Geass (Second Update)

"Ran back alive? Hey, newbie, you were in charge of cleaning up the battlefield, right? Did you get anything good?"

Xu Yue and Sun Lin had returned separately. That had been Sun Lin’s request.

With that aloof, keep-strangers-away expression, she seemed to want to maintain her "authority" in front of her subordinates.

Under those circumstances, Xu Yue naturally received a grilling from Wu Mo.

Wu Mo was quite surprised that Xu Yue had managed to escape. Perhaps that mech simply had not noticed him. Lucky bastard.

But any spoils of war were another matter entirely!

"Do you think it was possible to get anything under those circumstances?"

Xu Yue snapped back, as though even this nice guy had gotten a little angry.

"Hmph, who knows whether you hid something for yourself? To prove your innocence, hurry up and let me search you—"

"Shut up."

Fortunately, Sun Lin’s forceful statement at just the right moment immediately stopped the roguish Wu Mo from continuing.

Though he was clearly unhappy about it, having clawed his way up from the bottom, he understood that one could not contradict the boss.

With a somewhat ingratiating, fawning smile, he nodded and bowed to Sun Lin.

Meanwhile, Lelouch and the others, having reunited successfully, also clashed with Suzaku over ideology. In the end, Suzaku declared that he wanted to change Britannia from within.

He also made it clear that if he simply escaped, Britannia would have even more reason to oppress the Honorary Britannians and the Japanese in the ghettos.

These two best friends, whose personalities and abilities were utterly opposed, officially parted ways and set out on a long-term path of hostility…

Meanwhile, at Ashford Academy’s student council building.

As Xu Yue was conducting Nunnally’s routine physical examination, his ears twitched slightly. He then turned to look at the green-haired beauty who had pushed open the door without the slightest hint of courtesy.

C.C.

An important character throughout the entire story: the immortal Witch, one of only two people revealed in the plot to possess a Code and capable of granting others Geass abilities.

She was also the person Xu Yue most wanted to approach right now!

At last, his wait had not been in vain…

"Brother Xu, is there a guest?"

Though Nunnally could not see, she was surprisingly perceptive and immediately asked in confusion.

"Yes, a guest has arrived. She may be here to see your brother. I’ll go receive her. Be good, Nunnally."

Xu Yue smiled and patted Nunnally’s head. After she obediently nodded in agreement, he gestured for C.C. to follow him into the next room.

"You can call me C.C. I’m Lelouch’s friend."

C.C. introduced herself with blunt directness, looking as though she intended to stay and refuse to leave. Her face practically read, Hurry up and entertain me.

She was quite the familiar sort, wasn’t she?

"Mhm, I know. The former leader of the Geass Order, the immortal Witch…"

Xu Yue raised a hand to block C.C.’s long leg as it whipped toward his head in a side kick. His hair was stirred by the fierce gust from the blow, yet his bright smile remained unchanged.

You were so direct with your introduction that I could hardly avoid being direct too.

"Don’t worry, I have nothing to do with those research-crazed lunatics. I merely want a Geass ability from you. Perhaps I can fulfill your wish."

Having lived too long and witnessed too many tragedies, C.C.’s greatest wish at this point was nothing other than death.

Only when a Geass user who had formed a contract developed their Geass ability to its fullest extent could they kill a Code holder and take their Code.

C.C. herself had once been tricked by a nun who had been the previous holder of a Code, and had ended up gaining this ability.

C.C. tried to pull back her leg, but found herself utterly unable to move it. She could not help but frown. Her opponent was so strong that she seemed unable to break free.

Aside from the vast range of techniques and experience she had accumulated over the years, C.C.’s individual combat strength was only enough to dominate ordinary people. Against Xu Yue, she naturally had no ability to resist at all.

While C.C. thought and hesitated, Xu Yue used his other hand to pull out a book titled 100 Ways to Kiss with Style. His smile unchanged, he said,

"I heard contracts are made through kissing. Don’t make me try them all."

Staring somewhat blankly at the book Xu Yue had pulled out, C.C. immediately chose to compromise.

A sensation like an electric current traveled from where the two were touching, instantly rushing into Xu Yue’s mind.

The C’s World, which he had vaguely sensed the moment he entered this world, immediately expanded!

It was as though Xu Yue could touch everyone’s hearts—hazy, dreamlike, cumbersome, complex, filled with countless shadowy figures.

It was a collective of hearts, memories, and subconscious minds!

At first, it seemed that there were only Xu Yue and C.C. Then Xu Yue could sense an incomparably vast ocean of consciousness belonging to all humanity, as boundless as the sea.

It was as if there were no barriers between minds here, as if they formed a single whole.

Yet because every individual’s subjective consciousness resided within their own body, this collective had remained calm, operating on its own according to some preset program.

The power of Geass used the connections and influence of this world to project itself into an individual’s mind, invading the "personal terminal" from the "server" to enact changes!

Standing atop that ocean, the completely naked C.C. stared in shock at Xu Yue’s distinct form, seemingly greatly surprised.

This was a forbidden realm that only Code holders could truly enter. Geass users could only briefly come into contact with it at the instant they received their power, or through the entrance to a ruin.

But why could he remain here continuously?

Xu Yue offered no response to C.C.’s surprise.

Tsukuyomi itself was actually an independent mental space, but it used his own mental strength as its foundation. Compared to the vast ocean before him, C World, based upon the billions of people across the entire world, was on a completely different level.

The difference, however, was that this world was entirely lifeless, operating according to some preset program.

And the source of that program was likely the "God" who had appeared for half an episode in the story before being killed off—the control program called the Sword of Akasha.

Feeling the soul fragment sealed within the Tsukuyomi space stir restlessly, Xu Yue directly reached toward the ocean of consciousness where countless figures surged.

But the moment he extended his hand, it struck an invisible yet incomparably resilient barrier.

He could not advance even an inch!

"Looks like Geass alone really is useless. Do I first need to obtain a Code? Or must I enter the control program through the entrance to a ruin? Connect all the ruin nodes around the world, making reality and C World completely synchronized? Perfect. I need this power as well to make up for the gap in my own life force."

Xu Yue withdrew his hand and stopped trying.

He had already obtained the key. Sooner or later, this place would be his…

Afterward, the two of them withdrew from their naked mental states.

Xu Yue also sensed that he had gained a strange new ability.

It seemed he could alter and influence the will of others through C World’s faint connections.

But for the moment, he did not know exactly what aspect it affected.

Geass itself had to be used repeatedly in order to grow. Although his Geass was only temporary and he would certainly replace it with a Code in the end, its exact effect would also affect how quickly he could master it.

He still needed to find someone to study it on…

Second update. There will be one final update today.