16

While he still felt this was a waste of time, Suzaku turned his attention back up to the duel like everyone else. As a little time passed however, the Knight of Seven unconsciously smiled as he saw the duel continue to unfold.

"Is this the best you can do, whelp?" Hartmann taunted, his heavily accented voice sounding both patronizing and hateful at the same time, as he continued their running duel, slashing at the Mordred as it continued to speed down the streets. "I thought Britannia's schwarzer Prinz could put up a better fight!"

Instead of verbally replying, Lelouch gained some additional distance before launching both of his arm mounted slash harkens, only for the Loewe to bank and dodge each in quick succession. This unknowingly confirmed to Lelouch that, for all of its advancements, the Loewe lacked formal energy shielding – something that he may yet be able to exploit. In the meantime, the Loewe countered by firing off its blitzvulkans again, to which the prince evaded by performing a reverse leap, all the while retracting his harkens. This caused Hartmann to leap after him, so that, by the time both frames landed, they were once again in close quarters of each other, thus causing their swordfight to resume. In turn, they had ended up in a more open area of the city – what may have been a public park at one time – thereby allowing further room to maneuver as well as additional space for the other Britannian knightmares to standby and observe.

Gritting his teeth through the various slashes and parries, as well as narrowly evading a solid right hook that was meant throw him off balance, the prince had to inwardly admit that his opponent more than lived up to his fame. Though he wasn't nearly as skilled as others Lelouch had fought in the past, namely his legendary instructor, Erich Hartmann was nonetheless one of the premier knightmare aces within the European Union's muster, one whose skill was quite easily at Round level. That naturally made the challenge more appealing to Lelouch, who was never one to back down from an opponent to begin with, no matter how skilled or otherwise superior they may have been. And of course, there was always the thrill of battle himself, something he had grown accustomed to over the last five years.

And so the duel continued throughout the ruined park as both titans came at each other with blades bare and their pilots relentless. The maser vibration swords and blitzschwerts clanged against each other again and again, with each pilot acting and reacting with the best of their skills. The Loewe moved to perform an overhead chop, only for Lelouch to roll the Mordred out of the way, then launch his slash harken in an attempt to decapitate the European knightmare. Hartmann however, saw the attack coming and narrowly moved the mono-eyed head of his knightmare out of the way, then retaliating with his blitzvulkan only for the Mordred, though still kneeling, to reverse on its landspinners while retracting the harken. The European knightmare then gave chase, to which Lelouch slashed apart a nearby dead tree and, using the flat of his sword, swatted its remnants at his opponent, who swatted away in turn with his right arm.

Soon enough however, Lelouch struck first blood, having shifted his velocity from reverse to the right, from which he circled around and made a running slash at the Loewe's torso. It wasn't a deep cut, as the Loewe managed to leap away before Lelouch could deliver any critical damage, but it was still enough that a prominent scar was now displayed across the European knightmare's chest. Needless to say, Hartmann was livid. "Scheißkerl!"

The Loewe's hip mounted slash harkens shot out and smashed against the Mordred's left shoulder; while it wasn't enough to punch through the hide, it did throw the black knightmare off balance, which was all Hartmann wanted. The Loewe then shot forward and delivered a hard kick into the Britannian knightmare's chest, as well as two overhead slashes with the blitzschwerts that would have easily cut into the black armor had Lelouch not managed to regain control, dodge the first, and then deflect the second with his Blaze Luminous. From that, Lelouch countered by dropping down and making a landspinner assisted sweep kick, knocking the Loewe off its feet, but just as he was about to perform a finishing stab the European knightmare nimbly reverse flipped back up, crushing a nearby see-saw in the process, then charged forward again to interlock its blades with the Mordred's.

As both frames stared into each other's eye cameras once more, Lelouch decided to give his opponent one last chance, although he already knew the good colonel would never take it. "If you wish to surrender, Herr Oberst, now would be the time," Lelouch offered sardonically. "I promise that you will be treated as a prisoner of war as opposed to a corpse, which you will immediately become at the end of this battle."

Lelouch then took note of his surroundings, namely the various worn and decrepit buildings. "Your answer?"

The Loewe's mono-eye seemingly flashed in response, while metallic sounding laughter, the sort that conveyed both amusement and disdain, followed before the words came. "Not on your life, scum. I'd rather die knowing you will be in hell waiting for me!"

The Mordred's pigeon blood colored eyes seemed to glow a little at its opponents proclamation. "So be it," Lelouch replied.

And with that, Lelouch broke away and distanced himself a little before switching out his left MVS for his VARIS rifle. Hartmann just barely managed to catch sight of the Mordred withdrawing the peculiar weapon, before a series of scarlet tinted shots began to launch at his direction. The Loewe immediately banked to the right to evade, but Lelouch kept his aim, chasing the EU knightmare across the ground.

It was at that point during the battle that Hartmann mirrored his opponent's move and redrew his blitzgewehr, turning the duel into a running gunfight. Lelouch, fully aware of what the weapon would do to his machine, did his best to maneuver around the blue tinted ionized shots while maintaining his own fire. Unfortunately, one or two managed to hit him in non-critical areas, with additional damage being made when Hartmann suddenly putting his knightmare into full speed and ramming the Mordred in a landspinner assisted shoulder tackle. One that both knightmares slamming through the side of one of the larger nearby buildings, which was likely once a hotel of some kind.

While the tackle and the blitzgewehr spray had not caused too much damage, Lelouch saw from his displays that, amidst the structural damage, the impact had also damaged his VARIS; it was unlikely he'd be able to fire it again. The prince was far from happy about the damage his machine had taken, but he was still in this fight. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, he threw the now useless rifle at the Loewe, which simply sidestepped it, and then used the opportunity to have the Mordred charge at it for a change, redrawing his second MVS in the process. Once he was close enough and the EU knightmare had taken aim with its primary firearm, Lelouch banked to the right and chopped the rifle into two.

"An eye for an eye." Lelouch stated over the comlink, which his opponent grinned venomously at.

And from there, the two knightmares danced back and forth within what may have been a lobby at one time; a great ballet that seemed to go on for an eternity, as either pilot attacked or defended with their swords. The fierce style of the European ace was easily a match for Black Prince's mechanically timed and precise movements, and for a while it seemed that the duel would continue even after the battle had been long won. Armor gashed and broken, power units draining, and with neither fighter willing to relent, the spectators, who remained outside but were monitoring the fight with their factspheres and other sensors, began to wonder if their machines would end up collapsing on their own before any victor could emerge.

At last then it seemed the end had finally come, as Hartmann had the Loewe launch a slash harken into the ceiling to lunge over the Mordred's next slash, from which he leaped over the black knightmare and then turn around, smashing the Loewe's massive right foot into the Britannian unit's side just as it was about to turn around. Following this, the Loewe brought both of its fists down into a hammer blow, nearly crushing the less bulky knightmare's head, thereby causing it to stumble back even further, from which the mono-eyed unit tackled its opponent once more, sending it through another nearby wall and into what was likely a banquet room. The Mordred fell against its back as a result, where it fired its right arm slash harken, seemingly a desperate attack, only for the Loewe to evade that as well.

Lelouch's head rung and a brief nausea had reached into his throat, but by some miracle his machine had managed to take it, with very little damage done to the Mordred's structure. His steed was banged up to be sure, but otherwise functional. Lelouch reminded himself to send a commendation to Colonel Asplund and the rest of Camelot just as the Loewe kicked the knightmare's chest once again, seemingly to be sure that its opponent was down. It then deftly pointed one of its blitzschwerts toward its opponent's head, such that its blade tip filled Lelouch's front monitor.

"Concede defeat, 'Your Highness', and I will grant you a mercy killing," Hartmann called out over the radio once again.

Lelouch merely smiled, despite his situation. His adversary was exactly where he wanted him, and the good Colonel did not even realize it. "For a non-Britannian, you are quite the nobleman Herr Oberst. I see that your reputation is not only for your skill in combat."

The deviousness returned to Lelouch's eyes as he said. "However, I'm afraid I must decline your offer."

One could almost hear the wonder in Hartmann's voice. "And why is that, exactly?"

Before he answered, the Prince's smile swelled until it threatened to encompass his entire face. "Because I am about to win."