The first to notice that something was wrong on Xiao Ran's side was Kira. When the Blitz Gundam derivatives appeared near the fleet, he and Athrun immediately changed direction and prioritized dealing with the enemy units that posed a greater threat to the fleet. Thus, they had not joined the frontal battle from the very beginning.
After clearing out those Blitz Gundam derivatives, the two machines turned toward the main battlefield, only to discover that the situation was far from smooth. First of all, the Red Dragon Gundam, Dawn Gundam, and Crimson Forbidden piloted by Luo, Mu, and Billy were clearly at a disadvantage against the Purple Mirage Unit.
Under the leadership of Silver Hand and ZAFT's ace elites, the main MS force was only evenly matched against the Librarians' specially customized units. Though they held a considerable numerical advantage, the enemy surpassed them by even more in terms of quality.
Justice Gundam, meanwhile, had been surrounded by numerous enemy units and heavily restricted in battle. Although the units surrounding Justice Gundam posed no real threat to it, and none of their attacks could harm a Justice Gundam that was fully aware of everything around it, the enemy MA had restricted Justice Gundam's GN Dragoons. Their extraordinary coordination was likewise enough to neutralize Justice Gundam's attacks.
Inside Justice Gundam's cockpit, Xiao Ran could clearly feel the unusual coordination among the enemies. It was precisely this powerful coordination that gave him no chance to truly pause the machine and launch a powerful offensive. He could only dodge amid the countless beams and retaliate with every weapon at his disposal while surrounded by enemies.
Justice Gundam could not stop because countless enemies kept attacking it, and because the massive MA's equally enormous floating equipment, with its terrifying defense, was relentlessly pursuing it.