"Bastards! Those damned Coordinators!"
With a face twisted like a demon's, the sudden Coordinator attack struck General Charle's heart like a sharp blade thrust deep.
And it wasn't just a simple strike - the Coordinators had twisted the knife with a sinister laugh, jolting General Charle awake from his beautiful dream.
He had rushed over so frantically that he lost his hat, throwing himself before the command center's display screen. Even now, he couldn't comprehend how those hateful Coordinators who shattered his grand dream had managed to breach the Umbrella of the Moon's defenses.
"BOOM!" Just as General Charle was anxiously tearing his hair out, the fortress shook violently once more.
"Ah!" Caught off guard, the unsteady Charle fell to the ground.
"Quick, quick! Help the General up!"
Witnessing his superior's embarrassing state, the Adjutant immediately called for nearby soldiers to rescue him.
"Get away! All of you, get away!" Any semblance of dignity as a hero's descendant or restraint as a leader of human society no longer mattered.
With bloodshot eyes, Charle lashed out at his subordinates like a shrew, kicking and punching wildly.
"What happened? What's going on now?"
Kicking the soldiers' backsides with a ferocious expression, Charle demanded to know immediately what had occurred.
"It's... it's the Archangel!" The terrified subordinate quickly ascertained the situation. "They used the Positron Cannon to blast open the dock gates and are currently advancing outward!"
"General, the Archangel must be going to engage the enemy!" the Adjutant hurriedly added, hoping this news might calm the emotionally distraught General Charle.
"You idiot!" Instead, the Adjutant's flattery had the opposite effect. General Charle was so enraged his face contorted beyond recognition.
Looking at his usually attentive adjutant, Charle felt such fury he could kill the man right then.
He kicked directly at the Adjutant, his voice cracking as he shouted, "They're escaping! Escaping! Don't you understand, you idiot? They're running away!"
"Ah?" Crouching on the ground covering his head while enduring the General's fierce kicks, the Adjutant looked utterly bewildered. "How can that be? Aren't we allied with East Asia?"
"You!" Furious that someone could be so foolish at such a critical moment, General Charle's pointing hand trembled as if having a seizure.
The same man who had once proudly referred to others as barbarians now found himself in utter disgrace.
"After hunting geese all my life, today I've been pecked by one."
His chest heaved like bellows, steam practically puffing from his nostrils.
Forcing down the pain in his heart, General Charle thought it through - just as he had ill intentions toward them, that Wang Hu and the Archangel had been scheming against him all along.
"Go! Order all troops to deploy! With this fortress's military strength, those ZAFT forces can't defeat me!"
"And send part of our forces to pursue and retrieve the Archangel! I want them dead! I'll report them to the Allied Forces headquarters!"
"General, I'm afraid that won't be possible."
This time, it wasn't Charle's adjutant who spoke, but another senior officer.
After tallying the military strength within the fortress, his face was filled with despair.
Due to the previously held victory celebration, which was nominally only for combat soldiers to relax, the lax and undisciplined bureaucratic atmosphere of the Eurasian Federation military had allowed many soldiers who shouldn't have been relaxing to secretly join in.
Therefore...
Facing the heavily advancing ZAFT fleet, this officer made a desperate decision and dashed outside.
"Run, run! This battle is unwinnable! So many soldiers are still drunk—how can we possibly fight?"
Thus, the dominoes fell. Taking this officer as an example, the self-proclaimed leaders of human history among the officers scattered like monkeys fleeing a collapsing tree.
"You—all of you—come back here! Now!"
Staring in disbelief at the command center that had emptied in the blink of an eye, General Charle stood alone, stomping his feet and cursing furiously.
But what use was such cursing in this situation?
Unrealistic dreams always have a day of awakening.
After all, when the times abandon you, they won't bother to say goodbye.
What followed was predictable. Without unified command from headquarters, the Artemis Fortress defenders—accustomed to relying on the Umbrella of the Moon for combat—were caught off guard.
When these proud soldiers, strutting like roosters crowing daily, encountered the fierce Coordinator thugs, the outcome was naturally grim. Fortunately, in their desperate struggle, some soldiers with iron will spontaneously organized themselves.
This prevented the situation from devolving into a "noodle surrender"—soldiers lining up with their hands raised.
Another noteworthy point was the omnipresent spies from a certain nation. They completed the mission assigned by Li Chengzhi.
After delivering the Eurasian Federation's signature technology into Li Chengzhi's hands, these agents—silently embedded in enemy territory and shedding blood and tears in the shadows—did not immediately retreat.
Even though they had the chance to escape!
"We can't let these fall into the Coordinators' hands!"
Gathering in the fortress's central energy control room amid the chaos, several East Asian Army spies finally saw each other for the first time.
"Mhm." Every agent here shared the same thought.
"Set the timer. In the best-case scenario, we'll meet again back home," one agent said with forced nonchalance.
"Don't say things like that now," another agent chided, playfully punching his jinx of a partner.
"Hahaha, right, right."
Realizing his slip, the first agent lightly tapped his own lips.
Chatting casually as if leisurely enjoying Guangling's famous morning tea, the agents set the fortress's energy system self-destruct sequence—all under the hateful glares of the subdued Eurasian Federation soldiers around them.
"Why are you doing this? You'll die too!" a bound soldier on the ground suddenly shouted, having worked the gag loose from his mouth.
"Who tied him up? Such sloppy work?" an agent asked expressionlessly, utterly unfazed by the soldier's mention of death.
"Sorry, my skills have gotten rusty lately," another agent replied with an apologetic smile, stepping forward to re-gag the soldier.
"Is it worth it?" As the East Asian agent approached, the soldier finally shouted his question.
"You'll die! The Coordinators are breaking in from outside. Do you really think setting a timer will guarantee your escape?"
"Even if escape were possible, how can you be sure you'll make it out?"
"There's no question of worth. If the intelligence gets through safely, my life is payment enough."
"If my death can save countless comrades on the front lines from sacrifice, doesn't that calculation make it worthwhile?"
He smiled, a brilliant, sunlit smile. This agent knew there were many more like him scattered throughout the world.
Perhaps that seemingly insignificant person over there was actually his colleague.
It was precisely because there were countless versions of himself...
That East Asia could rise from the ashes!
"Urgh...!" The Eurasian Federation soldier stared wide-eyed, utterly unable to comprehend the man's reasoning.
You'll die! You'll definitely die!
Why? Why were these people so composed?
How could they remain so calm knowing they were carrying out a suicide mission!
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