Chapter 288 - 289: Kira... You’re Hurting Me...

Chapter 288: Chapter 289: Kira... You’re Hurting Me...

Miguel’s specialty tactic was, in essence, the hit-and-run strike after a high-speed dash.

It was precisely this elusiveness, plus that orange-yellow machine, that had earned him the name "Magic Bullet of Dusk."

Though his machine had been optimized for mobility, under the four wired gunbarrels of the Astray Blue Frame—and the Blue Frame’s own attacks—he still couldn’t pull off a retreat.

"Kira, the Blitz and the Buster are moving to flank the Archangel’s engine nozzles."

"Oh no!"

The thought of Flay aboard the Archangel left Kira restless and on edge.

Inori had already laid the data out for her, yet she hadn’t noticed—she’d needed Inori to point it out!

Dearka’s Buster was setting up its long-range cannon behind an asteroid.

If it couldn’t hit the Archangel directly, then it would wreck the Archangel’s power from behind first!

"No!"

The Strike’s Phase Shift armor rippled in the vacuum.

That was the result of the PS armor colliding with those minute meteoroids.

In this region, the PS armor had to stay active—the place was strewn with rubble, much of it tiny stones radar couldn’t even scan.

For ZAFT, post-battle maintenance was enough; but for the Archangel, which lacked a maintenance environment, such pebbles couldn’t be ignored—only that way could the Strike stay in peak condition.

"Like hell I’ll let you go!"

The Duel Gundam’s beam saber sliced in from the right.

Yzak, sent flying by the kick earlier, had been dizzy for a spell, but he was back in the fight now.

"I don’t have time for this!"

The Strike swerved aside, dodging Yzak and making for the Buster.

The Buster’s long cannon barrel had already locked on; the sniping shot could come at any moment.

But wouldn’t you know it, the Laurasia-class on the other side also loosed missiles—and this swarm wasn’t aimed at the Archangel, but at Kira.

Kira yanked the control stick, and the Strike dodged the missile swarm by a hair’s breadth.

"Kira... you’re hurting me..."

"Sorry, Inori!"

The control stick was Inori’s hand—she really only needed to nudge it lightly to steer—but in her panic, Kira’s mind was mush.

[What a filthy line!]

[Simped to death]

[The moment I heard that line, I slammed spacebar to pause, just to read your danmaku]

[The chaos-gremlin audience, endless fun]

[What’re you looking at—you’re a chaos-gremlin too, lol]

[Hahaha]

Some viewers got completely swept up in the tense battle.

But some veteran dirty-minded gremlins hit spacebar just to start posting suggestive lines.

The battlefield didn’t stop for the audience’s pauses.

In that instant the Buster suddenly swung its muzzle around, taking aim at the Strike.

Yes—the Buster’s target, from the very start, had never been the Archangel, but the Strike!

The four G-units’ sole objective was to shoot down the Strike!

"Lateral thrusters, output one hundred fifty percent."

Inori forcibly overloaded the Aile Striker’s thrusters, shifting the Strike sideways.

It was only a few meters, but it let the sniper shot graze past the Strike.

"Vertical burst."

After the sideways shift, the Aile Striker’s nozzles pivoted again, and the machine looped behind the Blitz Gundam along a trajectory that defied physics.

A beam pierced the Blitz’s left shoulder, and the Blitz’s Mirage Colloid System flickered violently.

"How did you know?!"

Nicol was stunned.

While Dearka sniped, Nicol had quietly cloaked and crept up beside the Strike.

Even with Mirage Colloid running, the Blitz had still been spotted by the Strike!

"Obviously—because the spaceborne dust and meteoroids around you are being pushed aside."

Nicol hadn’t spoken over the open channel, yet Inori knew what he’d said anyway.

Not that Nicol could hear Inori, either.

And in that moment, Kira finally snapped out of her daze.

From dodging the Buster to backstabbing the Blitz—it had all been Inori standing in for her.

Inori still couldn’t override Kira to control the Gundam directly, but as a Fatima, she had a protocol for protecting her master. Just now Kira had clearly been in a "dazed" state, which had granted Inori full control.

Only, that authority was a temporary grant—strictly a "special-case measure"—so once Kira came to, control had already been returned to her.

"Sorry, Inori..."

Kira couldn’t think about anything more.

"I knew it—I still have to rely on myself!"

The Duel Gundam’s charge had arrived.

Yzak’s beam saber sheared through the barrel of the Strike’s Launcher Striker!

The Strike lost its balance again.

"They’re even stronger than before!"

Kira realized these ZAFT pilots had grown even stronger than last time!

"Don’t think it’s over yet!"

Yzak roared, the Duel Gundam’s head Vulcans spraying wildly.

Kira instantly released the Launcher Striker’s lock; the Strike lightened, and she dodged Yzak’s spray.

"Aegis—the Scylla’s about to fire."

Inori warned again.

"Don’t forget about me!"

The Aegis Gundam had already shifted into Mobile Armor Mode.

The attacks from Athrun’s squad came wave after wave.

In their earlier battles, they’d rehearsed this countless times!

"In your dreams!"

But just then, a red flash came rushing in from the side.

"Athrun! The red machine’s coming for you!" Olor’s voice suddenly came through.

"So fast!"

The Red Frame swung its anti-ship sword and nearly collided with the Aegis; luckily Athrun transformed in time and finally evaded.

"And over here!"

The Buster took aim at this spot.

"Dearka! Don’t fire!"

Athrun’s warning was half a second too late. The Buster’s muzzle spewed a lethal torrent of light—but before it could fully discharge, a beam from a suddenly appearing wired gunbarrel bored clean through the muzzle.

"Well, well—made it just in time."

Mu let out a breath.

Speed was likewise the Astray’s strong suit.

"Mu-san! Cagalli! How did you two get here?! What about the Archangel?!" Kira asked, startled.

"Don’t worry—it’s fine for now!"

On the viewers’ screens, the battlefield cut once more to the other side, a few minutes earlier.

After forcing Miguel back, Mu had immediately noticed Cagalli over here.

It was precisely because Cagalli had held off three GINNs that Mu got his one-on-one opening.

"Cagalli-san! Move!" Mu’s voice and four green beams arrived at once.

The Red Frame seized the fleeting gap and pulled back; an instant later a GINN was hit.

While the pilots of the other two GINNs hesitated, Cagalli surged forward again and took out another one in front. The last GINN, sensing disaster, immediately retreated.

"Nice teamwork, Mu-san!"

Cagalli grew excited.

"Gotcha!"

The Nazca-class warship, after launching one surprise salvo, had hidden behind a satellite fragment, joining the Laurasia-class on the other flank to besiege the Archangel from both sides.

But the retreating GINN’s position exposed the Nazca-class’s coordinates precisely.

"Murrue! Hard to port, seventy degrees! Lohengrin!"

Mu just called Murrue by name outright.

"Positron cannon, ready!"

The moment she heard Mu’s voice, Murrue didn’t hesitate for a second and brought the Lohengrin online.

The Lohengrin positron blaster cannon’s red torrent grazed the asteroid, tore through the rock cover, then punched through one side of the Nazca-class, touching off an explosion.

The Nazca-class went into emergency damage control, losing combat capability.

And just then, Mu and Cagalli both suddenly received a message from Inori, which was what had sent them rushing over to help.

"Now’s the moment!"

Meanwhile, on the other side, Creuset’s ship and another Laurasia-class suddenly emerged from below—during the earlier fierce fighting, they’d circled around to the Archangel’s underside!