Chapter Summaries

Inori Yuzuriha and her allies prepared to travel to Mendel and settle their score, while Lacus and Andrew Waltfeld took over the newly completed Eternal. The Eternal’s crew and intelligent upgrades were in place, but it remained to be seen how the group would use the warship.

• Athrun explained that Mendel was the site where the Black Secret Coffin was discovered, and the Coffin appeared beside the Kusanagi.
• Inori Yuzuriha said the group would first receive new strength, while Lacus removed her disguise and prepared to act with Andrew Waltfeld.
• Andrew Waltfeld and the Lacus Faction arrived at the Eternal, which had been left without its intended Gundam assignments.
• Lacus boarded the Eternal in an MUV Protective Suit, and Rice Cookers and intelligent upgrades helped prepare the ship for the group.

Lacus took control of the Eternal and led its escape from ZAFT’s dock with Baltfeild, then reunited with Kira and Athrun as the ship headed into space. The Eternal left with its crew still short-handed, while Inori remained aboard the Archangel and planned to save Popularity Points for Lacia’s upgrade.

• Lacus connected her MUV Protective Suit to the Eternal and used it to control the ship as Baltfeild ordered the main guns to blast open the dock gate.
• The Eternal evaded ZAFT’s electronic countermeasures and escaped into space, where Lacus used the connection to observe the surrounding area.
• Dacosta broke through pursuers and blockades in a shuttle and boarded the Eternal, which Lacus then accelerated to full speed.
• Kira contacted Lacus from the Freedom, and they excitedly greeted each other while she asked where Inori was.
• Inori gained Popularity Points from the viewers’ discussion of the characters’ tangled romances and planned to save enough to upgrade Lacia to LV10.
• Athrun arrived aboard the Justice and found Lacus on the Eternal, and the two teased each other as they spoke more comfortably without their engagement hanging over them.

Lacus used her innate combat ability to pilot the Eternal at full speed and confront a large ZAFT force escorting it. She disabled many attacking mobile suits while sparing their pilots, but incoming missiles threatened the ship.

• The Eternal rendezvoused with Freedom and Justice, then raced toward its destination under Lacus's control.
• A ZAFT force of roughly 150 mobile suits and drones approached, and Lacus asked the pilots to let the Eternal pass.
• When the ZAFT pilots attacked, Lacus intercepted their missiles and damaged their mobile suits while trying to avoid their cockpits.
• More GATs, GINNs, and missiles closed in, and Lacus accelerated the Eternal into a graceful evasive arc.

Freedom and Justice rescued the Eternal from a second attack, and the three ships reached Mendel. Inori Yuzuriha planned to refit the Eternal so Lacus would not have to control it directly again.

• Kira arrived in Freedom and destroyed the approaching enemies with Athrun, sparing every ZAFT pilot.
• The Eternal escaped through Yakin Duey and joined the Archangel and Kusanagi on a course for L4.
• The three warships docked at Mendel, where Lacus reunited with Kira.
• Inori Yuzuriha explained that the Eternal needed a refit and proposed installing the Archangel's spare super Quantum Computer to protect Lacus from the risks of direct control.

Lacus broke down over her father Siegel Klein’s death, and Kira and Inori comforted her before she embraced them both. Athrun arrived at Mendel and told Cagalli that he and Lacus were no longer engaged, while Cagalli bluntly agreed that they had never been right for each other.

• Kira noticed Lacus was hiding her grief, and Inori gently asked whether she was hurting.
• Lacus revealed that her father was dead, then cried in Kira’s arms as the others gave her space.
• After she calmed down, Lacus drew Kira and Inori into an embrace, and Inori later began modifications with help from Erica Simmons.
• Athrun arrived at Mendel and learned from Cagalli that Inori was on the Eternal installing equipment.
• Cagalli asked whether Athrun was all right about Lacus, and he said their engagement had ended because they were never meant to be together.
• Cagalli bluntly told Athrun it was not too late to realize that, leaving him unsure whether she meant to comfort him.

Cagalli told Kira that they were biological siblings, while Athrun handed Inori Yuzuriha an ID card for Aura. The Sybil System tightened its control over occupied Orb, where Blue Cosmos abused refugees and isolated a Coordinator child, before Azrael received news about the Archangel and a new ZAFT warship.

• Cagalli showed Kira a childhood photograph and revealed that she was his biological older sister.
• Athrun gave Inori Yuzuriha an ID card bearing Aura's name and photograph.
• Azrael reviewed Orb's industrial data and asked the Sybil System to reproduce its P.A.R.A. protective suits, receiving a list of technologies that could be partially replicated.
• Sybil-managed drones organized Orb's refugees, but one drone shocked a boy searching for his missing sister while Blue Cosmos soldiers abused refugees nearby.
• An Earth Alliance officer agreed to hand Orb's war orphans to Master Malchio, but kept one child identified as a Coordinator.
• Azrael received news about the Archangel and ZAFT's new-type warship.

Azrael took command of the Dominion as the Earth Alliance prepared to destroy the Archangel, while Cruze’s team set out to pursue the Eternal and expected to meet the Archangel at L4. Cruze challenged Yzak and the other Red Uniforms to face their former comrades, and the chapter ended with Inori Yuzuriha leading the group through an abandoned colony.

• Azrael arrived on the Dominion, where the crew had failed a combat simulation, and learned that its first mission would be to eliminate the Archangel.
• Cruze’s team reviewed ZAFT’s projected route for the Eternal and discussed the possibility that it would rendezvous with the Archangel at L4.
• Cruze told Yzak, Nicol, and Dearg that Athrun might become their enemy and urged them to prepare to fight former comrades.
• Yzak reflected on his complicated feelings toward Athrun and questioned whether anything was wrong with ZAFT.
• Inori Yuzuriha led the group into an abandoned colony that had been evacuated after a biological crisis.

Kira, Lacus, and their companions entered Mendel Colony, where Inori Yuzuriha explained how Dr. Hibiki Yuren’s research into Super Coordinators changed after he encountered an apparent alien. Meanwhile, Yzak struggled with the possibility of fighting Athrun, and Azrael led the Dominion toward L4; the chapter ended as the group learned that Mendel’s history began with that encounter.

• Kira said he needed his friends with him to face Mendel, and the group arrived at the colony’s entrance with Inori Yuzuriha.
• Yzak, Nicol, and Dearg discussed whether they could fight Athrun, while Yzak privately admitted that Athrun had stirred up unwanted feelings in him.
• Azrael directed the Dominion toward L4, eager to capture the Archangel and ZAFT’s new warship with the aid of AI.
• Inori Yuzuriha led Kira, Cagalli, Lacus, and the others into Mendel, where they explored the vast facility.
• Inori Yuzuriha explained that Dr. Hibiki Yuren’s work on Super Coordinators changed after he encountered a mysterious humanoid being he suspected was an alien.

Inori Yuzuriha revealed that she was an artificial, machine-like being with human-compatible functions, then identified the girl in an old photograph as Mana Ouma. As the group’s questions continued, the scene shifted to the Archangel, where Murrue Ramius detected an unexpected Archangel-class heat source.

• Inori Yuzuriha explained that she needed a human master to unlock her full functions and could pair with or carry a human.
• Inori Yuzuriha described herself as an Organic Mechanical Body, an artificial interface element built on a carbon-based substrate.
• Kira defended Inori Yuzuriha as a living person, and Andrew and Mu wondered about her age and the old music video.
• Inori Yuzuriha opened an abandoned office at Mendel and revealed that the girl in the photograph was known there as Mana Ouma.
• Murrue Ramius reviewed the Archangel’s resupply and the ships’ updated equipment, including the Brave Gundam’s space-use Dragoon System.
• Murrue Ramius detected an Archangel-class heat source and wondered whether the Earth Alliance had arrived.

As Earth Alliance forces approached Mendel, Murrue sent the Archangel out to buy time while the Eternal finished preparing. Back in the office, Inori revealed Kira and Cagalli’s biological parents and explained Kira’s engineered body, before the group concluded that the information might have come from an extinct extraterrestrial civilization.

• Murrue ordered the Archangel to draw Earth Alliance forces away from Mendel while the Eternal completed its preparations.
• Kira, Athrun, and Cagalli recognized people in the photograph, and Inori identified Viya Yamato and Yuren Yamato as Kira and Cagalli’s biological parents.
• Inori explained that Kira had been grown in an artificial womb and genetically modified to survive radiation and repair her body.
• Athrun comforted Lacus by saying humanity could build a stronger foundation after its existing one collapsed.
• After Inori denied that aliens or extraterrestrial civilizations currently existed, Kira suggested that the information came from an extinct civilization, and Cagalli wondered if Kira was an alien.

Inori revealed that Kira was engineered to adapt to space and could change gender according to a partner and personal preferences, leaving Athrun under suspicion because of their childhood closeness. She redirected the discussion by explaining that Kira had been created to wield her power, while Lacus began drawing her own conclusions about Kira’s father and Mana Ouma.

• Inori explained that Kira’s cells could regenerate and evolve, and that Kira had been gender-fluid at birth, with her gender changing according to her partner and preferences.
• Lacus and Cagalli focused their attention on Athrun, and Inori’s remark that Kira had no romantic feelings for him now made his situation more awkward.
• The stage showed memories of Athrun caring for Kira as a child, prompting Athrun to wonder whether he had influenced Kira’s later gender.
• Inori changed the subject by saying Kira had been created to wield her power as a knight.
• Lacus noticed that Inori resembled Mana Ouma and began speculating about why Kira’s father had modeled Inori’s appearance on her.

Inori Yuzuriha opened Yuren Yamato’s records, revealing his first meeting with Mana Ouma and his later experiments to create more perfect Coordinators and artificial wombs. The record ended with Yuren and Viya Yamato’s deaths, while the viewers reacted to the revelations and discussed events from another version of the story.

• Inori Yuzuriha showed Yuren Yamato’s records with Kira’s permission, and the memories recounted Yuren meeting Mana Ouma as a freshman.
• Yuren described Mana’s unusual knowledge and thesis, which made him suspect she came from somewhere beyond his understanding.
• After becoming a researcher, Yuren recorded creating an incomprehensible, gene-less being and pursuing stronger Coordinators to unlock its key.
• Yuren wrote that he developed artificial womb research and created failed products, with one nearing his intended design as a possible new Mother Body.
• The record ended because Yuren Yamato and Viya Yamato died in an attack, and viewers joked about the revelations while another audience debated Murrue Ramius’s role in a different version of events.

Kira and the others learned how Yuren Yamato’s existence had changed the world, while discussing the escalating threat of a major attack on PLANT. At a sealed facility, Inori revealed that Lacus had also stayed there as a child and had been genetically adjusted to possess unusual mental abilities.

• Viewers watched Murrue and the others react to Athrun’s interrogation and speculate about how the altered SEED story would unfold.
• Kira asked to see the place where she had been born, and Inori led the group deeper into the facility.
• Lacus, Mu, Murrue, and Baltfeild discussed the war’s causes and the danger of the Earth Alliance launching a major attack on PLANT.
• Inori told Kira that Lacus had also stayed at the facility as a child, surprising Lacus and the others.
• Inori explained that Lacus’s genes had been readjusted according to a different concept of Coordinator, giving her distinct mental abilities.

Kira and the others discovered the truth about the Artificial Womb project at Mendel, while Rau Le Creuset and an Earth Alliance fleet closed in. Murrue Ramius led the Archangel into battle against the Dominion and its allies, ending the chapter by maneuvering through wreckage after firing its Positron Cannons.

• Inori revealed that Cagalli had been left unmodified to placate Viya Yamato, while Kira had become one of Yuren Yamato’s test subjects.
• Mu sensed Rau Le Creuset nearby, and Inori reported that an Earth Alliance fleet led by an Archangel-class warship had arrived at Mendel.
• Murrue ordered everyone to withdraw, but Inori warned that Yzak, Dearg, and Nicol were infiltrating the colony with their mobile suits.
• Murrue Ramius took command of the Archangel and deployed missiles, decoys, and electronic-warfare systems against the Dominion.
• The Archangel launched a surprise missile attack and fired its Positron Cannons, destroying two allied warships before slipping into the wreckage.

Cruze led ZAFT into Mendel to attack from behind while Inori Yuzuriha made Athrun and the others invisible so they could escape. Nicol used Blitz’s Mirage System to go after them, and Cruze entered an abandoned laboratory as Yzak watched the enemy positions.

• Cruze revealed that he had tipped off Blue Cosmos and ordered the ZAFT fleet to attack Mendel from behind.
• Cruze sensed Mu La Flaga and another person inside Mendel, then told Nicol and the others to seal off the port while he went to the laboratory.
• Inori Yuzuriha cloaked Athrun, Cagalli, Lacus, Murrue, and the others with metamaterials and led them toward the port.
• Mu and Kira stayed behind to draw Cruze away, while Athrun promised Kira he would return after reaching Justice.
• Nicol used Blitz’s Mirage System to sneak after Athrun, despite Yzak’s warning that he would be deserting his post.
• Cruze entered an abandoned laboratory, while Yzak scanned the enemy positions.

Mu and Kira pursued Cruze through Mendel’s laboratory, where Cruze hinted that Mu was connected to the facility and taunted Kira about his origins. The chapter left them following Cruze deeper inside as he offered to reveal more about what happened at Mendel.

• Yzak told Dearg that Mendel had been sterilized and described its past as a center for genetic research.
• Cruze wounded Mu during their gunfight and ran deeper into the laboratory while Mu chased him.
• Kira followed Mu despite not knowing how to use his gun, and Cruze revealed that he had obtained an ID card from Durandal, who had worked at Mendel.
• Cruze taunted Mu about his connection to Mendel and recognized that Kira and the others had come seeking information about aliens.
• Kira reached Mu and worried over his shoulder wound, while Mu told him to take the gun’s safety off.
• Cruze invited Kira to follow him so he could reveal more about Mendel.

Cruze confronted Kira and Mu inside the Artificial Womb, using photographs and revelations about humanity’s past to unsettle them. He revealed that he was a clone of Mu’s father, Al Da Flada, as a memory sequence began showing how Al funded Kira’s creation.

• Cruze brought Kira and Mu into the Artificial Womb and challenged Kira with photographs, but she said she would accept the truth and change what she could.
• Cruze denounced Miss Mana Ouma’s technology as a danger to humanity, while Kira struggled to answer his accusations and Mu demanded to know Cruze’s goal.
• Cruze claimed that he alone had the right to judge and punish humanity, then told Mu they had met long before their battlefield encounters.
• Cruze revealed that Mu’s father, Al Da Flada, had created a clone of himself, and Mu rejected the claim in shock.
• Cruze said Al had secretly funded the research, and a memory sequence began showing Yuren Yamato accepting his money while creating Kira.

Kira and Mu confronted Cruze, but Inori Yuzuriha helped them escape his traps as he retreated and ordered an attack on the harbor. At the harbor, Athrun defended the others from Nicol and resolved to stop his father despite their family bond.

• Cruze shot at Kira and Mu, but Kira blocked the bullets and struck Cruze with his thrown gun, knocking off his mask.
• A grenade exploded nearby, and Inori Yuzuriha protected Kira and Mu with a barrier before they chose not to pursue Cruze.
• Inori Yuzuriha told Kira that humanity would make its own choice and that Mana would give the final answer afterward.
• Cruze ordered Yzak, Dearg, and Nicol to attack the harbor and prevent the others from leaving.
• Nicol triggered the harbor's traps and fired at the gathered crowd, but Athrun's Justice Gundam blocked his attack.
• Athrun fought Nicol and said he had been wrong to believe family bonds could persuade Patrick Zala, so he had to stop his father himself.

Athrun rejected ZAFT and vowed to correct its mistakes as Cruze’s forces attacked him. Meanwhile, Kira and Mu joined the battle to support the Archangel and Justice, as the fleet set out to draw ZAFT into conflict with the Earth Alliance.

• Cruze ordered Athrun’s former companions to attack him and sent Nicol toward the harbor to disable the warships.
• Justice appeared and drove Nicol away, while Athrun fought off Dearg, Yzak, and their GINNs, declaring that he would never return to bomb ZAFT.
• Kira and Inori Yuzuriha boarded Freedom, and Mu launched in Blue Astray to assist Justice after learning the fleet would withdraw.
• Murrue ordered the Archangel to fire all weapons and charge toward the Dominion, while Kira used Freedom to engage Forbidden, Calamity, and Raider.
• Cruze’s team overwhelmed Justice with waves of Gundams and GINNs until Mu arrived and told Athrun that the fleet had withdrawn to draw ZAFT out.

Archangel and Kusanagi coordinated a retreat by detonating Space Torpedoes to disable the combatants’ electronics. The EMP blasts engulfed the battlefield, leaving the outcome unresolved.

• Cruze ordered ZAFT’s fleet to attack Eternal, while Kira fought Forbidden, Raider, and Calamity alone.
• Murrue and Murrue Ramius agreed to use Space Torpedoes and synchronized their clocks before the EMP detonation.
• Cagalli armed Kusanagi’s Space Torpedo as the ships recalled their mobile suits and charged toward the opposing fleets.
• Kira and Inori Yuzuriha returned to Archangel while the Cyber-Newtypes turned back to defend Dominion.
• Murrue and Murrue Ramius counted down, and the two Space Torpedoes detonated in simultaneous bursts of white light.