When Reid heard Julieta Juris mention declaring war on Gjallarhorn, he immediately followed up on her words:
"Declaring war? I suppose you could interpret it that way.
But since we're talking about declaring war, we should make it more formal.
Miss Julieta Juris, how about a one-on-one duel?"
To be honest, when Reid proposed a direct duel, both Ange and Noin behind him covered their faces in secondhand embarrassment.
Nein, standing behind Reid, was also looking at him with utter disdain.
There was no helping it—at best, Reid's current behavior could be described as bullying a girl; at worst, it was downright shameless.
How many generations apart were the Reginlaze and the Joyeuse Gundam? Probably too many to count on one hand.
The Mobile Suit disparity was bad enough, but Julieta Juris was just an ordinary person—at most, a well-trained, excellent soldier.
Meanwhile, Reid's physical prowess was on par with Ange, who possessed Dragon genes, and his Psychic Power ranked among the top two or three in the entire history of the Universal Century.
With such an overwhelming advantage in both Mobile Suit and pilot capabilities, Reid actually had the gall to challenge Julieta Juris to a duel—it was truly shameless.
But Reid clearly believed that dignity was something he could discard whenever convenient, since it wasn't worth much anyway.
Besides, what if Julieta Juris actually had the blessing of fate? Then he wouldn't really be bullying her.
Julieta Juris wasn't foolish. Although she was confident in her piloting skills, the opponent's Mobile Suit was clearly extraordinary, and facing it alone in a Reginlaze would put her at a significant disadvantage.
More importantly, she didn't believe this duel would bring any honor to herself or Elian Gong, so there was no need for it.
Thus, Julieta Juris decisively refused:
"I decline. This duel holds no honor. I don't even know your true identity."
Hearing this, Reid replied in a dangerous tone:
"Miss Julieta Juris, you seem to be misunderstanding. I didn't propose this duel for my own honor.
To be honest, defeating you would be no challenge for me. I simply want you to die with some dignity.
So choose: do you want to be killed while fleeing, or die courageously while charging forward?"
Today, Reid was determined to kill Julieta Juris, even if it meant bullying a weaker opponent—after all, she had done the same to the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex in the original story.
Back then, the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex was already severely damaged, reduced to half its frame, yet Julieta Juris still insisted on ganging up on it.
After winning, she even had the audacity to hold up Barbatos' head and declare it a glorious victory—wasn't that even more shameless than what Reid was doing now? It was just karma coming full circle.
After Reid's words, Julieta Juris fell silent.
Her silence wasn't out of fear; she was simply confirming Reid's malicious intent and considering how to escape now.
Unfortunately, the gap in their abilities was too vast. Unless a miracle occurred, Julieta Juris was doomed now that Reid had resolved to kill her.
But, as Reid said, she could choose whether to die while fleeing or while charging forward.
Reid was already bullying the weaker with superior numbers in this situation.
Therefore, instead of launching a surprise attack as he normally would, Reid decided to give Julieta Juris the first move.
After a brief silence, Julieta Juris finally made her mobile suit move first.
For Julieta Juris, with the enemy's combat capabilities unknown, even if she planned to escape, she needed to test the waters first.
So Julieta Juris manipulated her Reginlaze to throw a specially designed double-headed spike toward the unknown enemy mobile suit.
Simultaneously, she also controlled the Reginlaze to raise its GR-W11 130mm rifle and fire a shot at the enemy machine, providing cover for the double-headed spike's attack.
Facing Julieta Juris's coordinated assault, Reid had already predicted the attack trajectory through her movements and killing intent.
Thus, Reid directly controlled the Joyeuse Gundam to raise the Super GN Sword Rifle in its right hand, using sword mode to perform a downward slash that cleaved the 130mm rifle bullet in half.
At the same time, the Joyeuse Gundam's left hand wasn't idle either, effortlessly executing a horizontal flick to knock away the double-headed spike thrown by the Reginlaze.
The Joyeuse Gundam's entire sequence - cutting the bullet and deflecting the double-headed spike - flowed with practiced ease, exceptionally cool enough to make even Julieta Juris momentarily stunned. Reid had successfully pulled off this impressive display.
However, since Julieta Juris had attacked and Reid had given her the courtesy move he intended, he no longer held back.
Under Reid's control, the Joyeuse Gundam instantly dashed forward, charging straight at the Reginlaze's front.
Without the enhancement of the Alaya-Vijnana System, the Reginlaze's limb reaction speed was far too slow compared to the Joyeuse Gundam.
The Joyeuse Gundam was already in its face before Julieta Juris barely managed to make the Reginlaze raise the other drawn double-headed spike.
But in the next second, Reid controlled the Joyeuse Gundam to execute simultaneous downward slashes with both Super GN Swords.
The Reginlaze's two arms were cleanly severed and sent flying.
This wasn't the end - Reid used the Sword Saint System to control two GN Buster Swords to pierce through the Reginlaze's rear thrusters, intentionally avoiding the cockpit as he pinned the Reginlaze before him.
Reid was deliberately recreating the original scene where Julieta Juris used the Reginlaze Julia to behead the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex.
There was no helping it - that original scene was just too frustrating, and now that Reid had the opportunity, he definitely wanted Julieta Juris to pay for her various "lucky" moments.
So, Reid controlled the Joyeuse Gundam to slowly lift the Reginlaze's head with the Super GN Sword before cleanly slicing it off.
After completing this, Reid then manipulated the two GN Buster Swords already embedded in the Reginlaze's body to directly shred the cockpit, instantly cutting the Reginlaze into several pieces that exploded.
Unless "Okā-san" could cross worlds to resurrect Julieta Juris, she was thoroughly dead now.
At least in this parallel timeline interfered with by Reid, Mikazuki and the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex wouldn't be frustratingly killed by this defeated opponent.
After finishing, Reid originally wanted to say "The enemy is shamed, I go to remove her clothes," but looking at the Reginlaze head that had flown aside, he suddenly found it exceptionally uninteresting.
As expected, this woman really isn't strong - she only became the "true" protagonist through the writer's forced efforts.
Therefore, Reid directly returned to the ship and ordered:
"Alright, Liuli, prepare to land on Mars. There's still a big one waiting for us down there."
Hoshino Ruri could tell Reid was in low spirits. Combined with his unusual behavior of going out to challenge a girl to a one-on-one fight and deliberately cutting off the opponent's Mobile Suit's head, she guessed there must be a reason behind Reid's actions.
So Hoshino Ruri decided not to ask Reid why he did it and directly initiated the Mars atmospheric entry procedure, preparing to descend to Mars.
As for Ange and the others, seeing Reid's grim expression as he exited his Mobile Suit, naturally no one came to ask about his earlier actions.
The Gran Chaos's landing on Mars proceeded without any issues.
The only problem was that after fighting in space for so long, they had landed far from the mine where Hashmal was excavated - thousands of miles away.
Reid couldn't remember the name of this mine at all, and the information about the discovered MA was controlled by McGillis. No relevant information could be found on either Mars' public network or Gjallarhorn's military network. So now nobody knew which direction to go.
However, after carefully recalling the plot, Reid remembered that after Hashmal activated, it should have attacked Gjallarhorn's Ground Base 3.
Hashmal's movement would leave significant traces, so Reid directly ordered them to head to Gjallarhorn Ground Base 3. As long as they found Hashmal's movement trail, they could follow it to locate the machine.
If they couldn't find Hashmal's movement traces at Gjallarhorn Ground Base 3, Reid would have to send the Gran Chaos to Crise City - Hashmal's original destination - and monitor nearby agricultural factories to wait for its arrival.
The location of Gjallarhorn Ground Base 3 was easy to determine, so in less than two hours, the Gran Chaos arrived above this base.
At this moment, Gjallarhorn Ground Base 3 was completely devastated ruins.
All buildings in this base had their roofs torn open, Mobile Suits were scattered everywhere in disarray, and human bloodstains with dismembered limbs could be seen throughout.
Hashmal was professional at slaughtering humans, so there were no survivors in this base.
But just as Reid had guessed, Hashmal's movement trail was clearly visible.
Following this trail, Reid and the others soon spotted Hashmal moving through a canyon with hundreds of Plumen.
This was exactly when Tekkadan and McGillis were jointly setting up an ambush for Hashmal.
Therefore, as they approached, Reid witnessed with his own eyes that useless Iok Kujan using his half-destroyed Mobile Suit to fire a shot that attracted Hashmal's attention, rendering Tekkadan's traps and encirclement useless.
Regarding such an idiot, Reid also felt that keeping this person alive was just a waste of air and food.
So Reid directly ordered:
"All units, engage! Belfgang, find an opportunity to take out that one-armed Reginlaze. The pilot inside is more trouble than he's worth - just kill him directly."
Belfgang had also witnessed Iok Kujan's incompetent teammate action and knew that keeping such a person who could cause accidents at any moment at the battlefield's edge wasn't a good thing. So he immediately thumped his chest and said:
"Don't worry, Committee Chairman. I guarantee that Mobile Suit's pilot won't live to see the next hour."
Belfgang's guarantee wouldn't raise Reid's suspicion—if that waste Iok Kujan wasn't eliminated within five minutes of Belfgang's sortie, it would only prove the latter was slacking.
However, with the emergence of the Gran Chaos and the deployment of Reid's squad, both Tekkadan and McGillis were utterly dumbfounded.
Orga could only tentatively ask McGillis, "Your Excellency McGillis, are this ship and these troops reinforcements you called for?"
McGillis stared at the massive Gran Chaos and stated he had no knowledge of such a vessel—it definitely didn't exist in either the Earth Sphere or Mars Sphere. Could it be from the Jupiter Sphere? That didn't make sense either; how could a ship this large escape his intelligence entirely? Jupiter's large planetary cruisers didn't look like this. Moreover, the ship was capable of atmospheric flight—what kind of black technology was this?
Yet, given his current position, McGillis couldn't admit ignorance. Instead, he offered a technically correct but empty response: "I didn't summon this ship or these Mobile Suits. This vessel clearly isn't from Earth or Mars, and Jupiter hasn't reported anything like it either. But we should observe the Mobile Suits' movements before deciding our next steps."
Upon hearing this, Orga nearly rolled his eyes into the back of his head internally.
If you don't know, just say so—it's not embarrassing. Was it necessary to analyze things and then give a non-answer that basically said 'wait and see'? Any fool would realize we need to judge based on the Mobile Suits' subsequent actions.
So Orga picked up the communicator and commanded, "Team Two, do not engage the Mobile Suit force that emerged after the MA turned around. We don't know if they're friend or foe. Detour via the cliffside and set up defenses at the agricultural factory near the valley exit."
After communicating with Team Two, Orga switched channels to Mikazuki: "Mika, an unidentified force has appeared on my end. Come to my position immediately."
Mikazuki never disobeyed Orga's orders, so he promptly headed toward Orga's location with his loyal follower Hash Midi.
Meanwhile, Reid's long-range Mobile Suits had already brought Hashmal within firing range, but Reid didn't order an immediate attack. Instead, he instructed: "Yufang, Salya, Hilda—you three bombard and collapse the gap near the valley factory. Gaia, Mash, Ortega—demolish the three-way intersection in the valley. Liuli, calculate the timing for both blockages. Replace all missiles on the Gran Chaos with armor-piercing warheads and launch three volleys simultaneously at Hashmal and Pluman's forces the moment the paths are sealed. Ange, Noin, Yulan—you three and I will guard both sides of the canyon. If any stragglers try scaling the cliffs, our four units will eliminate them. Let's see whether Hashmal spawns minions faster or we kill them faster."
With Reid's commands issued, everyone sprang into action.
The NT-X2 Gundam, Gundam Eclipse, Z PLUS, and three Kampfer EX units immediately opened fire on both ends of the valley where Hashmal's forces were stationed. With the firepower of these six Mobile Suits, a single volley was more than enough to cause collapses at both valley ends.
Hoshino Ruri's calculations proved impeccably precise—the moment the valley passages crumbled, a rain of missiles descended the very next second.
In such a short time, it was impossible to replace all three volleys of Gran Chaos's missiles with armor-piercing ones, so the majority of the latter two volleys consisted of High-Explosive Missiles and Anti-ship Missiles.
The entire valley was instantly engulfed in continuous explosions and flames, obscuring the figures of Hashmal and Pluman.
Moreover, the shockwaves and flames from the successive explosions shattered the rock walls on both sides. After the three volleys of missiles, the rock walls on either side of the valley completely collapsed, burying Hashmal once again beneath the rubble.
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