Chapter 357: The Battle Begins Again (1)
At the same time, Tolle also asked Erica and learned that all the parts for the space-use M1A Astray had already been produced and were just waiting to be assembled once it went into space.
After asking Erica about it, he also found out that Barry was one of the test soldiers who had not received Tolle's crash-course power transfer and instead had been taught by others and trained on his own.
Moreover, in practicing the moves of the Undefeated of the East Martial Arts, he had made some breakthroughs and could now fight evenly with some of the soldiers who had received the crash-course power transfer.
If he had not seen this muscular man this time, Tolle felt he would have completely forgotten about this "Fist God," Barry Ho.
After all, he had never even seen him in person before.
Still, he really was a talent. Piloting the M1A Astray, he had achieved quite impressive results in the Jachin Due defense battle.
He was the kind of master who could make a mobile suit feel like it was throwing punches.
Tolle immediately went to find Barry and said to him, "Hello, Barry Ho. I'm Colonel Tolle Koenig of Orb's Special Forces. I'd like to invite you to join my special unit. Would you be willing?"
When Barry heard it was Tolle, he immediately saluted and said, "Barry Ho reporting, sir. It's my honor to accept your invitation and join the special forces."
Tolle nodded in satisfaction. "It's great that you're willing to join. I've heard you trained on your own and still achieved some results in such a short time. You really are a martial arts genius."
After being praised, Barry replied modestly, "You flatter me, Instructor. I've only just started and still have a lot to learn from you."
"That won't be a problem at all. Ask anything you like. Or we can find a place and give you a crash-course power transfer so you can save dozens of years of training."
"Then I'm extremely grateful, Instructor."
Tolle then found an office and gave Barry a crash-course power transfer, also answering some of his doubts about the Undefeated of the East Martial Arts, which suddenly made everything clear to him.
After that, Tolle had Erica bring the M1A Astray's parts to the Huayan, where Nami carried out further enhancements.
Its materials, close-combat performance, and the sturdiness of its leg structure were all strengthened, allowing it to be used on Earth as well.
It was then handed over to Barry as his personal machine.
After three days of busy repairs and reorganization, at dawn the Earth Alliance fleet once again arrived outside Orb's territorial waters and quietly waited there.
Azrael said impatiently, "Why aren't we attacking even though we're already here? Isn't now the perfect time to launch a surprise attack?"
The commander replied with disdain, "Orb's forces are watching every movement closely. How could they give us a chance for a surprise attack? Besides, we still need to complete various preparations.
"And if we attack without declaring war, we'll be at a disadvantage at sea. If they really go all out and target our warships, we'll end up at the bottom of the ocean feeding sharks."
"Then how much longer will it take?"
"But Orb has sent multiple requests for talks. Don't we need to go negotiate?"
Azrael spread his hands indifferently. "That's already impossible. A country that can't be suppressed even with our current combat power…
"For the future of the Earth Alliance, it's better to wipe it out sooner rather than later."
The commander continued disdainfully, "My side is basically ready. The real problem is on your end. Are those pilots really okay now?"
"Ah, how rude. Their punishment is basically done. I'll go 'educate' them a bit more. There definitely won't be any problems this time. Let's get going."
With that, Azrael left the bridge and went to the Three Aces' quarters, glaring at them as he said, "If you don't work properly this time, it won't be as simple as making you suffer for one night like last time.
"And I've added another ten units of inhibitors for you this time. They'll last more than two hours. If you don't want to suffer again, you'd better give it your all."
After drinking the inhibitors, Orga said inside his cockpit to Clotho and Shani, "This time, we have to shoot down those two machines."
Clotho replied solemnly, "We have to take them down!"
Shani said with a nasty grin, "And that guy who stole my energy-deflection armor too. I'll kill him."
With the Atlantic Federation's declaration of war, over a thousand cruise missiles immediately came howling toward Orb once again.
As the horns of war sounded once more, large numbers of mobile suits flew out from both sides of the warships.
Orb's command center also received word that the battle had begun. The communications officer immediately reported, "The Atlantic Federation has declared war on us again."
The radar officer followed up, "Radar shows a large number of cruise missiles approaching, with mobile-suit heat signatures behind them, more than three hundred units in total! They're heading toward Oru Island!"
Cagalli said tensely, "All Orb forces, begin interception. Tanks and coastal defense guns, target the cruise missiles.
"Mobile-suit units, sortie immediately and intercept the enemy mobile-suit forces!"
With that order, Orb's M1 Astray Gundams rapidly left their hangars and entered the defensive line to engage the enemy.
Already waiting inside the cockpit of the Flight Armor Strike Gundam, Tolle watched the images on the monitors.
This time, the Earth Alliance didn't just have the Forbidden, Raider, and Calamity. They also had three Blue Forbiddens, two Sword Calamities, ten Buster Daggers, twenty Corpse-Armor Longblades, thirty to forty Duel Daggers, and over two hundred Strike Daggers.
"This lineup is insane. They've even deployed the Corpse-Armor Longblades and Duel Daggers ahead of time. That's way too much.
"The total is nearly over three hundred units. What a massive force. These must all be machines fitted with the PX System. Looks like another hard battle."
As he spoke, Tolle immediately piloted the Flight Armor Strike Gundam out of the Huayan and charged toward the direction from which the cruise missiles were coming.
He then unleashed a full salvo of micro tracking missiles toward the incoming missile swarm, instantly shooting down most of them.
———
M1A Astray Gundam Enhanced Type
B-class machine
Terrain Adaptability: Sea-Land A, Air-Space A
Fixed Weapons: Head Vulcan cannons ×2; Beam sabers ×2; Sniper beam rifle ×1; Mobile fighting gauntlets ×2; Shield ×1;
Special Equipment: Enhanced energy battery pack; PX System; Intelligent Auxiliary System; Close-combat combat sensor;
Armor: TP armor; Gundanium alloy;
———
Duel Dagger
C+-class machine
Terrain Adaptability: Sea C, Land B, Air-Space A
Fixed Weapons: Beam sabers ×2; Beam rifle ×1; Left-shoulder missile pod ×1; Right-shoulder cannon ×1; Shield ×1.
Special Equipment: PX System; Intelligent Auxiliary System.
———
Corpse-Armor Longblade (piloted by the Alliance's Artificial Coordinator Unit)
C+-class machine
Terrain Adaptability: Sea C, Land B, Air-Space A
Fixed Weapons: Beam sabers ×2; High-energy beam rifle ×1; Grenade launcher ×1; "Porcupine Array" multi-barrel close-range weapon defense system ×2; Anti-beam shield ×1.
Optional Weapons: Shoulder linear cannon ×1; Eight-tube missile launcher ×1.
Special Equipment: Reinforced armored armament; PX System; Intelligent Auxiliary System.
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