"Have they truly lost all sense of shame?"
For the first time in a long while, Wang Hu practically spat these words through gritted teeth.
In Wang Hu's view, Kira—whose spirit had been reshaped and whose methods could now be described as ruthless—teamed up with his friend Li Chengzhi piloting the GP02 capable of deploying the Goddess of Love, along with Mu as an additional asset. With these three leading the charge and the East Asian Army providing support, dealing with a mere Atlantic Federation Army fleet shouldn't have been difficult. While it might require some effort and encounter minor setbacks, it was still manageable.
But what did Wang Hu witness now?
The damned Atlantic Federation Army, the damned Blue Cosmos—they had truly abandoned all decency. To completely annihilate the East Asian Army's main fleet, they deployed the Light of Peace, which should have been used against the Coordinators, against their own people. To make matters worse, they even threw in the Steroid Trio with their advanced mobile suits, launching an all-out assault on the East Asia Fleet!
"Heh heh heh, now I understand why the Qi Family Army was wiped out. Now I finally realize that the world's troublemakers have no bottom line—their limit is having no limit at all."
Although in the Gundam universe, elite forces from both sides treat others' Gundams as their own, with multiple password verifications and enemy identification encryptions being easily bypassed, Wang Hu understood this reality but was still furious.
To fulfill Wang Hu's demand of preventing another Light of Peace from detonating within the East Asia Fleet, Kira exerted his utmost effort. Using the Rainbow Cannon, he created a safe zone like the Berlin anti-aircraft tower, shielding the fleet at the cost of his own defense. Objectively speaking, while individually each of the Steroid Trio's mobile suits was slightly inferior to the Freedom Gundam, their coordinated attacks made them evenly matched—even granting them certain advantages.
In the original timeline, when Kira piloted the Freedom Gundam and faced the Trio alone, he suffered greatly. Whenever external factors affected Kira's performance, the Freedom Gundam even had its head destroyed by the Trio. Now, Kira had to protect the fleet, cover allies, and counter the Trio's advances. Without the assistance of Li Chengzhi and Mu, Kira—the destined protagonist—might have met his end here today.
Even with Li Chengzhi and Mu's support, Kira's current situation remained precarious!
"Atlantic Federation Army!"
Wang Hu glanced back at the largely stabilized frontlines. The enemy Coordinator's Red-clothed Elite forces had been nearly wiped out—about eighty to ninety percent—during the previous sweep led by Wang Hu and the Uprising Army soldiers. Any remaining stragglers could likely be handled by the East Asian Army troops, who were far from being paper tigers.
Thus, Wang Hu ordered the remaining Uprising Army soldiers to cooperate with the main forces in swiftly capturing the Boaz Fortress and concluding the battle against the Coordinators.
Wang Hu piloted the Lightning Z Gundam, switching it to MA Mode, and galloped at full speed toward the somewhat perilous battlefield at the rear.
"Sorry, Brother Wang Hu."
Seeing Wang Hu, who should have been on the frontlines, coming to support him, Kira, drenched in sweat, felt a bit embarrassed.
Brother Wang Hu had entrusted this area to him with such confidence, yet he still had to come to assist!
"Wang Hu, go take down those three bastards."
"I'll send the Atlantic Federation Army to their graves!"
Li Chengzhi, his face also flushed with anger, was the more frustrated of the two.
He remembered clearly that he had confidently told Wang Hu not to worry about this area.
And yet, here they were!
Wasn't this just slapping him in the face from both sides?
"Wang Hu's here."
Among the three, Mu was probably the one with the least psychological pressure—a slacker, after all, just coasting along.
As long as he didn't die, he figured he was doing alright by the audience.
He glanced at the people around him, thinking that probably not many had high expectations of him anyway.
How high could their standards be?
"Understood, Li Chengzhi. You go and wipe out the enemy fleet with the Goddess of Love."
"Mu, stop slacking off. I don't believe this is all you're capable of."
"Protect Li Chengzhi so he can successfully launch the Goddess of Love."
Wang Hu nodded, certainly not in a position to criticize any of them.
Not only had they performed admirably, but they had also dared to face the deterrence of the Light of Peace head-on.
This extraordinary courage alone was worthy of recognition.
Well, except for Mu.
"Hey, you!"
Hearing Wang Hu single him out, the blond playboy shook his head and turned to follow Li Chengzhi.
"Brother Wang Hu, be careful with those three mobile suits. They don't seem ordinary."
Kira flew up beside Wang Hu to warn him, while keeping a wary eye on the trio in the distance, who were regrouping and preparing to launch another attack.
"Got it. Make sure you cover the rest of the fleet."
Expressing his gratitude to Kira, Wang Hu cracked his neck, producing a series of crisp pops.
"I wasted a lot of energy fighting the ZAFT Forces earlier."
"But I still have enough strength to deal with you!"
Channeling his anger into power, Wang Hu decided to use these three as a down payment before settling the final score with the blond leader of Blue Cosmos.
"Oh, that mobile suit we were specifically told to watch out for."
In the green Forbidden Gundam, Shani listlessly addressed his two companions.
"Hehehe, scared, Shani?"
In the brown Raider Gundam, Clotho, his young face twisted almost entirely during combat, sneered.
"You two, if you don't take this seriously, you might die."
"If we fail the mission, things won't be pleasant when we get back."
In the Calamity Gundam, bristling with cannons, Olga, the leader of their trio, kindly reminded them.
"Shut up, I know that without you telling me."
Probably unwilling to die or face the living hell that awaited them if they failed the mission, Clotho, driven by fear and irritation, swung the chain mace in his hand. The Raider Gundam lunged at Wang Hu first.
"Destroy!"
He roared, the chain mace flying straight at Wang Hu with terrifying, straightforward force, devoid of any fancy tricks.
"Tch, that guy."
Bickering aside, Shani in the Forbidden Gundam closely followed his comrade and flew over, his eyes firmly locked on Wang Hu.
He was waiting for the right moment to strike.
"Annihilation!"
Olga was usually calm when not in combat, but once engaged in battle—especially while piloting the Calamity Gundam—he would become utterly frenzied. Even as his comrade Clotho took the initiative to attack by swinging his chain mace, Olga, perhaps overly confident in their coordination, raised all his cannons and unleashed a violent barrage of fire.
It's worth noting that while Wang Hu was in the line of fire, so was his comrade Clotho. With Olga's reckless approach, if Clotho didn't evade, the Raider Gundam might be the first to get hit.
Because the Raider Gundam's body was directly blocking Wang Hu, from Wang Hu's frontal perspective, he absolutely couldn't see the incoming beam assault!
"Bastard! May your future son be born without an anus!"
Thanks to their long-standing camaraderie, the moment Olga began his attack, Clotho—who was laughing maniacally while swinging his mace at Wang Hu—sensed his comrade's treacherous move. Instantly abandoning his strike that was nearly at Wang Hu's face, he switched his Mobile Suit into an eagle-like form.
Executing a roll, Clotho's evasion was perfectly timed—just as the Raider Gundam cleared Olga's attack trajectory, the Calamity Gundam's ferocious firepower skimmed past its lower fuselage and surged unstoppably toward Wang Hu.
"Lucky for me, my mace is beam-resistant!"
Though he dodged in time, Clotho's maneuver was rushed. His chain mace still grazed Olga's beam torrent. Anxiously retrieving the mace and inspecting it, Clotho sighed in relief before turning his attention to Wang Hu with schadenfreude.
He assumed that if he—relying on his deep familiarity with his comrade—had barely detected Olga's underhanded move, then Wang Hu, whose attention was focused on the swinging mace and who couldn't see behind him, would never react in time!
Being hit and destroyed should be effortless, right?
But Clotho was disappointed. The spot where Olga's beam torrent struck was empty—there was no trace of Wang Hu's Lightning Z Gundam. The Calamity's full-power attack had hit nothing but air.
"Where is he? Where did he go?"
Shocked and confused, Clotto frantically scanned his surroundings, trying to locate Wang Hu.
"Clotho, you idiot! Olga, you're just as bad—idiots, both of you!"
Inside the Raider Gundam's cockpit, Clotho heard the taunts of their other comrade, Shani, piloting the Forbidden Gundam.
"What did you say?"
Just as Clotho was about to retort, his jaw dropped. The Wang Hu he had been searching for had apparition-like appeared right in front of him!
The Lightning Z Gundam's emerald-blue eyes were fixed intently on him!
"When did he—?!"
His heart pounding wildly, Clotho stared at the Lightning Z Gundam as it raised its sword.
"I'm not going to die here!"
Though shouting about not dying, Clotho had no time left to dodge or take any other action.
Wang Hu had closed in too close - within seven steps, Clotho couldn't even raise his gun or swing his hammer.
"That's why you're an idiot!"
At the critical moment, Shani who had been waiting nearby seized the opportunity, firing a golden-edged infrared beam that twisted through the air.
This forced Wang Hu to abandon his chance to finish off Clotho with a single sword stroke.
"Who's the idiot here? I could have taken down this bastard without your help."
Even though someone had saved him, Clotho remained ungrateful.
From the mouth position of the Raider Gundam's head, a light no less brilliant than the beam torrent from Shani's rescue flashed.
It shot directly at the Lightning Z Gundam that had just evaded the Forbidden Gundam's attack.
Meanwhile, the trio's leader naturally wouldn't abandon this perfect opportunity, willingly playing a supporting role.
Noticing Shani charging toward Wang Hu with his scythe ready for a follow-up attack, Olga decided to ensure Wang Hu's successful elimination.
From a distance, Olga fully utilized his Calamity mobile suit's long-range firepower advantage.
Aiming at several most likely evasion routes Wang Hu might take, he launched suppressive attacks.
Who knows - he might just get lucky and have Wang Hu stupidly run right into them?
(End of Chapter)