The black sedan sped down the road, with armed civilians clutching semi-automatic rifles peering out from their windows at the passing vehicle every so often.
"That was close... we were almost caught by those Man Hunters."
Luna gripped the steering wheel, glancing in the rearview mirror at the aerial dogfight between the Penelope and the Banshee Norn.
Seeing the Banshee send the Federation machine crashing to the ground with a whip-kick, she clicked her tongue. "With that kind of piloting, Shinn is going to get a real earful from Miss Cindy when he gets back..."
"There's no helping it. After all, big brother is a total moron. He wouldn't think that far ahead anyway..."
Mayu Asuka spoke with a sigh after hitting send on her phone message.
Everyone on the Nahel Argama knew that while Shinn's combat prowess was top-tier, he essentially operated on a "greatsword instead of a brain, forward-melee instead of thinking" basis.
Now that he had the Armed Armor VN equipped with the Fire Punch component, that trait was even more pronounced. Fortunately, the structural integrity of the machines Roz built was up to par; otherwise, that whip-kick might have snapped the Banshee's own leg.
"Speaking of which... during this trip to New Zealand, it feels like your mental state has improved a lot."
Luna pulled her gaze from the mirror to glance at Mayu in the passenger seat.
"Yeah... when I talk to people now, I don't get that strange sense of detachment or unreality anymore."
At the mention of the topic, Mayu fell silent for a moment, instinctively reaching out to pinch her artificial skin.
"The sudden phantom pains are gone, too."
It seemed the well-preserved natural landscapes of New Zealand had soothed Mayu's spirit.
Between that and Luna's constant company, after so much time, her recovery was clearly visible.
"That's good to hear." Luna breathed a sigh of relief. "I have to join the battle in a moment. You'll be heading back to the Nahel Argama with the ReZEL unit. Is that okay?"
"Mhm. I have all these souvenirs to give everyone, anyway..." Mayu looked back at the rear seat, which was overflowing with gift bags, and lowered her head slightly. "I'm sorry. Because of my selfishness, everyone had to do so much for me..."
Just as the atmosphere in the car was becoming heavy, a hand reached over and rested on Mayu's head.
"What are you saying?"
Luna, steering the wheel with one hand to keep the car steady, used her right hand to gently ruffle Mayu's hair.
"Covering our evacuation is one reason, but there's another very important one."
Though Mayu's hair was artificial, Roz's craftsmanship made it feel entirely natural, save for the fact that it didn't grow.
"The people here are screaming in pain..."
Luna continued to playfully mess up Mayu's hair as she spoke. "Whether it's Captain Roz, Shinn, or everyone else on the Nahel Argama, none of them would ever just sit back and watch this happen."
The small sedan expertly pulled into the parking lot of a large supermarket.
"This is Luna. I have arrived at the designated rendezvous point."
From the sky above, the distinct roar of maneuvering thrusters echoed.
A ReZEL in Wave Rider (WR) mode descended, landing steadily in the middle of the parking lot.
The atmospheric backwash from its thrusters was powerful enough to shove several nearby cars aside.
And there, mounted upon the ReZEL's back, was a massive iron-gray machine.
-----------------------------------
Returning to the Penelope's perspective, right after being slammed into the earth by the Banshee's heart-stopping whip-kick—the kind of maneuver that would give a maintenance crew a collective stroke.
This was Lane Aime's first time engaging a machine with such an orthodox "Zeon-style" silhouette in actual combat, rather than just data constructs in a flight simulator.
"What exactly... are you people trying to accomplish!?"
Lane, having just managed to right the Penelope from its collapsed state, stared at the green mono-eye glowing behind the thick smoke and activated his external speakers. "Are you jumping out to disrupt the Federation's order, just like Mafty!?"
The crimson, ornate machine strode slowly out of the haze. Its emerald mono-eye panned left and right, scanning the wreckage of the streets and houses.
Roz Links was positioned in the zone where the conflict was most violent.
The Man Hunter units had completely abandoned any pretense of door-to-door arrests; instead, they were pilotng their Man Hunter Jegans to vent their frustration through wanton destruction.
When the dust settled, the dead would be labeled as "liquidated Mafty terrorists," and the survivors or wounded would be branded "illegal residents."
With the communications blackout in effect, they could write the after-action reports however they pleased.
"And yet, this 'Federation order' you speak of..."
The Sinanju also activated its speakers, broadcasting Roz's voice through a distorter.
In the next instant, the Sinanju's thrusters erupted with thick blue plumes, propelling the machine toward the Penelope.
The fire and backwash sent the smoke swirling behind the Sinanju, forming two intersecting circular rifts in the sky.
"...Is this so-called 'order' simply these streets and homes destroyed by those blinded by greed? Is it the persecution of these people?"
Roz brought the Sinanju directly in front of the Penelope. The Beam Axe mounted within his shield flared with a yellow plasma blade, swinging down toward the Penelope's head. "Think carefully—who truly caused all of this?"
"You...!"
Lane gritted his teeth, desperately wanting to refute Roz's words, yet found himself choked by his own silence. "Sophistry!"
The Penelope raised its left arm, deploying the beam saber from its multi-purpose shield to intercept the Beam Axe.
As the two weapons collided, high-energy particles stripped of their I-field constraints sprayed in all directions like clashing high-pressure water jets.
Nearby ruins and structural remains were liquefied by the stray beams, and wooden houses began to ignite. The scene was a literal hellscape.
"You should know perfectly well who is the one resorting to sophistry."
Roz listened calmly to Lane's stubborn tone. He manipulated the Sinanju to lift its right leg; with even more finesse than Shinn's previous kick, he deployed the leg-blade and unleashed a sweeping kick aimed straight at the Penelope's midsection.
Seeing the beam blade extending from the Sinanju's leg, Lane's pupils contracted.
He forced the Penelope to lean into the direction of the Beam Axe while simultaneously backing the machine away.
As the Penelope narrowly evaded the axe, Roz's initial sweep missed its mark. But in the next heartbeat, the Minovsky Flight system and thrusters roared to life.
A burst of blue flame pushed the Sinanju into the air, closing the distance as the missed sweep transitioned into a massive, heavy-impact roundhouse kick.
In Lane's wide eyes, the Sinanju's right leg, carrying massive kinetic energy, deployed its white beam blade and slammed into the lower section of the Penelope's left multi-purpose shield.
The shield was sliced clean through by the beam blade, and the sheer momentum of the kick sent the Penelope tumbling backward through the air.
"No... I can't engage him in close quarters!"
At that moment, Lane felt he had finally identified Roz's specialty. Following the direction of the knockback, he ignited the Minovsky Flight system and thrusters, narrowly skimming over the ruins of the houses below as he completed his ascent into the sky.
"Taking it to the air... trying to use the Minovsky Flight system to widen the gap?"
Watching the Penelope's movements, Roz, who had already deactivated the external speakers, let his lips curl into a smirk. "But you're not the only one with a Minovsky Flight system."
Having just completed the roundhouse kick, the Sinanju used the momentum of its spin to reorient itself.
Its flight pack roared with blue flames directed toward the ground, propelling the machine toward the heavens.
"Round two!"
Glimpsing the Banshee Norn looming nearby, currently busy mopping up the remaining Man Hunter units and Federation MS, Lane gritted his teeth and unleashed a massive volley of various missiles.
Even his semi-offline left shield spat out the contents of its two small missile bays.
"Take this!"
"Oh? Funnel Missiles?"
Roz narrowed his eyes slightly at the weapons, which looked a bit different from the Funnel Missiles he was accustomed to.
Immediately, the Sinanju's head-mounted Vulcan cannons thundered. The tracers and shells wove two brilliant ribbons of fire that precisely swept across the swarm of incoming missiles.
Intense explosions rippled through the sky as a large number of missiles were intercepted, turning into a rain of jagged steel that showered the city streets.
Heavy fragments slammed into cars below, instantly crushing them, and while the reinforced concrete buildings held up, the ceilings of wooden houses were torn open by the falling debris.
Though it appeared all of the Penelope's missiles had been destroyed, Roz did not relax.
Instead, he raised his beam rifle, aiming into the smoke and fire produced by the detonations.
Sensing waves of hostility approaching from several directions in his mind, Roz switched his long-range beam sniper rifle to three-round burst mode and slammed down on the pedals.
"Here they come..."
On the panoramic monitors, several high-speed black shadows streaked out from the smoke, lunging toward the Sinanju from every angle.
But the very instant they appeared, those Funnel Missiles were highlighted by triangular framing markers on the HUD.
Roz squeezed the trigger. His beam rifle, switched to three-round burst mode, spat out continuous yellow beams, snapping from one locked target to the next with rhythmic precision.
The yellow bolts struck the incoming Funnel Missiles head-on, blooming into a series of mid-air terminal explosions.
Though the immediate threat of the Funnel Missiles was neutralized, Roz didn't lower his guard.
Instead, he shot a glance at the radar sweep. Suddenly, a wave of raw, naked killing intent washed over him from the rear.
"Behind you."
A mature female voice suddenly rang in Roz's ear.
A translucent woman's hand—wearing a red sleeve and a black half-finger glove—appeared over Roz's right hand, guiding him as he pulled the control stick.
The Penelope had somehow maneuvered behind the Sinanju.
From its left arm, which bore the half-ruined shield, it had drawn the massive beam saber hilt from the shoulder pylon.
A thick, green plasma blade ignited and swung high, carving through the air toward Roz.
"Ugh, aaaaaah!" Lane roared, determined to cleave the Sinanju in two.
Feeling the strength channeled through the translucent hand, Roz pulled the stick in her direction and jammed the buttons positioned under his ring and pinky fingers.
A heat short-knife extended from the Sinanju's right elbow.
As the machine spun, it delivered a fluid elbow strike that slammed precisely into the Penelope's right side.
The thermal blade ignored the mangled remains of the multi-purpose shield, piercing straight through the wreckage and shredding the Penelope's right forearm.
The thrusters erupted with even more violent plumes of flame, driving the Sinanju into a high-speed pivot. Simultaneously, the elbow blade retracted, and the Sinanju's left leg lashed out.
Having rotated to the Penelope's right and successfully evaded the downward slash, the Sinanju delivered a seamless roundhouse kick to the Penelope's flank.
The remaining shield fragments were sliced in half, and the right pylon arm was gouged by two massive rents.
Under the staggering impact, the Penelope was sent hurtling away once more, tumbling uncontrollably through the sky.
Watching the Penelope tumbling uncontrollably through the sky, Roz finally let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"You are..."
Just as Roz moved to question the apparition, the phantom of the woman's hand—the one still resting on his right—raised an index finger and placed it gently against his lips.
"Shh... I know you have many questions for me right now."
Her voice rang in his ear again. Roz could even feel an impossible sensation against his cheek—the ghost of a warm breath and a body temperature that shouldn't exist.
"But for now, let's focus on dealing with that machine over there... the one that shares my senior's silhouette."
With that, the hand moved away from his lips and, with a strange familiarity, gave his jaw a playful flick. "After all, 'Second Sister' has a massive grievance against that unit."
"Phew... I understand."
Roz tightened his grip on the controls, staring at the Penelope as it finally managed to stabilize its flight attitude. "You'll assist me then? No issues?"
Upon hearing Roz's words, the woman let out a bright, cheerful laugh.
"Of course. That is exactly why I am here."
The arm in the red sleeve rested its right hand over Roz's, while the left arm reached around the back of his neck, pointing directly toward the Penelope.
"Now then, let's bring this battle to a magnificent conclusion."
"Roz."
-----------------------------------
Not far from the Sinanju, Lane Aime—who had only just managed to stabilize the Penelope's flight attitude—finally caught his breath.
At this moment, reinforcements from other Kimberley units in the surrounding regions had arrived on the scene.
He assumed that the black, single-horned machine from before would be too occupied to deal with him now.
However, for some reason, Lane felt that the pressure emanating from the red mono-eye machine—the one that had just soundly thrashed him—was even stronger than before.
If he had to describe it, it felt as though the machine had suddenly "come to life."
Furthermore, judging by the way the unit was hovering...
"They even have a Minovsky Flight system from god-knows-where?!"
Lane gritted his teeth. Glancing at his machine's right arm, which was now completely offline, he slammed the pedals once more. The Penelope lunged toward the Sinanju.
.....................