Zuikaku stared in horror at the monstrosity slinking toward her.
"Eugen, ich b-bin es…" Zuikaku stumbled over her basic Hochdeutsch as she clutched Nagato protectively to her chest.
"Zui...ka...ku?"
The crane shoulders slumped a fraction of an inch forward in a moment of sight relief. "Hai...I mean, Ja…" Eugen spoke fluent Sakuran, but Zuikaku wasn't sure how much of Eugen was left in this thing anymore.
"Ist das… du?"
Zuikaku nodded emphatically. Setting Nagato down and shrugging off her coat, she slowly approached Eugen as if she was a wounded animal, shivering as she felt the cold air on her shoulders, uncovered by the red blouse she wore.. Holding out the garment, she pushed it towards the heavy cruiser's bare form. "You need to put this on… if you wear nothing you'll catch a cold."
Absentmindedly, she wondered which pervert in High Command had designed the battle garments for KAN-SEN.
The thing that looked like Eugen began to claw at its cheeks with two hands. Zuikaku could see the tears that fell from its six eyes, and her heart wrenched as she heard the soft, rasping sounds gurgling forth from its throat as it tried to remember how to cry.
"Aber… wie kann das sein… ? Nein… Es-es muss eine Luge sein. Es ist eine Luge! EINE LUGE!"
A lie. She thinks I'm lying to her.
With a heartrending howl, Eugen leapt at Zuikaku and clawed at her face bestially. Zuikaku cried out as she moved back a moment too late, and the sharp claws on the monster's hands tore three gashes across her nose. Blood dripped down her chin and her eyes watered as bright, hot pain flared up across her cheeks.
Bang, bang, bang
Three shots rang out in the small room, Eugen's head snapping back with each crack.
"Now!" Enterprise's shout was sharp and commanding.
Zuikaku leapt forward, gritting her teeth against the agony, and drew her sword, slashed forward, the blade arcing forward in an elegant curve and-
-stopping short.
I… can't. I can't. It looks like a monster, but it's still...still so much of her.
The unfinished cut was turned away by a powerful strike and Zuikaku felt herself being slammed to the ground, a thick, heavy weight on her chest. Eugen's six eyes stared back at her inches above her face, filled with an alien, hateful intelligence.
But there was still some shred of her friend in those horrible orange globes. Something that begged Zuikaku to forgive her as she tried to tear her apart. Something inside that was still her friend.
Too little. Too weak to change anything.
The thing with Eugen's face raised a hand.
"Eugen. Stop." Zuikaku's tone was pleading.
It cocked its head. "Hungrig…"
So that's why the soldiers stopped coming…
"Stop."
A sharp claw traced its way gently over Zuikaku's neck and bare shoulder. She shuddered at the invasive touch.
They didn't want to waste resources.
"Stop."
"Ich bin… so… hungrig…"
"Please, Eugen, it's me! STOP!"
They knew Eugen would kill us instead.
Crunch
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Zuikaku howled as she felt her left collarbone shatter into gristle, not-Eugen gnawing and tearing off chunks of flesh, sending arcing spurts of blood into the air. Four arms clasped tightly around her like a lover's embrace, preventing her thrashing attempts at escape from bearing any fruit as her former friend straddled her, moaning in pleasure as she snapped tendons and ravaged muscle, swallowing hungrily as flecks of reddish drool spattered on Zuikaku's face.
"It hurts, it hurts! Please…Eugen, stop!"
Eugen didn't stop. Her head lifted and dipped, and Zuikaku screamed as Eugen slowly partook of her, ate her alive.
"Get off of her!"
Suddenly Zuikaku felt the weight above her disappear. She saw through eyes blurred by tears Akagi lifting Eugen by the scruff of her neck with one hand, the mutated KAN-SEN snarling rabidly as she struggled and squirmed. Amid the beast's snarls of protest, the carrier flung her into a wall, twisting her entire body as she put all her strength into the throw. Eugen screeched inhumanly as she struck the metal surface with a crack, flopping down to the ground, two arms bent at a weird angle after they had been jammed horizontally into the wall.
Zuikaku gasped as Eugen dashed headlong at Akagi with monstrous speed, swinging its broken arms forward. They had healed in a split second, too fast for Zuikaku to even see the broken joints come back together.
Akagi was ready for the assault, however, and caught Eugen as she lunged, grabbing two of the cruiser's wrists. Grunting with the effort, the nine-tailed carrier strained as she brought her arms apart and Eugen keened as two limbs were separated from her torso in a shower of blood.
"Es schmerzt…schmerzt…"
Staggering backwards, Eugen glared at Akagi through six baleful orbs. The carrier didn't react, however, instead holding out a palm, red flames gathering around it like an omen of death.
"No!"
Zuikaku barreled into Akagi, gasping in pain as her still-healing shoulder jarred painfully. The burst of fire went wide, melting a hole into a wall in a split second. As they crashed to the ground, Zuikaku could see that the room that they were in was in turn within a vertical shaft of sorts.
"Why did you do that!"
"Please, Akagi...she's Eugen. She's our friend! Do you really need to-"
"Was, Zuikaku. She was our friend."
Akagi pointed at the heavy cruiser's form, hunched and crooked. Zuikaku noted with fear that the two torn-off arms had already regrown. "That right there-that thing right there-that isn't Eugen. It's a monster, and we're soldiers. We kill monsters."
Zuikaku shook her head desperately. "I don't understand-Akagi-she was your friend too! How can you just set that aside-"
"Do you think this is easy for me?"
Zuikaku's shoulders were seized by Akagi and she found herself face to face with her senior.
Akagi's face was twisted in pain, twin shining trails tracing down her cheeks. But her eyes were clear and devoid of any sign of impulsive emotion, replaced with a hollow, numb, accepting grief.
"Trust me, I'd rather not fight her. I would love for all of us-all of you-to go home safe after this But if we don't even fight, there's no way we can live. It's either us or her-that's all there is to it. If allying with the Sirens taught me one thing-and I know this better than anyone-it's that sometimes you can't save everyone."
"Nee-sama! I can't hold it much longer! Hurry!"
Both Zuikaku and Akagi's heads swiveled to catch Kaga, who was trading blows with Eugen, spirits of bluefire swirling around the fox carrier. Akagi instantly leapt back into the fray, creating a firestorm of swirling cherry-coloured flames that Eugen barely dodged.
"Kaga, we need to cut off her regeneration! Use your flames!"
"Got it!"
Akagi plunged in again while Eugen was distracted by Kaga's assault, grabbing an arm and ripping it clean off. The wounded KAN-SEN howled as Akagi formed a small globe of fire and flung it at the stump, which smoked and hissed, the flames burning down the flesh as fast as the cells replicated.
Enterprise and a couple of Cleveland's sisters squeezed off several more shots from their guns, targeting the beast's face with military precision.
KAN-SEN are strengthened by virtue of the Wisdom Cubes in their core, but they still have weaknesses penetrable by normal munitions, such as under the tongue, the gums, under the fingernails...
Eugen's head snapped backwards in a spray of red.
...or the mucosa of the eyes.
Taking advantage of the cruiser's moment of blindness as it frothed and hissed, eyes regenerating, Akagi and Kaga tore off the three remaining arms savagely and cauterised them with their spirit flames. Eugen tumbled to the ground, writhing, unable to get up without her arms. Kaga grabbed both legs, and to the shrieks of the monster, tore them off, the stumps coming alight shortly after with ghostly blue fire.
"Zuikaku!"
The crane was jolted out of her horrified, stuporous observation of the brutal battle between her countrymen and her close friend, drawing in a shaky breath. "Y-yes?"
"We need you to do it."
Zuikaku shook her head. "I...can't."
"You have to…" Akagi furrowed her brow in concentration, beads of sweat coursing down her face as both her hands were outstretched, each connected to two flaming chains that bound Eugen to the floor, the only things stopping the KAN-SEN from getting up, as well as the fire wreathing Eugen and stopping her regeneration. "I can't even move...or the flames will disappear. And… I don't think Kaga and I can stop her if we let her back up."
Zuikaku walked hesitantly towards the cruiser, writhing and spitting on the floor like an obscene, flesh-coloured caterpillar. Her hand tightened around the pommel of her katana, and she tried to draw it out, but found no strength.
"I...can't. She's my...friend. I won't kill her...I can't."
"Zuikaku...please...we can't keep this going for much longer." Kaga's voice was exhausted and slurring.
"If you can't do it…" Akagi's voice cracked. "Think of Nagato. Think of Suzutsuki."
"Do it for them."
Now you have to come back, because it's waiting for you!
Zuikaku swallowed.
She's waiting for me. I told her…
I need to come back.
Zuikaku unsheathed the sword, her heart tearing with every inch the blade slid out. Tears ran down her cheeks, catching the light reflected off the blade as she raised it high above her head, tip down.
Forgive me.
With a silent apology on her lips, Zuikaku brought the sword down, piercing the chest of the thing that had once been her friend.
Eugen's back arched off the ground as if she had been struck by lightning and she screamed, Zuikaku pulling back in terror at the ungodly, shrill noise.
"Keep the blade inside! Or she'll just regenerate and you'll have to do it all over again!"
Zuikaku tightened her grip on the blade, sobbing pointless apologies as she pushed it in deeper, blood jetting out in huge spurts, spattering on the floor, on her face, everywhere. Eventually something cracked in the transfixed torso and Eugen stopped writhing, her back slumping back to touch the floor, the fatally wounded cruiser prevented from regrowing her ruined heart by the blade wedged within, her breaths getting slower and shallower.
Zuikaku fell to the ground weeping, her entire body shivering.
I killed her. Gods forgive me, I killed her...
"Schwester…"
"Mm?" Zuikaku raised her head. I killed her, the least I can do is listen to her last words.
"Schwester...tut mir Leid…Ich sagte einige verletzende Dinge…vergib mir."
"Bitte, Schwester..." Tears ran down each of Eugen's eyes as they unfocused, gazing through Zuikaku to something that wasn't there.
Zuikaku stroked Eugen's face with a hand, closing the six eyes. "Ja… Eugen. Deine Schwester...liebt dich sehr."
With a last, shallow exhalation, Eugen's head fell to the side, eyes closed forever. Zuikaku stared broken-heartedly at her friend's mess of a corpse, hearing Kaga bite back a sob of anguish as the flames finally dispersed.
She began to cry.
"Shall we cremate her?" Zuikaku looked up to see Akagi, cheeks reflecting the dim light, resting a hand gently on her shoulder.
Zuikaku took a deep, shuddering breath. "I think...she would like that."
"Would you like to say anything?"
What can I say? What is there to say?
"Eugen… I know you can't hear this, but I'm-I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. I won't ask you not to hate me-you can do that all you want, because I couldn't save you. Because I chose myself over you. Because-"
The floor began to shake, the entire room vibrating, and Zuikaku stumbled to one side.
"Eek!"
"What's going on?"
A quick glance into the hole melted in the wall revealed that the entire room was moving upwards, the shaft's interior falling in a blur.
The room was an elevator.
Zuikaku quickly ran to Nagato and picked her up, hugging the little fox tightly, who was thankfully unscathed by the brutal fight.
And then the room opened.
The ceiling split along the gaps they saw earlier, folding outwards like a flower. The gaps continued down the lengths of the wall, unfurling until they found themselves standing on a large, flat platform, shaped like a sun, in the middle of a lagoon, the stars twinkling coldly above them.
"What-"
"SAMAEL defense protocol failed. Initiating emergency detonation of Ezekiel payload to terminate intruders.
The bomb in the centre of the platform, now exposed to the night, began to glow. Zuikaku stared, shell-shocked, at the rapidly brightening glow.
Looks like we're all going to die here after all. I'm sorry, Eugen, you died for no-
Kaga leapt in front of Zuikaku, throwing up a field of blue crosses which burst into flame, linking with each other to create a wall of fire. Akagi did the same, casting a surging, ephemeral shield in front of the Eagle Union ships, who were huddled together gazing, pale-faced, at the bomb, unable to protect themselves without rigging.
"Keep your heads low!"
"Commencing detonation in five-four-three-two-one-zero."
The glow became bright, too bright to look upon, and surged, sending a pillar of light into the sky. Shooting upwards, the pillar split, forming four glowing, gargantuan wings sprouting from the centre of the platform.
Zuikaku thought, strangely, detachedly, That's a piece of Siren tech if I ever saw one.
And then the wings exploded, and all Zuikaku could see was white, all white, a white so piercing that there was nothing it could do but consume the entire world with its radiant glare.