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

"Major Mu!"

Kira's pupils contracted as he saw Mu in danger. He manipulated Freedom to perform a somersault in the air, narrowly avoiding the bombardment from the nearby Calamity. He then raised his hand and fired his beam rifle at Forbidden, trying to buy Mu a chance to create distance.

However, when Forbidden brought its shields together, the beam of light that was being fired from Freedom visibly bent just before it hit Forbidden.

"what?"

Mu's forehead was slick with cold sweat. He was nearly hit by the bent beam of light, and only managed to dodge it thanks to his exceptional reflexes.

Kira was equally surprised by the special abilities Forbidden displayed, but his surprise didn't last long, as Robbery and Calamity took advantage of his distraction and attacked again.

Even with the Calamity engulfing it, the Robber still maintained its maneuverability in the air, its fuselage tracing several zigzags before repositioning its nose against Freedom's back.

"Gotcha! Let's go!"

The beam cannon at Qiangduo's mouth fired a scorching particle beam toward Freedom, while the Calamity on Qiangduo's back followed suit, firing a beam toward Freedom as well.

Kira had to refocus all his attention on dealing with the somewhat frenzied plundering and calamities.

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

At the same time, the Orb Fleet and the surface fleet of the 4th Naval Fleet officially engaged in combat.

Due to the effects of the neutron jammer, the old-style guided weapons were almost completely ineffective, and both sides were using old-model ships whose radars had not yet been replaced with new models that could operate stably in the environment of the neutron jammer.

Thus, in this era when humanity had already ventured into space, on the territorial waters of Orb, the commanders of both sides unexpectedly adopted the ancient tactic of line-of-sight artillery. The destroyers and frigates of both sides lined up in a single file and sailed in the same direction, firing at each other within visual range with their bow main guns.

The anti-ship missiles mounted on the ship can only be guided by lasers, and can only be effective by continuously illuminating the enemy ship at medium range.

Such combat effectiveness is not much higher than that of shelling with naval guns.

The battle quickly turned into a war of attrition, but the Orb fleet was far outnumbered by the Atlantic Federation fleet, and the disadvantage of being outnumbered was becoming increasingly apparent with each round of bombardment.

At this point, the Archangel's firepower, which was far too abundant for a surface warship, became the pillar that allowed the Orb fleet to continue fighting.

Even without using the Ron Green positron siege cannon, the Archangel could easily sink these old-fashioned surface ships with just the Gottfried twin beam cannon and the Bariant railgun.

After all, these old-fashioned warships were not designed for close-range artillery warfare. In the era when these ships were active, strong ships and powerful cannons were synonymous with backwardness.

Changes in the battlefield environment have turned these once-advanced warships into outdated equipment that can no longer keep up with the times.

At this time, under the command of Bakiruru, the Archangel, with its extremely high shelling accuracy, helped the Orb fleet suppress the Atlantic Federation fleet, which had a clear numerical advantage.

Behind the front lines, on the bridge of the flagship of the 4th Naval Fleet, one bad battle report after another came in succession.

"The Pinckney and John Finn have been sunk! Commander, the casualty rate of our surface ships has exceeded 10%!"

"That damned Archangel."

The fleet commander slammed his fist heavily on the edge of the command platform, veins bulging on his neck.

"Where are the Vanguard ships? Equip all of them with anti-ship missiles. While the enemy mobile suits are tied down, shoot down that deserter ship!"

"But, Commander..."

The staff officer beside him reported the bitter reality to the fleet commander in a hoarse voice.

"Our vanguard forces have all lost their combat capability, and the returning aircraft are all damaged and need to be repaired before they can be deployed again. We no longer have any air combat power that can be sent out."

A suffocating silence fell over the bridge until a cold snort came from behind the fleet commander.

"It's really ugly."

Azrael walked straight to the communications officer's console, picked up the microphone, and gave orders to Kurot, Shani, and Olga.

"Hey, you three, how long are you going to keep playing? Hurry up and sink that eyesore, the Archangel!"

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When Azrael's voice came through the communication channel into the cockpits of the three Allied Gundams, Kurot, Shani, and Olga almost simultaneously trembled, and a sense of fear from the depths of their consciousness instantly surged into their brains.

Horrifying memories from the past surfaced one by one, and then the three machines that were still entangled with the Strike and Freedom changed direction at the same time and rushed towards the Archangel.

"Major, we have to catch up!"

Kira's voice suddenly tightened, and before he finished speaking, freedom was already racing towards Forbidden, Plunder, and Calamity.

"I know!"

With the thrusters turned up to maximum, the explosive force from the Assault Phoenix Backpack pressed Mu's body firmly against the seat.

At this moment, Mu no longer cared about conserving the machine's energy, nor whether the beam would be bent by the Forbidden Force. The pulse beam cannon and railgun on the Phoenix Backpack, along with the beam rifle in his hand, were all aimed at the backs of the three Gundams, and he decisively unleashed all his firepower.

However, Forbidden turned around in time and used its energy deflection shield to block the Strike's shot again, while the railgun projectiles were nullified under the protection of the TP armor.

On the other side, the faster Freedom took the opportunity to bypass Forbidden Zone and intercepted Raider and Calamity from the side. Two plasma beam cannons flipped out from the wings, and the muzzles were aimed at Raider and Calamity under Kira's aim.

But the Plunder reacted quickly. In its MA form, the Plunder made a sharp turn, causing two beams of light to glide past its wings. The Calamity, which was standing on the Plunder's back, was thrown off by the violent maneuver and crashed heavily onto an Orb destroyer.

"Hey, Kurot, how do you fly?"

"Enough with the nonsense! Don't you have so many cannons on your machine? Hurry up and shoot that ship down!"

Amidst the horrified gazes of the Orb crew, Calamity casually used its armor-piercing rocket launcher to destroy the destroyer's bridge, then unleashed its full firepower on the Archangel.

"I don't want to have those memories again. Sink, Archangel!"

Instantly, a devastating barrage of beams of various colors mixed with live ammunition was unleashed from the cannons all over the Calamity's body, striking the exposed port side of the Archangel.

"Enemy mobile suit artillery fire is coming!"

"avoid!"

"No, we're going to miss it!"

A violent tremor swept across the bridge. Under the bombardment of the Calamity, the Archangel's port armor was pierced in several places. Several anti-aircraft turrets and the port side's Bariant railgun were destroyed, and thick black smoke billowed from the damaged areas on the port side.

"Tsk, that ship is so tough, but you won't have a second chance!"

The cannons of Calamity were once again aimed at the Archangel, whose port side, already battered and bruised, could not withstand a second barrage.

"Call back the Strike Force and the Freedom Force immediately!"

"No, both machines are locked in close combat with enemy mobile suits, it's too late!"

"Have all the strategies been exhausted...?"

Maru sat back down in the captain's seat, her shoulders drooping slightly.

"Captain Murrue, you seem to be quite troubled."

A familiar voice came from the communication channel. High above the battlefield, two mobile suits, one blue and one red, which had just broken through the atmosphere, swooped down toward the sea shrouded in the flames of war.

"You blue cosmos flowers had a lot of fun while I was away!"

Under Raven's control, the S Gundam gripped the Spirit Beam Cannon tightly with both hands and pointed it from the air at Calamity, who was focusing all its attention on the Archangel.

This Elf Beam Cannon is a weapon that Raven improved upon based on the Flame God Hyper Pulse Cannon mounted on his backpack.

The size has been reduced, the beam convergence has been greatly improved, and while retaining the terrifying power of the Flame God, the accuracy and flexibility have been greatly enhanced. In addition, a device for dispersing illusion particles has been installed at the muzzle, which can change the direction of the emitted beam in mid-air, just like the Forbidden One.

Unfortunately, it consumes too much power and cannot be used for long periods of time on a battery-powered device.

However, with the support of the S Gundam core engine, this is no longer a problem.

"Fall!"

Raven didn't use El's aim assist. He closed his eyes briefly, casting his senses across the entire battlefield, capturing that most excited, most frenzied killing intent.

Red and white beams shot vertically from ten thousand meters above the sky. Olga was completely unaware of the S Gundam's existence. Calamity showed no intention of avoiding it and maintained its posture of raising its cannon muzzle towards the Archangel.

Just moments before he pulled the trigger, his consciousness vanished in a beam of high-energy light.

The Elf Beam Cannon's extremely high output and near-limit convergence meant that the beam did not weaken even after traveling tens of thousands of meters. The beam entered directly above Calamity's head and shot out from the destroyer wreckage beneath its feet. The scorching high-energy beam instantly evaporated the seawater into steam, enveloping Calamity's body.

Then, in the next moment, the massive figure of Calamity, along with the wreckage of the destroyer beneath its feet, transformed into an expanding orange-red fireball. The shockwave from the explosion temporarily created a vacuum zone on the sea surface, and a white curtain of water shot into the sky before crashing back down onto the sea.

Azrael took in this scene from the bridge of the 4th Fleet flagship. His usual composure vanished as he gripped the control panel, staring intently at the mobile suit that appeared from the sky and stormed into the battlefield with great fanfare.

"Director, the energy of the Forcibly Seized and Forbidden Machines has entered a dangerous zone!"

As he listened to his subordinate's report, Azrael's expression changed constantly. After a moment of silence, he uttered two words.

"retreat."

Author's message

I finished writing the battle scenes in one go, so the update is a bit late. I apologize for that.

Chapter 76 Kira and Athrun

“Kira…”

“Aslan…”

Freedom and justice gaze at each other, and guided by the S Gundam, they slowly descend onto a beach in Orb.

With freedom on the left and justice on the right, two teenagers piloting Gundams descended onto the beach on ropes under the soft sunset, looking at each other's faces.

Upon seeing Aslan's ZAFT red pilot suit, the Orb soldiers around him reflexively raised their rifles.

"Don't be nervous, put the gun down, he's not the enemy."

Raven lowered El from the cockpit of the S Gundam to the ground. He walked up to the soldiers, gently pressed the muzzle of his gun, and led everyone away, leaving the two long-separated friends to rest.

The waves kept crashing against the beach, and Aslan was the first to break the silence.

"Kira, my mission is to reclaim the freedom that is equipped with a nuclear engine and an anti-neutron jammer."

"Then, Aslan, are you my enemy?"

Kira's pupils shimmered with the soft light of the setting sun as he calmly sought an answer from Athrun.

Aslan opened his mouth, remained silent for a while, and finally sighed softly.

"I don't know, but at least for now, I have no intention of being hostile to you."

"I see. Thank you, Aslan."

The brown-haired boy gave Aslan a gentle smile, just like always.

Aslan was defeated by that smile; he turned his head away and looked towards the sea.

"Kira, you're still the same as before, you haven't changed at all."

"Oh, really? I should have improved somewhat, right?"

Kira said in surprise, and the two boys looked at each other and laughed at the same time.

The waves crashed onto the beach again. Athrun looked up at the three Gundams standing on the beach in the sunset and asked the question that had been on his mind for a long time.

"Kira, why did you return to the battlefield? Didn't you already disembark when the Archangel arrived in Orb?"

"Back then... actually, I was forced to stay in Orb by Raven-sensei. But I took this opportunity to go to PLANT with Raven-sensei."

"I had a feeling that way when I saw you driving Freedom, and sure enough, you were in PLANT back then."

Kira nodded.

"Aslan's homeland is truly a wonderful place. Those hourglass-shaped colonies, just looking at them from the outside, you would never imagine that such beautiful cities are hidden inside. But..."

Kira briefly recalled what he had seen and heard in PLANT.

"Wives who have lost their husbands, mothers who have lost their children, children who have lost their parents... The people there, just like the people on Earth, are suffering because of this war. So I decided that if my power can be used to stop this war... then I will fight."

“Kira…”

Kira's determined gaze reminded Athrun of Lux, whom he had met before setting off.

'ZAFT lost many soldiers in this battle, so how much more will we have to pay in this war?'

Lux's voice echoed repeatedly in his mind.

At the same time, another face emerged.

Patrick became increasingly paranoid, and now whenever they met, the only topics the father and son discussed were war and revenge.

'And what am I fighting for?'

Aslan asked himself.

Then, he revealed to Kira the words that he had kept hidden in his heart for a long time.

"My mother was in Junius 7 at the time, on Valentine's Day that year."