With the addition of Coordinator Captain Tyler to the fray, his coordination from the center made all the difference.
Wang Hu, piloting the Moebius, instantly felt the pressure intensify.
At first, he had been able to effortlessly outmaneuver the two GINN units that had targeted him.
But now!
"Whew, that was close, way too close."
With a swift, lightning-fast turn, Wang Hu narrowly avoided the bullets that whizzed past his cockpit.
Pulling down the nose of his mobile armor, he let it drift downward like a leaf caught in the wind, effortlessly evading a slashing attack from one of the GINNs.
Then, the Moebius' rear thrusters roared to life, propelling him deep into space with explosive force.
By a mere hair's breadth, he dodged what Coordinator Captain Tyler had been certain would be the finishing blow—leaving Tyler gritting his teeth in frustration.
Silently, Tyler lamented how their perfectly coordinated assault had ended up as futile as water flowing eastward.
"Are you mocking us?"
A voice crackled through the speakers in Wang Hu's cockpit.
It turned out Wang Hu had left the public comms channel open earlier—and forgotten to turn it off.
So his earlier, almost playful muttering had been broadcast to the GINN pilots currently trying to take him down.
"Hmm?" Wang Hu chuckled as he deftly maneuvered the Moebius, keeping the three GINNs at bay.
"Leaving the public channel open in the middle of a battle isn't exactly good practice."
"You bastard!" Matsutaro, the one who had opened the comms channel, felt the veins in his temples bulge as his blood pressure skyrocketed.
"Don't look down on us! You're just a Natural—a gravity-bound Earthling! Stop acting so smug!"
As he spoke, he reloaded his weapon and unleashed another barrage of fire at Wang Hu's Moebius.
"Oh?" Wang Hu dodged the incoming bullets effortlessly, his eyes scanning the battlefield even as he replied casually.
"The fact remains—you so-called 'monsters of the sky' have failed your mission this time."
"And now, the mighty Coordinator warriors can't even take down a mere Natural like me, the one who ruined your operation."
"Bakayarō! Are you with Blue Cosmos?"
Humiliated and furious, Matsutaro's eyes burned crimson at the mention of "monsters of the sky."
Not only did most of the discrimination against Coordinators by Naturals have Blue Cosmos pulling the strings behind the scenes—
But the recent Junius Seven tragedy had also been orchestrated by that very organization!
What had once been an environmental protection group had now become a radical terrorist faction for Naturals.
They were the Coordinators' greatest enemy—
A name that could silence crying children on PLANT!
"Matsutaro, shut up!" Captain Tyler, who had been listening silently until now, suddenly barked.
Just the phrase "monsters of the sky" wasn't enough to confirm their enemy's allegiance.
But—
Gripping the GINN's controls tightly, Captain Tyler fixed his gaze on his opponent.
Whether you're trying to provoke Matsutaro into making a mistake or you really are Blue Cosmos—
After this battle, the alarms in his mind were blaring louder than ever.
A Natural pilot like this—
Absolutely, under no circumstances, could he be allowed to return alive!
But—
Tyler's heart was in turmoil. The previous round of coordinated attacks had shown remarkable teamwork among the three of them.
Each had pushed themselves to their limits, yet even that wasn't enough to take down the enemy before them.
"Josie, Matsutaro, once more!"
A resolute glint flashed in Captain Tyler's eyes—he had made up his mind.
"Yes!" his two subordinates shouted in unison, ready to follow their captain's next tactical command.
But to their surprise, their usually composed and caring captain had already charged forward alone.
"Captain?" Josie and Matsutaro hurriedly followed.
"What about tactical coordination?"
"Follow your instincts. Fire when you see the opportunity."
Without even glancing back at his subordinates, Captain Tyler left them with those words.
"That enemy is too dangerous. We must take him down here."
"Oh?" Wang Hu's sixth sense tingled with warning as he saw GINN charging straight at him.
Assessing the situation, his eyes flickered before he abruptly pulled Moebius into a sharp climb.
"Die, for the future of the Coordinators!"
Raising his rifle, Captain Tyler pursued Wang Hu's tail, firing relentlessly.
Bullets capable of tearing Moebius apart in a single shot whizzed past Wang Hu's fighter.
"So terrifying, so scary."
Knowing the enemy could hear him, Wang Hu didn't hesitate to throw in some taunts to unsettle his opponent.
"Hmph." With a grunt, Tyler, still on Wang Hu's tail, did something unexpected—he hurled his rifle forward with all his strength.
"What's this?" Wang Hu glanced sideways at the spinning rifle flying toward him, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
And then comes—
Just as Wang Hu predicted, Tyler followed up by throwing his last remaining weapon—the Zan Sword for close combat—straight after.
"Is the captain trying to take down the enemy by throwing weapons?" Josie wondered aloud, rifle raised and ready to assist.
"No, that's not it. The captain's using the rifle's explosion for area damage to finish the enemy off."
Matsutaro, with slightly better insight than Josie, guessed their captain's true intention.
BOOM!
The Zan Sword, thrown later, overtook the rifle—its target not Wang Hu, but the very machine gun Tyler had just discarded.
The explosion erupted into a fireball, scattering gun parts and shrapnel in all directions from the detonating ammunition.
"Great, the captain got him!" Josie cheered.
"As expected of the captain," Matsutaro agreed, certain of victory.
After all, the flames had swallowed that troublesome enemy. He didn't think anyone could survive such an attack.
"Not enough!"
Ignoring the fireball and his subordinates' bewildered stares, Captain Tyler didn't slow down—instead, he accelerated further.
He charged straight into the still-burning inferno.
"Captain!" Josie and Matsutaro shouted in alarm. The explosion hadn't fully subsided—rushing in now would only risk injury.
"That enemy won't die so easily," Tyler's voice rang out from within MS GINN.
And just as his words hadn't even finished echoing, Wang Hu burst through the edge of the flames piloting the Moebius.
"Almost died there, didn't I?" Wang Hu said with a chuckle, continuing to provoke the trio's nerves.
"I knew you weren't dead!"
With an expression that said 'this is exactly how it should be,' Tyler maneuvered GINN to spread its arms, clearly preparing for a crushing embrace attack.
"You might've lucked out dodging the rifle's cook-off and the splash damage from the flames, but the explosions behind you aren't over yet."
"There's nowhere left to run!"
In Tyler's eyes, Wang Hu was now caught between a rock and a hard place—this time, there would be no missing the mark.
"Right, the explosions behind me were your doing."
Nodding lightly, Wang Hu flicked the Moebius's control stick.
"40mm machine gun rounds can't easily pierce GINN's armor, so here's a question."
"Can the 76mm rounds from MS GINN's machine gun do the trick?"
"What?" Tyler stared blankly as the Moebius suddenly banked sideways, then continued flying straight toward him.
He didn't understand the meaning behind those words—until he saw a flash of light streak from beneath the Moebius's tilted frame.
Then, it came straight for him.
"Those are the rounds from the cook-off?!"
His pupils shrank to pinpricks as Tyler jolted upright in terror.
(End of Chapter)