As the beam of the positron cannon streaked across the pitch-black cosmos, the battle was essentially brought to a close.
Though the ZAFT Laurasia-class battleship attempted to evade, it was still grazed by the devastating main cannon shot along its edge.
With the mothership damaged, Yzak and the others had no choice but to retreat, unable to continue the pursuit.
The hatch of the Laurasia-class opened, and three Gundams landed safely inside. Under the maintenance crew's arrangements, they were sent for repairs. Their three pilots then emerged from the cockpits, underwent vision checks in the medical bay—which confirmed no serious issues—and returned to the lounge.
"...Damn it! How does that Strike Suit have so many strange tricks up its sleeve!"
Yzak punched the lounge wall, having repeated this complaint multiple times along the way.
It was hard to blame him... After all, his eyes were still blurry and sore, and although the doctor said they would recover with rest... he still felt uncomfortable.
"Who knows... Did their technicians install it on the fly? But that can't be right. Could Naturals even figure out how to work that thing?"
Dearka shrugged, puzzled by the Strike Suit's rapid improvements, and muttered a sarcastic remark.
Even their Coordinator technicians hadn't thought of how to modify the machine... How did these Naturals manage it?
Dearka spoke without much thought, but Athrun took it to heart. Athrun thought of his poor childhood friend, Kira Yamato, who he believed was still trapped in the clutches of the Naturals.
Given the Naturals' limited intellect, they probably couldn't have researched the Strike Suit's enhancements. The one who added so many functions to it must have been an inventive Coordinator.
In his memory, Kira had always been talented since childhood. Combined with the suspicion that he had been taken aboard the Archangel... it seemed to fit the description perfectly.
Damn it, could all these functions on the Strike Suit be the result of those wretched Naturals exploiting Kira?
At this thought, a vivid image formed in his mind: Kira, pitiful and distressed, locked inside the Strike Suit, sobbing as he typed on a keyboard, while a group of fierce Federation Army soldiers stood outside, supervising him harshly, ready to scold him at the slightest pause.
He even imagined inhumane treatment like withholding meals if Kira failed to complete his work, or locking him in a dark room after finishing... All these scenes crossed his mind.
The moment he thought of this, Athrun, like Yzak, angrily punched the wall.
Yzak was startled by Athrun's sudden outburst. He hadn't expected Athrun to be just as worked up... but then, as if remembering something, he smiled faintly.
"Well, let them run for now... Captain Creuset has already predicted their next destination and, along with Nicol, set off ahead on a Nazca-class to launch a surprise attack."
"When they arrive and see their hoped-for supply base already fallen, their expressions will surely be amusing..."
Kira was indeed aboard the Archangel, just as Athrun had imagined... though the scene was quite different from what Athrun had pictured.
At this moment, Kira... was mingling with the crew, looking up at the Strike Suit, waiting for Lu Tianming's return.
Lu Tianming had just disembarked from his mobile suit when he saw Sergeant Murdoch leading the maintenance crew, along with Kira, Mu, and others gathered around the machine waiting for him... He was momentarily stunned.
"Whoa... What are you all gathered here for? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing much," Mu said with a smile. "Since the enemy ship won't catch up to us anytime soon and the Archangel has entered a brief period of safety... we thought we should properly welcome our greatest contributor."
His words weren't entirely untrue... For the Archangel to have come this far, the battleship's crew really ought to bow in gratitude to Lu Tianming.
If not for him repeatedly piloting the Strike Suit to intercept wave after wave of enemies outside, this battleship would have long been destroyed within the satellite, let alone have any chance of escaping.
While the battleship crew could take turns resting... what about Lu Tianming? Since he started piloting the Strike Suit, how much real rest had he gotten? Forget about returning to the ship - after fighting GINNs he'd fight CGUEs, after fighting CGUEs he'd help move supplies, and after moving supplies he wouldn't even disembark to save time, simply resting briefly inside the Strike Suit.
But even this brief rest was interrupted when the Aegis launched another attack with its forces... leading to another difficult one-versus-three battle.
This time, although Mu had helped by piloting a Mobius, it was still essentially Lu Tianming fighting three enemies alone. Watching Lu Tianming's desperate combat rhythm, even Mu couldn't help but feel deep respect.
"Besides, Tianming here managed to fight three Coordinators to a standstill as a Natural! That would make him an absolute ACE pilot in our entire Federation Army, wouldn't it?"
Murdoch didn't hold back his praise either... At the very least, Lu Tianming was an ACE pilot, but more significantly, he was the pride of all Naturals. He had personally proven that even Naturals could pilot MS without being inferior to Coordinators.
Moreover, this guy kept delivering bigger surprises each time.
From initially defeating a grunt mobile suit, to defeating a commander-type unit, then later taking on one G Series unit plus two grunts, until today where he single-handedly defeated three G Series machines.
This guy kept shattering everyone's expectations of him with every sortie.
Lu Tianming felt warmed by their praise... Having their recognition made him feel that his recent life-or-death battles had been worthwhile.
The fatigue from the recent combat seemed to momentarily vanish.
"Mr. Lu Tianming, was that flash grenade from earlier also a product of the Machine Spirit being greatly pleased?"
Kira's curious voice sounded from nearby, his face full of admiration as he blinked at Lu Tianming.
He had genuinely been impressed by that Strong Sunshine technique... This was a real super robot move appearing right before his eyes, even if its performance had been somewhat exaggerated.
But even so... it wasn't something a 16-year-old teenager could resist being excited about.
When asked about this, Lu Tianming nodded slightly before turning to look back at the Strike Suit... or more precisely, at Xia Chuan who served as the Strike Suit's Machine Spirit:
"That's right. Without him, I couldn't have accomplished something like that alone."
This was no exaggeration... Although Lu Tianming had somehow learned to pilot MS through their connection, it was clear that without Xia Chuan's cooperation, he would have died countless times if piloting alone.
In truth, it wasn't even Xia Chuan assisting him as the Machine Spirit... but rather him assisting Xia Chuan.
Therefore, when he received the high praise from Sergeant Murdoch and Mu, his first reaction wasn't joy but rather—I don't deserve this.
Without him, not only would Lu Tianming have been unable to handle the subsequent battles, but he might not even have survived leaving the factory where the Strike Suit was initially stored.
"The one who truly deserves gratitude isn't me... but him."
Lu Tianming turned to look at Xia Chuan, whose body—with its white outer armor and dark gray frame intertwined—stood calmly in the support rack, showing no emotion.
That was just as well.
Lu Tianming smiled faintly, then suddenly clasped his hands together. With a mix of half-teasing and half-sincerity, he bowed his head toward the Strike Suit and murmured softly:
"Praise the Strike Suit."
Mu and the others were caught off guard by Lu Tianming's sudden turn and bow. Had it been before, they might not have understood his actions.
But after witnessing the 'miracles' that Xia Chuan had deliberately displayed—the Strike Suit's various extraordinary skills that surpassed its rated performance, along with those astonishing, almost divine maneuvers during battle—they had all, to some extent, come to accept the concept of the Machine Spirit.
They exchanged glances and shared a knowing smile—then, responding to Lu Tianming's call, they all clasped their hands together and bowed to the mechanical giant before them.
Whether this was Lu Tianming's humble gesture with a hint of playful intent or whether the mysterious Machine Spirit truly existed... at this moment, they were all willing to bow alongside Lu Tianming.
It deserved it. He deserved it.