"Aaaaaah..."
Yzak's eyes were filled with tears as he stared wide-eyed at Nicol, who was drifting motionlessly into the depths of space due to inertia.
The Blitz Gundam lying face up resembled a corpse that had lost all hope, on the verge of death.
Although Yzak hadn't personally experienced Nicol's current mental state, he felt it as if it were his own.
Because in the previous two battles, Yzak's own performance had given him extremely terrible experiences too!
"Die, you monster among Naturals!"
The white-haired youth roared furiously, determined to fight with the combined strength of himself and his comrade.
It didn't matter that the Blitz Gundam had failed - because my Duel Gundam is still here!
And I've already reached your side! Wang Hu!
To be honest, this was essentially a battle of attrition - first they took out Nicol, and now here comes Yzak.
Wang Hu glanced at the frenzied Duel Gundam and patted his cockpit, showing no intention of engaging with his opponent.
The purple-colored Qilin turned and fled, absolutely refusing to get entangled in close combat with Yzak!
Did you think I was blind?
Couldn't you see Creuset approaching with 30 subordinates to surround me?
With the Qilin mobile suit, to win under your targeted countermeasures, I must avoid being encircled.
The only way is to use the Mobile Armor's speed for long-range kiting tactics, wearing you down patiently bit by bit.
This wasn't Wang Hu being cowardly - it wasn't that he didn't want to fight head-on with grand movements.
One could only say the situation was too difficult, the conditions didn't permit it!
Seeing how slippery Wang Hu was, constantly using his skills to play hide-and-seek with their forces,
Occasionally darting in to try and take a bite out of their formation,
Creuset immediately reused his old tactic, employing the same method that had previously forced Zhang Hong to come and take a beating.
Tactics aren't judged by whether they're old or new - as long as they achieve the objective.
So following Creuset's orders, the Buster Gundam, which had originally intended to rescue the seemingly dead Blitz Gundam,
Now under military command, Dearka could only glance at Nicol still drifting out there.
Then, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he turned and headed toward the four battleships of the Allied Forces' advance team.
Similarly, Yzak, who was burning with desire for revenge, ultimately lacked the courage to openly defy Creuset.
He could only reluctantly turn his weapons around and pilot the Duel Gundam to cooperate with Dearka.
"Can't we settle this with a real, honest fight?" Wang Hu sent this communication to the Gouf Ignited.
Discovering that Creuset was resorting to such underhanded tactics, Wang Hu made the same choice as Zhang Hong - he had no choice but to grit his teeth and return.
All because that masked man had now abandoned brute force in favor of military strategy!
In the past, it should have been me using various methods to make Creuset uncomfortable and keep him off balance!
"Heh heh heh, Wang Hu, you taught me this yourself."
Feeling that he had finally grasped his opponent's fatal weakness, Creuset was in good spirits, finally able to hold his head high.
In their repeated engagements, he had always been the one suffering setbacks - this time, Wang Hu, you should taste defeat too.
"And did you think I only deployed forces here?"
The confident aura he once displayed against other Allied Forces had returned, and Creuset rarely engaged in verbal sparring with Wang Hu.
"Do you think leaving Mu and Kira to guard the Archangel makes it foolproof?"
"Oh?" Wang Hu repeatedly attempted to break through the firepower of the MS forces led by Creuset to aid the Allied vanguard fleet, which was in dire straits under the Gundam's assault.
Hearing Creuset's somewhat smug and undoubtedly malicious words, Wang Hu retorted without backing down:
"Did you deploy the Aegis Gundam or send additional MS units over there? But how much reserve strength do you really have left?"
"Even so, I believe in Mu, Kira, and everyone on the Archangel—they will never lose."
After all, in the original timeline without his presence, Kira had managed to protect the Archangel and return it to the Allied Forces' Alaska headquarters.
This time, although a small butterfly like him was stirring the winds, the total military strength of the ZAFT Forces couldn't possibly increase out of thin air.
Based on his estimates, the enemy ZAFT Forces had already suffered significant additional losses at the Nova Resource Satellite.
Near Heliopolis and the Artemis Fortress, he had eliminated all of the enemy's mobile forces in the vicinity.
Moreover, with ZAFT concentrating vast resources for the descent operation, the East Asia Spaceport hadn't fallen as it did in the original timeline.
At this critical juncture, where could the Coordinators scrape together more military strength to target him and the Archangel?
Gazing into the distance at the seven ZAFT battleships, Wang Hu felt that must be all the remaining forces Creuset had brought.
Because ZAFT had no more troops to deploy!
"Heh heh heh." Noticing Wang Hu's dismissive tone, Creuset quickly deduced the source of his confidence.
"You think ZAFT Forces are stretched thin across various fronts, so there are no extra troops to allocate here, right?"
As he spoke, Creuset continued directing his subordinates to employ various skilled tactics to further pressure Wang Hu.
Some MS units scattered into groups of three, their guns chasing after the four wire-guided beam pods of the Qilin.
Others formed a hollow circle to trap Wang Hu in the center, unleashing an unrelenting storm of firepower.
Specially selected Red Uniform elites, alongside Green Coat veterans, executed sudden accelerated charges, attempting to strike Wang Hu down directly.
In all his previous encounters with Wang Hu, none had brought Creuset as much satisfaction as this one.
"Hmm?" Sweat beaded on Wang Hu's forehead as he dealt with the swarm of attacks, his heart sinking.
Had his estimation been wrong? Had Creuset mobilized the garrison forces from PLANT itself?
But how was that possible? Were the Coordinators abandoning their homeland, giving up their way of life?
If Creuset had indeed mobilized the home defense forces, and if word reached the United Forces Lunar Base...
With ZAFT's main forces either engaged in near-orbit descent operations or hunting him down, what if the Allied Forces gathered all their space fleets for an all-out assault on PLANT?
Even if ZAFT Forces' descent operation achieved great success, for Coordinators this would still be a disastrously losing bargain!
However, Wang Hu's fears came true as Creuset delivered a heavy blow through the communication channel with a calm tone.
"I've mobilized PLANT's local defense fleet, so there are five battleships heading toward the Archangel."
"Hahaha, hahaha." Wang Hu forced a dry laugh, realizing a critical problem.
Just as he often told Kira and the others - he was merely human, not a god.
Conclusions based on inertial judgment always differed from actual outcomes.
His biggest mistake was likely failing to recognize just how much hatred and resentment these Coordinators held toward him.
Thinking this, Wang Hu who had fused with this world's version of himself - inheriting all his power plus abilities he brought with him - this Wang Hu from the Homeland who could handle any challenge with ease, had made a rare mistake!
"Hmph."Creuset keenly seized the opening that Wang Hu revealed."
The six Dragoons mounted on the back of Gouf Ignited, his ultimate trump card held in reserve, launched forth.
Leveraging the superior physical prowess cloned from Mu's father and exceptional spatial awareness, Creuset seized the fleeting opportunity. The Dragoons first destroyed three of Qilin's wire-guided beam pods, then simultaneously converged around Wang Hu.
Their dark muzzles aimed directly at Wang Hu, with the telltale glow of impending beam attacks lighting up!
Not stopping there, Creuset verbally ordered the remaining thirty Mobile Suits to coordinate with him.
Their absolute objective: to truly and completely eliminate Wang Hu here and now!
Meanwhile, just as Wang Hu fell into Creuset's tiger-like jaws on the vanguard battlefield,
The Archangel, which had followed Wang Hu to the battlefield, encountered its most dangerous moment in history.
Having switched units, Mu sat in the cockpit of his self-named Zero Ginn, sweat covering his face as he stared at the five ZAFT Forces battleships blocking the Archangel's path.
"Hahaha, quite the impressive display."
Forcing a laugh, Mu observed the MS GINNs and CGUEs launching from enemy battleships, mentally weighing both sides' combat capabilities.
He couldn't help but pessimistically feel that even switching from Mobile Armor to Mobile Suit, facing such opponents offered little hope.
"Lieutenant Mu, please don't give up."
Piloting the Strike Gundam, Kira's gaze remained firmly fixed on the red-painted Aegis Gundam leading the enemy formation from within his cockpit.
"The world needs change, and we cannot fail before we can change this world."
"Ah, right, right, right." Feeling the young man beside him was somewhat delusional, Mu abandoned attempts to make him face reality.
Turning to count the enemies before them, Mu smiled freely and charged ahead before Kira.
So what if it meant death?
The man who creates miracles shouldn't be so unlucky as to fall before achieving one!
"Kira!" Athrun's eyes held only the figure of his childhood friend.
For a moment, he seemed to see the green-haired boy who used to smile gently at him within the Strike Gundam.
"This time, I will kill you."
"Athrun!" Kira tightened his grip on the Strike Gundam's control stick. Were they truly the most tragically entangled friends in this world?
In Athrun, Kira saw Nicol, while in Kira, Athrun saw Wang Hu and Flay.
His mind was filled with the red-haired girl before departure—how she had pulled him aside alone to speak her words.
No hesitation, no uncertainty. This was different from when he had tried to persuade Athrun outside the Artemis Fortress.
From Wang Hu's words, he had learned the complexity of the world; from Lacus, he had understood the complexity of human nature.
Kira had resolved to eliminate all obstacles in his path as he went into battle!
"Kira!" "Athrun!"
A crimson figure and a blue-and-white figure clashed violently, the climax of their combat erupting the moment they engaged.
"Miss Lacus?"
While the battle outside the battleship intensified, the red-haired girl Flay appeared outside the door of the Archangel's honored guest.
Inputting the code into the sealed door, Flay smiled at the pink-haired girl who stared at her in surprise as it slid open.
"I'd like to borrow something from you. I believe you won't refuse, Miss Lacus?"
Having learned the true situation outside the Archangel and with her true nature already exposed to the bridge crew,
Flay had set her sights on Lacus far earlier than in the original timeline.
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