Those Sheltered by Darkness Have Also Lost the Right to Walk the Path of Light

"Mayu?"

Shin Asuka stared blankly at the battered machine he had struck.

Tears slipped from his eyes without him realizing it.

"No, that's not it. She's already dead... dead..."

Shin Asuka kept denying the thought in his mind.

Yet that voice, as if it were an illusion, continued echoing through his head.

Mayu's face surfaced in his mind, her innocent smile striking relentlessly at his heart.

Beep, beep, beep—

Boom—

The alarm and the violent impact of the machine's explosion snapped Asuka back to his senses.

"Shin! What are you doing?!"

Lunamaria could not help shouting at Shin Asuka, who had remained there without reacting.

If she had not arrived in time, Asuka would have been in danger just now.

"Luna..."

Shin Asuka blankly looked toward the Impulse Gundam.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! Don't lose focus!"

Luna was furious when she heard Shin Asuka's voice.

Going idle in the middle of a battlefield—was he trying to get himself killed?!

"I..."

Shin Asuka wanted to say something more.

But when he looked at his hands, he discovered that they had begun trembling at some point.

His hands gripped the controls, but he could not make himself pilot the machine.

It was as though his body resisted using the Destiny Gundam.

"Shin?"

Lunamaria also noticed Shin Asuka's abnormal state at that moment.

Seeing Shin Asuka's lifeless eyes on the screen, Luna did not know what to do either.

"I... I don't know."

Shin Asuka felt as though his mind had become a complete mess.

Why had he heard that voice? Why was the voice of someone clearly dead appearing beside him? Why were his hands trembling because of killing? Why was his body stiffening because of killing—

Pew—

Suddenly, at that moment, a beam shot in from afar.

It