Reid had no objections and did not stop Ange from wanting to duel McGillis.
However, Reid could not simply watch two Amuros and two Chars engage in a chaotic mess of brainwave communication.
Three of the four units were equipped with Psycho-Frames; heaven only knew what kind of chemical reaction would occur when the mental collisions of these four reached a point where a quantitative change turned into a qualitative one.
Specifically, Reid saw through the remote cameras that although the four machines were still firing at each other, the Nu Gundam, Hi-Nu Gundam, and Nightingale were all starting to emit a faint green light. This trend had to be interrupted immediately.
Thus, Reid said over the squad voice channel, "Yufang, Yulan, come with me. Salamandine, stay here and watch. If Ange is in danger, forget the duel and shoot down the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form directly."
The reason Reid only took the Xia sisters to face the pairs of Amuros and Chars was mainly out of fear that Amuro might trigger a miracle; with the Psycho-link system active, they might still have a chance to escape.
After all, in the original animation, this phenomenon was capable of causing spacetime wormholes. Although this world lacked the specific energy ores unique to that other universe, with one machine using Minovsky Particles and the other using GN Particles, if they were truly pushed into a corner, their spiraling mental resonance might just be enough to pull off a miracle.
One had to remember that the Blade Angel and the NT-X2 Gundam had long been equipped with Psycho-Frames.
Furthermore, Reid himself would trigger a miracle if necessary, so ensuring the two girls' survival wouldn't be much of an issue.
After Reid left, Ange maneuvered her unit to detach the Blade Wings and spoke to McGillis.
"Reid has a tough battle ahead, so let's settle things quickly here. The battle begins in three seconds."
McGillis had no objection and immediately maneuvered his unit into an offensive stance.
Once the three seconds passed, Ange launched an instant assault and released her Funnel Blades.
McGillis was well-prepared for this; six large funnel-like objects shot out from the wings of the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form. However, these were connected by wires.
Evidently, because McGillis's Awakening Value was insufficient to flexibly use Funnel Weapons even with the assistance of the Alaya-Vijnana System, he required physical wires for support.
Though these wires were unrelated to the materials used for the Hashmal's Tail Blade and were simply standard materials used for wire-guided weapons, with the physical lines, these large funnels were reasonably agile in space.
The Ice Phoenix Gundam's Funnel Blades arrived before the mobile suit itself, thrusting toward the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form from six different angles.
Seeing this, McGillis used his six large funnels to meet the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Funnel Blades, knocking them aside.
At that same moment, the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Blade Wings swung down toward the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form.
Controlling the six large funnels clearly consumed a significant amount of McGillis's concentration. Facing a direct downward slash from the enemy, he didn't choose the optimal option of dodging and counterattacking during the recovery frames; instead, he crossed the Bael Swords in his hands to tank the hit.
Fortunately, the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form had additional power—it was now a triple-reactor machine like the Gundam Vidar. Thus, it managed to withstand the Ice Phoenix Gundam's downward strike without being knocked back by an overwhelming difference in output.
However, the gap in psychic power and skill between the two sides became glaringly obvious at this moment.
Ange was merely unpracticed in using the six Funnel Blades, but it didn't drain much of her energy. Thus, after the six Funnel Blades were knocked away, she immediately controlled them to loop back and thrust at the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form again.
Moreover, while the Funnel Blades attacked, Ange used the counterforce from the previous clash to shift her unit slightly upward and instantly delivered a kick toward the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form's chest.
McGillis was currently in a state of "protecting the head while leaving the tail exposed." If he dealt with the Funnel Blades, he couldn't respond to the kick in front of him.
Compared to being skewered by Funnel Blades, the cost of taking a kick was certainly lighter.
Therefore, after McGillis maneuvered his unit to knock away the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Funnel Blades once more, he was sent flying by the kick.
McGillis felt the shock of that kick so intensely it nearly brought up stomach acid, and saliva leaked uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.
But McGillis had no time to worry about his appearance now, because the Ice Phoenix Gundam's next wave of attacks was already coming.
Ange was currently just performing a series of simple, unadorned consecutive slashes.
But because her speed was too high and McGillis had to constantly divert his attention to control the wire-guided funnels to block the Ice Phoenix Gundam's true Funnel Blades, the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form's techniques began to warp. It had that "beauty of wild, desperate hacking" seen in the animation when the Sazabi and Nu Gundam clashed.
However, McGillis knew things couldn't continue like this. A single minor mistake now would mean immediate defeat.
Thus, McGillis prepared to take a gamble.
The six wire-guided funnels of the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form stopped blocking the enemy's Funnel Blades. Instead, they moved in unison to surround the Ice Phoenix Gundam and thrust toward the center.
At the same time, the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form itself turned around, intending to use the Bael Swords to hack apart those annoying Funnel Blades first.
McGillis was betting that the Ice Phoenix Gundam would retreat due to the attack from his wire-guided funnels, giving him the chance to clear her blades.
The result was that McGillis was only half-right in his gamble.
Seeing the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form's wire-guided funnels thrusting toward her, Ange naturally chose to retreat a distance to evade.
Ange didn't want to trade damage with McGillis; if she sustained battle damage here, she would have no part in the upcoming fights, as Reid would surely order her back to the ship.
But retreating didn't mean stopping the offense. The Gundam Bael Supreme King Form had turned around and exposed its rear-flank to her; it would be a crime against heaven not to attack.
However, beam attacks were largely ineffective against the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form, so Ange directly fired the Absolute Zero Bullet from the left arm.
McGillis wasn't entirely defenseless from behind. Seeing the Ice Phoenix Gundam fire the cryo-shell from its left arm, he decisively used one wire-guided funnel to intercept and detonate it prematurely.
But McGillis vastly underestimated the range and power of the Absolute Zero Bullet.
The Gundam Bael Supreme King Form's wire-guided funnel successfully detonated the Absolute Zero Bullet early, but the resulting burst of frigid air instantly froze everything behind the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form. The thrusters, wings, and all six wire-guided funnels were caught in the blast, turning into something as brittle as crackers in an instant.
Ange then simply used the Ice Phoenix Gundam's shoulder machine cannons to strafe the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form. Metal fragments flew off the back of the machine, and finally, because the thruster's outer armor was damaged, the machine cannon fire hit the fuel tanks inside the thrusters, triggering an explosion that blasted the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form further away.
But McGillis hadn't given up. Even though the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form now resembled a plucked phoenix and had lost even its main thrusters, he still forcibly controlled the unit's maneuvering jets to face the Ice Phoenix Gundam and threw the two Bael Swords in his hands.
Unfortunately, this deathbed struggle of throwing the two Bael Swords was easily swatted aside by Ange.
Ange didn't continue to torment McGillis; she made a sudden thrust, piercing through the cockpit of the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form and skewering one of its Ahab Reactors.
As Ange withdrew her blade and turned, the Gundam Bael Supreme King Form exploded where it stood. This machine, which had been so painstakingly modified, ended up just like the Gundam Bael McGillis piloted in the animation—it had only officially entered the battlefield twice before being shot down, its master perishing with it.
However, the victor takes all on the battlefield. Ange didn't pause for a moment of silence for McGillis; instead, she asked Salamandine directly:
"Salaza, what's our next move?"
Salamandine didn't hesitate and replied immediately:
"Reid must have his reasons for not letting us go to his battlefield. Now that Codename: Amelius Squad is either dead or retreated, the battle concerning them is over.
Next, we will go directly to annihilate Londo Bell. Finally, we'll see what the situation is on Reid's side before deciding our next move."
Ange had no objections to Salamandine's command, so she led the team to bypass the battlefield where the two Amuros and two Chars were, striking directly at Londo Bell.
Meanwhile, Reid had already engaged the Amuro and Char of this universe.
It could only be said that Reid's judgment was correct. After communicating mentally with their chaotic counterparts, Amuro and Char had clearly been affected. They had forgotten everything and entered a mode of mutual slaughter.
Overall, it was the two Amuros teaming up against the two Chars.
However, because the Char of this universe could only pilot the Alpha Wazolon, the two Chars were at a disadvantage.
After all, while the Alpha Wazolon was great for clearing fodder, attacking warships, and taking fortresses, its massive size was a liability in a battle between top-tier Super Aces in high-end mobile suits.
Though it had MA-level I-Field defense, both the Nu Gundam and the Hi-Nu Gundam were equipped with physical weapons like Super Rocket Launchers.
It was only because Char's skill level was high enough to use beams to detonate the physical shells, and because the Nu Gundam and Hi-Nu Gundam's melee weapons were limited to beam sabers countered by the ultra-thick I-Field, that the two Chars were able to hold out until now.
Thus, when Reid arrived on the scene, he saw the two Amuros pummeling the Char of this universe while occasionally driving away the summoned Char.
However, as Reid approached, all four of them shifted their targets simultaneously.
This was also an influence of the mental communication between both sides. The Amuro and Char from the World Impact had transmitted their chaos to their local counterparts, while the local counterparts transmitted their hatred for Reid to the other side.
In the eyes of the local Amuro and Char, Reid was currently someone who could make the two of them set aside their grievances to fight together.
They had Haman's clever schemes to thank for this; Reid had certainly managed to draw plenty of aggro from these two UC protagonists.
So, when Reid saw the two Amuros and two Chars all rushing toward him with their full attention fixed on him, he said directly to the Xia sisters:
"Yufang, Yulan, stay in the rear. Don't rush to attack yet; wait for my signal."
With that, Reid maneuvered the Joyeuse Gundam and turned to flee.
Are you kidding? Two Amuros and two Chars serving him at once—who could possibly withstand that?
However, the Joyeuse Gundam was fast enough, and the speed gap between the four opposing machines was quite obvious. He estimated that after running for a while, they would be forced into a single-file line.
Sure enough, after Reid led the four machines in half a loop around the battlefield, the Alpha Wazolon was left far behind.
The only one capable of keeping close behind the Joyeuse Gundam was the Nightingale.
The Hi-Nu Gundam HWS Equipment Type and the Nu Gundam each had additional propulsion devices—the Shield Thrusters and the Long-Range Wing Funnel thrusters, respectively.
But both devices were meant for linear acceleration; they couldn't handle sharp turns well. Thus, the Hi-Nu Gundam and Nu Gundam could only eat dust from afar.
As for the Alpha Wazolon, it had set out without a full load of thruster fuel to begin with, and its massive size meant one couldn't expect much agility. It didn't even have the qualification to eat dust; it was left trailing far in the distance.
So, at this moment, the only one whose attacks could barely reach the Joyeuse Gundam was the Nightingale.
With the firepower of only a single machine and such obvious killing intent, Reid could easily dodge.
Seeing that the distance was right, Reid immediately said over the squad channel:
"Yufang, Yulan, attack the Alpha Wazolon. Don't use the Psycho-link system; use the ordinary Burst System for a quick kill."
Upon hearing this, Xia Yufang and Xia Yulan immediately activated their machines' PX System and Trans-Am System. The NT-X2 Gundam and the Blade Angel Gundam turned into two streaks of light—one blue and one red—and charged toward the Alpha Wazolon.
The killing intent of Xia Yufang and Xia Yulan was undisguised, and the Alpha Wazolon and Char naturally sensed it immediately.
Thus, he maneuvered the unit to turn and unleashed a Full Burst Mode at the two incoming machines.
However, whether it was the Head MEGA Particle Cannon, the five-barreled small particle cannons in the left and right Wire-guided Psycho-Control Mechanical Arms, or the nine Funnels, none could hit the two machines moving at such high speeds.
The Alpha Wazolon's weakness in Super Ace battles was being demonstrated to the fullest.
And this time, there was no one to provide cover. Once the Alpha Wazolon was closed in upon, it was nothing more than a target.
From a third-party perspective, one could only see red and blue lights flashing continuously around the Alpha Wazolon, followed by parts falling off the machine one by one.
Char could do nothing about it. The Blade Angel's GN blades were a natural counter to I-Fields, and the NT-X2's Rocket Bits could be used as drills. Once closed in on without cover, the Alpha Wazolon simply couldn't fight back.
But fortunately, the Amuro of this world hadn't completely lost his reason. Upon sensing that the trailing Char was under attack, he maneuvered his machine and turned back to provide support. He was far better than the Char from the other world who, upon sensing the other version of himself in danger, still didn't even look back.
However, although the Amuro of this universe intended to provide cover, his mind was also a mess, so he chose the crudest method possible.
The Super MEGA Beam Launcher on the Long-Range Wing Funnel fired at full power, sweeping directly across the two machines circling the Alpha Wazolon.
In this Amuro's mind, the Alpha Wazolon had an ultra-thick I-Field anyway, so taking one shot wouldn't matter.
As it happened, Xia Yufang and Xia Yulan heard the warning alarm and dodged in time.
But the Alpha Wazolon's I-Field Generator had already been destroyed, so the machine was sliced directly in half by the Super MEGA Beam and exploded violently.
However, Char's Escape-Type Newtype ability activated once more; the cockpit ejected at the final moment and was luckily caught by the Nu Gundam.
But at that moment, the Londo Bell fleet in the distance was being attacked by the main force led by Ange and had been completely annihilated. The Ra Cailum fired a flare at the last moment.
It was a retreat signal flare, with only one purpose: to tell Amuro to run.
The flare was exceptionally bright in space, and the Amuro who wasn't currently chasing the Joyeuse Gundam naturally saw it.
Finding the Londo Bell fleet wiped out, the already maddened Amuro's emotions spiraled completely out of control, causing him to enter mental resonance with his counterpart from the other world once more.
One maddened, one confused—it was a perfect match.
A green light of Miracle Particles instantly erupted from the Nu Gundam.
However, this time, the light of the miracle looked exceptionally chaotic; colorful lights twisted continuously within the green glow, resembling oil slicks in green paint.
Clearly, Amuro had gone berserk, and he had gone berserk while in a state of a Miracle.
(End of Chapter)