Thanks to her experience piloting the Gaia Gundam, Stellar had developed a certain level of proficiency with transforming mobile suits.
Unfortunately, the Murasame transformed into a fighter jet configuration, which was a world apart from the Gaia Gundam's wolf form. Their combat logic differed significantly as well.
Although Stellar had adjusted her fighting style by reading the machine's data, she felt extremely stifled; the Murasame was a machine specialized for mid-to-long-range combat, but she was instinctively habituated to close-quarters brawling.
In the Gaia, she could close in at high speed and strike with the beam blades on the wings. If she attempted that in a Murasame, the wings would likely snap off on impact. Reality was not War Thunder; there were no "Stalinium" maneuvers here.
Any loss of mobility during combat carried severe consequences—especially for a unit like the Murasame, where losing a wing meant the high-mobility MA mode became unusable, slashing its combat potential significantly.
Drawing a second training saber, Stellar fixed her gaze on the Unicorn. Gripping twin blades, she slashed forward.
Roz skillfully sidestepped. The shield on the right easily parried Stellar's first training saber, while the Armed Armor VN on the left arm deployed. Its predatory claws opened to reveal the internal red Psycho-Frame, lunging toward the Murasame's waist.
Before the Armed Armor VN could reach its target, the Murasame's right leg suddenly kicked into the path of the gauntlet, getting caught squarely in the claws.
Ignoring the gasps of surprise echoing over the comms, Stellar manipulated the Murasame to twist violently to the left. Under the force of the massive thrust, the Murasame forcibly snapped its own right leg off, using the wreckage to momentarily jam the Armed Armor VN.
The Murasame spun like a high-speed top, its twin training sabers swinging from right to left in a trajectory that would make anyone instinctively cover the back of their neck.
Unexpectedly, the Armed Armor VN—which should have been hindered by the severed leg—did not hesitate for a second. As if wearing a heavy boxing glove, Roz used the gauntlet, with the Murasame's leg wreckage still skewered on its claws, to punch the Murasame directly in the waist.
This punch, carrying the force of a heavy cannon, made Stellar feel for a split second that her machine was about to be snapped in two. Yet, her swinging motion didn't slow down; the sabers continued their arc toward the Unicorn.
Watching the attack close in, Roz calmly pulled back on the control stick.
Using the momentum from the punch, the Unicorn tilted its frame. The Shield Funnels were adjusted by the sub-arms, moving to protect the Unicorn's left shoulder. The thrusters adjusted slightly, suddenly erupting in a violent flare of fire that propelled the Unicorn into a collision with the Murasame.
Using the sub-arms on the backpack, the Unicorn delivered a shield bash with the Shield Funnels, slamming into the Murasame before its twin-saber slash could connect.
The sudden, powerful impact caused the Murasame's cockpit to shake violently. Despite being strapped in, Stellar couldn't help but wince in pain. In the next instant, white airbags deployed from the dashboard, buffering Stellar's face to prevent her helmet from smashing into the console—which would have damaged the instruments or shattered the visor, injuring her.
Finally, the vibrations ceased, and the airbags automatically retracted. Stellar gasped for air and looked up.
As expected, the Unicorn had deployed the Armed Armor BS on its right arm, the muzzle pressed directly against the Murasame's cockpit.
Normally, Stellar might have opened the missile ports on the front skirt for a surprise counter-attack, but her aggression had caused Roz to reflexively strike back harder, leaving the front armor crumpled and deformed.
Aside from the skirt, the entire Murasame was in a state of near-collapse, looking as if it would disintegrate into space debris if any more force were applied.
A red light flashed before Stellar's eyes; the battered Murasame was officially locked out. Though damaged to the point where moving would likely cause it to fall apart anyway, the lock-out status made it official.
Roz didn't linger. Sensing a sudden wave of "killing intent" from all directions, he instinctively maneuvered the Unicorn into a backward lean, putting distance between himself and Stellar's Murasame.
Several red laser indicator beams suddenly appeared between the Unicorn and the Murasame, weaving into a "net" that closed in on the Unicorn.
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Actually, once the Unicorn and the Murasame clashed, Kira, piloting the Strike Freedom, had observed the entire one-sided devastation.
The asteroid field was indeed disadvantageous for the Strike Freedom. There were very few zones where he could deploy the full output mode known as the "Full Burst Mode." Moreover, in such a cluttered environment, high-frequency close-quarters combat was an inevitability.
Crucially, the Strike Freedom was a specialized machine with specific leanings. While Kira was confident he could use its melee weapons to clear out grunts in an asteroid belt, he felt far less certain facing an ace like Roz, who was so intimately familiar with close-range brawling.
It had to be said that Kira had hidden himself remarkably well; Roz hadn't been able to find him via the tags on the Panoramic Monitor. However, Roz had other methods of reconnaissance.
Roz fell silent for a moment. He maneuvered the Unicorn through the "spiderweb" of laser indicator beams woven by the Dragoons, casually tossing aside the Murasame's leg wreckage still caught in the Armed Armor VN. He began scanning the asteroid belt with his brainwaves.
The cluttered, ambient brainwaves of others did provide some interference, but he soon pinpointed a familiar signature hiding behind a large asteroid.
To an outside observer, it looked as if the Unicorn had activated "wall-hacks." It flew in a straight line toward the Strike Freedom's position.
Realizing the Unicorn had found its target, the Dragoons intensified their fire, pouring a dense barrage onto the white machine. But frankly, compared to the pressure "Amuro's" Fin Funnels had put on Roz, Kira's method of controlling Dragoons felt a bit too "innocent."
Roz didn't go easy on him. He swept the Armed Armor BS across the field, and three Dragoons were caught in the red laser indicator beams, instantly locking up and freezing in place.
"Let me land one punch, Kira!"
Feeling himself drawing closer to Kira's brainwaves, Roz let out a laugh. "Don't worry, it won't hurt!"
The sound of clashing steel was truly addictive. It was no wonder the "Forged in Fire" style competitions of the common era had been so popular with men.
After a quick mental calculation of his machine's performance, Kira chose not to retreat. Instead, he gripped his control sticks tight. The Strike Freedom's Voiture Lumière system could reach incredible speeds, but it required time to accelerate. Compared to the Unicorn's violent, instantaneous bursts of speed, there was no escaping.
Rather than trying to reposition, it was better to face Roz right here.
Suddenly, the Unicorn rounded the corner of an asteroid, appearing in Kira's direct line of sight.
Before Roz could make another move, Kira squeezed a trigger on his console. A small missile launched from one of the Strike Freedom's wings, exploding directly in front of the Unicorn.
As the contents dispersed, a massive number of finely crafted dummy balloons—shaped exactly like the Strike Freedom—surrounded the Unicorn, causing a swarm of triangular target icons to flood the Panoramic Monitor.
Roz swatted away a dummy balloon that drifted in front of him, taking a moment to observe the craftsmanship. I suppose that's Lacus for you, he thought; even the dummy balloons were custom-ordered to be near-perfect replicas of the Strike Freedom.
Just as Roz prepared to use his brainwaves to filter through the decoys and find Kira's real location...
The real Strike Freedom appeared not far behind the Unicorn. It had already combined its twin beam rifles into a long-range sniper configuration and was currently taking aim at the Unicorn's propulsion backpack.
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