5
Chapter 5
"What the hell is that thing!?" The Britannian Knightmare pilot said with wide eyes as he saw an enormous Knightmare standing several metres from his machine.
He was about to use comms to contact the Command but all he got was static!
"T-This thing is jamming my comms!" Angrily the Britannian soldier opened fire on the large grey and blue machine.
But all his bullets ever did was bounce off the very frame of the machine!
"...W-What the…—"
That moment bullets rained on his Knightmare which immediately activated the emergency ejection and his cockpit was ejected from the Knightmare frame.
The soldier was in shock, what the hell was that? What kind of bullets easily destroyed his machine!?
As the Britannian was contemplating this, the Gundam pilot was thinking about the first encounter with a Knightmare.
"These things are quite fragile, the CIWS has destroyed the machine," Marcus said with a frown as he made his Duel lean forward and pick up the wrecked frame.
Thankfully it didn't explode. But it was no longer in any sort of use.
"I guess, it won't be an easy hunt." He said with a frown.
Well, having a functioning Knightmare frame was never his intention either way. What he wants is Sakuradite and the technology used to make Z-01 Lancelot.
Not that he would complain if gets his hands on a functioning frame. The technology behind the joints is developed via the use of Sakuradite. So they have years of research behind it. Something he wants to study as well.
A Gundam empowered by Sakuradite would be on a completely different level. However, for now, he can't allow the excitement to cloud his judgement. He needs a course of action.
A way to figure out how to understand the battlefield and what is going on.
Marcus proceeded to search via radio communication. Eventually, he heard something.
"Charlie squad proceed—"
"Bingo. Lock on the radio and proceed to track them down." The teen said to the A.I. While he could not get the full Legion support he does have a basic support software running in the background alongside the Gundam OS.
This was what he needed as his A.I. started to build a map of where the units are by using their Knightmares.
Eventually, a few minutes later he saw how the army was deployed.
'Well, well…what do we have here… It has started…'
Marcus smirked when he saw that couple of Knightmares went offline. Lulu has started his fight.
While all of this was happening the teen started to move his Gundam into position.
'Hmm…from my understanding the Knightmares mostly use the old roads to move. So if I am to follow this… I will have a direct vantage point on the main road.
Perfect spot for sniping.'
While the Black Prince is destroying Britannian forces with a few rebels, Marcus took his machine into position. Dropped the damaged Knightmare on the ground and then proceeded to make the Duel lay down on the ground while taking out his Bunny-01 Sniper rifle.
'Time for a hunt.'
…
…
…
…
'In anime, it's only a few minutes but when is it real life?' Marcus thought with a grimace. He checked his phone and over 2 hours have passed.
The battle has been going on for approximately 2 hours and 43 minutes. By this point, the Duel pilot was leaning in the seat lazily with his phone and checking the Gallery.
He got several pictures of the girls. He was comparing the real-life pictures with the game artwork and stuff. There is no comparison.
'Pretty sure I could make a bunch of Honkai weebs jealous with these basic pictures.' He thought with a smirk as he was thinking of Maybe making a social media account. But the keyword is maybe, he doesn't have a huge urge. He is leaning toward keeping these pics to himself.
Then a peeping sound got his attention.
"Oh? It's time?"
His gaze went to one of the screens which he turned into a battlefield map.
He saw Z-01 Lancelot popping up on the battlefield.
"Here you are."
A small smirk appeared on his face, as he pocketed his phone.
His hands went to the control sticks, he made Duel check the Bunny-01 if everything was ready.
Ammo was loaded, and the Electromagnetic accelerator was online.
Then he proceeded to track Lancelot's movement.
He continued to grin as it moved in a specific path. Taking down Knightmares which emit Britannian IFFs. These were machines stolen by Lelouch who used his Geass on people.
Eventually passing through the main road which Marcus was observing with his sniper rifle.
A feral grin appeared on his face when he saw a white Knightmare in his scope.
'Oh yes… Continue to show off Suzaku. I just want you to do that.'
The speeding Knightmare was dashing through the road, jumping over large holes in the road.
'THERE!'
That moment Marcus pressed the trigger and with the loud boom of thunder the bullet left the barrel at an explosive speed.
The issue with Knightmares is that the pilot is sitting in a specific exposed part of the machine, at the very back. So that part sticks out the most.
A good target to snipe.
Plus Bronya made the bullets absurdly fast. While Suzaku is good. He is not Kira Yamato. He is not a New-type with a super sense of danger.
That's why his shot hit the mark, with no issues.
As Lancelot's cockpit melted off… In the most literal sense.
The mech collapsed head-first on the other side of the road with the melted cockpit.
'What a clean shot. Bronya deserves some pampering after this. The weapon performed spectacularly.'
As he thought about it his Duel started to rise from the ground.
Once it was back up he collected the totaled Knightmare and proceeded to collect the Lancelot.
~~~~~~Somewhere Else~~~~~~
"NOOOOOOOO!!! LANCELOT! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?"
"Lloyd…" Lloyd's assistant exclaimed sadly as well. This was extremely shocking.
"No…my baby…" The engineering genius and the creator of Z-01 Lancelot collapsed on the ground. He looked like someone took his house, the land, and even his dog and cat. He looked like someone had sucked his very soul out.
One moment Lancelot was slaughtering his way through the terrorist-stolen Knightmares. The next moment the command got an error that they lost contact with the machine! It was recorded as a lost unit!
"L-Lloyd…Prince Clovis… wants to speak with you immediately."
"...Of course he does…" The glasses-wearing engineer had a deadpan look. Now that his machine got disabled it's time to take the blame?
~~~~~~Back With Marcus~~~~~~
"There are still some of the rebels in their machines. I should take those as well. But before that, I need to select a spot where I could start making my pile."
As Marcus said that he picked up Lancelot. He inspected the smooth-looking mech. It was beautiful craftsmanship. The teen was extremely happy that this machine won't be piloted by that baboon anymore.
Just thinking about Suzaku Kururugi makes him frown to a large degree. He is still thinking if he should bring that fool back.
That's the issue. Marcus simply despises that person. The guy's mentality and stupidity make the teen not want to bring him back.
He might have told that he will bring people back but this was the one that ended with the girls not him. Not that anyone will miss this fool anyway.
"Nah…I have something else in mind."
Once again Marcus stopped the time flow and pulled out his book. He opened the first page and started to write something he came up with just now.
*DING*
[Suzaku Kururugi Death Counter Added]
That moment the notification popped he could see this counter, it was a single digit, and with a simple press, he could see how this moron was killed.
[Death number 1: Sniped with Bunny-01 Electromagnetic High Impact Kinetic Sniper Rifle.]
"Yes. This is just how I wanted it. I will make it a personal mission to erase this fool of the face of the Earth."
As Marcus said that to himself he looked and proceeded to find a place to put the broken Knightmares.
When he was done with it he started his secondary mission and that is to collect the scraps.
There was no need for him to hold back and hide. No, his main target is secured…he doesn't need to bother with anything else.
Activating the Duel's thrusters Marcus jumped up and looked towards the commander centre of the Britannian forces.
With his jump…he is quite sure they saw him as well.
Though it didn't matter as his mobile suit accelerated toward the command vehicle.
His next goal is the Earl of Pudding trailer which housed Lancelot before. He can collect other scraps if he is lucky and they don't escape… If they run away it doesn't mean much. As the rebels only had the Sutherlands left. Those things are all over the battlefield anyway.
The moment his Duel landed in front of the command centre fire opened on him. These guys are not taking any sort of chances with him.
But physical rounds are useless against his mech.
Instead, he went over and started to hack their comms.
A few moments later he could see what was inside. A few seconds later he was 'calling' Prince Clovis.
A second later Marcus' face was on the main screen of the Command centre's main monitor.
"Prince Clovis. A pleasure. Now if you would be nice, please proceed to the emergency exit points and leave your Command Center. I am taking it for myself."
Marcus' voice rang through the whole bridge.
"Do you know who you are talking to? You are offending the Britannian Prince! Viceroy of Area 11!" One of the commanding officers said with a furious voice.
"Does it make him immune to bullets though?"
Their voices got stuck in their mouths when they heard that! This… was a very bad situation.
"C-Can we discuss this as civilised people?" Clovis asked with a nervous tone if he was not sitting on his throne he would be shaking at this moment.
"We are Prince Clovis. Your men and you are free to go. I only want your technology. I already acquired your experimental Knightmare. All I want is things inside the databases. Your life is meaningless to me."
"I-I see… Well! You heard him! Let's go. We will have a chance to fight another day!" Clovis quickly caved in. He was quite terrified of the machine just staring at him through the main window. The thing was massive.
The Britannian command centre is classified as a huge mobile fortress. So for a mech to reach the bridge on its own… It should be around 20 metres or so… it's inconceivable! What kind of nation could build such a huge Knightmare!?
The officers took only a second to consider. Though the Viceroy's words were like the Emperor's. That's what Viceroy is…someone who governs a colony for the Emperor.
One after another they all left the command bridge. Though it was not over…not by a longshot.
The moment Viceroy Prince Clovis was secured the soldiers pulled out RPGs and started to shoot at Marcus' Gundam.
One from the bridge, two from the outside, and a tank from the back.
It should have been the end of the 18-metre machine.
But, the moment the smoke settled down… there was not a single scratch on this thing.
"Did you guys stop throwing a hissy fit and calmed down?" He asked through the loudspeakers. At that moment Duel turned around and pulled out its beam saber.
The moment he ignited it everyone who saw it gulped down from shock and fear. This was a laser sword! What kind of tech is that!? Is this dude from the future or something?
Technically their thoughts were right. Code Geass was set in the year around late 1960 to early 1970. If one follows the regular Grigori Calendar that is.
Without much hesitation, Marcus' Gundam thrusters ignited and he lunged at the tank. The people who were driving this thing were still shocked to see no damage and the beam technology.
There was not enough for them to change gears and start retreating as the Beam Saber cleanly cut the tank in half vertically through the middle.
Before anyone died the driver and the gunner were already back in the barracks.
Once he dealt with the tank everyone scrambles to run, to run as far as they could. This was madness. This thing should not even be here.
Marcus waited for a few minutes before making his machine walk back to the Command Centre. He then started to hack it.
Though he very quickly found that this thing is quite primitive in the way he can use it.
Meaning that even if he tries to hack it he won't go far. It's driven in a primitive way. The systems are separated. Meaning that he has to do things manually.
'Hmm…I guess… with this I can return to my other objectives.'
For now, he decided to clean the whole battlefield of any stranglers.
First Marcus made sure there were no Britannians left around the Command Centre. Clovis and his soldiers already were gone. Most likely Clovis will use Marcus and his Gundam as scapegoats for his failures.
Which is something he doesn't care about. All he wants is the stuff from the battlefield.
As he was done with the command centre he noticed an approaching Knightmare. Without caring he opened fire with his CIWS.
This swiftly made the pilot eject from the totaled machine.
'I think that was Lelouch…oh well, at least he survived.'
Marcus only thought about him for a few moments before his Gundam picked up more movement.
It was Lloyd's trailer!
"Oh hell no! Target number two is not getting away! Your tech is mine!" Without care, the teen activated the thrusters and jumped.
Landing right in front of the trailer.
Not that this helped, as the trailer was about to drive around Gundams legs.
'Lloyd doesn't want to lose his trailer, does he? Did he realise what had happened?' Marcus doesn't hold back the credit for the creator of Lancelot. The guy is smart, he might realise that Marcus was here for technology and now he is trying to save whatever data he has left.
But…
As the trailer passed Gundam Duel and tried to speed away the 18-metre tall mech turned around and used its CIWS to target the tires of the trailer.
Which made them explode and forced the large van to end up on a side.
Instead of allowing anyone to get hurt, Marcus ended up sending them back to their hangar.
With this done he proceeded to collect the trailer.
…
…
…
After securing the trailer he proceeded to collect all the damaged Knightmares.
He was left alone for several hours before helicopters from large distances started to observe him.
It appears they have reorganised.
'Did Clovis get ambitious once again? Sadly for him. I am done here.'
As he thought about this, a white portal appeared underneath Gundam's foot and started to expand in all directions. Taking him alongside his enormous loot transported back into his hanger.
'I didn't expect that I would feel this crowded in the main hangar…' He thought about that as he looked around. More than 60% of all space was taken over by the mobile fortress. This is not taking into the equation his loot and Lloyd's trailer.
With all that stuff the hangar was packed.
"I guess I will be expanding the hangar once again. I don't think I will be scraping these vehicles any time soon." As he said that he made his Gundam walk toward its maintenance point.
Though the journey was quite difficult he needed to pass the mountain of Sutherland Knightmares.
To fix this he indeed expanded the hangar which allowed him to walk around the issue.
Once he was out of the Gundam and walked toward the elevated area he was greeted by the stupefied trio who were looking at the loot.
"You three said that we should do things together, so this time I got enough stuff to keep us busy for a while." Marcus proudly said to the trio.
The tone of his voice made the trio question their choices.
"...Bronya wants to ask if this amount of salvage is on purpose?"
"Indeed it is. I was thinking that there are 4 of us. I should not worry if I get too much." He said that while crossing his arms and looking at the sight in front of him. It was a mountain of the Sutherlands and on top of it was the Z-01 Lancelot.
"I think we made a mistake. We should just allow him to do whatever he wants." Kiana whispered to Mei, who slowly nodded back to her.
"We are going to split up. Mei's workload is the smallest since she is our chief. Bronya will gather data from all the Knightmares, especially Lancelot, the Command Centre, and Lancelot's trailer.
The trailer is quite important. As it has a bit of experimental data. We might find some gold nuggets."
Bronya nodded…this sounds interesting. She already was motivated when she found out that Phase Shift Armor is a very useful technology. She might find some even more interesting technologies based on this miraculous medal.
"A-And me?" Kiana asked with a slightly worried tone. What will he make her do!?
"You will help me of course."
Hearing that she gulped down. Nervously. Without her Herrscher or Valkyrie enchantments, she ain't THAT strong.
"Y-You do know that I am not that strong without my Herrscher or Valkyrie support…" Kiana said that while fiddling with her hoody.
"Don't worry, it won't be anything too hard."
This didn't ease her one bit! It's still a mountain of metal… Some of it has sharp edges and stuff… She is supposed to save humanity against Honkai…not do this work…
Maybe she did too much…
"Don't worry, come with me. I will give you some work clothes. You don't want to rip or dirty those adorable clothes to wear."
Kiana still blushed like a tomato at how easily he inserted words like adorable. She ain't immune to his words…
Mei followed as well. Since she wants to help Kiana as much as possible while Bronya decided to start with the juiciest part of this.
She will start with the trailer that is used to hold and maintain Lancelot.
~~~
Kiana thought it was going to be bad. But it wasn't as bad as she thought. She had a chance to see the interior of these machines and how the process of salvaging the parts worked.
In a way it was fun and she worked out some sweat!
Though she would have been happier if she didn't need to do this for several days!
Though it became easier after some time. The time even went faster once she was in sync with Marcus.
By the time all the Sutherlands proceeded, Bronya had some information for them.
"Marcus, Bronya is finished with data processing."
"Oh? What do you think?"
To Marcus' question, that silver-haired girl shook her head. There was a massive amount of disbelief on her face.
"The metal…it doesn't make sense. It's almost magical. None of the known materials from Honkai Earth has such a thing…
The uses for these…are still work in progress… Bronya can use it in robotics, computers, appliances…anything technological…
Sakuradite can be applied. It would reduce the strain on the electrical grid, and speed of the computer processing would be improved."
The pair of girls were shocked to hear how much Bronya talked. This stuff truly made her…this excited?
"This is not all…the regular energy uses…it can be used as well…"
Marcus nodded at her words. She was right. Sakuradite was like Vibranium in Marvel. If they found out about this metal much earlier. Like Wakanda did with their metal. Then Japan would be a massive superpower.
However, Britannia swiftly put an end to this nation.
But none of that is important. The teen is treating that world like a resource-gathering expedition and nothing more.
"Indeed. Enough about Sakuradite. What you discovered about the technologies used in Knightmares."
"Hnnn. The information in the trailer…is impressive. Lloyd Asplund is a century genius from his world. His use of Sakuradite has impressed Bronya. He abused the hyper conductivity of the metal in the form of waves and fields. Even in spinning motion which…still trying to process the V.A.R.I.S prototype."
Mei and Kiana looked at each other trying to grasp what this all means.
"...Will we be able to use any of this in our world?" Mei asked the most important question. Marcus didn't say anything. He is allowing them to come to this conclusion themselves.
"Very… If we had any of this beforehand… We might have stopped Herrscher of Void before the third eruption even happened. Our Technology powered by this metal would have overwhelmed the Herrscher. That's how powerful this is."
The pair gulped down when they heard that.
This pink metal that powerful?
"Anti-Entropy mechs could keep the peace around the world. Dealing with all the Honkai Beasts while we would try to find means to seal Honkai energy somewhere."
The girl explained what she would do with the metal. However, this all sounds quite far-fetched since the will of Honkai would just release a more powerful Herrscher to deal with this.
Sakuradite alone is not enough to overwhelm Honkai for an extended amount of time.
"Sounds good. But first, you need enough of it to do that, and allow Honkai to stagnate which it never does. The stronger the civilization the stronger the Honkai's intent to destroy.
If you want to do any of that you need a higher form of technology. Something only GN Drive would do. Not only it gives limitless power but it would make Herrschers who are with humanity to be more powerful."
Marcus quickly put Bronya out of her happiness as she realised that he was right. Metal alone is not enough. However, it did hype her up about the future.
"Yes. This is enough for Bronya to give 120% towards the future."
"Heh, 10% even more." The teen exclaimed with an amused tone.
All he got was an excited nod from the girl.
"This means we have his Maser Vibrations technology and V.A.R.I.S. The Varis technology would improve the Beam technology we acquired from Duel."
"Yes. however, acquiring working technology is something Bronya would advise to do first."
"Not an easy thing to do. As an alternative, we could use Legion and his calculation to create things we want."
"...Hnnn…good enough."
"Yes. I will leave weaponry and software to you while I will work on the model designs." Marcus said with a thoughtful look.
"D-Does it mean I am free!?" Kiana asked with a hopeful tone. She might have enjoyed the exercise but she missed her games…
"For now. Yes."
The moment she heard 'yes' she fist-bumped into the air. Freedom finally!
"I will need your help in working with your GINN. You still want your Destiny Gundam right?"
"Of course! But it's not anytime soon? Right?"
"Yes."
The girl almost jumped as she said 'Yatta!' before running away.
"It appears she developed a crippling gaming addiction," Mei said with a sigh.
"She will get over it," Marcus said with a hopeful tone. Kiana should have strong willpower. But, then again, Cecilia was a gamer… It should be in genetics to play games.
"Yes. Otherwise, I would need to take drastic measures." The oldest of the trio said with a very serious tone. For a second even Marcus felt a chill pass through his body. What is this girl thinking?
"Well. Let's get back to the business at hand." The teen said that while looking at Bronya who had a terrified look as well.
"We have technology from Code Geass. What do you think if we add Sakuradite and Yggdrasil Drive into Gundam?"
His question snapped out from that instinctual fear. Something Bronya feels very rarely, she should not feel fear like that, but she did. Would Mei destroy those games!? But they are Marcus' stuff!
Anyway!
"Yes. The power of Sakuradite would improve the mobile suit's performance. Depending on the amount of Sakuradite added to it. It could be from 50% to 300% increase in performance.
This is Bronya's rough estimation.
While Yggdrasil Drive would work as an accelerator before the thrusted are activated. Such a thing would shock the opposition and would catch them by a surprise.
These are highly recommended upgrades for our mobile suits."
Marcus nodded at her.
"Indeed. First, we should do these base upgrades before seeing if he could incorporate Blaze Luminous."
This time she nodded at him.
"Yes."
And so the pair went to do their work. While Mei decided to be the watchful hawk which makes sure they don't overwork.
~~~
"Legion I can assume all the salvaged data has been added to your data banks?"
[Yes, Bronya Zaychik has uploaded all the data from your last adventure sir.]
"Wonderful. Then there is no need to wait. We can start by upgrading the mobile suit."
[Sir we still need to fix the other two GINNs, or we should proceed with upgrades directly?]
"Fixing them and then upgrading would be considered a waste of time. Upgrading followed by repairs would be most efficient by this point. Besides, it's only the main camera that was damaged."
As he said that he proceeded with the upgrading plan.
"Anyway, open Duel schematics for me."
It feels quite amusing for the teen as he is working with THE Duel. This machine is the very first Gundam built in the Seed timeline. It's THE father of all Gundams in the Seed timeline.
Not that there was much emphasis on this kind of thing in Gundam Seed. This specific timeline created the most Gundams. There was not another timeline that had this many active Gundams at one time.
[Certainly sir.]
At that moment the hologram table turned on and slowly a 3D image of his machine built up in front of him.
Marcus walked over and inspected it from all angles.
Once he finished appreciating one of his childhood mechs he started to strip it. Removing the armour, thrusters, electronics, etc.
Leaving only the 'skeleton' of the machine.
"Legion use Lancelot's skeletal frame as a reference and adds Sakuradite in the joint areas."
Without saying anything, a 3D image of Lancelot appeared. It was stripped of its parts, leaving only the bone frame. The join was removed, altered, enlarged, and added to Duel.
"Hmm, tell me the percentage of improvement?"
This was it. They have speculated that there will be a huge leap in performance. He wants his A.I. To do the maths on this.
[Cross referencing Duel's data with Lancelot's.
Analysing data…
Comparing…
Applying rules of physics…
Finalising…
Loading…]
[There is a 70% to 120% increase in manoeuvrability performance just by adding Sakuradite in joints.]
Marcus stroked his chin hearing that. He was blown away by this.
This was only joints. He didn't replace the whole frame, added Yggdrasil Drive, or improved the electronics itself…
IF he is to add those…
'At least 300% to 500%, maybe even more… by God…this metal is not fair…'
"Good. Now replace the whole frame with alloy mixed with Sakuradite."
[Executing…]
The regular Gundam Frame was replaced by a dull pink one.
"Now cross reference the old and new frame."
[Comparing…
Analysing…
Running performance tests according to data I have…
Finalising…
Loading data…]
At that moment he got an entire sheet of improvements…
[All performance parameters have been improved. Lowest being its endurance which only increased by 20%]
'Holy, even endurance has improved? What in the world…'
Marcus has been once again blown away… If he can work with this Phase Shift Armour WILL improve as well…
If he is right… Then Duel should be more than a worthy opponent for Freedom Gundam piloted by Kira Yamato.
Maybe… the next dive in the Gundam Seed timeline he will be able to get his hands on that next-generation mech.
[Agility, reaction time…all have improved over 260%. It's recommended that the pilot is upgraded as well for maximum performance of this machine.]
This time he could only grimace. No regular human can bring out the maximum performance level of this Mech anymore. And he is not even done…
"Next, suggest the best location for Yggdrasil Drive to be installed."
[Certainly sir. The best location according to Lloyd Asplund notes is the centre of the machine. According to him, the Yggdrasil drive is like a heart that pumps energy through the whole frame.
For all the machine parts to receive the best boost is the centre of gravity.]
"So just above the pilot's seat…"
[Yes. The Drive size has to be increased by 1.8 times for optimal size and performance ratio.]
He nodded before wanting to see the drive himself.
"Show me the Yggdrasil Drive."
As he said the whole holographic table was replaced by the round container with a pink cube fully submerged in a liquid.
The thing which has baffled him was that this only has four energy absorbers and emitters.
If he is to compare this to a car, it's only v4… in other words…
'Weak as fuck…'
"I want you to cross reference this with Hyper Compressed battery data. Use Liquid used in those energy fillers. Mix them up. Do that while I tamper with this…"
Marcus proceeded to rip those four receivers and replaced them with 12 from all directions. He made it so that every single bit of energy is absorbed while the cube is generating it via spinning.
There was no wasted bit of it when he was done.
However, this was not the end.
"Apply the new formula you got."
[Applying…]
[...Sir…]
At that moment Marcus saw windows popping up with errors.
[...Sir…currently we have no means to contain the amount of energy produced by the new version of Yggdrasil Drive.]
"Hmm…check Lloyds notes. Was there anything mentioned about improving Yggdrasil Drive?"
[Searching…]
[Yes. He had similar ideas, but he abandoned them because of the same melting issues.]
"I see… I guess we leave this until we have GN technology."
Marcus said that as he watched the error on the screen…it showed an 875% increase in power generation.
Using Sakuradite as an energy core? With its conductivity? Glorious idea… But… It will melt…