Fighting Together

"Will...?"

Jiliang drew a sharp breath. Those words, that voice, and the stubbornness and madness within it struck a strange chord deep in her memory.

In an instant, she vividly recalled the Hyperion Gundam, its berserker-like attacks that spared no cost, and the fierce obsession she had sensed inside its cockpit.

That was it... the pilot.

They had fought several times. She knew that reckless fighting style and that obsessive will.

She was certain the Experimental Zaku's pilot was the madman who had flown the Hyperion Gundam.

That was why the realization felt so absurd.

The man who had made her his archenemy and tried to kill her time and again was protecting her now? How was that possible?

She had no time to think. The Raider Gundam fired its "Fury" multi-phase energy cannon, sealing off the Freedom Gundam's escape route.

Before Jiliang could react, the Experimental Zaku moved in front of her. The shield on its shoulder armor took several hits head-on as its waist-mounted railgun fired. A blazing orange-red shot streaked toward the Forbidden Gundam, which was still recovering from its missed slash.

Faced with the sudden high-speed projectile, the Forbidden Gundam deployed the Energy Deflection Armor on its back and easily blocked the railgun fire. But in that brief pause, its field of vision narrowed, and the Freedom Gundam closed the distance in an instant.

"Now!"

Jiliang's judgment was lightning-fast. She fired both waist-mounted Swordfish Type railguns and pushed her thrusters to full power. At nearly point-blank range, two heavy rounds slammed into the Forbidden Gundam's chest. Its composite armor suffered no structural damage, but the Energy Deflection Armor could not fully absorb the sheer force of the impacts.

The Forbidden Gundam flew backward like a doll struck by a giant.

Behind her!

An urgent warning cut