"Phew… phew… Yzak, Blitz Gundam's in bad shape." Nicol, still shaken, adjusted his posture and put some distance between himself and Jegan.
"Nicol, you retreat with Blitz. Dearka and I will handle him." Yzak retracted the beam saber in Duel Gundam and drew his beam rifle again.
"Suppressing fire!" Dearka reassembled his dual weapons into an anti-armor shotgun, continuously firing at Jegan and the approaching Strike Gundam.
Unlike Duel and Blitz, which could rely on PS armor and shields, Jegan's armor wasn't that strong.
Feeling the constant neural stimulation, Roz piloted Jegan, making small-range displacements to dodge the barrage from Buster Gundam while steadily advancing toward it.
"Tch, Yzak, you were right. That guy really is slippery." Dearka was starting to feel numb. Jegan's small dodges always avoided Buster's fire, almost like it came with built-in guidance.
"Yzak, Delta support team has arrived." Nicol, having retreated to a safe distance, alerted Yzak, who was still grappling with Strike.
"Good. Dearka, you and Delta Four handle Strike; the rest come with me!" Yzak slashed Duel Gundam's blade against Strike Gundam's shield, noticing four GINNs entering the battle.
Inside Jegan's cockpit, Roz saw the four GINNs joining the fight and squinted.
He swapped the empty rocket magazine and flew toward the incoming GINN squad.
Two thick beams appeared from below the Archangel, grazing its right hull.
"Ship cannon fire?" Roz checked the remaining rocket magazines, pushed the throttle, and Jegan accelerated further.
Although fragment rockets were nearly useless against ships, continuous strikes could still cause malfunctions in main and secondary guns.
But before attacking the ship, the top priority was taking out these MSs.
"Target in range, Delta Two, you're with me!" A GINN drew a physical long sword with its left hand, continuing to fire its machine gun at Jegan with the right.
"Don't block the way!" Roz saw the two GINNs drawing physical swords and understood their plan.
Jegan's left forearm ejected a beam saber, precisely landing in his left palm.
A GINN swung its left sword toward Jegan, but in the next second, Jegan slashed with the beam saber, cutting off the GINN's left arm.
As the GINN raised its gun for close-range fire, the beam saber thrust like a knife into the GINN's cockpit from the side.
Before it could react, another GINN seized the opportunity and lunged at Jegan with its physical sword.
Jegan casually mounted the rocket launcher on its waist, then threw the pierced GINN wreckage into the path of the lunging sword.
Next moment, feeling an electric shock in his mind, Jegan quickly leaned back, dodging a stream of machine gun fire from below, and charged toward the GINN firing continuously.
Seeing Jegan approaching, the GINN calmly threw several grenades to block his path.
Jegan rolled skillfully, avoiding most shrapnel, and blocked the rest with his shield, reaching the GINN.
With the beam saber raised, Jegan pierced the GINN trying to draw its physical sword.
He then kicked the impaled GINN aside, avoiding a beam shot.
"Damn it!" Yzak didn't expect Delta's elite squad to last barely two rounds under Jegan. He fired continuously at Jegan with Duel Gundam.
"Now!" Roz smoothly slashed the beam saber into Duel Gundam's left waist.
"Ughhh!" Amid the intense impact and alarms, Yzak raised his shield, attempting a shield strike like Roz.
But the next moment, due to some circuit burnout or unknown cause, the control console in front of Yzak exploded.
"Yzak!" Dearka, still tangled with Strike, saw Duel Gundam's state and fired from Buster Gundam, forcing Jegan to halt a moment before slicing Duel Gundam in half.
"You okay, Yzak? MA joined the fight too, situation's bad for us!" Dearka's voice came from communications, while Yzak held his bloodied face.
The previous explosion shattered Duel Gundam's cockpit glass, but luckily the helmet's quality and a bit of luck only scratched his face.
"Pain… it hurts so much." Yzak leaned in his seat, no longer able to command the battle.
"Retreat! Full retreat! Delta squad, recover Yzak!" Seeing the situation, Dearka took command, beginning to pull back the remaining units.
The GINN that had just lunged at Jegan grabbed the immobilized Duel Gundam and began retreating toward the warship.
Nearby, the Laurasia-class battleship, which had been trading fire intensely with the Archangel, also received Dearka's command and started slowing its speed.
"Phew… phew…" Feeling the electric shock-like sensation in his mind finally cease, Roz let out a long sigh of relief.
"Roz… have we repelled them already?" Though Kira of the future would be the "strongest pilot," the present, still immature Kira felt tremendous pressure dealing with two MSs at once.
"Phew… Mu, you take Kira back. I'll cover the rear." Roz checked the remaining ammo in the rocket launcher magazine and began flying toward the Archangel.
"Mm, Roz, you've worked hard." Mu, sweating from dealing with the GINNs near the Storm Gundam, wiped his brow. "Kira, you did very well."
Mu could clearly sense that Kira wasn't entirely himself, so he first praised him a little to help ease his tension.
"Yes, Kira, the intensity of that fight was high. You managed to hold on, protecting the Archangel and your comrades. That's remarkable." Roz stood on the Archangel's central deck, keeping a vigilant eye on the retreating Laurasia-class battleship.
"Roz… we're safe now." At that moment, Murrue's voice came through the comm. "Look above, the 8th Fleet has arrived."
Roz raised his head, noticing a cluster of prominent thruster lights in his view.
Among them, a single "star" kept flashing repeatedly.
....................