Xiao Ran stopped having Darkness Sky continue its advance when he saw this. He simply hovered in the sky, watching the DRAGONs completely ignore them. Although the DRAGONs' attacks still caught them in the blast radius, as Athrun had said, it was far better than before, when the DRAGONs attacked them on sight.
Xiao Ran could indeed sense that these DRAGONs held no hostility toward them. It was merely simple indifference, as though Xiao Ran and the others did not exist at all. Their attacks on the Angels merely happened to affect them as well. There even seemed to be a trace of deliberate venting in their actions, like children throwing a tantrum—I'm unhappy, so I want to let it out.
Sensing the DRAGON swarm's thoughts, Xiao Ran did not become angry or displeased. He simply ordered every unit to withdraw from the DRAGONs' attack range and forbade the Victory Fleet's members from launching any attacks against the DRAGONs.
Upon hearing Xiao Ran's orders, all the pilots promptly began withdrawing as instructed, leaving the DRAGONs' attack range. Once they had departed that area, the intensity of the DRAGONs' attacks actually rose by several degrees. They attacked the Angels without holding anything back, bombarding them with overwhelming firepower from every direction—left and right, above and below.
This change occurred only after Amuro and the others had all withdrawn. In a roundabout way, it showed that while the DRAGONs had treated them like air, they had still held back during their earlier attacks and had not truly unleashed their full firepower. The events that had occurred in Yajenar must have had some effect. He just did not know how far Cruze's contact with the DRAGONs had progressed. Yet judging by the way the DRAGONs treated them like air, things did not seem