The Moon Kingdom's capital thrummed with urgency. Klaxons wailed in deep, rhythmic pulses, vibrating through the reinforced walls. Red emergency lights strobed down the corridors, bathing soldiers and engineers alike in a heartbeat of crimson.
From the command bridge, Queen Guinevere stood before the grand tactical display, her gaze locked on the glowing red icons creeping toward the Moon.
"Mercury Kingdom warships…" she murmured, voice low but edged with steel.
Her chief of staff stepped forward. "Your Majesty, we've confirmed seven capital-class ships, escorted by at least twenty smaller craft. Estimated time to lunar orbit: eighteen minutes."
Guinevere's jaw tightened. "Status of our defenses?"
"All Lunaris units are fueled and armed. Fleet squadrons already on standby in low orbit."
"Then launch the Lunaris Squadron immediately," she ordered, her voice rising so everyone in the room could hear. "I want them intercepting before Mercury's vanguard reaches our airspace."
---
[Hangar Bay Six – Nura's POV]
The cavernous bay roared with activity. Engineers shouted over each other, the hiss of coolant lines and the whir of cranes filling the air. Lunaris Gundam stood at the center like a silver-gray giant, its reflective armor catching the floodlights.
Ralvern strode up beside Nura, clapping a hand to his shoulder. "You've got that look in your eyes again."
Nura smirked faintly. "You mean the 'I'm about to get shot at by people I've never met' look?"
Ralvern snorted. "I mean the look of a man who's about to earn his place out there. You've already shown you can handle yourself—don't forget that."
Nura's gaze drifted to Lunaris. "It still feels… different from Thanatos. I get the speed, but the power's not there. And no Malaya System."
"That's the trade-off," Ralvern said simply. "Thanatos can crush mountains but it's slow. Lunaris dances around the blows but doesn't hit as hard. Play to your strengths."
Nura chuckled under his breath. "Easy for you to say. You're not the one out there in silver paint."
From the gantry, the deck chief waved. "Unit-07—cockpit checks complete. All systems green."
"Showtime," Ralvern said.
---
[Mercury Kingdom Flagship Saint Ascendant – Enemy POV]
On the bridge, High Inquisitor Belthran stood before a massive viewport, his long ceremonial robes drifting in the low gravity. The Mercury fleet spread in flawless formation, hulls etched with glowing runes.
"They'll resist," said his first officer.
Belthran's lips curled. "Good. Holy judgment is meaningless without defiance to crush. Deploy the Spears of Mercy—let their heretic machines taste the first cut."
---
[Launch Sequence – Nura's POV]
The mag-locks beneath Lunaris Gundam clamped, the catapult rail humming. One by one, the other silver-gray Gundams lined up.
"Lunaris-02, ready."
"Lunaris-04, ready."
"Lunaris-07—Nura, ready," he said into the comm.
The launch officer's voice cut through the noise:
"Moon Kingdom, Lunaris Squadron—LAUNCH!"
The rail catapulted him forward, and the Moon's surface dropped away. The black of space swallowed him, stars sharp as blades. His HUD lit up with red enemy markers, more appearing every second.
"Squadron, form on me," Ralvern's voice ordered over comms.
"Acknowledged," Nura replied, sliding Lunaris into position.
Ralvern's voice hardened. "Remember—these aren't pirates. These are trained military pilots, and they're here for blood."
"Then let's make them choke on it," another Lunaris pilot muttered.
Nura exhaled slowly, watching the enemy formation expand in the distance. "So… this is how it begins."
---
[Space – Midway Between Fleets]
The Mercury fleet gleamed under the sun's light, each warship like a drifting cathedral plated in gold and silver. The flagship Saint Ascendant led the formation, its forward bays sealed shut… until a low chime echoed over its internal comms.
The doors split apart.
Seven sleek silhouettes emerged — sharp, angular frames in void-black armor, faint crimson vein-lines glowing along their limbs.
Prophet-Class.
Every pilot in the Moon Kingdom recognized them instantly. Four of these very suits had already infiltrated the capital once before — invisible, silent, and deadly. The scars from that night still marked the city walls.
Ralvern's voice over the tactical net was clipped. "Prophets confirmed. They're faster than Spear units, and they'll vanish the moment they engage. Keep your partner close. Don't let them isolate you."
On the Mercury comms, a cold, almost ceremonial voice spoke:
"Prophets… let your cloaks be the shadow of His will."
The suits shimmered — and vanished from sight.
---
From the Saint Ascendant's secondary bays came a wave of bulkier units, gleaming white and gold with long, crackling energy spears — Spear of Mercy mobile suits. Their formation was perfect, their weapons humming with restrained power.
---
[Moon Kingdom – Operations Deck]
The tactical map flared red.
"Multiple Spear-class detected—front line approach!" a sensor officer shouted. "Prophets—visual lost!"
"Of course," Ralvern muttered. "They'll use the Spears to pin us down and the Prophets to gut our command line."
---
[Nura – Lunaris Cockpit]
Nura flexed his hands on the controls, eyes darting across the HUD. Spear units were obvious enough, lumbering forward like an armored wall, but the Prophets were… nowhere.
He remembered the chaos of the first infiltration — the shock of an enemy that could appear inside the capital before anyone knew they were there.
Now there were seven of them.
"This is going to be worse than last time," he murmured.
Ralvern's voice came sharp. "Lunaris Squadron—split into pairs. Watch for distortion flashes; that's your only warning. Don't hesitate. If you get isolated, you're dead."
---
[Mercury Kingdom Flagship – Belthran POV]
Belthran's gaze stayed fixed on the holomap, the faintest smirk on his lips.
"They'll remember the Prophets," he said to his adjutant. "They'll remember the fear of seeing death appear from nowhere."
The bridge crew began to chant in low unison — the words of the fleet's holy creed, heavy and deliberate.
---
[Space – Mid-Battle]
The Spear of Mercy wall was closing fast, their energy weapons locking into a perfect advance line. The Lunaris Gundams fanned out, thrusters flaring against the void, trying to keep formation under Ralvern's sharp commands.
Then —
A distortion ripple.
"Left sector—!"
Too late. A Prophet-Class suit materialized right beside one Lunaris unit, its scythe already swinging. The blade carved clean through the Gundam's arm before anyone could react.
"Dammit! He's gone dark!" a pilot's voice cracked over comms.
The Prophet vanished again.
---
[Nura – Lunaris Cockpit]
His HUD was a mess — warning indicators, thermal spikes, half-second sensor ghosts. He caught a flicker at his six, swung Lunaris around, beam saber up—
CLANG!
The Prophet's scythe locked with his blade, sparks arcing between them. Its glowing crimson visor glared at him through the dark, like a predator's eye.
"Found you," Nura growled—only for the enemy to fade out of sight mid-clash, leaving his saber cutting nothing but empty space.
"Ralvern, where the hell is it?!"
"Everywhere!" Ralvern barked back. "They're hitting all wings—keep moving or you're next!"
---
[Lunaris Squadron Channel]
Two more Lunaris suits took hits — one spun away with a shattered leg, another lost a shield before vanishing into evasive maneuvers. The Prophet strikes were surgical, sudden, and gone before anyone could lock on.
"They're toying with us!" one pilot shouted.
"Hold your damn nerves!" Ralvern snapped. "We break formation, we're finished!"
---
[Nura]
Another ripple—above!
The Prophet dropped from high, scythe raised. Nura jerked Lunaris sideways, thrusters screaming, feeling the blade scrape along his Gundam's shoulder plating.
He swung back in pure reflex—beam saber slicing through the Prophet's arm guard. The enemy recoiled, its cloak shimmering as if wounded… then vanished again.
"Ralvern—these things fight different from before," Nura panted. "Faster. Meaner."
"They've been upgraded," Ralvern said grimly. "And they're not here to scare us this time. They're here to kill us all."
---
[Space – Outer Capital Defense Perimeter]
Nura's alarms screamed again. Two Prophet-Class blips materialized almost simultaneously — one right in front, the other at his flank.
"Ah, hell—"
The first Prophet's scythe came down in a brutal vertical slash. Nura caught it on Lunaris's beam saber, the impact rattling his entire cockpit. The second Prophet dove in from the side, forcing him to twist the Gundam hard, thrusters flaring in a desperate dodge.
CLANG–SKRREEE! Sparks cascaded across the void as metal scraped metal.
---
[Comms Open]
Ralvern's voice cut in sharply.
"Stay calm and read their attack rhythms, Nura! They cloak after every strike — use that gap!"
"Easy for you to say!" Nura barked back, teeth gritted as he locked blades again. "You're sitting safe in the damn control room while I've got two of these invisible freaks trying to carve me up!"
"They're Prophet-Class. You don't fight them clean — you bait them, then cut them down!"
"Great advice! Next time, you try being the bait!"
---
The first Prophet shimmered, fading from view — only to reappear behind him in less than a second. Nura's sensors barely caught it.
BEEP–BEEP–BEEP!
"Behind—!"
He twisted Lunaris's torso and stabbed blindly. The beam saber met resistance — a glancing hit along the enemy's arm. The Prophet recoiled, shimmer breaking into static before disappearing again.
---
[Nura – Breathless]
"They're reading my moves now…"
Ralvern's voice was low but urgent.
"Then you'd better change the way you move, or they'll finish you before you even know it."
The second Prophet lunged in from above, scythe catching the light of the distant Moon. The two mobile suits clashed mid-spin, locked in a death spiral as Nura's arms shook against the pressure.
---
[Outer Space – Lunaris Gundam Defensive Line]
The fight had reached a brutal rhythm — thrusters flaring, blades clashing, shields shattering under Prophet-Class assaults.
Nura finally cleaved one of them apart, his breath sharp inside his helmet.
Ralvern's voice came through the comm.
"Stay sharp, Nura—"
"Easy for you to say when you're watching from the control room!" Nura snapped, kicking the wreckage away.
And then… the stars moved.
---
[Mercury Kingdom – Flagship "Sanctum of Judgement"]
The High Inquisitor stood in the shadow of the bridge's cathedral-like arch.
"Our Prophets have served their purpose. It is time the Moon beholds the shape of divine judgment."
An officer swallowed hard. "You mean… Starius, my lord?"
"Yes," the Inquisitor said, voice almost reverent. "Let the sky be crossed."
---
[Moon Kingdom – Capital Command Deck]
"Massive contact—no, wait—it's gone!"
"What do you mean 'gone'!?"
"Cloaked—now reappearing—there! Wait—lost it again—"
---
[Outer Space – Lunaris Gundam Pilots]
They all saw it at once.
The void peeled back, like night itself retreating… and the shape emerged.
It was colossal — a T-shaped behemoth stretching across the stars.
The horizontal arms bristled with fortress-like structures, while the vertical spine descended into a titanic core at its heart, glowing with an ominous, blood-red light.
Its outline blotted constellations from view.
The light from its core pulsed — slow, deliberate, like a predator inhaling before the strike.
"…What… is that?" someone whispered over comms.
"That's no station," another pilot breathed. "That's a weapon."
Nura's voice was tight. "…That thing's looking at us."
---
[Moon Kingdom – Capital Command Chamber]
Gasps and silence.
Queen Guinevere stared, her voice barely above a whisper. "By the gods…"
Beside her, Morderia's eyes narrowed, her usual teasing warmth gone. "…This is wrong. That… shouldn't exist."
Ralvern's jaw clenched. "No record of anything like it. No history. No warning…"
And still, the core pulsed — red veins of light crawling up the T-shaped arms, converging toward the center.
Whatever Starius was, the Moon had never faced it before.
But everyone felt the same truth in their bones:
It had come to erase them.
---
[Outer Space – Defensive Perimeter, Moon Kingdom]
The comm channels were a storm of overlapping orders.
"All Lunaris units, Starius is priority! Break through the Prophet Class and intercept!"
Nura gritted his teeth, igniting Lunaris' verniers. The massive T-shaped weapon loomed ahead, its crimson core now pulsing faster, as if counting down.
"Let's move!" he shouted, surging forward alongside two other Lunaris Gundams.
They didn't make it far.
Shimmering distortions rippled ahead — and from nothingness, three Prophet Class mobile suits uncloaked directly in their path.
"Contact! Contact!"
One of them was already diving for him, a scythe-like blade slashing down.
Nura blocked — barely — the shock rattling through his cockpit.
"Dammit!" he spat, kicking off to create space, but the second Prophet Class appeared to his flank, beam spear lancing toward his midsection.
Ralvern's voice cut in through the comm. "Nura! You're being boxed in!"
"Yeah, I noticed!" Nura growled, spinning Lunaris and deflecting the strike, but the force spun him off course, drifting further from Starius.
Through his visor, the distant weapon's crimson glow intensified, the faint shimmer of energy gathering around its core.
He knew — deep in his gut — that if it fired, the Moon's surface would never be the same.
"Break through, Nura! We need you on that thing!"
"Easy for you to say, Ralvern — you're not the one with two invisible psychos trying to cut you in half!"
The first Prophet lunged again, its scythe's arc so close Nura could see the scorch trail across Lunaris' armor.
The third Prophet suddenly appeared behind him, forcing him into a desperate spin-kick with the Gundam's thruster-assisted heel to knock it back.
Every second he was locked in this dance, Starius grew brighter.
He could almost feel the hum of its core through the void.
Somewhere inside, a chilling thought crept in:
If I don't make it through… no one will.
---
[Mercury Kingdom – Flagship Sanctus Vex, Command Bridge]
Inside the dim-lit bridge, the air was thick with the hum of reactors and the rhythmic beep of targeting arrays.
The Starius loomed ahead on their displays — a colossal T-shaped meteorite weapon, its crimson heart pulsing like a living organ. Mercury's engineers and priests moved in unison, hands hovering over both control panels and ceremonial relics.
"All Prophet Class units have the Lunaris forces tied down," reported a Mercury tactician, his voice cold and certain.
"The Moon's outer defense grid will break within minutes."
At the center of the bridge, Grand Marshal Theon raised a gauntleted hand. His armor gleamed under the dim cathedral-like lighting.
"Begin the sanctification. Let the seed of witches burn under the light of judgment."
A choir-like chant filled the bridge as Starius' core flared brighter, its containment rings locking into position.
---
[Moon Kingdom – Royal Command Chamber]
The chamber was chaos. Officers ran from station to station, holographic projections flickered between warning red and tactical blue, and the sound of distant explosions echoed faintly even here.
"Deploy the secondary defense line!" Queen Guinevere ordered, her voice sharp but strained. "Keep the capital shield up at all costs!"
Her knuckles tightened on the throne's armrest. The live feed of the battle above showed the Moon's Gundams locked in brutal melee with the Prophet Class — and beyond them, the terrible silhouette of Starius.
Then the room's main monitor flickered. A transmission request… from the enemy.
"Put it through," the Queen commanded.
The feed stabilized to reveal Grand Marshal Theon, standing tall in his armor, the blood-red crest of Mercury's faith behind him.
"Queen Guinevere of the Moon… surrender your Moon to the Kingdom of Mercury. Lay down your arms, and your people will be spared the holy fire."
Gasps filled the chamber.
Guinevere's voice was steady, even as her heart pounded.
"You dare demand my people's home? You cloak conquest in holy words and call it judgment. I will not surrender the Moon."
Theon's gaze hardened.
"Then you condemn them all."
The transmission cut — leaving only the image of Starius burning brighter in the blackness of space.
---
For a moment, the chamber was silent except for the hum of the monitors.
Queen Guinevere's hand trembled slightly as she gripped the armrest, though her face betrayed no weakness. She had seen wars before, but never had the threat felt so immediate — so close.
A soft voice broke the tension.
"Mother…"
Morderia stepped forward from the shadows beside the throne. Unlike the cold, commanding presence she showed the council, her tone now was warm, almost pleading. She placed a hand gently over her mother's.
"They won't break us. The Moon has weathered storms before — and we will again."
Guinevere exhaled slowly, letting her daughter's words anchor her. The faintest smile tugged at her lips.
"Then we fight… until the last star fades."
---
[Mercury Kingdom – Flagship Sanctus Vex]
The transmission feed from the Moon cut, leaving only the flicker of Starius' crimson light reflecting off the bridge's metal walls.
Grand Marshal Theon's lips curled into a faint smirk.
"What a foolish witch…" he muttered, his voice dripping with contempt. "She clings to hope like a child to a broken toy."
An aide stepped forward, bowing.
"Orders, Marshal?"
Theon raised his hand and pointed toward the looming weapon outside their viewport.
"Charge the Starius."
A deep mechanical hum rolled through the flagship. From within the T-shaped meteorite, rings began to rotate, drawing arcs of scarlet energy into its central maw. Sparks of ionized light danced across the weapon's spine, like the heartbeat of a god awakening.
"Ensure the Moon sees it coming," Theon added. "Let them watch their doom arrive."
---
[Space Above the Moon – Outer Defensive Ring]
Nura's cockpit shook violently as the Prophet Class unit's scythe barely missed slicing the Lunaris Gundam's shoulder plate.
The HUD flashed multiple warnings in red, his pulse spiking in time with each alarm.
"Ralvern!" Nura barked over the comms, swinging his beam saber to intercept another invisible slash. "I'm not going to last much longer if this thing keeps vanishing in my face!"
Ralvern's voice crackled back, calm but strained.
"Stay on it, Nura! You're the only one holding that flank!"
"Easy for you to say," Nura snarled, parrying a blow that nearly pierced his cockpit. "You're not the one dancing with ghosts out here!"
One Prophet flickered into view — just enough for him to drive his saber straight into its core. The explosion lit the void in a flash of white, but there was no time to breathe. Another Prophet lunged at him from behind, and Nura twisted violently, dragging his blade upward in a killing arc.
"Two down!" he gasped, his breath ragged.
The surviving Prophet suits realized the breach — but the Lunaris pilots seized the moment.
"Push through!" Nura shouted, the adrenaline cutting through the fatigue. His thrusters flared to full, the stars stretching around him as the formation broke free.
The scattered Prophet wreckage drifted away, their cloaking fields failing as they spun into the darkness. And there — just ahead — the Starius revealed itself fully in the black expanse, its T-shaped silhouette glowing with a monstrous light.
For a heartbeat, Nura forgot to breathe.
"So that's the thing they've been hiding?"