By Suletta feels physical strain as she maneuvers the Gundam Calibarn to dodge the Aerial Rebuild’s GUND-BITs. She asks Ericht not to do this, and Ericht responds that Suletta needs to get out of Prospera’s way. The Children of the Coven tell Suletta that this is all for Ericht’s sake, so she should just go back to school. Ericht asks Suletta to give up, but Suletta refuses. Lauda swings the Gundam Schwarzette‘s sword to attack the ship and is blocked by Guel’s Dilanza. Guel asks Lauda why he’s doing this, and Lauda blames every misfortune on Miorine bringing Gundams back into the world. Felsi leaves the ship’s bridge, and Chuchu and Nika take off in the Demi Barding, carrying a pod with the infiltration group that includes Miorine, Martin, Elan, Belmeria and Kenanji. Nika terminates all Permet links, which makes the Demi Barding harder to pilot but allows it to move freely within the data storm. Lauda feels strain as he separates the GUND-BITs from his sword and attacks. He then demands to know why Guel didn’t tell him about killing Vim and asks if he’s that unreliable. Guel counters that killing Vim was his sin and he should bear it alone. Lauda declares that Miorine is taking advantage of Guel, and his bits cause damage to the Dilanza. Guston’s ship approaches the League fleet, and he opens communications to relay a message from Delling that the Benerit Group still has corporate governance in place, and therefore he is requesting an emergency session as outlined in the League Charter. Delling wants the League to reconsider if the intervention against Benerit was justified, and Guston thanks him for cooperating. Suletta continues to dodge the bits, and Ericht asks her again to surrender because she doesn’t want to hurt Suletta. The Children tell Suletta that Prospera wants a world where Ericht can be free, and Suletta asks if that’s worth swallowing up all the surrounding fronts and having so many lives lost. The Children answer that Ericht wouldn’t take lives, but if Suletta gets in their way, Prospera won’t hesitate. Suletta blasts an attacking Gundnode, but the Aerial Rebuild emerges from the smoke and kicks her away. Ericht asks Suletta to forget about them, but Suletta refuses because she cares about everyone and wants to be by Prospera’s side when she cries. Ericht responds that she won’t hesitate either and has the Gundnodes attack Suletta. A flash of light causes the Gundnodes to stop moving, and Chuchu rushes in to deliver the pod to Quiet Zero. Godoy is informed that data storm interference caused the shutdown, so Prospera loads her gun to deal with the interlopers. The League fleet commander gets a call from headquarters, and an official mentions that Lagrange 1 has the Interplanetary Laser Transmission System (ILTS) that he wants her to use against Quiet Zero. The fleet commander asks about Delling’s request, and he answers that he’s received no such request. The fleet commander notes that firing the ILTS will devastate Lagrange 4 and asks who will take responsibility. He responds that the League will take responsibility, and he’s already got Peil lined up to lead rebuilding efforts.
Kenanji and the others disembark from their pod and infiltrate Quiet Zero. Over Belmeria’s objections, Kenanji gives her a handgun and says he can’t trust a student with one. They exit the elevator and are confronted by armed Haro drones. In space, Guel dodges fire from the bits and Lauda realizes that the power of a Gundam makes him a match for his brother. Guel loses both legs and Lauda believes he has the power to take down the witches and Miorine. Guel rushes in and asks Lauda to stop this, but Lauda responds by opening fire. Lauda declares that he will defend the honor of the Jeturk name since Guel is in the thrall of a witch, and they rush toward each other with sabers drawn. At the last second, Guel deactivates his beam but Lauda ends up stabbing the Dilanza’s torso. He then thinks about the day he met Guel when Vim brought him home. Lauda was quiet and hesitant, but Guel hugged him and said how happy he was to have a little brother. In the present, Guel tells Lauda that he was right. Lauda wants him to escape, but Guel says he won’t run away from anything and asks Lauda not to pilot a Gundam anymore. Lauda is overcome with emotion as Guel pushes off and drifts away in his severely damaged suit. At that moment, Felsi arrives in her Dilanza and shoots fire retardant gel on Guel’s Dilanza, saving his life. She calls them both idiots and says that dying in a sibling spat isn’t funny. The Haros open fire and advance on the infiltration team. A flashbang temporarily blinds them and allows Belmeria, Miorine and Elan to reach a computer terminal. Miorine tries a password that doesn’t work, and Prospera announces as she enters the room with armed Haros that she changed the code. Ericht tells Suletta that Miorine is with Prospera now, and she intimates what Prospera will do to gain one. Suletta objects and asks Ericht not to let anything happen to Miorine, and Ericht counters that Suletta should stop trying to take away the place where she and Prospera can live freely. Belmeria pleads with Prospera to stop this, and Prospera counters that there’s no place in this world for Ericht, so she has to create a place for her. Miorine asks Prospera if she cares at all about Suletta, and Prospera answers that while she loves Suletta, she has friends now like Miorine. Miorine tells Prospera that Suletta was scared of dying in trying to pilot the Gundam Calibarn, but she did it anyway out of her love for Prospera, so Miorine thinks Prospera should love her daughters equally. Miorine’s other password attempts fail, so she tries to access maintenance mode to get around admin rights. Prospera and the Haros float above Miorine’s position, and Belmeria shoots at the Haros because she doesn’t want to run any longer. She continues to fire and disables two Haros, and Elan takes out another. Miorine recalls what Suletta said about Notrette’s message in the genetic code of her tomato, so she enters an ATCG-based password and accesses the system just as Elan shoots Prospera’s helmet off. The Gundnodes stop moving and the entire data storm network shuts down. Elan tells Belmeria that she’s not good at killing people and should focus on helping them next time. Miorine holds out her hand to Prospera and tells her she needs to move forward with Suletta and Ericht since all of them will be family. Delling tells the League fleet that Quiet Zero has been shut down and that they can fall back, but the League official states that the Benerit Group is too large, so he has the ILTS fire anyway. Ericht reactivates the Gundnodes and uses them as a defensive barrier against the ILTS blast. After the blast dissipates, Suletta is shocked to see the Aerial Rebuild heavily damaged and inactive.
Surprisingly, Quiet Zero is deactivated in the penultimate episode and not the finale, but there are still unresolved issues heading into the next episode. Even though Suletta is new to experiencing the real strain of piloting the Gundam, she demonstrates real skill and holds her own against the Gundnodes and Aerial. Guel and Lauda engage in a fated sibling duel that almost ends in tragic Gundam fashion, but is completely subverted thanks to Felsi’s intervention. If this had been a Tomino UC series, Guel would’ve definitely died inside the exploding Dilanza. I’m glad this series is going in a different direction though. Miorine directly confronts Prospera for the first time since Quinharbor and makes the case for Prospera to give up and be with her family, which includes Miorine. However, Prospera is still stuck on this notion that Suletta doesn’t need her anymore because she has friends who can make her happy. That, of course, completely ignores Suletta’s feelings in the matter. One element that detracts from this episode is the revelation of the ILTS and the last minute emergence of a nameless League official as an antagonist. The League has been a rather underdeveloped faction in this series, and it comes out of nowhere that this one guy would take such blatantly aggressive action in an attempt to take down the Benerit Group. Having to deal with a new last minute antagonist takes away time from dealing with other plot elements.
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