"Evasive maneuvers, now!"
Creuset clicked his tongue lightly and immediately issued the command. The entire battleship executed an emergency evasion, narrowly avoiding having the bridge directly hit by that astonishing crimson beam...
Even so, the destructive beam still tore a terrifying gash across the Nazca-class hull.
"Quickly assess the damage! Send the Aegis to deal with the enemy MS!"
Watching the display screens flashing with various warning lights, Creuset gave orders while feeling deeply shaken.
Could the Strike Suit really shoot that far? This has to be a joke!
"Negative! Athrun is currently engaged with the Moebius Zero, and the Aegis is running low on power!"
"Captain Creuset, the Strike Suit is firing a second shot!"
Two communications came in rapid succession as the Nazca-class shuddered violently again. Through the helmsman's extreme maneuvering, the ship managed to twist its hull once more, barely dodging the attack at the cost of substantial external armor damage.
But... anyone could see that the interval between these two shots was short. Barring any surprises, the next shot would likely follow almost immediately.
Whether the Nazca-class could evade again when that happened was anyone's guess.
Creuset now felt their positions had completely reversed... Just moments ago, they had been bombarding the Strike Suit, but after carelessly allowing it to change equipment, they were now the ones taking the beating.
He carefully considered their situation: the Aegis was tied up by Mu and probably wouldn't break free anytime soon.
In his assessment, Mu's Zero was to G Series MS what mosquitoes were to humans... While a single bite wouldn't kill you, if you tried to ignore it and focus on other matters, it would immediately jump in front of your face to harass you.
It was downright insidious.
As for the remaining GINN... Creuset held no real expectations. After all, the other two GINNs had been destroyed by the Strike Suit in the blink of an eye. He figured this GINN wouldn't last more than one encounter with the Strike Suit either.
After weighing their options and recognizing they stood no chance of winning, Creuset sighed deeply and announced over the comm channel:
"Notify the Aegis and GINN to return immediately! This ship will begin preparations to withdraw from this airspace immediately!"
————————————————-
Watching the Nazca-class, Aegis, and GINN retreat beyond firing range, Lu Tianming and Xia Chuan finally breathed sighs of relief.
This battle... was finally over.
Looking back across the combat zone, they could see that aside from the Montgomery, two other battleships from the advance fleet remained. Thanks to Lu Tianming's timely rescue efforts around the Montgomery... although the battleship itself couldn't be saved, some of the bridge crew and other personnel had managed to survive.
Unfortunately, since a GINN's shell had directly hit the Montgomery's hangar, everyone who had boarded escape pods following the abandon ship order—including George Allster, who got stuck halfway and couldn't escape—had all perished in the explosion.
Paradoxically, those who had initially prepared to go down with the ship ended up surviving thanks to Lu Tianming's intervention.
Watching the Montgomery crew members in spacesuits salute the Strike Suit in unison before boarding the rescue capsules, Xia Chuan felt an indescribable satisfaction:
"Damn... I don't even know their names, but why am I so happy seeing them survive?"
"Who knows."
Hearing Xia Chuan's emotional outburst, Lu Tianming responded with a laugh. He knew explaining too much would just go over this guy's head... so he let him enjoy his simple happiness.
"Speaking of which, Flay's official father ended up dying after all... Strangely enough, when I heard this named character died, my emotional fluctuation wasn't as strong."
After being happy for a while, Xia Chuan suddenly remembered something and continued.
Lu Tianming remained silent for a long moment, barely containing himself as he supported his forehead and sighed before answering:
"Probably... because the way he died was just too absurd."
Hearing Lu Tianming's explanation, Xia Chuan grunted in agreement... After all, dying because the rescue capsule got stuck in the ejection channel and couldn't be deployed - he might be the first such case since humanity entered the Cosmic Era.
No normal person would be that unlucky.
Xia Chuan nodded upon hearing this. The guy died both insignificantly and absurdly, making it really hard to empathize.
"Speaking of which, how's the new equipment working out?"
Lu Tianming asked. Although the Manta Ray only served as a stepping stone... and some of its actual loaded weapons hadn't been used yet, he was still curious about Xia Chuan's condition after installing such a remote connection accessory.
When asked about this, Xia Chuan lowered his head and thought seriously before explaining carefully:
"It's just an additional sense of connection, like something has started responding to my control. But it's different from the feeling you get after entering the cockpit... it's very subtle."
Xia Chuan stammered, unable to explain clearly, but having been with this guy for so long, Lu Tianming could somewhat understand his meaning. After some thought, he tentatively asked:
"Using gaming terms, the Manta Ray is like a magical artifact, controlled through mental connection at will. And the connection between you and me is like forming a battle bond that gives buffs?"
"Yes, yes! Exactly that!"
Xia Chuan showed an expression of sudden understanding and repeatedly agreed. Then his active mind thought of something else and he curiously asked:
"Tianming, what do you think it would feel like if I could transform? Just crouch down?"
"No idea..."
This stumped Lu Tianming. Probably only a Decepticon could answer such a bizarre question.
"But in your current condition... can core components involving the frame be replaced? If it can't be changed to a Variable Frame, there's no point thinking about this anyway."
"Tsk, don't be so sure about that."
Xia Chuan smiled mysteriously, adopting a tone that said 'you just don't get it.'
According to his explanation, although his consciousness was bound to the Strike Suit, the physical restrictions weren't that strict. It wasn't like cyborgs where having fewer original parts made you less human.
For him, as long as he didn't replace too many components at once, there weren't major issues. Given enough adaptation time, new components would also be recognized as part of his body.
"In short, even if every component gets replaced eventually, as long as the process is gradual, nothing is truly irreplaceable."
"Like that... Tulunsu Ship thing?"
"That's the Ship of Theseus... you idiot."While complaining about Xia Chuan's bizarre memory retention, Lu Tianming nodded thoughtfully."
If that's the case... then the upgrade path for the Strike Suit could be quite flexible, not necessarily limited to backpack replacements.
If the opportunity arises—perhaps grabbing some resources from the Dawn Organization, or leveraging Clyne Faction connections to snag some Freedom or Justice tech from ZAFT—the possibilities would widen even further.
Just as Lu Tianming was leisurely entertaining these thoughts, Mu's communication suddenly came through. He sounded troubled and somewhat flustered as he said:
"Tianming, return to the Archangel for now... There's a troublesome situation, and it involves that Lacus."