Gundam, Gravity Elegy

“Alma…”

Then, she suddenly noticed that the boy seemed to relax.

"Here you go!"

But before he could recover, he pushed the girl, who seemed to have lost consciousness, directly towards him.

"Wait, Alma!!"

Seeing the girl about to collapse, Monica rushed out without hesitation and caught her in her arms.

At the same time, Lieutenant Washitani, who was supposed to be holding a gun, couldn't help but turn his gaze to the girl who was not in good condition.

"How is she? Is she alright?"

"Idiot, have you forgotten what time it is?!"

"Oh, right, I have a gun. I should be careful..."

After being yelled at by Monica, Lieutenant Washitani instinctively tightened his grip on the pistol.

But when he subconsciously turned his gaze straight ahead, he saw that the mobile suit had already clapped its hands.

'boom'

The steel hand was like a wall, separating them from a great distance.

"All I can say is that your actions saved your lives."

This statement didn't sound like a taunt, because the existence of mobile suits—the existence of Gundams—gave him ample confidence.

"Put down your weapons, even if it's just for your own sake."

"..."

Looking at the machine gun looming menacingly overhead, Lieutenant Washigani subconsciously glanced at his comrades.

After seeing both Monica and Oliver nod silently, he, who had been silent until now, finally plopped down on the ground.

"Honestly, I never expected this to happen..."

He threw the pistol to the ground, and as the duchy's standard pistol spun wildly on the ground, a series of short footsteps could be heard.

Infantrymen, infantrymen dressed in Zeon uniforms, but when they arrived, the lizard-patterned armbands chilled the hearts of everyone in 603.

"Lieutenant, leave this to us! Ms. Lutz has asked us to provide you with assistance!"

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you..."

Looking at the somewhat unfamiliar young man, Gao Ren pondered for a moment:

"Simon?"

"Yes!"

The young man gave a salute:

"Special Forces soldier Simon reporting for duty!"

“The woman in red is a ‘high-ranking official,’ so she and the soldiers under her command are very important.”

"Yes, we won't let them escape!"

With Simon's assurance, Gao Ren was slowly dragged to Gao Da's chest:

"Is it Clyde? Or is it Irene? Let's switch now..."

However, when the cockpit doors opened, Gao Ren froze on the spot.

The fundamental issue is...

"Nobody here?"

"That's why I said, Gundam will come looking for you."

"Really? It's a learning computer..."

'Boom'

…………

'Sizzle'

"The fourth machine."

The moment the thermal saber tore through the alloy body, the nuclear fusion reactor collapsed, triggering another explosion.

Although nuclear fusion reactors using helium-3 as fuel have extremely low radioactivity, and are shielded by Minovsky particles, there is no need to worry about radiation even if the reactor core is destroyed and an expansion explosion occurs, the violent explosion itself is equivalent to a large bomb.

The explosions of the two machines left the western warehouse of Ruhr Base, including a small training ground, in a state of utter devastation.

Of course, for the survivors, the large number of particles released by the fusion reactor further disrupted communications.

"I can't hear anything anymore."

Selma gripped the joystick tightly, feeling his teeth chattering.

Now, she can't even hear the internal communication channels anymore; the static in those channels and the wreckage lying on the ground send shivers down her spine.

"Wald, Aigerba, Danan, Sanhao..."

It was as if in an instant, all her comrades who had been communicating and exchanging ideas fell down, and the 'murderer' was still standing in front of her.

'Om'

Its single, scarlet eye still gleamed, like a tireless killing machine.

"hateful……"

She tried to lock onto it, but a random burst of bullets destroyed the machine gun in her hand, and a second bullet knocked her machine down.

In fact, before actually seeing that pale figure, she had never felt that the Duchy's one-eyed design was so oppressive.

"monster……"

At that moment, such a thought truly came to her mind.

It should have been just a failed experiment, but its pale body moved and leaped with agility.

Not to mention that it was impossible to aim and lock on, even comrades who wanted to engage in close combat were toyed with by that leaping burst speed, and their proud maneuvering encirclement tactics were utterly worthless in the face of the faster machine.

then……

'Didi Didi'

When the locking sound rang out, she felt as if her whole body was imprisoned and she couldn't move at all.

Despite the internal system issuing a warning that the machine was locked, she felt as if she had lost all courage to operate it.

No, it's pointless to try it now.

Gravity was tightly binding her, and she didn't even have time to adjust her body's defenses.

So, it ends like this...?

'Click'

Suddenly, a suffocating feeling, which should have been brief but was incredibly long, reverberated through the air.

As the only remaining member of the Southern Cross, her confused mind had no idea what was happening; she could only stare at the pale Vulcan standing directly in front of her.

Could it be that I was let off the hook?

However, if communication had been established at that moment, another veteran who had remained silent would have pointed out the errors in her words.

After all, things don't always go that way in reality. Rather than hoping for a sudden act of kindness from the other party, it's better to hope for something else that is bound to happen:

"It seems that we have finally reached our limit."

'Beep beep beep'

A short, sharp alarm echoed in the cockpit, and instead of displaying the surrounding scenery, a sobering warning sign appeared on the screen.

"Ammunition depleted to zero, engine at critical point, then power tube..."

I glanced at the crimson warnings that appeared on the various internal limb key points:

"Drive output is decreasing... Is it powered down?"

However, this does not mean the end.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that from this moment on, all the advantages accumulated before were lost.

After all, there are still people eyeing us covetously...

'boom'

The explosion from the nozzle seemed imminent, and the previously silent blue tiger finally launched another attack.

'boom'

'bang bang bang'

"Tsk, a machine gun!"

Chapter 59: Overwhelming Power

'Da da da da da'

The machine gun bullets, which should have been called grenades, rained down rapidly. Amidst the hail of bullets, the white Cyclops changed its previous agile movements. After throwing away the shotgun, it simply raised the shield on its arm, which had hardly ever been used, to continuously parry.

Unable to completely deflect the impact of the 120mm short rounds, Sherry could only slowly control her movements while enduring the vibrations in the cockpit.

"Wait, let me adjust the buttons on the joystick..."

At the same time, once the offensive and defensive roles are reversed, and the rocket engine can no longer provide assistance, the errors in the details of operation will be exposed.

Even though the thrusters on her back were still functioning, Ifrit, who was shrouded in a hail of bullets, was finally caught up by the hunting tiger.

Shirley watched as the blue tiger's shield spun, and with her other hand, she pulled out a concealed thermal saber.

Then, chop!

'Sizzle'

Faced with the new type of heat-powered saber, a simple collision was enough to leave indelible cut marks on the shield, which was already dented and uneven from being hit by short bullets.

Furthermore, because Ifrit's shield was embedded in her arm, it even pressed directly into Ifrit's arm.

"Tsk, arm..."

The moment her left arm was injured, Shirley immediately controlled her right arm to swing the knife, and the almost identical military knife also smashed into the tiger's shield.

After several clashes, both sides coincidentally brought their orange-red blades together:

'Zizzi'

"Just as I thought, you haven't fully adapted to this captured machine yet, so you can only rely on its speed to perform wide-ranging movements. Once the engine reaches its limit, your combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced."

The communication connection came through as expected, and the steady voice made Shirley burst into laughter:

"You really have a keen eye for observation, Uncle Tiger. If only this weren't based on the fact that almost all of your comrades have fallen."

"I would not consider those guys who would squander the lives of their comrades as my comrades. In fact, without them, I should have been able to keep the losses within a relatively reasonable range."

'Zzzzzzz'

'boom'

Finally, the thermal weapons, already at a disadvantage in terms of endurance, both collapsed. The unarmed Ifrit quickly retreated, while Tiger seized the opportunity to raise the machine gun, which still had some ammunition left.

"Tsk..."

"bang bang bang"

The bullets came chasing after them.

"In that case..."

'Boom'

Pushing to the end, the back engine and the rocket engines on both legs activated for the last time, and it began to flee for its life like a wounded prey.

Watching this scene, Norris calmly manually reloaded the machine gun, and after replacing the drum magazine, he took out his spare melee weapon—the thermal axe.

However, having made these preparations, he did not rush to pursue, but instead slowly walked to the side of the survivor who had been shot down by the shotgun.

"Are you still conscious, Selma Livingstone?"