Both were red, yet the two shades were entirely different.
The massive shield forcing its way down through the atmosphere was red with fire, as though it were setting the sky ablaze.
The beam rising from the ground, however, was crimson wrapped around black. Its radiance looked more like human blood.
The night sky resembled black skin torn open by an enormous wound.
The instant the two forces collided, the night sky across half the planet turned an apocalyptic red.
"Junius Seven's descent has been stopped!"
"Please, break through that barrier and destroy it!"
"No! It would be better if the beam could push Junius Seven back with the barrier still around it!"
That last suggestion filled everyone listening on the public channel with hope.
If the beam pierced the barrier and struck Junius Seven, it would probably only shatter the colony into pieces. Vast amounts of debris would still fall to the surface and cause tremendous casualties.
Pushing it back into space would be the best possible outcome.
Meanwhile, a ZAFT warship was stationed in a region of space beyond Earth's atmosphere.
"At this rate, Junius Seven may actually be pushed back into space."
"If they deactivate the Lightwave Barrier Belt, it can continue falling, but it probably won't hit Orb."
The conversation on the bridge caused the masked man, Rau Le Creuset, to curl his lips into a faint smile.
Given the madness of the people aboard Junius Seven, they would never accept being pushed back into space.
They would probably deactivate the Lightwave Barrier Belt themselves and allow Junius Seven to be struck. At the same time, they would launch every weapon they had toward Earth, including their nuclear warheads.
That might still not destroy Orb, but if fragments of Junius Seven scattered across the world and inflicted massive casualties, the resulting disaster could still be exploited.
They could spread the narrative that if Orb had not intercepted Junius Seven and shattered it, the affected area would never have been so vast.
Under the influence of that propaganda, the nations and populations struck by the fragments of Junius Seven would come to hate Orb.
Still, Orb had unveiled another truly extraordinary weapon this time. Even Le Creuset found himself surprised.
A screen before him displayed an antique-looking warship slightly over two hundred meters long, firing a terrifying beam.
The footage was being transmitted by a nearby ZAFT submarine operating in the surrounding waters.
For now, it appeared that Orb had only managed to construct a single vessel.
Once it entered mass production, however, nothing would be able to stop Orb's rise.
The Earth Alliance had undoubtedly witnessed the warship's terrifying power as well. They would not simply stand by and wait for Orb to grow stronger.
The appearance of this ship would only deepen their determination to destroy the nation.
Here it came.
A vast number of torpedoes had been launched at the warship.
At the same time, the vessel's terrifying attack finally ceased after approximately six seconds of continuous fire.
...
A display on the Archangel's bridge suddenly changed.
The Archangel had linked its systems with Orb's ocean-based detection equipment. Their combined sonar network had detected a new threat.
Countless points of light formed a fan-shaped encirclement around a single target, the unusual warship that had just attempted to destroy Junius Seven.
"Torpedoes detected in the designated area! Number of contacts...!"
The operator was about to report the number when the figure suddenly surged, cutting her voice short.
The points of light were still multiplying.
"Captain!"
"Our mission is not to intercept those torpedoes!"
Murrue's order stunned many members of the bridge crew.
She understood how they felt. They did not want to see that warship destroyed and hoped the Archangel would go to its aid.
However, if the Archangel moved to support it, the airspace under their protection would be left exposed.
For now, they could only trust that the other side could handle the situation.
Kain had not requested assistance either, which meant he believed the Fleet of Fog warship could deal with the attack.
And so...
Takao, the heavy cruiser assigned to the First Fleet of the Fleet of Fog's Oriental Patrol Fleet, had naturally detected the enormous number of torpedoes approaching beneath the surface.
She was not particularly worried.
She had already studied the weapons of this world, and none of them possessed enough power to penetrate her Klein Field.
Once her second Super-Graviton Cannon was ready, she would obliterate whatever was lurking beneath the sea.
She had to admit that this world was somewhat impressive. Its people had managed to create a defensive barrier capable of withstanding her first shot.
For her second attack, she would focus the Super-Graviton Cannon into a narrower beam, concentrating its penetrating power enough to pierce and shatter the barrier.
"Assign a number to every torpedo. Display their speeds, the distances between them, their depths below the surface, and every other available piece of data."
"Huh?"
Takao froze for a moment.
The human beside her merely stared at her calmly, making her pout. Still, she immediately complied with his request.
She snapped her fingers, though it was a completely unnecessary gesture.
Every torpedo on the screens beside Kain was instantly assigned a number, along with the detailed real-time data he had requested.
His pupils widened. His eyes darted rapidly across the displays several times.
"Targets 019, 041, 051, 098, and 101. Launch Standard-3 Erosion Torpedoes to intercept."
What?
Did he have that little confidence in her Klein Field?
No, was there something unusual about those particular torpedoes?
Takao did not yet understand his reasoning, but the severity of his expression convinced her to act. She immediately launched the Standard-3 Erosion Torpedoes, the smallest Erosion Torpedoes in her arsenal.
The enemy torpedoes had not even covered half the distance from their launch point to Takao when...
"Direct hits."
Takao's reply sounded faintly bored.
Even though she had launched several seconds later, her torpedoes had intercepted the enemy weapons before they could complete half their journey. The only reason was that the enemy torpedoes were considerably slower than her Erosion Torpedoes.
She had expected them to possess some unusual capability, but they appeared perfectly ordinary.
"I've estimated their launch positions. Should I destroy them?"
Takao had only detected the torpedoes after they entered her sonar range, meaning the submarines that launched them were operating beyond her detection radius.
Even so, she had managed to estimate the general area of their launch positions by analyzing the torpedoes' trajectories.
"No. Don't waste Erosion Torpedoes on them!"
Kain rejected Takao's proposal and immediately transmitted the estimated coordinates to the base on land.
Stella's Knight mech was using Xingye's transport aircraft as an elevated artillery platform. From its current altitude, it could bombard the designated section of ocean with Hellfire explosive bolts.
Those Hellfire explosive bolts used the same specialized warheads that had disintegrated an entire Earth Alliance fleet with a single shot during the previous battle. They had originally been developed to counter Necron living metal.
Hm?
Another wave of torpedoes was approaching.
Kain activated Bullet Time again, accelerating his thoughts to the nanosecond limit as he analyzed the detailed information Takao had provided on every incoming torpedo.
If he pushed Bullet Time to its full tenfold acceleration, he might be able to break through to the next level. However, his brain probably could not withstand even a single second of it.
His current speed was more than sufficient.
"Targets 009, 027, 044, 059, 087, 088, and 109. Intercept them with the same type of torpedo as before."
"Understood!"
Seven more Erosion Torpedoes launched from the ship.
Three seconds later, the Fleet of Fog warship trembled.
The Klein Field, normally invisible, appeared around the vessel as the first wave of enemy torpedoes finally struck it. The energy released by their explosions made the field visible.
It was similar to how light normally could not be seen from the side, yet became visible when it passed through fog, almost as though it had taken physical form.
"All of them hit! What was so special about those torpedoes?"
Takao still could not understand why he had specifically ordered her to intercept them.
"They were carrying nuclear warheads," Kain answered.
That was his conclusion.
No, a correction was necessary.
It was not merely a possibility. Those torpedoes were definitely equipped with nuclear warheads.
(End of Chapter)
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