Battle with the Blue Giant Star

"Eli, do you know I've arrived?"

Facing the siege of six—no, four—Dopp Fighters, Amuro, sitting inside the Core Fighter, still had the energy to confirm the rift where the battle had already begun.

Just as the fighting started, he felt as if he had touched upon something.

Thanks to that, it was as if Eli had received a signal, decisively commencing his own operation.

With this, he had fulfilled the mission Bright had assigned to him.

Amuro let out a sigh of relief, focusing his attention more intensely on the battle unfolding before him.

That's right, White Base had detected the movements of the Apsalus even earlier than Eli and his team.

After all, the ship's radar had picked up a high-concentration cluster of Minovsky Particles moving at high altitude; no matter how one looked at it, that was not something a standard mobile suit could achieve.

Coupled with the determination Eli had conveyed through Karen, Bright felt a sense of admiration and ordered White Base to advance at full speed.

Judging by their current speed, as long as Eli and his team could stall the Apsalus for ten minutes, they would be able to bring it within the range of the ship's cannons.

Bright narrowed his eyes, trying his best to appear confident.

"We will make it in time, rest assured."

He said this to Karen and the other MS pilots waiting in the hangar.

Meanwhile, at the rift, the battle had entered a white-hot stage.

The three Gundam Ground Types, having hidden themselves well, each used their Beam Rifles to take out three Zaku units in the first instant.

Immediately after, they charged out from their hiding spots and began to advance toward the Apsalus.

"Intercept!"

Without needing Norris to give the order, the ground units had already begun their interception maneuvers.

The remaining three Zaku units each charged toward a Gundam Ground Type, while the Dopp Fighters had also been assigned their targets.

Only the infantry boarded nearby Jeeps and began moving away from the rift.

This was not cowardice, but a decision made by the two men inside the Gouf Flight Types.

They both understood that in a battle of this scale, the role of infantry was virtually nil.

Since that was the case, it was better to let the lads of the Principality preserve their strength.

"This guy, not bad."

The two middle-aged men each glanced at the other's machine, secretly offering a word of praise.

However, as the two locked eyes, another flash of fire soared into the sky.

Norris looked up and discovered it was coming from the direction of 06.

"Miss Aina, please leave immediately!"

Norris urged Aina once more.

"Ah, yes..."

Aina, sitting in the cockpit of the Apsalus, snapped out of her daze and responded to Norris's request.

Her gaze, however, never left the Gundam Ground Type marked with 08 on the other side.

Even though there were two machines with similar markings on the field, Aina believed that one was Shiro's unit.

Aina reached out and touched the screen.

"Shiro..."

"Miss Aina!"

It was only Norris's slightly stern voice that made Aina pull her gaze away from the Gundam and begin operating the machine to ascend.

The Apsalus stirred up a gust of wind and began to gain altitude.

But at the very moment the base became level with the top of the rift, a pink beam struck again!

This shot shattered the side of the base, and the interior of the Apsalus immediately flashed with red warning lights.

"Holding back because of friendly forces, afraid to operate at full power? My apologies, but even if I have to exploit your kindness, I must keep you here."

Eli, who had fired the shot, stared with flickering eyes past the two Gouf Flight Types, locking onto the massive Apsalus.

The thrusters of his Gundam Ground Type flared, propelling the machine toward the Apsalus!

During this process, Eli operated his machine to fire continuously with the 100mm Machine Gun held in its left hand, attempting to suppress the Gouf Flight Type on the left.

That Gouf raised its shield and remained in place to defend, while the other dodged to the side and immediately charged toward Eli.

It went without saying that the Gouf defending in front of the Apsalus was piloted by Norris, while the other was Ramba Ral.

Eli had deduced this as well.

As for why? Naturally, it was because Zeon placed such high importance on form; in this short amount of time, they had even managed to paint Ramba Ral's Gouf in his signature blue.

Combined with the Gouf unit itself and the Ramba Ral team that had been pursuing White Base in the original story, Eli knew exactly who was piloting the machine that had charged before him.

"The Blue Giant Star, I am truly honored."

Because of the slash delivered by Ramba Ral's Heat Saber, Eli abandoned the idea of continuing to suppress Norris and instead focused on battling the enemy before him.

As he blocked the Heat Saber with the shield on his left arm, Eli greeted the Zeon ace pilot over the comms.

"Heh, Reaper of the Rainforest—that's not exactly a flattering title."

In response, a steady voice came from the other side.

"And what of the original Gundam? Has it turned cowardly?"

Ramba Ral looked at the machine before him; it was significantly different from the Gundam he had already clashed with three times, yet it remained so similar, prompting him to voice his mockery.

Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this was the mass-produced model of the Gundam.

"Don't underestimate me!"

Eli shoved the left control stick forward, and the machine, reading the command, suddenly increased the output to its left arm, violently knocking the Gouf Flight Type's Heat Saber aside.

Immediately following this, he thrust his right arm forward, jamming the muzzle of his Beam Rifle directly against the Gouf's shield.

"Firing at this range will cause the barrel to explode!"

Ramba Ral said to Eli, seemingly out of kindness.

"Don't you worry about that!"

"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

Accompanying Eli's blunt retort, the 100mm Machine Gun on his left arm, which had finished calibrating at some unknown moment, opened fire on the Gouf!

Ramba Ral, as expected, shielded his front.

Seeing this, Eli immediately prepared to pull the trigger to fire a beam.

"Naive!"

It was only then that Eli realized a series of whips had coiled around his right arm at some point.

"A Heat Rod!"

As the Heat Rod suddenly turned a searing crimson, a blinding red light reflected onto Eli's face.

On the onboard computer, the status bar for his machine's right arm was already flooded with error messages.

The Lunar Titanium Alloy armor could hold out for a while, but this Heat Rod had a track record of even slicing through the feet of a Gundam.

Seeing this, Eli had no choice but to abandon the idea of continuing to suppress the enemy with his left-hand machine gun; he released the 100mm Machine Gun, then drew his Beam Saber and flicked it upward, severing the Heat Rod.

Having done this, Eli didn't stop there; he maneuvered his machine to turn its left hand and thrust the Beam Saber forward.

However, Ramba Ral, known as the Blue Giant Star, was no amateur; he merely made a micro-adjustment to the turbofan on the right side of his machine, creating a burst of thrust that allowed the unit to dodge the path of the Beam Saber's thrust.

"This is... a combat style from space?!"