Chapter 110: Overwhelming Power

Chapter 110: Overwhelming Power

Since the EZ-SR was assigned to Eli, this special system had never been activated.

The system was called EXAM.

It wasn't that Eli had deliberately avoided using it; rather, none of the enemies he had faced before had ever warranted its activation. There had simply been no need to push the machine's performance beyond its baseline.

But now, that moment had arrived.

A faint, sorrowful sobbing echoed in Eli's ears.

It was the kind of weeping born from utter despair, a pain that seeped from the very core of one's existence.

"I'll deal with this later."

Eli forced himself to ignore the voice and focused entirely on the battle before him.

The effect of EXAM's activation quickly became apparent.

The beam saber clash, which had previously been an evenly matched contest of strength, was now being completely dominated by the EZ-SR, forcing the mobile suit backward!

And it wasn't just being gradually pushed back—no, it was an overwhelming surge of power, moving at a speed so fast that Uma could barely register what was happening. In that brief moment of horror, he realized he had no way to stop it.

With no other choice, the mobile suit disengaged, retreating.

Meanwhile, Kado and another red-colored mobile suit had already closed the distance for melee combat. Their beam glaives slashed down from the left and right, aiming to cut down the EZ-SR!

But did Eli really not anticipate this?

The surrounding starlight blurred into streaks of light, an optical illusion caused by the machine's overwhelming speed.

And why was it moving so fast?

Because at that very moment, the EZ-SR had already appeared behind the two mobile suits, both still locked in their downward strikes!

"Wha—"

"Uwah!"

Kado was a fraction of a second slower than his teammate in realizing what had happened. By the time his blue-gray mobile suit turned around, the beam saber had already swung horizontally!

The strike was aimed directly at slicing the mobile suit clean in half.

At the last possible moment, the red mobile suit activated its thrusters, sacrificing its left-arm shield to ram the EZ-SR away, forcing some distance between them.

But even so, the tip of the beam saber still managed to carve a deep gash across the front of Kado's mobile suit!

The bloodcurdling scream that followed over the comms was enough for Johnny Ridden to know—his teammate was out of the fight.

But now wasn't the time to worry about that.

Gritting his teeth, Johnny swung his beam glaive upward with his right arm, aiming to cleave through the EZ-SR's saber-wielding arm.

Then, suddenly, his vision went black.

His main camera was destroyed!

A direct hit from the EZ-SR's Vulcan cannons had taken it out.

Eli sidestepped Johnny's blind counterattack, smoothly evading the glaive strike, and maneuvered his absurdly agile mobile suit to finish Johnny off.

But at that moment—

A blinding yellow beam sliced through the space between them!

Reacting almost instantly, Eli pulled back, narrowly dodging the attack.

Two more mobile suits flanked him from the sides, closing in.

It was clear—they refused to let any more of their allies fall.

And Eli, at this moment, had also pinpointed the true key to breaking the stalemate.

The sniper above.

That sniper wasn't just providing suppressing fire; they were coordinating the entire battle, directing their teammates while using their impeccable accuracy to cover them.

If that was the case—

By the time Johnny switched to his sub-camera, the only thing visible on the screen was a pair of Gundam feet—growing larger at an alarming rate!

Eli stomped down hard, sending Johnny's mobile suit hurtling away. The sheer force of the impact likely knocked Johnny unconscious inside the cockpit. At the same time, the recoil propelled the EZ-SR backward, allowing Eli to escape the pincer attack!

With EXAM activated, the EZ-SR's output had reached an absolutely monstrous level.

Even if it lost all its weapons, Eli could probably just pummel the enemy to death with sheer physical force alone.

"He used Johnny as a stepping stone?!"

From his elevated vantage point, the pilot of a custom-painted mobile suit—Breniss Ox—witnessed the entire maneuver through his scope.

Frowning, he tore his eyes away from the sniper sight.

The narrow field of view was no longer enough—he couldn't keep up with that Gundam's movements.

On his screen, the EZ-SR was weaving through the storm of incoming beams, using rapid changes in trajectory to climb directly toward him.

A bead of sweat rolled down Breniss's temple.

He was Zeon's top ace, ranked number one in confirmed kills. His specialty was high-speed, one-shot kills, with an almost perfect accuracy rate.

Yet this Gundam…

Every time he pulled the trigger, it dodged at the exact moment of firing.

"Buzz!"

Another shot rang out, but the EZ-SR made a sharp-angle maneuver, dodging it effortlessly.

"Tch!"

Eli gritted his teeth.

At this moment, he couldn't help but wish for a better mobile suit.

Forget about full panoramic monitors—at the very least, a linear seat would've been nice.

That way, he wouldn't have to worry about breaking his own neck from the sheer force of his evasive maneuvers.

But for now, his focus remained locked on his true target.

Another beam shot toward him from above.

This time, Eli opted for a wider evasion arc.

His previous dodging method was the most efficient, but the strain on his body was far too extreme.

He couldn't afford to pass out before reaching his enemy.

Turning slightly, he faced a mobile suit that had been tailing him since the battle began.

It was only now that the enemy pilot realized—somehow, the EZ-SR had retrieved its beam rifle.

"Shut up."

Eli muttered, his voice laced with irritation as he pulled the trigger—drowning out the desperate whispers echoing in his cockpit.

"Boom!"

The mobile suit exploded in a blinding fireball, the nuclear core detonating and forcing the other pursuers to halt, wary of getting caught in the blast.

Eli exhaled sharply, shaking his head as if to clear away the lingering thoughts of his fallen foe's final moments.

It had been mentioned before—EXAM heightened a pilot's perception to the extreme.

By detecting hostility, it could even allow the system to take over combat maneuvers automatically.

Although the version installed in Eli's machine had reduced automation, the enhanced sensory perception remained intact.

And that meant—

His emotions were becoming increasingly unstable.

The pilot he had just killed…

His final words had been a cry for his children.

And such cries were far too common on a battlefield where lives were constantly being snuffed out.

"Amuro... how did you keep fighting in an environment like this—without hesitation?"

At that moment, Eli finally understood why Kamille had eventually been driven mad by sorrow.

"But that won't be my fate!"

For the first time, the ever-composed Eli's expression twisted into something dark—rage, anxiety, hatred.

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