After saving Celestial Beings, Reid didn't bother with them any further.
Those people were the protagonists of this world, after all. He didn't need to follow them around like a nanny cleaning up their messes.
Besides, Reid was now heading off to face the team on the battlefield that posed the greatest threat to Celestial Beings.
If Reid's team could hold off ZAFT's nuclear-powered machines, and the seven Gundams of Celestial Beings still managed to fail despite having the support of the Human Reform League, Union, and AEU forces on the ground, then Reid would just tell them to go cool off somewhere. He would save them one more time, but he would make sure to exclude the Celestial Beings' Gundams from the next Otherworld Entanglement, no matter what.
However, Reid soon had no time to think about Celestial Beings. As the Gundam Artemis approached the Freedom and the Justice, the berserk Kira and berserk Athrun naturally shifted their attention to it.
In terms of Mobile Suit performance, the Gundam Artemis had already surpassed the Freedom and the Justice by a tier; one could even say there was a generational gap.
But this generational gap was similar to the one between the Zeta Gundam and The-O. The latter's Mobile Suit was inferior in almost every attribute, but it wasn't completely outmatched, and its armaments could still deal fatal damage to its opponent.
Reid didn't dare underestimate Kira and Athrun in the slightest, especially not a Kira who was willing to kill. With both Kira and Athrun fighting without restraint, Reid had no idea just how much combat power the two friends could unleash when they teamed up.
Therefore, the first step in fighting Kira and Athrun was to separate them.
Reid gave his commands over the team's voice channel.
"Ange, you take on the Justice. I'll handle the Freedom.
"Yufang, Yulan, you two intercept the Providence and the Brave. Their Dragoon equipment is unusable in the atmosphere, so they don't have many weapons. You can activate the Psycho-Link if necessary.
"Salya, Hilda, the Reborns and the Covenant are yours.
"Noin, Gaia, Mash, Ortega, you'll deal with the five first-generation G Weapons near the ground. Gaia, you three, don't be in a hurry to use Trans-Am; we might need it later.
"Noin, keep a close eye on the Blitz and try to take it out first. After that, sweep up the N Dagger Ns. There aren't many of them, but they also have the Mirage Colloid System.
"Orga, you're in command of Tekkadan. The Ghost Jegan Squad will defend the Gran Chaos. You'll be in charge of deploying the Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex and the Garibaldi Rebake."
After giving his orders and hearing a series of "Yes," "Roger," and "Understood" over the comms, Reid piloted his Mobile Suit and charged straight for the Freedom.
Reid's move was so obvious, and the Gundam Artemis looked nothing like a run-of-the-mill grunt from any angle, so the berserk Kira didn't immediately use his Rainbow Cannon.
Kira knew very well that the attack was great for mowing down grunts (Rei was a grunt, and he was taken out by the Strike Freedom's Full Burst), but against an expert, the opening after a Full Burst Mode was just giving the enemy an opportunity.
So, against the Gundam Artemis charging at him, the berserk Kira just fired a few test shots from his M20 "Sirius" Beam Rifle to gauge his opponent's skill, planning his next move based on their reaction.
Such ordinary shots were naturally useless against Reid. This version of Kira knew nothing about him, so there was no need to reveal the Beam Shield right away.
Since he could predict the timing of Kira's attacks, Reid didn't even need Nein's assistance. He simply weaved through the air in a few minimal Z-patterns, dodging the beams without even slowing down.
An expert had made his move. The berserk Kira immediately knew the incoming MS would be a tough opponent. Without a word, he fired the M100 "Whale" Plasma Convergence Beam Cannons to force an evasion.
At the same time, the berserk Athrun beside him piloted the Justice to intercept from the flank.
However, just as the Justice Gundam charged toward the Gundam Artemis, Reid smiled faintly. He pulled his Mobile Suit straight up, dodging the Freedom's two plasma beams while firing a couple of shots from his waist-mounted railguns at the Justice.
Of course, Reid never expected these two shots to hit the Justice. After all, railguns against Phase Shift Armor could only result in the projectiles bouncing off.
The purpose of Reid's attack was merely to draw the berserk Athrun's attention.
Because his opponent was currently charging toward him at Mach 3.
Since Reid had assigned Athrun to Ange, Ange, knowing how formidable Athrun was, certainly wasn't going to slack off.
She had deliberately slowed the Immortal Aegis down, letting the Gundam Artemis race ahead to draw attention, all to set up a surprise attack and seize the initiative.
As the person who had communicated with Ange the most and on the deepest level, Reid didn't even need to speak to her to guess her general plan.
Sure enough, just as Athrun's attention was diverted for a moment to evade the electromagnetic cannons, Ange descended like a tiger from the mountains.
The Immortal Aegis's thrusters flared to life. If it weren't for the fact that Ange couldn't control the Mobile Suit at first cosmic velocity, she would probably be planning to take the Justice into orbit.
But Mach 3 was fast enough. The so-called distance was only about two or three thousand meters, which could be covered in just over two seconds.
Only someone with Ange's physical constitution could withstand the G-forces from such a sudden acceleration, even with the most advanced pilot suit. While Reid could pull off a similar maneuver, he would surely end up like Graham enduring 12 Gs of acceleration, with saliva and snot smeared all over his face.
But Athrun was truly strong. In his berserk mode, his piloting became even bolder.
In just over two seconds, after dodging the electromagnetic cannons, Athrun's cockpit warnings blared. Seeing a Mobile Suit that had practically "teleported" in front of him, transforming into MS mode and thrusting its sword forward, he chose to have the Justice detach directly from its Destiny-00 Backpack.
One had to remember that the Justice Gundam was also in the middle of a charge toward the Gundam Artemis; the electromagnetic cannons had only made it swerve slightly to evade.
As a result, the Destiny-00 Backpack, being the main propulsion unit, shot forward instantly, while the Justice's main body abruptly decelerated and, under Athrun's deliberate control, began to fall downward.
Thus, Ange's surprise thrust ultimately hit empty air.
Even though the main thruster output had been drastically reduced when Ange transformed the Mobile Suit, the inertia from its Mach 3 speed still carried it forward several hundred meters before it could stabilize.
By this time, the Justice had naturally re-docked with the Destiny-00, but its altitude had dropped significantly. Ange had achieved her tactical objective: the Freedom and the Justice were now separated.
What happened next was a given. Reid piloted the Gundam Artemis upward, forcing the Freedom to fly even higher.
Ange, meanwhile, piloted the Immortal Aegis downward, forcing the Justice toward the ground battlefield, completely separating the two friends.
Setting aside the battle between the Immortal Aegis and the Justice for now, on Reid's side, the Freedom was left exposed after Ange forced Athrun away.
Of course, by now the surrounding Providence, Reborns, Covenant, and Brave had all been drawn away by their respective opponents. It was now time for an ace duel.
Well, to be fair, this berserk, cockpit-targeting Kira was far stronger than his original counterpart at the same point in time. It was quite possible that even the Kira from the SEED Destiny era piloting the Freedom wasn't as strong as the one Reid was facing now.
So, when the Gundam Artemis closed into melee range, the berserk Kira had the Freedom draw its two "Lupus" Beam Sabers. He thrust the right-hand saber toward the Gundam Artemis's cockpit, using the left hand for support.
Seeing how aggressive the berserk Kira was, Reid, who had the superior Mobile Suit, had no reason to back down.
Reid knew the Freedom's Beam Saber output all too well. He had his Mobile Suit activate its GN Shield and used the Lambda Driver to condense GN Particles into a small shield, ramming it directly into the Freedom's right-hand Beam Saber.
At the same time, the Gundam Artemis's left-arm sword-shield swung in a backhand motion toward the Freedom's right arm.
The Freedom's right-hand Beam Saber was completely unable to break through the high-density GN Particles, dissipating like a stream of water hitting a steel plate.
But the berserk Kira's reaction was swift. Facing the sword-shield swinging at his right arm, he didn't try to dodge. Instead, he flipped up the "Whale" Plasma Convergence Beam Cannons on his back-mounted wings and fired directly at the Gundam Artemis's head.
This was a classic trade of blows. If Reid didn't change his move now, he would cut off the Freedom's right arm, but the Gundam Artemis's head would definitely be lost.
The power of the "Whale" Plasma Convergence Beam Cannon was enough to pierce a GN Shield, and it was clearly too late to deploy the Wave Motion Shield.
So Reid had no choice but to change his move. The sword-shield deployed its Beam Shield, blocking the "Whale" Plasma Convergence Beam Cannon.
However, the Freedom used this opportunity to retreat rapidly. The berserk Kira already knew that melee combat was a severe disadvantage for him; his Beam Sabers couldn't break through the enemy's defense.
Thus, the berserk Kira retracted both sabers and returned to a rifle-and-shield stance, preparing to engage the Gundam Artemis at mid-to-long range again.
However, the berserk Kira probably couldn't have imagined that mid-to-long range was the Gundam Artemis's comfort zone.
As Reid raised his shield to block the beam, Nein had the Mobile Suit raise its right-hand rifle and fire directly at the Freedom. Simultaneously, all the small Funnels and the large Heavy Ion Funnels on its back were released, preparing to give the Freedom a nice beam bath.
This time, it was Kira's turn for his scalp to tingle, even in his berserk state.
This Kira was clearly aware of how troublesome Dragoons were (the Kira from the normal timeline had no concept of Funnels and called them all Dragoons). Faced with the pressure from twenty-two large and small Dragoons (the four Funnel Blades had not been deployed), this berserk Kira went directly into SEED mode.
The Freedom's movements instantly became more than twice as fluid. It dodged the beams from the Magellan and the two Heavy Ion Funnels by laying the entire Mobile Suit flat in mid-air. As for the remaining small Funnels, the Freedom dodged most of them in a dance-like descent, blocking the ones it couldn't evade with its shield.
As a result, Reid's first wave of Funnel attacks accomplished nothing.
However, even with SEED mode active, these maneuvers pushed Kira to his absolute limit. He had no energy left to counterattack, nor could he create any distance.
Reid certainly wasn't going to give this berserk Kira any breathing room. The moment the Funnel attack ended, the Gundam Artemis closed in again.
This time, it was the Gundam Artemis's turn to stow its rifle and draw its sword.
Reid didn't bother with any fancy moves. He pushed the Beam Saber's output to maximum, then used the Lambda Driver to shape it into a cutting blade and swung down with a single slash.
At the same time, Nein stealthily released the four previously hidden Funnel Blades, preparing for a sneak attack.
Again, Reid knew the Freedom's equipment parameters all too well. This slash was aimed at cutting off the Freedom's left arm, shield and all.
Berserk mode apparently didn't increase Kira's caution. Coupled with his straightforward, hard-piloting fighting style, he was the type of pilot who relied on raw skill.
Faced with the simple, unadorned Beam Saber slash, although Kira's sixth sense told him something was wrong, he still reflexively met it with his shield.
In Kira's mind, if he chose to dodge, his opponent's left-hand sword-shield would surely follow up with another attack, and the Freedom would definitely lose a part or two.
Unfortunately, this misjudgment meant the Freedom would lose more than just a few parts this time.
The Gundam Artemis's Beam Saber didn't use GN Particles; it was a high-output Beam Saber from the AC Universe. After being shaped by the Lambda Driver, the beam didn't look thick, but its particle intensity was extremely high.
The Freedom's Anti-Beam Laminated Armor Shield was completely unable to withstand an attack of this level. The Beam Saber sliced through it like a knife through butter, cutting off the arm underneath in a single stroke.
Simultaneously, the four Funnel Blades deployed their beam edges and shot straight for the Freedom's backpack thrusters, preparing to cripple its mobility.
However, even in this desperate situation, Kira found that sliver of a chance for survival.
The severing of the Freedom's left arm naturally caused an explosion.
Kira seized the opportunity and had the "Whale" Plasma Convergence Beam Cannon on the right wing fire into empty air.
The impact from the explosion on the left, combined with the recoil from the "Whale" cannon, forced the Mobile Suit upright. In the end, the four Funnel Blades only pierced the remaining stump of the Freedom's left arm, causing a secondary explosion, but failing to cripple the Freedom completely.
But now, the Freedom's right side was exposed vertically in front of the Gundam Artemis, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Although this lamb tried to force him back (by firing its right-hand Beam Rifle), Reid simply activated his Wave Motion Shield to block the beam this time. His left-arm sword-shield swung in a downward slash, preparing to cut the Freedom in half at the waist.
There were no surprises. The information gap between the two was too vast. The left-arm sword-shield could be coated in a beam, meaning it wasn't purely a physical weapon. Phase Shift Armor was ineffective. The Freedom was cut in two at the waist, exploding and disappearing into red code.
However, Kira's defeat was the trigger that activated another boss.
Under Ange's relentless assault, Athrun had been completely suppressed but had managed to defend himself quite well, not giving Ange any openings. The two were locked in a chase, and it seemed no victor would emerge in the short term.
But the moment the Freedom exploded, Athrun was like Kakarot seeing Krillin die, instantly going Super Saiyan.
To be precise, Athrun also entered SEED mode, but this time, its manifestation was far too abnormal.
It was unclear by how much Athrun had overloaded his Mobile Suit, but the Justice, whose mobility had been completely suppressed by the Immortal Aegis, suddenly became as agile as if it were a different machine.
Not only did it keep up with the Immortal Aegis's movements, but their sword-shields clashed, and during the stalemate, they even kicked each other.
This collision of kicks forced the two Mobile Suits apart.
Then, as if his wife had just died, Athrun, without a second word, charged straight for the murderer, Reid.
Through his Newtype senses, Reid could feel that Athrun's killing intent was now sky-high. If only the Justice had some special particles to channel his spirit, like a Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactor, it would probably be in the same particle-wreathed state as the ZZ during its final battle.
This was the feeling Reid got from the sheer force of Athrun's spirit, a pilot who had no Newtype talent.
Although Athrun certainly still lacked the various psychic abilities of a Newtype, just based on the mental pressure carried by this wave of killing intent, the feeling he gave Reid was second only to top-tier Newtypes like Kamille, on the same level as Char during the Zeta era.