"This guy… has he been enraged?" Seeing Jegan's sunglasses glow red as it swung its saber toward him, Creuset smiled. "Just as I like it…"
But the next second, Creuset instinctively put distance between himself and Jegan.
A green beam shot through the place CGUE had just been, while Jegan raised its beam rifle and fired continuously at CGUE.
"Even though he seems to have lost his mind, is he trying to bait me?" Creuset dodged Jegan's beams, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. "What a cunning fellow."
Every time Roz pulled the trigger, his goal was singular: "Take down Creuset."
Roz glanced at the remaining energy in the beam rifle and was puzzled why the prototype system labeled "NTDTrialtype" had activated.
Could it be that the tiny experimental mental skeleton in the cockpit resonated?
But soon, Roz snapped his attention back from the glowing interface and pressed the pedal.
Jegan's high-mobility backpack spewed massive flames, charging straight at CGUE.
"Ugh…" Creuset forcibly twisted CGUE's trajectory, dodging the deadly beam saber, but the left wing of CGUE was also cut, leaving a clean gash and half the wing missing.
"Captain Creuset!" On the Buster Gundam, Dearka witnessed the dangerous moment and opened fire at Jegan with the armor-piercing shotgun cannon.
Like a phantom, Jegan dodged the shots and disappeared from Buster's targeting range.
"Where did he go?!" Dearka was stunned by Jegan's sudden burst of speed, but quickly realized where Jegan had gone.
Jegan appeared right in front of Buster, slashing through the armor-piercing shotgun in its hands. With a follow-up upward swing, Jegan severed Buster's left arm and destroyed the left-side armor, camera, and antenna on its head monitor along the swing path.
"Dearka!" The legendary durable Izak regained balance and activated the "Igelstellung" Multi-barrel CIWS on his head monitor, firing a barrage at Jegan.
With all other weapons gone, Izak's only ranged option was the head-mounted Vulcan cannon.
Jegan slightly adjusted its thrusters, leaned backward to evade the incoming rounds, and charged toward the Duel Gundam below.
Seeing Jegan approaching with obvious rage and aggression, Izak gritted his teeth and raised his shield to meet Jegan head-on.
"Take this!" Izak advanced with his shield forward, thrusting the beam saber toward Jegan.
Jegan swung its hand toward the Duel Gundam, and three cylindrical grenades hit the Duel Gundam's shield with precision.
"What the…?" Seeing the thrown cylinders, Izak didn't immediately react.
After all, in this world, no one had thought to make MS-specific grenades, so naturally no one had seen these things before.
The next moment, blue-white flames erupted from the three grenades, sticking precisely to Duel Gundam's shield and right hand, continuously scorching the components.
"Izak! Drop the shield!" Creuset frowned as he saw the flames sticking stubbornly to the shield, unable to be shaken off by any movement of the Duel Gundam.
Although he wasn't sure what Jegan had thrown, PS armor could not withstand high-temperature burning attacks.
CGUE raised its gun and fired continuously at Jegan, trying to lure him away from the Duel Gundam.
Jegan began to turn rapidly, the thick thruster flames even pushing the Duel Gundam—after it had discarded the shield—out of the way.
"Alright… come chase me." Creuset maneuvered CGUE toward Earth.
Undoubtedly, he intended to use atmospheric friction to incinerate Jegan. But before that, he needed an opportunity to destroy Jegan's propulsion backpack.
"Don't think you can run!" Roz fixed his eyes on CGUE, but the next second, two GINNs appeared from who knows where and flanked Jegan during his charge.
Jegan casually fired at one GINN, and his left-hand beam saber cut the GINN blocking his path in half.
"Ssss… Roz, the Archangel has begun descending! Get back!" Through the comm, Murrue's voice was distorted by interference.
Roz glanced at the full-cockpit display: CGUE was gradually luring Jegan away from the Archangel's area.
Meanwhile, Kira and Athrun were near the Archangel, shouting incomprehensible things and clashing their beam sabers continuously.
Jegan stopped his pursuit, raised his beam rifle, and began rapid-firing at CGUE.
"Oh? You've understood my plan?" Creuset, watching Jegan stop chasing, glanced at the cockpit display, which was gradually turning red. "We've reached the critical point. Let's settle this here."
But Creuset maneuvered CGUE to dodge the two beam rifle shots, raised the shield to block incoming beams, and charged at Jegan.
The next second, a strong impact came through the shield, almost offsetting CGUE's balance.
"What? This power… he hadn't used his full strength before?" Feeling the impact and seeing the altitude on CGUE's display steadily dropping, Creuset realized: not only did he intend to burn Jegan using the atmosphere, but Jegan also intended to use CGUE as a surfing board to land on Earth.
"Trying to use me as a stepping stone? Let's see if you have the strength for that!" Creuset deflected the shield, the two machines brushing past each other.
Then, in a head-first dive toward Earth, Creuset drew CGUE's physical sword, meeting Jegan as it approached with its beam saber.
CGUE raised its shield to block Jegan's beam saber, but the next moment, Jegan fired the beam rifle at CGUE's intact right wing.
The explosion of the wing caused CGUE's movements to deform, exposing a weakness.
Then, Jegan's beam saber, at a strange angle, bypassed CGUE's shield and severed the left hand holding it.
CGUE paid no mind to the lost left hand, driving the physical sword toward Jegan's cockpit.
Jegan pressed the beam rifle against CGUE's right forearm, pulled the trigger, and the beam melted CGUE's right lower arm.
Seeing the beam saber about to slash across CGUE's left side, Creuset reacted quickly, pulling the lever between his legs.
The thruster pack on CGUE's back ejected, and a geometrically shaped escape pod shot out from CGUE's rear.
Thanks to the all-around cockpit marking system, after cutting CGUE in half, Roz naturally saw the escape pod being ejected.
"Three shots remaining—don't think you can escape!" Jegan raised the beam rifle, aiming at the fleeing pod as if by muscle memory, the atmosphere's friction creating flames around it, and pulled the trigger.
The three beams sealed off Creuset's escape pod, about to destroy it.
A crimson figure intercepted the pod, the sharp shield blocking all three beams.
"Good job! Athrun." Inside the escape pod, Creuset finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Full retreat!"
Athrun glanced at the Strike Gundam holding up the shield against atmospheric friction and Jegan descending headfirst toward Earth, opening his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out.
-----------------------------------
"The Archangel and the transport ship have entered Earth orbit and are beginning descent." Hearing this, Halberton aboard the Menelaos relaxed slightly.
But the next piece of information immediately made Halberton tense.
"The Strike Gundam and Jegan, both MS, have separated from the Archangel's descent trajectory!"
"General Halberton, what should we do?" Facing his aide's question, Halberton sighed.
"Leave the decision to Captain Ramius. We need to evacuate." He glanced at the heavily damaged Eighth Fleet, feeling a headache coming on.
"You know, we still have a tough battle ahead."
"That will be against a cunning enemy."
-----------------------------------
Roz piloted Jegan, steadily closing in on the Strike Gundam and the Archangel.
Jegan's weapons had already been melted, and all system readings across the mobile suit were flashing red.
The prototype NTD system had somehow already shut down, but Jegan's sunglasses hadn't returned to blue—they were now a faint green.
"Zzz… Kira… zzz… Roz…" On the communications channel, the Archangel's signals were still being heavily disrupted.
Glancing at the unresponsive Strike Gundam, Kira seemed to have been rendered unconscious by gravity. Roz couldn't help but smile.
"Heh… damn gravity…"
As Jegan approached the Strike Gundam, Roz reached out and pushed it toward the Archangel.
Watching the flames generated by atmospheric friction displayed on the cockpit screen, it should have been a hopeless scene—but oddly, Roz felt a sense of reassurance.
Was it because he had returned to Earth, the "cradle"?
Roz smiled quietly to himself.
After pushing the Strike Gundam toward the Archangel, Jegan's backpack ran out of power. Roz could no longer operate anything, and the ejection system seemed damaged from the battle. He could only watch the cockpit, equipped with an escape pod function, display the outside view.
"Thank you, Jegan." Roz patted the cockpit calmly, watching Jegan's exterior armor gradually melt away. "This is probably the last stretch of our journey."
Perhaps they would fall somewhere on Earth, or maybe be incinerated in the atmosphere—it wasn't impossible.
What a pity… Roz hoped Christina and Marvin would inherit his wishes.
While Roz was lost in thought, without any power or controls, Jegan lifted his head monitor glowing faint green. Some mysterious propulsion force appeared from somewhere, adjusting the mobile suit's trajectory.
Then, the previously powerless ejection system activated, launching the cockpit carrying Roz toward the Archangel.
"What?" Startled by the sudden jolt, Roz froze.
When he regained his senses, the cockpit had been caught by Kira, now fully awake, piloting the Strike Gundam and standing on the Archangel's central deck.
Through Roz's eyes, Jegan gradually melted in the atmosphere.
The last remaining part was Jegan's arm, deformed by the heat.
The final piece to melt away was Jegan's hand.
And the last gesture? A thumbs-up.
.................