Reid had no intention of lecturing Kamille over her naive question. The information gap between them was simply too vast, and without concrete evidence on hand, mere words wouldn't convince her.
Besides, the main reason he was here now was because of Katz Kobayashi in the G-Defenser, whose emotions had completely overridden his rationality.
So Reid decided to first find a way to get Kamille to drag this troublemaker back to the Argama. He said,
"Kamille, this is a battlefield. Do you think this is some childish game? If you don't want your comrades to die, don't let them come here! Now, take your friend back to the ship. If you lack the resolve, don't disrupt the battlefield."
"As for who I'm helping—heh, the wars in this world aren't stirred up by just one or two ambitious individuals. The Titans and the AEUG are essentially cut from the same cloth—one's just slightly more moderate, the other more radical. To the spacenoids, both are oppressors."
"So even if there were no Haman, there'd be Kaman. If not Kaman, then Aman. As long as oppression persists, the resistance of the spacenoids will never end."
Kamille wanted to argue that the AEUG weren't oppressors—that they were an organization fighting against the Titans, who oppressed spacenoids. But Katz Kobayashi, who never thought before speaking, beat her to it.
"No way! I'm not going back! Sarah's still here—I won't leave!!"
Even Sarah Zabiarov, one of the people involved, couldn't take it anymore. She didn't love Katz Kobayashi, but she certainly didn't dislike him either. And she wasn't some manipulative flirt—her conscience was still intact. She had no intention of exploiting Katz's feelings for her, and would even protect him when it didn't conflict with Paptimus Scirocco's orders.
So Sarah Zabiarov cut in, shouting,
"Katz! I don't need you here—get out of here now!!"
Katz Kobayashi instantly fell silent. Though his heart had been broken countless times, Sarah's words still pierced him effortlessly.
But heartache aside, Katz still refused to leave.
Emma Sheen, piloting the Gundam MK-II, had tried several times to seize the G-Defenser and leave—after all, in a battle like this, even a stray shot could destroy the fragile G-Defenser.
But Katz violently maxed out the thrusters to break free, and Emma, afraid of snapping the G-Defenser in half, had no choice but to let go.
Seeing that Kamille wouldn't be able to drag this troublemaker back anytime soon, Reid changed tactics and spoke again.
"Kamille, how about another deal? Your friend just wants that Sarah, right? I'll help you separate Bolinoak Sammahn from the rest. You can take her back yourselves—how's that?"
Kamille was somewhat tempted by the offer, as she had no real desire to fight for the Titans.
But Katz Kobayashi stirred up trouble again, scoffing,
"No way! I won't work with Neo Zeon! I'll bring Sarah back with my own strength!"
Now Reid was getting angry too. This brat really needed a beating.
Done with words, Reid split his greatsword into twin blades, raising the weapon in his right hand as he said—
"Fine, let's just fight then. But Kamille, if you cover for the Titans, my Mobile Suit will record everything. Your previous battles have already been captured, and if you cause any more trouble, I'll broadcast the footage to every Colony Satellite in the universe."
With that, Reid charged straight toward the Palace Athena, aiming to take out this fire support unit first.
At the same time, Ange and Noin opened fire simultaneously, forcing Bolinoak Sammahn and The-O to evade, creating a 1v1 duel environment for the Mystic Lightning.
After firing, Ange immediately transformed into MA Mode and rushed toward The-O. Reid's earlier remark about cutting off Bolinoak Sammahn wasn't just a bargaining chip with Kamille—it was also part of the tactical plan.
So when the Immortal Aegis engaged The-O, Noin maneuvered the Wing Gundam to fire shot after shot, herding Bolinoak Sammahn toward the Zeta Gundam. That Mobile Suit would be left to the Gundam Team to handle.
The plan proceeded smoothly. Once Bolinoak Sammahn was forced toward the Gundam Team, the G-Defenser immediately rushed over, preparing to "talk" Sarah Zabiarov into turning back.
Naturally, Sarah Zabiarov wanted to break through and support The-O.
Seeing Bolinoak Sammahn successfully isolated, Kamille quickly stepped in. He had no intention of taking the blame for aiding the Titans—Reid's earlier threat had indeed intimidated him.
Truthfully, Reid was also exploiting the internal discord within Paptimus Scirocco's faction.
Sarah Zabiarov and Reccoa Londe were only on the same side because of Paptimus Scirocco. While they wouldn't actively try to kill each other, they certainly wouldn't lift a finger to help the other—this was a classic case of harem rivalry.
If Reid were in Paptimus Scirocco's position, he would never have provoked both women at once. An unstable harem was a massive liability—this was precisely why he avoided provoking Haman, fearing a similar situation.
Thus, Paptimus Scirocco was too preoccupied with Ange to offer any support.
Sarah Zabiarov, facing the Gundam Team's cautious non-lethal attacks, had the opportunity to assist Reccoa Londe—but she wouldn't. Her only thought was to break free and support Paptimus Scirocco as quickly as possible.
As a result, Paptimus Scirocco's three-person group was effectively split into three separate battlefields due to their lack of cohesion.
The first battle to conclude was naturally Reid's. The Palace Athena was, after all, a fire support unit. While its mobility wasn't bad, it still lacked agility in close combat.
Facing the Mystic Lightning's assault, Reccoa Londe chose to unleash the Palace Athena's full firepower—shoulder-mounted twin-barreled scatter Beam Cannons, twin-barreled MEGA Beam Rifles, and wrist-mounted MEGA Particle Cannons—all pouring toward the Mystic Lightning.
Reid's response was simply to max out the Lambda Driver, manipulating the Mirage Colloid to form a Beam Warping Field directly in front of his Mobile Suit.
The Palace Athena's beams were distorted wildly, scattering in all directions—even affecting the other two battlefields.
The-O and the Immortal Aegis, dodging a MEGA Particle Beam that shot between them, split apart and began exchanging fire from a distance.
Katz Kobayashi finally faced retribution at this moment. The G-Defenser was grazed by the twisted MEGA Particle Beam, melting away its left wing and thrusters, causing the Mobile Suit to lose balance and spiral out of control.
Meanwhile, Kamille, having dodged the attack, stared dumbfounded at the Mystic Lightning enveloped in a kaleidoscopic glow. She couldn't help but exclaim,
"What kind of ability is this? It can even distort beams? Isn't this completely overpowered?"
However, in the next second, Kamille had no time for further astonishment. Reccoa Londe, the pilot of the Palace Athena and once a comrade aboard the Argama, had reached the final moments of her life.
Reid had no intention of capturing the Palace Athena—the Jupiteris already possessed all its data. To him, after taking down the Jupiteris, The-O, Bolinoak Sammahn, and Palace Athena were all acceptable targets for immediate destruction.
Thus, Reid charged through the beam fire straight toward the Palace Athena, raising the Thermal Blade in his right hand and slashing at its torso.
Perhaps having witnessed the Mystic Lightning advancing unscathed through beam attacks, Reccoa Londe chose not to block with a Beam Saber but instead raised the shield on her left arm.
But Reccoa severely underestimated the power of the Thermal Blade. Even a Zaku's Heat Hawk could cleave through the original Gundam's shield with a full-force strike, proving that thermal weapons inherently countered Anti-Beam Shields.
Moreover, the Mystic Lightning's Thermal Blade was further amplified by the Lambda Driver. As a result, the Palace Athena's left arm, along with its shield, was severed in a single slash.
The explosion from the severed arm sent the Palace Athena reeling backward, leaving its torso wide open. Without hesitation, Reid maneuvered the Mystic Lightning to thrust its left Thermal Blade forward, piercing through the Palace Athena's cockpit.
At that moment, the final thoughts of Reccoa Londe—a latent Newtype—rippled across the battlefield:
"Men truly know nothing but war, treating women as mere tools... Or worse, they only seek to humiliate us. Aaaah!!!"
The Palace Athena exploded, and Kamille once again witnessed the fall of a former comrade. Overwhelmed by anguish, her grief erupted as she rushed toward the wreckage, murmuring,
"Lieutenant Reccoa... Why couldn't you understand? Paptimus Scirocco—he was just using you!!"
Reid, now noticing the crimson aura gathering around the Zeta Gundam, hesitated over whether to engage Kamille in battle. But then, another shift occurred in the duel between Ange and Paptimus Scirocco.
In their Mobile Suit shootout, The-O was completely outmatched by the Immortal Aegis.
The-O's high-output Beam Rifle fired too slowly, making it laughably easy for Ange to evade.
Meanwhile, the Immortal Aegis had switched its Beam Sniper Rifle to rapid-fire mode. Though The-O's heavy armor required multiple hits to inflict meaningful damage, the beams still steadily chipped away at it.
Finally, The-O's left arm succumbed to the relentless barrage and exploded. Fortunately, Paptimus Scirocco used the blast's momentum to maneuver behind the wreckage of a warship, temporarily shielding himself from Ange's attacks.
But as if by fate, the damaged G-Defenser spiraled uncontrollably behind The-O. Seeing The-O's exposed back, Katz Kobayashi didn't hesitate. Fueled by hatred for the man who'd "stolen his woman," he fired his high-output beam rifle directly at The-O's back.
At this moment, without the Zeta Gundam to stop her, Sarah Zabiarov had successfully broken through the Gundam MK-II's defenses and was piloting the Bolinoak Sammahn to rendezvous with The-O.
Witnessing this scene, she immediately pushed her engines to maximum thrust, rushing forward to intercept the high-energy beam with her mobile suit's body.
The G-Defenser's high-output beam rifle packed tremendous power. The Bolinoak Sammahn exploded instantly. Sarah Zabiarov's final thoughts resonated through space - this time, they weren't about Paptimus Scirocco, but directed at Katz Kobayashi:
"Katz... run....."
This completely shattered Paptimus Scirocco's composure. His attention had been entirely focused on Neo Zeon's "Dragon Lady," combined with Katz's constant murderous intent toward him, allowing this rat to sneak attack him.
But being ambushed by a rat was tolerable. As someone who'd made cuckolding others his specialty, Paptimus Scirocco couldn't accept being cuckolded himself.
When Sarah's dying thoughts urged her attacker to escape, Paptimus Scirocco saw metaphorical green horns growing from his head, breaking him completely.
Ignoring the Bolinoak Sammahn's explosion, The-O raised its intact right arm and fired at the G-Defenser, roaring:
"You're the one who corrupted Sarah! DIE!!"
Katz Kobayashi, overwhelmed with remorse for having killed Sarah, didn't even have his hands on the controls when The-O's beam vaporized him.
Yet in death, Katz's Newtype potential erupted completely - far surpassing both Reccoa Londe and Sarah Zabiarov.
Even deceased, he hallucinated Sarah returning to his embrace, murmuring:
"Sarah... you're here... we're finally together....."
This psychic resonance was so powerful even non-Newtypes could perceive it. From the Jupitris to Gryps 2, every combatant on the battlefield heard Katz's final words.
This phenomenon heralded the fall of a Newtype with limitless potential.
At close range, both Reid and Kamille were psychically impacted by Katz's death.
Reid fared slightly better - unfamiliar with Katz and having disliked the character in his previous life's anime. He merely shed involuntary tears as if moved by a tragic play, thinking "This is war," before the effect passed.
But Katz's death devastated Kamille. Just as Char saw Kamille as his successor, Kamille had viewed Katz the same way (despite Kamille's own youth, he genuinely held this belief).
Moreover, Kamille had always felt a sense of responsibility for the death of Katz Kobayashi's adoptive father, Hayato Kobayashi—Amuro's comrade during the One Year War. Now, she couldn't even protect his adopted son (Hayato Kobayashi had three adopted sons, but there was no information on the other two). Overwhelmed with grief and anger, she broke down in tears inside the cockpit of the Zeta Gundam.
Reid could intimately feel Kamille's pain at such close range. At this moment, the mutual resonance between Newtypes felt like an obstacle to him, because Reid realized he couldn't bring himself to aim his gun at Kamille in this state. The intertwining of their emotions even made him recall the great fire from when he was fourteen years old.
However, their psychic connection was soon severed by Paptimus Scirocco. Just as Katz Kobayashi's final thoughts held everyone in place—even Ange paused her Mobile Suit to silently pray for him—there was only one person who could still laugh: Paptimus Scirocco, the one who had killed Katz Kobayashi.
His madness erupted as he cackled wildly,
"Hahahaha, see? This is the fate of a rat that steals another's cheese! Hahahaha!!"
His laughter instantly shattered the emotional exchange between Reid and Kamille, as Kamille's fury exploded. She roared through the Newtype communication channel,
"Paptimus Scirocco!!! I'll kill you!!!"
But now, Kamille could only rage helplessly. While everyone else was immobilized, Paptimus Scirocco had already piloted The-O toward the Titans' Mobile Suit forces and regrouped with them.
Moreover, Haman had redirected all of Neo Zeon's forces to attack Gryps II, leaving the Titans' Mobile Suit units unoccupied.
After regrouping with his troops, Paptimus Scirocco immediately issued a desperate order:
"All units, charge toward Gryps II! We must seize the Colony Laser!!"