The spatial intersection anomaly in the Mollaria Republic didn't just affect those fighting within its borders. It's important to remember that media outlets worldwide were broadcasting the battle live via remote feeds.
Although the media couldn't see the actual battlefield conditions, they could clearly witness the strange phenomenon of dark clouds covering the sky, followed by objects falling from the heavens. This was especially true when the clouds dissipated at ground level, revealing the 40-meter tall AS Giant Beasts that emerged from within.
Moreover, these ten Behemoths immediately began bombarding Mollaria Republic's cities with their 460mm caliber long-range cannons upon appearing, instantly turning urban areas into seas of fire.
At this point, even PMC organizations not participating in the joint exercises between Mollaria Republic and AEU were forced into action. This was because the small mobile suits falling from the sky had begun massacring people throughout the cities.
Reid had been continuously monitoring the World Change Fluctuation Value. When footage of the otherworldly mobile suits' arrival was broadcast globally, the value instantly increased by 5% to 12.301%. Then, as numerous Full Metal Panic AS units descended, the value rose another 3% to 15.301%.
Looking at these increases, Reid roughly understood why the arrival of so many AS units only contributed about one-third of the fluctuation value increase compared to when five Tallgeese units had appeared.
The most crucial reason was likely that the Lambda Driver couldn't be replicated in the AD Universe, while the technical threshold for manufacturing the AS frames themselves wasn't particularly high - any of Earth's three major nations could develop them independently.
The only valuable aspects of the AS units for the AD Universe were the palladium reactors found in the M9E and Hell King models below.
Still, Reid breathed a sigh of relief that the global revelation of the spatial intersection anomaly only increased the World Change Fluctuation Value by 5%.
Reid knew it would be impossible to conceal this spatial intersection anomaly. The previous incident at the AEU orbital elevator was controllable because the facility hadn't been officially opened to the public yet, and GN Particle dispersion could cut off media broadcasts.
But this time, GN Particles couldn't possibly affect the entire nation, and Reid couldn't possibly evacuate all of Mollaria Republic's civilians from the country.
Even if he used massive amounts of Minovsky Particles to temporarily cut all civilian media signals, the civilians who hadn't evacuated would still record footage. Once he withdrew, everything would still be revealed to the world.
When that happened, the power to explain this phenomenon would fall into the hands of various nations, and who knew how they might distort the facts.
After Hana called him an ET, Reid had decided that he needed to publicly explain his organization's identity and clarify the situation. Otherwise, with the power of definition in others' hands, he might genuinely be labeled as an alien.
However, what Reid didn't expect was that as these AS units continued destroying the cities, the World Change Fluctuation Value actually began decreasing. Although the decrease was very slow, it had now dropped to 15.296%.
But even with the World Fluctuation Value reversing its trend, Reid didn't plan to continue observing, because their classmate Setsuna seemed about to crash and burn again.
Regarding this interaction with the Full Metal Panic world, aside from the ten Behemoths, among the other three hundred-plus AS units, most appeared to be M9 models, but there were also over thirty Hell Kings.
With the M9's performance and its accompanying armaments, theoretically only its high-frequency vibration blade could pose a threat to the Exia's armor. As long as the Exia took off, these M9s would be no threat to it at all.
However, Reid watched the scene below and had no idea what Setsuna was thinking. The Exia simply refused to take off, insisting on engaging dozens of M9s in close-quarters combat on the ground.
At this moment, the Exia was like a lion besieged by a pack of jackals. Though it could snap a jackal's spine with a single swipe or kill one with a bite, these jackals were fearless, determined to leave their mark on the lion even in death.
It must be said that high-frequency vibration physical weapons inherently counter E-Carbon armor enhanced by GN Fields (the Exia's GN Sword is also a high-frequency vibration weapon, as shown in a close-up at the 4-minute mark of Episode 7).
Due to the blade material limitations, even when the M9's high-frequency vibration blade struck the Exia's armor directly, it could only leave a scratch without actually penetrating the armor.
But small damages accumulated over time. After several rounds of attacks, the Exia's shield was shredded by dagger strikes. To make matters worse, a Hell King appeared, exploiting the Exia's assumption that it was just another M9, and delivered a Lambda Driver-enhanced strike that completely destroyed the Exia's shield.
Moreover, the Exia's counterattack was blocked by the Lambda Driver, taking several seconds to break through the defense. With that much reaction time, the Hell King had already retreated.
Only then did Setsuna remember that the Exia also possessed ranged weapons. He immediately raised the GN Sword Rifle on its right arm and fired.
However, that Hell King proved extremely agile, dodging behind a building with a swift movement. All of the Exia's shots missed, and when it pursued, the enemy Mobile Suit had already vanished.
Soon after, the Exia was surrounded by M9s again. This time, without its shield, the Exia appeared even more disheveled, as if its back-mounted GN Drive might be pierced at any moment.
But reinforcements arrived quickly. Countless scatter shots rained from the sky, instantly eliminating the M9s around the Exia. The Exia remained immune to such attacks, completely unscathed. This time, the Black Tri-Stars had come to Setsuna's aid.
After the Full Metal Panic world's military forces descended, the entire Mollaria Republic became a battlefield.
It must be said that the Gouf Mobile Suit is in an awkward position. Its fragile armor means even the M9's 25mm autocannon - which against Mobile Suits can only be considered equivalent to a Vulcan Gun - can still inflict effective damage.
Furthermore, the M9's humanoid mech agility surpasses the Gouf's. This is akin to a dozen nimble teenagers fighting a 200-pound heavy man. The heavy man holds a rifle, while the teenagers wield simulation guns that can injure but not kill.
The result: the agile teenagers, after the heavy man kills a few of them, eventually wear down his thick fat layers through accumulated damage from the simulation guns and defeat him.
However, the M9's own positioning isn't much better. This Mobile Suit's armor cannot withstand anti-tank artillery designed for heavy tanks - even shoulder-mounted rocket launchers can cause damage.
And such anti-tank artillery is commonly possessed by PMC organizations in the Mollaria Republic, many of which maintain one or two units.
After all, not all PMC mercenaries operate Mobile Suits. Many are specialized anti-MS experts who focus on studying how infantry can combat Mobile Suits (in UC0079's European front, there was a formidable soldier who, as mere infantry, shot down over a dozen Zaku units using anti-heavy tank artillery).
Therefore, even the M9 would be overwhelmed when facing a larger number of mercenaries.
However, the M9s that crossed over from the intersecting world this time had pilots who seemed to be under the effects of a bloodlust spell and had gone berserk on their own. They showed no psychological hesitation in slaughtering infantry, causing the mercenary organizations of the Mollaria Republic to suffer extremely heavy losses in a short time, turning the city streets into rivers of blood.
Seizing the opportunity, Gaia's Trio piloted their Union Flags and slipped back to the Granshaow, switched to the Amazing Kampfer, and under Reid's command, went to rescue the Exia.
This wasn't the first time Setsuna had seen the Amazing Kampfer. Since they had saved him once again, he naturally had no reason to raise his blade against them.
Gaia was also more tolerant of Setsuna compared to Salia and Hilda, remarking that he had seen many stubborn new recruits from training camps like him.
After rescuing the Exia, Gaia directly handed his spare ZUX-197 Type Shotgun to the Exia and said over the open comms:
"Kid, this thing is better than the blade in your hand when dealing with small mobile suits. You know how to pull the trigger, right?"
Setsuna didn't hesitate at all. He took the shotgun and fired a shot at the approaching M9 units, only to send all the pellets flying into the sky.
This was clearly the result of not adjusting the Mobile Suit's shooting parameters. While this type of loaded weapon could be used by any other Mobile Suit with hands, parameter adjustments were still necessary.
However, one test shot was enough to obtain the parameters. Although Setsuna didn't have Kira's ability to modify code and adjust systems while fighting, he had a mastermind backing him up.
Christina Sierra, one of the two assistants Hana brought along this time, served as the tactical communications officer between the Ptolemaios and the Gundam pilots during combat missions.
But Christina Sierra was also a talented hacker/programmer. She could infiltrate highly secure government servers and retrieve data without being detected. Later, after Veda was taken over by Ribbons Almark, she also developed the backup operating system for the four Gundams.
So, she immediately remotely modified the Exia's shooting module and said:
"Setsuna, the shotgun's aiming and firing modules have been adjusted. You don't have to worry about missing anymore."
Setsuna was already frustrated by the M9s. He was supposed to be a Gundam, yet he was nearly taken down by a group of small Mobile Suits. For once, he actually expressed his gratitude:
"Thanks!"
It was the first time Christina Sierra had heard Setsuna say thank you, and she broke into a happy smile, replying:
"You're welcome. Just remember to treat me to a drink with your next paycheck."
But for Setsuna, that earlier thanks was already his limit. He didn't respond to Christina Sierra and instead raised the shotgun, firing continuously at the M9 units in front of him. After emptying the magazine, he unceremoniously asked the Black Tri-Stars for more ammunition.
Gaia's Trio knew that Reid's goal was to eliminate all the Mobile Suits that had crossed over from other worlds, so they were more than happy to have Setsuna's help.
After all, the M9s were highly agile in urban terrain, and these guys often used buildings as cover.
Although Reid had never explicitly forbidden collateral damage, Gaia's Trio could see that the buildings were full of ordinary workers armed with nothing more than pistols. They knew that if they blasted a building with a cannon, only heaven knew how many more people would die.
Therefore, Gaia's Trio was still fighting while trying to avoid malicious destruction of the surrounding buildings, making it extremely troublesome to capture these M9s.
And what was Reid himself doing? Of course, he was dismantling the Behemoths.
For the Mollaria Republic, these ten Behemoths were like a monster invasion. The Gouf's electromagnetic rifles couldn't even produce a spark when hitting their thick Lambda Driver shields.
Even if they were lucky enough to hit an unshielded spot, the Behemoths' heavy armor was sufficient to block the damage from electromagnetic rifles.
Moreover, the Innovators' Gundams were also quite ineffective against the Behemoths.
The Behemoths' Lambda Driver shields could only produce colorful flashes even when hit by Dynames' GN beam submachine gun, and a wave of GN missiles would only create smoke without causing any real damage.
Kyrios' sniping had similar results. Without additional mechanical assistance to condense GN particles, Kyrios couldn't fire GN beams capable of reaching from ground to space, and thus couldn't break through the Behemoths' Lambda shields.
At this stage, among the four Gundams, only Tieren Taozi could deal effective damage to the Behemoths. Its charged GN rocket cannon successfully broke through a shield, but the power of the GN beam was significantly weakened, ultimately only blowing off one of the Behemoth's arms.
However, Tieren Taozi took the full brunt of the counterattack that followed. Tieria judged that Tieren Taozi's GN shield could withstand the 460mm caliber giant naval gun, so he didn't even bother to dodge and continued charging the next GN rocket cannon.
But this naval gun from the Behemoth was enhanced by the Lambda Driver, and when the GN shield encountered the Lambda Driver's power, it was instantly blown apart.
Thus, although Tieren Taozi wasn't directly hit, it was practically equivalent to taking a 460mm naval gun explosion just meters in front of it with its own armor. The entire Mobile Suit was instantly blasted away, spinning through the air before crashing to the ground.
Moreover, the Behemoth facing Tieren Taozi pressed its advantage relentlessly, lowering its 30mm anti-aircraft cannons to fire horizontally, unleashing concentrated fire on the fallen Tieren Taozi, preventing it from getting up and covering the entire machine with sparks (from bullets hitting the armor).
In the end, Kyrios and Dynames came to support. Dynames fired all remaining GN missiles from its missile pods at this Behemoth.
Meanwhile, Kyrios followed Hana's command from the rear and sniped the Behemoth's head from another direction, finally destroying this Behemoth.
After the three Gundams worked together to eliminate one Behemoth, Hana in the rear felt slightly relieved and said over the comms:
"It's basically confirmed that these large Mobile Suits have an invisible powerful shield, but it can only defend in one direction at a time. The unshielded directions can be penetrated by GN beams.
Additionally, among the smaller Mobile Suits, those with feather-like radiators also have similar shields that can even briefly block Exia's GN Sword attacks. Be very careful when encountering them."
All four Gundam pilots nodded at Hana's words, but Alleluia immediately asked:
"Hana, should we still execute our contingency plan? The Mollaria Republic is now in complete chaos. And ET has entered the fray too. Although they're still only attacking those coming from the clouds, they're also instigators of conflict, right?"
As soon as Alleluia said this, Lockon immediately objected.
"I don't recommend provoking ET right now. This big guy we worked so hard to take down - while we were fighting, ET had already taken out six of them... uh, make that seven.
It seems these things are just slightly bigger pigs in front of ET - they're cutting them down effortlessly. Looks like they have countermeasures against that invisible shield."
However, Tieria opposed Lockon's opinion. He had already managed to get Tieren Taozi back on its feet, though it had been pretty badly blasted earlier. The external armor showed no obvious damage, but the GN Rocket Cannon in its hand seemed broken, with a large chunk missing from the lower section.
Yet Tieria still stated:
"As Gundam pilots of the Innovators, we cannot retreat from difficulties. ET are indeed instigators of conflict, and they are also targets of our Innovators."
But Setsuna, perhaps because he had been saved three times already, began speaking up for Reid and the others. He said succinctly:
"Objection. ET is currently rescuing people."
This statement killed the discussion. Indeed, regardless of their ultimate objectives, Reid and his team were currently preventing the forces emerging from the dark clouds from slaughtering people of the Mollaria Republic.
Both the Mollaria Republic and AEU forces could see this, which is why neither side was attacking Reid's unit, and were even providing covering fire.
If the Innovators attacked Reid and his team now, they would essentially be assisting the forces emerging from the dark clouds in their massacre - completely contrary to the Innovators' principles.
So Hana from the rear command directly made the decision:
"Setsuna is right. Until ET eliminates the small MS emerging from the dark clouds, we'll help destroy these suddenly appearing forces that are conducting massacres."
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