Shigure barely inhaled before squeaking,
"WAIT!"
And the burning steel blade that was flying towards Shigure's neck instantly halted, causing the fire that flowed from it to dissipate into the air and heat up Shigure's face for an instant, slightly singeing her hair and exposing her eyes to a flash of bright-blue flames despite the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer squinting out of reflex and bringing up an arm in a futile attempt to protect herself.
The fiery remnants were colored a very distinct naval blue, something which registered on the periphery of Shigure's mind as the flames that seemed to burst into existence due to the slashing motion of the dull-red blade eventually returned to nothingness.
Shigure could see that the dark figure wore dark clothes and a peaked cap, which would explain why the light failed to illuminate her figure and facial features, Shigure warily widening her eyes in order to get a good look at her assailant.
Akitsu Maru was standing over her with her katana in hand, the sharp side of the blade mere millimeters from her neck, and she could see that the amphibious assault ship barely stopped her blade in time to prevent herself from decapitating Shigure.
The IJA ship girl was breathing heavily, and Shigure could see that the monochrome ship girl had a powerful killing intent reflected in her eyes, albeit dissipating upon identifying the 'intruder' as a little girl, bringing her breathing under control while pressing her blade to Shigure's neck.
Shigure found herself trembling at the feeling of cold steel being pressed onto her jugular, sweating a little upon witnessing Akitsu Maru's killing intent directed at her, a fellow comrade, although she admitted she was asking for it when she climbed into the toilet like a suspicious person.
The blade itself also felt … off, in the sense that it felt a little too slick and reeked of metal, much like the stench of blood.
Akitsu Maru's somewhat boyish voice rang out and echoed in the small toilet, interrogating her about her suspicious behavior.
"Who are you, and why did you sneak in through the window?"
Shigure turned on her ship girl mode, certain that the katana could easily decapitate her if Akitsu Maru so desired, like Tenryuu did so to an unfortunate Wo-Class with her sword, Ezekiel in battle as she introduced herself to the suspicious ship girl with a katana, although Shigure admitted that one would respond with a healthy amount of suspicion and hostility towards someone who slipped in through a window, introducing herself while still lying on the floor and trying to keep her voice steady.
"I-I'm a Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, Shigure.
I turned on my ship girl mode, so I'm not some cosplaying human spy or an Abyssal in disguise, alright?"
Akitsu Maru dropped her scowl almost instantly, blinking a few times as she likely saw the status update flash before her eyes, before withdrawing and shrinking back as she lifted the katana from Shigure's neck.
Akitsu Maru grabbed the sheath with her left hand and mimicked wiping the flat part of the blade on her glove and the mouthpiece of the scabbard in a manner reminiscent of a swordsman wiping blood off of the katana before sheathing it as she straightened up, casting a shadow over the crumpled Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer that had turned on her ship girl mode to convince Akitsu Maru of her identity.
Akitsu Maru then smiled, a warm and friendly smile that differed from the 'serial killer' attitude she possessed ten seconds before, something that really threw Shigure off-guard due to the abrupt change in Akitsu Maru's mood.
The amphibious assault ship extended her hand as a greeting, gave her a million-dollar smile and introduced herself.
"Salutations!
I am the Hei-Class Amphibious Assault Ship, Akitsu Maru!
Nice to meet you, Shigure!"
Shigure blinked, unsure of how to respond to this sudden change in attitude as the monochrome ship girl went from wanting to execute her to being eccentrically friendly in a heartbeat.
The fact that she had no compunctions about drawing her katana and executing an 'intruder' in a heartbeat than wait and identify the intruder's identity almost scared her off trying to interact with the IJA ship girl.
But she swallowed the lump in her throat and used her trembling arms to push herself up, Akitsu Maru patiently waiting for her to return the handshake all the while as she finally stood back up, her legs shaking like a newborn foal as she warily stretched her hand out to greet Akitsu Maru.
The fact that the amphibious assault ship almost crushed her hand with her handshake didn't help things, Shigure wincing as Akitsu Maru merrily closed the grip on her delicate hand, feeling the pain shoot up her arm as her bones shifted around painfully, wondering if she was going to suffer minor damage before she even sortied.
But the monochrome ship girl didn't seem to care about any of that, giving her a small salute as she secured her katana on a strap that hung on her hips, Shigure noting that the scroll that she used to summon planes was stored on her backpack, on its left where it was placed in a specially-made holster.
And noticing the strange equipment on the right of Akitsu Maru's bag made her stiffen up in fear as the amphibious assault ship leaned in and asked about her suspicious actions.
"But why were you sneaking about in a toilet, Shigure-chan?"
But Shigure's attention was transfixed on the firearm that she carried on her backpack, Shigure discarding the possibility of it being a rifle as the shape wasn't quite right, but obviously not a pistol since it was way too large to be one.
She eventually shook her head in order to clear her train of thought as she struggled to come up with a believable answer without giving herself away, finally deciding on a partial truth to cover her tracks.
"Well, you see…
I saw Admiral Mako and Akashi walk away, and I was worried about them."
Oh god, she could feel herself getting sick of herself for lying to a fellow ship girl with a straight face, but she felt that she had no choice if she was to protect herself from the suspicion of Akitsu Maru.
It didn't make her feel any less bad about it.
"I wanted to check up on them, so I sneaked out to listen in on their conversation.
And you know what I heard?"
Akitsu Maru seemed rather interested in what Shigure had uncovered, and her eyes were wide with curiosity as Shigure blurted out the half-truth and tried to sell it to her as the 'honest truth' without retching at how underhanded it was.
"I found out that the Admiral was on the verge of being ill from all the planning and scheming against the Abyssals, and Akashi pulled her aside to talk to her about her physical condition.
I was worried about the Admiral, so I knew that Akashi pulling her aside meant that something was wrong with Admiral Mako, or will go wrong if Admiral Mako continued on like this.
She said that if Admiral Mako didn't get some sleep, she'd use chloroform to 'help' her get some rest.
She's your flagship, so you'd know her best, right?"
Shigure didn't have to fake being concerned for her Admiral, but using that genuine feeling to mask her true intentions was what gnawed at her conscience.
But Akitsu Maru nodded energetically, Shigure knowing that although the members of the 8th Fleet had ... diverse personalities, they all ultimately cared about Admiral Mako and each other, Akitsu Maru confirming this as she raised her right index finger and replied heartily.
"Yep, that sounds like her, alright!
She may not look it, but she can be pretty caring if she tries!"
Shigure nodded in agreement as she pointed to the gun that was strapped to Akitsu Maru's backpack, still wary of the mood swings that the IJA ship seemed to be capable of as she took a slight step back out of genuine concern for her own well-being while in the vicinity of Akitsu Maru, but was still driven by her curiosity as she asked the IJA ship girl.
"But moving on from that.
What's that on your back, Akitsu Maru-san?"
Akitsu Maru twisted her body to look behind her, pulling out the gun in a smooth and practiced manner as she pointed the gun away from Shigure, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer noting that the firearm's safety was thankfully on as Akitsu Maru boasted.
"This is a Anti-Abyssal Benelli M3 Super 90 Convertible Shotgun.
And I have Dragon Breath shells loaded inside it, ready to fire!"
Shigure saw that the black-colored shotgun was well-maintained and looked fearsome, as all shotguns did when viewed up close where they dealt the most damage.
Shigure wasn't too well-versed in firearms, but she could see that the shotgun had two barrels and used iron sights since it was meant to be used at close range while their aiming system would help them aim with superhuman precision.
The sliding mechanism was in place as Shigure theorized that the shell was ejected as the mechanism slid back after every shot was made to load the next shell, and the stock of the rifle was a solid black piece behind the firearm to allow the shoulder to absorb the brunt of the recoil whenever Akitsu Maru fired her shotgun.
And if the gun was modified to be capable of taking out Abyssals, the firepower of the shotgun was likely improved along with the material of the shotgun to accommodate the increased firepower, lest Akitsu Maru fire off a shot that managed to kill an Abyssal, but the shotgun itself fall apart as the default material of the Benelli M3 shotgun failed to contain the ignition of the enhanced bullet propellant.
And the name of the shotgun shell, Dragon's Breath, sounded dangerous to her, and made her wary of the IJA ship girl due to the fact that she didn't seem to practice proper gun safety as she had a twitching finger on the trigger despite having the safety switch on while standing right in front of Shigure, Akitsu Maru clearly trying her best to contain a slasher smile as she tenderly held her shotgun, ready to utilize this weapon of death in battle.
It also didn't help that Shigure was still stuck near the wall she climbed over to enter the toilet, the IJA ship girl standing in between her and the exit as she tried not to make it look too obvious that she was hugging the wall for dear life while hoping that the amphibious assault ship wouldn't accidentally kill her with the myriad of weapons she carried with her.
She tried to keep the IJA ship girl distracted while keeping track of the time, making sure that they wouldn't be late for the sortie as she pointed at the sheathed katana and asked Akitsu Maru about how the katana produced flames when swung, and why it produced blue flames instead of the usual orange flames.
"U-Um, Akitsu Maru-san, why does your katana produce blue fire when swung?"
Akitsu Maru, upon seeing that the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer was one of the few ship girls who was interested in her equipment instead of preemptively scurrying away in fear while failing to notice that Shigure was seriously considering doing just that to get away from her, holstered her M3 shotgun and held her sheath, unsheathing the sword a fraction as she explained.
"My sword, Kagutsuchi, has cut through so many Abyssals that their blood, fat and fuel gathered on the surface of Kagutsuchi.
I did my best to clean the blood off, but it's stained the surface to give it the tinge of dull red that you see!
The chemicals and additives in the Abyssals' blood that's essential in lowering the freezing point of their blood to prevent complications when they dive into the freezing abyss were a little harder to clean off...
But when I found that those chemicals mixed together with Abyssal fat and fuel to give off a blue flame when I swing the katana at superhuman speeds, it made it look so much cooler that I didn't bother after that!"
Shigure blanched upon hearing that whilst fighting the urge to heave at the backstory of Kagutsuchi's ability, while the rational part of her mind acknowledged the fact that the Abyssals likely required those chemicals in their bloodstreams to prevent their blood from freezing up whenever they dived into the cold depths that reached sub-zero temperatures at times.
Noting the dull red tinge of the blade that almost made it look as if Kagutsuchi was made out of some sort of cursed crimson steel, while the unnatural glint of the blade was partially attributed to the reflective properties of steel, and most of it was the result of the Abyssal fat and fuel that coated the blade, Shigure noticing that the sharp edge of the blade was unnaturally colored, even when compared to the general color scheme of the katana.
When she brought up that point, Akitsu Maru addressed her concerns away by explaining, now engaged in the act of explaining her weapons to the terrified destroyer.
"Oh, that?
That's a custom-made sword edge that was reinforced to make the edge of the katana significantly tougher than the rest of the blade, and can easily create sparks that will cause the burst of blue flame that you saw!
Want to see it again?"
Shigure started to panic, feeling her heart nearly leap out of her chest as she brought up her hands and made a placating gesture in order to stop an unnervingly enthusiastic Akitsu Maru from setting something on fire, doing her best to stop the amphibious assault ship from showing off her deadly skills in a confined area.
"A-A-Akitsu Maru-san!
Y-You can show off your weapons and skills in battle, so we should be going now, r-right?"
Akitsu Maru blinked at that, before giving a heartfelt smile as she sheathed her katana and nodded in a disturbingly energetic manner, agreeing with her wholeheartedly.
"Yes, of course!
So, shall we, Shigure-san?"
Standing aside to motion to the door with her gloved right hand, Akitsu Maru looked to her expectantly as Shigure meekly smiled back and nodded, slightly exhausted by the chain of events and revelations thus far.
A thought suddenly struck her as she turned to ask the amphibious assault ship why she was lurking around in the toilet, shifting her head to look the IJA ship girl in the eye and asked with a tinge of suspicion.
"Um, Akitsu Maru-san, if I may ask, why were you hiding here?"
Akitsu Maru shifted uneasily upon hearing that, Shigure seeing through her and seeing her nervousness as the IJA ship girl admitted shyly.
"Well, I'm not so great with people that aren't my fleet-mates, since I don't have much to say to them.
I often stay in the toilet until it's time to sortie.
And when I waited until the lights automatically went out, I could feel that someone was climbing in through the window, and I drew my sword reflexively to try and kill the 'intruder'..."
Akitsu Maru scratched her head sheepishly, clearly embarrassed at how she reacted without identifying who it was and almost killed a fellow comrade, Shigure shaking her head and reassuring her.
"No, it was also partially my fault for re-entering the toilet in a manner that would easily arouse suspicion, so it was understandable that you'd be suspicious of me and react in a hostile manner.
I apologize for that."
But she remembered that it was possible for someone else to eventually realize that she overheard the secret conversation, and she looked to Akitsu Maru with a serious expression as she asked a favor of her.
"Akitsu Maru-san, I'm concerned about Admiral Mako, but some of the ship girls might be uncomfortable with the fact that I eavesdropped on them to learn about this.
So can I trust you as a friend to keep this a secret between us?
Please?"
Shigure fought back the sick feeling in her heart as she gave Akitsu Maru the 'puppy-dog eyes' look, determining that Akitsu Maru, while being extremely hostile to enemies to a homicidal extent, was actually really friendly if one could overlook her eccentricities, her introverted nature, and the fact that she carried and used weapons that could easily a ship girl just as it could kill an Abyssal.
And like she predicted, Akitsu Maru's eyes widened at the fact that a fellow ship girl would trust her as a friend to keep a secret, especially after she had almost committed an irrecoverable mistake of ally-killing.
Akitsu Maru gave her a wide smile, like a child who was eager not to disappoint a newfound friend as she bowed energetically and answered with a reassuring.
"Of course, Shigure-san!
It would be my honor to do so as a friend!"
Shigure nodded in relief over the fact that Akitsu Maru went from maniacally excited about executing her as a possible intruder, to excitedly wanting to be her friend the instant she proved that she was a ship girl, Shigure feeling immensely guilty over lying to a fellow ship girl and exploiting the IJA ship girl's desire to make up for a mistake to ensure Akitsu Maru's silence and to cover her own tracks.
As she walked past the IJA ship girl, she felt a strong chill race down her spine while wondering how much worse this day could get, before kicking herself mentally and reminding herself that she had a sortie to go on, and that she was going to fight an Abyssal Princess later today.
Sigh.
Shigure went through the motions of suiting up and exiting the harbor as though she were brushing her teeth by this point in time since the motions were pretty much the same and she had memorized them.
The briefing was the only thing she paid attention to, having hand-waved everyone's concerns earlier by lying and explaining that she accidentally startled Akitsu Maru upon leaving her toilet stall, causing the IJA ship girl to draw her katana Kagutsuchi in a panic and threatened her before confirming her identity.
Like what she told Akitsu Maru, it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the complete truth either, since she didn't tell Akitsu Maru about the sensitive topics that Admiral Mako, Akashi and Aoba discussed, and likewise, she didn't tell the backup fleet about them either.
It was something that gnawed at her heart, but her rational mind brushed those concerns aside without a second thought in order to focus on the sortie.
Shigure could see that a few of the ship girls didn't fully buy her story, like the Ise sisters and Kawakaze, and Hatsuharu narrowed her eyes before nodding slowly while Maya just accepted her story at face value, nobody choosing to question her story as Admiral Mako returned and started her briefing.
According to her, they were to intercept the Southern War Abyssal Princess that was deviating from her usual movement patterns.
The soldiers posted off of the coast of Guam reported that the Southern War Princess was headed towards mainland Japan several days ago instead of loitering around Savo Island near Iron Bottom Sound.
This was corroborated by the few unfortunate expedition and battle fleets of other bases that encountered it on its way here, and everyone thankfully had the common sense to avoid engaging them and retreated, resulting in little to no casualties.
But that meant that the Abyssal Princess and her fleet went unopposed thus far, and she had quickly assimilated smaller Abyssal fleets into a sizable armada.
There was quite a debate amongst the Admirals as to whether a full-scale counter-assault should be planned, but Admiral Mako proposed sending in Yokosuka's 8th Fleet, which promptly shut everyone up and made things very awkward as everyone was reluctant to sortie their fleets with them, leading Admiral Mako to form her own backup fleet and ordered them to sortie with the 8th Fleet.
See, the thing about being infamous was that it worked both ways, and while it could make your opponents hesitant to fight you at best, it also made things difficult when trying to form a Combined Fleet with other bases when you're known to utilize savage methods and left a trail of messy Abyssal corpses behind.
Shigure was wondering just how messed up the 8th Fleet was that no one would want to work with them, and Admiral Mako had to order the assembled backup fleet to sortie with them to ensure an increased chance of success.
But those questions would soon be answered as she heard Admiral Mako give the usual 'watch each other's backs, and stay safe' talk, grateful that she worked for such a caring Admiral who ultimately wanted them all to be safe.
It was quite a long sail to the fated battleground that was on the edge of the Safety Zone established around Japan, where backup could arrive reasonably quickly within it.
This was also where their space satellites and sailors posted on islands could accurately keep track of things and keep tabs on any Abyssals that entered the Safety Zone in order to redirect merchant and civilian ships in time.
Beyond that was something resembling the uncharted oceans of old, where the ocean was too vast for sonar and satellites to keep track in its entirety due to its sheer size, along with sonar blocking capabilities of the Abyssals in the deep sea, and remained a dangerous place for anyone to enter recklessly.
Most of their sorties were based in or near the border of the Safety Zone as the Abyssals sent fleets to engage them just as often as the ship girls attempted to sortie into the heart of the Pacific Ocean to take down tougher Abyssal Fleets.
But an Abyssal Princess had nothing to fear, and the fact that small islands reported its abnormal movements back to the mainland didn't matter to her when she could engage entire fleets by herself.
The two fleets were to engage the Southern War Princess at the designated coordinates where they were projected to cross paths and try to sink her if possible.
Shigure was sailing with the backup fleet as they followed behind the 8th Fleet, Shigure talking to her sister while she kept a wary eye on the fleet before her.
Akashi, Akitsu Maru and Unryuu she knew well enough, or at least the amiable sides to their personalities, but she was almost certain that they'd transform into unstoppable killers when the battle began.
She didn't know Hatsuzuki well enough about to form a concrete opinion of her, and Shigure could see that although Hayasui was nice to everyone, she could see that she was actively trying to restrain an urge much like how a smoker or a drug addict tried to suppress their desires, so much so that it made their gleeful expressions hold a hidden layer of imperceptible pain to them as she couldn't indulge herself in something freely.
And despite carrying a significantly thicker flight deck-looking equipment strapped to her shoulder, it was clearly anything but a flight deck, spotting the well-hidden seams in the flight deck that resembled gaps in a suit of armor, a pistol grip which obviously didn't belong there, and a few heavy-duty rubber tubes connecting it to the steel barrel on her back that contained the fuel used to refuel them.
Akashi's rigging was shaped like a semicircle, with a elongated smoke stack to the left of her rigging.
Four metal cranes were mounted on it as they all possessed menacing steel hooks along with an assortment of wires to maneuver the crane and hook into the desired position, with a steel antenna positioned at the rear of the rigging to receive radio waves.
The cranes and hooks were shining with an unnatural metallic gleam, as though the regularly-used metal hooks and cranes were cleaned regularly in order to get rid of the blood before it eroded her rigging.
Her rigging possessed a 12.7 Cm Twin High-Angle Gun Mount and a 25 Mm Twin Auto-cannon Mount for self defense in order to deter anyone who wanted to tussle with Akashi out on the field, but Shigure was certain that the repair ship had a few nasty surprises hidden away to spring on the enemy if they got too close.
Akitsu Maru was sortieing with lightweight equipment much like Junyou, her green rigging surrounding her waist as she saw that her scroll and shotgun was stored on the sides of her backpack while her sheathed katana was on her hip, ready to be quick-drawn at a moment's notice.
Kiso had her four quintuple torpedo launcher mounted on her, being a torpedo cruiser and all, while Unryuu's rigging was flashier as it was designed more for aesthetic rather than practical purposes, Unryuu's lightweight rigging also surrounding her waist and colored a navy green like Akitsu Maru's.
Hatsuzuki was carrying her two Rensouhou-Chan into battle, or as Kawakaze told her, the Chou-10 Cm-hou-Chan, to which Shigure's mind blanked out a little upon hearing that and resolved to mentally call them Rensouhou-Chan out of convenience, the destroyer carrying a quadruple-torpedo launcher on her back with the four launch tubes sticking out behind her left shoulder.
Hatsuharu's rigging resembled Tenryuu's despite being a destroyer, her superstructure rigging shaped like a large box and was attached to her lower spine, while mechanical arms that held her weapons were sticking out in a non-intrusive manner, the ends of said mechanical arms styled after ship bows.
Maya's equipment was lopsided like Kako's, where a twin-cannon and tons of Anti-Air cannons were stuck to her right arm, either on an armband on her upper arm or on a superstructure-shaped armlet on her forearm.
Her half-rigging was sticking out from behind her left hip, which had more main and Anti-Air cannons attached to it to make her an Anti-Air tank that was the bane of Abyssal carriers everywhere.
Kawakaze's rigging had her smokestack sticking out above her rigging as a wide, net-shaped antenna was located behind it.
Her rigging was different in that she had two mechanical arms that carried her cannons and torpedoes, Kawakaze carrying spare ammunition on her with two quick-load torpedo racks strapped to her thighs and wearing a sling that contained Anti-Sub depth charges.
She also had some sort of single-barreled hand-cannon on the back of her right hand, and when she asked her sister about it, Kawakaze told her that every Shiratsuyu-Class Kai Ni would carry a variant of this, recalling that Kai Ni Yuudachi carried a twin-barreled hand cannon.
Shigure could see that everyone here was strong in their own right as she felt the air shift around them, from the goofy Ise to the stoic Hatsuzuki and Unryuu as they were all mentally prepared for the upcoming battle, Shigure failing to find any words to add to the conversations that no one was really interested in, but kept alive so as not to spend the entire time sailing in absolute silence.
Shigure spent this time brooding over what she had learnt about the situation at hand, and how fucked they were on a scale of 'Pyrrhic victory' to 'Unstoppable end-of-the-world scenario' and everything in between.
Since the Abyssals operated on a 'Five-Year Plan' basis, where the first five years had the basic classes of Abyssals, with the next Five-Year Plan introducing the Elites as well as auxiliary Abyssal units.
The Five-Year Plan immediately after revealing the existence of ship girls to the world introduced the Abyssal Princesses, a rather logical leap in terms of technology from Elites to an Abyssal unit so powerful, it could take on entire fleets as a one-Abyssal-army.
The disturbing thing was that the last five years saw no progress save for new Abyssal Princesses being createds, some postulating that the Abyssals had reached some sort of technological plateau, as it seemed impossible to create something even more powerful than a Princess.
But it seemed like the Abyssals had already been developing, or God forbid, finished developing a new batch of weapons in order to push them closer to the breaking point by bringing the fight to them.
But Shigure temporarily halted her thoughts to notice that Hayasui and Akitsu Maru were distributing chilled drinks and field rations to feed everyone, suddenly feeling thankful that they wouldn't fight the Abyssals on an empty stomach even though they were ultimately machines and could live without food or water for extended periods of time.
Hayasui had unpacked her boxy sling bag, revealing a small Styrofoam container that contained chilled fuel cans for everyone and a few liquor bottles for the seniors, kept at low temperatures via small chunks of dry ice.
Akitsu Maru provided the field ration to Shigure and winked conspiratorially at her, unsure of how to respond to that while in full view of everyone and settled on giving her an awkward smile in return, which seemed to satisfy her.
Shigure tore open the field ration to eat the contents within, noting the chocolate bar, sandwich, biscuits and a few small steel tins that they could easily rip apart with their superhuman strength and eat.
Eating while remembering to get a can of fuel from Hayasui later, she noted that it was now 1.23 p.m. as they continued sailing on while Akashi and Ise led them to their destination, E.T.A. 7.10 p.m when the sky would still be a summer-orange tint.
Shigure resumed thinking, considering possible scenarios should the Abyssals mass-produce human weapons in order to kill ship girls.
That might mean fighting a full-on World War on sea, land and air, which involved many problems that humans and ship girls alike had to overcome in order to stand a chance of survival, and developed countries like America, Japan Europe and Russia would likely be their prime targets.
Not that the less developed countries wouldn't be targeted, as they possessed abundant natural resources and were valuable areas to occupy like Africa, India, the Middle East, South America and Southeast Asia, the last one placing them within striking distance of the Japanese mainland.
It would no longer required just the ship girls to win this war, since a land conflict would directly involve the humans that were previously almost powerless, as their less maneuverable warships were easily sunk by the relatively nimble Abyssals that could surface and strike fast while their cannons struggled to aim at them, and missiles weren't an efficient method of wiping them out as they dived underwater to avoid the brunt of the missile detonation.
But a land assault meant that they were fighting a war which favored the humans, since no matter how crazy-prepared the Abyssals were, humanity had developed all kinds of devastating weapons that could handle anything the Abyssals threw at them.
Missiles launched at them? The humans likely had missile defense systems to shoot them out of the sky.
Tanks had come a long way since World War 2, and so had firearms and weapons of war. And she was worried that the Abyssals might no longer play by the 'World War 2' motif and decide to utilize modern weapons in order to level the playing field.
The Abyssals would know that if they stuck too closely to a particular theme, it might handicap them in the long run, since they would be armed to the teeth with modern firearms which outclassed World War 2 German MP 40 sub-machine guns or Russian Mosin Nagant rifles; They simply couldn't rival a modern firearm no matter how much you upgraded it.
Urban warfare in the streets of America, Europe and Japan, along with jungle and desert warfare in parts of Asia and Africa while the Russian front would mostly consist of winter warfare, something that gave the Abyssals an advantage since the Abyssals were impervious to the cold and would not be susceptible to problems that ship girls would encounter in freezing conditions.
All this would happen while they had to protect their bases in order to sortie and defend their oceans.
But Shigure munched on her chocolate bar, feeling the solid bar melt in her mouth and forming a sweet, viscous liquid as she swallowed the deliciously sweet, pasty mixture of chocolate while brainstorming.
The Abyssals might utilize modern weapons to fight them on land, while they stuck to their guns while on sea.
She wasn't sure about the skies, since Shigure had no idea how they were to defend themselves against fighter jets, having read up on history and noting the significant developments that occurred after World War 2, like stealth aircraft, automated missile guidance systems, supersonic flight and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles amongst others.
It would be remiss of them to neglect a vital aspect of warfare that could change the tide of a battle or even a war, remembering that air superiority was why carriers and warplanes existed.
But she shook her head free of such idle thoughts, reminding herself that she was a simple soldier tasked with fighting a war, not scheming to protect all of mankind.
That was Admiral Mako's job, and she had to focus on the battle before her.
She finished her military rations, pocketing her trash and walking towards the fleet oiler to request for a chilled fuel can, Shigure eventually learning to suppress these now-useless thoughts that would only hinder her in battle, the air shifting around her as she mentally prepared herself for the battle ahead.
The time was now 7 p.m., and Shigure was starting to feel thankful for the military ration that doubled as lunch, now feeling revitalized as she had been summoned for an emergency sortie before, and she knew that sortieing on an empty stomach did no favors.
She remembered a great military leader saying, 'An army marches on its stomach'. Refueling mid-sortie and having an adequate lunch before the battle would benefit them greatly as they could break down the contents of their lunch and burn fuel in order to power their bodies.
The sky now was a reddish-orange hue as predicted, the sun resting on the horizon and peeking at them, looking ready to catch a glimpse of their battle before setting.
The weather seemed to be on their side as there were only wisps of clouds drifting aimlessly in the sky, above the concerns of the ship girls sailing beneath them as they stood at the Japanese frontier, beyond which were Abyssal waters.
So far, they didn't have to fight any Abyssal fleets that hadn't been accepted into the Princess's personal fleet and were designated as disposable auxiliary fleets as the other bases had helped them whittle down the number of auxiliary fleets before the two Yokosuka fleets arrived to engage the real enemies.
The other bases had tried to wipe out several auxiliary fleets in order to increase their chances of success, something that was important when going up against powerful fleets as the weaker bases could help defeat the enemy minions to make life easier for those who had to face the main Abyssal fleet.
The seas were calm, almost eerily so as she felt the rhythmic yet subdued rise and fall of the tide, Shigure never having stopped to truly appreciate the view that the world provided them with as she marveled at the sight of the sun illuminating the skies and flooding the ocean with a slight orange glow, noting her teammates getting ready for battle.
She sighed as her viewing session was cut short, following in their footsteps by disengaging the safeties of her cannons and torpedo launchers as Unryuu, Ise and Hyuga sent out their planes to greet the enemy.
Unryuu, true to her ideals of becoming the ultimate weapon via suppression of their humanity, had her face set in a blank expression as she did everything efficiently and effectively.
And like every ship girl that had trained up over the years to be excellent front-line combatants, Shigure could feel the air shift around everyone, their auras flaring up as they prepared themselves for battle.
The summoned bomber and recon planes had reached their targets and dropped their payloads, causing the horizon to be illuminated with small fireballs that devastated what remained of the auxiliary fleet that survived the Combined Fleet assault a day ago.
But Shigure could see that there a swarm of Abyssal bomber planes were headed their way, and she readied the Anti-Air Cannon that was part of the recommended load-out as there were quite a few Wo-Class Abyssals that were part of the armada.
Ise, being the leader of their fleet, shouted in an uncharacteristically serious voice,
"EVADE!"
Everyone performed evasive maneuvers in order to evade the incoming Abyssal bombers that swooped down in order to drop their payloads and injure them before the actual battle.
But Shigure saw a heavy cruiser who wasn't evading in spite of the bombers performing their bombing runs, Maya screaming as her Anti-Air cannons started barking in a steady stream of machine gun and cannon fire, her expression absolutely confident of her odds of survival.
"COME GET SOME, MOTHERFUCKERS!"
The Abyssal bombers, having been fooled by the mass of evading ship girls and failing to account for the Anti-Air specialists within their ranks, tried their best to evade the sudden barrage of Anti-Air fire from both Maya and Hatsuzuki whom worked together to utilize their Anti-Air firepower to deny the Abyssals air superiority, several Abyssal bombers inevitably peppered with bullet holes and promptly burst into flames as everyone opened fire and filled the sky with white-hot Anti-Air rounds.
The Abyssal bombers veered off-course and erratically dived into the ocean as the holes in their shells coughed out flames and pumped out plumes of thick smoke, Shigure attempting to dodge the few Abyssal planes that were on a deliberate collision course with them in a last-ditch attempt to take them out.
She saw the flaming wreck of an Abyssal Hell Dive Bomber attempting to keep itself airborne while trying to home in on her, armor falling apart at the seams and its reddish interior aflame as chunks of armor fell into the ocean while its insides were aflame due to the Anti-Air rounds hitting its internal fuel reserves.
There was a primordial scream coming from the plane, mouth spilling out oil that burst into flames with several horns adorning its burning exoskeleton, looking as though it were bleeding out the flames of Hell itself.
Its voice was a ghastly mix between a metallic screech and a mechanical imitation of a beast's pained howl, intermixed with the whirring engines within its body that were still pumping out burning oil as the Abyssal plane quickly lost altitude, Shigure strafing to the right to evade its crash landing.
The Abyssal's crash landing caused quite the explosion upon kissing the ocean, throwing up waves and disturbing the ocean as the Abyssal Bomber self-destructed upon impact with the sea, the explosion resembling a grenade blast as she was engulfed by a pressure wave that sent her stumbling and struggling to right herself, thankfully not deafened by the volume of the explosion due to noise-mufflers within her ears.
Looking back at the area of impact, the only sign of the Abyssal plane ever having existed at all was the puddle of burning oil that floated on the ocean surface and the pillar of smoke that it released into the air, Shigure shuddering at the haunting similarity of the method the Abyssal plane used to try and take her down with the desperate kamikaze tactics used by the Japanese Air Force in the later stages of World War 2 when they were losing.
But she reminded herself that here, despite being a support ship that wasn't supposed to do the heavy-lifting, she was still out of her depth as the enemies here were stronger, and she had to exercise caution even as a support ship.
Shaking off the uncomfortable feeling, Shigure continued her attempts to shoot down any Abyssal planes that flew too close, knowing that intimidation was part of the game.
Filling the skies with Anti-Air rounds would scare off even the most daring of bomber planes due to the fact that it was too dangerous to fly into and attempt to aim at them when all their Anti-Air firepower was concentrated on them.
And Maya, a ship girl who allegedly had the highest Anti-Air stats and possessed an impressive array of Anti Air cannons, was fearlessly charging…
Wait, what?
Shigure gawked at the sight of Maya and Akitsu Maru charging headfirst into the fray of Abyssals, some of them possessing cracked armor and charred skin from the initial bombardment as the backup fleet provided cover fire, Ise and Hyuga hard at work as their cannons roared, shaking the air as their 35.6 Cm Cannons punched holes through the Abyssal ranks, forcing them to evade the lethal rounds flying towards them instead of aiming at the two incoming ship girls.
Maya and Akitsu Maru were relentless as they fearlessly charged at the enemy, the former brandishing the cannons on her rigging and arms, while the latter had drawn her katana and held it menacingly over her head as they both yelled in an intimidatingly passionate roar to signal their charge.
"TENNO HEIKA BANZAI!"
She could hear an exasperated Kawakaze shout over the deafening cannon fire of the Ise-Class aviation battleships to address everyone as she fired at the Abyssals to prevent them from aiming at their two charging comrades, echoing past grievances she had concerning the duo's tactics.
"See, this is why we can't have nice things when those two are around!
Everyone, provide cover fire for them both!"
Shigure noted that Hatsuharu and Kawakaze hadn't unleashed their torpedoes yet, figuring that torpedoes weren't ideal due to their 'fire-and-forget' nature and tendency to inflict splash damage, and since Maya and Akitsu Maru were now engaging the Abyssals in close-quarters combat, it would be unwise to use their torpedoes right now and potentially hurt their allies as collateral damage.
But the 8th Fleet had moved up to engage the Abyssals, Akashi flicking her arms as an array of surgical weapons shot out from her long sleeves, and since the repair ship was created with an innate knowledge of the ship girl anatomy, she had probably dissected many Abyssals as well and learnt to weaponize that knowledge to allow her to surgically dismantle her opponents.
Unryuu's eyes had already dulled, the muscles within her arms taut and ready to kill Abyssals as she had suppressed everything within herself to perform at her best, unfazed by fallen comrades, pain or even threat of death.
Hayasui was pulling on a lever on her flight deck to transform her 'flight deck' into something unrecognizable, the hidden mechanisms transforming the flight deck as the flat surfaces of the flight deck unfolded to form plates on the sides of the strangely-shaped weapon as Shigure identified a nozzle on the end of the 'gun barrel', Hayasui turning some sort of valve as she dual-wielded the mysterious 'firearm'.
Kiso had drawn her cutlass, and the wind had blown back her cloak to cast a shadow over her body as she leaned in, looking excited for the close quarters fighting after this, Shigure noting that the torpedo cruiser was taking in the details of the battlefield and was lost in her own thoughts, even noticing the noiseless mumble as Kiso's lips twitched.
Shigure could see that Maya and Akitsu Maru were going to town on the Abyssals, since their charge was when the Abyssals had the best chance to shoot them down before they even got close, but the backup fleet and the support fleet had made them waste that chance thanks to the cover fire they provided and the various evasive maneuvers on the duo's part.
The 8th Fleet moved up, and Shigure was surprised to see Kiso flip the cutlass in her hand, holding it in a reverse grip as she raised it above her head in a spear-throwing stance, her coiled muscles ready to burst.
And with a swing of her arm, she sent the cutlass flying towards an Abyssal in a shiny blur as it caught a few rays of light originating from the orange sunset on the horizon, Shigure following its trajectory as a carrier Wo-Class was facing away from the incoming sword, oblivious to it as she used the cannons on her headdress to snipe Maya and Akitsu Maru while using her cane to fend off the latter's attacks.
The sword pierced her back through her dark cape, causing the Wo-Class to shriek in pain as she was struck down, trying to turn around and face her attacker.
Shigure could see that the Wo-Class's expression had morphed into one wracked with pain that contrasted with her usual expressionless demeanor as she held up her hand and cane to defend herself against an imminent threat.
And that threat came in the form of a charging Kiso who had fired her torpedoes which were headed for the Wo-Class, the Abyssal's eyes widening in shock and apprehension as Kiso sprinted towards her while staying behind her own torpedoes.
The Wo-Class, now desperate to avoid getting destroyed, performed evasive maneuvers as the three Type 93 Oxygen Torpedoes passed by her harmlessly, the Wo-Class now trying to dislodge the cutlass from her back.
But the approaching Kiso shot up into the air with a high-jump, her cape majestically flaring in the wind and causing her to look like a hero that could fly, intent on reclaiming her cutlass and killing the Abyssal.
The Wo-Class sensed that as she stumbled backwards, struggling against the urge to simply pull the blade out as common sense dictated, since pulling out the sword would greatly exacerbate the wound, trying to keep the cutlass away from the airborne Kai Ni cruiser as she retreated while the cutlass was still stuck to her back.
Kiso used her boost gauge to push herself further forward, already losing her beret as she descended and was projected to land on top of the Abyssal while she was still orientated upside down.
Kiso slapped a gloved palm on the Wo-Class's headdress as she flipped over the carrier, now landing in a kneeling position while back-to-back with the carrier.
Wo-Class and Kiso immediately spun around, the former trying to keep the impaled cutlass away from the torpedo cruiser, and the cruiser attempting to retrieve her cutlass and strike the Abyssal carrier at close range.
The torpedo cruiser eventually won as she slapped her hands on the handle of her cutlass, yanking it out as though pulling a cord and partially bisecting the unfortunate Wo-Class as she spun again, deflecting a feeble strike from the Abyssal's cane as she spun around like a lethal, bladed spinning top, using her cutlass to slash at the throat of the Wo-Class as she turned to face her with a grim look in her eyes.
Shigure couldn't see the Wo-Class's expression, but it couldn't have been pretty as she saw Kiso slightly cringe at the expression of the Wo-Class and the spurting river of blood being splattered all over her and her black cape, which she used as a shield against the alien blood as the Wo-Class uselessly tried to stem the bleeding with her hands, dropping her cane in the process.
Not that it did her any good, blood also flowing freely from her torso as the Wo-Class crumpled like a rag doll, bleeding out like a pig as Kiso uncoupled her 14 cm Single Gun Cannon and emptied one shell into the Wo-Class's head to put her out of her misery before moving on coldly, already drenched in blood from that one encounter.
Shigure tried to hold her lunch in after witnessing that and did her best to focus on providing cover fire for her as Kiso ran forward again, the blood freely dripping off of her cutlass as she wiped it on a clean part of her cape.
Not that the rest of the 8th Fleet were doing a better job of being discrete, Akitsu Maru utilizing the incendiary properties of her sword to keep the Abyssals at bay, since fire was a huge threat to them as it might cause them to internally combust.
Akitsu Maru formed a semi-crouching stance while holding her sword like a cue stick as she used the web in between her left index finger and thumb to rest the back of her sword on while holding the handle with her right gloved hand, leaning in to look down her blade to aim her attack as a wispy, black battle aura menacingly flowed out from her pitch-black uniform.
She then shouted in a manner that a berserker would when calling out for blood,
"Tapana!
Lone Fiery Impaling Strike!"
She shot forward at a speed that was almost inhuman, propelled not only by her boost gauge but also her developed leg muscles as she used her left hand to aim the sword and her right hand to shove the katana forward to form an impaling lance, Akitsu Maru's katana igniting in an uncannily-colored blue flame.
The tip of the burning blade caught the right shoulder of a Ri-Class heavy cruiser that hadn't expected the move and couldn't evade in time as the katana entered the shoulder of the Abyssal, drawing blood as Akitsu Maru pulled her left hand away in order to allow the katana to be plunged in all the way.
The Ri-Class started screaming in pain as the flaming katana impaled her shoulder, and the skin around the area of impact started to glow in a muffled blue tint, Shigure connecting the dots in her mind and realizing to her horror that the Abyssal heavy cruiser was starting to burn from the inside.
Akitsu Maru pulling out the katana only confirmed this as freeing Kagutsuchi from the heavy cruiser's shoulder exacerbated the wound, Akitsu Maru retreating from the struggling heavy cruiser.
The Abyssal Ri-Class's shoulder was starting to glow from within now, the fuel lines near the area of impact starting to burn up and caused the fuel vessels in her shoulder to glow a luminescent blue in contrast to her pale skin, spreading throughout her body like a growing crack in a glass pane and likely slowed by whatever protective systems they had in place within their bodies.
The Ri-Class was certainly panicking now, screaming in an ungodly tone as the primal fear of fire set in and forced aside all rational thought.
Her voice denoted her desperation to put out the flames that started to consume her from within as she instantly fell onto the ocean and shoved her afflicted shoulder into the water, rolling about in an attempt to put out the flames via seawater and now screeching from the pain of the seawater getting into her wound.
The rest of the Abyssals hesitated to get close to the injured Abyssal for fear of getting caught in a spontaneous internal combustion, Shigure remembering the gruesome case of Taihou where the ship girl body failed to contain the flames, causing an internal fuel reserve to ignite which would result in an increase in internal pressure and inevitable self-destruction.
But Akitsu Maru wasn't so kind as to wait for them, already jumping and slashing at another Ne-Class's torso, her katana bursting into flames again as she sent yet another Abyssal screaming and hurling herself onto the ocean surface to extinguish the lethal flames that danced on her chest, heating up her blood and her dire injury to uncomfortable levels.
Akitsu Maru almost seemed to be enjoying herself all the while, gleefully laughing as she swung her katana about like an excited child swinging a toy about with unrestrained enthusiasm while using her physical agility to evade any torpedo and cannon fire aimed in her general direction.
A Ta-Class battleship was keeping her distance to try and take advantage of any opening that might present itself in the IJA ship girl's tempo, and as Akitsu Maru's boost gauge was depleted while landing on the ocean surface, the Abyssal fast battleship took advantage of the momentary lull in the the IJA ship girl's movements as she trained her cannons on her crouching form, Shigure worried about Akitsu Maru's well-being as she trained her cannons on the battleship while knowing that it wouldn't do much to stop the battleship.
But a group of Suisei Dive Bombers swooped down, Shigure spotting the brown-tipped nose cone, myrtle green paint job on its fuselage and wings, the red circles that represented the rising sun and the three white digits on its tail to indicate that it was from the Suisei 601 Air Group while the other two had silver nose cones, white-rimmed red circles with '鹰-13' imprinted on their tails in gold fonts to indicate that they were normal Suisei bombers.
The Ta-Class was bombarded with explosions as the flying trio made a pass on the battleship and dropped their payloads despite the amount of Anti-Air fire from the Abyssals, the battleship howling in pain as her oversight caused the dropped payload to engulf her upper torso and head in a fiery explosion while the three courageous bomber planes pulled up to evade the sudden hail of incoming Anti-Aircraft fire, their engines buzzing monotonously as they proudly sailed across the skies.
Shigure whipped her head around to see Unryuu walking up to her with staff in hand, Shigure shivering slightly at how inhuman the carrier seemed now seeing that she had suppressed everything human about her, her cold eyes piercing into hers before looking away and talking to the ship girls who were having a little too much fun fighting.
"Do not drop your guard in battle, fools."
Listening to her talk made her shrink away from the carrier a little, her detached, emotionless and impersonal tone reminding her that they were ultimately weapons of war, and that emotions and weaknesses had no place on a battlefield, just like what Unryuu preached.
But Akitsu Maru responded over the radio as Shigure turned back to see her aggressively swinging her katana at the surrounding Abyssals, the two Wo-Class and Ri-Class Abyssals drawing back out of genuine fear at the streak of blue fire that was produced in Kagutsuchi's wake, Akitsu Maru sounding like she was having the time of her life as she retorted.
"Maa, there's no point in doing that when you're here and watching our sexy backs now, eh, U-chan?!"
Unryuu responded,
"Focus."
Looking around and using her cloud staff to direct another squad of torpedo bombers towards Maya who was having a little trouble with the Abyssals that were ganging up on her as she tried to punch them all out with her bare fists, Unryuu calmly giving the heavy cruiser a heads-up about the reinforcements she was sending.
"Maya-san, I'm sending out a squad of torpedo bombers to take down the Elites that are surrounding you.
Prepare yourself."
When she wondered why the Kai Ni heavy cruiser was having trouble with the Abyssals that surrounded her, she noted that a few of them had wisps of colored flames that were flowing out of their eyes and even their exhaust ports, crimson-red auras bleeding out of their pores and eyes making them look far stronger than the rank-and-file Abyssals as some of them looked as though they were able to match Maya's strength.
But a squad of Type 97 and Ryuusei Torpedo Bombers flew in to save the day, the former with the same myrtle green paint job, red circles on their wings and two horizontal yellow stripes on their rudder, and the latter with their signature bent wings, silver-tipped nose cone and slightly darker tone of red circles on the plane skin.
And like the dive bombers, they swooped in to drop their torpedoes in the water and hauled ass to prevent themselves from getting shot at or swatted out of the sky by the taller Abyssals.
The crowd of Abyssals cried out as the torpedoes detonated and blew up their feet, but Shigure, to her horror, could see that one of the Elite Wo-Class carriers, having noted the incoming bombers soon enough to evade their salvo in time, used the cannons on her headdress to shoot down one of the Ryuusei Bombers.
Succeeding in that before Maya managed to intercept her with a nasty right hook to the left cheek, Shigure's widened eyes followed the flaming wreck of the Ryuusei bomber, frozen in place while wondering what she was supposed to do in this situation, the bomber plane clearly attempting to remain in the air for as long as possible without burning to death.
But Unryuu calmly walked towards the descending wreck as nothing seemed to faze the white-haired ship girl, uncharacteristically calm amidst the chaos as she stored her summoning staff on some sort of flag-holding apparatus that unfolded itself and took the load off of Unryuu's hands.
And this was when an I-Class destroyer its chance to emerge majestically from the water like an unholy dolphin from the depths, mouth dislodged and jaw cannon ready to fire at Unryuu, Shigure bringing up her 12 Cm Single Gun Cannon without a second thought, ready to shoot the destroyer down.
But she was glad to have been a millisecond slower on the draw as Unryuu twisted her body to evade and used her left arm to catch the upper jaw of the I-Class Abyssal in mid-air, the Abyssal now realizing its predicament as its thumb-sized limbs writhed around uselessly in order to free itself while its jaw cannon retracted in order to allow its lower jaw to close.
But Unryuu wasn't so nice as to allow the poor destroyer to do whatever it wanted, slapping her right hand on the I-Class's lower jaw and ripping the I-Class destroyer down its torso while Shigure was in a good position to see its flesh rip apart like wet tissue paper, the flesh of a destroyer unable to hold up against the might of a stone-cold carrier, the Abyssal fully aware of its predicament as its useless limbs squirmed like a dying bug in order to stave off the inevitable.
Unryuu was being drenched in the I-Class's blood from the chest down, absolutely apathetic as she dropped the two pieces of the twitching I-Class destroyer onto the ocean without a second thought while coolly walking to where Shigure saw the Fairy descend on a parachute, carried by the gentle wind.
The pilot Fairy likely activated the plane's ejector seat to save itself while the torpedo bomber had unceremoniously crashed into the ocean and sank quietly while leaving behind a pool of flaming fuel on the ocean, Shigure catching a glimpse of the Ryuusei's tail before it was swallowed by the ocean.
And when the airborne Fairy was within arm's reach of the carrier, Unryuu raised her bloody right hand to gently catch the smoking Fairy who was coughing up a fit from the fire that erupted in the engine of the Ryuusei and threatened to suffocate the little pilot, Unryuu lowering her palm to allow the crew onboard her rigging to pull the pilot in, parachute and all as Unryuu tried to add some words of encouragement.
" … You're safe."
But Shigure saw one Ri and Ne-Class heavy cruiser emerge from the sea, tail cannons ready to fire at the vulnerable carrier as the water dripped from their clothes and armor in unbroken streams, their expressions showing their determination in wanting to sink a carrier.
But Unryuu looked at someone behind them as she coolly replied, unconcerned about the cannons that were pointed at her and her Fairies, remaining calm while assessing the situation.
"Akashi-san, please take care of this nuisance."
Shigure shifted her eyes to look behind the two heavy cruisers, noting Akashi running up behind them like a ship girl possessed, manic grin on her face as she held two operating scalpels in each fist as she used her weak presence to her advantage, since the last person the Abyssals expected to attack them was the fleet medic.
Akashi ducked underneath the one of the sentient tails of the Ne-Class that attempted to clothesline her, the hooks on her cranes jingling like ominous sleigh bells to signify her presence as she shoved one of her scalpels into the wrist of the vulnerable Ne-Class while maneuvering around the Abyssal.
She spun on the spot like a ballerina while still in front of the now-injured Abyssal, clearly headed for the adjacent Ri-Class who was swinging her cannons around to shoot the repair ship, knowing that the armor that covered her arms protected her hands and Akashi couldn't target the same spot twice.
But Akashi predicted that as she spun the scalpel around to hold it in a reverse grip, bringing it down on the Ri-Class's exposed thigh while Shigure winced, Akashi's fluid motion similar to that of an experienced serial killer with a sharp object as she pulled out both scalpels to get out of the two cruisers' range, and the removal of both scalpels caused fountains of blood to gush out in gratuitous amounts, sending the two Abyssals into a panic.
Unryuu came in fast, dual-wielding her staff to shove its blunt end into the face of the bleeding Ne-Class and punching through it with ease, Shigure looking away before she could see any of the grey matter spill out after catching a glimpse of blood being spilled everywhere, the Ne-Class's skull being crushed after resisting Unryuu's strike for a fraction of a second before shattering like a porcelain bowl.
She kept moving to prevent any Abyssals from targeting her as she hadn't been remodeled yet and was thus more susceptible to life-threatening damage, allowing herself a peek back at the situation as she saw the Ri-Class stumble back from Unryuu's raised and extended armored leg, landing on her bum.
Unryuu lowered her leg, likely having kicked the Abyssal in the gut and causing the seemingly unstoppable fountain of blood flowing from her leg to spray copious amounts of blood everywhere to the chagrin of the Ri-Class, Shigure sailing up to them while keeping her 12 Cm Cannon trained on the downed heavy cruiser, looking at Akashi and Unryuu as she asked out of concern.
"Are you two alright?"
Akashi nodded, licking the alien blood off of the scalpel in her hand as she replied.
"Of course, Shigure.
But Unryuu, didn't you just say that we shouldn't drop our guard in battle?"
Unryuu huffed in indignation as she looked Akashi in the eye and explained herself.
"Unlike a certain Amphibious Assault Ship who seemed to be having too much fun and disregarded her own safety, I knew you were coming, but I still had my guard up regardless.
Like now."
And Unryuu's hands shot out to catch two incoming cannon rounds from where Shigure was pointing her cannon, Shigure pulling the trigger without even looking at the Ri-Class to fire a round into the Ri-Class's face, causing the Ri-Class's head to snap back from the shell impacting her on the forehead, though sadly not penetrating it as she hoped.
Akashi, having ducked upon hearing Unryuu's warning, was quick to flick her wrists to summon a myriad of surgical tools, from various surgical scalpels to scissors, long-nose pliers and even utility knives for her to grab before they slipped back into her long sleeves.
She wore a manic grin as she leaned in, causing shadows to form over her face as she brandished her sharp weapons for the Ri-Class to see as while strolling over, taking her time to play on the the fallen Ri-Class's fears as she was doing her best to submerge in time, Akashi mocking,
"You don't look too good there, dear.
I hear death's quite an effective cure."
The repair ship utilized one of the scalpels in her hand to cut deeply into the upper arm of the struggling Ri-Class, causing the arm that she was using to aim her cannon at point-blank range to seemingly drop dead, suddenly limp due to some sort of major muscle being severed and rendering it impossible for the Abyssal to lift her cannon.
Akashi slammed her knee down on the Ri-Class's right arm which was still functional, using her body weight to hold down the Abyssal's arm and cannon, calmly pulling the hair of the Abyssal heavy cruiser as she held another scalpel in her right hand before the Ri-Class could fully submerge into the blood-stained ocean, the water now up to her breasts and rising.
Akashi coolly swung her scalpel down to slit the Ri-Class's throat that was exposed as the repair ship pulled the Abyssal's head back to allow the scalpel to fit into the small space formed between the Ri-Class's chin and her throat guard which protected one of their most vulnerable areas.
It was evident that the Ri-Class didn't want to die like this, Shigure noting that the Ri-Class's eyes reflected the horror that one would experience upon being awarded the dubious honor of dying at the hands of a mad scientist or doctor, a shell to the head far more preferable to the prolonged suffering that was to come.
Shigure looked away again, slightly squeamish at the profuse bleeding that erupted from the throat of the dying Ri-Class, looking back with a hint of revulsion at a blood-soaked Akashi who was getting up and was sensually licking the blood off of her scalpel, the Ri-Class dying from exsanguination as the crown of her lifeless head disappeared into the bloody ocean.
"That was disgusting."
Akashi withdrew her tongue and pocketed the scalpel, shrugging as she was about to nonchalantly remark about her fearsome fighting style.
But Unryuu was a second earlier in agreeing with Shigure's statement, although not in a way that Shigure would ever learn to expect in a hundred years.
"Yes, I agree that licking your operating equipment clean is rather unhygienic."
Akashi and Shigure stared at the emotionless carrier who showed no signs of joking as Shigure wore an indescribable expression, having only one thought in mind in response to that retort.
'What.'
But she shook her head free of those thoughts as she looked around to watch the carnage around them, beginning to understand the modus operandi of the 8th Fleet.
They specialized in individual areas of expertise, but compared to other fleets that were comfortable with long-range combat like the battleship and carrier-orientated fleets, ship girls like Akitsu Maru and Akashi used weapons and possessed skills that were best utilized at close range while Kiso and Unryuu had weapons that could be used in mid to long-range while being capable of holding their own in close-quarters combat.
While Akitsu Maru and Maya caused havoc in the middle of the enemy formation, the Ise-Class sisters, Unryuu and the rest of the destroyers picked off retreating Abyssals with cannon fire, bombers and torpedoes respectively, and despite the Abyssals' superior numbers, they were forced to abandon their conventional battle formations due to their close-and-long range combination play.
Kiso kept up the mid-range pressure by charging them, going on the offensive as Shigure could see her hovering in the air while alternate-firing her 14 Cm Single Gun Cannons along with the occasional burst of her boost gauge to keep herself airborne for as long as possible before landing.
And when she did, Shigure was awestruck by how the torpedo cruiser, despite being surrounded by a number of Abyssals that were beginning to converge on her position, had stored her empty cannons on her rigging and did a partial front flip to land while slapping her hands on the ocean.
Kiso, with torpedo launchers strapped on both her thighs and on her rigging, performed a flare break-dance move by swinging her shapely legs around while constantly moving her hands that were supporting her entire body weight, her spread legs spinning around without touching the ocean.
She fired off torpedoes in every direction to either kill or deter Abyssals from getting close as her constant evasive motions, striped launchers and the sheer amount of torpedoes she shot out everywhere threw off their aim, the torpedo cruiser spotting some Tsu-Class light cruisers evading the torpedoes in time and taking aim at Kiso as the other Abyssals were engulfed in explosions.
The torpedo cruiser then changed moves, now swinging her legs up in a sweeping arc to spin her legs like a spinning top with her legs split and her hips thankfully covered by compression shorts, this time using the torpedo launchers on her left shoulder that were almost kissing the ocean to fire another salvo of torpedoes at the stray Abyssals.
This was effective as the Abyssals scrambled to get out of the way, and one of the Tsu-Class light cruisers had one leg blown clean off after stumbling into the path of an incoming torpedo.
The Tsu-Class, despite not looking as if it possessed an oral orifice of any kind to produce such noises, did have a throat and a voice box to articulate as it cried an unholy scream of anguish as its limb was eviscerated by the explosion and fell onto the ocean, temporarily taken out of action.
And as another Tsu-Class light carrier tried to lift her cannons to fire, a burning projectile hit the Abyssal's helmet and shattered like glass upon impact, dousing the Tsu-Class's upper torso in dripping flames and the surprised Abyssal could only howl in its immolated mask as its large hands, unwieldy for self-maintenance, clumsily attempted to wipe the flammable substance off of its burning skin.
And in the end, the burning Abyssal could only screech in its alien, metallic tone as it too fell onto the ocean as it became a flaming wreck that promptly burst into flames, Shigure shielding her eyes as the fireball erupted and the pressure wave hit her even at a distance.
She followed Kiso's glance back at the fleet oiler Hayasui, who stood far away and was giving her an encouraging smile as she bent her knees slightly to emulate a basketball player smugly throwing a three-pointer.
Hayasui proceeded to take out a wine bottle, but it now had a wet towel in its mouth and was a significant fire hazard, Hayasui smiling serenely all the while as she uncoupled the one 'cannon' on her rigging, pressing the trigger dangerously close to the wet towel that was partially stuffed into the filled wine bottle.
And what came out the nozzle of the 'cannon' in Hayasui's hands was a slight burst of flame to set the towel on fire, Shigure finally realizing that what was in Hayasui's hand was a Molotov Cocktail, Hayasui hurling the makeshift incendiary bomb at another group of Abyssals.
This time, the unlucky Abyssal to be hit and set on fire was an Elite Ru-Class battleship who coincidentally looked away at that moment, didn't see the incoming projectile and was thus caught off guard by the Molotov Cocktail hitting her on the shoulder, on target due to Hayasui's advanced ship girl aiming system helping her hit the Ru-Class's blind spot.
The alcohol in the bottle spilled everywhere as the bottle's fragile glass shattered upon hitting the Abyssal's tough armor, but inadvertently caused its contents to spill and the flaming towel to ignite the flammable substance that dripped everywhere, causing the Elite Ru-Class to scream not just in pain, but in surprise at the sudden attack that burnt her skin.
The Ru-Class's jet black hair, flammable due to its humanoid design and no longer protected by the coat of cold ocean water after surfacing, was immediately set on fire as the flames worked its way up her hair in order to hungrily devour her hair and turn it into an inferno that consumed the Ru-Class's upper torso, hair and back.
The shrieking Ru-Class was already spiraling into a panic, seeing that flames were a genuine hazard to ship girls and Abyssals alike as she discarded her cannons stacks to free up her hands in order to try and extinguish the flames that seared her skin, screaming as she ran through the battlefield and cut a large swath through allies and enemies alike as her clothes caught on fire.
Her scream was far more distinct due to her humanoid design, and it really said something when the human-sounding scream made Shigure feel bad for the Abyssal, her voice clearly expressing a primal fear of fire as her panicked scream turned heads and causing ally and foe to dive out of the way of the immolated Ru-Class as she shrieked.
[AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!]
And eventually, she collapsed onto the ocean as she practiced the emergency drill of Stop, Drop and Roll to extinguish the flames that permeated her entire upper body, not difficult to pull off since they were standing on an ocean and water was everywhere, the Abyssal squirming and producing a plume of smoke that dissipated into the air as the flames snuffed out.
Shigure then jumped at the explosion that occurred off in the distance as she spotted Akitsu Maru hurling small spheres off into the distance, causing the Abyssals to either try and evade the spheres, or attempt to throw them back in which Unryuu made their lives difficult if they tried to scoop up the floating spheres and throw them back at the ship girls.
Shigure temporarily retreated from the scene as she realized that Akitsu Maru was throwing live grenades at the Abyssals, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer maintaining her distance from the 8th Fleet members in order to practice the art of Not-Dying.
Shigure saw Maya swinging her elbow at a Ta-Class battleship's temple to try and induce a concussion, the Ta-Class's head snapping to the right as Maya's elbow struck her temple, Hatsuharu, Hatsuzuki and Kawakaze teaming up to take out the Abyssal destroyers, not bothering to risk their lives by trying to hit above their ship class.
The Ise Sisters were providing cover fire along with Unryuu, who was controlling her planes as they waged an aerial war with the Abyssal fighter planes above them while Maya and Hatsuzuki's Anti-Air cannons homed in on the enemy aircraft, Akitsu Maru, Akashi and Kiso all engaging the Abyssals in close quarters combat.
And we have Hayasui standing off at the side, now throwing fuel-filled tied-up balloons around, drenching a Ri-Class who was trying to keep her distance from the fleet oiler, assuming that she specialized in close-range combat like her comrades.
But Hayasui flicked her right wrist like Akashi did, producing a bright red flare gun from her long sleeves and quick-scoping the Ri-Class heavy cruiser before the Ri-Class could get a shot off.
Shigure had to shield her eyes again as the incandescent glow of the flare shot out from the barrel of the flare gun, flying across the air not unlike a comet through space towards the Ri-Class, who was already diving into a prone position to evade the lethal flare.
But any satisfaction that the Abyssal could gleam from evading the magnesium flare flying over her head was lost when Hayasui produced a second flare gun in her left hand, firing at the Abyssal Ri-Class who valiantly tried her best to evade again, Shigure noting the first flare plop onto the ocean and vaporizing the seawater due to the excessively high temperatures the magnesium reaction produced to create a ball of white-hot light, the reaction reacting almost explosively upon hitting the ocean.
But despite the Ri-Class attempts to roll on the water to either get rid of the layer of fuel caused by the tied-up fuel balloon or to evade the second flare, it didn't help much as the magnesium and phosphorus-filled flare impacted the Ri-Class on the left breast, instantly searing into the Ri-Class's breastplate as it ignited whatever fuel remained on her body.
Shigure ducked as the Ri-Class likely squeezed the trigger of her cannon out of reflex upon feeling what was the equivalent of the sun scorch her skin and bra, burning through her armored breastplate and attempting to carve its way into the Abyssal's fuel reserves stored in her chest, the Ri-Class screaming all the while.
[AAHHHH!
AAAAAHHHHH!]
Hayasui was already moving on to her next victim, a retreating Wo-Class who determined that her comrade couldn't be saved and was now acting out of self-preservation in the face of the pyromaniac who was the fleet oiler strolling towards her, calmly reloading her one-shot flare guns while her dark eyes belied the inferno that she had in her mind for her enemies, twinkling ever so slightly.
But the Wo-Class raised her cane at the same instant Hayasui noted something coming in fast from above, Shigure pulling out the one Anti-Aircraft Cannon, a 10 Cm Twin High-Angle Gun Mount that had a good angle of elevation, pointing it upwards in order to shoot down the three Abyssal Dive Bombers swooping down to ambush the fleet oiler.
Shigure's Anti-Aircraft fire was joined in by the Anti-Air fire coming from a third party, Shigure's neck swiveling to see who it was.
Hatsuzuki placed her right hand on Hayasui's shoulder to reassure her, her expression a poker face as she nodded as soon as Hayasui looked back, the fleet oiler expressing her gratitude.
"Yo, thanks, Hatsu-chan!"
Hatsuzuki's left eyebrow creased a little at that, likely the destroyer's way of expressing a slight displeasure at being called such an affectionate nickname, but she placed her other hand on Hayasui's other shoulder, guiding her away from one of the crash-landing Abyssal Dive Bombers as the Wo-Class's pod cannons fired, Shigure already performing evasive maneuvers while firing her cannons.
Hayasui, being dragged around freely by the Akizuki-Class destroyer, was elated at having a teammate who was there to watch her back, cheered her and her Rensouhou-Chan on as her turrets kept firing into the air.
"Yep!
Help me get close with my flamethrower, and I'll finish off that pesky Wo-Class!"
But she didn't get the chance to do what she wanted, Shigure resisting the urge to do a double take at what Hayasui allegedly wanted to use to kill the Wo-Class, noting that the Wo-Class spun around in order to fire her pod cannons at a charging Akitsu Maru.
The IJA ship girl, seeing that she lost the element of surprise since carriers all had enhanced environmental perception and powerful radars, simply gave her trademark slasher smile, and the fact that her once-white makeup and dark uniform were now soaked in blood just made her seem nightmarish, her deathly-black killing aura flaring up again as she deflected every one of the Wo-Class's cannon rounds, small blue flames spitting into existence as she swung her katana around at blinding speeds.
And as the Wo-Class now knew that she had to resort to desperate measures in order to survive, the large headdress jaw that represented the hangar exit screeched as it opened, allowing two torpedo bombers to hastily take flight and only needing to drop their payloads upon seeing the light of day to accomplish their task.
But Akitsu Maru smoothly reached behind her to pull out her Benelli M3 shotgun by the handle which was jutting out for easy access, squeezing her eyes shut as she swung the black shotgun forward to fire its 'Dragon's Breath' shells, Shigure noticing out of her peripheral vision that Hatsuzuki and Hayasui shielded their eyes as Shigure dived back and followed suit.
She was glad to have done so as she felt two large explosions go off at roughly the same instant, rocking her body as she felt her uniform simultaneously feel the heat wave of the explosion and the cool embrace of the sea on two sides of her body as she hit the ocean.
In her screaming mind, she managed to rationalize that the Dragon's Breath shells lived up to their name as she managed to catch a glimpse of the blindingly bright glare of the round fired from the shotgun, igniting as it sprayed all over the Abyssal planes and likely even on the Wo-Class herself.
This probably caused whatever payload the Abyssal planes were carrying to combust from either the magnesium being fired at them, or crash-landing into the ocean after being shot at with Dragon's Breath shells, the shock of the crash-landing causing their payloads to detonate.
She was thankful that everyone on her side had closed their eyes and protected themselves for the most part against the fireball that temporarily shone like the sun as Shigure closed her eyes in time to prevent any damage to her eyes, remembering a certain recovering light carrier in her fleet and the damage she had sustained.
But a dark shadow emerged from the fireworks, trails of flame streaking behind her as Akitsu Maru screamed,
"Pratāpana!
Triple Fiery Impaling Strike!"
The IJA ship girl thrust her katana forward in a piercing motion at a speed that was so fast that it appeared to be three strikes at once, the katana again bursting into flames upon being thrust forward so quickly.
And despite the fact that the Abyssal carrier blocked one strike with her cane, the other two strikes hit their mark and impaled the Wo-Class in the throat and kidney, causing her blade to smash through her throat guard and pierced through her throat.
The Wo-Class stumbled, trying to put some distance between herself and the amphibious assault ship who was still partially on fire after she ran through the explosion and still carried her katana and shotgun, the Abyssal trying to quell the flames that were starting to erupt from her neck wound and was visible through the decimated throat guard, sweating buckets as the Abyssal's expression was trying to remain impassive while facing off against the terrifying IJA ship girl.
But a large-caliber shell fired from the cannon of a aviation battleship suddenly hit her and instantly crushed the Wo-Class's right shoulder, ripping through it to punch through her upper torso and destroying either the heart or lungs.
This caused the torso of the Wo-Class to collapse in on itself as her body was crushed by the impact of the shell punching through her body, causing body bits to fly in strange arcs due to the slight vacuum the large-caliber shell left in its wake.
The Wo-Class registered her own death upon collapsing onto the ocean, now no longer possessing a right shoulder and was almost bisected as blood spurted everywhere, drenching herself in blood and the occasional tiny organ bits.
Shigure inched forward while keeping a low profile to observe the carrier's injury in vivid detail, and to her horror, she could see broken ribs sticking out of the carrier's exposed torso, splintered due to the shell impact.
The flames that were dancing on the Wo-Class's neck wound were now working down her collarbone and her damaged upper torso, the flesh surrounding it already starting to wax and decompose from the fire burning the flesh from the inside out, Shigure taking in a whiff of something disgusting being cooked, almost like the cauldrons of Hell were whipping up their signature dish that was cooked Abyssal flesh.
The Wo-Class's eyes were unfocused and bloodshot, looking up at nothing in particular after being blinded at close range due to either the Dragon's Breath Shells or the explosion of her own bombers right in front of her.
Her dark cape as well as the ends of her hair were smoldering, having endured the brunt of the explosion at close range as evidenced by the horrific burns on parts of her face, her left arm that was now lying uselessly next to her sundered body and the burning wound on her torso that caused the Abyssal's chest to go up in flames, the Wo-Class coughing up blood which freely flowed down the sides of her mouth.
Hayasui and Akitsu Maru were ready to put the Abyssal out of her misery as the amphibious assault ship reloaded her Benelli M3 Super 90 shotgun and pointed it right in the Wo-Class's face, unceremoniously pulling the trigger to execute the Wo-Class without a second thought, Shigure shutting her eyes to shield herself from the blinding flash of the Dragon's Breath Shell being unloaded into the Wo-Class's face at point-blank range, slightly feeling the heat of the shotgun blast that eviscerated the Wo-Class's head.
Hayasui was mumbling about not getting to use her flamethrower, holding the weapon that had transformed back into a flight deck as it was easier to carry around while Akitsu Maru simply stuck her tongue out at the fleet oiler.
She wanted to complain about the savagery of their tactics, but repressed that desire as she knew that this was done to ensure their victory.
If they hadn't resorted to such brutal and ruthless methods to take down the Abyssals, they would be having a far tougher time dealing with Abyssals, seeing that some of them were Elites and were stronger than the rank-and-file Abyssals, and the Wo-Class would have suffered for far longer than was necessary had Akitsu Maru not ended her suffering prematurely, looking down at the corpse of the Wo-Class, her shattered metallic skull showing through the waxing flesh of the dead Abyssal's face which was annihilated by the point-blank shotgun blast.
The corpse now lost control of whatever damage control systems it had in place to contain the flames, the corpse now internally combusting as her singed flesh started to glow from within whilst slowly sinking into the ocean, Shigure wincing as the exhaust ports violently coughed out flames and slightly caused the seawater around it to bubble before sinking, the Abyssal returning to the depths whence it came.
Shigure looked around, noting that Ise was kneeling down to punch the face of an Abyssal while her sister ship provided cover fire, although the way the bleeding Ri-Class's neck lolled about lifelessly clearly said volumes about the Abyssal's state, Ise gleefully repeating as she kept punching the Abyssal in the face,
"POW!
You're dead!
POW!
You're dead!
POW!
You're dead!"
Hyuga, starting to get a little annoyed at how her sister ship went off on a tangent to beat a dead Abyssal and was ignoring the battle around them, ordered Ise to stop.
"Ise.
Stop beating the dead Abyssal, and come help me take down the rest of the Abyssals before they hurt any of our comrades."
But Ise was drenched in her enemy's blood like most of the 8th Fleet, looking back up at her sister and complained.
"But, this Elite Ri-Class came back after being shot a few times by us!
She could be a zombie!"
The glare from her sister was enough to push her into action, the nameship of the Ise-Class sighing and getting up while readying her cannons and controlling them so that they were facing different directions, Shigure wondering what the aviation battleship was going to do.
Ise boosted backwards so that she was able to aim at all her enemies, since it was easier for Ise's vertically-orientated cannons to hit some of the outlying Abyssals, a few barrels having reached their maximum angle of elevation in order to hit them as her cannons could only shoot in a narrow arc before her.
Ise called out,
"Cataclysmic Roar of the Eight Great Cannons!"
All of her cannons roared, pillars of fire shooting out of the barrels as Ise hit all her marks, some of the Abyssals getting shot in the head, their metal skulls exploding upon impact with the cannon shell as they collapsed on the spot, fountains of blood gushing from their exposed necks like broken fire hydrants.
Others were hit in the torso, disabling them as the battleship's cannon shells punched through the weaker Ri and Tsu-Class cruisers, while the stronger Ta and Ru-Class stumbled back from the impact of the shells hitting them and providing an opening for the destroyers to empty their torpedo launchers in order to sink the battleships.
The muffled screams of the Abyssals rang out in the distance as the torpedoes struck them with devastating results, Shigure noting that Ise was smiling at them, winking gleefully as she held up a victory sign, and Hyuga also had her eyes closed as she nodded, letting things slide this once as they all gathered around to confirm their status.
Looking around, she noted that she was the only one to come out completely unscathed, although she was fine with it this time round as she wasn't even supposed to be here, and she understood that she was to support the others from the sidelines this time, lest her try-hard attitude either cause her to sink, die or sustain fatal injuries and cause her teammates trouble when they had to protect her.
Akitsu Maru and Maya looked like hell as they had suicidally jumped into the fray, the former's uniform almost entirely shredded and thoroughly drenched in Abyssal blood, so much so that it wouldn't be unusual for a ship girl who met them now to think that crimson red was the default color of her uniform.
But seeing that her uniform was far from burnt despite the fact that she regularly used fire as a means of attack probably meant that her clothes and makeup were fire-resistant, allowing her to go wild with her fire-based attacks without worrying about getting burnt by her own attacks.
Akashi was also drenched in blood, standing off to the side and complaining about her dry-cleaning bills, and Shigure couldn't help but feel a little afraid of her for being so knowledgeable about the ship girl and Abyssal anatomy and learning how to weaponize that knowledge in order to perform surgical cuts that would deal the most damage.
The other destroyers also seemed to be in good shape, if a little disheveled after zipping around and launching torpedoes in a 'hit-and-run' manner, the three of them listening to a proud Maya as the slightly damaged heavy cruiser boasted.
The Kai Ni heavy cruiser had indeed taken some damage and her uniform was in tatters, but she strangely looked more energized now, perhaps getting into the groove of things and looking as if she had no problems with shrugging off her injuries, Shigure assuming that like the rest of the seniors, she had sustained worse wounds in the past.
Shigure's attention was drawn back to the fleet oiler, now free of Molotov Cocktails that were stored in her boxy brown-colored bag, and her flare guns which were likely hidden in her long sleeves as she carried around her 'flight deck' that was now in its innocuous looking default form, the complete opposite of the dreadful weapon it transformed into.
Shigure leaned in to ask the fleet oiler about the battle, and why the Princess was a no-show.
"Um, Hayasui-san, it doesn't seem as if the Southern War Princess is coming…"
But Hayasui shook her head, a slight smile on her face as she seemed almost expectant of something as she gripped the handle of her flight deck, responding certainly.
"Oh no.
Can't you feel the presence beneath us?
Oh wait, I suppose you can't, since you're an unremodeled ship girl.
Sorry."
Shigure looked at her senior, watching her senior unfold her weapon to transform her flight deck into a flamethrower again, Shigure asking about the fleet oiler's choice of weapon while standing away from the nozzle of the flamethrower wherever Hayasui pointed it.
"U-Um, Hayasui-san, why do you use such weapons in combat?
They don't seem too safe…"
But Hayasui scoffed at that, looking at Shigure and giving her a look that expressed some sort of envy at her naivete and the potential that she possessed, something that Hayasui would never have.
"Maa, what else would I have to work with, if I discarded my Molotov Cocktails, flare guns and flamethrowers, Shigure-chan?
Listen here."
Hayasui lowered the flamethrower, having noticed Shigure's obvious discomfort with being in such close proximity to her weapon, trying to explain to the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer about what she had to resort to in order to help out on the battlefield despite her abysmal stats.
"I wanted to help everyone out, but I couldn't because I consume more fuel than I can supply to everyone, so I didn't get to sortie too much.
Until I built this."
Gesturing to her flamethrower that was thankfully pointed away from Shigure, Hayasui looked away as Shigure observed her distant gaze and saw how she hated being an auxiliary ship and was never going to perform as well as rank-and-file ship girls, and couldn't even do her job correctly.
But Shigure saw the slight glint in her eyes, the slight contraction of the pupils and the uncomfortable excitement in her voice when talking about her main weapon, likely working together with the Fairies to craft this weapon, seeing that it was so seamlessly integrated into her rigging and didn't seem as if major modifications had to be made to overcome incompatibility, something that might happen if one tried to make a weapon by themselves and tried to integrate it with the technologically advanced machinery of the Fairies.
The way everything unfolded and transformed into a flamethrower with a simple pull of the lever almost seemed as if only one who possessed the Fairies' technological prowess would be able to craft it, Shigure politely listening to Hayasui.
"And since I carried so much fuel and alcoholic beverages to quench everyone's thirst and refuel everyone, what else did you think I would weaponize in order to take down my opponents?"
Shigure nodded, explaining what she had learnt about them.
"I understand.
I can't expect everyone to fight like we do, seeing that not everyone was created to fight in on the front lines."
Looking Hayasui in the eye, she continued her explanation as she gave the fleet oiler a firm nod.
"But I can't underestimate their desire to protect their teammates in battle, and what they had to go through in order to compensate for their inherent weaknesses."
Hayasui smirked, wielding the flamethrower single-handedly as she reached out with her free hand to ruffle Shigure's hair, gratefully replying.
"Well, thanks for understanding, Shigure.
Not a lot of ship girls look past the bloodbath that we indulge in to try and understand why we fight like this.
But you've got potential, and you're going to go far with your Kai Ni remodel.
And you're from the renowned Yokosuka Naval Base, so learn what you can from us and keep testing your limits, alright?"
Shigure blinked before nodding enthusiastically, not wanting to disappoint those who had expectations of her, like her Admiral and her comrades.
But a suffocating aura suddenly engulfed them, Shigure clamming up from the killing intent welling up from deep beneath the ocean and far more intense than anything she felt thus far.
The Abyssal previously tried to conceal its signature underneath the ocean, only choosing to reveal itself to the ship girls present after the auxiliary fleet was wiped out, flaring up from beneath them to make her presence known.
Beneath the ocean laid an Abyssal Princess who was powerful enough to take on several fleets at once, their very being said to be composed of the souls of fallen ship girls and whatever grudges or regrets they brought into the afterlife, and it'd make sense if their auras were vengeful and malevolent, two traits she was feeling in spades from the surfacing Southern War Princess.
Her presence was surrounded by a cluster of strong signatures, since the Abyssals who were chosen to be the Princess's personal fleet would be Elites, Shigure sweating upon sensing that the Abyssal protection fleet was easily on par with Kai and Kai Ni ship girls, and she was clearly out of her depth here.
She looked to the ship girls around her, none of whom were talking anymore and absolutely focused on the rising presence and the fleet which surrounded her.
Hearing Hayasui talk to her, Shigure listened as she tried to control the shivering that was evident in her hands, noting that the wary fleet oiler held her flamethrower tightly.
"Shigure, listen.
When you first lay eyes on the Princess, make sure not to get cowed into immobility by its threatening aura."
Shigure tilted her head to the side while lifting an eyebrow, commenting sarcastically.
"Well, it's a little late to be giving that piece of advice."
Hayasui chuckled as she revised her statement.
"Well, just remember, Shigure.
Keep moving, and always be aware of your surroundings.
You're out of your depth here, and we can't protect you from everything.
But if the Admiral and Akashi allowed you to be here, it means that you at least know how to handle yourself even without our help, right?"
Shigure noted, uncoupling her handheld 12 cm Cannon from her battle backpack as she nodded in a no-nonsense tone, focusing on the battle before them.
It was quite the tall task, learning to roll with the fear when it was against such an intense killing aura.
Shigure's eyes narrowed as she gripped her cannon, unaware that she, for the second time, had entered a 'zone' of sorts like her teammates as the azure blue aura began pouring out of her body, wispy and underdeveloped compared to the veterans standing around her and almost nothing compared to the suffocating, murderous aura emanating from the surfacing Princess.
But this was important for the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer as she realized that no one could simply 'be a spectator' in this battle, which was going to be far more destructive than anything she had experienced thus far, and she needed to be laser-focused to even hope to survive the coming engagement.
'No useless thoughts.
Let go of anything that would slow me down and get me killed.'
And as the enemy signatures broke the surface of the ocean, Shigure gazed upon her enemies.
The Abyssal Princess brought along two fleets to protect herself as she sailed, and they consisted of 3 destroyers, 2 light cruisers, 4 heavy cruisers, 2 slow battleships and 1 carrier.
All of which had blood-red auras, two of which were differentiated by their yellow auras and a streak of blue flame vibrantly flowing out of their left eye, Shigure feeling that those Abyssals were likely the flagships of the two fleets and were strong enough to kill her in an instant.
Standing right in front of her protection fleet and somewhat defeating the point of having one, Shigure laid her eyes upon the Southern War Princess, a female adult who was relatively tall compared to her, but only slightly taller than average when compared to the titans of the battleship class, asserting her dominance through sheer killing intent.
The Southern War Princess had unusually long twin tails which reached down to her knees, flaring out the further down it traveled before curling back in, held up by almost-invisible hair bands that burned a crimson red for cosmetic effect.
Her long bangs covered her right eye entirely, her left eye possessing blood red pupils, the three colors that made up her color palette being red flames, white flesh and hair and black steel.
Her body was bare save for part of a risque dark metal thong covering her nether regions, using strands of hair from her ponytails to cover her ample breasts as they flowed down her torso, metallic belts strapped on her thighs while wearing a dark steel thigh-high heel on her left leg while her bare right leg had on a simple black heel.
It was the machinery on her arms which were most horrifying due to the amount of firepower she carried around, the rigging on her arms stuffed full of cannons within large geometric-shaped jaws.
Nightmarish jaws were opening up to produce large caliber cannons in threes while some of the medium caliber cannons stuck out from the exoskeleton in twos and threes, the entire contraption clearly transforming from a more streamlined form for underwater traversing into the machine of death before them, taking inspiration from various deep sea creatures while resembling eldritch abominations.
Shigure noted that two jaws on either weapon stack were now powering up as their insides glowed a hellish red, the Southern War Princess being a far stronger aviation battleship than Ise and Hyuga as the two jaws were likely where she spawned her Abyssal planes to do her bidding, the whole weapon stack gnashing their teeth and occasionally growling like beasts.
Exposed thick wires, fuel canisters and smaller metal plates formed a thin but significant extra layer of protection against outside elements and cannons shells, the Southern War Princess's cannons adorned her arms while shedding most of her defense, exhaust ports to the rear of her rigging and her thigh-high boot regularly expelling crimson steam in order to regulate the temperature, making her seem even more intimidating than she already was with the crimson steam looming behind her like the promise of bloodshed and death.
The Abyssal Princess's appearance which was by default supposed to look gorgeous, was now overshadowed by the fear and even the slight revulsion which she was designed to invoke in her enemies to make them dread facing her.
And despite her logical mind screaming about how out of her depth she really was when going up against two entire fleets of Elites and had to fight an Abyssal Princess later, the only thing that escaped her mouth was a slightly uncharacteristic yet brutally honest opinion as she blurted out.
"You're one ugly bitch."