Chapter 175: The Tragic Duel (Part 2)
Heero, unwilling to owe Zechs any favor, refused to pilot the repaired Wing Gundam for the duel.
He believed that too much indebtedness would dull his fighting spirit, so he decided to personally adjust the Heavyarms Gundam, modifying it to suit his own preferences.
Duo assisted Heero with the adjustments. They replaced Heavyarms' left arm with a beam saber, mounted the Gatling gun on that arm, improved the unit's balance, and reduced the control weight of the left-hand joystick.
The next day, Heero and Zechs each piloted their respective mobile suits, facing one another on the icy surface near the Antarctic base.
Heavyarms and Tallgeese stood face-to-face, staring down each other's machine. A cold wind whipped snow across the frozen field as both raised their weapons.
Zechs was the first to move—he fired his Dober Gun at Heero, a series of shots powerful enough to punch through the ice beneath Heavyarms' feet.
Heero's left-hand injury still hadn't healed. Even though he lifted the handheld Gatling gun to return fire, his reaction was a beat too slow.
He was forced to fire Heavyarms' thrusters at full power, leaping away from the shattered ice. While sliding backward along the frozen surface, he fired the Gatling gun in counterattack.
Zechs pressed the assault relentlessly, firing the Dober Gun shells at the sliding Heavyarms, trying to block its path and force Heero into close combat.
But Heero didn't back down either. He unleashed a full volley—shoulder missiles, leg missiles, and chest Gatling guns all firing at once.
Zechs easily maneuvered Tallgeese to dodge the barrage. The missiles crashed into the ice instead, and the explosions sent up thick steam and smoke.
Through the dense haze, both pilots fired their weapons blindly, shells striking the other's armor.
Heero noticed that Tallgeese's radar and heat sensors were much less effective in the freezing mist, making it difficult for Zechs to track his movements.
Taking advantage of that, Heero opened fire with both the shoulder Vulcan guns and chest Gatlings, blasting the ice and surrounding glaciers.
The area around Heavyarms filled with snow and vapor, masking heat signatures and severely interfering with Tallgeese's targeting systems.
Zechs was forced to rely on instinct, predicting faint, delayed heat traces, and firing the Dober Gun wildly in Heavyarms' direction.
But Heero miscalculated—he hadn't expected Zechs to act so decisively. The nearby explosions and collapsing ice caused Heavyarms to lose balance and crash heavily to the ground.
Heero quickly readjusted, righted the mobile suit, and counterattacked with the handheld Gatling gun.
Both pilots knew these were merely probing attacks. Neither's weapons could yet deliver a decisive blow to the other's machine.
As the snow haze cleared, Heero discarded the Gatling gun and drew the beam saber mounted on his left wrist.
Seeing that Heero was finally ready for close combat, Zechs gladly tossed aside the Dober Gun and switched Tallgeese's right arm to its beam saber.
The two Gundams clashed, their beam sabers colliding again and again. The i-field repulsion between the blades erupted in showers of plasma lightning.
After trading blows for some time, Heero began to dodge again, narrowly avoiding Tallgeese's saber swings. The surrounding ice and glaciers weren't so lucky—each miss left them scorched, shattered, and steaming.
Meanwhile, Relena's shuttle encountered two OZ Foundation Aries units in the air. They flanked the shuttle on both sides.
Relena ordered her butler to lower altitude and fly close to the ground in an attempt to shake off the pursuers.
Just as the Aries units were about to shoot the shuttle down, Duo arrived in the Wing Gundam. A single shot from his Buster Rifle obliterated both enemy suits.
Seeing the Wing Gundam, Relena excitedly opened her communicator and called out, "Heero, is that you?"
"Heero's fighting ahead," Duo explained after realizing she knew Heero. He then raised the Buster Rifle again, aiming at the shuttle, and asked cautiously, "What do you intend to do?"
With unwavering determination, Relena replied, "I'm going to stop the fight between him and Zechs. This battle has no meaning."
Duo agreed—he too felt the duel was pointless. Lowering his Buster Rifle, he said, "Got it. But you'd better hurry—OZ's investigation team will be here any moment."
Relena didn't have time to thank him. Her butler accelerated the shuttle toward the site of Heero and Zechs's duel.
After several exchanges, Heero noticed that Tallgeese's left wrist wasn't moving smoothly. It turned out Zechs had intentionally altered the control parameters to create a handicap—making the fight fair.
But in truth, Zechs did this to discard that naïve sense of honor and to bid farewell to his own childish ideals.
They continued clashing with beam sabers. Over time, Heero began to fall behind; his left-hand wound reopened, blood seeping through.
For a brief moment of distraction, Heavyarms was knocked down by Tallgeese. Just as Zechs was about to deliver the final blow—
Relena's shuttle appeared between them. Standing at the open hatch, Relena faced them fearlessly.
Startled, Zechs instantly pulled back Tallgeese's beam saber—one more second and he would've killed his own sister.
But Relena, wearing her headset, showed no sign of fear. She shouted toward Heavyarms, "Heero! Heero! I have a letter for you!"
Heero froze in shock at her sudden appearance on the battlefield. His last swing had nearly struck her. Anger and panic flashed across his face as he shouted, "You're in the way! Get out of here!"
Following Relena's command, the butler slowed the shuttle to a crawl, hovering stubbornly between the two mobile suits, weaving back and forth without leaving.
"No, I won't go! This letter clearly explains how you should live from now on. You have an obligation to read it, Heero!"
Zechs, watching his sister completely captivated by Heero, couldn't reveal his identity. As Zechs, he could only say to her, "Princess, please leave. It's dangerous here."