"Their coordination is seamless—no openings to exploit..."
Looking at the real-time battlefield data displayed before her, Flay's face was full of anxiety.
She wasn't just sitting there; she was serving as second-in-command, coordinating the situation on-site to assist Fred, who was fighting on the front lines, with command and troop deployment.
However, facing these three mutually complementary Mobile Suits, she felt there was nowhere to start.
"Don't worry."
Kira's voice came through Flay's earpiece.
"Your brother won't be in any danger for now, Flay."
"Let's finish clearing out the enemies in the other directions first."
Compared to Flay, whose worry was clouding her judgment, Kira wasn't much better off himself, but he was, after all, the Ultimate Coordinator, and from the far rear of the battlefield, he could see things more clearly.
"And... I'll protect you all too!"
"Mm..!"
Hearing Kira's encouragement, Flay quickly pulled herself together.
The anxiety on her face was suppressed.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Fred was indeed finding things a bit of a headache.
Although the enemy wasn't that impressive in terms of raw ability, the three of them coordinated even better than they had in the original storyline.
But with the Spider Sense, plus Alec's presence, his life wasn't in any real danger.
It was the other side instead—three identical young men continuously ganging up on Fred's Freedom—who grew more and more astonished as the fight went on.
Though their emotions had been genetically adjusted for combat and wouldn't fluctuate much, facing this Mobile Suit now, they couldn't help feeling some stirrings in their hearts.
Because it was fast.
Far faster than the opponents they had simulated against, and faster than any Coordinator they had fought before.
This speed wasn't simply the Mobile Suit being fast—it was the reactions.
As if he never thought at all, moving purely on instinct.
"We can't break through like this."
Fred had no idea of the enemy's astonishment; he only spoke in a low voice to Alec.
"Lend me your sword."
The Covenant could simply be regarded as an advanced version of the Strike Suit.
It used the same universal pack system, and the Covenant's pack was similar to the Strike's Perfect Strike Pack.
Each part could be combined and separated.
"Sure."
Alec nodded.
Then, seizing a gap in the exchange of attacks between the two sides, he hurled the massive Armor Schneider toward Fred.
Normally, such an Armor Schneider was matched to each specific Mobile Suit—the palm power interface meant you couldn't just pick one up and use it.
But the Covenant and the Freedom were the same type of Mobile Suit, and Fred had developed it himself.
The young man took hold of the Armor Schneider, and right in front of him appeared once more the Double-Shield Forbidden Gundam that had been blocking his way.
The three's coordination was indeed seamless, but it was also rigid—once you figured out their patterns, there was still a chance to counterattack.
As long as it was unexpected, that is.
Not to mention, Fred knew these Mobile Suits and knew where their weaknesses lay.
He had rehearsed plenty before, so naturally his odds were better than anyone else's.
"What—?"
Seeing this sudden turn of events, the pilot aboard the Calamity and the other two were all stunned.
Though it was only for an instant, Fred's katana had already cleaved through the two Calamity shields before him.
Although the Mirage Particles on it weakened the Armor Schneider's effect, preventing it from cutting the Shield clean off, two scorched gashes appeared across its surface, already disrupting the Mirage Particles spread across the Shield.
While the defense was invincible against beams and had some suppressive effect against physical weapons, this was an Armor Schneider that could cleave a Bridge in two with a single strike—it was pure brute force overwhelming everything. In fact, after Fred swung that blow, the Calamity itself was sent flying backward, completely unable to control itself.
Seeing Fred's sudden surge, the allied forces naturally rallied with excitement, while the enemy's thoughts ran in exactly the opposite direction.
"Broken through already?"
Watching the scene before him, even someone as calm as the young man couldn't help but freeze in place.
This was the latest model Mobile Suit. Even if its output couldn't match ZAFT's newest machines, surely both sides should have spent a good while probing each other before any outcome took shape.
Yet barely any time had passed since the two sides engaged, and a flaw had already been exposed.
"Could our data have been leaked?"
"Impossible!"
The moment the thought surfaced, the young man rejected it.
How could that be? If they had truly known about the machines they were developing, they would never have walked into the trap.
Or rather—was this trap their own trap?
The smarter he was, the more he thought at a moment like this.
Of course, this wasn't really the young man's fault. After all, Fred's plot armor left no trace to follow.
Even if they racked their brains, they could never figure it out.
And the unknown naturally breeds fear.
"Our escorts are gone—pick up the pace."
Seeing that the enemy's formation had fallen into slight disarray in the battle, Fred made a snap decision.
"Got it!"
Marveling at Fred's godlike move just now, Alec nodded quickly, his eyes once again locking onto another black Raider.
Without the Calamity's protection, the Raider's Mace collided with the Flaming God. Although the Anti-Beam Coating–covered weapons didn't explode, the hammer was undeniably glowing red hot.
It looked like the coating was about to fail.
The Flaming God's output was no ordinary beam—especially with a Nuclear Engine, its power was even greater.
As for Athrun's side, it was even more exaggerated.
With no high-end combat power to check them, Athrun and the others moved through opponents who outnumbered them many times over as if through empty ground, cutting them down like melons and vegetables.
"Something's wrong..."
Watching his own forces fall behind on every battlefield, the young man's calm demeanor gradually gave way to a trace of agitation.
It was supposed to be a trap, yet now it felt as if they were the prey.
But the problem was, this was already the full force they could deploy in space without being detected by PLANT.
There were no reserves to follow up with.
Or rather, from the moment that Light Shield appeared, everything had been an accident.
In his growing despair, the young man thought back to the earlier confrontation at Mendel.
Was the Commander the same person?
But he had no way of knowing now.
After all, strictly speaking, they had every advantage—timing, terrain, and morale. Even the most brilliant enemy commander should have been useless.
That things had turned out this way was purely a case of brute force trumping everything.
No scheme or preparation could proceed smoothly against such an overwhelming gap in power.
"Why do they have so much energy?"
"A Neutron Jammer Canceller?"
At this thought, the despair in the young man's heart deepened even further.
A sense of helplessness washed over him—he couldn't even drain the enemy's energy supply.
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