"Yo, yo, yo, looking pretty pathetic there, Gundam Rasiel pilot. I'm Michael Trinity, pilot of the Throne Gundam Zwei, remember that!"
With that self-introduction, Michael brazenly charged into the swarm of [GN-X]s, the eight GN Fangs on his legs flying out, drifting like falling petals, slashing, stabbing, and firing beams of light.
At that moment, the spider and the butterfly had switched roles, the eight GN Fangs like the spider's eight sharp, long legs, piercing and hunting the [GN-X]s scattering and fleeing in the air.
"Hora, hora, hora! Hurry up and run! Grunts! Hahahaha..."
"That brat..." Yang Hui, watching Michael go berserk, had a headache and immediately connected to the Throne Gundam Zwei's comms.
"That's enough, kid, retreat now."
"Huh? Don't order me around. You're the one looking pathetic, what a disgrace!"
Yang Hui: (-`ェ-╬)
If they weren't still in danger, and if he wasn't exhausted after fighting for over a dozen hours, and if the Gundam Rasiel wasn't so damaged, Yang Hui would have turned him into a human-shaped stick right then and there, to let him experience a taste of the real world.
"Have fun playing, I'm retreating first."
With that, the Gundam Rasiel turned and left, ignoring the Throne Gundam Zwei's continued antics.
If his guess was correct, Sachez was the commander solely responsible for capturing the Gundam Rasiel. Now that Sachez had escaped, the entire unit's command system was in chaos. Kati would definitely regain command, and then it would be questionable whether the Throne Gundam Zwei could even escape.
"Tch, coward." Michael sneered triumphantly, pretending not to see the wreckage scattered on the ground, seeing only the damaged Gundam Rasiel and Yang Hui's pathetic state, retreating with his help.
"Michael." Michael wanted to continue his rampage, but Johann Trinity connected to his comms.
"Johann, bro."
"Is the mission complete?"
"Of course, it is. The Gundam Rasiel's pilot has fled in disgrace."
"We've completed our side too. Retreat immediately."
"Eh? I haven't had enough fun yet!"
"Execute the order. We are Gundam Meisters."
"...Roger." Michael was annoyed, but he still listened to his older brother, and could only harvest one last wave of prey before heading towards the rendezvous point.
...
After using the GN MEGA Launcher to open a path for retreat, the Throne Gundam Eins and Drei disconnected. The Eins continued to use its long-range GN Cannon for remote sniping, not only tearing the breach wider but also pushing back the enemies entangled with the Gundam Exia, Gundam Dynames, and Gundam Kyrios.
"[Celestial Being] Gundam Meisters, respond if you hear!"
"This is Gundam Dynames, who are you?" Neil connected to the comms, seizing the opportunity for the five Gundams to break through the gap together.
"We are the Gundam Meisters of the Throne Gundams. Now is not the time to chat, retreat immediately."
"Understood, thanks for the support."
After the communication ended, Johann contacted Nena in the Drei: "Nena, GN Particle maximum dispersion, evacuate the current airspace."
"Got it, GN Particle maximum dispersion!"
The Throne Gundam Drei rose into the air, all six large verniers on its body emitting a bright red light, high-concentration GN Particles gushing out, like six scarlet wings opening, the scarlet light directly covering the entire exercise area.
"Invisibility field, deploy!"
...
"You're saying new Gundams appeared?" Kati asked in shock.
"Yes, because of enemy reinforcements, the main force failed to capture the Gundam."
"Failed... how could..." Kati's shock wasn't about the Gundam capture failing. According to the planned scenario, the Gundam's chance of successfully breaking through was still over 40%, so the plan had the possibility of failure.
What truly shocked her was the newly appeared Gundams. There was no information about new Gundams in VEDA's database. Where did they come from?
"Could they have been secretly built? Is information being withheld?"
The moment this thought appeared, Kati discarded it. Even if they were secretly built as a trump card, the information would still be uploaded to VEDA's database, and as one of the monitors specially recruited by Yang Hui, she had extremely high access privileges. This kind of information wouldn't be withheld from her.
"Red GN Particles... a completely different design style... wait! Could it be!" Kati thought of what Yang Hui had told them, that the [Celestial Being] organization had a traitor, and about the second phase of the first stage plan, "So, they were the catalysts that existed in the plan's assumptions, has the second phase started already?"
"Colonel!"
"What is it?"
"The interference area for two-way communication is expanding rapidly."
"Tch, do these Gundams also have the ability to disperse GN Particles over a wide area? This is really troublesome..." Kati thought to herself.
"Right now, there's no way to lock onto the Gundams except with visual observation!"
"I know that! Send out the reserve communications unit, contact the main force immediately, and begin a full retreat!"
"Colonel!"
"Communication is being obstructed, we can't contact the units. The performance and capabilities of the newly appeared Gundams are unknown. If we fail to capture the Gundam, we've lost our chance. Full retreat!"
"...Understood."
Everyone in the command room felt unwilling. They were so close to success. The invincible Gundams had been dragged down from their pedestal by their efforts. All those who participated in the operation and survived would be heroes of their respective countries, and with the Gundams, the technological level of each country would rapidly improve.
All of this was so close, but in just a short moment, the beautiful dream had been shattered.
...
"Colonel!" With the sudden change in the situation, and the Gundams having broken through and left, Peries couldn't worry about anything else and came to Sergei's side.
"Orderly retreat!" Sergei commanded.
"Colonel, let me pursue them. Now, if we..."
"It's useless. The operation has failed. The newly appeared Gundams are still a mystery, and the communication obstruction range is expanding. We can't contact friendly units, we can only retreat."
"But..."
"That's an order!"
"...Understood."
"Second phase... it seems the traitor has finally begun to act." Sergei thought to himself, taking one last look at the sky dyed red, confirming his suspicions.
...
"Damn it! Randy, Stuart, Richter... I will avenge you." Graham, with his remaining forces, also retreated towards the fleet.
Joshua was careless and sought his own death, so being killed was his own fault.
But the others were basically killed by the Throne Gundams' sneak attacks, and he also guessed the meaning of these unusual GN Particles, the completely different style of Gundams, were from a traitor within [Celestial Being].
The [Celestial Being] forces were comrades leading the way for change, so he couldn't bring himself to attack them, but the traitors, he didn't need to hold back. He would avenge his fallen teammates.
(End of Chapter)