The appearance of the two machines on the deck of the cargo ship left both the ZAFT and Earth Forces present in a daze.
"Freedom... and Justice?!"
Seeing the machine models labeled on the radar, Arthur, the CIC operator of the Minerva, subconsciously hung his mouth open, his face filled with shock. "What are they doing here?"
"They are likely executing some kind of plan; I didn't expect us to run into them." Durandal watched the battlefield—which was becoming increasingly chaotic due to the intervention of the Freedom and Justice—with great interest. "I remember they were the ones who assisted Orb during the Great Retreat... can you bring yourself to strike them, Shinn?"
"Even if I hold back, they will probably designate me as an enemy anyway."
Maneuvering the Impulse to fire two shots and force back the Abyss that was entangling him, Shinn looked at the Freedom and Justice that had already broken into the battlefield. Even if he didn't want to fight them right now, it wasn't up to him alone.
Shinn raised the shield in his left hand, blocking a beam aimed at the Impulse's head monitor. The beam splattered upon hitting the shield, leaving only scattered marks.
In the next second, an instinctive warning made Shinn reflexively slam the pedal beneath his foot. The machine's thrusters suddenly erupted with brilliant blue flames, causing the Impulse's altitude to surge. A green beam passed between the Impulse's legs—clearly, this shot had been intended to disable the Impulse's combat capability.
"Freedom... even now, you're still holding back?!"
Shinn panted twice after dodging these two attacks; the sudden burst without preparation had put considerable pressure on him.
Several blinding flashes of light streaked across the sky as the Freedom deployed all its cannons, firing at the Daggers that were continuously descending from the heavens. Compared to the Justice, which relied on its backpack for melee combat, the Freedom clearly followed a certain "non-kill" logic; the Dagger units descending from the clouds were almost all stripped of their limbs or head monitors. However, a few machines that continued to fly toward the Freedom for a self-destruction attempt even after losing their limbs had their cockpits sniped.
"What are those two doing coming here to cause trouble!"
Lunamaria not only had to deal with the Chaos Gundam that was constantly hounding her but also had to watch out for the Daggers falling from the sky. Although her sniping skills couldn't compare to others of the same level, taking down Daggers in the sky was still no problem.
"Besides... the one piloting that Justice is Athrun, right? The man who got the first-generation G-Series from the Earth Forces—why would he abandon his status as a Red Coat!"
Luna asked in confusion over the comms. Seeing the Justice close in on her at some unknown point, she instinctively pulled out the heat axe from her shield and swung it at the Justice. But in a single exchange, the Zaku Warrior's arms were sliced open by the Justice brandishing its double-headed beam saber, revealing cross-sections that glowed dull yellow from the heat.
Then, the Justice suddenly spun, delivering a standard roundhouse kick that sent the disabled red Zaku Warrior flying into the side of the bridge.
"Ugh..."
Coincidentally, because the bridge had entered combat mode and lowered its height, the spot where Luna's Zaku Warrior impacted was exactly where the bridge was located. The violent shock made everyone on the bridge frown.
It seemed Athrun didn't want to do anything to the Minerva either; he simply shifted his target to the Chaos Gundam, which was constantly raining missiles from the sky.
"In just one exchange, Luna was..." Seeing the red Zaku Warrior lying next to the bridge on the camera feed, Arthur subconsciously swallowed hard.
At that moment, Durandal saw the cargo ship suddenly gain altitude, leaving the water's surface. "It's left the water... is it trying to avoid the Earth Forces' encirclement by increasing altitude?"
After a moment of thought, Durandal looked at Talia nearby.
"The ship has left the water—follow it!"
With just a glance, Talia analyzed the current situation. Don't be fooled by Talia appearing as if she's slacking off every day; her professional skills as the Captain of the Minerva were top-tier. Now that the Earth Forces clearly intended to attack both ships together, having an extra cargo ship to help split the enemy fire was a very advantageous move.
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The Freedom and the Justice... machines that had left a deep impression on Clotho.
"If you two are here... then where is the Unicorn?! Where is the White Devil?!"
Seeing that he was about to encounter his self-proclaimed nemesis again, Clotho grew excited. After all, back when the pilot of the Unicorn was still operating the "White Devil," he often appeared alongside these two machines.
And if they were here...
"Is the Unicorn right there?!"
Clotho looked at the spot where the Freedom and Justice had just emerged. He raised the shield gun in his hand toward the cargo ship.
Immediately afterward, two beam shots descended from the sky, striking the Raider's shield gun and destroying it.
"Freedom... it's you again!"
As if a scene from the past was replaying itself, Clotho instinctively began to laugh. The Mjölnir hammer in his hand swung continuously, only to be blocked by the shields of other mobile suits.
However, before he could react, the cargo ship that had been on the sea's surface suddenly left the water and accelerated toward the cloud layer.
"Taking off?! Don't even think about running!"
Staring at the cargo ship that potentially carried the "Unicorn," Clotho shouted and transformed the Raider into its flight mode, acting as a flying platform as he chased after the vessel.
It was only after breaking through the clouds that he saw a cable descending from outer space, linked to the cargo ship. Then, he watched helplessly as the cargo ship was forcibly pulled out of Earth's atmosphere by another unknown warship, of which only a vague silhouette could be seen.
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"Catapult deck clear, launch sequence prepared..."
In the hangar of the Nahel Argama, a gantry-like device transferred the pure white Unicorn from its storage bay to the catapult. As the catapult locked into place, the elevator began to move the floor the Unicorn stood upon to the outer deck.
The long-lost view of Earth appeared within the spherical cockpit. A triangular frame clearly highlighted the cargo ship where Lacus was located.
Beside the catapult track, devices resembling electromagnetic weapon coils deployed one after another, and a blast deflector rose behind the Unicorn. As the catapult lifted, the Unicorn leaned forward slightly. The thrusters on its back erupted with intense flames, lightly scorching the deflector plate.
"Unicorn Gundam, Roz Links, launching!"
Casually pulling down his helmet's visor, Roz slammed down the pedals.
Boosted by its propulsion pack, the Unicorn reached the end of the rail at a launch speed far exceeding that of other machines and detached from the catapult deck. The Unicorn's engine trail drew a graceful line as it flew toward the cargo ship at incredible speed.
"So, that is the Unicorn..."
Looking at the "legendary machine" appearing on the screen—a machine whose pilot he had met once before—Durandal narrowed his eyes with interest.
"Shinn, do you have the confidence to face him?"
"Huh? Me, fighting the Unicorn?!"
Over the comms, a burst of panicked white noise came from Shinn.
.......................