With Chairman Patrick Zala and Military Committee Member Ezalia Joule having evacuated from GENESIS, Gilbert Durandal prepared to initiate his own plan.
"The Unicorn's fleet has already appeared. You know what needs to be done, don't you?"
"...I naturally understand. Do not forget the contents of our deal."
Orphee Lam Tro's voice came through the communication.
"If my plan succeeds, then the terms of our transaction will, naturally, be fulfilled one by one."
Even though Orphee could not see Durandal's expression, Durandal maintained his smile, continuing to paint the picture of the grand promises he had made.
Of course, although it was just talk for now, Durandal still intended to fulfill the agreement he had made with the Foundation royal family.
In the world he envisioned, resources, status... everything would be redistributed, assigned to the hands of those most suited for them.
However, if things were truly calculated according to his methods, this group of people from the Kingdom of Foundation would—even without his intervention—be able to obtain the resources stipulated in the agreement under the computer's allocation.
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"Are you heading out now?"
Ingrid Tradoll looked at Orphee Lam Tro, her expression complex.
Even though he claimed he could finally let go of the burden of their citizens and relax, in Ingrid's eyes, Orphee still looked exhausted, as if something were weighing heavily on his shoulders.
"Ever since we signed the agreement with Gilbert Durandal, this day was destined to come, Ingrid."
Orphee looked at the scene before him and said, "Mother doesn't care about politics and such; she is intoxicated by her research into breaking human limits... Signing that contract with Durandal was our only path at the time. No doubt Durandal realized this too."
At that moment, they were standing on a magnificent bridge that resembled a palace.
The Gullveig, the flagship built for the Kingdom of Foundation with assistance from Durandal's side, was equipped with a massive array of missile launchers and four twin-barrel main cannons.
However, the most eye-catching feature was the center of this ship named Gullveig: a total of twelve positron cannons.
Including this Gullveig, a fleet of twelve warships sharing the same design style was waiting at the base near GENESIS, ready to launch.
"Go and change into your pilot suit, Ingrid."
In the end, as Ingrid wanted to say something more, Orphee shook his head, silencing her thoughts.
"Also, put the Requiem troops and the Black Knight squad on standby. Especially, tell Shura Serpentine to get ready."
"No doubt Shura has been waiting for today for a long time."
It was only natural. At this moment, Shura was sitting in the cockpit of his specialized Black Knight unit, codename "Destroy." Watching the battle between the Dendrobium, the ZAFT unit, and the Destroy Mk-II, he grit his teeth as a surge of rage welled up from his heart. His expression turned twisted, and his hands instinctively tightened around the control sticks.
Yes, that pure white machine—that was his chosen nemesis.
He must... no, he absolutely would defeat him!
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At this moment, Roz Links, piloting the Dendrobium, charged toward the position the Machine Spirit Girl had pointed out.
It was an extremely dangerous position, likely to result in being caught in a pincer attack by the ZAFT unit and the Destroy Mk-II, but Roz still trusted the Machine Spirit Girl implicitly.
For no other reason than this: if the Machine Spirit Girl had wanted Roz dead, she simply could have refrained from acting before and let him die in battle. There would be no need for such elaborate measures.
Furthermore, since the moment Roz began to hear the Machine Spirit Girl's voice, he could feel a tight connection between them that transcended the mind and reached into his very soul.
"Release all missile containers."
Hearing the gentle voice of the Machine Spirit Girl in his ear, Roz unhesitatingly pressed the button on his control stick.
The four remaining small missile containers were released from the back of the armed base, unleashing a sky full of missiles.
With such a density of missiles, even nuclear-powered machines like the ZAFT unit and the Destroy Mk-II were forced to temporarily retreat from the brunt of the assault.
After all, based on their knowledge of Roz, it was entirely possible that some missiles equipped with beam-scatter warheads were mixed in among the ordinary ones.
And their intuition proved correct. A batch of the fastest-flying missiles suddenly burst open, and a dense rain of beams appeared in this sector of space, sweeping toward the ZAFT unit and the Destroy Mk-II like an overwhelming tide.
At that moment, Roz finally understood why the Machine Spirit Girl had told him to approach this direction.
The evasion route Clotho Buer took while piloting the Destroy Mk-II to avoid the beam rain happened to coincide exactly with the direction of Roz's advance.
Roz did not hesitate for a second. At such a short distance, it was clearly too late to use the beam cannons; the mechanical claw on the right side of the Dendrobium deployed a beam ship-cutting sword and slashed toward the Destroy Mk-II.
Even though blood was continuously flowing from his nostrils and his body had reached the brink of collapse, Clotho's operations did not falter for an instant.
The Destroy Mk-II, which had been in MA mode to obtain higher mobility, rapidly transformed into MS mode, using its left hand to firmly seize the mechanical claw of the Dendrobium that held the beam ship-cutting sword.
Clotho casually opened his visor, allowing the blood flowing from his nose to drift through the cockpit. He maneuvered the Destroy Mk-II to raise its right hand and draw a beam saber.
But in the next second, the mechanical claw on the left side of the Dendrobium—one that had rarely been used—deployed a new beam saber. With an upward stroke, it slashed into the Destroy's right arm.
The high-output beam ship-cutting sword sliced through the Destroy's right arm with ease, creating an opening.
This was exactly the result Roz wanted most. This battle could not be dragged out; he had to quickly eliminate the Destroy Mk-II and the ZAFT unit before he could launch an attack against GENESIS and Gryps to stop all of this. The prerequisite for achieving these goals was finding a breakthrough that could take out one machine in a single wave.
"Ugh... White Devil, you bastard..."
Clotho felt the impact transmitted from the machine; he tasted a metallic, salty sweetness in his mouth, reminiscent of rust.
He casually spat the bloody foam from his mouth to the side. Since this body was already destined for death, there was no need to worry about anything else.
He pulled the trigger, and the multi-phase energy cannons on the chest and mouth of the Destroy Mk-II activated, emitting a dazzling light.
Roz raised his beam cannon and unhesitatingly performed a point-blank bombardment.
The thick yellow beam struck the Destroy's body; the left arm was melted and destroyed, and a massive hole was blasted through the head monitor. Only a tiny bit of the outer armor remained to vaguely suggest the machine's original form.
The Dendrobium, with its limiters removed, swung both beam sabers on its mechanical claws in a cross-slash toward the Destroy Mk-II.
"Heh... as expected, one can't afford a single mistake when fighting you..."
Seeing those thick beam ship-cutting swords, Clotho slumped in his seat, allowing the blood to flow from his nose and mouth to drift in the cockpit.
Clotho reached out and gripped the dog tags linked together on his chest.
"Brothers... I'm coming to find you both..."
A flash of searing white beam passed through. The proof of his existence, along with the cockpit, vanished into the universe.
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