Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Ep. 16: Cycle of Sin

Prospera tells Belmeria that Eri is at Suletta’s side and waiting beyond the data storm, and Belmeria accuses her of turning a human into a mobile suit. Prospera declares that she wants to rewrite the world so Eri can be happy, and she was surprised to see that Eri’s biometric code completely synched with the data storm. However, her child’s body couldn’t survive in space, so Prospera used the Gundam Lfrith to keep Eri alive as the Gundam Aerial. Belmeria speculates that Prospera used the data storm’s network to transfer Eri’s biometric code, and Prospera answers that Eri is nothing more than Permet particles now and would disintegrate without the Aerial as her body. Prospera explains that with a Permet score of eight, if they can expand the range of the data storm through Quiet Zero, then Eri can live in freedom. Prospera asks Belmeria to help her, but she refuses because it goes against the principles of the Vanadis Institute. Prospera then notes that Belmeria helped create enhanced humans with artificial nervous systems that are resistant to the data storm – the Neural Expansion Theory that Cardo rejected. Belmeria starts crying and falls to her knees, and Prospera declares that there won’t be any escape for her either. INN reports about the terrorist attack at Asticassia and the kidnapping of Sarius, which Dawn of Fold has claimed responsibility for. The report adds that it’s believed the group was also involved at the Plant Quetta incident, which resulted in Vim’s death and Delling’s injuries. Since then, the Benerit Group has been carrying out its own military operations on Earth under business administrative laws, leading to a rise in anti-Spacian sentiment. The heads of the three main branches meet, and Peil co-CEO Nugen asks if there’s any word about Sarius. Appearing remotely, Shaddiq answers that they only received one video message, but the front management company is continuing to search. Lauda angrily demands to know why Cathedra can’t catch these people, and Peil co-CEO Kal notes that he was at the school incident too. She thinks all these hardline policies have failed, and Nugen notes that the Space Assembly League is also investigating, so they’ll have to pick a new president soon. After the meeting ends, Shaddiq tells his House members that he won’t miss the chance to run for president of the Benerit Group. Ireesha asks if Miorine is going to take over for Delling, but Maisie explains that blood alone isn’t enough to win the job. Shaddiq thinks Miorine might have a chance if one of the three branches backs her, but he won’t try to be her partner anymore. Miorine asks Lauda if GUND-ARM has been cleared of any suspected terrorist activity, but he frames it as they just haven’t found any evidence of the company’s involvement. Lauda tells Miorine that she should be happy to no longer be a trophy once a new president is in place, but she answers that she couldn’t care less. Asticassia begins repairs to the front, and all students are placed under restrictions, with many leaving the school. Secelia tells Rouji that she’s not leaving because then no one would be around to run duels. Suletta and Lilique try to hold back Chuchu, who is angry about Nika being held in custody by the front management company. Nuno tells Chuchu not to cause any more trouble since all of them are already suspended, and Ojelo adds that everyone is always suspicious of Earthians. Chuchu is also upset that they seized her Demi Trainer and the Aerial Rebuild. They hear a noise outside and find Spacian students spray painting anti-Earthian graffiti on the side of the building. The students call them terrorists, and Martin declares that they didn’t know anything about Sophie and Norea, so he wants Earth House to be left alone. One of the students accuses them of harboring witches, but Suletta counters that the Aerial is different. The student yells that people died in the Rumble Ring, including their friend Jubeju. The student angrily throws the spray paint can at Suletta, but Martin steps in and is hit in the head. Miorine tells everyone to stop and says the school won’t ignore direct evidence of the assault that she just filmed on her phone. Sabina tends to Nika’s wounds and asks her to join their group. She notes that with her mechanical skills Nika could continue her studies elsewhere and achieve her dream of bridging Earth and Space. Nika answers that she doesn’t want to be a victim anymore and that she doesn’t believe the ends justify the means. Nika asks Sabina if she’s an Earthian, and Sabina answers that she was until Grassley took her in. She adds that ideals alone can’t change reality, and Nika also can’t leave. The co-CEOs of Peil call Elan and tell him to obtain the Aerial for them and not bother with Suletta. They’re also disappointed by his fighting performance during the Rumble Ring, but he explains it away as merely observing the situation. They tell him to carry out his mission at all costs, if he wants to live. Shaddiq arrives at the Benerit Group Front and is informed that the company has splintered into six factions, with Grassley in last place. Guel arrives at the front and feels like he’s been gone for ages.

Lauda is shocked to see Guel and faints after standing up too quickly. After Lauda is taken away for medical treatment, Peta tells Guel that Lauda was probably excited to see him. She explains that things have been tough for him, having been thrust into the position of acting CEO after Vim’s death and Guel’s disappearance. Guel tells Petra to take care of Lauda while he handles the rest. Miorine gets a report from Feng about Nika’s disappearance and is informed that she was taken away by people posing as front management company employees. Feng offers to keep digging in return for a favor – freedom of access to GUND-ARM. Miorine asks if they’re being investigated too, and Feng explains that she’s curious about Shin Sei. Feng shares her suspicions with Guston about a small company like Shin Sei having excessive Gundam repair costs. She knows the higher ups of the Benerit Group will intervene, so they have to prevent unnecessary fuss. Miorine shares the news about Nika with the members of Earth House, and Chuchu thanks her since they weren’t able to learn anything on their own. Aliya hands Miorine a stack of paperwork of the many business matters that have been left unattended in her absence from school. Everyone starts flooding Miorine with requests, so Till raises Suletta’s hand to get Miorine’s attention. Suletta nervously asks Miorine to look at the greenhouse, so Miorine gets up to leave. Prospera shows up to see Suletta since the investigators are done questioning her. She tells Suletta to look after Miorine, and Miorine wants to go. Elan sneaks into the Aerial Rebuild’s cockpit and initially gets no reaction. However, he has a painful Permet reaction from a data storm and sees Eri, who tells him to stay away. Multiple Eris appear, and one of them touches his head and inflicts severe pain. He wonders what kind of suit this is because it’s completely different from the Gundam Pharact, and Belmeria tells him he can’t handle it. Elan asks Belmeria to help since it’s an order from above, but she refuses. She questions aloud what she should’ve done instead after the Vanadis Incident. She starts crying about hoping for a better future, so Elan punches her and knocks her down, asking if that better future includes human experiments like her. He accuses her of not wanting to die but also not caring about what happens to him and says he’s going to report her. Suletta shows Miorine the greenhouse and asks if she got her emails, which Miorine answers that she did. Suletta then asks if Miorine is mad at her about Plant Quetta, and Miorine answers that Suletta is the one who should be mad. She notes that Suletta saved her and Delling, but she said something awful to Suletta in response. Miorine wanted to say she was sorry and thank Suletta, and Suletta notes that Prospera predicted that Miorine would eventually come around. Suletta thinks she did the right thing by fighting to protect Miorine and Earth House, and Miorine asks how she can be smiling. She knows that Suletta rescued her, but Suletta also smashed a person to death, so Miorine can’t smile. Miorine says that right or wrong, it’s nothing to smile about, but Suletta answers that only she and Aerial could save everyone. Miorine asks if Prospera told her that, and Suletta responds that she did. Miorine asks if Suletta would do anything Prospera tells her to, and Suletta says she wouldn’t quite do “anything.” Miorine raises a hypothetical about Prospera telling Suletta to leave the school, and Suletta answers that she’d be troubled, but she’d give up if Prospera told her too. Miorine reminds Suletta that they created GUND-ARM to help people and demands to know if Suletta would kill with a Gundam if Prospera told her to. Suletta hesitates before answering that she would. She explains that she got to come to school and meet Miorine and everyone because she listened to Prospera, so that’s how she knows her mother is always right. Miorine starts crying and runs away to confront Prospera. She angrily grabs her by the shirt and demands to know what her plans are for Suletta and says she won’t let Prospera have her way. Prospera asks if Miorine will then have her way with Suletta the way Delling does with her, and Miorine accuses her of using Suletta like a puppet. She also says Delling has nothing to do with this, but Prospera insists that he does because he’s the target of her vengeance. Miorine doesn’t understand, and Prospera explains that 21 years ago, Delling killed everyone at the Vanadis Institute and took everything from her. Prospera notes that Miorine accused Suletta of being a murderer, but she thinks Miorine is the same by living inside the circle of murderers. Prospera forcefully pulls Miorine close to her and whispers that she wants Miorine to hear the screams of her comrades, which she still hears every day. Miorine pulls away and tells Prospera that if she wants revenge, the adults can kill each other and leave Suletta out of it. Prospera again asks Miorine to help with Quiet Zero and states that the plan will be ruined if a new president is elected. Prospera wants Miorine to become the next president and thinks she can do it as Delling’s blood-stained daughter.