Firing a City Breaking Cannon to blast open the dock gates of the Artemis Fortress, the Archangel managed to break out of the encirclement just before the ZAFT fleet pressed up to the fortress entrance.
Natarle Badgiruel's decisive command bought precious time for everyone aboard the ship.
However, unlike the original timeline where the Creuset team only had two battleships under its command and lacked sufficient forces to pursue the Archangel, the number of warships outside the fortress now allowed Creuset to deploy his troops methodically.
"How many battleships will be chasing us this time?"
Sitting in the Moebius Zero, Mu asked with a resigned tone. Previously, he had been too focused on figuring out how to escape and bickering with Wang Hu and the others, and hadn't really considered what would happen after they fled. It wasn't until Wang Hu ordered them to prepare for launch that Mu and the others suddenly remembered—given their opponent's nature, their escape wouldn't be that easy! At the very least, Creuset would surely be waiting ahead, though they had no idea what kind of setup that sly old fox had prepared for them.
"Not too many. Creuset isn't a god. Even if he's confident that the Blitz Gundam's assault can successfully disable the Umbrella of the Moon, he'll still allocate most of his forces to suppress the fortress, considering its own defenders and firepower, to avoid excessive losses. The pursuit will likely be led by his Vesalius."
Wang Hu calmly responded to Mu's complaint.
"But even if it's just two or three battleships, it won't be easy for us to escape."
Despite Wang Hu's explanation, Mu continued to dampen the mood.
"You, me, and Kira—we're the only three with any real combat power. The enemy has at least two more Gundams and Creuset himself, not to mention the other battleships."
Mu shook his head, expressing his pessimism, then added with a hint of schadenfreude, "What's wrong? Has our ever-calculating Captain Wang Hu finally slipped up? You didn't foresee this situation from the start, did you?"
"No," Wang Hu flatly denied Mu's teasing. "We can get away, though the sacrifices might be significant."
"Sacrifices?" Mu pondered the word inwardly. Sacrifices of whom? Me or Kira? What else does this guy have up his sleeve that he hasn't revealed yet?
But before Mu could press further, a communication from the bridge made his expression turn serious. Ahead of the Archangel, the silhouettes of three Nazca-class high-speed warships had appeared, looming like Guan Yu at Huarong Pass.
"Let's go." Listening to the launch order from the bridge, Wang Hu smiled and was the first to catapult out of the hangar.
"Yare yare, this guy." Following closely behind, Mu stopped dwelling on it and prepared himself for a fight to the death.
"I will change this world." The last to launch, Kira continued to mutter his latest motto.
Thus, the three individuals in their respective mobile suits, each harboring different emotions, charged headlong into the waiting ZAFT forces.
"Wang Hu!" As usual, Creuset, spotting Wang Hu, immediately sent a directed communication to the Qilin.
It was unclear when these two had developed such a habit.
It seemed that if they didn't exchange a few words before a battle, they would feel utterly uncomfortable fighting.
Wang Hu cheerfully answered the call from his old acquaintance Creuset, greeting him with a laugh.
"I hope you're in good health, Captain Creuset. Have you missed me?"
"Of course I have."
In Wang Hu's presence, Creuset always felt as though he had transformed.
The elegance he usually displayed in front of others would vanish without a trace, replaced by a relaxed demeanor that revealed a side of him few ever saw.
He no longer spoke with restraint, instead engaging in the kind of crude, down-to-earth banter one might expect from two rivals who happened to cross paths in the streets.
To be honest, Creuset didn't dislike this feeling—in fact, he rather enjoyed it.
This included the words he was about to say, which would have been unthinkable for him to utter in the past. It was a privilege reserved solely for Wang Hu.
"Wang Hu, this time you won't escape even if you grow wings! I won't give you another chance to play your deceitful tricks!"
Creuset was determined to follow through on his words, and he had made thorough preparations for this battle.
First, he would confirm which Mobile Armor Wang Hu was piloting in this engagement.
He absolutely would not allow a repeat of the previous fiasco, where a superior force had been misdirected against an inferior one.
To this end, Creuset had already devised a plan: if Wang Hu continued to play dumb and refused to respond,
he would take the drastic step of charging straight for the Archangel. He refused to believe that Wang Hu would stand idly by and watch him attack the mothership without reacting.
Once he confirmed Wang Hu's true position in the battle,
and considering Wang Hu's notorious ability to exploit chaos in group fights and turn his opponents' tactics against them,
Creuset had made it clear to everyone from the outset that his confrontation with Wang Hu required no support from allies.
"Oh?" Wang Hu observed the unusually aggressive Creuset charging toward him, then glanced at the now-clear distribution of forces on the battlefield.
So, it's a one-on-one between me and Creuset, Athrun and Kira facing off, multiple Genes ganging up on Mu,
and the Buster Gundam leading the remaining Genes in an assault on the Archangel?
Not bad, not bad. The allocation of forces is reasonable, and the tactical execution is sound!
By conventional tactical logic, the Archangel was in grave danger this time!
Yet, faced with this situation, Wang Hu remained completely unruffled. He simply cast a complicated glance back toward the Artemis Fortress, which was under siege by the ZAFT Forces.
There, soldiers unwilling to surrender without a fight were putting up a final, desperate resistance.
Meanwhile, those without the will to fight—disgraces to the uniforms they wore—were doing their utmost to flee the doomed fortress.
"Turn around and head toward the fortress. Also, maintain the battleship's course at this position."
In the Archangel's bridge, Li Chengzhi spoke up at that moment, simultaneously providing a specific coordinate.
"What's this?" The helmsman, renowned for his skill, looked at the note Li Chengzhi handed him and instinctively glanced toward Natarle Badgiruel.
As for why he didn't look at Murrue, it was simply because Murrue had effectively become a mascot by then.
Natarle's eyes swept over Li Chengzhi's calm face as she quickly analyzed the coordinate he had provided.
Without hesitation, she decisively approved his suggestion and ordered the helmsman to steer toward the designated point.
"Aren't you going to ask?" Seeing that they had skipped communication entirely, Miriallia whispered curiously to Tolle.
"That's why they're the commanding officers."
Though actually quite curious about the reasoning himself, Tolle wisely refrained from asking.
After all, Wang Hu's long-standing combat record was worthy of trust!
"Huh?" Creuset, who had already engaged Wang Hu in combat, keenly noticed the Archangel's unusual reaction.
"Heading back to the Artemis Fortress again?" he muttered, trying to guess Wang Hu's motivation.
Having been fooled multiple times before, he didn't believe Wang Hu was the type to return to a failed escape route out of desperation.
"Curious?" Wang Hu maneuvered the Qilin to unleash a burst of fire at Creuset while casually taunting him over the comm.
"Hmph." Creuset snorted coldly without pressing further, executing a sharp turn with precision shots as he exchanged two swift moves with Wang Hu.
Why humiliate himself by asking when Wang Hu wouldn't tell him anyway?
Ignoring Wang Hu completely, Creuset focused on trying to get on his opponent's tail while stealing glances at the overall battle situation.
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