The battle soon developed into one of ferocious intensity. The two flag tanks circled each other like prowling wildcats, each trying to get in a deadly blow. The fact that the Ooarai tank only mounted a 75mm gun made little difference at the close ranges they were firing over, especially if they managed to hit anything other than the Kuromorimine tank's strong frontal armour. Erika's poor overworked driver did her best to try to keep the Panzer IV to their front where the Königstiger's sloped heavy steel would afford them the most protection, but the brown medium tank seemed to be able to dart and swerve wherever it wanted to.
Erika felt a rising doubt that she wasn't going to be able to keep pace with the gifted heiress to the Nishizumi style. Her Königstiger felt like an ungainly elephant trying to hold its own in a macabre dance of death with a highly trained ballerina. Already two shots had ricocheted off her tank's sloping hull armour and a third had scrapped down the side of the turret in what could have been a knockout hit if only it had been a few inches further to the right. Ren Maaru, Erika's skilled gunner, was doing her level best to score a hit on Ooarai's flag tank but every time she had it in her sights it seemed to twist out of the way before the shot could hit home.
The crowd were enthralled at the furious duel that was unfolding. It had only been going on for a matter of minutes, but to those taking part it already felt like hours. Everyone in Erika's tank was feeling the strain. The driver, wrestling with the heavy controls and pedals and with the added burden of having to try to second guess the opposing tank's movements, was close to exhaustion. Ren was tight-lipped and silent and as she tried again and again to win the match for them with a killer shot. The loader, a burly third year, was stronger than most of the other girls on the team but was already drenched in sweat from the exertion of heaving the heavy shells out of the racks and ramming them home into the breach. And those shells themselves were rapidly running out!
Erika's heart was pounding in her chest as she did her best to direct and encourage her crew, spurring them on to even greater efforts. She even gasped out loud as another shot whipped past the commander's cupola. Then her own tank's shot, fired fractions of a second later, missed the Panzer's turret by millimetres and kicked up a plume of dirt some distance beyond.
Suddenly, Erika saw the front of the Panzer IV move in a way that triggered some sort of sixth sense reaction in her.
"She's gonna drift!" she bellowed above the din of the fighting compartment. Erika remembered only too well the manoeuvre that Miho, or more exactly her ace driver Mako, had performed in the final of the Nationals against Maho's Tiger I. Erika guessed that Maho, now in command of that formidable team herself, and no doubt with her own supply of shells dwindling, had decided to try the same tactic here.
"Pivot turn! Neutral steer right!" Erika yelled. She just had time to bark her first order before the Panzer IV came roaring in.
"The transmission won't stand it!" her driver complained but was already putting the turn into effect as the words left her mouth.
The crowd gave a collective "Ooooh!" as the brown Panzer IV charged in, using its momentum to go into a skid on the compacted hard earth.
"Keep them at lunch time!" Erika yelled, using the slang term for the Königstiger's 1:30 clock position, where the angle of the sloping armour gave it the maximum protection.
The aerial drone cameras beamed the climactic spectacle on to the big screens for the crowd, all of whom were on the edge of their seat. The Panzer IV drifted round in a huge arc, shedding track links and road wheels as it went; the intention being for the tank to finish up directly behind their target and at point blank range. Doubtless many of the fans would recall how this ploy had played out for Ooarai in the National's final against Kuromorimine.
This time, there was a difference, however. As Anglerfish team skidded in a cloud of dust and sparks, the mighty Königstiger rotated on its own axis, its gears howling in protest as it did so. The front right corner of the tank, with the fearsome long 88mm directly above it, kept pace with the Ooarai tank as it traversed. With an end to the screaming of tortured metal, the Panzer IV and the Königstiger both came to a halt at the end of an almighty skid trail, with the two tanks' main barrels pointing directly at each other. The wrecked and battered Panzer IV stared forlornly at the front right quarter of the Königstiger.
There was half a heart-beat of pure silence as everyone held their collective breath. Erika could almost see through the layers of carbon and steel into the cupola of the opposing tank. She could see Maho's face. A face etched with the knowledge that she had risked everything on this final manoeuvre, and that she had lost.
"Fire" both commanders whispered simultaneously. The 75mm shot from Anglerfish hit the Königstiger's sloped upper glacis plate and screeched off into the distance. The 88mm shell caught the Panzer IV on the gun mantlet, which at this extreme close range caused the crippled tank to lurch backwards a few inches. At once, the engine belched smoke, the gun barrel sagged, and the little white flag popped from its container.
Feeling like she suddenly needed to sleep for a week, Erika slumped down into her seat and let out a huge sigh while the rest of her crew did the exact same thing.