In a forest on the outskirts of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Europe, Reid and the Xia sisters were surveying their surroundings. Once again, the system had dumped them into a forest with no clear indication of their location.
Fortunately, the entire Grand Duchy of Luxembourg spanned only 2,586.3 square kilometers—just a third larger than the "Magic City" where Reid had lived in his previous life—so pinpointing their position wasn't too difficult.
Moreover, Luxembourg's terrain was naturally treacherous, having served as a crucial military stronghold in ancient Western Europe. With the cover of mountains and forests, the three Mobile Suits could quietly scout without being detected by the two warring factions.
Yes, just by listening to the sounds, it was clear that Luxembourg City was under siege by countless Virgos.
The outskirts remained largely untouched by the fighting, as the first wave of Mobile Doll Virgos had descended from space, landing near the city center. Their objective was to storm the heart of the capital and capture Treize Khushrenada, who was believed to be hiding there.
In reality, however, Treize Khushrenada was holed up in a castle on the outskirts. At first glance, the area appeared lightly defended—a deliberate "empty fort" strategy to deceive the reborn OZ forces.
If human soldiers were leading the assault, they might have noticed something amiss and sent scouts to investigate. But the reborn OZ had deployed only mindless Mobile Dolls, which relied solely on system logic to determine that the densest concentration of Mobile Suits must indicate the target's hideout.
Thus, Reid was presented with two possible courses of action.
The first was to feign ignorance and charge straight into the Virgo forces. Since he was still operating as an unaffiliated invader, every shot fired by the Hermes Zero would earn him rewards, regardless of who got hit. He just had to be careful not to destroy the Wing Gundam, ensuring Heero could later pilot the Epyon Gundam.
The second option was to immediately storm the castle where Treize Khushrenada was hiding. Given Luxembourg's small size, there was only one structure that could be called a castle—no chance of mistaking the location.
This battle's protagonist Mobile Suit was the Epyon Gundam, worth a staggering 90 Merit Points—more than two Geminis and three upgraded Leos combined.
In theory, Reid could skip straight to fighting the Epyon Gundam. If he wanted to farm G-Coins, he could engage the Virgos for a while. If he wanted to ambush Chang Wufei, he could lie in wait longer.
However, this approach came with two additional complications.
First, while the Epyon Gundam was definitely underground, Reid didn't know its exact location. He'd either have to personally search the underground passages or demolish the castle and try to dig the Gundam out.
Of course, the more likely scenario was that Treize Khushrenada would simply sortie in the Epyon Gundam himself. And this time, he might not disable the self-destruct function—if things went south, he'd blow himself up without hesitation.
Second, there was also the possibility that Treize would flee in the Epyon Gundam. His dream was the peaceful unification of the Earth Sphere, and with that goal still far out of reach, he had no intention of dying here.
After careful consideration, Reid decided that as an adult, he would choose—both!
As usual, he first laid Space Mines and Sensor Signal Flares near the landing zone.
Then, Reid prepared to divide his forces.
The Xia sisters launched a direct assault on the castle. Xia Yufang piloted the NT-X2 Gundam in a frontal charge, entered the castle, disembarked, and sought out Treize Khushrenada, aiming to have him lead her to the Epyon Gundam.
Once Xia Yufang boarded the Epyon Gundam and brought it out, Reid would arrive to retrieve the Mobile Suit.
Of course, while Xia Yufang made her frontal assault, Xia Yulan naturally provided covert protection by activating the Mirage Colloid System in the Mystic Lightning.
Especially during the period after Xia Yufang disembarked, they had to prevent any remaining personnel in the castle from commandeering the NT-X2.
As for whether Xia Yufang could be defeated by Treize Khushrenada, Reid wasn't worried. Though Treize was no slouch in combat, he was still far from matching Xia Yufang, who trained daily with Ange. In a direct fight, Treize would likely be thoroughly thrashed.
As for gunfights, Xia Yufang wore a full-body Luna Titanium Fish Scale Bulletproof Suit, complete with a bulletproof and gas-proof helmet. In a shootout, she would still come out on top.
Thus, Reid didn't need to worry much about the castle. As for the main battlefield—
After the Xia sisters left with the Yata-no-Kagami Shield as planned, Reid piloted the Hermes Zero, carrying the Large Minovsky Particle Dispersal Device, and ascended to high altitude.
Then he realized that no one in the chaotic battlefield even noticed him, so he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands—firing a shot to destroy the device himself.
Minovsky Particle Dispersion spread, just as it had in the first two incidents in the AC universe. Unprotected Mobile Suits instantly lost communications, targeting systems went haywire, and the battlefield below descended into chaos.
The Virgo Mobile Dolls were particularly affected. With their targeting radar malfunctioning, they began firing wildly.
After all, human-piloted Mobile Suits could still switch to manual optical targeting, but the Mobile Dolls relied on a dual optical-radar lock. With one system down, every shot they fired was essentially random.
Originally, the Virgo Mobile Dolls had been overwhelming Treize's personal guard of Leos, even though the number of guards was far greater than depicted in the anime.
But the outcome remained unchanged—the Leos' beam rifles had no effect on the Virgos' Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shields, while the Virgos could one-shot the Leos with ease.
If not for the Wing Gundam's presence on the battlefield—its Buster Beam Rifle unleashing beams that the Virgos couldn't fully block, sweeping through entire lines—the front would have collapsed long ago.
Now, however, with the Virgos' targeting systems malfunctioning, their attacks relied mostly on luck. As a result, Treize's personal guard on the frontlines suddenly felt the pressure ease.
Of course, Treize's guard was also in disarray, as internal communications had been completely severed. The only "good news" was that someone finally noticed the green particles descending from above and looked up, spotting the Hermes Zero.
This Mobile Suit, suddenly appearing at high altitude with a design not quite resembling a Gundam and an eye-catching golden shield, left Treize's guards puzzled. But with no way to quickly alert their comrades, they could only fret helplessly in their cockpits.
Fortunately, in the next moment, the expressions of Treize's personal guard relaxed considerably. Reid, noticing that the MD Virgos below still hadn't detected him and that the Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shield was still defending the front lines, saw this as a perfect opportunity to harvest G-Coins. He immediately raised the Buster Beam Rifle and swept a barrage across the MD Virgo forces below.
A fifty-meter-wide colossal ion beam instantly raked through the MD Virgo troops. Like an eraser wiping away pencil marks, entire swathes of MD Virgos vanished in an instant.
Meanwhile, inside the Wing Gundam, Heero muttered to himself as he gazed at the Hermes Zero in the sky:
"That... that's firepower comparable to the Wing Zero's twin Buster Beam Rifles. Is that Mobile Suit also a Gundam?"
But the next second, Heero dismissed his own thought. After annihilating the MD Virgos, the mysterious MS transformed its peculiar cannon into an aircraft and retracted it onto its back. Then, it began picking off the Leos on his side with precise rifle shots.
With the advantage of height and the Leos' targeting systems completely disabled, few could mount any effective counterattack.
Faced with the enemy's Electromagnetic Rifle fire, the Leos could only be picked off one by one. Their blind return fire—beams and bullets alike—flew aimlessly into the sky, utterly failing to hit their target.
Though Heero didn't understand why this unknown MS was attacking everyone indiscriminately, he knew one thing: it wasn't an ally, but an enemy.
Without hesitation, Heero maneuvered the Wing Gundam into takeoff, transforming it into MA Mode to engage the unknown MS in aerial combat.
However, Reid, utilizing his Newtype abilities, read Heero's intentions perfectly. The moment the Wing Gundam lifted off, Reid shifted his focus onto it.
Seizing the opportunity during its transformation, Reid made the Hermes Zero accelerate explosively, closing the distance instantly. With a single sword stroke, he severed the Wing Gundam's right arm along with its Buster Beam Rifle, then kicked it back to the ground.
Afterward, Reid couldn't help but scoff:
"Attempting to transform at such close range without air cover? Did you really think transformation sequences grant invincibility?"
With that, Reid ignored the now combat-ineffective Wing Gundam. After all, if Xia Yufang failed, they might still need Heero to bring out the Epyon Gundam.
Thus, Reid deliberately acted as though he couldn't be bothered to finish Heero off, turning his attention back to mopping up the remaining Leos. If a major battle ensued, he didn't want distractions from multiple fronts.
Yet reality proved Reid's concerns unnecessary. He had assumed that with communications severed and the newborn OZ's de facto leader—Dermail Catalonia, acting president of the Romefeller Foundation—relying solely on satellite surveillance, no additional MD Virgos would be deployed.
But Reid forgot one thing: Dermail was also a dictator who pretended to understand warfare. As the embodiment of the Romefeller Foundation's corruption, he refused to acknowledge the operation's failure. He roared at his subordinate delivering the report:
"What?! The MD Virgos in Luxembourg were nearly wiped out? Annihilated by high-powered beam cannon fire? And you still haven't identified the source of the attack?
Damn it! Where in Luxembourg could there be a cannon capable of destroying so many MD Virgos in one strike? Send orders immediately—divert all MD Virgos from surrounding regions to Luxembourg! Treize Khushrenada must be eliminated at all costs! Move!"
The OZ officer delivering the message inwardly lamented how unlucky he was to have such a superior. The enemy's weapons of mass destruction remained an unknown variable, yet his commander insisted on using human wave tactics. Fortunately, they were currently relying on Mobile Dolls for combat—otherwise, this foolish decision would have cost countless lives.
Just as Reid had cleared most of Treize's personal guard Leos and was about to check on the Xia sisters' progress at the castle...
A swarm of transport aircraft suddenly appeared in the sky, deploying wave after wave of new MD Virgos.
Seeing this, Reid immediately targeted the transports before they could release their payloads, picking them off one by one.
He couldn't help but remark—what kind of G-Coin delivery squad was this? Dropping reinforcements from the air? They might as well be handing him G-Coins on a silver platter.
When the transports exploded, any MD Virgos that didn't get caught in the blast were sent plummeting to the ground.
With such sudden explosions, there was no chance for parachutes to deploy. Neither the Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shield nor any damage reduction could save them from terminal velocity.
After crashing from several kilometers up, only a handful of MD Virgos managed to remain operational. Most had their internal electronics shattered by the impact, rendering them inoperable.
Despite Reid's best efforts to shoot down the transports, a significant number of MD Virgos still made it to the battlefield.
From his aerial vantage point, Reid even spotted several MD Virgo units advancing through Luxembourg's mountain paths as ground reinforcements.
Reid had to admit—the Romefeller Foundation was being unusually generous this time. The number of MD Virgos far exceeded what he remembered from the original anime.
Without hesitation, Reid flew straight to the road leading to the suburban castle and unleashed another Destroyer Beam Cannon blast, wiping out all ground reinforcements approaching from that direction to prevent them from interfering with the Xia sisters' operation.
However, just as Reid fired his shot, an explosion rocked the castle behind him.
Turning back, he saw the Mystic Lightning and Gundam NT-X2 taking off.
Soon, Xia Yufang's voice came through the comms:
"Apologies, Master. Mission failed. I had the target under control, but the factory he led me to contained two Duras units equipped with the Mindless Drone System. The target appears to have been wearing body armor—my point-blank shot to his heart before retreating must have been blocked. The explosion just now was Yulan destroying those two Duras units."
Hearing this, Reid realized he'd underestimated Treize Khushrenada. Of course this man wouldn't be completely defenseless without any security forces.
It seemed that despite Treize's public opposition to Mobile Suit automation, he'd quietly prepared a batch of MD-equipped units after all.
The proof came when, following the Mystic Lightning and NT-X02 Gundam's escape, numerous Duras units suddenly emerged around the castle. Reid detected no human brainwave patterns from any of them—these were all MD-equipped Mobile Dolls.
Simultaneously, the MD Virgo reinforcements converging from all directions detected the activity at the castle and began automatically closing in on the location.
At the same time, the MD Virgos began laying down suppressive fire toward Reid's position as programmed. Although each Mobile Suit couldn't aim accurately, the sheer volume of Beam shots made precision unnecessary—this was the essence of saturation bombardment.
Under these circumstances, Reid could no longer stand still to use his Destroyer Beam Cannon. He had no choice but to raise his Yata-no-Kagami Shield for defense.
Fortunately, the Yata-no-Kagami Shield lived up to Reid's expectations. Every lucky shot from the MD Virgos was deflected back along its original trajectory. Though the reflected Beams were blocked by their Tri-Directional Circular Magnetic Shields, the visual effect was spectacular.
Seeing the Yata-no-Kagami Shield's effectiveness, Reid and his two companions decisively raised their Shields and charged through the Beam fire toward the MD Virgo formation. Once they broke through the ranks, the MD Virgos—incapable of accurate shooting and poor at close combat—would be sitting ducks for slaughter.
Just then, misfortune struck someone else. A flare Reid had planted at the landing site was triggered, followed by a series of explosions from where the flare had been launched.
As Reid carved through the MD Virgo forces with his Yata-no-Kagami Shield, he could only chuckle inwardly at the sight. "Chang Wufei," he thought, "another setback, eh? Just wait—I'll cut a bloody path through to you soon enough."
(End of Chapter)