Reid's side had dealt with the Bigro Lang and the Elmeth, and through Lalah Sune, he had sublimated his Newtype abilities.
On the two battlefields, one involving Celestial Beings and the other the Wodom Pod forces, the outcomes had also been decided.
The Celestial Beings' side had switched opponents to prevent the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) and the Psycho Gundam from approaching the Ptolemy.
The Exia GN Armor Type-E Form turned to confront the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium), charging directly in front of it to clash its Large GN Sword against the Dendrobium's Large Beam Saber.
Since the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) now had only two propulsion engines left, both on the same side, their thrust levels were evenly matched, and for a moment, neither could gain an advantage over the other.
However, the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium)'s Mobile Suit output was still far greater than that of the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form. Not only did both have to contend with the explosions from the collision of high-concentration Minovsky Particles and GN Particles, but when the berserk Kou Uraki unleashed the full power of the Giant Beam Blade, the Large GN Sword even began to show signs of melting.
It could only be said that the Ptolemy was a real liability at the moment. If it weren't for the fact that it could only retreat slowly, the Exia GN Armor Type-E could have fully utilized its current superior agility to outmaneuver the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) and attack it from all sides.
The Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) had very few armaments on its sides and rear. Unable to build up speed, it would become a sitting duck if flanked.
Unfortunately, flanking was not an option. As long as the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form was not directly in front of it, the Dendrobium's powerful arsenal, even with only half its container intact, could instantly destroy the Ptolemy.
The situation with the Psycho Gundam was much the same. Its anti-beam reflective armor effectively resisted the attacks from Kyrios's Beam Submachine Gun and Gundam Nadleeh's GN Beam Rifle.
The GN Missiles couldn't even get close in the face of the Psycho Gundam's full-body arsenal.
If the GN Missiles couldn't get near, then the two Gundams had even less of a chance. As the Psycho Gundam approached, the pressure on the Ptolemy's GN Field grew increasingly intense. Furthermore, its flanks were in the Strike container's blind spot, forcing it to desperately use its nearly wrecked thrusters to retreat, trying to leave this battlefield first.
If the situation continued to worsen, Celestial Beings was prepared to activate Trans-Am and risk it all. They didn't know if there were more enemies behind them, but they had to survive the current crisis first.
Fortunately, before they had to activate Trans-Am, the Mystic Lightning, Gundam Barbatos Lupus, and Garibaldi Rebake arrived.
The three Gundams resolved the Ptolemy's crisis the moment they entered the battlefield.
Gundam Barbatos Lupus and Garibaldi Rebake swung their Rebuilt Sword and giant mace respectively, smashing them onto the Psycho Gundam's raised Shield. They sent the massive machine, which stood 40.0 meters tall in its Mobile Suit mode and weighed 388.6 tons fully equipped, flying.
As for the Psycho Gundam's MEGA Particle Cannon, the two Mobile Suits might as well have asked, "What's that? Isn't a beam just for taking a shower?"
Meanwhile, on the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium)'s side, the Mystic Lightning approached using its Mirage Colloid System and stabbed its one remaining intact weapon container, blowing it up.
The chain reaction of exploding missiles inside the weapon container sent the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) flying, leaving it with only its lower armament platform.
However, this inadvertently solved the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium)'s flight balance problem. After being blown away, it immediately began to circle the Ptolemy.
Although the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium)'s flight speed was still a crawl compared to its prime, at least it was no longer in the same league as the Psycho Gundam.
Inside the Mystic Lightning, Belfgang frowned slightly as he watched the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) start to move. None of the three Mobile Suits here were good at pursuit. It would be too frustrating to be kited and shot at.
So, Belfgang used Laser Communication to contact the Ptolemy, the culprit behind this problem.
"Captain of the Ptolemy, your ship is now holding back your own forces. A clean break is necessary. Please abandon ship immediately."
At that moment, Sumeragi on the Ptolemy just wanted to retort, "You think I don't want to?"
The Ptolemy didn't have a large crew; they could all squeeze into the Strike container.
But just fitting inside was useless. The Strike container had no supplies. From here, it would take two or three days to reach any of Celestial Beings' supply points (as the nearby ones had all been destroyed). Moreover, they would have to face pursuit from the Wodom Pod forces along the way. Abandoning the mothership was almost a certain death sentence.
(In the original story, the mothership's main body was not damaged, and the Dynames's GN Drive provided thrust for the Strike container, allowing them to slowly tow the mothership away. Furthermore, when Celestial Beings came to clean up the battlefield later, there was no mention of finding the mothership.
Also, there's a conflict here between the manga and the original plot. In the original plot, after the Strike container recovered Gundam Nadleeh's GN Drive, it's unreasonable that they wouldn't check on Tieria's condition.
From the last episode of the original series, we know that the escaped Strike container was not too far from Gundam Nadleeh.
Assuming Sumeragi and the others really left without checking on Tieria, then in the manga, where the Mobile Suit completely lost power and wasn't rescued by Vaughn, Tieria would have had no chance of survival unless he was rescued by a Wodom Pod force's rescue ship.
It's impossible that the Strike container, which had just escaped while towing the ship, would suddenly remember Tieria and return to the battlefield to retrieve him.)
Of course, Sumeragi had another option here: ask the SDP for support in moving Celestial Beings to a suitable area. So she said:
"We can't abandon the ship. We won't get far without supplies."
Here, Sumeragi was actually hinting that with supplies, everything would be negotiable. But Belfgang knew very well that his unit would leave this world once their mission was complete, and it was impossible to provide continuous supplies to Celestial Beings. Thus, he replied with exceptional bluntness:
"Is that so? Well, good luck to you then. By the way, if you can, have your Mobile Suits engage that humanoid MA. We'll take care of the other one. After all, if you want to live, you have to pull your own weight."
Belfgang's words were a clear rejection of Sumeragi's proposal for supplies. He cut off the communication right after.
Sumeragi thus came to terms with a reality: although Reid had helped the Celestial Beings forces several times, he clearly had no intention of truly breaking his principles. He would disappear after resolving the Otherworld Entanglement. This was unchangeable.
While Sumeragi was contemplating what she and her people should do next, Belfgang spoke to Mikazuki and Akihiro over the squad channel.
"Celestial Beings isn't willing to abandon their mothership. Our mission difficulty has increased.
Mikazuki, you're responsible for blocking any giant beams that the Celestial Beings' mothership can't handle. Akihiro, use the Positron Cannon to force that refrigerator with only a base left to move towards the coordinates I'm sending you. I'm going to get close and hit it hard.
As for the other big guy, leave it for the Celestial Beings' Mobile Suits to handle."
Neither Mikazuki nor Akihiro had any objections to Belfgang's orders. After all, neither of them cared much about the fate of Celestial Beings. If Reid hadn't requested that they ensure Celestial Beings wasn't annihilated by these MAs, they wouldn't have even come here.
So, the three proceeded according to plan. The Mystic Lightning immediately cloaked, while the Gundam Barbatos Lupus remained active near the Ptolemy, feigning attacks on the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) with its Electromagnetic Cannon (which had been swapped in as needed).
The Garibaldi Rebake, on the other hand, pretended to start chasing the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium). Its dash speed was decent, making the pursuit look convincing.
Moreover, the Positron Cannon on the Garibaldi Rebake's shoulders was something the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) could not ignore. Although the first shot missed, the high-energy warning from the Mobile Suit was enough for the berserk Kou Uraki to determine that his Mobile Suit's I-Field could not block such an attack.
The berserk Kou Uraki also discovered that his tactic of "attacking what the enemy must save" was no longer effective with the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium).
After being chased around for several laps, Kou Uraki seized an opportunity and fired the Large MEGA Beam Cannon at the Ptolemy.
But the shot was blocked by the Gundam Barbatos Lupus, which simply crossed its arms and took the hit with its body.
The beam immunity of Nano-Laminate Armor was no joke. As long as the special coating on the surface wasn't depleted, the Large MEGA Beam Cannon could do nothing more than polish it.
However, this scene was rather monstrous in the eyes of Celestial Beings. The Ptolemy could still read the energy values of the Large MEGA Beam Cannon. The Mobile Suit before them, which they remembered belonged to Tekkadan, could withstand it without even deploying any kind of field? Also, wasn't Tekkadan said to not be part of the SDP? How were they mixed in together now? Had they been absorbed?
Unfortunately, no matter how many questions Celestial Beings had now, they could only keep them to themselves.
A Large MEGA Beam Cannon had been blocked without any damage by a single MS. Even though Kou Uraki was in a berserk state, he felt his worldview shatter.
His distraction directly led to his Mobile Suit being caught by the Garibaldi Rebake and hit by a Positron Cannon shot.
Now, the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium) didn't even have its lower platform, completely turning into the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Stamen).
However, the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Stamen) had no time to perform. The Mystic Lightning had already snuck up behind it and backstabbed it with a single strike, turning it into a shower of red code.
On the other side, with the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form acting as a tank, the Psycho Gundam also met its end at the hands of the three allied Gundams. After Kyrios destroyed its thrusters from behind, Gundam Nadleeh fired its GN Beam Rifle through the damaged armor to secure the kill.
At the same time, the battle on the Wodom Pod forces' side also concluded.
Although the Big Zam was a Mobile Suit from UC 0079 and was the first to be equipped with an I-Field Generator, this old version of the I-Field Generator had far lower energy efficiency than later, more refined technologies. However, the Big Zam was a machine built on the principle of "brute force solves everything."
To ensure the strength of its firepower and I-Field, it was equipped with a whopping four of the most powerful Minovsky Reactors of its time (I won't write down the power output, which was shoehorned in. As for some sources writing Nuclear Fusion Furnace as Generator, I don't want to explain that either).
This was purely a case of quantity leading to a qualitative change. Even the Grovre, completed in UC 0084, was inferior to the Big Zam in terms of I-Field defense.
However, aside from the Large MEGA Particle Cannon at the front of each machine, neither of these two units had any armaments that could threaten the Alvatore.
The power of the Big Zam's 28 surrounding MEGA Particle Cannons and the Grovre's 32 Diffusion Particle Cannons was insufficient to break through the Alvatore's GN Field.
Only when both machines fired their main cannons simultaneously could they penetrate the Alvatore's shield.
The reverse was also true. The Alvatore was now the shield for the Wodom Pod forces. As the highest-ranking person in this force, Alejandro currently felt like he had been screwed over. Was he on the battlefield to be a shield and then spin like a top after the shield broke?
But the reality was that Alejandro didn't dare to be careless. He had to keep the GN Field at maximum output. He had no choice; his Mobile Suit was too conspicuous and large. Who else would the berserk Dozle Zabi and the berserk Dr. Henry (the developer of this machine; there are records saying this machine was piloted by Ginias Sahalin, which is a grim joke, as by UC 0084, the grass on Ginias Sahalin's grave would have been five zhang tall) target?
The Alvatore was unable to counterattack, and the Wodom Pod forces' Beam Rifles were naturally useless against these two I-Fields.
However, after fighting for a while, Sergei keenly discovered that the connection point between the Big Zam's body and legs was a blind spot. If they could break through to that spot, they could get close and destroy the enemy with melee attacks.
So, Sergei contacted Alejandro and said:
"Mr. Alejandro, could you push your Mobile Suit forward a bit more? I've discovered that the area beneath that long-legged MA is a blind spot. If we can enter that area, we can find a way to destroy it."
Upon hearing this, Alejandro just wanted to curse. They were really using him as a shield and even asking him to advance under such heavy fire. He knew that after having its shield broken multiple times, the Alvatore's external armor was already slightly damaged and reporting yellow warnings. It might break completely after two more hits.
However, the one who proposed this plan was Sergei, whose reputation was enough for Alejandro to trust him this once. Besides, Alejandro himself had no other plan. So he replied directly:
"My Mobile Suit is about to give out too. You only have one chance!"
Hearing this, Sergei immediately expressed his thanks. He also knew that it was already quite something for Alejandro to agree to try once. For this important figure to pilot a Mobile Suit and act as a shield for his troops until now, whether willingly or not, showed he was a very decent superior.
However, Sergei did not disappoint Alejandro. The Wodom Pod pilots here were all elites. The assault team organized by Sergei all broke through to the area directly beneath the Big Zam.
But just as they were about to attack from below, they were hit by the Grovre's Diffusion Particle Cannons. The Big Zam had an I-Field, so the Grovre wasn't afraid of friendly fire.
Sergei's assault team immediately suffered heavy casualties, with over a dozen Mobile Suits being destroyed instantly.
However, a few lucky ones survived thanks to their teammates actively taking the shots for them. Among them were Sergei himself and Soma Peries, who was always by his side.
Thus, filled with grief for their fallen comrades, Sergei and Soma Peries maneuvered their Mobile Suits around the thruster flames and stabbed their swords into the Big Zam's thrusters, blowing them up.
The explosion of the thrusters destroyed the Big Zam's cooling system, causing its I-Field to fail. Without its I-Field, the Big Zam was naturally quickly destroyed by the remaining Wodom Pod forces' concentrated fire.
Unfortunately, the failure of this operation directly resulted in the loss of more than ten Wodom Pod Mobile Suits, a loss that could not be considered small.
However, without the Big Zam, the Grovre was left isolated and unable to suppress the Alvatore to the point where it couldn't even counterattack. It was hit by a single Large GN Cannon shot that broke its shield and crippled it, after which the Wodom Pod forces swarmed in and destroyed it.
At this moment, the victorious Alejandro was pleasantly surprised to find that the space zone between him and Celestial Beings was now empty (because the Bigro Lang had been destroyed by Reid). He then issued an order that no one expected:
"Sergei, reorganize the troops and reform the formation. We will continue to annihilate Celestial Beings. Leave the remaining otherworldly forces to the SDP to handle. From now on, Celestial Beings will be our number one target for elimination."
(End of Chapter)