As Luther drew closer to Rau Le Creuset, who was coming to meet him while he "talked to himself," they reached a distance close enough for the Funnels to engage. Faced with the crystal-clear malice coiling around the CGUE Le Creuset piloted, Luther didn't hesitate to give it everything he had:
He relied on his biological-sensor helmet to withstand the mental pressure while launching all twelve Funnels, and also poured what strength he had left into grabbing the Zaku Machine Gun in his hand, trying to limit the CGUE's movements.
But Le Creuset, the "final boss" of the original timeline, was no pushover. Even against the all-out, all-range assault of the powerful Newtype Luther in the Newtype-use Mobile Suit, the Time Observer, he relied on instinct and similar experience from his battles with Mu to dodge with serpentine movements. After sacrificing one arm and one leg on the CGUE, he stubbornly endured the first wave of attacks.
Then Le Creuset chose what was, in practice, the most correct response.
Even though he'd personally sortieed without firing a single shot;
even though, after the other mobile suits aboard the Gwameir had dispersed to carry out their respective missions, the only real threat facing the entire Creuset Team was Luther's single Time Observer;
he still chose to use the remaining limbs of the CGUE—which had only just been repaired before being damaged again—to turn around with precise limb movements, then opened the thrusters to full power and ran.
Luther had gone out alone, hoping to catch his opponent off guard, only for his "fishing expedition" to fail. Naturally, he was furious.
But technical limitations with the Funnels meant that the twelve he'd launched all at once were now returning to recharge. And Luther wasn't confident that the Zaku Machine Gun alone could shoot Le Creuset down from this distance.
"Damn it! You run when you can't win? Is that any way for a mastermind villain to act? You sure had plenty of swagger when you were dealing with Kira!"
Clearly, Luther's impression of Le Creuset was mostly based on the end of the first part of the original timeline, when Le Creuset had piloted the Providence Gundam and completely overwhelmed Kira's Freedom Gundam with both words and firepower—even when Kira had the Meteor System equipped.
But in truth, Le Creuset wasn't the sort to fight to the death. He was exceptionally good at judging a situation. Not long before, at Heliopolis, he'd been seriously wounded when the 320mm "Agni" high-energy beam cannon merely grazed him while he faced Kira, a rookie piloting the Launcher Strike Gundam. Even then, Le Creuset had chosen to make a decisive retreat in his damaged CGUE.
Luther naturally gave chase with everything he had as Le Creuset turned and fled;
but although the Time Observer had slightly better thrust performance than the CGUE, it would still take time to close the distance enough for them to attack each other.
Worse, Luther could already see Yzak's Duel Gundam, Nicol's Blitz Gundam, and Dearka's Buster Gundam launching in succession from the Vesalius.
With the window of opportunity to take Le Creuset out early about to close, Luther, still fuming, tried opening the public channel to vent.
"Rau Le Creuset!
I'm the very person you say shouldn't exist!
I'm taller, faster, stronger than you, with a long lifespan and plenty of lovers!
Stop running and face me!
You're the culprit trying to drag all of humanity down with you to atone for your own tragic past, so why are you acting like a rat?
ZAFT's Nebula Medal is weeping!"
Faced with Luther's taunts at close range, the disadvantaged Le Creuset didn't respond and simply kept running. But Yzak, the first of the three little strongmen, couldn't stand it and answered Luther over the public channel.
"You've got some nerve, insulting ZAFT's honor! Die, Natural!"
His words were followed by a three-shot burst from the Duel Gundam's 57mm High-Energy Beam Rifle, which Luther easily dodged;
just as Luther finished evading Yzak's shots, Dearka's Buster Gundam followed up with a well-coordinated blast from its 94mm High-Energy Beam Rifle, forcing Luther to pull off a difficult maneuver to evade it.
In the time it took him to turn around, Nicol's Blitz Gundam vanished from in front of him.
Under cover from the three, Le Creuset didn't hesitate to pilot the CGUE out of Luther's attack range.
"You're pretty good at stealing. I'll admit that's ZAFT's honor!"
As he continued to mercilessly taunt the three little strongmen over his failure to take Le Creuset out alone, Luther tried attacking with the Zaku Machine Gun while his Funnels were still charging.
Although his superior marksmanship did score a hit, it barely left a wisp of smoke on the Duel Gundam, protected by Phase Shift Armor—let alone any damage.
"All you can do is run your mouth! Go to hell regretting that you were killed by the very mobile suit you copied, Natural!"
Clearly, Luther's precise attack had made Yzak break out in a cold sweat. But once he confirmed that the Zaku Machine Gun couldn't hurt the new Gundam he'd stolen, both Yzak and Dearka grew much more confident. Amid Yzak's taunts, they took turns covering each other as they closed in on the "isolated and helpless" Luther and the Time Observer.
Of course, the firepower of just two High-Energy Beam Rifles wasn't enough to hit the Time Observer. But their attacks did at least distract Luther, providing good cover for Nicol to approach under the Blitz Gundam's Mirage Colloid system.
Unfortunately for the powerful Newtype Luther, although he really couldn't see the Blitz Gundam, Nicol's undisguised bloodlust stood out like the sun in the distance.
After several fruitless exchanges of fire, the battle finally made clear progress as Yzak's Duel Gundam closed in, right on the verge of engaging in melee combat.
After narrowly dodging another coordinated attack from Yzak's Duel Gundam, now very close, and Dearka's Buster Gundam farther away, Luther abruptly pulled a Zaku rocket launcher from behind the Time Observer's waist. He swiftly and accurately blasted Nicol's Blitz Gundam—its claws raised to strike—right out of its "stealth" state.
Without Phase Shift Armor to protect it while in Mirage Colloid mode, the Blitz Gundam took the full brunt of the unexpected hit. Nicol was probably knocked unconscious by the violent shaking, and the Blitz Gundam, no longer under control, went tumbling away in a cloud of smoke.
Of course, although it looked serious, Nicol's freshly acquired "zero-mileage, preowned, Earth Alliance-issue" Blitz Gundam wouldn't be destroyed by a single Zaku rocket. It was, after all, much sturdier than ZAFT's Ginns.
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