Swoosh!
The flames were scattered by the violent collision within. Lowe Guele cried out in surprise.
"Not dead yet?! Are you kidding me? They're actually still alive after an explosion like that... just where did those two machines come from? Are they new models from the Earth Alliance?"
Lowe muttered to himself in disbelief. "But I heard that out of the Earth Alliance's five newest Mobile Suit models, four were stolen by ZAFT, and the last one is on the Archangel that I was repairing the other day. So where did these two come from?"
As Lowe spoke to himself, the battle had already reached a white-hot intensity. Mikazuki Augus's focus had entered a state of absolute concentration. He didn't even bother to wipe the blood from his face; instead, a faint, almost imperceptible smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Ever since coming to this world, it had been a long time since he had been forced to use his full strength. Every cell in his body seemed to be in a state of hyper-excitement, a sharp, ringing resonance echoing through his senses.
Just as the man Mikazuki had previously killed had said, deep in his subconscious, Mikazuki enjoyed the act of combat. It was a state of being that Mikazuki himself had never even realized.
Across from him, the Graze Ein had lost its right arm to the previous explosion. Its head was also heavily damaged, exposing the hardware and internal wiring beneath the armor.
"Ahhhh! You mere rat! To make me show such a pathetic state time and time again... unforgivable! Completely unforgivable, you monster!"
Ein's roar never ceased. Mikazuki swung his blade and severed the Graze Ein's other arm, speaking with a voice as cold as ice.
"You're the last person who has the right to call me that."
Ein had completely lost his sanity. Having lost both arms, he could only use his remaining legs to attack. The thrusters on his back flared as he took to the sky. High-speed rotating drills emerged from his four-pronged support feet.
He plummeted toward the Gundam Barbatos.
"Die! Go apologize to Lieutenant Crank Zent in the afterlife...!"
Boom!
Before Ein could even finish his sentence, he slammed into the ground. At that same moment, a Tachi was thrust deep into the cockpit. Nano-laminate Oil, looking uncannily like human blood, began to drip down and mix with the falling rain.
"How... how could this be... I... defeated by your hand... again..."
The Gundam Barbatos stood before the massive, broken machine, Mikazuki's voice echoing with a chilling indifference.
"Yapping on and on... you really are annoying."
Mikazuki pulled out the Tachi and, showing no mercy, sliced off the Graze Ein's head before delivering another diagonal slash through the right shoulder.
The black, demon-like machine erupted in a violent explosion amidst the rainy night. Flames engulfed the Gundam Barbatos, but the machine remained entirely unscathed.
Inside the cockpit, Mikazuki's breathing was ragged. His body felt weak, as if the strength had been drained from his limbs, leaving him in a state of mild exhaustion.
"Mika, are you alright?" Orga Itsuka asked with concern over the comms.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just... need to rest for a bit... mm."
Suddenly, Mikazuki spotted a red dot on his radar. A sudden surge of strength from an unknown source allowed him to grip the control lever once more. His eyes fixed on the Tachi embedded in the ground nearby.
Watching the battle from another island, Lowe Guele let out a long breath. The fight between the Gundam Barbatos and the Graze Ein had literally given him goosebumps.
"Even though that black machine isn't whole anymore, it's a bit of a shame... but the wreckage should be enough. Hehehe."
Lowe was currently waiting for the Gundam Barbatos to leave so he could go out and scavenge the remains of the Graze Ein to take back for research.
But suddenly, the alarm inside his Gundam Astray Red Frame blared. Lowe looked up sharply. The machine that had just finished off the black giant had burst through the flames and was charging straight at him!
In an instant, it was in front of him, swinging its Tachi down with lethal intent.
"What?! What?! Wait, wait, wait! I'm not an enemy! I'm just a passerby!"
The descending blade froze in mid-air. Mikazuki frowned slightly. A passerby?
He finally took a proper look at the red and white machine in front of him, but this only made his frown deepen. Wasn't this an M1 Astray from the Orb Union? What was it doing here?
Lowe, who had thought he was a dead man, kept his exaggerated defensive posture for over ten seconds before finally daring to open his eyes.
"Eh? I'm not dead? Phew, what luck! I really am the luckiest guy in the universe! Ahahaha!"
Mikazuki listened to the idiot-like laughter coming through the public channel. He wiped the dried blood from his face and asked indifferently, "Hey. Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Oh, right! I am... wait, shouldn't you introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name?"
Exhausted from the strain of releasing his limiters, Mikazuki showed a flicker of impatience.
"Shut up. Your machine belongs to the Orb Union. Are you an Orb soldier?"
As he spoke, Mikazuki controlled the Gundam Barbatos to lower the Tachi. His intuition told him that the machine in front of him wasn't an enemy at the very least, he felt no malice.
"Eh? You know about the Astrays? But strictly speaking, I'm not exactly an Orb soldier. My partners and I were commissioned by the Orb Union to repair an Earth Alliance warship. As for this guy..."
Lowe pointed to his own machine. "Even though it was built by Orb, this is actually my personal machine, the Gundam Astray Red Frame. I basically found it! Ahahaha!"
"Warship?"
Both Mikazuki and Orga were stunned for a moment inside the Gundam Barbatos. Mikazuki thought it over and said, "I heard Murrue mention that Orb had invited a mechanical expert to help maintain the Archangel. Could it be him?"
Orga lowered his voice. "The possibility is high. And his Astray seems different from Orb's M1. A 'Red Frame,' huh? It seems there's a lot going on within the Orb Union's internal affairs."
Mikazuki's head felt heavy.
"What's wrong? Mika, is something wrong with your body?"
Mikazuki shook his head. A strange glint flashed in the depths of his right eye, but he forced a faint smile onto his face.
"No, I'm fine..."
"Hey, why did you suddenly go quiet?" Lowe's questioning voice came through the channel.
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