Chapter 59: Kruze Nearly Dies in the Beginner's Village 

Ange's shot hit the Archangel, and Reid Han's heart nearly stopped. If the Archangel mistook them for being allied with ZAFT and opened fire, should they retaliate or not?

Not retaliating went against his nature, and the enemy could easily obliterate them with a single shot. But if they fought back, following the Archangel's storyline would become impossible, and damaging the ship further would mean instant failure for their main mission.

So Reid quickly adjusted his angle to fire two Heavy Ion Beam Cannons at the evading CGUE—a clear signal that his target was ZAFT, not the Archangel. Of course, the hastily fired beams were effortlessly dodged by Kruze.

Reid wasn't discouraged. If Rau Le Creuset could be taken down so easily, he wouldn't deserve to be SEED's final boss.

Turning to Ange, Reid said,

"Ange, you handle this CGUE. The pilot's skilled—be careful. He's also sneaky, so don't let him bait you into hitting Atlantic Federation forces."

"I'll go communicate with the mothership above to make sure they don't mistake us for enemies and attack."

With that, Reid took off, firing two shots to force the CGUE away from the Archangel and buy Ange time to engage. Then, switching to the international rescue channel, he hailed the Archangel:

"Atlantic Federation vessel, this is Reid Isaac, leader of the Crimson Wings Mercenary Group from the New Misurugi Republic. Princess Angelise and I are here on an academic visit to Heliopolis College and have no intention of joining your war with ZAFT. The earlier misfire was entirely due to the ZAFT CGUE's provocation. Please don't make decisions that would only delight our enemies."

His message was clearly received aboard the Archangel.

Bargiruel let out a sigh of relief. The Archangel had never planned to attack Reid and Ange in the first place. She was well aware of Princess Angelise and Reid's visit to Heliopolis College—she had even disguised herself as a tourist to sneak a peek at the displayed NT-X Gundam.

Had the New Misurugi Republic been aiding ZAFT, today would have been a disaster.

Honestly, Bargiruel never imagined she'd cross paths with Reid again here, of all places, after their time at the Atlantic Federation Officers' Academy. Back then, Reid hadn't left the best impression—a guy more focused on chasing girls than his studies hardly seemed like serious officer material.

But the events of the past year had softened her opinion. At the very least, she now acknowledged that Reid was undeniably capable.

So she responded plainly:

"This is the Atlantic Federation vessel Archangel. Lieutenant Natarle Badgiruel of the 5th Special Task Force, 2nd Cosmic Region, speaking. Message received, Captain Reid. However, if you wish to avoid combat, please withdraw from the battlefield immediately."

Reid had known all along that Bargiruel was commanding the Archangel, but he still feigned a hint of surprise and delight as he replied—

"Huh? Lieutenant Bargiruel... no, Ensign, that's great. It's much easier to explain since we're acquainted. Understood, I'll inform Angie to stay as far from the battlefield as possible."

In the brief moment Reid was communicating with Bargiruel, Angie had already been overwhelming Kruze in combat.

Despite Kruze being SEED's ultimate antagonist, his Mobile Suit skills were at best on par with Angie's.

However, the CGUE he was piloting paled in comparison to Angie's customized Union Flag.

Against a standard Union Flag, the CGUE would only be slightly inferior in mobility, lacking the instant transformation and acceleration capabilities of the Union Flag.

That said, the Union Flag's defenses weren't particularly robust either, placing both machines on roughly the same tier overall.

But Angie's customized unit was different. Not only had Reid replaced its cockpit with a Panoramic Cockpit and applied Magnetic Coating, but its entire outer frame had been upgraded to Luna Titanium Alloy.

In essence, Angie's Union Flag was an NT-1 Gundam disguised as a Union Flag—equipped with all the NT-1's features, albeit with slightly thinner armor and fewer weapons.

This highlighted the disparity between C-rank and C-rank in the system's evaluation. Even if Kruze's CGUE fired continuously for a full minute, Angie's machine wouldn't sustain critical damage. Moreover, its mobility far surpassed that of a standard Union Flag.

Kruze sensed something amiss the moment they engaged. Having provoked Angie into attacking the Archangel and earning a reprimand from Reid, she was now fighting with a fury boost.

First, she switched her Electromagnetic Rifle to burst-fire mode, assaulting in Mobile Armor form while continuously shooting to force Kruze into evasive maneuvers.

From her firing patterns alone, Kruze realized this Empress was far more formidable than the legends suggested—even someone like Mu La Flaga wouldn't stand a chance against her. He could only focus entirely on dodging while unleashing full firepower from his right arm's MMI-M7S 76mm Heavy Assault Machine Gun and left arm's 28mm Vulcan Gun embedded in the M7070 Gatling Shield, hoping to pressure her into evasion.

But Angie feared no conventional ammunition. A few high-speed rolls dodged most bullets, and the occasional hits failed to penetrate her armor.

Kruze was dumbfounded, muttering:

"The New Misurugi Republic has Phase Shift Armor too? No wonder they appeared here!"

Before he finished complaining, Angie had already closed the distance. She executed a sharp 90-degree ascent while transforming, using the momentum to deliver a devastating knee strike to the CGUE.

Kruze reacted swiftly, blocking the strike with his shield.

But Angie wasn't done. As the recoil sent both units flying apart, her leg missile pods deployed, firing an Anti-ship Missile at point-blank range.

The missile naturally struck the shield—but this proved fatal for Kruze. Designed to sink motherships, Anti-ship Missiles packed catastrophic explosive force no Gatling Shield could withstand.

The CGUE's left arm and shield disintegrated into shrapnel, sending the black-smoke-spewing machine tumbling through the sky.

Witnessing this, Bargiruel—who had seconds earlier advised Reid to stay out of the fight—saw an opportunity and immediately issued an order:

"Opportunity! Stern missile tubes 7 through 10, fire! Target enemy Mobile Suits, laser guidance. Remember—don't hit the colony satellite's support axis or the New Misurugi Republic's units."

Bargiruel had chosen her moment well, but she hadn't accounted for one critical fact—the person currently operating the Archangel's bridge wasn't a trained fire control specialist.

The technician at the console was essentially thrown into the deep end, unfamiliar with the Archangel's weapon systems. Just getting the missiles to launch was an achievement in itself. All those specific restrictions about what not to hit? Impossible under these circumstances.

Sweating profusely, the technician pressed the launch button. The careful avoidance of support structures and allied units went completely out the window.

Neither the NT-X Gundam nor Angie's Union Flag had friendly IFF recognition in the Archangel's systems. Three missiles streaked out—one each targeting Kruze, Angie, and Reid.

Frankly, if Reid hadn't heard Bargiruel's original order, he might have thought the Archangel was deliberately trying to take him out, launching missiles at his flank like this.

Fortunately, Reid's focus was razor-sharp. The moment the missile lock alarm sounded, he spun around, evading while using his head-mounted Vulcan Guns to destroy the incoming projectile.

Angie faced a similar situation. The lock-on alarm forced her to abandon her planned finishing shot at Kruze. She twisted her mobile suit away, using her abdomen-mounted 20mm machine guns to intercept the missile.

Kruze turned out to be the sole beneficiary of this indiscriminate attack. Angie's anti-ship missile hadn't been enough to disable him completely, and his machine remained operational despite the blaring alarms—at least the propulsion systems still worked.

By sheer misfortune, his CGUE got knocked near the colony's support axis. Just like in the original timeline, once Kruze regained control, he immediately took cover behind the structural beam. The missile struck the support axis directly.

Below them, Kira had seen everything. Damage to the colony's support axis could lead to catastrophic structural failure.

Acting on impulse, Kira activated the Launcher Strike configuration and fired the 320mm Agni Hyper Impulse Cannon at Kruze's CGUE before Murrue Ramius could stop him.

Rau Le Creuset's professionalism shone through—he'd never lowered his guard against the Strike. At the last possible moment, he dodged the massive energy blast, though at the cost of his mobile suit's right arm being completely melted away. At least now he had symmetrical damage.

As in canon, the missed Agni shot tore a massive hole through Heliopolis's fragile outer wall. Atmosphere began violently venting into space.

Kruze seized this opportunity, riding the escaping air currents to escape the colony. Thus, the final boss avoided the comedic fate of dying in the tutorial zone.