Chapter 279 - 280: So We’re in Phase Two Now

Chapter 279: Chapter 280: So We’re in Phase Two Now

"Just as planned."

Seeing Athrun and the others’ choice on the screen, Director Lacia... ah, the esteemed songstress Yuzuriha Inori-san finally let the weight lift from her heart.

There’d been a few surprises, but on the whole it was within expectations.

Still just a little short.

For now, going by the current trend, the amount of "plot" she could influence was steadily growing.

She couldn’t change the grand course of events yet, but she’d already changed plenty.

Having "planted" the seed of the AI as well, there were now even more places she could interfere.

"But to influence the big trends, that’d probably be around... Alaska... no, a bit earlier... Orb? Is there a way to move it up even more?"

The Archangel’s "flight" couldn’t be altered.

But Inori could control and influence what happened during that flight.

Making the Archangel counterattack PLANT, though—that she couldn’t do.

Still, this world itself was quite "loose." As long as she laid enough groundwork and waited for the right future, she just might be able to pull something like that off.

For now, to achieve a change on the scale of "making the Archangel counterattack PLANT," going by the original script’s timeline, she probably wouldn’t be able to manage it until around the Orb arc.

Of course, that was only in theory—because a thing like that still needed a "reason."

Without a reason, Murrue and the others would only find the whole idea baffling.

To convince a change into being, Inori had to accomplish three things: convince the audience, convince the script, and convince the "actors."

So being a director was pretty exhausting, really.

The third clash—Athrun and the others were clearly tougher to deal with than before.

Earlier, Kira had been dominating all four of them. But now it had turned into a stalemate.

Of course, that was partly because Kira had launched in a hurry.

"Damn it, the Archangel!"

Kira looked toward the Archangel over there.

Right now the Archangel really was barely holding on.

ZAFT’s strategy was working.

With Inori coasting, the situation had begun sliding toward one more favorable to ZAFT.

"Inori!"

"Mm."

"What should I do?!"

Her strength had gone up, but Kira wasn’t a warrior at heart, and now she was starting to panic.

"Kira, you can dig into your own power," Inori said.

"My own power?"

"Mm. Your power, Kira. The potential everyone can possess."

—The power of SEED.

The power to enter SEED mode.

In the SEED world, if the conditions were met, everyone could in fact "burst" into SEED mode.

It was just that the conditions weren’t easy to meet.

"But I can’t do it..."

Kira gripped the controls.

"Damn it..."

Meanwhile the four outside were drenched in sweat.

They’d clearly gotten stronger, yet that Strike was still like a monster—they couldn’t land a single hit.

Of course, with the AI assist, they could at least keep from being instantly killed by the Strike now.

[Suffering and lost on one hand, slaughtering everything on the other]

[Isn’t this just Amuro—yelling that he’s scared while carving through them like vegetables?]

[Our girl Kira’s a real gangster—ruthless, not much of a talker]

[Actually she talks a lot]

[Poor Kira, come here into my arms]

"I can hook into the Black Monolith to enhance the computation," Inori said. "But I’ll need permission to access other people’s electronic equipment."

"That Black Monolith?"

Kira thought of the thing that had shown up before.

"Yes. The Black Monolith houses a quantum computer of extraordinary spec. In a sense, I’m also the Black Monolith’s humanoid interface."

"Wh—what?!"

Kira, in the middle of combat, was a little short on brainpower.

"humanoid_Interface_Element—a humanoid Interface Element."

"Anyway—that thing can help me beat them, right?!"

"Yes."

"Then hook it up!"

"Understood."

The new computing power began linking in.

It wasn’t that she was holding back—it was that the current Kira couldn’t keep up with the quantum computer’s speed, and Inori didn’t boost her by much.

Even a Coordinator had limits.

The Kira who would one day enter SEED mode was another matter, but the Kira of now couldn’t do it.

"What’s going on?!"

"The Strike’s movements—they’ve changed again?!"

The Strike’s earlier movements had followed a discernible pattern.

But now all of the Strike’s movements had become bizarre.

It was as if it had lost control—up one moment, down the next.

Like a child scribbling at random.

Yet this erratic Strike had become even harder to handle, and the Duel’s arms were sliced clean off!

Yzak only reacted after both arms were gone, hastily backing away.

[Phase two]

[Should be phase three]

[This is during the transition cutscene]

[That black coffin is actually that powerful?!]

[Don’t tell me that thing is Inori’s true body?]

[Why doesn’t the real world have quantum computers this amazing]

[Do you even hear yourself?]

"The GAT-X105 Strike?"

At this point Rau Le Creuse had appeared behind them in his CGUE, but he didn’t rashly approach.

Any closer, and Mu would sense him.

More crucially, though Le Creuse hadn’t been locked on, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the Strike had somehow noticed him.

"This has already surpassed the domain of ’humanity.’ The source of this power—could it be... the technology once sealed away at Mendel? I thought that was a rumor. Something like that—could it really have existed?"

Even an Ultimate Coordinator couldn’t do something like this.

From surveilling Heliopolis all the way to this battle now... no, earlier than that.

From the moment that ZAFT fleet brought the Black Monolith out of Mendel.

"Doctor Ulen Hibiki—is this the thing you sealed away?"

The situation on the field was grim.

Cagalli had been the first to leave the battlefield, but she’d successfully bought the Archangel time.

On the other side, Mu was gradually getting used to the Blue Frame. His MS combat experience was less than Miguel’s, but the Blue Frame itself still outperformed a GINN—even Miguel’s custom GINN was no match for an Astray prototype.

The Archangel was coming about too, clearly having fully recovered its combat stance.

Le Creuse caught the scent of danger.

After seeing the Buster crippled by the Strike’s controlled bursts, Le Creuse finally gave the order: "Withdraw."

ZAFT fired a signal flare.

"Damn it!"

Once the group made it back to the fleet, Yzak nearly hurled his helmet to the floor.

"That Strike—what was that last move about?!"

"The AI..." Athrun murmured. "We have AI assist, so the Strike must have AI support too."

"This technology is powerful. If the Alliance has really gotten hold of it..."

Nicol felt a chill of dread.

"Which is all the more reason we can’t let the Legged Ship escape!" Yzak said.

"—Indeed." Le Creuse had come into the locker room too. "So we’ll need reinforcements, and a system upgrade..."

(They even made a Kira version of this set...)