The spectacle of Milliardo firing upon Treize's Tallgeese II, illustrating the "if we're brothers, take my shot" drama, ultimately ended because of a woman.
Here, let's first ignore why in the original plot, Lady Une—who had just woken up at most a few minutes earlier (Treize was shown charging toward the Libra when she awoke)—could seize the Wing Gundam, use rocket propulsion to break through the atmosphere, and still reach the front lines of the battlefield.
In fact, the question Reid most wanted to ask in his previous life about this scene in the anime was: How could the Wing Gundam withstand the Libra's full-power main cannon and still have half its body left?
In the anime, after being hit by the cannon, the Wing Gundam appeared as if it had used its Shield to block a direct hit to the cockpit. However, the Beam was so thick that the lower half of the Mobile Suit, which couldn't hide behind the Shield, along with its wings and head, were directly destroyed.
But even if we assume the Wing Gundam's Shield here was made of Iron-Blooded Nano-Laminate Armor, giving it maximum Beam resistance and allowing it to block the Libra's super-large electronic Beam Cannon, how did the blocked Beam then pierce straight through the OZ Fleet behind it as if it had melted the Wing Gundam, with the light column showing no distortion at all?
Thus, Reid had Hoshino Ruri maximize the clarity of the Gran Chaos's observation cameras to see exactly how this Wing Gundam managed to keep its body almost unscathed. Could it be that the Wing Gundam truly had some kind of absolute buff protecting the pilot from death?
After all, the Wing Gundam in the anime was subjected to all sorts of abuse—it could be said to be the protagonist Mobile Suit with the most destruction and shoot-down records in the entire Gundam history. Yet, without exception, every pilot sitting in it survived. (If we count the crash into the sea in the first episode, there were four shoot-down records in the TV series alone.)
Unfortunately, while the anime could gloss over it with "Gundam things don't need to be explained so clearly," reality still demands logic.
So, Reid didn't witness anything miraculous. Instead, after the Wing Gundam shoved the Tallgeese II aside, it also maxed out its own thrusters to Evade upward.
The Wing Gundam wasn't slow, and in reality, the Tallgeese II wasn't pushed away only at the last moment before the Libra fired.
Thus, most of the Wing Gundam's body had actually moved out of the Ray Axis of the Libra's super-large electronic Beam Cannon. In the end, only its lower half was caught in the Beam and instantly melted into slag, which allowed the pilot to survive completely unharmed.
The other OZ Forces within the Ray Axis weren't so lucky—they all turned into bursts of cosmic fireworks.
With the OZ Forces attacked by the Libra's super-large electronic Beam Cannon, there wasn't much left to say. Both sides immediately formed up their battle lines and engaged in a real, no-holds-barred fight.
The OZ Forces were numerous, and they also knew that Space Leos couldn't possibly defeat Virgo IIs head-on in a large-scale battle.
Therefore, the OZ Forces launched a three-dimensional encirclement battle, intending to use their main force to pin down the bulk of the Virgo IIs while dispatching guerrilla units to directly flank and assault the Libra Ship.
After all, the Virgo IIs were merely Mobile Dolls. If the Libra Ship were shot down and the forces withdrew, the Virgo IIs, having lost their command source, would enter standby mode due to the absence of enemies and further orders. At that point, there would be countless ways to deal with these Mobile Suits.
However, the gap between the Space Leos and the Virgo IIs was even larger than imagined.
Only the Tallgeese II could effectively destroy the Virgo IIs across the entire army. The others were essentially just there for atmosphere, only capable of providing cover and diverting enemy fire.
As a result, the main OZ forces simply couldn't hold back the bulk of the Virgo II units.
In truth, due to the lack of particularly advanced artificial intelligence in the AC Universe, controlling the Virgo IIs was somewhat akin to playing an RTS game.
The Virgo IIs were controllable units. How these units fought didn't need to be managed from the rear; one only needed to order them where to go and set their attack targets.
Therefore, under the direction of the operators on the Libra Ship, a number of Virgo IIs were quickly dispatched to deal with the various Space Leos attempting flanking assaults on the Libra Ship.
The battlefield had now reached a stalemate.
Due to diverting forces to intercept the assault teams, the already numerically disadvantaged Virgo II units on the frontlines—facing Space Leos that outnumbered them nearly ten to one—could only manage to hold off the OZ forces' advance, unable to mount a counterattack.
As for the OZ forces, they were currently trading lives for Mobile Dolls. Moreover, they had to continuously deploy units for guerrilla tactics to pressure the rear; otherwise, the frontline simply couldn't hold.
Thus, the battlefield was now in a delicate balance. For either side, just one more powerful strike team could break the deadlock.
This strike team, naturally, was the Gundam Team from the Eternal Peace, which belonged to neither side.
The advance of the Eternal Peace's Gundam Team forced White Fang commander Milliardo to personally pilot the Gundam Epyon, leading three Virgo IIs to engage the four Gundams: the Hell Death Gundam, Heavy Armor Gundam Custom, Desert Gundam Custom, and Altron Gundam.
At this point, seeing the war between the two sides intensify, Reid was actually growing a bit impatient.
According to Reid's original plan, after dealing with Code Amelias's team, he would immediately join the battle.
Due to a design flaw, the Libra Ship's main cannon sustained damage with each firing, resulting in a cooldown interval of a full 140 minutes.
Therefore, as long as the Libra Ship's main cannon fired, Reid would have over two hours of safe time to go on a rampage.
The reason Reid was growing somewhat anxious was that shortly after the Eternal Peace joined the battle, it would attempt a Kamikaze Attack, crashing into the barrel of the Libra Ship's main cannon.
Both the Eternal Peace and the Libra Ship were worth a considerable amount of G-Coins. After the collision, everyone on the Eternal Peace would evacuate.
If the system judged the Eternal Peace to be in a destroyed state at that point, he would stand to lose a large sum of G-Coins.
It was important to remember that the protagonist mobile suits in this battle were only the Wing Zero Gundam and the Gundam Epyon, each worth 90 Merit Points.
Reid had already decided to capture a large number of Virgo IIs onto his ship, so the primary source of G-Coins would be these two super-large warships.
Moreover, Reid had no intention of letting Heero board the Wing Zero Gundam and add another opponent for himself. Reid planned to seize the unmanned Wing Zero Gundam while Heero was rescuing his wife inside the Libra (Relena Peacecraft was currently aboard the Eternal Peace).
Therefore, seeing that Code Amelias was taking too long to appear, Reid decided not to wait any longer.
Letting fear of a potential threat dictate inaction was the most foolish approach. Although Code Amelias posed a danger, abandoning the immediate gains because of them was truly unwise.
Thus, Reid decisively gave the order.
"The enemy is taking too long to arrive, so we won't wait any longer. Yulan, Belfgang, Neil, maintain stealth and slowly maneuver your Mobile Suits toward the Libra Ship.
Gran Chaos, deactivate stealth. The rest of you, sortie with me. We'll attack the Eternal Peace first."
Reid made the judgment, and naturally, no one objected. Under Reid's lead, they charged straight toward the Eternal Peace.
However, the appearance of the Gran Chaos and Reid's group of Mobile Suits startled the three factions currently engaged in battle.
The Gran Chaos was registered with OZ, so the OZ side initially thought reinforcements had arrived.
Only Lady Une, who had just returned to her command post, was puzzled. In her memory, wasn't the Gran Chaos supposed to be on a mission at MO-Ⅴ? Why would it appear here?
Thus, Lady Une immediately ordered the CIC to contact the Gran Chaos using OZ's internal communications and asked:
"Walther Fortner, please report the situation regarding the Mobile Suits launched from the Gran Chaos. Which Gundams are they?
Also, do not attack the Eternal Peace. They are attacking the White Fang, so our positions align!"
However, the only response to Lady Une's inquiry was the "hiss" of interference static.
Reid had ordered the Gran Chaos to reveal itself and attack, so Hoshino Ruri naturally activated the jamming.
Since Reid's team now included both Mobile Suits equipped with Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors and those with GN Drives, the Gran Chaos typically deployed Neutron Jammers for interference.
Thus, this jamming didn't cause the targeting systems of AC Universe Mobile Suits to malfunction as it had when Reid previously used the Minovsky Particle Disperser.
Nevertheless, in terms of electromagnetic jamming capability alone, the Neutron Jammer was already highly potent, still overwhelming the ships and Mobile Suits of the AC Universe.
For the three factions in battle, the most immediate effect was the complete severance of communications between their rear command centers and frontline Mobile Suits.
The OZ side fared relatively better. Although rear communications were cut off, Mobile Suits closer to each other could still communicate, and at the very least, they could relay messages via light signals.
The White Fang faced greater trouble. While the Automatic Machine Soldier System of the Virgo IIs wouldn't cease functioning due to the loss of rear command—they would continue to eliminate surrounding enemies based on prior orders—the Libra side could no longer coordinate the Virgo IIs. If enemies launched assaults from other angles, the Virgo IIs could no longer intercept them in time.
The OZ side quickly noticed this situation, and soon, guerrilla units bypassed the Virgo II defense line to attack the Libra Ship.
Fortunately, the Libra Ship was equipped with numerous Beam secondary cannons designed to intercept enemy Mobile Suits and warships, so the few Space Leos that broke through couldn't even get close.
Thus, the Libra Ship remained safe for the moment. However, if the number of Space Leos breaching the defense line increased later, the Libra Ship would eventually be dismantled shot by shot.
As for the Gundam Team, although communications between the four deployed Gundams and the rear Eternal Peace were severed, they could still communicate with each other.
By now, they were already engaged in combat with the Gundam Epyon and the three Virgo IIs.
Due to the close proximity, Milliardo on the Gundam Epyon could still micromanage the three Virgo IIs, making the battle exceptionally frustrating for the four Gundams: the Hell Death Gundam, Heavy Armor Gundam Custom, Desert Gundam Custom, and Altron Gundam.
The combined Circular Magnetic Defense Shields deployed by the three Virgo IIs could even withstand the dual-bladed Beam Scythe of the Hell Death Gundam head-on, rendering all long-range attacks completely ineffective.
Meanwhile, Milliardo, piloting the Gundam Epyon, focused solely on attacking the Desert Gundam Custom, which served as the team commander.
The Desert Gundam Custom was significantly inferior in performance to the Gundam Epyon.
Quatre's piloting skills were also no match for Milliardo's, leaving him with no capacity to assess the surrounding situation. He didn't even realize that the Eternal Peace had lost contact with them from the rear.
As a result, the four Gundams missed the optimal window to return and provide support.
It could be said that Reid and his team encountered no obstacles as they charged toward the Eternal Peace.
It wasn't until the Eternal Peace was right before their eyes that a white Duras blocked their path.
Reid knew who was inside that Duras. Although the Noin in this world was entirely different from the one by his side, the identical mental wavelength made it somewhat difficult for Reid to strike her down.
As they drew closer, communications from the Duras became audible. Hearing Noin's voice warning him not to approach, Reid couldn't help but feel a bit exasperated.
Thus, Reid directly addressed the team over the internal comms:
"I'll handle the Duras in front. You all focus on destroying the Eternal Peace's thrusters and weaponry, then extract the Wing Zero Gundam from its hangar."
With that, Reid immediately piloted the Joyeuse Gundam toward the white Duras ahead.
Since the Noin here didn't know Reid, she naturally opened fire without hesitation.
However, the Duras' Beam Cannons were effortlessly blocked by the Joyeuse Gundam's GN Field.
In the next moment, Reid maneuvered his Mobile Suit right in front of the white Duras. With two swift slashes, he reduced the white Duras to a limbless suit and destroyed its main thrusters.
Immediately after, Reid used the Lambda Driver to hurl the white Duras' wreckage toward the M02 Resource Satellite far behind OZ's lines. Once the Mobile Suit's remains drifted there, the pilot would naturally be rescued.
By this time, the others, led by the Ice Phoenix Gundam, had already begun dismantling the Eternal Peace.
With the Eternal Peace now under attack, the four Gundam pilots at the front, no matter how focused they were on the Gundam Epyon, couldn't help but notice that their home base was being raided from behind.
Clearly unwilling to accept the Eternal Peace being sunk here, the four Gundam pilots didn't even need to communicate. They immediately abandoned their encirclement of the Gundam Epyon and turned back to support the Eternal Peace.
Seeing the Gundams retreat, Milliardo chose not to pursue, as he couldn't quite figure out the situation with these suddenly appearing Gundams.
Since the Phantom Dragon Gundam was currently equipped with the Mirage Gundam's armor, Milliardo could only vaguely recognize that one of the Mobile Suits attacking the Eternal Peace seemed to be a derivative or successor model of the Wing Gundam (the Ice Phoenix Gundam). The other Mobile Suits were completely unfamiliar to him.
However, the Gran Chaos was clearly an OZ vessel, so Milliardo dared not approach and risk being overwhelmed by a group attack.
Seeing the Gundam Team returning to provide support and noting that the Eternal Peace's thrusters had already been destroyed, Reid immediately commanded:
"Salamandine, a few minor bosses are heading our way. Would you like to use them to test out your Mobile Suit?"
Upon hearing this, Salamandine naturally didn't refuse and replied directly:
"No problem, leave them to me."
As soon as Salamandine finished speaking, Ange, who found dismantling a poorly armed ship utterly boring, chimed in:
"I'm coming too, Zala. Even though there are only four of them, we can still compete to see who takes down more. Don't worry, I won't activate the Burst System."
Salamandine had never been able to win an argument against Ange, so she naturally had no objections.
Seeing that Ange and Salamandine were preparing to take on the four members of the Meteor Project without Heero in a two-on-four, Reid simply stated that he would pray for the four of them next.
Ange and Salamandine teaming up against those four was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut—there was virtually no chance of failure.
So, Reid kept his focus on the Eternal Peace. This was an ultra-large vessel over 3,000 meters in total length, with the hangar exits located beneath its massive wings.
Reid had the others continue dismantling the Eternal Peace's turrets while he rushed to the underside of the ship's wings. Using the GN Buster Sword, he carved an opening to enter, then piloted his mobile suit inside. The interior was vast, and he estimated it would take some time just to locate the Wing Zero Gundam.
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