As the beams gradually dissipated, the soldiers aboard the Gryps snapped back to their senses under the harsh voices of their officers.
"Report the damage status of the target."
Looking at the green aurora appearing in the firing trajectory of the Gryps on the screen, a sense of unease rose in his heart.
Although they didn't know the status of the superweapon fired from the Moon, three consecutive superweapon attacks had yielded no change at the site. Whether it was GENESIS or Gryps, both remained in perfect condition.
"Target... showing no signs of damage."
Looking at the data displayed on the console, a soldier subconsciously swallowed hard.
"Something blocked our... no, blocked the attacks of all the superweapons just now!"
Hearing the soldier's report, everyone felt a sense of the absurd. What could possibly withstand the fire of three superweapons, let alone block them entirely?
"Beams have dissipated. Visuals are coming through!"
As an image appeared on the screen, everyone on the battlefield—whether Blue Cosmos or not—subconsciously held their breath.
It was emerald-green crystals, resembling a lush tree. The green crystals, branching out in geometric circuit patterns, formed its trunk, while the brilliant aurora transformed into its leaves, drifting through the universe.
The green spherical shield, which looked like a thin layer that might shatter at any moment, dissolved into a sky full of particles and slowly vanished. The details within the sphere were finally revealed to everyone.
"Roz!!"
Seeing the image on the screen, Murrue instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes widening.
It was a Unicorn completely different from before. The pure white armor was shattered, and green crystals grew from behind the broken plates, stretching out wantonly into space.
She lowered her head slightly, as if in deep thought or sleeping peacefully. Surrounded by the aurora, the machine exuded a sense of holiness.
"...Crystallization," Big Haro said subconsciously on the bridge of the Nahel Argama.
"Crystallization? What is that?!"
Badgiruel turned her head to look at Big Haro, her tone carrying a mix of urgency and interrogation. "What is happening to Roz right now! Answer me quickly, Big Haro!"
"...He is dying."
Big Haro's words caused an immediate silence to fall over the Allied Fleet's comms.
"The miracles triggered by Newtypes through spiritual energy are not free," Big Haro said, continuously sending communication requests to the Unicorn while searching its own database. "When a machine containing a Psycho-Frame undergoes crystallization, it means the pilot's spiritual energy is about to fully merge with the Psycho-Frame."
"The result... is what?"
Hearing Big Haro's words, Murrue felt tears about to well up in her eyes.
"...The physical body dissipates, and the soul ascends to drift in the universe. In other words, there is no difference from being dead."
Big Haro turned slightly in its seat to look at Murrue.
"Do not waste the opportunity he has won for you."
Despite speaking words of crushing despair, Big Haro did not stop its actions of scouring the Courtyard's database. After all, through long-term contact with Roz, Big Haro had already decided that this was its fated Executor.
The Machine Spirit Miss did not want to let go, and naturally, neither did Big Haro.
-----------------------------------
"Big Brother Roz..."
Staring at the magnified image in the panoramic cockpit, Marvin gritted his teeth. He forcibly suppressed the urge to fly to Roz's side and continued his advance toward the Gryps.
This was a rare opportunity. He had to destroy the Gryps before it could fire a second shot. Otherwise, everything Big Brother Roz had done would be meaningless.
As the Gryps loomed large before him, the Narrative Gundam swung its cannon barrel. The auxiliary thrusters on its back detached one after another, and the machine's speed slowed slightly. Triangular mechanical claws moved from the base of the cannon barrel to the muzzle, replacing the original firing port.
Then, the Narrative Gundam reached its designated position. The two mechanical claws seized the outer armor of the Gryps, their sharp tips plunging directly into its interior.
"Hurry, hurry..."
Marvin processed a massive stream of data as a progress bar appeared on his screen. The Gryps was too large; due to data transmission speeds, it would take some time to take full control of it.
"Re... Report! The Gryps is being hacked... it's that MA that rushed into the vicinity just now! They are gradually taking over our control systems!"
In the command room of the Gryps, the soldier at the console shouted loudly while staring at the warnings flashing on the screen.
"Zzzt... Emergency fire of the Gryps. Target that crystallized machine."
At that moment, a communication suddenly came through from Lord, who had left only a short while ago.
"But the Gryps is currently being hacked! If we force a launch now, there could be unknown dangers!"
Hearing Lord's words, the commander standing in the command room furrowed his brow.
"Even so, it must be destroyed at any cost!"
Lord stared at the image on his tablet, his eyes wide. "That thing... cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands!"
Looking at the crystallized Unicorn that had blocked the attacks of three superweapons, Lord felt a sudden surge of terror from the depths of his heart.
The one possessing such a weapon was his enemy. He absolutely could not allow the enemy to have such a weapon; he could not permit the existence of something so powerful it could nullify superweapon attacks.
Currently, the front line could not be pushed forward, and the crystallized Unicorn was far off in the distance, impossible to capture. It appeared that the machine had paid a heavy price to block those attacks—this was the best opportunity.
"...Understood."
The officer in the command room went silent for a moment and then nodded.
As the communication cut off, he looked at the scene on the screen.
"Rapid charge! Target the crystallized entity! Fire!"
-----------------------------------
"Faster... just a little bit faster..."
Marvin muttered anxiously, his eyes fixed on the progress bar on the screen. Right then, a rapid alarm blared.
"High-energy reaction detected at the muzzle?!"
Scanning the information on the screen and recalling the direction the muzzle was currently facing, Marvin's eyes widened instinctively.
"Ugh, AHHHH... you bastards!"
Marvin roared at the top of his lungs. The data transmission speed had reached its absolute limit, yet it only caused the progress bar to move a fraction faster.
Amidst Marvin's roars, the muzzle of the Gryps lit up once more. A beam, only one-fifth as thick as the previous attack, erupted from the Gryps' muzzle.
The white beam swept across the battlefield again, striking the green shield that had re-condensed in front of the crystallized Unicorn before everyone's eyes.
However, this time, those crystals did not continue to grow wildly. Only the aurora, which had nearly solidified into a physical substance, swirled and drifted around the Unicorn.
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They were streamers formed from the aurora.
These streamers emerged from the wreckage of Junius 7, eventually coiling around the body of the crystallized Unicorn. The souls entrusted to the Unicorn resonated with the souls of Junius 7; the immense spiritual energy formed brilliant auroral ribbons, connecting the Unicorn to the remains of the colony.
Under everyone's gaze, the aurora continued to weave itself upon the Unicorn, as if attempting to transform into something specific. The aurora began to expand and condense continuously until, finally, it formed an existence that made everyone instinctively widen their eyes.
It was the starting point of this war triggered by the ambitious: Junius 7.
The Junius 7 formed by the aurora blocked the beam for Roz. As the beam continued its assault, the apparition became increasingly real.
"Junius 7... how can this be..."
Back at the PLANT homeland, Patrick Zala stood up instinctively upon seeing this, staring blankly at the scene before him.
"Truly... unexpected."
Standing in the command room of GENESIS, even Durandal, who had mentally prepared himself for the "miracles" the Unicorn might induce, could not help but marvel. "So souls... do such things truly exist..."
The beam from the Gryps' emergency fire did not last long, yet it was lethal enough. However, the Junius 7 condensed from the aurora completely withstood this fatal attack.
Crack, crack, crack...
Sitting in the cockpit within this "Junius 7," Le Creuset once again heard the sound of crystals shattering. As the beam dissipated, the branch-like Psycho-Frame crystals growing from the Unicorn's body shattered and drifted into the universe.
Only a thin but radiant layer of green crystals remained on the Unicorn's frame, serving as its armor.
At that moment, the auroral Junius 7 seemed to reach its critical point and suddenly burst apart. A shockwave formed of aurora swept across the entire battlefield, continuing until it covered both the PLANTs and Earth.
"Singing... is that singing?!"
"Why... who on earth is singing?!"
It was no hallucination; everyone on the battlefield heard a gentle song. it was a longing for peace, an expectation for the future—the most beautiful emotions stemming from the human heart.
But clearly, for those already lost to madness, they didn't care for such things.
"Gods and ghosts... mere trickery!"
Irritated by the stagnant front line, a Blue Cosmos soldier curled his lip in disdain and pushed the control stick of his machine. However, the machine gave no response, continuing to drift aimlessly in space.
"No response? How?!"
His eyes widened as he frantically fiddled with the controls. "Dammit... just a little more, just a little more, the nukes..."
As if sensing his emotions, the "hallucination" he heard was no longer the song of peace, but a hateful, vengeful roar. In his vision, a nearly physical hand, like that of a demon, seized his throat.
"AAAAHHH..."
He died just like that from sheer terror, the machine that carried his madness becoming his coffin.
By now, many others had discovered the problem.
"Why won't the machine start?!"
Hearing the reports from the maintenance crew, a commander of an Earth Alliance warship loaded with nuclear missiles questioned his team over the comms.
"Captain, it's the aurora!" The maintenance crewman swallowed hard. "When that aurora swept past just now, I saw with my own eyes that the engines of the units carrying nuclear warheads decomposed into individual parts! Even the nuclear warheads themselves were dismantled!"
The captain stood frozen at the crewman's words. People discovered that a massive number of MS and warships belonging to the Blue Cosmos faction had their internal engines turned into unassembled parts under the influence of the aurora.
What happened next was equally unexpected.
First, ZAFT's clone troops seemed to "awaken," letting out cries of collapse over the communication channels as they asked who they actually were. Then, the "Wets" of the Earth Alliance began to break through the various restrictions placed upon them by Blue Cosmos.
Wets piloting MS turned their beam rifles toward their own cockpits and pulled the triggers without hesitation. Those installed into warships or MAs either self-destructed or simply burned out their own brains.
If Roz were still conscious, he would have seen souls of various sizes—remaining only in human form—detach from the Earth Alliance Wets and fly into the curtain woven by the aurora.
By this time, Roz was already lying in the cockpit, having fallen into a coma. The Psycho-Frame installed in the cockpit had not destroyed the space; instead, it seeped through nearly invisible seams and grew wildly inside, covering Roz's body like a blanket.
Roz's body appeared to have reached a critical limit; circuit-like patterns appeared on his face, with a light similar to the Psycho-Frame flowing within them.
The Machine Spirit Miss, now physically manifested, knelt behind Roz and gently rested his head upon her lap. As Roz's spiritual energy merged more tightly with hers, she was able to slightly influence other things—such as creating a comfortable breeze within the Unicorn's cockpit.
She looked tenderly at the unconscious Roz, murmuring and softly humming along with the souls drifting in the universe.
"(I exist forever deep within your heart)..."
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While everyone was left dazed by the appearance of the Junius 7 formed by the aurora and the wave of energy that had swept across them, Big Haro—though devoid of facial expressions—felt her heart sink bit by bit.
This was the state that a machine equipped with a Psycho-Frame least wanted to encounter.
"Re-crystallization... it's even more severe than before. Has the fusion already reached this extent?"
Big Haro murmured, continuously scouring the Courtyard's database.
"We have a serious problem."
To be honest, even Big Haro couldn't say for certain whether Roz could be brought back now.
....
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