Reid, along with Richthofen Dahl and Christina, turned and fled at a speed so great that Sumeragi and the others didn't even notice Gundam Artemis had snatched two people from the smoke of the Ptolemy's explosion.
At that moment, Gundam Artemis looked as if it had blown up the Ptolemy itself and was now fleeing the scene out of guilt, vanishing in an instant.
Watching the distant Gundam Artemis, Sumeragi slammed her fist on the control console of the Assault Container, roaring in frustration.
"Damn it! Reid Isaac! What the hell did you come here for?! You didn't protect anything, you just ran away!"
Reid, however, couldn't be bothered with Sumeragi's thoughts. He had fleeced the sheep, so of course, he had to run.
The last surviving UC Mobile Armor, the Quebeley Mk-II, had become a plaything for the rest of Reid's squad. After stripping it of all its weapons, they had started disassembling its armor piece by piece to stall for time.
Now that Reid was returning to the ship, the Quebeley Mk-II was finally put out of its misery, shot down by Ange on command.
Afterward, Reid immediately arranged for everyone and the Mass-produced Heretical GMs to clean up the battlefield and recover the core computers from the downed Mass-produced Heretical GMs.
He had no choice. It would be troublesome if he was suddenly transported back to the CE Universe after Setsuna finished his final battle.
The downed Mass-produced Heretical GMs were equipped with Miniaturized Quantum Computers, a specialty of the CE Universe. If one or two relatively intact units were recovered, the A-Laws' combat strength would surely give him a big surprise the next time they met.
Of course, he couldn't hope to recover every small part scattered in the vacuum of space, but it was imperative that no complete components of the onboard Quantum Computers remained. For any relatively intact Mobile Suits, Reid ordered them to be shot and completely obliterated into fragments, lest he be forcibly sent back mid-transport.
However, Reid was taking a hands-off approach to this matter. He first needed to return to the Gran Chaos and place Richthofen Dahl and Christina into Standard Medical Pods.
Christina's injuries could be slowly healed in a Standard Medical Pod, while Richthofen Dahl needed one to keep him alive.
Using a Standard Medical Pod to keep him alive was a matter of necessity. The Top-tier Medical Bay was extremely expensive and took up a lot of space. The Gran Chaos only had one, and Lockon was still being treated in it.
After settling Richthofen Dahl and Christina, Reid switched to the Hermes Zero and set out again. There was still a "golden piece of junk" out there waiting for him to collect.
While Reid's side began organizing the recovery of the Mobile Suit wreckage, the battle between Setsuna and Alejandro had already entered its final stage.
After slashing the Alvatore, Setsuna thought the battle with the MA was over and prepared to turn and deal with the four remaining Wodom Pods that had "killed" Lasse Aeon.
But just as Setsuna burst out of the explosion and used his right arm's GN Rifle to scatter the four Wodom Pods, intending to pick them off one by one, he suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.
Having been through so many battles, Setsuna was no longer a complete rookie. Without a second thought, he maneuvered his Mobile Suit to raise its Shield and turn around.
Almost a second after Exia turned, two crimson GN Beams shot out from where the Alvatore should have been destroyed.
These beams were clearly much stronger than ordinary GN Beams. Exia's GN Shield was instantly destroyed after blocking the two shots.
However, losing his Shield had at least saved Setsuna's life, and he could now see the enemy that had attacked him.
The top cover of the Alvatore's dual head-mounted GN Beam Cannons slowly opened, and the Alvaaron rose slowly.
By now, Reid, piloting a cloaked Hermes Zero, had reached the edge of the battlefield. He witnessed this scene from afar and silently mocked how the Alvatore was like a toilet, and its opening was no different from an automatic toilet lid lifting.
However, the thing that emerged from this "toilet" was actually "gold" (the Alvaaron's specs were in fact very powerful). It was just that the person piloting this golden machine was a real piece of shit, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
But Setsuna didn't know how pathetic Alejandro was.
At this moment, Exia was surrounded by four Wodom Pods and the Alvaaron. Moreover, he had lost his Shield. This was a major crisis.
Being forced to reveal the Alvaaron had completely exhausted Alejandro's patience.
He directly ordered the four Union Wodom Pod pilots guarding him in the squad channel.
"Surround it! Pin that Celestial Being Gundam down! I'll finish it with one shot."
Since Alejandro had performed reliably in the previous battle, the four Union Wodom Pod pilots didn't hesitate for a moment. They immediately drew their Beam Sabers and swarmed Exia.
To the four Union Wodom Pod pilots, they understood Alejandro's "finish it with one shot" to mean that the four of them would tie up the Celestial Being Gundam while Alejandro used his Mobile Suit's high-powered Beam Rifle to take it out.
But at this moment, Alejandro had already lost some of his sanity after his Alvatore was destroyed by an immature Gundam pilot like Setsuna.
What he truly meant by "finish it with one shot" was that after the four Wodom Pods had pinned down Exia, he would tilt the Alvaaron's armored back wings forward 90 degrees and fire the GN Particle Beam Cannon, ensuring Exia was obliterated without a trace.
As for the lives of the four Wodom Pod pilots, Alejandro couldn't care less. He would posthumously promote them and grant them titles when he returned. He'd even multiply their compensation several times over to ensure their wives, children, and mothers could live the rest of their lives in wealth.
In truth, Alejandro, blinded by rage, was sabotaging his own side.
The four Wodom Pods attacking Setsuna already had him struggling to keep up.
In the system's evaluation, Setsuna's piloting skills at this point were merely at an elite level. Although his potential was high, he hadn't fully matured yet. If the Setsuna from four years later were here, these four Wodom Pods probably wouldn't even be able to surround Exia.
Facing MS Pilots of his own level in Mobile Suits with no significant performance gap, standing still to defend was the stupidest choice.
A truly experienced pilot would definitely choose a direction and attempt a forceful breakthrough.
If the breakthrough succeeded, he would escape to safety.
If it failed, the outcome would still be getting surrounded by four units. The result wouldn't change.
But Setsuna's choice at this moment was to throw Exia's two GN Beam Sabers to temporarily force back two Wodom Pods, creating a time gap.
Then, facing the attack from the other two units, Exia used its right-hand GN Sword to block one and its left-hand GN Long Saber to block the other.
At that moment, Exia was locked in a power struggle with two Wodom Pods, instantly becoming no different from a sitting duck.
But Alejandro had already chosen to use the GN Particle Beam Cannon, which required a one-to-two-second charge time, completely missing this perfect opportunity.
As for the other two Wodom Pod pilots, when they saw the chance and wanted to follow up, the one or two seconds it took them to charge in was enough time for Setsuna, seeing the danger, to activate Trans-Am.
From Reid's hidden vantage point, he could clearly see the Trans-Am-activated Exia instantly push away the two Wodom Pods it was struggling against, then ascend to safety at a speed difficult to follow with the naked eye.
At that moment, the Alvaaron's GN Particle Beam Cannon fired.
The timing was "truly perfect." The two Wodom Pods that had been pushed away and the two that were trying to follow up were all near Exia's original position.
With that one shot, all four Wodom Pods exploded into fireworks.
Alejandro, however, thought it was the sound of Exia exploding. He turned off the team voice channel to prevent any other surviving Wodom Pod pilots from hearing what he was about to say, and then laughed maniacally.
"Hahahaha, did you see that? This is the price for defying me! What a pity, Aeolia Schenberg. The one who will unify the world and lead humanity into a new era is me! Next, I just need to find a way to deal with the organization behind SDP, and I will be the king of the world!"
However, before Alejandro's laughter could fade in the cockpit, the Mobile Suit's warning alarms blared. Four or five beams rained down from above, instantly shattering his fantasy.
One could only say that the Alvaaron had given too much for a trash pilot like Alejandro. To compensate for Alejandro's lack of skill, the machine was equipped with a special combat support AI. Simple combat actions like long-range shooting and activating the shield were all handled by the AI.
So, after the warning sounded, the AI immediately activated the Alvaaron's GN Field, blocking the beams and saving the Alvaaron from being instantly destroyed.
These were beams from Exia in Trans-Am System; their power was not to be underestimated.
However, the next second, the glowing red Exia raised its sword and charged straight down at the Alvaaron.
Seeing this, Alejandro quickly discarded the GN Beam Rifle in his right hand and drew his GN Beam Saber to parry Exia's GN Sword. He then roared through the Laser Communication:
"Exia's pilot, Aeolia's system can only prolong your struggle. But I'll praise you for this: for an immature pilot, you've pushed me this far. I can only say, as expected of an original GN Drive."
Hearing Alejandro's words, Setsuna was about to ask if he was the one who had twisted Aeolia's plan.
Suddenly, Reid's voice cut into the conversation.
"Setsuna is still immature. The fact that you were pushed this far is purely because you're just that bad."
Seeing that Setsuna had activated Trans-Am, Reid knew the time was right. If he delayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to get the Alvaaron in one piece.
In any case, Exia's Trans-Am was already active. It would inevitably have to face Graham's Union Flag Custom II in a weakened state later.
So, as the Alvaaron and the Trans-Am Exia clashed blades, Reid, piloting the Hermes Zero, appeared between the two Mobile Suits.
He then used his Lambda Driver-enveloped hands to push the two machines apart.
However, while Exia was merely pushed away, Reid used a Lambda Driver resonance to directly attack the pilot of the Alvaaron.
Alejandro was shaken so hard he coughed up a mouthful of old blood, his internal organs all damaged. But he forced himself to hold on, pointing at Reid with a face full of indignation.
"Reid Isaac! How dare you violate the promise made by the organization behind you! How dare you interfere in my battle with Celestial Being!"
Hearing this, Reid wondered if telling Alejandro "Actually, I was lying to you all along" would anger him to death on the spot.
Unfortunately, Setsuna was still on the line, so Reid could only let Alejandro die a confused man.
So Reid said directly, "Your people helped hide Kowloon. I have no problem attacking you."
Alejandro immediately retorted, "Nonsense! When did I ever hide Kowloon! It must be..."
Alejandro trailed off, unable to continue, because he thought of a possibility. There was one other person among his people he could mobilize.
And SDP had recently acted out of character, proactively attacking Veda. It seemed the clues were connecting.
Reid felt that if he couldn't make Alejandro break down, then Ribbons should do it. So he spoke again.
"It seems you've thought of something. Before you die, I'll give you a final chance to confirm the answer, so you can't say I framed you."
As soon as Reid finished speaking, he didn't even need Alejandro to search. Ribbons proactively connected to the line and said directly, "Alejandro, you were a fine clown, but now it's time for the curtain call. All those people thought they were following your orders. Many of Celestial Being's Overseers now know you've been harboring people from another world."
Seeing Ribbons admit it, Alejandro felt a surge of blood rush to his head. The breath he was holding in turned into a spray of blood mist.
In Reid's perception, Alejandro's spirit instantly faded and then disappeared completely. It seemed he had truly been angered to death.
Reid then said to Setsuna and Ribbons, who were still on the channel, "Ribbons, don't get too complacent. Hide yourself well, or you're dead if I find you.
And Setsuna, I'm very sorry for stealing your prey. But as compensation, I'll give you a piece of information. Ribbons Almark, he was the pilot of that O Gundam you saw in your childhood. He's also the one who made you a Gundam pilot.
However, he also played a part in twisting Aeolia Schenberg's naive plan."
Hearing this, Setsuna's heart was instantly shattered. The Gundam he had once regarded as a god was piloted by the other person on the line, and he had also participated in twisting Aeolia Schenberg's plan?!
As for Reid's mockery of Aeolia's plan, Setsuna filtered it out. It wasn't the first time Reid had mocked Aeolia's plan in front of Celestial Being.
But the fact that the O Gundam's pilot was one of those who twisted Aeolia's plan was, for Setsuna, almost equivalent to the collapse of the Gundam ideal in his heart.
Reid glanced at the World Change Fluctuation Value, which was holding steady at 9.886%, and knew that letting Setsuna know Ribbons was an enemy ahead of time wasn't a big deal.
This Gundam fanatic wouldn't deny the Gundam itself just because of its villainous pilot. Setsuna would probably figure it out on his own soon enough.
As for letting Setsuna know about Ribbons early, it wasn't a major problem in itself.
In the original story, Ribbons couldn't find the hidden Celestial Beings for four years anyway, because the relevant data in Veda had been deleted. In the second season, Ribbons had to rely on the spy Anew Returner to lead him to Celestial Being's factories.
(Don't bring up side-story bugs here. It was clearly stated in the main story that Tieria couldn't connect to Veda. He only regained access later through his heteromorphic counterpart, Regene Regetta.
So the side stories claiming Veda only hid Celestial Being's data and that 874 could still connect to Veda, even adding several layers of Level 7+ permissions out of thin air, were just to forcibly highlight the Fereshte Organization.
Old rule: when side stories conflict with the main story, I reject all side story settings in this book.)
And as for Setsuna, with his intelligence-gathering capabilities, how could he possibly find Ribbons?
As for Wang Liu Mei providing information, Reid felt that the task he had left her was not easy to complete. Unless Setsuna took the initiative to surrender to her, she wouldn't have the time to bother with him.
Seeing that everything that needed to be said was said, Reid pried open the Alvaaron's cockpit, removed Alejandro's corpse, and then used a Beam Saber to cremate it, giving it a burial in space.
After that was done, Reid looked at Setsuna, who hadn't yet recovered from the shock, and said, "Setsuna, your battle isn't over. There is still another twisted existence created by Celestial Being that has yet to appear. Can you still sever the distortions of the world? Show me."
After speaking, Reid looked at the red light rapidly approaching in the distance and left with the Alvaaron.
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