Compared to the previous skirmish of probing and maneuvering, Shinn's aggression surged to an entirely different level after Lunamaria's Zaku Warrior was heavily damaged. As his anger swelled, his analytical mind went offline; primal instinct took the high ground, seizing control of the battle.
The Impulse and the Freedom were like two gladiators in an octagonal cage, circling one another while closing the gap. Green beams hissed past both machines, failing to score a hit.
On one side, Shinn was a standout from the ZAFT military academy, personally scouted by Durandal and mentored by Yzak Joule to earn his Red Coat status. On the other, Kira had survived high-intensity combat since the Heliopolis incident. Their respective histories had forged two distinct, lethal styles.
In the heat of the clash, Shinn's beast-like instincts noted something: he felt no killing intent directed at his cockpit from Kira. Instead, the Freedom seemed fixated on the Impulse's limbs.
Targeting the limbs?
While he doubted that a mere limb-shot would have caused Lunamaria's cockpit to go silent, Shinn factored in the reality that aim could deviate under pressure. He prepared for the worst. Regardless, in this situation, only one machine would be left standing between the Impulse and the Freedom. He'd cut his opponent down first and ask questions later!
Abandoning all hesitation, Shinn's instincts drove a ferocious assault. Mimicking a tactic Roz had used while piloting the Narrative, Shinn threw his own beam rifle directly into the path of a beam fired by the Freedom. It wasn't a decoy balloon, but a beam rifle's explosion should be more than enough to disrupt the Freedom's sensors.
The Impulse's rifle precisely intercepted the green beam. The weapon's destruction triggered a violent explosion, shrouding the area in thick smoke.
"Is it over?" Kira didn't relax; if anything, he became more cautious.
Before the smoke could clear, the Impulse—having somehow circled to the Freedom's right—lunged with its beam saber raised.
"When did he—?!" Kira's eyes widened.
A violent survival instinct surged, like something bursting deep within his mind. Kira's pupils dilated and lost focus; the world seemed to slow down. His brain went into overdrive, processing variables and seeking a solution.
In a split-second decision, Kira threw his own beam rifle at the Impulse. Shinn didn't stop; his saber sliced the rifle clean in two. The resulting explosion and shockwave hammered the Impulse, causing Shinn's swing to falter slightly.
Shinn gritted his teeth, forcing the Impulse to maintain its momentum. The beam saber carved a graceful arc through the vacuum, only to slam into the Freedom's shield. Sparks erupted like water hitting a stone.
Kira had already drawn a beam saber from his hip railgun mount. As the blade deployed, he swung back at the Impulse. Instinctively, Shinn raised his shield, catching the strike.
This was exactly what Kira wanted. Without hesitation, the Freedom lifted its right leg and delivered a powerful kick to the Impulse's waist, sending the machine reeling backward.
Ever since Roz began frequently using kicks in combat, the "MS-kick" phenomenon had spread like a virus among pilots who studied his combat logs. While many mass-production pilots ended up with damaged leg frames trying to pull it off, the Freedom's frame was robust enough for Kira to unleash the move with full force.
The two machines flew out of the smoke cloud, quickly stabilizing their stances.
"Huff... huff... Meyrin! Launch the Sword Silhouette!"
In that brief exchange, Shinn realized Kira's skill level was astronomical—well beyond the Earth Alliance Extended pilots who had stolen the other machines. To face an expert of this caliber, the Force Silhouette wasn't enough. Shinn instinctively moved to switch to the Sword Silhouette; like Lunamaria, he excelled in close-quarters combat.
The crimson Sword Silhouette pack, carrying two massive anti-ship swords, launched from the Minerva's catapult. It streaked across the battlefield, braving the crossfire as it raced toward the Impulse.
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Having casually dispatched a nearby Dagger and forced back the encroaching Akatsuki with his machine gun, Rey piloted his grey-white Zaku Warrior toward the wreckage of Lunamaria's unit.
"Lunamaria... Lunamaria, can you hear me?!"
Glancing at the Impulse, which was locked in a ferocious, spark-flying duel with the Freedom, the grey-white Zaku reached out and grabbed the "remains" of Lunamaria's Zaku. Rey's voice had lost its usual calm, repeatedly shouting her name.
Finally, a faint response came through from the other end of the line.
Inside the shattered cockpit of the red Zaku Warrior, Lunamaria had been knocked unconscious by the violent impact. The cacophony in her ears—the sound of someone calling her name—eventually pulled her back to consciousness. She struggled to open her eyes, and the sight of her ruined cockpit came into focus.
The explosion triggered by the Freedom's beam had torn a massive hole in the cockpit. Numerous metal shards had embedded themselves into the left side of her pilot suit. Though they hadn't punctured all the way through, she could feel the suit's internal pressure dropping as air hissed out. Fortunately, she had protected her helmet in time, or her visor surely would have shattered.
The primary communication system was likely destroyed; this was likely contact-link communication through the machines' frames. Spotting a partially intact comm-link nearby, Lunamaria instinctively reached out with her right hand, only for a piercing pain to shoot through it.
'It must be sprained' she thought. Gritting her teeth, she used her left hand—which was covered in cockpit debris—to flip the switch.
"This is... Lunamaria." She shifted her right hand slightly and let out an involuntary hiss of pain. "I'm still alive."
"What's your status?" Rey asked. He piloted the Zaku to scoop up the wreckage and began flying toward the hangar.
"Cockpit is trashed; only contact-comms are working. My suit is like a pincushion from the shards and it's leaking air. My right hand is probably sprained." Lunamaria summarized her situation as concisely as possible.
It was then that she looked through the breach in the cockpit and saw the Impulse nearby, locked in a desperate, lethal struggle with the Freedom, as if both were intent on killing the other.
"Get back to the hangar and find the ship's doctor first." Hearing that Lunamaria was not in immediate danger, Rey breathed a small sigh of relief and carefully pushed the remains of her Zaku into the hangar below.
The Minerva was now very close to the edge of the battlefield. With the Earth Alliance's attention completely occupied by the Unicorn, this was the perfect moment to escape.
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On Shinn's side, as the Sword Silhouette approached, Shinn very decisively threw his expanded shield toward the Freedom.
The Freedom instinctively raised the shield in its hand, intending to dodge sideways.
Shinn seized the opportunity and retracted the beam saber in his hand. As the Sword Silhouette flew near him, he took down the two beam boomerangs from the pack.
Almost without needing to aim, at the moment Shinn's physical instinct prompted him "It's now," the Impulse threw out the two beam boomerangs without hesitation.
The first beam boomerang was very easily dodged by the Freedom.
But the second beam boomerang was thrown toward the direction the Freedom was moving, eventually crashing into the Freedom's shield. Along with the traces of molten steel, the Freedom's shield was also split in two.
Without any nonsense, Kira almost instinctively threw the shield wreckage remaining on the Freedom's arm toward the Impulse, piloting the Freedom to increase the unit's altitude a bit.
The next second, the beam boomerang that the Freedom had just dodged flew back, cutting into the Freedom's left leg, completely severing it and destroying the railgun on the left waist. In the unit's detection in the cockpit, the light of the Freedom's left leg had completely dissipated, and only the prominent red fault indicator for the railgun was still flashing.
But even though the MS had only one leg left, Kira quickly adjusted the unit's center and, holding a beam saber, lunged toward the Impulse.
The Impulse didn't stop either; the Sword Silhouette released an anti-ship sword. Shinn controlled the Impulse to catch this anti-ship sword very smoothly, swinging it in front of the Impulse.
The shield wreckage with sharp edges cut by the beam boomerang flew toward the Impulse. The beam cutting blade on the anti-ship sword expanded, easily cutting through the shield in front of it.
The shield wreckage flew to both sides; at this time, Shinn could also see the Freedom's actions. He saw the Freedom holding a beam saber, flying toward the Impulse.
Shinn also did not have any hesitation; he raised the anti-ship sword, and the propulsion pack erupted with fierce firelight. Ignoring the increased energy consumption, he rushed toward the Freedom at an extremely high speed.
The two units were like medieval knights, raising their lances to charge at each other; only one person could survive.
But obviously, the anti-ship sword was longer than the beam saber; before the beam saber could even touch the Impulse, the anti-ship sword had already pierced into the Freedom's waist.
And seemingly due to Kira's instinctive habit, he did not aim for Shinn's cockpit to stab; the beam saber destroyed the Impulse's head and right shoulder, directly putting the Impulse's right hand into a malfunction state.
At the same time, the anti-ship sword in the Impulse's hand had already pierced through the Freedom's waist and abdomen area.
Looking at the large number of alarms appearing in the cockpit and the position where the Impulse pierced the Freedom, Kira instinctively widened his eyes.
At this time, Kira saw a lever marked with yellow and black on the control console.
"If you encounter a very dangerous situation, pull it," Lacus's advice vaguely seemed to ring in Kira's ears.
Based on his trust in Lacus, Kira pulled the lever in front of him without hesitation.
Something unlocked, and a large amount of ejection sounds rang out; the Freedom's chest opened, and a cockpit was ejected, unfolding the small wings stored inside, flying toward Mu's side.
"Don't run!" Seeing this scene, Shinn instinctively widened his eyes, but at this time, it was obviously too late to pull out the anti-ship sword.
Along with a burst of explosion, the Freedom exploded; the powerful impact brought by the fragments also knocked the Impulse back repeatedly.
"Dammit..." Shinn managed with difficulty to return the unit to a balanced state and threw the anti-ship sword in his hand toward the cockpit not far away.
And a floating shield flying in space, emitting a red glow, precisely hit the anti-ship sword from the side, making it directly lose its flight posture and causing its flight trajectory to go crooked.
"What?!" Looking at the floating shield emitting a red glow that was protecting the Freedom's cockpit, Shinn was momentarily stunned.
Immediately afterward, Shinn controlled the Impulse to retreat abruptly; a blue, irregular beam blocked the path in front of him.
Sensing that kind of excited, angry brainwaves coming from the Impulse, Roz glanced at the cockpit being protected by Mu behind him, which was currently being held by the Akatsuki.
"Clearly your piloting skills are quite good, how did you end up failing?" Roz sighed and looked at the Impulse not far away. "Even the unit was blown up..."
"Sorry... it was my personal reason." Sitting in the cockpit, Kira slightly recovered his original state and said somewhat embarrassedly. "My goal just now was his head monitor."
At this time, the remaining cockpit of the Freedom was being held by the Akatsuki, carrying out a retreat.
"It's okay, after all, if the old doesn't go, the new won't come." Roz didn't care much about this matter; after all, if you often walk by the riverside, how can your shoes not get wet? Just the unit being blown into scrap, but the pilot is still alive and escaped, is already a quite good battle result.
"Presumably not long from now, your new unit will finish being manufactured." Roz controlled the Unicorn and raised the Armed Armor BS in his hand toward the Impulse.
Seeing the Armed Armor BS aimed at himself, Shinn was startled and quickly controlled the Impulse to grab the wreckage of the Freedom, attempting to break away from the Unicorn's lock.
Although Shinn was just able to pilot the Impulse to clash with the Freedom, facing a unit like the Unicorn that almost slapped a Zaku Warrior to pieces with one shield strike, he had no confidence at all.
Under the double pressure of psychology and reality, even if his IQ had not yet reoccupied the high ground, Shinn's body quickly made a decision, instinctively taking Shinn to flee.
At this time, Shinn felt like the pedals under his feet were about to be stepped through by him, wishing the Impulse could fly even faster.
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Along with four thick beams striking a Drake-class, the armor melted and the reactor was detonated, causing the last Drake-class on the battlefield to be blown into several sections.
"All Drake-class units wiped out! One Nelson-class is heavily damaged, and one is still intact!"
"The large warship has already turned toward the Nelson-class!"
At this time, on an Archangel-class, a tense atmosphere filled every inch of the bridge, making it almost impossible for anyone to breathe.
"The remaining Nelson-class will pursue the ZAFT warship; the Archangel-class will pivot!"
An officer in command of this operation quickly made a decision. Seeing that the battle situation—which had originally maintained suppression over the Minerva—had taken a sharp turn for the worse after that large warship appeared, and with three Drake-class and one Nelson-class destroyed by the Nahel Argama and the Unicorn in quick succession, the most critical moment for the Earth Alliance had arrived.
"Deploy positron cannons for preheating! Target the super-large warship!"
Facing a strong enemy like the Nahel Argama, the officer gritted his teeth and unhesitatingly decided to use the most powerful weapons on the Archangel-class.
"They just happen to be sandwiched between us and Mendel. I don't believe he can withstand four positron cannon shots!"
Two Archangel-class ships turned toward the Nahel Argama. Under the gaze of Murrue and the others, the armor beneath the catapult decks deployed.
"Positron cannons? Eva—"
When Murrue saw that familiar armament appear, she instinctively prepared to command the ship to evade, but looking at the positions of the Nahel Argama and the two Archangel-class ships, she fell into hesitation. Because the Nahel Argama had charged into the battlefield by directly ramming through a Drake-class, and with the two Archangel-class ships located near the edge of the battlefield, the Nahel Argama was caught between the Archangel-class and the space colony Mendel.
"What should we do... If we evade, Mendel will..."
Seemingly recalling the moment Heliopolis disintegrated, Murrue frowned, thinking of a solution. "Destroy them with positron cannons first? No, everyone is using Lohengrins; the charging times are nearly the same..."
"Don't dodge. Charge straight toward them."
At this time, a somewhat cold voice rang out on the bridge. The bridge hatch opened, and a red-haired girl in a white lab coat walked in; it was Christina, who had been helping in the hangar.
"Charge straight up and take them all out!"
Christina walked straight to the side of Badgiruel, who was the fire control commander, and pressed several keys.
Several discs protruded from the belly of the Nahel Argama, and a somewhat viscous "liquid" was squeezed out. Like the coolant used when descending to Earth, it clung to the armor and continuously climbed upward until it covered the entire warship and condensed into a texture resembling some kind of crystal.
"Charge straight up?! Are you serious? Those are positron cannons!"
Although she saw Christina's operation and the "Special Armament" option popping up on the console, Badgiruel still had doubts about the feasibility of Christina's proposal.
"Crystalline Shock-proof Armor. It features heat and impact resistance; at the very least, blocking their positron cannons will be no problem." Christina looked at the two Archangel-class ships whose positron cannon muzzles were already glowing, her expression somewhat grim. "This is the shield I exhausted everything to create, existing to protect this ship."
"How could... we let these guys destroy our home..."
Christina's words, though calm, allowed anyone to hear the anger contained within.
"...Captain, make the decision. What do we do?"
Arnold, acting as the helmsman, looked at Murrue and placed his hand on the throttle lever.
"Christina... Can I trust the performance of this crystal armor?" After all, they were about to face positron cannons head-on; it could be said that the Nahel Argama, as well as Mendel, were resting on the crystal armor Christina developed.
"It has already undergone extensive testing; there are absolutely no issues with the performance." Christina looked at Murrue and said calmly, "I will not let this ship, or the people on this ship, suffer any harm."
The profound "knowledge" that had been force-fed into her, along with the "inspiration" born from following Roz for so long, was the source of Christina's confidence in saying these words.
"I understand..." Hearing Christina's words, Murrue nodded and turned to look at the two Archangel-class ships in the distance. "Nahel Argama, full speed ahead. Charge straight through!"
"Understood, Captain!"
Arnold did not hesitate and pushed the Nahel Argama's throttle lever. Along with the reactor's operation, surging energy was injected into the Nahel Argama's thrusters, spraying out long, thick flames. Such fierce flames also caught the attention of the Minerva.
"That warship... what is going on with it?"
Looking at the crystal-like substance covering the Nahel Argama, Talia and Durandal both frowned.
The Earth Alliance obviously would not daze at the Nahel Argama's changes like they did; the positron cannons were already ready to fire.
"Positron cannons, fire! No matter what they've painted on that ship, destroy it!"
On the bridge of one Archangel-class, an officer watched the Nahel Argama rapidly approaching the two Archangel-class ships and punched the armrest of his seat.
With the operation of the positron cannons, four red-white positron beams erupted from the muzzles, striking the Nahel Argama's crystal armor. The violent impact caused the warship to vibrate; everyone instinctively gripped the handrails. Fine crystals were destroyed and sent flying; looking at the positron cannons at close range, the people on the bridge felt as if they could sense the heat, and cold sweat slightly broke out on their foreheads.
Under the gaze of the Minerva, the Nahel Argama continued forward against the beams of the positron cannons. Shattered crystal armor debris flew out, leaving behind two trails of debris like some kind of asteroid belt.
As the positron cannon attack ended, Christina pressed twice more on the control console. The condensed crystal armor shattered and detached from the Nahel Argama's hull, revealing the hull that had been covered before; there was not even any damage on it.
"Positron cannons! All ports open!"
Upon seeing the crystal armor fall away, Murrue quickly spotted this opportunity for attack.
At the hull position that slightly protruded like a "figurehead," four armor plates deployed, revealing specialized barrels; the wings on both sides also deployed built-in positron cannons.
"Positron cannon reaction detected! The source is... the giant warship?!"
On the Archangel-class, along with the terrified voice of the CIC, everyone noticed the undamaged parts deployed by the Nahel Argama.
"E... Evade!"
Seeing the Nahel Argama charging out from the positron cannon fire, the officer, acting as the commander-in-chief of this fleet, could only instinctively let out such a sound.
"Fire!"
Before the two Archangel-class ships could take any action, Murrue spoke.
The positron cannons on the Nahel Argama emitted a small beam for positioning. After completing the positioning, they burst forth with intense light, and eight red-white beams flew toward the two Archangel-class ships.
"Eight... eight barrels?!"
Seeing this scene, the commander-in-chief of the Archangel-class widened his eyes and slumped into his seat as if he had lost all strength.
A total of six positron cannon shots hit the Archangel-class where this officer was located, quickly melting the ship's armor and detonating its magazine and reactor.
The other Archangel-class was hit by two positron cannon shots in the area between the two "long legs" of the hull, melting a huge hole; many crew members were sucked into space by the pressure difference.
"Heat ram steel spikes, activate!"
Seeing this scene, Murrue chose to restart the thermal ram used before. On the Nahel Argama, which had covered the positron cannons with armor again, the frontmost component turned orange-yellow, and heat sufficient to melt enemy armor surged on the ram.
Under the operation of the thrusters, the Nahel Argama, leading with the thermal ram, struck directly into the gap just opened on the last Archangel-class amidst the terrified expressions of its crew.
The Archangel-class hull underwent violent deformation and was even pushed back by the Nahel Argama. The two quadruple Gottfried turrets on the Nahel Argama, along with the quadruple linear cannons in the center of the hull, began to fire continuously at the battered Archangel-class.
Under the triple influence of the violent explosions, the thermal ram, and the thruster output, this Archangel-class was smashed into left and right halves, exploding on both sides of the Nahel Argama and kicking up a massive cloud of smoke.
Finally, the Nahel Argama charged out of the smoke generated by the explosion completely unscathed, appearing once again in everyone's sight.
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"Phew... I guess I still overestimated the efficiency of the thermal ram."
Murrue breathed a small sigh of relief at this point. "Deploy the wired funnels, continue the battle!"
Christina glanced at the state of the battlefield, and after confirming that the general situation was decided, she prepared to head back to the hangar to help. Perhaps she should research how to upgrade the crystal armor while she was at it? Although this version of the crystal armor had reduced much of the impact when it was bombarded by the four positron cannons simultaneously just now, the resulting impact was still quite significant.
At least just now, Christina—who had been using visual enhancement mode ever since entering the dim bridge—could see that Murrue and Badgiruel's "front armor" was shaking quite violently while they were resisting the positron cannon bombardment.
"By the way, Murrue, Natarle, the crystal armor has a usage limit."
Just as she reached the bridge hatch, Christina seemed to remember something and spoke up.
"Once fully loaded, it can only be used three times. There are two left now; make good use of this weapon."
After Christina finished speaking, she left the bridge of her own accord. In the dim bridge, Murrue looked at the closed bridge hatch and sighed. Afterward, she scanned the bridge; everyone was performing their duties, wanting to end this battle quickly.
Inexplicably, Murrue and Badgiruel's eyes met.
After a short silence, these "good sisters," under the cover of the dim bridge environment, rubbed their "front armor" to relieve the pain. Having been affected by the impact and shaken so violently just now, the connection points really hurt.
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