Although Flay had luckily escaped the direct sweep of Genesis's flash through the Light-Wing Propulsion System's extreme speed and her own sharp instincts, the sight that had defied all reason only minutes ago remained painfully vivid in her mind.
The searing shockwave from the enormous band of light cutting across space; the warships and allied units caught in the surrounding turbulence, becoming fireballs amid endless explosions—and even worse, before the communications network had completely collapsed, her helmet headset had been filled with the bloodcurdling screams of Earth Alliance pilots consumed by terror.
Just recalling those cries made the blood in her limbs seem to freeze. Beneath the hard shell Flay forced herself to wear, those unforgettable experiences had once again carved in a fear with nowhere to hide.
"!?"
Without warning, an icy chill shot up her spine—heeding her instincts' warning, Flay reflexively stomped on the pedal, ready to roll the machine and gain altitude. But the lingering echoes of fear in her mind caused an incredibly slight delay in the neural signals transmitting counterattack and defensive commands to her fingers.
In a duel between elite pilots, that fraction-of-a-second disconnect in her reaction was enough to prevent the Goddess of Liberation Gundam from completely evading danger.
Of the six beams rapidly approaching from the blind spot behind her left side on the radar, one particularly lethal shot struck the left arm with perfect accuracy, piercing straight through its frame. Red warning lights blazed throughout the cockpit. Flay's expression changed, and with a swift movement of her fingers, she immediately forced the self-destruct sequence to activate, jettisoning the ruined left arm before it could trigger a sympathetic explosion. The machine slid backward at high speed, barely escaping being torn apart.
But the ambusher gave her no chance to catch her breath.