NOVEMBER 7, 1:21 p.m./DAY 5, 1809 hours

274 miles northwest of Guam/90 miles northwest of Truk Island

CLASS-5 ANOMALY DETECTED

"Two worlds collide. Two fates intertwine."


A thunderclap not of any weapon of warfare in existence reverberates across hostile waters. One of the pivotal battles for humanity's survival, for a moment, is disrupted. Abyssal and human alike pull away from each other's intent to kill, momentarily bonded by a common goal.

Off the Harekaze's bow, a blinding flash of elliptical purple, an anomalous tempest as large as the Musashi. Abyssal and human fleets scramble in confusion, unable to ascertain the order of battle, some taking hits from the anomaly's discharge of raw plasma. From the bridge of the distinguished tin can, the crew looks away from the flash but not completely. Not waiting for orders, Rin turns the wheel hard to port—anywhere as long as the ship gains some distance.

On the other side, the kanmusu and Abyssals scatter in disarray. Akeno holds her ground, peering through the rift revealing the other end. Amidst the flash, her eyes widen at the first thing she sees from beyond: the distinctive hull number Y-467, not minding the kanji next to it. "The…Harekaze?!"

From the Harekaze's bridge, a glint from the other end of the rift catches Mashiro's attention. Once dispirited by one disaster after another, she peers through her binoculars with all haste. The rift clears up enough for her to catch a shocking sight: a healthy Akeno in the water with her rigging. "Captain?!"

"What?!" her classmates blurt in unison. Not even the shockwave from an unseen salvo landing port side could turn them away from a stark realization.

From Akeno's perspective, the Harekaze sails past, giving her a glimpse of the bridge. She sees her frantic deputy run outside, waving her binoculars. Akeno doesn't see her tears, but the desperation in Mashiro's look makes her cry as much. "Shiro-chan?!"

Amidst the sparks and malevolent forces, Akeno moves closer to the rift. The realization of finally going home fuels her decision. But Mutsuki arrives in time to hold her back. "Harekaze-chan, no! It's too dangerous!"

"No, please! My friends…I have to get home!"

Aboard the Harekaze, Mashiro sees the restraining action and takes action herself. "Shiretoko-san, get us closer!" she yells without looking away.

"T-T-Through that?!" Rin stuttered.

"The captain's in there! Hurry!"

Crying as she does in tense situations, Rin turns the wheel around. Soon, the bow faces the vortex once more, through the violent sparks grazing the armor belt. All the while, Ayano observes the situation and gives a few orders for support. "Engine room, give us as much speed as this tin can allows. Batteries and torpedoes, fire on my command only. Radar and sonar rooms, keep an eye out for ambushes."

Fubuki runs out, as well, grabbing Mashiro's binoculars without asking. She, too, gets struck by the same realization upon seeing her close friend from the other side. "Mutsuki-chan?!"

Mutsuki's grip falters against an adamant Akeno, made worse by the sight of her friends in her world. The Harekaze soon passes close enough to see her own close friend. "F-Fubuki-chan?! W-What's going on?!"

Shells from their respective enemies bracket the Harekaze, and Akeno and Fubuki. The rift shrinks with the resumption of the battle. Their allies eventually rally to their side to fight off the invaders. One more stake adds to the urgency of ensuring humanity's survival: their friends.

~O~

Chaos dominates the battlefield as ally and enemy struggle to discern ally from enemy. Whistling shells in the air terrify the students thrust in a battle of their lives, even more the columns of water erupting around their ships. The mindless Abyssals show neither fear nor remorse, only a one-track mind tuned to killing everything not of their kin. Perhaps an insane echo mutters their only purpose for their existence: "Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!" And after they drive an entire race to extinction, what happens? Outliving their usefulness, they might turn on each other and drive themselves to the same fate. But as mindless pawns, such concerns barely stop them from firing salvo after salvo.

Try as they might, neither the Harekaze nor Akeno can get close enough to the rift, which is closing at an alarming rate. The window—perhaps only window—is lost. The enemy is all around them. No despair can be too great than such a feeling at this moment.

That won't stop Akeno and her Eureka moment from trying. "Mutsuki-chan, can you get a message back to Truk?"

"Huh? I can try," Mutsuki replied.

"Hurry! Before the rift closes!"

The invisible beam of the telegraph escapes the chaos toward the Combined Fleet's headquarters. From the receiving end, Ooyodo frantically works the controls, sifting through the cacophony of kanmusu in combat. Akeno's transmission stands out as an unusual message: a request to relay her message to a set of coordinates.

"Do it," Nagato tells Ooyodo upon reviewing the request, the latter making the relay with all haste.

A new invisible beam heads back to the battle, this time through the portal to its intended recipient.

"Commander," Tsurugi reports over the tube. "We're receiving a transmission from that portal. The first line reads: '…from Harekaze.'"

"The captain?" replied Mashiro. "Can you decode it?"

"I'll try, but it's trickling in piece by piece. It may take some time."

"We'll buy you as much time as we can. Get to it."

Just weeks ago, the heir to the Munetani family legacy had all but given up hope for her friends and herself. Her classmates are stunned as she throws herself into the heat of battle, the deputy-captain they have known and loved through thick and thin. "It's about time you showed your true self," said Ayano. Mashiro listens in silence. "What do you want to do now?"

"The captain's out there," Mashiro replied. "I want to save her. We all do." Around her, the smiles of the crew echo their common sentiment.

"You really are Mayuki's daughter."

The rift shrinks even more, barely enough to squeeze one's head inside. The Harekaze moves closer to the rift, firing its full broadside at a row of enemies charging in. It shudders under the weight of fire from Abyssal destroyers and light cruisers, but it stays close. Allied destroyers come to the ship's defense, picking the attackers out one by one. The fleet knows what they have to do: protect the Harekaze at all costs.

Every ship in humanity's fleet erupts in a wall of fire. A curtain of flak sweeps through the jet black aircraft, albeit unable to avoid a few from making their bomb runs. Several ships take hits, including the Musashi on its aft main battery. Fortunately, the battleship is designed to take such punishment and retaliate in kind.

The tin can Harekaze, however, cannot. "Direct hit! Communication systems out of action," Machiko reports the damage from her nest.

"Commander, I lost the transmission," Tsurugi reported.

Dread fills Mashiro's face as she turns to the commander for advice. "What do we do now?"

"We have to press the attack," Ayano replied without hesitation. "The Germans are counting on us. Humanity is counting on us."

Its primary mission now over, the Harekaze leads the charge against the scattered enemy fleet. The rift finally closes shut, unclear whether or not to open again. All hope for humanity now lies with Akeno's broken message, which Tsurugi goes over as the battle rages.

REGAL OCEAN. SIGNAL PRINCESS. POINT ECHO.

"Allied fleet approaching," Machiko calls out to the bridge. "It's the Graf Spee. We're saved."