After a brief maintenance, the Dawn Gundam and Samurai Gundam had regained their basic combat capabilities, just as the Diva charged into the Anbat Fortress for landing.
"Flit!"
"Leave it to me!"
The Gundam AGE-1 switched to Valiant Equipment, using maximum output power to forcefully open the door blocking everyone's path. Although the Valiant Equipment was destroyed along with the Anbat door, it was worth it.
"Everyone, charge in!"
With Grudick's command, the crew of the Diva, armed with firearms, followed Grudick into the Anbat Fortress.
"Woolf, Lagan, I'm counting on you for the Diva. Flit, switch to standard equipment and join us in breaching the fortress to eliminate the MS units inside and head straight for Anbat's power system!" Yang Hui instructed.
"Understood!" XN
...
"The Psycho Helmet that can maximize the potential of the X-Potential Field, to what extent can it help me combat a true X-Rounder…" Ark Dorell slowly maneuvered the oddly shaped Difas through the interior of Anbat.
Since Nora, the three Gundams—from Nora to Fardin and then to Minslie—had repeatedly thwarted his plans, he felt an unprecedented sense of urgency, a threat that UE posed to the Federal Army that had never been felt before.
Moreover, with the large mothership Fah Bausser destroyed and Desil's death, Ark Dorell understood that the outcome of this battle was likely grim.
Yet, despite this, he did not request reinforcements from his country, nor did he lead the remaining troops to retreat.
Firstly, there were too many secrets in his country that could not be discovered by the Federal Army, and he could not bring the three Gundams, whose combat capabilities were still unknown, into his homeland; secondly, all the members who participated in the early battles were carefully selected elites, not only highly capable but also fervently devoted to their leader's ideals, having long since disregarded life and death.
At the same time, Ark Dorell received orders from his leader: since their identities could no longer be hidden, they should create a grand stage for their official appearance.
"Where exactly… Gundam… wait, if their target is the power system…"
...
The three Gundams advanced along the E14 route without encountering any enemies.
"How strange, why isn't there a single enemy?" Flit asked, as it was reasonable to expect a large number of enemy units to intercept them.
"It's indeed too quiet. Flit, be careful." Graham also noticed that something was off and reminded him.
"Understood!"
"We're about to reach the power system. Once we breach, spread out immediately."
"Oh? I see, understood." Graham immediately grasped the implication in Yang Hui's words; Flit, lacking in tacit understanding and experience, had not immediately comprehended it.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think the enemy will do once they learn our target?" Yang Hui countered Flit.
"You mean… the enemy has already deployed heavy forces at the power system waiting for us? Isn't that dangerous?" Flit began to understand, worry creeping in.
At this moment, he had not lost Yurin, nor had he experienced significant life-and-death separations; he had Yang Hui and Graham protecting and caring for him along the way, and he was not as impulsive and reckless as in the original storyline.
"There aren't many enemies left, and the power system is our necessary target, we can't avoid it. Everyone, be careful, don't get destroyed."
"Understood." X2
Through the maze-like dark passages, the three Gundams finally found light, entering a relatively vast space, which was indeed where the power system of the Anbat Fortress was located.
As expected, the moment the three Gundams emerged, they were met with a barrage of fire.
"Spread out!"
As they entered the power room, the three machines simultaneously spread out, attacking the MS inside from three different directions. The Samurai Gundam danced like a butterfly through the rain of bullets, leaving a brilliant red light with each MS it passed, before the MS split in half and fell to the ground.
Gundam AGE-1 shielded itself with its chest plate, and Flit once again entered that mysterious state, as if he could see the future of the enemies. Following his instincts, he pulled the trigger, hitting every shot—unflashy but deadly.
The other minor enemies were left to Samurai Gundam and Gundam AGE-1, while Dawn Gundam targeted Ark Dorell's Difas.
"Damn X-Rounder!"
The Difas unleashed a torrent of fire, showing no regard for the surrounding power system or allies. He only wanted to destroy Dawn Gundam and kill Yang Hui, as the threat posed by Yang Hui was simply too great—his exceptional piloting skills, suspected powerful X-Rounder abilities, and extraordinary research capabilities; each aspect alone was enough to give them headaches.
But one or two strong individuals would not be taken seriously; this was war, and when has war ever been decided by just a few people?
However, what frightened Ark Dorell the most about Yang Hui was that he was not only powerful himself but could also empower those around him.
Look at this joint fleet; not to mention the Diva, Zalam and Auba, two private military organizations that had previously been easily manipulated, now possessed the capability to resist them, and this transformation was completed in just a month—how could anyone accept that?
"I'm not an X-Rounder, don't attribute all powerful technology to X-Rounder abilities, you fool!" Hearing Ark Dorell's complaints over the public frequency, Yang Hui couldn't help but curse.
"Stop talking nonsense! How could someone who isn't an X-Rounder possess such great power?"
In the brief exchange, the Difas had already been hit by several shots from Dawn Gundam. However, the Difas was originally a heavy firepower MA designed for ground use, equipped with super strong Electromagnetic Armor that MS did not possess, and thus it was not destroyed.
"Tch, a turtle shell? Then I'll pry you open!"
Seeing that the Beam Rifle and Beam Cannon could not inflict effective damage on the Difas, Dawn Gundam directly discarded its dual guns, drawing out the Super Beam Saber to meet the barrage from the Difas. In the gaps, it maneuvered to the front of the Difas.
"What!?"
As Ark Dorell was taken aback, the Super Beam Saber sliced through the Difas's slender legs and the Beam Cannon beneath it like lightning, and with the final strike, it pierced into the chest of the Diffusion Cannon. The power system of Anbat was already on the verge of collapse and could no longer be allowed to run rampant.
Seeing that the Difas had lost its combat capability, Ark Dorell immediately activated the escape system to eject the cockpit and fled deeper into the fortress.
The other MS lying in ambush had already been destroyed. When Flit saw Ark Dorell escaping, he prepared to shoot him down, but Yang Hui stopped him.
"Calm down, Flit. The other party should be the commander of the fortress; we need him alive."
"But…" Flit was reluctant to give up; he was now somewhat blinded by rage, seeing UE so close, the emotion of hatred was consuming his rationality.
"Calm down! You and I will pursue him. Graham, this area is up to you."
"Understood." Graham replied, knowing that Yang Hui taking Flit to chase the enemy commander was pointless. He also understood Flit's hatred for UE; such emotions could not be bottled up forever and needed to be vented.
Yang Hui and Flit left their Gundams to pursue Ark Dorell, winding through many turns until they finally caught up with Ark Dorell at the command center, where they also regrouped with Grudick and others.
"Don't waste your effort." Ark Dorell said to Grudick and the others, who were forcing him to open the power furnace gate with guns, "We've long since disregarded life and death."
"Yang Hui! Flit! How did you end up here?"
"We chased all the way here." Yang Hui nodded to Grudick and the others, then looked at Ark Dorell, "So can you reveal your true face now? Ark Dorell."
"Didn't you already guess it? The young master of Yang Corporation." Saying this, Ark Dorell removed his helmet, revealing a human appearance.
"Human!?" Mireille, Adams, and Flit were shocked, not expecting that the UE, judged to be aliens, were actually humans like them.
"What? Did you think we were aliens with four heads and eight arms?"
"You certainly are! You're not human at all! No matter what you look like, you're not human!" Flit shouted angrily, thinking of his deceased family, his anger and hatred burning fiercely.
"That's not true. Although the appearance is very different, MS can determine that you are at least humanoid; otherwise, they wouldn't design the main weapon in human form. And your intelligence, the dark merchant Ark Dorell is quite active." Yang Hui pressed Flit's gun, which was about to go off.
"Yang Hui…"
"Calm down, Flit. Don't let hatred consume you."
"A good guess; indeed, you are the most dangerous enemy to us VEGAN, the greatest obstacle to Lord Ezelkanta's grand ambition." Ark Dorell said, looking at Yang Hui.
"VEGAN?"
"Hahaha… let me tell you now! What you call UE… is our true identity!"
"Survivors of the Mars colonization plan from 150 years ago."
"You really investigated it; that's right! The overpopulation of humans exceeded the Earth's capacity, prompting the government to propose the Mars colonization plan, the Mars Birthday Project. The Earth Federation experimentally established sixteen colonies in the Mars orbit and allowed some people to migrate there. At that time, the Mars orbit was seen as a vast and fertile new world, but they were wrong. The magnetic storms on Mars triggered incurable diseases, leading to a 20% mortality rate among the immigrants, and the colonization plan failed…"
"As a result… because they ultimately could not stop the spreading disease, all the immigrants died…" Mireille added, but was immediately rebutted.
"Wrong! A large number of people were left on Mars! The Earth Federation abandoned those left in the Mars orbit to conceal their own failures in surveying! Those people, while fighting against the terrifying diseases, established their own emerging nation on Mars, with the sole wish of returning to Earth—that is us, VEGAN!"
"Nonsense." Yang Hui said disdainfully.
"What do you understand!? You who live freely in the Earth sphere, can you hear our painful cries? Can you hear the souls yearning to return home…"
"There are many ways to return, but no matter how, it's not an excuse for you to indiscriminately kill the innocent. You are merely venting your hatred and incompetence!"
"Stop talking nonsense! Lord Ezelkanta's ideals are not of such a low dimension! You can't possibly understand…"
"You shut up! Bastard!" Yang Hui couldn't help but rush up and punch Ark Dorell in the face, "Whether you seek revenge or want to go home, I don't care. I just need to judge you as the enemy and eliminate you. The truth of war is simply life and death; even if one day I die on the battlefield at your hands, I will have no complaints.
But you vent your personal grievances on the defenseless innocent, which really pisses me off! Because of your incompetence, you can only act against the innocent; because of your incompetence, you can only hide! If you were really as powerful as you say, why not confront the Federation head-on and fight it out?"
"Click~"
Yang Hui chambered his handgun, aiming at Ark Dorell: "So don't use hypocritical righteousness to cover up your incompetence and cowardice; it's really disgusting."
"Then go ahead and shoot! You can't resist Lord Ezelkanta at all; our goals will ultimately be achieved—no, they must be achieved! We will transform into souls and can also return to Earth!" Ark Dorell wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, facing death calmly.
"You're thinking too much."
"Bang bang bang bang~"
To everyone's astonishment, Yang Hui fired four shots in quick succession, hitting Ark Dorell's knees and elbows, completely shattering his joints.
"Ah~!!"
"You have quite a bit of intelligence on you, and all the sins you've committed won't let you escape easily." Yang Hui said coldly, while pushing aside the person controlling the command center like a machine and inserting a data terminal into it.
"Yang Hui, what are you doing…" Flit questioned Yang Hui's actions.
"Capture him alive; he is currently the highest-ranking officer of UE… VEGAN. Both he as a person and the intelligence he possesses are very important. Captain Grudick, Flit, distinguish between priorities; this is a war…" As he spoke, the download of intelligence and data was complete, and Yang Hui withdrew the data terminal, "...this war has just begun, and it's far from over."
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