The Ptolemaios' crew didn't need to wait long to see news appear around the world.
"Umm…Miss Sumeragi…" Christina looked worried as she called her captain.
"What do you have for me, Christina?"
Instead of explaining to her, she showed it on the main screen.
It was Euphemia talking about conglomerates supporting Celestial Being.
"..."
The Tactical Forecaster frowned as she saw a massive list of Celestial Being Observers getting exposed. There were videos of SWAT teams sweeping in and capturing the businessmen left and right.
In private houses, in airports, even in the middle of meetings, it was an insanely organised sweep, with the Anti-Gundam Force, the Over Flags, leading the Way.
'He didn't wait…' Sumeragi internally commented before asking a crucial question.
"Is Wang Liu Mei on the list?"
"Let me check." The CIC girl swifly went over the list swiftly.
"...She is not there," Christina said with a relieved tone.
"..."
Sumeragi should have been happy to hear that, but instead, she was worried.
If she was not in the list, then she was in cohorts with Marcus Anaheim.
"...Damn it… so she IS with him…" The brown-haired woman looked at the floor, her expression thoughtful.
"What do you mean?" Feldt asked, a bit worried about the way Sumeragi reacted to that.
"I found it strange when Wang Liu Mei went silent on us after Taribia, when she met with him. No doubt Marcus Anaheim took her to his world and showed her what she wanted to see."
"..."
"..."
"Do you mean to say she was on his side after that?" When Christina commented, she felt extremely worried.
"Exactly. We lost Earth. If we descend with our Gundams, I doubt we could leave it. This was a crippling move from Marcus.
And it's merely an opening move from him." Sumeragi said in a dead-serious tone as she realised the sheer scale of his influence.
"...Opening move? He crippled us! Who is going to pay for my next shopping spree?" Christina complained! Her complaint was a way to show how stressed she was.
"I should be worried for more than just our next shopping spree," Feldt commented as she looked at the console screen. She was worried that with no money, how were they going to repair gundams? They might have private factories, but they still need to buy food and all that; they are not fully self-sufficient.
"And I am! But this is what I care about!"
~~~
Meanwhile, in the South Pole's base, things were on high alert as A.S.P were scrambling to greet new arrivals from space.
Over ten spaceships returned with loot from the Fereshte base.
"So these are Celestial Being's real Gundams," Suzaku said with crossed arms as he looked at the open containers and revealed Mobile Suits inside them.
'They do look strange, clearly prototypes.' He hummed how strange some of them looked. Like the plane one…
"They are, but we have more pressing matters," Jeanne said with a frown.
"Did something happen?" The Knight asked, curious about any developments.
"That Mercenary exposed us. Celestial Being knows who we are and from where we come from." The Knight girl complained.
"Never leave a knight's job to a mercenary. But they are a bit late." The brown-haired knight replied with crossed arms.
"His Majesty issued combat readiness to condition Yellow, G-Force is to assemble… here."
"If he wants all of us here… then he is pissed off."
G-Force is enough to wipe out entire countries within hours. No one fights better than the G-Force in the Holy Byzantine Empire.
Especially now that G-Force increased by two machines. This was a death sentence to this world.
"Yes, he is. Some traumatised boy made him annoyed. For now, we are continuing to pretend. Three GN Gundam Thrones and 30 GN-X we recovered will be deployed." Jeanne explained Marcus's opening combat move.
"So we are reusing the Alejandro Corner plan? I thought he wanted for Over Flags to defeat them and use Union's reputation to unite the other two blocs behind him."
"Things change, Suzaku."
Jeanne looked at the Celestial Being Gundams being unloaded for the Hangar. They will be transferred to Langrange 3 the next time the gates open.
Then a loud whistling erupted from the entrance of the cavern as they saw a black-and-dark-purple Gundam arrive; it was Marcus.
"Oof, he really is pissed when he is using the afterburners like that." Suzaku grimaced as he commented on what he saw in the distance.
"Isn't it at the limit of gravity resonance when he does that?" Jeanne recalled the Gundam specs.
"Yeah, if you push even a bit more than that, the mobile suit starts affecting the planetary rotation, you don't do that." Suzaku grimaced while saying that.
~~~
The Leader of Fereshte watched the doors open, and Marcus walk in; that expression on his face told her enough. She knew that Fereshte's fall was not the cleanest.
"I assume you got exposed." Chall Acustica said with a small smile as she saw Marcus stroll into the room where she was being held.
"Let me guess, you had some precaution set up. Ptolemaios' crew immediately knew that you guys were captured." He sighed. It would seem he was a bit hasty after that show of force; he was a bit too excited by Celestial Being's move.
"I made some precautions after I learned that Veda was compromised. I knew the main team did not know about us, but Fereshte knew, so I came to the conclusion that the faction behind Veda's takeover could come after us.
So I made Fon Spaak wait in the hangar; he agreed with me for once." She complained about the pilot of her group; he might be good, but his rebellious character is a pain to deal with.
"And Ali al-Saachez could not shut up." Marcus rubbed his forehead. He put things together.
'I needed to rewire that man instead of solely relying on Jeremiah's Absolute Loyalty Geass.'
The Emperor complained to himself.
"That's on you, Marcus Anaheim," Chall smirked smuggly, making him annoyed.
"Hah. It is. I needed to listen to Exia's pilot complaining how I am the source of the world's conflicts."
"Maybe you are." She added fuel to the fire.
"You think so? Well, you will have to watch how I bring Prosperity, Justice, Wealth, and Happiness to my new Province of my Empire. Because Celestial Being just picked a Fight with the Holy Bizantine Empire, Chall Acustica."
She looked a bit confused. What does that even mean?
"..."
Marcus summoned a holographic window and showed her his hangar. What she saw was the lineup of never Gundams!
"These are forces that are stationed here; another four Gundams are coming here in a few days." He dropped a bombshell, making her realise just how outmatched Celestial Being is in this conflict.
"I wanted the conquest of this world to be a smooth one. But you guys just don't want to stop with your stupidity." He shook his head. Those guys don't give up and continue to provoke him like that.
"...Who are you? How is this possible? I was there when the original machines were made. These are not of Celestial Being." Chall said to him with worried anxiety.
"They are mine, designed by me and created by my Empire."
"...Your Empire…but…" There was a chaotic mess in the woman's head. She can't make a connection. What is this Empire he is talking about?
"You saw the Arch outside? Right? Well, Chall, it's a portal to a parallel universe, where I originated. Your world is being invaded by humans from another reality.
And now your Celestial Being picked a fight with a more Advanced Nation than they are." He dropped the other bombshell.
"..."
"What do you want from Earth? Resources?" She asked with a deep frown. This was a monumental change in perspective. She never imagined such an enemy could exist.
"Technology, primarily, I already acquired it. Now I will be collecting people as my Empire is expanding quicker than the population can expand." He explained honestly to the Fereshte's Leader.
"And you think people will simply accept the relocation? Or that they are being invaded by aliens from another reality?" Chall exclaimed with horror, this was a legitimate invasion!
"You are quite naive to believe that people care." He shook his head, he realised that Celestial Being is full of idealistic idiots.
"A regular hard-working person only cares for the security of their families and to earn more and pay less taxes.
Do you think they would care that their leader is an 'Alien' or even a dog? They wouldn't care either way.
You should study human psychology properly before making assumptions. Monarchies throughout history have fallen because of food shortages and economic crashes. I bring stability and advanced technology.
And most importantly, lower taxes." He said the last part with a sagely nod. He just mentioned the holy grail, and for the first time, the woman actually agreed…
Taxes are the universal evil, regardless of your position, and Marcus can help to fight that evil.
To some extent.
"Even so…"
"Or for example… Gundam Plutone, accident."
Just by mentioning that machine, the woman's expression changed rapidly.
"When your two teammates died, you thought to yourself, 'Why them and not me?', right?"
Chall took a step back as she had flashbacks of that incident, which scarred her for life.
"But a bit later, you thought differently, you thought 'if not for the conflicts around the world, they wouldn't needed to pilot the Gundams'. After reaching that conclusion, you decided to embrace Aeolia Schenberg's ideology and commit to his plan.
But you were wrong. They died because of those ideologies, because of the old man's idealistic view.
You see, there are two types of people who become idealists. Those who never experienced the real world and were extremely talented became proud of what they could do and became idealists, believing they could change the world.
Like you, and then some normal people were traumatised by the world, and they decided that they needed to do something about it.
You experienced both of those."
Her eyes trembled as she felt extremely exposed to him. Almost as if he were reading her thoughts and memories.
"...What do you want from me?"
"Join my Empire." He went right to the point.
"You want me to enjoy an Imperialist Government that is hell-bent on conquering the world?" She scoffed at that idea as it sounded like lunacy.
"Spoken like an Idealist. Do you realise that your Celestial Being's glorious master plan is insanely flawed? You speak of world unity through armed interventions, but you don't even have a clue what the world will look like afterwards.
How will it be united, Monarchy? Federation? Dictatorship? None of that, all you wanted was unification and the end of inner fighting.
On the other hand, I offer a far more stable, already tested model of rulership. By this point, it's your arrogance and bias that are holding you back." He chuckled as he ended up walking to a couch and sitting down there.
"..." Once again, he hit her on the spot as she had no way to deny any of that. Since she has only theories about how the world would look, while he has experience in his rulership.
"How about I sweeten the deal for you?" All of a sudden, he got a great idea to win her over!
"Hmm?" She looked confused for a bit.
"Those scars, I can fix them, and I can arrange a means for you to access Collective Unconsciousness, where the afterlife is. So that you could see your deceased teammates."
Marcus enjoyed the look on her face as the woman trembled at such a proposal!
"You can do that?"
He showed her his glowing red eyes with a bird symbol.
"I am what is called a Code Bearer, and I became one of the Humans of the Precursor civilisation. I can interact and make their technology."
Her eyes shook when she saw those eyes. What is this!
"What do you say? Do you want me to save you from the ideology that is burdening you?" He asked her, and he can tell that she is resisting this quite badly. Her loyalty to Celestial Being is commendable.
~~~
500 powers stones = 1 Extra Chapter
1000 Power Stones = 2 Extra Chapters
And so on, You know what to do.
~~~
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