After speaking, Maurice piloted the New Model Fighter to charge toward the Dawn first. Seeing Maurice's action, the others quickly joined the assault he initiated.
Watching these fighters approaching from multiple directions, Felix remained calm and composed, his eyes fixed intently on the screen before him. With the aid of his Intuition, he detected each threat as it emerged. His hands continuously executed maneuvers.
Under Felix's control, the Dawn moved like an elegant dancer across the sky. Each movement was a perfect evasion. After multiple engagements, the New Model Fighter squadron not only failed to inflict any damage on the Dawn but instead lost several of their own aircraft in the process.
Witnessing his comrades' sacrifices and seeing the New Model Fighter squadron reduced to less than half its original number, Maurice clearly realized that their planned Broken Sword Operation had ended in complete failure.
"We've failed," he murmured, his voice calm yet tinged with frustration. After this quiet admission, Maurice opened the communication channel.
"Commander, we've failed," Maurice reported the outcome the moment the connection was established. Upon hearing the result, the frontline Commander's expression turned grave, his voice lowering as he asked, "Is it a complete failure?"
"Complete failure. The Sword of Damocles' capabilities far exceed our expectations. It seems to have no limits—no matter how tricky our attack angles, it always finds a way to counter them. As a result, all our attacks missed, and our unit suffered heavy losses," Maurice replied with a firm nod, striving to keep his voice steady. After his response, he maneuvered his fighter to evade incoming attacks while awaiting the Commander's reply.
"Retreat!" came the order through the communication channel after a brief pause.
Upon receiving the retreat command, Maurice quickly relayed it to the others. "The Commander has ordered a retreat!" he announced. Following his words, Maurice pulled the trigger, launching an attack at the Dawn. The Machine Cannon's bullets sped toward their target, and the others joined in, firing their own Machine Cannons at the Dawn.
As these attacks approached, Felix's Intuition continuously issued warnings. Enhanced by his Intuition, Felix's mind raced, calculating the optimal response based on the current situation. His hands executed a series of commands, and the Dawn evaded accordingly, dodging the attacks one after another.
Once he reached a safe position, Felix saw the New Model Fighters fleeing. Observing their retreat, Felix pulled the trigger. The Dawn, gripping the Heavy Assault Machine Gun, fired a continuous stream of bullets from its barrel.
Boom! Boom!
Two explosions erupted in the sky, instantly destroying two of the fleeing New Model Fighters. Watching his comrades perish, Maurice's face darkened. Just as he considered taking action, a voice came through the communication channel.
"Maurice, you take the others and continue the retreat. I'll go hold off the Sword of Damocles!"
"Beckham, what are you doing?!"
A bad feeling rose in his heart.
Maurice shouted through the comms.
There was no response to his voice, only the sight of Beckham's New Model Fighter breaking away from the formation.
"I'm going too!"
"I'm going too!"
Two or three more voices came through the comms.
As Maurice listened, three more fighters broke formation and headed toward the enemy at their rear.
"All of you, get back here!"
Roaring, Maurice maneuvered his fighter to turn back. Beckham's voice came through the comms again.
"Maurice, your mission is to lead the remaining people back, not to come fight with us."
After speaking, a faint smile appeared on Beckham's face, his expression one of serene acceptance as he said calmly,
"Don't let our sacrifice be in vain!"
These words struck Maurice deeply, halting his attempt to turn back. After a brief struggle on his face, his expression turned resolute.
He stopped the others through the comms and led the team forward.
Seeing that no one else turned back, Beckham's smile remained calm as he focused his gaze ahead.
"Rearguard?"
Felix muttered as he looked at these guys before him.
Under Felix's control, Dawn dodged the attacks they fired.
After evading, Dawn's Heavy Assault Machine Gun opened fire.
Boom!
An explosion sounded.
A New Model Fighter was destroyed by Felix.
After blowing up that guy, Felix controlled Dawn to evade another attack. The Heavy Assault Machine Gun fired again.
The bullets flew forward.
Dawn followed closely behind the bullets, charging ahead.
Beckham manipulated his fighter with an extremely extreme maneuver to dodge this bullet attack. Before he could feel relieved, he saw Dawn right in front of him, and the Heavy Sword raised in Dawn's hand.
Seeing this, Beckham directly activated the Self-Destruct Program, even canceling the countdown timer.
The moment the program activated, Beckham's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared ahead. He opened his mouth to say something, but the next moment he was swallowed by the explosion generated by the Self-Destruct Program.
"That was close! Too close!"
Felix exclaimed with relief inside Dawn's Cockpit.
He also thanked his Intuition - if not for this intuition, he might have been badly tricked by this guy.
Dawn would have sustained serious damage.
After this moment of relief, Felix abandoned any thought of close combat. Controlling Dawn, he aimed at the remaining two New Model Fighters and attacked from a distance.
Boom! Boom!
Two loud explosions occurred one after another.
Two fireballs appeared in the sky, with debris from within falling toward the ground.
After dealing with these two, Felix looked ahead and saw that the other New Model Fighters had already put some distance between them during the brief gap.
As he watched them retreat into the distance, Felix was preparing to give chase when Doug's voice came through the comms.
"Captain Griffith, how's your battle going?"
"Everything is proceeding smoothly so far."
Felix calmly replied to Doug's inquiry.
Learning that everything was proceeding smoothly, Doug breathed a slight sigh of relief before speaking with a touch of seriousness in his voice.
"Captain Griffith, it seems the enemy has dispatched reinforcements!"
"Reinforcements?"
Griffith raised an eyebrow slightly and murmured the words.
Considering the current situation, Felix quickly understood.
Gazing ahead, he thought to himself, "If everything goes smoothly, they're reinforcements; if not, they're here for extraction. Their preparations are quite thorough!"
"The enemy has already retreated. We won't pursue the forces in front of us."
Withdrawing his thoughts, Felix responded to Doug over the comms. Upon hearing this, Doug nodded slightly and said with a laugh, "I'll be waiting here for Captain Griffith's triumphant return!"
"Get ready to welcome us with a feast!"
Felix chuckled, teasing Doug in return.
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