In the Archangel, as soon as the radar detected the signals of the ZAFT ship, it also detected the MS that were launched and on their way to attack the Archangel. The radar crew immediately identified the MS as the Duel, Buster, Blitz, Aegis, and 2 DINNs.
As soon as Murrue got the news, she issued an order for combat, while Natarle suggested the use of a smokescreen and fighting with the help of a skygrasper to sight the enemies. Kira, who heard the plan immediately, went to the catapult deck in the Strike equipped with the Launcher striker pack and connected the Agni beam cannon to the auxiliary power conduit so that there would not be any need to worry about the power loss while firing for a long time. Mu also used the skygrasper as he was worried about leaving everything to Tolle. He decided to change to Aegis after some time, if they still needed to engage the ZAFT MS after their barrage with the Agni cannon.
After the Archangel fired Smoke discharges on both sides, the Skygraspers left the Archangel, and Mu told Tolle to support the Strike to spot enemies while he kept the MS busy to prevent them from attacking Tolle or approaching the Archangel. Kira fired a few shots at the enemy MS from the Archangel but only managed to damage Miguel's DINN, causing him to have to leave the battle early. After realizing that he needed to get close to attack, Kira disconnected the auxiliary power supply and jumped into the air while using the full power of the thrusters. While going up, he shot and destroyed the Guul on which the buster was on, forcing the buster down with a kick. At this time, Yzak, who was near, was also attacked, only to have his Guul also damaged and forced to land. At this time, Athrun, who had noticed the Strike falling, knowing that it couldn't perform sustained flight without the Aile Striker pack, launched an attack on Kira with Nicol following.
But Kira still managed to land on the center deck of the Archangel and released the Launcher pack on the deck to retrieve later, and Athrun and Nicol were forced back by the dual high-energy beam cannons of the ship. Mu, who had pushed back Rusty's DINN, came around to deliver the Aile striker pack to the Strike, which Kira caught effectively and changed the equipment mid-air, which surprised Nicol, but he and Athrun still attacked the strike. At the same time, Rusty, who was pushed far, returned, though there was some damage to his MS. He was still capable of fighting. Seeing Kira being surrounded and under heavy suppression, Tolle came down and attacked the Blitz to help Kira.
Kira, without wasting the opportunity Tolle created, attacked Blitz, taking out its right hand while also kicking Nicol down the Guul and taking over it himself at the same time. Mu, who was in the Skygrasper, used its missiles to damage Rusty's MS and forced him to return like Miguel.
Meanwhile, in the distance, in a private MS transport plane, Alex is already in the Blitz custom whose Trikeros system has been removed, and in its place is a special sonic heat claw which can pierce even PS armor, though the price is high energy consumption and also the side effect of the sonic blade's sound during high frequency was overcome by the team of coordinator researchers working in the Ashford group. When the guys got the Blueprint for the weapon and the many different E Carbon alloys, they were so happy that they kept experimenting with the Alloys and Blade for nearly a month to get this perfect version. Leaving aside the claw-like weapon, its palm also has an ejector for ablation gel, which can insulate heat. This was specially made so that when he stealthily plucks Nicol out of Blitz, he won't die from the heat or vibrations of the claws.
The Mirage systems were also loaded with more dispersion slots and more gas, so that even when Alex acts, as long as he is only using the claw and leaves, he will not be detected by anyone on radar or visually. And most important is the smoke dispersion bomb, which is designed so that it can be attached to Nicol's Blitz and not be detected instantly, and once attached to his right arm, it will explode and release smoke behind which effectively hides Alex when he performs his miracle backstab to retrieve Nicol before Kira Sword blows Nicol's Blitz to pieces. Alex even came up with a great name for this claw with an ablation gel ejector, which can be attached to any regular MS as a replacement special weapon for the normal hand. He named it "The Claw of Life" as it is very effective whether it is to take a life or save it.
Back on the battlefield, Kira used his Aile Striker pack along with the help of Archangel to gain an advantage on Athrun and knock him down while also landing on the Archangel's middle deck when Tolle told Kira to take his Sword pack. Kira, though surprised, still took it and got down where Athrun, who is being suppressed by the Archangel's CIWS, and his MS is losing power fast. Kira, who got down, asked Athrun to stop and leave, as he had already lost. The Archangel stopped its barrage of attacks on Aegis as Strike was also now near it.
Athrun, who heard Kira, felt angry and looked down upon, so he stubbornly attacked Kira. After a few exchanges, Kira knocked Aegis down; at the same time, Aegis's PS armor went down because of a lack of power to sustain it. Finally, Kira raised his sword to threaten Athrun to leave again, when Nicol, who didn't know the situation, thought that Kira was going to kill Athrun and attacked with a hastily picked up Lancer Dart with Left hand and charged at Kira while shouting for Athrun to get out as he was charging the right hand joint where the strike had previously severed it suddenly blew up a little but released lots of smoke but Nicol in his Blitz still charged without any thought as he wanted to save his friend Athrun. By the time Nicol's Blitz reached the Strike its back was full of smoke and also there sound metal being pierced but because of the tense situation and the fact that the sound was little no one on the field noticed it except for Nicol who was experiencing it before he could say anything he saw the Strike evade his attack and it sword coming for him so even though Nicol was confused about the attack from behind he only said Athrun to live be cause he felt that he didn't have enough time for complex talks while he was saying it the Strike's sword also pierced Nicol's Blitz and Kira who was shocked by what had happened released the sword half way but the Blitz still blew up causing Kira to feel very shocked, guilty and traumatized.
The explosion of Nicol's Blitz made everyone think Nicol died, and Yzak and Dearka, who had just arrived on the small land, were instantly enraged and attacked the Strike with all their ability, and as for Athrun, he was filled with shock and grief and was calling for Nicol.
Kira, though shocked and guilty, evaded the attacks of the Duel and Buster and jumped away, landing near the Archangel. Natarle, who was in charge of the battle commands, called the Strike on the comms and told him to return, as it was not necessary to engage them in any further combat, as they could leave now. While also firing the Archangel's bottom CIWS at the Duel and Buster, who were far away from Strike, causing them to be unable to attack the Strike, and only to be focused on defending against the Archangel's attacks. Kira took this opportunity to fly to the Archangel and landed on the center deck. Yzak, who was enraged, wanted to keep attacking, but Dearka called for Yzak to stop it as they needed to regroup and charge up their MS. Hearing this, Yzak chose to retreat, and Dearka once again called Athrun, to which Athrun also responded and left with them.
Once on the ZAFT ship, Yzak kept taking out his anger on Athrun for Nicol's death, while Miguel and Rusty were also shocked to know of Nicol's situation. Although Miguel had some doubts about Athrun and the Strike's pilot, now was not the time to ask that, and he still didn't choose to do anything. Finally, it was Dearka and Rusty who stopped Yzak and convinced him that they would have their revenge for Nicol's death and that they should now rest and recover while their MSs are being maintained and resupplied so that they can put their full effort into the attack later on the Archangel and the Strike.