Zero Requiem

The Zero Requiem (ゼロ・レクイエム, Zero Rekuiemu) is a plan orchestrated by Lelouch after he assumes the Britannian throne from his father and is carried out with the assistance of Suzaku and C.C. Its goal is to end all war and to usher an age of peace, and simultaneously let both Lelouch, Suzaku, Marrybell, and Oiaguro atone for their sins by imposing the greatest punishments on themselves: death for Lelouch who wishes for a tomorrow with his sister, life for Suzaku who wishes to atone for his sins through death.

Overview
The plan involved focusing all of the world's hatred on Lelouch, then have Suzaku disguised as Zero kill him, dissipating the hatred and allowing the world to focus on more important matters than fighting, such as reconstruction and helping others, thus facilitating peace. This is also Lelouch's own personal way of atoning for his sins, particularly the murder of Euphemia li Britannia and defamation of her name, which the event closely resembles.

Aside from Lelouch, Suzaku and C.C., several other key characters knew about Zero Requiem, including Marrybell Mel Britannia, Jeremiah Gottwald, Lloyd Asplund, Cécile Croomy, Sayoko Shinozaki and Nina Einstein, while others such as Nunnally, Kallen, Tohdoh, and Kaguya only realized it during and after his execution.

Second Battle of Kaminejima Island
Lelouch vi Britannia attempts to stop Charles zi Britannia at all costs from activating the Ragnarok Connection at Kamejima Island after the apparent death of Nunnally.

After being told the truth of his past by Charles and his mother, Marianne vi Britannia, whom he was shocked to discover alive this whole time, Lelouch, with the aid of Suzaku and C.C., decides to put stop to their plans once and for all He requests from the collective unconscious to not stop the forward march of time, stopping the Ragnarok Connection from completing. Charles and Marianne are absorbed by C’s World as a result.

After that, Lelouch, Suzaku, and C.C. design the Zero Requiem plan during the period of time before the execution of the plan.

Lelouch as Emperor of Britannia
After having stopped the plan of Charles zi Britannia and Marianne vi Britannia on creating a new world, Lelouch announces to the world that he has killed Charles and is now the new emperor of Britannia with Suzaku as his "Knight of Zero", thus creating confusion among those who had known their past conflicts.

He then quickly abolished many policies that grew during Charles' era. These included the elimination of the aristocratic system, serious penalties for financial conglomerates engaging in or a part of illegal or illicit activities, and the abolition of the Number-Area system, thus liberating them. This led to a rift among Britannian citizens with discontent among ex-nobles and approval among the commoners.

This also leads the Imperial family (including Nunnally) to oppose his regime and attempt to dethrone him through force with the exception of Marrybell who is the only one out of the Imperial family to not be subjugated by Geass joins him allegedly with the huge bulk of Glinda Knights minus Oldrin, Tink, Sokkia, and Leonhardt.

Knights of the Round Uprising


Shortly after Lelouch assumed the throne, the Knights of the Round, being loyal to Charles, staged an uprising against him. Lelouch see this as an opportunity to show his power to the world, sending only Suzaku to repel it and broadcast the battle worldwide. And, as he expected, Suzaku single-handedly stopped the uprising.

After the battle, Lelouch announced that he is the true ruler of Britannia and Britannia would join the United Federation of Nations, much to everyone's shock.

UFN Conference
Lelouch announced that he will follow every rule of the UFN and promised that he will not be accompanied by Suzaku nor any generals during the conference. However, he decided that the site of the negotiation should be in Ashford Academy, Japan, as it is a neutral site standing between UFN and Britannian Empire, which the UFN agrees.

However, in the middle of conference, while everyone is still discussing whether to allow Britannia to join UFN or not, Lelouch breaks the agreement, by calling Suzaku and his Lancelot Albion into the conference room and having the Britannian Army surround the academy, and kidnap the world leaders, thus making him the enemy of the world, with people seeing him as a ruthless dictator.

Battle of Mt. Fuji
Meanwhile, during the conference, Lelouch's principal opponent Schneizel el Britannia, destroyed the capital Pendragon with a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead deployed from Damocles, thus declaring war against Lelouch.

Schniezel proceeded to face Lelouch's forces at Mt. Fuji, using Damocles as his flagship and tried to convince Lelouch to surrender, as his F.L.E.I.J.A. warheads could easily wipe out Lelouch's forces. But Lelouch instead used his hostages (the UFN world leaders) in his flagship, preventing Schneizel forces from using F.L.E.I.J.A. warheads to end the battle sooner.

The battle eventually ended with Lelouch's victory, after he took the Damocles Key from Nunnally, and forcing everyone on the whole world to surrender. Meanwhile, Suzaku faked his death in the battle and prepared himself for the final phase of the plan. Lelouch later passes on the Damocles Key to his half sister Marrybell Mel Britannia.

Battle of Madrid
During Lelouch's reign of terror after his victory at Mt. Fuji, other resistance organizations began to discuss in secret in how to deal with Lelouch who is now in control of the world with Marrybell in charge of the Damocles to use it on anyone who dares defy Lelouch giving the Glinda Knights the tyrannical symbol of terror than when they were part of Area 24 and after deciding, both groups decide to split to deal with the two.

Marrybell with Oiaguro who are in Madrid, Spain (Formerly Area 24) has stationed most of the Britannian forces to guard the Damocles. Later Peace Mark, Glinda Knights who were aligned with Schneizel, and other resistances began their assault.

Oldrin delivers the finishing blow to Marrybell with Orpheus in conjunction with Suzaku (dressed as Zero) assassinating Lelouch therefore ending Lelouch's reign of terror.

Death of Lelouch
Having won the battle against Schneizel and the Black Knights, Lelouch arranges the public execution of The Black Knights, leaders and the United Federation of Nations representatives in a victory parade in recaptured Japan. The truth is, the parade only serves as a stage for the final phase of Zero Requiem.

Suzaku, disguised as Zero, then interrupts the parade and kills Lelouch: the culmination of the Zero Requiem goes as they had planned. By directing all the hatred of the world onto him, Lelouch's death served to facilitate peace.

On the verge of death, Lelouch smiles, saying he is the one who both "destroyed the world and created it anew." With the Zero Requiem complete, Suzaku weeps silently as he listens to Lelouch giving his final order and punishment; he tells Suzaku that he is dead from this day on, forced to exist as Zero and to sacrifice his happiness for the sake of the world, an order Suzaku accepts as he is left to play the role of Zero. Nunnally can only watch in shock. When Lelouch falls near her, she takes his hand and realizes, that he has sacrificed himself on purpose to bring world peace.

Aftermath
The aftermath is narrated by Kallen, who explains how the world is much better off with all the energy being focused on solving hunger and poverty. The events leading up to Zero Requiem also led to the end of the reign of the three superpowers. With the United Republic of Europia imploding, the Chinese Federation disolving and the Holy Britannian Empire collapsing in respective order. Lelouch and Marrybell then both became a hate symbol with all sorts of hateful and evil deeds blamed on them.

Spain now formerly under Marrybell's rule is no longer under oppression.

The former Glinda Knights members now reform the Great Glinda Knights to keep check of the Black Knight's power balance and two members Leonhardt and Marika are now married.

Kallen herself now lives with her mother and returns to her normal life as an Ashford academy student while Villetta and Ohgi held two wedding ceremonies, one Britannian and one Japanese. Jeremiah and Anya are then shown working on an orange farm, and those that survived the Battle of Madrid now join the newly incarnated Glinda Knights.

Suzaku now lives the remainder of his life as Zero, becoming Nunnally's protector in the following months, aided by Schneizel, who Lelouch ordered to specifically obey Zero.

By the time of Nunnally's recoronation as a princess, the world is literally ruled by four teenage girls. With Kaguya Sumeragi being the Chairwoman of the United Federation of Nations, Nunnally vi Britannia being the Co-ruling Princess of the Principality of Britannia, Empress Tianzi as the representative of the United States of China and Margaret Walpole being the President of the United Republic of Europia.

In some timelines, such as the movie universe, the Zero Requiem did not necessarily bring goodness to all nations and citizens. This became most evident in the Kingdom of Zilkistan, whose economy collapsed as its soldiers who were its main source of trade were no longer needed and then decided to rebel against him only to later join the UFN. This is also seen in how there have been some anti-British demonstrations and a terrorist attack that was caused by members of the Japan Liberation Front (JLF) led by Bandou.

Conversation
As Suzaku (being Zero) killed Lelouch

"The punishment for what you have done shall be this then...you will live on, always wearing that mask, serving as a knight for justice and truth. You will no longer live your life as Suzaku Kururugi, you shall sacrifice the ordinary pleasures of your life in benefit of the world for eternity." - Lelouch

" This Geass I do solemnly accept." - Suzaku

(Lelouch fell to Nunally)

"Lelouch? Are you...?" - Nunnally

(Lelouch is silent and looks out forward with a sad smile on his face)

(Nunnally gasps and puts her hand on Lelouch)

(Nunnally visionalizes Lelouch and Suzaku putting the plan in action)

"You mean...everything you've done until now? (Places Lelouch's hand to her cheek as tears fell from her eyes) Oh, big brother! I love you!" -Nunnally

"Yes... I... I destroyed... the world... and created... anew." - Lelouch

Trivia

 * In SRWZ2, the Zero Requiem can be avoided if the player has enough Zero points. So rather than having the Black Knights betray Zero, they trust him instead. Also, Rolo's death is prevented from happening. However, this event still has Lelouch revealing his identity. If the Zero Requiem is followed, Lelouch will be revived by the Celestials later on.