Facing the incoming Armor Schneider, Xia Chuan sneered—when it came to close combat, he had never backed down from anyone.
Especially when the Wings of Light were activated!
In an instant, instinct took over his mind, forward slashing replaced thought. An Armor Schneider from both his Sword Pack and Aile Pack were drawn simultaneously, charging straight forward.
"Come on Tianming, let's use that move!"
Seeing the Duel's blades nearly upon them, Xia Chuan immediately called out to Lu Tianming, preparing to boost their Resonance Level once more and unleash a powerful counterattack.
Lu Tianming froze for a moment, hesitating briefly:
"Huh? Does this fit the style?"
"Never mind whether it fits or not, as long as it works!"
Hearing Xia Chuan's urging, and with the enemy Mobile Suit's attack right in front of him, Lu Tianming could no longer afford to overthink—if Xia Chuan wanted it, he'd go along with it!
The moment resonance was achieved, violent lightning erupted on the twin blades, dancing wildly like golden serpents, crackling incessantly.
Without a doubt, this move was—
"Lightning Whirlwind Slash!"
As for why this move came to mind, perhaps in Xia Chuan's mind, any mecha king counted as mecha combat.
The moment he shouted the move's name, Xia Chuan defied its name with a horizontal slash. This strike, imbued with intense lightning, directly swept aside the Duel's V-shaped downward dual blades.
The Duel's heavily descending dual blades were forcefully deflected, its arms thrown upward involuntarily, exposing a clear opening in its defense.
And now, the true slash arrived belatedly—Xia Chuan's rear-hand Armor Schneider followed his Mobile Suit's turn and mercilessly swung toward the Duel's cockpit, aiming to take its life with a fierce downward chop.
"Yzak!"
Seeing Yzak in peril, Athrun nearby immediately sprang into action—the Aegis in the air twisted, transforming into MA form, then dove straight down toward the Duel.
At the critical moment when the Armor Schneider was about to strike the Duel, the red silhouette of the Aegis barely arrived in time. The MA's nose split into four claws, grabbing the Duel, then used its thrust to try and push it away.
Boom!
An explosion erupted among the three machines, but this time it wasn't the Duel that was hit—the charging Aegis had saved it. However, at a cost, the MA-form Aegis was nearly severed at the waist, with even its cockpit blasted open at one corner, instantly upgrading Athrun's Aegis into a convertible model.
The Duel wasn't faring much better either, with one of its wings severed. Seizing the moment, Xia Chuan, unsatisfied, sprayed a burst from his Vulcan Cannon, which coincidentally managed to detonate one of the Railguns.
The firing was accompanied by a spitting sound effect...
"Tianming, how much power do we have left?"
"A bit over 40%. No need to worry about the return trip... we have the Manta Ray, and if we really run out of power, we can always have Mr. Mu send over a Striker Pack."
Lu Tianming checked the power gauge and replied... after all, with three packs connected in series, even with the energy-draining Wings of Light active the whole time and after unleashing a big move, they still had a solid forty percent power remaining.
In the past, it would have been depleted countless times over by now.
"Alright! Another full barrage, let's try to take out all four of them in one go... Huh?"
Xia Chuan was enthusiastic upon hearing this. With 40% power remaining, it was enough to use the long-range energy cannons of the Launcher Pack and Aile Pack for one more full barrage.
Currently, the four enemy Mobile Suits were in a state of two damaged and two injured—the Blitz had just fished the Blitz out of the sea and attached it to the Flight Platform. As long as he fired another Seiku Cannon, he couldn't imagine how these four could possibly win.
However, at that moment, a missile warning came from ahead. It turned out the mothership of the four had launched a volley of missiles toward him, attempting to cover their retreat.
Seeing this, Lu Tianming could only sigh regretfully:
"Retreat. It seems we won't be able to capture them this time."
Battleships weren't particularly useful for much else... but when it came to providing suppressing fire and covering retreats, they were indeed somewhat effective.
Twelve anti-air missiles poured continuously toward him... Even with multiple target locks, it was difficult to intercept them all, let alone bombard the four enemy units at the same time.
However, the tactical objective of rapid suppression had already been achieved, and there was no need to risk advancing further.
"Sigh... They got away this time. No, four of them got away."
Xia Chuan also felt a bit regretful, but even though the PS Armor could defend against solid projectiles, he wasn't foolish enough to charge headfirst into a missile barrage.
After all, if the PS Armor ran out of power, he'd have to switch packs, and if he got caught off guard then, it would be embarrassing.
So, facing the sky full of missiles, Xia Chuan regretfully paused for a moment before following Lu Tianming's order and turning to retreat.
"...What's with the Strike Suit's form? How can it fly so fast with that equipment? Both the pilot and the Mobile Suit are ridiculously overpowered."
Dearka stared at the Strike Suit flying away with its Wings of Light, only then realizing... that the Strike Suit was equipped with so many components.
To fly that fast under such conditions, it must rely entirely on those large Wings of Light on its back.
Surprisingly, Yzak didn't say anything upon hearing this. He just watched the Strike Suit gradually receding on the monitor... inevitably feeling a particular emotion.
It felt as if the gap in strength between them and the Strike Suit, and its pilot, was also widening in this manner.
In their lifetime, would they ever have hope... of winning even one battle against the Strike Suit?
——————————————————
After returning to the Archangel, as soon as Lu Tianming disembarked, Kira approached him, saying there was a message from the Bridge: if Lu Tianming had the energy after getting out of his Mobile Suit, he should come to the Bridge as soon as possible.
Lu Tianming was puzzled upon hearing this... What could possibly be the issue now that they had arrived here?
But when he reached the Bridge, Lu Tianming understood the situation—the Archangel was being denied entry by ORB's military.
Because both the Alliance and ZAFT were coveting ORB's Mass Driver, the Archangel, which had Alliance identification codes, was considered part of the Alliance and refused entry into ORB territory. Despite repeated explanations from Murrue and Badgiruel, it was useless, and even bringing Mu over didn't change anything.
Therefore, they decided to call Lu Tianming, hoping the ever-capable Lu Tianming could solve this problem.
Seeing this, Lu Tianming felt a wave of helplessness. He had thought it was something major... but it turned out to be such a trivial matter.
Without a second thought, he immediately proposed his solution:
"Miriallia, please go and invite Cagalli over... If possible, try to bring Mr. Kisaka along as well."
"Huh? Oh, alright!"
Miriallia was momentarily confused upon hearing this, unable to grasp why they needed them at this moment... But since it was Mr. Lu's instruction, she didn't question it further and promptly left the Bridge to find Cagalli.
Hearing Lu Tianming's solution, Mu expressed doubt:
"...Will calling them over really be useful?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Tianming smiled meaningfully and replied:
"If those two can't settle this matter, then no one else in the world can."
--Enjoying the story? Want more chapters? Check out my Patreon and support me for 40+ advance chapters.
Just search for "QueenTL" on Patreon!"
Thanks!