After the Full Armor Red Falcon Gundam was shot down, an eerie silence fell over the battlefield.
The four Gundams of Celestial Being and the crew of the Ptolemy II in the ocean had witnessed the entire battle between the A-Laws, Reid, and the Otherworld Entanglement Mobile Suits.
After watching, Celestial Being had only one thought: truly worthy of being SDP. Even after four years, their Mobile Suit performance remained far ahead.
As for A-Laws, despite their usual boasting and sharp effectiveness in suppressing anti-government forces, when faced with real enemies that required their intervention, they demonstrated what it meant to be "all show and no substance," directly having their spearheads hammered off.
Reid didn't know Celestial Being's thoughts, but honestly, from Reid's perspective, the A-Laws team led by Kati Mannequin was quite unlucky. This time, the invading Mobile Suits from the otherworld were mostly Gundams from the ZZ era.
UC Mobile Suits from that period were characterized by fierce firepower, high output, and excessive material stacking—each one a "dinosaur" machine, most adept at clearing mobs.
The only one with relatively weaker firepower, the Z Plus A1, was piloted by Amuro, the White Devil.
And even if Kati Mannequin's team this time consisted of elites, they were still just elite grunts.
Coupled with the Earth Federation government's hostility toward SDP and Celestial Being, forcing them to fight alone, it was no surprise they were mowed down like grass by these machines.
However, the current state of this battlefield was truly bizarre.
The A-Laws' Guyana-class Land Battleship was still playing dead on the ground, afraid that moving even an inch would draw Reid's attention and lead to its destruction due to their earlier provocation.
Reid, knowing that the Earth Federation Forces from the AD Universe were closing in, hadn't recalled the other Mobile Suits to the ship and was preparing for a second sortie, making it seem like SDP's combat mission wasn't over yet.
As for Celestial Being, they were currently very confused.
This confusion was the main reason why Celestial Being's four Gundams hadn't participated in the battle against the otherworld invasion.
They didn't know whether it was appropriate to intervene in the Otherworld Entanglement now or if they would end up causing more trouble.
Unlike four years ago, when both Sumeragi and the four Celestial Being pilots held firm beliefs and were convinced they were working to resolve Earth's conflicts, allowing them to directly decide to intervene against the Otherworld Entanglement.
But now, after the birth of the Earth Federation, conflicts on Earth hadn't decreased. Instead, after a brief period of prosperity and peace, wars in backward regions had intensified.
Thus, Sumeragi was now greatly confused. She didn't know what she should do anymore. The tactical plan she provided for this operation in the original storyline was only because the mission's purpose was to rescue Alleluia.
Later actions were mostly going with the flow, especially since, after Setsuna's exposure, Sumeragi didn't even have the possibility of temporarily staying with Billy Katagiri anymore—she had no place to call home. Moreover, A-Laws were truly inhumane, surpassing even the Titans of UC in massacring innocent civilians.
As for Setsuna at this moment, he knew he still had to fight against the distortions of the world. His goal was quite clear: to oppose A-Laws, who were carrying out massacres everywhere.
But whether this could truly sever the current distortions on Earth, Setsuna admitted he didn't know. He could only hope that the 00 Gundam he piloted would show him the answer.
As for the others, Mileina Vashti still doesn't fully understand the responsibilities she now carries.
Lyle Dylandy is currently physically with Celestial Beings but his heart remains with Pure Source.
Alleluia stated that he had just been released after four years of imprisonment mere minutes ago and currently knows nothing.
Feldt and Lasse Aeon, while not particularly confused about their current actions, don't know how to practically implement Celestial Being's ideals either - they simply see themselves as interchangeable pieces to be deployed wherever needed.
Among Celestial Beings, only Tieria has relatively clear thinking. He wants to rebuild Celestial Being and find a way to reclaim Veda, obtaining sufficient information from it to plan their next steps.
Reid actually didn't dare move recklessly while Celestial Being's Four Gundams and Ptolemy II remained stationary.
He wasn't overly concerned about the Earth Federation Forces' encirclement - even with tens of thousands of troops converging as reported by Hoshino Ruri, his forces could break through without much difficulty. Moreover, once Celestial Beings departed, he would directly return to the CE Universe, so even millions of Earth Federation troops wouldn't worry him.
But Celestial Beings couldn't be trapped here. If they got surrounded by tens of thousands of Mobile Suits, they'd be unable to escape, and his assessment mission would fail immediately.
Therefore, when Reid piloted Gundam Artemis to replenish its Funnels and set out again, only to find Celestial Being's Four Gundams still staring down his forces, he couldn't help but have Christina connect him to Celestial Being's communications, then said:
"Sumeragi Lee Noriega, you've accomplished your tactical objective. Why are you still lingering here?"
Faced with Reid's question, Sumeragi paused momentarily before countering: "Aren't you SDP doing the same? You withdrew immediately after the previous Otherworld Entanglement ended. Why not this time? Or have you discovered escaped otherworlders again?"
Upon hearing this, Reid directly transmitted the Earth Federation troop deployment data monitored by Hoshino Ruri to Ptolemy II, then coldly laughed: "Heh, the Earth Federation has sent tens of thousands to welcome my forces' return. As the guest of honor at this welcome party, I can't just leave without making an appearance. The Earth Federation is currently the largest governmental organization in the Earth Sphere - I should show them some courtesy."
When Sumeragi saw the data Reid sent, cold sweat broke out on her back. Tens of thousands of Mobile Suit units? How could they fight that? Even if not all possessed Pseudo GN Drives, the numbers alone were overwhelming. The Earth Federation was going all out to eliminate SDP, mobilizing all available Mobile Suit units and warships in the vicinity.
Sumeragi didn't need to think twice - when the Earth Federation Forces moved to encircle SDP, they would casually eliminate her four Gundams as well.
Without hesitation, she immediately said: "Reid, let's cooperate. While the Earth Federation's encirclement isn't complete yet, we still have a chance to break through in one direction."
Normally, Sumeragi's proposal would be sound. Even with Reid's forces cooperating with Celestial Beings, including the already halved drone troops in Gran Chaos, they would still be outnumbered hundreds of times over - the situation was extremely unfavorable.
But Reid, watching the World Change Fluctuation Value that had dropped back to 9.575% after the Otherworld Entanglement Mobile Suits were destroyed, planned to give the Earth Federation a "surprise."
So instead of directly answering Sumeragi's proposal, Reid used internal comms to confirm with Hoshino Ruri again:
"Liuli, are you certain the people on the list I just gave you aren't participating in this encirclement operation?"
The list Reid gave Hoshino Ruri was simple - just Louise Halevy, Graham Aker, and Sergei Smirnov.
Graham's importance was undeniable. If he were eliminated, it would significantly increase the difficulty of the final battle against the ELS.
Louise Halevy was connected to Saji Crossroad, who would help Setsuna achieve Awakening.
And Sergei Smirnov was related to whether Soma Peries would join the Celestial Beings.
Hoshino Ruri quickly replied to Reid, saying:
"None of the three on the list are participating in this operation. According to available information, Louise Halevy is still at the AEU orbital elevator, Graham under his alias 'Mister Bushido' is at a former Union military base, and Sergei Smirnov, being a senior commander, hasn't been mobilized for this encirclement."
After hearing this, Reid nodded and prepared to test how severely damaging the Earth Federation's encirclement force would affect the World Change Fluctuation Value.
Actually, Reid felt he no longer needed to be as cautious as in previous missions.
The world background between Gundam 00's first and second seasons had changed dramatically.
During the first season timeline, Reid had to act carefully, afraid that any misstep might prevent the Earth Federation from emerging as it should have.
Without the Earth Federation, this universe definitely wouldn't survive the ELS crisis.
But now it was the second season timeline, and the Earth Federation regime had stabilized over these four years.
Reid believed that as long as he didn't do something like wiping out one-third of the Earth Federation Forces, the Federation wouldn't collapse so easily.
Reid knew the Earth Federation Forces had at least 40 million troops.
Even with minimal MS forces, there should still be several hundred thousand (including non-Pseudo GN Drive units - some data suggested total MS numbers exceeded one million). After all, this was the Gundam Universe - they couldn't have 39 million infantry out of 40 million troops, with the remaining million mostly assigned to warships and only a small portion to MS forces.
So Reid thought that even if he wiped out all the forces besieging him, it wouldn't truly cripple the Earth Federation here, though it would definitely hurt them for a while.
Moreover, Reid didn't believe he could actually eliminate all these forces in one go. He hadn't brought any weapons of mass destruction - he just needed to show some muscle and make the Earth Federation hurt enough that they wouldn't dare cause trouble for him later.
So Reid instructed Hoshino Ruri again:
"Liuli, be prepared to counter Veda's electronic intrusion at any time. Ribbons must be monitoring this battle."
Hoshino Ruri showed some excitement at the mention of electronic warfare, saying:
"Don't worry, if he dares to intrude, I'll make him pay. The computing power gap isn't so big this time. Unless Veda pulls the plug again, I'll fill all his screens with cute white rabbit pictures."
Reid trusted Hoshino Ruri's electronic warfare capabilities. With no significant gap in computing power, she would definitely win.
So Reid reopened communications with the Celestial Beings and directly rejected the cooperative breakout suggestion, confidently stating:
"Miss Sumeragi, there's no need for a cooperative breakout.
"As I just said, we can't be rude when they're giving us such an enthusiastic welcome.
Have the Gundams return to the ship. They can watch our performance from the VIP seats.
Once the show is over, you can retreat safely and carefully consider what to do next."
Sumeragi immediately guessed that Reid was planning to use some large-scale destructive attack, which was why he wanted her to recall the four Gundams.
Considering SDP's technological capabilities were completely unknown, Sumeragi decided it was better to err on the side of caution. She directly ordered:
"Ptolemy II, surface. Recall the four Gundams first."
Once Sumeragi made the decision, Celestial Being's four Gundam pilots naturally had no objections.
However, before returning to the ship, Lyle Dylandy directly said to Neil over communications:
"My dear brother, I hope next time we meet you can chat with me longer. I have many things that need explanation."
Then Tieria followed up:
"Same here. We need to have a good talk. Christina, Richthofen Dahl, you two come as well."
After both finished speaking, they immediately returned to Ptolemy II. Although Setsuna and Alleluia didn't say anything at the moment, everyone knew these two would definitely join the meeting with Neil, Christina, and Richthofen Dahl later.
Reid had no intention of preventing these three from having their reunion with Celestial Being. These three knew how to keep secrets, and with the system's loyalty guarantee, Reid wasn't worried about information leaks.
After all four of Celestial Being's Gundams had returned to the ship, Reid spoke again in the team channel:
"Liuli, send out the preset attack trajectory. After the enemy forces get closer, Ange, how about performing some sword-spinning for us?"
Hearing this, Ange immediately understood Reid wanted her to use that thirty-kilometer greatsword.
Ange expressed that she hadn't had enough fun cutting up the Colony Satellite debris last time and excitedly began asking Hoshino Ruri how many enemies needed to gather around.
As for the others, Reid quickly ordered:
"Everyone else, ascend and avoid the attack trajectory Liuli provides. Our targets are the space-dropped MS forces. The numbers aren't large, targets are limited - everyone will have to rely on their own skills from here. Though the one with the least kills will receive a small punishment."
Hearing there were more targets to shoot, the rest of the team immediately ascended into the air - definitely not because everyone thought it was better to stay as far away as possible from Ice Phoenix Gundam's Junius 7 debris-cutting sword.
Just as Reid finished arranging the formation, the Earth Federation reinforcements became visible in the distance.
Countless orange pseudo GN Drive particle lights appeared from the horizon, quickly entering the surrounding 30-kilometer area.
But Ange wasn't in a hurry to use her big move. According to Hoshino Ruri's intelligence, all the surrounding forces were MS, so she planned to let more enemies gather before sweeping them away in one go.
At this moment, the approaching Earth Federation forces had no idea what they were about to face. On the ground, Kati Mannequin, still playing dead, was waiting for friendly forces to complete the encirclement so she could command the Guyana-class Land Battleship to provide fire support.
However, just as the Earth Federation MS forces were about to enter normal warship firing range, Ange moved.
With a call of "Trans-Am," Ange once again drew that large GN Beam Saber.
Soon, Ice Phoenix Gundam's GN Particles instantly filled the entire area, and the nearly 30-kilometer-long GN Particle Beam Sword reappeared.
The Earth Federation orbital forces, which had already begun their descent, were somewhat dumbfounded, as they had assumed this attack was aimed at them.
However, in the next second, the Reaper did not descend upon the orbital forces but instead fell upon their allies on the ground.
Ange knew that Trans-Am could only maintain such a terrifying output of GN Particles for a very limited time, so she immediately swung down with a single slash, then manipulated the Ice Phoenix Gundam to spin over a dozen times in place, with each rotation of the Beam Saber slightly altering its angle.
Each time the nearly 30-kilometer-long GN Particle Beam Sword swept through the Earth Federation MS forces, it triggered countless explosions.
By the time the Ice Phoenix Gundam's Trans-Am period ended, the tens of thousands of Earth Federation MS troops that had surrounded them had been reduced by at least half. The remaining MS pilots, after advancing a short distance further, began to flee frantically, clearly terrified out of their wits.
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "LegendaryTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!