"I-Inori…?"
Inside the Strike, Kira stared at the scene in the distance.
The blue machine moved through the battlefield like a ghost.
This was not a battle.
It was a massacre.
Kira felt as though she could sense the disbelief of the GINN pilots themselves.
Whenever the Blue Frame approached, the GINNs immediately sprayed rifle fire at it, trying to stop it from closing in.
But it was completely useless.
The Blue Frame moved only slightly, and the rounds passed around it like perfect Outline Shooting.
Every attack was nothing more than a graze.
"What is going on?!"
"Monster! Stay away!"
"You're a Coordinator, aren't you?! Why are you acting like a dog for Naturals?!"
"What are you?! What the hell are you?!"
After screaming hysterically, every GINN pilot was slaughtered.
[This is straight-up a horror movie]
[Getting one-shot at the start was still understandable. Later she literally used a Can-opener on the cockpit and stabbed the pilot. That's horrifying]
[Grass (a type of exclamation), that's even more ridiculous than Amuro just cutting through cockpits]
[At least Amuro uses a sword to slash them. This one actually uses a Can-opener to pry the door open. That's seriously next-level]
[Amuro: I, Amuro Ray, hereby name you the Cockpit Slayer King!]
[It's over, it's over. Inori isn't actually the final boss, is she?]
[The AIs should just get their own table]
[When will the AI in GBN be this strong?]
[I think the GINN from the livestream exhibition match was about this strong]
[Yeah. Even the Champion got pushed to the brink, and it was still just a GINN]
[GBN 2.0's balance system is way better than the previous version. GINNs are actually pretty strong there, and that AI doesn't conserve ammunition either. Still not as good as Inori]
[A blue demon]
"That thing is coming!"
Yzak stared at the monster.
After annihilating three warships and the remaining GINNs, the blue monster was charging toward them again.
Just as the viewers had joked, for a pilot, being killed by gunfire—or even having the cockpit taken out with one shot—was not impossible on a battlefield.
But having the enemy close in, pry open your cockpit hatch, and stab you to death? That was a freaking horror movie.
They could not hit the enemy at all, while the enemy massacred them at will.
"Stow your weapons. Discontinue fire-control illumination."
At that moment, however, Creuset issued an order.
An utterly unexpected order.
"All units, disengage your weapons, then retreat!"
"Nani?!"
When Yzak heard Creuset's order, he could hardly believe it.
"If you don't want to die, follow the order!" Creuset felt a chill too.
"Tch."
Despite his reluctance, Yzak stopped resisting along with the others.
Sure enough, the blue machine that had been charging toward them immediately stopped attacking.
"What the hell is this…?" Nicol looked completely baffled.
Creuset finally let out a breath of relief.
The gamble had paid off.
"When I returned home to give my report, I had people investigate. This blue machine and the earlier red machine were both manufactured by Orb. Strictly speaking, that makes this machine a third-party unit. And it seems the refugees aboard Long Legs really are there as well."
No one had paid attention to Inori's earlier "announcement."
Or rather, everyone had heard it, but no one had taken it seriously.
In that "announcement," the other side had even said it was low on energy.
So to the ZAFT soldiers moments ago, Inori's warning had sounded like nothing more than a joke.
But this was how an AI's logic operated.
Once the warning proved ineffective, the opposing side's threat level was raised.
To an AI, contemptuous disregard meant: "They are no longer ordinary troublemakers. Heavy-handed measures are required."
The Blue Frame drew closer and closer.
Yzak swallowed…
No. What rose in his throat was blood.
The Blue Frame did not treat Creuset's team as a threat at all.
It simply moved calmly through the middle of ZAFT's elite formation until it arrived in front of the Strike.
"Kira."
The Blue Frame placed a hand on the Strike.
Then a Fyu-Neru hopped out and connected to the Strike's system, serving as a communications relay.
"…Inori…"
Kira's voice came through.
It was very weak.
Not physically weak, but mentally weak.
"I'm here," Inori answered Kira.
"They… all… died… the Alliance… and… ZAFT…"
Dead.
Everyone was dead.
The Vanguard was dead.
ZAFT's warships and GINN pilots were dead too.
Flay's father… was dead too.
"The Blue Frame has limited energy. This was the optimal solution available to me," Inori said.
"Optimal solution…?"
Kira's voice sounded lost.
"Yes. Kira is my master. My actions are centered around you, Kira. Therefore, when Kira's life is threatened, I will take measures," Inori said.
"But you're… killing people…"
"Yes."
Kira's breathing grew faster and faster.
There was no hesitation and no attempt to conceal it.
But… you killed people!
"I mustn't run away… I mustn't run away… I mustn't run away…"
Kira murmured the words in her heart.
Because… the one who had to bear responsibility was her.
This was not Inori's fault.
It was her own fault.
She was Inori's master, and to Inori, protecting her master was the highest priority.
"Is it because… I'm too weak…?"
Because I'm too weak, I made Inori kill people.
Because I'm too weak, she… had to take other people's lives…
"What exactly is going on?"
Yzak and the others retreated toward the last Nazca-class ship.
Even after returning to the hangar, Yzak was still badly shaken.
The Archangel had seemed to possess a domain of its own. Anyone who entered that domain would come face-to-face with death.
Even a veteran like Miguel had been killed in a single strike.
The mission to destroy the Archangel at any cost was proving far harder than they had imagined.
"More importantly, there's something else we need to deal with now."
Creuset climbed down from his CGUE as well.
"We just received a message from the Aegis Gundam."
"Athrun!" Yzak's expression finally eased.
Among all the terrible news, this was the only good news they had received.
"The Aegis is still intact too?" Nicol let out a breath of relief. "That's great. Athrun survived."
"He really is absurdly lucky. Luckier than us, anyway." Dearka let out a breath as well.
The atmosphere before had been suffocating, but now at least everyone was not quite so hopeless.
"Leave this sector. We're going to pick Athrun up and take him home." Creuset already knew there was no point continuing the battle.
The Archangel's combat capability itself had not increased, yet in a single instant, the enemy had practically transformed into the Grim Reaper…
"An AI…?"