Chapter 584: Rolling Back in Full Force, the Word I Hate Most

NO．166：Rolling Back in Full Force, the Word I Hate Most

Kilometers.

The extremely recognizable laughter howled directly on the public screen.

The wind howled, the engines roared.

The ominous machine was like a stroke of spacetime, drawing a swaying star curtain in the clear sky!

Hundred meters.

The stroke of spacetime was near its end, the compound-eye-like V-shaped mirror surface flashed with purplish-red light, almost able to reflect that demonic god's ferocious skeleton!

That was the blasted armor ASW-G-08, only the key parts retained the w pattern, indicating how it differed from the original form called the Wolf King.

But it was also enveloped by the flight pack rushing in from the other end, like a small fighter jet.

All components were being assembled under laser traction.

Just like the old-school combining robot animations often seen on screen, performing the set display motions as if writing the combining program.

Making the pilot's laughter in the alien mech even more joyful.

Then,

It was the final ten-meter distance!

This distance was within blade's reach; the arm-mounted retractable blade, modified from the GN Battle Blade, shot out from the swinging arm!

With the added momentum from charging this far, it should have traced an unstoppable semicircular arc.

However—

Clang——!

From the point where the blades met, an astonishing shockwave turned into a clearing gale, sweeping the entire battlefield, testing the propulsion systems of all mobile suits.

At this moment, the two machines originally at the edge of the battlefield shone as brightly as if they were at the center.

Same material, unequal force—how did this clash form?

It's invincible; I added invincibility to the transformation!

GBN is ultimately just a game, not reality; being a game, it can grant most mechs with transformation or shapeshifting functions a special temporary buff.

Invulnerability, damage reduction, and even—invincibility.

Determined by different Gunpla designs.

And the ASW-G-08 in Aomo's hands has several models, but the one with the most special meaning is undoubtedly the ASW-G-08-w, the Dragon-Hunting Armor.

w, the final letter of the Hisya alphabet once mentioned alongside the a symbol, is also a religious symbol representing conclusion.

Its actual inspiration comes from the Omega Beast, a member of the Royal Knights of the Digital World.

It was once a temporary assistant to Xiangyu Takuha, and also a digital friend with whom bonds of camaraderie were forged.

Together with the young Takuha who helped save the Digital Crisis, he once explained it to the equally young Aomo; then—after three years, Aomo had deliberately distanced himself from that sibling pair, and still designed this armor set for Barbatos's modification list.

Although Xiangyu Takuha only recently got into GBN on a whim, and sought guidance from him, an experienced player.

Although that cheerful-smiling boy didn't come seeking an explanation for his aloofness, but simply—out of interest in a certain game, he went to ask veterans in his social circle who knew that game, resulting in this awkwardly earnest demeanor.

Although in the end that boy never truly got into it, just messing around for half a month before quitting and moving on to other games, he still felt apologetic when dropping out, thinking he had wasted a lot of Aomo's time.

But during that time, Aomo was still producing the Dragon-Hunting Type while tugging at himself.

Constantly self-reflecting, deeply knowing this friendship shouldn't be maintained, the Muhai Agency has always been an incident-prone place; the Xiangyu siblings have constantly been dragged into turmoil since childhood, even saving another world multiple times before adulthood—this is more trouble than observation value.

Because I lacked the confidence to firmly stand in the position of an 'Observer'.

So I should distance myself from those two and fade the connection.

But he actively sought me out, as if the intermittent contact over three years, barely able to connect, had caused no estrangement at all.

Just as before, with the same enthusiasm and youthful cheer, carrying only the expectation of seeking guidance, the helpful Aomo had no room to refuse.

Even so, they frequently chatted about personal matters, both asking about Aomo and recounting their own.

Such a person, constantly invading one's private space with no sense of boundaries, makes Aomo often think of cutting ties with a single slash.

Each time of self-reflection was about cutting off contact; this has been the habitual behavioral logic for sixteen years.

But every meeting could develop as planned in the prepared scenario, yet every exchange failed to utter the well-prepared script.

Is this an incomprehensible logical confusion?

It's impossible not to understand; he has observed so many people, seen the cold-hearted and unfeeling, as well as the affectionate and sincere.

He himself especially loves watching tokusatsu and robot anime, deeply understanding—that kind of spirit and personality is exactly a common trait of the protagonists therein.

It always lets him realize he is walking alongside heroes.

But this won't do……

The subconscious logical habit conflicting with emotional instinct is merely a mental torment.

Choosing the former, the impulses driven by puberty hormones would also subtly take effect, making him seem like a tsundere, subtly kimo.

Choosing the latter, the habitual rational train of thought would again occasionally surface, plunging him into an unavoidable dilemma.

At this point he even envied AI, deeply feeling that the soul inertia of carbon-based life is so inconvenient.

Relying on a bit of technological convenience, he could easily toy with his memories, but in the end he must pay the price.

At that time he was, without a doubt, lost in his own position.

Having neither fully observed nor fully committed…… he spent that half-month in that wavering and hesitation, feeling that deep inside his heart there was also a hint of change, and the catalyst for that change……

Probably it was the large memory fragments lost a year ago, marked as: 'The contract to be fulfilled,' and thus disappeared.

After that period, he often felt troubled by mood swings, unable to tell whether it was due to changes in adolescent growth hormone secretion, or what irreversible changes the lost memories left him with.

Looking back three years later, he felt that was roughly one of his worst periods.

But it was also during that period that the Omega Armor, bearing the w—meaning 'Conclusion'—as Barbatos's equipped armor backpack, came into being.

Ultimately, is it to end that unstable mindset of his youth, or to end that rare, strange friendship of existence?

He himself didn't know either.

The only thing that can be certain is——this armor, whether its capability, appearance, or even color, all originates from the story he told six years ago, and the story he continued three years ago.

It is a reconstruction of the story Aomo told Tuo Hai, and also something he never told Tuo Hai—he had always been secretly developing a brand-new Barbatos modification route.

Its core construction reference is, in "Gundam Build Fighters Re: RISE", the core Gundam's equipment-changing combination structure, the "Planetary System", which can combine with different support machines.

Unlike the core Gundam dubbed the "Shorty Gundam", which combines with different support machines to achieve normal proportions, Aomo's creative concept is obviously more extreme, more sinister……

— I simply strip the flesh, keep the bones, and combine in Gundam skeleton form!

In the plate specifications supported by GBN, only the Iron-Blooded system's metal Gundam frame supports such operation.

The vast, ancient demon god revives in skeletal form, re-clothed in steel flesh; among them, the demon god named Barbatos stands out.

It has the toughest skeleton, supporting the most explosively powerful body.

Just like this moment——

The invincible transformed state has faded, but the Barbatos Dragon Hunter, which likewise faces off with arm blades, yields no ground, nearly matching alien armor with a black hole engine at full output.

That is still the original Barbatos's dual optical sensors, already flooded with dark red flowing light. Behind it, the propulsion device, instantly overloaded with extreme startup power, blazes into a cape-like crimson, providing strong power to match the opponent.

"Is your patience really this bad, Evolto?"

"After all, you've kept me waiting, Omerlinton."

Cracks spread across both arm blades; the ground beneath continually cracks and expands under intense heat and impact; dark and purple-red fiercely flutter in each other's optical sensors, imbuing the steel with will, burning with a human-like fighting spirit.

Yet the emotions displayed on the two pilots' screens remain quite stable.

"You like waiting? You love failure even more than I imagined."

"Who knows? Maybe I'll make a comeback."

"There's no such possibility."

Swish!

A sudden flick of the silver-white dragon tail broke the deadlock; the alien machine, with the expected three-red swiftness, dodged that tail swipe, and the steel demon god drew the giant blade behind it, roughly matching the machine's height—the armor's sole external weapon.

You'll die here again!