Chapter 285: A Shining Moment 4
Mu was doing the same as always, piloting the Cannon-Type Skygrasper as he tangled with Dearka's Buster Gundam, darting back and forth around it.
From time to time, he fired the high-energy pulse cannon Yak-Ho from his Cannon Pack, launching attacks at the Buster Gundam.
Dearka refused to back down, unleashing everything he had—right-arm scattergun, left-arm high-energy beam rifle, and the micro-missiles from the shoulder pods all fired together.
A barrage of beam shots, scatter rounds, and micro-missiles roared toward the Cannon-Type Skygrasper.
Mu rolled the aircraft to the side, slipping past the incoming beams, projectiles, and missiles. He immediately swung the nose around and counterattacked with another blast from the Yak-Ho.
But the missiles he dodged mostly ended up flying toward the Archangel instead.
Although most of the micro-missiles were intercepted by the automated CIWS defense system, a few still struck the Archangel's hull.
Dearka pushed even harder, combining both arm weapons into the Anti-Armor Shotgun and firing a torrential burst of fog-burst rounds directly at the Archangel.
This time, the Archangel couldn't evade everything, and most of the scattered rounds slammed into the ship's deck.
Mu again turned the Skygrasper around and fired the Yak-Ho at the Buster Gundam, forcing Dearka to abandon his assault and dodge.
With Mu, Kira, and the bio-engineered Tolle each holding off one enemy Gundam, the Archangel's pressure was greatly reduced.
Although Athrun and the others still fired at the Archangel from time to time, the frequency was far lower than before.
On the Archangel's bridge, Chandra reported the damage: "Automated CIWS system, Vulcan turrets 4 and 5 have been hit. Sealing off the affected bulkheads now."
Murrue anxiously asked Miriallia, "Anything from the Alaska base yet? Have they responded to our request for support?"
Miriallia answered in a panic, "Still nothing. No reply at all."
They were already this close to Alaska's defensive perimeter, yet still no support—nothing at all.
Even Natarle couldn't sit still anymore. She took a desperate gamble: "Twin High-Performance Linear Beam Cannons, prepare to fire! Lock target—don't miss! Fire!"
Four green beams shot toward the Aegis, Buster, and Duel, but all three evaded.
At that moment, the Duel Gundam's evasive movement brought it near the High-Mobility Strike Gundam. Yzak seized the chance and engaged Kira again.
The unrestrained Aegis slipped into position above the Archangel. Athrun temporarily abandoned his SFS Gue, using it to block the Archangel's line of sight.
He transformed the Aegis into MA mode and fired a blast from the fixed-phase energy cannon in its abdomen.
Although the Archangel's crew detected the attack in time and tried to evade, the beam still struck one side of the ship.
The single-mounted linear cannon on that side was blown apart. A massive explosion followed, flames erupting across the exterior.
After the attack, Athrun returned to his SFS Gue and opened fire at the Archangel with his beam rifle.
On the bridge, Neumann reported to Murrue, "The positron field took a direct hit and malfunctioned. The Archangel can't maintain flight. Our altitude is dropping."
Murrue immediately ordered, tense and focused, "Keep the ship level first. Avoid a high-speed impact with the ocean during the forced descent."
Natarle added instructions, "Route emergency power into the auxiliary lifters. Keep us airborne as long as possible."
Nearby, Kira saw the Archangel's worsening condition and immediately broke off from the Duel.
He rushed straight toward the Aegis, engaging Athrun again, trying to stop him from landing another abdominal cannon hit in MA mode.
Tolle saw Yzak pursuing Kira relentlessly and opened suppressing fire, repeatedly shooting at the Duel Gundam to disrupt its movements.
After several exchanges, Tolle felt that the High-Performance Ginn still wasn't fast enough; he couldn't be sure he could keep up with the Aegis. Faking his death would be difficult this way.
So he decided to follow the original plan—switch to the Skygrasper Unit 2. Much easier to get himself "shot down" that way.
When the timing felt right, the bio-engineered Tolle increased his offensive pressure, charging the Duel Gundam again with his weapons raised, firing both the rocket launcher and beam rifle as he advanced. Then he deliberately let Yzak's beam rifle blow off the Ginn's left arm.
"Hahaha, die! I won't let any of you get away!" Yzak, unable to break through for so long, finally saw the Ginn's arm explode and burst into triumphant laughter.
While he was still celebrating, Tolle took advantage of the opening, slicing Yzak's SFS Gue clean in half with his beam saber and cutting off its leg along with it.
Then he rammed the Duel Gundam head-on, slamming it down into the ocean below.
"Damn you! You thieving bastard—I'll kill you!" As the Duel Gundam fell into the sea, Yzak fired every weapon he had—beam rifle, shoulder armor-piercing rounds, micro-missiles—all launched at once.
Tolle saw the perfect opportunity and let the attacks blow off the Ginn's leg before quickly retreating back into the Archangel's hangar.
The moment Tolle climbed out of the cockpit, he called to Murdoch, "Uncle Murdoch, is the Skygrasper Unit 2 ready? I need to launch again."
Murdoch looked helplessly at the damaged High-Performance Ginn. "You brat, hit again? Don't push so hard—your life's more important!"
"I know, but I don't have a choice. The performance gap between us and the Gundams is too big. This is already the best I can manage.
Anyway, I have to go. Just a bit longer and we'll all be safe."
"Fine, but be careful this time. A fighter isn't an MS—if it takes a hit, it's not going to stay in the air."
"Got it." With that, Tolle jumped into Skygrasper Unit 2 and launched once more.
———