One night, Lelouch looks over the newly joined roster of the Black Knights. He discusses with C.C. how he gained the public's support by playing up the Black Knights as "knights of justice", making them heroes among the Japanese.
Diethard Reid, who had been demoted following the theft of one of his news vans during the Lake Kawaguchi incident, is secretly looking into joining the Black Knights. He discusses with Jeremiah and Villetta a possible lead on the identity of Zero: that he may be a student from Ashford Academy.
Elsewhere, the Black Knights receive a present from the Kyoto group: modified Glasgow Knightmare Frames, codenamed "Burai", plus a prototype Knightmare Frame of Japanese origin, the Guren Mk-II. Kallen is ecstatic about gaining Kyoto's approval, but Zero cautions her that they sent the Burais and Guren as a test. Nonetheless, he bestows the Guren to Kallen, the most capable pilot in the Black Knights. Afterwards, he is informed by Ohgi of a Britannian who is seeking acceptance into the Black Knights. Zero informs him that they would leave for the mountains of Narita during the weekend.
At Narita, Lelouch uses his Geass to compel a pair of JLF soldiers to ignore any unusual activity while he has the Black Knights make their way through the mountains. At the same time, the Britannian military, lead by Viceroy Cornelia, make their way to attack the JLF base at Narita, in order to wipe them out. C.C. meets with Lelouch at the mountains and the two discuss philosophy of their names. C.C. asks Lelouch why snow is white, and tells him it is because it forgot what color it is.
The Britannians launch their offensive, with Cornelia leading the assault, Sub-Viceroy Euphemia providing logistics from a mobile base, and a reserve unit with the Lancelot (and by extension, Suzaku) on standby. The JLF base, as well as the Black Knights, find themselves surrounded by a massive force of Knightmares. Tamaki lashes out at Zero for having seemingly lead them into an unwinnable battle, but Zero assures him, and the other Black Knights, that they would win. He says that joining with the Black Knights left them with two options: to win with Zero, or to die with Zero.
As the battle rages, Cornelia and her soldiers decimate the JLF's defenses. They find the entrance into the JLF's base, and Cornelia sends an order for the reserves to provide support to her subordinate, General Darlton. At the same time, Jeremiah's forces are ordered to cover the rear flank of Cornelia's forces. Their position places them too far away from the battle for Jeremiah to hope to redeem himself.
As Cornelia's forces make their way up a mountain and are moments from breaking the JLF's final line of defense, Lelouch completes his preparations for his own ambush. He orders Kallen to use the Guren's signature weapon, the Radiant Wave Surger, to send powerful microwaves through one of the electrodes the Black Knights planted in the mountain side, superheating the water beneath the mountain creating a landslide that wipes out a large chunk of the Britannians' Knightmares and isolating Cornelia's unit.
Upon confirmation of the Black Knights's presence, Jeremiah abandons his post and rushes to engage Zero. Jeremiah encounters Zero and attacks, but is intercepted by the Guren, which grabs Jeremiah's Knightmare and fires off its Wave Surger. Jeremiah becomes gravely injured from the microwaves before his auto-eject mechanism kicks in, and he is defeated.
With all of the tasks at hand cleared, it would seem that Lelouch's victory over Cornelia is ensured...
