After Reid returned to the ship, the battle outside progressed smoothly.
Ange, piloting the Ice Phoenix Gundam, single-handedly pursued all the Dragons, while the smaller dragons were handled by everyone except the Xia sisters.
Meanwhile, the 00 Gundam and Seraphim Gundam had also taken off. The earlier clash between the Joyeuse Gundam and the Aurora Goddess had generated a hail of ice spikes that nearly cost both their lives, but it also allowed them to successfully shake off their pursuers.
When Reid jumped out the window, Setsuna encountered Louise, just as in the original story.
Though not well-acquainted, they were like old friends meeting in a foreign land, so they exchanged a few words.
This time, Louise didn't suffer a headache that would have attracted the departing Billy Katagiri, leading him to recognize Setsuna as the Celestial Beings member who had "stolen his wife."
Setsuna's exposure this time was an unwarranted disaster. With the Dragons appearing, security personnel naturally ordered everyone to retreat into the manor, as staying outside risked attracting the Dragons looking for easy prey.
However, Gaia's Trio certainly wouldn't return, especially after the Kampfer EX descended, leaving everyone stunned and realizing that SDP members had been among them all along.
Soon, many grasped that SDP operatives must have infiltrated the banquet, and there might still be some hiding in the crowd.
Instinctively, everyone began scrutinizing unfamiliar faces, hoping to spot any SDP members.
Setsuna, of course, remained in the crowd. At this point, running off alone without a Mobile Suit to pick him up would clearly signal that something was amiss.
What followed mirrored the original story: Billy Katagiri, also searching for SDP suspects, spotted Setsuna and shouted in the crowd,
"Celestial Beings! That young man is from Celestial Beings! Don't let him escape!!"
Billy's outburst stunned everyone. In the eyes of these A-Laws higher-ups, SDP could still be considered a neutral organization. After all, though SDP acted arrogantly, they didn't meddle unnecessarily and didn't interfere with their promotions, wealth, or decadent lifestyles.
But Celestial Beings were outright terrorists in the A-Laws' view—villains intent on overthrowing their current power and sending them to prison or hell.
So, upon hearing that a terrorist was in their midst, the A-Laws higher-ups forgot about searching for SDP or watching the Dragons in the sky and all turned to where Billy Katagiri was pointing.
The moment Setsuna saw Billy Katagiri, he knew he was exposed. Without hesitation, he bolted.
His flight all but confirmed he was with Celestial Beings.
The surrounding A-Laws officials immediately issued strict orders to their guards and security personnel: capture this Celestial Beings member at all costs, alive or dead.
Thus, Setsuna was chased into the small woods surrounding the manor.
Unlike in the original story, where he was pursued by just two security guards earning a meager salary who wouldn't risk their lives and were easily shaken off, this time Setsuna was pursued by elite guards carefully selected by the A-Laws higher-ups—individuals with top-tier physical stamina, marksmanship, and observational skills from the military.
Setsuna had been living a life on the run for these four years, having maxed out his evasion and escape skills. Combined with the complex forest terrain and Tieria later joining to assist, they managed to avoid being quickly captured—until the hail of ice spikes forced both pursuers and pursued to seek shelter to survive.
Fortunately, the outcome was that Setsuna and Tieria found a large tree knocked down by the ice spikes, propped up on other fallen trees. They took shelter beneath it, huddling together for warmth, and endured the ice spike storm that turned the forest into a snowy landscape.
After narrowly escaping death, the two naturally returned to their respective Mobile Suits and quickly ascended to help clear the Dragons in the sky.
With all four Gundams joining the battle, the speed of eliminating the smaller Dragons increased significantly. It was only a matter of time before they were all cleared.
As for the fight between the Xia sisters and the five Twilight Armors, it could only be described in two words: a slaughter.
Ranking the five Twilight Armors by combat power, the strongest was undoubtedly the one piloted by the berserk Salya, followed by Elsa and Chris. The veterans of Arzenal's First Paramail Squadron were originally among the strongest in the entire base, so their combat capabilities were still reliable.
As for the remaining two, Tania and Irma, both were from the Third Squadron, and their combat power could only be considered top-tier among Arzenal's second line.
Among these five, only Salya could hold her own against the Xia sisters in terms of piloting skills.
Of course, this was assuming the Xia sisters hadn't activated the Psycho-link system.
If they activated the Psycho-link system, even Reid and Ange would need to retreat or directly activate the Trans-Am System to fight.
After discussing the disparity in pilots, let's talk about the disparity in Mobile Suits.
The Twilight Armor's attributes weren't bad—it could hold its own against the Blade Angel and the NT-X2 Gundam when their Burst Systems weren't activated. Unfortunately, four of the five pilots were unable to unleash their full potential.
This was like having Miguel Aiman (the unlucky one from Twilight) pilot the Freedom—he could operate it, but he'd never achieve the combat prowess of Kira when piloting the machine.
As for the only one capable of unleashing its full power, Salya's unit, the Xia sisters remarked that they had fought too many simulated battles against the other world's version of her and knew all her moves.
It's worth noting that after the Xia sisters activated their Mind Connection, their reaction speed and predictive abilities became terrifyingly strong.
The moment the berserk Salya's unit even raised its arm, the Xia sisters could almost predict where she would aim her shots.
Thus, the battle was unwinnable for the Diamond Rose Knights. The beams fired by their units all hit afterimages, while the enemy's attacks always came from angles they never anticipated.
This directly led to the Xia sisters needing less than a minute to defeat all five of them.
Fourteen seconds—ten of which were spent closing in and causing disruption. They spent two seconds teaming up to take down the berserk Salya's unit, and with the remaining four machines, each sister took down two, destroying one per second.
After finishing, the Xia sisters still had nearly forty seconds to help Ange clear a few more giant Dragons.
But with all the giant Dragons slain and vanishing into Red Code, the remaining smaller Dragons were merely cleanup.
Since all the Dragons were berserk, none would attempt to flee; instead, they fought to the death.
However, when the dragon numbers dwindled to just a few hundred, the surrounding Earth Federation Forces Mobile Suits seemed to receive some command. Several Ahead units suddenly charged toward two smaller dragons positioned near the edge of the battlefield. These units were equipped with special gear—what appeared to be net launchers designed for capturing large creatures.
Unfortunately for them, the moment these units entered the combat zone, Ange mercilessly blasted them to pieces.
It should be noted that Ange's anger hadn't fully subsided yet. Anyone foolish enough to provoke her at this moment was practically seeking death.
After all, back during the Mollaria Republic's global address, Reid—who was impersonating Tem Ray at the time—had explicitly declared that any individuals, organizations, or nations attempting to shelter or conceal visitors or creations from other worlds would become targets of their attacks.
Moreover, Hoshino Ruri had already warned the surrounding Earth Federation Forces to stay away from the battlefield. Since they chose not to listen, they deserved what they got.
The destruction of these clearly opportunistic Ahead units was completely ignored by the Earth Federation troops observing from a distance, showing no intention of avenging their comrades.
However, after all dragons were eliminated, the gray-white painted Ahead units of the Earth Federation Forces began gradually closing in, led by the red-painted Ahead units of the A-Laws.
While encircling them, one completely unarmed red Ahead unit rushed forward ahead of the others.
Then Reid heard Louise's voice transmitted from this unit, broadcasting loudly through external speakers:
"SDP forces, you have eliminated the enemies from another world. Please withdraw from this airspace. The A-Laws and Earth Federation Forces will now commence operations against the Celestial Being Gundams. Please honor your promise of non-interference in other conflicts."
Hearing that it was Louise speaking, Reid immediately knew this was Ribbons' arrangement.
Ribbons clearly knew about Reid's corridor conversation with Louise during his previous visit.
Although Ribbons probably didn't know the specific content of their conversation yet, it was enough for him to determine that Reid wouldn't kill Louise out of mere displeasure.
To this, Reid could only acknowledge that Ribbons' judgment was correct. After the complete elimination of the dragons, the World Change Fluctuation Value stabilized at 8.103%—less than 0.5% higher than before. This was likely because the appearance of dragons would revitalize religious organizations across Earth, somewhat affecting the Earth Federation's governance.
After all, with dragons confirmed to exist, who could definitively claim that the gods they worshipped didn't exist?
Louise was a special case—she influenced Saji Crossroad. If she died by Reid's hand, Saji would either fight Reid to the death or fall into complete despair.
Regardless of which reaction Saji exhibited, it would inevitably affect Setsuna's awakening as a pure Innovator.
Without Saji's support and his interpretation of war's cruelty, Setsuna might not have awakened so quickly.
Currently, Saji Crossroad was still serving as ground crew aboard the Ptolemy II and couldn't hear the live communications. Otherwise, Reid would have likely already received an urgent transmission from the Ptolemy II pleading for mercy.
Though no communication came from the Ptolemy II, Setsuna's transmission arrived instead. He spoke with unusually grave tone:
"Please show mercy. Her name is Louise Halevy—she's someone very important to Saji Crossroad."
As soon as Setsuna said this, the other Celestial Being Gundam pilots instantly felt it was quite difficult. Although Saji Crossroad wasn't a member of Celestial Being, they all got along fairly well and certainly didn't want to take action against his lover.
However, if SDP were to leave just like that today, with their four Mobile Suits surrounded by countless Earth Federation forces, how many of them could escape would entirely depend on fate. In any case, it was highly unlikely that no one would die.
Fortunately, Reid wouldn't truly hesitate because of a single Louise Halevy. So he said to Setsuna:
"I mean, the Earth Federation has labeled you as terrorists. It's pretty normal for terrorists to take a hostage, right?"
As soon as Reid said this, Lyle understood and immediately said with a laugh:
"Got it. We need to help little brother Saji bring his girlfriend back, right?"
Upon hearing this, Neil naturally supported his brother's plan and chimed in over the comms:
"Tieria, your Seraphim Gundam should be able to directly grab the limbs of the Ahead to capture it, right?"
Tieria, who had become much more humane by now, naturally didn't refuse and replied:
"Of course I can. But doing so would cause me to lose most of my combat capability, and I wouldn't be able to prevent the pilot from ejecting."
Reid's side could handle this issue, so Reid directly stated:
"No problem. We can directly lock down the Mobile Suit here. Your biggest issue is that Louise Halevy's entire clan was wiped out in the Trinity attack four years ago. She holds a deep hatred for Celestial Being. Moreover, her body underwent drug enhancement to seek revenge against you all, and she requires continuous medication."
After Reid finished speaking, the comms fell into silence. There was no helping it—Setsuna had only heard Saji say that someone important to him had suffered irreversible harm during the Trinity incident four years ago, but he never expected it to be such a blood feud where her entire family registry was wiped clean.
Although this sin was committed by Trinity, they were seen as part of Celestial Being by the outside world at that time, so they couldn't shift the blame.
But Setsuna was, after all, the protagonist. He had spent these four years reflecting deeply on war, so in the end, he was the one who took the initiative to speak:
"Let's bring Louise Halevy back first. She became twisted because of Celestial Being's activities four years ago. We must find a way to undo this distortion."
Since Setsuna said so, the others naturally didn't object, as no one wanted to kill Louise Halevy.
Seeing that the four Celestial Being Gundam pilots had reached a consensus, Reid said:
"Alright, then I'll infiltrate the Mobile Suit now and lock down its systems. Tieria, catch her. Liuli, move."
After Reid spoke, Hoshino Ruri directly hacked into the Ahead piloted by Louise Halevy.
Louise Halevy was piloting an ordinary Ahead, so it naturally offered no resistance as it was locked down and began freefall.
Of course, Tieria reacted quickly, immediately diving down to catch the Ahead piloted by Louise Halevy.
Seeing this, Reid activated his voice modulator, opened a public broadcast, and transmitted on all channels:
"SDP will not participate in your battle with Celestial Being, but we will not permit you to attack us under the pretext of fighting Celestial Being.
Now, please clear a path for us to leave this airspace. If even a single bullet is fired at our Mobile Suits or Mothership during our withdrawal, it will be taken as your desire to reignite the conflict."
"You should know, the incident above the detention center involving Earth Federation anti-government forces last time left me with zero trust in your Earth Federation government."
After Reid finished speaking, the Earth Federation Forces surrounding this airspace automatically cleared a path heading north, clearly indicating for SDP to retreat in that direction.
Seeing this, Reid immediately had Hoshino Ruri exit through the cleared path, instructing the escort Mobile Suits to remain vigilant and engage immediately if any Earth Federation MS caused accidental harm.
Simultaneously, Reid also had Hoshino Ruri send a message to the four Celestial Being Gundams: "Stick close and follow us."
Thus, the Earth Federation watched as Celestial Being's Four Gundams flew alongside SDP's forces, equally openly retreating through the gap, putting on a clear "I'm riding on their coattails, what can you do about it" attitude.