Just as Ange's battle concluded, the fights in several other minor battlefields were also nearing their end.
To be precise, Ange wasn't actually the first to finish her combat.
The first to eliminate their assigned enemy was the Black Tri-Stars.
As mentioned before, the Zaku I Commander Type's performance was simply too inferior - comparing the Amazing Kampfer to it was like pitting a Moebius against a GINN in the CE Universe.
Moreover, the side with Mobile Suit advantage had three units against one, piloted by veteran ace pilots who had endured countless battles.
In such circumstances, only a G Gundam Mobile Suit might potentially turn the tables through pilot awakening, but in a normal Gundam world, no one could change the outcome.
Even if Reid were placed in the Zaku I Commander Type now, the result would be the same.
At most, Reid would attempt to eject while self-destructing the Mobile Suit to save himself - there was nothing else he could do.
However, the berserk Char wouldn't run away again. Seeing escape was impossible, he courageously turned around and launched a counter-charge, only to have his Mobile Suit destroyed by three armor-piercing rockets.
From initial contact to the Zaku I Commander Type's destruction, the entire engagement lasted only 27 seconds.
Normally, after defeating the Zaku I Commander Type, the Black Tri-Stars should have supported Reid's trio who were closest.
However, Gaia's Trio had become much more tactful now. Seeing their leader excitedly engaging two enemies (learned through squad comms), and both the boss and second-in-command engaged in coordinated combat, the three wisely turned away, knowing that joining would only make them unwelcome. After all, there was still a Zaku Experimental Type on the battlefield that belonged in a history museum. Tracing back through history, this machine was the prototype for all MS in their universe - definitely "not to be underestimated" - so they went to eliminate it.
Meanwhile, on the Human Reform League's side, with the Zaku I Commander Type gone, a single Marasai couldn't possibly stop the combination of Iron Man Peach (with performance comparable to a Gundam) and the Super-Soldier.
(The Iron Man Peach's performance being not inferior to a Gundam is official setting. Honestly, before reading the setting materials, I always thought Iron Man Peach was just a regular Iron Man with different paint. But actually, its predecessor, Tetsujin Type · Shikizi, really did repel a Gundam.)
Therefore, when the Xia sisters, Salya, and Hilda arrived at the scene, under Sergei Smirnov's command and with the returned Iron Man Peach as the assault point, dozens of Space Type Iron Men provided fire support. The offense and defense had completely reversed - it was now mop-up time.
The main reason for this situation was that after the High Mobility Psycho Zaku exhausted its thruster fuel, both it and the Marasai became suppressed.
After all, with other Mobile Suits having moved toward Reid's position, these two machines simply couldn't exchange fire with dozens of Space Type Iron Men.
Under such pure firepower suppression, the only option before the enemy exhausted their ammunition was to retreat. However, both Daryl Lorenz and Yazan Gable were experienced pilots.
They quickly discovered that when there were unknown Earth-orbiting facilities behind them, the enemy didn't dare unleash their full firepower freely.
Though neither knew the purpose of these Earth-orbiting structures, both took shelter within the solar power generation facilities, forcing Sergei Smirnov to hesitate for fear of damaging the equipment. He could only send troops to flush them out through close-quarters combat.
However, once in close combat, the Space Type Iron Man's poor flexibility was exposed again. The [Regeneration P Device] in the High Mobility Psycho Zaku was extremely inhuman, requiring the pilot to have no limbs and relying on direct neural connections to achieve high mobility.
At such a great cost, the High Mobility Psycho Zaku's limb flexibility alone might surpass that of Non-Psycommu System Mobile Suits after UC 0090.
As for the Marasai, its overall performance was somewhat stronger than the Space Type Iron Man, and Yazan Gable's piloting skills were among the top tier of ordinary humans in the Universal Century—even ordinary Newtypes weren't qualified to challenge him.
So in one-on-one or even one-on-two close combat, the Space Type Iron Man stood no chance against these two Mobile Suits.
As for deploying the Iron Man Peach, Daryl Lorenz and Yazan Gable only needed to run around the central axis. The Iron Man Peach's volume was still too bulky, forcing it to detour when encountering slightly narrow gaps.
Seeing this situation, the Xia sisters, Salya, and Hilda immediately wanted to open fire to force the enemies out of the complex terrain.
However, Sergei Smirnov had clearly anticipated their intention. The moment the four Mobile Suits raised their guns, the Space Type Tetsujin Commander Machine rushed forward and communicated via Laser Communication:
"You cannot open fire. Damaging the Solar Power Generation Equipment would disrupt Earth's power supply, and if we accidentally sever the Orbital Axis, it could trigger an energy crisis."
To be honest, if Reid hadn't instructed them not to provoke the Human Reform League before the battle, Salya and Hilda might have hesitated at Sergei Smirnov's actions, but the Xia sisters would have opened fire immediately.
However, since Reid had given the order, the four had no choice but to hold their fire for now.
Then Yulan spoke over the team comms:
"The Master doesn't want to engage the Human Reform League, so I'll go deal with those two Mobile Suits."
After saying this, the Mystic Lightning activated its Mirage Colloid System and vanished on the spot.
Yulan's words reminded Salya, who also said:
"In that case, I'll go too."
With that, the Gundam Eclipse also activated its Mirage Colloid System.
At this moment, both Yufang and Hilda inwardly complained that their sister (Salya) was fighting dirty—their own Mobile Suits couldn't turn invisible!!
But all they could do now was grumble internally, as they had spent some time in the AD Universe and knew that damaging the Orbital Power Generation Facility would cause massive chaos.
However, Sergei Smirnov, who was using Laser Communication, couldn't hear the team comms. From his perspective, after he intervened, the four opposing Mobile Suits seemed to have indeed abandoned their plan to use heavy firepower to flush out the enemies.
But within seconds, the black-and-gold Mobile Suit suddenly disappeared, followed by a blue-and-white unit vanishing the next moment, leaving only two Mobile Suits staring blankly at him.
Sergei Smirnov had no idea what was happening with those two Mobile Suits. After all, SDP's technology was even more unscientific than Celestial Beings'—who knew if this was invisibility or teleportation?
So Sergei Smirnov could only tentatively ask again:
"May I ask, what are those two Mobile Suits doing? Could you please inform me?"
Yufang saw no need to answer a stranger and completely ignored him.
Hilda, aware of the Xia sisters' temperament, spoke up to respond:
"You don't need to know so much. Just withdraw your forces so they don't interfere with us. We'll take down those two Mobile Suits while minimizing large-scale destruction."
Upon hearing this, Sergei Smirnov murmured to himself:
"A young girl's voice... First Celestial Beings, and now SDP too?"
Regardless of his thoughts, Sergei Smirnov knew he couldn't afford to clash with SDP at this moment.
His mission was to capture Celestial Beings' Gundams, as their interventions in conflicts could easily be classified as terrorist acts - he held the moral high ground.
Meanwhile, SDP's objective was to eliminate the interdimensional invaders. Until the theory that these invaders would cause civilization's collapse could be disproven, opposing SDP risked being labeled traitors to humanity in public opinion - an unacceptable outcome.
Most crucially, SDP's MS Pilots were clearly more professional than Celestial Beings', and their Mobile Suits appeared superior in performance. They weren't to be provoked.
And so, Sergei Smirnov ultimately recalled all his units, including the Iron Man Peach.
The recent close-quarters combat had cost him nine more comrades. If SDP wanted to take over, better let them handle it.
Not long after the Human Reform League forces withdrew, good news arrived.
Daryl Lorenz and Yazan Gable were also in a frenzied state. Though they understood tactical maneuvering, they lacked patience.
When they realized the enemy wouldn't advance further to engage them, they immediately decided to destroy nearby structures to lure their opponents back.
But before they could act, a Mobile Suit suddenly appeared beside each of them, immediately thrusting toward their cockpits without warning.
After activating their Mirage Colloid Systems, Xia Yulan and Salya had entered the solar power generation orbit without knowing beforehand which Mobile Suit they would encounter.
The final result was: Mystic Lightning found the High Mobility Psycho Zaku, while Gundam Eclipse located the Marasai.
However, their ambush outcomes differed significantly.
Daryl Lorenz possessed no beast-like intuition, and Xia Yulan excelled at suppressing her killing intent. Thus, the High Mobility Psycho Zaku had its cockpit pierced directly, transforming into red data as it was eliminated from the battlefield.
Gundam Eclipse's ambush, however, could be considered a failure. Yazan Gable sensed the danger through his extraordinary intuition - though unlike a Newtype, he couldn't pinpoint the attack's origin.
The moment Salya revealed her killing intent, he immediately abandoned his hiding spot without hesitation, flying straight out of the orbital power generation facility.
Therefore, Salya's thrust only grazed the Marasai's foot, causing minimal damage.
But for Yazan Gable, the outside might be even more dangerous.
Xia Yufang and Hilda, waiting outside, immediately opened fire when they saw an enemy emerge voluntarily.
Relying on his intuition again, Yazan Gable used his shield to block some attacks while evading the rest, surviving the assault.
However, the Marasai's mediocre-quality shield was completely destroyed.
Then, Yazan Gable discovered his retreat back into the unknown facility was blocked by two Mobile Suits - one black and gold, the other blue and white.
Meanwhile, ahead of him, another predominantly purple Mobile Suit and a gray-black unit moved to surround him.
Realizing he was completely trapped, Yazan Gable knew he was done for today. Following his intuition, he piloted his Mobile Suit directly toward what felt like the weakest opponent - the gray-black unit.
Hilda was overjoyed to see the enemy charging toward her, ready to force it into position with a shot before closing in for a melee takedown.
Unfortunately, the other three had no intention of standing by as spectators.
Gundam Eclipse's two Magellan beams, Mystic Lightning's beam boomerang, and NT-X2's super-large rocket funnel attacks sealed off all escape routes for the Marasai.
In the end, the Marasai was simultaneously pierced by four beams from different angles, its wreckage then bisected by the beam boomerang before vanishing.
Well then, without reviewing the footage frame by frame in reverse, it'd be impossible to determine who scored the final blow on this mobile suit. (First to exclude: Xia Yulan with her beam boomerang.)
But it didn't matter—Reid and Noin's battle had also concluded.
After resolving her own fight, Ange decisively joined Reid and Noin's engagement.
Reid and Noin had already been overwhelming the Zaku III Psychomu Equipped Type and Commander Type Zaku IV, on the verge of securing the kill when Ange directly sniped the Zaku III Psychomu Equipped Type from long range with her sniper rifle.
The Commander Type Zaku IV's pilot lamented that it was already struggling against two opponents—now facing three was utterly hopeless.
The frenzied pilot Ilia Pazom, like the others, chose to raise her large heat axe and launch a desperate counter-charge, determined to die with dignity.
But mindless aggression couldn't alter the outcome. The Commander Type Zaku IV was ultimately eliminated by Reid's Magellan beam strike.
This marked the final enemy mobile suit of the invasion—the Zaku Experimental Type had long been located and destroyed by Gaia's Trio.
Reid glanced at the World Change Fluctuation Value: 23.212%, nearly identical to pre-invasion levels. The assessment mission had concluded without major incident. Returning Gundam Nadleeh's GN Drive during their next entry should restore the fluctuation value below 20%.
However, as Reid called for the team's return via comms, the Real Type Armed Gundam Virtue suddenly charged directly toward him, transmitting via laser communication:
"Reid Isaac! Is Gundam Nadleeh in your possession?"
Reid initially considered playing dumb—after all, he had indeed taken their property.
But Hoshino Ruri abruptly reported through team comms: "Reid, VEDA has locked onto Gundam Artemis and is attempting to infiltrate its systems. Code incompatibility has temporarily prevented success. Distance yourself from Virtue immediately—we don't know how it's maintaining remote connection to VEDA through combined Neutron Jammer and Minovsky Particle dispersion (deployed by those Zakus)."
Reid's expression turned dangerous. Though uncertain how VEDA could lock onto Gundam Artemis through layered interference, he knew Tieria and this new Virtue unit must be the conduits.
Activating his Red Comet skill instantly, Reid closed the distance and decapitated Virtue.
The Real Type Armed Gundam Virtue had been positioned dangerously close to Gundam Artemis—so near that Tieria failed to react before the unit's head was severed, still puzzling over the sudden loss of VEDA connection.
Ignoring Tieria's confusion, Reid directed Hoshino Ruri to patch his communication through to Ptolemy, his tone grave as he declared:
"Miss Sumeragi, I believe I made it clear that our friendliness towards you Celestial Beings is conditional upon you not provoking us first. This provocation includes any attempts to infiltrate us using VEDA.
So, Miss Sumeragi, considering our previous interactions have been relatively pleasant, let me ask you this: are you Celestial Beings prepared to go to war with us?"
As Reid spoke, the other Celestial Beings witnessed the head of the Real Type Armed Gundam Virtue fall to the ground.
Exia, Kyrios, and Dynames simultaneously aimed their weapons at Gundam Artemis, while all the Mobile Suits on Reid's side raised their weapons as well, bringing the situation to the brink of combat.
(End of Chapter)