Yet deep down, Athrun was still worried about his childhood friend inside the Strike.
As for Murrue, watching Jonathan activate the Phase Shift Armor with practiced ease only deepened her shock.
This was one of the Earth Alliance’s highest-level military secrets.
Logically, no third party outside the military and Morgenroete should have understood it so thoroughly.
She looked at Jonathan with a complicated expression.
“How do you know about PS Armor?”
“This is a top-secret Earth Alliance project.”
Is this woman serious?
Jonathan complained inwardly while piloting the mobile suit.
Outwardly, however, he remained perfectly calm.
“Are you sure this is the right time to ask that?”
As he spoke, he pointed toward the main screen.
The GINN was already charging at them again.
Murrue also understood that this was no time for infighting.
Although hesitation remained on her face, she gritted her teeth and lowered her handgun.
Once she finally backed down, Jonathan smiled faintly and tightened his grip on the control levers, preparing for battle.
But at that moment, Kira suddenly became agitated behind him.
He pointed toward the lower-left corner of the screen and practically shouted.
“Sai!
Tolle!
Kuzzey!”
The three names burst from his lips.
Miriallia, however, was unconsciously left out.
A ridiculous thought flashed through Jonathan’s mind.
Kira had remembered all three boys and completely forgotten the only girl.
That certainly said something about his priorities.
However, no matter how anxious Kira was, there was nothing he could do.
Unlike in the original storyline, Jonathan had already corrected the Strike Gundam’s OS.
Naturally, there would be no repeat of the original situation, where the mobile suit could not display its true performance and was overwhelmed by a GINN.
Although the Strike was currently equipped with only two “Armor Schneider” combat knives, they were more than enough for this battle.
He had underestimated the Strike.
ZAFT clearly did not yet understand the true capabilities of the GAT-X series.
Furthermore, their mission was to capture the Strike, not destroy it.
That was why the GINN pilot had chosen to charge in with a sword instead of relying on the safer option of ranged firepower.
An idea immediately formed in Jonathan’s mind.
He deliberately made the Strike’s movements clumsy and sluggish again, making it appear as though its OS still had not been properly adjusted.
Sure enough, the enemy took the bait.
Inside the GINN’s cockpit, the ZAFT soldier saw the Strike’s slow movements and immediately became excited.
He could not resist shouting arrogantly over the comms.
“Good hardware means nothing!”
“With software this lousy and mobility this pathetic, I’m going to tear you apart today!”
With that, he pushed the thrusters to maximum and sent the GINN charging forward.
Inside the Strike’s cockpit, Kira stared at Jonathan’s seemingly botched piloting in complete confusion.
The OS had already been corrected.
As long as Jonathan brought out the Strike’s full performance, he should have been able to suppress the enemy.
Yet he was deliberately pretending to be weak.
Murrue, however, understood Jonathan’s intentions almost instantly.
The look she gave him became even more complicated.
Calm.
Intelligent.
Decisive.
If every soldier in ZAFT were like him, the Earth Alliance might have collapsed long ago.
She could not help having such a thought.
Meanwhile, the GINN pilot was already wearing the beginnings of a victorious smile.
But just as his sword was about to pierce the Strike’s cockpit, the Strike Gundam moved.
Its speed was on an entirely different level from before.
The Strike twisted sideways, precisely avoiding the sword’s trajectory.
Immediately afterward, it reached out with both hands and firmly seized the GINN’s sword arm. New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
Then, using the GINN’s momentum against it, the Strike pivoted and executed a flawless over-the-shoulder throw.
The GINN was hurled violently to the ground.
Its pilot’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“How is that possible?!”
“It was obviously so sluggish just now!”
Unfortunately, he would never have the opportunity to understand what had happened.
The Armor Schneider in the Strike’s hand had already plunged deep into the GINN’s cockpit.
The enormous metal blade tore straight through the armor.
The pilot lowered his head and stared at the steel protruding through his abdomen.
His throat moved weakly, but before he could utter even a final word, his consciousness disappeared completely.
Jonathan pulled the Armor Schneider free, his expression remaining unchanged.
From the moment he stepped through the Dimensional Gate, he had already prepared himself for this.
Throughout this journey, he could not afford to fail.
Murrue watched him eliminate the enemy pilot without the slightest hesitation.
Although she felt the young man was undeniably ruthless, she did not object.
She was a soldier.
She understood perfectly well that showing mercy to an enemy on the battlefield could easily result in the deaths of one’s own comrades.
Kira, however, was different.
He was only a college student who had never truly experienced the cruelty of war.
After witnessing a living person die right before his eyes, he immediately snapped.
“Why did you kill him?!”
“You could have just disabled his mobile suit!”
Kira turned furiously toward Jonathan, his voice filled with accusation.
Murrue instinctively frowned upon hearing such an almost painfully naïve statement.
A sharp sense of distaste rose within her toward Kira’s childish, unrealistic way of thinking.
Reader Question 1:
Whose Coordinator genetics did Jonathan acquire before taking control of the Strike Gundam?
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