Chapter 367: 367 Gundam Seed 8
While the Skygrasper kept the Aegis Gundam occupied and bought time, the Strike Gundam equipped the ’Aile Striker Pack (mobility pack)’ and began engaging Nicol’s Blitz Gundam. But Kira wasn’t fighting alone. His friend, ’Tolle Koenig’ (the lover of ’Miriallia Haw’), had sortied in the Skygrasper to provide support.
Nicol was already having a hard time dealing with Kira’s noticeably improved skills. When the Skygrasper joined the battlefield, the pressure became even greater, and he ultimately couldn’t hold out. In an instant, the Strike Gundam’s beam saber flashed and swung, slicing off the Blitz Gundam’s right arm, causing critical damage to the machine. But Kira didn’t stop there. A powerful kick that followed struck the Blitz Gundam directly, and the machine, losing its balance, fell from the Goohorn and plunged into the sea.
CRACK—!!!
Kira boarded the abandoned Goohorn and began engaging Athrun. Seeing him operate the Goohorn as if he had piloted it many times, even though it was his first time, I thought, ’He really is the protagonist.’
’He’s getting a lot of protagonist protection.’
But Athrun was also formidable. They fired beam rifles at each other and engaged in an aerial battle for a while. Eventually, the Goohorns they were riding were destroyed, forcing them to land on a nearby small island to continue the fight. Seeing this, ’Tolle Koenig’ sent Kira the ’Sword Striker Pack (anti-ship sword pack)’ equipped on his Skygrasper. Kira immediately switched the Strike Gundam to the anti-ship sword equipment and could now engage the Aegis Gundam.
But the two stopped moving as if to talk, facing each other with weapons drawn in a tense standoff. Probably, Kira was warning them that there was no chance of winning and that they should withdraw. However, since Athrun moved first, it seemed he had firmly rejected that warning.
CRASH!!! SNAP!!!
The two engaged in fierce close combat, but compared to the Strike Gundam, which had fought by exchanging various battery-powered packs, the Aegis Gundam didn’t have such features. As it reached its energy limits, even its PS armor finally shut down.
Just then, the Blitz Gundam, which had been hiding, suddenly revealed itself from the side and, with its remaining arm, grabbed a ’Lancer Dart (a long spike-shaped projectile)’ and tried to ambush the Strike Gundam. But Kira instinctively moved the controls, dodged the attack, and immediately swung his anti-ship sword, slicing the Blitz Gundam. Unfortunately, that blow cut through the cockpit, inflicting a fatal wound, and the Blitz Gundam exploded.
KABOOOM—!!!
’Ugh... I wonder if anyone will be suspicious if I save him...’
I was a little worried. He was so badly damaged; I wondered if it was even okay to save him.
I first moved the battleship to appear before them. That way, it would be plausible that our side was retrieving the destroyed Blitz Gundam and also rescuing Nicol. But perhaps because the Archangel had never seen this battleship before, they tensed up and began turning their main guns toward us. So I immediately sent an open broadcast.
"Don’t you guys think you’re fighting a bit too much? Aren’t you tired? Now that I’ve finally come down to Earth, you’re the only ones fighting."
—"Ha... you again. By the way, what is that battleship..."
Captain Ramias sighed again and said.
"What else? It’s a Celestial Being battleship. Anyway, finish up and both of you get out of here. You’re interfering with our vacation."
—"What on earth are you talking about? A vacation?"
"You don’t know what a vacation is? Look at this sea. Isn’t it perfect for swimming in swimsuits? Want to play together?"
—"Oh, for heaven’s sake... Let’s just stop talking, it’s giving me a headache. Ensign Kira, return to the ship."
At Captain Ramias’s command, Kira piloted the Strike Gundam back to the Archangel. But the ZAFT side wasn’t moving at all, so I warned them again.
"ZAFT, you turn back too. I see your comrade was injured. I’m sorry, but no more fighting."
At that, Yzak and Athrun seemed to want to fight again, but Dearka hurriedly stopped them, and they returned to their own ship. Once they had left, I immediately went down from the ship, collected the destroyed Blitz Gundam’s fragments and Nicol’s remains, and re-boarded the Aznable. Calling it Nicol’s remains was generous; all that was left was a single foot that had been inside the cockpit.
I used my [Restoration] ability to restore the Blitz Gundam, then analyzed the ’Mirage Colloid’ technology. In the process, I once again realized how overpowered the [Restoration] ability was. The Blitz Gundam, which had been a complete pile of scrap metal, was restored in an instant.
Mirage Colloid is a technology that sprays special micro-prisms around the machine to envelop it, then releases energy from within to form a magnetic field. This magnetic field refracts and absorbs visible light and radar waves through the prisms, allowing them to flow behind the machine, making it difficult to detect.
However, only its appearance is hidden; it can still be caught by sound or heat detection, and it cannot be used underwater because the particles cannot be sprayed. Moreover, maintaining the magnetic field consumes a lot of energy, so for battery-powered machines like the Blitz Gundam, even without using PS armor, the limit was only 80 minutes.
But for machines using solar reactors or nuclear engines, which have an abundance of energy, most of these shortcomings were not a major issue except for the inability to use it underwater. If I added the stealth mode that currently negated even heat source detection, I thought its efficiency would be further maximized.
And the advantages of Mirage Colloid didn’t end there. It could also leave afterimages during high-speed movement or create insubstantial分身 (clones) to confuse the enemy’s vision. Furthermore, by strengthening the magnetic field generated by the Mirage Colloid, it could even refract beams, a prime example being the ’Forbidden Gundam.’ Considering these points, it was clear that Mirage Colloid was a technology with high utility in many areas.
Naturally, this time too, I applied it to all named machines except the mass-production units.
’I’ve now acquired all the technology I need before Destiny.’
With the Mobile Suit matters settled, I turned my attention to Nicol. But just resurrecting him felt a bit off. Surviving that kind of damage and explosion was nearly impossible, so having him appear perfectly fine would make no sense. So I used my [Resurrection] ability to bring him back, but I did not regenerate his lower body. That way, it would be more plausible that he was cut in half.
First, I sealed his lower body to stabilize his life, put him to sleep with a sleep spell, and then used my [Mental Penetration (Cassandra)] ability to erase all his memories except basic knowledge. I then laid him to rest in the battleship’s infirmary. Of course, I also cloned ’Nana,’ an android I had used in Marvel, and had her handle nursing care.
Two days later, I received word that Nicol had woken up and went to the infirmary.
"You’re finally awake."
"Where is this? And who are you...?"
He too remembered nothing.
"Don’t worry. This is the infirmary of a Celestial Being battleship. We found you floating in the sea, seriously injured, and rescued you. You nearly died, but we performed emergency surgery to save you. You lost so much blood that you almost didn’t make it."
"Excuse me... I have no sensation at all below... What happened?"
Nicol, very flustered by the lack of feeling in his legs, asked me.
"Well... unfortunately, the part that was cut off in the accident passed through a very bad spot..."
"What do you mean?"
"Actually, I was going to tell you after you recovered a bit... but you won’t be able to have children in the future. In other words, you won’t be able to have sexual intercourse. Your entire lower body was destroyed in the accident, including those important parts."
At that, Nicol asked me again with a look of despair.
"What did you say!!?? What do you mean by that!!!???"
"Calm down! If you get too excited, you might start bleeding again! If that happens, you could die. So rest well and sort out your thoughts."
I calmed the agitated Nicol down. Then Nicol muttered, tears streaming down his face.
"Sexually incapacitated... a eunuch... I’m a eunuch... what is this? I’ve never even used it before... This must be a dream... I’m... I’m a eunuch..."
I decided to give Nicol some time and left the nursing care to Nana.
A day passed, and I visited Nicol again.
"How are you feeling?"
"A little better."
His expression still wasn’t good because of the fact that he had become a eunuch, but he seemed to have calmed down.
"That’s good."
"But there’s a problem. I know what Celestial Being is, but I don’t remember anything about myself. Not my name, my family... my home... or what I’ve been doing."
"Hmm... It seems the accident gave you a severe blow to the head, causing you to lose your memory. Well, it can’t be helped. You can stay here and try to recover your memories gradually. And I don’t know if this is good news or not, but... it is possible to restore sexual function. The problem is that it would be for the opposite sex."
At that, Nicol again asked me, flustered.
"Are you telling me to become a woman?"
"I’m not forcing you. It’s also possible to live as you are now without restoring sexual function. Fortunately, medical technology is advanced, so your legs can be replaced with artificial prosthetic legs, but that particular part is not easy to replace. However, using living intestinal tissue, we can construct a vagina, making it possible to live as a woman. The nerves are also somewhat intact, so if you transition to female, sexual activity would become possible again. Think about it."
"I-I see. I’ll think about it."
With that, several days passed. Nicol, under Nana’s care, spent his time going for walks on a nearby island in a wheelchair and reading books. Then one day, he came to me with a determined expression and said,
"I’ve decided. I’ll live as a woman."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes... Since I can’t restore that part, I thought that would be better."
Nicol seemed to have made up his mind.
"Then let’s do the surgery to attach prosthetic legs at the same time."
"Okay. But could I ask one favor?"
"What is it?"
Nicol hesitated for a moment, then shyly made his request.
"Well... could you make my breasts a little big..."
"R-right... I understand."
It seemed that since he was becoming a woman, he wanted to be voluptuous.
A few days later, we began Nicol’s surgery. For the legs, I modified implants from Cyberpunk to fit this era’s technology and attached them. For the gender reassignment surgery, I used existing intestinal tissue to construct a vagina, and also shaped the external appearance exactly like a female’s. In addition, I used fat to create large, natural breasts. I also carefully connected the nerves, so I thought there would be no major problems with sexual activity.
Of course, I also adjusted her body shape. Because male and female skeletons are different. Moreover, genetically she was still male, so she would have to receive female hormones for the rest of her life.
When Nicol woke up after the surgery, she asked me,
"Did the surgery go well?"
"It’s still too early to say, since you’re recovering, but I think if you do the rehabilitation properly, there shouldn’t be any major problems."
Hearing my words, Nicol suddenly spoke in surprise.
"I-I can feel my legs again!"
"That’s good. My hard work connecting the nerves paid off. But don’t push yourself. The connections I worked so hard to make could come loose. Restrain yourself during the recovery period."
"Okay."
We were living in the Cook Islands, helping Nicol with her rehabilitation. Nicol was cooperating with the rehabilitation and recovering quickly. And since she had no memories, she discussed it with Nana and chose the name ’Aria’ for herself.
But as soon as she recovered, this girl frequently engaged in self-gratification in her room every night. It was understandable. If a man changed into a woman’s body, the first thing he would do was obvious. Even Deadpool did that. However, unlike Deadpool, she wasn’t obsessively absorbed in it. So I just pretended not to notice.
While spending time like that, I suddenly received a call. It was from none other than Lacus.
"Jin, there’s a very big problem. I need you to come. The location is..."
"Really? Got it."
Since she sounded urgent, I decided to head to the location she sent. That place was none other than ’Junius Seven’ in the debris belt, where I had first met Lacus. I would have to go back into space, but fortunately, the General Aznable was equipped with a nuclear engine, so there was no problem with insufficient power to escape the gravity well.
After traveling for a while, we arrived at Junius Seven. What I saw there were a slightly damaged ’Freedom Gundam’ and ’Justice Gundam.’ I was shocked.
—"You’re finally here. I thought I was going to become a space stray."
"Th-those Mobile Suits are..."
—"My father and I piloted them to get here. Fortunately, their performance was good enough to shake off pursuit and arrive safely. Please take us aboard first. We can talk inside. I haven’t been able to eat for a long time, so I’m very hungry."
My head started to ache. It seemed things had gotten seriously messed up. If they brought the Freedom Gundam and Justice Gundam here, Kira and Athrun’s future would become uncertain.
