Tactics Named After Him

"Closing the distance is useless! Breaking through the Ginn's defensive net is impossible."

Thomas shouted this while staring at the scene unfolding before him.

Though it seemed like he was speaking to the friend beside him, his voice was loud enough that no one else could ignore it.

At this moment, some people in the arena chimed in, but most remained silent.

Of course, just as Thomas had said, although the Moebius had closed the distance to the Ginn, for a humanoid mobile suit like the Ginn, the closer the range, the greater the advantage of its superior agility.

To solo a Ginn, one could not rely on maneuvering skills alone.

Just as everyone was wondering how Xu De would break the deadlock, the boy in the cockpit suddenly shoved the throttle for the left thruster to the max.

Like a drunkard, the Moebius slammed its full-throttle left thruster into a piece of titanium alloy debris.

"Get up!!!"

He roared in his heart, simultaneously pushing the thrusters to their limit once more.

The blue flames erupting from both thrusters shifted angles with fluid precision, scorching the debris—which was roughly the same size as the Moebius—at the same time.

Then, utilizing the recoil from the collision between the thrusters and the debris, Xu De shot forward under the reaction force, much like drifting and building boost in a racing game.

Instantly, the immense G-force hit Xu De's body through the machine's realistic simulation, while the piece of debris flew off in the opposite direction, carrying the residual heat with it.

"Holy... holy shit!"

Watching his friend's performance, Hans, who had been clenching his hands, couldn't help but blurt out an exclamation.

"W-what the!?"

It wasn't just Hans; many of the new recruits were cursing in shock.

From the third-person perspective, they could all see the depth behind Xu De's maneuver.

It wasn't just a simple turn and acceleration using reaction force; he had created a decoy target using the residual heat source.

That's right, the wreckage Xu De had flung away had turned into a decoy, interfering with the Ginn's infrared sensors.

With this kind of combat awareness and the ability to execute it, if Xu De was a new recruit, then what were they? Little children?

On the other side, as the training ground erupted into a clamor, the expressions of the instructor and Thomas had plummeted to freezing point.

Thomas, in particular, was pale and trembling, as if he had just stepped into a cold storage locker.

As for whether the plan worked?

One could tell from the way the Ginn's mono-eye, controlled by the AI, kept darting back and forth that Xu De's actions had indeed confused the machine.

Although the decoy lost its effectiveness once it left the field of view, that brief window was enough for Xu De, who had gained sufficient acceleration, to close the final distance.

Exploiting the Ginn's disadvantage—the delay in turning caused by its reliance on AMBAC maneuvering thrusters—Xu De, now in space, carved another tight arc and finally circled behind the Ginn.

Simultaneously, both the Vulcan Cannons and the Linear Cannon opened fire.

In an instant, the Ginn, struck in its rear main thruster, lost its primary propulsion.

Although the Ginn had not yet been defeated, without its main power, even with its thick armor, its defeat at the hands of the agile Moebius was only a matter of time.

"He used a Moebius... to defeat a Ginn without taking a hit...?"

The instructor stared at the screen ahead, his face ashen as he couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Is this really a new recruit? Could he be some kind of ringer?

He had never seen such maneuvers from any pilot before.

After all, they were all experiencing space combat for the first time themselves.

The only full-scale head-on engagement had been the Valentine incident, and their unit hadn't even been the ones fighting it.

In the future, perhaps there would be more pilots familiar with space warfare, but at this moment, Xu De was as rare as a giant panda.

Or perhaps even rarer.

If this tactical maneuver were documented and proven effective in further applications, it could even be named after Xu De.

There were likely not many Natural pilots in the entire Atlantic Federation who were this familiar with space combat.

"Deploy another Ginn."

Revil, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"Sir..."

"Do you have an objection?"

Revil no longer wore his previous drowsy expression; his eyes fixed on the instructor with the pressure of a superior.

"N-no."

As he lowered his gaze, the instructor felt quite unsettled inside.

By all logic, Xu De shouldn't be that formidable; could he be a Coordinator?

Yet, a Coordinator had actually made it into his unit. If it were true, he couldn't exactly go around exposing it.

Although he was a white supremacist, if he spoke up, even if it were just a suspicion, he would be the primary person held responsible as the direct commanding officer.

Amidst the redneck's unspeakable humiliation, Xu De had just destroyed the Ginn before him. Before he could even catch his breath, the signal of another Ginn appeared on his radar.

"...They really think highly of me."

Xu De said with a wry smile, while glancing at the instrument panel before him.

Energy was down to 27%, the ammunition for the Linear Cannon beneath him was at 32%, and the Vulcan Cannons on both sides still had 50% remaining.

But that was clearly not enough to take down another one.

Not to mention that after the inhuman amount of calculation he had just performed, even though Xu De was calculating faster than in his previous life, his brain felt dizzy and heavy; a fine layer of sweat was visible on his forehead if one looked closely.

Clearly, he could no longer perform any more precise calculations.

"Forget it, let's try one last time."

He said to himself, and without performing any complex maneuvers, Xu De turned halfway and headed straight toward the Ginn.

"What is he trying to do now?"

Watching Xu De's movements, the contempt previously held by the crowd had vanished entirely.

Even Thomas wore an expression as if he had just swallowed excrement.

No matter how much one looked down on the other party in other aspects, belittling Xu De in terms of space combat only made one look like a weakling barking at the moon.

It would only provide others with a laughingstock.

The dozen or so people who had been tightly surrounding Thomas quietly moved a bit further away from him.

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

"A suicide attack?"

By now, no one cared about the movements on Thomas's side; they only stared with wide eyes at Xu De, who had given them too many shocks.

"His fuel is running low, after all."

"Maybe he's making one last desperate gamble? Regardless, his spot is definitely secure."

Hearing these discussions, Thomas, who hadn't yet adjusted his emotions, nearly had a mental breakdown.

Three minutes ago, he was still the top candidate.

And yet now...

Looking at Xu De on the big screen in front of him, Thomas's eyes turned dangerous.