Rau Le Creuset. The moment I heard he had descended upon the battlefield, I left the central front in Cornelia's capable hands and burned thrusters toward Mu's position.
With GENESIS gone, the Providence Gundam was effectively Patrick Zala's last trump card. Its performance was staggering, but I held two distinct advantages: I already knew the secret of its primary weapon, the DRAGOON system—and the Glowsaver's Phantom units were essentially a more evolved version of that very technology.
I was the only one who could go toe-to-toe with him. However, there was a complication.
"Creuset didn't come alone... he brought guards!"
A familiar beam signature flared at the edge of my sensors. I jerked the controls, sliding the Glowsaver to the right just as a massive pillar of light tore through the space I'd occupied. It was the unmistakable discharge of an M69 Barrus Kai heavy particle cannon—the anti-fortress "D-Type" equipment for a GINN. It was the same weapon I'd "borrowed" from a ZAFT unit back at Heliopolis and used until it was destroyed in Africa. I had a certain fondness for it, but I didn't have time for nostalgia or unnecessary damage. These GINNs weren't here to kill me; they were here to buy Creuset enough time to finish Mu without interruption.
"Accel. Adamant Halper, activate."
I triggered the Spirit Command, the Glowsaver's output surging as I closed the distance with the GINN. As I blurred past it, I swung the massive scythe-blade in a clean, horizontal arc through its torso.
I didn't look back to watch the twin halves of the machine detonate. I kept my eyes on the navigation marker.
"Dammit, Mu. Stay alive."
I wanted to open a comm link, but I held back. If Mu was in the middle of a life-or-death struggle with Creuset, a sudden incoming transmission could create a fatal opening. Against the DRAGOON system, which utilized tiny, high-speed remote pods that were nearly impossible to track with the naked eye, even a millisecond of distraction was a death sentence. Unless you were a SEED-awakened pilot like Kira or a Telekinetic like me, you were fighting a losing battle against physics.
"So, stay out of... my way!"
A GuAIZ stepped into my path. I deployed the starboard Lanzce Kanone and erased the machine with a single, high-output beam.
A few minutes later, I reached the coordinates. My heart sank.
"Tch... just as I feared."
The void was crisscrossed with lethal lines of fire. Three large DRAGOON units and several smaller pods were weaving a web of light around Mu's Aile Strike.
Mu was holding on—likely because he'd spent so much time watching my Phantoms in action—but the Strike was starting to look ragged. The Phase Shift armor was holding, but the frame was taking impact stress from dozens of near-misses and grazing shots. As the three large pods synchronized for a pincer strike, the smaller pods dived for the Strike's blind spots.
"Phantoms, go!"
Sixteen Phantoms detached from the Glowsaver's Chronos unit, surging forward under T-LINK control.
Ordinarily, using remote weapons to intercept other remote weapons is a fool's errand—like trying to shoot a bullet out of the air with another bullet. But the T-LINK system made the "impossible" a simple matter of will.
"Ghh...!"
Creuset was good. Even with sixteen Phantoms hounding his DRAGOONs, he maneuvered the pods with such predatory grace that I couldn't land a killing blow immediately. He was playing defense, but he was doing it perfectly.
"Axel! You're a lifesaver!" Mu's voice broke through the static. "I'm going to end this guy!"
"No! Get out of here, Mu! If he uses you as a hostage or a decoy to restrict my movement, we're both dead!"
I focused, guiding the Phantoms while drawing the Gun Rapier. I fired a staggering volume of needle-beams to herd the large DRAGOONs into a corner.
"Phantoms—strike!"
Four of my remote units bared their laser blades and lunged. They lanced through one of the three large DRAGOON pods, shattering it into slag.
One down.
Seeing the opening, Mu swung the Strike's beam rifle toward the Providence.
"Wait! Mu, don't!" I screamed.
It was too late. Mu fired, and in doing so, he reclaimed Creuset's attention. Until my arrival, the Providence had been hounding the Strike, but the moment my Phantoms entered the fray, Creuset had shifted his focus to me—the greater threat. By attacking, Mu had reminded Creuset that he was still a target.
"Tch!"
I deployed the Beam Gatlings, spraying a wall of fire between the Providence and the Strike to force a separation. Creuset responded by pulling his remaining DRAGOONs into a defensive "shield" formation, their combined beams creating a lattice of light that diffused my Gatling fire.
He didn't bother dodging the Gatlings; he used the opening to lunge at the Strike with the beam saber mounted on his composite shield. Mu caught the blade on his physical shield, but the Providence's shield wasn't just for defense.
"Phantoms!"
I sensed a spike of murderous intent through the T-LINK. Two small DRAGOONs were diving for the Strike's cockpit from behind. I commanded my Phantoms to intercept, my laser blades shearing through the pods just before they could fire.
But I couldn't stop everything. The Providence's composite shield featured twin beam guns alongside its saber. At point-blank range, Creuset fired.
"Mu, you've interfered with my plans for the last time! Pay for your sins!"
"Like hell! I'm not letting a monster like you burn the world!"
The transmission echoed across the open channel.
"Mu, move! It's a trap!" I yelled.
Creuset sneered. "Tch. You again. You truly are a thorn in my side."
Mu tried to boost away, but he was a second too slow. The twin beams from the Providence's shield tore through the Strike's right shoulder, vaporizing the arm and the beam rifle along with it.
"Adamant Halper, activate!"
I swapped the Gun Rapier for the scythe. I dived, swinging the massive blade at the Providence's backpack—the heart of the DRAGOON unit. If I could damage the quantum relay there, the pods would go dead.
Creuset knew his machine's weaknesses. He kicked the crippled Strike away, using the momentum to roll clear of my blade's arc.
Clean. Too clean. But it didn't matter; I'd succeeded in separating them.
"Fall back, Mu! You can't fight him in that condition!"
I used the AMBAC system to snap the Glowsaver around, interposing myself between the two Gundams.
"...Fine," Mu gasped, his breathing heavy. "I can't hit him like this anyway. I'm leaving him to you, Axel. Don't you dare lose."
"I'll have him wrapped up before you even reach the Archangel. Go!"
The Strike limped away toward the center of the battlefield. Creuset watched him go, making no move to pursue.
"What's wrong?" I asked over the open channel. "I thought you were obsessed with him."
I was stalling. I needed the Clyne Faction's coup to finish inside Jachin Due. If I could keep Creuset talking, he'd be truly isolated once the fortress fell.
"I have business with him, certainly," Creuset's voice purred, smooth and cold. "But it seems I must remove you first. You are the only variable I didn't account for."
The Providence raised its massive dedicated beam rifle and fired.
"I figured you'd say that! Accel!"
I burned the Chronos boosters, the Glowsaver blurring as it evaded the shot. The Providence was a beast of a machine—its firepower rivaled the Meteor units—but the heavy DRAGOON equipment made it less agile than the Freedom or Justice. If he wanted a high-speed dogfight, I'd give him one.
"Hyaaah!"
I closed the distance. As I did, I opened my Spatial Storage and selected a specific item. A massive cargo container materialized in the Glowsaver's grip. I hurled it at the Providence like a shot-put. Simultaneously, I opened up with the Beam Gatlings, shredding the container while it was mid-air.
BOOM!
The vacuum was replaced by a localized sun. The explosion was violent, scattering superheated shrapnel and a massive pressure wave across the Providence's path.
"Psychokinetic Field—Active!"
I wove through the debris, my field deflecting the smaller fragments while I dodged the larger chunks of hull.
"Not bad for an 'Archibald-brand' container bomb," I muttered.
The container was a relic I'd stolen from Archibald Grims—a psychopathic terrorist from the Neo DC back in my world. Say what you will about his character, the man knew how to build a bomb. The blast was gargantuan.
"But... against PS armor, I guess that's just a smoke screen."
As I spoke, the Providence emerged from the wall of fire and debris, its gray-and-blue armor scorched but fundamentally intact.
The real fight was just beginning.
Pilot Status: Axel Almar
Level: 37
Kill Count: 373
Spirit Commands: Accel, Effort, Focus, Direct Hit, Awaken, Love.
Tactical Update: Mu La Flaga (Strike) forced to retreat. Providence Gundam (Rau Le Creuset) engaged.
Objective: Destroy the Providence. Prevent Creuset from interfering with the Jachin Due coup.
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