After dealing with the two troublesome kids, Reid had Mikazuki take a shuttle to the Archangel to retrieve the Gundam Gremory Deathbird.
Reid needed to use the Eternal Peace's factory to temporarily convert the Gundam Gremory Deathbird into a traditional piloting mode.
Naturally, this was to hand over this Mobile Suit to Stella for piloting.
Reid understood Stella's personality well. Once the war began, to protect herself and Shinn, she might very well hijack an MS from the Archangel to sortie.
So Reid decided that rather than being thrown into chaos by Stella later, it was better to prepare a Mobile Suit for her in advance.
After all, if even Mikazuki couldn't handle the Gundam Gremory Deathbird, the rest of Tekkadan stood no chance.
Switching to traditional piloting would actually allow Stella to use the Gundam Gremory Deathbird's cutting blades like a Dragoon System. While this certainly wouldn't unleash the Mobile Suit's full combat potential, its baseline performance was still guaranteed.
As for whether the cockpit could be quickly modified without the Factory Module, there was actually no need to worry.
In the game, Nein had built the protagonist's ultimate Mobile Suit using only the simple factory inside the Yamato.
The Eternal Peace's factory was capable of building a Gundam from scratch. With Nein's help and Reid's ability to directly exchange materials from the G Coin Store, converting the cockpit to traditional mode wouldn't even take two days.
Thus, when the Eternal Peace and the Archangel arrived at the Old Capital Base, Stella happily joined the Tekkadan members who were also switching Mobile Suits in simulated battles to familiarize themselves with their units, acting like a little girl who had just received a gift.
As for the issue of the Archangel's MS Squad being short one Mobile Suit, they eventually had to allocate one from the ordinary Ghost Jegans deployed at the Old Capital Base. After all, Soap was a firepower specialist, so not piloting a Rezel wasn't a big problem.
Stella and the Tekkadan members had about a day to get accustomed to their Mobile Suits because Reid needed to arrange for troops to set up rocket artillery positions on the southern front of the Black Sea.
Since the locations of the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea force bases were known, Reid planned to use long-range inertial rockets to give them a vivid reminder of what war was like before Neutron Jammers existed.
It could only be said that since the advent of Mobile Suits, first with Neutron Jammers and later with Minovsky Particle interference disrupting communications, this CE Universe influenced by Reid had completely abandoned things like intercontinental missiles.
As for rockets, those were tools used by weak nations without Mobile Suits or guerrilla forces. The Eurasian Federation never expected the New Misurugi Kingdom to employ such weapons.
The result was that no one disturbed the New Misurugi Kingdom while they were setting up their rocket artillery positions.
Reid had originally prepared to destroy any Eurasian Federation reconnaissance Mobile Suits that showed up, one by one, because as long as a unit flew high enough and reached a central point over the Black Sea, they would notice major movements in the New Misurugi Kingdom's rear.
But in reality, the Eurasian Federation forces in the Black Sea region were just going through the motions. Every day, they sent troops to the front lines, fired a few shots outside the New Misurugi Kingdom's effective range, then turned and ran without giving any opportunity for sniping—truly just pretending to fight.
Previously, the New Misurugi Kingdom had also cooperated quite well with them. Since they were all out of range anyway, they just fired a few shots and called it a day. After all, the domestic orders only required defense, and as long as the other side didn't attack, there was no real need to fight.
Thus, when Reid decided to personally deal with the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea base forces, their fate was already sealed.
On the third day after Reid arrived at the Old Capital Base, just as the sun had risen and the sky was still dimly lit, the sentries of the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea forces suddenly noticed that the stars in the sky seemed unusually bright today, still twinkling even after sunrise.
However, it didn't take long for sharp-eyed individuals to spot the issue—these weren't bright stars at all, but the glow of rocket trails.
Immediately, air raid sirens blared across the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea base. Anti-aircraft gunners rushed to their defensive positions and unleashed a barrage of flak into the sky.
Unfortunately, the anti-aircraft guns at the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea base were primarily designed to counter Mobile Suits. Compared to traditional anti-aircraft machine cannons, they had increased firepower but reduced firing rates.
This rendered them practically useless against the swarm of rockets descending like locusts.
It could only be said that Reid's approach to this battle fully demonstrated how someone with a fear of insufficient firepower wages war.
Since rockets weren't expensive and could be exchanged in large quantities at low prices in the G Coin Store, even though the Eternal Peace hadn't carried such outdated wartime consumables when it departed, Reid still managed to amass enough ammunition to fully saturate all Eurasian Federation outposts and bases across the Black Sea for two hours.
Under Reid's orders, which prioritized dumping all ammunition as quickly as possible over accuracy, the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea forces endured a relentless two-hour rocket barrage that morning.
At this rate of attack, even if any Eurasian Federation Mobile Suits managed to take off by sheer luck, attempting to intercept would result in them being shot down. As for counterattacking the rocket artillery positions, that was out of the question—the only flying units available were Jet Windams, whose weak armor made them incapable of braving the rocket storm.
Moreover, the vast majority of the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea Mobile Suits never even had a chance to launch, as their hangars were destroyed by rocket strikes.
Two hours later, the once-sprawling Eurasian Federation Black Sea base had been nearly flattened into scorched earth, with only a few dozen Jet Windams hovering in the sky, gazing down at the devastation.
Shortly after, these MS Pilots spotted the massive MS Unit of the New Misurugi Kingdom advancing across the Black Sea and immediately turned tail and fled.
These pilots now had only one thought: to preserve themselves and rush back to report the intelligence that the New Misurugi Kingdom was launching a large-scale offensive into Europe.
Thus, Reid's side managed to achieve a battle with zero casualties.
In truth, if the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea forces hadn't slacked off the day before and had conducted proper reconnaissance, they could have easily detected what the New Misurugi Kingdom was setting up—whether it was a Bombardment Formation or some other type of position. At the very least, they wouldn't have been caught so off guard by the sudden assault.
It could only be said that complacency is dangerous. The Eurasian Federation had assumed that, given how heavily the New Misurugi Kingdom was already engaged with the Atlantic Federation, they wouldn't have the forces to open a Second Front. This led to the Black Sea forces letting their guard down, ultimately resulting in their complete submersion under Reid's rocket deluge.
In this assault, the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea Base had at least over two thousand Mobile Suits, along with various artillery and tanks, destroyed before they could even deploy from the base. Many personnel survived by taking shelter in underground bunkers, but when faced with the MS army of the New Misurugi Kingdom, these individuals raised white flags and surrendered without hesitation.
Reid showed considerable mercy toward these surrendered Eurasian Federation soldiers. After disarming them, he gathered and detained them all, ensuring that the wounded received timely treatment.
However, there was no expectation for Reid to fully heal all the injured. The New Misurugi Kingdom merely sutured their wounds, administered antibiotics, and left the rest to fate, leaving their comrades to care for them.
Moreover, Reid had the Virgo IIs march in circles around the prisoner-of-war camp, moving continuously for an entire day, creating the impression that the New Misurugi Kingdom had brought at least tens of thousands of Mobile Dolls for this operation.
After completing this, on the afternoon of the following day, Reid announced the release of all prisoners of war, as the New Misurugi Kingdom was preparing for further offensives and had no time to manage captives.
Reid showed no consideration for the injured who could not move quickly. He explicitly told the prisoners that the New Misurugi Kingdom would not allow any remnants of the Eurasian Federation forces to remain in the rear, even if they were just stragglers. Thus, if they did not leave ahead of the advancing forces, they would face certain death.
Confronted with the seemingly endless line of Virgo IIs behind them (though there were only a few hundred, enough to appear endless to those not positioned at a higher vantage point), the prisoners had no choice but to flee frantically into the surrounding areas.
Reid did this intentionally, as the vast majority of the prisoners were terrified. These individuals would quickly spread fear throughout the surrounding regions of the Eurasian Federation.
Thus, on the third day after Reid's forces annihilated the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea troops, the Eurasian Federation convened an emergency meeting.
The agenda was simple: how to respond to the New Misurugi Kingdom's army of one hundred thousand.
Indeed, Reid's forces, consisting of the original Old Capital Base MS Unit and the Virgo II Mobile Dolls he brought, totaled less than two thousand. Yet, through exaggeration along the way, this number was inflated to one hundred thousand by the time it reached the highest echelons of the Eurasian Federation.
Of course, this "army of one hundred thousand" was not entirely composed of Mobile Suits. The Eurasian Federation's intelligence department, relying on various erroneous reports and the New Misurugi Kingdom's conventional deployment against the Atlantic Federation, estimated that the attacking force included at least twenty thousand Mobile Suits, with the remainder being ground troops tasked with maintaining order in occupied territories.
As for how the figure of twenty thousand Mobile Suits came about:
First, the dozens of Jet Windam pilots who escaped from the battlefield were absolutely certain that the enemy had at least fifty thousand Mobile Suits.
They had witnessed the rocket barrage firsthand, and such overwhelming firepower could not possibly have been delivered by just a few thousand Mobile Suits.
As for the possibility that the New Misurugi Kingdom had established an enormous rocket artillery position, these Windam pilots had to deny it outright.
Because admitting this would mean acknowledging that the Black Sea Base had failed to conduct even the most basic daily reconnaissance. Coupled with the fact that they had fled the battlefield, they risked becoming scapegoats for the Eurasian Federation military.
Therefore, the Eurasian Federation military immediately ruled out the correct answer, because those dozens of Jet Windam pilots had already coordinated their testimonies in advance, firmly insisting that the daily patrols of the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea base had detected no abnormalities, and that these rockets were definitely fired by the Mobile Suits that had come to reinforce them.
Of course, the Eurasian Federation military was also skeptical of these pilots' statements, as they were simply too far-fetched.
If the New Misurugi Kingdom had recently provided large quantities of supplies to the Old Capital Base, it would have been impossible to completely conceal it from the Eurasian Federation, since Europe was, after all, the Eurasian Federation's stronghold.
If the New Misurugi Kingdom had not recently sent large quantities of supplies to the Old Capital Base, then relying on just one or two smuggled ships would clearly not have such cargo capacity. It couldn't possibly be that these rockets had been stockpiled at the Old Capital Base long ago.
However, the next day, when the prisoners released by Reid returned, their unscripted testimonies corroborated the statements of those Jet Windam pilots.
Because whether they were terrified or relatively calm, they were all absolutely certain that the movements of the New Misurugi Kingdom's MS Unit numbered at least ten thousand.
Moreover, judging by Reid's policy of not taking prisoners, this unit had indeed just arrived as reinforcements, and it was the kind of reinforcement that didn't bring much in the way of supplies.
Otherwise, the New Misurugi Kingdom wouldn't have let so many able-bodied soldiers return.
As for why they weren't killed on the spot, the Eurasian Federation military reasoned that Reid, after all, had come from the Eurasian Federation, so it was only natural for him to show some old affection for these low-ranking soldiers.
At this point, many mid- and low-ranking officers in the Eurasian Federation quietly made up their minds: if the New Misurugi Kingdom's army attacked later and they truly couldn't withstand it, they would surrender as soon as possible.
After all, the upper echelons of the Eurasian Federation military had long been inhumane. At least Reid didn't kill prisoners, and he wouldn't use their genetic data for experiments.
Of course, the final straw that broke the camel's back was the subsequent speed of the New Misurugi Kingdom's advance.
On the very night those prisoners of war returned, the entire region from Greece to Romania fell.
In fact, Reid was also baffled by this. Originally, he had estimated that after the Eurasian Federation's Black Sea base was destroyed, advancing toward Romania would meet strong resistance from local forces. With his limited troop numbers, the advance would slow down, eventually drawing all the remaining Eurasian Federation forces to the area.
But the reality was that as soon as the vanguard of the Virgo II arrived, the Eurasian Federation's cities didn't even put up a fight—they simply raised white flags and surrendered.
It could be said that on that day, the New Misurugi Kingdom's army was merely marching, and wherever they went, no one resisted.
Even more exaggerated was that the New Misurugi Kingdom's army didn't even head toward Greece. Yet, after some prisoners fled to Greece, the officials in charge of the cities there calculated the distance to the New Misurugi Kingdom's army and proactively changed their flags, announcing their surrender. It was as if they believed that as long as they surrendered quickly enough, the flames of war wouldn't reach them.
When other cities in the Greek region saw the cities closer to the New Misurugi Kingdom's army surrendering, they assumed the New Misurugi Kingdom's army had already attacked, so they followed suit. As a result, the entire region surrendered just like that.
When Reid received this news, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he simply decided to ignore it for the time being.
The Eurasian Federation military clearly couldn't grasp the battlefield situation in such a short time. Seeing their territory being lost so rapidly, they naturally misjudged the size of the New Misurugi Kingdom forces, reporting to parliament an army of one hundred thousand troops, including at least twenty thousand Mobile Suits.
When the Eurasian Federation parliament members saw the military's investigation report, they were stunned. They all questioned where the New Misurugi Kingdom forces could have gotten so many troops—were they not planning to attack the Atlantic Federation homeland anymore?
But this time, the Eurasian Federation military brought several survivors from the Black Sea base to parliament. Whether out of fear or calmness, these survivors unanimously stated that the military's numbers were, if anything, an underestimate.
Moreover, according to frontline intelligence, the New Misurugi Kingdom forces seemed to be advancing almost to the Polish region, as if the first blitzkrieg on Poland in the Cosmic Era was about to begin.
Thus, the Eurasian Federation parliament members began to vehemently criticize the Atlantic Federation for its inhuman behavior, complaining that the New Misurugi Kingdom forces had withdrawn so many troops from the frontlines without the Atlantic Federation uttering a single word of warning.
Clearly, the Atlantic Federation was more than happy to see the New Misurugi Kingdom forces redeploy their troops from the frontlines, as this would significantly reduce their own pressure.
Therefore, the Atlantic Federation deliberately refrained from notifying the Eurasian Federation and did nothing to stop the New Misurugi Kingdom's actions, successfully redirecting the New Misurugi Kingdom's hostility toward the Eurasian Federation.
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