Through the dark of night, several silhouettes trailed blue exhaust flames as they streaked toward the burning desert.
"Initiate the assault according to plan. Bring those Celestial Being pilots back."
Commanding a team for the first time, Shinn Asuka felt a wave of nerves. If you asked him to fight, he was an expert; he only had to surrender his body to instinct. But when asked to use his brain to lead a squad, he instantly fell into a daze.
"Anyway... each unit use your own judgment. The Captain said we don't have to hold back."
"...That's basically the same as having no command at all, isn't it?"
Hearing Shinn's voice, Louise—piloting a ReZEL Type-C (Defenser A-Unit)—sighed. She crunched down on the hard candy in her mouth and flipped down her helmet visor. "But 'no holding back,' huh... at least we don't have to be restrained anymore."
"It's better to be a bit serious. After all, no one knows where those Lord God guys are, which unit they're hiding in, or how they'll launch their attack."
Inside a Jesta Cannon, Bridget—whose appearance was identical to her avatar—was checking the status of the communication equipment.
"Don't end up crashing and burning like Celestial Being did today."
"Alright, small talk's over."
The stern voice of Tsubaki Kakyoin cut through their chatter. "Reached target range. Minovsky Particle dispersal missiles, launch!"
Six thick missiles detached from beneath the wings of the three ReZELs, trailing blue flames as they rocketed toward the battlefield at high speed.
The first one reached the hovering Penelope and detonated violently, rapidly spreading high-concentration Minovsky particles.
Under the influence of the Minovsky particles, the communication devices were the first to fail, followed closely by the radar. Other equipment began to lag, suffer from touch-input failures, or simply shut down altogether.
The previously bustling frontline base fell silent in an instant, followed immediately by total chaos.
Modern warfare is, in essence, an information struggle. The environment created by the Minovsky particle dispersal had severed all information exchange in the area.
"I tried the radio, it's completely useless! Those missiles just now jammed every communication method we have!"
The operator was sweating profusely while frantically operating the machinery.
Kati Mannequin stood at the command table, staring fixedly at the Penelope, which still floated above the sea of wreckage.
"...Do they think they can make us back down with this method?"
"It's just wireless communication being jammed; we haven't lost yet!"
Kati adjusted her glasses slightly and looked at the operator. "Use loudspeakers, messengers, signal flags, and light signals for Morse code..."
"It's nothing more than returning to old-fashioned communication methods. Don't think you can defeat us!"
As Kati looked back at the Penelope, several unknown mobile suits soared over it, charging into the battlefield.
"So you brought a team with you... Raven."
Kati watched as the Penelope shifted its orientation, returning to cruise mode, and slammed her fist onto the command console.
By the time the Penelope's cry echoed through the sky, the Hellions that had already finished resupplying and were supposed to have launched earlier were only just managing to crawl out of the hangars onto the runway.
-----------------------------------
The Minovsky particle dispersal missiles swiftly reached their respective targets, detonating in mid-air one after another.
Under the influence of the Minovsky particles, the entire Taklamakan Desert exercise zone fell into silence.
External information could not enter, and internal information could not escape. Deprived of communication, the forces of the three superpowers lapsed into a brief state of chaos. Meanwhile, at the Human Reform League position: "This is..."
Looking at the communication device that had lost its signal in an instant, Soma Peries, piloting the Tieren Taozi, furrowed her brow. "Colonel, please respond if you receive this!"
At this moment, over a dozen Tieren units were following behind the Tieren Taozi. They were preparing to capture Allelujah, who was exhausted after over ten hours of continuous bombardment.
The Kyrios had already collapsed to the ground. Though its exterior showed no major damage, Allelujah no longer had the strength to resist and had ceased all counter-maneuvers.
After all, enduring the vibrations of artillery fire for over ten hours was a feat; surviving at all was a testament to his exceptional physical constitution.
"The Colonel's machine is still moving... is this because of the missiles that just exploded?"
Soma glanced at the Tierens behind her still attempting to operate, her concern deepening.
"Lieutenant, be careful. The situation isn't right..."
Sergei Smirnov stared at his completely useless communicator. Frowning, he switched on the Tieren's external speakers. "Communication with headquarters has been jammed by unknown causes. Something is coming..."
In the next second, a yellow beam struck the ground directly in front of the Tieren units, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
"Fall back!"
Seeing this, Sergei's eyes widened. He manipulated his controls to force his machine into a retreat.
Soma was one step faster than Sergei. Her eyes were wide, fixed intently on the presence in the sky. The sudden attack caused everyone to tense up instinctively, maneuvering their units back to a safe distance.
When they finally turned their gaze toward the attacker, their expressions turned to shock.
Floating in the sky, silhouetted against the moonlight, was a machine covered in numerous thrusters, its rear thruster pack resembling a modified rocket booster.
A dazzling mono-eye moved restlessly within the machine's socket, scanning the Tieren forces on the ground.
The thrusters on the Psycho Zaku fired continuously; the numerous electrical thrusters, powered by its nuclear reactor, worked to keep the machine hovering in the air. Its right hand gripped a Beam Bazooka—clearly, the previous attack had come from her.
Sergei, however, cast his gaze toward the other machine.
"The black unicorn... have you deployed this time as well?"
He had a vivid memory of this machine—the one that had once forcibly pushed a counterweight module of the Orbital Elevator back into place. He remembered its massive power output and the wings of light that had later unfurled.
"...Fall back. This is your final warning."
Shinn hesitated for a moment upon hearing the familiar voice, but quickly regained his composure, speaking over the mobile suit's external broadcast channel.
"...Don't even think about it!"
As soon as Shinn's voice faded, Soma retorted over the public channel. To her, it felt as though two massive, impenetrable walls had suddenly appeared before her. It wasn't just the resonance of a fellow "Super Soldier"; it was the pure, overwhelming pressure of superior psychological strength.
"We were only one step away... how can we just give up! Argh!"
She let out a roar, resisting the suffocating pressure, and raised the Tieren Taozi's specialized smoothbore gun, firing continuously at the sky. Behind her, the dozen or so Tieren units fanned out, pulling their triggers to weave a magnificent curtain of anti-air fire.
"...I'm sorry, but this is a battlefield."
Shinn closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, reflecting on his past. When he opened them again, his gaze was resolute. "I won't hold back."
The Armed Armor BS deployed. Blue beams twisted irregularly between the fins as he locked onto the firing Tierens.
As Shinn pulled the trigger, the erratic blue beams lashed the desert floor and swept across several Tierens; their thick armor was vaporized and detonated in an instant.
"Dammit!"
Seeing her comrades explode under the Banshee Norn's assault, Soma's right hand clenched the trigger, maintaining a constant stream of fire toward the black machine in the sky.
Between the cover of night and the radar interference from the Minovsky particles, she could only rely on experience to lead her targets. Her hit rate was abysmal.
Even when a few shells managed to strike the Banshee Norn, the PS Armor absorbed the impacts effortlessly. The paint on the outer armor wasn't even scratched.
Stellar remained silent as she maneuvered the Psycho Zaku. Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, she descended to the ground at incredible speed.
Her thrusters fired in sequence, the flames allowing the Psycho Zaku to hover over the sand like a hovercraft. It charged toward the remaining Tierens like a runaway juggernaut.
The Beam Bazooka in its right hand was handed over to a sub-arm, while a folded Anti-Ship Sword unfurled, its beam cutting edge igniting. The three remaining sub-arms drew Beam Gatling Guns mounted on the massive rocket-like backpack.
A dense barrage rained down on the surviving Tierens. Even the specialized armor of the Tieren Taozi couldn't withstand the baptism of beam fire; holes were punched through its outer plating and shield, offering glimpses of its internal frame.
"It has that much bulk, yet it's this agile?!"
Staring at the barrage from the three Beam Gatlings and the Psycho Zaku closing in with its Anti-Ship Sword, Soma grit her teeth.
She raised the smoothbore gun in her right hand as a makeshift shield while her left hand drew a uniquely shaped carbon steel blade.
Beams struck the smoothbore gun's magazine, which began to glow red and heat up as if it were about to explode. Soma released the lock on the weapon and hurled it at the Psycho Zaku.
To her, the gun was now just a giant grenade. It detonated in front of the Psycho Zaku, filling the air with fire and shrapnel. Some fragments even embedded themselves back into the already damaged armor of the Tieren Taozi.
The explosion looked significant, but Soma continued to watch the thick smoke with intense focus. The Tieren Taozi's freed right hand drew a second carbon steel blade.
She knew very well that such an attack wouldn't damage the Psycho Zaku. If even a Tieren could survive that blast, a machine with armor that looked far thicker certainly could.
"Here it comes!"
Sensing one of those massive "walls" crushing down on her in her mind, Soma swung her arm toward the smoke, thrusting the carbon steel blade in her left hand forward like a boxer's jab.
But in the next instant, a flash of blade-light streaked past. The Tieren's outstretched left arm was sliced clean off. The glowing residue of molten metal at the stump showed where the beam blade had passed through.
The Psycho Zaku burst through the smoke, the massive Anti-Ship Sword swinging in Stellar's grip as if it were a mere toy.
Seeing her left arm destroyed, Soma didn't hesitate; she threw a desperate right hook, driving the carbon steel blade in her right hand toward the Psycho Zaku's flank.
Stellar watched the pink machine's struggle with cold indifference. She adjusted the Psycho Zaku's trajectory and brought the Anti-Ship Sword down in a clean arc. The beam edge struck the Tieren Taozi's remaining arm with surgical precision, cleaving it in two.
Next came the head sensor—resembling a tank's observation window—which was shattered by a single blow, its internal electronics and cabling torn out in the process.
The final target was the torso. The Anti-Ship Sword was raised for a vertical overhead strike, aimed directly at the Tieren's cockpit.
For Stellar, the fact that she could sense her opponent's spirit changed nothing. This was a battlefield; it was kill or be killed. Every strike was calculated to strip away resistance and destroy the enemy.
Faced with this blatant killing intent—as the "wall" in her mind sharpened into a "blade"—Soma slammed her foot onto the pedal. The Tieren Taozi's thrusters flared in a sudden burst, attempting a desperate retreat.
The beam Anti-Ship Sword bit deep into the Tieren Taozi. Soma watched through her monitors as the beam blade breached the Tieren's remaining armor and structural frame, appearing right before her eyes. Even through her specialized pilot suit, she could feel the violent energy radiating from the blade.
Ultimately, the Tieren Taozi was swatted away, tumbling several times across the sand before coming to a halt, motionless.
"Lieutenant!"
Seeing the battle take such a turn, Sergei's eyes widened in horror. He raised his smoothbore gun toward the Psycho Zaku.
Immediately, a barrage from the three Beam Gatling Guns swallowed Sergei's Tieren. He instinctively raised his shield and gun in front of him to brace for the impact.
Armor, frame, electronics... Sergei's Tieren was systematically dismantled by the Beam Gatling fire until it, too, collapsed onto the sand.
The sub-arms swiveled the Beam Gatlings, bringing two more Tieren units into Stellar's line of fire. From the sky, irregular blue beams periodically swept across the desert floor.
"A total defeat..."
Sergei used his Tieren's last functional camera to witness the one-sided devastation. Under the combined assault of the Armed Armor BS and the Beam Gatlings, the remaining Tieren units were helpless, falling one by one.
"Phew... Phase 2 complete. Preparing to extract the target..."
Shinn let out a small sigh of relief as he surveyed the aftermath.
But just as he prepared to recover the Kyrios, a cold, frantic brainwave manifested in the sky above.
-----------------------------------
Meanwhile, at the AEU position: "Heh heh... keep a close eye on this big fatty, everyone!"
Patrick Colasour, piloting his AEU Enact, was humming a happy little tune as he spoke over the external speakers while looking at the Virtue, which was currently trapped within a capture field.
"As long as I bring this guy back... the Colonel will surely see me in a new light."
Next would come the admiration, the proposal, the marriage... in just a few minutes, Patrick had even decided on the names for his and Kati's children.
One couldn't really blame his wandering mind; the Hellion squadron specifically assigned to escort the Virtue had grown to a scale of fifty units. Surely, no one would come looking for trouble...
Although he didn't know why the communication channels were being jammed, luckily the machines' external speakers and light signals still worked, though they seemed a bit sluggish for some reason.
Just as Patrick was still humming his tune, three purple beams suddenly manifested in the sky, destroying the Hellions that were restraining the Virtue from the left, right, and rear.
"Who goes there?!"
The sudden turn of events made Patrick's eyes widen instinctively. "Everyone, scatter!"
Before the Hellions could even disperse, a dozen small missiles flew above them and detonated violently. Tiny beams formed a dense downpour of light; about ten Hellions were destroyed by the Beam Shot Rockets, crashing into the sand.
Three dark silhouettes descended from the sky. In the night, their red, goggle-like face sensors made Patrick feel a twinge of unease.
"Machines I've never seen before..."
He narrowed his eyes slightly and slammed down on the pedals, maneuvering his Enact to fly toward the lead machine.
"However, since you've launched an attack, you must be here to save this Gundam too!"
Saying this, Patrick controlled the Enact to draw its Sonic Blade, swinging the high-frequency vibrating edge forward.
"Ho... instead of running away, you're charging straight at a Jesta?"
Veronica, seeing the scene before her, laughed loudly. "Bridget, Estelle, leave him to me! I'm going to have some fun with him!"
The multi-purpose launcher on her left shoulder rotated, firing Beam Shot Rockets into the sky. Her Beam Carbine was holstered on her rear waist, and the Jesta shields mounted on both sides of her customized Jesta Cannon backpack shifted to fix onto the machine's forearms.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time!"
Veronica laughed wildly, raising the two shields mounted on the Jesta's hands like a boxer, watching the Enact as it charged toward her.
"Veronica, you and your impulsive whims..."
Bridget sighed at the sight. "Estelle, all batteries, open fire!"
The small missiles on the two Jestas were unlocked, the Mega Particle Cannons on their right shoulders finished aiming, and even the shields shifted orientation under the control of the sub-arms.
"Fire!"
Following Bridget's command, the Virtue—which had just dropped to the ground due to its weight after the restraint field failed—looked on in bewilderment at the sky exploding all around it.
Beam shot warheads detonated in the sky one after another. The dense rain of beams turned the airspace into a forbidden zone for even a bird, let alone Hellions that were dozens or hundreds of times larger.
Machines exploded in the sky, and a massive amount of parts rained down onto the sand, leaving the wind and sand to erode and bury them.
"You bastards!"
Seeing his team being slaughtered, Patrick grew desperate, swinging his blade at the Jesta closest to him—the one holding two shields.
But in the next second, a textbook shield bash parried Patrick's blade away.
The bulky-looking Jesta proved to be as agile as a human. After the left-handed shield bash was completed, the right hand followed up with a fluid shield thrust straight into the Enact's chest.
Despite the Enact's own defensive strength not being particularly weak, the immense output allowed the Jesta's shield to punch right through it. Inside the cockpit, Patrick looked on in terror as the edge of the Jesta's shield appeared right above him.
"So brittle. I thought it would be a 'fist-to-meat' brawl like Big Brother Roz does..."
Looking at the Enact before her, Veronica sighed with some disappointment. She casually extended her right leg and kicked the "wreckage" of the Enact away.
"Target recovery complete. Preparing to evacuate..."
-----------------------------------
Meanwhile, at the UNION position:
"It appears to be a sniper-type machine..."
Looking at the unit before him, Graham Aker breathed a small sigh of relief.
The Dynames was half-kneeling on the ground, its primary sniper rifle discarded by its side. Evidently, after over ten hours of bombardment followed by the assault from the UNION's special flight squadron, it had been beaten into submission.
"Alright, let's transfer it back to our base now."
Graham spoke over the external speakers, maneuvering his brand-new Custom Flag as he prepared to tow the Dynames away.
"Stay sharp. This scene is identical to our battle with the Raven... he must be nearby!"
Graham and his team were already aware when the Minovsky particles began to disperse. After Professor Eifman had previously analyzed the wreckage of the Flags, he concluded that the "electronic components had been fried."
Clearly, when the "Raven" deployed a certain field, it did more than just jam communications and radar—it destroyed unprotected electronic equipment.
This time, after their Flags were repaired, they didn't just fix them; they added shielding to the electronic components to prevent the machines from being disabled by the interference.
"Communication jamming of this intensity... he is definitely here!"
Just as the Flags surrounded the Dynames, preparing to move the unit, two red beams manifested from the sky. They struck a Flag with pinpoint accuracy; the machine detonated violently beside them. The force of the explosion pushed the surrounding units back, carving several deep furrows into the sand.
In the night sky, three ReZELs flew past in WR (Waverider) mode, circling at incredible speeds.
"Those... goggles?!"
Seeing those three somewhat familiar visors, Graham's eyes widened slightly. How could he ever forget the machines that had so easily defeated him before?
In the next instant, two of the ReZELs suddenly unleashed a massive swarm of small missiles, raining down toward the Flags on the ground.
"Missile incoming! Everyone scatter, evade!"
Graham shouted over the speakers, quickly maneuvering his machine into the air and transforming into a WR state similar to the ReZELs.
Three missiles locked onto his Custom Flag. Even after deploying all his chaff, it had no effect.
"Dammit... the chaff is useless!"
Seeing the missiles relentlessly pursuing him, Graham grit his teeth.
As elite members of a specially formed squadron, these pilots were all aces of their respective units. Faced with such a missile assault, no one was damaged except for two unlucky souls.
"In that case, I'll use this—!"
Graham steered his Flag into a sudden dive, flying at an altitude that nearly brushed the ground before performing a sharp flip and pulling up. Unable to make the turn, the three missiles slammed into the sand and exploded, kicking up a massive curtain of dust.
Even though he had just completed an extreme maneuver, for Graham, the crisis was far from over.
The three ReZELs in the sky had transformed into MS mode without them noticing. The small shields on their left arms aimed at the Flags scurrying under the missile fire. Their 3-barrel Mega Beam Cannons unleashed arrow-like particle beams, strafing the Flags continuously.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Two more MS were destroyed. Graham grit his teeth. This was no time to daze off; a decision had to be made.
"Don't get bogged down in a fight! Everyone, withdraw!"
Graham couldn't afford to care about anything else; he could only order his team to retreat.
He himself was being suppressed by the ReZELs, let alone his subordinates whose piloting skills were slightly inferior to his own. Ordering a retreat to regroup was the best choice.
Moreover, it was obvious that these enemies were no longer holding back like they did in their previous encounter.
"Enemy retreating. Target recovered, preparing for extraction..."
Watching the Flags make a sensible exit, the members of the ReZEL squad felt somewhat helpless. Apparently, someone in that group had developed some psychological trauma... was it the guy who got thrashed at sea?
As Evelyn was reporting the results, she suddenly furrowed her brow instinctively. A cold, chaotic mental wave appeared in her mind.
"Wait... someone is coming."
.....................