Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 43

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the battle between Kira Yamato's Strike Gundam, outfitted with an Aile Striker pack, and Athrun Zala's Aegis Gundam, which was taking place on a small, uncharted island about 100 miles southwest of the Orb mainland, had become downright vicious.

"ATHRUN!" Kira shrieked as the two charged. He deflected Athrun's right beam saber with his shield, then severed the left arm at the shoulder with the beam blade of his sword before Athrun could put it to use. The Strike then kicked the Aegis in the head, sending it flying back, though Athrun managed to keep his machine on its feet before leaping backwards into the air, away from the furious pursuing Strike as the white machine fired its railguns, cannons, and shield-mounted gatling furiously.

Athrun grit his teeth. He'd driven Kira over the edge. Now, his friend, no, his enemy, knew what it was like!

"I'm going to..." Athrun scowled as the Strike began to descend on him. "KILL YOU!" A green jewel seed rushed through Athrun's mind before shattering behind his eyes.

Athrun activated the beam sabers in his machine's feet and flew forward, no longer caring about the attacks from the railguns and cannons.

The Aegis kicked at the Strike, the beam saber severing the Strike's left arm. The Strike's sword flashed forward, cutting through the Aegis's head, ripping it off. Athrun again kicked at the Strike, his saber this time cutting a gash in the Strike's chest, exposing the cockpit.

"ATHRUN!" Kira roared.

"KIRA!" Athrun roared in turn, transforming the Aegis into its mobile armor form and grabbing the Strike with its claws. He pulled the trigger for the Scylla, and the weapon charged, ready to fire a blast straight through Athrun's enemy…but then it died, and Aegis faded from red to gray. Athrun stared at his power monitor.

The Strike struggled, and Athrun saw the machine look at the Aegis, at him. Kira was as ready to kill him as he was to kill Kira.

Athrun had sworn, though. He'd sworn to kill Kira.

Athrun activated the Aegis Gundam's self-destruct and ejected.

The 00-Raiser tossed its solid blade into the air and Setsuna sprung both of his Armor Schneider combat knives out and stabbed one into the bottom of the Duel Gundam's beam saber, while the other sprouted from the underbelly of the Duel's shield. Yzak removed the shield quickly, but before he could even grab his remaining beam saber, Setsuna drew both of his and cut the Duel's arms free, then stabbed them into its shoulders.

Still faster than a stunned Yzak could react, Setsuna used his glowing beam sabers to cut free the missile launchers mounted on the Duel's legs. Yzak instinctively opened up with his CIWS, the only weapon he had left, only to find both of the 00-Raiser's combat knives buried in the two barrels.

All this in the few seconds the 00-Raiser's solid sword remained in the air, as the 00-Raiser grabbed its main weapon once more and, green eyes flashing with a seeming fire, the solid blade flashed through the air.

Setsuna hadn't even blinked as he stepped away from his foe.

"You're not a threat to me or my friends any longer." Setsuna said coldly, pupils dilated, brown irises engulfing almost his entire eyes, appearing faceted like a diamond. Tears of blood leaked from Setsuna's eyes, staining his once-pristine uniform.

Fractures spread through the frame of the 00-Raiser as the machine initiated Trans-Am, even as, before Setsuna's very eyes, the Duel fell apart, the pieces exploding, and the cockpit landing safely in the water.

"Hold together, Gundam." Setsuna said, turning his now glowing machine to face the other battle. The Aegis ran out of power as he watched and, knowing what would happen, Setsuna rushed forward, further straining the 00-Raiser's badly damaged frame, already pushed past its limits.

The glowing form of the 00-Raiser ignited a beam saber with a flash, severing the Aegis's claws and freeing the Strike at the same instant the clawed mobile armor exploded.

"The Naturals are fools for thinking they can take Boaz." Ezalia Joule commented smugly, as she, along with Rau Le Creuset and Patrick Zala stood within the Aprilius One command center.

An aide approached Patrick. "Sir, Admiral Kessel has been organizing the force at Jachin Due to reinforce the garrison at Boaz and drive the Earth Forces back."

Zala smirked, not caring who was organizing such a force. "Yes." He said. "Let's crush that pitiful force at Boaz. Have all nearby forces move to reinforce Boaz. We're going to destroy every last one of them."

Rau found this all so amusing. Muruta Azrael and Patrick Zala had been so easy to manipulate. It was always those who believed themselves impossible to manipulate that were the easiest to manipulate. They believed themselves to be controlling their side and this war like a chess player. In reality, he was the player and they were nothing more than his lowly pawns.

Perhaps it was time to stoke the fires one last time before Azrael unleashed the Alliance's surprise. "Chairman Zala..." He began.

Zala glanced over his shoulder. "Yes, what is it Le Creuset?"

"I'm sure the Earth Forces are well aware of the strength of Boaz's forces and that defeating them would be no easy task." Rau replied. "But I can't imagine they'd attack it if they didn't have something up their sleeve."

Patrick raised an eyebrow in a questioning manner. "What are you getting at?"

"It's difficult for me to say, but as you know, there are a number of wild cards in play," Rau explained. "Wild cards like the Freedom, the Justice and Lacus Clyne." He noted those two in particular because he knew it would hit Patrick the most, given that the Freedom was the one originally stolen and the Justice was the one his son, Athrun, had taken.

Patrick's face turned into an angry scowl. "Are you trying to say that they may have once again acquired their nuclear capabilities?"

"I know." Rau said softly. "It doesn't seem possible."

Rau was about to continue when he was suddenly interrupted by the enraged voice of Kira Yamato. "Rau Le Creuset, you stupid, genocidal fuck!"

"Where is that coming from?" Patrick roared.

"It's coming from the Freedom!" One on the technicians reported, zooming an exterior camera in on the blue winged Gundam, which was wielding a pair of glowing beam sabers, as it sped into the Aprilius One space dock, effortlessly cleaving Nazca and Laurasia-class ships in half along the way.

"Sir!" The technician yelled. "The Freedom, it's changing!"

"What do you mean?" Patrick asked, clearly enraged as the video feed appeared on the main monitor. Everyone in the command center watched in awe as the image of the Freedom Gundam slowly dissolved and changed.

The machine retained its original color scheme, but that was the only thing which went unaltered. A green orb appeared in the Freedom's chest, the physical shield on the left forearm was replaced by one which was much sleeker, even as another, smaller shield appeared on its right forearm and the blue wings were replaced by brightly glowing, pure white angel wings.

"Patrick Zala." Kira growled. "I know about your super weapon, GENESIS, and I promise that if you use it, I will personally make your life a living hell." With that, the unknown machine, which was previously believed to be the stolen Freedom Gundam, began to glow with a blood red light, even as it transformed into its flight mode and streaked away, leaving brightly glowing afterimages in its wake.

Three days later, Patrick Zala sat within the control room for GENESIS, with Rau standing at his side.

"We are now at the minimun required firing charge." One of the technicians reported.

"Fire!" Patrick ordered.

Nuclear energy suddenly burst from the center of GENESIS and collided with the alignment mirror, reflecting rays of energy back to the main body of GENESIS, a massive burst of energy exploding outwards a moment later.

And hell was unleashed upon the Earth Forces fleet.

The massive energy blast tore through the fleet. Nothing could stop it. Nothing could withstand it. The hulls of even the mightiest ships in the Alliance fleet were nothing compared to the firepower of GENESIS. Dozens of Agamemnon, Nelson, and Drake-class ships were destroyed in an instant, alongside countless Alliance mobile armors and mobile suits. The armor of their hulls and machines might as well be made of paper against the powerful blast of GENESIS. In a matter of seconds, half of the Alliance fleet was gone.

Just about everyone watching was stunned and horrified. The surviving Earth Alliance Forces, the Three Ships Alliance fleet and even the ZAFT forces could only stare at the devastation brought upon the Alliance forces.

"GENESIS fired at 60 percent maximum output." A technician reported.

"Estimated fifty percent of enemy forces destroyed." Another added. "The enemy forces are retreating."

"Commence cool-down. Remove reflector mirror one and move mirror two into position."

Up on the command platform, Patrick Zala and Rau Le Creuset grinned at what they had wrought.

"Your Excellency, I am astonished to see how incredible GENESIS truly is." Rau commented.

"There is no point in fighting a war unless your side has the means to end it with victory." Patrick replied.

Patrick Zala stood up from his chair.

"Courageous soldiers of ZAFT!" He shouted. "We can no longer tolerate the aggression of the arrogant Naturals! Once again, the PLANTs have come under nuclear attack! This is no longer a war! It is a campaign of extermination! We can no longer forgive the Naturals who commit these atrocities without remorse!"

"Our new future! For the light of creation is with us! This is a day of history, marking the advent of a bright new world of Coordinators! The new Mankind!"

The control room filled with cheers and chants of 'Victory'.

The surviving Alliance forces were now in full retreat. However, a number of ZAFT forces were less than willing to let them leave. GINNs and GuAIZs chased after retreating Strike Daggers and 105 Daggers as ZAFT warships fired on the fleeing Earth Alliance warships.

"Stop it!" Kira shouted, undocking from the METEOR and firing on a pair of GINNs with his plasma cannons, severing their heads. "Stop firing on those that aren't fighting back, you fucking cowards!" Kira snarled and even as he disabled the two mobile suits, he accessed the Excalibur's computer.

"Wha-what the hell is that?" A GuAIZ pilot asked, as the Excalibur suddenly faded into visibility beside the Archangel, Eternal and Kusanagi. An instant later, all of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT mobile suits and warships lost power as the Excalibur unleashed a massive EMP blast. Even the control room for GENESIS was plunged into complete and utter blackness.

"It's not supposed to end like this!" Rau roared, as he bolted towards where he thought the door was. To his relief, the door opened, but he stopped his panicked sprint a moment later, when he noticed a pair of blood red eyes glaring at him through the darkness of the corridor.

Rau took a step back as the corridor was once again illuminated, not by the lights, but by a pair of blood red fireballs, as the brightly glowing orbs flew by less than a foot from his head. Rau's eyes widened as the creature stepped into the dim light, it was humanoid, but its skin was grey, and it had nearly a dozen blood red eyes splayed across its face. Rau didn't hesitate, raising his pistol and quickly emptying his entire clip into the creature, killing it, with that done, he continued moving towards the hanger.