The clash between Tanya's beam naginata and Samus's armored gauntlet detonated the space around them in a burst of white light.
Then everything went silent.
For Tanya von Zehrtfeld, time stopped.
The battlefield dissolved into a weightless void—a dark, endless ocean where only two lights burned: one cold, blue, mechanical; the other golden and trembling like a newborn star.
Tanya realized the flickering gold was her.
Her own presence.
Her own mind.
Her own will.
The light pulsed violently, shaking the void, distorting the edges of reality.
She clutched her head as the pain hit—psychic pressure like a spike driven between her eyes.
"Ngh… what—what is this!? Why now!?"
This wasn't like the soft resonance she'd felt in simulations or the faint hum when Char or Amuro were nearby.
This was something deeper.
Something primal.
Something awake.
A second pulse hit her—harder.
The golden light expanded, filling the void with blinding radiance.
Images flashed before her:
– Herself dying in another world.
– A god laughing.
– A reincarnated life she was never meant to have.
– Countless timelines collapsing.
– Being X reaching.
– And then—
– Samus Aran's cold mind, cutting through fate like a scalpel.
The pain stopped.
And the light… became clear.
Tanya gasped.
She could see everything.
Not metaphorically.
Literally.
Enemy movements.
Firing vectors.
Thruster trails.
Predictive angles.
Microscopic shifts in Samus's posture.
The intentions of every Scarab pilot.
The slight divergence in Amuro's beam path half a kilometer away.
Even the emotional signature of Char from the Great Zeong approaching at high speed.
It wasn't just precognition.
It was understanding.
Raw, impossible understanding.
Like her brain had been forcibly rewired for war.
Her eyes snapped open, glowing with a sharp golden-yellow hue.
The cockpit was real again.
The alarms blared.
Samus was inches from cleaving her cockpit open.
But to Tanya, Samus now moved in slow motion.
"…So this is Newtype power?" she whispered.
No.
This was more.
This was the power of someone who had died once before—
Anger, fear, hatred, survival instinct, and genius crystallized into a single, violent edge.
Tanya's voice dropped into a cold whisper, filled with a clarity she had never possessed before.
"…Being X… you messed with the wrong woman."
She moved.
Her Gelgoog vanished in a burst of acceleration so fierce it tore a sonic shock across the vacuum.
Samus's strike missed by a hair—the first miss she'd made all battle.
Samus reoriented instantly.
"Pilot response accelerating beyond predicted parameters."
Her cannons fired.
Three beams—simultaneous.
A kill pattern.
Tanya danced between them like a ghost.
No wasted motion.
No hesitation.
Every shift was perfect.
Ritcher's voice cracked. "Commander—what the hell!? You're moving like—like the newtype pilot!!"
Char felt her presence spike like a sun exploding.
"So she's reached that level… I underestimated her."
Even Griveous felt it, circuits buzzing in alarm.
"What is that resonance!? That girl is becoming dangerous."
Tanya lunged straight at Samus, blade flashing.
Samus blocked, but Tanya's strike bent her arm back half a degree—just enough to disrupt Samus's perfect stance.
It had never happened before.
Samus's visor flickered.
"Threat level revised. High-priority elimination target."
Tanya grinned, feral and triumphant.
"Try it, you metal Amazon."
Samus fired a point-blank shot.
Tanya predicted it, slipped under it, locked her blade under Samus's armor plate, and threw the Full Armor Gundam into a roll.
A throw.
Of a suit three times heavier.
The psychic backlash blasted shockwaves across the battlefield.
Amuro shivered.
"She's surpassed early-stage reflex bursts… this is something else."
Char hissed, gripping his controls.
"She's awakening far too quickly!"
Gary Lin's eyes widened.
"Damn it—Tanya's output is spiking! If she keeps going, she'll cook her brain!"
But Tanya didn't care.
The golden light around her only grew brighter.
She pushed her Gelgoog forward, eyes sharp with predatory instinct.
"You want Solomon?" Tanya growled. "You'll have to kill me first."
Samus steadied herself, cannons locking into a new formation.
"Understood."
They launched together again.
Two lights colliding—
One cold and mechanical.
One blazing and furious.
The battlefield trembled.
And the universe narrowed to a single duel that shook every Newtype soul watching it.
Tanya's blade screamed against Samus's armored forearm as they clashed again, shockwaves rippling through the void. Golden light flared around Tanya like a burning star—raw, furious, violent.
But then—
Something answered it.
A cold pulse.
A vibration that echoed through every pilot's mind.
Samus Aran… shifted.
Her visor flickered.
Her breathing slowed.
Her Full Armor Gundam straightened with uncanny calm.
And then a second psychic resonance burst across the battlefield—
sharp, blue, and surgical.
Every Newtype felt it immediately.
Amuro gasped.
"What… what is this? That presence—!?"
Char's eyes widened.
"That's not a normal Newtype awakening…"
Griveous inside the Elmeth froze for the first time in his life.
"This sensation… inhuman… refined… predatory…!"
Gary Lin trembled.
"It feels like she's dissecting the battlefield—like we're all insects under a microscope!"
Even Dozle Zabi, fighting for his life miles away, felt a shiver travel up his spine.
"What the hell is going on out there!?"
Samus Aran's mind opened. But not like Tanya's.
Where Tanya's awakening was emotion, instinct, and will bursting like a dam—
Samus's awakening was cold calculation sharpened into absolute clarity.
Lines.
Angles.
Vectors.
Probabilities.
Every motion Tanya could make in the next three seconds.
Every attack pattern of every Scarab unit.
Every Federation and Zeon weapon with line-of-fire trajectories.
Even the exact output limits of her own suit.
All of it appeared in her mind as glowing blue geometric shapes.
Her voice changed—smooth, monotone, almost machine-like.
"Neural awakening detected. Cognitive barrier removed.
Entering Hunter Protocol."
Her Gundam shifted subtly.
Not faster.
Not stronger.
Just… perfect.
Perfect balance.
Perfect timing.
Perfect aim.
Tanya felt a sudden pressure spike in her skull as the cold blue mind pressed against hers.
She hissed, gripping her cockpit seat.
"Ghhh… what ARE you!? A regular human shouldn't—!"
Samus looked directly at her through the targeting reticle.
"You are anomalous. But now understood."
Tanya bared her teeth.
"Understood THIS!"
She lunged, golden light exploding around her, her blade aimed straight at Samus's cockpit.
Samus didn't dodge.
She moved exactly as required—half a degree shift, a microsecond timing delay—and Tanya's strike passed through empty space.
Her counterattack was instantaneous—a kick that slammed into Tanya's Gelgoog with mechanical precision, sending her tumbling.
Ritcher yelled, "Commander!!"
Tanya caught herself, thrusters screaming, eyes blazing.
But her heart dropped.
Because for the first time…
She couldn't read Samus.
She couldn't feel Samus's intent.
Samus's Newtype signature wasn't human chaos—it was a cold algorithm.
Calculating.
Dissecting.
Optimizing.
Samus raised her hand and Tanya felt the psychic chill cut across her mind like a scalpel.
"Your power is unstable," Samus said. "Predictable. Emotionally driven.
You cannot defeat me."
Tanya snarled, golden aura flaring like wildfire.
"Then watch me break your stupid calculations—!!"
They clashed again.
Gold vs Blue.
Instinct vs Computation.
Raw emotion vs clinical precision.
The psychic explosion tore across the battle, sending shockwaves that every Newtype felt like a punch in the chest.
Amuro staggered.
"T-That power… they're both evolving—FAST."
Char hissed, gripping his controls.
"At this rate, one of them will burn out their brain. Or both."
Griveous felt his Elmeth shudder, bits spinning chaotically.
"That girl and that monster… they're warping the battlefield!"
The duel intensified, spiraling into a dance that defied physics.
Tanya screamed, pushing deeper, golden power boiling from her eyes.
Samus whispered calmly,
"Counter pattern 34. Predictive curve. Target neutralization: optimal."
And the universe narrowed to two pilots tearing reality apart.