The enemy reacted just as quickly. The Raider Gundam's pilot immediately selected the more maneuverable and dangerous Freedom Gundam as his target. In MA mode, his machine made a slight adjustment to its flight attitude and pursued it closely.
Meanwhile, the Forbidden Gundam's pilot locked onto the Experimental Nuclear Zaku. Its rear thrusters flared as it chased after Canard.
The battlefield instantly split into two separate pursuits.
Farther away, the Calamity Gundam slowly shifted its guns. Its role changed from a stationary gun emplacement to a mobile support platform, monitoring both engagements and standing ready to provide fire support to either one.
Inside the Freedom Gundam's cockpit, Jiliang's eyes kept shifting between the main screen and the radar.
On the main screen, the Raider Gundam was rapidly closing in in MA mode. The 76 mm machine gun beneath its nose had already begun spitting fire, sending streams of orange-yellow rounds streaking straight through the vacuum toward her. At the same time, the beam cannon in its mouth was charging.
Jiliang's hands made small, rapid adjustments to the control sticks.
Under her control, the Freedom Gundam displayed exceptional maneuverability.
The machine kept making slight sideslips and rolls, its back-mounted wings adjusting their angles as precisely as real wings. Every movement carried it just clear of the incoming barrage. The rounds swept past without a single hit.
While evading the machine-gun fire, she also had to watch for long-range shots from the Calamity Gundam.
Green beams streaked in from her blind spots, forcing her into wider evasive maneuvers and briefly disrupting her control over the distance between herself and the Raider Gundam.
As she retreated, she maintained her distance from the Raider Gundam, keeping it outside close-combat range without letting it slip beyond the effective range of her beam rifle. It was