Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Read and Review! I found another error in my previous posts, so I've fixed them up! Broadsword fighter/bombers weren't around until after Levi bit it, so I went and replaced them with Shortswords. Also, I was informed that my use of Latin needed some work, so I fixed the Flight group's motto in chapter 7.

Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other human languages, etc
Bold - Jarring events

Tenryuu cursed as she ducked another piece of flying masonry, DesDiv 6 right behind her as they tried to move through the streets towards the bay. "FUCK! Of all the times for them to pull shit like this...!" She had just been taking her girls back to their hotel room after a second day of sight-seeing when the Abyssals had decided to ruin their day. Fighting at sunset was a good strategy, as it meant they could make their assault in the last rays of light, then use the cover of night to escape, but the Abyssals in and around the Asian seas had generally left such tactics alone. Whether it was because they knew that the Japanese kanmusu were used to night-fighting and thus didn't have as much advantage against them, or if it was simply the fact that they liked making storms brew up during broad daylight to cover their actions as an intimidation factor was unknown, but in Tenryuu's mind it just made them a bunch of fucking assholes nonetheless!

A restaurant detonated across the street, showering them with bits of brick, wood, metal and concrete, as well as bits of half-frozen food... They must have hit the freezer directly. "Uwaaaaaa! Why are there so many things flying around?! It never gets this way at sea nanodesu!" Inazuma whined as she brushed a piece of blasted meat out of her hair.

"Inazuma! A proper lady doesn't complain in the middle of a battlefield!" Akatsuki said, readjusting her cap.

"Let's just get out of this mess! We can't just let the others have all the fun!" Ikazuchi said while flailing her arms.

As the light cruiser gritted her teeth and looked back at the gaggle of apparent school-girls behind her, Tenryuu started barking orders. "Get to the river! They're likely expecting us all to be in the port, so we'll have to go through the river-mouth to flank their line." A flare of white light and fog appeared around the one-eyed kanmusu, and as her rigging manifested around her Tenryuu grasped the hilt of her katana 'Waterline' and pointed it towards the waterfront. "Come on! This is Tenryuu and Destroyer Division Six's time to shine! Let's set sail! Yosha!"

"Hai taicho!"
"Haaaaai!"
"H-hai!"
"Khorosho..."

Leviathan ran through the streets, dodging panicking civilians as they surged around her like a living flood, each person trying to get away from the sound of Death coming from the water. Taking an opportunity, the ship-woman ducked into an alleyway and grabbed a fire escape ladder, bolting up the metal rungs as they clanged beneath her boots in order to get above the press of bodies and hopefully get a better view of what was going on. Shells were still dropping on the city, mostly around the port area, but enough were landing in the city proper that the explosions were occurring FAR too close for the cruiser's comfort. As she got up to the roof proper, she slung herself over the ledge before taking up a position across the way to look out over this section of the city. Four floors up wasn't terribly high, but this wasn't skyscraper territory, so she still had a decent view...

And it wasn't a good one.

The shoreline was already in flames, and more than a dozen civilian vessels were burning and sinking into the harbor, though she couldn't make out more details just yet. At least not without activating her full sensor suite and close-range radar. Narrowing her eyes, Leviathan spotted what looked like aircraft also heading towards the shore, likely to attack deeper into the city. Taking the cue to get out of sight, the woman dropped down into the alley again just before one of the bombers decided to take a shot at her position. It was the right decision, as not even a block away one of the bombs crashed into a building and blew it sky high, sending more debris flying into the air. Growling to herself, she mentally shifted her attention to her crew, who were already gearing up. Reaching into her bag, Levi put her coat and turret-pistol on hurriedly, zipping and sealing the armored garment on before concentrating. She hadn't really practiced this, but now was as good a time as any...

Ghostly white light tinged with yellow flowed like mist around the woman, coalescing into dark metal plating as Leviathan felt... whole again. Adjust her feet allowed the exoskeleton-like thrusters and armor to form at her heels as well as over her shins and thighs, adding another foot to her height. The main hull formed at her back, overlapping layers of Titanium-A armor like some angularly built insect's carapace, protecting the engine housing while triangular missile hatches ran in lines along them in ways that seemed decorative, yet hid their deadly payload. Leviathan felt her head become encased in the enclosed helmet with its distinctive toothed-maw faceplate, and a sigh of relief escaped her lips without meaning to as her sensor arrays started feeding tactical data to her computers and battle-net. And speaking of computers...

Hanging from a set of reinforced cables as thick as her arm was her MAC gun, twin barrels shrouded by the skull-like form that housed targeting sensors along with her AI partner. "Hephaestus, you online?" she queried.

"Affirmative. Loading all protocols now. Combat operations are a go. Shall I charge capacitors?" he asked.

This caused Leviathan to frown. "Leave it at a 2% charge, but no higher."

"Any reason?"

"Use of a MAC gun in atmosphere is restricted for a reason. I got lucky in Manicani, I was aiming slightly up when I fired at Perth. If I had hit a shoreline or something it would have caused an earthquake with who knows how much damage as collateral. As it was, anyone watching that section of sky probably thought it was a passing meteorite or something as it shot out into space. I don't intend to take that risk twice... But if we have to use it then that alone should be good enough to pierce anything that the enemy has. I don't want to waste shots, but I also don't want to overshoot and hit something that would cause issues to friendly forces," the cruiser intoned.

"Seems almost a waste of a shot, but complying. Maintaining only 2% charge in the capacitors."

Nodding to herself, Leviathan turned her attention inwards, reaching back towards her hangars and plucking something from within. It felt a little odd, but as she looked down at the miniature Warthog in her hands she had to admit that the tiny marines in it looked absolutely adorable to her. "Alright Marines, we've got aircraft and off-shore bombardment forces attacking a civilian port. I'm heading out with Taiha flight to deal with the enemy's main force, but every gun counts, so I'm tasking you to keep as many civvies alive as possible. You'll function as a mobile anti-air force and escort any groups you see further inland. Hook up with friendly forces and hand off your charges to them, then switch to mobile deterrent. I'll deploy your buddies via Pelican to set up AAA sites as you mark sites for them. Understood?"

"Ooo!" came the cry from the green-armored forms in the interior of the vehicle in response.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you... I said DO YOU UNDERSTAND MARINES?!"

"OOO-RAH!" came the much louder reply, making Leviathan smile.

"That's better. Alright, hop to it!" Setting the vehicle down, it sped off at a modest clip before its brothers joined it, let loose by the cruiser's hands before she straightened. "That should keep the little buggers busy. Now then..." Switching back to her internal PA system, Levi contacted her hangar bays.

"Listen up Taiha! Alpha and Bravo flights, you're on CAP duty! Charlie flight, I want you to go high-alt and spot over the horizon for anything not in the immediate area that could bite us in the ass, then double back and join the CAP. Delta, Echo, you're on escort duty. Shorstswords, I want you heading North North-West to flank their bombardment line. I'm heading south, and we'll cross over them in opposing runs. Delta and Echo will keep your corridor clear before you all bounce back."

After getting acknowledgement from the flight deck, Leviathan felt something peek over her shoulder. It looked like a recoilless cannon, similar to the gauss cannons she could equip her 'hogs with, but with a distinctly different payload. Letting it slide down over the turret on her shoulder, Levi grasped the trigger mechanism as she stepped out of the alleyway and pointed the weapon towards the bay. The distinct sound of an electro-magnetic launch was followed by the sight of a slug transiting through the air... only for it to burst into smoke and a full flight of miniature Longsword fighters. Each was about the size of car in length, and just as wide, which given the size of a normal Longsword was DAMN small, yet still sizeable enough that from a distance it could be mistaken for a regular aircraft...

After launching her full assortment of aircraft, Leviathan ignited her own engines in order to lift off into the air, blue actinic flames forming from within the thrusters and melting the asphalt of the street as they sought to defy gravity. A moment later, the Marathon class cruiser was in the air, ready to hunt...

The Ru-class looked onto the port with disdain as the battleship-equivalents launched their shells towards Manilla, each projectile exploding with malicious force as it landed amidst the humans scurrying to and fro in search of safety. To her port, a massive shark-like entity rose from the water, glowing eldritch lines marking the hull of the beast while several protrusions launched themselves from blisters into the sky, each carrying bombs and other means of death from above towards their enemies. Its payload launched, the creature turned to the battleship-type and moved with an eerie grace towards her, its form shifting and twisting on itself as it changed from its true state to something more compact... something more feminine. By the time the transformation was complete, the Wo-class carrier stood upon the waves imperiously in a twisted mockery of their enemies, a cane-like blade made from sharpened coral and steel balanced in its hands as she nodded to her sister in arms.

[They will remember this...] she communicated to the battleship, her voice moving from her mind to the others' directly, before looking upon the pyre they were making of the city. [Though I doubt they will learn from it.]

[They never do...] the Ru-class agreed. The series of cannons along her limbs spoke next, sending yet more shells into the region to detonate amongst houses and markets. [At least they were not expecting us. Their forces are limited here, and the rest of their Fleet is scattered...]

[Yes, but it won't be long until they send them here. We must quicken our pace sister, and end these...] the Wo-class paused, blue eyes narrowing as she looked again in the direction of the city.

[What is it?] the black-haired battleship asked.

[Something strange... My scout planes are showing something coming... One of ours I believe, from inside the city...]

[Truly? What were they doing there?]

Wo shook her head. [I know not... We will ask her when she arrives. She appears to be heading to our southern-most forces.]

The green-eyed Abyssal frowned, then shrugged her delicate-looking shoulders. [No matter. She'll be clear of further shelling, so we now have no need to worry about it.]

[How soon until our landing forces are in range?] Wo asked.

Ru merely grinned. [Within the hour...]

Chikuma grimaced as she fired her 20cm gun again, scoring a hit on an enemy destroyer and flipping the shark-like monstrosity onto its back, its screws spinning uselessly in the air as it sank beneath the waves. It was her fourth kill that fight, which was pretty good all told, but that didn't mean much with the sheer number of the foe. Abyssal destroyers were usually pretty dumb to begin with, their real threat came from their numbers, aggression, and the torpedoes they tended to spam out into the sea. Tone had already taken a hit to her bow from a spread, while Chikuma herself had narrowly avoided getting hit by the numerous explosives. The raven-haired cruiser had let loose her own fish into the water, which scored her her first two kills, but the only reason she and her sister hadn't yet been overwhelmed was more due to Hyuuga's 24 5" and 5.5" secondary batteries laying down a close range suppression than any threat of her own. Ashigara had already been knocked out by a seeming rain of enemy shells, while the more modern steel-hulled ships had taken a similar beating. The Hayabusa-class patrol boat Umitaka was currently chasing salvos while firing back with its lone 76mm gun, seeking a target for the guided missiles in its rack as it passed the burning remains of JDS Kurama.

The JDS Shimikaze, another steel-hulled craft, not the scantily-clad ship-girl of the same name, launched a Harpoon missile towards the enemy fleet, scoring a hit on a heavy cruiser equivalent and dousing its bridge in flames as Chikuma watched, only to be nearly capsized by a near miss from an enemy bomber as it was shot down by CIWS. "Onee-chan, we need to break out of this cordon!" she cried out, firing at another enemy ship, a lighter cruiser from the looks of it.

"I know! But how are we supposed to take on a fleet of that size?! What happened to the shore guns, didn't they put in those new missile batteries the Americans are always talking about?" Tone said, focusing her own fire on the same cruiser, armor piercing rounds finding an ammunition bunker within the Abyssal's forward turret and sending said turret flying while its former owner let out an inhuman screech of pain.

"What do you think is being bombarded?! I'll bet the Abyssals are trying to smash them first to make it easier on themselves!"

"Tch... Always cheap-shotting... They even managed to sneak up on me!" Tone said, launching another torpedo spread to finish off their opponent.

"What about reinforcements? Surely the rest of the fleet's been informed?"

"They're still hours away at this point!"

"Will you two can it and fight?!"

Chikuma blinked and looked back, only to see Tenryuu moving at full flank speed past the two, all four members of DesDiv 6 moving with her. "Tenryuu-san! You came!"

"Of course I came you ditz! You think I'd miss out on a fight like this?" the suited woman said, sword already in hand. "Alright girls, let's give them hell! Take out those beasts and show them who they're messing with!"

"HAI!" came the chorus of four voices as the five of them turned to starboard in a staggered line, moving parallel to their foe and sending streams of oxygen torpedoes into the water. It was getting dark now, which meant that with all the scattered reflections of light off the churning waves the possibility of seeing the launch was minimal, though any smart opponent would still have thought to take it into account.

Fortunately the Abyssals were either too dumb or too bloodthirsty to dodge, and explosions lit up the line of enemy vessels, sending bits of oil and black carapace into the air. Unfortunately what they lacked in brains they seemed to make up for in luck, as enough of the beasts survived to respond with blasts of fire from their spine-like cannons, splashing salvos all around the girls and scoring three hits, two on Tenryuu in a move that punctured her chain-house and sheered away her one of her radar antennae while the other struck Inazuma with a glancing blow that tore a piece of her shirt off at the midriff.

An unspoken discussion passed between Tone and Chikuma, and the two cruisers moved to cross the enemy's T, firing another spread of torpedoes between them while bracketing the lead destroyer with shellfire. It tried to dodge, and even managed to succeed by vaulting itself out of the waves like a leaping dolphin to avoid one torpedo, but then its luck ran out by getting hit simultaneously by a shell each from Tone and Ikazuchi.

"Yatta! Take that you overgrown guppies!" the girl shouted.

"Ikazuchi-chan! Watch out!" Akatsuki said.

The brunette looked up just in time to see a batch of Abyssal bombers coming in, wings laden with iron bombs as they dove straight down towards the seven kanmusu. The creature's gaze burned with bloodlust as it stared the destroyer-girl in the eye, the eternal toothy grin on its face seeming a bit wider as it roared in...

...only to be torn apart by rapid-firing cannons from the south-east. As bits of bombers rained down on them Ikazuchi and Akatsuki saw four black and grey shadows zip through the now empty air on jet engines, their roar drowning out the explosions for a moment. Blinking, Akatsuki wondered if they were part of the local air defence that had hastily scrambled in response to the attack, but these craft seemed... different. They were broader than she'd seen modern designs as having, and a small corner of her mind thought they looked like over-sized bats rather than planes, but the fact that they'd just shot down the enemy meant that they were on her side... Or at least she hoped...

"Wha, what was that?!" Inazuma shrieked.

"Heh, must be part of the defence force! Thanks guys!" she said, waving Waterline in salute. "Come on girls, they're too scared to face us up close, so we'll have to go and get in their faces!"

Further south, Leviathan coasted along the water's surface for a good 25 minutes, trying to keep her radar signature low as she dodged incoming shellfire, her scanners and onboard systems predicting the paths of each one that came her way, though thankfully those were few in number. For some reason the attackers didn't seem to much care about her, or just weren't actively targeting her yet. Either way, it meant that she was nearly unmolested as she made her way to the southern-most end of the Abyssal fleet. First in her sights was a cruiser, a Tsu-class if her liberated files from before were accurate, and Leviathan was already drawing up a firing solution when something shot across her mind again.

W̗̙̜̪̳ͣͮ̇̇ͪ̋͗h̼͔̊̎ͪ͐͂̈y͇̳̣̱̼ͮ̆ ͎̝̮̽a̗̦̳̻̰̋r̜͎͚̜̣̟͎͆ͨ̓ͣe̱͐̒ͧͣ̑̊ͩ ͖ͭͪ̉͆͌̚y̱͔̜̮̙̺͙͑̊ȍ̲̹͚̼͋ͣ̾͒u̜͎ͥ̈ͧͩ ́͌ͨͯ́̇͒d͋ͩ̓̈́o̜̱͖ī̮̤͈͉̭̼̹̔ͤn̄̾̿̉̚̚g̳̞͇̠̗ͥ͐̐ ͉̭͙̬̬͓̥̃̅̄̓ẗ͉̣́͊ͅh̫̄ͧ͒ͦͤ͆ͭi̞̹̜̗̥̼̓̿̉̓̀̅s̄̉͂͒́?̭̮̮͍̗ͬ̈́͒͒ͬ

She blinked, shaking her head and doing a quick scan of her frequencies before another message, if that's what it was, came up.

Ẅ̖́̊͑̅h̍̈y̼̘͕̍̋͒ͅ ̙ͨ̚a̞̯͍̤͈̪̤̋̇̓̽r̯̖̯̜̹͉͖̄̽e̪̻ͪ̀͋ ́̚y̗̟̮̯̙̯̐̾ͣ̑̋̿o̫̫̦͙͇ͩ̌̌ͨͅu̼ͪͦ̉͒ ͍͕̏ͧn̐ͩ̋ô̋ͮͭ͋̋̄t̰̣͙̆͌̆͆̃ ̉̚f͓̱̭̟̩͗ͧ͌͑ͯ̽̚i͙r͙̥͖͔ͬ͛ͮ̅i̾ͧn͎̲̻̝͉̿́͑g̥̳̻ ͈͎̜͎͉͙͊̉o͍͐ͧ̿̈́ͬ̔ͥnͨ̈́͌̒̊́ͯ ̰̮̥̰̹̠ͪ͂ͫ̓͋t͚̉͐͋ͫ́ḥ͇̥͎̲̾̀ͪe̹̥͙͇̲̊͗̇ͧm̱̮̒̐̓̌?͕̈͂̂́ͨͭͧ

This caused the cruiser-woman to growl, and she scanned the local radio frequencies until she found one that seemed to give off... she could only call it a similar 'feel' to the messages she was getting. Opening a channel, she spoke in crisp and clear tones. "This is the Marathon-class cruiser Leviathan to attacking Abyssal fleet. You will cease and desist all hostilities immediately or I will be forced to open fire on you. I repeat, this is the UNSC Leviathan to all attacking ships. Stand. Down. Now."

The four closest ships to her looked over, as though curious that Levi was even speaking to them, before a response came back. Unlike her own voice though, this one seemed to whisper in her ears and mind at the same time. [Why would we stop? Do you not hate them as we do sister?]

Leviathan's teeth ground as her fingers tightened on her weapon's grip. "I'll repeat myself only once more... By order of the UNSC Navy, cease this attack immediately or be destroyed. You do NOT want to test me..."

One of the Abyssals, a woman bearing some kind of squid-thing on her head, frowned at Leviathan before addressing the others. [Continue the attack, I will deal with this.] As she skated over the waves to stand in front of Leviathan the woman, a Wo-class according to the spaceship's files, seemed to be exuding an air of both bored antipathy and yet the same chiding condescension one would an unruly child in need of discipline. [You are newly risen, correct? Do you not know what you are? Would you truly defend the humans who used you and threw you away? Cease this charade... We will explain all to you once we are done here, and then you can...]

"I've heard enough..." Levi said, cutting off the Wo-class mid-sentence. "For attacking a human population without provocation and the murder of civilian lives, I denounce you as a war-criminal. Under UEG law and UNSC regulation, the sentence for such is death..." Hatches along her back started to open, revealing the blunted noses of Archer missiles.

The Wo narrowed her eyes. [You would raise your hand against your own kind?]

Targeting reticles blossomed along Leviathan's HUD as the whine of solid-lock tones sounded in her ear. "You are NOT my kind..." she said coldly, before 30 missiles launched themselves from her hull.

Ballistic arcs sent the missiles upwards, before sending changing angles and sending 6 groups of 5 anti-ship missiles towards the 3 capital ships and their escorts. Last second AA fire reached out to try and stop the warheads from reaching their targets, but it was too little too late, and as each missile struck home they erupted in gouts of fire and shrapnel, enveloping entire decks in flames and shrapnel, the concussive force alone enough to rupture the bulkheads of each ship, tearing off armored chitin and plate metal like confetti. The Wo-class had a look of shock as she felt her entire lower half ripped to pieces while most of her squid-shaped hangar was annihilated, her body freezing in shock and pain as she began to sink. The others were perhaps luckier... Two Ha-class and one Ro-class destroyer were practically vaporized, while the Tsu-class was decapitated with the first missile, the rest of her body blown away by follow-up detonations and secondary explosions. The last two were a Ta-class battleship along with something that looked like a mutated manta-ray with landing strips on its back, and both of those were lost in the smoke for a second, but as it cleared Levi could see them burning and sinking as well.

Her actions did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Abyssal fleet, and suddenly she was being targeted by a Ri-class cruiser, its 8" triple mount cannons blasting away at her in response to the Marathon's aggression, but the one volley that struck merely glanced off her armor's chest-plate. Leviathan started maneuvering again as a second ship joined the first, her point defence turrets already aiming their barrels towards the Abyssals with the finality of the Reaper's scythe...

Master Sergeant Angelo C. Bautista of the Hukbong Kawal Pandagat ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Marine Corps, ducked behind a corner as he brought his M4 carbine up to aim down the street. People were still streaming down the sidewalks and in the open roads as they tried to get away from the coastline, yet their numbers were getting fewer as the marine and his squad made their way closer to the waterfront. Though Abyssal fighting was done mainly as ship-to-ship warfare, it didn't change the fact that recent attacks had included shore-based landing parties that caused just as much damage as shelling did. It wasn't public knowledge of course, but that didn't change the fact that this meant that all human forces were being trained to fend off landings in the same style as they would have done back in the bad old days... And these days were bad enough in their own right.

As Bautista motioned for one of his buddies, one Cpl Richard Torres, to move forward he kept an eye on the area, allowing the men to leap-frog from position to position as they covered one another. The sound of shellfire was starting to slacken, but didn't stop, which meant who-knew-what at this point other than that the explosions were only reduced by a third. There was still plenty of enemy aircraft despite the dog-fighting going on up ahead. The Air Force was putting up one hell of a fight, and there were a few smaller craft mixed in with the body-horror nightmares up above. The sergeant thought they looked a little like those drones he'd heard being tested, but it didn't really matter, so long as they didn't point his way and kept the buzzards above from reducing anyone below to a bloody smear on the ground.

His orders were simple: Set up a choke-point along one of the thoroughfares and barricade the alleys to force any landing force into a kill zone, as well as get in contact with the harbor guard contingent that was supposed to be in the area. Contact had been lost pretty early on, but whether that was due to a lucky shell or something worse was unknown. They'd been trucking it on foot now for the last 18 minutes, and every minute that went by was causing Bautista to feel the hairs on the back of his neck raise up.

Coming to another corner, the sergeant looked about with dark brown eyes for anything moving. Nothing was save for the smoke and a stray plastic bag, but something felt off nonetheless. "Dizzy, get up here!" he snarled over his shoulder. The corporal in question, Donald 'Dizzy' Flores, was the squad's comms officer, and a fairly good hand at it. He absolutely despised the nickname though, at first figuring that it was a reference to his clumsiness when they were in joint training with US marines a few years back. Finding out that it was in fact a reference to a chick in a sci-fi flick with the same last name as him just made it worse. Still, as Dizzy made his way up to see what he was wanted for, there was a rumbling at their feet that caused him to immediately seek cover in the nearest doorway. This saved his life as the stone of the sidewalk burst upwards, and when Bautista looked again he nearly threw up...

The creature that was crawling its way out of the burst sewer line was straight out of someone's body-chop-shop nightmare. Its body consisted of a mix of black chitin, mechanical hydraulics, and bare tendon and sinew, looking like someone had skinned one of those aliens from those old 80's films and turned it into a fucking cyborg! Its face was covered by a metal plate, but the bare ivory teeth and red gums no less terrifying as it turned its eyeless gaze to the squad. The thing stood on four thick legs like those of some demented crab, and its upper body was a hunchbacked form with pipes and seeming smokestacks coming off its back. A whip-like tail snapped out behind it, while its upper limbs were thick, column like things with rotary drills for hands, the palms filled with grinding spikes and the an infernal glow, like fire...

It was the most horrible thing Bautista had ever seen, and that was saying some things given this war, but it didn't change his first reaction. "Makipagkita!" he cried out, 'Contact', letting out two bursts from his carbine before diving aside, just in time to avoid a glob of sticky, flaming tar-like substance from impacting him. Instead it hit the wall and splattered, causing droplets to eat into his plate-carrier and helmet as well as the ground around him, but not enough to injure him. The rest of the squad also opened fire, taking aim for what looked like exposed vitals and musculature while avoiding their comrades. The creature screeched like an angle grinder on block steel as it spun, throwing another glob of napalm before charging at two marines. Private Limjoco dove aside but his partner Navarro, an old timer who never really pushed past corporal as well as the squad's heavy weapons specialist, wasn't quite quick enough and was struck bodily with one of the drill-arms. He let out a horrifying scream as his torso was burned, ground down, and thoroughly butchered all at once, and his scrabbling hands to get it off of him were unable to get any purchase before his lungs were finally shredded.

The Abyssal turned again, only for Limjoco to shove his M16 into the thing's mouth and unloaded half a clip into it, causing it to vomit up black blood - or maybe oil - as it backstepped, swinging wildly with one arm while its tail snapped out at Dizzy. The radio-man caught it across the shoulder, severing his armored plate carrier but only leaving a deep and ragged gash along his chest and shoulder as he gave a startled cry and backed up, firing one handed into the smokestacks of the creature. He managed to shatter one of them while Bautista joined in, but by this point it had finally zeroed in on Limjoco's location. It lobbed a pair of napalm projectiles at the man, catching him in both the left shoulder and the right knee, sending the Marine to the ground screaming. It would have finished him off too if not for Corpsman Guinto's actions. The lithe little blonde was a dab hand with a needle, but a mean hand on the rifle as well, and she was able to put enough rounds into the abomination's knee that it severed the front-most limb, making it stumble to the ground.

As Guinto pulled Limjoco away, Bautista and Flores both got in close, actively sticking their weapons into holes already caused by the squad's previous shots and hosing the creature's interior, causing gouts of black blood/oil to splash out onto the concrete. "Die, die you fucking ulol!" the sergeant screamed as he felt his weapon buck in his hands, while the creature thrashed about beneath him. More foul liquid sprayed out, and it ignited when it touched the still burning napalm only for the flames to burn back to the source... Jumping back, the marines watched as the thing struggled to lift itself, but could only manage to crawl as it was consumed by its own fuel-fire, screeching out inhumanly before falling still, the stink of burning flesh and metal and oil the only thing left.

"Sound off! Guinto, how is he?" Bautista said as he looked over to the downed marine.

"Not good. Leg's burnt through to bone and the shoulder's mangled up, but I think I can stabilize him," the wiry medic said as she smothered the flames on him with gloved hands and bandages.

"Alright... Dizzy! Get on the horn and tell command we've got infiltrators in the city, crawling up through the pipes. Tell them to watch all man-covers and see if someone can plug them up."

"You ever see anything like that before, sarge?"

"No... But then again these putang ina have been full of surprises since day one... Must be one of their infantry, or whatever they use for it. Call it in."

While the radio-man did exactly that, Bautista went over to Navarro's corpse, closing the man's eyes and policing his dog tags, before reaching for the man's grenade launcher. The Milkor MGL was an American made weapon, but it did well for what it would need to do. Making sure that it was loaded, Sergeant Bautista stepped just a few meters away from the hole that the Abyssal 'thing' had crawled out of, only to point the barrel of the weapon down into it. "Fire in the hole!"

The launcher made a FWUMP noise as the round discharged, and bounced into the hole before going off with a KRUMP! Another piece of the road fell downwards, sealing off the tunnel partially as Bautista checked it. "Firing again!" he said, chambering the next round as he backed up on the opposite side in order to close the hole entirely. As he pulled the trigger though the wall behind him erupted as another drill arm blasted outwards, tearing apart stone and wood like tissue paper and sending the sergeant to the ground. The grenade launcher skipped across the rubble as the marine tumbled, and he turned in time to see the Abyssal trooper loom over him with drool dripping from its jaws...

...Only to have multiple bullets spang and spray along its torso, sending the monstrosity back with a screech as the sound of fully automatic fire was heard along with screeching tires. Scrambling on all fours, Bautista put some distance between him and the 'thing' as his squad joined in, peppering the creature with enough lead to double its weight. As the thing fell, legs kicking sporadically while an arm dug itself into the ground after it was severed, the sergeant was pulled to his feet by Guinto.

"You okay sarge?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." he said, letting the woman double-check him before turning to see who his savior was...

And for a moment he thought he'd been hit after all, a head injury maybe given how he was seeing things. In the middle of the street were a pair of what looked like remote control cars, but with little... people inside of them, and a rotary gatling-gun style weapon in the back. He blinked for a moment as he stared, and the driver of one held out a hand in a thumb's up.

"Ooo!" it said cheerfully in a squeaky voice.

"Ooo-rah!" its buddies replied.

By this time Bautista's squad-mates had also spotted their strange rescuers and were looking just as poleaxed. It might have gone on for longer if not for a flight of Abyssal fighters going overhead, their propeller-like noise seemingly galvanizing the miniature soldiers, who set their vehicles in reverse before steering to go after them, little chain-guns chattering as they peeled off shouting "OOO-RAH!"

Bautista turned to match gazes with Guinto before asking the same question. "Diwata?"

Back at the waterfront, Hyuuga wasn't having a good time. As the most powerful ship-girl present, she was drawing a LOT of attention her way from her Abyssal counterparts, and the repeated shellfire was taking its toll. She was already starting to take on water, though her pumps were still active, and her shoulder-mounted turret was holed through and useless to her. She'd run out of torpedoes by this point, but the Ise-class battleship wasn't giving up yet, and she continued to send 14" shells downrange to hit the enemy's battle-line. She'd switched to HE rounds in hopes of causing enough fires to hopefully trigger some ammunition explosions, but only four ships had fallen to her guns that way. Hyuuga was getting tired, but her pride demanded that she not show it.

That didn't mean that she couldn't still send for assistance though. "This is JMSDF battleship Hyuuga to any Allied Fleet assets in the area, Manila is under heavy bombardment and we are requesting immediate assistance, how copy, over?" she said over the radio, sending one more volley as she felt an enemy shell ricochet off her 12" armor belt, denting it and leaving a bruise on her flesh.

"This is USS Houston, we're comin' sugah! Don't you worry none! We'll be there in a jiffy, ovah!" came the scratchy reply, the American cruiser's accent clear as a bell despite the distortion and distance.

"Affirmative, this is USS Maryland along with Task Force West Blue, help is on the way, do not despair." The battleship's voice was a lot calmer than her compatriot's, and Hyuuga couldn't help be feel a little more at ease hearing it.

"Understood... We're holding out, but we're going to need a lot of backup soon... AAAAHHHHHH!"

"Hyuuga-san, are you alright? Hyuuga, come in!"

The former IJN Hyuuga's attention however was no longer on the radio, but instead on the sight at her feet. Several pale hands were rising out of the water, clutching at her ankles and shins as glowing blue eyes looked up from over the top of Abyssal scuba gear, their gazes seemingly trying to comfort her as they pulled downward...

Abyssal submarines were considered by the kanmusu to be one of the most terrifying of enemy forces. Not because of their ability to move about beneath the waves and launch torpedo strikes, but because of the function they seemed to serve in the Abyssal's forces. Whenever a shipgirl was damaged or sunk, if they could retrieved they could usually be repaired or healed and brought back to fight again, but Abyssal subs seemed to prioritize scavenging the dead over their other objectives, dragging dead or dying kanmusu into the deeps to do god-knew-what to them. So far no ship-girl taken by them had returned, either on their own or through summoning, and the knowledge that there were subs operating in the area was the subject of more than one nightmare amongst the various fleet-girls.

As a result, it could be forgiven that Hyuuga felt a thrill of panic in her heart at the sight of no less than 8 of the things all grasping at her from the water, and with a shriek the battleship drew the anti-ship katana from her side and started stabbing downwards in an effort to loosen their grasp! She felt her blade bite into flesh and metal, again and again, and two sets of hands let go reluctantly as their owners sank, yet that just left room for more. One of them grasped the blade itself, only to have its palms sliced as Hyuuga pulled the blade back and stabbed again. "Let go...! LET GO OF ME!"

"Hyuuga-san! We're coming!" Tone said, wincing as another heavy shell struck her amidships, causing her to wince and grasp her bleeding stomach.

"Onee-chan?" Chikuma asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"B-boiler hit... I've still got one lit but..." the cruiser choked out.

"H-hai! I'll handle it!" the dark-haired shipgirl said, before steaming towards the beleaguered battleship. "Hang on Hyuuga-san, I'm coming!"

"H-hurryyyyyyy!" she said, as again her sword was caught, this time with a firmer grasp. She was down to her thighs in the water now, the hands pulling at her injuries and widening holes in her hull, causing her to take on more water. In a stroke of bad luck, an enemy shell struck her in the forearm, removing the limb and thus disarming her of her weapon, leaving her defenceless!

"H-HYUUGA-SAN!" Chikuma cried out as she pushed her boilers to the maximum, pumping shells into the water to try and ward away the Abyssal subs, but the creatures just clung to their prey like limpets.

As one of the subs wrapped its arms around the battleship's neck from behind in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace, Hyuuga felt the seawater rising to her chest. Reaching out with her only remaining good hand, she looked into Chikuma's panicked eyes with equal amounts of sheer terror. "H-HELP! CHIKUMA-SAN!"

"HYUUGA-SAAAAAAN!" the cruiser said, firing again even as she watched the battleship's head be dragged beneath the waves, her hand thrashing about in the air... only to vanish just as Chikuma dove for it! "Hyuuga-san... No... NOOOO!" she said, clawing at the water that acted like solid ground, helpless as her comrade was dragged screaming into the dark...

Leviathan's gaze was hard as diamond as she maneuvered above the water, her secondary turrets pumping 50mm HE rounds into the carrier in front of her, turning the Nu-class' squid-like body into swiss cheese while a trio of Archers sought out the larger Wo-class to her port side. The latter Abyssal tried to turn bow on to make herself a smaller target, but the missiles' guidance systems just corrected mid-flight and slammed into her in an orgy of fire and metal. Several flights of the Abyssals' fighter-craft were buzzing about trying to get a bead on the spaceship-girl, but the sheer density of her AAA was enough to keep away all but the most dogged, and even those barely managed to scratch her armor with their bombs. She'd lost two of the point defence weapons to lucky shots, and one pod was registering a jammed door, but that was fine. They were easily repaired, and the turrets themselves merely had their barrels misaligned and shredded, so it wasn't like they'd managed to penetrate her defences in truth. Leviathan now had destroyed nearly 40 Abyssal ships, counting both large and small craft, and the rest of the fleet seemed to have pegged her as a priority target now if the density of shellfire coming her way any indication.

Another batch of torpedoes glided uselessly beneath her, the explosives unable to do her harm as she didn't actually displace any water herself, and Leviathan fired a salvo of HE rounds into the cruiser-sized whale/shark/ray/thing that launched them at her, ripping into its hide and sending gouts of fire and oily blood high into the air before it listed to the side. With that distraction out of the way, the UNSC ship-girl turned towards the rest of the Abyssal fleet, only to spot one that looked rather... angrier than the others. Focusing her scanners on it, Levi saw that this one was nearly completely humanoid, and if she'd had the mentality for it would have had to admit that the pale woman was quite fetching as well... Her porcelain white skin and hair was marred only by what looked like coal dust or smoke-stains around her throat and thighs and arms, though even those were covered with black armored plates that ended in high-heeled boots and taloned fingers, burning red highlights showing through the gaps of the plates. The shredded remains of some kind of old-time sailor's outfit covered the Abyssal's torso only barely, pieces covering her shoulders and breasts while half a skirt kept the woman's modesty covered through sheer luck from the looks of it...

However, the Abyssal also stood upon the armored head of some draconic beast, with a harness behind her reminiscent of wings in the form of two shoulder mounted cannons and twin air-strips extending from her back and down to her waist. The way she was standing suggested that she had been somehow in command of this situation, and was none-too-pleased.

[You have caused ENOUGH problems for me,] the Abyssal said, and Leviathan could see her lips moving even though the words floated into her mind seemingly without any actual sound. [I will sink you over... and over... and over again! Know that you die at the hands of a true Princess of the sea! Be wrapped in flames and sink instantly!]

The seemingly-aptly-named Aircraft Carrier Princess then launched an entire flotilla of fighters up at Leviathan, along with firing her cannons at the cruiser. One shell missed entirely while the other impacted against her right bicep, smoke and flame blossoming along her arm and MAC gun, causing Levi to grimace. However, before she could return fire, the Princess' fighters and bombers rose up screaming at her. Point defence turrets tracked the incoming craft and unleashed their fury, but to Levi's anger that still left plenty of them to make bombing runs along her hide.

More blasts erupted along her superstructure, and she felt a thruster gasp and sputter as it took a direct hit, but cycled back to full function after a moment. "You are starting to annoy me," Leviathan snarled, and focused a full 60 Archers on the Princess. Unfortunately, the hyper-aggressive fighters seemed to be waiting for this... As the missiles began to launch, many of them dropped bombs onto the open hatches, while others moved to shoot down the warheads before they reached their target, even suiciding some of themselves to save their mistress. Between them and the Princess' AAA suite as it opened fire, only 2 of the missiles actually got through, blasting chunks of the Abyssal's outfit and harness away while the Archer pod itself exploded through fratricidal detonations. Grunting in discomfort, Levi glared down through her helmet to the Aircraft Carrier Princess as she rose higher, who returned the glare hatefully, yet also somewhat surprised. "That... is starting to itch..."

The Princess had the gall to laugh at her. [You're a tough one, aren't you? Did you think you'd win that easily though? How cute... But I've had enough of playing with you! Now, why don't you just...]

WHAM!

[AHHHH!] she cried out, this time verbally as well as psychically, as the round from Leviathan's MAC gun blew a hole in her right side that tore off fully half of her harness, and even caused the draconic thing she was standing on to roar in pain. Glowing red fluid, like molten lava, dripped from where the Princess' arm was severed at the elbow and her rib cage shattered. [You... You...!]

"As you said... I'm done playing games. You want someone to sink so badly, you can go straight down to the bottom, along with your friends," Leviathan said, racking a charging handle in the side of her weapon to reload the barrel with another slug.

[Y... You won't...]

"Won't... What?" she said harshly, practically hissing the words.

[You won't... win... You can't... The Abyss will always... win...]

Leviathan regarded the bleeding foe for a moment, descending from the height she'd assumed in order to take that shot, bringing herself close enough that the two could have reached out and touched one another. A moment of silence passed between them, before Levi spoke again. "You're right... I'm not going to beat you..."

The Aircraft Carrier Princess laughed. [Then prepare yourself... For..]

"I'M GOING TO FUCKING DEMOLISH YOU!"

The jaws on her MAC's barrel separated, mandibles widening as the weapon itself roared in blood-lust, and Leviathan thrust it forwards to slam into the Abyssal's head, teeth embedding itself into her skull and cheekbones as it gnashed and chewed! The Princess screamed in agony as it felt like a pair of chainsaws were being used on her face, unable to escape their grip as Leviathan planted a foot on her shoulder and YANKED!

A part of Leviathan felt a sick sort of glee as she felt the Abyssal's head tear from its mount, wrenched away in a spray of burning oil and blood as the body fell, and the beast-thing beneath screamed in pain and rage, furious at the death of its partner. As the flying ship-girl threw away the head it had taken, white hair trailing behind it like a kite's tail, the beast tried to snap its jaws on her legs. The cruiser merely pointed her MAC gun down and fired straight down its throat, causing its roar to become a gurgle as it coughed, a massive hole in its belly. It didn't get to respond further, as with a frosty glare she pulled the trigger again, sending a force equal to more than 10 times of an 18" shell's through the monster's skull, silencing it forevermore...

Turning to face the few remaining Abyssals left, Leviathan's burning gaze noted that there were extras there now... They didn't have the same sort of aquatic-horror-show look as the others though...

Tenryuu's jaw was practically in the water now. She'd managed to get close enough with her girls to have spotted the enemy leader, only to be stopped by its escorts while it turned to what the flotilla leader had thought to be one of its own kind. THAT had been put to the test upon seeing the two do battle, though for a moment the Japanese kanmusu had wondered why the hostility between them was there.

After seeing the short but bloody battle, Tenryuu would have to admit she felt a little... not intimidated no, CERTAINLY not afraid, but... worried. Not for herself of course, it was because of her girls! A certified bad-ass like herself wasn't afraid of nothing after all, but the girls were another matter! Yeah, that was it, it was seeing her destroyers pale and shaking with fright that was causing her hands to shake on her sword's grip... Anger, and not fear!

I mean sweet Kami on a motorcycle and Buddha in the sidecar, she'd just watched this thing tear an Abyssal Princess apart with her BARE HANDS! Even the other Abyssals seemed to be frozen in fear! Forget the whole 'flying' thing or the fact that apparently Abyssals reward failure with bloody execution, the fact that this one was apparently able to kill her own kind with nothing but brute physical force with barely a scratch meant that they were WAY outclassed here!

She was about to demand that this... 'Ju-class' or whatever they called her, allow her at least the honor of fighting her alone while sending DesDiv 6 away to keep them safe, when the fallen Princess' aircraft made their presence known again by charging aimlessly at everything around, both the fleet-girls and the Abyssals! Bombs and torpedoes flew everywhere, and out of the corner of her one eye Tenryuu saw the Ju-class falling back, guns blazing as she cut down the incoming fighters easily before heading towards Manila, probably to try and finish off the city herself! As the suit-clad cruiser activated her own AA guns to shoot down the rabid aircraft, she cursed beneath her breath.

Gritting her teeth, she looked back at her cute little destroyers, still in shock over what they'd seen. "LOOK ALIVE GIRLS! Just because we've got one strong enemy doesn't mean we're done yet! We gotta stop her first!" she said.

"But... But she...!"

"So... unladylike..."

"Scary...!"

"Vpechatlyayet..."

"ENOUGH! Come on, there's still half a fleet here and..."

BOOM!

Another series of explosions came from the north, where several bat-shaped objects soared through the air dropping bombs and missiles. Each one impacted with an Abyssal capital ship while smaller aircraft fired machine guns into the swarms of disoriented fighters trying to stop them, further reducing the enemy fleet to shattered and sinking hulks while the shark-like destroyers swam in frantic circles, cut off from their leaders and thus reduced to mere confused animals.

The planes then turned as one, giving a small waggle of their wings as they passed by before following in the Ju-class' wake. Tenryuu was just able to spot them starting to DOCK with the monster before she realized that they were alone... and the enemy was headed towards their home port! "Shit! Girls, double time it! We have to get back NOW!"

"H-hai!"

Leviathan felt Taiha flight coming in for refueling and rearming, and her hangers opened up like hatches on her back in order to take the shrinking craft in. Her blood was still cooling from the confrontation, and her hands were shaking from adrenaline... or whatever the hell she had in her coolant lines that acted the same.

"Leviathan, your systems are showing... Our systems suffered some sort of shock back there, are you alright?" Hephaestus asked.

"Not now Heph... I'm fine, just pissed..." she replied, looking ahead to see the rest of her fighters coming in from their CAP to also cycle. "It'll pass... What's the situation on the shore?"

"Reports coming in from pilots and your marines now. Oh... That's not good..."

"What's not good?!" she snarled.

"...They've successfully landed an invasion force..."