[A/N] : Ey, continue to cringe. I fucked by Floor 6 First Phase at this moment and farms at somewhere, so I will continue.

02 : Night Sky

Where am I?

That was the first thing that Shigure thought of when she was finally awake. Her mind was still fuzzy, her body was numb but nevertheless, she tried to raise her body. She felt the urge to move and knew what that meant.

I have to check with the Admiral first...

The black-haired girl coughed. She remembered explosions and gunfire that happened to her surroundings, but how long had it been? She remembered that her squadron had the order to sortie out to reinforce the anti-air defence of the base, but then, the port got attacked.

They never had the chance to go out into the sea and she was here, trapped, unexpectedly knocked out.

Shigure finally got up after moving a large piece of rubble off her. Taking rapid breaths, she looked around and was shocked to see the scene. The rubbles smouldering with smoke, hanging burnt metals, wrecked vehicles and dead bodies lying around, she just felt that her heart tightened.

Is the Admiral safe?

It's always been her personality to regard everyone as 'close'. It was her personality, no, a curse to be accurate. After all, a shipgirl was a reincarnated warship in the form of a girl, hence all of their history from the first day their keel was laid down to the point where they reached the bottom of the sea were all engraved in their mind. For Shigure, the worst thing was losing comrades, and failing to keep her promise to protect the others.

A sudden burst of gunfire brought Shigure's wandering mind back to reality. It was from afar, but it was clearly gunfire. Hearing it made Shigure cower. Judging by her surroundings, everything seemed to be a mess. What should she do, she thought to herself. Her eyes caught the display on her watch, and she decided to check it.

It was 1903 hours, 7 hours since the last time she remembered being conscious.

Has it been that long already?

Deciding that it was best to start moving and relaying to anyone that she could reach, she searched the ruins of the port for her rigging. That was her only means to protect herself. Even on land, ship rigging was still reliable and powerful to be used against any forms of enemies, especially the Abyssal. She found her rigging, buried under some rubble. Clearing them and sorting her rigging out, she was relieved to see that most of them were still intact despite some dents right and left.

There's still ammo in them…

Her 127mm main cannons were still functioning, including eight of her 610mm torpedo tubes mounted in two separate launchers and anti-air armaments. The engines were fine, which meant that she could sail on sea with what fuel she had left. Still, she doubted that she could refuel in this situation, or even sail out there.

It would be suicidal…

She tapped into her communication unit, hoping that someone would hear her.

"Sasebo CP, this is Shigure of 5th Torpedo Squadron of 3rd Fleet. Does anyone read me, over?"

No answer. Just static.

"Does anyone read me, over?"

No answer. Shigure started to fear the worst. Was the whole region abandoned? Did the air raid become so intense until the whole region had to be abandoned?

I really hope that's not the case…

"... Shigure, is that you? This is Ushio from 7th Torpedo Squadron! If you hear me, please reply, over!"

There was static in the comms, but there was no doubt it was someone Shigure knew from the other side.

"Ushio, I hear you! What happened to the base? Do you know where's the rest?" Shigure started to ask. There were many questions forming in her mind but she decided to ask the most urgent first.

"Thanks goodness, there's someone here… I don't know... I just found myself here, washed ashore after a dive bomber hit me. It was… terrible. I really don't know… I can't reach command either."

Despite hearing the calm voice from Ushio, Shigure could hear her sobbing between sentences. She must be scared, Shigure thought.

"So… the whole base was abandoned?"

"I think so… I picked up gunfire and enemy aircrafts flying by… Can we link up?"

"Of course. Where are you?"

"... I'm hiding in one of the offices in the main command building… Erm… I think it was Admiral Nagasawa's office…"

Admiral's office…

"Do you see Admiral anywhere?" Shigure quickly asked.

"Er… No. I didn't see him anywhere." Ushio stammered a bit.

"The command post? Have you checked it?"

"Yes… But no one was there. No… corpses either. Anyway, can you come now? I'm scared… I mean, my rigging is blown."

Shigure's mind relaxed a bit. That meant that the possibility of him being alive was still high.

"Just calm down, I will be on the way. Just wait for me. I will give you a call when I reach there."

Closing the comms, Shigure gave her surroundings one last look. She didn't see any of her teammates, not even a body. While she was relieved because she didn't see them, she was worried of whether they were still alive somewhere or not.

I hope it's not the latter…

A small drop of water was enough to make Ushio go pale. The shy, soft spoken girl with long black hair was still cowering in fear under the office desk in Admiral Nagasawa's office since two hours ago. The office was still tidy but it had a sense of abandonment. No one was there besides the defenceless Ushio hiding. Her eyes were already red after an hour of sobbing, thinking that she was already abandoned by her commander and that no one would come to rescue her.

She don't want to be captured by the Abyssal after all. Hearing all those rumours about them eating humans or shipgirls alive almost make her numb

Just when Shigure is going to arrive…

She was lucky to be able to reach Shigure, one of the most famous destroyers to be fielded against the Abyssal. Skilled, smart, dedicated, Shigure of Sasebo was widely known as a good frontliner. So, at least, in Ushio's mind, having her by her side would at least calm her down.

Just as she thought about it, a transmission came about.

"Ushio, are you still there? I'm already here." Shigure said in the comms.

"Ah…" Ushio stammered. "Okay…"

The door creaked open and Ushio inched her head out, eyes on the door. Standing in the doorway was a ragged Shigure, a tired smile on her face upon seeing Ushio.

"Ah, Ushio, good to see you. How-"

While starting to burst into tears, Ushio ran forward and hugged Shigure who was caught off guard to see Ushio crying in her clothes.

"... I thought everyone… had left me alone here… " Ushio said, while sobbing.

Shigure just shrugged and patted her, "At least we have each other now."

It took some time for Shigure to finally calm Ushio down. The girl just sat at one corner as Shigure poked around, trying to see if there's anything she could use or gain information from.

"Ushio," Shigure started as she opened one of the cabinet files. "Do you have any new information?"

"No…" Ushio said. "I can't reach anyone, neither information link is working. I don't think this region is still viable for us."

Shigure winced. She knew that for a fact, but hearing it again was like reminding her that it wasn't just a bad dream.

"... Then we have no choice but to start moving away from here." Shigure said as she took a file out.

"How?" Ushio raised her eyes. "We don't even have escorts. My guns are broken, and I have only you."

"Then we'll get them from the armoury." Shigure said as she kneeled beside Ushio. "Look at this."

Ushio looked down at the thing Shigure was holding. It was a map marked with unit labels prior to Operation All Pins, or what was commonly known as the Battle of Katherine Pass later on.

"We assumed that the enemy had taken the region around Sasebo Naval District. Even if our defence was broken, the ground forces should have been fending them off from the absolute defence line. Our best bet will be going eastward to there."

"Are you sure?"

"It's our only choice." Shigure said as she folded the map into her pocket. "Come on, let's check out the armoury first. We don't have a lot of time."

It was already dark outside. The night sky was filled with stars, and it was all quiet in the area around Sasebo Naval District. Occasional gunfire and aircrafts flying by could be heard, but none of them concerned the two shipgirls who were probing the armoury in the base. Shigure had her cannons, but they were too high-profile to be used against Abyssal infantry, if there were any, so from the corpses lying around, she got herself and Ushio Type 89 assault rifles along with several magazines.

"Do we really need these?" Ushio asked timidly as Shigure peeked into the armoury's entry.

"It's better to have one, I believe. You don't even have a weapon."

"Yeah, but…"

"Clear."

With her Type 89 raised up, she did a quick turn and entered the armoury. Ushio followed on, with her Type 89 trained at the back to cover Shigure's rear. Despite her timidness and them being shipgirls, they had at least the most basic training about rifle usage. It was mandatory for armed service members to be trained to use one and learn the basic of fireteam-level tactics anyway.

Never thought I would be practicing this now…

Shigure finally lowered her rifle after making sure all corners of the messy armoury are cleared of any hostiles. Ushio followed on, and felt a bit worried. The armoury was in a state of disarray, with many shelves and boxes littered around, empty or filled with only pieces of equipments and supplies. Blood splatters and corpses of dead servicemen were everywhere. Worst still, it didn't look like those men died in a peaceful manner judging by their torn body parts.

Ushio covered her mouth once the urge to vomit reached her. Shigure only winced, wearing a grimace on her face.

"This is bad…" Shigure muttered as she scanned around.

"Ueekkk…"

Shigure turned around and could only see Ushio kneeling down, trying to control her nausea as she coughed at one side.

"Ushio, you're okay?"

"Um…"

Ushio tried to sound fine but Shigure knew it was other way round.

"... Just cover my rear. I will try to see if there's any spare cannons or supplies we can use."

"... Okay. Be careful."

"I will."

Shigure started to search around for supplies, also checking the bodies to see if they had anything useful. Checking their wounds, Shigure could see that they seemed like bite wounds, or like chunks were torn from the bodies.

The rumours about them eating humans up are true I guess…

Shigure shuddered. It was not something she wanted to know right now, especially when Ushio was just behind her. She knew that Ushio was a good girl, clumsy but kind. Seeing this kind of mess would just get her scared. Shigure decided to carry on and gather whatever she could get.

Twenty minutes had gone by when she got back to Ushio, who was gazing out at the empty scenery by the doorway. In Shigure's hands were two black assault packs.

"There wasn't any spare cannons around. I will lend you mine." Shigure said as she handed one of the packs to Ushio. "Inside, there's a blanket, some food and water along with several emergency kits."

"Thank you." Ushio muttered as she took the pack.

Shigure unstrapped one of her handheld 127mm cannons and handed it to Ushio, who nervously took it and strapped it onto herself.

"Is the neural connection working?"

"Yeah, it works just fine. A bit of calibration and I will be able to use it just like the one I commonly use."

"That's good to hear." Shigure smiled as she slung her pack beside her bridge unit. "Come on then, I think it's best we get out of here before the enemy starts to occupy this base."

"Okay."

As both of the girls went out into the deserted compound, Shigure started to grow worried. Up to this point, she didn't see any signs of enemies. Did they retreat to the sea or go further inland? Whatever the reason was, it didn't change the fact that she and Ushio had to escape from here.

"We will be keeping radio silence." Shigure said once they got to the main entrance of the base. "If the enemy spots us, we won't be able to escape."

"Okay…" Ushio nodded. "Can we make it?"

"We don't have much of a choice." Shigure shrugged.

The city of Sasebo, modelled after the real-life Sasebo City in Nagasaki, Japan, was regarded as one of the important cities of Kanto Area. Having a sizeable port at the southern side, it was also an important frontline naval base for the Kanto Combined Maritime Defence Corps, which was widely known as the Combined Fleet.

Now, the once busy city had been reduced to darkness and confusion, with the streets being deserted. Wreckages, dead bodies and signs of destruction were everywhere. Then, there they were, the Abyssal. Those black figures, some with white exterior shells and glowing blue or red eyes were patrolling around. Some were human-sized but most just looked like deformed monsters. They were clearly patrolling the region which they had captured, and were rooting out any survivors.

Hiding behind an abandoned Type 90 main battle tank, Shigure shouldered her rifle at ease, eyes tailing the group of four Abyssal infantry that were looking around. Ushio was beside her, keeping Shigure's rear guarded. Shigure had flipped the safety of her rifle off, and prepared to fire if they were ever spotted. Luckily, they weren't. The Abyssal units had decided to move on, leaving the girls at ease.

"They're gone…" Shigure tapped Ushio's shoulder. "Move up."

Ushio just nodded and stuck to Shigure's back. Both of them moved up the dark street, constantly looking left and right with their rifles.

"This seems bad…" Ushio commented after noticing there were a lot of destroyed military vehicles and dead bodies.

"Just keep on moving. We need to find a suitable place to rest." Shigure said, not wanting to think about it.

Yes, our first priority is to get out of the enemy's hands.

Hiding away from the enemy, moving quietly, constantly praying, that was what they did until Shigure decided to stop at an office building. Covering each other, the girls moved up onto the second floor of the office building before turning into the hallway. The lamps were flickering, seemingly desperate to keep themselves alive. Shigure moved up slowly and carefully, her Type 89 trained up with Ushio following her back.

"Ushio," Shigure whispered. "We will check the area around here."

"Sure."

"Shall we split up? It will be better."

At this point, Shigure wished she didn't mention it. Ushio immediately froze, and looked at Shigure with dead eyes.

"Er…" Shigure stammered, quickly finding words for herself. "I mean… nevermind, let's stick together. We'll check each corner."

Their trip in the office was relatively quiet, as both of them were cautious about their surroundings. Checking through rooms of desks, papers and files, they tried to keep their calm. Shigure constantly turned her eyes onto Ushio, who nervously checked each corner with her flashlight mounted on her rifle.

I hope she will be fine…

"I think it's all clear." Ushio muttered as she lowered her rifle.

"Yeah…" Shigure said. "Find a place to rest then. I will check around to see if there's anything useful."

Shigure walked away, strolling around the quiet office. Sometimes, she would just pat some random tables, sending papers fluttering around. As she did so, her eyes fell onto a picture frame.

Someone's family, I guess…

She felt an unpleasant feeling growing in her stomach.. Was it the Combined Fleet's fault because they didn't manage to hold the Abyssal force back? They did what they could, yet this happened suddenly.

Come on, Shigure, don't think about it.

―Tack.

A soft sound, but Shigure heard it and did not like it. Her heart tightened as she raised her gun. Hovering the barrel on the door that housed that sound behind it, she slowly moved up her way to the door.

I hope it's just a cat or something…

Shigure reached out for the doorknob with her free hand, her finger ready to pull the trigger, and twisted it slowly. Flinging the door open, Shigure shouldered her rifle tight and moved in.

―Empty.

The storeroom that was filled with shelves of boxes and files, was empty and dead quiet. Shigure glanced around, her finger still tapping on the trigger softly. Moving slowly and quietly, she looked through each corner that she might miss. Taking slow, deliberate steps, her focus was entirely at the front. The feeling of adrenaline pumping through her body became more apparent.

―A sound, again.

This time, it was more clear, and it sounded like something had fell. Swiftly, Shigure turned her body to the noise with her rifle aimed. Her finger almost pulled the trigger, yet she didn't because all she saw was just a white cat. Small and cute, the cat was a bit shocked to suddenly see that Shigure was staring daggers at it. Quickly, the cat bolted away, leaving Shigure alone standing there. Sighing with relief, Shigure lowered her rifle.

So… it was just a cat…

Shigure let out a faint smile as she looked at her palm. It was all scarred.

Maybe I was just being paranoid…

"I was lucky it wasn't something worse…"

Just as she said that.

"Ara~ I don't think so~"

Her instincts raced. Shigure turned around in surprise and everything went white.

Gazing out the window, Ushio could see that the full moon was bright. The sky was clear and it was all quiet. There was no occasional gunfire anymore. Seeing this had calmed Ushio down, a bit.

I wonder why are we on the run… Just what went wrong?

Everything was supposed to be fine. After all, the assault on Katherine Pass, the island chain at the south of Kanto Area which had became an Abyssal stronghold had been going well. Everything was happening in their favour. Then, suddenly, like a domino show, everything went tumbling down.

She felt her heart clench.

"... Let's forget about it…" Ushio muttered. "Where's Shigure by the way, she's taking a long time…"

Exiting the room she decided to use as the place for them to rest, she looked around the dark office. No one was in sight.

… Shigure wouldn't abandon me, would she?

Ushio shook her head.

Come on, believe in your friend! Shigure wouldn't abandon you. If not, she wouldn't have come and picked me up in the first place.

Still, she wondered, where did Shigure go?

Just as she thought about that, the ground shook. Caught off guard, Ushio was thrown aback. She lost grip of her Type 89 rifle, which clattered off the floor. Dust kicked off, debris flew everywhere and Ushio landed against a wall. Coughing from the dust, Ushio slumped onto the floor as she struggled with her senses.

What… What happened? Did the enemy spotted us?

She raised her eyes and they widened. In her sight, there was Shigure, catching her breath rapidly as she recovered her stance after being blown away with both of her 127mm cannons, which stored at her back, were already unslung. Then, the front, there was a woman.

It didn't take long for Ushio to register who was that woman.

An Abyssal?

Wavy long white hair with a black headband like crown, pale skin, red eyes, black dress, slender-looking, that lady who was standing there, smiling big-time was clearly an Abyssal just by her appearance. The existence of a huge, menace-looking red eyed beast with impressive looking scales only reinforced that fact.

And, worst still, it wasn't a mere Abyssal. It was a Demon-type Abyssal.

"Hehe~ I never expected to see shipgirls during my little personal tour. Guess I'm in luck today~" the woman smiled, hinting a bit sense of sadistic as she swung a rapier around. The beast behind the woman growled deeply.

"Dammit!"

Shigure quickly pulled out the only M84 stun grenade she had, unpinned it and flung it to the woman.

A bright light flashed out.

Ushio's eyes reflexively closed as she used her arms to shield her eyes. Just as Ushio regained her sight, she saw a hand grabbing her. Quickly, Shigure pulled her away and started to run.

"We have to run now!" Shigure shouted as she pulled the surprised Ushio away.

"Wha- What happened? An Abyssal? And, on top of that, a Demon-type? How did it get here?" Ushio asked, clearly confused by the sudden turn of event.

"I don't know!" Shigure yelled back. "That's clearly bad news! We have to get onto the streets first!"

Shigure grinded her teeth. It was clearly a Demon-type Abyssal. Those kinds of Abyssal were rare since they usually only appeared when their home base at sea was attacked. Shigure clearly understood that this Abyssal was a whole different story than those that were previously mentioned.

Just as they reached the outside of the office building and turned to the street, a voice was heard.

"Ara~ You kittens, it isn't nice to run away especially when introductions are not done yet~"

That voice!

Shigure braked, swung her cannon around and opened fire. An explosion erupted, sending shockwaves around as Ushio grabbed onto Shigure. Dust covered their view of the street, but Shigure's eyes never left a certain point. Once the dust cleared, the woman was there, smiling and standing elegantly there with her blade at ease.

"I thought I had eradicated most of you scraps at the raid, but I guess not." the woman smiled. "Oh, where are my manners? Nice to meet you, scraps, I'm Remily, the First Admiralty Lord of Hereford Badge."

Like a true English lady, the woman who called herself Remily bowed, still having her sadistic smile.

"What do you want, you Abyssal scum? Just state your business or I will simply blow you away with my own hands." Shigure growled, her cannons trained on the woman, loaded with AP shells alongside with Ushio who nervously handled her own cannons.

"Heh~ You shipgirls' confidence never fail to amuse me, as always. Well, I didn't really mind turning both of you into scraps but, let's see, maybe you can come with me instead? I will spare your lives. After all, both of you make good maid materials after all~"

"Do you think we will obey you?"

Shigure said, but clearly shivered a bit after hearing 'good maid materials' from Remily.

"You should consider yourself lucky~" Remily smiled further as she put her finger near her lips. "Don't say I didn't warn you. You're lucky that you met me, the grand Remily who is far more reasonable than those fellwos from Ironbottom Badge. Come on, I hope we can proceed without wasting much time."

"Ushio." Shigure whispered to the nervous Ushio. "Run after I fire."

"Wait, what?"

"I will hold her off."

"Don't be ridiculous! Without support, even you can't handle her!"

"Just do it! We don't have a choice!"

Ushio stammered once seeing Shigure's glaring eyes. Remily, meanwhile, was not impressed by the fact that the two shipgirls did not heed her words.

"Well, it's limb cutting I guess." Remily said. "Fredrick!"

Out from the office building, the big monster akin to a mythological beast broke through the wall and jumped right behind Remily. Its landing impact was so powerful that it almost wrecked the entire tar road.

"Come on, kittens, I'll give you some time before I actually set my pet against you."

Shigure didn't budge, her cannons readied and trained at the woman. Ushio could only looked at Shigure worriedly.

Am I going to die here? Is there anything I can do?

Shigure thought, her legs trembled, along with her arms. It was hard to keep her composure.

… At least if Ushio makes it, even if I die, I will just think that this is my way of atoning for my sin…

―A flash.

Even with her improved sight, Shigure could barely see what hit the Abyssal beast behind Remily. It was sudden, unexpected, quick, an explosion flashes out at Remily's position, kicking dust out again. Shigure quickly threw herself to shield Ushio from the incoming shockwave.

"What- What just happened?!"

Shigure didn't answer Ushio's question. Personally, she was also confused by the event.

As everything died down, Shigure returned her gaze to the Abyssal woman, and noticed that she was unscatched, but clearly beaten a bit. The monster behind her had a huge gaping hole in its torso before spewing blue blood out and slumped onto the floor.

"I guess we have a princess here…"

Shigure turned her attention to her right, following the Abyssal woman's gaze.

Standing alone on the other side of the road was a girl. Shouldering on her left shoulder was a large rectangular device, the opening was still smouldering. Dressed completely in tactical black combat gears and clothing, the dark brownish-haired girl was standing there, with her eyes falling dead on the woman.

"... It seems like this whole mess was your doing, Remily."

"And here we meet again, Miss Commander~" Remily grinned, feeling amused as she turned to the girl. "Really, you guys a pain in the arse. Can't you just leave me alone?"

"Just get out of my face and leave them to me. How does that sound?"

Remily chuckled as she shook her head. "Whatever. You think I will just walk away like this, especially after you punched a hole through my dear Fredrick?"

"And do you think I really will let you leave alive if you take those two away?"

Both the woman and the girl glared at each other coldly for some time, as Shigure and Ushio looked on. At that moment, Shigure realised something.

That woman… She's holding something at the back…

Grabbing Ushio, Shigure started to make a run for it away from the girl in black. Remily, noticing this, turned her body intending to take action. However, it was too late.

Throwing the unpinned smoke grenades that the girl had prepared earlier, white smoke started to spread around the region as Shigure jumped into the smokescreen with Ushio.

"Dammit!"

Remily furiously chased after the disappearing figures. However, just as she reached there, her prey were already long gone. Scanning around through the dense white smoke, she found no hint of them.

Sighing, she started to shout into the air. "You win this time, Miyon. I will let you off the hook for now, but don't let me catch you and your other mates later. See you soon~"

Smiling, Remily decided to walk away, with the staggering Fredrick following on.

"It seemed like an Abyssal beast won't die that easily even if I hit it with the Arsenal…"

Covering both of the shipgirls' mouths, Miyon pressed herself against the wall of an abandoned shop lot. Only after a good minute after sensing that she was safe, she released her grip.

"Sorry, was I too rough?"

Both of the girls coughed as Miyon tilted her head with a stoic expression.

Coughing, Shigure shook her head. "No… Thank you… for saving us…" Shigure said.

"... Don't thank me yet. We're still in enemy territory." Miyon shrugged as she got up, unholstering her M4A1 assault rifle. "Come on, we have to move before more of them start converging into our position."

"Wait," Ushio called out. "Who are you?"

"..."

Both of the girls gave the unknown girl called Miyon quizzical looks. It took some thoughts before Miyon finally answered.

"Just think of me as a temporary commander for you all for now." Miyon said. "Let's go, we're running late for RV."

[A/N] : Ney, why am I even writing A/N at here.