"Dearka, get out of there!"
The Duel, which had been halfway through its retreat, abruptly turned around. Yzak never expected the Freedom to detect the Buster Gundam lurking behind.
In its current state, equipped with the underwater combat pack, the Buster Gundam had almost no defensive capabilities—meaning being targeted by the Freedom was practically a death sentence.
Dearka was well aware of this too, immediately maneuvering his Mobile Suit to dive deeper... but it was already too late.
The Freedom showed no restraint in its firepower, locking all its weapons onto the Buster at once—missiles, Gatling guns, high-energy pulse cannons... a torrent of armaments poured down upon the Buster.
If the Buster's earlier attacks could still be intercepted by the Freedom's energy-based defenses, this mixed assault of energy and solid ammunition left the Buster completely helpless.
The underwater combat pack was still reloading missiles, and its own weapons had limited firing angles. The only thing the Buster could use was its Vulcan Cannon.
But with that level of firepower and range... it was like trying to put out a wildfire with a cup of water.
In an instant, the Buster's underwater combat pack was pierced through, and even its limbs suffered varying degrees of damage from the bombardment. It quickly lost power under the relentless assault, sinking into the shallow sea like a lifeless stump.
Yzak wanted to seize this opportunity to launch a surprise attack with his Railgun, but the Freedom seemed to have anticipated it. As soon as the barrage ended, it immediately dodged—the Railgun only grazed the edge of the Aile Pack and was blocked by the Launcher Pack's built-in shield.
Facing the returning Freedom, Yzak had no means left to resist. The performance gap was so vast that the Freedom's mindless slashing with its two Armor Schneiders forced the Duel into a fighting retreat—he was certain that if not for his atmospheric pack boosting his mobility and the Freedom being weighed down by its multiple packs, he wouldn't even have been able to escape.
"Damn Strike—Tch, running out of energy already..."
Yzak wanted to keep fighting but realized the continuous aerial combat had drained the Duel's energy to a critical level, leaving him frustrated and powerless.
"Yzak, retreat as planned! Leave this to me and Athrun!"
Nicol's communication suddenly cut in—he too had noticed Yzak's dwindling energy reserves. Fortunately, the plan to lure the enemy Mobile Suit to the shore with the Duel had already succeeded.
The rest... would be up to him and Athrun!
Without waiting for Yzak's response, the pitch-black Blitz Gundam instantly materialized behind the Freedom Gundam—having activated its Mirage Colloid System the moment the Freedom entered the planned engagement zone.
Though the Freedom or Strike had the ability to detect stealth units, it was an active skill.
If the enemy remained completely unaware of your presence, their anti-stealth capability might as well not exist!
The Blitz Gundam's backpack transformed into a massive claw, lunging toward the Freedom's back.
The Freedom seemed caught off guard by this sudden appearance, hastily turning while raising its Armor Schneider in a defensive cross-block.
"Now!"
Seeing the successful strike, Nicol immediately slammed the pedals to the floor. The Blitz Gundam's rear propulsion units roared to life, sending the mobile suit crashing like a black meteor into the beach beside the uninhabited island, slamming the Freedom down onto the sand.
Watching this from his powerless retreat, Yzak breathed a sigh of relief... He never expected the unexpected victory to come from the Blitz.
This way, he could alleviate some of his guilt over withdrawing early.
"I... I did it?!"
Staring at the machine he'd just tackled, Nicol felt a surge of unexpected triumph... The original plan called for him to cooperate with the Aegis in forcing the Strike Suit to the ground.
He was supposed to engage in close combat from the front while using the forced discharge device to drain energy, with the Aegis providing air support and maintaining aerial superiority to attack the enemy.
Yet now... he'd managed to force the enemy to the ground entirely on his own?
But being a soldier, he didn't lose his composure over this momentary surprise. He quickly prepared to activate the forced discharge device—even against a Nuclear Powered Machine, it should have some effect!
However, just before he could press the button, a voice suddenly came through the Blitz's comm system.
"Sorry... in a way, you only succeeded halfway."
"What?!"
Nicol's expression shifted to alarm as instinctive danger signals flashed through his mind—the Freedom's propulsion units suddenly erupted with power, lifting the machine from its pinned position and even sending the Blitz flying backward.
This Freedom's thrust... was actually this powerful?
Nicol froze for a moment before realizing—the Freedom had allowed itself to be easily knocked onto the beach as a tactical feint to lull him into complacency?
Even with this realization, Nicol's movements didn't hesitate in the slightest—whether the earlier opening was intentional or not, their current close proximity was an undeniable reality.
And close combat favored him!
Without hesitation, Nicol slammed both pedals and swung the massive claw in his hand toward the Freedom Gundam.
If there wasn't time to activate the forced discharge, then he'd create an advantage through pure physical impact!
"Resorting to close combat... indeed, not a bad choice."
Watching the Blitz charge toward him, Lu Tianming unconsciously voiced his appreciation.
The Blitz's maneuver could truly be called the optimal solution under the current circumstances.
Keeping distance clearly wasn't to its advantage—even with Athrun's potential support, if it lost this close combat opportunity, the Blitz would struggle to find another opening against the Freedom with its numerous mid-to-long range weapons.
After all, once the Mirage Colloid System was exposed, there was always the risk of being detected.
Attempting mid-range assaults wasn't a good strategy either—the Freedom's Armor Schneider naturally held the advantage in attack range. In a close-quarters exchange, the Freedom was more likely to strike the Blitz first.
The only solution was to take advantage of this moment, risk the danger, and charge directly into extreme close combat with the Freedom.
This way, it could exploit the blind spots of the Armor Schneider and various ranged weapons, fully utilizing the Blitz's mobile suit performance advantages.
—This was the analysis purely from the perspective of mobile suit armaments.
When Nicol made this tactical decision, he clearly overlooked a crucial factor.
That was—whether it was the Strike Suit or the current Freedom, their favorite tactic was launching attacks through unconventional, non-armed means.
And so far, among those unconventional attack methods, a significant portion consisted of... skills that could exert combat effectiveness at such extreme ranges.