Gryps, a giant colony built by the Earth Alliance, was said to be used for industrial production and technological research and development. Serving as a new pivot for the Earth Alliance Space Fleet alongside the Lunar Base, it gathered a massive amount of troops.
Since Gryps was even closer to PLANT than the Lunar Base, it naturally became a bridgehead for the Earth Alliance's strategy against ZAFT.
Because of this, it became the focal point of the confrontation. Forces from both sides clashed here, with a vast number of white mobile suits piloted by ZAFT clone soldiers fighting against the Earth Alliance's "wetware" MS, turning the area into a cruel meat grinder.
In particular, after the Earth Alliance deployed nuclear weapons to destroy a ZAFT frontline base, ZAFT's commitment to the battlefield became even more frenzied.
Unfortunately, the sheer scale of the Earth Alliance's wetware MS forces managed to hold back ZAFT's mad counterattack.
Facing a defensive line that could not be taken despite prolonged assault, ZAFT decided to send in elite Red-Coat pilots to tear a gap in the enemy's formation.
In a certain ship of the ZAFT vanguard fleet, Yzak Joule sat in the cockpit of the Duel Gundam, his expression complicated.
The long battle had exhausted the impulse he felt when he first joined ZAFT. He was beginning to feel a sense of weariness toward the war, and he started to reflect on it all.
"...The Naturals have once again used nuclear weapons. This is something we cannot tolerate; it represents their sinister ambitions constantly expanding..."
Over the comms, Yzak's mother was delivering a pre-sortie speech.
Ships with simple exteriors—looking like shipping containers with thrusters attached to the back—flew out of the PLANT colonies, rushing toward the active battlefield.
Accompanied by sparks and gas venting from these container-like ships, the outer armor detached from the vessels and drifted into space. Revealed beneath the shells were rows of white GINNs mounted on racks.
The white GINNs detached from the ship frameworks and joined the fray. The ships, with their thrusters still running, increased their power output, carrying pre-installed high-yield bombs as they charged toward the Earth Alliance positions.
The routes, the targets, and the deployment—everything was pre-programmed. ZAFT had designed these ships to function like cluster missiles; after releasing the MS piloted by clone soldiers, the ships would expend their final utility.
As for these clone soldiers, not even they themselves intended to return to ZAFT alive.
On the Gryps battlefield, life was treated as a common consumable, used as constant weight to tip the scales of victory for either side.
Perhaps everyone had already gone mad for the sake of this war.
Yzak took a shallow breath and gripped the control sticks.
The meaning of this war, how to end such a war... questions swirled in Yzak's mind, yet he could not find the answers himself.
"Yzak Joule, Duel Assault Shroud, Joule Team, launching!"
Yzak stepped on the pedals. The thrusters on the Duel Gundam burst with blue flames, propelling the unit away from the ship.
Upon clearing the ship, he saw the brutal battlefield nearby.
A massive amount of Earth Alliance wreckage marked with "BS" and white ZAFT wreckage drifted in space.
Seeing a Dagger that had just plunged its beam saber into the torso of a white GINN, Yzak frowned and instinctively pulled the trigger.
The beam easily pierced through the Dagger, making it another piece of debris in this "Cosmic Graveyard."
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Within the Earth Alliance position, aboard one of the Archangel-class battleships serving as a flagship, Muruta Azrael sat in his seat. Watching the scene before him, his lips curled into a cold sneer.
"ZAFT has deployed new MS... wait, identification? Is that the Duel?!"
"It looks like they've sent out the Red-Coats."
Listening to the conversation on the bridge, Muruta tapped his index finger against the armrest and squinted his eyes slightly.
"Launch the second wave of nuclear missiles."
The moment Muruta spoke, the bridge fell into a brief silence.
"Right now? Twice in such a short window?"
Hearing Muruta's command, the captain of the battleship frowned.
"Nuclear weapons are meaningless if you don't use them now."
Muruta stood up from his chair and pointed toward the distant PLANT colony clusters.
"This war has dragged on long enough. I don't intend to let it continue. Set the target for the PLANT colonies and launch the second wave of nukes!"
"We must crush ZAFT with lightning speed and erase these non-human monsters—these Coordinators—from the universe!"
For a moment, the captain of the Archangel-class ship felt dazed.
Muruta's expression, encompassing hatred, excitement, bloodlust... a look twisted to the absolute extreme, made him seem more like a monster than the Coordinators he labeled as such.
"Understood. Second echelon nuclear missiles, prepare for launch!"
After a long silence, the captain nodded and spoke to the communications officer.
One by one, MAs equipped with nuclear warheads detached from the battleships and flew toward the PLANT colonies.
"Are those... nuclear warheads?!!"
Yzak, having just destroyed a Dagger, naturally saw the MAs heading toward the PLANT colonies and the very familiar objects they were carrying. His eyes widened instinctively.
"Yzak! We can't let them get past!"
Nicol Amalfi, piloting the Blitz Gundam and flying beside Yzak, had also seen the data on his radar and spoke anxiously.
"We're going to intercept..."
Yzak instinctively maneuvered his unit to turn around, only to be blocked by several dazzling beams.
"You're not going anywhere!"
The Earth Alliance second-generation Extended human, Sting Oakley, was piloting the Chaos Gundam, unleashing a constant barrage toward the Duel Gundam, forcing Yzak to dodge frantically.
"Yzak... damn it!"
Seeing this, Nicol instinctively tried to raise his Trikeros offensive shield system to support Yzak.
But as a piercing alarm blared within his cockpit, Nicol reacted by raising his shield just in time to block a lethal scythe-beam.
"This is a one-on-one hunting game... don't think about running!"
The Abyss Gundam brandished its beam lance, exerting sudden force to shove the Blitz Gundam back.
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"Finally... I've waited for this moment..."
Inside the cockpit of an MA, an Earth Alliance pilot stared at the PLANT colony clusters with a gruesome smile. His hands on the control sticks were trembling slightly with excitement.
"Go to hell! You Coordinator monsters!"
Accompanied by a frantic scream, he pressed the trigger on the control stick. "For a blue and pure world!"
The nuclear missiles mounted beneath the MA were released. Their thrusters ignited, propelling the warheads toward the PLANT colony clusters.
Countless nuclear missiles formed a rain of despair. Among them, only a few were shot down, while the rest continued their relentless charge toward the PLANT colonies.
Just as the ZAFT soldiers watched with eyes nearly splitting from rage, and the Earth Alliance soldiers wore twisted grins—
A barrage of beams erupted from one side of the battlefield, accurately striking the missiles flying toward the PLANT colonies.
"What? Where did that attack come from?!"
Seeing this scene, Muruta Azrael, who thought victory was already in his grasp, widened his eyes and looked toward the source of the beams.
However, a massive white shadow occupied his field of vision.
"Earth Alliance, please cease your attack immediately!"
Lacus Clyne's voice came through the public communication channel, causing the ZAFT soldiers to freeze instinctively.
"Do you truly understand what it is you are using?!"
Looking at the nuclear missiles destroyed by the two METEOR units, Lacus breathed a small sigh of relief.
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Inside GENESIS, within the dim operations room, Rau Le Creuset watched the mixed fleet on his screen, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
In his view, Lacus's speech was nothing more than a futile effort. This war had intensified to a point beyond mediation—unless a miracle occurred, like a deus ex machina.
However... so he actually built something like that too?
Creuset looked at another screen, which displayed the pure white GP03 combined with the Unicorn—the machine known as the Dendrobium.
"Creuset, take the Providence and eliminate those meddling pests."
Not far away, Patrick Zala, gnashing his teeth at the sight of the Eternal and the two METEOR units, issued the sortie order. "The Minerva and its forces are to coordinate with the Providence!"
"...Understood."
Creuset narrowed his eyes behind his mask, clearly satisfied with this arrangement.
Beside Patrick, Gilbert Durandal quietly glanced at his increasingly excited friend, his thoughts unknown.
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