The pendulum maneuver—a tactic developed in the era of fighter jets—has rarely been seen on the battlefield since the advent of Mobile Suits.
Against the flexible turning capabilities of an MS, the practical utility of such a tactic is usually quite limited.
Yet today, Roz's Penelope used this exact maneuver to directly inflict heavy damage on Lane's Penelope.
However, Roz did not cease his actions after destroying the Penelope's left arm. After slightly adjusting his aim, he pulled the trigger once more.
Any object possessing mass generates inertia the moment it begins to move.
A ReZEL Type C, unable to turn in time, slammed straight into the Magnum beam and exploded in the sky.
A few small missiles, triggered by the intense heat, shot out from the missile container and left crooked trails of smoke before plunging into the sea.
Immediately after, Roz's Penelope spun around violently. Its tail—acting as a stabilizer—lashed out like a whip, striking the waist of another ReZEL Type C that had just decelerated and transitioned into MS mode.
Though the structure appeared fragile, under such high-speed whipping force, it neither deformed nor snapped. Instead, it sent the ReZEL Type C flying backward.
"Ugh, aaaaaah!"
The violent impact caused the Vulture Unit member to scream in agony. Unfortunately, under the interference of Minovsky particles, his cry could not reach anyone else.
Following this, two Funnel Missiles erupted from the rear of the Penelope, striking the ReZEL Type C at staggering speed.
The resulting explosion tore through the machine's armor and cockpit, even causing the sub-reactor in the torso to detonate.
"Damn it all..."
Seeing yet another teammate killed by Roz, the captain of the Vulture Unit's eyes widened in shock. Now, only two ReZEL Type Cs remained in the squad.
The Vulture captain jettisoned his last remaining missile containers.
His ReZEL Type C, now in MS mode, extended a blue-white beam saber blade from the muzzle of its beam rifle and charged toward Roz's Penelope.
Watching the incoming ReZEL Type C, Roz cast a quick glance at Lane to confirm his status. Once certain, he turned and surged toward the enemy captain.
Seeing their captain charge forward, the other remaining ReZEL Type C also stopped and jettisoned all its missile containers.
Just as he raised his beam rifle, intending to support his captain with long-range fire, Roz slightly deflected his aim and pulled the trigger toward the ReZEL Type C targeting him.
The reddish-purple beam swept through a cluster of missiles.
Aside from a few that were struck directly and dissolved within the beam, many were lashed by high-energy electricity, detonating mid-flight.
The fragments from these exploding missiles triggered a chain reaction, causing even more missiles to burst upon impact with the debris.
As for the target ReZEL Type C, the Magnum beam struck its upper chest with pinpoint accuracy. The violent explosion reduced the machine to scattered wreckage that plunged into the sea.
Facing the dense swarm of missiles ahead, Roz increased the pressure on his foot pedals, his hands constantly adjusting the control sticks to manage his positioning.
Roz's Penelope moved like a swan, elegantly soaring through the gap in the missile swarm created by the Magnum blast.
The missiles began to bank, attempting to re-acquire Roz's moving unit. Those closest to the Penelope lost their lock instantly after a sharp turn, careening off in random directions.
The missiles further away, having already completed most of their turn, maintained their lock and bit firmly onto Roz's tail.
However, the stray missiles occasionally collided with those still tracking the target, inducing successive explosions whose fragments detonated even more of the swarm.
Amidst this chaos, Roz remained perfectly calm. He maneuvered the Penelope into a roll, and with his free left hand, drew one of the large beam sabers that doubled as a shoulder cannon.
As Roz burst through the flames with a dozen missiles trailing behind him, the captain of the Vulture Unit was already there, bringing his ReZEL Type C's blade down in a heavy overhead strike.
"You bastard!" the Vulture captain roared, his eyes fixed on the massive machine before him.
Roz glanced at the distance of the missiles behind him and maneuvered his unit to side-step slightly.
Maintaining a precise distance, he snapped the large green beam saber upward, parrying the overhead blow.
The collision of the beam sabers sent particles spraying everywhere, lashing against both Roz's Penelope and the ReZEL Type C.
In the very next second, Roz practicedly raised the Beam Magnum, pressing it against the ReZEL Type C's wide-open chest, and pulled the trigger.
The reddish-purple high-energy particles converged within the field into a high-energy sphere, melting the ReZEL's chest plate.
As the sphere pressed against the torso ruptured, a jet of reddish-purple energy pierced through the machine in an instant, while purple high-energy electricity continued to shred the ReZEL Type C's limbs.
Watching the ReZEL Type C explode before him, Roz skillfully maneuvered his machine into a supine position, letting it fall toward the sea as the vulcans continuously sprayed a curtain of fire.
The missiles that couldn't turn in time slammed into the wreckage of the ReZEL Type C; the few that managed to re-acquire their target were intercepted and detonated by the vulcan barrage.
"The ReZEL Type Cs are dealt with. As for what's next..."
Roz narrowed his eyes, looking once more at the remaining unit markers.
A Penelope with its left arm completely totaled appeared before him.
Lane's Penelope was relentlessly unleashing everything it had—conventional missiles and Funnel Missiles alike were being purged from their launchers.
"I thought that last hit would have sent him straight into the ocean," AllMind remarked, her eyes narrowing as she watched Lane's machine.
"The pilot of this Penelope is quite the tenacious fellow."
Seeing Lane's Penelope raise its beam rifle, Roz immediately pulled his own machine into a sharp climb.
Mirroring Lane's desperation, Roz launched every remaining missile from his own Penelope before snapping the controls to change direction, charging head-on toward Lane.
The two machines banked slightly, threading through the gaps in each other's flight paths and emerging from the missile-laden curtain of fire.
Immediately after, both Penelopes pulled up to high altitude to shake off the missile locks.
However, compared to Roz, Lane's machine was clearly in poor condition; the components on his Penelope's right leg had been blown to scrap.
Roz maneuvered his unit to the side, dodging Lane's incoming beam. Then, the beam saber hilt on his Penelope's right shoulder snapped upward, and a pinkish-purple beam accurately struck the beam rifle in Lane's hand.
Seeing his weapon struck, Lane threw caution to the wind. Tossing aside the ruined beam rifle, he drew the beam saber hilt from his right shoulder and swung toward Roz, who was likewise armed with a beam blade.
The two large beam sabers collided. With the resulting instability of the I-Field, a massive spray of green particles scattered in every direction.
"Static... Why do you have a Penelope?! Who exactly are you?!" Lane demanded, staring at the familiar machine looming inches away.
"Static... You're free to guess where I got it," a slightly raspy, digitized voice replied through the short-range communication channel. "Regardless, it certainly wasn't handed over by the Federation."
Hearing that voice, Lane's eyes widened. Even distorted by white noise and electrical interference, it was a voice he could never forget.
It was the voice of "Amuro"!
In that moment of Lane's hesitation, Roz suddenly surged the unit's output, parrying away the beam saber in the Penelope's hand.
Immediately following up, Roz swung his beam saber, slicing off the Penelope's sensor unit—the part resembling a swan's head—and melting the majority of the head monitors in the process.
Seeing the beam saber in Roz's hand shift direction to stab toward the side of his cockpit, Lane instinctively gritted his teeth and raised his remaining right arm, thrusting the multi-function shield into the path of the blade.
Against a beam saber of such high output, the multi-function shield offered almost no protection; it was swiftly melted and pierced.
The unlaunched missiles within the shield ignited under the heat, triggering a sympathetic detonation that blew the Penelope's right arm clean off.
"Ugh, aaaaaah!"
The sudden, violent shock forced a cry of agony from Lane.
Amidst the smoke of the explosion, Lane's Penelope went into a tumble, falling helplessly toward the surface of the sea.
..................