Chapter 209: Double Drives
The ice dome of the underground cavern was limited in thickness and quickly collapsed under 00 Qanta's continuous barrage. When Kururugi returned to the scene in his Gundam D-Hell Custom, the particle beam, as thick as a battleship's main cannon, was re-energized from the strange-shaped weapon on 00 Qanta's right wrist and slammed into the "egg" below.
"The opponent's target is obviously the angel, but his identity, source of information, and infiltration route are all suspicious." Iron Mask kindly suggested, "Secretary Suzaku, I suggest you capture him alive, I'm sure it won't be a problem with your skills, right?"
"The enemy should be a heavy firepower type MS," Kururugi looked at the large crater that appeared after the smoke cleared with a gaze, and the bat wings of the Gundam D-Hell followed wrapped tightly, "Of course there is no problem!"
The fuselage suddenly turned into a black shadow and shot out, completing the transition from static to dynamic in the blink of an eye. Iron Mask was hit hard on the back wall of the cockpit with a muffled sound and nearly fell apart.
"This MS's design didn't consider the pilot's capacity, even I, a veteran ACE, can't stand it." Iron Mask complained while trying to keep his balance in the cockpit, "This acceleration is enough to kill the pilot, which nerd designed it?"
"This MS is a token given to His Majesty Nunnally by Dr. Lingus, supposedly designed by him himself." Kururugi concentrated on maneuvering the MS, and without looking back, he said casually and perfunctorily, "Is the acceleration great? I think it's okay."
00 Qanta obviously didn't want to be attached to the battle. With a strange-shaped beam rifle in its hand, it tried to distance itself from Kururugi, while moving in the direction of the Antarctic Circle.
Gundam D-hell flew towards 00 Qanta at full speed, its twenty tons of body constantly repeated the behavior of sharp stopping and direction changing, moving and dodging deftly in the rain of light, as if it was weightless.
Kururugi locked his sight on 00 Qanta, and even had the energy to look around the environment. But Iron Mask's body was already slightly fat because of the lack of exercise in the office for a long time, and now he almost threw out his internal organs at the volley.
Now he finally understood how he lost to Kururugi, "This guy is not human at all!"
In just a few breaths, Gundam D-Hell Custom rushed to 00 Qanta. 00 Qanta changed its weapon to a large sword as soon as D-Hell approached.
The two MSs fought together, and all of a sudden, the sound of the clanging of weapons was incessant.
"The MS's performance is extremely superior, but the pilot is not strong enough to handle it. Your habitual movements have also exposed your identity." Kururugi smiled coldly, "Setsuna·F·Seiei, we meet again."
"Setsuna·F·Seiei?" cried Iron Mask, startled, "Were your actions directed by Lacus Lingus?"
There was only silence on the public channel, and 00 Qanta's attacks became even faster.
The opponent also found that Kururugi's MS was a close-combat MS.& He tried to fly away several times, but his tries were all stopped by Kururugi.
"The movements have become impatient." Kururugi's eyes suddenly sharpened, "Bind your hands, sinner!"
Gundam D-Hell Custom, who had the height advantage, danced its scythe blade downward and collided with the giant sword, backhanded it, and both bounced off at the same time. At this point, it was already too late to retract the sword. Gundam D-Hell Custom suddenly opened its thrusters and was pushed forward, kicking on 00 Qanta's left arm shield.
00 Qanta was like hit hard by a heavy hammer, hitting the ice below like a meteor.
"Sinner?" Setsuna's stubborn voice finally echoed on the public channel, "I'm a sinner?"
"Yes, sinner." Gundam D-Hell Custom hovered silently in the air, holding its scythe. Kururugi looked down indifferently at the motionless 00 Qanta who was smashed into the ice rock below, "As a vassal of the previous emperor, and as a knight of Britannia's Round Table, you committed treason, and now you attacked Britannia's stronghold for no reason. You are undoubtedly a sinner."
"Britannia was harboring the angel, and the angel had to be destroyed in order to save humanity, and the result was that the angel was destroyed by me." Setsuna said word for word, "I'm doing the right thing."
"No more nonsense with you, there is no point. Right or wrong, Her Majesty will naturally give you a just verdict." The scythe blade in the hand of D-Hell was raised, "Surrender, sinner, your battle is over."
"The mission is not over, we can still fight. And I'm not a sinner, I'm …" Setsuna shouted, "…Gundam!"
"Huh?" Kururugi froze in place and subconsciously glanced at Iron Mask, "What's he talking about? Did I hear him wrong?"
Before Iron Mask could answer, Setsuna on the other end shouted out, "TRANS-AM!"
As his words fell, blood-red light particles spilled out from 00 Qanta's shoulders and back, and in an instant, the whole MS was covered with particles, emitting an eerie red light. 00 Qanta, wrapped in light particles, slowly flew into the air under Kururugi's watchful eye, silently confronting him.
"This color, this feeling …" Iron Mask's right hand held the metal helmet, his eyes incredulously gazed at the image that appeared in front of him for the third time in his life, "Lingus! There is no mistake, this feeling is definitely Lingus!"
"Dr. Lingus?" Kururugi tightened his grip on the joystick, "Then I have to bring him back alive to His Majesty."
"Suzaku, my NT ability is sending me an unprecedentedly strong alert!" Iron Mask said urgently in an unmistakably serious voice, "Retreat! Disengage! Now! Immediately!"
"Retreat? What kind of joke is that? How will I answer to Her Majesty if I run away from the battle?" Kururugi gave him a disdainful look, "It's just TRANS-AM, you are too fussed."
At this point, the giant sword in 00 Qanta's hand turned back into a rifle, and the black muzzle was aimed at Gundam D-Hell Custom. kururugi prepared for a white-knuckle battle against the barrage of bullets again.
However, in the next moment, countless particle beams roared out from the muzzle of 00 Qanta's right arm, most of which crossed Gundam D-Hell and hit the ice and sea behind it, causing the ice to crack and the waves to tumble, with a continuous roar, as if there were dozens of battleships firing in unison.
Gundam D-Hell woefully flew left and right in the barrage. Its left batwing was hit by continuous shooting, and the entire left shoulder was vaporized. But no matter how hard it was, he continued to approach 00 Qanta at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"To this distance, then …" Gundam D-Hell Custom raised its scythe, "Close combat is more favorable to me!"
With a flash of red light in front of his eyes, the scythe swung in vain. When Kururugi looked again, 00 Qanta was already at a distance of about 40 meters from him. The rifle in 00 Qanta's hand turned into a huge sword and was raised high, then slashed down in Kururugi's uncomprehending gaze.
Kururugi subconsciously asked the man behind him, "What is he doing—"
Iron Mask didn't have the time to answer him.& Without thinking about it, he jumped in front of Kururugi, skillfully opened one of the panels, and quickly "clicked" the button inside. Instantly, the cockpit of Gundam D-Hell popped out.
At the same moment, the light particles wrapped around the surface of the giant sword in 00 Qanta's hand rose in the wind, and in the blink of an eye, it was more than 40 meters long. In the instant, after the cockpit ejected, Gundam D-Hell Custom was cut in two, emitting an explosion of fire and loud noise.
The spherical cockpit automatically opened the built-in parachute in the sky, then slowly fell to the surface of the sea floating with countless fine ice floes. The two people in the cockpit watched the sky. 00 Qanta slowly dispersed the red light, ignoring the cockpit on the surface of the sea, and directly turned away.
"What was that just now?" Kururugi asked dully.
"The feeling just now … I'm afraid is no longer the realm of the human race." Iron Mask said in a deep voice, "It's a god, right?"
…
"We've got the coordinates hidden in Taiwan. It went well." Momoka on the other end of the video call had a calm look on her face, seemingly not very excited about such a smooth trip, "Modern technology relies too much on electronic devices, and thanks to Alice along the way, we avoided all the trouble."
"That's good." Lacus nodded equally calmly, "What's the location of the next coordinate?"
Momoka's face showed concern, "Gabro."
"Oh, it's in Britannia." Lacus also felt a bit of a headache, "Think of it, it should be there. It's almost a full circle around the earth."
"It's okay, Alice and I can work it out." Momoka's eyes drifted down towards the screen, "I have to go take care of Alice, so I'll hang up now, Miss Lacus."
"Wrong name," Lacus said with a smile.
"…Lacus."
"Right this time, bye." Lacus waited for Momoka to hang up, and then began to think about how to let Momoka and Alice infiltrate Britannia's territory.
Time flew by in her thoughts, and several hours had passed by the time she was awakened by the report from Setsuna. She stood up and moved her body, which felt slightly stiff after sitting for so long, and then read the briefing while heading to the hangar.
The mission was successful, very good, I need to praise Setsuna to reinforce his current mindset. There were no casualties, and it seems to have been a very effective resource dispatch. Well, the next item is that TRANS-AM… was accidentally used…
Ten minutes later, Lacus struggled to control her body, which was gradually becoming uncontrollable, and watched in silence as Setsuna jumped out of the cockpit.
"Miss Lacus, the mission is complete." Setsuna's voice was rare with a bit of joy, "The angel at the South Pole has been—"
Slap.
"You used it." Lacus' voice, however, was irrepressibly cold as Antarctic ice, "TRANS-AM, you used it."
"I'm sorry." Setsuna touched his cheek and immediately apologized, "The situation was urgent and I had no choice. I did use TRANS-AM."
"What did I say?" Lacus lowered her head slightly. Her pink hair covered her face as her shoulders trembled incessantly, "Didn't I say, 'Never use TRANS-AM?' Did you take my words as a whisper?"
"I'm sorry." Setsuna immediately replied, "It's my fault."
Obviously, it was not Setsuna's fault. Lacus was very clear that he was absolutely forced to start TRANS-AM. So the right thing to do now is to punish him a little, and then praise him, continuing to captivate his heart. It's easy, just like she's always done, just—
Slap.
"What's the use of being sorry!" Lacus snapped her head up and pointed at 00 Qanta, shouting hysterically, "What if the information is wrong? What if that woman lied to me? Even if she didn't lie to me, she wasn't in there, how would she know if it hurt or not!!!"
'Shut up, Setsuna doesn't understand what I'm saying! The secret of GN-Drive will be revealed if I continue! Lacus, you're a skilled politician, this is an easy act, just…'
Slap.
"Get out!" She growled, "Get out of here!"
When Lacus came back to her senses, Setsuna was gone, and she was the only one left in the empty hangar. Lacus lost all her strength and sat down on the ground, just staring at 00 Qanta in a daze. Her eyes were seemingly hollowed and devoid of any light.
"Ade, I'm sorry." She murmured, "I can't do anything. It's so funny and ridiculous that I'm still faltering and weak even though I've already made such a decision."
No one answered her, and there was only silence in all directions.
"Oh right, you can't hear me, can you? What about this?" Her eyes glowed with light, "Ade, you are no longer a NewType who needs to sleep with my songs, but I have become unable to sleep without you."
Lacus said and crawled on her hands and knees next to 00 Qanta and leaned her back on the fuselage.
"Don't worry, even if he betrays, it's no big deal, I have other plans." Lacus whispered, "I promise you, Ade, this is the last time I'm weak, there will be no next time. I will, I will get you back."
Then Lacus pulled a short, chicly shaped dagger from her pocket, the blade reflecting a chill in the light in the hangar. She stroked up her sleeve and pressed the blade against her arm, the cool touch bringing a wave of peace to her heart.
"There is no way to prove that TRANS-AM is no harm to the souls inside it, you must be in a lot of pain. Ade, I'm sorry." Her wrist slightly moved and then a string of blood beads seeped out. The bright red color looked like the light particles when TRANS-AM started, "Ade, I'm sorry …"
