When you just tryna write but Graf Spee event drop and Girls Frontline just finished downloading.


Chapter 10: Champion


Ironblood Naval Base, Sleipnir station.

The passenger car's door automatically opened. Ashen grey mustache, attire consisting of mostly black and a golden monocle, the man stepping down from the stair exudes an air of authority, one who holds much power in society. Judging from the amount of wrinkles on his face, he's well over his midlife crisis. Despite that in his eyes remained a sharp glint, like a hawk preying a helpless little rabbit.

"Good grief, no matter how many time I can never find myself being comfortable aboard this thing." He grunted loudly while taking off his duster coat and bowler hat. He eyed the surrounding and found nary a soul in sight before picking up his briefcase and made his way into the base.

"Now then, what in the nine worlds did that little punk break this time."

It has been a day and a half since the conclusion of Operation: Divergent Chessboard. Following the return of the Ironblood Grand Fleet, a report detailing the unusual Siren Emergences, changes in their movement pattern and the appearance of a commander unit, Tester Beta, was immediately compiled and sent back to Central.

A commander unit, since the Wisdom Cube this is easily humanity's second biggest discovery yet, and it filled the top brass with both fear seeing that the Sirens are more than just mindless machine that they were made out to be, and greed thinking about just what kind of unworldly knowledge they can possibly harvest from a commander's core.

Surely enough, a grand conference was held among the top brass of both Ironblood and Sakura Empire to discuss in great detail about the content of said report. According to the report, the Siren commander or Tester Beta's arsenal is leagues above what the soldier Siren including the occasional deviant ones can dish out. So despite the many varying opinions, it was agreed upon that the Red Axis's naval strength must be bolstered. Since EMP was the most effective countermeasure, production of new reactors was greatly increased.

However, that was all that was mentioned in the report. Regarding the inter-dimension portal, the other world where humanity has fallen under the Siren's reign, the testing ground Zone E, the Siren's mad experiment, the carnage that they managed to escape by the skin of their teeth, and the being known as 'The Creator', everything else was entirely excluded per Commander Burai's order.

Just the presence of a commander unit was enough to cause a huge uproar, and they have no idea what kind of backlash they will get and how fast the situation will devolve once such knowledge became known. For the time being, as the two only witnesses they are to keep their mouth shut, from Central, and even other Ironblood's Ship Girls. The fewer to know of this information, the better.

"Guess this urgent call also has something to do with that fact then." The old man mumbled to himself. Back to the matter at hand, who is this old man, exactly? To put it simply, he's the one who indirectly contributed the most in the success of all Ironblood's operations. Namely, the new reactor and the Siege Cannon.

Already reaching the main building, and still nary a soul in sight. The base is unusually quiet today, but the old man was soon to find out the reason why. The moment he arrived at the hallway leading to the Commander Office, even from the other end of the hallway and through the door he could tell that there's quite a commotion going on inside.

"Commander, please let me take care of these reports to me, I'll be done with them in a jiffy!"

"My left hand is the one that has a problem, not right. So I think I can do these reports just fine-"

"Wait, Commander! These reports need reference material. Here, I've already fetch them for you."

"Like I said, it's only my left hand, I'm still perfectly fine otherwise-"

"Ah, Commander! You need to rest properly in order to recover! Please just sit tight and leave everything to us."

"Now you're just treating me like I'm some decrepit, what the hell?"

Literally the entire personnel body of the base stuffed into this one room. Heaving a long sigh, the old man reached for the handle and entered the office without knocking, causing the atmosphere to freeze suddenly.

"…Ah, greeting, Chief Vicker." One of them finally managed to spoke up.

He who made fantasy a reality, the All-father of Ironblood's Ship Girls and advanced technology, and to a certain extent the Armada-class. Chief Scientist of R&D Division 1, Vicker.

"Heh, sending an urgent call and making your elder travel all the way out here, while you yourself are having fun in a garden of flowers. Haven't you some guts, you little punk?" Chief Vicker snorted.

"But in the end you still came as soon as possible. Beside, we both have something of great importance to discuss so not like you're in the loss here." Unfazed by his remark, Commander Burai replied calmly.

"Still that cocky attitude. Fine then, high time we get to the actual matter at hand because unlike you, I'm a busy man."

"Aren't we all are? Then I guess I'll really be counting on you ladies to take over my work for a bit." Commander Burai then stood up from his seat and followed Chief Vicker. But as the two left, the other Ship Girls also got up and followed them suit. After a while of convincing them that he will be okay now that Chief Vicker is here, they finally agreed to return to their duty albeit somewhat reluctantly.

"Look at you, getting all pampered by beautiful flowers, how envious."

"Hahaha, but I can understand why they are so worked up and worried. To the world, I am the 'Sieger' and to Ironblood, I am the 'Champion' of the land. However, I am anything but 'invincible' or 'immortal'. And as those who stood with me on the frontline, they too are aware of this fact."

"Life is a fleeting thing, and death makes no exception. But contrary to popular belief, there is no pain in death, only when one is still alive can one feels pain. Not saying that I've awakened to something new, but from time to time, only a stinging pain can make you go 'ah, I'm still alive'."

The concept of life and death is like two sides of a coin, a stark contrast to each other. But just like two sides of a coin they are inseparable with the boundary between them being a very thin line, which is even more delicate and sometime none-existent on the battlefield. Enough pain and suffering can easily take a person live, but when you can still feel pain means you're still alive and kicking.

"Hmpf, wait until you experience old age and the back pain that comes along with it, until then save me the philosophical mumbo-jumbo." As their conversation which was a stream of constant snarky remarks with some serious talking in-between continued, before they know it they've arrived at Dockyard Anton.

Taking off the unnecessary outer layer of his attire, Chief Vicker then rolled up his sleeves and surprisingly, instead of a golden pocket watch or some expensive looking accessories, adorned around his belt was a plethora of high-tech tools. As expected of the Chief Scientist of Division 1, always prepared to get down to work at any and all time.

He then walked over to the control panel on the wall and did an ID-scan. When the result came up a hundred percent match, he was granted complete access to Dockyard Anton's internal system. All around the central platform, mechanical limbs, large energy cables and another control panel started popping out from the ceiling, the wall and the floor.

After removing the clothes for his top, Commander Burai stepped onto the platform as a replica of the Rigs' central module, which was designed purely for maintenance and medical purpose in case the main one was under repair, was attached to his back. The replica module automatically ran a thorough scan on the body then displayed it on the control panel.

"Just as I thought, the problem lies not with your left arm, rather your spinal cord. The section in charge of it is severely damaged. I'll have to perform an operation in order to fix that. No irregular activity detected with your heart rate and brainwave so we're going get right down to it. Prepare to switch to life-support."

"Got it."

When Chief Vicker entered the command, the central module released an electrical shock into Commander Burai's body, temporarily shutting down his 'heart' as he went limped like a puppet with its strings cut. Six large cables then plugged themselves into the module as it switched to life-support, supplying energy directly to his brain and other internal organs while the 'heart' remained 'inactive'.

"There's something in life you just can't get used to, ever!" Regaining his consciousness, he complained loudly as a way to shake off all the unpleasant feelings while he was 'dead'. He remained kneeling on the ground when Chief Vicker came up behind and scanned his back with a peculiar looking tool. As the red flat line moved from the nape all the way down the back, his skin started cracking up and opened to two sides, revealing the inside to be mostly mechanical with the spine made of entirely synthetic material.

Chief Vicker then replaced his monocle with a magnifying glass and trained his eye onto the damaged part. Cracks were visible all over, both large and small, with the aforementioned section in charge of the left arm being in complete tatter. From the pouch on his belt, he implanted four small stakes onto the bolts holding the spine in place as they automatically unfastened themselves.

Wisdom Cubes are like the national treasure, and a cube is compatible with a host body that had undergone the Armada surgeon is simply invaluable. That's why these prosthetic spine was created, chock full with failsafe mechanism that will ensure the cube return in one piece. During the trip to the other world, the failsafe had kicked in two times forcibly separating him the Rigs: the first Siege Cannon shot before being sucked into the whirlpool and the third when destroying the portal central core. Overstraining himself and the Rigs twice, combining with accumulated damage without any repair had caused the prosthetic spine to work way over its threshold.

And after he removed it to take a closer look, there it was the 'heart' of an Armada, the Wisdom Cube.

"Don't think I need to remind you this, an Armada is essentially the Ship Girl conversion performed on a human. By greatly altering and enhancing your body through cybernetic surgeons to the point where your body can endure the conversion, that's how we created you Armadas. Fundamentally, both Ship Girls and Armadas are the same. On one side are war machines donning the human shell, on the other is a human transformed into a monster. Then what about the difference? What makes an Armada more valuable than Ship Girls?" Chief Vicker began his monologue while examining the damaged spine.

"A Ship Girl only becomes self-aware once she has received her Wisdom Cube. In a way, they are simply an empty husk and these cubes are what that granted them a so-called 'soul'. Whereas an Armada, you're trying to put another 'soul' into an already-occupied husk. Like when two predator fighting for the same hunting ground, what becomes of that?"

"One will fall, and one will reign supreme."

"Correct. It isn't always guaranteed that the original 'soul' will always come out on top. Those who succumbed to the implementation all ended up as broken dolls, while those who managed to survive the operation were subjected to the rejection and eventually becoming no more than mindless beast."

"But in the end, you stood as the lone victor amidst that hell. Guess there was more to your name than just something fancy. Isn't that right, 'Champion'?" Chief Vicker asked while installing the new prosthetic spine, Commander Burai mused on the word 'Champion'.

Is he really one worthy of that title, worthy of the expectation from those around him? He made them worried, his Ship Girls who placed their utmost trust and loyalty in him. And the battle with Tester Beta, admittedly he was caught off guard, but it's also true that the enemy toyed with him like a predator toying with its food. With that much humiliation, can he really call himself or be called a Champion?

The answer was obvious. To be worthy, to keep that promise and to never repeat the mistake of today ever again, he needs the power to mow down anything and everything that dares stand in his way. Be it the Azur Lane, the Siren, or even this 'Creator'. Assert your dominance, become the apex and make them all bow down before you.

"Chief Vicker, may I request something? No, more than a request, I want to make a pact."

"I'm listening."

With his permission, Commander Burai spoke up about this 'pact' and Chief Vicker listened quietly. Then his constantly frowning expression changed to awestruck and finally greatly amused.

"Heh, I've always wondered what a man will become if you give him too much power. Now I know what a man's like if he has too much ambition."

Boarding the Sleipnir to return to the capital, Chief Vicker leaned his back against the metal chair in the passenger car, the same chair that he sat on when coming here. In his hand was a small box, containing two chips which the man seemed to have taken a great interest in. He brought the box up to his eyes level and stared at the content inside, as if mesmerized by it like a little kid looking at a new toy.

"We are men of science, while it is our job to change the world it is not our place to rule it. In such case, our duty is to contribute our skill to the greater cause, a greater man. Burai Van Streiter, seems like you'll be one who worthy of my time and investment."