His mind was racing: thoughts, ideas and plans rose to the surface like bubbles in a bowl of water on a stove. But as the bubbles rose and reached the surface to break, so too did any form of rational thought.
He could see it in their eyes, he could see it in all of them. Perhaps the only one who didn't seem all that affected by the sight was Roon, which made sense given how she had not seen much of the Siren's atrocities.
As the ship neared the shore, he could understand what they were thinking, what they were all thinking. This fortress, this monument of steel was a living testament to the world. It was a symbol of the Iron Blood and like its name, it was meant to last for an eternity. Even if the world were to end one day, if all of them were to die for one reason or another, this fortress would stand forever.
So seeing something as imposing as The Eternal Throne struggling to hold its form had no doubt sent a shiver down everyone's spine.
When the boat reached the shore, his hand instinctively reached out, grabbing Z23, who was about to run off on her own.
"What are you doing?" she shouted, no doubt overcome with emotion.
"I'm stopping you from doing something reckless," he replied.
"But this is my family. I have to help them, for all we know they could be…" she said, nearly grabbing his arm and pushing him off, but Eugen stopped her.
"Do you see any bodies here?" he asked, and Z23 stopped. His question had the other members of the team scan the area, all of them coming to the same conclusion.
"This attack is bad, I'll agree to that, but the only damage we've seen so far has been to the building. I don't see any bodies here. Do you?"
Z23 finally freed herself from his grasp, but she did not want to make eye contact with him. Instead, she looked away and said "no."
"Then assume that they're all alive until proven otherwise," he said.
"Easy for you to say. It's not like its your family in trouble."
At those words nearly half the team were about to pounce on Z23. The only reason they stopped was because he held his arm out to them, telling them that he was not done talking.
"You want to take your shots at me, then go right ahead," he said, unsheathing his new sword "but after that, I need your head in the game. After all, I imagine you want to meet your family on your own two feet, instead of being brought in bloodied and beaten."
She said nothing to his comment. There was a tension hanging in the air now, made worse by the fact that they were running on a clock.
"Let's get going team," he said, turning to the others. Everyone nodded and followed him as he made his way through the broken parts of the main doors. The only ones who remained were Eugen and Z23.
"Try to remember," said Eugen walking ahead of her "he could turn around and run any time he wanted. This world may not be his, but the fact that he's still fighting for it means something."
Entering the fortress, the Commander recalled his conversations with Z23 and Eugen on the journey here. The superstructure was made up of a large outer wall, an inner secondary wall and the main building which was where the faction ate and slept in.
At any point in time, a number of guards are posted on the outer and inner walls, allowing there to be two layers of detection in the event of an attack. Although movement from one section to the next seemed difficult to the outsider, there existed a network of underground paths and halls built into the walls that were known only to the members of the Iron Blood. This allowed a group to assemble at a particular location very quickly, giving them ample time to mount a counter.
Information is not a tool. It is a weapon. With the right information you can take down a dictator or a politician without firing a single bullet. Conversely, without the right information you'd have to wade through a pile of bodies and bullets just to get to the one target.
Because the faction had cut off contact with the rest of the world, they might not know much about the war and how much it progressed. The improvements made to their armor would have caught their opponents by surprise. Knowing that, the Sirens needed only to arrive with a large enough force and even a well-equipped faction like the Iron Blood would certainly be driven into a corner.
"There's something else I'm missing here," he muttered to himself, while the team scanned the area. He looked at the gates, the walls and the areas that were hit hard by the cannon fire. Given the degree of thought the enemy put into the attack, he could not deny the possibility that they also had a secret weapon.
His thoughts now turned to an explosion in the sky. All of them turned to the sky and saw a Siren ship had given in to its injuries and was crashing down towards them.
He did not need to say it, they all thought it as the team leapt to the side and avoided the crash. Roon in particular held the Commander and stood infront of him, shielding him from the impending explosion.
"Thanks Roon," he said, getting to his feet and patting her on the shoulder, not minding the gleeful smile she had.
"Uh Commander," said Cleveland on the other side of the wreckage "you guys okay over there?"
He took a moment and looked at the team. None of them were hurt, which was always a good thing.
"Yeah," he said, "we're fine. But there's a problem now."
The problem he referred to was that thanks to the crashing ship, the team was now split in two. On one side was Roon, Wales, Akagi, Hornet, Yukikaze and Eugen. On the other side was Illustrious, Takao, Monarch, Cleveland and Z23.
"Z," he called out "do you know the way to the main building?"
"Yes," she replied.
"And Eugen?" he asked, turning to the her and she nodded in response.
"The plan hasn't changed," he said, "both teams will make their way to the central building, wiping out any enemy resistance along the way. It goes without saying but if you see anyone hurt or wounded, then you bring them with you as well."
"And Z," he added.
"What?"
"Don't do anything I'd do."
Z23 scoffed at the implication but understood. In the time that he had been here, his gung-ho personality had rubbed off on her, evident of how the two of them faced that one Siren instead of calling for backup.
The two teams set off in their locations, all the while their movement was under the watchful eye of a certain blue-eyed Iron Blood warrior.
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"Hmm," she said watching the otherworlder and his two teams set off in separate locations, one led by Z23 and the other led by Prinz Eugen.
'Eugen?' she thought, remembering the fate that befell her sister 'no, that's not possible. It must be a trick of the mind.'
"Not the time Tirpitz," said the woman next to her, carrying her wounded body "we still have to reach the base."
"I'm sorry Graf," she said, turning to her "it's just… I thought I saw Eugen."
At this, the woman called Graf raised her eyebrow in surprise.
"Sister," she said "we really need to get you back to base."
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Seated atop a Siren battleship, she watched as her forces hammered away at the fortress. When her fleet arrived, she wasted little time in using her main guns and peppering the enemy's defenses with constant gunfire. The only problem with using such energy was that she needed to take some time to recover her energy.
'They're still not through,' she thought, seeing as her ships struggled to breach the secondary wall and reach the main building 'we may have the advantage in armor, but our weapons still have room for improvement.'
'Then again, it's not like I'm in any rush right now. I can take my time and enjoy watching these cornered animals fight till there's nothing left,' she thought, smiling yet paid no attention to what was going on underneath her.
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"Ow, ow, ow," shouted the girl with red and white strands of hair "who the hell taught you to patch up a wound?"
"Oh shush now," chided a woman, wearing oval shaped spectacles "I've seen you take a hit from Scharnhorst and still kick up a fuss."
At this, the girl with the injury could only growl in response.
Just then, everyone in the large hall noticed a small door open. Instinctively they formed their weapons only to see Tirpitz being carried by Graf Zeppelin.
"Why are you forming your weapons?" asked Zeppelin.
"We thought you were the enemy," replied a pink haired girl with a metal arm.
"When would the enemy ever fit through doors that small?" asked Graf.
The group all paused at the question. Then the girl with the metal arm said "you make a point sister."
"Don't mind my injuries or anything," said Tirpitz, drawing attention back to her current physical condition.
Graf Zeppelin took her to a wooden table and gently put her atop it.
"How bad is it out there?" asked Friedrich, while some of Graf's sisters tended to Tirpitz's wounds.
"Well they haven't made it past the second wall," said Graf with a shrug, "but not for a lack of trying though. I imagine it won't be long before they breach the second line and come here."
"Additionally, Tirpitz spotted a group from the other factions coming to us. They were led by Z23 and Prinz Eugen."
"Yes," said Friedrich, "Hipper noticed it as well. Would they reach us before the enemy breaches the second gate?"
"Doubtful," replied Tirpitz, sitting up, much to the objections of the women helping her.
"Then we have no other option available," said Friedrich, turning to the doors.
"Attention everyone," she said aloud, her commanding voice drawing the attention of everyone in the throne room.
"An unknown team has arrived in the fortress and are making their way to us as we speak. However, we cannot stay here and wait for them to come. Instead, we will use this opportunity to make our escape through the main entrance, while the unknown team deals with the Sirens.
"Mother, I'm all for getting out of here," said a woman with an eyepatch on her right eye "but that would mean leaving this team to fend for themselves. I heard that sisters Z23 and Prinz Eugen are part of that team."
"Rest assured Scharnhorst," she said, forming her weapons "I'll send them a message they're sure to understand."
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As the two teams were running through the second and third path, getting closer to the destination, the Commander looked at the sky and noticed something. Compared to before, the amount of shots being fired by the Siren ships had decreased in number. Experience dictated that they were not slowing down due to lack of weapons, they were up to something.
"Wales," he said, turning to her "toss me up."
"What?" asked Wales, nearly tripping in the process.
"Grab my clothes and throw me up," he said, elaborating on his previous request.
"But… Commander that's a little…."
"Just toss me," he repeated once again.
Wales relented at the idea but could not refuse the request, as abnormal as it sounded to her. As per the instructions, she grabbed him by his shirt and then threw him into the air.
Thanks to her doubt and hesitation, Wales did not send him too high up. This afforded him the chance to view the battlefield while also not being seen by the enemy forces. A quick scan of the area and he knew what was going on.
The team that accompanied him saw him descend. When he was close enough, he took out his sword and jabbed it into the wall near him, slowing him down.
"This blade is amazing," he said, landing on the ground and taking his sword out of the wall.
"Commander, what did you see?" asked Roon.
"Trouble," he replied and continued running towards the destination.
"Z, is there any way you or Eugen can get in touch with your sisters?"
"Negative," replied Z23, "the damn Sirens are using the same tech they used when they hit the island. We may be able to communicate with each other because of the patch, but we can't speak to them."
"Why?" asked Cleveland, wondering what the problem was.
"Because the Sirens are laying out a trap," he replied "when I got tossed into the air…"
"You got tossed into the air?" repeated Monarch "why would something like that happen?"
"I needed to get a view of the battlefield, but that isn't important. The Sirens are gathering their destroyers and battleships at the first path. My guess is that they know the Iron Blood is going to try coming down this path since it's the easiest way to escape or they're gathering their heavy hitters to launch a straight-forward all-out attack on the main building."
"Whatever their reasons are, we need to get there faster," he added. The silence he got in response was enough of an answer.
Just as his team rounded a corner, he heard Z23 on the communicator.
"Uh, Commander," she said, "you think you'll be able to reach the Iron Blood before us?"
"Nope," he said, as he and his team stopped.
"Why?"
"The same reason you asked me that question," he replied "we've also run into a little roadblock."
"This is bad," said Monarch.
"Well no point in playing it quiet ladies," he said, taking out his sword.
As both teams formed their weapons, Eugen, Yukikaze and Roon stood alongside the Commander while Akagi, Hornet and Wales were behind them. The frontline ran forward, intent on taking out the ships impeding their path, as quickly as possible.
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Back in the main building, Tirpitz and Scharnhorst and Graf Zeppelin noticed multiple explosions coming from the second and third path.
"Uh-oh," said Scharnhorst, running back inside, to Friedrich.
"Mother, the Sirens have started attacking those two teams," she shouted.
"All the more reason, we get this message across."
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Eugen leapt off the side of the wall, while Roon bombarded some of the ships from above, allowing Yukikaze and the Commander to land multiple shots on the base of the ships. As she was about to fire, she noticed two energy beams shoot out from the left and right sides of the main building.
"Eugen," shouted Z23 "did you see that?"
Just as she was about to answer, a Siren destroyer shot at her and sent her crashing into the wall. Just as she was about to fall and hit the ground, the Commander dove towards her and cushioned her impact, with his back.
"Commander," said Eugen, shaking away the dizziness from the attack and picking him up.
"You good?" he asked, looking for any major injuries on her body.
"Yes, that can't kill me," she said, shaking her head "Commander, we just got a message from the Iron Blood."
"What? How?"
"Our mother," she replied "she used her weapons to tell us that they're going to escape through the first pathway."
"They'll be heading right into the enemy's trap," she added, looking desperate.
"All the more reason we finish this quickly," he said to her.
"Akagi, Roon I need your help," he called out and the pair wasted no time in joining him.
She continually fired planes at some of the ships while the Commander ran up the nearby wall, leapt off and came down on the ship closest to him. Since his sword was made of the same metal (maybe even better) as the Siren ships were, he was able to land a deep cut on the side of a Siren ship. This allowed Akagi to fire as many airplanes as she could inside the ship, while Roon wreaked havoc on the outside, with her lasers.
Akagi then threw the Commander onto the deck of one of the Siren ships, allowing him to cut a hole right through their deck and another hole that got him out of the ship. This time, Roon entered through the opening and carved her way through the ship before emerging on the deck and leaping off, while the ship exploded behind her.
Yukikaze and Eugen fired at a Siren ship's guns while Wales and Hornet assisted them with a stream of long-range fire. Although much of the ship's guns were destroyed from their combined assault, the main gun was able to fire a few rounds at Hornet and Wales, causing them to break formation and avoid the attack.
The ship was about to fire again but stopped and turned its main gun onto the Commander, who was darting towards it. It fired and fired but his nimble movement from left to right, saw that none of the attacks landed home. Seeing this opportunity, Wales fired a barrage aimed at the main gun and smiled when she saw all her attacks hit the target. This allowed both Hornet and Akagi to assault the ship with a barrage of airplanes, sending it crashing down.
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Friedrich and the others heard the sound of gunfire and explosions occurring on either side of them. As much as she wished to assist them, the safety of her family, her daughters came first. All she could do now was hope in silence that her message was understood by Z23 and Eugen.
The group stuck to a standard formation. Friedrich, Hipper, Scharnhorst, Graf Zeppelin and Spee were all infront. Behind them were the rest of the fleet, carrying those who were too hurt to fight.
With the sound of gunfire and cannons looming above them, none of them noticed or paid much attention to one shot that was not aimed at the group on the second and third paths. This was a costly mistake as that one shot was aimed at them and it hit their backline, sending more than half of the faction flying in all directions.
"Damn it," shouted Hipper, running to the injured.
Those that were still standing turned around and saw in horror that they were staring down the wrong side of multiple Siren cannons and guns. The otherworldly weapons wasted no time in assaulting the front line with a barrage of merciless cannon fire.
Scharnhorst, Zeppelin, Spee and Friedrich faced the incoming fire head on, formed their weapons and attacked. If they were to dodge, then the cannon fire could kill their already badly injured comrades. The four of them continued attacking the Siren ships all the while struggling against their enemy's onslaught.
Scharnhorst was the first to fall. Unable to take the merciless barrage, her body buckled under the weight and she was knocked back as a result. Spee, Zeppelin and Friedrich worked to close the gap she created but in the midst of that, Spee also suffered heavy damage. Zeppelin and Friedrich gathered whatever strength they had in them, charging at the enemy in an attempt to give their family the time they needed to recover. For a moment, it looked like they had an advantage, but that changed when a barrage of fire from multiple battleships descended on them.
Friedrich slowly rose to her feet, wiping the blood from her lip and surveying the damage. Many of her children were unconscious. Those that weren't were struggling to gather their injured and weakened comrades.
"So this is it," she muttered silently to herself.
She then turned to face the Sirens, formed her weapons and said "change of plans. Tirpitz, lead the team back to the main building. You'll link up with that other team by then. Together, they'll help you escape this base."
"But…"
"GO NOW!" she barked, "this is my last order as the leader of the Iron Blood."
Turning around and facing the Siren ships all on her own, Friedrich formed her weapons once again and charged towards them with reckless abandon.
'One last concert,' she thought, firing at the ships. The sound of gunfire and explosions ahead of her sounding like a twisted symphony to her. Like the maestro overseeing an orchestra, she poured her heart and soul into each performance and this one was meant to be her greatest one.
The cannons fired at her and she faltered but she did not quit. She rose to her feet with greater determination than before and charged the enemy once again.
'The concert is reaching the climax,' she thought as the intensity of the attacks drew with each step she took. Her body was riddled with cuts and injuries, her determination was spent and running on fumes at this point.
'It is time,' she thought, pointing her guns to the ships 'for one final burst. Let the strings sing a loud and mighty chorus, let the brass and percussion forever mark this day in history and let the wood sing forevermore of my deeds.'
"Glory to the Eternal Empire," she shouted, quoting the motto of her faction, ready to meet the finale.
"FIRE!," shouted a voice, from behind her.
All of a sudden, the orchestra around her warped and faded. Now there was a different music she could hear. There was no beauty and harmony to the instruments. There was a madness and chaos to it. The strings of the violins and cellos were replaced by the mad cries of an electric guitar, the uniformity of the percussions was marred by the screams of a single drum thumping louder and louder with each moment. The boom of metal from the brass were replaced by the unnatural yell of an electric keyboard and the overall melodious tone of the orchestra was replaced by the howls of a singular, definitive voice.
As she turned around and opened her eyes, she saw the voice, the source of this new music and she saw him.
His sword was pointed in the direction of the ships behind her. Beside him were women from the three different factions. Behind him were the rest of the Iron Blood, who were just as shocked at their arrival as Friedrich was.
His music had no elegance or harmony to it. His was a chaotic mess of guitars, keyboards, drums and singers.
"Damn lady," he said, lowering his sword "that was pretty badass."
She watched him turn to the others, no doubt to check the extent of their injuries and planning what to do next. As she watched him do this, she felt something stirring deep within her heart, no deeper than that. There was something stirring deep within her soul.
Slowly, the corners of her lips began to curve ever so slightly, the gesture focused on him, which was an honor that only one other person in history had ever received.
His music was crazy and mad, yet she could not help but be drawn to it. After all,
Who doesn't love a good rock band?