Alejandro's order stunned Sergei, the frontline commander, who then asked with some surprise, "Mr. Alejandro, are we really going to ignore those Otherworld Machines and go after the Celestial Beings? If the pilots of these machines have some way to escape again, this Otherworld Entanglement will never end."
Alejandro was well aware of Sergei's thoughts, but for him, if he didn't eliminate the Celestial Beings, he couldn't completely take over the entire Celestial Being Organization. If the Celestial Beings truly escaped this time, he would probably have to dispatch men to guard Veda every day to prevent the Celestial Being Gundams from retaking it.
As for the Otherworld Entanglement, Alejandro believed that SDP could at least handle it. Besides, SDP didn't care about the power struggles of the surface world, had no direct conflict with him for the time being, and there would be no entanglement of interests.
Therefore, after hearing Sergei's question, Alejandro replied with exceptional gravity, "Lieutenant Colonel Sergei, don't forget the original objective of our mission. The Otherworld Machines from the Otherworld Entanglement have already lost more than half their numbers. SDP can handle the rest on their own. If the Celestial Beings escape again this time, how much time and energy will we have to spend to corner them next time? And wouldn't all our previous sacrifices have been in vain?!"
The entire Wodom Pod squadron could hear the conversation between Alejandro and Sergei. Many of them had comrades who had died at the hands of the Celestial Beings (with the Trinitys being responsible for a large part of that animosity).
They couldn't interject in their superiors' conversation, but they could make their choice through their actions.
The next second, all the Wodom Pods belonging to the Union and the AEU flew behind the Alvatore and formed up, demonstrating their agreement with Alejandro's idea and their desire to settle things with the Celestial Beings.
Sergei himself hesitated after hearing Alejandro's words. Seeing that the other two blocs had made their choice, he understood that indecisiveness at this moment would only hold them back. He immediately made up his mind and said, "My apologies, Mr. Alejandro. I will follow your lead."
He then led the Human Reform League's forces to join the Wodom Pod formation.
Alejandro was quite satisfied with Sergei's reaction. He was a talented man, and if he could be brought to his side, he would be a fine subordinate in the future when he controlled the world.
Thus, Alejandro displayed the magnanimity of a superior, saying directly, "Very good, since we have all reached a consensus. Lieutenant Colonel Sergei, based on the current intelligence, tell me what tactics you can think of. As long as we can eliminate the Celestial Beings, I can also follow your command."
Alejandro was going all out. He knew he was certainly not as professional as Sergei when it came to commanding combat troops. To eliminate the Celestial Beings, he no longer cared about taking orders from others. He had already acted as a shield and a spinning top; any semblance of a superior's dignity was long gone.
And since Sergei had been able to quickly identify the weakness of that long-legged Mobile Armor just now, Alejandro was willing to place more trust in him.
Seeing that Alejandro was actually willing to listen to his command, Sergei felt that this leader was at least reasonable, knowing to entrust matters he wasn't good at to those who were.
So, Sergei began to carefully observe the battlefield situation. After a few minutes of silence, he said, "Mr. Alejandro, could you fire another shot at the Celestial Beings' ship? The SDP mobile suits seem to be faintly guarding it. To fight the Celestial Beings, we must first ascertain SDP's stance. However, it's best if this shot doesn't hit an SDP mobile suit. We can't give them an excuse to attack us."
Upon hearing this, Alejandro didn't hesitate. Although the Alvatore's seven Pseudo GN Drives had already consumed over half their energy from the previous battle, firing one more shot at the Ptolemy was still no problem.
At this moment, the Celestial Beings never would have imagined that the opposing Wodom Pod forces would fire on them again.
Belfgang, Mikazuki, and Akihiro, who were responsible for the Celestial Beings' safety, had their attention focused on the other Mobile Armors. In their eyes, the Celestial Beings were basically safe.
Therefore, by the time the Ptolemy's high-energy alert sounded, it was already too late for Lichtendahl Tsery to control the ship and evade.
The only good news was that Alejandro's aim was bad enough that the surprise attack beam almost missed, with only the edge of the beam grazing the right side of the Ptolemy. (This isn't the author dissing him; he missed just like this in the original story.)
However, even though the Ptolemy wasn't sunk directly, its current state was no different from being critically damaged. All the armor on the ship's right side was melted, and the affected area was completely destroyed. The doctor, Joyce B. Moreno, died instantly, just as in the original story.
The ship's systems failed on a large scale due to the damaged GN Capacitors. However, the backup emergency power activated, ensuring the normal operation of the bridge computers and various blast doors, but only heaven knew if the systems that had shut down could be restarted.
The three Celestial Being Gundams were practically glaring with rage at this scene, but for a moment, they couldn't decide whether they should continue to defend the Mothership or charge directly at the Wodom Pod forces to engage in battle.
However, Belfgang, Mikazuki, and Akihiro had no such doubts. Reid's order was to protect the Celestial Beings. Now that the Celestial Beings were under attack, they just had to counterattack.
But, at this moment, Reid didn't think so.
Reid had Belfgang, Mikazuki, and Akihiro protect the Celestial Beings because he didn't want them to be crushed by the Mobile Armors. The firepower of those UC machines was too intense; if they were defeated, few of the Celestial Beings would survive.
But the Wodom Pod forces were different. These were the enemies the Celestial Beings were meant to face.
And from the looks of it now, although the number of Wodom Pods was slightly higher than in the final battle of the original story, their condition was not as pristine.
On the other hand, the Celestial Beings' side was basically at full strength. If they really fought, it was hard to say who would win.
So, Reid decided not to interfere in the battle between the two sides. At most, he would observe from the sidelines, using the Mobile Armors to take potshots and control the situation.
Thus, Reid spoke directly in the team's voice channel, "Belfgang, Mikazuki, Akihiro, go to the Mass-Produced GM Astray's side. Don't worry about the Celestial Beings for now. Noin, don't shoot down your opponent directly. Leave it with one of its Four-Door Wired Control Type MEGA Particle Cannons, then drive it over to me. I have a use for that machine later. Everyone else, after dealing with your respective opponents, go play with the Mass-Produced GM Astrays for a while. After you destroy their weapons, you can take your time. I need to stall for a bit."
Reid's intentions with these orders were clear. His unit's persona was still useful and couldn't be broken just yet.
But to prevent the Celestial Beings from truly suffering a catastrophic failure where people who shouldn't die all ended up dead, he also needed a reason for "accidental" friendly fire or assistance.
Thus, Alejandro and Sergei let out a huge sigh of relief when they saw the three SDP mobile suits on the Celestial Beings' side charge toward them for a short distance before turning away to besiege the other Mobile Armors.
Alejandro's confidence returned. He said to Sergei in a slightly relaxed tone, "Lieutenant Colonel Sergei, it seems SDP still abides by their organization's rules. How should we proceed?"
Sergei stroked his chin at this moment and said confidently, "The Celestial Beings' Mothership seems to be immobile. Their mobile suits naturally won't be able to get far. Leave four mobile suits to advance in sync with your Alvatore, heading straight for the Mothership. The other units will flank from the left and right, forcing the Celestial Beings to divide their forces to intercept. This way, the Alvatore in the center can freely support us with its ultra-long-range firepower. If the three Celestial Being machines launch a surprise attack on you, we can close in from the left and right, and the Celestial Being Gundams will become nothing but targets for your cannon."
Alejandro heard this, felt there was no problem, and agreed directly, "Then we'll do as you say. Four Union members will stay and advance with me. You take the Human Reform League's Wodom Pods and flank from the left. The right flank will be handled by the AEU and the remaining Union Wodom Pods."
Sergei felt there was no issue with Alejandro's allocation. Although the Wodom Pods here were a joint force of the three blocs, the Human Reform League hadn't really trained with the other two. Forcing them into formations would only lead to poor coordination.
Moreover, the AEU pilots, being relatively less skilled, had suffered the most losses in the previous battle, so it was reasonable for them to team up with the Union Wodom Pods.
As for the Alvatore, Alejandro was originally from the Union, so having Union mobile suits stay behind to guard him was perfectly normal.
Thus, four Union Wodom Pods immediately hid behind the Alvatore, forming a space version of infantry-tank coordination. They were just waiting for a Celestial Being Gundam to charge them, at which point they would jump out and give it a surprise.
The other mobile suits fanned out to the left and right, pouncing toward the Celestial Beings.
On the Celestial Beings' side, the fact that the three SDP mobile suits had left without a word proved that SDP was not prepared to intervene in their battle with the punitive force.
The main reason they had helped before was that the opponents were Otherworld Machines.
Therefore, Setsuna, Tieria, and Alleluia said nothing. SDP had no reason to look after them, and they had already helped a lot.
At this time, Sumeragi had already transferred to the Strike container that was mounted on the ship as a gun battery, because the Ptolemy's communications were even destroyed. (The fact that Feldt couldn't directly confirm the status of the Strike container with Sumeragi and needed someone to go ask proved this point.)
This Strike container had an independent system. Only here could Sumeragi continue to provide tactical support and act as a secondary gunner.
So, seeing the enemy had already spread out their formation, Sumeragi immediately said in the comms, "Exia has the GN Armor, go deal with the golden MA in the center. Kyrios, deal with the enemies on the right. Gundam Nadleeh, deal with the ones on the left."
Sumeragi's order to split their forces was made out of sheer necessity. If any Wodom Pod managed to rush up to the Ptolemy now, the ship would be nothing but a sitting duck. The Gundams nearby would surely be hampered by the ship's presence.
Therefore, the only method that served both purposes was for the three Gundams to block the three enemy routes and hold on until the Ptolemy's propulsion system restarted, or to abandon the ship after confirming the propulsion system couldn't be restarted and transferring essential supplies.
With Sumeragi's command, the three Gundam pilots naturally sprang into action.
Without a second word, Setsuna headed straight for the Alvatore. During his charge, he fired his two large GN Cannons and two large GN Beam Rifles at full power. His intention was clear: to stop this machine from firing on the Ptolemy again.
However, these beams were naturally ineffective against the Alvatore's GN Field.
Setsuna and Lasse Aeon were not the least bit surprised to see this, because the large white machine they had just faced was the same.
Therefore, Setsuna didn't slow down, preparing to charge in for close combat.
However, amidst Alejandro's smile, the Alvatore launched eight large GN Fangs. At the same time, the four Wodom Pods hiding behind it shot out from four different angles. Twelve beams sealed off all of the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form's room to maneuver, looking as if they could shoot it down.
But for Setsuna, this kind of attack didn't even need to be addressed, because Lasse Aeon would activate the GN Field for him.
The four Wodom Pod pilots on the other side were also used to this. Large mobile suits have shields, everyone understood that.
At least the GN Field was visible to the naked eye. The shields of those two machines just now being invisible was what was truly disgusting.
So the solution was simple. Since the Beam Rifles were useless, they would feign a close-range assault to draw fire and force movement, leaving it to the Alvatore to break the shield with a single shot.
However, the Setsuna of this moment was far more mature than in the original story. He figured that since the Wodom Pods' beam attacks were ineffective against him, why should he bother with them? As for close combat, what was there to fear?
So unless these Wodom Pods flew into the line of fire looking for death, Setsuna didn't want to bother with them, focusing solely on dealing with the Alvatore.
Thus, Setsuna completely ignored the four Wodom Pods "striking poses" around his mobile suit, begging for attention, and only stared at the Alvatore's cannon.
After dodging another cannon blast, the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form finally rushed in front of the Alvatore, close enough for melee.
However, the Alvatore's giant combat claws gave Setsuna a "first-time kill" surprise.
At close range, the Alvatore's GN Field was no longer a problem for the GN Armor's large GN Sword.
But when the large GN Sword swung down, it was caught bare-handed.
One of the Alvatore's giant combat claws clamped down directly on the large GN Sword. And because the sword had already been damaged when it clashed with the Gundam Prototype Unit 3 (Dendrobium), it was snapped in two during the struggle of strength.
However, the breaking of the large GN Sword saved Setsuna and Lasse Aeon's lives, because at that moment, the Alvatore's other giant claw was grabbing directly for the core unit, the Exia. Once the Exia was caught, it could basically be declared that Setsuna had lost again.
But the breaking of the large GN Sword caused the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form, whose thrusters were still on, to ram headfirst into the Alvatore's body. The pilots on both sides were momentarily dazed by the impact, and the Alvatore's other giant claw grabbed nothing but air.
However, the Alvatore was not fighting alone now. The collision between the two machines caused both of their GN Fields to disappear.
Seeing their chance, the four Wodom Pods unhesitatingly unleashed a barrage of beams at the back of the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form.
The Wodom Pod pilots here were elites. If they could still accidentally hit the Alvatore while shooting at such a large, stationary target from this close, they might as well find a block of tofu and smash their heads into it.
All the beams hit the side and back of the Exia GN Armor Type-E Form. The explosions were continuous, and the entire GN Armor Set Type-E was blasted apart under the incessant cannon fire.
However, after realizing he couldn't escape, Lasse Aeon had decisively detached the Exia, using the GN Armor he was in to take the hits. Therefore, the Exia itself was actually unharmed.
And after Setsuna came to his senses, he looked at the Alvatore's armor at point-blank range, unhesitatingly stabbed down with the GN Sword in his right hand, and then roared as he pushed the mobile suit forward, slicing the Alvatore from a third of the way down its left side all the way to its tail fin.
The result of this was, naturally, that the Alvatore exploded without any suspense, as if it had taken the Exia down with it.
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