The moment the Gundam AGE Vagan forces appeared, Reid only pondered for less than two seconds before immediately declaring:
"All units, assume first combat readiness. All Mobile Suits, including Mobile Dolls, prepare for full deployment.
Recall the rest of Tekkadan and have them eliminate the Otherworld Entanglement Mobile Suits from the periphery.
Liuli, bring the Gran Chaos into visible range immediately and fire the ship-mounted Destroyer Beam Cannon (ship-mounted version equipped on Hermes Zero). Sweep it across the airborne enemies—don't let a single shot hit the city.
All Mobile Dolls, switch to high-energy Beam sniper rifles. As for the rest, don't even bring ordinary Beam Rifles. These Mobile Suits all have Electromagnetic Armor, so low-powered Beam Weapons are completely ineffective. However, Beam Sabers and High-Powered Electromagnetic Weapons with Plasma Fields can be used."
Reid issued these orders out of necessity. The Gran Chaos had remained hidden all along merely to avoid trouble or to deliver a fatal blow with its super-heavy main cannon when needed.
But facing Vagan's large forces, Reid had no choice but to reveal the Gran Chaos to draw attention. After all, the Genoace, Danazine, and Ghirarga were all capable of interstellar flight on their own.
Although Reid couldn't recall whether these Mobile Suits had the ability to breach the atmosphere solo, he knew that with their standard-issue Lightwave Thrusters (similar to the CE's Starlight Transmitter, which uses solar wind for propulsion, though the thrust isn't particularly outstanding), if these units managed to escape the Kingdom of Azadistan, he'd truly have to hunt them down like rats all over the world.
It was crucial to remember that they possessed technology called the "Veil Umbrella," which rendered Mobile Suits undetectable by visual, radar, infrared, and thermal sensors—essentially an upgraded version of the Mirage Colloid System (since this system can move without relying on the Lambda Driver). Fortunately, they still had to become visible during combat.
So, even though Reid knew that the pilots of the Otherworld Entanglement-delivered Mobile Suits were somewhat unhinged, he had to expose the Gran Chaos to attract the attention of Vagan's main force.
After all, the mystery of that suspected Kowloon-piloted Gouf final type hadn't been cleared up yet, and Reid didn't want any further complications.
Thus, before the various factions in the Kingdom of Azadistan could even recover from the shock of these "dragon"-type mechas, the 2,000-meter-class floating battleship made their jaws drop even further.
Shortly after, a massive Beam nearly 60 meters thick erupted from the Gran Chaos's raised main cannon, sweeping through a section of Vagan's aerial forces while simultaneously turning two barren mountains at the outermost edge of the Coci region in the Kingdom of Azadistan into small basins.
The fact that such a terrifying Beam was fired from a battleship once again forced the various factions within the Kingdom of Azadistan to reassess the combat capabilities of SDP and the organization behind it.
However, the targets of the Gran Chaos's attack had no such thoughts.
To be precise, just as Reid had anticipated, the Gran Chaos instantly attracted the Vagan main force that had arrived via Otherworld Entanglement.
But this Vagan force was likely originally a well-trained unit, with very clear internal divisions of labor. Two Ghirarga led all the Danazine and half of the Genoace in surrounding the Gran Chaos.
The remaining various types of Genoace began their routine charge into the cities on the ground, cooperating with the Zeydra to carry out a thorough, earth-scorching massacre of the urban areas.
This act of slaughter naturally provoked a counterattack from the local remnants of the Kingdom of Azadistan. The Azadistan garrison and rebel forces, who had been exchanging fire just minutes earlier, once again united in fury, concentrating their fire on the nearest standard-type Genoace.
Fueled by rage, their concentrated assault was somewhat effective. Unfortunately, the 200×25mm smoothbore cannons could only temporarily halt the Genoace's movements through sheer impact force.
Yet, like an indestructible zombie, the standard-type Genoace rose again and again, completely unscathed no matter how many times it was blasted down.
The Vagan seemed particularly adept at tormenting Earth's forces psychologically. Even though there were other Mobile Suits nearby that could provide support, and even though these pilots had gone mad, no one came to aid this unit. They merely blockaded the area as if watching a spectacle, while the standard-type Genoace deliberately refrained from counterattacking, deliberately allowing the Long-nosed types to exhaust all their smoothbore cannon ammunition until they were forced to resort desperately to their 30mm machine guns.
Unfortunately, 30mm machine guns were utterly incapable of stopping the Genoace in the slightest. The Long-nosed types could only watch helplessly as the standard-type Genoace advanced step by step, reaping their lives.
However, these Genoace pilots sorely underestimated the forces of Earth in the AD Universe.
Here, after prolonged internal competition among the three major nations, the combat proficiency of soldiers was not far inferior to that of Federation or Zeon veterans from the UC0079 to UC0100 period.
At this moment, the Union forces unexpectedly played the role of protectors.
With most of the Vagan's aerial units tied down by Reid's forces aboard the Gran Chaos, the mixed squadron of Union Flags and Union Real Combat Types led by Graham easily broke through from the air to the outskirts of the Kosh region.
Seeing that the local Kingdom of Azadistan forces couldn't harm the enemy at all, Graham decisively ordered:
"Cover our allies! Use missiles to drive back the enemy, then follow up with a bombing run. We can't always rely on forces of unknown origin to face this disaster from another world. Besides, with so many dragon-type Mobile Suits, they might very well be the true forms of the legendary evil dragons. Destroy them, and let the military add a Dragon Slayer medal to our honors!"
The Union always embraced individual heroism, and Graham's words immediately sparked cheers across the team's comms.
Simultaneously, led by Graham's Mobile Suit, two Union Flags and one Union Real Combat Type (Howard, whose Mobile Suit was destroyed, had to switch to a Union Real Combat Type) launched Anti-ship Missiles at the standard-type Genoace approaching the local Kingdom of Azadistan forces, blasting it away. Following that, the other Union Real Combat Types began dropping aerial bombs.
Frankly, it was suspicious for the Union to carry such high-yield aerial bombs on a defensive mission, but no one cared about that now.
Unending flames and explosions swept across the ground. Fortunately, the area had long been reduced to ruins with few survivors left, so collateral damage was not a concern.
However, after the bombing ceased, aside from the local Kingdom of Azadistan forces that Graham's squad had deliberately avoided, the Genoace units enveloped in the smoke and flames of the explosions began to rise one after another.
The result of this bombing run was merely damaged armor on some Genoace units—at most minor breaches, with not even a single unit suffering moderate damage like lost limbs.
There was no helping it. Given the destructive power of Union bombs, unless several happened to strike a single Genoace simultaneously, the resulting high temperatures, shockwaves, and shrapnel couldn't effectively penetrate the Electromagnetic Armor. At most, the pilot inside the Mobile Suit would be violently shaken.
Unfortunately, the pilots transmitted through the Otherworld Entanglement were all berserkers. Unless directly killed or incapacitated by the shock, they could still spit blood and continue piloting their Mobile Suits to slaughter.
Moreover, the actions of the Union flight squadron had thoroughly enraged the Vagan forces in the area once again.
From their perspective, while their comrades were toying with ants, they themselves had been bitten by those ants. Immediately, they raised their Mobile Suits' Beam Cannons and fired at the Union flight squadron in the air.
Fortunately, the unit led by Graham was indeed well-trained. The first wave of anti-air fire from the ground-based Genoaces all missed, evaded by the Union flight squadron through various maneuvers.
But then, seeing that Beam Cannons weren't very effective against these "flies" of aircraft, the Genoaces took to the skies, ready to engage the Union flight squadron in a proper dogfight.
The Genoaces' flight speed wasn't particularly slow. They also needed to transform for flight, assuming a streamlined, high-speed jet form in atmospheric conditions. Their appearance somewhat resembled that of Union Mobile Suits.
Once the air battle began, the performance disadvantages of the Union Real Combat Type were fully exposed. This Mobile Suit only held a slight advantage in straight-line speed but was far inferior to the Genoaces in maneuverability and agility.
Moreover, within Graham's unit, only the three members of the Overflag Team could perform the "Graham Special" for mid-air transformation.
Thus, the Union flight squadron soon found itself like a school of fish surrounded by sharks—dodging left and right but unable to break free from the encirclement. Their Mobile Suits were continuously shot down, and the squadron quickly lost over half its strength.
Graham was getting a premature taste of the frustration of the Union Flag's inability to penetrate enemy defenses.
With Graham's skills, and given that these Vagan berserker pilots disliked evading, his Electromagnetic Rifle's Accuracy was quite high.
However, in terms of results, firing the Electromagnetic Rifle at the Genoaces was no different from firing at the Celestial Beings' Gundams.
To be precise, among the Celestial Beings' Gundams, only the Virtue—with its thick enough shield—would lead to a mutual exchange of fire where both sides ignored the other's attacks. The other Gundams at least showed some respect for the Electromagnetic Rifle, using something to block or employing Evasion.
But these Genoaces seemed to only know one tactic: assault. They acted as if dodging even once after being hit ten times would mean defeat. They even pushed their engines to the limit, charging forward despite the impact of Anti-ship Missiles.
By this point, even Graham felt a sense of despair. He glanced toward the SDP forces and could only note that, amid the raging artillery fire, the SDP troops had clearly revealed their hand and were gradually gaining the upper hand. But expecting them to provide quick support was wishful thinking.
So Graham drew his sword, ready to take down at least one enemy at all costs. Having achieved zero kills in his final battle, Graham felt he couldn't afford such humiliation.
Fortunately, Graham was truly fated to survive. The combat area where his Union flight squadron was engaged happened to be right above the buried Exia.
The battle had been raging for a while, and Setsuna had finally recovered from being knocked unconscious by the sandstorm phenomenon of the Otherworld invasion.
Setsuna awoke to find Union forces in the sky being surrounded and attacked by unknown dragon-shaped Mobile Suits.
No one needed to tell him - having experienced the fourth Otherworld Invasion, Setsuna naturally recognized these unknown dragon-shaped MS as enemies.
Without hesitation, Setsuna piloted Exia to rise from the ruins and directly charged into the Genoace encirclement. With a single swing of the GN Solid Sword, he bisected one Genoace while simultaneously throwing two GN Daggers that pierced the chests of two other Genoaces, taking them down.
Here, Setsuna had accidentally discovered how to counter the Electromagnetic Armor.
After all, Electromagnetic Armor primarily relied on highly compressed electromagnetic fields to protect the armor, originally designed to shield Mobile Suits from solar wind effects.
Therefore, as long as other magnetic fields or high-energy rays could neutralize this electromagnetic field, the Electromagnetic Armor's protection could be breached.
The GN Field covering the GN Sword naturally effectively canceled out the electromagnetic field on the armor, making the enemy's defense feel weaker than thicker E-Carbon Armor when Exia's solid sword struck it.
Exia's actions successfully opened an escape route for the besieged Union forces.
Graham didn't hesitate to lead his troops through the breach, then transformed into MS Mode and broadcasted to Exia:
"Celestial Beings pilot, I never expected you'd be the one to save me in the end. But this isn't the time for thanks. Facing this otherworldly invasion, let's temporarily join forces against the enemy."
Setsuna also knew that MS appearing through Otherworld Entanglement couldn't be underestimated. Perhaps the three he just shot down were merely foot soldiers, similar to the previous Otherworld Invasion in the Mollaria Republic.
So Setsuna piloted Exia to nod, then charged toward the nearest three Genoaces, thinking they would be easy to handle.
However, the next moment, Exia was forced back by the Genoaces that had returned to MS Mode, firing dense Beam Vulcan rounds.
Moreover, Genoace pilots further away, seeing another Mobile Suit capable of harming them, deployed Beam Cannons in the air to suppress Exia with heavy fire.
Exia was completely pinned down by the numerous Beam Cannons, with no opportunity to advance.
Even though Graham organized covering fire from his side, the situation remained unchanged.
But this stalemate was temporary. The Genoace pilots soon deliberately guided the battle toward lower altitudes.
Exia was a close-combat machine, and Setsuna attempted to counterattack with the Beam Rifle, only to discover that Exia's Beam Rifle couldn't penetrate their defenses.
Therefore, Setsuna could only attack the enemies through close combat.
Consequently, the battle was led by the Genoaces to an area near a Zeydra.
There were very few Zeydra units in this Otherworld Invasion - only three in total. However, since they were designed as heavy-armored fortresses, they couldn't fly on Earth, and even forced jumps couldn't achieve much altitude.
Thus, these main combat units couldn't participate in high-altitude battles and could only act like bulldozers, demolishing houses in the Koshimizu area.
When Exia was lured to lower altitudes, the Zeydra pilot finally had something meaningful to do. Excitedly, he fired the chest-mounted scatter-type Sendraram Cannon at Exia in the sky.
Having experienced numerous battles, Setsuna had grown considerably. Though caught by surprise, he managed to pilot Exia to block the direct Beam hit to the main body with its shield.
However, the result was that Exia was directly knocked to the ground by the charging Genoace.
This made the Zeydra pilot even more excited. He immediately manipulated his mobile suit to leap high, intending to pin down Exia and slowly torment the enemy.
But what the Zeydra pilot didn't expect was that Setsuna also had powerful teammates.
A GN sniper beam shot directly from afar, striking the Zeydra just as it reached the peak of its jump.
The Zeydra's left arm was instantly blown apart, and the explosion caused the mobile suit to lose balance, crashing to the left side of Exia.
But Lockon, who fired that shot from a distance, cursed as he watched the Zeydra rise from the rubble.
"Damn, what kind of insane armor is this? I used maximum power just now, and it only took off one arm!!"
At this moment, Haro in Dynames directly answered Lockon's question.
"Distance too far, energy decay. Distance too far, energy decay."
However, Exia's supporters weren't limited to just Dynames.
Although Virtue would need more time to fly before the enemy entered its firing range.
Gundam Barbatos Lupus and Garibaldi Rebake had long been rushing toward the battlefield.
Just as the Zeydra stood up, it was knocked down again from behind by a Rebuilt Sword, with Gundam Barbatos Lupus not far away still in a throwing pose.
Immediately after, Garibaldi Rebake closed in at high speed, raised its Scissors Hammer, and struck down with the Hammer Spike portion.
The Zeydra's electromagnetic armor was instantly pierced by the Hammer Spike, its chest armor crushed inward, and the mobile suit instantly transformed into red code before vanishing on the spot.
(End of Chapter)