Editing KSGU:Volume 6 Chapter 3 (section)

===08:22===

The hatch of the starboard catapult deck was opened, and a strong wind blew into the bridge with a terrifying roar. The decelerating G-force was barely felt, but the “Ra Cailum” ship was still approaching at supersonic speed. The catapult decks on both sides looked like they were elevated, and the sound of them clattering continued to ring into the ears. Riddhe isolated the sounds that came in through the armor from his consciousness as he held onto the control set. The “Delta Plus” that was moving used its arm to grab the handle of the Base Jabber, and several indicators were lit on the display board.

(Path is clear. Romeo 008, prepare for launch.)

The voice of the communications operator rang. It was the meticulous voice of a man. ''How’s Mihiro and the rest of the “Nahel Argama” doing?'' Riddhe suddenly thought of this, but felt that it was pointless to think too much as he shook his head. (Lord Ensign, don’t be anxious.) Nigel then spoke up, causing him to lift his eyes that were looking down.

(I’m being honest here. I won’t be able to wake up well if you die in battle.)

“I understand. Dakar is a place I’m familiar with. I’ll go over to prepare the way first.”

(The capital’s like your backyard, huh? As expected of the prince of a Senator.) Daryl uttered som sarcastic words from another channel. (We haven’t settled our battle against you, so don’t die off on us first.) Watts too interjected, “Understood.” And Riddhe answered. ''Hating words could be considered a form of mental stabilizer. Looks like I’m more suited to being a pilot.'' Riddhe harbored such a bitter and hurtful feeling as he immediately casted them away and turned his tense face to the front again.

“Riddhe Marcenas, Romeo 008. Launching!”

The Base Jabber gently floated towards the lateral slip facing the outboard, and left the mothership with the headwind blowing. The “Delta Plus” that was clinging onto this Base Jabber lowered its posture, and Riddhe tried his best to endure the wind pressure that was stronger than what he expected. He saw the “Ra Cailum” move away from him in front as he proceeded to lower his height, and as he overlooked the coastline of Cape Verde, he let the machine glide down to a low height of 50m above the water. The mothership that was moving off of the coast of Dakar became a cloud as it vanished without a trace, and several trails of black smoke remained on the Cape, entering his sights.

As he looked over from the other end of the horizon, there was black grime that remained at a intersection where the sea, sky and earth met. It was smoke that was rising from the burning Dakar—exactly how much damage was caused? Riddhe let the shock from the sea below steady himself, and flew around the coast of the Cape at a speed less than supersonic. In less than 2 minutes, he reached a place where he could witness the devastation for himself. This Universal Century Manhattan obtained massive funding and an amazing amount of prosperity ever since the capital was moved for the second time, and at this point, the place became a large cremation field—the skyscrapers were giving off smoke like charcoal, and the landscape was full of rubble as they formed this scene.

The prevailing winds that blew by the skyscrapers brought the smoke to the sea, and it was impossible to tell where the fires were. The scattered dust was spread all over the plateau area, and the vestiges of destruction that lasted from the harbor to the city center were indistinguishable. The razed rubble and beastly trails were 100m in diameter and 2km in length, and they looked like trails of tractors moving down the corn fields. The tumbled buildings were crushed over each other, and the mobile suits that were exploded and ripped apart could be seen all over the place.

The scenes of the brand new capital that he walked down with his father, hand in hand, soon after it was moved here, was no longer to be seen. Riddhe took in air from his nostrils and suppressed the blood surge that was rising up his brain as he continued to let the machine fall further and fly right at the Bel-Air industrial zone. There was a gas complex and a chemical refinery plant on this reclaimed land right in front of him, and he chose a roundabout method to enter the city. ''Where’s the enemy mobile armor that caused such damage?'' He stared at the gaps between the group of buildings, and the moment he saw a new fireball of explosion from beyond the smoke, the reddish-brown object that rumbled at the base of the skyscrapers appeared in his eyes.

“Over there…!”

Riddhe’s first impression was that it was larger than he expected. He compared the enemy unit to the buildings, and guessed that it was almost twice the height of the “Delta Plus”, while the maximum length of its claws could match a medium-sized ship. ''Are those shining around it the reflective bits mentioned in the report?'' He stared at the floating objects that would change how they glowed according to the angle, and wanted to use the expanded window to catch sight of them.  at that moment, a chilling feeling caused him to pull his control stick.

Riddhe sensed that the mobile armor that had its back facing him was twitching slightly, moving its monoeye viciously. The moment after he let the Base Jabber rise up in height, the mobile armor let out a glow, and a deep bellowing sound that was like thunder raced past the ankles of the mobile suit in the air. The veil of dust was blown apart, and the cackling flash surrounded the gas complex below his eyes. Immediately, there was a burst of red flames as the liquefied gas tank was immediately blasted, but he did not see the outcome. The machine took the impact from the shockwaves as it endured the hot air that blew from the front, and Riddhe let the machine rush into the huge wall of fire that expanded in front of him. He heard the rumbling sounds of the hellish fire, and before he could experience any goosebumps, he let the “Delta Plus” move away from the Base Jabber.

The “Delta Plus” became a free-falling object for just a moment before it transformed into a waverider that passed through the black smoke and rose up. The mobile armor let out a beam, crushing the unmanned Base Jabber into dust. The explosion created a chain reaction; Riddhe let the waverider turn towards the city center while the gas complex that was in a sea of fire and smoke as a cover, before the machine rushed through the skyscraper.

The “Delta Plus” that transformed into a waverider was not as fast as the Base Jabber. Riddhe used the road two blocks away from the mobile armor, used the buildings as a cover, and let the machine glide through the place with a low altitude of 30m. The vehicles on the road were blown aside by the shockwaves, and the glass of the buildings on both sides of the road was shattered, none of which were left behind. Riddhe let the “Delta Plus” move 500m away from the mobile armor before transforming it into the mobile suit form to land on the ground. The machine took the effects of the acceleration as its feet were sunk deep into the asphalt, and it glided for another 200m before it finally stopped.

The silhouette of the mobile armor raising its large claws could be seen on the other side of the buildings that were intertwined. The “Delta Plus” wielding the beam rifle kept its posture down as it continued to dash through the buildings, and then lean its back on a department store facing the intersection point. The large buildings collapsed onto the roads, and it would take less than 30 seconds for the enemy to close in onto the roads before the 2 blocks. If he fired from extremely close range, the bits would probably be unable to respond in time. The “Delta Plus” poked its head out from the back of the building like it was peeking out to look at the surroundings, and Riddhe spotted the silhouette rumbling on the department store wonders. The two figures, probably an old man in charge of cleaning the department store and a lady, looked like they were utterly terrified of the 20m tall giant as they backed away.

''There’s still some who’re unable to run away in time?'' Riddhe could not understand what he saw immediately as he stared at the faces of the two people on the expanded window. A loud boom from a fired beam rang nearby, causing Riddhe to look forward in surprise. There was a “GM III” that crashed into the opposite building and retreated backwards, firing the beam rifle in its hands wildly as it fell down on its backside. That “GM III” saw the head of the large mobile armor swing down the large claws at the intersection point in front of the two blocks, and fired the missiles from the launchers docked on its shoulders.

Riddhe was unable to stop the other party in time. The missiles that were fired without careful aim hit the buildings along the streets directly, causing the exploding flames to rise up continuously. He saw one of the missiles fly through the glass window of the department store and explode deep inside the building. The wind pressure and shockwave that came from within blew the outer wall of several levels, and he could clearly see the old man and the woman caught within the exploded rubble.

The “GM III” continued to fire its beam rifle wildly at the road covered with dust and smoke. Riddhe grabbed the arm of the mobile and pulled it to the blind spot of the collapsed department store. (Khairul was killed…!) as the pilot continued to ramble on, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Riddhe used the communication channel to yell out at him,

“Why are you using missiles at such a place!? There’re still people in the city!)

(But we can’t let that guy approach the parliament hall…)

“For the sake of your pride, you…!”

Before Riddhe could finish his lashing, he again felt a bone-chilling intent on his back. He instinctively stepped on the pedal, and at that moment, something that looked like a shining mirror appeared in the blind spot of the department store, and the light of an electrical discharge immediately filled his eyes.

The reflective bits took the beams fired by the mobile armor and deflected the mega-particle shot into the cockpit of the “GM III”. Despite having left the scene just a moment before, the “Delta Plus” still could not dodge the shockwave caused by the explosion of the “GM III” completely, and the machine was knocked into the outside signboard of the building before collapsing onto the floor. Riddhe was barely able to maintain his consciousness due to the protection of the linear seat’s shock absorbers, and he immediately used the vernier thrusters to get the “Delta Plus” up. After that, the building beside it scattered in an explosive manner, and the large claws of the mobile armor approached its head like it was covering the roof.

It was simply impossible to believe that something of that massive size had such agility and quick vision. The head of the mobile armor appeared on the other side of the collapsed building, its monoeye glowing through the smoke. Riddhe screamed and tried his best to light the main thrusters. The “Delta Plus” was able to fly up due to the power boost from its legs, and once it dodged the attack of the claws, it transformed into the waverider. The large claws that missed crushed the ground, and the scattered fragements embedded themselves into the bottom of the waverider as it escaped.

“Don’t joke around…!”

Riddhe dodged the mega-particle cannon that could let out a salvo, and as he let the machine turn, there was a physical shot that came from another place, hitting the mobile armor. The “Guntank II” squad, comprised of machines with complete semblance of tanks on their lower bodies and humanoid-looking upper bodies, started to launch cannon strikes in the direction of the parliament hall. The 120mm low recoil cannons that was equipped on both shoulders let out a flash of fire, and the cannons that came from many directions caused the mobile armor to be lit with shots. The bits that surrounded the mobile armor glowed together, and the beams that came flying from all directions burned the surrounding buildings and pierced through the “Guntank IIs”. It was just explosions, scattering and falling happening, and tragic wails could be heard as the people, who were scampering around and could not escape in time, were eradicated by the collapsing rubble and flames the next moment. No matter the age or gender, all forms of flesh that were human in shape were immediately turned into scraps of flesh.

“There’s no reason for them to die because of such a thing…!”

''If this is a tragedy caused by the “Box”.'' Riddhe let the machine transform, duck low, charge forward and squeezed the trigger of the beam rifle to its maximum. The beams that were deflected by the bits ripped apart the dust, grazing past the head of the “Delta Plus”. The machine then stood on the road in front of several blocks and started firing again. “Get over here!!!” he did not care that the reflected beams grazed past his shields as he let the “Delta Plus” leap up again.

“I won’t let you kill anyone else. Just make me the only victim of the “Box”…!”

The beam rifle continued to let out shots, and the beams that were reflected back in less than a second shook the machine. Riddhe continued to launch his attacks fervently as he forced the machine to retreat back to the coast. ''Anyway, I have to let the mobile armor retreat to the city and buy time for the civilians to evacuate. How long can I last?'' His mind that was thinking about this could not work at all, and the “Delta Plus” continued to shoot in a suicidal manner as it danced around the skies above Dakar.