Chapter 172: The Confused Warrior
The battle concluded with OZ's complete defeat. The members of the Maganac Corps quickly withdrew from the battlefield, escaping to other hidden bases deep within the desert.
…
More than a month had passed since Heero had self-detonated the Wing Gundam. In that time, OZ launched devastating strikes against the Earth Sphere Unified Government's resistance forces.
The scattered nations fell one after another under OZ's control, and people everywhere were plunged into misery.
Heero, who had been brought to a circus by Duo, finally awoke. When he first opened his eyes and saw Catherine before him, the image that flashed in his mind was Relena's face.
After Heero regained consciousness, Duo told him about what had happened during his coma. He explained that, as far as OZ was concerned, Heero Yuy was officially dead. Now, Heero was no longer bound by the colonies.
Furthermore, no new orders had come from the colonies since then. Duo sighed, saying that if OZ ever tried to use the colonies as a shield again, perhaps he should follow Heero's example.
But Heero replied dryly, "If you do, I can only give you one piece of advice—it hurts like hell."
Hearing such a deadpan remark, Duo couldn't help laughing heartily.
Catherine, hearing his laughter, sighed softly.
"Duo laughing so loudly... I think that's the first time I've ever seen that."
Meanwhile, after returning to his homeland, Wufei felt lost and uncertain. In his heart, he believed that the weak had no right to fight.
As he struggled with his doubts, he encountered Major Sally and her guerrilla unit—who had just destroyed an OZ base and were now being chased by several Leo suits.
Wufei piloted the Shenlong Gundam and stood in their way, shielding them from the enemy's attacks.
Seeing that the Shenlong wasn't fighting back, the Leos increased their firepower, continuously firing beam rifles. But even after a long barrage, there was no reaction.
Finally, an impatient Wufei swung his beam glaive and destroyed them all in one stroke.
He then turned to Sally and told her, "Weak people like you shouldn't be fighting."
But Sally replied that they had things they had to do—and that all humans were weak, which was exactly why they needed to unite and fight together.
The following night, the guerrilla base's location was exposed, and it came under attack by the remaining forces of the Unified Government's army in their mobile suits.
Then, an ugly scene unfolded. Colonel Bundt of the Unified Government betrayed his country's army to OZ in exchange for a position within their ranks.
The remaining autonomous government troops and the guerrillas who sought self-rule suddenly found themselves both being targeted by OZ's assault, turning the battlefield into a chaotic three-way clash.
Even so, Wufei still refused to fight—until one of the guerrilla soldiers sacrificed himself to cover his retreat.
Seeing that, Wufei finally lost his composure. He leapt into the Shenlong Gundam and annihilated both the OZ and autonomous forces' mobile suits, rescuing the surviving guerrillas.
When the battle ended, Sally told Wufei that everyone had their own sense of justice. But war itself had no fairness or justice, nor did it care about mercy or restraint.
Still, she said, since he had such a strong heart, she hoped he would someday fight alongside her.
Elsewhere, Duo's circus was preparing to perform for OZ troops as part of a morale-boosting event. Learning of this, Trowa volunteered to take on the mission—and brought the Heavyarms Gundam right into an OZ base.
During the circus show, Duo performed his act, and suddenly the Heavyarms Gundam appeared before the audience.
At first, Catherine smiled, thinking it was just a mock-up for show. But when the Heavyarms raised its twin Gatling cannons and actually fired—destroying a transport aircraft—she realized too late that it was all real.
Duo launched a fierce assault on the OZ troops—his final battle. Using the Heavyarms's last remaining Gatling ammunition and missiles, he unleashed a storm of fire upon their mobile suits.
After completely destroying the OZ base, Duo prepared to end his life together with the Gundam by self-detonation.
But Catherine ran in front of the Heavyarms, weeping, begging him not to do something so foolish—to live on instead.
As Duo hesitated, a damaged Leo commander unit aimed its shoulder cannon at Catherine and fired.
Duo immediately leapt forward in the Heavyarms, shielding her from the blast, and destroyed the Leo with a burst of Gatling fire.
He then opened the cockpit hatch, urging Catherine to get away. He was going to self-destruct the Heavyarms, to vanish with it completely.
Tears streaming down her face, Catherine struck him hard. She begged him to wake up—to stop treating his life like a joke. She told him to think about those still living, that she didn't want to keep crying and worrying for him every day.
Moved by her words, Duo finally relented. But the next day, he still departed with Heero in the Heavyarms.
Catherine blamed Heero for filling Duo's head with dangerous ideas and teaching him bad habits. Yet in the end, she reluctantly saw them off, believing that Duo would someday return to the circus and that they would meet again.
Feeling guilty for all the innocent lives he had taken, Heero traveled with Duo from place to place, offering apologies to the families of those who had died because of him.
Along the way, Heero rescued Sofia Noventa, the granddaughter of Marshal Noventa, who was being hunted by OZ forces.
At Marshal Noventa's grave, Heero confessed his sins to Sofia. It had been he who piloted the Wing Gundam and destroyed the shuttle carrying the Marshal, killing many peace advocates and directly triggering OZ's rebellion.
He then handed his phone to Sofia, telling her to avenge Marshal Noventa. But when she asked him why he killed, Heero answered blankly, "Because this is the only way I know how to live."
Meanwhile, the Romafeller Foundation—the financial power behind OZ—held a grand ball in the name of "peace."
At the ball, Romafeller members strongly opposed Treize's leniency toward Zechs. They demanded that all Gundams threatening the colonies be eliminated and insisted that the recently repaired Wing Gundam be destroyed.
Relena, heir to the Sanc Kingdom, looked on in disgust. To her, they were nothing but a flock of ignorant ostriches burying their heads in the sand.
Under the Foundation's supervision, Zechs himself detonated the Wing Gundam before their eyes—but the mobile suit he destroyed was merely an empty shell made from scrap parts of the Tallgeese.
Zechs had secretly preserved the real Wing Gundam. He was still waiting for the day he could fight Heero once more.