Celestial Being's capture of Louise's Ahead was extremely sudden. By the time the surrounding Earth Federation Forces reacted, the Ahead had already been restrained in front of the Seraphim Gundam's Mobile Suit.
Although the saying goes "envoys should not be harmed during war," Celestial Being had always been defined as terrorists within the Earth Federation Forces. How could terrorists follow rules?
But the Earth Federation Forces didn't dare to attack - not because they feared accidentally harming the hostage, but because Celestial Being's Four Gundams were positioned too close to SDP's forces.
Anyone with half a brain could see the current situation: although SDP claimed they wouldn't actively intervene in wars not involving otherworldly creature invasions, they were actually showing clear bias. The fact that Celestial Being could get so close to SDP forces must mean they had the commander's permission. If the Earth Federation attacked, the Celestial Being Gundams could easily dodge a few long-range attacks, causing the Beam shots to land on SDP's Mobile Suits. Then SDP would have an excuse to intervene in the battle between the Earth Federation and Celestial Being.
The frontline commander of the Earth Federation Forces at this moment was the A-Laws officer who had been summoned earlier - Major Abert Lint.
This guy had personally witnessed the golden Beam fired by the Joyeuse Gundam that pierced through space, making him too terrified to order his subordinates to attack. Since SDP could strike from tens of thousands of meters away, he knew that as the frontline commander, he would be the first target eliminated if fighting broke out.
However, the rear command headquarters was already pressuring Abert Lint to attack. Trapped between two difficult choices, a desperate Abert Lint could only roar his order:
"Have the troops attack, but emphasize that not a single bullet or Beam shot can hit SDP forces! This is an order!!"
Abert Lint's order left the temporary deputy commander, who was originally the frontline commander of the Earth Federation regular forces in the city below, utterly speechless. He stopped the CIC from relaying such an absurd command and asked:
"Major Abert Lint, what exactly does that order mean? We're to attack but can't touch SDP forces? You should know that Celestial Being's Four Gundams are practically flying shoulder-to-shoulder with SDP forces. If we can't touch SDP forces, how can our frontline troops possibly attack?"
Abert Lint's face twisted ferociously as he glared at his temporary deputy and roared: "Do you think I don't know that? But can the forces we have now stand against SDP? Have you forgotten how tens of thousands of our troops were annihilated from over twenty kilometers away during the previous siege? Although the Earth Federation Forces have tens of millions of soldiers, we only have several hundred thousand Mobile Suits. If they fight us twenty or thirty times, we'll have no forces left. Do you really think the troops we have here can wage war against such an enemy?"
The deputy fell silent after being roared at by Abert Lint, as he had no solution either. Moreover, most of the troops here were his own men, and he cherished their lives more than Abert Lint did.
After remaining silent for a moment, the deputy could only command the CIC: "CIC, relay orders to the frontline troops: intercept Celestial Being's retreat while ensuring no attacks land on SDP forces. Remember to emphasize that the former order takes priority over the latter."
Hearing the deputy's command, Abert Lint was quite satisfied - this was exactly what he wanted.
Because Abert Lint knew that Celestial Beings couldn't stay with SDP forever. Even if they escaped this time, there would be other opportunities to deal with them later.
Abert Lint clearly understood which was more important: getting scolded by his superiors for letting Celestial Beings escape versus forcing a battle that could cost him his life.
When the frontline troops heard their commander's absurd order, the smarter ones immediately grasped its meaning.
The order could be interpreted this way: if you couldn't guarantee your attacks would absolutely not hit SDP forces, you'd rather watch than fire. After all, the government paid them so little - why risk their lives?
At this point, SDP, Celestial Beings, and the Earth Federation frontline forces had reached an unspoken understanding. If nothing went wrong, Celestial Beings should follow SDP forces out of the encirclement and escape to safety.
However, something going wrong was inevitable.
What Abert Lint didn't anticipate was that there was still an exceptionally impulsive "little bear" on the frontline.
Louise had been captured by Celestial Beings - how could Andrei Smirnov remain calm about that?
Andrei Smirnov thought: I finally found a girl I fell in love with at first sight, and before I could even start pursuing her, you Celestial Beings kidnapped her. How could I tolerate this?
So just as Gran Chaos was about to leave the encirclement under the Earth Federation Forces' "watchful eyes," when Celestial Beings passed by his mobile suit, Andrei controlled his Ahead to draw its Beam Saber with the left hand while raising its rifle with the right, charging directly at Seraphim Gundam.
Andrei knew he couldn't afford to provoke SDP, so he made his stance clear during the action, broadcasting loudly:
"Celestial Beings! Release Warrant Officer Louise!!"
When Reid heard Andrei's shout, he thought: So it's the "little bear" - no surprise he'd take such action.
However, the little bear posed no threat to Celestial Beings, so Reid directly stated on the public channel shared by Celestial Beings and Gran Chaos:
"Gran Chaos continue moving. We don't need to concern ourselves with that Ahead's actions as long as they don't affect us."
Hearing this, Celestial Beings understood Reid didn't care about a single Ahead.
Lyle teased Setsuna at this moment:
"Judging by his emotions, this guy seems to be Saji's love rival. So, Setsuna, how should we handle this?"
Setsuna didn't answer Lyle. Instead, he piloted the 00 Gundam to directly confront Andrei's Ahead.
Seeing the Celestial Being's dual furnace machine blocking him, Andrei decisively thrust with his rifle, intending to force the Gundam aside.
But Setsuna thought this thrust was pathetic.
There was no helping it - the current Setsuna absolutely deserved to be called battle-hardened, no longer the youth who mainly relied on mobile suit performance four years ago.
Andrei's rifle thrust looked too straightforward in Setsuna's eyes. He simply used the 00 Gundam's left GN Sword II to deflect the rifle, while the right GN Sword II blocked the Ahead's Beam Saber.
It must be said that the power difference between the two mobile suits was quite significant. Andrei's Ahead wasn't any custom machine, using only the Earth Federation Forces' standard Pseudo GN Drive for Aheads.
This Pseudo GN Drive's output couldn't compare to the original furnace at all, let alone facing a dual furnace machine now.
After deflecting the Ahead's rifle, Setsuna swung his sword and severed the right arm of Andrei's Ahead, then kicked it flying. Following up with several shots, he turned the Ahead into a limbless suit.
Here, Setsuna refrained from shooting down Andre's Ahead out of consideration that he might be an acquaintance of Louise. Setsuna didn't want to return with an additional blood debt that could have been explained otherwise.
As for why he judged the pilot inside this Ahead to be Louise's acquaintance—well, of course Setsuna also believed that if they weren't familiar, why would this pilot risk their life to save Louise?
In any case, due to impulsiveness and inexperience, "Little Bear" successfully became the first among this batch of Earth Federation Mobile Suits to be shot down.
At this moment, the observing Earth Federation Forces pilots genuinely felt cold sweat on their brows. They had almost engaged in combat just now, and they had no idea where A-Laws recruited such a reckless fool who nearly got everyone killed.
However, the observing Earth Federation Forces pilots completely failed to anticipate that Andre's ambush was merely the appetizer.
Just as Gundam 00 shot down the Ahead, two voices simultaneously rang out from the sky:
"Hey, kid from Krugis! I'll take you on next!"
"Boy, let us begin our second battle!!"
Following the voices, Setsuna maneuvered his Mobile Suit to look upward, where two trails of GN Particle light—one orange-red, one blood-red—descended from the sky.
The arrivals were none other than Ali al-Saachez piloting the Throne Gundam and Bushido (Graham Aker) piloting the Masurao.
In the original timeline, only the Throne Gundam appeared here. Although Bushido was indeed nearby, he ultimately rushed to Billy Katagiri's laboratory to urge his good friend to hurry up and complete the new Mobile Suit.
This new Mobile Suit was precisely the Masurao that Bushido was now piloting.
In this timeline influenced by Reid, due to the Earth Federation Forces' major defeat last time, all military new machine development institutions received substantial funding and manpower support.
Thus, the development progress of the Masurao accelerated significantly, and it was delivered to Bushido much earlier.
Now, both Mobile Suits were targeting Setsuna's 00 Gundam. However, currently in his obsessive-compulsive mode, Bushido, seeing that his allied Gundam had set its sights on the same target as himself, deliberately collided with the Throne Gundam during the dive, knocking it aside.
Ali al-Saachez never expected the first attack in the battle to come from an ally. The Throne Gundam was sent flying by the impact.
Nevertheless, Bushido at least explained his reason for attacking an ally, continuing to roar as he charged toward the 00 Gundam:
"This is my duel with the boy! No one else interfere!!"
Upon hearing this, Ali al-Saachez could only think: Is this guy insane? You think you can just declare a one-on-one? There are four Gundams on the other side!
However, Ali al-Saachez felt he didn't necessarily have to fight over the right to battle the kid from Krugis. What he wanted was simply combat; it was just that among the Gundam pilots, the kid from Krugis held the highest level of hatred for him.
Since the kid from Krugis had been chosen by someone else, Ali al-Saachez decided to directly test the mettle of the other new Gundams.
As for SDP, Ali al-Saachez stated that the mission he received was to mislead the Celestial Being Gundam's attacks into hitting SDP's Mobile Suits.
His employer was quite cunning; he wanted to see how SDP would handle the situation if a Gundam accidentally damaged their Mobile Suits.
Unfortunately, Ali al-Saachez might have forgotten that night four years ago due to the passage of too much time.
Four years ago, Ali al-Saachez still had his uses, so after torturing him, Reid simply threw him back to the military camp.
But now, Reid felt that whether Ali al-Saachez lived or died seemed to have little impact on this world.
Although in his previous life, some online analyses suggested that Setsuna's awakening as an Innovator was because he let go of his hatred for Ali al-Saachez—choosing not to deliver the final blow when he had the chance to kill him.
Reid found such theories rather far-fetched. In the original storyline, during his battle with Ali al-Saachez, Setsuna heard Marina Ismail's song and felt its yearning for peace and beauty. It was this momentary lapse that allowed Ali al-Saachez to escape.
From any perspective, it was clear that Setsuna had not truly let go of his hatred for Ali al-Saachez.
Moreover, throughout the second season, Setsuna had killed countless A-Laws members. While most in this organization were accomplices to evil, their sins paled in comparison to Ali al-Saachez's—they were practically innocent by comparison.
If ordinary A-Laws soldiers deserved death, then preaching about letting go of hatred when it came to Ali al-Saachez was nothing but hypocrisy.
Seeing that the Joyeuse Gundam's arms had been temporarily repaired, with warnings downgraded from red to yellow and mobility largely restored, Reid declared he would sortie. He insisted on personally killing Ali al-Saachez to see if it would truly affect Setsuna's awakening.
With Reid giving a formal order, Hoshino Ruri couldn't refuse and had to authorize his launch.
Fortunately, Ange and the others hadn't returned to the ship, and Nein was keeping an eye on Reid, so the situation wasn't too dangerous.
Just as Ali al-Saachez was preparing to charge at the Cherudim Gundam—planning to start with the Mobile Suit he despised the most—he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
Sachez knew this feeling all too well: someone was ambushing him. He quickly maneuvered his Mobile Suit into a rapid retreat.
The moment Sachez pulled back, a Beam shot nearly grazed his Mobile Suit's cockpit.
Snarling with rage, Sachez turned toward the higher ground, glaring at the Joyeuse Gundam still aiming its rifle, and broadcasted over external speakers:
"So SDP has broken their promise after all. You're clearly in league with the Celestial Beings."
Reid snorted coldly and replied in a disguised voice:
"We haven't broken any promises. As for the others, if they don't provoke me, I can't be bothered with them. I didn't interfere with the guy who charged down here with you, did I?
But you, Ali al-Saachez, have a criminal record. Four years ago, you sheltered the interdimensional stowaway Kowlo—surely you haven't forgotten?
We didn't come after you all these years, and now you've delivered yourself to our doorstep. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Sachez retorted that settling scores after four years was absurd and, as a seasoned veteran, he would never admit to any wrongdoing.
Thus, Sachez flatly denied the accusation:
"Slander! This is utter slander! If I'd sheltered an interdimensional being, would I still be alive today? You're just making excuses to protect the Celestial Beings!"
Seeing Sachez's denial, Reid wasn't bothered. He directly ordered Hoshino Ruri to activate the projection.
After all, four years ago, when Sachez and Kowlo killed the Trinity trio, Reid had been watching from nearby—and had recorded the entire incident.
So, Hoshino Ruri directly projected the footage from that time for everyone present to see.
Though there was no sound, it was abundantly clear that Sachez and Kowloon worked together to kill the two Gundam pilots while appearing "quite congenial."
At that moment, whispers began to spread through the Earth Federation forces' communication channels.
How Lieutenant Keriabyaki managed to capture a Gundam four years ago had always been a secret, with numerous speculations circulating within the military.
But now, it appeared all those guesses were wrong. Lieutenant Keriabyaki—no, he should be called Lieutenant Ali al-Saachez—had actually collaborated with outsiders to seize the Gundam.
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