Gundam, the Gundam journey of a certain glue guy and his mecha girl.

Al's voice echoed in the cockpit, as calm and rational as ever.

"I'm not going to lower my standards to force a student who doesn't want to fight to the battlefield."

I don't think it's a good choice to be reckless when it comes to matters of life and death.

Raven's lips twitched.

"Sometimes your words can be really sharp, but it's not just bravado. It's because you're here that I'm confident I can keep Kira out of the way."

[Raven, you trust my abilities too much. I can only provide support; the decisions on how to fight are always yours.]

Al's voice clearly contained emotional fluctuations, even though it was spoken in a cold, electronic tone.

Are you worried about me?

Raven asked.

Yes, I'm very worried about you. The data I've obtained tells me that the battlefield is a dangerous place, and if you don't take it seriously, you could very well lose your life.

"I take riding my short sword into battle very seriously."

[The battlefield is not an amusement park, Raven.]

"That's why I'm very serious..."

Before Raven could utter his rebuttal, the indicator light on the hangar ceiling suddenly turned blood red, followed by a piercing alarm that filled the entire space.

"Tch, the supplies haven't even been moved yet, let alone been delivered."

Raven quickly suppressed his smile, took a deep breath, and banished the distracting thoughts from his mind. Now was not the time to think about such things.

Raven opened communication with the bridge.

"Bridge, this is Raven, sortie preparations complete."

"The cabin door is open, the ejection system is ready, and the ejection time is up to the pilot."

"Roger that. Raven, short sword, attack."

The g-force of the ejection pressed Raven's body firmly onto the seat. The 18-meter-tall steel giant spread his newly acquired wings and soared into the sky above Heliopolis.

[Enemy size and unit type confirmed: 3 units equipped with D-class armor, 1 unit equipped with a heavy particle cannon, and 1 unit equipped with Aegis armor.]

El quickly gathered information about the enemy.

"Golden's D-equipment? They're just pulling out equipment for fortresses. These ZAFT guys don't care about colonizing satellites at all. They're supposed to be space dwellers, after all."

ZAFT's tactics were so obvious that even Raven, who had never attended military school, could see right through them. The Aegis and the heavy particle cannon equipped with King were used to contain the Strike and Dagger, while the remaining three D-class units equipped with King were focused on attacking the Archangel.

As for the collateral damage caused to the colony satellites by the two large missiles on the D equipment, the ZAFT forces obviously did not consider this issue.

"Tch, what a bunch of shameless bastards. El, start firing corrections, we need to strike first."

Although the two sides were still far apart, Raven decisively aimed a D-equipped King at the crosshair, and after El finished calculating, he pulled the trigger of the beam rifle.

A beam of emerald green shot out from the muzzle, instantly traversing most of the colony satellite before heading straight for the ZAFT army's mobile suit formation.

A burst of smoke appeared on the screen in the Dagger cockpit.

Did you hit it?

Raven was about to say that when five figures burst through the smoke and dispersed, one of which, King, was missing a leg but had not been shot down.

Raven's shot revealed his position, and immediately, a thick green beam of light shot toward the short sword.

The short sword tumbled in the air, deftly dodging the attack from the heavy particle cannon.

"Such a quick reaction, no wonder he's one of ZAFT's elite."

Within seconds of receiving the attack, the enemy launched a counterattack against Raven, demonstrating the elite quality of Team Cruze.

But with the power of his short sword and El's assistance, Raven showed no sign of backing down.

Picking the softest persimmon first is the best strategy for the side at a disadvantage in combat power, which is to reduce the number of enemy troops as much as possible before the battle.

The mobility of the empty backpack allowed the short sword to become a streak of light. Raven maintained high-speed mobility while aiming at the one-legged King.

The loss of a leg disrupted the machine's balance, and the pilot was clearly not yet adapted to the change in the machine's condition, resulting in noticeable distortions in his movements.

And Ravenskin keenly grasped this point.

"El!"

The error has been corrected.

Although both the short sword and King were moving at high speed, Raven's second shot, thanks to Al's trajectory correction, accurately hit the enemy. The green beam easily pierced King's armor, directly detonating the battery. In a dazzling explosion, the 18-meter-tall steel giant instantly turned into a pile of scrap metal.

Although Raven successfully shot down a D-equipped King, the battle was far from over and people could relax.

The Aegis, transformed into its MA form, hurtled towards Raven, its beams slicing across the short sword's body and forcing Raven to dodge.

"As expected, it's coming for me!"

Raven paused for a moment, preparing for the battle to come.

Chapter 5 The Destruction of Heliopolis

Aslan breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the enemy only had one short sword.

Firstly, because he wouldn't have to face his former friends on the battlefield; secondly, because deep down, Aslan always believed that mobile suits piloted by natural humans posed no threat whatsoever.

But after witnessing a friendly aircraft being shot down by two guns while half a colony away from the enemy, Aslan completely suppressed his contempt.

"How did you achieve such a precise hit from that distance?"

Aslan admitted that he couldn't achieve that level of marksmanship with his own skills, and even Diego, the best shooter among his fellow red-shirted classmates, probably couldn't do it.

Realizing he couldn't let the short sword continue firing indiscriminately, Aslan decisively transformed his Aegis into MA form, using the high speed of MA form to quickly close the distance to the short sword.

To make the four large missiles on the D-equipment effective, King, carrying the D-equipment, must break through to a point close to the Archangel. Otherwise, given the agility of those four large missiles, they would be very easy to intercept by enemy anti-aircraft fire.

He must keep the short sword tangled in order to cover King's forces in achieving their objective of sinking the Archangel.

"As expected, it's coming for me!"

Raven noticed that Aegis was focusing all its attention on him, so he naturally dared not be careless. As a member of the design team, Raven clearly understood that getting entangled in a fight with Aegis, whose limbs were equipped with beam sabers, was not a wise choice.

Raven decisively turned the thrusters to maximum power, hoping to use the high thrust of the empty backpack to shake off Aegis, but Aegis in MA mode could reach a speed that was in no way inferior to that of the empty backpack.

Piloted by Aslan, the crimson holy shield gripped the back of the short sword tightly, and the two silhouettes, one red and one blue, drew two intertwined contrails in the sky above Heliopolis.

For Raven, Aegis is the most challenging enemy he has faced so far. When facing Kruze's Shig, Raven was able to temporarily gain the upper hand thanks to the performance of his mobile suit, but when facing Aegis, whose mobile suit is slightly superior, Raven felt somewhat powerless.

Aslan quickly mastered the Aegis's performance, fully utilizing the high speed of the Aegis's MA form and the flexibility of its MS form, and relentlessly entangled the Aerial Dagger in high-speed mobile combat.

Seeing that the short sword was entangled by the Holy Shield, the remaining King's troops seized the opportunity and quickly approached the Archangel, which had set sail.

"Air defense!"

At Maru's command from the captain's seat, First Officer Bakirulu quickly translated Maru's instructions into specific orders and relayed them.

"Anti-aircraft guns unleash their barrage, Goldfield and Bariant missiles deploy, missile launchers one through twelve load the MS missiles, use laser guidance!"

The various gun turrets on the Archangel quickly sprang into action. The Archangel, which had been like a pure white white horse, was transformed in the blink of an eye into a hedgehog with its spikes outstretched. The barrage of bullets prevented King from securing a good firing position for the time being.

However, the Archangel's barrage alone was not enough to completely halt King's advance. Battleships were simply too cumbersome in the face of mobile suits.

While King's heavy particle cannon was not enough to penetrate the Archangel's layered armor, it could easily destroy the external anti-aircraft Vulcan cannons. The thick green beam shot from high altitude, destroying several anti-aircraft Vulcan cannons on the Archangel's port side and tearing a hole in the Archangel's anti-aircraft defense network.

The remaining two Kings, of course, would not miss this opportunity and quickly approached the Archangel from the port side.

"Enemy aircraft, approaching from port!"

"The port side barrage is too thin, what are they doing?!"

"The shelling just now reduced the effectiveness of the port side's anti-aircraft defenses... Ah! Enemy planes, at extremely close range!"

Amidst the observers' pig-like screams, a King Aircraft raised the M66 missile launchers on its arms toward the Archangel.

At this distance, missile attacks are almost impossible to evade, and the four large missiles on its equipment are extremely powerful, capable of easily tearing through even the fortress's armor. Even if the Archangel is the Earth Alliance's newest and most advanced warship, it would be impossible for it to withstand an attack from these four missiles.

The instant King's pilot pressed the fire button, a beam of light shot from above pierced through King's fuselage.

While dealing with the Aegis's attack, Raven managed to free up some hands to help the Archangel avert the crisis, but being distracted in the fierce battle to help his allies came at a price.

"Got you!"

Aslan seized the moment the short sword was exposed, and in his MA form, the Holy Shield opened its four mechanical claws, revealing the Siren Beast 580mm multi-phase energy cannon located in the middle of the fuselage.

El quickly sensed the danger and activated the left-side thrusters of her machine in an attempt to dodge the shot. However, even though she reacted immediately, the siren's thick red and white beam still managed to take away the left leg of her short sword.

"It's just a leg!"

Although the loss of the thrusters on the left calf made it difficult to control the short sword's posture, El quickly corrected the algorithm. Then, with a sudden shift in the machine's center of gravity, the short sword spun rapidly, catching the Shield at the 6 o'clock position as it sped past. He fired a three-shot beam rifle, destroying the mechanical arm on the Shield's nose that had transformed from its right hand.

Raven was about to give chase when a tremor suddenly swept across the entire Heliopolis.

Just after being shot down by Raven, King fired four large missiles from his twin launchers before falling. Because these four large missiles lost King's guidance, they grazed the hull of the Archangel and flew to the other side of the sky.

However, that was the central axis of the colony satellite.

The four missiles exploded at the central axis of the colony satellite. After the flames from the explosions subsided, four visible scars appeared on the central axis of the colony satellite.

This made the entire colony satellite teeter on the brink of collapse.

-----------------

Kira did not go to the residential area to take refuge as Raven had arranged, but instead lingered in front of the Archangel's hangar door.

Although he wasn't forced to pilot the assault, the battle alarm still drew Kira to the hangar.

Heliopolis is being ravaged by war, and with his fighting abilities, can he really just stay in a safe place and watch the war burn everything to ashes?

Finally, the image of King's missile exploding above the colony satellite's central axis gave Kira the final decision.

"Heliopolis is... This can't go on! Doesn't anyone know the consequences of fighting on a colony satellite?!"

Seeing his home about to be destroyed, Kira realized there was still something he could do and ran quickly towards the assault cockpit.

"This is an assault zone, Captain, please give me clearance to sortie!"

-----------------

The shadowy figures of the attacking aircraft appeared on the starboard side of the Archangel.

"Stop! ZAFT troops! Heliopolis is inhabited!"

"A powerful attack has been launched?"

"That voice is!"

The calls from the public channel made Raven and Athrun stop what they were doing, but the remaining two Kings ignored Kira's words. The last D-equipped King took his partner's place and tried to break in from the port side again.

"Damn it! You bunch of clueless bastards!"

Kira launched a beam boomerang, but Kira's attack was too obvious. King simply twisted his body to dodge the boomerang. However, the ZAFT pilot, who had no experience dealing with beam boomerangs, did not notice the follow-up attack. Just as he aimed at the Archangel, the beam boomerang sliced ​​King in half from behind.

Another burst of smoke exploded, and the last D-equipment, King, was shot down by Kira.

The assault did not stop there; Kira set his sights on the remaining heavy particle cannon, King.

Despite his friendly forces being shot down one after another, King's fighting spirit remained undiminished, and he pulled the trigger on the oncoming assault.

However, Kira reacted immediately. The beam of the heavy particle cannon grazed the Assault's fuselage and struck the outer wall of the colony satellite, creating a hole in the outer wall of Heliopolis.

"Why can you destroy other people's homes so recklessly!"

At this moment, Kira's mind was filled with only the thought of shooting the enemy down as soon as possible.

Having dodged the enemy's barrage, they quickly closed the distance, slashing the anti-ship blade in an arc, cleaving King in two. King's next shot was already fully charged, and the impact of the anti-ship blade slicing through King's fuselage caused the heavy particle cannon's muzzle to change direction.

Another shell was fired, the beam of light streaking across the sky above Heliopolis and, by sheer coincidence, hitting the city's central axis.

The central axis, already weakened by King's missiles, was the final straw that broke the camel's back. The central axis supporting the cylindrical colony satellite Heriopolis began to collapse under this attack.

And so, the world collapsed.

Chapter 6 Aftermath

"How could this happen..."

The silhouette of the Archangel drew ever closer, but the image of Heliopolis collapsing remained etched in Raven's mind.

Raven only remembered that the legend of the Archangel began with the escape from Heliopolis, but he never imagined that behind the legend was such an apocalyptic scene.

Although Raven knew that Heliopolis would be destroyed in this battle, witnessing the apocalyptic scene still gave him a strong shock.