After Blade Angel effortlessly dispatched four Graze units, it naturally turned its attention toward Tekkadan's shuttlecraft.
None of the factions present dared make any sudden moves, as they had no idea what this unknown Mobile Suit intended to do.
During Blade Angel's elimination of the four Graze units, both the Gjallarhorn transport ship led by McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin, and Tekkadan's assault armored ship Iokton had arrived in the space zone from different directions.
Inside the Gjallarhorn transport ship, Gaelio Bauduin had already entered his violet-colored EB-05S Schwalbe Graze and impatiently complained to his friend on the bridge:
"McGillis, why won't you let me sortie? Why are you being so cautious about that strange Mobile Suit?"
McGillis Fareed and his subordinates on the bridge were comparing the GN Particle interference waveforms emitted by the Blade Angel Gundam. He responded with some excitement:
"Gaelio, we might have stumbled upon a treasure this time. This unknown Mobile Suit's power source isn't an Ahab Reactor—it shows no Ahab Wave reaction at all."
Gaelio Bauduin was surprised upon hearing this: "What? No Ahab Reactor? Then what power source is it using? A hydrogen engine?" (Most support machines in the Iron-Blooded universe used this engine.)
McGillis Fareed laughed and replied to his friend: "Of course it can't be a hydrogen engine. It's using some unknown energy source. The particles emitted by that machine aren't just for show—they're byproducts of its power source. They have functions similar to Ahab Waves.
So this is a new type of engine. It appears that when used as a Mobile Suit engine, its output is significantly higher than a single Ahab Reactor.
Gaelio, wait for me. I'm going to sortie too. I can't let this machine get away."
Seeing his friend's excitement, Gaelio Bauduin laughed: "What, are you going to steal my prey? But that's fine—it's been a while since we've had a hunting competition. Let's see who can shoot down that machine first. High output doesn't matter—after all, only formidable beasts are worth hunting, right?"
Let's set aside for now how McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin hadn't yet figured out who was the hunter and who was the prey.
On Tekkadan's side, Orga felt his hair stand on end when he saw Blade Angel turn toward the shuttlecraft.
Orga had a strong premonition that this Mobile Suit was coming for him.
So he immediately shouted at Biscuit Griffon beside him: "Biscuit! Notify Mikazuki to sortie immediately!"
Everyone else on the ship was stunned by Orga's command, almost simultaneously exclaiming: "What? Mikazuki?"
There was no other way—Orga knew well that to deceive the enemy, you first had to deceive your own people.
To prevent the potentially traitorous Togo Millonin from revealing their actual combat capabilities, only Orga and Biscuit knew that Mikazuki was piloting Barbatos, which was loaded in the shuttlecraft's cargo bay.
Though Biscuit didn't currently understand why Orga wanted Mikazuki to sortie, he reflexively carried out the order first. He immediately activated the cargo bay speakers through the ship's intercom and said:
"Mikazuki, sortie."
Inside the Barbatos, Mikazuki heard the cargo bay broadcast ordering him to sortie. He immediately manipulated the mobile suit to open the shuttle's cargo hatch while simultaneously deploying the smoke grenades loaded on the hatch cover.
Since the cargo bay contained air, the smoke would be sucked upward along with the airflow, potentially obscuring the enemy mobile suit's vision to prevent Barbatos from being attacked while standing up.
However, the Blade Angel was currently positioned in front of the shuttle, rendering this smoke tactic completely useless.
Reid had originally planned to threaten Orga's life aboard the shuttle to force Mikazuki to abandon his mobile suit for capture.
Unexpectedly, Orga had ordered Mikazuki to sortie without Reid even making any threatening moves.
Now issuing threats would be meaningless - the Gundam Barbatos had already deployed, and Mikazuki would certainly try to use his mobile suit to prevent any attacks on the shuttle.
Yet Mikazuki was actually somewhat confused at this moment. He knew the unknown mobile suit in front of the shuttle had been fighting Gjallarhorn earlier, and he remained uncertain whether he should attack this unfamiliar machine.
Meanwhile, Orga, seeing Mikazuki had sortied and positioned himself as a shield in front of the shuttle, gained confidence and decided not to remain passive. He rushed to the cockpit and attempted to contact the Blade Angel using the shuttle's communication system.
However, this was a standard civilian shuttle, unlike Gjallarhorn mobile suits which possessed communication systems with strong anti-jamming capabilities.
Amid the GN Particle interference, Orga's calls were met only with static, and even the communication with Barbatos was cut off.
Orga immediately made a decision:
"The shuttle will turn directly back to Iokton. Their military-grade communicators should be able to reestablish contact with Mikazuki."
With Orga's command given, the shuttle began turning on the spot.
Inside the Blade Angel, Reid naturally noticed the shuttle's movement, but chasing it now held little meaning. It was better to focus on dealing with the Barbatos before him.
The Barbatos currently only had a smoothbore cannon in hand - its mace was still aboard the Iokton, making this the perfect opportunity to press the advantage.
Reid directly deployed the electromagnetic whip from his right arm, preparing to give Mikazuki an electroshock treatment.
It's important to understand that while the Alaya-Vijnana System could create direct neural connections between pilot and mobile suit through nanomachine conduction - generating spatial recognition organs in the pilot's brain and allowing mobile suit data to flow directly into the pilot's mind, enabling operation beyond technical skill and experience - the tighter this information exchange became, the more painful electrical attacks that could transmit through the mobile suit would be for the pilot.
Mikazuki was an experienced Alaya-Vijnana System user. Back when piloting the TK-53 CGS mobile worker, even minor electrical leaks had caused him excruciating pain.
Having witnessed the Blade Angel's entire combat performance through the shared shuttle camera feed while inside his mobile suit, he couldn't even imagine how painful being hit by an electrical weapon would be.
Mikazuki wasn't a masochist, naturally wanting no part of this enhanced electroshock experience.
Seeing the unknown mobile suit deploy its right-hand whip again, he manipulated Barbatos to drop flat, dodging the attack while firing the smoothbore cannon at the Blade Angel. Using the recoil to create distance, he simultaneously restored his mobile suit's posture.
Reid wasn't surprised that Mikazuki could dodge the first strike. After deflecting the smoothbore cannon's shell with his Mobile Suit's left forearm guard, he immediately accelerated forward and grabbed Barbatos' smoothbore cannon barrel.
Mikazuki couldn't afford to lose his weapon, so he continuously fired the smoothbore cannon while simultaneously activating its 30mm machine gun, hoping to make Blade Angel release its grip.
However, whether it was the smoothbore cannon shells or the machine gun bullets, they all bounced off Blade Angel's arm thanks to the Phase Shift Armor.
The resulting vibrations were also neutralized by the Lambda Driver - Blade Angel didn't even sway, simply pulling hard to drag Barbatos closer.
Mikazuki knew that the enemy Mobile Suit had some unknown method that could disable an opponent's suit just by touching its cockpit. Without any melee weapons in hand, he dared not approach Blade Angel at all.
Therefore, Mikazuki could only abandon the smoothbore cannon and pilot his Mobile Suit to flee in the direction opposite to where the Isaribi was located.
Mikazuki had two purposes for doing this:
First, he didn't want to lead Blade Angel toward the Isaribi and endanger his comrades.
Second, Barbatos' detectors had identified two Gjallarhorn Mobile Suits in that direction, planning to redirect the threat elsewhere.
As Barbatos attempted to escape, Reid naturally pursued in Blade Angel.
As for the two Schwalbe Graze units in Barbatos' escape direction, Reid didn't pay them much mind.
Since he needed to capture these two Mobile Suits anyway, fighting them sooner or later made no difference.
With everyone on the battlefield focused on him and Barbatos, and with Barbatos and Mikazuki present here, Reid wasn't worried about Orga escaping immediately.
So Reid had the system retrieve the four Graze units floating on the battlefield before continuing the pursuit.
Barbatos' current speed was too slow - even with a head start of one or two seconds, Blade Angel instantly caught up from above, directly sweeping its Vulcan Guns across Barbatos' thrusters.
Mikazuki knew that if the thrusters sustained continuous fire, any malfunction would mean he couldn't escape today.
He could only maneuver his Mobile Suit to turn around and use its frontal armor to block the Vulcan Gun attacks.
Blade Angel's Vulcan Guns weren't specially enhanced, merely creating sparks when hitting Barbatos' armor - after all, these weapons were mainly for intercepting missiles or engaging lightly armored ground units.
But now Mikazuki couldn't escape. Reid manipulated his Mobile Suit to change posture mid-flight and stomped down.
Seeing this, Mikazuki could only cross his Mobile Suit's arms to block.
Barbatos was sent flying by Blade Angel's stomp (though flying downward could still count as being stomped flying...).
The good news was that the Mobile Suit itself only suffered some impact, merely causing Mikazuki to grunt in pain. (In the original work, when he used a scavenged object to block a Graze's battle axe and was sent flying during a mutual block with an enemy, the impact force also made him grunt in pain.)
But the good news ended there. As Barbatos flew backward, the Electric Entanglement Whip had already wrapped around its left calf. As blue electrical arcs enveloped Barbatos, Mikazuki's agonized scream reached Reid even through the vacuum. (Actually, this was due to Newtype emotional perception.)
However, the protagonist of the Gundam series wouldn't be defeated so easily.
Even in extreme pain, Mikazuki still conceived an escape plan.
Barbatos' left calf armor that was entangled by the whip suddenly lost its fastening, causing the whip wrapped around it to instantly loosen.
Seizing this opportunity, Barbatos activated its thrusters at full power and broke free from the restraints.
But this was merely a desperate struggle. Reid charged forward again and delivered another whip strike—even if it couldn't electrocute Mikazuki to death, it could at least stun him.
However, two Schwalbe Graze units had already arrived on the battlefield.
McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin weren't necessarily trying to save Mikazuki.
They noticed that the unknown Mobile Suit's attention seemed focused on Tekkadan's Mobile Suit and deemed it a good opportunity. Thus, the GR-Hs01 16.5m lance (equipped with a short rifle, Gaelio's unit) and the 120mm rifle (same model as the standard Graze) opened fire simultaneously.
Unfortunately, Reid had Nein's assistance, making it difficult to ambush him with detectable attacks.
Basically, as soon as the opponents raised their rifles—even before the lock-on alarm sounded—Nein would relay the information directly into Reid's mind through the Psycommu System's mental interface.
Reid's response was simple: he immediately activated the Mobile Suit's eight Funnel Blades, moving them to the front of the unit. Nein calculated the trajectories and directly controlled the Funnel Blades to block the shots. After all, solid ammunition attacks of this level couldn't even breach the Funnel Blades' defenses.
Reid himself once again lashed the electromagnetic whip against Barbatos' cockpit armor.
The impact and the agony of the electric shock tormented Mikazuki simultaneously, causing his consciousness to blur.
Reid continued whipping him repeatedly, only stopping the assault when Mikazuki's spirit felt extremely weak in his perception.
The reason Reid spared Mikazuki's life was that he recalled something: Tekkadan seemed to possess the Alaya-Vijana surgery technology left behind by Chryse Guard Security. Although inhumane and with a high failure rate, the nanomachines in it could fuse with the human body, making it worthy of research. He could have Orga exchange this technology for Mikazuki.
However, at this moment, the two Schwalbe Graze units piloted by McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin had already closed in on the Blade Angel.
Yet, both of them already felt they had bitten off more than they could chew today.
The Funnel Blades were far too supernatural for the Iron-Blooded Universe. They couldn't quite comprehend how these small blades could be freely manipulated and moved by the Mobile Suit without any attitude thrusters or physical connections.
Fortunately, Reid was a kind soul. Since the two couldn't understand the Funnel Blades, he decided to let them experience them firsthand.
The eight Funnel Blades swiftly dispersed, shooting toward the two Schwalbe Graze units—four targeting each machine.
This was the first time McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin had faced attacks from such ultra-small targets like the Funnel Blades.
They managed to evade the first wave of straightforward thrusts by maneuvering their Mobile Suits.
But afterward, the four Funnel Blades felt like four mosquitoes buzzing around them.
Reacting instinctively, McGillis Fareed wielded his battle axe while Gaelio Bauduin brandished his lance, intending to shoot down the Funnel Blades—since shooting had already proven ineffective against these small contraptions.
However, like all Gundam Universe pilots facing remote weapons for the first time, they struggled to adapt.
McGillis Fareed, with his Awakening Value, could dodge better than Gaelio Bauduin, who had none.
But the outcome remained unchanged. Whenever they focused on trying to shoot down one or two Funnel Blades or directly assault the Gundam, the other Funnel Blades outside their line of sight would attack from various angles.
The armor of the Schwalbe Graze was no thicker than that of the standard Graze—only its mobility had been enhanced.
However, this slight improvement in mobility was meaningless against the Funnel Blades.
To prevent the two from escaping, Reid prioritized destroying the thrusters of the two Schwalbe Graze units before proceeding to disarm them.
Since he needed to maintain 70% integrity after disabling the thrusters, Reid disarmed them by severing their wrists. This allowed McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin to hold out a little longer.
Meanwhile, a modified Graze began quietly approaching the battlefield, intending to retrieve the completely immobilized Barbatos Gundam.
However, as mentioned before, even when Reid was fully focused on precisely controlling the Funnel Blades (such concentration wasn't necessary for mere shoot-downs), Nein could still monitor everything in the surroundings.
The Graze attempting to steal the Mobile Suit right under Reid's nose was caught by Nein, who controlled the Mobile Suit to whip out its left arm's Heat Rod, cleanly severing its right arm and right leg. As it lost balance due to the high-temperature explosion, Nein finished it off with a single shot from the Electromagnetic Rifle, blowing up its thrusters.
(End of Chapter)