The nameless squad successfully completed their mission in the Faroe Islands under Neil's leadership, with no casualties in the team. The only damage was to Ro's Mobile Suit, which suffered balance thruster failure after being violently used during sea entry, requiring it to be towed by another unit—no other damages occurred.
Considering that Shinn had taken down the Azure Duel Gundam using the Assault GM Dominion, this level of damage could only be described as extremely cost-effective.
Even Reid could only sigh in admiration upon receiving the news—truly worthy of someone who was originally the protagonist. Regardless of whether he was later demoted from the protagonist role and suffered setbacks, his ability stats were clearly protagonist-tier.
What pleasantly surprised Reid was that Shinn had actually learned to spoof targeting locks. The outcome of this reckless warrior studying military strategy was something Kira from the original work could certainly attest to.
While Shinn's progress delighted Reid, it sent shockwaves through the Eurasian Federation and the Atlantic Federation.
When the two governments received news of the Faroe Islands being attacked and the island's laboratory being blown to smithereens, their think tanks quickly deduced what the New Misurugi Kingdom was planning.
The Atlantic Federation now found itself in a precarious position.
The Faroe Islands were Atlantic Federation territory, and the New Misurugi Kingdom's direct deployment of Mobile Suits for the assault was no longer mere espionage—it was practically a declaration of war.
But the Atlantic Federation was grappling with how to respond to this incident.
While making a loud public fuss could temporarily plunge the New Misurugi Kingdom into a public opinion crisis, the Atlantic Federation knew the New Misurugi Kingdom could instantly reverse public opinion by claiming the laboratory attack was to eliminate Reid's clones inside.
The Atlantic Federation was certain the New Misurugi Kingdom possessed definitive evidence of Reid's clones' existence. Withholding it now was merely a tactic to create an inescapable situation where denial would be futile.
This would give the New Misurugi Kingdom legitimate grounds for war.
The Atlantic Federation was acutely aware of its poor reputation regarding clone experiments. Even preemptively claiming the laboratory wasn't conducting clone research—backed by documentary evidence—would likely be dismissed, as documents can be forged. The only way to prove the absence of clone experiments would be to allow third-party inspection of the laboratory.
This was precisely why the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation had sought to reopen the lab.
Unfortunately, with the laboratory now obliterated, the Atlantic Federation had lost its ability to deceive the public.
Compounding this was the lingering impact of the New Misurugi Kingdom's previous public opinion campaign.
With both the public and military already distrustful of their government, any evidence of Reid's clones presented by the New Misurugi Kingdom would be the final nail in the coffin.
Remaining silent was equally unrealistic. The New Misurugi Kingdom's brazen attack, employing tactical nuclear bomb-level explosives, had already drawn global attention to the Faroe Islands incident. Hemming and hawing now would only make subsequent revelations about clone evidence seem like a blatant cover-up.
Thus, for the Atlantic Federation, the Faroe Islands issue had become unsolvable. Unless they could eliminate the evidence held by the New Misurugi Kingdom, any public response would ultimately backfire.
Faced with the dilemma of "damned if you do, damned if you don't," the Atlantic Federation chose to cut off its own head and offer it up.
After swift internal discussions, the Atlantic Federation decided to use this attack as a pretext to declare war on the New Misurugi Kingdom first.
After all, they had long lost any semblance of dignity. When one abandons shame, they become invincible—and the same holds true for nations.
Let the New Misurugi Kingdom reveal their evidence about the clones if they want. So what if they're in the wrong? When have they ever truly adhered to principles? In this world, truth is dictated by the power one wields.
Of course, the Atlantic Federation was aware that under the current circumstances, initiating war themselves meant they could no longer drag the East Asian Republic into a conflict with the New Misurugi Kingdom.
The Earth Alliance agreement stipulated that if a member nation was declared war upon by another country, the other two members must provide military assistance to the attacked nation and simultaneously declare war on the aggressor.
However, if a member nation initiated a declaration of war, the other members were not obligated to follow suit.
If they were to go to war with the New Misurugi Kingdom, the East Asian Republic would be a crucial ally. If the East Asian Republic remained neutral while the Atlantic Federation faced attacks from both South America and the Pacific, they would genuinely have to fight a war to defend their homeland.
Thus, the Atlantic Federation immediately brought the Eurasian Federation along to approach the East Asian Republic, aiming to persuade them to declare war proactively.
The Atlantic Federation was confident in their ability to convince the East Asian Republic to initiate the declaration.
All three parties knew that the New Misurugi Kingdom would eventually declare war on both the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation.
In other words, even if the East Asian Republic refused to declare war now, they would still end up fighting the New Misurugi Kingdom in the near future.
Given that this conflict was inevitable within the next few months, the East Asian Republic would surely agree to advance the timeline in exchange for certain benefits—especially since the New Misurugi Kingdom had handed them the perfect casus belli.
However, persuading the East Asian Republic was not something that could be accomplished in a single day. The Atlantic Federation could only strive to see if they could secure an agreement within three days.
As the Atlantic Federation mobilized to convince the East Asian Republic to declare war on the New Misurugi Kingdom, Reid naturally wasn't idle either.
According to the plan, the Faroe Islands incident needed one or two days to ferment, during which Une would ensure the whole world learned of it.
Then, the New Misurugi Kingdom would present a wealth of evidence to reverse public opinion, securing the status of the absolute victim and justifying their declaration of war against the Atlantic Federation and Eurasian Federation.
During this one-to-two-day fermentation period, Reid planned to undertake a G Invasion mission to the Iron-Blooded universe. Hashmal was an excellent mobile suit for combat; all he needed to do was modify its target recognition program, and it could be deployed directly on the battlefield.
As for manufacturing, using the Factory Module would allow them to produce several units in just one day.
Of course, piloting the Gundam Artemis in the Iron-Blooded universe was hardly appropriate. Moreover, this mobile suit was already starting to fall behind Reid's capabilities. He planned to modify the dual-seat cockpit and subsequently assign the unit to Noin.
As for Reid's own mobile suit, it had already been built by him and Nein during the Nameless Squad's overseas mission.
The new unit was named the Joyeuse Gundam, classified as a Mythical Class Gundam, with design elements inspired by the 00 Gundam.
The name was borrowed from the legend of the holy sword Joyeuse.
This sword is said to be forged from the tip of the Spear of Longinus that once pierced the body of Jesus. Thus, it is a blade stained with divine blood.
By using this name, Reid was sending a message to those religious elements still lurking in the New Misurugi Kingdom who daily propagated that Reid was the new messiah destined to lead humanity's progress. Even if he were to truly guide humanity forward, it had nothing to do with divinity—he only wished to be a god-slayer.
As for the sword also being known as the Joyeuse, symbolizing imperial authority, Reid did not shy away from that either.
After all, Reid was someone who slept with the queen daily. What was wrong with joy? What did it matter if it symbolized imperial power?
Of course, a Mobile Suit's name is just a name—it doesn't grant any actual power simply by bearing it.
A Mobile Suit's true worth ultimately lies in its performance and armaments.
The Joyeuse Gundam's engine naturally consisted of an AC Universe Miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor paired with a Twin Solar Furnace system.
Reid installed a second set of perfectly resonating Solar Furnaces into this unit to ensure that even after activating Trans-Am, he could still wield a tens-of-thousands-meter-long greatsword.
For thrusters, Reid planned to temporarily use Lightwave Thrusters as a transitional measure. News had already arrived from D.S.D. that the Luminous Transmitter System, overseen by Selene, was nearing completion.
Reid intended to wait for the Luminous Transmitter's completion before upgrading the Joyeuse Gundam. With the Factory Module available, it wouldn't cause any delays anyway.
Regarding special systems, thanks to data from Reid's two uses of the Star Inheritor and the chatroom phenomenon exhibited by the Ice Phoenix Gundam when Trans-Am was activated, Elvira Hill's research had achieved a breakthrough. The Psycommu System had been upgraded another version and could now allow even ordinary people without Awakening Values to clearly perceive the existence of Psychic Power.
For someone like Reid, whose Psychic Power was already exceptionally high, this system provided such precise control that it felt like directing his own limbs.
The current problem was that even Mobile Suits equipped with Psycho-Frames couldn't keep up with Reid's mental reactions, so directly controlling the unit through thought remained impossible.
Aside from the updated Psycommu System, the other systems remained the same two: the Lambda Driver and the Trans-Am System.
For the internal structure, Reid didn't opt for the newly acquired Detachable Mobile Frame but continued using the Gundam Epyon's specialized combat frame.
Naturally, the Psycho-Frame was still installed, as this unit did possess Funnel Weapons.
Regarding the outer armor, after two years of research, Tem Ray's Nanomaterial Armor studies had finally achieved a breakthrough.
Tem Ray successfully applied nanomaterial armor technology to AC Gundanium Alloy and other metals.
The new nano-metal retained its original properties while gaining repair capabilities.
Although this repair function had speed limitations—for example, if an entire shoulder armor piece was destroyed, nano-repair would take about half an hour to restore it, not mere seconds after being slashed—it still provided significant durability.
Moreover, repairing armor required substantial power supply. Once activated, the repair system became a major power drain, so the unit had to be equipped with a switch to disable the repair function.
Additionally, this combination resulted in one standard unit of metal often being 1 to 1.5 times heavier than the original metal.
However, considering that AC Gundanium Alloy itself is absurdly lightweight and the usage of other metals was already minimal, while the mobile suits Reid could apply this material to all had output exceeding their requirements by two to three times (since the energy supply materials couldn't withstand full power operation), this slight weight increase posed no issue at all.
The material's main drawbacks were essentially the two mentioned above. The primary function of this new nano-metal wasn't actually repairing outer armor, but rather fixing joints, thrusters, and fragile physical weapons damaged by pilots' violent maneuvers.
For instance, whenever Reid used his Red Comet skill, he'd basically have to send the mobile suit to the Factory Module for repairs afterward, as triple speed operation wreaked havoc on many small internal components. Even if the frame could withstand it, these small parts would break after repeated use.
But with the new nano-metal, there was no longer any need to worry about these small components breaking.
As long as the pilot didn't completely destroy these parts in one go, they would automatically repair damage with electrical power support.
Damage from overloading was generally fractures rather than complete breaks, so such minor damage would be quickly restored.
This way, pilots could sustainably push their mobile suits to the absolute limit - they could perform numerous overload actions without worrying about breaking the machine.
Since G-Coins weren't an issue, Reid extravagantly used nano-metal throughout the entire machine. Except for the wiring that transmitted psychic power (whose principles remained unknown) and the psychoframe that already utilized nano-materials, every structure down to the smallest screw cap was made of nano-metal.
Next came the armament. Since the mobile suit's overall structure referenced the 00 Gundam, Reid unapologetically borrowed some external designs for the weapons as well.
Of course, he only copied the appearances in practice.
The main weapons for both hands were two Super GN Sword Rifles, similar to the 00 Gundam's GN Sword Rifle with folding mechanisms in the hilts - folded down they functioned as guns, while extended upward they became swords.
Simultaneously, interfaces for Destroyer Beam Cannons were reserved on both hands, as Reid was already thinking about eventually acquiring the original Buster Beam Rifle from Wing Zero when he reached the AC Universe.
Then, Reid installed shoulder armor on the mobile suit's shoulders, mounting two Large GN Buster Swords on the armor and implementing a Sword Saint System within the machine.
Well, the so-called Sword Saint System was essentially an enhanced version of the Remote Blade System.
Reid equipped these two GN Buster Swords with small GN Capacitors and hilt thrusters, enabling the swords to fly at supersonic speeds.
Moreover, he incorporated the Dragoon System using Mirage Colloid communication, with ample Mirage Colloid supply, allowing the two swords to engage enemies from thousands of meters away - ordinary funnel blades couldn't compare to these swords' range.
Naturally, Reid didn't need to worry about opponents seizing opportunities to grab the hilts and use the swords against him.
He installed ejection systems between the hilts and blades, which could both be used for surprise attacks and ensure that if a launched sword was captured, the enemy would only obtain a blade-less hilt.
Next came the mobile suit's backpack. While using the 00 Gundam's enhanced backpack, Reid equipped it with two Magnum Beam Cannons.
These two Magnum Beam Cannons were designed in long-barrel mode and folded onto the backpack, capable of folding forward from the waist/hip area when frontal deployment was needed.
If needed, this long cannon can also reverse-fold to fire at blind spots like directly behind or diagonally above the rear.
The remaining armaments are fairly standard.
The Mobile Suit's head is equipped with two anti-air Vulcan Guns as standard, and both arms feature Arm Shields capable of deploying Beam Shields.
The leg storage compartments house two Hyper Beam Swords, identical to those on the Ice Phoenix Gundam, capable of unleashing blades spanning tens of thousands of meters under extreme conditions. The two mounting points on the rear waist are equipped with Beam Boomerangs.
To be honest, Reid felt that using this Mobile Suit to fight Hashmal was almost unfair.
After all, Hashmal excelled at slaughter and annihilation but was rather mediocre when facing elite one-on-one combat.
The fact that in the original work, Hashmal was single-handedly defeated by Mikazuki using the restriction-lifted Gundam Barbatos Lupus (the circumstances in the original were hardly different from a solo kill—so-called allies either did nothing or actively hindered progress) speaks volumes.
Reid didn't believe that his pairing with the Joyeuse Gundam was any less formidable than Mikazuki and the restriction-lifted Gundam Barbatos Lupus.
(End of Chapter)