The collision between Tanya and Samus ripped through the battlefield like a solar flare. The shockwave wasn't physical—it was psychic, a pressure front that made lesser pilots cry out inside their helmets. Even hardened veterans felt their hands tremble on the controls.
Tanya moved first, faster than her own HUD could track. Her Gelgoog blurred, the afterimages curling like ribbons of light. Samus's Full Armor Gundam caught the strike with a shield, but the impact dented the heavy plating—something that should have been impossible.
Samus felt the surge race down her arms.
Tanya wasn't just unlocking Newtype power—she was breaking open something raw and feral inside her.
"You're pushing too far," Samus muttered, tightening her grip on the controls. "If you keep going—"
Tanya didn't answer with words.
Her presence slammed into Samus again—cold, sharp, blazing with willpower hard enough to draw blood.
Samus countered, her own aura igniting like blue flame. The two forces met, spiraling outward in threads of psychic lightning. In the distance, Griveous's Elmeth staggered, funnels scattering out of formation.
"What… is that?" Griveous hissed. "That isn't normal Newtype resonance—this is… something else."
Char wasn't surprised.
Inside the Great Zeong's cockpit, he smirked with a mix of awe and dread.
"Tanya von Zehrtfeld… and Samus Aran. The battlefield is bending around them."
He adjusted his controls, funnels spreading like wings.
"But if they keep escalating, Solomon itself might tear apart."
He prepared to intervene—
and then Dozle roared again.
The Big Zam tore across the battlefield with wild, uneven motions. Gary Lin tried to stabilize his machine, but Dozle targeted him again, cannons glowing bright emerald.
"ZABI! STOP SHOOTING AT ALLIES!" Gary shouted.
Dozle didn't hear.
Or maybe he chose not to.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
The Big Zam fired.
A direct hit would vaporize Gary completely.
Mikazuki cut in from the side, slamming his machine into Gary's to shove him clear just in time. The blast tore a crater the size of a warship into the asteroid behind them.
"Move!" Mikazuki yelled. "He's gone insane!"
The Big Zam lumbered forward, nearly trampling a squad of friendly Zakus.
"DOZLE-SAMA! PLEASE STOP!" his adjutant cried over comms.
But Dozle only bellowed louder, froth in his voice.
His rage was blinding him, pushing the mobile fortress forward like a beast wounded and feral.
Meanwhile, the duel at the center of the battlefield reached a point beyond reason.
Tanya's aura shot upward in a pillar of golden pressure.
Samus responded with her own surge, blue light erupting around her Gundam.
The two beams collided—
and space warped, a ripple bending debris, funnel beams, even sound.
Tanya's voice broke through the psychic haze, low and shaking with power she could barely control.
"You're not stopping me… NOT HERE!"
Samus gritted her teeth.
"I'm not here to stop you. I'm here to survive you."
They crashed again, weapons locked, sparks and psychic arcs tearing across the void.
Elsewhere, Amuro felt the pulse even from far across the battlefield.
"What is that…? Two presences… colliding like stars…"
The intensity only grew.
And behind them, Dozle charged toward the duel, wild and raging, unable to distinguish friend from foe—only drawn toward the brightest fire on the battlefield.
Tanya and Samus didn't notice.
They were too deep into each other's Newtype fields, too focused, too locked in a clash that could ignite or end everything.
Dozle's Big Zam barreled closer, cannons charging.
Mikazuki saw it first.
"Oh no… Tanya—SAMUS—MOVE!"
But neither of them heard him.
They were already beyond sound—
beyond fear—
beyond control.
Lelouch felt it before he saw it.
A pressure spike tore across the comm network, a distortion in every tactical readout. Tanya's signal flared like a dying star—chaotic, expanding, unstable. Samus's presence pressed against it with equal force, a blue blaze trying to counter gold.
If those two clashed again at this intensity, the entire mid-sector of Solomon would collapse into fire.
Lelouch didn't hesitate.
"Control, patch me into Tanya's channel. Override, priority Zehrtfeld," he commanded from the Iron Serpent's CIC.
A red warning flashed: PILOT IN NEWTYPE FEEDBACK LOOP – CONNECTION DANGEROUS
Lelouch slammed the confirmation key anyway.
In his cockpit, Tanya's vision twisted into streaks of gold. Everything smelled like burning ozone. Samus was no longer just a pilot—she was a blinding, endless threat she had to overcome.
Fight.
Win.
Survive.
"TANYA! LISTEN TO MY VOICE!"
The shout cracked through the feedback storm like a whip.
Her Gelgoog jerked, movements faltering, the golden aura flickering.
"L–Lelouch…?" she breathed, eyes wide and unfocused.
"Pull your mind back. You're losing yourself," Lelouch said, voice steady but urgent. "If you push another second, you'll die. Samus will die. And then everything collapses."
Tanya clenched her teeth, trembling.
She could feel the power slipping from her fingers.
Her heartbeat thundered too loud.
She was drowning.
Then Lelouch said the words that cut through everything:
"Tanya, I need you alive."
Her vision snapped into clarity.
The golden aura shuddered… then collapsed in on itself.
Her cockpit stopped shaking.
She was herself again.
But Samus wasn't.
Samus's Newtype output didn't dim—it spiked, violently, almost feral. She lunged forward, Full Armor Gundam burning with blue flame, targeting Tanya's Gelgoog with a killing strike.
She wasn't fighting anymore.
She was chasing instinct—raw, overwhelming, unrestrained.
Lelouch saw it instantly.
"federation ace has lost cognitive control," he muttered. "Fine. Then I'll manipulate her field instead."
He moved with absolute precision, opening a private line to Jason Arkadi.
"Jason. I need the Gelgoog decoy now. Full-output I-field signature, tuned to Tanya's resonance."
Jason didn't even question it.
He just grinned like always.
"Copy that! More points for me!"
Seconds later, a Gelgoog blasted into the battlefield at max throttle, emitters overloaded to mimic Tanya's Newtype ripple wave.
Samus snapped to it instantly—like a shark scenting blood.
Her Full Armor Gundam shot forward, cannons blazing.
The decoy exploded into a brilliant flash of white.
Samus didn't stop.
She unleashed everything she had on the phantom target, chasing its fading signal deeper into Solomon's debris field, away from Tanya, away from Dozle's rampage, away from the collapsing center.
A safe direction.
A controlled redirection.
Lelouch exhaled, relief trembling in his voice.
"Good… the trap worked."
Tanya slumped back in her seat, body drenched with sweat, breath ragged.
"You… saved me."
"No," Lelouch replied softly. "I prevented your death. And all soldier that can't stand your fight. And possibly the destruction of Solomon."
Tanya stared at the debris where Samus vanished into the field.
"She'll come back."
"She will," Lelouch agreed. "But this time, you'll be ready… and alive."
Behind them, Dozle's Big Zam thundered closer, radiation beams charging again.
And Lelouch shifted instantly back to cold, tactical focus.
"Tanya, brace yourself. The Big Zam is coming. And Dozle Will command to destroy revil fleet and go wild."
Her eyes hardened.
"Then let's survive that next."