Kira in the Strike Freedom is confronted by Rey in the Legend. Meanwhile, Athrun in the Infinite Justice battles Lunamaria in the Impulse and Shinn in the Destiny. Requiem is destroyed in a joint effort of the Infinite Justice and Mu in the Akatsuki. The combined efforts of the Archangel and the Infinite Justice, damage the Minerva, causing it to crash onto the Moon. Durandal and Kira confront each other in the collapsing Messiah. Durandal is shot by Rey, and Captain Gladys orders Kira to leave as she, Rey and Durandal are killed when the Messiah falls to the Moon surface. The Second Bloody Valentine War ends.
Shinn and Rey are transferred to Messiah. Shinn is confronted by Durandal and Rey. Shinn finally decides to follow the course of action pointed out by Durandal and Rey. The Minerva arrives at Station 1 and begins their assault on the Archangel and Eternal. Lunamaria sorties in the Impulse and when she goes to take out the Eternal Meyrin calls out to her to stop her. 'Lunamaria is shocked that Meyrin is still alive and that she is on board the Eternal. Meanwhile Athrun is reunited with Dearka and an angry Yzak who decide to help him destroy Station 1. In the aftermath, Kira and Athrun destroys Relay Station 1, and Terminal forces go to attack Requiem itself.
Chairman Durandal calls for the implementation of the "Destiny Plan", which is supposed to decide the fate of each individual on a genetic level. Only the Orb Union, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, and the Atlantic Federation reject this plan. ZAFT repairs Requiem and fires it at the Earth Alliance lunar base of Arzachel, killing the President of the Atlantic Federation. Terminal forces head towards Relay Station 1 of Requiem.
After the attack on the PLANTs by the Requiem, the Orb forces begin their preparations to leave Earth. ZAFT begins their assault on Requiem and the Minerva is sent to the front lines. Lunamaria is given the task of destroying Requiem's controls while the Destiny, the Legend, and Minerva divert the enemy's attention away from her. The Destiny and the Impulse destroy Requiem's controls. Djibril attempts an escape on the Girty Lue, but Rey discovers him and destroys the Girty Lue. Cagalli parts with the crew of the Archangel and watches the ship leave for the Moon.
The real Lacus on television states that there is someone who has the same face, voice and name as herself in the PLANTs. She also states that people should find out more about Chairman Durandal's actions before believing in his lies. Djibril arrives at the Daedalus Lunar Base, where he fires the Orbital All-Aspect Tactical Cannon, Requiem, at the PLANT capital, Aprilius. The attack on Aprilius fails, but Januarius One through Four is hit, and they collide into December Seven and Eight causing them to collapse also. The Minerva returns to space.
Athrun intervenes in the battle between Kira, Shinn, and Rey, which shocks Shinn who believed that he had killed Athrun previously. Yuna is crushed by a GOUF Ignited when he tried to escape while Djibril successfully escapes to the Moon aboard an orbital shuttle. With the ZAFT flagship destroyed, Captain Gladys takes command and orders a temporary retreat. After the battle, Cagalli broadcasts a global announcement about the war with Logos but she is interrupted by Meer, who is in turn interrupted by the real Lacus.
As the attack on Orb continues, Cagalli faces off against Shinn. She is saved by the timely arrival of Kira who descended from space with Lacus. Shinn is forced to retreat to resupply. While Kira continues to destroy ZAFT forces, Lacus shows Athrun the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice and gives him the decision to choose whether he wishes to stay away from the battle or become a soldier again and fight for what he believes in.
After Zaft's ultimatum requesting Djibril, Yuuna gives the obvious lie of Djibril not being in Orb in a public announcement. Following the announcement, Zaft begins its invasion of Orb. Cagalli is given her father's will: the mobile suit Orb-01 Akatsuki, arrests Yuuna and reforms Orb's defense against Zaft. Later, the Minerva arrives and Destiny launches to confront the Akatsuki...
In Space, Lacus & Andy reunite with the Eternal and its crew. Lunamaria reports her findings from Athrun's rende-vous with Kira to Talia as Stellar's condition worsens. Elsewhere, Miriallia rejoins the ArchAngel and decodes a message that informs the group of an upcoming battle between Minerva and ORB/Phantom Pain.
After a misunderstanding between Athrun, Lunamaria and Meer, Shinn takes advantage of his shore leave by exploring the countryside. On his travels he stumbles across Stellar dancing on a cliff, she then accidentally falls into the sea. Shinn dives in after her. While waiting to be rescued, Shinn and Stellar share some bonding time.
The Minerva must destroy a fixed positron cannon emplacement to break through to Gibraltar. Though hesitant at first after meeting Shinn, they are helped by a young resistance fighter named Coniel, who provides data of a secret tunnel that will lead near the positron cannon. The Minerva and the other ZAFT forces draw out the Earth Alliance mobile suits and mobile armor while Shinn heads through the tunnel and destroys the cannon.