Hello due to certain problems IRL it will take me a bit to get the next chapter to you guys

Hope you all are staying safe in these times

Do not grieve for those that are dead but those that are left behind

Chapter 33: Natures Pain

Even though the sun was glaring from the cloudless sky Shirayuri was unable to relax in the slightest as she coordinated the various ships moving around in the Port of Kakureta Island as several needed some repairs while others needed some maintenance due to the long time they had been at sea and in various battles.

After she was rescued yet again from the enemy Mitsuko and Kishiko had headed back out with a small mobile force supported by their most deadly submarines to continue with their escort duties as several parts of the massive underground complex of the island were still in dire need of repairs with several parts being inaccessible at the moment due to the tunnels collapsing a long time ago.

The reason for the worry of the three sisters was obvious to anyone who knew the Misaki sisters even slightly as for over six weeks now not a single life sign had been seen or heard from Akeno not only that but just as Shirayuri thought things couldn't get any worse Oleg called in over the emergency channels they had established in case they needed them.

"Home base this is Shark we have a situation here" Shirayuri heard Olegs voice over the radio but he sounded rather distressed about something which was unusual enough as he was one of the calmest people they knew making him the perfect submarine captain "This is Home base what´s wrong Shark?" Shirayuri asked only to get a sigh full of sadness from the other end "Home base we have found a badly beaten fleet of ships that are part of our forces however after a thorough search no one has been found. The flagship of the fleet is none other than the Tsukuba over" Oleg's rather simple report causing a tense silence to befall the entire room.

Shirayuri snapped out of it quite quickly thanks to her training "Shark how bad is the damage to the fleet?" her question obviously causing some sort of papers to move on the other end "We have found extensive and in some cases even crippling damage to all ships of the fleet with the worst damaged one being the flagship" Oleg answered in great detail.

Shirayuri felt as if her entire body had been doused in ice cold sea water at the next report Oleg gave her as it was revealed during the search that onboard the Tsukuba they found evidence of fighting mainly empty bullet casings and slashes of a bladed weapon in the walls, floors and ceilings of the various corridors.

But the thing that had even the normally calm and collected Oleg worried sick was the presence of a very familiar blade its dark orange edge confirming it was one of the two blades Akeno always carried with her but not only was the blade here but near it they had found quite a bit of blood, as well as a blood trail that was leading all the way up to the deck of the ship before disappearing near the flight deck.

Shirayuri acted immediately by sending out a well escorted group of repair ships to get the fleet repaired to survive the journey back to Kakureta island where the rest of the damage would be taken care of she also contacted her allies the rogue fleet that had helped Mitsuko and Kishiko to rescue her "Just what happened? Where did you go Akeno?" Shirayuri whispered to the open sea as the sun started to set on the horizon.

Two weeks before Oleg found the damaged fleet:

Akeno was onboard the Tsukuba chasing after a much smaller older light destroyer that was escorted by several small gun and torpedo boats the reason she was chasing them down was rather simple they were pirates that had tried to take two freighters as hostages but before they had been able to board the two ships Akeno had attacked them as she had been in the area anyway.

The pirates weren't that dumb either as the much smaller crafts had pulled away as soon as Akeno had opened fire not that it helped them all that much as a flight of twelve planes did a strafing run on the pirate ships before pulling back up to circle back around for another run from a different direction.

It took Akeno almost four full hours to chase all of the pirate ships down and sink them but even though some of them survived the destruction of their ships Akeno had no intention to rescue them from the cold death at sea as she simply turned away and only slowed down to collect the sea planes that had landed on the water and with that done Akeno turned away from the two freighters to avoid anyone that might show up to investigate what had happened.

But with nothing to do her mind started wandering mainly to the people she meet in a port over a week away sure the sea was her home now but at some point you just get tired of it so Akeno had used a rundown port on an Island to hide her fleet from view while she headed to the mainland with a small craft.

Overall her time in the resort town had been very relaxing that is until three days ago as Akeno had seen the familiar face of Altessa it had been for just a moment but the moment Akeno tried to catch up with her the girl that looked very much like her lost sister she had disappeared.

But as the sun started to lower on the horizon Akeno heard thunder in the distance but there wasn't a single storm cloud in sight but a moment later several explosions erupted on two of Akenos cruisers as well as one destroyer "Damn bastards I will show you" Akeno growled as she returned fire as her radar located several vessels heading her way.

Akeno wasn't sure she was causing all that much damage to the enemy but just as she thought she had managed to lose her pursuers a second fleet was detected right in front of her but even as Akeno tried to turn away her fleet came under attack from the air by a massive swarm of aircraft meaning the enemy had carriers in their fleet.

But even as she was busy with avoiding the air raid the first fleet closed back in on her and by the time Akeno saw what was about to happen it was already to late as her fleet was caught in between the two enemy fleets that consisted of several battleships and destroyers meaning they left their carriers behind somewhere.

Akeno tried her hardest to break out of the trap she had sailed into by speeding away but by the time she managed to pull far enough ahead her fleet was barely able to fight back as several destroyers and one cruiser had been lost already.

But with her attention focused on escaping the enemies trap Akeno noticed the aircraft to late that returned for another attack on her fleet but as it happened her best efforts were not enough as the entire ship started violently shaking around her for a moment as the sound of tearing steel was heard before a large explosion caused the ship to lurch again throwing her off her feet.

Akeno knew exactly what had happened as the Tsukuba started slowing down fast "Damn seems I need to" but just as Akeno tried to leave the bridge several planes opened fire on the ship aiming directly for the bridge windows.

Akeno didn't hesitate to jump down the bridge stairs to avoid the hail of bullets and glass as at least another three aircraft strafed the ship "Fuck" she cursed as she ran down the corridor to get to the hangar but about halfway there the lights started cutting out not that it bothered her as she could see in pitch black darkness just as well.

But as she went down another flight of stairs Akeno stopped "Something´s wrong" Akeno mumbled as she loaded her Shotgun before she started moving again but at a much slower pace this time while keeping her eyes open for anything.

But suddenly Akeno stopped again as the lights ahead of her were flickering and just as a part of the hallway got dark Akeno saw that someone was standing there the person was a Caucasian female with very long raven black hair and golden amber eyes.

She was wearing a white nun veil attached to a white coif, a black helm face mask, a white and black nun robe with the right side open connected to a silver cross button showing her wearing a silver white yukata kimono shirt, a golden amber sash attached to her right shoulder that went down to her right hip, a golden-brown obi belt around the waist, golden hakama trousers, and amber brown geta sandals.

Akeno got a very bad feeling about this girl as she kept her shotgun ready to fire if necessary "Who are you and what are you doing aboard my ship?" Akeno asked keeping her voice even as much as she could.

The girl tilted her head to the side at that "Little old me?" the girl asked in a very high pitched voice that sent an ice cold shiver down Akenos back not to mention it sounded more like the voice of a child "No one special" the girl added before her head snapped back up "You on the other hand are what I'm looking for" the girl spoke a second before she seemed to disappear.

Only for the girl to appear right in front of Akeno [To close] Akeno thought as her training kicked in but the moment she tried to jump away from the girl to get some distance she noticed that the girl had grabbed her shotgun.

Akeno let go of the gun immediately to jump into a roll before landing on her feet as the girl swung something at her which caused sparks to fly around the dark corridor "You will be fun" the girl started to say but Akeno responded by opening fire with her AK while she continued to move back the way she came.

Akeno hoped that that girl had been stalled long enough as she climbed up the ladders and closed the bulkheads behind her to slow her pursuer down even more but as she entered the hallway to the upper deck she had to dodge around a corner as several silver cross like daggers tried to cut her apart.

Akeno stayed behind the corner as she heard loud footsteps approaching her from down the hall "Do you really think hiding will do you any good?" the voice of none other than Suigin hollered down the hall as a wave of silver was filling the entire hallway behind him.

Akeno cursed under her breath as she started running down the hallway without looking back but suddenly she ran directly into something very hard the impact causing the air in her lungs to leave her as she was thrown to the ground "Suigin this girl is so weak are you sure it is her?" Akeno heard the shrill voice of the girl yell down the hallway.

Akeno didn't wait for an answer as she rolled over to get her arms under her but as she slowly pushed herself off the ground she coughed up some blood "I am quite sure that this is her Spirit so lets just get her and move" Suigins disinterested voice called to the girl that was swinging some sort of blade around.

Akeno got back to her feet but she was still reeling from the hit she just took not to mention that her ribs were hurting badly but no matter in which direction she looked all of her escape routes were cut off by silver daggers "Seems you are still standing despite that hit you just took but I advise you to just give up" Suigings smug voice called to Akeno as his daggers hovered over his shoulders like snakes.

Akeno for her part didn't care as she drew both of her blades at the same time "As if I would ever do anything you want" Akeno hissed as blood was dripping from her open mouth "Unfortunately there will not be a repeat of last time" Suigin sighed as his daggers surged forward.

Akenos blades became a whirlwind that surrounded her body on all sides and with every single movement of her blades the silver daggers that tried to kill her were destroyed one after the other until Akeno started to slow down as no more daggers tried to attack her "Well done indeed but we have wasted enough time don't you think?" Suigin grinned as the girl threw something towards Akeno.

Akeno only needed a fraction of a second to see what was on that picture and in the next instant she had one of her blades at Suigins neck while the other rested against the neck of the girl "You seem to be thinking that you can make demands don't you?" Suigin asked as calm as ever despite the ridiculously sharp blade against his neck.

Akenos eyes showed no emotions despite the fact that they were slightly glowing a dark crimson red "What do you know about her?" Akeno growled at Suigin pressing her blade ever so slightly harder into his skin "Well I haven't worked with her in a while but that is the least of your worries right now" Suigin grinned as Spirit blew something at Akeno.

Of course Akeno jumped away out of reflex but when she landed her right leg gave out on her causing her to land in a crouch "What did you just" Akeno tried to ask as her eyes burned as if they were on fire but instead she felt something pierce her left hand causing her to scream in pain as she dropped Tsukubas blade.

Akeno grit her teeth as she looked at her left hand only to find one of Suigins silver daggers piercing straight through it "You know we could have done this the easy way but you just had to resist" Suigin sighed as several more of his daggers started floating around behind him.

Akeno hissed through her teeth as she slowly got back up to her feet "Just give up already you are no fun to fight" Spirit pouted as Akeno raised her second blade Asuramaru while keeping her left hand close to her body.

Akeno stayed on the defensive but in the end it proved futile as Suigin managed to stab her right shoulder with one of his daggers only for Spirit to attack her as well delivering another bone crushing blow to Akenos chest sending her flying into the ceiling before crashing down on the floor.

Akeno could barely keep her eyes open at this point due to the pain but the moment she tried to start her seraph chant another one of Suigins numerous daggers stabbed her in the side leaving a slightly bleeding wound behind "Don't even think about it little Seraph" Suigin warned her as four of his daggers with chains on them appeared in his hands.

Suigin kicked Akeno in her side causing her to roll over as he looped the chains around both of her shoulders and wrists "If you try anything" Suigin warned as the two daggers still in her body moved ever so slightly causing Akeno to exhale sharply through her gritted teeth.

Suigin used the chains around her shoulders and wrists to drag Akeno after him with Spirit following behind them while swinging around Akenos blade but due to Akenos bleeding injuries they left a long dark trail of her blood on the ground as they dragged her up on deck before moving her onboard a German battleship that started moving away from the battered fleet that started drifting along the waves.

Akeno didn't know for how long they had been moving as she had been put into a pitch black room thankfully Asuramarus power was still working so her injuries were of little concern but no matter what she tried she was completely unable to invoke her Seraph powers.

Normally this wouldn't be much of an issue but sadly it was Suigin and someone else "Just what is your plan Cursed Prince Ardyn" Akeno whispered to herself as the wound on her hand closed but not without leaving a small scar behind that was the only drawback to Asuramarus power sure it gave her inhuman like abilities but there was always something that could cause problems in the long run.

In this case it was the blessed silver that Suigin was using for his daggers as Asuramarus power was of demonic origin even if Akeno used it through a blade it still meant that holy objects and places interfered with that power no matter how strong she became by using it.

But before Akeno could think about any of that any further the entire room lit up with brith white light causing Akeno to flinch back as she covered her eyes however before her eyes could get used to the light something hit her in the side of the head with enough force to throw her across the room into the wall.

The impact hurt a bit but by now Akenos eyes got used to the bright light only to find the strange girl from before standing on the other side of the room "Yahoo Seraph-Chan I came to play" the girls high pitched voice echoed through the room "The fuck you want now?" Akeno cursed as her ribs protested with a lot of pain as she got back up.

The other girl didn't seem to take to kindly to that as she was suddenly right in front of Akeno and only thanks to her reflexes Akeno dodged the big blade that would've cut her in half otherwise but the moment Akeno tried to get close to her the girl turned her head towards her to blow something right into her face.

Akeno didn't see it in time to dodge as whatever the girl just threw her way touched her skin causing it to feel as if she was burned in several places "Pretty sweet ain't it?" the girl asked as she rested her blade across her shoulders "But you're no fun Suigin told me how strong you are supposed to be but the only thing I see here is a little girl to weak to protect anything" the girl taunted with a strange look in her eyes.

Akeno knew what the girl was trying to do and for some reason it was working as Akeno launched herself at the girl only for the massive blade to come at her from the side thankfully she dodged it by jumping over it but now airborne there was nowhere to dodge as Spirit threw something at her yet again.

This time there didn't seem to happen anything that is until Akeno tried to dodge another one of Spirit strikes but instead of her dodging the blow Akeno was caught by the flat of the blade and thrown across the room again as her leg muscles refused to move an inch.

Spirit gave her no chance and every time the effects from the previous dosage wore off Akeno was hit by another concoction of hers that interfered with her movement, nerves or muscles and by now Akeno was sure she had several broken bones as well as some stab wounds not that she could do anything to confirm that right now as she was being dragged over a rough stone floor.

Eventually they dropped her to the ground completely not that she could really move right now even as her wounds and broken bones started to heal with every second that went by "Spirit you know what he wants to know from her so do try and keep her alive this time" Suigin's voice called sounding rather bored from somewhere.

Spirit giggled at that "I know Suigi just have to see how much she can take before breaking" she replied before Akeno felt some strange material that wrapped around her wrists and ankles almost crushing them before she was lifted up from the ground.

Akenos arms and legs were spread apart by what looked like some sort of green material but before Akeno could get a proper look at what had restrained her body Spirit approached her again with something in hand "We two will have so much fun together" Spirit giggled like a maniac her hand surging forward before Akenos mind was lost in a sea of agony.

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