After confronting the contradiction of the sudden turn of events, Tirpitz finds herself sitting near the beach enjoying the view of shore. It's the perfect weather to enjoy a peaceful afternoon with no one around and only the calming waves brushing at the shore.
"Victorious, what you cooked the other day..." Tirpitz grunts
"Ahahaha. I might have gotten carried away" Victorious scratches her cheeks
"Just one spoon and I've been out cold for the next two days" Tirpitz crosses her arms
"I tried to experiment a spicy and sweet soup!"
"No wonder I felt burning in my mouth and the sweetness tainted my tongue"
Tirpitz could only cover her mouth as she freshly recalls the exact reaction that flooded her senses. Even now, she furrows her eyebrows in disgust and even appears about to hurl just remembering it.
"Neumark said I almost had a heart attack" Tirpitz removes her hand from her mouth
"I apologized already! I just tried to make something new you would like" Victorious playfully hits her
"You don't have to go all that trouble. I'd eat any normal food you'd cook" Tirpitz sighs
"Hehehe. That's Tirpy!"
"Don't call me that. It sounds childish..." Tirpitz averts her gaze
"I'm glad you appreciate my cooking skills"
"I just trust your cooking. Neumark tried to make herbal soup for me once. It tasted so bitter I couldn't taste anything for the next three days" Tirpitz closes her eyes
"I already imagined your reaction"
Victorious blinks before giggling at the mere thought. This slightly annoys Tirpitz, but she sneaks a smile when Victorious isn't looking. It's only rare for her to express warm emotions and still find it difficult to do it in front of someone she trusts knowing Victorious would bother and tease her about it.
"Still, I'm glad you stopped being a such a socially awkward drama queen" Victorious clears her throat
"Am I that much?"
"Of course! You'd act so stubborn that I resorted to dragging you myself. If you weren't used to the cold, I would thrown you in a frozen lake!" Victorious lifts both arms up in the air
"...and I'd probably drag you too"
"I'd catch a cold!"
"Loud and persistent ones can't catch any"
"Wha-! When did you learn to answer back?"
Playfully upset at Tirpitz's unexpected remark, Victorious grabs her cape and weakly shakes the unmoving Tirpitz. All she's doing is wrinkling Tirpitz's cape and providing her an afternoon amusement.
...
...
...
"How can you put so much faith in her? That you'd do everything to keep her happy"
The scenario dissipates and Tirpitz ends up in a stretching land of nothing but snow a few dried trees on their surroundings. The "ghost" in Tirpitz's mind drags her in that world and even asks without even facing her the slightest.
"You peered in an old memory of mine" Tirpitz sighs
"..."
"Even if my emotions are just a memory now, I haven't forgotten anything. That's why I'm letting her do what makes her happy" Tirpitz wuickly answers the question
"You care about her even if you can't return the warmth she shared with you" The doppelganger turns to face her
"I just can't seem to leave her be. That's why I stayed by her side when she dragged me out of that prison like how she once declared she would remind me of warmth"
"..."
Tirpitz speaks with full certainty that she doesn't avert her doppelganger's gaze even when those eyes are that of someone who wouldn't hesitate to cut someone down. There's indeed no doubt which puzzles and intrigues the doppelganger at the same time, causing the one minute silence.
"You trust her with all your life. Haven't you thought you would come to regret that?"
"...No, I wouldn't"
"How can you be so sure?"
"I made the choice to trust her"
"I thought you lost your emotions, not your common sense"
Unfortunately, the doppelganger is disappointed rather than convinced with her answer. She stares at Tirpitz, baffled at how the emotionless battleship could boldly be certain of a foolish answer.
"The kansens of Azur Lane are my allies, but Victorious is the only one who I have faith in. To deceive for one's gain is human nature and kansens like me are born from humans so we're not free of humanity's curse" Tirpitz adds her answer
"Victorious cannot be trusted just like Iron Blood who paved the way to your existence"
"..."
"The one you call your friend is bound to lie and betray you. It's bound to happen"
The doppelganger takes one reluctant step forward and the other foot does the same after a few seconds until she approaches the unmoving Tirpitz. Even when the reflection bears killing intent in her emptied gaze and her figure is enough to speak of scarred tragedy, Tirpitz refuses to yield and so plants her feet in the ground.
"Victorious will betray what's left of that frozen heart of yours"
"I'm not going to just agree with the words of faker" Tirpitz shakes her head
"These are not mere words. What I'm saying is what's fated to happen"
"Like I said, just because you said it doesn't mean it's true" Tirpitz remains stubborn
"I forgot now difficult I am to deal with...just like Bismarck"
Seeing Tirpitz refuses to believe the slightest word she says, the doppelganger raises her head as if she's aware it's pointless to argue with her. The two are at a stalemate because both of them are refuting each other's claims.
"At the moment Victorious will betray you, what will you do? What will you say?" The copy sighs
"I can't say for certain because I never believed it would come to that" Tirpitz lowers her head for a few seconds
"Then what if I kill Victorious myself? Can you bring yourself to act for her sake even if you know it will lead to your demise?"
"I'd kill you even if it kills me" Tirpitz doesn't even hesitate to answer
"You really are a suicidal idiot. Both you and I..." The doppelganger admits with resentment
"I have little regard for my own life, but I came to rethink about it when that persistent carrier wouldn't allow me to go down"
"That's precisely why..."
The doppelganger appears to have widened her eyes in surprise for a moment, but shakes her head in dismay and immediately turns her back on Tirpitz.
"Even if she drag me back to life just so she could curse at me, I wouldn't curse her"
"..." The doppelganger raises her head but refuses to face her again
"...because for once I actually thought being alive isn't so bad even if I still struggle to come to terms with the price Bismarck made me pay"
"Perhaps something indeed change or at least...it could change"
Just as the doppelganger begins to take slow and careful footsteps, she whispers something under her breath that Tirpitz couldn't hear. The latter could only watch the bitter doppelganger disappear into the snow when the snowstorm begins to hinder her vision.
An inescapable blizzard traps Siren and kansens alike. The barrier is a constantly swirling snow with ice fragments shredding those who try to reach it. Flesh and steel alike, the freezing shredder tears through materials indiscriminately.
"A blizzard all of a sudden?!" Howe lifts her black sword
"This is no good" Illustrious scans her surroundings
Around them are floating scraps of defeated Sirens, but their main concern is howling wind separating them from the outside world. The temperature around them trapped but not enough to freeze their skin and blood yet.
"Even when I arrived late a year ago, I remember witnessing this kind of blizzard. It was a battle between an Arbiter and a supposed META" Illustrious combs her bangs
"The one where the META was supposedly killed?" Howe rubs her eyes because of the snow
"Yes. The blizzard only dispersed when the META was defeated"
"Do you think the same META resurfaced after a year of silence?"
Howe, cautiously guards everything within line of sight, stands behind Illustrious. An aircraft carrier like her wouldn't be able to launch her aircraft because of the weather with low visibility and strong winds. The fog already rendered their visibility low but the blizzard made their radars barely function.
"Her body was never found, so it could be a possibility" Illustrious exhales but her breath is as white as the snow around her
"Not only an Arbiter baited us but brought along a presumedly dead META" Howe swallows her breath
"We must search for the others. They may be under attack or suffering from this blizzard"
"I understand. We'll thread through this snow carefully. As a battleship and a knight, it's my duty to keep you safe until we return"
Howe gently presses her hand on her chest, repeating her duty as a proud knight of the Royal navy. While not as experienced as her eldest sister, Howe is as diligent as everyone else as the rest of her sisters.
Outside the blizzard...
Repulse META drops her jaw seeing a blizzard manifest and create a deadly barrier concealing everything from the outside world. It encompasses a large portion of the battlefield, more than enough to swallow an island.
"The fact this appeared again, then Hunter managed to piss her off enough to come out" Repulse META scratches her head
"Yeah. Victorious must have either been seriously hurt...or dead" Renown META coldly sweats
"Hunter wouldn't fatally shoot Victorious. We all know that's practically asking for a disaster"
"Should we try to take her on? METAs like us are resistant to her ice"
"Resistant but not immune. We'll still freeze to death if we fight there for too long" Renown META wags her index finger
The two META battlecruisers could only watch the swirling blizzard from afar because of the danger a blizzard could bring even to META ships.
"Still, we got to do something! She might have torn Hunter apart by now" Repulse META fears for her comrade
"Not to mention, the one who went in there would only make things worse" Renown META clutches her sword
"If we stay here, we'd just be sitting ducks until we end up having two dead META ships" Repulse META grabs her shoulder
"I know that!"
They share the same fear of losing their allies, but they will risk facing someone who's hatred is declared by the ruthless blizzard trapping everyone inside like prey.
"This is...ugh...your fault...!" Scharnhorst META can barely stand up straight
"Now you've...done it" Gneisenau META as well
The two suffered heavy injuries from the repeated bombings that took them surprise. Scharnhorst META couldn't stand up on her two feet without her legs visibly trembling from the damage she sustained.
"You two have done nothing...but disrespect the deceased. Not only you murdered her but planned to use her...for your own gains" Scharnhorst META pants from the effort of standing up
"Tirpitz had become a revenant trapped in her own heart because of what you did a year ago" Gneisenau META shares the resentment
"We didn't justify anything" Renown META shakes her head
"Although we were aware, we might as well be guilty for doing nothing" Repulse META momentarily looks down
"If you had just left her be the first time she died, none of this would have happened" Scharnhorst META spits out blood
"Tirpitz already died twice. Her revival means she would suffer another pointless death" Gneisenau META wipes the blood at the side of her lips
"You two should rest there. We'll deal with the rampaging ghost"
Renown META is in no mood to argue with them, so she just sighs and focuses on the blizzard that sealed the kansens and Hunter META inside.
"So we just beat the hell out of Tirpitz until she calms down?" Repulse META raises an eyebrow
"Unfortunately, that's the only solution. If she's this angry, then reasoning is out of the option"
The blizzard swirls a violent mixture of ice and snow making it look like a still tornado in a winter. Rather than purely wind, the shards of ice dragged within its current created a barrier that shreds.
"You're betting that she's still weak because she just woke up" Scharnhorst META takes a deep breath
"That's right. She's weaker compared a year ago" Renown META answers with no hesitation
"What you're about to do will only make things worse" Gneisenau META clicks her tongue
"We don't have time to waste with you two. Tirpitz's power is mostly concentrated on that blizzard. She can't fight at her peak strength in exchange for an environmental advantage" Renown META sails ahead first
"We know who you're talking about" Repulse META sails shortly after
The two META ships moves out as talking more is just wasting their time arguing while Hunter META remains trapped with Tirpitz blinded by revenge.
Within the blizzard...
Victorious coughs out the cold air she inhales, seemingly unaffected when everything around her had been consumed by ice the moment the blizzard appeared. She's still lying down on the surface with her entire body aching and a spot on her chest burning and stinging at the same time.
"Don't move too much. I'm still mending the wound" An unknown figure sitting beside her gently speaks to her
"Am I dead...? I think...I got shot...a while ago..." Victorious groans in pain
"No, the bullet luckily missed your heart. I managed to get here in time before it could be a mortal wound"
The figure's warm hand floats just an inch right above where Victorious got shot earlier. The blood is gone and the wound is slowly closing on its own.
"I think I must be dreaming because you look like...me?" Victorious rubs her eyes
"No, this isn't a dream..."
"H-Huh?"
"I am you from one of the tragic timelines out there. The Victorious that people call...Victorious META" The META ship touches Victorious' cheeks
"Hahaha...I think I'm hallucinating" Victorious nervously laughs
When her vision becomes completely clear, it's not doubt the lady sitting beside her has the exact appearance as hers. The only difference is her META version has a solemn expression and tone.
"This is reality. You're facing your possible future"
Victorious META shakes her head, speaking without breaking eye contact to display how she means everything she says.
"Where's...Tirpitz?" Victorious could only lift her upper body
"She's venting out her anger on Hunter META, but she isn't your Tirpitz"
"Not my Tirpitz?"
"She is the Tirpitz that died a year ago. I'm afraid the ego of the one you knew might have been overwhelmed by your loss"
"I'm not dead!"
"It's what she believed when she saw you get shot and collapse. She couldn't express sorrow and grief, so she lost control. Your Tirpitz saw you as someone dear to her even after she lost her emotions...unlike mine"
Victorious META briefly sighs in relief and stands on her two feet when the regular Victorious has partially recovered without any trace of the bullet wound anymore.
"What did you do?" Victorious swallows her breath
"...A selfish wish out of regret" Victorious META clenches her fists
"A...selfish wish?"
"I'm sorry. I truly am..."
"Wait-"
Victorious META quickly leaves her regular version, refusing to look back even once. As she hurriedly leaves the scene, Victorious tries to reach out to her only to pull back her arm in both dismay and confusion.
Meanwhile...
The blizzard nearly covers everything in unmelting ice, even the floating Siren wreckage have become blocks of ice from how thick it got encased.
"Aaugh!"
Hunter META got thrown in a nearby half sunken ruined building only to fall back to the surface water seconds after her back cracks the wall.
"How many times do you people intend to force me into this living hell?" Tirpitz cracks her neck
"Ggh! I never thought you're consciousness remained in the fragment of your wisdom cube" Hunter META stands back up and draws her large pair of scissors
"Wisdom cubes are our very essence. So long a piece remains, our consciousness can still persist"
Tirpitz squeezes her right hand, casually standing in the territory of her own making. Within a battlefield of extreme temperatures and unforgiving weather, Tirpitz is at her most advantageous.
"I've been watching for a while, and I actually begun to believe that something could change. That it would be different this time..."
"That's why you never interfered with your past self, Tirpitz...META"
"I remember I died the first time because if you people, then the second time was at your betrayal"
"You had to be stopped when you nearly killed regular kansens"
The cold where no living being could thrive protects Tirpitz META and not just hinder those who she sees as an opponent. Cold begins to creep on the surface of Hunter META's rigging and her weapons. As a META, Hunter META remains unhindered by the sub zero temperature around her, but her breath gradually becomes unsteady with the minutes she wastes.
"It's time to put you to rest...again!"
With the unusually large scissor in her hands, lunges at the revived META, meaning to sever any of her limbs or at least leave a deep cut.
"Do you think I'd be weaker because I just woke up"
Tirpitz META catches the scissors at the moment Hunter META enters her range, gripping them by the blade before they could split open. A direct touch from her instantly
"...?!"
"Any metal becomes brittle as sub zero temperatures. Unfortunately for you, I could reach negative temperatures even if I'm weak right now"
A simple squeeze is all it took for Tirpitz META to freeze the entirety of the scissors and shatters it. In the process, the freezing ability reaches Hunter META's hands just as she loosens her grip on the sharp weapon.
"Ugh...!"
While Hunter META's didn't shatter, her hands have mostly stiffened when a regular kansen would have lost both in seconds. The ice crawled until her forearm and not only it stiffened her muscles and joints, it added weight tightly gripping around the affected area.
"Hmm?"
No matter how silent they come, Tirpitz META lifts her hand upon sensing two more living beings rushing to her direction at high speed. Rather than move, Tirpitz remains right where she stands and listens at the sounds from both directions, somehow distinguishing them from the snowy wind blowing and Hunter META struggling to move her hands.
"You two, huh..."
Two claymores swing down from both sides and Tirpitz META moves both arms to block them by gripping them between her hands. Repulse META and Renown META makes themselves visible from the blizzard clouding in every direction, but Tirpitz META ruins their opportunity. The attack is supposed to land a fierce blow as the moment it stops, the surface water creates waves from the shockwave.
"Damn, we should have been quieter" Repulse META pulls her sword and herself back
"It's fine, Repulse. This revenant is in no condition to fight three META ships at once"
"..."
Tirpitz META moves her hand in front of her and realizes the effect of blocking two sudden swings from heavy weapons is her hands trembling. She confidently stopped their attempt only to not notice the limitations of her current state.
"Hey, Hunter! What did you do to get her this angry?" Repulse META retreats to her destroyer comrade
"There's no way she'd release a blizzard the second she comes back" Renown META is in disbelief
"...Victorious didn't let Tirpitz save her, so I ended up shooting Victorious in the chest"
"Great! We planned on stopping from bringing back a META only to do the exact opposite" Repulse META flails her arm
"I just keep seeing the faces that caused my death more than a year ago. You just can't let me rest, can you?"
Tirpitz META's expression remains blank, but her fingers twitching couldn't mask her utter resentment at the three META ships in front of her. It pains her to relive the memory and the thought she's being insulted by meeting them once more.
"Regular or META. I will entomb everyone in this frozen grave. Perhaps, by then, I'd finally be left alone-"
"That's enough, Tirpitz"
"...?"
Just as Tirpitz META lifts her left hand and concentrates the coldness on her current battlefield, fighter aircraft burst out of the snowy wind and all of it rapidly unleashes their bullets on the surprised battleship.
"Annoying..."
Even machine gun bullets from several aircraft at once had been rendered harmless as they are either freezes and quickly shattered before impact or deflected by the freezing air protecting Tirpitz META.
"You shouldn't involve your past self. This is between you and I..."
The aircraft circles around Victorious META and appears from Tirpitz META's left side. Seeing the aircraft carrier riddled with sorrow and guilt, Tirpitz could only react in anger by squeezing her fists.
"You dare reappear after what you did..." Tirpitz is like a wolf baring her fangs
"..." Victorious META lowers her gaze for a few seconds
"You, who betrayed me!"
The memory of the person she once trusted as a friend would only bring up "betrayal" in her mind. It left such an impact that Tirpitz META disregarded the existence of the three META ships and solely set her eyes on Victorious META
"You three must leave at once. Take Hunter out of here before she loses both arms" Victorious META doesn't break eye contact with Tirpitz
"Are you sure? Tirpitz isn't going to hold back" Renown META is visibly worried
"I can...still fight" Hunter META shakes her head
"Idiot! You can move your fingers anymore" Repulse META points at her frozen hands
"Just leave. I'm the one who must stop her"
"..."
The three silently glances at each other, knowing Victorious would insist on taking Tirpitz META on a one-on-one battle. Tirpitz META herself wouldn't bother with other opponents other than Victorious META out of life grudge.
"Don't you die on us" Renown META complies with the request
"We'll drag you back once we get Hunter out of here" Repulse META nods
The two META battlecruisers respects her decision and escorts the mildly crippled Hunter META out of their line of sight, leaving only a battleship and an aircraft carrier against each other.
"I can't blame you for hating me...because I was the one who brought you back" Victorious META admits
"How many times do you intend to toy with my life?"
"..."
"You can't even let me rest, but you can't respect my decision"
"I know what I did was selfish, but I just couldn't lose you...!" Victorious META bites her lower lip
"Both you and Bismarck decided my life for me without thinking of the consequences"
"You have every right to hate me, but that body belongs to the Tirpitz of this timeline. If you keep this up, the Victorious here will lose her Tirpitz"
"That Victorious is bound to lose hers. It's always how it is..."
Tirpitz META gently touches her chest and frowns, horrified at what her own friend did to her.
"Our past selves will make the same mistake. Trusting you will always lead to betrayal!"
In the next second, Tirpitz META unleashes a volley or armor piercing shells, ending the brief moment of Victorious META's attempt to reason.
"..."
Fighter aircraft appear on the left side, detonate the shells midair, much to the META battleship's shock. The reaction speed isn't normal for someone like Victorious META, but she's facing someone she still sees as a friend. As the black smoke gets overwhelmed by the relentless blizzard, Victorious META stares at her dead in the eyes.
"I have to stop before our past selves suffer the same mistake!"
Victorious META is serious with her resolve in order to atone for her mistakes and regrets. Torpedo bombers take flight and defies the harsh wind and withstands the icy fragments it brings.
"It's always bombers"
Not even further increasing the temperature nearby Tirpitz META could stop the bombers from diving right above her. The aircraft wings and bodies are slowly being sealed in ice from their very edges, but they don't falter. She couldn't move fast enough if she wanted to. That is the price of her power and the limitation of her current body.
"...!"
Three simultaneously explosions occur, but its weakened due to the blizzard restricting any heat-based abilities. It dampened the molten heat of Renown META and Repulse META's swords, but the freezing temperature is somehow less effective on Victorious META.
"What now?"
Right as Tirpitz META removes the black smoke hindering her vision with a single swing of her hand, torpedo bombers work in coordination. Three aircraft on both sides drop their payloads at once, timing it just a second for Tirpitz META to see it.
"If you keep this up, the Tirpitz here will undergo the same metamorphosis as you did. Our history will repeat here" Victorious META retreats her aircraft
"Then perhaps that is my fate..." Tirpitz META wipes off the stain on her left cheek
"Tirpitz..."
"The Victorious here will do the same thing you did. Nothing's going to change..."
"It's not going to be like that. The Victorious here would never disrespect her Tirpitz's wish" Victorious META assures her
"How can you possibly be-"
Fighter aircraft interrupts Tirpitz META, but the aircraft appeared different from the one Victorious META uses. Four of them blitzes through the snow while maintaoninf formation and unleashes hundreds of machine gun bullets the moment it catches the silhouette of the target. Tirpitz META raises her arm and her forearm deflects the bullets as she encases a portion of it in ice.
"Tirpitz!" Victorious interrupts the two
The regular Victorious braves the harsh blizzard, shielding her eyes from the snow by moving her forearm to the front. Even when the cold wind constantly pushes her back, Victorious forces one step forward. Moving in a weather rejecting her is made more difficult with her body still weakened and her breathing growing heavy from the chill she inhales. She could only focus on the displeased Tirpitz META since there are now two kinds of Victorious in the scene.
"Tirpitz, is that you? Why do you look so different?" Upon closer inspection, Victorious sees her in a darker and rugged uniform
"Your Tirpitz isn't here right now"
For a moment, Tirpitz META's voice becomes calm and relaxed compared to the killing intent she had earlier. Even her expression is less hostile, but still frowns in displeasure because she's Victorious.
"Not my Tirpitz?" Victorious approaches her META version
"She's the META version from my timeline revived in your Tirpitz" Victorious META calmly explains
"If you're not my Tirpitz, then where's mine?" Victorious angrily raises her voice at the META
"You're looking at her but not talking to her"
"I don't understand what happened to Tirpitz. One moment I got shot and the next thing I know another me is here and there's a blizzard all over the place"
The two METAs remain silent and only gaze at her, and fortunately not resuming their clash. Victorious' gaze is towards Tirpitz META who frowns at her out of dislike and not out of hate. As for Victorious META, her soft gaze is more sorrowful specially when she closes her eyes and lowers her gaze.
"Tirpitz became that way...when I got shot? It's because Tirpitz cared about me...and got angry..." Victorious takes a step back
"Perhaps it's still out of instinct that she succumbed at that very moment" Tirpitz META nods
"I don't care what you're talking about. I just want my Tirpitz back"
Victorious rushes to Tirpitz META without thinking if she's hostile or not. All she sees is another Tirpitz using the one she knows. Except this one may have emotions but only driven by bitter emotions directed towards the other META.
"You're not even supposed to be here. Move out the way as I'm not finished dealing with that Victorious" Tirpitz META calmly warns her
"I can't do that. Tirpitz would never kill anyone, and I know she wouldn't hurt me"
The shock had Victorious move back and move to be in front of Victorious META. It's her way of declaring she would not allow it. She's not even afraid or hesitant even if it's against her own friend.
"I see. You trust she wouldn't hurt you just she would trust you wouldn't betray her. How tragic could that be?" Tirpitz META stares at her, somewhat confused
"I promised that icy blockhead I wouldn't let her go and I'd put her down if she tries to kill herself" Victorious doesn't break eye contact
"Can you really uphold that? A promise is nothing but having faith on both sides would keep it"
"I don't care what you think of it, but I know Tirpitz never breaks her promise, so I would never break mine" Victorious rejects her idea
"Persistent as ever..."
"..."
"...but perhaps a bit of me still wants to believe something could change" Tirpitz META falls on her knees
Tirpitz META softens her hostility towards the mostly unaware Victorious. It's that she doesn't care what Tirpitz META as she's far too concerned at Tirpitz's sudden change.
"Victorious, make sure...to not disrespect my wish this time...or it would always end this way..." Tirpitz META's voice grows weaker
"Tirpitz!"
Victorious quickly rushes to Tirpitz with little hesitation as visible cold air evaporates from Tirpitz's body. The blizzard around them gradually loses its hold on the frigid temperature when Tirpitz slowly returns to her original appearance. Victorious manages to clutch her before she could collapse on the surface, extremely worried at her unresponsive body.
"It's alright. She returned to normal, but she's completely exhausted" Victorious META quickly assures
"Did Tirpitz almost become a monster? I felt like I looked at someone who would try to destroy everything until she's destroyed" Victorious nervously asks
"That's precisely what happened to us or at least what will happen to you if history repeats itself" Victorious META tries to be vague
"Tirpitz..." Victorious continues to support the unconscious Tirpitz
"..." Victorious META prepares to leave
"Where are you going?"
"I can't be seen here. I'm one of the META and besides, my allies are waiting for me"
"I have a lot of questions like how there's a sad version of me"
"That will be answered in due time. Right now, you mustn't allow Iron Blood to take Tirpitz back. Not until I..."
"Why?"
"..."
Victorious META refuses to provide more information or even a single hint. Instead, she immediately leaves the scene while the blizzard is still present. She must use the snowy wind to cover her fleeing the scene as there might be regular kansens she might accidentally come across.
Ten minutes later...
Howe and the others who are still in food condition to fully move spot Victorious who's still holding on to an unconscious Tirpitz. She's far too worried that Tirpitz remains unconscious and that she couldn't notice Illustrious' aircraft circling at her area.
"Victorious, what happened here?" Howe rushes first
"Hermit laid out a trap for us with that blizzard. I got attacked first then Tirpitz got seriously hurt trying to protect me"
It's the best explanation Victorious could come up with to protect Tirpitz. The source of the blizzard is her, but she greatly feared the oblivious kansens would see Tirpitz as a threat as she unknowingly dragged everyone else inside.
"Her restraints almost got destroyed. This blockhead doesn't want to accidentally hurt me, so she couldn't fight well" Victorious tightens her clutch
"I'm sorry I couldn't find you sooner. I could have done something" Howe lowers her head out of guilt
"You didn't do anything wrong. This icy blockhead is just suicidal..."
Tirpitz's body is as cold as almost negative ten degrees Celsius due to the core that went rampant, but Victorious also doesn't care that she's quivering from being in direct contact with the remnant chill.
"I don't care what happened when I passed out, but you can't keep throwing your life like a dummy. You and Bismarck still need to make up for the misunderstandings..."
Victorious leans her head close to Tirpitz's ear and whispers even if she knows she wouldn't receive a response. She tightly holds on to Tirpitz, freshly afraid of what she had seen and experienced earlier while it remains unknown to everyone.
