Gundam: A Gundam Enthusiast's Journey with a Mecha Girl

Al's voice rang out in the cockpit, as calm and rational as ever.

"I'm not going to lower my standards to force a student who doesn't want to fight to the battlefield."

I don't think that being reckless is a good choice when it comes to matters of life and death.

Raven's lips twitched.

"Sometimes your words can be really sharp, but it's not just bravado. It's because with you around that I'm confident I can keep Kira out of the way."

Raven, you trusted me too much. I can only provide support; the final decision on how to fight is always yours.

Al's voice clearly carried emotional fluctuations, even though it was spoken in a cold, electronic tone.

Are you worried about me?

Raven asked.

Yes, I'm very worried about you. The data I've gathered tells me that the battlefield is a dangerous place, and if you don't take it seriously, you could very well lose your life.

"I take the dagger very seriously when I go into battle."

[The battlefield is not an amusement park, Raven.]

"So I'm being very serious..."

Before Raven could utter his rebuttal, the indicator light on the hangar ceiling suddenly turned blood red, followed by a piercing alarm that filled the entire space.

"Tsk, they've arrived before the supplies were even fully unloaded. Those ZAFT bastards really know how to pick their time."

Raven quickly suppressed his smile, took a deep breath, and cleared his mind of distractions; now was not the time to think about such things.

Raven activated the communication with the bridge.

"Bridge, this is Raven, sortie preparation complete."

"The hatch is open, the ejection system is ready, and the ejection time is handed over to the pilot."

"Roger that. Raven, short sword, attack."

The g-force of the ejection pressed Raven's body firmly onto the seat, and the 18-meter-tall steel giant spread his newly acquired wings and soared into the skies of Heliopolis.

[Enemy size and unit types confirmed: 3 units equipped with King's Heavy Particle Cannon, 1 unit equipped with King's Heavy Particle Cannon, and 1 unit equipped with Aegis.]

El quickly gathered information about the enemy.

"Golden's D-equipment? They're directly using equipment designed for use against fortresses. These ZAFT guys don't seem to care about colonies at all. And they're supposed to be space dwellers, for goodness' sake."

Even Raven, who had never attended military school, could see through ZAFT's tactics at a glance: Shield and Heavy Particle Cannon equipped with King were used to contain Strike and Dagger, while the remaining three D-class units equipped with King focused on attacking Archangel.

As for the collateral damage caused to the colony by the two large missiles on the D equipment, ZAFT clearly had not considered this issue.

"Tsk, what a bunch of shameless bastards. El, start firing corrections, we need to strike first."

Although the two sides were still far apart, Raven decisively aimed a D-equipped King at the crosshair, and after El finished calculating, he pulled the trigger of the beam rifle.

A beam of emerald green shot out from the muzzle, instantly traversing most of the colony and heading straight for the ZAFT army's mobile suit formation.

A burst of smoke appeared on the screen in the Dagger cockpit.

Did you hit it?

Raven was about to say that when five figures burst through the smoke and dispersed, one of which, King, was missing a leg but had not been shot down.

Raven's shot revealed his position, and then a thick green beam of light shot toward the direction of the short sword.

The short sword tumbled in the air, deftly dodging the attack from the heavy particle cannon.

"Such a quick response, no wonder they are ZAFT's elite."

Within seconds of being attacked, the enemy launched a counterattack against Raven, demonstrating the elite quality of the Kruse team.

But with the power of the short sword and El's assistance, Raven showed no sign of backing down.

When it comes to picking the weakest target, the best strategy is to minimize the number of enemy troops before engaging in battle, especially for the side at a disadvantage in combat strength.

The mobility of the empty backpack made the short sword a streak of light. Raven maintained high-speed maneuvering while aiming at the one-legged King.

The loss of a leg disrupted the machine's balance, and the pilot was clearly not yet adapted to the change in the machine's condition, resulting in noticeably distorted movements.

Raven astutely grasped this point.

"El!"

The error has been corrected.

Although both Dagger and King were in a high-speed maneuver at this moment, Raven's second shot, with El's ballistic correction, accurately hit the enemy. The green beam easily pierced King's armor and directly detonated the battery. In the dazzling explosion, the 18-meter-tall steel giant instantly turned into a pile of scrap metal.

Although Raven successfully shot down a D-equipped King, the battle was far from over and it was time to relax.

The Aegis, transformed into its MA form, hurtled towards Raven, its beams slicing across the short sword's body and forcing Raven to dodge.

"They really came for me!"

Raven's breath hitched for a moment as he prepared for the battle to come.

Chapter 5 The Destruction of Heriopolis

Aslan breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that the enemy force that came to meet him consisted of only one Dagger machine.

Firstly, because he wouldn't have to face his former friends on the battlefield, and secondly, because deep down, Aslan always believed that mobile suits piloted by Naturals posed no threat whatsoever.

But after witnessing a friendly aircraft being shot down by two guns at a distance of half a colony from the enemy, Aslan completely put away his contempt.

"How did you achieve such a precise hit from that distance?"

Aslan admitted that he couldn't achieve that level of shooting skill on his own, and even Diego, the best shooter among the red-shirted students in his cohort, probably couldn't do it.

Realizing he couldn't let the short sword continue firing indiscriminately, Aslan decisively transformed his Aegis into MA form, using the MA form's high speed to quickly approach the short sword.

For the four large missiles on the D equipment to be effective, King, who is carrying the D equipment, must break through to a point close to the Archangel. Otherwise, given the agility of those four large missiles, they would be very easy to be intercepted by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

He had to keep the short sword entangled in order to cover King's forces in achieving their objective of sinking the Archangel.

"They really came for me!"

Raven noticed that Aegis was focusing all its attention on him, so he naturally dared not be careless. As a member of the design team, Raven clearly understood that getting into a prolonged fight with Aegis, whose limbs were equipped with beam sabers, was not a wise choice.

Raven decisively turned the thrusters to maximum power, trying to use the high thrust of the empty backpack to shake off Aegis, but Aegis in MA mode could reach a speed no less than that of the empty backpack.

Piloted by Aslan, the crimson Holy Shield gripped the back of the short sword tightly, the two silhouettes, one red and one blue, drawing two intertwined contrails in the sky above Heliopolis.

For Raven, Aegis is the most challenging enemy he has faced so far. When facing Kruze's Shig, Raven was able to temporarily gain the upper hand thanks to the performance of his mobile suit, but against Aegis, whose mobile suit is slightly superior, Raven felt somewhat powerless.

Athrun quickly mastered the performance of the Aegis, making full use of the high speed of the Aegis MA form and the flexibility of the MS form, and tightly entangled the Airborne Dagger in high-speed mobile combat.

Seeing that the short sword was entangled by the Holy Shield, the remaining King's forces seized the opportunity and quickly approached the Archangel, which had set sail.

"Air defense!"

At the captain's command, Murrue, the first mate, quickly translated Murrue's instructions into specific orders and relayed them down.

"Open the anti-aircraft gun barrage, deploy the Goldfeldt and Bariant missiles, load anti-MS missiles into missile launchers one through twelve, and use laser guidance!"

The various turrets on the Archangel quickly sprang into action. The Archangel, which had been as pure white as a pristine white horse, was transformed in the blink of an eye into a hedgehog with its spikes spread. The barrage of bullets prevented King from securing a good firing position for a time.

However, the Archangel's barrage alone was insufficient to completely halt King's advance. Battleships were simply too cumbersome in the face of mobile suits.

While King's heavy particle cannon was not enough to penetrate the Archangel's layered armor, it could easily destroy the external anti-aircraft Vulcan cannons. The thick green beam shot from high above, destroying several anti-aircraft Vulcan cannons on the Archangel's port side and tearing a hole in the Archangel's anti-aircraft defense network.

The remaining two Kings, of course, would not miss this opportunity and quickly approached the Archangel from the port side.

"Enemy aircraft, approaching from port!"

"The barrage on the port side is too thin, what are they doing?!"

"The shelling just now reduced the effectiveness of the port side's anti-aircraft defenses... Ah! Enemy aircraft, at extremely close range!"

Amidst the observer's pig-like screams, a King raised the M66 missile launchers on its arms toward the Archangel.

At this distance, missile attacks are almost impossible to avoid, and the four large missiles it is equipped with are extremely powerful, capable of easily tearing through even the armor of a fortress. Even if the Archangel is the most advanced warship of the Earth Alliance, it would be impossible for it to withstand the attack of these four missiles.

The instant King pressed the firing button, a beam of light shot from above pierced through King's fuselage.

While dealing with the Aegis's attack, Raven managed to free up a hand to help the Archangel resolve the crisis, but being distracted by helping his allies during the fierce battle did come at a price.

"Got you!"

Aslan seized the momentary opening when the short sword was exposed, and the Aegis in its MA form opened its four mechanical claws, revealing the Siren Beast 580mm multiphase energy cannon located in the middle of the body.

El quickly sensed the danger and activated the left-side nozzle of her machine in an attempt to dodge the shot. However, even though she reacted immediately, the siren's thick red and white beam still severed the left leg of her short sword.

"It's just a leg!"

Although the loss of the nozzle on the left calf made it difficult to control the short sword's posture, El quickly corrected the algorithm. Then, with a sudden change in the machine's center of gravity, the short sword spun rapidly, catching the Shield at the 6 o'clock position as it sped past. El fired three shots with his beam rifle, destroying the mechanical arm on the Shield's nose that had transformed from the right hand.

Raven was about to give chase when a sudden tremor swept through the entire city of Heliopolis.

Just after being shot down by Raven, King fired four large missiles from his dual launchers before falling. Because these four large missiles lost King's guidance, they grazed the hull of the Archangel and flew to the other side of the sky.

However, that was the central axis of the colony.

The four missiles exploded at the central axis of the colony. After the flames from the explosions dissipated, four visible scars appeared on the central axis of the colony.

This made the entire colony teeter on the brink of collapse.

-----------------

Kira did not go to the residential area to take refuge as Raven had arranged, but instead lingered in front of the Archangel's hangar door.

Although he wasn't forced to pilot the Strike, the battle alarm still drew Kira to the hangar.

Heliopolis is being ravaged by war, and with his fighting abilities, can he really just stay in a safe place and watch the war burn everything to ashes?

Finally, the image of King's missile exploding above the colony's central axis made Kira make his decision.

"Heliopolis is... This can't go on! Doesn't anyone know the consequences of fighting in a colony?!"

Seeing his home about to be destroyed, Kira realized there was still something he could do and ran quickly toward the Strike cockpit.

"This is the Strike Force, Captain. Please grant me clearance to sortie!"

-----------------

The shadowy figures of the assault aircraft appeared from the starboard side of the Archangel.

"Stop! ZAFT troops! Heliopolis is inhabited!"

"A powerful attack has been launched?"

"That voice is!"

The call from the public channel made Raven and Athrun stop what they were doing, but the remaining two Kings ignored Kira's words. The last D-equipped King took his partner's place and tried to break in from the port side again.

"Damn it! You bunch of clueless bastards!"

The Sword Assault hurled a beam boomerang, but Kira's attack intent was too obvious. King simply twisted his machine lightly and dodged the boomerang. However, the ZAFT pilot, who had no experience dealing with beam boomerangs, did not notice the next trajectory of the boomerang he had dodged. Just as he was aiming at the Archangel, the beam boomerang cut King in half from behind.

Another burst of fireworks exploded, and the last D-equipment King was shot down by Kira.

The assault did not stop there; Kira set his sights on the remaining heavy particle cannon, King.

Despite his allies being shot down one after another, King's fighting spirit remained undiminished, and he pulled the trigger on the assault vehicle that was charging straight at him.

However, Kira reacted immediately. The beam of the heavy particle cannon grazed the Strike's fuselage and struck the outer wall of the colony, creating a hole in the outer wall of Heliopolis.

"Why can you destroy other people's homes without any remorse?!"

At this moment, Kira's mind was solely focused on shooting down the enemy as quickly as possible.

Having dodged the enemy's barrage, he quickly closed the distance, his anti-ship blade slicing through King in an arc, cleaving him in two. King's next attack was already fully charged, and the impact of the anti-ship blade slicing through King's fuselage caused the heavy particle cannon's muzzle to change direction.

Another shell was fired, the beam of light streaking across the sky above Heliopolis and, by sheer coincidence, hitting the city's central axis.

The central axis, already weakened by the King missiles, was the final straw that broke the camel's back. The central axis supporting the cylindrical colony of Heliopolis began to crumble under this attack.

And so, the world collapsed.

Chapter 6 Aftermath

"how so……"

The Archangel's silhouette drew ever closer, but the image of Heliopolis's collapse still lingered in Raven's mind.

Raven only remembered that the legend of the Archangel began with the escape from Heliopolis, but he never expected that behind the legend was such an apocalyptic scene.

Although Raven knew that Heliopolis would be destroyed in this battle, witnessing the apocalyptic scene still gave him a strong shock.