Chapter 113: Guidance from Death
Just as Eli's vision narrowed to focus solely on the MS before him, a sudden chill surged through his entire body, as if he had been plunged into an icy abyss. The rationality that was on the brink of collapse snapped back into control.
There was no time to thank the Reaper Death who had appeared at his side, momentarily freeing him from the system's influence. Eli quickly surveyed the battlefield.
It was bad—while he had been focused on the warrior before him, even managing to sever the enemy's left arm, other warriors had completely surrounded him.
Worse still, their battle had drifted away from the Federation frontlines and was now near A Baoa Qu.
This meant that when the EXAM system shut down, he would have no chance of receiving allied support.
And once the system deactivated, his mobile suit's overall performance would drastically drop—after all, the system pushed the machine into overdrive, heavily straining its components.
Eli swung his beam saber, knocking aside yet another charging warrior, his eyes darting toward the rest of the enemy forces.
Then, he spotted it—a location the enemy would never expect.
As the EZ-SR fired its Vulcan cannons at the surrounding warriors, its thrusters flared brightly, propelling it straight toward A Baoa Qu's fortress!
One of the gates stood wide open. A Zaku had just dragged a damaged comrade through it.
That was Eli's target—to break through that gate.
"He's actually taking that escape route?"
Breniss Ox frowned deeply, wanting to coordinate with his allies to shoot Eli down using beam weapons.
But since he had discarded his beam rifle during their earlier duel, he could only watch as the beams fired by his teammates were effortlessly dodged.
Eli stormed through the gate and disappeared inside A Baoa Qu.
"After him!"
Breniss Ox immediately ordered his remaining five team members to pursue. They had to finish Eli here and now.
But at that moment, a rocket shot in from the side, striking a nearby warrior and turning it into cosmic debris.
"Your opponent is me!"
Amuro had arrived just in time, witnessing Eli's retreat into A Baoa Qu.
Though worried about Eli entering the fortress alone, Amuro made the strategic choice to protect him the best he could.
The nearly crippled Gundam, now missing its left arm, stood as an unmovable wall before the five pursuing warriors.
"An impenetrable wall..." Breniss Ox thought grimly.
And things only got worse—a new Federation signal appeared on their sensors.
"Amuro, where's Eli?!"
"He's inside A Baoa Qu, Miss Sayla. I'm counting on you!"
Piloting the fully armed Gundam, Sayla's unit showed no major external damage. She had been stationed near White Base, defending alongside the Guncannon and Guntank.
Only after White Base's port engine was damaged and ordered to retreat did she finally break off to check on Eli, who had been gone for too long.
Seeing the charred remains of Amuro's Gundam's left arm, it was clear he had been through intense battles.
"Got it!"
Without wasting another word, Sayla unleashed a volley of missiles at the warriors, giving Amuro the opening he needed. Then, without hesitation, she charged through the same gate Eli had entered.
---
Seven Minutes Before the Solar Ray Fired
Eli had already dealt with the Zaku that entered the gate ahead of him, destroying it before it could fire. However, the pilot of the ash-gray warrior, Kado, was nowhere to be found.
"Pathetic. All that big talk, and this is what it comes to."
He could hear the Reaper's voice murmuring in his ear, mocking him.
He had once sworn not to be consumed by hatred—and now, it felt like a joke.
Eli grew silent.
Just an increase in sensory sharpness had left him this emotionally unstable.
Clearly, Newtypes weren't suited to be weapons of war—too unpredictable.
Eli pushed these thoughts aside as he piloted the EZ-SR deeper into the fortress, following the Reaper's guidance.
The EXAM system had roughly one minute left.
Originally, Eli had planned to abandon the mobile suit after breaching the gate. But the Reaper stopped him, insisting he follow her to a specific location.
"There's something here that will take countless lives," the Reaper warned.
So Eli obeyed, pressing forward.
But the Zeon forces had clearly detected intruders—or perhaps someone had anticipated his arrival.
Blocking his path was a massive head.
"The Zeong?!"
Eli froze for a split second before understanding. The head of the Zeong had detached and was now floating independently in the passage.
Normally, just the head could serve as an escape pod, but Eli sensed another presence inside—one far more intense than Char's.
"Lalah…"
"Funnels!"
Lalah's clear voice echoed in Eli's ears.
Beams fired from all four corners of the passageway.
They were already in position.
Eli clenched his teeth. With forty seconds of EXAM remaining, he fired every thruster, rocketing straight toward the Zeong's head.
His right arm ignited its beam saber, the EXAM system pushing his machine to its absolute limits.
But the tight confines of the passage made it nearly impossible to dodge the funnels' all-directional attacks.
Relying on razor-sharp control, Eli barely avoided critical hits, though his left arm and right leg were completely severed, melted away by the beams.
But the right arm endured—beam saber still intact—as it thrust forward, closing in on the Zeong's head.
"BZZZZT!"
A powerful beam shot from the Zeong's mouth, slamming into the EZ-SR's right arm, destroying both the armor and the beam saber.
Even with his suit falling apart, Eli refused to stop. He diverted all remaining propellant into a final burst of speed, black smoke pouring from his cockpit as the machine strained under the pressure.
"Fall, damn you!"
His rage burned through the neural link, reaching even Lalah.
"No! Stop!"
Lalah, who had placed all her hopes on ending this fight before Eli could land a blow, cried out in despair. Her focus shattered, and she lost control of the funnels.
In her mind's eye, she no longer saw just the charging Gundam. She saw Eli himself—his face filled with raw fury—and behind him, the Reaper, floating silently, her expression one of pitying amusement.
"CLANG!"
The EZ-SR's fist crashed into the Zeong's head, smashing through its final defenses.
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