but the Geass to live from Lelouch is what led to it. You could also argue that this would have never happened if Nina hadn’t developed the FREIJA or if the Black Knights hadn’t attacked Tokyo while Nunnally was there or if Schneizel hadn’t interfered with Suzaku and Lelouch’s reconciliation….the list could go on. But what’s likely going to happen - as the preview indicates - is that Suzaku will blame himself and Lelouch will take his anger out on others. Suzaku in particular is in an interesting bind because he can’t atone for what he’s done by letting himself die because of the Geass effect forcing him to continue to live. The only ways I can see around that are if he gets killed in a situation that he has no control over (i.e. he’s not in the Lancelot) or if the Geass effect gets removed somehow. But even if Suzaku is able to die eventually, we’re still a ways away from that since he hasn’t even gotten his final Lancelot upgrade.

And on that note, I have to marvel at how overpowered the new Guren is. It’s completely untouchable right now with its speed, and that’s approaching Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice levels of ridiculousness. The only potential rivals are probably Bismarck in the Galahad or Suzaku in the upcoming Lancelot Albion, and as long as Kallen remains loyal to Zero/Lelouch, he’ll have a lot of power at his disposal. Of course, Kallen’s loyalty is far from guaranteed, and the preview suggests that Nunnally’s death will have an impact on her. Having said all that, I’m more curious at this point though to see what the Emperor is up to since he appears to be ready to get back into the action.