The sound of medical equipment operating echoed in his ears, and from various parts of his body came a constant stream of pain—not severe, but enough to make one frown involuntarily.
Setsuna opened his eyes. What greeted his vision was the ceiling of the temporary infirmary inside the small Hangar.
"Yo, you're awake?"
At that moment, a familiar voice drifted into Setsuna's ears.
He saw Lockon Stratos wearing his green pilot suit, looking somewhat helplessly at Setsuna. Though the wounds on Setsuna's face from Roz's beating had subsided quite a bit, some swelling was still visible.
"You've been unconscious for a whole day. Normally, given your recent actions, you should be sitting in a solitary confinement cell right now, but we can't afford that luxury anymore."
Lockon shoved a tablet into Setsuna's hands. "After our attack on Moralia ended, a group of people started carrying out terrorist attacks all over the world under the guise of opposing us."
"Tieria and Allelujah have already departed, and I'm preparing to sortie as well. I suspect it won't be long before you'll have to pilot Exia and head out too."
At this point, Lockon sighed. "Those guys... they're incredibly cunning."
"Terrorist attacks..."
Looking at the data on the tablet, Setsuna murmured.
"Ah, speaking of which..."
As if remembering something, Lockon smacked his palm. "How was it? The feeling of being thrashed by Roz?"
"No... I stand by my thoughts."
Setsuna shook his head. "Without powerful strength... nothing can be changed."
"But look, even though you were defeated by a powerful strength, you yourself haven't changed at all, have you?"
Lockon reached out and lightly patted Setsuna's shoulder. "So, the greatness of power can only let you defeat others. Only the greatness of the heart can allow you to understand and change others."
Setsuna didn't speak; he just stared blankly at the tablet, his attention not focused on the information on the screen at all.
"Lockon... do you think God exists?"
After a long silence, Setsuna finally asked a question that had been buried deep in his heart for a long time.
"God, huh... In my view, it's a concrete image of certain laws, emotions, or ideologies."
Lockon scratched his head, offering his own perspective. "The sources that give birth to them are all abstract, let alone those so-called 'spokespersons' in reality. Every single one of them is either a liar or has selfish motives."
"You have to realize, humans are just humans."
"If there is no God... and one cannot become a Gundam..."
Setsuna's emotions became somewhat agitated. "If that's the case, how is the world supposed to change?!"
"So, that is your assignment, Setsuna."
Lockon looked at Setsuna with a serious expression, extending his right index finger to point at the location of Setsuna's heart.
"Find your own conviction, and use your power for the sake of that conviction."
-----------------------------------
In a dim room, several large screens continuously played footage of Celestial Being's attack on Moralia.
A man with brown hair, dressed in a brown suit, sat on an ornately decorated sofa, swirling a glass of liquor in his hand. The ice cubes occasionally clinked against the glass walls, making a crisp sound.
He watched the images on the screens—or rather, he was focused on observing the Penelope on the screen.
"The situation differs somewhat from what was anticipated, but overall, not much has changed."
At that moment, a voice that sounded remarkably like Roz Links's echoed from behind the man swirling the glass.
"Our plan will not have any problems, Alejandro."
A blonde man wearing a long white robe stood before a bar counter, allowing the golden light radiating from the liquor cabinet behind him to wash over his body.
"I don't see it that way, Ribbons."
The suited man, called Alejandro, drank the perfectly chilled liquid from his glass and set it down on a nearby table. "The performance of this Raven is clearly stronger than the Gundams currently fielded by Celestial Being..."
"According to the original plan, Celestial Being must be destroyed. Clearly, the Raven is closely tied to them; he will be an obstacle to me fulfilling the Corner family's long-cherished wish."
Alejandro reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Did they recruit this outside help in private... They really are disobedient, aren't they? Celestial Being."
"Regarding this Raven, I've recently discovered some very interesting intelligence."
Ribbons took a step back, leaning against the bar counter with a slight smile playing on his lips. "The AEU claimed that a base suffered an attack by Celestial Being a few days ago, but during that time, I found no record of a Celestial Being sortie on VEDA."
"...Go on."
Hearing this, Alejandro raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued by Ribbons.
"They likely conflated the Raven with Celestial Being."
Ribbons explained the intelligence he had gathered with robotic calm. "And as far as I know, the members who were heavily injured or killed in that attack were all part of the AEU's anti-Gundam unit."
"In other words, the Raven's targets were them?"
Upon hearing Ribbons's words, Alejandro stood up. "Can you find any data on the pilots of that anti-Gundam unit?"
"Unfortunately, no."
"Interesting."
After hearing Ribbons's answer, Alejandro laughed. "It seems I'll have to go and contact them personally."
-----------------------------------
At that moment, aboard the Nahel Argama, Roz Links stood on the deck, staring blankly at the sea.
The setting sun slowly descended, as if spreading a layer of crushed gold across the rippling surface of the water, sending out flickers of light.
"It's beautiful... isn't it?"
The touch of a cold soda bottle against his arm brought Roz back to his senses.
Christina had set aside her work and followed Roz out onto the deck.
She tilted her head back slightly, and the cold soda flowed down her artificial throat directly into her artificial stomach to begin conversion.
Nutrients and energy were continuously supplied to this synthetic body, while the sweet taste and icy sensation were transformed into electrical signals, stimulating her brain.
"Yeah... I never get tired of looking at it."
Roz took the soda bottle, but he didn't open the cap to drink immediately as he usually did. "But even on a beautiful water planet like this, there are people who want to destroy it."
"Because of the terrorist attacks?"
Christina tucked the empty soda bottle into the pocket of her white lab coat and leaned against the deck railing just like Roz.
"Mm... exactly."
Roz didn't deny Christina's guess. "Even though Celestial Being said they would handle this matter themselves, I still feel like there's a weight pressing down on my chest."
"That just means you're still a normal human being, Roz."
Hearing this, Christina didn't become tense; instead, she relaxed. "A normal human being will always feel indignant when faced with such indiscriminate terrorist attacks."
She had previously asked Big Haro many questions regarding crystallization. She was deeply worried that Roz might undergo emotional or personality changes after his body fused with trace amounts of Psycho-Frame.
After all, there were plenty of examples of individuals becoming emotionally indifferent and machine-like after their bodies underwent such an "ascent."
But the current situation put Christina at ease.
"If you have an idea, then go do it, Roz."
Christina reached out and placed her hand over the back of Roz's left hand as it gripped the railing. "The people on the Nahel Argama will all support you."
"Besides... calculating the time and our distance from the coastline, it's about time for Mayu Asuka and the others to interact with this world's society and procure some supplies."
Christina thought for a moment before continuing, "Mayu isn't like us. Before she followed Shinn Asuka to the Nahel Argama, she was at most an ordinary person with a bit of power. Her psychological resilience is completely different from ours... I expect being cooped up on the ship has pushed her nearly to her limit."
"Yeah... I see."
After a moment of silence, Roz took a deep breath. "In that case, I'll have Inoue and the others, who are out on assignment and haven't returned yet, come back together with Mayu and the rest."
"As for the terrorist attacks... I'll go contact Celestial Being."
......................