The Fall of Heliopolis

"What a troublesome guy!"

Flaga cursed as he sat in the MA's cockpit, filled with the sound of alarms.

He forcibly stabilized the MA's flight posture, dragging the heavily smoking MA and preparing for a crash landing.

"It's over, Flag-"

"Rumble~"

Just as Cruze was about to deliver the finishing blow to the MA, a beam of energy erupted from the ground not far from Cruze, breaking through the ore layer.

Accompanied by the booming sound of collapsing mine rocks, a snow-white battleship with dazzling red light interspersed shot out from the dust.

"A battleship... inside a colony...?"

Kira sat in the Strike Gundam, staring blankly at the screen.

A flagship, three hundred meters long, was in the city he lived in.

Its immense size and unprecedented appearance left Kira dumbfounded.

"What a tenacious bunch!"

Cruze's rhythm was disrupted by the sudden appearance of the battleship, forcing him to cease his attack on the MA.

"Bang bang bang~"

As if noticing the ZAFT MS, the battleship's tail opened its cannons, and several missiles flew towards Cruze's Gou.

Cruze frowned as he watched the missiles track him, firing at them with his gun while piloting the MS backward.

A single MS couldn't possibly take down a space battleship.

"Boom boom boom~"

After shooting down some of the tracking missiles, Cruze turned and hid behind the main axis supporting the entire colony.

The missiles couldn't react in time and hit the main axis, exploding. The ground groaned and shook.

While the Gou evaded the battleship's attack, Kira, piloting the Strike Gundam, turned towards Akatsuki Industries and found the trailer that had been forced to stop due to the attack.

"The weapon... is this what they mean?"

Kira wanted to ask the female soldier, but she was lying motionless on the cockpit floor.

Feeling the colony shake violently, Kira bit his lip and decided to assemble the weapon directly based on the data on the screen, strapping on the backpack labeled 'Heavy Attack Equipment.'

At the same time, due to the previous circumstances, the large, long gun barrel and vulcan cannon had already been assembled, so Kira directly mounted them on the Gundam's back.

As the energy pipes were connected, the Strike Gundam's left shoulder mounted the 320mm Hyper Impulse Cannon "Enshin."

The right shoulder was equipped with both a 120mm Anti-ship Vulcan Cannon and a 350mm Artillery Cannon.

Both were heavy attack equipment with extremely powerful firepower.

"I won't let you show off! Die right here!"

On the other side, Cruze, having just escaped the tracking missiles, turned his head and saw the Strike Gundam equipped with weapons. Seeing the menacing muzzles, Cruze raised his weapon and fired at the Strike Gundam.

"Rumble~"

However, due to gravity, Cruze's first two shots had a slight error, hitting the truck behind the Strike Gundam instead.

The intense flames instantly engulfed the Strike Gundam, causing Cruze to lose track of the Gundam's exact location.

"Beep beep beep~!"

Suddenly, just as Cruze was about to launch an indiscriminate attack, a piercing alarm sounded in the cockpit.

Without hesitation, Cruze flipped to evade.

However, halfway through his rotation, a devastating energy beam erupted from the sea of flames.

Cruze, who had already sensed it, dodged in advance but still had his left arm severed by the massive beam.

Simultaneously, the beam's power, undiminished, shot straight towards the inner wall of the colony.

Under the immense attack force, the colony's surface began to glow white-hot, the entire outer shell peeled back, revealing a gaping hole. Through the opening, one could even see asteroids drifting in space.

"This... how could this happen..."

Seeing the consequences he had caused, Kira's face turned ashen, and he froze in the pilot's seat.

This was just an MS, how could it possess such terrifying firepower...

Seeing that the weapon in his hands was too powerful, Kira immediately lost the will to fight and could only watch as the damaged enemy machine turned and escaped through the hole it had just blasted.

Noer was unaware of the situation outside. Although the violent tremors continued, Noer stated he wasn't panicked at all.

No matter how much it exploded, the ship he was on was unlikely to blow up.

If he were to panic now, it would be about another problem: 'Question: How can a ZAFT soldier survive on an Earth Alliance battleship?'

"Rumble~"

[Alert Level Increased to 10!]

[This shelter may be launched as an escape pod. All residents, please remain seated and do not move····]

As the tremors intensified, Heliopolis's shelter alert level rose to maximum.

"Is there a war again...?"

"Aren't we a neutral country? Why is ZAFT attacking us?"

"Damn Coordinators!"

"They're attacking a neutral country! Damn Coordinators! Damn ZAFT! Damn PLANT!"

"This is outrageous! They're attacking even neutral countries!"

"..."

Inside the escape pod, those who heard the news cursed angrily, filling the air with resentment towards ZAFT and PLANT.

Noer, sitting in the pod, quietly shut his mouth. If only these people knew I was the one who led Captain Cruze here...

"Dad..."

Across from him, Flay, wearing a pink dress, gripped her hands tightly and murmured anxiously.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

About ten minutes later.

"BOOM~!"

[Forced Ejection! Executing!]

The escape pod suddenly vibrated violently.

Accompanied by a strong push and a feeling of weightlessness.

Heliopolis, like a seeding machine, launched white escape pods in all directions.

"Cap... Captain..."

On the space battleship, Addis watched the scene of Heliopolis falling and couldn't help but stand up, looking anxiously at Captain Cruze.

A colony satellite had just vanished.

Cruze stood by the battleship's window, silently observing the scattered escape pods. No one knew what he was thinking.

I... I didn't pad the word count, did I?