"Avanti Anzio! Alla vittoria!"
"Avanti Anzio! Alla Vittoria!" came the answer from the rest of the team, and Anchovy gestured dramatically before herself with her riding crop. The air filled with the pitter-patter of the tankette-dominated force's engines rumbling to life as she saw the tanks under her command begin to speed away among the trees.
"Pepperoni! Carpaccio!" she called over the radio, neatly folding the riding crop in under her shoulder as she did so. "Execute Operation Macaroni. Lock their forces down and take them out."
"Yes, Duce!" Pepperoni cheered.
"Affirmative, Commander," Carpaccio answered calmly a second later.
"And don't any of you get any ideas," Anchovy continued, now addressing all of her subordinates, "If anyone takes out their flag tank, I'll make sure you're cut off from snacks for the rest of the school year. If you spot them, report it, but don't you dare take a shot. Nishizumi's mine!"
She could only grin with satisfaction as her forces disappeared through the forest and cliffs. She had been looking forward to this moment for months. The moment she would enact her revenge and take down Maho Nishizumi.
Ever since the pictures and low-quality recordings of Ooarai's match with St. Gloriana had come out, the only thing she could think of was getting to return the pain and hurt she had been dealt in kind, and now, her moment was here.
"Ready or not, Maho, here I come," she said softly to herself. "Avanti!" She added loudly as she knocked on the roof of the turret, and the P-40 began to roll away down the road before it, heading towards Ooarai and victory.
"Operation Meistersinger von Nürnberg is now in effect. You know what to do."
The rumble of engines stirring to life filled the air as the rest of the team began to move out under Erwin and Azusa's command, and Maho followed them with her gaze as the mismatched tanks of Ooarai's forces rolled out and disappeared among the trees. But the Panzer IV remained behind, and Maho said nothing further, instead just looking solemnly up at the sky above.
"Uhm... Maho?" Saori asked after a moment. "Shouldn't we... get moving too?"
"No… not yet," was the only reply Maho gave. There's something left for me to do first… she thought, before closing her eyes.
She tried to see. Tried to see the path of the rest of Ooarai's tanks as they moved unseen across the battlefield, tried to hear where Anzio's forces lay hidden among the trees and cliffs, tried to feel the vibrations of the V-12 engine in Anchovy's P-40. But she saw nothing.
All she could see was the ornate paper walls of her mother's study. All she could feel was the stinging cuts of the carved bamboo, the scars on her back singing out in vicious pain as burning agony began to build within them.
And all she could hear, was the voice of her mother and herself, chanting and repeating in unison inside her mind, tempting and calling for her to join in. Just like they were supposed to, and just like they always did
"A Nishizumi doesn't hesitate."
"A Nishizumi doesn't break."
"A Nishizumi doesn't cry."
"When a Nishizumi has the target before them, they fire."
"When a Nishizumi fires, they hit their target."
"Maho? Is something the matter?" she could barely make out Hana asking beyond the cold chorus.
"Should I turn off the engine?" Mako's voice muttered shortly thereafter through her headset.
"No..." Maho answered absentmindedly. "It's... it's nothing..." She drew a breath. "Just... just give me a moment..."
The voices kept chanting the mantras that her mother had drilled into her, and the immolating pain only grew as darkness grasped for perches within her, trying with all its might to force her to give in and hand over command of not only her body and mind, but her team and forces as well, to the tyrannical commander that still resided in the darkest corners of her soul.
But she refused.
She wouldn't give in.
No matter the words, no matter the pain, no matter the burning flames.
She wouldn't give in.
She planted her feet firmly, and within her mind's eye, she refused to budge.
No… You move… she thought, as she placed a hand on the small bulging pocket where she had placed "Miho". Go on… I dare you… Just try to knock me down…
But of course, the darkness within had no intention of giving in either. Prodding, teasing, promising, and prying, it used every nasty trick it had ever played her to make her budge, to make her buckle, to make her bend.
After all, what didn't bend must eventually break.
But even as the flames grew wilder and the searing pain grew stronger, she didn't give in. She had come too far to give in.
Instead, she drew a deep breath. And then another. And then another. Letting her body fill with great reserves of oxygen, fuelling the flames even further and letting the inferno grow. She felt her knees wobble for a moment, a sudden weakness overtaking her, and she reached out a hand, steadying herself against the roof of the Panzer IV's turret. Through everything else, she could still make out the hum of the engine, the slight rumble of the hull as the cylinders pumped.
And through all of it, she persevered, and pushed on. For even as her scars felt like scalding and the flames felt like they would burst through her skin, she could hear the immolating inferno drown out the chorus of her mind's stage. Soon there was silence, and nothing was left but the flames. But as she reached her free hand towards her chest, burning with searing pain, she could feel the heat emanating from her. And just as if she had dived into the cold lake near her childhood home, even though the chilling waters and searing flames had been all she could think of as her body shuddered, she could no longer make out where the fire ended and she herself began. The pain and searing heat had vanished, and in its place was energy. Determination. Strength. All she could need and more, all at her command.
She glanced over her shoulder and half expected wings of fire to have sprouted from her back, before drawing one last breath, steadying herself, and adjusting the cuffs of her jacket.
Then, finally, she reached a hand to her throat, and spoke. It was only two words, and two simple ones at that, but it was all she needed right now.
"Panzer. Vor."
"Alright, we're almost at the crossroads," Azusa called to Karina down in the driver's seat of the M3 Lee. "Take it slow, in case we've been beaten here. Yukari made it pretty clear the CV33s are fast." She then opened the hatch above her, and stepped up into the commander's cupola, giving their surroundings a quick scan before turning to Noriko, who was standing behind the turret of Duck team's Type 89 beside her. "Everything good on your end?"
"Yeah," Noriko answered with a cheer. "Determined and ready, Commander!"
"Well, that's good, I guess…" Azusa still didn't know quite how to handle speaking to Noriko. Sure, she was a teammate and one of the most cheerful on the entire team, but there was also a strange disconnect. For some reason Commander Nishizumi had made Azusa lead the platoon, which made Noriko, who was an upper-classman and by all right should have been promoted over her, her subordinate. It was most certainly a strange circumstance, but not one she had time to ponder right now. "Karina, cut the engine," she called down into the hull, while signaling to Duck team to do the same.
"Is something wrong?" Aya asked from the turret once they halted.
"The crossroads are beyond that ridge," Azusa said and pointed to the crest of the slope they had been climbing. "If Anzio's already there, we don't want to just drive right into their line of fire," she continued as she climbed up and out of the cupola, and grabbed the portable radio-set from one of the storage containers. "I'm just gonna go see that the coast's clear, and then I'll be right back."
She sat herself down on the hull, and less than elegantly scooched herself off it and down to the ground. Well, at least I didn't fall flat on my face, she thought once she had brushed the dirt off herself, and slung the carrying strap of the radio transmitter over her shoulder.
Slowly and cautiously, she began to make her way towards the top of the slope, using the trees and scattered vegetation as cover, until she finally reached a large bush to hide behind at the top of the ridge. And as she slowly crawled through the bush and lifted her binoculars, she was met by concrete proof of Yukari's assessment of Anzio's speed.
Lined up on the other side of the crossroads were half of Anzio's tanks, their guns aimed squarely at the crossing and in staggered lines.
"Well, it seems we've been cut off…" she sighed over the radio back to her platoon. "Anzio's already got six tanks ready to blow whatever crawls up that ridge sky high."
"What?!" Noriko replied. "How could they have gotten here before us?!"
"Shush!" Azusa answered. "You don't need to yell. We're on the radio. And if you do, they'll hear us, and it won't matter how they got here."
"So, what are we going to do?" Yuuki asked.
"I don't know…" Azusa replied. "All I know is I'm staring at five… wait... no, six of the enemy tanks, and they do not look happy to see us." She paused for a moment, and sighed again. "Let's all just stay where we are right now. It doesn't look like they've spotted us, so until I figure something out, we'll lay low. I don't want to risk them getting any funny ideas…"
"Copy that," Yuuki and Noriko answered.
Azusa stayed where she was for a few more minutes, observing the enemy tanks on the other side of the road, making notes of their positions and double checking what kind of tanks they actually were against the field-guide Captain Chono had given them. Once she had everything written down, or at least she thought it was everything, she called back to Yuuki. She had had an idea.
"Hey, Yuuki?"
"Yeah?"
"If you call Erwin's forces, do you think you could work as a go-between for me and her? I want to know what things are like on their end?"
Only silence and the soft crackle of the radio answered her.
"Yuuki?" Azusa tried again. "Did you catch that? I know it's gonna mean a lot of working the switches, but I'd much rather call from over here where I can see rather than rely on my notes back in the tan-"
"Azusa, what's up?" Erwin's voice suddenly interrupted, and Azusa could only stare blankly at the transceiver. "Azusa? You there? Yuuki said you wanted a report?"
"O-oh! Y-yeah! I'm here," she stuttered in reply before recovering from her shock. "Have you seen any of the enemy yet?"
"Not so far, no. But we're not quite at the crossroads yet, so there could easily be a surprise waiting for us," Erwin answered. "What about you? Any news from the Western front?"
"We're at the western crossroads now. The Lee and Type 89 are still hidden behind a ridge, but I'm looking at six of Anzio's tanks right now," Azusa responded. "And the moment I send anything above that ridge, they're gonna take us out."
"Six tanks, huh?" Erwin said ponderously. "Well, in theory that's good news. If the commander's doing her job and keeping the P-40 occupied, then that means there shouldn't be much more left on our end."
"What do you think I should do?"
"That's not for me to say," Erwin laughed. "You're in command, aren't you?"
"I… I guess…" Azusa said meekly. "But... I don't know… I just feel like I'm gonna screw up. You at least almost managed to win some of the training matches. I was just useless."
"Hey, you did good in that first one, didn't you?" Erwin said, attempting to cheer her up. "Besides, Commander Nishizumi's been doing this since she could walk. It's obvious she'd win all those matches against beginners like us."
"I suppose…" Azusa sighed. "But, you've at least read up on and have an interest in this stuff. Meanwhile, I haven't got a clue what I'm doing. Don't you have any advice or suggestions?"
"Well, since we're almost at our own destination, I'd say sit tight for now. If our end is clear, then we'll swing around and try to help you out from the North. And if not, we'll at least be able to coordinate. That sound like a plan?"
"Yeah, it does," Azusa nodded. "Alright, I'll keep an eye on the enemy for now. Thanks!"
"Alright, let's see what we've been dealt," Erwin said with satisfaction as her forces reached their destination; the eastern crossroads of the battlefield. "Turtle, halt behind the ridgeline just in case, while we scout out the area."
"Fine," Momo grumbled over the radio in response, but Erwin just shrugged and ignored the older girl's bitter tone. The Student Council PR Manager had been salty over not having been given command of a platoon ever since the Commander put her experiment into motion, and the arguments over her "rightful" position had taken up far more time than Erwin thought necessary. Still, she hoped that the needs of the battle would at least make it obvious that such bickering could wait. The Czech 38(t) coming to a halt roughly where she had ordered it to seemed decent enough proof of the fact at least.
"Alright, we've got the lowest profile on the team, so let's make use of it," she continued to her crewmates once she was satisfied with Turtle team's position. "Oryou, take us into that bush over there. It should give us a decent vantage point to watch the crossroads."
"Aye, Commander," Oryou replied, and moved the tank into position. Erwin had to duck back into the tank to avoid some of the branches, but other than that their advance went off without a hitch, and she could soon peek back out of her hatch, binoculars at the ready.
The crossroads consisted of two patchy and uneven dirt roads, crossing through a decently flat and open field of dirt, with forests lining the perimeter, and hillsides making the area look almost like a staircase, a new level rising every few hundred meters or so.
"Well, would you look at that," she said in a low voice as she scanned the crossroads. "You'd almost believe we were facing the Nigerian Brigade in Ethiopia." She was impressed, no doubt about it, even if she couldn't explain how it had happened
"They're already here?" Caesar asked in disbelief. "Not even the equites could have moved that fast!"
"Do you want me to tell them that, or would you prefer to do it yourself?" Erwin joked, and took note of Anzio's tanks holding position in the opposite treeline. "Wait… hold on a minute…"
"Arrrgh, this is boring!" Karina groaned from down in the driver's seat. "How long are we gonna have to be stuck here? Can't we just go at 'em?!"
"No, we're going to stay here until Erwin's platoon knows what's going on on their end," Azusa answered, and continued looking over her map.
"But what if they aren't there anymore?" Ayumi asked. "Maybe they've gone away because we didn't show up, and now they're somewhere else?"
"I don't think so," Azusa replied. "We're close enough that we should have heard them if they did, shouldn't we?"
"I guess so…" Ayumi sighed, and slumped back in her seat, pulling her phone out and playing a game to alleviate her boredom. Azusa didn't have much time to spend studying the map however, before Aya began to giggle beside her.
"What's so funny?"
"You," Aya answered after a moment.
"Oh yeah?" Azusa said indignantly. "And why's that?"
"Oh, I didn't mean anything by it. Honest!" Aya said in an attempt to excuse herself. "It's just… You've really taken to this whole tank commander-thing."
"You think so?" Azusa asked, not entirely sure herself.
"Yeah, definitely!" Karina answered from down in the hull. "You've taken to it like a duck to water. You're just like Kelly, and it's super-cool!"
"Yeah, or Joe Vandeleur!" Yuuki chimed in.
"Or Don Collier!" Ayumi added.
"That's it!" Aya, Yuuki, and Karina all said in unison, before bursting out into laughter at their own parody of the history club's famous comparisons.
"Very funny," Azusa muttered and climbed out of the turret, carefully rising to a stand until she could just make out the tops of Anzio's tanks beyond the crest of the hill. "They're still there," she mumbled, and sighed.
"Azusa, you there?" Erwin's voice crackled over the radio, startling Azusa and causing her to clamber back into the turret in a panic, looking around for a moment for the transceiver before Aya calmly handed it to her.
"Y-yeah! I'm here!" she answered, trying her best not to let her surprise shine through. "What's up?"
"We've just reached our crossroads, and it's not looking too good here either."
"They got there before you too?" Azusa asked.
"Yeah, seems that way," Erwin replied. "But, how many tanks did you say you had on your end?"
"Uh, hang on a second," Azusa said, and fumbled to open her notebook to the right page with only one hand, "Let's see… uh.. There's three CV33s, a bigger one I think is an M13/41, and two Semovente assault guns, although I'm not sure about what model."
"So six tanks then?" Erwin asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, six of them, all lined up on the other side of the crossroads and aimed straight at the only place I can advance."
"So in other words, something's not lining up here…" Erwin said thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" Azusa asked.
"I mean, I'm staring at four CV33's, a Semovente 105/25, and an M13/41 on the other side of our crossroads.
"But… wait… doesn't that make…"
"Twelve tanks total, yes. Thirteen, if you count the flag tank that neither of us have seen."
"But, isn't the limit ten tanks in this match?" Azusa asked, flabbergasted.
"It is…" Erwin answered. "Which means either Anzio's very brazenly cheating…"
"Or some of those tanks aren't tanks…" Azusa replied, finishing Erwin's sentence for her.
"Right…"
"But, then how do we know which ones are real?"
"That is the question, isn't it?" Erwin laughed. "The enemy's presented us with one hell of a shell game."
Azusa sat silent for a moment, and pondered their situation, before speaking up again. "Erwin?"
"What's up?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Obviously. We're teammates, and you've proven you can do this. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I… I think I have a plan. But… the thing is… if I'm wrong…"
"Then we're all going down faster than the Danish armed forces," Erwin laughed, even if her concern at the prospect did shine through.
"Yeah… something like that…"
"Well, we're not getting much done just sitting here, are we?" Erwin teased. "I say go for it."
A short click followed, as Erwin switched her radio to another channel, and Azusa was left with nothing but her friends staring wide-eyed at her, and a decision to make.
"Alright," she said after a moment, having taken a deep breath, and switched her radio back to the platoon's channel. "Noriko, we're gonna advance up the last bit of this hill, but I want us to stop hull down, ok? The gun's need line of sight, after that, not an inch more, got it?"
"Yes-sir!" Noriko answered cheerfully. "Finally some determination!"
"Karina, you got that too?"
"Got it!" Karina called back up from the driver's seat. "Hull down, and not an inch further."
Azusa stuck her head up through her hatch for a moment, and looked to Noriko before pressing on her mic again. "Everyone ready?"
Noriko nodded, and Karina gave a thumbs up.
"Then…" Azusa said, and hesitated for a moment, before continuing, "Panzer vor…"
The two tanks slowly began to roll in unison, moving up the slope the last few dozen meters, their guns just peeping over the crest of the hill as they came to a halt, their engines going silent. Huddling down as flatly as she could against the roof of the M3 Lee's turret, Azusa had a bit of a hard time seeing properly, but after a moment she could confirm that their enemy was still there. And from what it seemed, they hadn't spotted them either.
"Noriko," she said in a hushed voice. "Line your gun up on the CV33 in the middle, but don't fire yet. Only let loose when I say so, ok?"
Noriko answered with a grin and a thumbs up, before climbing back into the Type 89's turret to relay the order to her own crew. Azusa did the same, and crawled back down into the turret of the M3 Lee.
"Ayumi," Azusa continued, "You line up on the M13/41. Make sure to take your time aiming, 'cause you're not gonna get a second chance. Aya, you're taking out the Semovente on the right."
"Got it," Aya whispered back, and lined up her shot.
Azusa let a few more seconds pass, before speaking again. "Aya, Ayumi, you've got your shots?"
"Yes, Commander," the two said in unison, Azusa's seriousness having seemingly rubbed off on them.
"Noriko, you guys ready?" Azusa asked over the radio.
"All clear and ready, Commander!" Noriko replied.
"Good." Azusa paused for a moment, closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths. She could feel her hand shaking, and shut it into a fist to try and stop it. What if she was making the wrong play? What if she should do something different? What if…
No. I know this is right, she told herself sternly in her head, and opened her eyes again, crawling back up on top of the turret's roof. She put a hand against the mic on her throat, exhaled, and spoke.
"Fire."
In perfect symphony, the 75mm and 37mm guns of the M3 Lee, and the 57mm of Duck Team's type 89, rang out with vivid flashes of light and a boom of thunder, sending their payload across the crossroads and towards Anzio's garrisoning forces, sending huge clouds of smoke and dirt into the air where they struck.
A second passed.
Then another.
Then another.
The view became less obscured as the dirt began showering the ground and the smoke lifted into the skies, and Azusa was met by the sight of three unmoving Anzio tanks; nothing but shattered pieces of painted wood remaining where the tanks they had fired on had stood.
"Hey!" Noriko yelled as she popped out of the Type 89's hatch and stared in disbelief. "Those aren't tanks! They're just some lumpy paintings!" A second later, the Japanese tank's turret had spun around and its machine gun began to use the three remaining decoys for target practice.
Well, that was still some nice shooting, I guess…" Azusa sighed. "Yuuki, can you connect me to Erwin again? We need to tell them about-"
The rest of her words were drowned out by the metallic plinking of machinegun fire on steel, causing Azusa to dive back into the turret, just barely getting a glimpse of the sparks from ricocheting bullets on the M3 Lee's side armor.
"That one's real at least!" Noriko yelled, and the Type 89 began to turn. "Contact; CV33 at nine o'clock, 1200 meters!"
"Copy!" Azusa answered. "Karina, get us in position!"
"Yes Sir!" Karina yelled back, and the lumbering American tank shortly turned to face the Italian tankette that was racing at remarkable speed towards them on the road from the west, its machineguns sending a hailstorm of bullets their way.
"If anyone gets a shot, take 'em out!" Azusa ordered, and was at first met by only disappointing silence. In the excitement of getting the hits in on Anzio's decoys, they had all forgotten to reload the guns, but after a few seconds the guns began to sound. The tankette was nimble however, and moved faster than anyone seemed to be able to aim, and so a trio of shot fired towards it, resulting in nothing but a rainfall of dirt.
With perhaps fifty meters left to Ooarai's tanks, the tankette spun in place and turned around 180 degrees, instead speeding away along the same road that had brought it to them.
"After them!" Azusa called. "They're gonna get friends, and the longer they don't know where we are, the better!"
"Erwin?! Erwin! Come in!" Azusa's voice called over the radio, breaking the relative silence of the forest.
"Azusa?" Erwin replied. "What's going on? Are you under attack?"
"Yes and no," the first-year answered. "We're currently chasing down a CV33, but that shouldn't be a problem unless- Oh, would you stop swerving, you slippery little-" It took most of Erwin's discipline to not begin to laugh out loud at Azusa's frustration. "Anyways, we took a shot at three of Anzio's tanks, but they were nothing but wooden decoys, and so were the rest of them, which probably means-"
The rest of Azusa's message was cut off, as the radio waves were instead filled with Momo yelling "Then we'll blast these cutouts to kingdom come as well, and then take down the rest of them!"
Looking out from the commander's hatch, Erwin watched as the Student Council's 38(t) sprang to life, and charged over the ridge before she had time to stop them, not to mention protest, it's gun firing the moment the tank leveled out.
Following the shot along its path, Erwin saw the 37mm shell of the Czech panzer ping predictably off of the strongest point of armor on the Semovente 105/25 across the clearing.
"You idiot!" Erwin yelled, and closed the hatch over herself as she dove back into the StuG III. "If Azusa had nothing but decoy's on her end, of course these ones were gonna be real!"
"Do we follow, Commander?" Oryou asked.
"No, no, for heaven's sake, no!" Erwin answered bitterly, though her anger was far more centered on the student council than her own crew. "We're staying right here. If we're lucky they've only seen Turtle team. If not, well, then we're pretty darned screwed anyways."
True enough, as she looked out across the crossroads, she saw the Italian tanks begin to stir, and then they all moved out. All six of them.
"Comandante!"
"Yes?!" Carpaccio answered as her driver called out. "What is it?"
A high-pitched metallic ping from their armor answered the question well enough on its own.
"It's one of Ooarai's tanks! Panzer 38(t), 150 meters, dead ahead."
Looking out through her limited vision slits, Carpaccio confirmed the sighting, and called over the radio.
"They're finally here. All tanks, move out and destroy the enemy. Viva il Duce!"
"Viva il Duce!" several voices answered, and Anzio's tanks began to move out from their prepared positions along the edge of the forest, shells firing at whatever speed the guns could be reloaded.
The Panzer 38(t) having apparently realized the danger it was in, began to swerve and turn as fast as it could, miraculously avoiding the many shells Anzio's tanks could throw at it, and set course along the road to the west.
"Pepperoni," Carpaccio called to her co-vice commander. "Take up the pursuit. Don't let them reach il Duce. Rapido!"
"Come vuoi!" Pepperoni cheered back, and the four CV33 tankettes barreled away in pursuit while the slower M13/41 and Semoventes began to follow after. The smaller and slightly faster Semovente 75-18 led the way and set out to follow the tankettes in their pursuit.
But as the M13/41 lumbered onto the road to continue the column, a great bang was heard, and the medium tank rattled for a moment, before coming to a halt. A white flag popped out, and they were defeated. The large bush beside the tank had had most of its leaves blown away, revealing a grey StuG III assault gun, its cover now having been rather literally blown.
"Commander Carpaccio!" Tiramisu called from the other Semovente, which came to a halt and began to turn back. "Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine," Carpaccio answered, and grabbed another shell, readying herself to reload the moment Focaccia had fired. "Go, follow Pepperoni and deal with that 38(t). I can handle these upstarts."
"Si, Commandante!"
Tiramisu's Semovente turned back and followed the trail of the CV33s down the road, as Focaccia fired on the StuG. The shot bounced thanks to some impressive maneuvering from the assault gun's driver, and while Carpaccio loaded another shell, the German tank charged, firing a shell of its own, and trying to circle around them.
"Keep them in our sights!" Carpaccio ordered. Don't let them get around us!"
The forest was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Maho?" Saori asked as they rolled through the darkened woods.
"Yeah?" Maho replied absentmindedly as she continued to scan the surroundings. The heavy foliage of the trees in the central valley covered the entire area in heavy shadows, making it even trickier than usual to make out any enemies. "What is it?"
"Well… uhh… I was just wondering…" Maho wasn't going to like the question whatever it was, and it was obvious Saori knew as much. "What's the deal with you and Anzio's commander?"
"I don't want to talk about it," Maho answered instinctively.
"Oh. Sorry, I guess…"
Maho sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, I'm… I'm sorry. I just… Let's just say that I used to know her, and that she has ample reason to hate me. I deserve it, and we'll leave it at that, OK?"
"Oh, yeah, of course," Saori said with a gentle smile. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine by me."
Maho had spent enough time around Saori by this point, voluntarily or not, that she knew full well that the ginger girl would have been more than happy to grill her for more details. But still, whether it was the fact that they were in a battle, or that Saori had begun to grow to respect Maho's reserved ways, Maho still appreciated the gesture.
A bang broke the silence, shortly followed by a heavy slam of shell on armor as the Panzer IV rattled, but she was still operational. Turning to face the source of the shot, Maho saw exactly what she had expected. An Italian Carro Armata P 26/40 Heavy tank moving towards them, and standing in the commander's cupola, Chiyomi Anzai, or Anchovy as she called herself, a satisfied smirk on her lips.
"This ends now, Maho!" she yelled, and another shot fired, this time only pinging off the turret, as Mako and Hana had begun to turn the tank into position without Maho even having to give the order. But they didn't seem to realize what Maho realized as Anzio's flag tank moved closer. Anchovy wasn't moving into position to attack. No.
She was looking to ram them altogether.
"Mako, punch it!" Maho yelled. "Everyone else, hold on to something!"
The Panzer IV jerked backwards for a moment before lunging forwards at top speed, and not a moment too late. Hana fired a desperate shot towards the P40, but the heavy tank's speed was too great, and the shell missed. Then Anzio's flag tank slammed full force into the back end of its Ooarai counterpart, sending the Panzer IV spinning across the ground before smashing into a tree, putting it at rest.
"She's lining up a shot, we gotta move," Maho commanded, but Mako was already sending them on the way, and Anchovy's shell missed them, instead cutting down the tree they had only a second prior been resting against.
Having now seemingly gotten at least some frustration out of her system, Anchovy commanded the P40 into a more conventional attack position, and the two flag tanks began circling one another in an attempt to find a proper angle to fire as they weaved between the trees.
"Hana, if you've got a shot, you take it. Yukari, you keep her topped up at all times. Mako, you just keep on her ass. Saori, anything from the rest of the team?" for the first time in ages, Maho delivered orders faster than she could think them, acting on instinct and instinct alone, and what was even more impressive was that her crewmates kept up with her.
"Miss," Hana called in response and fiddled with the sight for a moment. "Readjusting."
Gun's loaded! Next shell at the ready!" Yukari followed through heavy breaths. Whether they were from the adrenaline, the carousel ride Anchovy sent them on when she rammed them, or the act of holding on to the heavy 75mm-shells, Maho couldn't say.
"Got it," Mako said dryly, as economical with her words as always.
"Nothing yet, Maho," Saori called up. "Wait, no, hang on, Erwin says almost half of Anzio's forces are heading this way. Four CV33s and a Semovente 75/18. They'll be here any minute!"
"As if this wasn't challenge enough without a time limit," Maho muttered. "Hana, you've got a minute, maybe two. Give me that shot, now!"
"I am on it," Hana said coldly, and leaned further into the sights and stock of the Panzer IV's new gun. Even as yet another shell ravaged their armour, cutting open a rasping wound of grey metal across the side armor where it bounced.
The chase continued, with the P-40 sending two more shots their way, both of which hit but didn't kill, and all the while, the Panzer IV's gun stayed silent.
"Hana…" Maho called, attempting to hide her impatience as the black haired girl remained as quiet as the gun she operated.
"Just a moment…" she said calmly. "Just a little closer… little closer..."
The newly upgraded gun of the F2 variant roared to life, a flash of fire worthy of the tank's name erupting from the muzzle, and finally the shot was sent out towards the P40. The aim was perfect, the timing was perfect, almost to the point of beauty. The shell flew straight as an arrow through the woods, leaving meter after meter behind it with every moment, and it was only a matter of time before it would strike the P40 right in its vulnerable rear armor.
Then, with mere meters left, an explosion filled the air where the shell had just been, vaporizing it without leaving a trace.
Next Time on Dein Weg ist Mein Weg: The battle rages on, as Flag tanks play hide-and-seek, Assault guns joust, and Azusa's forces receive a nasty surprise.
Author's Notes:
So yeah, not a massive chapter this time, but still very much decently sized.
Now, obviously there's only so much you can do with the Anzio-battle, but I think I've done a decent enough job of making it both similar and yet different from the original, and it'll be interesting to see how this struggle of titans will continue next time.
Azusa gets the chance to shine as a commander, even if it's just against decoys, Erwin gets an equally decent chance, Momo proves moronic as usual, and Maho and Anchovy get to begin their duel to the proverbial death.
As always I'm super thankful for all the reviews, comments, and kind words you all provide, and it still feels incredible how great of a response every new chapter of this series gets.
Hopefully chapter 32 will continue the battle sometime in the next few weeks, My hope is before the end of the month, but no promises.
Thank you all for reading, if you have the time and something to say, or even if you don't have anything to say, please leave a review. It really makes my day.
Thanks everyone, see you next time!
/Rihno