The muzzle of the "Agni" Hyper Impulse Cannon in his hand once again emitted a red-and-white high-energy beam, destroying an unknown MS preparing to fly out of the "Library" to join the fight.
"Eh... constantly being on sniper duty, I feel like my body's starting to rust..."
Mu casually retracted the precision aiming device. He glanced at the four Mobile Suits rapidly approaching.
"Since you like using all three backpacks simultaneously, even with the auxiliary battery installed, movement is bound to be an issue." Murrue analyzed Mu's mobile suit status over the comms.
"Even if the machine's endurance isn't great, and my piloting skill isn't as strong as Roz Links', taking out these four MS is completely manageable."
Casually disconnecting the "Agni" Hyper Impulse Cannon's link to the Nahel Argama, allowing the warship to reel in the power cable, Mu piloted the Strike to stand up and drew the blue anti-ship sword.
"MS count is 4. They are closing in, about to enter firing range!" Sai Argyle, monitoring the radar, spoke up.
"We cannot use the Positron Cannon... Gottfried warm-up, activate Anti-Air defenses!" Natarle Badgiruel glanced at the Nahel Argama's position and swiftly made a decision.
"Wired Funnel deployment!"
Three concealed quad-barrel Gottfried Linear Beam Cannons extended from beneath the armor, revealing their thick barrels. The warship's anti-air guns quickly adjusted their position.
"Wired Funnels... no problem!"
Having gone through numerous battles, Tolle Koenig was now quickly proficient in operating the Nahel Argama's wired Funnels, though controlling four was his current limit.
"Wired Funnels releasing four... Huh? Why are there eight?"
Tolle watched wide-eyed as the display showed that all four existing wired Funnel units were released, totaling eight funnels, instead of the expected four.
"I operated it. I will assist you in the upcoming battle. Don't space out." Suddenly, a male voice rang out in front of Tolle.
"Huh?" Tolle was stunned and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a Haro on the control panel flapping the wings on its head at him.
"What are you spacing out for? I don't want anything to damage Big Brother Roz Links' ship! Get into combat mode quickly!" The Haro on the console was clearly agitated by Tolle's daze, frantically flapping the wings on its head. Tolle could even feel a slight breeze on his face.
"Oh, oh, oh... coming, coming. Wired Funnels fully deployed." Prompted by the Haro, Tolle quickly snapped back and gripped the control stick.
Murrue and Badgiruel, seeing the scene, instinctively looked toward Christina, who was monitoring the ship's data nearby.
"I think I told you about our situation before, I thought you remembered." Christina clearly understood what Murrue and Badgiruel meant and raised an eyebrow. "In short, I will explain after the battle, alright?"
"...Fine. Focus your attention back on the battle at hand!" Murrue refocused on the combat after hearing Christina.
After all, there was a hierarchy of urgency. Compared to the Haros, which contained brains, intervening in the ship's combat—an action no different from the Blue Cosmos's wetware—the imminent battle was the most important matter.
"Target has entered the firing range. The modified Buster has stopped and is assembling its cannon barrels!" Sai spoke, seeing the MS signal labeled "Buster?" stop advancing on the radar. The camera confirmed that this modified Buster was assembling the cannon barrels on its hands.
"Gottfried One, target the modified Buster, fire!"
Following Badgiruel's command, the already charged quad-barrel Gottfried locked onto the Buster, which had just entered aiming mode. Four thick beams erupted from the muzzles, swiftly passing by the three remaining advancing MS and accurately striking this Hail Buster unit.
The pilot inside had just lowered the unit's auxiliary aiming device, preparing for long-range sniping, only to have the green particle beams rush toward him the moment he entered aiming mode, filling his field of view. Like having his screen fully whited out by a flashbang while playing CS:GO, the unlucky pilot instinctively tried to pull back the auxiliary aiming device and close his eyes.
But in the next second, he would no longer feel the pain in his eyes.
The Gottfried Linear Beam Cannons on the Nahel Argama easily shredded the Hail Buster's armor, completely destroying the unit's torso.
The advantage of high-power beam cannons was that they only needed to target the MS's torso; unless the cockpit was in the MS's head, it would inevitably be destroyed.
To ensure the destruction of the MS's cockpit, the Haros subtly adjusted the angle of the Gottfried Beam Cannons.
"Remaining MS are within range. Anti-Air guns, Linear Funnels, open fire!"
Following Badgiruel's command, dense anti-air fire erupted from the warship, sweeping toward the three mobile suits in front.
Faced with such dense firepower, even PS armor had to yield. The three MS units began maneuvering constantly.
"Then it's my turn to launch!"
Mu watched the scene unfolding, stomped the pedals, and the Aile Striker pack on the Strike's back erupted in flames, carrying the Strike toward the three mobile suits.
Although the Strike—equipped with three packs and several temporary batteries—would suffer from mobility and balance issues in Earth's atmosphere, Mu had overcome these drawbacks in the zero-gravity environment of space.
"Roz Links usually gets all the glory... but don't you guys think I'm a pushover!" Mu gritted his teeth, looking at the three MS units close at hand, two of which clearly resembled the Strike Gundam.
Immediately, the anti-ship vulcan cannon on his right shoulder began to rotate, firing a burst of rounds at one approaching Gale Strike, forcing it to retreat.
His free left hand drew the Beam Boomerang from his left shoulder and threw it at the second Gale Strike, successfully hindering its advance.
Then, the left hand, which had just thrown the boomerang, swung the rocket anchor on its forearm toward the Hail Buster, which was trying to draw its beam rifle. As the rocket anchor retracted, the two mobile suits rapidly closed the distance.
Mu's combat strategy was clear: since two of the units were extreme close-combat types, the versatile Strike should first eliminate the unit capable of effective long-range attack (the modified Hail Buster), and then, with the Nahel Argama's fire support, pick off the remaining two close-combat units one by one.
However, in order for the Strike to use all three packs simultaneously, the power of the anti-ship sword had been slightly reduced, which posed an obstacle to this breakthrough action.
But Mu had found a way through simulation training. Although he hadn't practiced with Roz Links' data, it worked well against other data models.
Seeing that he had reached the required distance, Mu maneuvered the Strike, beginning to rapidly spin the anti-ship sword in his hand. The sword spun at extreme speed around the Strike but didn't nick any of the machine's shoulder armor or components. Instead, the Hail Buster, which had just drawn the beam saber hilt from its knee, had its arm cut into several pieces. Cut marks appeared on its shoulder armor and torso, revealing the internal components.
"Take this, great windmill!"
Mu yelled, watching the scene, and accelerated the rotation of the anti-ship sword.
This was Mu's technique to compensate for the reduced power of the anti-ship sword. Although he initially cut himself in the simulation programs, after prolonged practice, Mu could now spin the anti-ship sword at high speed without damaging the mobile suit at all.
The nearly sixteen-meter long anti-ship sword spun at extreme velocity, continuously slicing the Hail Buster. It had to be said that even while piloting their MS, the two Gale Strike pilots felt an instinctive sense of dread watching such a massive blade swing.
The Hail Buster pilot tried to draw the beam saber with his surviving hand, but in the next second, the anti-ship sword broke through his cockpit. Before he could react, the sword's beam blade slashed through the cockpit, utterly melting it.
With the Hail Buster destroyed, Mu breathed a slight sigh of relief. After all, this swordsmanship technique hadn't been formally used in MS combat, and he had only practiced it in simulations. Now, he had his first kill record with it.
"Good! Now let's finish off the remaining two units in one go!"
Mu maneuvered the Strike to turn, flying toward one of the Gale Strikes. The anti-ship vulcan cannon on his right shoulder continued to fire at the Gale Strike, forcing it to raise its shield to block.
Mu expertly swung the anti-ship sword at the Gale Strike. At this point, the Gale Strike, perhaps recalling the gruesome end of the Hail Buster, raised its physical high-frequency anti-ship sword and engaged Mu in a blade-to-blade clash.
The second Gale Strike, seeing an opportunity, began flying toward Mu's Strike, raising its own anti-ship sword.
But in the next moment, eight streams of rounds shot out from various directions, showering the Gale Strike like a torrential rain. The PS Armor's resistance rapidly drained its battery power, eventually exposing the iron-gray armor. Finally, it was shredded by the Nahel Argama's wired Funnels.
"Nahel Argama has achieved MS kill number two! Major Mu, you're going to lose, you know!" Tolle, seeing that the outcome was almost decided, had the presence of mind to chatter over the comms.
"You brat, I don't recall teaching you to steal kills!" Mu chuckled and gasped lightly for breath, continuing to maneuver the Strike to spin the anti-ship sword against the Gale Strike's physical anti-ship sword.
Sparks flew where the beam blade collided with the physical blade during the fierce clash.
This had turned into a contest of endurance: not just the pilots' endurance in maneuvering their machines to clash, but the endurance of the anti-ship swords themselves. Would the physical anti-ship sword's beam coating melt, or would the beam anti-ship sword's blade material be analyzed and shattered?
"Woooaaaah..." Mu shouted instinctively, accelerating the rotation of the Strike's anti-ship sword.
Finally, having seemingly reached its limit, the Gale Strike's posture was deflected when Mu spun the anti-ship sword once more. What followed was a whirlwind of slashes that continued until the mobile suit was cut in two.
After using the anti-ship sword to slice the final Gale Strike in half, Mu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I shot down two as well! It's a draw now!" After resting for a moment, Mu replied to Tolle. "You brat, you're getting extra training when we get back!"
"NOOO!"
Shortly after Mu finished the battle, the distant, already battered "Library," under the repeated fire of Roz Links' Beam Magnum, finally disintegrated into pieces of debris.
"Phew... It's over." Seeing the scene, Mu let out a breath. "I don't know if ZAFT will chase us down later, but at least I got to be cool for once..."
"Well done. Let's head back to the ship for now." Murrue's voice came through the comms. "Roz Links and the others are also returning to the ship."
In the distance, the three mobile suits that had completed their mission were flying toward the Nahel Argama.
......................