Chapter 304: Gina 3
"Alright, as you wish." Tolle strolled leisurely up to the M1 Astray Gundam whose weapons had already been swapped out.
Gina looked at Tolle as if victory were already in the bag and burst into wild laughter. "Hahahaha! You won't be arrogant for much longer. I'll repay everything from earlier all at once.
Of course, if you don't want to lose too badly and suffer for it, you'd better surrender now."
"Don't worry. I won't lose. You'd better get ready to call me big brother instead."
With that, Tolle floated into the cockpit and began adjusting his MS auxiliary operating system, pushing every reaction parameter to the maximum so he could give Gina a proper surprise later.
Gina glanced at Tolle making changes to his MS auxiliary OS, then climbed into his own cockpit and started adjusting his settings as well.
A few minutes later, everyone had finished tuning their MS auxiliary operating systems.
Immediately afterward, they all flew out of the Pillar of Heaven satellite together.
Still worried about the duel, Mina piloted her Holy-Duel Storm-Thunder Gundam and followed them out.
Yulia followed closely behind in her Strengthened Assault Blitz Gundam.
After the two M1 Astray Gundams reached open space not far from the Pillar of Heaven, Gina once again arrogantly said to Tolle, "You loudmouthed bastard, it's still not too late to surrender now.
Otherwise, when you're beaten flat later, don't blame me for not holding back."
"Understood. Thanks for the concern. But I won't surrender so easily. You don't need to go easy on me either—otherwise you'll lose miserably."
As Tolle chatted casually with Gina, he noticed that Gina was talking even more than before, constantly trying to persuade him to give up.
At the same time, Tolle confidently thought to himself that this might be because of Gina's sister. Maybe he had already acknowledged him as a brother-in-law—or maybe he was just scared and using chatter to mask his fear.
By the end of his persuasion, even Gina himself grew impatient. With a look of disdain, he said to Tolle, "Hmph, a guy who only knows how to talk big—aren't you afraid you'll bite your tongue? Fine, let's start. We'll all count to three together, then attack."
"No problem. We'll count to three together and start."
"Hmph, stubborn fool. You're about to regret this."
"Three, two, one—start!"
"Three, two, one—start!"
The thrusters of both M1 Astray Gundams ignited simultaneously, charging straight toward each other.
However, it was clear that Tolle's M1 Astray Gundam was faster, its performance pushed to the absolute limit.
Unwilling to accept this, Gina launched the first attack, raising his paint-round launcher and firing controlled bursts at Tolle's unit.
Tolle immediately activated Concentration, dodging with agile maneuvers. Each paint round passed by him at the closest possible distance without hitting.
Gina opened the comms again and shouted, "Bastard! I didn't expect you to have some real skill—but don't get cocky. I'll make you regret this soon!"
"Focus on your piloting. Careful not to bite your tongue." Tolle replied briefly as he continued evading, deliberately leading Gina around in circles.
After a few minutes, seeing Gina lose his patience, Tolle decisively launched his counterattack.
He raised the paint-round launcher and fired three shots in rapid succession at Gina's M1 Astray Gundam's shield.
Gina glanced at his shield, and his expression instantly turned ugly. He finally realized the gap between them.
It was also clear that Tolle's physical conditioning far surpassed his own. Several minutes of high-speed flight combined with rapid evasive maneuvers— even in space—still imposed significant acceleration forces and inertia.
Gina admitted to himself that he couldn't have endured that. Still unwilling to accept defeat, he reopened the comms and said, "You bastard, stop flying around like that.
Fight me seriously, not like some annoying fly buzzing around in front of people."
"Alright, as you wish. But remember to honor our agreement when you lose." Tolle had already grown bored of the cat-and-mouse game and decided to get serious. Since Gina had asked for it, there was no need to hold back anymore.
Tolle first pulled away at high speed, then curved back toward Gina while firing as he flew.
During the high-speed run, he fired ten paint rounds in succession. Six were dodged by Gina, while the remaining four all struck the limbs of Gina's M1 Astray Gundam.
That was already the result of Tolle holding back. He then finished with a boosted close-in charge, firing two shots point-blank at Gina's cockpit.
The match ended with Tolle's victory.
Mina, piloting the Holy-Duel Storm-Thunder Gundam, flew up beside Gina and said, "That's enough, Gina. The match is over. You lost. Let's go back."
However, Gina wore an expression of absolute denial, stubbornly insisting, "I didn't lose. I was just letting that guy have his way.
If I'd been piloting my Astray Gundam Gold Frame instead, that guy would've lost so badly he wouldn't even know where he failed."
Mina looked at her stubborn brother with helplessness and said, "Tolle was holding back as well. I'll show you something later, and you'll understand."
"Hmph, him holding back? You've got to be kidding. Fine, I want to see what you're planning to show me."
Although Gina looked unhappy, he still trotted after Mina and followed her into the Pillar of Heaven's hangar.
Mina took Gina alone into her personal hangar and stopped in front of the Astray Gundam Gold Frame Amatsu. She said, "Take a look. This is one of the dowries your brother-in-law Tolle gave me.
It's from the same lineage as your unit—the Astray Gundam Gold Frame Amatsu.
Well? Isn't it far stronger and more impressive than your half-finished Gold Frame?"
Gina stared at the machine, eyes wide and practically drooling as he said to Mina, "This unit is way too cool—absolutely perfect!
Sis, let's swap units. You already have that other one anyway, so just give this one to me."
"Heh, look at the state of you. In your dreams! This was given to me by your brother-in-law Tolle. How could I possibly just give it to you so easily?"
Hearing that Mina wasn't willing to hand over the unit, Gina crossed his arms and said unhappily, "Hmph, Sis, stop calling him brother-in-law all the time. You're not even married yet.
Besides, I haven't acknowledged him as my brother-in-law either."
Then, with his face reddening, he continued, "Without some real benefits, how could you possibly buy me off and make me call him brother-in-law?
And anyway, the bet earlier was that I'd call him big brother, not brother-in-law. If you want me to change how I address him, there has to be a 'fee' for that. That's not too much to ask, right?"