Captain Taro POV

I groaned when I felt someone shake my shoulder. I rolled over and opened my eyes to find Sargent Kan standing next to my bunk.

"We at our drop-off?"

"ETA is eight minutes figured I would wake you up a little early so you can grab your kit."

"Thanks Kan. God, I can't wait to get off this boat."

"Amen to that. I'll gather the rest of the team."

I waved him off and rubbed my eyes. I laid there for a few more seconds before I hopped out of my bunk and did a few stretches. I rolled my neck and opened the duffel bag that held my gear and started putting it on.

Three minutes later I was ready to go. I made my way to the CIC of the submarine where the rest of my team are. They were hand-picked by General Tatsui himself so they're the best the Tokushusakusengum has to offer.

"Alright, gentlemen it's time to brief you on this operation. On the 25th the Third fleet will launch an all-out assault on the Miyako islands our job is to make sure the fleet isn't ripped apart by aircraft. The island of Yonagui has a civilian airport that is under abyssal control. The intel we have acquired identifies the airport as a base for abyssal fighters and bombers. As you know the abyssals do not use full-size planes so it is unknown why the abyssals need an airbase in the first place. Our job is to blow the airport sky-high."

"Ziryu will be on standby and will extract us at the rendezvous point when our mission is finished. Any questions?"

There were no takers.

"Alright, let's get this done."

"Right on time Captain. This is your stop."

"Thanks or the ride Commander."

"Not like I had a choice. Just hit the abyssals where it hurts and we'll call it even."

"That's the plan."

We exited the submarine and the cold of the ocean hit me like a shot. The other men of my team were in front of me slowly making their way to the shore. I saw the submarine's dive fins angle downward and watched as it was swallowed up by the inky blackness of the ocean.

We swam for a good ten minutes until we hit the shore and we headed inland under the cover of night.

The area of the island we landed at is largely grassland and farmland. Quickly and cautiously we made our way across open ground to a forest and surprisingly we never heard the sound of a plane overhead. We crept our way through the forest before crossing more farmland and took cover in a tree line on the other side.

"This is creepy sir. I haven't heard or seen any signs of wildlife. It's almost like their hiding."

"Probably something to do with the abyssals. Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover."

The buzzing of an engine drew my attention. "Get down," I silently yelled.

The buzzing grew louder and louder until it sounded like it was right on top of us. I looked up but couldn't see anything. The buzzing slowly faded away as it continued toward the ocean.

"Son of a bitch you can't even see the damn things."

"Let's keep moving."

We continued along the tree line making good time despite having to take cover from planes flying overhead, well, I think they're planes. I could see the lights of the airport but the runway its self was bathed in darkness.

"Looks like the abyssals aren't using the runway."

"Looks that way... What the hell?"

"What?"

"The buildings around the terminal don't look right. It seems the abyssals have been busy."

"Let's scope it out. We got five hours until daylight."

I looked through the binoculars and zoomed in to get a better look. I didn't see anything patrolling around the base nor did I see any vehicles or airplanes. I turned my attention to the buildings and saw that a pitch-black substance covered most of them with oily tentacles buried into the ground around them.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day."

"What is it?"

"That stuff covering the buildings is slowly connecting them all. Far-left building, you'll see what I'm talking about."

I looked at the building he pointed out. It's covered in that same black substance and it has reached out and connected to another building. I zoomed in and spotted what looks to be an entrance. Just then two abyssals walked out but they weren't the seafaring versions. They didn't have any facial features just two bitch black eyes and a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. That same black substance covered their entire bodies except for their face and their weapons seemed to be built into their arms.

"I think I found our entrance."

"That's like kicking in the front door sir. We should try to find another entrance."

"If there is another one I'm not seeing it. I think the front door is our best option."

"Those two are moving away, let's go."

We made our way down from the tree line, across the road, and formed up on both sides of the door. I slowly pushed the door open and found a staircase leading straight down.

"Into the belly of the beast."

"Keep your heads on the swivel. I don't want to kill any of these bastards in case they can sense each other."

"Can they do that?"

"Wouldn't surprise me."

The staircase leads us to a catwalk that hung over an empty room. It branched off in two directions. One leads to the other side of the room while another leads to the ground floor.

"We'll split up into two teams. You three head to the ground floor the other two are with me."

"Sir."

The three of us moved to the other side of the room and pushed through an open doorway that leads to three separate hallways. There are no indications of where they lead.

"What the hell do we do now?"

"Pick a path and hope it's right. Come on."

We followed the left hallway passing multiple stairways that went up or down yet never running into any abyssals. We turned right down the next hallway and I held my hand up. I could faintly hear footsteps that were slowly growing louder. I signaled for us to move into a stairway. We formed up on the door and waited for them.

"The losses at Okinawa are unfortunate but replaceable."

"The princess does not like the delays these Kanmusu have caused."

"The ability for humans to summon them is interesting. They are of superior quality but limited in numbers."

"If this Japan as so few of them why have we not ground them into dust?"

"Because our princess has decided to go after this United States. She is set on grinding their fleet to dust and setting their county ablaze."

I held my breath as the two abyssals walked right past us. I poked my head out and watched them turn right and disappear around the corner. I signaled and we moved out of the stairway.

"You see where they came from?"

"Next stairway on the left."

We headed down another five flights of stairs and entered a large warehouse-type room with dozens of pools filled with black liquid.

"What the hell is this?"

"Set the charges, we found our target."

I crouched down behind one of the pools and radioed the other team. "Sargent Kan we found our target. Look for a large warehouse-type room you should find pools filled with black liquid set your charges there."

I cut the radio and started placing my charges. We moved quickly and quietly placing all the charges we had.

"Sir! You need to see this."

"What is it?" I looked over his shoulder and my eyes winded. Sitting in the middle of the room is an abyssal. What had me shocked it that it seemed to be connected to the black substance around it with inky black tentacles.

"What the?"

"No idea sir... should we..."

"No. It'll be killed when the charges go off. Let's move."

"Sargent Kan, we've placed our charges and are moving out. If you find what I told you about there is a single abyssal in the middle of the room connected to the black substance we've seen. Do not engage."

"Understood. We've placed our charges and are moving out."

"Get down!"

"What is it?"

"Two abyssals heading our way. We have to take them out."

I moved up behind him and tapped his shoulder letting him know I was ready. Our third member formed up to watch our flanks. I could hear their footsteps growing louder and then he moved. He knocked the first one to the ground and jammed his knife into the second one's neck. I moved quickly and covered the mouth pf the first one before I buried my blade into its neck and then sliced its throat open. It quickly dissolved into black ash.

"Nicely done. Let's get out of here. Don't want to overstay our welcome."

Quickly and quietly we backtracked and exited the base without incident. Making our way back to the tree line I radioed Kan. "Are you out of the base?"

A moment passed.

"Affirm. Blow it sky-high."

"With pleasure." I pressed the detonator.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

A massive fireball rose from the middle of the runway sending concrete flying hundreds of meters into the air. I could hear more explosions from the creator as a massive chain reaction started.

"Holy shit!"

"What the hell did we hit!?"

"No idea! I do know every abyssal in a ten-kilometer radius is converging on this place! Let's Move!"

"Sergeant we are moving to the evac point. Get there or be left behind!"

"Don't worry about us sir."

"Contacts front!"

"Take them down!" I raised my rifle and fired multiple bursts into the head and neck area. The concentrated fire from the three of us quickly dispatched the two abyssals. We spirited back to our landing site avoiding abyssals when we could and dealing with those we couldn't. When we got back to the beach the roar of aircraft was near-constant as they searched for us.

I nodded to Sargent Kan and his team when they arrived a few seconds later. I jumped into the freezing water and started my way back to Ziryu soon followed by the rest of the team. I dived deeper and fifteen minutes later I came across the sleek hull of Ziryu. I entered the submarine and quickly removed my soaked gear.

"How did it go Captain?"

I smiled at the Commander, "Mission accomplished."

A/N

I wanted to do something different with this chapter and focus on the human perspective of the abyssal war. I hope you liked it and expect more of these chapters in the future. Stay safe out there people.

Echo08 signing out.