Chapter 317: Freedom Sets Sail 3
Lacus looked at Kira with a gentle smile and replied, "Isn't this kind of power exactly what you need right now?
If you want to end this war, relying on belief alone isn't enough—and relying on power alone isn't enough either.
So… for the sake of realizing your wish, Kira, for the sake of reaching the place you long for—don't you need it?"
Kira looked at Lacus, then turned back and stared intensely at the Freedom Gundam, murmuring to himself, "Belief alone… power alone… neither can end this war?"
Then he looked back at Lacus with confusion and asked, "Who exactly are you?"
"I'm Lacus Clyne," Lacus replied with a smile. "Kira Yamato."
Seeing Lacus's sweet, airheaded smile, Kira stopped probing any further and thanked her sincerely. "Thank you, Lacus."
"Alright, no need to be so polite. Come on, I'll take you to change into your pilot suit."
"Okay."
Under Lacus's guidance, Kira changed into the pilot suit Liza had prepared for him.
Standing in front of the Freedom Gundam's cockpit hatch, Kira asked Lacus with a worried expression, "Is this really going to be alright?"
"I'll sing as well," Lacus replied calmly. "A song of peace."
Seeing how composed Lacus was, Kira no longer dwelled on it. Since she had been able to bring him here so easily to the Freedom Gundam, she must have her own way to leave safely too.
"Then you be careful as well."
"Kira, you too. My strength will be with you." After saying that, Lacus placed a blessing kiss on Kira's forehead.
Kira's face instantly turned bright red, completely flustered.
Tolle couldn't help but complain inwardly. Kira, you know Lacus is a seasoned veteran in matters of romance. Every time Athrun visited her and left, things were far more intimate than this.
They went straight for cheek kisses—much higher-tier than your little forehead kiss. And besides, you're not even inexperienced anymore, so what are you getting shy for?
After a moment, Lacus herself blushed slightly, then smiled again and said, "Then have a safe journey, Kira."
With that, Lacus gently stepped away from him and returned outside the hangar to join Liza and Nicol.
Inside the Freedom Gundam's cockpit, Kira watched the monitors boot up and said to himself, "An anti-neutron jammer canceller… incredible. It really does have more than four times the energy output of the Strike Gundam."
After releasing the Freedom Gundam from its external restraints and activating the PS armor, Kira looked at Lacus waving goodbye to him and continued murmuring, "Belief alone… power alone… neither can end this war, nor change this world."
At the same time, abnormal alarms began blaring inside the ZAFT armory, and everyone there was instantly thrown into chaos.
"What's going on?"
"Reporting, sir! The Freedom Gundam has suddenly been activated!"
"What?! Close the airlock immediately! Report to headquarters and scramble MS units for interception at once!"
Then the commander shouted toward Kira inside the Freedom Gundam's cockpit, "Who are you?! Stop immediately and get out of the Freedom Gundam!"
But Kira completely ignored him, increasing the Freedom Gundam's thruster output and roaring out toward the open space outside the hangar.
After Kira departed in the Freedom Gundam, Lacus asked Nicol with some concern, "Will everything that comes next go smoothly?"
Nicol hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "It should… at least the Archangel and some of our people will definitely be saved. But those too close to the Alaska Base are certainly…"
"Let's hope that Tolle can change the future of this world," Lacus sighed, then said to Liza, "Liza, we need to leave immediately and head to the safe house. And notify the Mentor that the mission is complete…
…No, forget it. I'll contact him personally. And my father as well—I'll need to explain things to him myself."
Liza nodded helplessly. "Understood, Miss Lacus. Let's leave first and make contact on the way. This place is about to become very dangerous."
Under Liza's lead, Lacus, Nicol, and the few soldiers who had escorted her in quickly left the armory and headed for the safe house.
On the outskirts of the P.L.A.N.T satellite, several soldiers piloting Ginns on guard duty saw the Freedom Gundam suddenly streak past them and asked in confusion, "What was that? An MS?"
At that moment, they received the order from the armory. "Destroy the Freedom Gundam that just departed immediately. It has been stolen."
Only then did the soldiers realize that the unit that had just flown past was the stolen Freedom Gundam.
They immediately pushed their Ginns' thrusters to maximum and gave chase, firing their machine guns nonstop as they pursued.
Watching the pursuing Ginns, Kira opened the communicator and shouted, "Stop it! Let me go!"
But more and more Ginns closed in around the Freedom Gundam, forcing Kira to maneuver at high speed to evade them.
The Ginn pilots stared in shock at the Freedom Gundam's astonishing evasive maneuvers, exclaiming, "This guy is fast—way too fast! We can't hit him at all!"
Unfortunately for them, just as they finished marveling, Kira drew the beam saber.
In an instant, he was upon them. With a flash of light, the arms and heads of their Ginns were severed.
Then the Freedom Gundam accelerated sharply and sped off toward Earth.
The Ginn pilots could only sit there dumbfounded in their cockpits, staring at main monitors filled with static.
Along the way, Kira briefly passed by Athrun, who was aboard a shuttle returning to P.L.A.N.T.
Meanwhile, after completing all preparations, the Archangel slowly sailed out of the Alaska Base harbor under Murrue's command.
The moment it emerged, it immediately launched an attack on the ZAFT forces in the sky, unleashing a full salvo from its automated anti-air Vulcan defense system, single-barrel linear cannons, twin high-performance convergent fire cannons, and anti-air defense missiles.
Inside the base, Mu—already aware that the Alaska Base was about to self-destruct—ran through the corridors without pause.
He desperately hoped to deliver the warning to the Archangel as quickly as possible, so that Murrue and the others could escape this deadly place in time.
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