Chapter 181
"Yes!"
One of GINN's arms was severed due to the previous attack, but the other GINN's hands were still intact. So he directly picked up his MS large-caliber automatic rifle and attacked the pure white machine.
A burst of high-explosive bullets was fired, but they were all blocked by the pure white wings.
"It actually blocked it!"
"What material are those wings made of? They look soft, yet they were able to stop high-explosive bullets! How did they do that?"
"Watch out, he's about to make his move!"
The white Gundam, which was standing on the ground, suddenly flapped its wings and took off.
"It can fly! And it flies with wings. Could this be a machine used by the Federal Army for combat within the atmosphere?"
GINN's pilots were astonished to see the pure white Gundam take flight, because they couldn't see any thrusters working; this pure white Gundam was flying purely on its wings.
"No, how could something that big possibly fly with wings? What material are those wings made of?!"
"Those wings can even withstand high-explosive bombs, so they're definitely not simple things. And now's not the time to worry about what material those wings are made of; he's coming!"
The pure white Gundam, which had flown into the sky, suddenly swung its pure white longsword at the air. A beam of cyan light shot out from the longsword, transforming into a flying slash that flew directly toward GINN.
"What!?"
GINN's pilot quickly evaded the slash's path, but the crescent-shaped slash suddenly turned in the sky and flew after GINN.
Boom--
GINN's arm was severed, and the severed arm immediately exploded, blasting GINN's torso away.
"Hey! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!"
The pilot stabilized the aircraft and immediately reported that everything was safe.
"What just happened? I didn't see that wrong, did I? That attack changed direction!"
"You didn't see it wrong, I saw it too, the attack suddenly changed direction."
"What is this thing? Why can it be used to create ranged attacks from melee weapons? Is this some kind of new weapon?"
"Never mind that for now, he's coming!"
The pure white Gundam flapped its wings and quickly approached GINN.
"So fast!"
The Gundam that was close to GINN suddenly turned around, and its huge wings on its back, like a giant hand, slammed into GINN's torso, sending GINN flying instantly.
"Ah!!!"
"Damn it! Don't underestimate people!"
One GINN was sent flying, while the other GINN used his remaining arm to pull out the physical cleaver from his waist, then stomped forward and charged toward the Gundam.
With a swift turn, Gao Da swung his pure white longsword, severing GINN's arm that was gripping the physical cleaver, and then kicked GINN in the back.
The massive impact slammed GINN into a building on the ground, and then fell silent.
A flap of a wing and a kick successfully knocked out the two pilots inside GINN's body.
The pure white Gundam, having instantly annihilated two GINN, spread its wings and floated in the sky like an angel, bringing great shock to the people watching the battle on the ground below.
"This... this is the MS developed by the Federal Army? It has such performance?"
Athrun looked up at the pure white Gundam in the sky, utterly shocked.
"Are you kidding me? What's the working principle of this thing? Where's the propulsion? Does it really fly in the sky just by those wings? And that attack is completely unscientific! How can slashing with a melee weapon launch such a long-range attack? How did they even make this thing? And if they have this technology, why don't they just make it into a gun? Are their designers some kind of antique from hundreds of years ago?!"
Yzak also started swearing on the communication channel.
"Yzak, I think instead of worrying about these things now, we should think about how we should retreat. Our intelligence was completely wrong. The Federation has developed a very powerful mobile suit. And although it flies with wings, I don't think the Federation can only develop machines that operate within the atmosphere. This machine must be able to fly in space!"
"Athrun, how did you figure that out?"
"I don't know either, but the main battlefield between the Federal Army and ZAFT is in space. Although we also have troops in the Earth sphere, we can't achieve an absolute advantage because of the influence of Zhongli. We only have an advantage outside the atmosphere. The Federation will not abandon the space battlefield and choose the ground battlefield instead."
Athrun's military expertise allowed him to see through the Federal Army's development direction. The truth was that the MS developed by the Federation were indeed for space use, but all the real Federation-developed mobile suits had been stolen by Li Yue. What was presented to them now was not Federal Army suit at all.
For example, the Federal Army soldiers are currently staring blankly at the pure white Gundam with its wings spread in the sky.
Federal Army Captain Mwu Ramias, the future captain of the Archangel, was looking up at the pure white Gundam with a head full of question marks.
"Is this... one of the Gundams we developed?"
313. Cruze: Melee combat is to my advantage!
"Yzak, the situation has changed somewhat, let's retreat first."
"What? Retreat?"
"That's right, the Federal Army's aircraft isn't outside at all. We've all been fooled. I now suspect that all the information we received was fake news. The Federal Army might be waiting for us to take action. Now that GINN has been shot down, we have to retreat."
"Damn it, those Federation bastards, just you wait!"
The situation was not quite as expected, according to the information and plans. The Federal Army's new mobile suits were well-prepared and had been hidden and activated early on, which meant that ZAFT's plan to seize the mobile suits was doomed to fail from the start. Furthermore, the two GINN that had entered the satellite were also destroyed, which made the situation for ZAFT army more difficult. Under these circumstances, ZAFT's forces began to retreat.
ZAFT's assault squad abandoned the attack and began to retreat, which greatly reduced the pressure on the Federal Army that were originally defending ZAFT. However, they could also see that the main reason that the ZAFT army was able to retreat was that the pure white mobile suit shot down two GINN. These two GINN deprived the ZAFT army of its main combat power. If the ZAFT assault squads on the ground did not leave, they would be killed by this Gundam.
"Captain, is this the MS we developed? It's amazing!"
The soldiers gathered around Mwu, unable to contain their amazement, while Mwu was completely bewildered.
What's going on? What is this? Is this the Gundam we developed? No, it's not.
Although Mwu was said to be here to receive the Archangel and the Gundam, she had already read the relevant information after arriving. There are only five new mobile suits in total, but none of them are like this.
Where are their mechs? Why is the warehouse empty?
ZAFT personnel blew up the warehouse doors, so not only did ZAFT discover the warehouse was empty, but the Federal Army also found it empty. Where are the five mobile suits they stored inside? Not a single one is left!?
"Quick, send a message to that machine up there and see how it reacts. We don't even know who the pilot is."
Mwu is a captain who came to take over the Archangel and five mobile suits. Her position is vice-captain, which means she is second only to the captain.
Not knowing what the captain was up to, Mwu decided to talk to the pure white Gundam above first.
However, before the soldiers could even send a signal after the order was given, there was a new activity on the satellite.
Another mech appeared in the passage, but this time it was clearly an enemy mech.
"What is that?"
"It's GOUF! It's Cruze!!"
Rau Le Cruze, full name Rau Le Cruze, is ZAFT's ace pilot and arguably the enemy the Federal Army least want to encounter. Cruze is famous for his crushing defeats of the Federal Army, and even rose to the rank of White Coat through his battles against the Federal Army. That is the highest combat rank in ZAFT army, and for that, he even has his own squad and fleet.
He also possesses his own machine, the improved version of GINN's, which is the GOUF. Although it's not just Cruze who uses the GOUF, currently, only Cruze is using the GOUF here!
"GOUF is heading towards our white machine!"
Amid the soldiers' screams of alarm, Cruze piloted the GOUF towards the pure white Gundam, observing its form and pondering its movements as Cruze.
"This is a machine developed by the Federation? Why does it look different from the intelligence?"
A pure white mobile suit—I've never heard of it before, and ZAFT's intelligence doesn't include this machine at all.
"Athrun, how is the situation? What's with this pure white machine?"
Once inside the satellite, Cruze connected to their internal communication channel. Previously, due to communication restrictions outside, he was unable to contact the ZAFT army inside the satellite. Now that he was inside and saw a situation different from what he had imagined, he immediately asked questions.
"Captain Cruze, we've been tricked. All the intelligence was fake. The MS developed by the Federal Army isn't even in the warehouse. That white machine is the one the Federal Army were secretly developing."
Yzak's voice came through the channel, sounding very annoyed.
"Is that so? I never thought I'd be deceived by intelligence. But I'm very curious about just how capable the MS developed by the Federal Army really is. Let me see for myself."
"Captain Cruze, be careful, he has already shot down both of our GINN."
"I saw it, but the two GINN systems are still running, which means they haven't been destroyed and are still capable of operating. Athrun, Yzak, go check on them. They must have been knocked unconscious by the impact. See if you can wake them up and get them off the battlefield."
"Yes, Captain Cruze."
After sending Athrun and the Athrun to help the two GINN, Cruze controlled the GOUF and charged towards the pure white Gundam.
From a distance, he first raised the machine gun embedded in his shield on his left hand and began to sweep the pure white Gundam with fire. However, just like GINN before, all the bullets he fired were blocked by the huge wings.
"If high-explosive bullets don't work, how about armor-piercing bullets?"
Cruze switched the machine gun to armor-piercing rounds and fired again, but just like the high-explosive bullets before, they were all blocked by the wings.
"Interesting. The wings of the Federal Army have such high defensive capabilities. Could this be the new energy source of the Federal Army's new mech? Let me see if the rest of your mech can withstand armor-piercing rounds."
Cruze began to adjust the posture of the GOUF, wanting to attack it from different angles. However, before he could make any move, the pure white Gundam took the initiative. After spreading its wings, it directly swung its longsword and slashed a crescent-shaped blue blade at the GOUF.
"What?!"
Like the pilot GINN before him, Cruze was very puzzled by the flying slash. What kind of strange attack was this?
Confused, Cruze tried to control GOUF to deflect the attack, but the flying slash suddenly turned and rushed towards GOUF.
"Um!?"
While surprised, Cruze quickly adjusted, using his left-hand shield to meet the slash, a reaction speed completely different from GINN's before.
The cyan crescent-shaped slash struck GOUF's shield, not slicing it in two, but it did dent the shield and cut the machine gun attached to it in half.
"This kind of attack?"
Cruze looked at his badly damaged shield in disbelief. One attack had almost destroyed his shield. If a second attack came, wouldn't it be cut in half on the spot?
"How exactly did they do that?"
Cruze was also a little confused.
"If that's the case, then we'll have to resort to melee combat."
With the long-range machine gun destroyed, the only weapon left on GOUF was the physical cleaver hanging at his waist.
Cruze drew his physical sword from his waist and charged toward the pure white Gundam.
"You just used your sword to attack, right? That means the sword is actually a ranged energy weapon. Such a weapon probably has limited close-combat capabilities, which means close combat is to my advantage!"
Wielding a physical sword, GOUF charged straight at the pure white Gundam, while GOUF pure white Gundam also rushed towards GOUF at the same time. The two mobile suits simultaneously swung their longswords at each other.
The blades collided instantly, and then GOUF's physical slashing sword was cut in half.
"What!?"
Cruze let out his third scream of the day, then reflexively controlled GOUF to twist his body, separating himself from the pure white Gundam. At the cost of having his right hand severed, he avoided being cut in half at the waist.
"Are you kidding me? What's with that weapon?"
While controlling the distance between himself GOUF, Cruze was also incredibly shocked as he looked at the equally pure white longsword in the hand of the pure white Gundam.
"It's all white. Does that mean the entire machine is made of the same material?"
If that's the case, this machine is simply too overpowered! Compared to physical weapons, it's like a dimensional reduction attack.
"Captain Cruze, GINN has restarted it."
A message from GINN came through the communication channel: the two GINN pilots had woken up after Athrun and the others called out to them, and were now taking the GINN back into the air.
"Everyone, retreat for now!"
Having lost his ability to fight, Cruze immediately issued a retreat order, and the ZAFT army began a complete withdrawal.
314. It must have been the work of the Morgoth!
ZAFT army retreated quickly. They already knew the entire structure of the satellite and even how to get there when they invaded. The intelligence they obtained was quite comprehensive.
Despite carrying such complete intelligence, they ended up being brutally beaten by Federation mobile suits after entering.
The intelligence regarding MS was incorrect; the MS-related information provided was completely inconsistent with the actual MS information. This led to their operation being both successful and a failure.
The success was that they confirmed Orb was cooperating with the Federal Army to help the Federation produce new mobile suits, thus seizing a handle on Orb, a country that appeared to be neutral.
However, they failed because the Federal Army's mobile suits completely overwhelmed them. They were simply no match for them. The entire Cruze squad, except for GINN who was responsible for defense outside the satellite, had all the units that entered the satellite destroyed. In other words, the enemy did not directly target the cockpit or thrusters. Otherwise, neither GINN nor Cruze's GOUF would have been able to escape.
The Federation soldiers cheered with joy as they watched the pure white Gundam easily defeat GINN and GOUF.
"They actually managed to repel Cruze! Who is this pilot? Could he be our Federal Army's new ace?"
"I heard Captain Frada is here too. Does that mean Captain Frada is driving?"
"Are you talking about Frada Eagle of Endymion?"