“。。。 The serpent has been slain, phew... Thousands of miles away in the underground command post, Saito let out the same sigh as Rajev and then sat down in his chair.

Looking at the general who was panting as he loosened the collar of his uniform, Antilia's lips moved and closed, and after repeating this action several times, she finally spoke:

"I don't know if the situation of the big snake can be compared with me now that the threat of [Great Snake] has been lifted...

"There's nothing to hide, after all, the [Ten Punches] operation that attacked the Great Snake is halfway over here, and it's okay if you don't participate in the combat operation, I want to know," Saito, who didn't raise his head, refocused his attention on the screens monitoring the battlefield, but his mouth still didn't stop, "Since the last fall of Orb, Orb's ruling group has realized Orb's biggest problem--- they are facing an invincible enemy. ”

"Invincible?" The battle-hardened special forces immediately thought of a series of reasons, from the disparity in weapons to the international situation.

"Yes, invincible," Saitoichi's fingers rhythmically tapped on the back of his chair, his lips spitting out the most cruel and ruthless existence in the world, "that's time itself, that's their enemy." The earth sphere has inevitably entered an era, that is, in order to determine the future of mankind in the cosmic age--- whether it is a material domination or an ideological future, an era of endless war is inevitable, and until mankind chooses a path, isolated pacifism is unavoidable. Especially after the development of good military technology and the convergence of the armed forces, it is no longer advisable to want to hold on to the so-called isolated pacifism of the past on an isolated island, and time, not radicalism, is the real enemy of Orb. ”

"Time..." Antilia. Hilson trembled and pronounced words that were absolutely inviolable.

Her eyes looked at the fire of war that was raging in all parts of Orb on the big screen, and suddenly she felt her heart beat violently, and a certain sad but incomparable emotion that made her feel excited and excited seized her soul:

[Is that really a battle against time?] 】

"Orb is divided in his mind," Saitoichi's voice pulled Antilia out of that strange state, "some people support Orb's previous pacifist ideas in a positive manner, some people feel that they should stay on Orb Island and stick to the traditions of the past to make that country a paradise for refugees, and some people... ”

Speaking of this, Saito paused for a moment, raised his head to his side, and looked straight into Antilia's eyes:

"The last part of the people began to turn to the belief in absolute power, believing that the way out is to gain greater or even absolute domination after gaining the right to speak with an iron fist and absolute force."

"That's crazy, isn't it," Antilia smiled with incredulity and bitterness for humanity, "how could such an island be?" ”

"It's crazy, but it's not like there hasn't been a country of the same madmen in the history of mankind," the corners of Saito's mouth grinned with self-irony, "These fanatics of absolute power and the guys who insisted on making Orb a shelter that would not fall later united, and then they tried to create a defense system so that Orb would not fall, but after the craziest guys ate the Vaulters, This so-called system is revealed--- a weapon system that can rely on the shadow of force to put the entire earth in fear. ”

"That's the [Great Snake]?"

"Yes, the mythical monster of the Land of Aubu's Roots flooded the earth," Saito nodded, "We can confirm that the two [Snake Heads] that have been built are the Agaku of the Sky Sweeper, and the other is the weapon device that caused earthquakes and tsunamis buried under the Great Temple ---of Haumeya. ”

"Creating earthquakes and tsunamis?!"

"Yes, create an underwater earthquake and a tsunami to annihilate the invading enemy fleet," Saito shrugged, "Isn't it ironic enough, the country that used to be peaceful made doomsday weapons that didn't mean anything other than to cause disasters on Earth, but it had additional meaning for Titans." ”

“。。。 Because of the Basque Country. Orm? Antilia's mind crossed the bald officer with big glasses all the time because of the pain in his eyes.

"Yes, Basque. Aum hit it off with the group of madmen, and he also brought a technology of Titans sealing to Orb's group of maniacs, using this technology, Amano Gagu was able to send a certain energy in the form of a certain wave to any corner of the earth to cause the release of energy from the earth's crust--- in other words, to attack the global earthquake and tsunami controllers. ”

"That's why we have to fight energy installations, so we can't deploy the Federal Ministry on a large scale!!... As if she had figured out something, Antilia shouted two words in a high-pitched voice, and then stopped abruptly.

"That's it, that's why the Federation's operation is so weird this time," Saito nodded very happily as he looked at the female special forces who reacted, "It's true that Orb and the newborn immortals should be reborn together as a combination of a country without an army and an army without a country, but defeating these madmen without waking up the sleeping Yagi is the real and more important side." ”

"But that's the case..." As if suddenly remembering something, Antilia looked at the Great Temple of Haumea displayed on the screen with some horror.

"Don't worry, ours is not without trump cards, and there is no way that anyone will have any resistance under the irradiation of that weapon system."

"General," after Saito had just calmed Antilia, the monitors, who had eliminated the effects of the previous high-altitude electromagnetic explosion, began to call General Titans' attention, "We have detected a large Mobile Suit force approaching the battleship Natzak, and something seems to be moving beneath the surface. ”

"It seems?" Saito glared at the monitor who was reporting to him.

"I'm sorry, General, the previous probe is still not working properly due to interference and electromagnetic explosion, we are trying to find a way, and now we can only roughly judge that there is a huge object sailing underwater in the waters near Orb, and according to the track comparison, this object seems to be approaching the Orb battlefield."

"Damn, let me figure out as soon as I can, can we get in touch with Captain Natzak, and how the ASA's protection is going...

At the time when Saito was issuing orders faster and faster, and the entire command room was fully recovered from the shock just now, the tension was reaching its peak in the bridge of the battleship Natzak cruising over the waters off the Orb Sea and in the various spare man-operated gun mounts.

"3 nautical miles !!" Fueled by adrenaline, the Thunderbolt loudly reported the distance between a Wingdam modification and the battleship that had broken away from a single aircraft in a formation of 10 planes.

The Mega Particle main cannon and the unloaded 280mm shells whizzed past the Wingdam, but the turret, which had lost the induction wave guidance of the new human, did not do anything with the wrong interception mode and did not fire at all, eventually causing the Wingdam to make a sharp downward arc and fly away only a mile from Natzak.

"That guy is just here to talk about the real and the false, and it's time for the main course next," Rajev said. Hatton didn't breathe a sigh of relief when he looked at the mobile suit that turned around and flew away, but looked at his tornado chief more seriously, "Prepare all the gun mounts, load the anti-air interception ammunition plan, open the fleet floating gun projection port, activate the artillery mount shelling mode of the floating cannon, and manually manipulate it." ”

Just as the almost human-high 280-mm shells and arm-long 100-mm shells were filled into the breech, and the dangerous energy began to condense in the muzzles of the energy weapons, a screaming warning sounded from the bridge of Natzak:

"90 degrees to starboard, 10 nautical miles, underwater !!"

At right angles to the direction pointed by the bow of the Natzak, beneath the surface of the water, a scarlet glow streaked a deep trail, and man-made objects much larger than the whale protruded from beneath the surface of the water under the propulsion of a huge thruster. The broad steel spine opened like a flower, and the warheads hidden under the heavy armor were propelled into the air almost instantaneously by the electromagnetic force. After leaping into the air, the metal warhead cracked like a hatching eggshell, and the metal hatchling struggled out of it, screaming and rushing higher into the sky, like a hungry young beast, straight towards the target planted before hatching.

"Nidhogg!! Even this kind of thing?! Saito, who was watching the battle, almost got up from his chair again.

But the young general suddenly thought of something, and a smile that seemed a little gloating to others bloomed on the general's face, and he did it again:

"You deserve your misfortune, huh."

On the bridge of the Natzak, just as everyone was almost confused by the strange underwater weapons, the small objects that swarmed like swarms, and the display of the word "Nidhogg", Rajev . . . Hatton's voice swept across the bridge like a wind:

"Don't panic, it's bad luck to run into me, I've dealt with these things!! All 100-mm anti-aircraft artillery shell chains were immediately replaced with anti-aircraft fragmentation warheads, and the ships were prepared for anti-landing operations!! ”

Anti-landing operations?

Captain Hayman hesitated for a moment, but then immediately activated the [anti-landing measures] on this battleship that did not have many members, let alone the anti-landing Marine Corps--- the armor around Natzak opened a small opening, and in the whistling sound of the atmosphere brushing the steel and the friction of the elevator, one by one the one-meter-high balls poked out of the battleship. The steel fabrics, which were small compared to the gigantic warships, cracked their surfaces, and steel limbs with suction cups popped out of the perimeter of the sphere to fix the deck under them, and then, with the activation of the detectors that glowed red, the 20mm cannon and the high-energy laser transmitter powered by the energy cartridge also turned uneasily.

"Two Wingdams, port side approaching!"

"Right rudder 30, maximum steering speed, main gun, fixed floating gun and 280 mm rapid-fire gun aiming, anti-landing robot aiming at the unmanned [aircraft] group, this time it's not a temptation, beat them down for me!"

Coarse beams, small beams, invisible shells, and tracer bullets erupted at the same time under the coordination of the fire control system, and Natzak instantly angrily sprayed a stormy counterattack at the approaching enemy.

"Don't worry about Natzak for the time being, how are the troops in the other blocks?" In the command room, looking at the ball of light around Natzuck due to the destruction, Saitoichi turned his attention to other blocks.

"The troops who invaded the underground are still silent, the surface troops of the Great Temple seem to have regained a certain combat effectiveness according to the high-altitude images, the mobile suits belonging to OZ who carried out the raid on the energy station have returned to hovering at high altitude, the mobile suits sent by Zaft are guarding the side of the infinite light--- all enemy activity within a 3-kilometer radius around them has stopped... Wait, General, there's the latest information. ”

"Home Screen."

Six huge images spread out in front of Saito's eyes, and the images are all images of the various cities of Orb, all of which are in...

"The city... In the !! of burning Looking at the fires burning in the cities and the huge columns of smoke rising into the air, Antilia exclaimed in a low voice.

"We caught Kaguya having a lot of ground vehicles moving, General, the target is likely to be preparing to blow up Kaguya's facility!"

"General, there are mobile suits that are marching to various cities!!" Just when Saito was a little distressed by the flames of war ignited by the Resistance in various parts of Orb and the danger of Kaguya at about the same time, a report came from another console of the observation group that made his heart twitch.

"Model and quantity !!"

"Image analysis, target mobile suits are mostly moving towards various cities and settlements in groups of 3 or 2 aircraft, and are analyzing models and armaments, and the second station is !!" The Union soldiers on the console shouted to their colleagues in charge of invading the various video capture facilities on Orb's grounds.

"Wait, wait... Caught, high-speed image analysis results, now," the Federation soldier who had invaded the Orb surface facility raised a hand to his ear and made a gesture of calmness, but the next second he directly ripped off his headset and fell down, "Oh my God, the enemy formation has anti-infantry thunderbolts and flamethrowers in the explosion-suppression aircraft!! ”

"Hell," Saito closed his eyes and opened them again, "telegraph the Federation fleet --- beacon!" Balefire! Balefire! Order OZ's Mobile Suit to suppress Kaguya's garrison, quick! ”

"But, General, the shore fire on the coast of Izanagi has not yet been broken, and there will be heavy casualties if the fleet launches a surprise attack before the breach is opened!! And what about Orb's city ?! The herald looked at Saito in surprise.

"Execute the command !!" Saito roared.

"General?" Antilia, who was standing beside him, looked at Saito with an expression of patience.

"I need an Orb that fits the plan for the next step... Saitoichi's head gradually lowered.

"In the face of the anti-personnel suppression MS, Orb's resistance and cities will be slaughtered, and when the Federation's fleet arrives, there will be nothing left!! Checkmate!!! Antilia slammed her hands on the table in front of Saito.

"That's why I'm going to send the Mobile Suits of the Orb Exile Army to various cities to rescue... Saito's head was still lowered.

"Are you crazy?! That would put them in a disadvantage of almost a dozen, and they would die for nothing!! ”

"It's true that they have to deal with a few of them, but against a new human army, I don't think the difference in numbers is a problem." Saito finally raised his head, and there was not too much heaviness on his face, which made the angry female special forces stunned.

"New Humanity troops, those people aren't...

"Not until now, but, soon."

With that, Saito turned his head and focused his gaze on a screen where a mobile suit stood like an icon in a state of self-defense due to the driver's unresponsiveness.

"You... You can't say so many lives on one ... Antilia, who understood what the general meant, took two steps back in surprise.

"On the weapon? No," Saito shook his head, "I'm not betting on weapons, or even on betting... ”

With that, Saito paused and refocused his gaze on the mobile suit, his gaze as if it was about to penetrate the distance of thousands of miles and the heavy armor to reach the pilot within.

I'm sorry, but I have to make the decision I have to make... But if you really rely on that system to get to that again ... Place, then please give it to you ... I think... I want to believe once what you have always believed ... 】