Chapter 179: The Effigy of the Young Comet
The day of the exercise.
The A-Laws fleet, originally stationed in Gibraltar, was currently traveling in the vast North Atlantic, with Char and Ade standing side by side in the spacious flagship bridge.
"What's the point of this exercise now?" Ade asked in a low voice, "Kamille is not coming, not to mention that you didn't even bring Banshee, just to waste energy and supplies? Instead of burning money here, isn't it good to just cancel it?"
"This is a joint military exercise with the hypothetical purpose of eliminating angels, how can you say cancel it? Do you think it's a child's play?" Char said unhappily, "Lingus, did you advocate something to Kamille again? He has no reason to reject me."
"Don't put the blame on my head, maybe you're not as charismatic as you think you are?" Ade said indifferently, "And you believe so well that the angel's second target must be Gibraltar?"
"Historically speaking, the Gibraltar base has existed since the beginning of the Federation. From a geographical point of view, it is the closest military base to Dakar. From the angel's point of view, a coastal base is easier to attack than an inland base." Char smiled smugly, "That's easy content to reason out, Lingus, it seems your intelligence is no better."
Ade thought carefully for a while, but finally shook his head, "The reasoning is too far-fetched, I can't accept it."
"It doesn't matter if you accept it or not, the facts will prove me right." Char said confidently, "The angel will be eliminated before entering the Strait of Gibraltar, even if an accident happens and we are no match for it, it's easier to use nuclear strikes at sea than inland, and this joint exercise will be a bridgehead for humanity to counterattack angels — under my leadership ."
"Even at the expense of dragging Britannia down with us?" Ade asked rhetorically, "as a way to establish your position as a global leader?"
"Don't be a venomous slander, Lingus." Char glanced at Ade derisively, "I thought Queen Nunnally insisted on attending this exercise is to have a private meeting with you? Don't forget she's an NT, and so am I. Your sophistry is pointless."
Ade expressed his admiration for Nunnally's tenacity to try to give him a hard time, but at the same time, he could not do anything about her disruptive behavior. In order to make Nunnally feel a little better, he even gave her a Gundam as a gift, however, no improvement was seen.
"Lingus, there's another problem you may haven't thought about." Char suddenly showed a smirking look, "Why do you think I must take you with me?"
"… In order to set me up?"
"No, in order to prevent others from setting me up." Char said meaningfully, "The exercise was scheduled for today out of my judgment that 'it's not likely that the angel will appear here today', but even I have lapses in judgment, and for that reason, your presence is necessary."
Ade became alert, "What do you want to say?"
"Sometimes, it's part of the fun to come up with your own answers, Lingus, don't you think?" Char showed a very wry smile, "I look forward to your brilliant reasoning, even with the loss of your NT abilities, I hope you haven't lost the excellent insight you once had to see through the truth at a glance."
"Mr. Quattro." The bridge crew not far away gave a standard military salute, "Our troops have arrived at the designated location, the Britannia fleet has not yet come, please give your instructions."
"Stand by in place." Char said majestically, "It's time for me to go and make preparations for the strike."
"Wait." Ade's eyes widened in surprise, "You? Strike?"
"Kamille was compelled by you and refused to join the army, Amuro's transfer orders just went out yesterday, and an NT had to take a key role in the exercise." Char gently pulled at his collar, "Don't forget I'm also an ACE who once got even with Amuro."
Ade didn't want to say. He could only choose to shut up, silently watching Char turn away.
A few moments later, the red-colored Sinanju quietly hovered above the sea. In the cockpit, Char, who had already changed into a driving suit, finally couldn't help but let out a loud laugh, "Little girl, did you want to play tricks on me? Too naive! Hahahaha."
Yes, from the beginning, Char had expected that the location Lacus gave him is real, but the time is false, and Lacus would let him encounter the angel unprepared and be killed here. So he continued to manipulate the military exercise, until the last moment, he asked Lingus to go with him. He remembered clearly Lacus' shocked face when she learned that her plan was ruined.
Lingus is Lacus' biggest weakness. As long as he stayed together with Lingus, Lacus couldn't do anything. The only surprise of this military exercise was that Queen Nunnally volunteered to participate — the nuclear bombs that would be used against angels were supplied by Britannia at no cost.
"Judging from the results of the last trial, Nunnally does hate Lingus very much. She is a smart little girl, but is still just a little girl." Char moody thought, "Well, they help me save the money of the nuclear bombs. I should thank Lingus for this."
With Nunnally's nuclear bombs, Anaheim's Gundam, and the fact that Amuro would soon be transferred to Gibraltar, Char couldn't imagine how to lose in this situation.
"The only way to turn the tide is for Lacus to draw angels here, but I don't think that she's so crazy that would kill her own husband together with me—" His thoughts stopped abruptly, and his NT intuition was warning aloud in his head, "What's going on?
"Mr. Quattro!" An urgent voice rang out on the friendly channel, "Unidentified object detected approaching, I'm sending you the image now, please give your instructions!"
A few seconds later, a blue square octahedron appeared on the display. The octahedron's appearance was smooth as a mirror, and from a distance, it looked like a large, delicate craft without any offensive appearance.
"I remember this thing is on the information given by Lingus, it's definitely an angel." Char forcefully endured the scream of his NT intuition in the mind, trying to maintain composure, and hatefully thought, "What a vicious woman! Is she so cold-blooded that she is even going to kill her own husband?"
"It's the fifth angel, Ramiel!" Ade's voice rang out immediately afterward, "Quattro, tell everyone to retreat immediately, the farther the better! Use a nuclear bomb to solve it!"
"Are you kidding me? How can we retreat without a fight?" Char scolded sternly, "If everything is solved by throwing nukes, what is the point of the NT Force?"
The blue octahedron on the screen suddenly changed as soon as he said that. Like a high-dimensional geometric pattern unfolding in a lower dimension, the octahedron spread out exaggeratedly, and after a dazzlingly precise reorganization, it finally turned into a complex three-dimensional figure made of multiple cubes of different sizes nested together. The geometric figure is separated from the top and bottom, and what is located right in the center is a small red orb.
"Can't wait to reveal the weakness? Don't creatures like angels have intelligence?" Char moved his knuckles, gripping the lever tighter, "With Sinanju's performance, maybe I can…"
The red orb suddenly began to glow sharply under Char's gaze. Even the sky seemed to become dim. Relying on years of NT's intuition, Char instinctively moved violently to the left, and the next moment, a dazzling beam of light grazed the surface of the sea. The tremendous heat instantly evaporated the seawater, Sinanju's right arm and right leg suffered from different degrees of damage.
"Mr. Quattro, one ship is broken!" The flagship snapped again, "Please give instructions!"
"All troops retreat, spread out!" Char instructed immediately, "Inform Britannia to launch nuclear bombs as soon as we retreat to the safe distance! … Crap, there seems to be a problem with the communication equipment. All ships evade on their own!"
After saying that, he turned off the communication equipment and put his full attention on driving. The angel's destination was, not surprisingly, Gibraltar. Char steered Sinanju to the north at full speed without hesitation.
Ramiel sensed that an NT was approaching, and fired two more shots in Sinanju's direction, but both were narrowly avoided by Char. Fortunately, Ramiel was very persistent about something in Gibraltar and ignored Char after that. The fleet group scattered and fled in all directions in the blink of an eye, looking like many iron coffins from afar.
"Although it's embarrassing, I'll trouble you all to draw fire for me." He glanced back in the direction of the friendly forces and sighed in relief, "It looks like I can get out safely. Siegel, it seems that your daughter is far less intelligent or lucky than I am."
Just in case, Char flew north for a while longer, and only after confirming that he was completely safe did he slowly stop. In all directions, only his MS was hovering alone above the sea.
"As expected, Sinanju's performance is really excellent." He finally couldn't help but laugh out loud, "There's no NT in the fleet, according to the angel's firepower and range estimation, the fleet should have been wiped out by now. It's time to contact Britannia to launch the nuclear bombs."
"The only pity is Lingus, his knowledge could have been of greater use. But it's good that he's dead, it saves me time to deal with the moon government, and it's good to get Mineva back." Char while opening the communication device while thinking freely, "Lacus… what a ruthless woman. She even doesn't mind killing her own husband. After going back, I must find an opportunity to kill her and dig out the secret she has."
As soon as the communication device was turned on, before he contacted the base, a young voice rang out on the public channel, "Is this Mr. Quattro Bajeena in Sinanju? This is Suzaku Kururugi from Britannia, and we have received a battle report from your army about the angel."
"Just in time, please prepare to launch nuclear bombs immediately and make sure that the angel cannot enter the Strait of Gibraltar." Char looked at the high-speed approaching dot on the radar and let out a long breath, "By the way, how did you find me?"
"I saw you, that's me in the black MS." A black MS appeared in Char's field of view, flying closer and closer at a speed visible to the naked eye, "It was Queen Nunnally who sensed your location."
"It seems that my luck is indeed good." Char smiled gratefully, "There is no sign of people for many nautical miles around, and although Sinanju is a nuclear energy MS, it will take a very long time to fly back inland."
"Yes, Her Majesty's luck is indeed good. You surprisingly flew alone to a place with no human trails, and you happen to be a low-level NT that can't sense Her Majesty and can only be sensed by Her Majesty." The black MS finally flew near Sinanju, "It's been a long time …Mr. Full Frontal."
"Suzaku-kun, what do you mean?" Char was abruptly alerted and immediately tried to contact the base via satellite, "…Minovsky particle concentration overload? Is Britannia going to plot a rebellion?!"
"The person who left Mr. Lingus alone and escaped on his own deserves to die, just treat me as a crazy woman who is seeking revenge for her beloved." A nice female voice sounded in Char's head, "This MS in front of you is a toy that Mr. Lingus gave me after I ascended the throne, you could have tried to resist, Char Aznable, aren't you some kind of red comet?"
Feeling the boundless killing intent and malice roaming along with his senses, Char gritted his teeth and roared "Nunnally Vi Britannia!" Sinanju raised its guns at the same time and shot at the black MS.
Gundam D-Hell opened its wings and revealed the scythe, dodged the shot, and rushed at Sinanju with a sudden burst. Char just subconsciously twisted the fuselage by his NT's intuition, Sinanju had been sliced into two pieces. Even the ejected cockpit was grabbed by Gundam D-Hell at a faster speed.
Kururugi controlled Gundam D-Hell to pinch slightly, and the spherical cockpit was immediately pinched into an irregular shape. The hatch was completely sealed and Char found himself unable to get out.
"Impossible …" Char was still gape-mouthed, "You're just an ACE gatekeeper, how is it possible that you can… "
"I don't advertise Kururugi's record during the coup in the royal capital on purpose, I just didn't expect it to be so useful. Even you were deceived. By the way, you didn't know about the fact that Mr. Lingus is immortal, right? He even has an AT field, you can even call him a human-shaped angel." Nunnally laughed pleasantly in his head, and the sound of laughter was so harsh, "Look at you, you don't know anything, and you want to play dirty tricks to us?"
"What did you grab me for?" Char calmed down in just a few breaths, "There's nothing we can't talk about, we can come to make a deal."
"I'm a woman and an NT, I don't like to make deals, and I only act by emotions." Nunnally said gleefully, "The people who hurt my brother are unforgivable, therefore, the people who hurt Mr. Lingus are unforgivable, you see, it's a simple truth, right?"
Char had a bit of a headache. What he feared most was an unreasonable female NT.
"So your treatment has been decided." Nunnally said coldly, "Quattro Bajeena must die here today."
