Chapter 791

12,000 meters above the Orb Archipelago.

The atmosphere was like a sheet of rough sandpaper, violently grinding away at the Providence Gundam's armor.

The machine's surface glowed a dangerous dark red from the intense friction, like a block of iron freshly pulled from a furnace.

Gravity—the most primitive and impartial law of this blue planet—was trying to tear apart these visitors from beyond the heavens, or at least slam them into the ground in the most humiliating manner possible.

"Anti-gravity system, activate."

Le Creuset's voice held no emotion, as though he were reciting a line of code written long ago.

He pressed a button on the console, and a deep tremor rose from within the machine, like a colossal beast awakening.

The scorching sensation enveloping the unit abruptly faded, and the crushing force that had pinned him to his seat vanished with it.

The Providence Gundam's plunge came to an immediate halt. As though supported by an invisible hand, it began descending at a constant speed.

This was Durandal's masterpiece.

A system capable of overturning the common understanding of modern physics, allowing steel constructs weighing thousands of tons to float freely through a planet's gravity well like ghosts.

And at that moment, the flagship Jupiter, gazing down upon all living things from low Earth orbit like a white temple, was the ultimate crystallization of that technology.

Several machines of the same specification in his squadron broke free of gravity's restraints one after another behind him, forming up in the thin air.

He adjusted his posture, and the machine slowly descended through the thick cumulonimbus clouds.

Below, the jade-like outlines of Orb's islands stood clearly visible between sea and sky.

Earth Alliance, Seventh Task Fleet, flagship George H. W. Bush, CIC Combat Information Center.

"Report! Radar has detected multiple high-energy signatures