Although I would still separate this into three parts, the battle will extend to this section and that last one for this Episode. The endpoint is a predictable cliffhanger, good enough for a stopping point.

Also, for references, all the enemies you see will take the form of the Horton 229 like in Episode 2 of Strike Witches.


In the northern regions of the European continent laid a handful of large islands. One of them was a significant power on the side of the Allies known as the Kingdom of Britannia. While it had a sizable ground, air, and naval force, it was inferior compared to their opponent on the other side of the channel. Even so, it was the main base for their best Witches and the final stronghold against the relentless attacks from Germania and the Neuroi on the continent.

In the waters near Britannia's shores, a fleet of vessels enroute to the islands came under attack. They were composed of several escort ships and a leading aircraft carrier. They raised a white flag with a red crescent moon to indicate their nationality. A handful of explosions in the water rocked the flagship as voices shouted through the speakers.

"All ships, maintain course while taking evasive action! I repeat, maintain course while taking evasive action!"

The Fuso aircraft carrier Akagi and its destroyer escorts were on their way to the islands after tending to an assignment in its home country. After traveling halfway across the world, they were suddenly intercepted by a large black vessel that shot many red beams at the fleet. Many were damaged, but the beams only bombarded the waters near the carrier. The repeated near misses startled the commanding officers within the bridge.

"Damn them, why won't they just finish us off?"

"Maybe they're just toying with us?"

Another beam startled the men. The soldiers were dealing with a Neuroi, an enemy of humanity with weapons and technology that surpassed conventional weaponry. Without Witches, they stood no chance against them. But besides having two such people onboard, they had a complimentary of fighters for support.

"Prepare all fighter planes for takeoff. We'll show how a cornered rat bites the cat."

In a room within the Akagi was a short, brown haired 14-year-old girl who cringed on top of a bed. Her whole body shriveled as she held her legs tightly by her chest. She covered her eyes with her knees as the carrier continued to rumble from the enemy's attacks.

"Miyafuji!"

Yoshika jumped from her perched state when a sharp voice demanded her attention. She laid her feet back onto the ground as another girl came in. She bore long black hair tied to a ponytail. She had a white eyepatch cover her right side and an uncovered hazel left eye.

"Sakamoto-san…"

Yoshika Miyafuji faced her new superior officer, Squadron Leader Mio Sakamoto of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. The officer gave a stern look as she approached her recruit.

"What's with that face? And you call yourself a Witch of Fuso?"

"But…the shaking won't stop."

"It can't be helped."

Mio sighed. Finding a timid Yoshika was not surprising for her. She was like this ever since Mio found her content with her peaceful life. She knelt before the young girl and pushed her chin up.

"Come lift your face to me and don't move," she placed a small circular device in Yoshika's ear. The process made the young girl blush. "That's an intercom. With that, you can talk to me whenever we are apart. Use it when you're in an emergency. Understand?"

Before Yoshika could answer, another shockwave rocked the quarters. Alarms went off in the carrier to signal all aircraft to prepare for launch.

"Okay, now I have to go."

Mio stood back and turned to the door.

"Sakamoto-san…are you really going to fight them?"

"Of course. That's my duty, after all."

"But Sakamoto-san…I…I want to…"

"You stay. Don't go outside, no matter what."

"But…"

"I'll be fine. Just sit back and watch."

Mio exited the quarters. The speechless Yoshika was alone again. She heard the alarms and orders from the officers continuously. But all she could do was sit there.

"Everyone is out fighting. And yet, I…I…"

Yoshika did not board the ship for the sake of fighting; she was never the type to accept this reality. She wanted to do something, but with her given orders, she did not know what to do.


Propeller engines roared to life on the Akagi's deck. Around a dozen white Fuso fighters lined up to prepare for launch, all of which were A6M models codenamed "Zero."

Mio Sakamoto led the wing from the carrier's front elevator. She wore a Striker Unit based on the A6M3a version of the Zero and carried a Type-99 Model 2 Kai cannon in her arms. But her signature weapon was a Masakuni-type katana, which she received from her former master. Her Striker Unit spun its propellers, ears and a tail of a Doberman sprouted, and a magic circle emitted below her as she eyed on the Neuroi in front of her.

"Mio Sakamoto, taking off!"

The Major Witch took off first. The Zeros behind followed one to two planes at a time. When all of the Akagi's aircraft took off, the Neuroi fired another wave of beams at the fleet and destroyed another escort ship.

Mio paid no attention to the destruction as the planes trailed behind her. They all faced the Neuroi dead ahead. She received a message from one of the three pilots close behind as they approached the massive alien weapon.

"Incoming message from our superior. The 501st Joint Fighter Wing is heading towards our fleet. ETA 20 minutes."

"Then we either defeat the Neuroi here or hold out until they arrive."

Mio flew past the black craft as it fired its beams at her. The other planes scattered to avoid the red beams as well. The Witch flew above the Neuroi as she gave her orders.

"The Neuroi cannot be defeated without crushing its core. All planes draw their fire while I fly above and take it out."

The planes complied by circling the Neuroi. The descended below to pick up speed as the Neuroi fired beams from its underbelly. The rapid acceleration of the planes allowed them to avoid the beams with ease.

The diversion gave Mio time to reveal her other signature power. She lifted her eyepatch to show a red eye with a black iris. Her vision darkened as she scanned the entire Neuroi. To her surprise, she had no luck finding the core.

Her vision returned to normal when she noticed several glares from the top of the Neuroi. Multiple beams converged to attack, forcing Mio to put up a barrier. Several beams missed but a few pummeled her shield. The incredible power of the beams budged her backward. A veteran Witch knew well how to block, but an old veteran Witch was another story. Even so, no beam went through her shield, and she could still fight.

She scanned the Neuroi again when it was clear to give it another go. Still, there was no luck in finding a glowing red spot within the craft.

"The Neuroi is like a hedgehog. Even I can't find the core."

She noticed the Neuroi attacking the escorts. A few beams damaged another destroyer, and another splashed a Zero from the sky. Mio could not find the core and soldiers were getting taken down. She had to take more offensive action.

The Witch descended from the sky and fired a few rounds from her cannon. She approached the Neuroi while avoiding the beams from the red spots. With no danger of counterattack, she shot her gun at the center of the Neuroi. She flew away before firing a few more rounds to inflict more damage.

When the smoke cleared, Mio observed the damage. Although her shots put decent dents onto the craft, they healed up quickly as one of the Neuroi's natural abilities. She noticed through her quickly Magan eye that the energy outlining the ship increased to accelerate its regeneration. It wasn't enough to detect the core, so she had to take it even further.

Sakamoto descended at the craft against as it shot down two more Zeros. She circled its left wing and fired a few more rounds at it. She did not have to check the damage; the number of shots was enough to dent any Neuroi shell. Instead of firing a few more rounds, she put her cannon behind her back and charged forward.

Mio unsheathed her sword and flew behind the Neuroi's left wing. She let out a war cry as she aimed for the crack within the shell midway from the fuselage. With all her might, she cut deeply into the wing. With such a hardened shell, she used all of her strength to tear the left wing in half. The piece that flew off the Neuroi disintegrated into white feathers before the other pilots.

The lost of a wing should be enough for the Neuroi to increase its regeneration ability at a far higher rate. She could tell as her Magan showed far more energy from the craft. It was a sign that the core needed to channel more energy to recover from such an attack. For that reason, she could easily see the energy signature emitting from the very center of Neuroi.

"All escorting planes, the Neuroi core is at the exact center. Converge your fire to expose the core."

"Major Sakamoto, new contacts from our three!"

The pilot's distressed voice prompted Mio to her turn her right. It was too distant to see the enemy, and clouds were in the way. She had to use her Magan's second ability to get a visual. Around 200 meters was the last thing she expected, a swarm of ten more Neuroi heading towards the Akagi. They were smaller versions of the Neuroi they were fighting at the moment, but the numbers were very problematic.

"Reinforcements? But how?"

As the smaller Neuroi craft got within range, they fired a barrage of beams at the fleet and its escorts. Mio put up a shield to deflect a few more beams. But the reinforcements managed to sink a cruiser and destroy three more fighters in a single volley. Even though Mio could easily deal with such enemies, the Fuso fleet now faced a disadvantage in numbers.

The larger Neuroi regenerated its wing and retaliated with another volley of red beams. Mio barely dodged the first few beams in time as she was caught off guard. She erected another barrier to block a few more beams, but the battle took its toll on her. She held the barrier long enough to avoid getting shot down as a weakened beam grazed her by the jacket.

The smaller Neuroi continued their onslaught by destroying the remaining Zeros and two more escort ships. The crew on the damaged ships began evacuating even as the smaller craft fired on them as well. Sakamoto glared at the gritty situation that had occurred on them.

"Damnit, it can't end like this. I will succeed no matter what the cost!"

Just before she had thoughts of a suicide run, one of the smaller Neuroi ships exploded. Mio searched for who could have fired such a shot. All of the ships were heavily damaged save for the Akagi, and all their main guns were inoperable. It could not be from Britannia either since it was too soon for their reinforcements. Therefore, it had to come from somewhere outside.

Mio caught a glimpse of a second round that impacted the larger Neuroi, which let out an electronic screech. The attack came from behind the Akagi and the enemy Neuroi, out in the open waters. The Witch used her Magan zoom in on their unexpected supporters.

"What is in Fuso's name?"

Three were also already a soothing sight to see, as they were all from the 501st. But there were two girls she did not recognize. What further added to the mystery was their method of flight without a Striker Unit. One rode on a large anti-tank rifle like it was a broom while another emitted flames from her arms and feet. She could not help but wonder who these girls were and what the Karsland Witches were up to this past month.


Out in the distance, Gertrud fired another powerful shot from one of her two weapons. Her squad was in a finger-four formation with Erica on her left, Francesca and Alice on her left. The Psionic girl propelled herself with flames on both her hands and feet to keep up with the girls.

Izetta trailed behind the group on her rifle. She used her time to check the mana in the area before continuing. It was necessary to stay behind due to circumstances that kept her as a last line of defense.

Gertrud double checked her secondary weapon after firing a few times for any issue. Aside from her MG42, she also wielded an MG151/20 cannon. She used that weapon to get two clear shot at the larger Neuroi, though one of them hit a smaller Neuroi instead.

"Enemy Neuroi up ahead," Lieutenant Barkhorn touched into her intercom. "Steer clear from the battlefield and up to maximum comm range. Do not proceed until we clear the area."

The girls all escorted a passenger boat behind them. The main passengers were Fine, Bianca, Elvira, and Tipler. Fine and Tipler were by a military radio with the Murlock standing right by the microphone.

"So these are the alien creatures, huh?"

Alice was the most eager out of the group, understandably because this was her first time testing her power against a Neuroi. For that reason, Tipler was the most worried.

"Be careful out there, Alice-sama."

"Hey, who do you think I am!?"

"A thick-headed pyromaniac who charges in head first," Erica remarked.

"Just don't go too far, Izetta," Fine spoke into the microphone. "You must not charge in by yourself either."

Tipler turned to the Archduchess, know well about her biggest worries.

"You're concerned about her fighting these Neuroi?"

"I can not force her to stay out, but even if her fight against Germania, she's facing a very different enemy here."

Gertrud responded upon overhearing Fine and Tipler's dialogue.

"Based on our recent discovery, this should be the best route for her to remain active in combat."

Alice nodded as she turned her head behind and towards Izetta.

"But are you sure you can fight a Neuroi? They're not human, and you may have those special lances, but they're far stronger than any Germanian weapon. Those mere swords won't do much either."

Izetta had a large number of obtained a massive response from her hand before answering.

"If I concentrate my power enough, I'll be fine."

The girl noticed a flash from the battlefield. The girls broke away as several red beams cruised past them. One of them got close to hitting Izetta, prompting to call out her blades.

"Everyone!"

The swords all weaved into a square angled in another direction like what she did in Coenenberg. Unlike that time, however, she focused vast amounts of mana that made it glow bright green. Although the beam pushed the shield of swords backward and metal heated up where it impacted, it split apart and deflected away from the Witch. Moreover, the energy dissipated upon collision with the mana surrounding the shield. Therefore, it acted like her magic shield compared to her Witch allies.

The other girls noticed the girl emerging from the dented swords unharmed. As stunned as they were, they prioritized the small Neuroi that faced them. Alice went ahead of the Witch to face the enemy.

"Seems like we have no choice then. Let's do this!"

"Alice, get back and wait for my orders," Gertrud calls her through the intercom, but a wave of beams interfered. "Lucchini, Hartmann, follow my lead and clear the sky of all Neuroi!"

The three Witches from 501st went into a single group together. Izetta remained behind as she rechecked her mana and aimed her rifle towards the human fleet.

Leading the charge was Alice, who prepared a fistful of flames in her right hand. She used her quick reflexes and mobility to avoid the next wave of beams. When approaching the closest craft, she threw a sphere of flame with all her power, disintegrating it into a massive fireball. She jerked again to avoid the set of beams converging in her direction.

Gertrud used Alice's diversion to her advantage. She fired another round from her cannon, followed by a stream of fire from her MG42. Francesca and Erica attacked another Neuroi and quickly destroyed its core, disintegrating it into white feathers. The Witches flew past the remaining two as they fired more beams at the girls.

Alice threw another spark of flame at a Neuroi, which only exposed its core. She evaded another wave of beams after that, though one graze her by her gauntlet. A swarm of swords then pelted the two Neuroi as Izetta approached the girls. Before they could diverge their attention to the White Witch, both were destroyed by another one of Alice's sparks and another barrage from Gertrud's squadron.

With all the attackers down, Alice the 501st Witches flew towards the human fleet that came under attack. Gertrud assessed the situation, witnessing all of the damaged and sinking ships, save for the aircraft carrier.

"The emergency call most likely came from this carrier."

Alice circled the nearby sinking ships. The men stood in surprise upon seeing a girl propelling flames from her feet and hands without any Striker Unit. But Alice focused more on the flags raised by the sinking this.

"That's a weird flag they're raising."

Gertrud twitched her eye as she corrected Alice through the intercom.

"It's the flag for the Fuso Imperial Navy. That aircraft carrier is Akagi."

"You know that ship?"

"Another Witch from the 501st unit was assigned to that unit not long ago. She's supposed to recruit new Witches to the unit, that is if she's still alive."

Another voice came into their communications.

"Lieutenant Barkhorn, come in! I repeat, Lieutenant Barkhorn, come in!"

The flying lieutenant responded to Sakamoto's voice.

"This is Lieutenant Barkhorn. Is that you, Major?"

"I see you returned from mainland Europe and brought a bunch of guests along. Report your purpose."

Mio blocked another beam with her weakened shield as Gertrud replied.

"Commander Wilcke assigned us to escort a passenger boat with VIPs to the base. Two additional girls volunteered for the mission to fight alongside us."

"Two Witches for Karsland?"

"Negative."

Following Gertrud's answer, Alice flew over to Sakamoto's side. The Squadron Leader easily knew she was not an ordinary Witch and what intrigued her the most was her fire-propulsion as her means of flight. The young girl greeted the woman.

"Heya, we saw you guys were in trouble, so we figured we come along!"

Gertrud continued through her intercom.

"Although she's not of military or political importance, one is extremely interested in the war effort. Despite her recklessness, she possesses powers never seen before and should be brought to our commander for evaluation."

In the middle of Gertrud's report, another small Neuroi aimed at Mio and Alice. The Psionic girl reacted with another spark, exposing its core. When it returned fire, Alice flew black and to the side. Mio charged forward and cut the core in half. She turned to Alice, who struggled to regain control after the close encounter, prompting her to sigh.

"Very well," Mio gave her orders as she faced the Akagi, which was still under attack by the larger Neuroi. "First, help clear the airspace of all Neuroi. Then we will provide escort for your passenger boat. Does it have room on the ship?"

"Only a handful of passengers are onboard. We should be able to take in a few lifeboats."

"Understood. Once the sky is clear, have the boat picking up any survivors along the way. We'll need to carry all-"

Before Mio could finish, another voice only she knew came through the intercom.

"Sakamoto-san, are you alright? Sakamoto-san!"

The young girl's voice surprised the other girls besides Mio, who was far more agitated.

"You idiot! What the hell are you doing?"

"Sakamoto-san…you're all right, thank goodness."

"I told you not to leave the room! Get back!"

"Sakamoto-san…"

Another smaller Neuroi attacked, prompting her to use her shield again. As the Neuroi passed her, Alice threw another spark to damage its wing. Sakamoto returned to Miyafuji on the intercom.

"This is not where you should be! You're just getting in the way!"

"But I want to do what I can, as well!"

"Miyafuji, listen to me! There is nothing you can do now! Get back in the room quickly!"

"Sakamoto-san?"

"Major Sakamoto," Gertrud came in on the line, who overheard the conversation. "What is going on here?"

"Yeah," Alice agreed as she hovered to Mio's side. "You know this girl?"

"She's…a potential candidate for recruitment. Her orders are to stay inside the carrier no matter what happens."

"She sure doesn't sound too happy about that."

Alice threw another spark at a small Neuroi as Mio complimented.

"Honestly, she's a reckless girl but has a lot of guts. We got to show the same."

The descended over the larger Neuroi as it closed in on the carrier. Mio relayed to the other girls.

"Attention, the larger Neuroi's core is in the exact center. Focus your fire on it and-"

"Sakamoto-san!"

Miyafuji's voice cried out that prompted Mio to snap her attention back to the Akagi. Before her eyes, a Neuroi beam pierced the Akagi directly. An explosion erupted from the elevator and flames spit around the deck.

"The Akagi," Alice stuttered. "It's…"

"Miyafuji, do you read me?" Mio called the young girl through her intercom again. "Miyafuji, come in! Miyafuji!"

After a few seconds, there was still no response from the young Witch. What pained her the most was that her father worked on the Striker Units that allowed Witches to fight against the Neuroi. In other words, she was her closest acquaintance's daughter.


The rest of the battle will end in the third part of the Episode.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.