Mistral's Harpoon

Unaware that he had already attracted a crowd of onlookers, Xu De remained fully immersed in the simulation.

At this moment, he was surrounded and intercepted by ZAFT MAs, firing his Vulcan Cannons on both sides incessantly.

The muzzle flashes of the Vulcan Cannons bloomed in the vacuum of space, causing the opposing MAs to be scrapped one after another.

When the others arrived at the training area, this was the scene that greeted them.

"Does he not need to sleep?"

Hans also crawled out of bed, looking at the person ahead who was training with such high spirits, his eyes still bleary with sleep.

"It's you who woke up late."

Hearing this, Flint retorted.

"My sleep schedule is normal, alright? It's Xu De who is a freak."

Flint heard this, but as he looked at the figure ahead, he did not refute the claim.

Xu De's ability to pilot the Mistral alone was far superior to theirs.

He was indeed a freak.

"Do you think he can break the record?"

Price was also watching Xu De's performance intently, his eyes not blinking once.

"I think it shouldn't be a problem."

Hans's words were filled with trust in Xu De.

On the other side, Libby, who had also arrived at the scene, stared at Xu De ahead with a dangerous gaze.

His hands were clenched tightly.

No matter how much he loathed the other party in his heart.

Xu De's operations were smoother than his own; this was an unchangeable fact.

A sense of crisis about being replaced rose in his heart once again.

He did not know what Xu De's goal was, only assuming that his own status was being threatened.

As he thought this, he lowered his head to glance at his communicator again.

[Are you a fucking idiot? The big boss is watching the live feed right now, and you want me to sabotage the simulator?]

[But don't worry, surviving against two Ginns is basically impossible. He can't possibly be better than you when you're cheating, right?]

"..."

Looking at the reply, Libby looked up again at the live broadcast screen.

He could only hope that things were as the other person said.

But if Xu De really was better than him even when he was cheating...

"Sir, do you think Xu De can break the record?"

As he thought this, a subordinate he was usually on good terms with walked up and asked.

"This..."

Even though he had always maintained a "good guy" persona in public, Libby couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth at the question.

"I hope so."

"That way, our Third Fleet will have a worthy successor."

Libby wore a smiling face, but his heart was already filled with darkness.

As for Xu De, he was merely focused on his training.

Breaking the record was just a side effect; the more important thing was the training itself, and Survival Mode was an excellent training environment.

Constantly increasing the pressure was beneficial for his reaction time to adapt and gradually improve.

Therefore, he didn't have much of a desire to show anyone up; he was simply more focused on his own maneuvers.

His mind was racing, calculating the variables within the debris before him.

It's not an illusion; it's much easier than before.

Xu De felt his body, which had become stronger due to day-and-night training and previous life-or-death trials, as his fingers danced lightly as if playing an instrument.

Facing the MAs that kept lunging at him while strafing with Vulcan Cannons, Xu De controlled the Mistral in a small drift-sweep, simultaneously activating the Vulcan Cannon on one side of the fuselage.

A series of explosions followed right in front of him. What he could only achieve before while piloting a Moebius, he was now performing with a sense of ease even in the clunky Mistral.

At the same time, under Xu De's stylish maneuvers, there were bursts of exclamations from outside.

"Holy crap, this guy is too good, but why is only one side of the Vulcan Cannon firing? Is he stuffed up?"

A soldier who didn't belong to the same unit couldn't help but ask.

"Stuffed up my ass! Can't you see he's using the inertia of the recoil to continue dodging the incoming Vulcan fire?"

Someone said, speechless.

Just as that person said, at this moment, Xu De was not firing randomly; he was utilizing the unidirectional recoil to slide through a semicircle, completing a rapid turn to disengage from the battlefield.

Hit-and-run tactics are very common.

But seeing it performed in the clunky Mistral made people want to question their own reality.

"Is this even fucking possible?"

"Fuck, he's flying that Mistral like it's a Moebius."

Even the usually composed Flint couldn't help but let out a curse.

"When did he get even stronger, that freak?"

Hearing this, Price also gave a bitter smile.

If things continued like this, would they even have a chance to catch up?

If it were the current Xu De, some might even believe him if he said he had a chance to take down a Ginn with a Mistral.

And the Ginn... I don't believe it...

Libby muttered in his heart, watching Xu De's operations, which were as smooth as chocolate, and he felt like he could eat the guy alive.

Just as he had said, after Xu De navigated this minor crisis, eight minutes passed by smoothly.

For Xu De, the first eight minutes were merely a warm-up.

As the first Ginn was deployed in the ninth minute, Xu De's gaze became even sharper.

"Come on!"

Following Xu De's words, the Ginn's 76mm machine gun began to spit out tongues of fire, and bullets struck the side of Xu De's cockpit amidst the constant blaring of alarms.

But not long after, Xu De hid behind the ruins just as he had done several times before.

At this moment, countless bullets poured onto the wreckage, leaving Xu De with fewer and fewer places to hide.

"That's only temporary. Does he have any other tricks up his sleeve?"

Revil watched the live feed with great interest; one Ginn was certainly no problem.

But against two Ginns, there was simply no way to utilize the ruins for cover.

Even in ruins, obstacles could not be dense enough to completely block two Ginns.

Let alone for a clunky machine like the Mistral.

What was he trying to do?

Just as Revil was pondering, another minute passed, and the time reached ten minutes.

As another Ginn appeared from a different direction, the pressure on Xu De soared.

"It's over."

Watching Xu De about to be surrounded by two Ginns and five MAs, Libby couldn't help but curl his lips slightly.

He had said it before: no one could break his record.

However, the satisfaction in his heart didn't last long before it stalled.

Because the Vulcan Cannon under Xu De, which had been mocked as being clogged and unable to fire, suddenly discharged—though what it fired was not a Vulcan shell, but a harpoon.

Similar to the Linear Anchor of the Zero or the Sky Grasper, the harpoon fixed itself onto a piece of wreckage in the distance and then immediately retracted.

The kinetic energy generated wasn't much, but like a gold miner, it pulled both sides a few steps closer.

"Even with a harpoon, doing a circular maneuver to dodge is impossible, you idiot."

After a brief moment of shock, Libby watched with satisfaction as the boy ahead made his death throes.