Before the throne of the world's greatest military superpower, a single young boy stood. To the onlookers of the imperial court (most of them at least), his presence there stood for impudence and childishness. To him, however, it was simply a boy seeking justice from his father... and a citizen, no, a prince, seeking justice from his Emperor. "Why didn't you keep Mother out of harms' way? You're the Emperor, the most powerful man in this nation, no, the world! You should've protected her and now you don't even visit Nunnally!"

But his quest had availed him little, no more than a bored dismissal. "I've not use for such a weakling."

"Weakling!?" cried the indignant 11th Prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia. He was outraged that this man, this Charles Zi Britannia, who held a full third of the world in his hands, had not an iota of compassion for a young girl whose sight and legs had been stolen from her with her mother, who even now lay comatose in a hospital bed. Not even if that girl was his own daughter, the 87th in line for the throne, Nunally vi Britannia.

"Such a helpless creature, who can call her anything but?" replied Emperor Charles, looking for all the world like he was having an extremely boring conversation with himself. His eyes had a glazed over look, as if nobody in this room could be considered worth the effort of focusing them. "That is the truth in this world of royals."

To the young prince, Lelouch vi Britannia, this was the last straw. His mother killed, his sister crippled, and his father cared not a bit? To hell with royalty if that's the case! To him, his normally keen mind held in a haze of fury, the next course of action was obvious: throw it all away. But before he could do it, before he could throw down the gauntlet of history and become the mad boy who challenged the king of kings in his own throne room, renouncing all his blood offered him... something happened.

A green light circle appeared on the raised platform of the throne. Even those with a passing knowledge of science fiction and fantasy at best could not call it anything but a "portal." Particularly since its appearance caused Charles Zi Britannia, throne and all, to tumble down through it, out of sight, along with the highest knight in the land, Bismark Waldstein, who had been silently standing next to the throne.

This strange miracle happened in an instance, with the portal vanishing as fast as it came, leaving the throne room frozen in time, utterly silent.

And then pandemonium broke loose.

---

Index:
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5