Ten minutes had passed since the Clyne Faction technician broadcast the emergency evacuation order across GENESIS. The chaotic shouting that had initially flooded the corridors had long since faded into a heavy, ringing silence. I stood alone in the docking bay, watching the last of the evacuation shuttles burn away toward the Plants.
"Right. I hope there aren't any idiots left behind," I muttered.
My Spatial Storage had a hard rule: no living beings. If even a single soul remained hidden in the depths of this fortress, I wouldn't be able to "store" the structure. Outside, Lemon and the others were still locked in a desperate struggle with the Jachin Due defense fleet. Every second I spent playing janitor here was a second they were in danger.
Using my Infight skills and the raw physical boost of my growth-rate "cheat," I sprinted through the final stretch of the dock and stepped out onto the external hull, my pilot suit's mag-boots clinging to the cold steel.
"If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to use the Slime to hunt for stragglers..."
That would be a mess. If I found anyone, I'd have to use the Slime to effectively kidnap them and dump them on the Archangel. It would be a headache I didn't need.
I looked out at the distant flashes of beam fire and explosions illuminating Jachin Due like a neon graveyard. I placed my gloved hand against the dark, cold hull of the superweapon.
"Store."
In a heartbeat, the leviathan was gone. GENESIS—the weapon that was supposed to end the war in a flash of gamma-ray fire—simply ceased to exist. There was no sound, no shockwave. Just a vast, empty expanse of space where a fortress had been seconds before.
"Good."
Clearly, no one valued their life less than the threat of a nuclear meltdown. I exhaled a long sigh of relief and opened my mental manifest.
Glowsaver.
The machine materialized beside me. I pulled myself into the cockpit, powered up the reactors, and opened a wide-band link to the Archangel, Kusanagi, and Eternal.
"This is Axel Almar. Objective secured. Repeating: GENESIS has been successfully seized. The primary threat is neutralized. All that's left is to grind down the Jachin Due forces and let the Clyne Faction finish their coup. We're in the home stretch, everyone. Give it everything you've got!"
"Axel!" Murue's face appeared on the monitor, a brilliant, radiant smile breaking through her exhaustion.
"You're a little late, don't you think?" she teased.
"The star of the show always waits for the final act," I shot back. "What's the status?"
"A stalemate, leaning in our favor," she reported. "But Jachin Due is a hornet's nest. They're throwing everything they have at us to protect the fortress. Their numbers just aren't bottoming out. Cornelia and the others are doing their best, but the front isn't moving."
I looked toward the center of the battlefield. Cornelia's Rapiesage was a blur of motion, carving through GINNs and Laurasia-class ships. She was leading from the front, coordinating the mass-produced Gespenst Mk-IIs to punch holes in the ZAFT formation.
"Understood. I'm joining the line."
"Please do," Murue said.
As I banked the Glowsaver toward the main engagement, I ran through the remaining threats. GENESIS was in my pocket, but the greatest remaining danger was Rau Le Creuset in the Providence. That machine featured the DRAGOON system—a remote-weapon array similar to my Phantoms. Against anyone but Kira or Athrun, he would be a god of death. And specifically, Mu was out there in the Strike—the man most likely to be targeted by Creuset's twisted obsession.
"Mu!"
"Axel? Good to see you're finished with the big toy... whoa!" Mu's voice was strained as he dodged a beam. He looked battered, but his spirit was still high.
"Is Creuset out yet?"
"Not yet. I'm looking for that Providence you mentioned, but no sign of it."
"Keep your guard up," I warned. "The Providence uses a quantum-linked all-range system. It's like a slightly less advanced version of my Phantoms—purely for shooting—but in the hands of a man like Creuset, it's lethal. He has a link to you; he'll hunt you down the moment he launches."
"Yeah, I know. But why hasn't he shown up?"
"Likely waiting for the final moment. Or perhaps the DRAGOON adjustments are taking longer than expected."
I shook my head. I didn't care why he was late; I just wanted to be there when he arrived. "Mu, the Strike can't handle the Providence. When you feel him, tell me. I'm taking him down."
"Hmph. You're taking all the glory, huh? I wanted to settle this with my own hands. But... tch! These new GuAIZ units are no joke!"
Mu was clearly engaged with ZAFT's elite. If a mass-production unit could keep an ace like him busy even with Megillot support, the pilots must be top-tier.
"Just call me when he arrives," I said, cutting the link.
I pushed the Glowsaver to maximum thrust, heading for the eye of the storm. In the center of the battlefield, Lemon and Cornelia were holding the line against a wall of ZAFT machines. ZAFT was feeding units in piecemeal—a desperate strategy of attrition meant to wear us down by sheer volume.
"Oh, Axel. Decided to join the party?" Lemon's voice purred over the comms. She looked remarkably relaxed, her Weiss-saver's Halberd Launcher erasing a squad of GINNs.
"The enemy is concentrated here," I said. "I thought you could use a little reinforcement."
"Reinforcement? You should say you couldn't stand to be away from us because you were so worried," Lemon teased.
"Hmph. I'd appreciate a little more romance in the briefing, too," Cornelia added, her Rapiesage firing a barrage from its O.O. Launcher while simultaneously directing a Gespenst squad to flank a group of GINNs.
I gave a wry smile and deployed my Beam Gatlings. "I'll save the romance for the victory party."
I dove into the melee, shattering a GINN/Sigu formation and breaking their attempt to surround the Glowsaver. As I cleared the area, I noticed the Megillot count.
"Tch... we're losing drones fast."
ZAFT was learning. They were swarming the Megillots five-to-one, using Alliance-style quantity tactics to crush our superior AI.
"Axel-sama, do you have a moment?" Lacus's voice came from the Eternal.
"What's up?"
"Commander Canaaba has given the signal. The Jachin Due garrison is thinning, and the coup is beginning inside the fortress."
"Finally. Understood. We'll keep the heat on the defense fleet to give them cover."
"Please..." Lacus hesitated, her face clouded with sorrow. "I know it is necessary, but the loss of life... I keep wondering if there was another way."
"Lacus," I said, my voice firm. "History doesn't care for 'what-ifs.' You're mourning the lives lost, and that's a good thing. It means you haven't lost your soul in this war. But hold that thought until the shooting stops. We have to finish this first."
"...You're right. Thank you. When this is over, I will pray for them. Alongside Kira."
"And Flay?" I asked.
"I hope to reach an understanding with her as well," Lacus said softly. "Like you have with Lemon, Cornelia, and Murue."
I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a subtle jab at my complicated love life, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. A GINN D-type appeared from the debris, its heavy missile launchers aimed squarely at the Glowsaver.
Tch!
The GINN loosed its entire payload—four massive, anti-fortress missiles. They were too close for the Halper or the Gun Rapier.
"T-LINK System, Full Contact! Psychokinetic Field—MAX OUTPUT!"
I flooded the system with my will. A shimmering barrier of pure psychic energy erupted around the Glowsaver just as I used the head-mounted vulcans to detonate the missiles at point-blank range.
BOOM!
The explosions were gargantuan. Even with the field active, the shockwave rocked the Glowsaver violently, the cockpit shaking with a bone-jarring rattle.
"Ghhh...!"
As the smoke cleared, the GINN pilot moved in for the kill with his machine gun, likely assuming I was disabled.
"Too slow! Phantoms!"
Five Phantoms detached from the Glowsaver's back, responding to my mental command. They bared their laser blades and tore through the smoke, converging on the GINN from every axis. The ZAFT pilot never stood a chance. The blades pierced the cockpit, the engine, and the head simultaneously. The machine vanished in a silent sphere of fire.
"Whew... that was a close one."
The Glowsaver was built for evasion, not tanking. Its armor was standard Shadow Mirror alloy—no Phase Shift, no Trans-Phase. If I hadn't boosted the field in time, that would have been the end.
Maybe I should ask Lemon to look into Phase Shift tech after this, I thought.
"Axel!"
Mu's voice cut through my thoughts, but the banter was gone. His tone was cold, sharp, and filled with a primal dread.
"It's him. Creuset. He's on the field!"
The endgame had truly arrived. Rau Le Creuset—the man who wanted to watch the world burn—had finally entered the stage.
Pilot Status: Axel Almar
Level: 37
Kill Count: 369
Spirit Commands: Accel, Effort, Focus, Direct Hit, Awaken, Love.
Tactical Update: GENESIS seized/removed. ZAFT defense fleet in attrition. Coup d'état initiated in Jachin Due.
New Threat: Providence Gundam (Rau Le Creuset).
Objective: Intercept Creuset. Protect the fleet. Finish the war.
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