Chapter 91 ~ Excalibur V.S Lancelot
<span style="font-weight:400">Andreas Dalton continued to fire his bazooka towards the Japan Liberation Front’s defense lines to try and break through the encirclement he and his squad had found themselves in.
<span style="font-weight:400">They needed to make their way towards the Viceroy, who had been isted and targeted by both the ck Knights and JLF, as soon as possible.
<span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately…
<span style="font-weight:400">“Dammit…! Theyunched a pincer attack before we could regroup! There’s no way I will be able to reach Her Highness now!”
<span style="font-weight:400">He ordered the knights under him to continue firing their weapons and focused their fire onto a single point of breakthrough. But suddenly, the soft, unstable ground under them copsed, engulfing their Gloucesters into the ground.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meanwhile, the line Guildford was holding to prevent Tohdoh and the Four Holy Swords from reaching his Princess, was beginning to copse as the rest of his knights were unable to deal with the Four Holy Swords while he battled Tohdoh into a stalemate.
<span style="font-weight:400">They were soon forced to group together as Tohdoh and his squad managed to pick off the lesser knights and encircle them.
<span style="font-weight:400">“No… At this rate, Princess Cornelia would be…!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Guilford, faced by a helpless situation, felt his body tremble and cold sweat dripped down his back. But not out of fear of his defeat or death.
<span style="font-weight:400">His mind was filled solely by his princess’s safety.
<span style="font-weight:400">When suddenly, the dignified, beautiful voice of Cornelia came into hismunication line.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Guilford…”
<span style="font-weight:400">His eyes widened in shock and hopefulness for a moment. His fear that his princess had been taken hostage or worse, killed, dissipated knowing that she was still in her knightmare and still had ess to theirmunication line.
<span style="font-weight:400">But, his relief didn’tst as he immediately noticed the solemn and dark tone in her voice.
<span style="font-weight:400">Show the rest of the front going. Guildford became more and more desperate, when he suddenly got a message from Cornelia.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Guilford… My knight. I want you and Darlton to assist Euphie.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Y-Your highness!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I refuse to surrender… As an imperial princess, I will fight to myst breath!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“PRINCESS CORNELIA!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Armless, headless, and weaponless, Cornelia charged towards the Guren when suddenly, the ground began to shake once more.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then all of a sudden, the rocky walls of the ravine to their right suddenly exploded with a deafening st, causing rocks, dirt, dust, and debris to fly everywhere and creating arge cloud of dust.
<span style="font-weight:400">A unique white and gold knightmare frame appeared from within the cloud of dust, his right arm holding arge blue rifle that thrummed with energy unlike other ordinary weapons.
<span style="font-weight:400">Itnded right before the armless and headless Gloucester of the princess and the voice of a young man resounded from the white knightmare.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Viceroy, are you alright?! I’vee to help!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps?! But who authorized- Watch out!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku, who heard the viceroy’s warning, was immediately alerted and saw two jet-ck sh harkens aiming towards him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Kuhh! Why is it… This heavy!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">He managed to dodge one but was forced to block and deflect against the other with his right arm. And immediately, he felt a tremendous weight that he had never felt beforeing from theunched sh harken.
<span style="font-weight:400">The Lancelot was forced back, but still managed to hold his ground as he put the Princess’s knightmare behind him and facing towards the direction where the sh harken came from.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then… From within the cloud of smoke, dust, and debris… He saw the silhouette of a knightmare.
<span style="font-weight:400">It walked out of the dust, and for the first time ever, Suzaku felt a chill go down his spine as he saw the jet-ck, crimson knightmare appeared with a familiar, crimson-red sword in each hand.
<span style="font-weight:400">His eyes widened in shock the moment he noticed the Maser Vibration Swords it had in his hands and the resemnce in appearance between the mysterious ck knightmare and his own Lancelot and. But soon, he also noticed several differences.
<span style="font-weight:400">In addition to their color, the chest of the ck knight was different. The shape of it came to a slight point, like a prism or a diamond, unlike the Lancelot’s.
<span style="font-weight:400">It also appeared to berger. But soon, he realized that the ck knight wasn’t actuallyrger. The air around it… and the atmosphere it had simply made it seem like so. And as it walked, he couldn’t help but feel the air around him weighing him down as his body stiffened at the sight of it.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What… What in the world… Is that…?”
<span style="font-weight:400">His eyes, wide, continued to stare at it. When suddenly, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice came into hisms, snapping him out of his daze.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Suzaku-kun, be careful!!! That thing is extremely dangerous!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">He recognized the voice to belong to Lloyd. But unlike his usual carefree tone, Suzaku noticed a clear fear and panic in the voice.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Focus on saving the Viceroy and avoid any confrontations with it!”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Y-Yes!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku immediately aimed the Variable Ammunition Repulsion Impact Spitfire (VARIS) rifle towards the jet-ck knightmare in burst mode and shot a light green, condensed ball of destructive beam energy.
<span style="font-weight:400">He knew that if the jet-ck knightmare had simr agility to his own Lancelot, then it would be able to dodge the bullet, even at this short distance. But that was fine.
<span style="font-weight:400">His intention was to create a distraction and bring the remaining torso of the Viceroy’s customized Gloucester with him before retreating.
<span style="font-weight:400">But to his shock, instead of dodging, the jet-ck knightmare frame swung his sword faster than his eyes could blink.
<span style="font-weight:400">And before he knew it, the spherical beam of energy was cut in half and shot past either side of the jet-ck knightmare, exploding the wall of rocks and ground behind it.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Impossible…”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku felt the cold sweat begin to drench his back as he stared at the jet-ck knightmare in shock.
<span style="font-weight:400">How…? How could a knightmare cut through a bullet of condense beam? Even with the Maser Vibration Swords, it should’ve been impossible to cut down a bullet shot from such a short distance!
<span style="font-weight:400">Cornelia, who saw this, was also stunned inside her knightmare.
<span style="font-weight:400">But before either could process what had just happened, the jet-ck knightmare frame suddenly burst into speed
<span style="font-weight:400">“Crap-!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku shot another bullet of spherical condense beam of energy towards the mysterious knightmare, but it simply dodged to the side with minimal movement without even slowing down.
<span style="font-weight:400">Both of the Lancelot’s hip-mounted sh harkens shot forward in hopes to try and slow down its charge. But the jet-ck knightmare frame simply did the same and hit both of Lancelot’s sh harkens.
<span style="font-weight:400">And before Suzaku could do anything else, it had arrived right before him. Its crimson red eyes shining brightly at him.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Dammit!”
<span style="font-weight:400">He shot another bullet, but the crimson-eyed knightmare frame simply titled his head to the side.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, it swung up with his left arm, and his sword cut through the VARIS rifle vertically, right down in the middle.
<span style="font-weight:400">The rifle was sundered, its explosion causing the Lancelot to step back from the recoiling as clouds of smoke obfuscated its vision.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Argh!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">The shock from the explosion rocked Suzaku within his cockpit, shaking his brain and causing a slight dizziness.
<span style="font-weight:400">The Lancelot immediately leaped away in retreat. But just then, he noticed the cloud of smoke in front of him slowly turning red.
<span style="font-weight:400">Shivers came down his spine as his instincts shouted at him, warning him of the danger.
<span style="font-weight:400">In a pure reaction of wariness and fear, Suzaku put both of his arms forward and deployed both of his ze Luminous Shields.
<span style="font-weight:400">And a momentter, his instincts proved to be right.
<span style="font-weight:400">A terrifying, crimson red beam of crackling energy shot through the cloud of smoke and hit his ze Luminous Shields.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Kuh!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">The crimson red beam with electricity and thunderous lightning crackling around it pushed against Lancelot’s light green shield of energy. For a moment, it seemed to be sessful in stopping it. But soon, the ze Luminous Shields began to crack
<span style="font-weight:400">And a momentter, the effulgent light green shield shattered into pieces. The crimson beam hit Lancelot''s forearm, destroying both of Lancelot’s forearm-mounted sh harkens and the device creating the energy shield.
<span style="font-weight:400">In addition to the damage to its forearm, a huge chunk of the Lancelot’s energy reserve was drained by the ze Luminous Shield when it tried to defend against the red beam from the jet-ck knightmare frame.
<span style="font-weight:400">But Suzaku didn’t regret using the shield to protect him.
<span style="font-weight:400">If he didn’t… the fate he and Lancelot would face was definitely something he’d rather not think about.
<span style="font-weight:400">On the brighter side, though his Luminous ze Shield and arm-mounted sh harkens were destroyed, his arms were still unharmed because they took the brunt of the damage.
<span style="font-weight:400">And thus, he quickly drew both of his Maser Vibration Sword and went on the defensive.
<span style="font-weight:400">Upon drawing the MVS, the previously gray de turned red as its surface vibrated with extremely high oscitions which, in turn, produced heat; both of which contributed to increasing the cutting effectiveness of the weapon.
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku waited, his eyes vigntly watching the cloud of ck smoke obscuring his sight.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, his grip on his control device tightened when a wind blew the smoke away and revealed the visage of the mysterious jet-ck knightmare frame.
<span style="font-weight:400">Time seemed to flow slowly as the two knightmare stared into each other in a tense silence.
<span style="font-weight:400">Then, without a sign or a warning, the ck knight burst into speed and arrived right in front of the white knight in a blink of an eye.
<span style="font-weight:400">Having been extremely alerted and vignt of its speed, Suzaku was able to react and raised his swords in defense, causing all four of the MVS swords to sh against each other.
<span style="font-weight:400">Sparks of light and fire flew from the intense sh. And as their swords continued to sh against each other, Lancelot slowly found itself being pushed back.
<span style="font-weight:400">Although he was able to luckily react just in time to catch the ck knight’s swords, the strength it exhibited was far beyond his expectations. He could feel it… The Lancelot, one of, if not, the first seventh generation knightmare frame was struggling and losing in terms of strength and speed against this ck knight.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I… I can’t lose here!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku maneuvered to the left and led the ck knight’s swords down to the ground, using its own weight against itself.
<span style="font-weight:400">He expected the ck knight to fall forward, or at the very least, lose its bnce for a moment when he moved away so suddenly.
<span style="font-weight:400">But to his shock, he found the same crimson sword shing towards him with immense speed, forcing him to leap back into safety.
<span style="font-weight:400">“H-How could he be that fast…?!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku simply couldn’t fathom how someone could react so quickly. And even more than that, he couldn’t understand how could a knightmare handle such an immense speed? To be able to sh horizontally towards him in an upward motion after he redirected its powerful swing down to the ground… He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much strain it would put onto a knightmare frame.
<span style="font-weight:400">Unfortunately, Suzaku didn’t have the leeway to ponder these thoughts as he was forced into another deadly dance of high speed sword fight.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Kuh! I can’t believe it… The Lancelot couldn''t keep up…?!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Although his Lancelot boasts the greatest speed and agility amongst other knightmare frames, he found himself barely able to deflect, defend, or dodge the ck knight’s storm of des.
<span style="font-weight:400">And when he tried to counter attack, every single one of his strikes would only sh through the air and dodged with the most minimal movement. It was as if it could predict where he would aim his sword.
<span style="font-weight:400">Cornelia, who was watching this fight unfold within her knightmare, sat frozen. Her eyes wide as saucers as her lips parted in shock.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">I can’t believe what I’m seeing…</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">In all the years she had spent on the battlefield, fighting against the champions and heroes of her empire’s enemy, this might be… the single greatest battle she had seen.
<span style="font-weight:400">The sheer speed and intensity of this high level battle… No matter how proud she was with her skill, even she didn’t think she’d be able to stand a chance if she were to be in their ce.
<span style="font-weight:400">Meanwhile, Karen, who was watching the fight within the Guren, had simr opinions with the Britannian princess.
<span style="font-weight:400">She watched in awe of Mordred’s skill as he and Excalibur dominated the white knight, who had always been the bane of their existence.
<span style="font-weight:400">The ck Knights hade face to face against the white knight in several battles, but every single time, they were defeated. If it wasn’t for Zero and his strategy, they might have been annihted by this white knight.
<span style="font-weight:400">But now… She’s watching it being pushed back by the Excalibur!
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Come on… You got this, Mordred!</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Her grip on the control device of her Guren strengthened. And fire began to lit up within her heart. The desire to be stronger, as strong as the ck knight before her. Strong enough to attain victory against even the strongest foe.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just then, both Karen and Cornellia snapped out of her daze when they heard a loud ng.
<span style="font-weight:400">The ck knight had parried a slightly reckless strike from the Lancelot, and deflected it. And using this chance, it cut the left hand of the white knight. Its Maser Vibration Sword sliced through the arm of the Lancelot like a hot knife through butter.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Dammit!!!”
<span style="font-weight:400">Suzaku gritted his teeth upon receiving the consequences for being slightly reckless and impatient. But, he quickly re-focused his mind on the battle and observed the ck knight in this split of a moment.
<span style="font-weight:400">Its right sword arm was still in a sword lock with his left sword arm. And his left sword arm was still raised up after cutting his right arm.
<span style="font-weight:400">It had no way of defending against an attack to its torso.
<span style="font-weight:400">And thus, Suzaku quickly tried to counter attack by shooting his hip-mounted sh harkens at the ck knight.
<span style="font-weight:400">But to his shock, both sh harkens were deflected by the sh harkens the ck knight shot.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">Impossible… How could he see iting?!</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Deflecting a sh harken with another sh harken was already difficult enough. It would require an extremely high level of uracy to be able to aim at a small object that was traveling at extremely high speeds. And it’d only be more impossible to strike it down with a sh harken.
<span style="font-weight:400">But this ck knight… he was able to deflect it urately, multiple times now, and at such a close distance.
<span style="font-weight:400">Luck wouldn’t even be able to begin exining such a phenomenon.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">This pilot… is a monster.</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Recoiling from its deflected sh harkens, the Lancelot was unable to defend against the uing flurry of des.
<span style="font-weight:400">Its remaining sword arm was easily cut once again by the ck knight. And its sh harkens, that Suzaku shot towards the rocky ravine walls in hopes of reaching the princess and escaping, was cut easily by the ck knight’s swords.
<span style="font-weight:400">After the sh harkens, his legs were next to be cut down by the ck knight. Then, his head.
<span style="font-weight:400">And finally, silence fell upon the raging battlefield as the ck knight with twin crimson swords in hand stood before the headless, armless, and legless torso of the white knight, victorious.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Are you ready to listen now, Cornelia?”