Of the batch of Universal Century Mobile Armors, the Zakrello and the Bigro were the two weakest, but they had a decent eye for opportunity.
As the two units charged straight for the Ptolemy, the Exia, Kyrios, Gundam Nadleeh, and the Strike container equipped with the GN Armor Set Type-E all sortied.
This time, the Strike container didn't need to carry the Exia through the front lines for a solo strike on the Alvatore. With so many large Mobile Armors from another world present, they needed every bit of firepower they could get to defend the already damaged Ptolemy. Besides, the Strike container was piloted by Lasse Aeon, a reserve Gundam Meister whose piloting skills were not bad by Celestial Beings' standards.
In truth, whether the Zakrello and Bigro fought the Wodom Pods or the Celestial Beings' Gundams, they would be at a disadvantage. These two units were too old. Although their firepower was guaranteed as large Mobile Armors, their mobility and defense were genuinely no better than the old-generation mobile suits from the three nations of the AD Universe.
Of course, old as they were, their attacks still made quite a spectacle.
The Zakrello fired a full missile salvo at the Ptolemy. It had two 120mm honeycomb missile launchers under its main thruster and two 90mm honeycomb missile launchers on top of its main body, which constituted its primary long-range firepower as a Mobile Armor.
Meanwhile, the Bigro opened its large MEGA Particle Cannon at its nose and fired a shot at the Ptolemy.
However, against the Zakrello's dense and compact missile barrage, the Kyrios's GN Beam Submachine Gun was the perfect counter. With a burst of fire, it took out more than half of the missiles that would have directly hit the Ptolemy. The Exia and Gundam Nadleeh were able to pick off a few of the remaining ones, and the Ptolemy's GN Field could tank the last few scattered missiles.
As for the Bigro's large nose-mounted MEGA Particle Cannon, Lasse Aeon, piloting the Strike container, met it head-on with his GN Field activated.
Lasse Aeon dared to tank such a large nose cannon for two reasons. First, the Strike container was currently flush with GN Particles, making its GN Field very strong (in the original story, it could even counteract a large portion of the Alvatore's GN Field). Second, the Strike container had a dual-body structure. If things went south, Lasse Aeon could directly detach with the GN Armor Set Type-E and go combine with the Exia.
But for now, the Strike container didn't need to resort to detaching. The Bigro's large nose-mounted MEGA Particle Cannon was of a type with low particle density. Not only was the shot blocked by the GN Field, but it didn't even manage to detonate the GN Field through the collision of the two types of particles. It merely bathed the Strike container in a shower of sparks from the particle collision as the beam hit.
Their ranged firepower was intercepted, but the Zakrello and Bigro, which had been attacking while charging, had now reached the three Gundams. The berserk pilots inside naturally and formulaically chose to attack the Mobile Suits before them with their units' mechanical arms.
However, the melee flexibility of most Mobile Armors was generally poor, especially for these two old relics from UC 0079. The Zakrello's Large Heat Energy High-Frequency Heat Dissolving Blade could basically only perform very simple movements, and its attack wind-up was extremely obvious.
This time, it was facing the most agile of the Celestial Beings' Gundams: the Kyrios.
Alleluia very easily dodged the Zakrello's horizontal slash. The moment the two units passed each other, the Kyrios drew its Beam Saber and sliced a huge gash through the Zakrello from head to tail.
A unit like the Zakrello had no chance of survival after having its skull split open. It exploded directly into a shower of red code.
At the same time, the Bigro also met its end.
This was because the Bigro had chosen an even worse opponent: the Exia.
The Bigro's dash speed was very fast. Back then, Amuro hadn't reacted in time, leading to the original Gundam being captured directly.
Although part of the reason was that the original Gundam could no longer keep up with Amuro's reaction speed at that time. But Setsuna's reaction speed certainly couldn't be compared to Amuro's in the late One Year War.
However, the Exia's agility and impact resistance were far superior to the original Gundam's.
Therefore, the instant the Exia was grabbed by the Bigro's mechanical arm, it swung its right arm's GN Sword and severed the Bigro's arm. Then, with its right hand, it immediately drew its GN Beam Saber and, using the Bigro's own momentum, plunged it directly into the large MEGA Particle Cannon on the front of the unit.
The Bigro suffered a gruesome "oral explosion," and the unit, naturally too ashamed to exist, "self-destructed."
With both units destroyed, the crisis facing the Ptolemy was temporarily resolved.
At the same time, the Gran Chaos's Shipboard Buster Beam Cannon arrived.
The pilot of the Gundam Prototype Unit 03 (Dendrobium) was, of course, a berserk Kou Uraki. He was not a Newtype and lacked the ability to foresee danger.
So, his long-term combat experience had led him to keep the Gundam Prototype Unit 03 (Dendrobium)'s I-Field at maximum output at all times.
This habit successfully saved him from being instantly killed by the Shipboard Buster Beam Cannon's initial strike. The I-Field managed to buy him less than a second of buffer time.
The berserk Kou Uraki didn't bother with an orderly dispersal. He pushed his thrusters to the max, directly ramming the Psycommu Gundam in front of him out of the way and escaping with his life.
However, even though the berserk Kou Uraki reacted quickly, the Gundam Prototype Unit 03 (Dendrobium) couldn't escape unscathed. Four of its six large rear thrusters were destroyed, and after the I-Field was breached, a quarter of its rear section melted away, and half of its missile pod was also disabled.
Moreover, the Gundam Prototype Unit 03 (Dendrobium)'s escape didn't just knock away the Psycommu Gundam. The Val Varo, which had been blocked by it, was directly melted. It had made a trip to another world only to be taken out before it could even fire a single missile.
Fortunately, due to the large size of this wave of Mobile Armors, the only one caught in the friendly fire was the unlucky Val Varo. The other units were unharmed.
However, the SDP's signature massive beam sweep entrance gave the Wodom Pods and Celestial Beings a lot of confidence. The SDP had arrived, and with it, a tank to draw the enemy's main fire. Neither side had to worry about a lack of aggro anymore.
Sure enough, following the massive beam, a sky-blotting barrage of missiles from the Gran Chaos provided cover for Reid's squad and a large number of Mass-Produced GM Astrays as they charged forward.
At this moment, the Brau Bro and Messala, which had been preparing to attack the Wodom Pods, and the Hati and Rosaceae, which had been preparing to attack the Celestial Beings, all turned around and charged toward Reid's forces.
Seeing these three Mobile Armors rushing toward him, Reid immediately commanded, "Spread out! Many of these MAs are equipped with I-Fields, so use physical rounds and Magnum Beams! I'll take the swan-like unit. Ange, you deal with that black and blue saucer-shaped unit. The rest of you, engage at will. Remember to constantly watch out for ultra-long-range attacks from those large MAs."
After speaking, Reid charged directly at the Hati, while Ange went straight for the Messala.
Reid made these arrangements because these two units posed the greatest threat to his forces.
The Rosaceae's attack pattern was similar to the Bigro's, specializing in high-speed mobile warfare to eliminate opponents. Its main weapon was a high-output MEGA Particle Cannon under its nose. It had four movable mechanical arms, each side equipped with a combination of a large Beam Saber and a retractable heat saber, ensuring it had both physical and beam weaponry. The fuselage also had externally mounted missile launchers to supplement its firepower.
But this level of firepower wouldn't be able to wipe out a large number of his troops in an instant. And with the protection of Electromagnetic Armor, unless the Rosaceae charged into the middle of his formation to slash them, only its high-output MEGA Particle Cannon could inflict rapid and significant casualties.
And although the Brau Bro had a primitive Psycommu System, its only weapons were four Wired Control Type MEGA Particle Cannons, so it wasn't a major threat.
The Hati, however, was a different story. The Psycommu System Controller it was equipped with allowed its missiles to achieve a terrifying level of accuracy. Even if one missile couldn't break through the Electromagnetic Armor, if three or five exploded together, they could definitely shatter it. These weren't the kind of missiles fired from a fast-moving, small missile vehicle.
The Hati was specified to carry 800 such missiles. Moreover, its bow was equipped with a High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon of the same type as the Hyaku Shiki's, and it had two wire-guided attack Bits under its left and right wings.
To be honest, Reid felt that if the Mass-Produced GM Astrays he brought this time were constantly kited by it, the Hati could wipe them all out single-handedly.
As for the Messala, there was no need for much explanation. The large saucer-shaped body was equipped with 12 Composite Launchers in various dimensions, all directly connected to a large Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactor. The power of its beams was enough to pierce Electromagnetic Armor.
If something like that charged into his Mass-Produced GM Astray forces, it could shoot down many units even if it fired randomly without aiming.
Therefore, Reid's side had to intercept these two units first. Otherwise, his Mass-Produced GM Astray force, which he had spent a huge amount of resources to strengthen with Electromagnetic Armor, would be completely wasted.
But for all that, the Hati and Messala were mainly good at clearing out mobs.
The Hati's pilot, Rousseau, was a female Enhanced Person from the Titans' Oakland NT Research Institute. Like most other Enhanced Persons, Rousseau had severe emotional problems, which were even more pronounced when she went berserk.
As a Universal Century Enhanced Person, Rousseau could feel Reid's intense hostility (she could only sense the hostility, not predict attacks from it), but she wasn't the least bit intimidated. She fired a High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon as a greeting.
Since Rousseau could sense Reid's hostility, Reid could naturally sense hers as well.
At the same time, Rousseau wasn't the only one hostile to Reid. The pilot of the Rosaceae, another Titans unit, was Ewin Byrd. As a regular military officer, he still remembered some degree of coordination even while berserk.
So when the Hati fired its High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon at the Gundam Artemis, he might have instinctively controlled his unit to fire a MEGA Particle Cannon shot at the Gundam Artemis from the flank.
However, the Rosaceae's High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon shot was more for zoning, not a direct hit on the Gundam Artemis.
Reid's response to this was simple. He activated his Floating Lightwave Barrier and charged head-on into the Hati's High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon without slowing down.
Reid's greatest fear when facing enemies was a lack of intelligence. Even for units he recognized, he often didn't know the specific output of their weapons.
But as luck would have it, the Hati's High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon was specified to have the same output as the Hyaku Shiki's. Since Reid had captured a Hyaku Shiki before, he knew exactly how much power that cannon could produce.
A single Floating Lightwave Barrier could block that cannon, so what did Reid have to fear?
So when Rousseau saw the enemy unit engulfed by her beam, for a moment she thought she had it in the bag.
But the next second, she was proven wrong. The High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon hit the Floating Lightwave Barrier like a stream of water from a fire hose hitting a fixed, thick steel plate, and was directly deflected. It only shattered some meteorites diagonally behind the enemy Gundam, causing no other damage.
After blocking the shot with the Floating Lightwave Barrier, Reid retaliated by firing a shot from his Magnum Beam Rifle at the mouth of the Hati's High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon.
At this moment, the Hati was still in its post-firing "recovery" time. (This type of large High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon must be stationary to accurately hit a target. If it were constantly flying, hitting a Mobile Suit-sized target would be a matter of luck. So the time it takes to restart and accelerate after firing is the so-called recovery time.)
Therefore, the Gundam Artemis's Magnum Beam shot hit the cannon's muzzle with great precision.
However, as a Mobile Armor, the Hati's I-Field was much stronger than what a Mobile Suit could equip. Moreover, during the Titans era, I-Field technology was considerably more advanced than in 0083.
This directly resulted in the Magnum Beam's power being greatly reduced even though it broke through the I-Field. And since the Hati's High-Energy MEGA Particle Cannon had just fired, there were no particles left in it, so it didn't cause a chain explosion. The beam only completely destroyed the cannon's muzzle, without substantially affecting the Hati's other armaments.
Still, the Hati had suffered a major loss in its first exchange with the Gundam Artemis. Seeing her I-Field so easily breached by the enemy's weapon, pilot Rousseau quickly had her unit accelerate to engage in mobile warfare, lest she become a sitting duck.
But Reid, who had already advanced into the Funnels' attack range, wasn't about to let the Hati get away.
This unit's dual-seat, quad-thruster setup, combined with the plasma thrusters at the tail of its wing-mounted Bits, could provide an exaggerated straight-line dash speed. If he let it get up to speed, the Gundam Artemis's own straight-line dash speed wouldn't have much of an advantage.
Therefore, Reid unhesitatingly had his two Heavy Ion Large Floating Cannons open fire, while his hands kept firing the Magnum continuously.
However, this time it was no longer a stationary target, so Reid didn't get greedy and aim for the unit's swan-like head cockpit. Instead, he aimed for one of the wings.
(The head of this unit can be lowered, but the wings still have to be open for a full-speed dash.)
The logic was simple. The Hati was currently accelerating at full power. If one of its wings' plasma thrusters was gone, the unit would 100% start flying in circles. At that point, there would be countless ways to finish it off.
With Nein's assistance, Reid's current marksmanship made hitting such a large moving target at medium range a near certainty, not to mention it was a three-shot salvo from different angles.
Thus, the Hati's right wing was directly hit and destroyed by the Magnum Beam. The two Heavy Particle Beams, by a stroke of extreme luck, hit the right tail stabilizer.
Now, the Hati couldn't help but spin in place. The unit had completely lost its left-right movement control, and its thrusters were still at full power.
The unit shot forward at high speed for a short distance before starting an endless wide turn to the right.
Reid naturally seized the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot. He fired several more Magnum shots, all hitting the missile storage bay underneath the unit, directly causing the missiles to chain-detonate and flipping the unit over.
Alright, in the vacuum of space, there's no concept of "flipping over," but from Reid's perspective, the Hati was now upside down, spinning, and had crashed into a meteorite in front of him, turning itself into a pile of red code.
(End of Chapter)