A Tactic Named After Him

"What's the point of closing the distance?! Breaking through the Ginn's defenses is impossible!"

Thomas shouted as he watched the scene unfold before him.

It looked as though he was speaking to the friend beside him, but his voice was loud enough that no one else could ignore him.

A few people in the arena chimed in, though most remained silent.

Of course, just as Thomas had said, Moebius had closed some of the distance to the Ginn,

but against a humanoid mobile suit like the Ginn, the closer they got, the greater its advantage in maneuverability.

Taking down a Ginn alone wasn't something that could be accomplished through skillful movement alone.

Just as everyone was wondering how Xu De would turn things around, the boy in the cockpit suddenly shoved the throttle for the left thruster forward.

Like a drunk, Moebius slammed its left thruster, firing at full power, into a piece of titanium alloy wreckage.

"Up you go!!!"

Roaring inwardly, Xu De floored the thrusters once more.

The blue flames from both thrusters changed direction nimbly, scorching the fragment, which was about the same size as Moebius.

Then, using the recoil from the thrusters colliding with the fragment, Xu De shot away under the counterforce, like a car drifting to build up speed.

The machine's realistic simulation sent tremendous G-forces crashing into Xu De in an instant. The fragment, meanwhile, flew off in the opposite direction, carrying the heat that remained in it.

"Holy crap... holy shit!"

Watching his friend perform, Hans, who had been gripping his hands tightly, couldn't help blurting out a curse.

"Wha... what the fuck?!"

Hans wasn't the only one. The other recruits swore, too.

From a third-person perspective, they could all see what Xu De's maneuver was really doing.

It wasn't merely using the counterforce to turn and accelerate. He'd used the heat left in the wreckage to create a decoy.

That's right. The wreckage Xu De had sent flying had become a decoy, confusing the Ginn's infrared sensors.

With that kind of combat sense, and the skill to put it into action, if Xu De was a recruit, then what were they? Little kids?

Meanwhile, as the training ground erupted into an uproar, the instructor and Thomas wore expressions that had turned icy.

Thomas especially had gone pale, his lips trembling. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he'd been put in a freezer.

Had the plan worked?

The AI-controlled Ginn's mono-eye darted back and forth, showing that Xu De's move had indeed confused it.

The decoy would stop working as soon as it left the AI's field of vision.

But that short window had given Xu De more than enough time to close the remaining distance with the acceleration he'd built up.

Taking advantage of the delay caused by the Ginn's reliance on posture-control thrusters for AMBAC maneuvers, Xu De drew another narrow arc through space and finally circled behind it.

At the same time, both Vulcan Cannons and the Linear Cannon opened fire.

The Ginn was hit in its main rear thruster, instantly losing its primary means of propulsion.

It hadn't been defeated yet, but with its main propulsion gone, it was only a matter of time before the heavily armored Ginn fell to the nimble Moebius.

"He defeated a Ginn... without a scratch, using a Moebius...?"

Watching the scene on the screen, the instructor muttered again, his face ashen.

Was this really a recruit? Could he be an impostor?

He'd never seen a maneuver like that from any pilot before.

After all, this was their first time fighting in space, too.

The only full-scale frontal engagement they could point to was Valentine's Day, and their unit hadn't even taken part in it.

In the future, there might be more pilots experienced in space combat. But right now, Xu De was about as rare as a panda.

Or perhaps even rarer than one.

If this tactical maneuver were submitted for review and proved effective through further use, they might even name it after Xu De.

There probably weren't many Natural pilots with such a thorough grasp of space combat anywhere in the Atlantic right now.

"Send out another Ginn."

At last, Revil spoke.

"Sir..."

"Do you have an objection?"

Revil no longer looked half-asleep. His gaze fell on the instructor, carrying the weight of authority.

"N-no."

As he lowered his eyes, the instructor's thoughts churned in confusion.

By all rights, Xu De shouldn't have been this good. Could he be a Coordinator?

But if a Coordinator had joined his unit, even if that were true, he couldn't just expose him himself.

Though he was a white supremacist, if he raised the issue, then even if it were only a suspicion, he'd be the officer directly responsible.

While the redneck was left to suffer in silence, Xu De had just destroyed the Ginn before him. He hadn't even had time to catch his breath when the signal of another Ginn appeared on the radar.

"...You really think highly of me."

Xu De chuckled as he looked at the instrument panel before him.

His energy was down to 27%. The Linear Cannon had 32% of its ammunition left, while the two Vulcan Cannons still had 50%.

But it clearly wasn't enough to fight another one.

Worse, after the inhuman amount of calculations he'd just performed, Xu De's mind was foggy. Even if he was faster at calculating than he'd been in his previous life, sweat was already beading across his forehead.

Clearly, he couldn't handle any more precise calculations.

"Forget it. I'll give it one last try."

He said it to himself. This time, Xu De didn't perform any complicated maneuvers. He turned halfway around and headed straight for the Ginn.

"What's he trying to do now?"

Watching Xu De's movements, everyone had lost all the contempt they'd felt before.

Even Thomas looked as though he'd eaten shit.

They might still look down on Xu De for other reasons, but to underestimate him in space combat now would make them look like weaklings barking at him.

They'd only be making themselves a laughingstock.

The dozen or so people who had been packed around Thomas quietly edged away from him.

Only a few of his closest friends remained by his side, all staunch supporters of Blue Cosmos.

"A suicide attack?"

No one cared what Thomas was doing anymore. They just stared, wide-eyed, at the Xu De who had already stunned them again and again.

"He's running low on fuel, after all."

"Maybe this is his last shot. Either way, his place on the roster is secure."

Hearing them discuss it, Thomas, whose emotions had yet to settle, nearly lost it again.

Three minutes ago, he'd still been top of the class.

And now...

As he looked at Xu De on the giant screen, Thomas's gaze grew dangerous.