Chapter 247: Battle in the Skies
The mobile suit trembled slightly—it was, after all, being forcibly propelled into the stratosphere by sheer thrust.
But this time, Eli didn't feel much strain at all.
The reason was simple: this time, Eli was wearing a custom-made G-suit—specifically, the one he'd previously instructed Kou Uraki to design.
This suit had been engineered to withstand G-forces on the level of those experienced by the Zanzibar-class, making it perfectly suited for the current situation.
As the Gaplant, now equipped with additional boosters, broke through the upper layers of the troposphere and burst through the sea of clouds, Eli's target finally entered visual range—Jamitov's space shuttle.
At that moment, the shuttle had turned into a falling star, plummeting from outer space.
And just beneath that flaming meteor-like descent, three Titan-dispatched interception units awaited.
Their disk-shaped silhouettes were instantly recognizable, allowing Eli to identify the MS models from afar, even at this altitude.
"Asshimars, huh… As long as Yazan isn't among them, they're nothing to fear."
Given the relationship between the Titans and Eli, it made sense that they'd need to develop transformable MAs of their own.
That line of thinking had led to the creation of the Asshimar. But due to its high cost, like the Gaplant, the Asshimar was only produced in limited quantities.
Once Eli's Gaplant had entered visual range, the three Asshimars clearly spotted the machine that had soared skyward in a near-vertical climb.
Even though the display marked it as a friendly signal, the Titans pilots already knew that one of A.O.Z.'s top aces—seen previously outside Jaburo Base—piloted a Gaplant.
So, instead of wasting time on warning hails or intimidation shots, the Asshimars immediately bypassed those steps.
Upon seeing the Gaplant not only dodge the incoming beam fire with a swift spin, but actually accelerate toward them—
—the three Asshimar pilots instantly felt the urge to retreat.
So much for numerical or altitude advantages. When your opponent doesn't slow down in the face of incoming fire—instead speeding up—that's when you know the day's turning sour.
There was little doubt: the pilot was almost certainly Eli.
But just as they were second-guessing themselves, a new order came in from above, nearly simultaneous: take down the Gaplant.
Are you serious? You want me to fight Eli?
Clenching their teeth, the three Asshimars each pulled back to widen their spacing, then turned to target the still-climbing Gaplant.
Beams fired from three directions, and Eli responded instantly—jettisoning the booster module, which had become dead weight in an aerial dogfight like this.
Without Eli actively maintaining its orientation, the booster was struck by a yellow beam and exploded.
Because of momentum, the smoke and fire from the explosion continued rising, engulfing Eli's Gaplant entirely.
Yet Eli didn't panic despite losing visual contact. On the contrary, he stomped the pedal again and burst out from the smoke, charging ahead blindly!
—or rather, it only seemed blind. In truth, he had a precise read on the three Asshimars' positions the entire time.
His enhanced Newtype abilities, strengthened even in a mass-production machine, allowed him to clearly sense the fear and hesitation of his opponents.
In that moment, even as trails of smoke curled off the Gaplant's wings, its transformation system was already activating.
Seated in the cockpit, Eli piloted the transforming Gaplant into its MA mode and deployed the MEGA particle cannons mounted on its shields.
He didn't even wait for a full lock-on—the transformation wasn't even complete yet—and the twin MEGA particle cannons were already firing in two separate directions!
BOOM!
Only one hit landed this time, striking the rear thruster of an Asshimar.
Thick smoke billowed instantly from its tail section as it spiraled downward.
Still, given the Asshimar's armor strength, that single shot likely didn't disable it completely.
The other Asshimar Eli had targeted had already anticipated the attack and was prepared, dodging swiftly and evading the blast.
Clearly, this pilot understood Eli's combat style intimately. Just as Char's battle patterns were analyzed, Eli's data had also been thoroughly studied.
The Titans only ever recruited true elites—or those with elite potential.
Even though his first strike didn't fully succeed, Eli remained unfazed. He held the Gaplant in MS form, angling both shield thrusters upward and deliberately dropped altitude.
That evasive maneuver allowed him to narrowly avoid a beam fired by the final Asshimar.
The Asshimar had maintained high speed and swept past the Gaplant at close range.
The wake turbulence caused by the Asshimar's pass made the Gaplant shudder, but Eli quickly stabilized.
And once stabilized, he transformed the Gaplant back into MA mode, launching into a classic aerial dogfight, just like fighter planes of old.
At this point, the differences between the two TMA-type machines became obvious.
The Gaplant was pure and straightforward—relying solely on thrust for flight.
The Asshimar was different, employing a lifting body structure. In terms of aerodynamics, it had a clear edge.
With its vectored thruster nozzles and attitude-adjusting vernier jets scattered across its frame, the Asshimar boasted superior turning performance compared to the Gaplant.
Although Eli's movable shield units allowed for some vectored maneuvering, the physical limits of the machine meant that, after chasing an Asshimar through a cloud bank, he ended up being counter-chased instead.
That level of piloting skill, Eli thought, wasn't far off from Yazan's.
In that case, the pilot must be him—Buran Blutarch.
"Sorry, but I'm not planning to fall here."
Using the rear camera feed projected on his monitor, Eli dodged several more beam shots and, just like the Asshimar before, ducked into the clouds.
That Asshimar, remembering how it had successfully caught Eli's tail earlier, refrained from following him into the clouds. Instead, it circled around to regroup with the third Asshimar.
But then—an ominous shadow emerged from the clouds. It was the Gaplant, now back in MS mode, drawing a beam saber and aiming to slash down at the Asshimar that had been dogging him!
"Major Buran! Wah—!"
The third Asshimar, the one Eli had ignored until now, threw itself between them.
Eli's blade slashed clean through its body.
But by then, the other Asshimar had already completed its transformation—