The atmosphere aboard the Minerva had become exceptionally strange.
After all, everyone's impression of Shinn was that he was a simple, money-obsessed youth with a single-track mind; no one expected him to "defect" at this critical juncture.
"Are all you ZAFT people like this?!"
The pilot of the Black Knight whose left arm had been severed spoke, enduring the chaotic emotions of confusion and fear radiating from his dying comrade in his mind.
He had already foreseen his certain death. Despite being terrified, he had become unnervingly calm, his face even wearing a faint smile. It had to be said that the mental state of this Black Knight pilot was quite disturbing.
"...Regarding this, we didn't expect it either."
Talia Gladys, sitting in the Minerva's captain's seat, felt a massive headache coming on.
"But since Shinn has chosen to desert in this manner... it means he is now our enemy."
Talia made her decision quickly.
"Notify all units: due to MS pilot Shinn Asuka's defection, cancel the IFF recognition for the MS: Destiny. Classify the Destiny as a hostile target!"
Several white MS swiveled their muzzles, aiming at the Destiny as it held its ship-cutting sword aloft.
"Ha! I was waiting for you to say that!"
Glancing at the radar at the five newly arrived Black Knights closing in, the pilot of the one-armed Black Knight laughed maniacally. He slammed down on the pedals, and his Black Knight erupted with speed, raising the heavy sword in its right hand as it charged toward the Destiny.
Seeing his IFF tags suddenly turn from friendly to red across the board, Shinn rapidly tapped a few keys on his controls, using a preset shortcut to set the combined fleet's MS and warships as allies.
"Shinn, if you can't bring yourself to strike, leave it to me."
Stellar's soft, gentle voice rang out over the comms. The Psycho Zaku surged past the Destiny, weaving through bursts of anti-aircraft fire, and swung its ship-cutting sword at the crippled Black Knight.
Seeing this, Shinn grit his teeth and followed closely behind the Psycho Zaku, thrusting his own sword toward the enemy.
First, the Psycho Zaku's blade clashed with the Black Knight's heavy sword. Simultaneously, the Psycho Zaku's four mechanical arms drew beam rifles—the same model used by the M1 Astray—from its backpack and fired continuously at the Black Knight. The FT Armor flickered with grid-like light effects under the relentless bombardment.
Immediately after, the Destiny appeared at the Black Knight's flank with its ship-cutting sword raised, piercing through the machine and physically pushing it back with brute force.
Even as it was being shoved, the Black Knight tried to counterattack with its heavy sword, but with a horizontal sweep of the Destiny's blade, a massive rent was torn through the enemy's waist.
The Destiny extended its "wicked" left hand again, seizing the armor in front of the Black Knight's cockpit. Violent energy swirled in its palm, continuously grinding against the FT Armor until the defense failed.
Shinn suddenly lifted his left hand, and the long-charged energy exploded, blasting the broken Black Knight into the distance. The Destiny retracted its hand and deployed the high-energy beam cannon on its back, firing a follow-up shot to finish the job.
If he were facing other machines from the Minerva, Shinn might have hesitated given their history, but these Black Knights? Sorry, he didn't know them at all.
"Careful, more Black Knights are coming."
Stellar's voice warned him again. Shinn saw the five new Black Knight signatures on his radar flying toward them.
Two against five... considering the Psycho Zaku's long-range attacks were less effective against their armor, he realized he might have to be the main attacker.
The timing for the Wings of Light... if I want to take out all five at once, I might only get one chance.
As he thought this, Shinn instinctively tightened his grip.
"Bzzzt... Shinn, right?"
A brisk, confident voice came over the comms.
"This is Hilda Harken of the Black Tri-Stars, under the command of Miss Lacus Clyne. We're here to back you up!"
Three DOM Troopers painted in black and blue schemes arrived behind the Psycho Zaku and the Destiny, carrying the same model of beam bazookas used by the Psycho Zaku.
"Those five are a bunch of hard shells, aren't they..."
Hilda, wearing a black eyepatch over her right eye, clicked her tongue as she looked at the five marked Black Knights on her panoramic screen.
"In that case... I'll use the Wings of Light to disrupt their vision. You guys seize the opening to attack."
Shinn's intuition told him that with these three DOM Troopers joining them, they could take down the five Black Knights in short order.
Without warning, the Destiny raised its ship-cutting sword again. The machine's thrusters hit full power; even without using the Wings of Light, it displayed powerful mobility as it charged the five Black Knights.
His goal this time wasn't to destroy a single unit, but to break their formation and create openings for the Black Tri-Stars and the Psycho Zaku.
"Ho... quite the impatient little brat."
Watching Shinn charge in without a second thought, Hilda arched an eyebrow and spoke to Stellar, who had been silent on the channel. "You found a partner whose personality matches yours perfectly, Stellar."
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At this moment, the final Black Knight squad of the Foundation Kingdom naturally saw the Destiny charging toward them at an extreme speed.
Seeing the Destiny rushing straight at them as if treating them like fools, these Black Knights all felt a collective sense of "rage." This anger echoed through their mental space, leading them to a unanimous decision to perform "Mind Reading" on Shinn.
But before that, they had to disperse to evade Shinn's sudden thrust.
The five Black Knights scattered in various directions, then regrouped into a loose circular formation. Rotating, they drew their heavy slashing swords and charged toward Shinn, who had just halted his forward momentum.
Seeing this, Shinn deployed the Wings of Light without hesitation.
Magnificent wings of light unfurled behind the Destiny, propelling it forward to once again pierce through the gaps between the Black Knights at an incredible velocity.
Seeing the Destiny's speed increase by more than a single grade, the Black Knights instinctively widened their eyes and simultaneously began reading Shinn's inner thoughts.
The reading process was smooth—too smooth, in fact. After the Destiny bypassed their reorganized formation, they entered Shinn's mental space; he had set up no defenses against it whatsoever.
However, upon entering Shinn's mental space, they saw no specific imagery—only a vast, empty expanse covered by green aurora borealis.
There were no manifested objects typical of a spiritual world; there was only the endless, brilliant aurora and a terrifyingly vacant space.
"...Something's wrong, why is there nothing else?!" One Black Knight stared in shock.
"But he's still operating the machine... Could it be that this guy isn't thinking at all and is driving entirely by physical instinct?!"
"Shut up with your constant chirping!"
Shinn was not affected by the Black Knights at all. After swiftly weaving through their formation, he turned back with a calm expression and raised his ship-cutting sword.
At this stage, he was operating the Destiny entirely based on physical reaction and intuition.
"If I'm right, the next move is this one!"
The Destiny's wings of light grew even brighter. Several identical copies of the Destiny separated from the original, as if performing a cloning technique.
Propelled by the Wings of Light, these indistinguishable clones, trailing golden afterimages, charged toward the Black Knights.
"Ugh! What kind of armament is this?! I've never heard of it!"
A Black Knight watched in horror as three Destinys rushed him. He instinctively maneuvered his unit to fire continuously at them.
However, all three Destinys dissolved into brilliant golden particles right before his eyes.
Seeing that he had only been attacked by illusions, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
In the next instant, the Psycho Zaku—its thrusters operating at full power—burst out from the cloud of golden particles in a thrusting posture with its ship-cutting sword. Before the Black Knight could react, it was skewered through the torso.
The sword pierced the reactor. Before the Black Knight could make another move, the Psycho Zaku kicked it away.
"Not good!"
Seeing a teammate vanish in a mechanical explosion, the other Black Knights widened their eyes in shock.
But soon, the next victim appeared.
A Black Knight surrounded by multiple Destinys saw the illusions around him dissipate, turning into golden particles that disrupted his vision.
Suddenly, two thick beams pierced through the golden particle cloud, accurately striking the Black Knight's right hand and left leg, instantly overloading the FT Armor and blowing the limbs apart.
The moment the beams faded, a DOM Trooper appeared from behind the golden particles, wielding a high-output beam saber. It slashed diagonally from right to left, cutting the Black Knight in half.
Meanwhile, the Destiny charged back to the side of the remaining Black Knights, fluidly throwing two beam boomerangs.
A mix of real and illusory boomerangs danced through this sector of space, and one Black Knight had its limbs destroyed by the projectiles.
Immediately after, the Destiny appeared behind the crippled Black Knight, pressing the muzzle of its high-energy beam cannon directly against the unit's back.
The FT Armor was easily breached by the high-energy beam at point-blank range. A massive hole was torn through the Black Knight's cockpit, and the destroyed reactor exploded, blowing the machine into countless fragments.
The Destiny once again turned into an afterimage, merging back into the nearby clones.
Several ghostly Destinys then raised their ship-cutting swords and charged at another Black Knight.
Because this move had twice been a feint earlier, this Black Knight didn't take it seriously, focusing instead on guarding against potential ambushes.
However, this time, the thrust from the Destiny's "clone" carried a violent impact. He watched helplessly as the tip of the ship-cutting sword broke through the FT Armor and pierced the cockpit, crushing him into a mass of flesh.
Casually tossing aside the Black Knight with the punctured cockpit, Shinn turned his gaze toward the final member of this newly arrived Black Knight squad.
This last member was now firing frantically at the Destiny's illusions, turning them one by one into golden particles.
The Black Knight was now in utter despair. He could read nothing from Shinn's heart except for the aurora, and these indistinguishable clones were a masterpiece of Shinn's instinct.
Clones of the Destiny kept lunging at him, only to vanish into golden particles under his fire.
He couldn't tell them apart—he really couldn't! Which one was the real one?!
Just as this Black Knight was in a state of frantic confusion, Shinn's Destiny had already appeared behind him, its palm cannon swirling with intense energy.
Driven by the Wings of Light, the Destiny pulled a series of afterimages and slammed its palm into the Black Knight's back.
The violent energy shattered the Black Knight's FT Armor and detonated its reactor.
As the golden clones merged back into one, the Destiny with its unfurled wings of light appeared once more before everyone. Behind it, the Black Knight exploded in a blast of fierce light.
Illuminated by the glow of the explosion, the Destiny's silhouette appeared dark, yet those emerald green eyes shone as bright as ever.
...................