Along with the destruction of the two Archangel-class ships, the once-chaotic battlefield seemed to freeze for a moment as everyone instinctively ceased fire for a short period.
After all, the Nahel Argama's performance just now was too overwhelming—tanking the bombardment of four positron cannons, counterattacking with eight of its own, and finally ramming straight into the last Archangel-class, physically tearing it in two with its thermal ram and artillery.
Soon, as the Nahel Argama deployed its wired funnels, the two Nelson-class ships and the Minerva began fighting while retreating with all their might toward the edge of Mendel.
The Nahel Argama's sheer presence was terrifying; if four positron cannons—the "finishing move" of standard naval weaponry—couldn't breach its defenses, what hope did a Nelson-class, which wasn't even equipped with them, have?
As for the Minerva, its reasoning was even simpler: four positron cannons couldn't break that defense, so how could they win with just one? Since they were already planning to withdraw, leaving immediately was the highest priority.
Moreover, Shinn had just destroyed the Freedom and salvaged its wreckage. Once the Earth Alliance forces were completely wiped out, the Nahel Argama's next target would surely be him. If they didn't leave now, when would they?
"Impulse has returned to the hangar's top deck!" Meyrin turned her head, looking at Talia in the Captain's seat.
"Bow down 15 degrees, full speed retreat!" Upon hearing Meyrin's report, Talia made a swift decision.
At that moment, a blue, snake-like beam grazed the Minerva's bridge, pointing straight at the Impulse as it clutched the Freedom's wreckage.
"Waaaaagh..." Shinn cried out instinctively as the blue beam approached.
The Impulse was currently holding the heavily damaged, cockpit-less remains of the Freedom. Both its own shield and the Freedom's shield were destroyed; the Impulse was effectively defenseless.
Watching the twisting blue beam strike a nearby turret and sweep toward him, Shinn's body moved before his brain could even process the crisis.
The Force Silhouette pack detached from the machine and flew above the Impulse, shielding it from the snake-like blue beam.
In an instant, the Force Silhouette blew apart into a cloud of fragments. The debris and components hammered against the Impulse and the Freedom's wreckage.
Feeling the vibrations through the machine and seeing the rapidly depleting power levels on the console, a cold sweat broke out on Shinn's forehead.
Although the Impulse could maintain its Phase Shift Armor without a Silhouette pack, relying solely on the unit's internal battery without the pack's large-scale power cells was a strain.
"...He used the pack to block that attack?"
Not far from the Minerva, Roz was piloting the Unicorn, raising the Armed Armor BS once more and locking onto the Impulse on the Minerva's deck.
Although he didn't have much malice toward the warship Minerva, and Kira had successfully escaped via the ejection pod and was largely fine—plus, the blueprints for the new machine were already finished and Orb was in full production, so losing one Freedom was somewhat acceptable—Roz felt that, considering the Impulse had directly stabbed the Freedom and nearly killed Kira, it would simply be wrong if he didn't give the Impulse's pilot a severe beating.
Thinking this, Roz stepped on the pedals.
The Unicorn's backpack erupted with fierce flames, and the machine pulled a red stream of light at an extremely high speed. Briefly checking his path, Roz raised the Unicorn's shield.
An unlucky Dagger, retreating and dodging under the Nahel Argama's dense fire, happened to block the Unicorn's path.
Under the gaze of the onlookers, before the Dagger could offer any resistance, it was struck by the Unicorn's shield; its limbs and torso disintegrated in an instant, and the torso armor underwent severe deformation as it streaked toward the Unicorn's right side.
But before the Dagger pilot—who was nearly concussed by the impact—could catch his breath, the Unicorn's right hand had already retracted the Armed Armor BS, drawn a beam saber, and precisely stabbed into the Dagger's cockpit.
Casually flinging away the Dagger's wreckage, Roz pushed the control stick. The Unicorn turned sharply, avoiding several rounds of anti-aircraft fire. The Minerva had obviously noticed the Unicorn's approach and began using its AA guns to intercept it.
"A right-angle turn... at this speed? You've got to be kidding!" Seeing the red streamer of the Unicorn make a sharp 90-degree turn, Rey, piloting his Zaku Warrior, couldn't help but widen his eyes.
At this time, Rey's Zaku Warrior raised its machine gun, aiming at the Unicorn. A red backpack, carrying an anti-ship sword, completed its docking with the Impulse.
"Rey, you control the Freedom's wreckage. I'll go stop him," Shinn spoke, seemingly having made a decision as he looked at the wreckage in his hands. A bitter feeling surged from the bottom of his heart—whether it was regret for his impulsive actions or the confusion of being caught between Orb and PLANT... things weighed on his heart, yet he couldn't speak of his uncertainty to anyone.
"Shinn! We're retreating right now, don't be impulsive!" Hearing Shinn's plan, Rey couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
"If I don't go stop him, none of us can leave!" Shinn controlled the Impulse to take off from the deck, circling the bridge to reach the deck where Rey was. "Don't worry, I have the Core Splendor."
Once Rey's Zaku Warrior took control of the Freedom's remains, Shinn piloted the Impulse to draw its anti-ship swords and flew directly toward the Unicorn.
"Ho... coming straight for me, are you?" Seeing the Impulse flying toward him with two anti-ship swords, Roz narrowed his eyes.
But in the next second, the Unicorn abruptly came to a dead stop and began to climb. Rey was continuously firing at the Unicorn, trying to disrupt its movements and create an opportunity for Shinn. Roz didn't care about Rey's harassment; he casually threw the shield in his hand.
The shield, glowing with a red light, bypassed the Minerva's fire net at high speed and suddenly smashed the shield link on the left shoulder of the Zaku Warrior holding the Freedom wreckage, making the people on the Minerva break into a cold sweat.
At this time, the people on the Minerva observed from a close distance that the shield—which had no propulsion devices at all—was flying like that, as if some unknown "supernatural power" was pushing it.
"Dammit... Shinn, it's up to you!" Seeing this, Rey did not let go of the Freedom's wreckage but instead raised his right-hand machine gun and fired continuously at the Unicorn's shield.
Shinn, meanwhile, had no time to notice Rey's situation; he had already engaged the Unicorn. The Impulse raised its anti-ship swords and slashed at the Unicorn, only for them to be firmly gripped by the Unicorn's hands.
The two units' four hands were locked together; it appeared to be a stalemate, but Shinn could see in his cockpit that the status map for the hand sections was flashing red with various malfunction warnings.
Although the Impulse's specs were beyond mass-production units and its hands were not deforming under the Unicorn's grip, Shinn vaguely felt he could hear the "screaming" of steel.
Roz, at this moment, didn't care what Shinn was thinking; he just looked at the Unicorn's left hand with a complex expression. Pity—if he had the Armed Armor VN now, he could probably crush the Impulse's left hand in one go. However, it seemed new equipment was about to be delivered, along with the custom Beam Gatling guns from Morgenroete; he would likely be able to use the new weapons after returning to Industrial 7.
Thinking this, Roz controlled the Unicorn to continue exerting force, intending to disable the Impulse's arms. Shinn, naturally, could not let Roz's plan succeed; he pulled the trigger, and the vulcan cannons on both sides of the Impulse's head began to fire at the Unicorn.
Seeing the Unicorn release its grip and move slightly away to avoid the vulcan fire, Shinn breathed a small sigh of relief, intending to regroup and launch another attack.
In the next second, a violent impact came. Shinn momentarily thought it was the Unicorn's habitual flying kick and was inwardly doubting if the Impulse would fall apart because of it. But he soon discovered that reality was perhaps a bit wilder than he thought.
The Unicorn's left hand slapped away the Impulse's arm, while its right hand formed a fist and punched the Impulse's head monitor, sending precision parts flying everywhere.
Before Shinn could react, Roz controlled the Unicorn's right hand to flatten into a palm, turning it into a "hand-blade," and chopped diagonally toward the junction of the Impulse's left arm and torso. Meanwhile, the Unicorn's left hand firmly gripped the Impulse's right arm, preventing the machine from shifting its position.
PS Armor provides formidable protection against physical attacks, but it has a specific weakness: when power supply fails to keep up, the defensive strength at the machine's joints becomes quite mediocre.
Although the execution wasn't as fluid as when Banagher once unleashed the "Nanto Suicho Ken," Roz pushed the Unicorn's output to the limit. Leveraging the superior strength of the Unicorn's frame and armor, its right hand struck the connection point of the Impulse's left arm. Sparks erupted violently as he physically hacked the arm away, sending components and cables flying into the vacuum of space.
With the loss of its left arm and several vital parts, a malfunction seemed to occur. The Impulse's PS Armor suddenly flickered out, revealing the dull grey frame beneath.
The same right hand that had severed the arm moved to seize the Impulse's torso. Roz then released his grip with the Unicorn's left hand, flattening the fingers into a palm. Like a sharp blade, he thrust it directly toward the Impulse's right shoulder joint.
Shinn finally thought to counterattack, but using the anti-ship sword in his right hand at such close range was a poor option. In a sudden flash of "transcendent wisdom," he instead maneuvered the Impulse to swing its right leg in a sweeping kick toward the Unicorn.
Roz anticipated the move and smoothly raised his left leg, blocking the trajectory of the sweep. The collision of the two machines' legs produced a resounding boom.
Simultaneously, the Unicorn's left palm successfully pierced the junction between the Impulse's right shoulder and torso. With a violent outward swing, it tore away a mass of parts and wiring.
Shinn still tried to use the Impulse's legs to launch further attacks, hoping to buy space for maneuvering and retreat.
Unbeknownst to him, the Unicorn reached out and grabbed the very right leg Shinn had just used for the sweep. Roz formed a fist with his right hand and punched directly into the components where the Impulse's legs connected to the torso.
This sight caused every male observer to instinctively feel a surge of phantom pain.
The Unicorn's right fist smashed through the Impulse's armor, pulverizing the skirt armor's connection points into fragments. As Roz withdrew his hand, several cables were even torn out in the process.
Seeing the Unicorn's fist already leveled at the Impulse's chest armor, Shinn instinctively slammed the component separation button. Fortunately, the locking mechanism of the Core Splendor remained functional.
The Impulse's torso separated from the nearly destroyed leg components, and the blue Core Splendor, still in its docked state, backed out of the chest unit.
Shinn watched with wide eyes as the Unicorn's arm physically punched through the Impulse's chest armor; the fist almost grazed the nose of the Core Splendor. With no intention of staying a second longer, Shinn maneuvered the Core Splendor to transform immediately after separation and fled toward the Minerva without looking back.
Pulling the Unicorn's fist out of the Impulse's wreckage, Roz casually tossed away the "hollowed-out" upper body of the machine and deployed his Armed Armor BS. At that moment, the shield that had been harrassing Rey flew back to the Unicorn under Roz's control.
Looking at Rey, who seemed to have just breathed a sigh of relief, Roz pulled the trigger without hesitation.
An irregular blue beam grazed Shinn's Core Splendor and struck the Zaku Warrior's right arm—the one holding the machine gun—as well as the Zaku's beam gatling itself.
Seemingly haunted by the memory of the time the Unicorn's beam nearly turned his machine into fireworks, Rey stared at the blue beam traces on his Zaku's right arm.
Then, the Zaku Warrior extended a leg to brace against the Freedom's wreckage to prevent being flung away, drew a heat hawk with its left hand, and unhesitatingly hacked off its own right arm.
The severed right arm, along with the Zaku machine gun attached to it, detonated in a massive explosion.
...................