"What the actual hell?!"
Duke Caius, as well as the other pilots who'd immediately attempted to imitate his successful move, minus the part where he manually calculated everything himself, were so thoroughly flabbergasted that they nearly forgot they were still supposed to be attacking.
After all, what'd just emerged from that cloud of smoke wasn't merely an unscathed mecha.
It was practically the complete opposite of the one they'd spent the entire race chasing!
For several precious seconds, their attention remained completely locked on that inexplicably luminous golden figure, right until their own AIs warned them that the additional momentum they'd gained was rapidly bleeding away.
At their current rate, it wouldn't be long before their mechas began falling behind again, taking their precious firing opportunity with them.
That alone was enough to jolt several pilots back into action.
