The factory was destroyed, with only a handful of soldiers and technicians left.
She was trapped inside the cockpit of the Strike Gundam, which had not yet completed all its development, and behind the pilot’s seat, a student was similarly trapped with her.
This situation was even worse than drawing the worst possible lot.
Moreover, after forcibly moving the Strike Gundam out of the factory, Murrue Ramius discovered that the situation outside was even more dire.
The once orderly factory was now in complete disarray, with craters from explosions everywhere.
The culprit responsible for this devastation stood not far ahead, shielding the fourth newly developed unit that had just been stolen behind it.
“A single GINN?”
Murrue Ramius quickly scanned the screen and noticed that the heavy transport truck nearby was now empty, with no trace of the three newly developed units that had been sent out of the factory earlier.
“So they were stolen after all?
And this GINN must have stayed behind to cover the retreat of the fourth newly developed unit.”
Murrue Ramius felt a pang of bitterness in her heart.
Even if the enemy had only left a single GINN behind, what could she possibly achieve with this unfinished unit?
Try to intimidate the enemy with the reputation of a newly developed unit?
No, that was impossible.
Although it was a newly developed unit by the Earth Alliance, impressive in name, both she and ZAFT, who had already stolen four of these units, knew that these seemingly formidable machines were nothing more than paper tigers, easily exposed as hollow shells.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Sure enough, after the GINN left behind fired several shots near the feet of the Strike Gundam, Murrue Ramius was exposed.
Amidst the shockwaves from the explosions, Murrue Ramius struggled to maintain the Strike Gundam’s balance, her expression darkening as she realized things were going badly.
After a brief test, the enemy decisively retracted its machine gun and drew a long sword from its waist.
“Trying to steal this last newly developed unit?”
Murrue Ramius didn’t dare to dwell on it.
Because she was already giving her all just to keep the Strike Gundam walking.
Fighting while piloting an MS was simply impossible for her.
“I have to get out of here!
No matter what, I must protect this last unit.”
Perhaps to cover its teammates as they organized the OS, or perhaps because it knew the true state of the Strike Gundam, the GINN did not immediately give chase.
Instead, it waited until Murrue Ramius had painstakingly moved the Strike Gundam several dozen meters before charging forward with its sword drawn.
Seeing this, Murrue Ramius, drenched in sweat, activated the Strike Gundam’s Thruster Pack without hesitation, attempting a short-distance jump to evade the enemy’s pursuit.
But it was ineffective.
Whether in terms of the unit’s operating system or her own piloting skills, the enemy overwhelmingly outmatched Murrue Ramius.
In less than a minute, Murrue Ramius was caught off guard.
The enemy accelerated into a sprint and swung its sword at her.
Facing this unavoidable strike, Murrue Ramius’s pupils contracted.
Instinctively, she raised her left hand and pressed a certain key, attempting to withstand the blow.
However, the expected impact did not occur.
“It was repelled.”
The boy who had been dragged into the battle murmured softly.
“What?
Repelled?”
Murrue Ramius was stunned.
She quickly lifted her gaze to the screen and saw that the GINN had indeed retreated dozens of meters, assuming a defensive posture.
But the button she had just pressed was clearly to activate the Strike Gundam’s Phase Shift Armor, not to counterattack.
Why had the enemy retreated such a great distance?
Suddenly, Murrue Ramius keenly noticed that the GINN was guarding against another direction.
“An ally?!”
Murrue Ramius moved her hands, and the Strike Gundam she controlled abruptly turned to face the direction the GINN was guarding.
The next moment, a new mobile suit, very similar to the Strike Gundam but with a completely different aura and two constantly circling light rings beside it, stood on a nearby hillside, overlooking the devastated battlefield.
“That…
that is…
How is that possible?
Clearly, all our new models have already…”
“Click…
crackle…”
Along with the appearance of this new mobile suit resembling the Strike Gundam came a communication broadcast on all channels.
“Didn’t I remind you this morning?
Don’t act recklessly!”
Upon hearing this voice, Murrue Ramius widened her eyes in shock and hurriedly opened the communication channel.
“Leon Vance?
Is that you?
No, that’s not right.
Weren’t you supposed to go hiking?
How…
how are you…”
Hearing Murrue Ramius’s slightly flustered words over the communication, Leon Vance chuckled lightly.
“We’ll talk about that later!
For now, let’s deal with the enemy before us!”
“Damn it!!
How dare you ignore me!!
Damn Naturals!
Don’t think that just because you’ve built so-called new models, you can defeat us!!”
The GINN seemed provoked by their conversation.
It immediately abandoned its pursuit of Murrue Ramius’s Strike Gundam and instead activated its Thruster Pack at full power, charging with its sword toward the new mobile suit standing on the hillside—the Sky Raider Gundam.
It must be said, the GINN’s fierce and imposing attack was quite intimidating.
Ordinary Union forces might have been frightened by such an assault, but Leon Vance was not.
Moreover, in his eyes, this imposing GINN was full of openings.
“Miguel!
Watch your back!!
That mobile suit’s light rings are attacking you from behind!”
At that moment, Athrun Zala, who was nervously rewriting the Operating System of the fourth new model, the Aegis Gundam, sensed danger.
Looking up, he saw two streaks of lightning-like light speeding past the surrounding ruined buildings!
Sweeping horizontally toward the GINN’s back.
“What?”
The GINN’s pilot, Miguel, reacted swiftly.
After receiving his partner Athrun’s warning, he immediately controlled the GINN to roll on the spot, barely avoiding the attack that nearly sliced it in half with a precarious and clumsy maneuver.
Before Miguel could rejoice at dodging the fatal blow, his vision suddenly became empty.
“What happened?”
The cockpit seemed to have left him—no, it felt as if he had been thrown out of the GINN’s cockpit by something unknown.
The entire world was abruptly enveloped in darkness and silence.
“Miguel!!”
Miguel, already dead, did not know why he had died, but Athrun, who witnessed the entire process, saw it very clearly.
The two beams of light that should have been dodged by Miguel actually curved on their own, flying once more toward the GINN.
In the flash of light as the armor was split apart, Miguel died instantly, and the GINN was also cleaved into three pieces, crashing to the ground.