The Best Episodes Directed By Makoto Baba

Lelouch and Suzaku fight for the sake of their promise, the Zero Requiem. Suzaku battles Kallen, while Lelouch confronts Nunnally, his biggest and dearest enemy.

Within the Sword of Akasha, Lelouch learns the truth about his mother's death from the Emperor and Marianne herself. The two reveal their intention to create a gentle world without lies, and begin Ragnarok. Lelouch almost reconciles with them, but changes his mind when he realizes that the world the Emperor desires has no future. Evolving his Geass to its next level, Lelouch defeats the Emperor with the help of the collective unconscious mind of every human, the personification of the "gods" the Emperor sought to defeat, dissolving both him and Marianne into dust. With Ragnarok ended, Lelouch takes up the throne as the new Emperor, using his Geass to make all the dissenters in the court acknowledge him as such. Suzaku is appointed as his new "Knight of Zero," while C.C. looks on from the shadows.

Lelouch returns to the Ashford Academy during the broadcast, causing Villeta Nu's Special Division to have doubts he was the Zero on television. Needing information on his sister's whereabouts, Lelouch sets a trap to turn Rolo into his pawn. Gilbert G.P. Guilford, Cornelia li Britannia's knight and acting Viceroy of Area 11, presents an ultimatum to Zero: reveal himself or let the incarcerated Black Knights face execution. Elsewhere, Suzaku leads the Britannian frontlines in the Lancelot in the war against the Euro Universe. Lelouch confronts Rolo, but Rolo's unique abilities allow him to gain the upper hand.

Nunnally is sworn in as the new Viceroy of Area 11, and reveals her intention to restore the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan. Knowing he cannot go against his sister's wishes, Lelouch slips into a state of depression. Before he relinquishes himself to Refrain, Kallen steps in, reminding him his duty as Zero to realize the dream he gave to the Japanese. An evesdropping Rolo emerges, attempting to persuade Lelouch to abandon his identity as Zero and return to being a high school student. Meanwhile, the Black Knights are under attack by a Britannian naval fleet, led by Suzaku. A glimmer of hope is revealed to Lelouch after he sees fireworks setting off at Ashford Academy. Rushing to the battlefield, he successfully leads the Black Knights to defeat the entire naval fleet and surprise Suzaku by appearing as Zero, announcing his intention to accept Nunnally's offer to join the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan.

Suzaku realizes he cannot stoop to Lelouch's level to achieve his goals and decides not to use Refrain on Kallen. Instead, he heads to Ashford, where he discovers the Intelligence Agency is under Lelouch's control. Ohgi and Villetta meet in the woods, where Villetta intends to kill him, but Ohgi confesses that he has fallen in love with her. Sayoko interrupts and attempts to dispatch Villetta, and Ohgi is injured in the struggle. He tumbles off a cliff and Villetta jumps after him. Nina and the In Vogue staff make their first successful nuclear bomb test. Lelouch confronts the Emperor atop the Sword of Akasha. He learns the Emperor has taken V.V.'s "Code," which has made him immortal. C.C. appears and reveals to Lelouch her wish is to die, then transports him to "C's World" to ensure his safety, where he witnesses her past. Upon realizing her true wish, Lelouch returns to reality, proclaiming he shall be the only one to grant her wish. He attacks the Sword of Akasha with the Shinkirō and rescues C.C., only to find she has lost all her memories except those before receiving the power of Geass.

During the commemoration ceremony for the Specially Administrated Zone, Lelouch and Euphemia privately discuss Japan's future. She convinces him, and Lelouch summarily halts his rebellion, until he suddenly loses control of his Geass while jokingly telling her to kill all the Japanese. The Geass-influenced Euphemia orders a bloody massacre of the people attending the ceremony. Blaming himself, a resolute Lelouch decides to salvage the situation by declaring Euphemia's Specially Administrated Zone a trap to lure out the Black Knights, and commands his troops to defeat the Britannian forces, protect the Japanese, and stop Euphemia.

A group from the Japan Liberation Front takes a hotel and its occupants hostage, including most of the Ashford Student council and a disguised Princess Euphemia. As such, Princess Cornelia cannot make a move against the hostage takers, which Lelouch realizes and takes advantage of. He mounts a rescue with Ohgi's resistance, using his knowledge of Euphemia to barter his way past Cornelia's blockade. As Lelouch speaks with the hostage takers, Suzaku sinks the floating hotel using the Lancelot. Using explosives set up by the resistance fighters, Lelouch derails any rescue efforts by the army so he can take credit for their rescue. Broadcasting publicly to the nation, he announces the creation and purpose of his Order of the Black Knights, "allies of justice" who will judge the world and protect the weak from "those with power".

Lelouch believes Shirley may have discovered his identity as Zero, so he and C.C. pursue her to Narita. Ohgi explores the battlefield of the previous night, discovering the wounded Villetta Nu left for dead out of sight. Lelouch encounters Mao, a young man who also has the power of Geass. Mao uses his mind-reading power to play on Shirley's insecurities, manipulating her into shooting Lelouch, but she falters at the last moment and C.C. sends Mao away temporarily. Since Shirley is being torn apart by grief and guilt, Lelouch uses his Geass to erase her memories of him.

It is the Entrance Ceremony at Raira Academy, and the auditorium swells with a varied mix of emotions emitted from the students. Amidst all this is Rio Kamichika: a girl with a notably dark vibe following her.