The pitch-black vacuum was torn to pieces by beams of light.
The attitude-control thrusters around the Unicorn Gundam spewed pale flames, forcibly rolling the machine to the left.
A high-energy particle beam howled past its right shoulder armor. Even in the vacuum, the heat capable of vaporizing alloy seemed to reach the cockpit through the sensors.
The enemy gave Xia Ya no chance to catch his breath. The machine called the Goddess of Liberation, yet wielding the authority of slaughter, was now using the long-barreled Beam Cannon unfolded from its backpack, residual charge still crackling at its muzzle.
"This thing..."
Alarms shrieked through the Unicorn's panoramic cockpit. The red targeting frame had only just caught a glimpse of the target when it vanished from its original position.
The thrusters on the Goddess of Liberation's back erupted with strange yet dazzling bands of light. They were not flames produced by conventional thrusters, but purer streams of light particles.
That was the "Voiture Lumiere" system. Propelled by thrust that did not even belong to this era, the machine completely ignored the restraints of inertia, carving an uneven yet blindingly fast angular path.
The Beam Magnum in the Unicorn's hand had barely risen, before he could even pull the trigger, and all that remained at the edge of his vision were lingering light particles.
The Beam Saber swung at close range only cut through dust drifting through space. There was nothing where its blade passed.
The blips on the radar screen bounced wildly, as if mocking the fire-control system's incompetence.
"If it fights like this..."
Xia Ya shoved the controls forward. The Unicorn Gundam's legs kicked hard, and in the instant it shifted posture, three beams sealed off its route.
Like a phantom dancing around prey, the Goddess of Liberation Gundam circled at