The Granshaow, still in stealth mode, naturally witnessed the chain of explosions between Exia and Salia's Delta Plus.
Having operated long-term in harsh communication environments, the Granshaow's communication systems were maximized for interference resistance. Thus, at this relatively short distance, ship-to-MS communications remained intact.
Elvira Hill immediately issued a warning over the ship's intercom:
"The unknown particles emitted by the Gundam here can release high-energy positrons and high-frequency electromagnetic waves—similar to Minovsky Particles. When two high-frequency electromagnetic waves carrying positrons of different wavelengths collide, they can theoretically trigger annihilation reactions.
"Therefore, Mobile Suits equipped with Minovsky Particle Fusion Reactors should keep their distance from that MS. While positron annihilation reactions aren't easy to trigger, it's better to be safe than sorry.
"Units with micro fusion reactors can approach safely, as their reactors are fully sealed and unaffected."
Elvira Hill's assessment was correct—this issue even existed between GN Drives.
This was precisely why synchronizing two original GN Drives was so difficult. The so-called "true drive characteristic" referred to the inconsistency in their emitted high-frequency electromagnetic waves carrying positrons. Manual adjustments were required to align the waves, preventing annihilation and instead creating resonance. This was why twin-drive systems with original GN Drives achieved terrifyingly high particle output.
Fake GN Drives (GN-T Drives) didn't have this problem, as their high-frequency electromagnetic waves were fixed. In theory, they could be stacked indefinitely (1+1=2). (Fake drives could also be technologically enhanced to compress particles to near-original or even superior levels—Reborn Gundam's drive was an example. However, these weren't infinite energy sources; once particles were depleted, they were done.)
Thus, when GN Particles and Minovsky Particles—two entirely different high-energy particles—accidentally mixed and reached sufficient density, explosions were inevitable. (Super Robot Wars would never consider this issue, as it would prevent units from different series from fighting together properly.)
Upon hearing Elvira Hill's warning, Ange—who had already stripped the basic Tallgeese of its Dober Gun, shattered its shield, and sent it fleeing—immediately said:
"Noin, Salia, Hilda, switch targets. You three handle this guy. The plan remains unchanged—eliminate it, then immediately support the other units. I'll deal with Tallgeese III."
Noin, Salia, and Hilda had no choice but to comply, transforming and moving to engage the basic Tallgeese.
However, as she left, Salia couldn't resist taunting Setsuna:
"Get lost, you rookie who only relies on your machine's specs. Stay away from me in the future."
Setsuna showed no reaction to Salia's disdain, nor did he pursue her. Instead, he muttered in surprise:
"A woman?"
But while Setsuna was distracted, Tallgeese III's AI wasn't about to let him off easy. The high-energy Heat Rod hidden in its shield lashed out toward Exia's waist, aiming to bisect it.
Exia's warning alarms instantly snapped Setsuna back to reality, pulling his thoughts away from the sudden battle with these unknown outsiders.
At that moment, the Heat Rod lashed toward the Exia, forcing Setsuna to continue using the GN Sword Rifle (sword mode) as a shield to block the attack.
However, the cost was that the GN Sword Rifle (sword mode) became tightly entangled by the Heat Rod, with part of the blade melting under the intense heat.
What was even worse was that the Tallgeese III had already raised its Beam Dober Gun, aiming directly at the Exia's torso. Setsuna could even see the charging glow at the muzzle.
Fortunately, Ange's support arrived just in time—Reid had specifically instructed her not to let the Exia be shot down.
By now, Reid had already chased after the Tallgeese·Sky Wing to the other side of the orbital elevator, making it impossible for him to provide backup.
Seeing the imminent danger over Setsuna's head, Ange fired a shot from her Beam Sniper Rifle in MA mode, targeting the Tallgeese III's right arm.
The Tallgeese III's AI reacted far faster than a human pilot—it dodged almost the instant the warning appeared, giving the Exia a chance to escape.
With the GN Sword Rifle (sword mode) nearly melted through by the Heat Rod, Setsuna quickly abandoned it, freeing himself.
The Beam Dober Gun fired by the Tallgeese III after its evasion was narrowly avoided by Setsuna's desperate maneuvering.
As the high-energy particle beam grazed past the Exia, Setsuna truly felt as though the Reaper's scythe had just skimmed over his scalp.
However, the Tallgeese III's AI clearly knew which target was easier to handle. After missing its shot, it immediately closed the distance and delivered a powerful kick to the Exia's chest, preventing it from recovering its stance for a follow-up attack.
Half-stunned by the impact, Setsuna naturally couldn't regain control of his Mobile Suit's posture.
But Setsuna still had allies. On the ground, Lockon, who had been observing multiple battlefields, could no longer afford to hesitate. His delayed reaction during the first crisis had nearly cost the Exia its life.
Though those unknown Mobile Suits had already provided cover for the Exia twice, he couldn't rely entirely on strangers whose motives were unclear.
As the Exia faced another crisis, the Kyrios' ultra-long-range sniper shot arrived.
At this distance, the Tallgeese III's system had no way of detecting the incoming attack in time. The first shot struck its left thigh, interrupting its assault on the Exia.
However, Lockon had never encountered AC's black-tech anti-beam treated titanium alloy before (the Tallgeese series wasn't made of Gundarium Alloy). The Kyrios' sniper beam only produced a small explosion upon impact, disrupting the Tallgeese III's balance.
When the flames dissipated, only a minor heat-warped dent remained on the Tallgeese III's left leg armor—the attack hadn't even breached it.
Lockon, inside the Kyrios, cursed in frustration,
"Damn, what kind of armor is this? It's ridiculously tough. Even GN Field-reinforced E-Carbon shouldn't have this level of defense! Is this alien tech or what?"
Fortunately, Ange's Immortal Aegis finally arrived on the battlefield, allowing the Kyrios to resume observation without needing to fire again.
Transforming into MS mode, the Immortal Aegis immediately launched two Beam Boomerangs to force the Tallgeese III into evasive maneuvers. Then, Ange broadcasted over external speakers,
"You there, MS Pilot! Get away from the battlefield now—this opponent is beyond your level!"
With that, she swung her Beam Sniper Rifle in its long-spear mode, thrusting toward the Tallgeese III to drive it away from the Exia.
Setsuna stared at the Immortal Aegis before him—the same Mobile Suit that had nearly killed him moments ago and was now entangled with and suppressing the Tallgeese III. He muttered again,
"Another woman? But, Gundam da!"
With that, Setsuna maneuvered the Exia, drawing two GN Beam Sabers, and charged straight into the battlefield between the Immortal Aegis and Tallgeese III, aiming to take down the latter before the Aegis could and redeem his earlier humiliation.
However, Setsuna was overestimating himself. While the Exia held an advantage in short-range aerial mobility thanks to its anti-gravity system, his piloting skills were nowhere near Ange's level—or the AI operating with Zechs Marquise's combat data.
If Setsuna were to be evaluated in the system now, his MS operation rating would barely qualify as "Elite," and even then, only at the lower end like Flay's. He couldn't even compare to the Black Tri-Stars, who were practically at the peak of Elite-level skill.
So when this rookie recklessly inserted himself into the battle, both sides immediately dismissed him.
After blocking Ange's attack path, the irritated Ange didn't hold back. The Immortal Aegis slammed its shield into the Exia, sending it flying, while Ange broadcasted angrily over the comms:
"Get out of here! Stop interfering!"
Similarly, the Tallgeese III assessed the Exia as an easier target than the Immortal Aegis and lashed out with its Heat Rod again.
Fortunately, Ange's shield strike hadn't been too forceful, so Setsuna wasn't incapacitated. This time, he managed to evade the Heat Rod with a quick side maneuver.
But when he tried to re-enter the fight, two warning Beam shots streaked past, forcing him back.
By now, Noin, Salia, and Hilda had already shot down the basic Tallgeese, which, like the Mobile Suits summoned by Transcendent Impact, dissolved into red code and vanished from the AD universe.
Then, the three split up.
Noin went to support the Xia sisters, cutting off the Tallgeese II's escape route and shooting it down.
Meanwhile, Salia and Hilda assisted the Black Tri-Stars in taking down the equally erratic Tallgeese Shilong.
Afterward, Noin and the Xia sisters moved to reinforce Reid, while Salia, Hilda, and the Black Tri-Stars came to Ange's aid.
Salia and Hilda had long been annoyed by the Exia's reckless yet incompetent pilot. They'd seen plenty of such deadweight teammates at Arzenal—most of whom didn't survive their first real battle.
This rookie pilot, however, was far luckier. His Mobile Suit was genuinely powerful, so he'd only lost a weapon, not his life.
But annoyance was still annoyance, so Salia and Hilda volunteered to stop the Exia from disrupting the battle.
Had Reid not ordered them not to destroy the Exia, they would've gladly disabled it to teach its pilot a lesson—that it was the machine that was strong, not him.
Unfortunately, Setsuna was just as stubborn. He realized they had no intention of shooting him down—they just didn't want him interfering.
But Celestial Being's philosophy was armed intervention, so—much to Lockon's exasperated face on the ground—Setsuna swung the Exia's GN Longsword, trying to drive Salia and Hilda away.
Salia and Hilda were both furious to the point of laughter, questioning how the opposing pilot—who had been surrounded and beaten by over a dozen Tieren units (thanks to Hoshino Ruri's network intrusion, such public information was now known)—could possibly drive them away. Just by relying on that pitiful speed that couldn't even keep up with their own Mobile Suits' dust trails?
From the earlier battle between Exia and the Tieren units, Salia and Hilda were already aware that this opposing Mobile Suit had considerable resistance to physical explosions.
So, Salia and Hilda began hammering Exia relentlessly with the Delta Plus's head-mounted Vulcan Guns and the dual grenade launchers in its Assault Shield System, rattling Setsuna senseless.
Meanwhile, on Tallgeese III's side, with the Black Tri-Stars joining the fray, the barrage of long-range firepower forced Tallgeese III into a steady retreat under the Immortal Aegis's assault. Its destruction was only a matter of time.
The only battlefield without a clear outcome was Reid's. Here, the fight had devolved into a pure speed race.
During the initial exchange of fire, Reid outright cheated—using the Lambda Driver to manipulate Mirage Colloid and reflecting Tallgeese Wing's own attack back at it.
Tallgeese Wing's Shield was instantly obliterated by its own attack, amplified further by Hermes Zero's subsequent Lambda Driver-enhanced Electromagnetic Bullet, taking its left arm along with it.
Realizing it was no match for Hermes Zero, Tallgeese Wing then relied on the high mobility of its Wing Pack to flee, using feather attacks to harass the pursuing Hermes Zero and stubbornly dragging Reid along in the chase.
However, once Noin and the Xia sisters began cutting off Tallgeese Wing's escape routes, it finally stopped circling the orbital elevator and instead accelerated straight upward.
In truth, like Hermes Zero, Tallgeese Wing was also capable of accelerating to the first cosmic velocity in atmospheric conditions to break through the atmosphere.
But even with an AI computer's reaction speed, pushing too fast in a battlefield environment wasn't feasible—excessive speed would cause the Mobile Suit to collide with obstacles or enemy fire before the detectors could process the data.
Thus, once the AI calculated that continuing to circle would guarantee defeat, it decided to make a solo break for space.
Yet, Hermes Zero shared the same solo-atmospheric-breakthrough capability, and with Reid charging straight upward, he had no fear of colliding with the space elevator.
As a result, AEU observers and Lockon stared in stunned silence as two shooting stars streaked upward against gravity, racing beyond the atmosphere.
Keep in mind, even Celestial Being's Gundams could only achieve solo atmospheric breakthrough by leveraging sufficient GN Particle anti-gravity to gradually accelerate to the first cosmic velocity.
But these two Mobile Suits? They brute-forced their way to orbital velocity purely through thrusters. What kind of materials were they made of? How could they withstand such forces without disintegrating?
The truth was, not only did they hold together—they could go even faster.
Reid had no intention of playing another game of chase with Tallgeese Wing in space.
So, as both units hurtled toward orbit at the first cosmic velocity, with nothing but Tallgeese Wing ahead as an obstacle, Reid aligned his aim, fully activated the Lambda Driver, and triggered the Red Comet skill.
The moment the skill activated, Hermes Zero instantly tripled its speed, ramming straight into Tallgeese Wing—still within the atmosphere—and shattering its Wing Pack.
But Reid wasn't faring much better either. The protruding barrel and muzzle of his Destroyer Beam Cannon had been smashed, his Mobile Suit's frame showing yellow warnings while the engine flashed red alerts.
Reid himself was nearly crushed by the sudden G-force, almost vomiting stomach acid from the pressure.
Fortunately, the outcome was positive. Reid had shut down the systems quickly enough that the Hermes Zero's frame remained intact and the engine didn't explode. The red warnings downgraded to yellow, and it could still maintain normal flight.
Meanwhile, the Tallgeese's Wing Pack had been destroyed, sending it plummeting straight down until Noin, waiting below, finished it off with a single shot.
At the same time, the battle with Tallgeese III had concluded. After all its weapons were destroyed, the Immortal Aegis delivered a final kick that finished it off. All invading Mobile Suits had been shot down.
Reid checked the system's world fluctuation value again - it had dropped to 4.301%. Now only phenomena equivalent to alien invasions remained, along with the changes brought to the AD universe by Reid's unknown Mobile Suit presence.
However, since Exia and Kyrios hadn't withdrawn yet, the incident wasn't over, and Reid's group hadn't been forcibly teleported away.
Seeing all enemies destroyed while the unknown faction's Mobile Suits remained unscathed, Setsuna wasn't foolish enough to continue fighting, though he couldn't hide his frustration as he opened a public channel to ask:
"Just who are you people?"
Reid had been planning to fly in a different direction from the Granshaow to feign retreat, then have the still-concealed Granshaow pick him up.
Hearing Setsuna's question, Reid answered with mischievous amusement:
"We are those who hide within history. And now... we are Gundam."
Without giving Setsuna a chance to respond, Reid led his entire group away from Lake Victoria in plain sight.
(End of Chapter)