Chapter 361: The Second Defensive Battle (2)
Before leaving, Shani didn't forget to bark like a sore loser at Tolle, "I'll leave my weapon with you for now. Once we're done dealing with the white machine, I'll come back and settle the score with you!"
Tolle crooked his mouth into a grin and smoothly accelerated, spinning around and dashing straight in front of the Forbidden to block Shani's path. He swung the heavy scythe and launched an attack.
"Heh, you think you can come and go whenever you want? What do you take me for? I already told you—I'm a robber. You're not leaving without paying a price."
"Damn you! I'll kill you!"
Shani drove the Forbidden forward, swinging the twin beam sabers in both hands in a two-sword style.
Because the distance was too close, Tolle switched to holding the heavy scythe in his right hand, freeing his left to swing the beam saber mounted on the shield system, clashing with Shani's right-hand saber.
He then tilted his body, slipping past the Forbidden's left-hand beam saber while raising the heavy scythe to force Shani back.
Elsewhere, Orga watched the Freedom Gundam darting around, dodging and counterattacking whenever it found an opening, and muttered excitedly, "Just like yesterday—that guy really is tough. What a pain."
Clotho rushed in as well, firing his machine guns as he bragged, "I'll take you down today!"
Watching the two of them fighting the Freedom Gundam, Shani grew irritated and suddenly fired a guided plasma cluster beam at Freedom, catching Kira off guard.
Although Kira dodged the beam, the Raider in MA mode slammed into him with its huge grapple claws. The high-speed impact shook the cockpit badly, leaving Kira reeling.
At that moment, Tolle seized the chance and swung the heavy scythe, blasting the Forbidden Gundam away.
"Hey, when you're fighting me, don't keep staring at what's in someone else's bowl, or you'll die a very ugly death."
"Bastard!"
On Orga's side, he pushed the Calamity Gundam's leg thrusters to full power, sliding at high speed across the beach.
While sliding, he fired all of his weapons at once at both the Freedom Gundam and the Flight Armor Strike in a single full-salvo attack.
This forced both Kira and Tolle to pull back. Shani also launched a frenzied counterattack, but he focused entirely on the Freedom Gundam, firing continuous guided plasma cluster beams at it.
Meanwhile, the Raider switched targets with the Forbidden, unleashing nonstop shoulder-mounted machine-gun fire at the Flight Armor Strike.
Relying on its superior flight performance, Tolle immediately climbed in altitude to dodge their attacks.
But that move sold Kira out. He could only raise his shield, brace the beam rifle against it, and retreat while defending, squeezing in shots whenever he could.
After reaching a certain height, Tolle fired his beam cannons at the Calamity Gundam, but the Forbidden Gundam rushed in and blocked the beams with its energy-deflection armor.
It even twisted the beams' trajectories toward the Freedom Gundam, throwing Kira into even deeper trouble.
On the other side of the battlefield, the M1 Astray units kept blocking the Earth Alliance's advance, but the numerical gap was far too large. With a four-to-one disadvantage, many M1 Astrays were still being destroyed.
Barry, piloting the reinforced M1A Astray, kept moving around the battlefield to provide support, but the effect was still limited.
He abandoned his beam rifle and instead charged to the very front with his twin fighting gauntlets.
Punch after punch smashed into the cockpits and bodies of the Strike Daggers, and he occasionally used the anti-beam coating on the gauntlets' wrists to block enemy beam attacks.
This opened up distance for the others, giving them chances to aim and fire their beams.
Even so, his efforts were little more than a drop in the bucket, barely holding off just one line of attackers.
On the other defensive lines, Mu led Asagi, Juri, and Mayura along with some M1 Astrays on one route; John Kelly led Jane, Rena, Edward, and two Sword Calamities with some M1 Astrays on another; and the Corpse-Armor Longblade unit held a line by itself.
But with a four-to-one disparity and both sides using PX systems and intelligent auxiliary systems, the fighting was brutally hard and completely deadlocked.
Just as Kira and Tolle were struggling against the three aces, the late-arriving Athrun finally launched in the Justice Gundam.
He first threw out beam boomerangs at the Forbidden, then detached the flight pack and used its beam cannons and turret machine guns to attack the Calamity and Raider.
In one move, he forced all three aces to pull back.
When Orga and the others saw the Justice Gundam, they went even wilder. "Perfect! Yesterday's two powerful machines are finally both here! Time to execute the plan!"
Clotho said grimly, "Hey, are we really going to use that? It'll feel even worse than usual after the battle."
Remembering the pain, Orga also felt uneasy. "Yeah… but that guy promised us we wouldn't be punished if we used it. Let's just endure it for a bit."
"Tch, I hope that bastard keeps his word."
Orga then called out to Shani, "Shani, we're starting the plan."
Shani grinned wickedly. "Heeheehee, so it's finally starting? That thieving bastard is about to get punished."
"PX system overclock mode, initiating countdown!" As all three activated overclock, specks of blue light began to glow over their machines.
The trio's speed and attack power skyrocketed, becoming far sharper and more agile.
Shani, intoxicated by the overclocked acceleration, went crazy and shouted at Tolle, "Oh, oh, round two's starting! Die, you thieving bastard! Hahahaha!"
Seeing the blue glow on their machines, Tolle smacked his lips. "You're the real thieves. That PX system was my stuff to begin with—taking your things is just collecting interest.
"But… overclocking? Anyone can do that. Let me show you what real overclocking looks like."
Tolle activated double overclock. The Flight Armor Strike erupted in blue light, leaving faint afterimages as it moved.
He swung the heavy scythe and charged at the Forbidden Gundam at extreme speed.
Just as they were about to collide head-on, he spun in a drifting turn, instantly appearing behind the Forbidden and bringing the heavy scythe down in a vicious backstab that blasted Shani away.
Tolle grinned. "See that? This is what real overclocking looks like."
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