Treize was a decisive man. Since he had determined that the leader of the mysterious opposing force was not on the same side as him, there was nothing more to discuss.
Moreover, unlike in the anime where he fought Chang Wufei while holding back and seeking death, Treize now faced Reid with a heart set on killing.
In the anime, he wanted to use his own death to warn the world that in war, everyone's status and position were equal—defeat meant only death. Additionally, Treize needed his death to atone for the lives lost due to his previous plans.
At the same time, his death would force OZ and the world's nations to surrender to the colonies, while the Gundam pilots would stop Milliardo. By then, the war would dissipate like smoke.
But facing Reid, Treize came with the intent to kill.
Seeing that the Joyeuse Gundam did not attack first, Treize wasted no time either. He fired a Dover Gun shot, hoping to gauge the opponent's Mobile Suit's reaction first.
However, for Reid, the shot was too straightforward. He didn't even need to rely on Newtype premonition of killing intent—just by observing the Tallgeese II's gun barrel movement, he could dodge it.
So in Treize's eyes, the opposing Mobile Suit merely shifted sideways slightly and evaded the shot. The Dover Gun's Beam didn't even graze it, showcasing the demeanor of a master.
But Treize loved facing masters. What satisfaction was there in defeating villains if they weren't masters?
Thus, the Tallgeese II began high-speed maneuvers, sacrificing some of the Dover Gun's output to fire continuous shots while raising its gun.
Seeing the enemy engage in high-speed maneuvers, Reid naturally didn't stand still to be shot at. Instead, he immediately piloted his Mobile Suit to keep up.
Treize's shots couldn't keep up with the Joyeuse Gundam's speed, so they all missed.
Meanwhile, Reid piloted the Joyeuse Gundam and caught up to the Tallgeese II in an instant, bringing the Super GN Sword down directly on its head.
Treize hadn't expected such a significant speed difference between the two Mobile Suits. The Tallgeese II's mobility was already top-tier for this era, yet this enemy caught up with just one dash. Clearly, the opponent's Mobile Suit technology had surpassed this era. No wonder the Gundam pilots were wiped out so quickly.
However, the gap in Mobile Suit performance wasn't enough to make Treize surrender outright. He retracted the Dover Gun and drew his Beam Saber to face the enemy.
Then, Treize realized that the enemy's Mobile Suit wasn't just fast—its output was also greater than his own.
There was no helping it. The Joyeuse Gundam was powered by a composite system of an AC micro nuclear fusion reactor and the Twin Drive System. Even if the output of their miniature nuclear fusion reactors were the same, the Twin Drive System's output created a gap.
Moreover, the Nano Gundanium Alloy ensured that Reid could push the Mobile Suit's output beyond the material's safe load-bearing capacity. Any minor damage to the metal would be repaired by the Mobile Suit mid-battle.
Thus, although the Tallgeese II successfully blocked the Joyeuse Gundam's slash with its Beam Saber, it was sent flying the next moment like a spiked ping-pong ball.
Of course, the Tallgeese II was sent flying so easily partly because Treize deliberately shut off its thrusters. This directly caused the Tallgeese II to crash into the wreckage of the destroyed thrusters of the Libra Ship.
Seeing this, Reid instantly guessed that Treize had intentionally let himself be knocked away.
Since the Tallgeese II's crash site was not far from where the Gundam Epyon was hiding, and the Libra Ship's thrusters were massive—even if destroyed, their bases remained—the multiple large bases formed a metallic forest, making it extremely convenient for the Gundam Epyon to launch a surprise attack.
Therefore, Reid chose not to descend. The thruster bases were not fortress walls; they couldn't block the concentrated beam from the Super GN Sword Rifle Mode, let alone the Magnum Beam Cannon on the backpack.
Thus, when the Tallgeese II rose from the Libra Ship's thruster base area, it didn't attract a fierce assault of enemy blades but rather massive beams resembling divine punishment.
Treize dared not take these beams head-on. Even with Gundarium Alloy and anti-beam coating, durability had its limits. Given the energy intensity detected by the Mobile Suit's sensors, a direct hit would inevitably cause significant damage.
So, Treize immediately maneuvered the Tallgeese II, using the Libra Ship's thruster bases as shields while constantly evading.
However, as Reid predicted, mere thruster base wreckage couldn't possibly block the Joyeuse Gundam's artillery fire.
These thruster base remnants only slightly reduced the power of the Joyeuse Gundam's attacks. The Tallgeese II was practically as exposed as if there were no cover, and the other thruster base wreckage severely limited its evasion distance and available directions.
Thus, Reid quickly used pure artillery fire to corner the Tallgeese II, forcing Treize to raise the Mobile Suit's shield to brace for the beam impact.
However, the Magnum Beam Reid fired at the Tallgeese II to break its shield ultimately never reached it.
Seeing Treize in dire straits, Milliardo could no longer stay idle.
Since the Joyeuse Gundam never descended into the Libra Ship's thruster wreckage, the Gundam Epyon, lacking long-range capabilities, couldn't help Treize by ambushing the enemy.
So, he decided to pull off something flashy.
Just as the Joyeuse Gundam's Magnum Beam was about to strike the Tallgeese II, Milliardo predicted the timing and maneuvered the Gundam Epyon to block the path in front of the Tallgeese II. He maxed out the power of the Mobile Suit's large-caliber Beam Saber, forming a thirty-meter-long beam blade, and swung it down to cleave the Magnum Beam.
The collision of the two high-energy particle beams instantly produced an effect akin to a high-intensity flashbang.
But the Gundam Epyon's large-caliber Beam Saber could sustain particle output, whereas the Magnum Beam was, after all, just a single beam.
After the initial clash, which even distorted the beam blade, the Magnum Beam lost momentum and was split apart by the saber, transforming into two smaller beams that blasted craters on either side of the Tallgeese II.
Simultaneously, Milliardo inside the Gundam Epyon used a Private Communication to speak to Treize:
"Treize, Heero Yuy is inside the Libra Ship, and he's lost his Mobile Suit. Give him your Mobile Suit and let him come out to assist me.
In this situation, Treize, you can no longer afford to die. Help me get Relena out of the battlefield. From now on, let her live as a wealthy girl and keep her out of politics."
Treize knew this was Milliardo's judgment after hearing his conversation with the mysterious leader of the self-proclaimed villainous unit.
So, without much hesitation, Treize trusted his friend's assessment.
He was not a pure warrior, and Treize was well aware of this. When completely outmatched by the enemy, handing the sword to someone more suited to wield it was the best course of action.
Moreover, as Milliardo had said, the current situation made it unsuitable for him to die on this battlefield.
If this mysterious force ultimately won, and both he and Milliardo were wiped out, there would be no third person in the entire Earth Sphere with both the prestige and capability to organize a resistance.
Relena Peacecraft had ideals but lacked the corresponding means and strength. Even if she managed to form a resistance organization, she would ultimately become a puppet.
Thus, without hesitation, Tallgeese II turned and fled, intending to circle around to the front of the Libra Ship and enter its interior to find Heero Yuy.
Reid had no idea what Milliardo and Treize had discussed, but seeing Tallgeese II flee, he made no attempt to pursue, not even firing a symbolic shot or two.
This was because, from the earlier battle, Reid had roughly gauged the combat capabilities of Treize piloting Tallgeese II.
In Reid's squad, this combination ranked in the middle to lower tier in terms of combat strength.
Stronger than the Black Tri-Stars fighting individually, it could likely hold its own against Belfgang piloting Mystic Lightning in a head-on confrontation.
However, the Black Tri-Stars were a trio, always operating together. In a three-on-one scenario, if Treize didn't flee, the Black Tri-Stars could achieve their second feat of capturing the Earth Forces' supreme commander alive on the battlefield.
As for Mystic Lightning, it was inside the Libra Ship. If Tallgeese II entered the Libra Ship to fight Mystic Lightning, it would be like a hawk diving into a fox's den to battle the fox—a pure act of suicide.
As for the others, well, once the Burst System was activated, Tallgeese II would undoubtedly be shot down.
Thus, Reid didn't care where Treize fled. The OZ Space Leo forces were now severely depleted and had lost the ability to encircle and annihilate his unit. Treize's best option was to return, command his troops to retreat to the M02 Resource Satellite, and regroup.
Moreover, Milliardo, who stood before Reid at that moment, would not allow him to give chase.
As soon as Tallgeese II fled, Milliardo immediately piloted Gundam Epyon, brandishing its thirty-meter-long sword, and charged toward Joyeuse Gundam.
Reid dared not underestimate Gundam Epyon's close-combat capabilities.
This was not Heero piloting Gundam Epyon in a berserk state, where giving an opening would make him foolishly charge in.
Milliardo could maintain rationality while piloting Gundam Epyon, and the Epyon System predicted failure scenarios for the pilot. Therefore, Reid could assume he was now fighting a Newtype with Crisis Perception.
Of course, Joyeuse Gundam's performance was far superior to Gundam Epyon's, so Reid simply became more focused. Seeing Gundam Epyon swing its sword, he immediately retreated at high speed, transforming both Super GN Swords in his hands into rifle mode and firing four consecutive shots in coordination with the two Magnum Beams at his waist.
Normally, Joyeuse Gundam flying backward couldn't outpace Gundam Epyon's charge.
But faced with so many deadly beams, Milliardo had no choice but to emulate Kirito (the protagonist of Sword Art Online), dodging while slashing at the beams.
As a result, Gundam Epyon naturally couldn't maintain its charge and was forced into a kiting battle by Joyeuse Gundam.
If this fight continued, Milliardo was bound to lose. The act of slashing beams consumed immense mental energy, and even with the Epyon System, Milliardo could barely manage it.
Since it was barely manageable, the slightest lapse in concentration would lead to mistakes.
The Epyon System had already informed Milliardo of the chain reaction that would follow if Gundam Epyon was hit—the Mobile Suit would be shattered into pieces by the enemy's subsequent beam attacks.
Thus, seeing that Gundam Epyon couldn't charge forward at all and was instead being pushed further away by the enemy, Milliardo immediately changed tactics.
He maneuvered the Mobile Suit to perform a backflip in space, dodging a wave of beam attacks.
Simultaneously during the backflip, Milliardo transformed Gundam Epyon into MA Mode, accelerating directly to the front of the Libra Ship and using its hull to block Joyeuse Gundam's line of sight.
Reid immediately understood that Milliardo was trying to force him into close combat.
With the cover of the Libra Ship's hull, Milliardo could easily maneuver Gundam Epyon to play "King Qin Circles the Pillar."
If Reid continued to harass Gundam Epyon from a safe distance with various long-range attacks, Joyeuse Gundam would need to cover much more distance than Gundam Epyon when pursuing.
By then, Gundam Epyon, also a high-speed machine, could easily circle to the other side and continuously engage Reid in a circling game.
Of course, this way, Gundam Epyon would never defeat Joyeuse Gundam.
But Milliardo only wanted to buy time anyway—time for Treize to swap Heero in for a two-on-one fight.
If Reid chose to charge in for close combat, Milliardo figured that at least the fight would enter Gundam Epyon's comfort zone, which wouldn't be a loss.
Moreover, if Reid ignored Gundam Epyon and continued dismantling the Libra Ship, Milliardo could accept that too.
The Libra Ship wasn't something a single MS could dismantle quickly, so that would also buy enough time.
Thus, with what seemed like a tactical retreat, Milliardo had already countered Reid's strategy of kiting Gundam Epyon.
However, Milliardo could never have imagined that the enemy he faced today was cheating.
Reid could guess some of Milliardo's thoughts with a bit of consideration. Although he didn't know Milliardo was intentionally stalling for time, Reid had no intention of engaging him in close combat.
So Reid decided to stop pretending and openly declared himself a cheater. After all, the enemy's combat strength was mostly depleted, and the Virgo IIs were lying dormant. As long as he controlled the length of the blade, he wouldn't accidentally hit the Virgo IIs floating in space.
Thus, Reid said to Hoshino Ruri,
"Liuli, notify the three Mobile Suits dismantling the Libra Ship from inside to come out. I'm about to unleash my ultimate move."
Hoshino Ruri immediately understood that Reid was preparing to use the Thirty-Thousand Meter Sword to slash the ship, so she quickly notified Xia Yulan, Belfgang, and Neil to get out immediately.
Of course, while waiting for Xia Yulan, Belfgang, and Neil to emerge, Reid still played "King Qin Circles the Pillar" with Milliardo. After all, he couldn't let Milliardo grow unnecessarily suspicious, lest he later pull a stunt like targeting the Libra Ship's reactor for a self-destruct play.
Soon, Xia Yulan, Belfgang, and Neil, having received the notification, piloted their Mobile Suits out of the Libra Ship.
At the same time, during this period, a small Lifeboat carrying Treize and Lilina also left the Libra Ship.
Don't ask how Treize managed to find Relena and Heero so quickly here—just call it destiny's will.
However, since White Fang soldiers aboard the Libra Ship had been losing their will to fight and escaping the vessel via lifeboats, and Reid's team had no habit of attacking escape pods, this particular ship went completely unnoticed by Reid's side.
After confirming that all members of his team had moved away from the vicinity of the Libra Ship, Reid declared to the entire battlefield, "All eyes on me—I'm about to show off."
With a shout of "Trans-AM," the Joyeuse Gundam, like the Ice Phoenix Gundam before it, became enveloped in red GN Particle Armor. The Super GN Beam Saber in its hand grew longer and longer, reaching 3,000 meters in less than a second.
Successfully diagnosed with high blood pressure before the age of 35...
(End of Chapter)