"For a blue and pure world!"
"Kill these filthy traitors!"
"Coordinators must die!"
"Child! Run!"
"Bang, bang, bang~"
"Kill them!"
"It's this child! A remnant of the Coordinators!"
"Mom!"
"Noer!"
"Get away!"
"Ah~!"
Suddenly, in a laboratory on April Colony, the sleeping Noel Cassia woke from his bed with a roar.
Looking at the white room and feeling the intense pain coursing through his body, Noel closed his eyes as he panted.
For some reason, he had recently kept experiencing memories and images in his mind that made him deeply uncomfortable.
"Beep, beep~"
"Whoosh~"
Three men in researcher uniforms walked in from outside.
"Another nightmare?" the lead researcher asked flatly as he looked at the sweat covering Noel's forehead.
"When can I leave the hospital?" Noel did not answer. He merely turned his head to look at the sunlight outside the window.
Today was the third day since he had awakened.
Over the past three days, he had constantly dreamed—or rather, recalled the memories of the original Noer.
It happened every day, leaving him thoroughly irritated.
"You'll be able to leave soon."
The researcher did not answer. He simply took out a syringe filled with medicine and injected it into Noel's arm. "Oh, right. We received a letter and a video for you yesterday."
"A letter and a video?" Noel was stunned. Who had the time to send me a letter?
"They came from... from Junius 7!" The researcher seemed to recall something, and his words became hesitant.
"Junius 7?" Noel looked utterly bewildered.
What kind of place was Junius 7? Since when did I have friends there?
"Would you like me to bring them to you?"
The researcher was confused by Noel's reaction. If he remembered correctly, Noel had come from Junius 7, hadn't he?
Why did he look so lost? Could he really not even know the name of his own hometown?
"Then I'll trouble you."
Noel was bored out of his mind. Ever since regaining consciousness, he had been stuck in this damn laboratory every day.
He was bored stiff. The worst part was that there was no entertainment whatsoever—not even a television. It was absurd!
"You're welcome."
The researcher shook his head, put away the syringe, and said, "Get some rest."
"Oh, right. What's the date today?" Noel suddenly remembered something extremely important: the nuclear bomb!
Because of the nightmares and the muddled memories these past few days, his mind had been foggy. Only now did he suddenly remember the nuclear bomb.
He had no idea how many days he had been unconscious.
"February 17," the researcher replied after taking a deep breath.
"February 17?" Noel was stunned. If he remembered correctly, Valentine's Day was February 14. Today was February 17, which meant he had muddleheadedly slept through a catastrophe?
"Yes!"
The researcher nodded. "Is there anything else?"
"Uh... no."
Noel was still processing this unexpectedly wonderful news. If the nuclear explosion had not been such an unfortunate matter, he would have jumped up to celebrate.
Sure enough, the Child of Destiny was just that awesome!
So what if there had been a nuclear bomb? He had avoided it just by sleeping!
"You..." The researcher looked at Noel, hesitating to speak.
"What is it?" Noel looked up at him.
"Should I give you that letter in a few more days?" Looking at Noel, who knew nothing, the researcher could not help feeling a pang of sorrow.
"Why?" Noel was baffled. Just a moment ago, the man had said he would bring it to him.
"It's nothing. I'll have someone deliver it to you later." After pondering for a moment, the researcher shook his head and left the laboratory.
He would have to find out sooner or later.
Noel watched the door slowly close, feeling that something was off. What was that guy playing at?
However, Noel quickly pushed that doubt out of his mind.
Instead, he began to think about what he should do next.
The nuclear bomb should have already gone off, so he had made it through the first disaster.
Now, he needed to figure out how to survive the troubles ahead.
After organizing his thoughts for so long since transmigrating here, Noel had roughly come up with several ways to stay alive.
The first option: do nothing and hide on PLANT's main colony as a nobody.
Because PLANT did not seem to have been completely destroyed even by the end. Although it suffered nuclear attacks later, PLANT's government was never destroyed from beginning to end.
In other words, as long as he followed PLANT's leadership, he would basically be safe. He would not die—at least, not from a nuclear bomb.
However, with the war becoming so intense, it was hard to guarantee that PLANT would not impose compulsory conscription. Coordinators might be individually stronger than Naturals, but there were simply too many wolves on the other side.
It was like a certain day on another Earth: by the end, they had nearly spent everything they had, and the homeland was full of women.
PLANT had always claimed that participation was voluntary, but that was before the war began. Who knew what things would be like once it started?
The second option: join the protagonist's group. But that idea... was extremely dangerous!
The protagonist might not die, but that was because he was the protagonist. He was powerful, and the people the protagonist's group faced were all major figures from the other side, each one immensely capable.
Protagonists were everlasting; cannon fodder came and went.
Noel seriously suspected that by the end of the story, the cannon fodder tagging along with the protagonist's group had been replaced more than a dozen times.
The current Kira was not yet the Kira who turned people into limbless stumps. Right now, he aimed straight for cockpits, and he was not weak either. If Noel accidentally took a shot...
"So, which should I choose?"
Noel hesitated.
Neither choice was good. No matter which one he picked, it would be dangerous.
The first was too passive. All he could do was pray that the other side did not miss when firing their nuclear bombs.
The second... was very dangerous.
Strictly speaking, the protagonist's group was still the safest choice. After all, they were the protagonists and still had to save the world later. No matter how they fought, they would not die—unless this world was broken.
But that buff belonged only to the protagonist. If Noel joined them...
"Ah, when all was said and done, I was still not strong enough."
Noel helplessly accepted reality. No matter how he put it, it all came down to lacking strength.
If his abilities could reach the first tier—no, even the second tier—he would not need to worry too much about dying in battle.
But he was not a genuine Coordinator, so there was no way he could skillfully pilot a Gundam.
Besides, Gundams came in different tiers. The performance of first-tier Gundams completely crushed that of second-tier ones.
Even the MS units that Naturals could pilot later on were still utterly outclassed by first-tier Coordinators.
So... what could he do?
Just like that, as Noel let his thoughts run wild, another two days passed.
During that time, something extremely important also happened in the outside world.
Because of the fall of Junius 7 and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Coordinators, the current PLANT chairman, Siegel Clyne, gave a speech.
During the state funeral mourning the victims of Bloody Valentine, Siegel Clyne, the current chairman of PLANT, announced the Declaration of Independence and Total War Against the Earth Alliance.
At the same time, he gave priority supplies to countries that had not joined the Alliance Forces through Chairman Klein's Proactive Neutrality Recommendation, since PLANT still had considerable reserves.
Among them, the non-PLANT council states Oceania Union and the United States of South America accepted the recommendation.
At that point, even an idiot knew that PLANT and the Earth Alliance Military had gone to war for good.
Before you continue