"Two out of three Mobile Suits capable of independent flight... The Alliance really has acquired quite a lot of Mobile Suit data."
Athrun, who was charging straight ahead, clicked his tongue lightly as he observed the three Mobile Suits on the ocean surface... It would have been more manageable if they were using boosters or similar assistance for flight, but independent flight... made things considerably more difficult by comparison.
Just as Athrun was contemplating how to respond, a message suddenly came through his channel.
"Assuming no surprises, Calamity should be a long-range combat Mobile Suit counterpart to Blitz, with abundant ranged weapons but weak in close combat."
"Forbidden is equipped with a special device that can distort beams. When it lowers the 'tortoise shell' on its back to enter high-speed assault mode, that shell can distort beam weapons to some extent. Recommend using solid ammunition for attacks during this state."
"Raider is a transformable Mobile Suit developed as a counterpart to your Aegis. It typically approaches in Mobile Armor form before suddenly switching to Mobile Suit mode to deploy its Mace... This tactic should be familiar to you."
"The information and weaknesses of these three MS should be largely consistent with what I've described. Good luck."
He was stunned for a moment before realizing—this was a briefing message sent to him by Lu Tianming.
Though he couldn't understand why Freedom's pilot would share such valuable information with him, having intelligence was better than proceeding blindly.
Let him... test the accuracy of this intelligence!
"Huh? That white Mobile Suit escaped... But just as well, the mission just got easier."
Shani Andras, pilot of the Forbidden Gundam, commented casually as he watched Freedom fly away... Although their objective was to eliminate both parties, having the workload reduced somewhat wasn't so bad.
"Orga, get off me quickly! I want to test the skills of this aircraft pilot!"
Klot Buer, piloting the Raider Gundam, felt battle spirit rising in his eyes as he saw Aegis descending from the sky. He manipulated the Raider Gundam in its Mobile Armor form, shaking impatiently as he eagerly wanted to dump the Calamity Gundam off his back and engage Aegis in battle.
"What's the hurry? It's not like he can run away..."
The pilot named Orga snorted dismissively, reluctantly piloting the Calamity Gundam to jump off the Raider and land on the shallow beach.
But just as he turned around to set up as a sniper turret... he saw Aegis completely ignoring Forbidden and Raider, charging directly toward him?!
"? What's this guy doing? Shani, Klot!"
Orga was somewhat surprised, simultaneously operating Calamity to return fire—the shoulder cannons, the Bazooka in hand, the Scylla on the chest... all erupted with dense barrages of fire directed at Aegis.
Athrun held his breath tightly, maneuvering Aegis to pass straight through the dense rain of fire while pulling the trigger on the Railguns. Two Railgun rounds immediately shot toward Calamity.
Calamity was momentarily forced to raise its shield to block, halting its firepower—and in that exact moment, Aegis instantly transformed into Mobile Suit mode and swung its blade, cleanly slicing off Calamity's prominent shoulder cannon with a single strike.
"Good... the intelligence was correct. He truly lacks close combat protection equipment..."
Seeing the Calamity's shoulder cannon disabled, Athrun felt a wave of relief—the intel on the Freedom Gundam's pilot had been accurate after all.
Just as he prepared to press his advantage and expand on this success, an alarm blared. The Forbidden had charged from the sea, swinging its scythe toward him.
"For the Forbidden, use solid ammunition against that 'turtle shell'..."
Athrun glanced at the Forbidden's armor-clad head and momentarily found the turtle shell analogy quite fitting.
As he maneuvered the Aegis Gundam into a sudden leap to evade the Calamity's follow-up attack and prepared to fire the Railgun—several beams shot toward him without warning.
What?!
Athrun's heart jolted. Those beams... had come from directly above the Forbidden, curving mid-air to strike at him!
The attacker was none other than the Raider Gundam, which he had momentarily overlooked.
They even have... coordinated tactics like this?!
Instinctively, Athrun raised his Shield to block—but under the Forbidden's combined assault, the firepower had intensified beyond a certain threshold.
He was certain... this Shield couldn't withstand bombardment of this magnitude any longer.
Damn it, is a three-unit coordinated assault really this difficult to handle?
A surge of frustration washed over him. Having often witnessed the Strike Suit or Freedom holding their own—even excelling—against multiple opponents from his squad, he had mistakenly assumed that fighting outnumbered was easy.
But now, experiencing it firsthand... he realized just how challenging such combat could be.
Especially against Mobile Suits with such bizarre and extreme performance capabilities.
Just as despair began to set in and he braced for the inevitable... a blue Mobile Suit silhouette flashed past him, positioning itself directly in front.
It was none other than the Freedom—more precisely, the Freedom in its complete form.
The Freedom spread the wings on its back, golden light radiating outward in streams of particles like a halo from sacred angel wings, dazzlingly brilliant.
Facing the torrential barrage, the Freedom calmly raised its Shield. As energy channeled into it, the Shield's armor split open, revealing an inner structure gleaming with golden light.
The raging beam onslaught crashed against the Shield and was completely absorbed, as if swallowed by the sea.
"Well done... leave the rest to me."
As Lu Tianming's voice echoed through the Cockpit, Athrun watched as the Freedom inserted its Beam Rifle into the back of the Shield, mounting some kind of enhanced component.
The top pair of wings from the backpack thrusters folded over the shoulders, transforming into shoulder cannons. The Railguns at the waist unfolded from their stowed positions, poised and ready. Simultaneously, the Freedom aimed its enhanced Beam Rifle directly at the three enemy units.
Even the flight wings on the Freedom's back emitted dense particles, occasional sparks of lightning flickering within. The area enveloped by the particles resembled a sacred domain of thunder, exuding an aura of both majesty and divinity.
This was the Freedom Gundam's... Full Burst Mode. Even after Lu Tianming's modifications, this remained its most powerful firepower configuration.
At that moment, in Lu Tianming's eyes, crimson markers had already locked onto all three enemy Mobile Suits.
"Take our full-powered strike! Full-Power Storm!"
With Xia Chuan's still-unabashedly chuunibyou-style roar, all the nuclear power energy and linked energy within Freedom were completely unleashed, surging like a torrent toward the Mobile Suit's few remaining release ports.
In an instant, five Beams erupted simultaneously, directly bombarding the Earth's three elite pilots.