Mobile Suit Gundam SEED TWILIGHT

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Phase 16 - Battlefield of Tears

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Emily blinked in disbelief as she found the Aile Strike Gundam looming between her and the Aegis, shield raised to deflect the Twilight's shots. The Aegis took off, but the Strike remained, leveling off its beam rifle.

"Kyali!" Emily cried. "What— why did you protect him?!"

The Strike opened fire— Emily jerked the controls aside, sending the Twilight reeling, and ducked behind her beam shield as the Strike followed, spitting beam blasts.

"Kyali! Why are you doing this?!" Emily shouted, falling back as the Strike showered her with rifle shots. "Why is she attacking me...?"

Kyali's face flashed onto the screen— Emily cringed as she saw the Extended's tear-streaked face. "Just go away!" Kyali snapped. "So we don't have to fight!"

"But we don't have to fight!" Emily protested, throwing the Twilight back as the Strike came down with a beam rifle volley. "Stop it! I'm here to save you!"

Kyali's eyes flashed, and Emily felt a chill run through her blood. "It's too late for that," Kyali said. "I...I have my orders!"

The Strike attacked again, driving the Twilight back behind a wall of beam shots. Emily grunted as the Twilight shook, and took off over the Strike's head. "Kyali, stop this! You don't have to listen to him! You can leave!"

"You don't understand us Extended," growled Kyali, as the Strike chased after the Twilight. "Just go! Or I'll shoot you down!"

"Kyali!"

"Don't make me!"

Emily ground her teeth in frustration, leveling off her own beam rifle and firing back at the Strike's Aile Striker pack as it approached. "Why are you following his orders...?!"

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"So you're the bastard that's responsible for all this!" Shinn snarled, as the Destiny Gundam, flanked by the Gaia, came streaking in towards the Aegis. "I'll send you to hell myself!"

The Aegis whirled around, firing a round of beam blasts that went sailing harmlessly through the Destiny's afterimages. The Destiny snapped its own rifle up to return fire, but the Aegis spiraled up into the air above the shots.

"If that girl from Murmansk is piloting the Twilight," Harris growled, "then you must be...!"

The Destiny closed in, sword drawn, and brought it down with a crash on the Aegis's shield. Harris's eyes flashed furiously.

"Shinn Asuka!"

The Destiny surged forward, throwing the Aegis back. Harris somersaulted up over its head, and ducked aside as the Gaia lunged into the fray with a swipe from its beam saber.

"You're lucky I didn't realize who you were in Murmansk!" Harris yelled. "But I'll correct that error now!"

The Aegis showered the two Gundams with beam rifle fire, before taking off again. Shinn followed with a scream, sword pulled back for a killing blow.

"Come back here!" Shinn screamed. The Aegis whirled around, activating the saber on its right foot, and brought it down onto the sword's blade with a crash. The Gaia lunged up above the Destiny, spewing beam blasts and forcing the Aegis back behind its shield.

"You made Emily sad!" Stella shouted, as the Gaia charged, drawing a saber. "I'll make you pay!"

The Aegis brought its own saber down with a crash, stabbing forward and stopping the Gaia's deathblow. The Destiny ducked into the battle beside the Gaia, sword upraised— Harris swung back with his second saber, blocking the Destiny's sword stroke and leaving all three Gundams locked together in midair.

"Kyali!" Harris cried. "Continue attacking the Twilight until ordered! The Minerva will regret this battle, I swear!"

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"The Aegis is up there," Sting said as the Chaos and Abyss moved in ahead of the Minerva, gliding forward with wings spread. "Minerva, this is Chaos. Do we have permission to move forward and engage the enemy?"

"The enemy's MS forces are tied up by Athrun's team," Abbey answered. "I don't think we'll need them on defense, captain."

"Then move in and try to help Emily," Meyrin instructed. "We're getting this over with quickly."

"Let's go!" Auel roared— the two Gundams took off with a flash. "I'm not letting the Alliance have their way with another Extended!"

A wave of beam blasts forced the Chaos and Abyss apart, and both pilots glared up ahead as the Sword Calamity came roaring in, with two Windam beam rifles in hand on a sub-wing unit.

"I'll protect the ship," Hayden snarled, clenching his fists around the controls. "I'll follow my orders!"

The Sword Calamity opened fire with both rifles, forcing the Chaos and Abyss back. The Abyss fired back with a wave of beam shots— the Sword Calamity ducked beneath them and pounded back with a Scylla shot that nearly blew off the Abyss's head.

"Shit, we're gonna have to go through him!" Sting shouted. "Auel!"

"I see him!" Auel shot back— the Abyss lunged through the smoke, firing a Callidus blast that sent the Sword Calamity reeling. The Chaos fired off a volley of missiles that came streaking down around the Sword Calamity— Hayden blasted the missiles apart with his beam rifle, backing away and lunging above the smoke to fire back.

"If I can keep you two separated," Hayden growled, training his rifles on the two Gundams and firing again.

"I see this guy's gonna be difficult," Sting grunted, leveling off his beam rifle. "Auel, get around him!"

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The Aegis rattled as a wave of beam shots pummeled its shield, forcing it back. Harris glared towards the sky, finding the Infinite Justice and Savior descending with a volley of beams. "Reinforcements?!"

"Athrun, Viveka, flank him!" Shinn snarled, as the Destiny charged, sword in hand. "We'll tear him to pieces!"

The Destiny brought its sword down on the Aegis's saber with a crash, sending the red Gundam reeling. Harris ducked forward, below the Destiny's horizontal follow-up, and then darted aside to dodge the Gaia's beam rifle blast. The Savior followed up with a barrage of plasma cannon shots that forced the Aegis to dive out of the sky— directly into the path of the Infinite Justice, which sawed the Aegis's beam rifle in two with a beam blade-assisted kick.

"Dammit, it's four on one!" Harris snapped, taking cover behind his shield as the Justice showered him with beam cannon fire. The Destiny came plunging down from the sky with a devastating sword swipe, shattering the Aegis's shield. "My shield!"

The Aegis pulled back, ducking below the Gaia and Savior's beam barrages, and transformed with a flash into its mobile armor mode, igniting all four beam sabers and firing a pulsing Scylla burst across the sky.

"Patrick, get your team in here and cover me!" Harris cried. "I'm returning to the Bonaparte for new equipment!"

The Aegis dove backward, beam sabers flailing and forcing the Justice back. The Destiny leveled off its long-range cannon, but an instant later the sky lit up with beam blasts, and a quartet of Dark Windams came streaking in, beam rifles blazing.

"Is he retreating...?" Athrun grunted, as the shots landed against his beam shield. "Dammit!"

"He'll have to come back eventually," Shinn snarled, brandishing his sword. "Athrun, Viveka, pull back to support the Minerva! I'll take care of these guys!"

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"Minerva, combat speed! Target the Tristans and Isolde on the land-ship's bridge tower!"

The Minerva shuddered as the Tristans and Isolde boomed, but the shots sailed wide as the Bonaparte down below veered to the right, letting the shots slam into the snow.

"Such mobility...!" Abbey exclaimed. "How can they maneuver a ship like that?!"

"Enemy ship has launched missiles!" Burt reported.

"CIWS, intercept!" Meyrin ordered. The Minerva's CIWS shrieked to life, tearing the missiles out of the sky and throwing a cloud of smoke over the battlefield. "Malik, bring us down by five degrees!"

The Minerva plunged down towards the ground as the Bonaparte returned fire with four pulsing Gottfried blasts, ripping through the sky over the Minerva.

"Pull us in behind the enemy," Meyrin continued, as the Minerva agonizingly banked to the right to slide in behind the fleeing land battleship. "They can still target us from here...Parsifal, fire! Malik, descend by twenty degrees and level out after six seconds!"

The Minerva's missile tubes roared as a volley of Parsifal ground missiles came shrieking out, arcing down towards the Bonaparte. A wall of CIWS fire cut them out of the sky as the Minerva plunged through the smoke.

Meyrin felt her blood run hot— "Tristans, Isolde, fire!"

The Minerva's guns roared, but Meyrin blinked in disbelief as the Bonaparte veered to the right, letting the shots plow uselessly into the ground. The land-ship's two stern-mounted Gottfrieds swiveled around, leveling themselves off at the ship—

"Pull up!"

The Minerva groaned in protest as it rose into the air, just as the Bonaparte fired and sent a volley of beams searing by underneath the winged warship. Meyrin eyed the Bonaparte in frustration as the Minerva leveled out.

"They don't have a blind spot where the guns can't cover them," she murmured. "But we have to do something..."

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The Legend spiraled elegantly through the air, dodging the beam rifle shots of a squad of Jet Dark Windams and returning fire with its beam rifle. The Windams pulled back behind their shields, releasing a volley of missiles— Rau cackled and tore them from the sky with a CIWS burst.

He risked a glance across the battlefield, finding the Twilight in battle with the Strike. "Minerva, this is Legend," he said, ducking behind his beam shield as the Windams returned fire. "I do not believe we will be able to capture the Strike."

"Wha— why not?" Meyrin sputtered. "We've only just started."

"The Strike is currently fighting the Twilight," Rau explained. "Perhaps Emily is unaware of some of the realities of an Extended." He paused, ducking beneath the Windams' blasts, and snapped his rifle into position to shoot one of them down. "Needless to say, Emily would likely have to incapacitate the Strike to bring its pilot in."

"If that's the case, then we should pull back," Abbey said. "There's no sense risking ourselves in this battle if we don't have to."

Meyrin narrowed her eyes at the Bonaparte up ahead. "That's not good enough," she answered. "Continue attacking the enemy land-ship!"

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"Merely against these things," Shinn growled, as the Destiny danced effortlessly between the beam blasts of the Windam squad, "I can't fail!"

The Destiny whirled around as one of the Windams came in for the kill, seizing the Windam's arm with its left hand and blowing its arm off with a palm cannon strike. The Windam staggered back, smoke pouring from the stump of its right arm, and before it or its comrades could act, Shinn drilled a beam rifle shot through the Windam's cockpit.

"Where is that guy?!" Stella snapped, as the Gaia Gundam deflected a wave of beam shots with its shield and fired back. "He hurt Emily!"

"He'll have to come back," Shinn said, "because we'll tear down his troops right here!"

The Destiny charged, brandishing its sword, and brought it down with a crash onto the second Windam's shield, throwing it back. Shinn surged forward, and the Windam desperately parried the Destiny's blow with a beam saber, pushing back with all the thrust the Jet Striker could provide to keep its balance.

The Gaia lunged forward, deflecting more blasts with its shield, and snapped a beam saber from its waist armor to rip apart a Windam's beam rifle. The Windam backed away, reaching for its own saber, but too late as the Gaia rammed its blade into the Windam's cockpit.

"They hurt Emily," Stella growled, "so they're gonna pay!"

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The Twilight went tumbling towards the ground, beam shield shimmering, as the Aile Strike Gundam charged with beam saber drawn. Emily struggled to regain her balance, and threw her saber up to block the Aile Strike's finishing blow.

"This kind of fighting..." Emily murmured. "Why are you fighting like this?!"

The Aile Strike lunged forward, throwing the Twilight back and pulling its saber back for a killing stab. Emily swung her own saber down to spoil the blow, parrying the Strike's blow and sending both sabers sailing wide of their targets.

"I'm an Extended!" Kyali shot back. "If I'm separated from that guy for too long, my body starts shutting down and I'll die!"

"What?!" Emily cried. "You'll die?!"

"That's why I didn't go with you!" Kyali shouted, tears in her eyes as she brought the saber down again, crashing against the Twilight's beam shield. "That's why I stay here! That's why I let them beat me and rape me and do this to me!" The Strike surged forward again, sending the Twilight reeling. "And that's why I saved you!"

"Kyali..." Emily murmured, struggling to maintain control. The Strike came down with a saber swipe— the Twilight somersaulted over its head, whirling around, only to find the Strike there again to slam its saber down onto the Twilight's blade. "It doesn't have to be like this! You can leave!"

"And just die on the Minerva!?" Kyali cried. The Strike charged again— the Twilight swung its own saber up to block the Strike's blow, leaving the two Gundams locked together in midair. "I saved you so that you wouldn't wind up like me!" Emily felt her stomach churn as Kyali's eyes flashed. "So kill me!"

"Kill you?!" Emily wailed, eyes wide. "What— Kyali, I can't— !"

The Strike roared forward, pushing the Twilight back. "That would be better than going back to those guys to abuse me again!" The Strike slammed the Twilight back with a kick to the chest. "You don't understand what it's like to be thrown to the ground and used like a goddamn mobile suit!"

Emily grunted as she fired the Twilight's thrusters, stopping her descent and swinging forward to stop the Strike's finishing blow. "Yes I do!" she cried. "I felt it while it happened to you, and all I could do was lie there and suffer while I felt you suffering beyond the horizon!" She looked up painfully at Kyali's angry face. "That's why I came here to save you! So that it won't happen again!"

"Then kill me!" Kyali screamed, charging again. "Kill me and you'll set me free!"

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The beam boomerangs exploded as Auel's Abyss Gundam blew them out of the sky with a beam cannon volley, but the Sword Calamity lunged from the smoke with its two rifles in hand, spewing beams at the Abyss and forcing it back behind its shoulder shells. The Chaos slid in from the side, beam rifle leveled off, but the Sword Calamity leapt off its sub-wing unit, somersaulting in midair and dodging the blasts before landing back on the sub-wing and returning fire.

"This guy's good!" Sting growled, deflecting the return fire with his shield. "Auel, that sub-wing needs to go!"

"This whole damn things need to go!" Auel snapped— the Abyss charged, lance drawn back for a killing blow and smacking aside the Sword Calamity's blasts with its shoulder shells. The Sword Calamity backed away as the Abyss brought its lance down, and hurled its right-hand rifle at the Abyss. Auel hacked it in two with his lance, only to find the Sword Calamity charging with sword in hand, smashing the sword down onto the Abyss's right-hand shoulder shell. "Dammit!"

"You're mine now!" Sting cried, as the Chaos came down with a volley of beam shots that blew away the Sword Calamity's remaining rifle. Inside the Sword Calamity, Hayden bit back a curse and jetted backwards, just as the Chaos dropped into his line of fire.

"You'll have to die at some point!" Hayden screamed, charging forward with an Armor Schneider in hand and slamming it down into the Chaos's shield.

"An Armor Schneider?!" Sting exclaimed. "Is this guy nuts?!"

"He's dead!" Auel screamed, lunging up over the Chaos for a point-blank Callidus blast. The Sword Calamity lunged aside, smashing the Chaos back with its sub-wing in the process and letting the blast sear by.

"That's not gonna trick me," Hayden snarled. "I'll stop you both!"

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The Gaia stormed through the last Windam's desperate beam rifle volley, smacking the shots aside with its shield and bringing its saber down in a powerful vertical sweep that tore the Windam's rifle in two. Stella charged with a scream, saber drawn back for a killing slash, and pounded it against the Windam's own saber. The black Phantom Pain machine went staggering back from the blow— Stella saw her chance, roaring forward and plunging her saber into the Windam's cockpit, before kicking the maimed mobile suit towards the ground.

"That one's gone," she murmured, glancing across the battlefield. "Shinn!"

The Destiny sailed through the air, beam wings shimmering and afterimages flashing across the sky as it roared towards the beleaguered remaining Windam. The Windam opened fire, but its shots passed through empty afterimages, and with a bone-jarring shriek of shredded metal, the Destiny tore the Windam in two with its anti-ship sword.

"The Aegis has to be around here somewhere," Shinn said, as the Destiny deactivated its sword and switched back to its beam rifle. "It must have gone back to the land-ship for new equipment."

The two Gundams glanced aside as a wave of beam blasts shot across the battlefield. A trio of black Windams, all sporting some manner of damage, came streaking towards the Destiny and Gaia, with the Legend Gundam in hot pursuit.

"Fine day for a battle, don't you think?" Rau chuckled, picking off a Windam with his rifle. "I do not believe young Emily is faring well in her quest to capture that Extended."

Shinn leveled off his beam rifle and shot down the second Windam, while the Gaia blasted the third out of the sky. "If we take out the support," Shinn said, glaring, "that Extended won't have any choice."

"Indeed," Rau agreed, "but penetrating that land-ship's defensive fire will be a daunting task."

Shinn turned his burning crimson eyes towards the Bonaparte. "Just watch us. Stella, let's go!"

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"I'll send you Phantom Pain bastards to hell myself!" Viveka screamed, as the Savior Gundam tore through the air in mobile armor mode. "You won't lay a finger on my sister again!"

The Savior let loose a withering barrage of beam cannon blasts on a quartet of Windams, taking cover behind their shields and firing back with their rifles. The Savior darted elegantly through their blasts, reverting to mobile suit mode to return fire. The Windams backed away again, as a wave of beam blasts came streaking down from the heavens, and the Infinite Justice entered the fray with a rifle salvo.

"Don't let your anger cloud your judgment," Athrun warned, deflecting the Windams' return fire with his beam shield and taking off again. "I made that mistake."

Viveka shook her head. "Right." The Savior took off again, dodging fire from the Windams and squeezing off a beam rifle shot that pounded against the leader's shield. Athrun dropped in front of it and speared the Windam through the torso on a beam rifle shot, backing away as it exploded and the remaining Windams attacked.

"The more of these we destroy, the more of us will be able to go help Emily," Athrun grunted. The Infinite Justice fired back with its rifle, scattering the Windams.

"Then let's get rid of them!" snapped Viveka, charging at the first Windam in front of her and drawing her saber. Before it could react, she cut its rifle in two— the Windam backed away, dodging her second saber swipe and drawing its own saber. The Windam brought its blade down on the Savior's shield— Viveka surged forward with a scream, thrusting her shield skyward and sending the Windam's saber arm wide, and then slashing the Windam in two at the waist with her saber.

Up above, the Infinite Justice effortlessly danced through the beam rifle fire of the remaining two Windams, ducking behind the first one. Athrun narrowed his eyes, firing his Grapple Stinger and lodging it into the Windam's back. The Justice whirled around, dragging the Windam with it and smashing the Phantom Pain machine into its comrade. The two Windams went sprawling— Athrun leveled off his rifle and fired at them both, drilling a shot through both and blowing them apart.

"Wow," Viveka's voice put in, as the Savior approached. "That was pretty fancy."

"All in a day's work as far as I'm concerned," Athrun said, as the Grapple Stinger retracted back to its proper place. "There's another squad incoming! Let's go!"

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"I'm not going to kill you!" Emily screamed, as the Twilight blocked another furious saber stroke from the Aile Strike. "There are other Extended on the Minerva! They escaped the Alliance! You can do it too!"

The Strike pounded the Twilight back with a punishing kick to the chest. "Don't make me kill you, Emily!" Kyali shrieked. "I'm not like them!"

Emily blinked in surprise as she regained her balance, just in time to deflect another saber swing. "You know about them...?"

"Sting Oakley, Auel Neider, Stella Loussier!" Kyali snapped. "They told me if I did as they did, then I would..." She shook her head, unable to finish. "I don't want to kill you, Emily, but as long as you're on this battlefield, I have to!"

"Kyali...!" Emily murmured, stopped as the Strike rammed the Twilight with its shield and followed up with a devastating saber stroke that the Twilight's blade barely blocked.

"I don't wanna wake up every morning to that guy looming over me, and remember that I had to kill the only person who was ever nice to me!" Kyali screamed. "Don't make me do that! Kill me first!"

"Kyali!"

The Strike backed away. "Bonaparte, this is Kyali! Send me the Schwert Gewehr!" Kyali charged again, saber held high, slamming it down onto the Twilight's saber. "You can't save me, Emily! You never could!"

Emily's eyes flashed. "Stop it!"

The Twilight surged forward, beam wings flashing to life, pushing the Strike back. Kyali blinked in disbelief as her Gundam went reeling.

"I'm not going to kill you!" Emily cried. "I'm not going to let myself live with the knowledge that you saved my life and I didn't give you a chance to escape these monsters in the Phantom Pain! You're coming with me, and if I have to tear that cockpit open to do it, then so be it!" The Twilight charged. "BUT DON'T TELL ME TO ABANDON A FRIEND!"

The Strike quaked as the Twilight slammed its saber down onto its foe's red shield, forcing it back. The Strike kicked back off the Twilight's chest, backflipping away and stashing its saber back on the Aile pack. A Skygrasper roared through the air, ejecting the massive Schwert Gewehr anti-ship sword from under its wing. The Strike seized the enormous blade, igniting it with a flash and bringing it down hard on the Twilight's arm, shattering its solid shield.

"You can't save me," Kyali cried, "you're too late! So don't make me suffer anymore! Kill me, Emily!"

Up above, equipped with a replacement shield and beam rifle, Harris watched the battle grimly.

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The Abyss rattled as the Sword Calamity brought its swords with a crash against the Abyss's lance, driving the Gundam back. Auel grunted and fired a point-blank cannon blast into the Sword Calamity's face, sending it staggering for distance.

"You can't punch through the Trans Phase with that!" Hayden snapped, lunging out of the smoke. The Sword Calamity lunged forward, extending its right-hand sword—

A blast of fire ripped up through the air, and Hayden looked down in shock as his sub-wing unit exploded. He glanced to the side— the Chaos Gundam was there, beam rifle raised triumphantly. With a crash, the Abyss sliced off the Sword Calamity's right arm with its lance, and sent Hayden tumbling down to the ground with a devastating kick to the back.

"Shit!" Hayden snarled— the Sword Calamity fired its thrusters, angling back for the Bonaparte.

"That takes care of him," Sting said grimly, floating down next to the Abyss.

"Do we go for the kill?" Auel asked, watching the Sword Calamity impatiently.

"No time," Sting said quickly. "Emily needs our help. Let's go!"

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Charging forward with a wake of shimmering afterimages, Shinn narrowed his eyes at the fast-approaching Aegis Gundam.

"So you finally came back!" he snapped, opening fire with his beam rifle. The Aegis ducked aside from his shots, firing back. Shinn whirled around, but a moment later, a squad of Windams were there to stop him in his tracks. He drew the Destiny's anti-ship sword, swinging it wildly at the black Phantom Pain mobile suits, but they ducked backward to avoid his furious swipe. "Dammit, get out of my way!"

The Windams scattered as a wave of beam shots coursed across the battlefield, and with a crash, the Chaos and Abyss Gundams pounded their way onto the battlefield. Shinn stormed forward, sword held high, and slammed it down onto the first Windam's shield, crashing through and tearing the Windam's arm off. The Phantom Pain mobile suit staggered back— the Destiny charged, stabbing the Windam through the cockpit with a bone-jarring crunch.

"We still have to catch up to the Aegis," Sting put in, as the Chaos deflected a volley of beam shots, charging towards one of the Windams and spearing it on a beam rifle shot.

A third Windam went down in flames to a beam barrage from the Abyss, and Auel hefted his lance, scanning the battlefield for more enemies. "Hell if I'm letting him get away!" he snapped. "Nobody abuses an Extended like that and gets away with it!"

Shinn smacked aside the fourth Windam's desperate beam rifle blasts and put his sword through its torso, tossing the ruined mobile suit away as it exploded. "There's something wrong here..."

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"Colonel," Tupolev's voice warned inside the Aegis's cockpit, "we've reached our limit."

"I just need a little more time to destroy the Twilight," Harris answered. "Somehow they have to pay for this."

Down below, the Aile Strike Gundam charged after the Twilight, with huge sweeping swings of its anti-ship sword. Emily ducked beneath one swipe and somersaulted over another, desperately looking for an opening.

"Don't make me do this," Kyali pleaded. "Don't make me live like this! You beat me once before! Now do it again!"

"Not if I can still save you!" Emily protested.

"You can't!" Kyali screamed. "Now kill me!"

The Strike smashed its sword down onto the Twilight's saber. Emily grunted, kicking forward with the Twilight's right leg and sending the Strike's shield spiraling out of the sky. The Strike blasted forward with its Aile pack, using its sword to hurl the Twilight away with sheer momentum.

"If I went with you," Kyali sobbed, "then...then I'll disappear!"

The Strike Gundam charged, sword upraised.

The seed burst before Emily's eyes, flooding her consciousness and sending a surge of power shooting up her spine. With a flash, the Twilight jammed its left hand forward, deploying its beam shield and stopping the Strike's sword slash cold, both Gundams rattling. As the Strike struggled to lift its sword back up, Emily surged forward with a scream, and the Strike shook as the Twilight slashed off the Strike's right arm, sending its arm and sword spiraling towards the earth. With another crash, the Twilight slammed its saber down into the Aile pack, blowing it apart— and finally, the Strike rocked as the Twilight seized the maimed white mobile suit by its remaining left arm, holding it up in midair by the arm. Kyali looked up in disbelief at the victorious Gundam, its sky-blue eyes flashing triumphantly.

"You won't disappear!" Emily shouted, eyes flashing angrily. Kyali blinked in surprise. "You won't! I'll be there! I'll save you, I promise!"

"I...I won't...disappear...?" she whispered brokenly.

"You won't be alone," Emily said. "I won't let you disappear. I'll save you. I'll find you. I'll be with you. But you'll never disappear."

"E-Emily..." Kyali started.

The sky split with the roar of engines— Emily and Kyali looked over in surprise—

"You've outlived your usefulness, Kyali!"

With a blood-curdling shriek of twisting metal, the Aegis Gundam leapt into view and slammed its saber through the Strike Gundam's cockpit. Emily's eyes went wide in horror as the light from inside the broken Strike went out, and the Aegis withdrew its saber, pulling away from the sparking, ruined machine. It erupted into a thundering fireball, and the Twilight went hurtling back from the force of the explosion.

Emily stared in horror as she felt Kyali disappear.

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To be continued...