Xiao Ran was under tremendous pressure, piloting the Chaos Gundam alone against six C-class mecha at once, four of them controlled by participants. That was why he had chosen to use words and psychological tactics from the very beginning, increasing their pressure and fighting for better odds of victory.
Other than Shinn and Ray, Xiao Ran truly had not expected the four participants to be people he knew—people who had once been his defeated opponents and subordinates. Though they had only been under his command for a short time, he had fought against all four of them and understood their roles in a team and their approximate capabilities.
After he called out their names, the fact that the four of them wisely chose to switch sides came as a small but unexpected surprise to him. Their correct choice also lessened Xiao Ran's original intention of simply killing them all here.
Xiao Ran certainly would not be too harsh on Shinn and Ray, but facing the siege of six people, it was equally impossible not to use force. Before the battle began, Xiao Ran had already intended to eliminate the four participants to ease his own pressure. Since Eshe and the others had decided to use their chance to change factions and join him, Xiao Ran naturally accepted them without hesitation.
However, in order to completely crush any unfavorable thoughts lingering in the hearts of Eshe's group, Xiao Ran said something that made even their souls tremble.
"Wise choice. I originally planned to kill all of you here. Of course..." Xiao Ran deliberately paused before slowly continuing, "since you have made your choice, we are all family now. So there is no harm in telling you: if you had insisted on being my enemies just now, you would have died here.