With the ordinary Knightmare's losing to Lelouch's sigint advantage, now is the time for Lancelot to enter the fray.
And it's a monster. Suzaku has a massive hardware advantage. Worse, he thinks that if he defeats the terrorists and stops the fighting, he can rescue Lelouch.
In the second largest piece of tonal whiplash ever, we jump to school where the student council president is chewing out Lelouch for his absence yesterday.
And look who's come back to school! It's Kallen Stadtfeld, daughter of a wealthy family.
Lelouch arranges a meeting with the terrorists. (He wears a mask.) He wants them to switch from terrorism to actual war.
To prove himself, he arranges a demonstration of his ability to make the impossible possible: he breaks Suzaku out and throws doubt on the accusations.
Suzaku has been set free for lack of evidence. He falls in with a girl known as Euphy. After showing her around town, he meets up with Lloyd and regains the Lancelot to break up a battle.
Euphy is really Princess Euphemia. She wants to end the fighting, but how?
Suzaku transfers into the school. He and Lelouch resume their friendship. Secretly at first, until a cat steals the Zero mask, and Suzaku publicly saves Lelouch from a fall.
Princess Cornelia becomes the Viceroy of Japan and takes over control of the military.
Lelouch learns the difference between "shoot him" and "kill him" when Mao turns out to be less dead than advertised. He kidnaps Nunnaly to force Lelouch into a confrontation.
Suzaku has his back and helps rescue Nunnaly, but Mao reveals his dark secret: he killed his own father.
Colonel Tohdoh, the last leader of the JLF is scheduled to be executed. Zero springs him. But when Lancelot interferes, his cockpit is broken open, revealing Suzaku as the pilot to everyone.
Lelouch feels betrayed. Euphemia picks him to be her Knight Champion.
It's possible that Britannia's wars of conquest are actually to capture these artifacts.
Meanwhile, Euphemia has figured out that Zero is Lelouch. The four lost people reconvene and are brought to Prince Schneizel by accidentally activating the artifact.
Lelouch has a school festival to run and a coup d'etat to organize.
Euphemia attends in disguise. When she's revealed, she takes advantage of the press attention to announce the Special Administrative District of Japan.
Meanwhile, Suzaku detects C.C. in attendance. He goes to ask her something, but as he touches her, there is some kind of flux in the power of geass, knocking him out and causing C.C.'s geass mark to flare.
And pushing Lelouch's geass out of control, so that it it always on.
Lelouch and C.C. are hit by a trap, and we see flashes of C.C.'s history. Lelouch swears the remain her ally. She leaves to fight off the forces giving chase.
But when Lelouch reaches the door that Nunnaly is surely behind. Suzaku is there, waiting for him.
Season 2 opens with an illusion. Lelouch is cutting school and gambling. The Black Rebellion failed a year ago. Japan is being crushed under an even harsher heel.
But Lelouch has been given amnesia and false memories, to be bait in a trap set for C.C.
Currently, Lelouch is up to his old tricks: using his geass to steal an enemy Knightmare, directing his forces with inside intelligence, and pulling off miracles.
Kallen wants answers though: did Lelouch use his geass on her, or did she follow on her own.
The Knights are bedeviled by a Knightmare built on the same technology as Lancelot, but with a short-range teleport. But they fight it off in time to collapse the building on their enemies.
Zero again declares the United States of Japan, even though it's just one room.
Suzaku returns to school. Two other Knights of the Round, Gino and Anya also arrive, with their custom Knightmares.
When Villetta was amnesiac, she stayed with Ohgi, the second-in-command of the Black Knights. Lelouch learns this and blackmails her into working with him.
Right before the battle, Suzaku calls him from Euphemia's phone.
He is going to abandon playing by the rules and fight out of hatred now.
Lelouch tells him that he should, despite knowing he'll be the target.
Then the battle begins.