Three units of the second-generation GAT-X series launched from the enemy flagship. The first to enter my sensors was the Forbidden, a machine that could be called the successor to the Blitz, which I had previously piloted. Unlike the midnight-black armor of the Blitz, this machine was draped primarily in deep forest green. Its capabilities—the Geschmeidig Panzer energy-deflection system, an evolution of the Mirage Colloid, and the Nidhoggr heavy scythe—felt hauntingly familiar, echoing the design philosophies of both the Blitz and my own Glowsaver.
Emerging next was the Raider, an avian Mobile Armor. As the successor to the Aegis, it boasted the ability to transform from MS to MA mode, granting it maneuverability that surely ranked at the top of the new GAT-X series. The reason it trailed behind the Forbidden was clear: it was acting as a sub-flight lifter for the heavily armed Calamity. One had to admire its raw thrust; even with a heavy-ordnance Mobile Suit strapped to its back, it maintained a cruising speed only slightly lower than the Forbidden's.
Finally, there was the Calamity, perched atop the Raider. As the successor to the Buster, it possessed the most devastating long-range bombardment capabilities of the era. Two massive cannons rose from its backpack, a handheld bazooka gripped in its manipulators, and a Scylla multi-phase energy cannon—the same type used by the Aegis—embedded in its chest.
These three were the trump cards of the Earth Alliance—or rather, the Atlantic Federation. They halted their advance just before the Glowsaver, which had drifted ahead of the Archangel, effectively surrounding me.
...I suppose I should try making contact. Just in case.
Knowing full well it would likely be an exercise in futility, I opened a wide-broadcast channel.
"Shani Andras, Clotho Buer, Orga Sabnak. You three are receiving me, right?"
"Ugh, what do you want?" Shani's voice crackled back, thick with listless irritation. Clotho and Orga remained silent. No matter; I knew they were listening.
"Don't you want to be free from the shackles of those drugs?"
"Hah? What the hell are you talking about?" Clotho replied with a mocking sneer.
"If we use Shadow Mirror technology, there is a chance we can restore your bodies to something resembling health. If you surrender now—!"
Before I could finish, the Forbidden closed the gap with startling speed, its heavy scythe whistling through the air toward the Glowsaver's cockpit.
"You're annoying," Shani muttered.
"So, words are wasted on you," I whispered.
I boosted backward, the blade of the scythe missing by a hair's breadth. I abandoned any hope of persuasion. Judging by their reactions, it wasn't just the drugs; their psychological conditioning was twisted beyond repair.
"Fine. If nothing else, let me grant you salvation by reaping the harvest of your distorted lives. Adamant Halper, activate!"
With those words, the Adamant Halper transitioned into its Great Scythe mode. Its shimmering silver blade was larger, sharper, and far more malevolent than the Forbidden's Nidhoggr.
"Imitating me? That's annoying," Shani growled.
I drifted to the side to evade the Nidhoggr's downward swing and countered with a horizontal sweep of the Adamant Halper, aiming for the Forbidden's torso. I knew physical attacks were unlikely to penetrate the Forbidden's Trans-Phase (TP) armor. While I was intimately familiar with the Phase Shift armor of the Blitz and Strike, this was my first encounter with the TP variant. This strike was purely for data collection.
Regardless of its name, TP armor was still an evolution of PS technology, and there were ways to break it. The simplest method was beam weaponry, but the Forbidden's Geschmeidig Panzer could bend beams at will, making that a difficult path.
"Whoops!"
Through the T-LINK system, I felt a spike of murderous intent from behind and soared upward. A spiked iron ball—the Mjolnir—shredded the space where the Glowsaver had been a fraction of a second ago. The Raider had transformed into MS mode, having apparently dropped the Calamity onto the deck of a nearby ship.
Now, the Calamity leveled its backpack cannons at me. Here it comes!
"Acceleration!"
Utilizing the Mental Command, I surged forward, circling behind the Forbidden. I slammed the hilt of the Adamant Halper into its backpack, sending the machine careening directly into the Calamity's line of fire. Predictably, the Calamity's beam was caught by the Geschmeidig Panzer and deflected harmlessly into the distance.
Specialization, maneuverability, and raw firepower. I had seen enough. I reopened the open channel.
"I've seen what your machines can do. It's time to put you down."
"What?! Don't screw with me, you bastard!" Orga roared.
Enraged, the Calamity unleashed a hailstorm of beams and bazooka rounds. Among them was a blast from the Scylla. A single hit would be catastrophic.
...If it hits.
"Focus."
Activating the Mental Command, I used the T-LINK system to read Orga's intent, weaving through the "rain of fire" with surgical precision. It was almost too easy; because their aggression was artificially heightened by the drugs, their movements were telegraphed clearly through the T-LINK.
I dodged the Raider's iron ball and the Forbidden's curved beams once more, closing the distance to the Calamity. As I entered melee range, I parried a desperate swing from its bazooka and thrust my left arm forward—the one not holding the Halper.
"Graipnir's Thread, engage!"
Guided by my will, threads of psychokinetic energy manifested from the T-LINK system. They coiled around the Calamity's shoulder-mounted cannons and its arms, binding the machine's movements entirely.
"Dammit! Let go of me!" Orga screamed over the contact link. I ignored him, swinging the bound Calamity around like a flail.
Clang!
The Raider's Mjolnir iron ball bounced off the Calamity's armored frame. A split second later, the Forbidden's scythe struck the Calamity as well. Any lesser machine like a GINN or a Strike Dagger would have been pulverized, but the TP armor held firm under the friendly fire.
"SON OF A BITCH! ENOUGH ALREADY!"
Orga screamed, attempting to fire the chest-mounted Scylla even as he was being swung through the air.
"T-LINK System, Full Contact... SP Boost... SEVER!"
I flooded the Graipnir's Thread with a massive surge of SP. The psychokinetic wires tightened with impossible force, simultaneously shearing off the Calamity's shoulder cannons and both its arms. The limbless torso was hurled away like a piece of scrap metal.
"Effort... PHANTOM!"
Twenty "Phantom" remote units launched from the Glowsaver, their laser blades glowing like bared fangs as they converged on the Calamity. Unable to fly on its own and with its thrusters and backpack mangled, the Calamity was a helpless target. The Phantoms swarmed it—stabbing, slashing, and gouging into the frame like a pack of wolves bringing down a stag.
In seconds, the Calamity—including its cockpit—was reduced to unrecognizable wreckage. It plummeted into the sea, followed moments later by a towering geyser of water and a muffled underwater explosion.
"That's one."
The remaining two pilots froze. Though they weren't close, they knew each other's strength; seeing the Calamity dismantled so effortlessly was clearly beyond their expectations. I didn't hesitate to exploit the opening.
"Love. Direct Hit."
A mysterious power surged through my body and the Glowsaver. I utilized the "Acceleration" aspect of the multifaceted Love command to close in on my second target. I ignored the Raider; the Forbidden and its specialized equipment were the greater threat.
"Gaze into the eyes of the Gorgon!"
With the thrusters of the Chronos at full output, I left the Phantoms in my wake and blinked behind the Forbidden. I deployed the Graipnir's Thread once more, ensnaring the machine. Half of my Phantoms unleashed a barrage of laser fire, while the other half bared their laser blades.
"Adamant Halper, Nine-Tail Mode!"
With my right hand, I transformed the Halper into nine shimmering whips of light, lashing out at the Forbidden. The strikes shredded its backpack, scattering components across the waves.
"SP Boost... SEVER!"
Psychic energy surged through the Graipnir's Thread, cleanly lopping off the Forbidden's limbs. I deployed the beam gatling barrels from my arm. At point-blank range, I poured a relentless stream of fire into the Forbidden's torso.
The cockpit was vaporized. The limbless, headless remains of the Forbidden disintegrated into the ocean, triggering a second massive explosion.
"That's two. Now for the last—hm?"
I searched for the Raider, but there was no response on the T-LINK system. What? As Boosted Men with heightened aggression, their presence should have been glowing like a beacon to my psychokinetic senses.
"Axel-san, look!"
Kira's voice came over the comms from the Freedom. I looked where he was pointing. The Raider, in its avian MA mode, was retreating at maximum speed. Clinging to its frame was a single Spearhead fighter, both accelerating away from the battlefield.
"Can anyone tell me where that fighter originated?" I asked, a sinking feeling in my gut as I contacted the Archangel.
Milliaria appeared on the monitor immediately. "We confirmed it launched from what appeared to be the enemy flagship."
A fighter protected by a Boosted Man's Mobile Suit. A two-seater Spearhead. It didn't take much imagination to realize who was inside.
"So, you abandon the Atlantic Federation fleet you dragged out here and flee by yourself, Muruta Azrael?"
There was no doubt. The leader of Blue Cosmos, the man fueling the flames of this war for his own gain, was on that plane. I had hoped to end him here, but for all his talk of being a "businessman," his sense for a tactical retreat was impeccable. In the original history, he had hesitated when Natarle suggested withdrawal at Mendel. Perhaps he only moves this fast when he truly feels his own life is on the line.
A signal flare rose from the enemy flagship, followed by a white flag.
"Surrender, then. For the sake of both sides, I'm glad they aren't foolish enough to fight to the last man."
If the commander had been a die-hard Blue Cosmos fanatic like Sutherland, they might have fought until the ship sank. However, judging by the earlier exchange with Murrue, the leadership of this fleet seemed at least partially aligned with that ideology.
"Axel, I've contacted Orb," Murrue's voice came through. "Their fleet is on the way to take custody of the surrendered Alliance ships. They've asked us to hold the line until they arrive."
I nodded. Towing a fleet of crippled ships back to port was a massive headache; I was happy to let Orb handle the logistics.
"Well, the first act is over. But the curtain rises again soon enough."
Status: Axel Almar
Level: 37
PP: 205
Melee: 258 | Ranged: 278 | Skill: 268
Defense: 268 | Evasion: 298 | Accuracy: 318
SP: 454
Ace Bonus: SP Boost (Spend SP to enhance unit performance)
Growth Type: All-Rounder / Special
Terrain Ratings: Air: S | Land: S | Water: S | Space: S
Spirit Commands:
Acceleration (SP 4)
Effort (SP 8)
Focus (SP 16)
Direct Hit (SP 30)
Awakening (SP 32)
Love (SP 48)
Skills:
EXP Up
SP Boost (SP Up Lv.9, SP Regen, Concentration)
Psychodriver (telekinesis) Lv.10
Attacker
Gunfight Lv.9
Infight Lv.9
Spirit Limit Break
Geass (Grey)
[Locked]
[Locked]
Kill Count: 294
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