KnightOfZaku: We aren't done yet! We still need to do several fights and Holy hell has this taken a long time, At this rate, we might be looking at nine to ten chapters in total!

Music:

1. DanMachi - "Heroic Desire"

Operation Wyrm VIII: Howls Stained In Dusk

As the group made their way through the highway, Ryan was careful to stay on high alert. "Stay close to each other." Ryan ordered, "If you pick up something, let everyone know."

"Understood sir." His subordinates replied,

'Damn it…' Ryan looked around anxiously, 'Make your move already…'

"Zakus! On the horizon!" Charlotte Hepner called out,

"More stragglers?" Selma asked,

"No…They're Federation!" Ryan yelled,

Almost as soon as Ryan called it out, from the surrounding hillside, mobile suits, Guntanks, and Type 51s began descending down towards them.

"We've been surrounded!"

"Don't let them escape. Keep them pinned down with coordinated fire!" Rose ordered,

"Yes ma'am!" The Sky-Type gundams began laying down a barrage of thick beam cannon fire.

Well, most of them.

A single red Sky-Type began rushing forward towards the cluster of mobile suits. Rose sighed, "Lilith! Stay with me!" Rose called out to her as she began charging towards the Zeon mobile suits below.

"Understood, Commander!"

It was only then that she saw it.

A glistening shell, maybe 300mm in diameter, zoomed by her at a speed that was near impossible for normal humans to even register.

It split the air between Lilith and Rose and impacted directly on the Sky Type behind her. Throwing her mobile suit forward with the force of the explosion.

It was then a chilling scream was heard over her comms.

"JONATHAN!"

"Good work Major, that was the fly with the Beam Sniper." Monique said curtly.

"Would it kill ya to give a genuine compliment…?" Sonnen muttered,

"You say something?" Monique questioned,

"Loading APFSDS!" Sonnen said quickly, "Same for the next round! I'll hit the Guntanks and snipers with counter battery fire!"

"Understood Major. We'll focus on the ones descending the slopes." Geheart ordered, "Take them out!"

The Federation communications burst into chaos and panic.

"The fuck was that?!"

"They have a battleship?!"

"Down there! The tank one!"

"It looks 300mm!"

"300mm?! That's going to put us in a box and send us all to hell!"

"EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Rose screamed at them, 'Shit…we didn't expect fucking wunderwaffe…'

"Change plans, rush them directly! No one stays on the hillside!" Rose ordered,

"You want us to run straight in front of that thing?!" Helios asked incredulously.

"At least you won't see it when it turns you to paste." Rose said mirthlessly,

Rose continued rushing forward, weaving through 120mm machine gun fire and various other ordinance as well. Even glancing off a bazooka shot with one of her Gundarium wings.

"Commander!" A scream over the comms and a flash of electricity, Rose ducked down as another 30cm shell whizzed over her mobile suit.

"Enemy is charging out of the hills! They've been spooked!" Seven called out,

"First shot was a direct hit. Target destroyed. Second shot deviated upward, the fire control system isn't compensating for the heated barrel." Sonnen explained,

"If we could get the data, then I could possibly rewrite the program right here. Going to take a minute though." Seven said instantly, much to the surprise of Oliver May beside her.

"What do I do in the meantime?!" Sonnen asked,

"Improvise." Seven shot back dismissively.

"Tch. Never thought a kid would be telling me to improvise…" Sonnen immediately

"Still…what kind of AP can blow up a fucking Gundam like that?!" Kayla wondered

"Calm down, Jonathan was stationary. From this range, there's no way he can hit a moving target!" As if to punctuate her point, Rose dodged a bazooka shot over her shoulder before returning fire with her Beam rifle.

'The shot deviated upwards on the second round, meaning it doesn't have perfect calibration either. He might be adjusting it now though.' Rose analyzed, 'In a tight fight like this, he can't move around freely either.'

"Kayla! Hit him with the rail cannon! Herman - take the Type 61s and hit them from the flank! Czariano, have your team fire a barrage with missles!"

"Right!"

Seven suddenly leaned into her headphones, "I'm picking up electromagnetic spikings! The enemy has a railgun!"

"Major! You need to-"

"On it!" Sonnen immediately shifted gears and reversed right as the Railcannon impacted where he was seconds before.

"All units be advised! Missiles incoming!" Arlette shouted, right as missiles began raining down on the mobile suits, forcing them to scatter to dodge.

"Charge! They're out of formation! It's now or never!" Rose shouted, thrusting her beam saber through a J-Type Zaku.

Lilith swung her twin Beam spear into its scythe configuration and splitting another Zaku in two.

"This is for Jonathan you bastards!" Kayla screamed as she drove a beam saber through the raised hand and directly into the cockpit of a wounded Zaku.

"Don't forget that tank bastard! That 300mm is going to tear us apart!" Vanessa shouted,

Without warning, a shell fell from straight above Vanessa, throwing her mobile suit off balance and causing it to fall.

"Vanessa!" Kayla shouted in worry and panic,

"She's fine! The enemy is firing High-Angled HE! Don't stop moving!" Rose transformed into fighter form and swooped in and moved Vanessa's immobile MS out of the way right as a second shell landed.

'Damn…they're breaking up our force too!' While they had the situational advantage, their plan relied on them breaking up the large concentration of mobile suits. Not fighting them one on one. She was fully aware that many of the Zeonic MS here were ace pilots.

Without warning, a Zaku bore down on her, and slammed its heat hawk down on her Beam Saber.

"You…!" Rose gritted her teeth, despite not having the markings, she was sure of it.

It was the Black Knight.

Rose pushed the Black Knight back with her Beam Saber, before rushing forward, Saber extended forward to pierce his cockpit.

Ryan glanced the saber off his Heat Hawk, before pulling the Gundam forward and smashing his fist into its main sensor.

"Damn you!" He screamed, turning his heat hawk, he prepared to strike for the Gundam's head, but it kicked forward, causing him to stumble backwards.

Immediately regaining his balance, Ryan continued to charge forward, hacking and slashing at the Gundam with increasing fury, meanwhile, the Gundam was countering whenever he faltered, moving for openings and weaknesses whenever it could.

After half a minute, both mobile suits were looking equally worse for the wear. Ryan had large scorch marks across his arms, the Zaku's joints sparked from the combination of damage and overuse.

The Gundam had several dents and long scratches in it, its golden paint was scarred with black burn marks from the Heat Hawk.

Finally, the Gundam rocketted backwards, simultaneously drawing its work arm with the built in Beam rifle, and Ryan's eyes flashed briefly.

'There's a weapon!' Immediately, Ryan seized upon the opening, drawing his 120mm he opened fire, catching the arm as it extended and tearing through the weak limb, causing the rifle and internal E-CAP to explode.

As her E-CAP exploded, the mobile suit lost its balance and stumbled around for several seconds, disorienting Rose long enough for her not to notice the oncoming HEAT shell.

Without warning, the shell exploded at her feet, covering her Gundam in napalm flame.

'Hot!' Rose thought to herself as the surrounding area flared up to nearly 1,200 degrees.

"COMMANDER! GET OUT OF THERE!" A voice screamed, and without warning, another mobile suit slammed into her gundam, pushing her out of the flames.

"Vanessa…? What are you…?" Rose said drunkenly, still somewhat disoriented by the sudden action.

"Sorry 'bout that commander." Rose could've sworn the girl smiled behind the radio as an APFSDS shell tore through Vanessa's mobile suit.

"Second enemy mobile suit downed! Gundam damaged but still operational!" Sonnen reported,

"Regroup! Don't let them break us up again!" Ryan ordered, the various dispersed fights in the valley ended as the Zeonic mobile suits circled around their command units and the damaged.

"Loading another round! This time APHE!" Sonnen yelled out, the Hildofr's autoloader racked an APHE round as it swung around to face one of the Semovente Corps Zakus.

The surprised pilot had no time to react as the 300mm APHE shell ripped through its upper chest, sending shrapnel into the cockpit and shredding the pilot.

"Sonnen! Keep moving!" Ryan yelled, leading the formation.

"Right!" Sonnen shifted gears and moved for the formation.

"Get above it…!"

"Commander what are your orders…?!"

"Keep moving…fly!"

"Commander!"

"COMMANDER!"

"What…?" Rose finally snapped out of her daze, "What happened…?" She felt mobile suit being dragged, "Lilith…?"

"Vanessa died saving you." Lilith said simply, causing Rose to hiccup in despair.

"I see…" Rose began to quietly cry,

"What are your orders, commander?" Lilith asked,

"I…why?" Rose asked, "Just…listen to the Lieutenant Colonel for now…"

"What will you do?" Lilith asked,

"I…just leave me. I want to lie here." Rose couldn't bring herself to touch the controls. Vanessa and Jonathan, two of her subordinates…no. Two of her friends. Both had died because of her.

Jonathan had died because she'd order him to stay behind.

Vanessa died trying to save her.

"Understood, Commander." Lilith dropped the Gundam, leaving it to rejoin the fray.

"The Gundam isn't moving!" Arlette called,

'Is the pilot…?' Ryan wondered, and began to move towards it, but was blocked by a Zaku II Commander Type, but not before he was overcome by a wave of emotions emanating from the Gundam.

Despair.

Guilt.

Grief.

For a brief second, Ryan forgot all about killing the pilot, overwhelmed by the emotions for a brief moment, only for him to refocus as the Zaku raised its hawk.

'A captured one!' Ryan thought quickly, blocking its heat hawk, only for the joint to spark as he barely managed to block the blow.

'This mobile suit can't take much more…!' Ryan analyzed, and found himself wishing for his Gouf again.

"Commander!" Johnny rushed forward, taking the next hit on his shield.

"Thanks Johnny, I don't think I can fight anymore." Ryan said exhaustedly,

"You should pull back to the rear." Johnny insisted, and Ryan nodded, and thought back to the Gundam, lying still on the hillside.

'...I should die.'

That's right. She should be dead, she should've died at Loum. Died in the Earth's orbit. Died at Side 6. She should be dead ten times over.

Forget the One Year War, she should've died at Munzo.

'I want to go.'

'I don't want anyone else to die under my command.'

'I want it all to end.'

Rose closed her eyes, ready for the next 300mm shell to impact her little piece of the hillside, ending it all in one painless swoop.

1. "Hey! Girlie!" A voice shouted over the comms. "Wake the fuck up! You ain't dead in that cockpit! There's no way!"

"Colonel…I transferred command to you…just leave me be for a second…"

"Fuck that! What happened to all the tough talk back at the base?!"

"Colonel…they're dead. Dead under my orders." Rose said drearily,

As Federico and Johnny gripped eachother, Federico kept speaking: "So?! This is war! A war we've been on the butt end of for months! People die and they will keep dying! But…when you came along…I got to admit, I started to believe we could win!"

Federico shoved Johnny down on one knee, only for the enemy Ace to kick at his legs, causing him to stumble back. "I get that its hard. We've all been there. But if we gave up now - then what the hell did everyone before us die for?!"

̈"What have we been doing for the past seven months?!" Federico pulled his 120mm machine gun and gutchecked Johnny in the cockpit.

"What have we shed blood and sweat for?!" Johnny grabbed the 120mm, and threw it away, forcing both fighters to use their melee weapons.

"Why the hell…do we even know each other?!"

A solitary tear traced its way down her cheek as memories flooded Rose's eyes.

"Hey. You did your best. Colmatta foisted this mission onto your shoulders and you didn't buckle, you went with it, and our entire team came out mostly unharmed. I wish I could say the same for the mobile suits…"

"..But I do know that you're not some cuckly little girl, so stop acting like one. You got us out of there alive, and that's not something that just anyone could do."

"Shut up. You got it once and you suddenly think you're an ace?" Jonathan snarled irritably,

"Technically, yeah. I've long passed 5 kills."

Jonathan rolled his eyes, and Rose whacked him on the back of the head.

"So stand up kid…cause everyone needs you!" Federico yelled.

1- 'If that's how it is then…'

"I'm going…TO BE WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS!" 1x

A/N: This is actually a record, I've never devoted so many chapters to one arc before, especially an all-original arc. Personally, I never expected this to be so long, I kind of thought it'd be 5 or so chapters at most, but nope, 5 became 6, 6 became 8, eight is now becoming 9, and nine (who knows) might become 10.

Official Wiki Link: officiai-solar-century .fandom. com