Chapter 86: The Triumph of Orbal Magic

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The attacks from these floating cannons, in theory, are all beams—so the i-field and Aegis barrier should be able to defend against them. But in reality, these are awakened strikes, born from the fusion of NT pilots’ mental strength and their machines, rendering the i-field useless. This left Hao Ren cautious and hesitant.

Capini, seeing the situation, waved a hand, and the floating cannons arced around to encircle their opponent. Yet Capini himself did not advance, instead widening the distance between himself and the Black Winged Warrior once again. October First’s NT aptitude wasn't high; he couldn't deploy and retract his abilities at will. If he went all out controlling the floating cannons, his own mobility would plummet, exposing a glaring weakness in his movements. It was a stark choice: close combat or long-range suppression—never both.

These nimble, darting little things infuriated the Black Winged Warrior. Advancing was blocked by a web of firepower, and a careless moment meant a shot from behind. Getting close was impossible. The single-barrel rifle's charge time was too long, and the floating cannons were elusive targets. To make matters worse, October First’s control and positioning were fiendishly clever, trapping the Black Winged Warrior for the moment.

Some nearly invisible black energy drifted out from the Black Winged Warrior’s body.

After nearly a minute tangled with a dozen of these little machines, the Black Winged Warrior was attempting a rapid climb to dodge beams when a colossal silhouette appeared overhead. Without hesitation, a powerful kick struck the Black Winged Warrior, shuddering his frame and knocking him off balance.

October First shouted, "Now's our chance!" and commanded the floating cannons to surround the Black Winged Warrior in a 360-degree circle. Capini raised both arms, twin beam cannons emerging from his wrists, and unleashed a torrent of fire.

For nearly ten seconds, October First poured out firepower, draining nearly a quarter of his mental and machine energy. He was confident that, under such concentrated fire, even a block of Lunar Titanium Alloy would melt.

Just as he was about to intensify the barrage, an inexplicable sense of dread made him instinctively look up.

"Got you..."

A sharp stone spear, composed of rock, suddenly shot out from his control screen, piercing straight into his helmet.

A spray of red and white fluid erupted!

"My eye! My eye!" October First screamed, yanking out the stone spear and clutching his wound with one hand, while the other frantically withdrew Capini, ceasing the floating cannons' attack.

The battered Black Winged Warrior finally emerged, his vast wings riddled with holes. The machine's HP had dropped from 19,500 to 12,590—a third gone—yet the machine itself was undamaged. The wings had absorbed more than eighty percent of the assault.

"Running away?" Hao Ren slipped the softly glowing yellow force generator into his spatial storage. The Black Winged Warrior gripped the hilt of his Chrysanthemum Pattern Blade—Type II, crouched, and charged forward.

Previously, the distance was too great; Hao Ren’s specialized force generator magic couldn't reach the enemy. But when Capini activated the Mirage System, Nemesis’s diffusion of black energy laid him bare to Hao Ren. So Hao Ren feigned weakness, luring his opponent in. As expected, Capini approached, striking with a close-range kick, then opening fire at point-blank range.

Thus, October First entered the range of the force magic. Hao Ren used only the lowest-tier earth attribute force magic—Stone Spear—which shot up from the screen as a sharp stone pillar.

Don’t question the kinetics—force magic is wondrous.

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Thanks to the NT aptitude, October First sensed the danger ahead of time and only lost his left eye. Had he not looked up, the stone spear would have pierced his skull.

"Slash!"

With a roar, the Black Winged Warrior, now close to Capini, flashed a dark light from his waist and severed Capini's left leg and shoulder thruster as the latter attempted an emergency dodge.

The thruster exploded. Capini used the blast’s propulsion to escape at high speed. Despite the agony, October First left the floating cannons behind to cover his retreat.

Forget morale, forget the duel’s wager; terror had swept everything else from October First’s mind. Pain and fear drove him to flee as far as possible.

Hao Ren knew he had won the bet, whether the opponent survived or not. But letting a tiger escape into the mountains? Even if Hao Ren wished it, the voices of Ya and Little Dark in his consciousness would never allow it.

So, the dual-barrel burst beam rifle appeared again. He adjusted his shield and aimed at Capini, who was fleeing in a straight line, and fired.

Two massive yellow beams roared forth. October First didn't even utter a final word before he and his modified Capini were reduced to dust.

ZAFT entered a full-scale rout. All NP stats dropped by fifty percent, but speed doubled.

Unfortunately, the trajectory of the yellow beams caught a ZAFT warship in its path.

Collateral damage—the ship’s captain learned the definition intimately before death.

The violent explosion was swallowed by the vacuum, but when the smoke cleared, a massive, black and imposing machine was revealed.

The Phoenix Seeker—Mental Gundam in A-form.

The i-field could halve the power of penetrating beams.

"If I hadn’t been dragged here by Duck Blind to borrow summoned creatures, I’d have been pulverized along with that ship..." The explosion-haired Chaos Head’s pants were soaked; aboard the Zeon Revenge Fleet’s warship, he witnessed the blast firsthand. Presumably, his companions had merged with the cosmos, except for the Mental Gundam’s big sister—who else could survive?

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With this thought, Chaos Head resolved to lavish endless care and affection on his summoned creatures from now on.

His gaze shifted to the captain of the Zeon Revenge Fleet—the square-faced middle-aged man. When others weren’t watching, his face seemed to melt, but after a moment’s wriggling, it returned to normal.

"All forces, retreat!" Influenced by an unknown power, Creuze issued a command contrary to his own will.

All mobile machines in the ZAFT camp withdrew in an orderly and rapid fashion, save for the Mental Gundam and the Zeon Revenge Fleet’s warship.

As for the warships left behind for rear guard, Creuze had no interest in their fate—he welcomed their sacrifice.

"Archangel... Black Flame Dragon..." The Zeon Revenge Fleet’s captain muttered these two names under his breath.

Seated at the command chair was, in fact, Duck Blind himself.

Ditto—the shapeshifter from the Pokémon world—was Chaos Head’s summoned creature, able to transform into other Pokémon or even human faces.

As for the original captain, he’d long since been assassinated and dumped in a package.

Mule and his Second Federation Army retreated alongside ZAFT, intent on surviving to fight another day. If his comrades wanted to die, he had no such inclination; if someone else could cover the retreat, all the better.

But he seemed to have forgotten—if the Archangel’s descent wasn’t stopped this time, his HP would drop into the negative...

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