The Collapsing Earth

"Hit!"

As the screen lost its final image.

Relying on his memory, Ino forcibly launched the high-magnetic grappling hook he had prepared long ago.

The hook accurately latched onto the waist of the Strike Gundam. Kira, still unsettled from having just cut down an enemy unit, suddenly felt a violent tug from the exterior of his mobile suit.

Twang~

The next second, the cable snapped taut.

The turbulence caused by the rapid venting of air from the collapsing inner walls swept through the entire colony at this very moment.

The immense pulling force dragged the Strike Gundam straight down.

"Ino!"

Michel, still dazed, was swept up and sent flying by the gale.

Watching the sudden turn of events, Athrun rushed forward to catch the out-of-control Michel.

However, when he prepared to search for the Strike Gundam and Ino, he discovered that both of their units had already been swept up into the high altitude by the violent winds.

He could only watch helplessly as that MS, suspected to be piloted by Kira, vanished into the turbulence along with Ino's unit.

Rumble!

Buildings and vehicles already torn asunder danced in the air like withered leaves.

Tongues of fire from explosions were visible everywhere, yet even the air required for them to burn could not be held, quickly dissipating into the vacuum of space.

All the air-raid shelters fired simultaneously, becoming escape pods for space.

"Waaaaaah—"

Kira cried out in misery. Faced with such powerful airflow, the Strike Gundam, dragging the wreckage of another unit, was simply unable to resist.

The roofs of surrounding buildings were torn away, glass shattered, and roads were ripped apart, with a true, yawning darkness waiting behind them like a gaping maw.

The turbulence shook the fuselage incessantly. Kira leveraged the thrusters to try and stabilize the unit, but the wreckage hanging below and the air currents sweeping outward were simply beyond what the Strike Gundam could withstand.

Soon, both MS connected by the grappling hook were swept out together.

"Captain Le Creuset, Heliopolis—"

Watching Heliopolis fall to pieces, Adis could not help but stand up from his command chair, his eyes filled with unease as he looked at Le Creuset's back.

The colony was just gone like that.

Yet, on the side hidden from Adis's view, the corners of Le Creuset's mouth gradually curled into a smile.

In the pilot lounge of the Vesalius, Dearka and the others also watched the footage of Heliopolis's collapse.

At this moment, even on Yzak's face, a look of gravity and a trace of reluctance could not help but emerge.

However, that trace of reluctance was quickly suppressed by Yzak.

Compared to the total loss of life at Junius, Heliopolis was already very fortunate.

"Hmph, a boring farce!"

Recalling the tragic state of Junius, Yzak snorted coldly and turned to leave.

"Yzak?"

Watching Yzak turn and walk away after speaking, Dearka could not help but show a look of astonishment, wondering what kind of fit this guy was throwing all of a sudden.

"Athrun, Ino... you must be safe."

Nicol stood before the screen, worrying about the safety of Athrun and Ino.

The former Heliopolis, pulled by gravity, successfully turned into cosmic dust.

I do not know how much time had passed.

Woo-woo-woo~

The cockpit, blaring with constant alarms, awakened Ino, who had been knocked unconscious.

He slapped his dizzy head hard, and his vision gradually shifted from blurry to clear.

Looking at the instrument panel with its red lights flashing incessantly, Ino could not help but reveal a wry smile: "This is truly the end."

He had intended to rely on the Archangel to escape the battlefield, but now...

"Michel, you really have ruined me—"

As he spoke, Ino smiled bitterly and activated the distress signal.

Although he did not know what his fate would be next, this was all he could do.

But this was fine, too; at least he had done what he could and what he should have.

As for whether it was worth it, Ino actually did not know.

If he thought about it from a selfish perspective, it was certainly not worth it, and perhaps even quite stupid.

But if he looked at it from another angle, it still held a bit of value.

At the very least, he had proven that he could use his own strength to change the events he remembered.

The so-called predetermined fate could be completely altered, which was, in a sense, quite comforting.

Furthermore, he was not in any mortal danger.

When he blocked the blade at the end, Ino had carefully chosen the point of impact, ensuring there was basically no risk of being killed in a single strike.

Moreover, this way, his departure from ZAFT could not be considered a betrayal, and no one would dare to claim he had betrayed ZAFT.

As for whether he would become a mobile coffin.

That was also an impossibility.

Heliopolis was a resource-based residential satellite; its destruction was something both warring parties, PLANT and the Earth Alliance, would have to address with rescue operations.

The only uncertainty was which side would pick him up, and he hoped it wouldn't be ZAFT.

"But why do I keep feeling like I've forgotten something..."

As his thoughts wandered, Ino felt as though he had forgotten something important.

What could it be—

[X105 Strike Gundam, please respond—]

Inside the cockpit of the Strike Gundam.

The communicator had been repeating the same call for quite a while.

However, only Kira Yamato's ragged, hurried breathing could be heard inside the cockpit.

Heliopolis had actually turned into this...

The ground he had been standing firmly upon not long ago was now shattered and scattered.

Debris floating in the vacuum of space, mixed with metal shards and parts of familiar signs and buildings, drifted right before his eyes.

He had thought his daily life—tomorrow, the day after—would never change, yet he never imagined it could be so fragile and unbearable.

"...X105 Strike Gundam! Can you hear me? Please respond!"

The voice on the other end of the communicator was laced with anxiety, but Kira couldn't bring himself to answer.

Suddenly—

"...Kira Yamato!"

Kira snapped back to reality upon hearing his own name; it was the voice of the female officer—Captain Murrue.

"If you can hear me... and you are safe, please give us a response, Kira Yamato."

"Ah... yes, I am... I am Kira."

Kira hurriedly replied after switching on the communicator.

Kira still felt a sense of gratitude toward Captain Murrue, as she had provided him and his friends with a place to stay in this desperate situation.

That's right, his friends; Tolle and the others were still waiting for him to return—

At this moment, Kira gradually regained his composure.

"Are you alright?"

There seemed to be a hint of relief in Murrue's voice, and Mu's cheers could be heard in the background.

"Yes."

"Do you know our location? Can you return?"

Hearing Captain Murrue's words, Kira pressed his lips together and gripped the control sticks tightly once more: "I can."

"Good, then come back. We'll be waiting for you."

After Captain Murrue finished speaking, she gently hung up the communication, then slumped back into the command chair, the anxiety in her heart finally subsiding.

"I told you not to worry so much."

Mu, having watched everything, couldn't help but say with a smile: "That kid is quite capable."

"I don't know who was panicking and rushing around just a moment ago, and now you're acting all smug."

Captain Murrue rolled her eyes at Mu's cavalier attitude.

"Uh... hehe..."

Mu gave an awkward laugh at her words.

"Time to head back."

Inside the cockpit of the Strike Gundam.

Kira gripped the control sticks with both hands, preparing to return to the warship.

Although he was deeply worried about his parents' safety, he currently lacked the ability or means to search for them; the only thing he could do was assume they had already escaped safely.

Beep, beep, beep—

Just then, two electronic tones sounded in the cockpit, and a message appeared on the screen.

"This is a distress signal... and one of them is right below me?"

It was only then that Kira realized there were two distress signals nearby, one of which was right beside him.

As the screen zoomed in, the image reflected made Kira's mouth slowly fall open, and he couldn't help but mutter: "This is... a ZAFT Mobile Suit!?"