"The... The White Devil?!"
Seeing that iconic, fragmented white armor and the glowing "PS Armor" pulsing between the plates, the two Black Knights who had been preparing to finish off the Justice immediately pivoted their machines to retreat.
Vaguely, a thin veil of dread began to permeate the mental space where the Black Knights communicated. The Unicorn's appearance and the destruction of their comrade had been so instantaneous that the fallen pilot hadn't even had time to let out a final scream.
"He... he's only one machine! We still have ten. If we focus on taking him down..."
The voice echoing in the mental space trembled slightly, though the speaker tried his best to remain steady. As these words rippled through the consciousness of the ten remaining blurred figures, they seemed to find a pillar of support and began to chime in one by one.
"Right, exactly, he's alone... and our machines, our power, they're all stronger than the Black Knights he faced before!"
"We, who can read the thoughts of others, will surely cut him down!"
"Stop talking! Surround him! Attack!"
The remaining ten Black Knights abandoned their original targets, turning their thrusters toward the Unicorn, whose Psycho-Frame was now radiating a fierce yellow light.
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Manipulating the Unicorn to toss aside the Black Knight that the Armed Armor VN had crushed into scrap metal, Roz watched the enemy units closing in.
He could clearly feel the craving radiating from the Unicorn itself—a raw desire to destroy these targets. Even though she was capable of acting independently of his will, she still chose to leave the controls in his hands.
Was it trust? Or something else? Roz didn't know. But he knew for certain that this Machine Spirit, who had fought by his side for so long and saved his life multiple times, was a partner worthy of his absolute faith.
"You... really want to fight, don't you?"
Leaning back into the transformed seat, Roz reached out and flicked off the comms. Sitting in the cockpit where only the low, heavy white noise of the instruments remained, he spoke aloud.
Though no one else was in the cockpit, Roz felt a pair of hands reach past his helmet and cup his face. His gaze softened instinctively.
"I've always believed that you are the Beast of Possibility that can change this world."
Lifting his right hand from the armrest, Roz reached toward where those invisible hands were. Despite his flight suit, he felt the distinct touch of skin against skin.
"But regardless of what you eventually become—be it the Beast of Possibility, the Jet-Black Hunter, or the Golden Phoenix—it isn't your outward form that matters. You, the soul of this machine, are my most trusted companion."
As if trying to clasp the Machine Spirit's palm, Roz tightened his grip on the air; it felt strangely solid, as if supported by something. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, acting as if the ten approaching Black Knights didn't exist.
"So... if there's something you want to do, just do it."
When he opened his eyes again, Roz's gaze was sharp and unwavering. "Just as you believe I would never abandon you, I believe that you will never leave my side."
"Unicorn... no, Aibo."
Having seemingly heard the answer she desired, the Unicorn radiated a surge of joy and exhilaration that filled the entire cockpit.
Roz felt a phantom touch on his lips. For a fleeting second, he saw a woman in a white dress cupping his face. She pulled away from a kiss and smiled at him, her lips moving as if she were saying something. Then, she turned and vanished.
"Thank you for believing in me... Partner."
As if responding to Roz's trust, a pop-up window appeared at the bottom right of the UI. An emotion so intense it seemed to transcend the digital interface vibrated through the controls.
The Unicorn tilted its head slightly. The yellow glow of its frame intensified into a state of manic excitement, threatening to sear the eyes of anyone who dared to look directly at it.
In an instant, the Unicorn's thrusters erupted into elongated plumes of fire, propelling the machine head-on into the incoming Black Knight formation.
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There is no doubt that the Black Knights are the elite troops of the Kingdom of Foundation, even if Athrun managed to take one out despite the technological disadvantage, and even if Roz was currently slaughtering them like chickens in the Unicorn.
Their teamwork and tactical prowess would still rank highly even within the Earth Alliance or ZAFT. Though, after reviewing several combat records, Roz personally believed they still couldn't beat Yzak.
Seven Black Knights halted their advance and drew their beam rifles, pulling their triggers repeatedly. Red beams wove "webs of death" across the pitch-black void of space. Meanwhile, three other Black Knights drew the heavy swords from their backpacks, activated the beam cutting blades, and continued to close in on the Unicorn.
Seeing that they were about to make contact with the yellow-glowing Unicorn, the three machines raised their heavy swords in unison.
But in the next second, like a phantom, the Unicorn accelerated abruptly and flew right between the three Black Knights. The left hand, encased in the Armed Armor VN, suddenly seized the head monitor of the Black Knight directly in front of it. With the Unicorn in its berserk state, its massive output power even overwhelmed the FT Armor; the Black Knight's head monitor began to deform, and the Y-shaped glass shattered under the pressure, exposing the internal components.
"Not good!"
Blurting out the words in reality, the Black Knight pilot immediately tried to counter-attack with his heavy sword.
However, as the Unicorn's thrusters shifted direction, the machine exerted a burst of force, leaping over the head of the captured Black Knight. It broke out of the three-way encirclement, narrowly dodging the slashes of the other two heavy swords.
"Ugh..."
An instantaneous surge of intense G-force hit the pilot of the Black Knight whose head was being held, forcing him to grit his teeth.
The Unicorn completed a maneuver similar to a front flip. The Black Knight, still held by its head monitor, was dragged along into a backflip. As the Unicorn righted its posture, it smoothly hurled the Black Knight away.
The two Shield Funnels on the sub-arms detached. Under the control of the Machine Spirit, they deployed into X-shaped Psycho-Frames at an incredibly frantic speed, unfolding beam shields that intercepted several red beams fired from the Black Knights' muzzles.
As if performing a graceful dance, the Unicorn pirouetted between the beams, passing through them with ease.
Swinging the Armed Armor VN on its left arm—now in high-frequency vibration mode with its claws radiating a dazzling yellow Psycho-Frame glow—the Unicorn acted like a hunting lion tearing into its prey. The Armed Armor VN raked across the Black Knight that had its head monitor glass crushed.
Accompanied by violent vibrations and the metallic scream of tearing armor, the Black Knight pilot was momentarily paralyzed by the sheer, overwhelming killing intent.
The Armed Armor VN swung again from top to bottom, breaking through the FT Armor that the Black Knights were so proud of and tearing away a massive chunk of plating. The Black Knight's cockpit was left completely exposed before the Unicorn, looking like a disemboweled prey with its heart laid bare.
Next came the moment to reap the fruits of the first "hunt."
The lion's fangs bit directly into the prey's heart; the sharp talons even embedded themselves into the machine's frame. With a crushing bite, the Black Knight's cockpit was instantly imploded by the Unicorn, leaving a gaping hole that went straight through to its back.
The mono-eye in the Black Knight's head monitor lost its light, and the machine drifted aimlessly into the cosmos.
Retracting the Armed Armor BS on its right hand, the Unicorn snatched the heavy sword—its beam blade having automatically deactivated—from the hand of the "heartless" Black Knight. The beams fired by the other Black Knights were all intercepted by the Shield Funnels, sending stray red bolts splashing in every direction.
In a very human-like gesture, the Unicorn looked at the heavy sword in its hand. The interface began to sync, and the beam cutting blade reignited along the edge of the sword.
The Unicorn looked up, staring at the two Black Knights closing in again and the others who were continuously pulling their triggers.
Yellow, furious flames erupted across the Unicorn's frame.
......................