Haman's transport had already been inside the Titans' Lombardy-class battleship for over ten minutes.
Reid had long since maneuvered to the underside of the battleship's bridge using small thrusters. The bridge crew's attention was entirely focused on the Gwadan in front of them, completely unaware that the Reaper was right beside them.
Since the Blitz only needed to activate the Mirage Colloid System for stealth—without requiring the Lambda Driver to assist the Phase Shift Armor—the ultra-compact nuclear fusion reactor had already resolved the issue of operational endurance. As a result, the Mystic Lightning's heat capacity could still hold out for quite some time.
At this moment, Reid had the Blitz's hand pressed against the outer hull of the Lombardy-class battleship, sensing through sound and vibrations whether any gunfights or small explosions were occurring inside.
Simultaneously, Reid was also channeling all his focus into detecting Haman's psyche. If he truly sensed any violent fluctuations in her mental state, he would have no choice but to take the risk—using a thermal blade to cut through the battleship's hull and physically charge in to rescue her.
As for whether she might be sucked out into space and killed instantly, that would have to rely on the Lambda Driver to pull off a miracle.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Reid sensed Haman's killing intent—negotiations must have broken down. But before that, Neo Zeon's special forces had already taken action. Explosions rumbled through the battleship, and Haman's psychic presence was moving toward the hangar. Just like in the original timeline, she must have been rescued by the special ops team.
With neither side's Mobile Suits nearby, after Neo Zeon forcibly opened the hangar doors, Haman had no choice but to board a shuttle and rush toward the Gwadan. (There's a plot hole here in the original—when Haman entered, the close-up showed only the shuttle, but when she escaped, three Gaza-Cs inexplicably appeared. It's impossible that these three Gaza-Cs were also invisible, or that the Lombardy-class crew were all blind, letting these three Mobile Suits infiltrate the hangar.)
Seeing Haman emerge, Reid didn't hesitate. He immediately fired the double-barreled beam cannon on the Blitz's right arm, blasting through the bridge from below and ensuring its occupants died just as cluelessly as before. Without even glancing back at the explosion, he deactivated stealth and raced straight for the shuttle, grabbing it before charging toward the Gwadan.
However, just seconds after Reid seized the shuttle and the Gwadan's catapult runway came into view, he suddenly sensed an overwhelming surge of killing intent from behind.
Without a second thought, Reid adjusted the Blitz's thrusters, executing a high-speed barrel roll.
As expected, two MEGA Particle Beams struck the exact spot where the Mystic Lightning had been just a moment later.
After narrowly dodging the attack, Reid didn't bother checking whether the shuttle's occupants had been spun dizzy. He shoved the shuttle toward the Gwadan's flight deck, then turned and blocked the next wave of MEGA Particle Beams with the offensive shield.
Now, Reid could see who had ambushed him—a Byarlant.
The RX-160 Byarlant—a Mobile Suit whose structure was 70% thrusters. Even in the UC universe, it was one of the few non-transformable machines capable of free flight in Earth's atmosphere purely through its own propulsion.
And despite being mostly thrusters, the Byarlant's performance was far from lacking. Its acceleration was particularly outstanding—in a straight-line sprint, the Mystic Lightning was no match for it.
Even the Zeta Gundam's Wave Rider mode had been overtaken multiple times by it (though according to specs, the Zeta Gundam's base weight of 28.7 tons should make it slightly faster than the Byarlant, its full combat weight of 62.3 tons—nearly double the Byarlant's—slowed it down). It would probably take the Immortal Aegis to surpass its acceleration performance.
It was clear that the pilot had already boarded this Mobile Suit when Haman escaped the Lombardy-class battleship via shuttle. Only then could it have blasted out of the hangar the instant before Reid destroyed the bridge and the Lombardy-class exploded, avoiding annihilation along with the ship.
Upon seeing the only MS in the vicinity, the pilot immediately knew it was responsible for the battleship's destruction and naturally opened fire in a sneak attack.
As for who the pilot was, Reid didn't need to guess. Though this person's psychic abilities were relatively weak, they were at least a Newtype. Combined with their uncanny luck—whether cursed or blessed—and the fact they were piloting a Byarlant, it could only be one person: Jerid Messa, the Titans' ace pilot who had mocked Kamille for having a girl's name, sparking a bitter feud that led to Kamille killing his mentor, comrades, and lover—while he, in turn, killed Kamille's mother and "beloved" GGF-001 Phoenix.
Now, through the resonance of Newtype psychic energy, Reid could clearly sense Jerid Messa's furious roar:
"You bastard! How dare you kill Jamitov Hymem! Die!"
As Jerid Messa bellowed, he charged at Reid, the Byarlant's palm-mounted MEGA Particle Cannons firing relentlessly at the Mystic Lightning.
Unfortunately for him, Reid had no fear of facing Jerid head-on. After drawing his High Thermal Energy Sword, Reid deflected every MEGA Particle Beam with a dazzling display of dual-blade techniques enhanced by the Lambda Driver's Phantasm Particles.
Reid wasn't doing this to show off—behind him was the Gwadan's catapult deck, where Haman's shuttle had just docked. The blast doors hadn't even closed yet. If Reid dodged, those MEGA Particle shots would strike the Gwadan instead.
But Jerid Messa took this as a personal insult, believing his opponent was mocking him with such flashy beam-deflecting theatrics.
Enraged, Jerid closed the distance and swung the Byarlant's Beam Saber down at the Mystic Lightning with the full force of his charge.
Reid still couldn't dodge—the Gwadan hadn't begun retreating yet, and if the Byarlant broke through, it could easily target the bridge.
This wasn't like the original timeline, where Jerid Messa had prioritized escorting Jamitov Hymem's Lombardy-class battleship to safety. His assault had come much earlier, leaving both the Aries support and the Argama's reinforcements too far away to intervene.
Of course, the same applied to Sedan Gate—seeing the Lombardy-class explode likely threw them into chaos, delaying any retaliatory MS or ships from arriving soon.
This left the Mystic Lightning and the Byarlant in a pure one-on-one duel. Reid merged his thermal blades into a greatsword and met the strike head-on with an upward slash.
The Byarlant and the Mystic Lightning locked in a contest of power, neither gaining ground as they strained against each other.
However, the Byarlant soon began to show signs of faltering. The Mystic Lightning's inferior acceleration compared to the Byarlant was due to having far fewer thrusters, not a lack of power output.
In fact, the Byarlant's power output was only mid-to-high tier among Mobile Suits of its era, while the Mystic Lightning, equipped with an Ultra-Compact Nuclear Fusion Reactor, could rival the overpowered Gundams from the AC universe in sheer output.
Even with its thrusters pushed to the limit, the Byarlant was gradually overpowered by Reid. The slender arms of the Byarlant were already sparking from overload. A few more seconds of strain, and the hydraulic systems in its thin limbs would have exploded.
Seeing the red alarms blaring on his Mobile Suit's arms, Jerid Messa had no choice but to shut off the thrusters and disengage, intending to use the Mystic Lightning's own force to push himself away and create distance for another attack.
But this move resulted in the Byarlant being swatted away like a baseball by the Mystic Lightning's massive sword.
Fortunately, the Byarlant had numerous attitude-adjusting verniers, and their thrust was stronger than most Mobile Suits. Even while spinning uncontrollably, it managed to stabilize itself within a few dozen meters.
However, Reid never waited for his enemies to recover. The moment the Byarlant was sent flying, he raised his greatsword and lunged forward, aiming to destroy it in a single strike.
At this moment, Jerid Messa proved why he was an ace pilot of the Titans.
Sensing the killing intent bearing down on him as he regained control, Jerid instantly maxed out the Byarlant's thrusters, disregarding the crushing G-forces, and surged upward over the Mystic Lightning, narrowly dodging the thrust.
But Reid reacted just as swiftly. Seeing his attack miss, he immediately maneuvered the Mystic Lightning's left arm upward, firing the grappling claw from its Assault Shield System. It latched onto the Byarlant's leg, preventing it from escaping.
The Byarlant now resembled a husky yanked back by its leash, struggling futilely to break free.
Still, the Mystic Lightning's reverse thrust couldn't match the Byarlant's forward momentum, so it was dragged along despite its efforts.
Seizing the opportunity, Reid raised the Mystic Lightning's right arm, preparing to finish off the immobilized Byarlant with its twin Beam Cannons.
Here, Jerid Messa's experience and skill shone through. Surviving multiple battles against Kamille wasn't just luck.
Feeling the killing intent surge behind him again, Jerid made a decisive sacrifice—he used the Palm MEGA Particle Cannon to blast off the leg caught in the Mystic Lightning's grip.
The explosion not only freed the Byarlant but also sent it spinning off-balance, narrowly evading the twin beams Reid had aimed at its cockpit. Only the right shoulder thruster was hit, sparing Jerid's life.
Unfortunately, such desperate measures only delayed the inevitable. Losing a thruster meant the Byarlant could no longer move at high speeds. How, then, could it hope to fight the melee-specialized Mystic Lightning?
True to his ruthless nature, Reid wasted no time. Retracting the grappling claw, he closed the distance in an instant and swung his greatsword in a devastating waist-level slash.
Jerid Messa, pushed to the brink of life and death, also erupted with desperation. His spirit flared once more as he forcibly twisted his Mobile Suit, using the Beam Saber to block the strike again.
However, Jerid's Newtype abilities were simply too weak. Even this life-or-death outburst wasn't enough to make Reid hesitate for even half a second, and such a hasty block could never fully withstand the full-force slash of the Mystic Lightning.
The result was that the Beam Saber's deflection only managed to shift the Byarlant's body slightly, allowing it to escape with its life—at the cost of its entire left arm being severed.
But that was as far as it went. Seeing Jerid's tenacity, Reid decided to end it swiftly.
Gripping his massive sword with one hand, he cleanly severed the Byarlant's Beam Saber-wielding arm, then pressed his left hand directly against the cockpit. The Lambda Driver activated, generating an ultra-frequency shockwave that instantly reduced Jerid Messa inside the cockpit to pulp. With that, Reid secured his first kill against a Newtype.
Yet, in the instant of his death, Jerid's emotions—his resentment toward Kamille mixed with sheer unwillingness—erupted violently.
Reid experienced a hallucination of Jerid's soul bursting forth from the Byarlant's cockpit. Strangely, the soul seemed to harbor only frustration toward Reid, the one who had killed him. After glaring hatefully at Reid a few times, it shot straight toward the Argama's support unit—led by the Zeta Gundam.
At that moment, everyone on the battlefield heard Jerid's final words as he roared:
"Kamille Bidan! I refuse to accept this!!!"
Though Reid wasn't the primary target, he was close enough to feel Jerid's unwillingness firsthand.
Now, he somewhat understood why Kamille had grown increasingly unhinged as the war progressed. If one were subjected to mental shocks of this magnitude frequently, post-traumatic stress disorder would be the mildest of the aftereffects.
This was far more terrifying than the 240,000 soul fragments Reid had sensed on Junius Seven. Those souls had died instantly, leaving behind no lingering pain, and nearly a year had passed since then—so they had almost no mental impact, merely serving to charge Reid's Newtype abilities.
It was precisely this that allowed Reid, upon awakening his Newtype powers, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with prodigies like Kamille and Haman.
Meanwhile, in the original timeline, Kamille had continuously sensed the deaths of numerous Newtypes—both allies and enemies—over the final three days of the war, eventually gathering the lingering Newtype spirits on the battlefield to launch an attack.
These were the souls of those who had experienced the brutality of war, and they hadn't been dead for long. Like actual ghosts, they drifted across the battlefield, visible to anyone with Newtype abilities or those on the verge of awakening.
Had Scirocco not used his own abilities to take Kamille's mind with him in the end, he likely would've gone mad as well (the Zeta Gundam movie compilation, following the usual pattern, depicted Scirocco's failure—a happy ending in a parallel universe, one where Judau Ashta likely played no role).
In any case, Jerid's vengeful spirit ultimately sought out Kamille. As for Reid, a seasoned veteran of the battlefield, this level of resentment wasn't enough to shake his mind.
By now, the Aries MS Squad had arrived. With the decisive battle against the Titans imminent, Reid and Jerid's fight had merely been the prelude.
The death of Jamitov Hymem drove the Titans into utter frenzy. The Titans fleet and Mobile Suits at Sedan Gate desperately charged toward the Gwadan's position, seeking vengeance for Jamitov Hymem.
With the Byarlant sustaining over 70% damage, Reid couldn't retrieve it via the system. He spoke over the squad comms:
"Yulan, return this Mobile Suit to the Aries. Have Kid Salsamille extract the cockpit data before jettisoning the unit entirely."
"Everyone else, prepare to engage.
We'll hold them off temporarily until the AEUG main force arrives with the Argama and Radish. Then we'll immediately retreat with the Gwadan. Don't get drawn into prolonged combat—there'll be plenty more battles ahead."