Faced with the direct directive from the Federation government to continue the attack, Mike felt as though he were being held over a roasting fire.
Having witnessed the ν Gundam and Roz's brief but piercing declaration, he looked back at the government's order, and cold sweat began to pour down his face.
As for the black hair?
In this era, dyeing one's hair was hardly a novelty.
If Amuro Ray wanted to dye his hair black, what of it?
"What do I do... what do I do..."
Mike stared at the command as his mind raced frantically. Unlike Kenneth, who leaned toward Amuro, or George, who remained relatively neutral, Mike's stance was firmly with the Federation.
He was someone who enjoyed the perks of the current system to the fullest.
He couldn't refuse the Federation's orders. He knew deep down that he could never turn around and join Amuro's ranks.
Part of it was his own moral alignment, but the other part was that he had become too dependent on the convenience and profit provided by the Federation's structure.
In other words, he had been completely "corrupted" by the very system he served.
"Continuing the attack... is not feasible," George said, shaking his head. He, too, felt the situation becoming incredibly thorny. "Furthermore, the reporters are broadcasting everything live. We can't just pull the troops back and try to fool the higher-ups with a fake report."
George had already slowed the pace of the reinforcement units to buy as much time as possible for negotiation or a shift in the situation.
Kenneth, meanwhile, was far more direct.
"Lane, halt your advance," Kenneth spoke directly into Lane Aim's communication channel. "If you can, take the team and return to base now."
"That is not an enemy we are equipped to deal with."
"Is that alright?" Lane responded. His squad had already come to a stop. "That ν Gundam... it came out from inside that red mono-eye machine. That means I've been fighting him this whole time..."
Lane's heart was filled with complex emotions. Having been mentored by Kenneth, he was well-acquainted with Amuro's legend. Seeing this "Federation Hero" now standing in opposition to the Federation left him feeling deeply sighed.
While getting knocked into the sea by Amuro was a bit embarrassing, at least he was alive. It seemed Amuro hadn't harbored any real killing intent toward him back then.
As for the casualties... both Kenneth and Lane looked on with a sense of detachment. After all, from the moment they chose to join the Federation Army, they had anticipated a day like this.
Beep, beep, beep...
An emergency transmission from the Federation government caused the communicator in front of Mike to blare.
"Colonel Mike, what on earth are you waiting for?!"
As Mike picked up, the voice of a middle-aged man rang out—urgent and carrying a tone that brooked no argument. "For the stability of the Federation, both Char and Amuro must be eliminated!"
"Amuro is too dangerous. If we launch an all-out assault, the unit's casualties will be catastrophic..."
Mike attempted to explain his hesitation, trying to make this Cabinet member understand the reality of the situation on the ground.
"I don't care about the difficulties! What I want is an attack—an reckless, uncompromising attack!"
The man's voice through the comms carried a sense of desperate, almost manic urgency. "Char and Amuro absolutely cannot be allowed to remain in this world. I don't care what tactics you use or how great the sacrifice is!"
"...Understood."
Mike sighed. It seemed his troops were about to follow in the footsteps of the former Kimberley Unit.
It had taken a long time for the Kimberley Unit to even begin recovering after being renamed the Circe Unit.
"All units in the Federation's American Combat Zone, hear my orders."
Mike glanced at Kenneth and George nearby and sighed again. He had a feeling he might find himself an enemy of one of them before long.
"The Federation government has issued a direct command... Continue the attack."
Mike took a deep breath, his voice echoing through the squad channels. "Reinforcements are on the way. Continue the attack."
As he spoke those words, he felt his heart bleed for the losses that were about to follow.
-----------------------------------
At this moment, outside the assembly hall, the directive Mike emphasized as being from the "Federation Government" crackled through the comms of every remaining MS unit.
A heavy, suffocating silence filled the Federation's communication channel the moment the order was heard.
"Are they serious? We can't beat him!"
A veteran pilot shook his head, clearly having no intention of engaging Roz.
"But... it's a direct order from the Federation. We can't disobey."
The squad leader tried to soothe the panicked recruits over the comms. "We have the numbers. If we stay steady and advance carefully, we'll be fine..."
This leader had only recently been promoted. For some reason, the Federation was hesitant to promote veterans who had witnessed the Miracle of Axis.
It was obvious that this "Captain" had secured his position through connections rather than merit.
"No. To fire on Amuro—to fire on the hero of the Federation—I can't do it!"
One veteran manipulated his Jegan, letting its beam rifle clatter to the asphalt. He retreated several paces, a clear gesture of refusal. "The Miracle of Axis... that light... I saw it with my own eyes!"
"I am also disobeying your orders!"
"You've got to be joking!"
One by one, veterans dropped their rifles and backed their machines away. They simply could not reconcile their duty with firing upon Amuro Ray.
The reporters on the scene captured every second of the Jegans discarding their weapons, refusing to let a single detail of this internal collapse slip by.
Seeing the actual number of defectors, the frontline commander breathed a small sigh of relief. About five veterans had fully withdrawn. While it seemed like a lot, compared to the reinforcements currently descending from the sky, their numbers were relatively "insignificant."
"...If you're quitting, leave your rifles on the ground! There will be no pursuit this time..."
The squad leader frowned, his gaze shifting back to the seemingly unarmed ν Gundam surrounded by his forces.
"You lot might be afraid, but I'm not!"
"Attack!"
With a roar, the commander ignited the beam saber on his Jegan's forearm. He swung the burning blade, lunging forward to cleave the ν Gundam in two.
-----------------------------------
As the veterans operated their Jegans to cast aside their beam rifles, Roz had already taken notice.
"Infighting... or is it something else?"
With his external speakers switched off, Roz narrowed his eyes. He watched the surrounding Jegans descend into chaos; several machines had abandoned their weapons and retreated, while the rest—the recruits and the connected officers—remained locked on.
Suddenly, a Jegan lunged forward, swinging its beam saber in a desperate arc. The remaining units that hadn't retreated raised their rifles toward him in unison.
"So, this is your answer?"
Seeing the hostility, Roz didn't hesitate. He manipulated the ν Gundam's controls, snapping the beam saber from its recharge rack on the left forearm. "I hope you've prepared yourselves!"
The ν Gundam's right hand snatched the saber mid-air, raising the blade horizontally above its head to catch the descending strike of the Jegan. The clash sent a shower of sparks across the white composite armor.
Without a second's delay, the ν Gundam swept its left leg in a low, powerful kick, striking the Jegan's waist.
The impact shattered the machine's balance, sending it stumbling toward the pavement.
Roz instantly reversed his grip on the beam saber and plunged it with surgical precision straight into the Jegan's cockpit.
Having spent a vast amount of time piloting the Jegan Type-D, Roz knew the machine's internal structure by heart.
He didn't need flashy maneuvers; he knew exactly where the pilot sat behind the armor plating.
The veterans who had stood down watched with wide eyes. This wasn't a choreographed duel; it was the ruthless, efficient combat style of someone who ends a fight in the minimum number of moves.
'The smell is right... minimal motion, maximum lethality. It really is him.'
But there was no time for further contemplation. The remaining recruits, driven by sheer momentum and panic, pulled their triggers.
Under the gaze of the world, the ν Gundam's thrusters erupted with brilliant blue light.
The green GN Particles became a dense, shimmering mist. With a thunderous boom, the delicate halo of particles behind the machine was pushed outward by a surge of power, expanding like a shockwave.
One moment the ν Gundam was on the ground; the next, it was soaring through the sky, seemingly mocking the very concept of Earth's gravity.
The recruits tilted their rifles upward, weaving a web of pinkish-purple beams across the heavens.
Roz responded with a tight backflip, dancing between the threads of light.
Now that he had drawn the combat away from the huddling civilians, he authorized the use of the head-mounted vulcans.
Fire spat from the ν Gundam's head. Brass shell casings rained down as the cannons roared, shredding the head monitor of a nearby Jegan.
The recruit inside panicked as his primary sensors went dark. He scrambled to switch to the sub-monitors, but by the time the panoramic display flickered back to life, the last thing he saw was the face of the Gundam.
The beam saber pierced the cockpit without a hint of hesitation.
In a matter of seconds, armed with nothing but a single saber, he had evaded a concentrated barrage and neutralized two enemies.
'Yes... this strength. It's Amuro, without a doubt.'
Watching Roz's performance, the "disobedient" veterans felt their final doubts vanish.
-----------------------------------
"Carrier rocket has arrived on deck. Thrusters operational, navigation systems normal..."
On the bridge, Badgiruel reported the status of the transport rocket.
On the Nahel Argama, the specialized carrier rocket—pre-built and waiting in the wings—had already been moved via the elevator to the deck and fully assembled.
The moment Roz had sortied, the crew began the final preparations for this delivery. Its mission: to bring the ν Gundam's true fangs to the battlefield.
"Deck clear. Ready for launch."
With the signal from Roz finally chiming through the bridge's comms, the missile that had been waiting in the dark finally entered its launch stance.
"Very well. Launch," Murrue said, nodding as she confirmed the coordinates Roz had transmitted.
As Murrue input the final data and pressed the ignition button, the tail of the rocket erupted with a thick, yellow flame.
The force propelled the transport rocket into the sky, streaking toward the specified coordinates over New York.
"Honestly... can the ReZELs even carry the Nightingale?"
Watching the carrier rocket disappear into the clouds, Murrue thought of the massive machine sitting in the hangar. She began doing the mental math. "I feel like it might be too heavy to lift..."
"Should we bring the Nahel Argama directly over New York for a precision drop?" Badgiruel asked, hearing Murrue's concern.
"...Let's have three ReZEL Type-C units try to transport it first. If they can't lift it, we'll take the Nahel Argama back into the atmosphere ourselves," Murrue decided after a moment of reflection.
-----------------------------------
The piercing wail of air-raid sirens echoed across the American continent, a sound that had become a hauntingly familiar rhythm in recent years.
People on the streets looked up, shielding their eyes to see a rocket streaking toward New York at a blistering speed. It truly seemed that New York was destined for a day of unending disaster.
Yet, curiously, many didn't run for cover. Instead, they remained glued to their communication devices, computers, and TV screens, transfixed by the live broadcast of Char seizing the assembly hall and the ν Gundam ruthlessly dismantling the Jegan forces.
To witness combat of this caliber was, for some, a spectacle so grand it felt worth the risk of being caught in the blast radius of a heavy payload.
However, the contents of this rocket were not what the Federation's radar operators expected.
As the rocket reached the airspace above the hall, the armor plating on its nosecone suddenly disengaged.
It didn't reveal a warhead, but rather a collection of heavy weaponry and specialized armor segments stacked into a streamlined flight configuration.
Roz manipulated the ν Gundam to cleave another Jegan in half at the waist, then performed a sudden, powerful back-hop to evade a pair of pinkish-purple beams.
"Kara!" Roz called out to the machine's soul, his gaze fixed on the descending payload.
"Everything is ready," Kara's voice whispered in his ear. He felt a sensation like a warm, passionate embrace—a heat that mirrored the fire in his own heart.
With Kara's assistance, the ν Gundam's first activation of its specialized systems was flawless.
As the pilot's seat shifted into combat configuration, red light began to bleed through the gaps in the Gundam's white armor, appearing like glowing panel lines of pure energy.
Roz reached his left hand toward the sky. The components falling from the rocket suddenly ignited with a matching crimson glow—the light of the Psycho-Frame.
Before the eyes of the stunned onlookers, the components broke apart in mid-air, detaching from the spent fuel stage of the carrier. They transformed into streaks of red light, defying the laws of physics as they swarmed toward the ν Gundam.
Roz slammed his foot onto the pedal. The Gundam's thrusters roared with blue flame, propelling it into the heart of the falling debris.
The components spiraled around the white machine in a dizzying red ring before snapping into place with mechanical perfection.
Chest plate, skirt armor, leg thruster units, Fin Funnels, the massive shield, and the Hyper Mega Rifle... as the locks engaged, the previously "unarmed" ν Gundam was reborn as a hulking fortress of concentrated firepower.
"That's..."
The veterans stared in a daze. Though the form had changed into something almost magical, the silhouette was unmistakable.
"HWS (Heavy Weapon System) configuration complete," Kara chuckled within the cockpit, still holding Roz close.
"Show them, Roz. Show them a world reborn from the ashes—a world where hope is forged anew."
.......................