Chapter 297 - 298: ZAFT Wants a Fight, and So Does the Audience!

Chapter 297: Chapter 298: ZAFT Wants a Fight, and So Does the Audience!

After Athrun and Cagalli served up a round of couple’s PDA, this episode had at last reached its ending.

But no sooner had the on-screen PDA wrapped up than someone off-screen started dishing out their own.

"Isn’t this a special commemorative tournament? You’re not entering, Hiroto?" Mukai Hinata asked Kuga Hiroto, her childhood friend walking beside her.

"I’d originally planned to enter the competition with a new Gunpla, but I just don’t have any good ideas."

The two were walking along the road toward the main venue.

This time GBN 2.0 had skipped several version numbers and jumped straight to 2.0; not only had they invited the Champion for an exhibition match, they’d also launched a brand-new 2.0 launch tournament.

Kuga Hiroto had wanted to enter, but so far he still didn’t have any good ideas.

And just at this time, Mukai Hinata had won a pair of tickets to the main venue.

Because it was a two-person ticket, she’d invited Kuga Hiroto.

"I hear this time’s a bit different from before? It’s a VR game?" Mukai Hinata asked.

"Mm, GBN isn’t like GPD (Gunpla Duel); it takes place inside a fully holographic world. And it’s incredibly lifelike; they say in version 2.0 it’s even more special."

"I see..." Mukai Hinata didn’t understand a word of it. "Then for someone like me to go to the launch event, isn’t it kind of a waste?"

"Of course not. The previous operators had no clue what they were doing; this time I hear they’ve brought in a new operating team," Kuga Hiroto said hurriedly. "And I hear there’s a match with the Champion this time—that part, you should be able to follow."

"Mm!"

Mm, that’s right; the client had already kicked out the old operations team...

As for the content of the GBN launch event, Mukai Hinata, an outsider, was a total novice, but when the exhibition match began, she finally perked up.

"So this must be the part Hiroto said even I could follow..."

The sea of stars shattered into countless flecks of light amid a torrent of particles.

The shield edge of the Gundam AGEII Magnum grazed past a piece of satellite wreckage as the machine arrived in this region of space.

The spectator stands immediately erupted into a tremendous cheer, chanting "Champion!"

And on the other side, a black GINN slowly appeared on screen as well.

"There sure are a lot of changes after 2.0."

This match employed a dual perspective: on one hand you could see the big screen, and on the other, there was also the view inside Kujo Kyoya’s cockpit.

Compared with the "original version," this GBN 2.0 had introduced an AI system and upgraded the entire control interface and UI logic.

"Here it comes!"

Hiroto stared without blinking at... the small screen.

"Target locked." With the mechanical voice of the AI assist system, the black silhouette three kilometers out abruptly zoomed in on the monitor.

"Just as I thought—it’s exactly like in the anime."

Though it was an exhibition match, the officials hadn’t told Kujo Kyoya anything about his opponent beforehand.

Just as Kujo Kyoya began to observe, the black GINN’s crimson single-eye monitor abruptly turned toward him.

Even though they were separated by a perfectly safe distance, the instant that mechanical eye fixed on him, an icy chill shot up his spine.

It wasn’t that the opponent’s strength was so overwhelming.

It was just that he, as the Champion pilot, felt in this moment a sensation of being completely seen through.

"Oh? Striking first, are we?"

On the small screen, Kujo Kyoya’s eyes reflected the overwhelming mass of ballistic prediction lines splayed across the display.

The black GINN attacked first, firing two missiles.

"How interesting. But right now, I’m the more nimble one!"

Kujo Kyoya hadn’t been scared off by that earlier sensation.

On the contrary, for the Champion, this was precisely where the greatest challenge lay, and he was brimming with anticipation for this match.

He’d done plenty of homework beforehand and knew the GINN’s performance like the back of his hand.

There was no way a machine like that could beat the AGEII Magnum.

So Kujo Kyoya reckoned the opponent’s output must have been boosted somehow.

Data could only serve as a reference.

The AGEII Magnum’s thrusters abruptly burst into a violent tail-flame, and the machine lunged forward in an inertia-defying right-angle dash.

This "ultra-light" Gundam, spec’d at a mere twenty-nine tons, was vastly more agile than the black GINN across from it.

Predicting the black GINN’s missiles was all but impossible—you only had to look at those densely packed prediction lines to know it.

"You want to close in too?"

The black GINN was at this moment bearing straight in toward Kujo Kyoya as well.

After shaking off the attack, Kujo Kyoya raised his Hyper DODS Rifle Magnum.

But the charging black GINN slid sideways three body-lengths, causing Kujo Kyoya’s attack to miss.

Then the black GINN’s MA-M3 Heavy Blade cleaved through the line of fire and came driving straight at Kujo Kyoya.

"If I can’t read its trajectory, then I’ll just defend!"

He used the Shiguru Shield to block the black GINN’s attack head-on.

But all of a sudden, Kujo Kyoya’s pupils shrank, he slammed the control stick to its limit, and the machine’s shoulder armor scraped past two missiles coming in from behind.

—Behind him, those two missiles he’d shaken off earlier were somehow still there!

"BOOM!"

Though he’d dodged the missiles again, the missiles were then detonated outright!

The blast wave slammed precisely into the joint’s drive shaft.

"Trying to restrict my movement, are you?"

—No, it was to create an opening for the Heavy Blade to strike!

When the Magnum’s left shoulder armor erupted with a bang, only then did Kujo Kyoya realize the opponent had predicted every one of his evasion paths.

"It seems I underestimated the AI!"

Kujo Kyoya immediately activated the AGEII Magnum’s four F Funnels.

These were his true weapons!

In this instant, the entire region of space seemed to be drawn into a precision killing matrix.

A death spiral formed of the F Funnels began its assault on the black GINN.

But the black GINN merely raised its left arm, and the muzzle of its MMI-M8A3 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun suddenly spat out a short burst.

Three seemingly offhand rounds struck precisely at the seams of the F Funnels’ power cores, setting off explosions.

"2.0... this is a fully realistic simulation!" Over here, Kuga Hiroto had caught on too.

This was a fully realistic simulated world, and what’s more... it was even more fascinating than before!

"The ammunition’s custom-made?!"

And on the other side, Kujo Kyoya sensed something in that instant too.

The opponent’s ammunition had clearly been enhanced—precisely to counter his F Funnels!

Amid the flames of the explosion, the GINN’s rear thrusters likewise cranked to maximum output, rushing right up in front of the AGEII Magnum.

The Heavy Blade’s swing, combined with the accelerating GINN, was faster than before.

The AGEII Magnum barely managed to bring up its lance in time to parry the opponent’s attack.

But then the Heavy Blade suddenly relented, and the AGEII Magnum, thrown off balance, was shoved forward all at once by its own thrusters.

"Not good!"

The sideways turn left it wide open!

Kujo Kyoya instantly corrected his posture, but a salvo from the four-tube missile launcher was already bearing down on him!

At the last possible moment, Kujo Kyoya deployed his shield, finally blocking the attack.

"Then I’ll fight at range!"

If close combat wasn’t working, then he’d just switch back to ranged combat!