Chapter 101: The Woman Who Affects Three Men

Chapter 101: The Woman Who Affects Three Men

However, Amuro ultimately wasn't familiar with that girl. After a brief moment of surprise, he quickly reacted!

This was the advantage of having a beam saber integrated into the arm. Apart from the damaged right arm, the mechanism in his left arm also deployed, and a cherry-pink beam blade extended outward.

He swung it downward toward the lower half of the mobile suit in front of him!

Concerned about Lalah's condition, Char was momentarily distracted and, as a result, had his left leg brutally severed by the strike.

A cold sweat broke out on Char's back, but his hands did not slow down.

The entire body of the mobile suit tilted left, sending out its right leg.

Then, with a powerful kick, he struck the chest of the Gundam before him!

Char had no intention of pressing the attack. Instead, he used the force of his kick to propel himself toward Lalah at full speed!

He had to stop that gray Gundam—he absolutely could not let it get close to Lalah.

This feeling was undeniable.

But how could Amuro just stand by and let Char escape?

NT-1 raised its beam rifle, aiming at Char's back.

Before the crosshair even locked on, Amuro already had a strong sense that this shot would hit.

So, without hesitation, he pulled the trigger!

The beam shot out, targeting the mobile suit's chest—where the cockpit was located!

"No! Colonel, dodge!"

But just as the shot was about to land, Char suddenly received a warning from Lalah in his mind.

Without hesitation, he pulled back his hands and twisted his body to evade the beam in an extreme maneuver.

No, the shot wasn't completely ineffective.

Because the beam grazed the side of his chest armor, melting through and exposing the cockpit!

Char immediately noticed the sudden loss of air inside his cockpit as the vacuum of space hungrily consumed it.

For the first time, he was immensely grateful that he had listened to Lalah's advice and worn his standard suit.

Otherwise, he would already be dead.

But… Lalah had just diverted her attention to warn him…

Char ignored the pursuing Amuro and turned his gaze toward Eli instead.

Eli had already broken through the barrier of remote weapons and was now mere kilometers away from Lalah.

In the vastness of space, that distance was practically point-blank!

Lalah had already begun using the MEGA particle cannons equipped on the Elmeth to mount a defensive attack.

Against ordinary opponents, those two powerful MEGA particle cannons would have been more than enough to maintain control.

However, against Eli—who was also a Newtype—those cannons, which lacked rapid-fire capability, failed to pose a real threat.

"Ugh…!"

Lalah's eyes filled with fear as she watched the approaching Gundam.

The man himself didn't radiate overwhelming hostility, but the oppressive aura he unleashed while searching for her just now…

It felt eerily familiar.

It reminded her of the despair she had felt in the past—when she was trapped in India, shackled by gravity, surrounded by darkness.

That same suffocating gloom.

But at the same time, it seemed to symbolize something else.

A future.

A future in which she would die.

Lalah, who had long been prepared to sacrifice herself for the Colonel, suddenly felt an unfamiliar emotion—fear.

"Stay away from me!"

Eli furrowed his brows as he sensed the erratic movements of the remote weapons around him.

It seemed that Lalah had just perceived the presence of death.

He understood this.

Adjusting his thrusters slightly, he temporarily pulled back from the remote weapon barrage.

At this rate, her remote weapons would soon exhaust their energy and have to return to the Elmeth for resupply.

Still, Eli didn't remain idle. He sporadically fired his rocket launcher, but each shot was intercepted by Lalah's remote weapons before it could reach her.

For the moment, he was at an impasse, focused more on evasion than attacking.

But the stalemate didn't last long.

Because Char, piloting his heavily damaged mobile suit, managed to evade all of Amuro's shots and forced his way right in front of Eli!

The beam naginata slashed down, but it didn't land.

Eli had sensed Char's killing intent in advance.

"Get away from Lalah!"

As Eli dodged the strike with a sidestep, his main camera captured Char's face.

Yes, Char's actual face!

What the hell? Why is his cockpit exposed like a convertible?

For a brief moment, Eli was stunned.

But Char's voice came through loud and clear.

"…Did you awaken for the sake of saving Lalah…?"

Looking at the mobile suit, at least one of its monitors already shattered, yet still able to function under Char's control—Eli had a rough idea of what had happened.

Moreover, the words that had just surfaced in his mind confirmed it—Char had fully awakened as a Newtype.

"Sorry, I couldn't stop him!"

At that moment, Amuro fired two consecutive shots, forcing the mobile suit away from Eli's EZ-SR.

Eli didn't respond to Amuro.

He simply looked at the Elmeth and the mobile suit standing together before him.

From the current situation, Eli and his allies clearly had the upper hand.

The mobile suit's armor was damaged, and its cockpit was now exposed.

The Elmeth's remote weapons were also nearly out of energy—perhaps enough for only two or three more volleys.

In other words, the battle was approaching its conclusion.

All three mobile suits simultaneously ignited their beam sabers, while Lalah commanded her remote weapons to encircle her protectively.

It seemed they still had some fight left in them…

But in truth, Char knew they were already standing on the brink of defeat.

They had fought this long, and they were still up against two Gundams.

And if the White Base had launched as expected, there should have been three Gundams in total.

He didn't know why the White Base hadn't appeared within visual range yet, but even if he managed to take down these two in his current state, he likely wouldn't make it out alive.

Was this as far as his luck would take him?

"Lalah, after covering me for one more attack, prepare to retreat."

If it had been his past self, he would have expected his comrades to buy him time for escape.

As Casval Deikun, he had a duty to survive—to eliminate every last member of the Zabi family.

Friends, comrades, subordinates—they were all just pawns to be sacrificed.

When he killed Garma, the man he had called his dearest friend for years, what had he been thinking at that moment?

As he pressed down on the pedal, Char was suddenly flooded with strange memories.

But they didn't matter anymore.

What mattered was that his hatred—his vengeance—should not drag Lalah into it…

Though, she was already caught up in it.

His beam naginata was predictably blocked by NT-1's beam saber.

But fortunately, the crossfire from Lalah's remote weapons forced Amuro to abandon his counterattack.

Char turned, intending to strike at the other Gundam.

But what he saw next made his entire world freeze in place…