Chapter 347: A Critical Moment
At this moment, Dearka—who had just fled to the vicinity of the Morgenröte facility—looked at the devastated surroundings and the Calamity Gundam rampaging recklessly, and couldn't help feeling a deep sense of sympathy for Orb.
Immediately afterward, without even looking back, he ran straight toward the MS hangar that Tolle had previously taken him past, intending to find a mobile suit and pilot it to protect Orb.
On the other side, faced with the relentlessly pursuing Raider Gundam, Kira had no choice but to abandon his chase of the Forbidden Gundam. He immediately maneuvered the Freedom Gundam into a backward-leaning posture and fired back with the head-mounted vulcan guns.
At this time, Shani—who had been fleeing nonstop and deliberately dragging Kira around—saw that the Freedom Gundam was no longer chasing him. Like a child, he instead piloted the Forbidden Gundam straight back in, blocking in front of the Raider Gundam and taking on the Freedom Gundam's firepower himself.
Seeing Shani interfere with his attack, Clotho shouted angrily, "Shani, stop getting in my way! You're blocking my attack!"
Shani, like a spoiled kid whose toy had been snatched away, replied with an unhappy expression, "You're the one in the way! How is this my fault? Get lost, Clotho."
After that, without caring about anything else, he took control of the Forbidden Gundam, raised the rail cannon, and launched an attack on the Freedom Gundam.
Kira immediately pulled the control lever, flipped his unit, and dodged the rail cannon shot. At the instant he completed the 180-degree rotation, he fired the plasma clustered beam cannons mounted on the two wings on his back, launching a counterattack against the Forbidden Gundam.
At that moment, Shani immediately raised the shields on both sides, distorting the trajectories of the two plasma clustered beams and deflecting them away.
Kira muttered in shock, "The beam attack was actually distorted…"
Before he could react further, the persistent Raider Gundam launched another attack, once again hurling the wrecking-ball pile bunker toward the Freedom Gundam.
Kira dodged once more, and the three units became entangled in a continuous aerial melee.
Over on the Archangel's side, the situation was equally grim. It was constantly defending against barrages of Earth Alliance cruise missiles and fighter formations.
However, the sheer number of cruise missiles and air-launched missiles was overwhelming, pushing the Archangel to the brink of being unable to cope.
With both Kira and Tolle tied down, the defensive blockade clearly lacked sufficient firepower.
Cruise missiles repeatedly broke through the defensive line and struck Orb's territory, while the Archangel itself continued to suffer harassment attacks from fighter squadrons.
At the same time, the battle on Tolle's side was also deadlocked. Five people were locked in combat, evenly matched and unable to gain any real advantage.
As the fight dragged on, Tolle began to feel anxious, a growing sense of strain weighing on him.
But for the sake of training his MS piloting skills, he could only grit his teeth and continue fighting.
Astray Zero raised its beam rifle once again, launching a feint toward the aerial Raider, while actually continuing to look for an opening to attack the Windam Dagger.
John Kelly was unwilling to fall behind, dodging while returning fire with his own beam rifle.
Having lost his original shield, Tolle could only try to defend using a beam saber, but fortunately he managed to block the incoming beam.
Before Tolle could even feel relieved, the Sword Calamity suddenly charged in from behind, raising its beam anti-ship sword and slashing downward.
Unable to dodge in time, Tolle immediately raised the beam rifle–saber integrated weapon, attempting to block with the beam saber mounted on it.
However, Edward abruptly altered the trajectory of the beam anti-ship sword mid-swing, shifting it an inch toward the beam rifle's muzzle. In an instant, the barrel of the beam rifle melted away.
Tolle immediately prepared to leap backward to retreat, but Edward pursued relentlessly, increasing both the force and speed of his swings and directly slashing the beam rifle apart.
The explosion of the destroyed beam rifle nearly caused Astray Zero to lose its balance and crash to the ground.
Tolle made a split-second decision, pulling the control lever and increasing the thrust output of the I.W.S.P. backpack. The unit slid backward across the ground in a leaned-back posture, and at the same time he drew another beam saber with his right hand.
At that moment, the Forbidden Blue also closed in, thrusting its physical trident toward Astray Zero.
Fortunately, under Nami's warning, Tolle was already prepared. Astray Zero raised its left arm to block the trident and locked it in place.
Then, with a powerful downward swing of the beam saber, it severed the Forbidden Blue's left arm along with its shield, which was unable to defend while in an attacking posture.
To secure the result, Tolle pressed the advantage, flinging away the trident lodged in his left hand and slicing off the Forbidden Blue's right arm as well.
Just as Jane panicked and prepared to turn and flee, Tolle followed through and split the Forbidden Blue's rear thrusters in two, completely eliminating its ability to escape and leaving it immobilized on the ground.
"Jane!" Edward shouted the Forbidden Blue's pilot's name, boosting the Sword Calamity's thrusters to maximum and charging in with rapid strides.
He raised the beam anti-ship sword high and brought it down toward Astray Zero's back.
Tolle immediately increased thruster output to evade, but with the disabled Forbidden Blue blocking the front, he couldn't dash forward in time.
Astray Zero could only dodge to either side. As Tolle pulled the control lever and tried to circle to the right, the Calamity Gundam's beam anti-ship sword came crashing down.
The I.W.S.P. backpack was destroyed by that single strike.
In a split second, Nami immediately ejected the I.W.S.P. backpack, sending it flying into the Sword Calamity. A massive explosion followed, flipping it onto the ground and destroying both of the beam anti-ship swords it had raised for defense.
Panting heavily, Tolle said, "Thanks, Nami. Good thing you were here—otherwise I really would've capsized in the gutter."
"You're welcome, Master. This is what Nami should do."
"Nami, you're the best…"
Before Tolle could continue praising Nami, the Windam Dagger's attack came screaming in once again. Beam rifle fire and electromagnetic rounds poured toward Astray Zero.
At the same time, the aerial Raider attacked from an angled trajectory, raising its beam rifle and firing continuously at Tolle.
Off to the side, Edward piloted the Calamity Gundam and drew its beam boomerangs, using them as beam short swords. He positioned himself directly in front of Astray Zero, and together the three units completely sealed off Tolle's avenues of advance and retreat.
At that moment, Edward was the first to open the comm channel and call out to Tolle, attempting to persuade him to surrender. "Orb pilot on the other side, please immediately exit your cockpit and surrender. We guarantee your life will be spared.
Repeating: Orb pilot on the other side, please immediately—"
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