Extreme heat and the rumbling of the earth was what greeted the lone figure approaching the entrance of Gold Volcano. Above, from the top of the burning mountain, a never ending flow of lava was flowing to the sides. Every now and then, a loud roar was heard, originating from the heart of the mount, and as if it was answering, the earth shook like a grumbling sleeper.

At the feet of this apocalyptic scenery, a lone young woman was staring. She had short purple hairs and one visible yellow eye. The other was hidden behind a purple eyepatch while two strange black metal devices were connected to the two sides of her head. She wore a black sweater with a black tie at her neck above a white shirt. A big array of metal rigging was stapped on her back while two single barreled turrets were on her sides. Below she was dressed by a short black skirt and two thighhighs of the same color. Two metal boots of alien design and a black scabbard at her left hip were the final touch of her appearance.

While admiring the fury of the burning mountain, a new explosion at the top sent flying flaming rocks at the ground below. One of the projectiles crashed just a few meters of the figure of the young woman who, instead of backing away, instead grinned from ear to ear.
She really didn't regret her decision to split up with the rest of her task force.

A few hours ago, Tenryuu was leading a small reconaissance force sent by the admiral to the north of the central continent. The mission wasn't meant to be difficult in the light cruiser mind : go north, cross the wastelands and poisoned marshs which were composing this lands, carry distant observation of localized settlements, note anything of importance and avoid trouble.
Had she been on sea, the young woman would have called it an ordinary mission. She had in the past, leaded a fair number of recon operations.

However, the current situation made her especially motivated. First, she had to keep her mind occupied. Since the base got somehow displaced in another universe, or what else, the situation at the base was to say the least, quite tense. Members kept themselves occupied so to not have to face all those uncertainties plaguing everyone's minds.
Second, she also had to take care of the destroyers she cared about who were facing the same distress that the rest of the base. Not that she disliked other destroyers but like everyone, she still had her favorites she wouldn't let down.
And third, she was bored as hell and needed some action.

That was why she immediatly accepted the mission though she didn't expect much in term of stimulation. The only real action she really got was when they were briefly chased by those crazy women monster-things. The environment was uncomfortable and dull and they didn't found anything really interesting.
At least until they spotted black smoke on the horizon. When they came sufficiently close to spot the volcano, Tenryuu knew she had to get a closer look. Fortunatly for her, the destroyers and her fellow light cruiser knew her well and she didn't have to say anything. The others would continue on their way and Tenryuu would catch up really soon.

A new tremor shook the earth and the volcano roared once again. A shudder parcoured the young woman body. The red lava flowing like burning blood rivers on black rocks, the smell of smoke and ash, the rumbling, the heat, the roar !

"It is so damn cool !"

Tenryuu couldn't help but feel excited. As a warship, she felt at home in this kind of setting and the novelty of being on land and in front of a volcano made her elated. And it wasn't all !
When she came close, she spotted what looked like a huge cavern leading to the heart of the mountain, like the entrance to hell itself. The light cruiser knew she had a mission to accomplish and needed to meet again with her companions soon but the prospect of entering inside the volcano was too enticing.

"Sorry Admiral, sorry girls !" she offered a small prayer of forgiveness before heading to the cave.

The young woman walked toward her objective at a precipitated pace. She quickly crossed the distance and was but mere meters from the entrance but suddently she froze. The excited smile ardoring her face washed away as her eyes narrowed while her muscules stiffened.

Among the loud noises of the fire and earth of this apocalyptic atmosphere, the distinct sound of armored steps echoed in Tenryuu ears. Those were coming from inside the cave and sure enough, in a small amount of time, an armored figure emerged from it.

She was of average height, not taller than the light cruiser herself. She wore black armor with golden lining protecting her torso and shoulders. On her head, in front of her short red hairs, was a metal circlet of the same colors than her armor. A purple cape was strapped on her shoulders and covered her back while a massive sheath was held on her left hip. More striking for Tenryuu however, were the exposed skin of her body which was made of green and pale yellow scales and the golden, determined gaze she was ardorning.

The scaly woman stopped a few meters in front of Tenryuu, her stare scanning her entire body as if appraising her worth. Meanwhile, the light cruiser did the same and recognised the bearing of a strong warrior in the person facing her. She had orders to avoid unecessary confrontations against this land denizens but fortunally, this one didn't seem to want to attack her on sight.

"A human, huh. A pretty rare sight in this place. Few are brave or strong enough to manage to get close to the volcano", finally said the unknown warrior.

"I can hold my own", answered Tenryuu with a cheeky smile.

The inhuman warrior snorted with approval and dismiss at the same time. It quite annoyed the light cruiser that she was being looked down but she kept her big mouth shut... for now.

"Why did you come here ? You were not considering entering the mountain, I hope", questionned again the scaly woman.

"And what if I did, huh ?" grinned the light cruiser.

"I would call you foolish. You did well to come here but a mere human would just die inside. Be it to the hand of the monsters or from the heat itself", sighed the warrior. Tenryuu felt a little vein throbbing on temple. This creature really thought she was an idiot it seemed.

"Yeah, thank ya for the warning", she said, ignoring her warning, as she resumed her way to the entrance, intending to get past the scaly woman. However, as she was about to do it, the creature barred her way by raising her left arm in front of her.

"You won't get in", she deadpanned said, eyes narrowed.

Now that really got Tenryuu pissed of. The young light cruiser turned her own narrowed gaze to the warrior, trying to intimidate her. Had she got any success in her atempt, she would have asked if the was scared but the woman in front of her didn't even flinch.

"Why can't I get in ? What is your concern if I'm running into troubles, huh ? I'm still free to go wherever I want and it doesn't look like someone if owning the damn mountain !" growled the light cruiser, utterly pissed.

"The way your throwing you life away is not of my concern. However I would inform you that this volcano is indeed owned by someone. She does offers free pass to warriors she deem worthy to receive her teaching. However strong enough you're not and I am more than willing to avoid my benefactor the trouble of your disturbance".

The throbbing on Tenryuu temple went up by tenfold. Pent up anger frustration clouded her vision and she was very close to see red. Despite that, she stayed her hand and her sword stayed in her scabbard. However her tongue was on the loose.

"Now ya listen to me lizard girl ! Ya know nothing of what I'm able to do with that pretty sharp thing on my hip so your crappy assessment you can fuck it in your ass !"

The inhuman warrior seemed pretty surprised by her outburst and that brought some satisfaction to the light cruiser that recomposed herself to grinned cheekily at her. However, the armored woman quickly recovered and her eyes narrowed in visible irritation.

"Watch your tongue girl. You don't know who you are talking to. I am Granberia, one of the four Heavenly Knights serving the Monster Lord herself and member of the proud and mighty dragon race !" she exclamed pridefuly.

While she probably expected horrified realisation and awe from the light cruiser, Granberia was instead greeted by an oddly stunned look on the young woman face. Any apparent anger and frustration on Tenryuu face was gone as she froze.

"Pfft".

At first Granberia didn't know what to do of the next reaction of the purple haired woman. After a short while of silence, she suddently brought a hand to her mouth and obviously tried to repress an incontrollable giggling, as if the dragonkind said a hilarous joke.
And indeed Tenryuu was trying to not to laugh her ass off. The sheer irony of the situation actually broke any kind of coherent thought she could muster. To think that this Granberia woman was a "Heavenly Dragon" amused Tenryuu to no end and the fact that she probably didn't know why made is even more funny.

"Is it anything funny about what I said ?" asked Granberia with a dangerous tone in her voice, obviously pissed to be mocked. However, even the rising tension was not enough to make Tenryuu regain her bearing. "You complained earlier of my assessment of your combat skills", then added the dragonkin as she drawed a massive sword from her sheath. "Then let me evaluated you myself, here and now".

That actually made Tenryuu regain her bearing.

"Oi, Oi, wait a minute !" exclamed Tenryuu as Granberia closed on her with a sword in hand.

"What is it ? Are you having cold feet now after mocking me ?" asked the dragon warrior.

"That's not it ! I have orders ! Orders ! I'm not supposed to get into troubles !" answered a panicking Tenryuu as she backed away.

"Hmmf, you should have thought about that sooner !"

In one quick move, Granberia closed the distance and fell her sword on the young woman but the blow wasn't meant to harm. It was slow and easily avoidable and parrable. She only did it to force her opponent to draw her weapon.
And draw she did as sparks went flying as the large sword was deflected by the black and purple blade of the light cruiser.

"Sheesh... I don't have a choice I guess", sighed Tenryuu. However she didn't look displeased. After all, she finally got the action she seeked. She would probably be yelled at and get some form of punishement but at the moment she could hardly care as blood pumped hotly in her veins.

"I'm Tenryuu. Come at me if ya aren't scared !" declared pridefully the light cruiser.

Granberia didn't need to be asked twice as she charged directly at her guarding opponent. She knew that she would easily overmatch her in every field without even relying on her special moves. However, even if she planned to hold back, she fully intended to teach a lesson to the rude girl in front of her.
The massive steel sword of the dragon girl went down on the form of her opponent but was immediatly intercepted by the other sword and deflected to the side in one smooth motion. Immediatly, the dark blade of Tenryuu shifted to a blow aimed directly at the exposed neck. Granberia took a step back to stay out of reach and brought back her sword with more force and speed than her previous blow. This time, it was Tenryuu turn to evade but even then, she immediatly went back on the offensive.

Both sword locked against each others and both warriors pushed, fully expecting to overcome the other with brute strength. But to their mutual surprise, neither of them broke as expected.
Tenryuu could not believe it. Her blow had the equivalent of 51000 shaft horse power behind them, the same might that powered her engine and made her four thousand tons old hull drift on the ocean in her previous life. How could her opponent match the strenght of a warship ?
Unbeknown to her, Granberia had similiar thoughts. She was a member of the might dragon race, with enough raw power to break bones as it were twigs. She was known as the best swordman currently living. She was able to overcome her master and went toe to toe with the current Monster Lord in term of raw power and fighting skills. How could a mere human sustain her blow as she put increasingly more power into them.

Despite their disbelieving states, both opponent recomposed each others and unwilling to give any ground, they put even more strenght into their push, making the black rock beneath their feets crack from the pressure. However this stalemate wasn't meant to last and one of them was soon overpowered by the other.
As she felt the strain on her arms begining to be unbearable like she was facing a battleship, Tenryuu, with gritted teeth, broke the engagement by sliding her sword to the side while moving away from the now free weapon of her adversary. Planting a firm foot on the battered ground, she launched a side attack at Granberia.

Again, the large sword intercepted the black one with surprising speed. Unwilling to lose on the speed and dexterity departement, Tenryuu immediatly repeated her assault, hoping her relentlessness would overcome the dragon warrior.
The clash of blades made sparks flying everywhere around them from the multiple angles of the attacks. Their movements was now a blur and the sceams of the metal was like joined in their fury by the roars of the burning mountain.

Suddently, Granberia managed to break Tenryuu momentum by parying a new blow and went herself on the offensive. From the aggressive and hectic style of the light cruiser came the mighty and controlled dance of the dragon. Each blows of Granberia was straightfoward, precisely aimed and powered in contrast of the vicious and unpredictable attacks of Tenryuu. That didn't mean it was not effective as the light cruiser quickly realised. Even if she could read her opponent movements, with her superior strenght and now superior speed, she couldn't afford to block or deviate any blows and evading them was begining to be increasingly difficult. Quickly the one eyed woman was forced further back. Her overloaded mind couldn't think of any way of regaining the initiative with her sword, not that her opponent did leave her enough time to ponder about it.

Another mighty blow came to her with such a speed that Tenryuu was forced to block. The force of the hit was sufficient to sent her flying a few meters but luckily she managed to land on her feets and get some space however her arms felt sore.
The light cruiser just had the time to breath once before Granberia was already upon her, her sword in striking stance over her head. Tenryuu saw an opportunity and propulsed herself right into the dragon warrior guard. Her arms went on the move, launching a powerful slash blow from the right side. Unfortunaly Granberia immediatly reacted. With her own powerful movement, she shifted her attack and brought down her the pommel of her sword with considerable strenght right on the head of her opponent, making her crash on the ground at her feet.

A massive headache, a sharp ring to her ears and the feeling of liquid dripping from her forehead was all that the light cruiser could feel at the moment. Her blurry vision cleared to see the reptilian feet of her opponent just before her. Slowly, she looked up to see the stoic face of Granberia who stared back. Her annoyance seemed to be gone and she was gazing at her as if she apraised her once more.
Her mind now cleared, the young woman finally realised her situation. At this position, she was now at the mercy of the opposing warrior.

"Heh. Looks like I lost.", scoffed Tenryuu with self derision.

"Indeed", answered Granberia. "However I must compliment your strength and skills. It was not something that I expected from a mere human", she added though the last bit held an accusatory tone that the light cruiser catched up.

Tenryuu tentativaly tried to get up. To her mild surprise, her opponent let her do so and while they still both held their swords in their hands, neither of them assumed any hostile stance.
While understandably pissed at her defeat, the light cruiser was not foolish enough to try her luck again. This brief bout against the dragon warrior told her that she was not an opponent that she could easily defeat. It was a shame that she couldn't enjoy the cool atmosphere around her but she knew better that endangering herself and her mission for something trivial.

"So... Since I lost, I guess I'll give up to my little exploration project. Beggars can't be choosers so I'll probably go back from when I came from", said the light cruiser as she began to turn around.

But as she was about to take a step away, a strong scaly hand catched firmly her shoulder. The young woman didn't flinch and merely tilted her head to make eye contact with the dragon warrior.

"Unfortunaly, I fear I can't let you go that easily. Humans are not supposed to be as strong as you and while I'm more than happy to have powerful contenders, leaving you alone would probably hinder the Monster Lord plans in the long run. Now, you said earlier you were following orders from someone. Can you tell me more about it ?"

"Me and my damn big mouth", cried internally Tenryuu. To say that she was in deep troubles was more than a understatement. However she couldn't let herself be captured.

In a instant, her midly relaxed stance tensed and with every bit of speed she could muster, the light cruiser slashed at the dragon warrior. Granberia reacted immediatly and easily evaded the blow. However le light cruiser didn't hope to hit and as the scaly hand realeased her shoulder she quickly went on a dash to get as far away from her opponent that possible.

Tenryuu internally cursed. Now that the lust for battle and some of her accumulated frustration was dissipated, she finally understand how much she fucked up. She had disobeyed orders and might get captured by an unknown party. If the dragon warrior suceeded in this last endeavor, it may put the whole naval base in danger.
In a short while, Tenryuu managed to clear a great distance with her speed but despite how quick her feet were hammering the ground, she could already feel Granberia closing the distance. The dragon girl was both stronger and faster than her. She was also more skilled with a sword. If she didn't to anything, she would soon be stuck in a losing fight against her superior opponent. But that was not big news for Tenryuu. Even in her previous life, she always was at the bottom of the pool. A design old of nearly thirty years when the war broke out. Even most of the first line destroyers were theorically stronger than her. But it didn't mean that she could do nothing. Even then she managed to achieve victory and beat an opponent way above her class. All that mattered was getting the right circumstances.
The light cruiser clenched her teeth. It's looked like her fair duel was over since the stakes at play changed. It was not about winning a fight anymore but using everything at her disposal to prevent her capture. It became an actual battle.

Granberia quickly approached the retreating form of the young woman. She understood her relutance to capture but she still had a duty to uphold to the Monster Lord which was consisting of more than merely following orders. If an unknown entity or any of the human kingdoms were disposing of strong warrior of this girl caliber, as a Heavenly knight, she had to report it to her liege.
With a leap, the dragon warrior finally closed the distance with her objective. The young woman instinct must have been top notch because she immedialy evaded her grip by leaning to she side and following by a slash at her. Granberia used her superior speed to block the attack and immediatly followed with her own. Now that she managed to hold her in a bout, she just had to beat her again to finally accomplish her objective.
However, as their fight began anew, she felt that something was very different. Instead of wearing a grin screaming battle lust and excitement, her opponent face was fully focused and her gaze more alert. Her attacks were more prudents while her defense was way fiercer.
Granberia went from numerous angles, her blade striking at her in such a way to avoid lethal hit while aiming to incapcitate her. But the situation was tricky. There was a large difference in skills between them but it was not so large that she could handle her how she wanted. Moreover, the light cruiser seemed to react better to her attacks.

As another swing from her steel sword was deflected, Granberia decided to try something new. She hated to use the handicap of another but she wanted this fight over sooner than later.
After a diversionary strike at her lower right side, the dragon warrior shifted her stance in one smooth motion and aimed another strike at her upper left side, where the eyepatch on her left eye offered her a blind spot.

However such a strike was long since anticipated by the light cruiser. She had wondered how long it would take for her opponent to exploit such apparant weakness. Tenryuu used this foresight to lean away from the blow and while slashing diagonally at the dragon. Granberia obviously didn't expect such a thing and while she managed to evade any damage to her unprotected parts, a long, thin scratch spawned on her black armor, fact that made her pause a moment.
The unexpected break allowed Tenryuu to take a breath. She mentally thanked her observation fairies as they were her eyes not just on her left side but also on every angles around her body. The dragon girl probably didn't realised because of their size and the fact that her attention was brought to her body language and weapon, but everywhere on her body, in her body and on her rigging, minuscule sailors were now at their battle stations and merely waited any occasion to make themselves useful.

After recovering from the shock the sucessful counter-attack of her opponent, Granberia went on the offensive again, this time displaying more of her strength, speed and skills in order to overcome the young woman.
After echanging another set of blow that disturbed the flow of the wind itself, Granberia managed to break Tenryuu guard but while she tried to follow with a decisive blow, the light cruiser barely managed to block her blade with the hilt of her sword. However, the strike itself was strong enough to send her strumbling back. When Granbaria was again over her, Tenryuu was on her four, not yet stabilized and in the impossibility to defend herself this time.

Granberia just had the time to see the barrel of a 7.7mm machine gun from the girl rigging on her back, aiming at her, before a flow of inumerable bullets was shot at her form. Her charge was quickly halted and in reaction to her surprise, she tried to block most of the bullets with the flat of her sword, while instinctually taking a step back.

This was the occasion Tenryuu had waited. With her opponent distracted by the never ending flow of bullets, the light cruiser gave an order to one of the fairies on her bridge and then turned around and began to retreat as quickly as possible.

The movement of the young woman body interupted the machine gun fire aimed at the dragon warrior as she wasn't in the line of sight anymore. However it took a little bit of time to Granberia to recover completely from the surprise attack. Most bullets had hit her armor and sword but a significant amount went past her defence and hit her unprotected limbs. However, apart from a slight ache, the monster swordwoman was uninjured. Her body was robust and dragon scales as thought than steel, it would take more to make her bleed.
As soon as she recovered, Granberia gaze went back to the fleeing form of the young woman. She again covered a considerable distance but still not far enough as to escape. Still, the dragon warrior let a tired sigh out. She duel was enjoyable but she was growing tired to chase after her opponent.
While the dragon warrior was about to pursue the light cruiser, a sudden and unknown sound came to her ears despite the racket of the volcanic scenery. It became like distant whistling but progressively seemed to get closer. Curious, Granberia looked at the sky clouded with black smoke and soon enough, she spotted a bright orange object falling toward her direction.

At the sound of the explosion behind her, Tenryuu shifted her sight though the eyes of one of her fairies monitoring her rear. She was quick enough to see the massive black cloud and debris that erupted and noted that it exploded really close to the dragon warrior.

"Transmit : Good hit. Demand continuous fire on the same position", said the warship to the fairy operating the radio on the bridge. The minuscule radioman immediatly complied and soon enough, after she saw the still standing figure of Granberia among the dissipating smoke, another shell went down at the same location.

Another hit on point. Tenryuu couldn't help but notice that the long range bombardement was probaly more accurate than anything she could do at the same distance.

"Oh my, it's not like you to praise me so much Tenryuu-chan", suddently came a teasing voice in her head.

"I didn't even say anything !", quickly shouted indignantly the light cruiser as she continued to run and another shell fell on her previous battlefield.

"Really ? Maybe because I know you so well that I am able to hear your throughts even at such a distance. After all, isn't it said that sisterly bonds are that strong ?", Tenryuu really wanted to ignore the teasing voice but she couldn't. Not after she asked her sister to come save her ass.

"It's only about twins ! And were not twins, you were constructed before me !", she hotly answered as another shell fell far away behind her.

"Ufufu. Is that so ? Are you going to call me Tatsuta onee-san from now on then ?"

"Like hell I would do that ! I'm the nameship of the class and that's all that matters ! Anyway, you should get moving now. That dragon girl seem to have shifted her attention to you. She will track the origin of you shots so stop firing and meet me at our designated rendez-vous", said Tenryuu as she saw the distant figure of Granberia getting away from the bombardement zone and going in the opposite direction from her at breakneck speed.

"As you wish. It's a shame though, my blade was excited to taste the blood of the person who managed to cause so much trouble to my dear sister. It's a good thing that I decided to stay close to you in case you inevitably ran into troubles."

Tenryuu briefly snorted but didn't say anything since the circumstances didn't speak in her favor. She would let Tatsuta have a fun for a little while as a thank for her help but as she finally seemed to have escaped immediat danger, another thought came to her mind. Since she and Tastuta were both roughtly at the same place, it did mean that the rest of her task force was her their own. And that kind of worried her.

"I hope you're doing better than me kiddos".

A/N :

Again, sorry about the delay. After the exams came the homeworks so I was kept pretty busy for a while. However I hope this action filled chapter made up for the lateness.

First some replies to the reviews :

Guest : Thank you again for your continuous support. It is indeed Promestein that distribute techs in the MGQ universe. Since the San Ilia laboratories are related to the tartarus rifts in Paradox, it is logical that it does appear in this storie where the tartarus rifts doesn't exist.

THE GREAT AARON : Thank you.

MageTGM : She is planned to appear in a few chapters.

It's the first time I tried to write something combat related in english and it probably shows. I would appreciate your input on this matter.

If it wasn't clear enough, the reason Tenryuu was laughting at Granberia was because her name (Tenryuu) basically mean "Heavenly Dragon", which you can see, can easily be linked at Granberia being a dragon heavenly knight.

The next chapter will be closely related to this one and will be featuring the rest of Tenryuu task force. For those who knows Kantai Collection fandom well, you can probably guess which characters will appear. And for those who know the two universe, you can deduce what kind of setting will taking place next time.

Lastly I would like your input of the overall aspect of this fiction since it would help me to draws the path of where this storie goes. More specifically, I would like to ask what you like or dislike in this story. What are the strong points, what are the weak points. Your opinion really interest me and will probably help me to produce better chapters.

Thank you for reading, see you next time.