Failure

(I apologize for the late update today; I'm quite tired and slept through the afternoon after lunch. I wonder if any of you noticed, but the book's tag has been updated to A-level, meaning it's officially signed. I absolutely won't abandon it. Mecha Wars Infinite needs your support to grow strong. Thank you.)

Xiao Ran excitedly stomped his foot and pushed forward with his right hand. A series of movements with his left hand allowed the Strike Gundam to adjust its posture mid-advance. With its shield raised in front, its metallic right hand also aimed its gun at the Moebius Zero, firing a green beam without hesitation.

As the Strike Gundam adjusted its stance, the Moebius Zero's nose suddenly pulled up, instantly changing its flight direction. The fast-moving beam precisely grazed under the MA, rendering the Strike Gundam's attack fruitless.

Despite the Moebius Zero's change in flight direction, under Mu's control, it moved as agilely as a flying eagle. In less than a few seconds, it changed direction again and rapidly approached the Strike Gundam along a curved trajectory.

The distance between the two sides grew shorter and shorter. In a short period, the Strike Gundam pulled its trigger multiple times, but each attack narrowly missed the Moebius Zero. The Strike Gundam's attacks only managed to cause some interference and threat to the Moebius Zero, nothing more.

The Moebius Zero's Linear Gun had not been used since the initial shot. Although the Linear Gun packed a considerable punch, even capable of going head-to-head with ZAFT's MS, this powerful weapon was a projectile weapon. Besides slowing down the Strike Gundam slightly upon impact, it posed no threat to the fully-powered Strike Gundam.

Amidst the Strike Gundam's multiple shots, the Moebius Zero finally managed to bring the Strike Gundam within the attack range of its Homing Wire Pods. Four dual-shot Homing Wire Pods instantly ejected from the Moebius Zero. With their own propulsion speed and the Moebius Zero's inertial velocity, they reached maximum speed the moment they ejected. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded the Strike Gundam from four directions – front, back, left, and right.

Two wire pods in front of the Strike Gundam fired yellow beams, targeting the Strike Gundam's cockpit.

"After the front ones, there are the back ones too!" Xiao Ran's lips curled into a smile. He stomped both feet simultaneously, activating the Strike Gundam's leg thrusters and backpack thrusters. In an instant, it flew several units forward, causing the wire pods behind the Strike Gundam to miss. Another green beam shot out from the Strike Gundam's gun, hitting one of the two wire pods that were originally behind the Strike Gundam. It erupted in a burst of sparks and smoke, disappearing from Xiao Ran's display.

At the same time, another weapon, which Xiao Ran had almost overlooked, erupted with a golden-yellow glow. This immediately caused a violent tremor beneath Xiao Ran, and an alarm sounded in the virtual simulator's cockpit.

Without time to check the extent of his damage, Xiao Ran immediately operated the Strike Gundam in a series of movements that even he found effortless and rapid. He watched helplessly as six slightly thinner yellow beams and one golden beam, which looked quite powerful, streaked past him. Xiao Ran was so startled that two drops of cold sweat trickled down his face.

"When did the Linear Gun start firing beams?" Xiao Ran wondered, but he had no time to ponder this. He glanced at the real-time feedback of the unit below the monitor and immediately frowned.

The unit graphic, which should have been entirely green, was completely devoid of color on the right arm. It also displayed the word "disconnected," meaning the Strike Gundam's right arm was now severed, along with its only long-range weapon.

"Playing tug-of-war with an MA?" Xiao Ran gave a helpless smile. The Strike Gundam instantly turned, discarded its left shield, and drew a Beam Saber from its backpack. The bullets from its head-mounted Vulcan Cannon poured out as if they were free. For a moment, it even suppressed the Moebius Zero's movements. Xiao Ran completely ignored the energy consumption, pushing the thrusters to full power and closing in on the Moebius Zero at an even faster speed.

"Final blow!" Seeing the Moebius Zero right in front of him, Xiao Ran didn't dare to ignore the three wire pods that had already popped out from the Moebius Zero and the Linear Cannon, which was already glowing in the center.

"Damn it, even if it's only D-class, it shouldn't have this much of a gap!" Xiao Ran gritted his teeth, his eyes showing a sharp glint. He made several rapid operations and then forcefully pushed the control stick. The Strike Gundam instantly detached from its flight backpack during its high-speed advance. Utilizing its acceleration, it flipped over mid-flight and slid towards the Moebius Zero, standing upright.

Mu seemed to have not expected Xiao Ran to detach his flight backpack and use it as a weapon to charge at him. Although he was only slightly stunned, there was no way to change the MA's flight angle to avoid the flight backpack before it hit. He could only fire directly, shattering the flight backpack, while simultaneously evading the Strike Gundam, which was already beneath the MA.

The MA was fast, and Xiao Ran was not slow either. The Strike Gundam swung its remaining left hand upwards, and the beam sliced through the MA's body like a beautiful crescent moon.

Seeing the sparks and smoke erupting on the display, Xiao Ran's face lit up with joy: "Did I win?"

But just then, six yellow beams shot out from the smoke, directly hitting the Strike Gundam. Xiao Ran felt a boom in his head, followed by a violent tremor from the chair beneath him. A few seconds later, the display showed the screen indicating the end of the training.

Looking at the screen, Xiao Ran was stunned for a moment before letting out a light chuckle and standing up. Behind him, continuous applause could be heard.

"Wow, I didn't expect the teacher to be so amazing, actually pushing Captain Mu this far," came Tolle's voice.

Kazui's confused voice also reached everyone's ears: "But shouldn't the Moebius Zero not have beam weapons?"

"That's because I adjusted the unit's parameters before the training began," Mu said, scratching his head as he stood up from another training unit. He laughed in a slightly frivolous tone, "I really didn't expect you, as the teacher, to have such piloting skills. If I hadn't caught you off guard and severed your right arm, the outcome of the battle might have been different."

"Ah, Captain Mu, you cheated!" Miriallia ran to Xiao Ran's side and looked at Mu with a hint of disdain.

"Uh..." Mu faced Miriallia's disdain with a wry smile, scratching his head, unsure how to respond. Fortunately, Sergeant Maddox beside him stepped forward to explain, "The Moebius Zero's Linear Gun now has the capability to fire beams."

Sergeant Maddox's words caused the onlookers, who were not part of the maintenance crew, to turn towards him, either with confusion or seeking clarification. This made Maddox feel quite proud, and he straightened his back a bit.

Seeing everyone earnestly seeking answers, Sergeant Maddox didn't keep them in suspense. He directly stated, "Because the Moebius Zero's Linear Gun had almost no effect against the Gundam's PS Armor, and the Homing Wire Pods were also not very effective against the equally agile Gundam, they could only be used as ordinary beam weapons. Furthermore, their ejection and firing increased the Moebius Zero's risk."

"That's why our maintenance crew modified the Moebius Zero's Linear Gun. Don't underestimate us maintenance crew! We've been researching these past few days and finally figured out a way to add another firing port to the Linear Gun's base that fires projectiles. This additional firing port allows the Moebius Zero to use powerful beam attacks as well."

"As for the materials, we naturally used spare parts from the Strike Gundam. Since they aren't specialized, each attack requires a certain amount of time for energy charging, and the power doesn't reach that of the Gatling Gun Equipment."

After hearing Maddox's explanation, Miriallia stuck out her tongue sheepishly and apologized to Mu.

"So that's how it is. I should have thought of that," Xiao Ran said with a smile to Mu. "But I guess I cheated too. I was able to fight Captain Mu for so long by relying on the Strike Gundam's performance advantage. If I were piloting a different unit, I would have definitely failed."

Sergeant Maddox clapped his hands and shouted, "Alright, alright, stop gathering here. Go do what you need to do."

"Ah, it's this time already? It's my shift. I'm leaving," Tolle exclaimed after checking the time and quickly departed. The others also dispersed, expressing their various sentiments.

After everyone had left, Xiao Ran, Mu, and Kira gathered in front of the virtual training unit again and played back the recording of the battle. During this process, Mu generously offered Xiao Ran pointers, indicating where he hadn't performed well and where he had made mistakes. Kira also chimed in occasionally with advice on how to operate or avoid certain actions. By the time the recording was finished, Xiao Ran felt he had gained immensely, as if a great door had been opened before him.