Author's Notes
Shout out to my boy Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Miller, thank you so much for proofreading this story and ironing out so many story details before they're even implemented.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, we've come full circle by returning to square 23, and I'd to say, thank you all for being so patient with me.
(Hopefully) Without any further ado, let's continue from where we left off.
Wanting to smack herself in the forehead for blurting out that comment which might get her killed, Shigure was mentally praying in hopes that the Abyssal Princess and the Elites hadn't heard her and decide to shoot her for it as she mentally chanted,
'Please tell me nobody heard that…
Please tell me nobody heard that…'
But thankfully, none of her enemies seemed to have heard her comment since their ears were probably stilled filled with seawater, and it also helped that Shigure was positioned behind the front lines since she was an unremodeled ship girl and it was too risky for her to be at the vanguard of the formation, although she could hear some of the ship girls around her snicker in amusement at her slip of the tongue.
The Abyssal Princess blinked in order to clear the seawater from her eyes, looking around to take in the ship girls who were sent to fight her as she mumbled disdainfully, Shigure feeling a slight chill as the voice of the Abyssal Princess rang out throughout the battlefield not unlike a chorus of echoes within a large cave which mirrored her vengeful tone, resounding through the battlefield as though the hatred and grief borne of bloodshed naturally flowed from her mouth as she looked down upon everyone with her blood-red eyes.
[Repair ship…
Fleet oiler…
Amphibious assault ship…
All… weak…]
Her eyes roamed over the ship girls who were present, the Elite fleets having readied their cannons and bomber planes to be fired or summoned at a moment's notice and to execute all the ship girls present, only held back by the Abyssal Princess's desire to trash talk all of them as she continued on derisively, calling the 8th Fleet out on their inherent weakness.
[Almost all of you are weak…
And you all are nothing compared to ME!]
Kiso shrugged, leaning in to leer menacingly at the Abyssal Princess without a care in the world as she retorted.
"Well, we wanted to give you all a sporting chance and offered ourselves instead of sending our more powerful fleets to deal with you, which would have wiped you all out without so much as a second thought."
Akitsu Maru smirked, using her katana to gesture to the Abyssal Princess as she added.
"Well, not to blow our own horn, but we're pretty strong in our own right.
We'll go all-out in sinking all you bitches, so that you would be spared the ultimate humiliation you would face when you report to your boss that you lost to us, the 'weakest' fleet even when we weren't going all-out against you."
After which the torpedo cruiser and amphibious assault ship bumped fists while keeping straight faces.
The Abyssal Princess's vein on her temple bulged at that, her expression contorting into that of irritation and absolute condescension as she pointed out to those before her in a raised voice.
[Your main fleet consists of auxiliary ships, and your support fleet contains those two useless aviation battleships, who are nothing compared to me!]
The Abyssal Princess leaned forward threateningly, boasting about being the epitome of Abyssal-kind, and how it was asinine of them to even try and go against her, even more so since they were never created to be front-line warships.
[I'm a Princess, and I've killed so many ship girls who were stronger than you!
Sailing the seas unopposed, I sank all those who were foolish enough to challenge me, and here you are, unafraid to die as you stand before one who is many times more powerful than you!
Who are you to even dare to dream of winning?!
I'm a god compared to you ants!]
Akashi perked up at that, holding up a clean scalpel as she leaned in dangerously, the glint in her eyes evident as she muttered loud enough for the Southern War Princess to hear as she giggled like a hysterical schoolgirl.
"Oh, if you're a god, then I wonder if I can cut you up and obtain a blood sample for further studies?
I haven't operated on a god before, so my apologies if I appear a little over-enthusiastic."
Ise drew her katana, her smile now humorless and her eyes cold since the Abyssal Princess had accused her of being 'useless' as she snarked.
"You extol about what you've accomplished as an Abyssal Princess, and how you're almost godlike when compared to us, who are practically ants to you.
But I ask of you this question.
Was it a written rule of this world where ants couldn't kill gods?"
Kiso drew her cutlass, absolutely confident in her odds of winning as she looked at the Abyssal Princess, deep in thought as she wondered out loud.
"Ahh, yes.
When they ask of Kiso the Great, they'll know of the one tale where her cutlass drew the blood of God.
Yes, that'll be quite the tale to tell…"
And Unryuu was the one to be down-to-earth about what they were going to do, although her tone was still bone-chillingly neutral and impersonal as she stated in a matter-of-fact tone while brandishing her conducting staff.
"I don't care what you call yourself.
An Abyssal, a Princess, God, whatever.
You show up as a red dot on my radar, you're already marked for execution."
Shigure, despite feeling ready to fight the Southern War Princess, had a lone sweat-drop run down the side of her face as she fretted about the audacity of the 8th Fleet to talk back to a being who could sink them all easily, and were so nonchalant about their situation as she thought to herself.
'Oi, oi, can't you all at least take things a little more seriously here?!
I know that you all don't fight like normal ship girls and thus can't be properly countered by anything the Abyssals possess, but at least act like you're a little more worried about who we're going up against!'
She looked around to take note of their surroundings, seeing that most of the Abyssal corpses which littered the battlefield had already sunk back into the ocean, only leaving a red-tinted ocean with puddles of burning oil to mark their deaths.
The sun had already set on them, although the night sky was surprisingly well-lit and their sight wasn't that impaired in the darkness due to the presence of the full moon and the crowd of stars which were hanging over them and shining down on ship girls and Abyssals alike, Shigure only having to adjust the brightness in her eyes to compensate for the dimmed environment as opposed to relying on her night vision and risk blinding herself due to the sheer amount of cannon fire flashing before her and the flashy flame techniques and equipment that the 8th Fleet used.
The Southern War Princess, upon seeing that her killing intent and her firepower was failing to intimidate this fleet of misfits, was about to launch into another tirade about the futility of challenging her, but failed to get another word out before a large-caliber shot rang out from behind Shigure and flew towards the Abyssal Princess's face at a blinding speed.
The shell seemed to hit an invisible wall, Shigure jumping a little at the presence of some sort of energy field surrounding the now-irate Princess who had flinched from the shell impacting her shields.
Part of the shield which was affected by the large-caliber shell was glowing as the shock wave of the shell impact reverberated throughout the surrounding portion of the spherical shield, the crimson-red hexagonal plates that made up the shield lighting up and was a brighter and harsher shade of red the closer they got to the area of impact, the shield plates softening in luminosity and turning translucent before fading away entirely, invisible to the world just as they were before.
Shigure had been somewhat shocked that the Abyssal Princesses possessed such sophisticated technology, but deep down, she had expected this since her Admiral had told them about this, and the Abyssal Princess was defiantly standing in front of her two fleets which were supposed to protect her, almost unconcerned if one of the ship girls might take a shot at her even if one didn't take into account the fact that her armor alone would likely be enough to protect her against most cannon shells.
Shigure looked back at a bored Hyuga with one of her cannon barrels smoking after taking the shot, the aviation battleship remarking as though she had went through something far too many times and wanted to hurry it along this time.
"Sorry.
I heard that 'You are weaklings' speech one too many times, and I thought I could skip this cut-scene and start the fight if I shot you in the face."
The Southern War Princess looked ready to blow a gasket, but she closed her eyes, clearly trying to calm herself down and not make some sort of rash decision, deciding to make use of her Elite fleet to good use as she ordered simply, her voice still echoing despite keeping her voice even and amplifying the weight of her words to resonate within the minds of all who were present.
[Go.
All of you.
Sink them all.]
Some of the Elite Abyssals clearly looked a little perturbed at this, giving the Southern War Princess and each other aside glances as they saw how the 8th Fleet had decimated their weaker Abyssal counterparts without ever utilizing any conventional ship girl weapons, and they thus didn't possess much in the way of countering those techniques and weapons.
Shigure could empathize with them, thinking about Hayasui's flamethrower, and how there wasn't much an Abyssal could do other than submerge herself in water and activate all the fire defense systems in their bodies to hope that the flames wouldn't engulf and consume them, shuddering at how such suffering was far worse than being killed outright in terms of the pain one had to go through before expiring.
Akashi's surgical tools were another problem, because if those tools were created to be as sharp as Shigure assumed them to be to allow the repair ship to operate on carriers and battleships in times of emergency, there was nothing that could prevent Akashi's dangerously sharp and tough scalpels from cutting into their flesh, since the physiology of both ship girls and Abyssals were similar enough that their flesh could be cut by her operating tools.
But the Abyssals eventually decided to follow their Princess's orders, the two battleships and four heavy cruisers moving up to overtake the Abyssal Princess who was re-positioning herself to be at the rear of the formation, and the Elites opened fire on them like a firing squad in an attempt to deny them their advantage of close-quarters combat as the ship girls began to evade in response, the two carriers on both sides summoning their planes to take part in the bombing phase.
Shigure saw that one of the Ru-Class battleship's shells was going to hit Akashi despite her best attempts to dodge, but Kawakaze tackled her to the ground in order to prevent that as Hyuga provided cover fire for them to get up and continue evading, nobody talking anymore as every fiber of their being was concentrating on not getting killed by the hail of Abyssal shells.
Shigure noted the direction the cannons were pointed in and made sure that she wouldn't get boxed in by the Abyssals which were advancing and attempting to encircle them and block off their exit, Shigure realizing that they could cross-fire if they faced the ship girls from two different angles, ensuring that they wouldn't hit each other while shooting at the ship girls from two perpendicular directions to pretty much guarantee that they hit someone.
And judging by the sounds which were barely audible over the hail of cannon-fire that went on around Shigure, they didn't need to as it sounded like someone was already hit, Shigure clenching her teeth and realizing that no matter how good they were at dodging, the amount of shells being unloaded in their direction meant that someone was going to get hurt eventually.
But she couldn't worry about who it was as she saw the barrel of an Elite Ru-Class battleship swivel in an attempt to point at her, Shigure being the faster ship girl as she pushed off her boat slipper to quickly strafe and discourage her from trying to shoot at a mobile and nimble target.
Shigure noted out the corner of her eye that Ise used her flight deck to deflect a Ri-Class's shell in order to protect Hatsuharu and allow her to get out of the way safely as another Ru-Class's cannon barrel pointed in Ise's general direction and fired, missing Ise by a fraction as the shell grazed the roof of Ise's bottom left cannon and threw up a shower of sparks that thankfully hit the spot where Hatsuharu was a few milliseconds before, the Kai Ni destroyer having recovered enough boost to safely evade as Ise shouted.
"MOVE!"
Shigure remembered the plan that Akashi, Hyuga and Admiral Mako had agreed on before sortieing, that the Southern War Princess was likely to keep the Elites closer to her and likely wasn't going to participate in the first stage of the battle as she sent the weaker Abyssals out to test the incoming fleet's strength.
However, Akashi had studied up on the Princess, and determined that she was one to let her subordinates do the heavy work and only interfering when it was necessary, and even when she appeared with her protection fleet, she would likely hang back until she saw the need to intervene, since any Abyssals below battleship or Princess-Class were considered expendable, which explained her behavior.
Since battleships took weeks, if not an entire month to repair any sustained injuries, Abyssal Princesses were projected to take several months to recover, and one of the few theorized reasons why they could sustain so many Abyssal Princesses on the ocean was because they produced many more new units while allowing those who were damaged to recover in the safety of the depths.
And since the Abyssal Princess closed her eyes as though she wanted to strike them all down in one blow but held back, Shigure hazarded a guess that she probably had a bad experience with charging into battle headfirst without allowing her Abyssal minions to soften up the enemy first, and had suffered because of it.
Shigure also learnt during the briefing that this was the Southern Princess's third incarnation, which meant that previous stints as Southern Demon and Southern War Demon would have taught the Southern War Princess a few lessons the hard way, this time allowing her protection fleet to engage the enemy first before she came in to wipe out anyone who survived the two engagements in order to sustain as little damage as possible.
The general plan was that they were to take out both the protection fleet and the Southern War Princess, and they had a few strategies to take her on depending on how things turned out for them.
If everything went well and no one was seriously hurt, they could attempt to split up into two fleets to take on both the Elites and the Princess at the same time, but that was likely an impossibility now, since some of them were likely injured by Abyssal cannon fire which was meant to stop the 8th Fleet from getting up close while making use of their Elite status and their improved stats over the rank-and-file Abyssals to fire their enhanced cannons at the ship girls.
The second plan sounded more feasible than the first, and this required the two fleets to focus down the Elite Abyssals while keeping the Abyssal Princess at bay with bombers and torpedoes, after which they all fought the Southern War Princess when the Elites had been wiped out.
However, there was also enough room for them to improvise, like getting a large part of the ship girls present to fight the Elites while a handful of the skilled ship girls took on the Abyssal Princess, although at admittedly greater risk as she felt that there were quite a few things left up to chance, since the reactions of the Abyssals couldn't be accurately predicted on paper.
But she then noted that everyone present was a pro compared her her, and she could only hope that they were as good as they thought they were, understanding if they wanted to play things by ear instead of bogging themselves down with complicated plans and contingencies.
Finally getting clear of the cannon fire, Shigure heaved a sigh of relief as she felt her uniform weigh her down due to her sweat and the seawater drenching her school uniform as the adrenaline coursed through her body, sneaking a look round to try and spot who had cleared the line of fire while hoping that no one was killed.
Akashi, Akitsu Maru and Kiso met her on this side of the battlefield, Ise coming up behind the torpedo cruiser and guarding Hayasui as Shigure saw that the other ship girls escaped to the other side of the ocean, having evaded by sailing to the right while Shigure and company had evaded while strafing to the left.
Hatsuzuki was the one who got hurt, a gaping hole where her left hip was and missing an entire left leg, already bleeding out and was turning pale as the surrounding ship girls guarded and tried to treat her.
Hyuga had already torn off a layer of her miko uniform to provide some cloth for Hatsuharu to apply pressure with in order to prevent her from bleeding to death before her internal valves could activate in order to stop the loss of blood and fuel.
Maya had a few more bruises on her skin and more blood streaked down her tattered uniform after Shigure saw her body-blocking shells in order to protect others, and Kawakaze was providing cover fire with her cannons and torpedoes, her battle backpack belching out smoke while her Fairies were hard at work trying to bring the damage under control, a perfectly fine Unryuu helping out in that regard by summoning her bomber planes to perform aerial strikes while evading fighter planes.
Hyuga herself didn't look too well, since her flight deck was totaled and one cannon had both its barrels crumpled by what she assumed was a Ru-Class's cannon shell hitting them, Shigure noting that the two barrels were sticking out at odd angles like broken twigs, one even looking as though it were on the edge of breaking off entirely due to the extreme deformation of the material itself.
Akashi looked around her as she grimaced, noting the five ship girls present as she ordered curtly, spotting the Abyssals reloading and preparing their second salvo of cannons and torpedoes.
"Well, the plan's gone to shit, since the girls on the other side don't seem to be doing too well.
Kiso, help them out."
Kiso did a double take at that, asking her flagship incredulously.
"Are you serious?
I wanted to fight the Princess…"
Akashi looked the torpedo cruiser in the eye as she pointed out.
"And risk them sinking because you weren't there?"
Motioning with her head to the ship girls who were on the other side of the battlefield, Shigure looking back and forth between them both while cursing herself for not being strong enough to be able to make much of a difference as she saw Kiso falter, the determination in her eyes wavering and being replaced with apprehension as she contemplated the possibility of an ally sinking as Akashi flicked her wrists to summon her surgery tools while continuing her speech.
"You're undoubtedly the fastest out of all of us here, and you can deal far more damage than what Little Miss Try-Hard here can do."
Motioning to Shigure with another nod of her head as Ise, Akitsu Maru and Hayasui provided cover fire with their cannons, grenades and Molotov Cocktails respectively, although Shigure noted that the Abyssals learnt to utilize their Anti-Air cannons in order to shoot the Molotov Cocktails out of the sky before they reached anywhere near them and evading the grenades before the 5 second mark, after which the grenades detonated.
Shigure wanted to retort Akashi's passing comment about her being a try-hard, but she kept her mouth shut and moved forward to provide cover fire as she heard Kiso stutter and fail to come up with any good points other than,
"But I don't want the Princess to sink you all…"
But Akashi was adamant, compromising as the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer barely heard the next sentence over the sharp barking of her 12 cm Cannon that she fired and the swoosh noise that accompanied the launching of her torpedoes from her launchers to deter the Abyssals from aiming at them.
"They need you, and you know it.
You know we can handle ourselves here, so go."
Akashi's tone left no room for dissent, Kiso eventually accepting her flagship's orders without question as her voice hardened, accepting her responsibility as a senior ship girl who needed to understand her priorities better as she simply said.
"Alright."
Ise shouted to the torpedo cruiser as Kiso left, asking her to do what she did best as a torpedo cruiser.
"I can provide cover fire for you, but if you could, y'know, fire your torpedoes while running across the battlefield, that'd be swell!"
Shigure didn't hear Kiso's reply, but she knew that the torpedo cruiser would agree to the request in order to help out Shigure and company, Shigure noting that Kiso had drawn her cutlass and was already boosting away as she muttered one word before sprinting,
"Shukuchi."
Akashi joined the firefight with her Anti-Air turrets as she gave an order to the ship girls present.
"Cover Kiso, and make sure that she gets to the other side of the battlefield, no matter what."
Akitsu Maru and Hayasui nodded at that, the former pulling out dark, tubular canisters from her bag with some small, white-font words printed on them as Akitsu Maru threw them after pulling the pin on them, while Hayasui pulled out her flare guns to pop out two flares which blinded any Abyssals who weren't prepared for them as Shigure shut her eyes for the duration of the flare's trajectory.
Akitsu Maru, after throwing her flash-bang grenades which erupted in small yet blindingly bright flashes with a burst of smoke and a shock wave radiating from its epicenter to blind and deafen the surprised Abyssals, causing them to stumble around a bit in a daze while being temporarily stunned, used the flight scroll stored on her bag to summon her own fighter planes while Ise launched some recon planes of her own to back up Unryuu's planes which weren't doing too well out there by themselves, Shigure already seeing a few of them either spiral into the ocean while leaving a stream of smoking fire to indicate their final flight path before crash-landing, or simply burst into flames instantaneously and killing the Fairy pilots inside.
Shigure gritted her teeth, understanding that casualties were inevitable and that it was foolish of her to expect that everyone would come out unscathed as she saw the slight disturbance in the ocean and the barely noticeable wake of underwater projectiles headed towards them, Shigure hearing Ise shout out,
"Torpedoes!"
Shigure started sweating upon hearing that, finding the spaces in between the speeding torpedoes as she continued her cover fire, feeling an explosion shake the ocean as a torpedo from opposing sides collided with each other and both warheads detonated simultaneously, causing an explosion of seawater on the battlefield and illuminating the silhouette of the running torpedo cruiser who ran through the salvo of cannon fire, elegantly and lithely dodging all the cannon shells and torpedoes while firing off some of her own to deter the Abyssals.
Kiso was able to observe all the incoming shells' trajectories and perform acrobatic somersaults, rolls and boost-dodges to evade them all effortlessly while using her cutlass to deflect cannon rounds whenever she could, Shigure barely able to keep track of all the torpedoes that she fired off and her agile evasive moves which almost seemed to leave an afterimage whenever her boost gauges fired.
The torpedoes which she fired at the horde of Elites paid off as some of the Abyssals failed to dodge them and had their legs blown off by the torpedoes that detonated beneath them, the torpedo cruiser having unleashed a fearsome 20 torpedoes in a salvo as Shigure swiftly sailed through the gaps in the Abyssal torpedoes that swam past them, unchanging in their projected travel paths.
Akitsu Maru and Akashi locked eyes for an instant, and something was wordlessly communicated between them as Akitsu Maru pulled out two dark green tubular canisters as Shigure could only make out,
'SMOKE'
Akitsu Maru tossed one to Akashi, the both of them keeping a low profile to avoid getting shot at as they pulled the pin on the smoke grenades and let go of the striker lever before lobbing them in the direction of the Abyssals, the smoke grenade expelling a dusty grey smoke upon descending and filling the entire area before them with smoke within a matter of seconds, Shigure guessing that ship girls who wanted to use such grenades on the seas would modify them to float on water.
Akashi spoke into her radio, talking.
"Move up, and use the smoke for cover.
We'll flush them out and try to rescue our pilots while the Abyssals retreat, since they would be wary of an ambush in the smokescreen."
Shigure then heard Hyuga respond dryly,
"Agreed."
The two fleets moved up, Shigure trying to spot the rescue beacons of the downed Fairy pilots in the water while making sure that she didn't miss any enemies that might be hiding within the smoke, noting that the red dots on her radar were retreating from the potentially fatal obstruction that was the smokescreen, since they knew that the 8th Fleet might use this smokescreen to close the distance.
Shigure ran into the smoke with the safety of the Fairy pilots as the highest priority in her mind while reasoning that she should be the one to rescue the Fairies, since she was a fast-speed destroyer and could thus maneuver through the crowd of Abyssals quickly while taking advantage of the smokescreen to evade her enemies.
She detected a green rescue beacon symbol blinking on her radar as she ran straight up to it, blinking as she swung her hands around to clear the smokescreen which was obstructing her vision, the thick cloudy smoke slightly stinging her eyes and getting into her nose, threatening to cause either a sneezing or coughing fit which would reveal her position.
But Shigure eventually cleared a small volume of air around her and gave herself some breathing room, staying low as she took about four seconds of walking about and staring down at the ocean before her to visually scan for the downed pilot in the midst of the smokescreen, eventually spotting a downed Fairy pilot with brown hair tied back and hidden behind her singed leather hat and aviation goggles, her bright orange life jacket clearly visible on the surface of the dark ocean with a light beacon flashing red at regular half second intervals.
Shigure bent down to retrieve the pilot, but an enemy signature positioned to her right which she previously assumed to be retreating and thus circumvented to avoid any unnecessary conflict was now moving towards her, the Fairy pilot using her hand to jab her finger at something behind Shigure along with her radar picking up a torpedo headed her way and Ise shouting into the radio.
"SHIGURE, MOVE!"
Shigure didn't need to think twice as she scooped up the drenched pilot in her palms and pushed off of her right boat slipper as she did a barrel roll of sorts while feeling a strong enemy presence appearing through the smoke behind her, thankful that her training had taught her some physical skills to physically dodge instead of solely relying on her boat slippers all the time.
The torpedo passed by her and missed her by a considerable margin due to her roll, Shigure sighing in relief right before she heard an Abyssal cannon go off behind her, the mystery enemy having detected her physical roll through the smokescreen and homed in on her position after feeling her out and waiting for her to stop while sprawled on the ocean before taking pot shots at her.
The Abyssal shell hit a spot of ocean before her as she felt the vacuum that the shell left in its wake since it narrowly avoided grazing her shoulder, Shigure straightening back up from her roll and ignoring the fear that threatened to freeze up her muscles after having come so close to death while backtracking in order to regroup with her teammates with the Fairy in her cupped hands.
She felt the cold ocean water drenching her hair, uniform and getting into her eyes both as a result of the barrel roll on the surface of the ocean and the splash of water that was caused by the Abyssal shell almost hitting its target as she blinked the seawater from her eyes.
She didn't have the time to either look back or allow the Fairy back into her battle backpack since that would slow her down for a fraction of a second, which might allow the chasing Elite to catch up and kill her easily, running and trying her best not to inhale too much of the smoke that still plagued the battlefield, catching glimpses of her teammates' position as her radar spun around in order to scan her surroundings as she ran towards them, the red dot unfazed by the company that Shigure was heading back towards and pursuing her regardless.
And finally, as she got close enough to the group of allied dots which were still hidden within the smoke, Shigure saw a grown hand shoot out and grab her arm, which surprised Shigure and caused her to tense up as her backpack cannons twitched about reflexively, ready to shoot the owner of the unidentified hand to protect herself despite still holding a Fairy pilot in her palms.
But the skin tone of the arm was a human beige, and it was Ise's face which appeared through the smoke, her expression uncharacteristically serious as she pulled her in protectively while firing one of her cannons in the direction of the mysterious Abyssal behind her.
Snapping her head back to watch the destruction first hand, Shigure saw that it was an Elite Ri-Class which had materialized from the smoke like a ghostly apparition with its pale skin, dark machinery and bikini along with her menacing and hostile red aura exuding from her very being as she swung her arm cannons around wildly in order to clear the smoke around her before lifting her right arm to shoot at the ship girl duo once she had visually acquired the target.
But Ise was faster on the draw, her cannon firing and causing Shigure to flinch at just how loud a large-caliber cannon sounded at such close range, thankfully protected by Ise trying to put herself in between Shigure and the Ri-Class.
Ise's cannon shell hit the Elite Ri-Class right in the cannon, inexplicably travelling down the barrel and destroying the cannon entirely since the caliber of Ise's shell was far larger than the Ri-Class's cannon caliber.
Hitting some sort of gunpowder storage system within the cannon located close to the elbow caused a large explosion to erupt and engulf the Elite Abyssal, Shigure wincing and closing her eyes as she couldn't watch the incandescent glow of the fireball that engulfed the Ri-Class's upper torso.
Shigure was protected for the most part against the explosion as she protectively clutched the Fairy in her hands while hunched over the little pilot, feeling a slight sense of relief as the Fairy shifted about in her palms to indicate that it was still alive.
And as she looked back at the unfortunate Ri-Class while the flames dissipated, Shigure could see that the Ri-Class was conspicuously missing a right arm and arm cannon, intense third-degree burns plaguing the Elite's entire torso as the Abyssal winced, her bra top dangerously hanging from one remaining strap as the material had been eviscerated by the explosion.
And the reason why Shigure wasn't treated to a view of the Abyssal's ample chest was because she no longer had one, Shigure remembering that it was actually two smaller explosions that were likely a result of the fuel reserves on her chest detonating and creating a bloody crater on her chest, her ribs and internal organs partially visible as Shigure was treated to the horrific sight of the Abyssal's beating heart and blown out lungs, seriously resisting the urge to vomit.
The Ri-Class turned to face them as she attempted to overcome her injuries, and Shigure wished she would keel over and die already as half her face had been consumed by the flames, her lower right jaw and cheek falling apart and exposing part of her steel skull which was heated up to intense temperatures, the waxy and charred flesh on her flesh dropping back into the ocean in burnt chunks.
The Ri-Class collapsed after Ise emptied another cannon round into the Ri-Class's torso and relieved the Ri-Class of the organs within her rib cage, Shigure jumping at the surprise cannon shot as the Ri-Class stumbled back, a hole now being punched straight through her torso in addition to the crater in her chest.
And now that the Ri-Class was missing a heart, both lungs and a portion of her spine, the ocean was polluted with her other organs and her blood which gushed out of her body and her missing arm, Shigure cringing at the brutality and the cold practicality of the move to make sure that the Ri-Class was sunk, the Abyssal's yellow aura ebbing as the corpse slowly caught on fire and sank at the same time.
Shigure saw that there were two other Abyssals, an Elite Ne-Class heavy cruiser and a Ho-Class light cruiser who broke through the dissipating smokescreen, Shigure hearing an ally walk up behind Ise and shouted in a tone that didn't allow for any defiance.
"Move!
Move!"
Ise guided her away from the voice as Shigure stored the Fairy in her battle backpack, the Fairies now finding a lull in the action that they could use to safely come out of her backpack and retrieve the pilot from the hands of the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer.
But as she guided them back into her backpack through a steel hatch, she could feel Ise stumble a little as the ocean behind her was illuminated by a stream of fire being unloaded on the two Abyssals, and due to the presence of the smokescreen and the impairment of sight, it meant that the two Abyssals likely weren't sure who they were going to meet as they were incinerated by the fleet oiler's flamethrower.
Shigure heard the pressurized weapon unload its liquid contents, causing a nightmarish sound that resembled the squeal of a dying pig and a fire hose turned up to maximum pressure as it filled the air, heating up the environment and illuminating the entire ocean and smokescreen with a deafening FWWOOSSHH as Shigure screamed like a schoolgirl, almost unable to control the primal fear of being burnt alive as she shivered despite the air around her heating up as though the world was turning into an infernal oven.
Ise, now grimacing at the chaos around her, guided the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer away from the source of the flame that engulfed the two Abyssals, and the thing that made Shigure fear the fleet oiler more and more was simply how much excitement was oozing from her voice as she shouted over the high-compression ejection of the fuel she carried around, sounding manic upon seeing Abyssals burn up before her.
"WheeeEEeeee!
Fire beats armor, bitches!
Two barbecued Abyssals, coming right up!"
She tried to peek back at the fleet oiler who had seemed as if she eased off on the oil jet despite Ise trying to pull her away as she heard the jet stream die down, and felt the wave of intense heat hit her like a truck as Hayasui pulled the trigger to fire off one last burst of flame in the Abyssals' direction, wincing at her face being heated up by the intensity of the flames despite being more than a meter and a half away, barely able to make out the squirming figures of the Ne-Class and Ho-Class cruisers.
Their incandescent figures were almost painful on the eyes, since their entire beings were in flames as the Abyssals attempted to do the 'Stop, Drop and Roll' routine to douse the flames, the Ne-Class's pristine white hair now devoured by the flames that were growing in intensity, the seawater vaporizing and bursting into steam as the high temperature of the flames came into contact with the cold, dark ocean and concealed the Abyssals in scalding-hot water vapor.
The Ho-Class Abyssal exploded before submerging, likely unable to contain flames of such ferocity thanks to the flamethrower, Shigure whipping her head back as heated-up seawater was thrown everywhere due to the underwater explosion and causing Ise to hold up her flight deck as a makeshift shield against the scalding hot droplets.
Shigure heard Akashi's voice speaking up on the radio within her head, informing the two fleets about their next course of action.
"All ship girls, move up and take out all the enemies who are still in the smokescreen.
We'll move up and take out the rest of the Elites with another salvo of torpedoes and cannon fire when the smoke clears, which'll give us a clear path to the Princess."
Shigure nodded at no one in particular, shivering as she heard one voice which she couldn't immediately identify due to the chaos within the dissipating smokescreen, the mystery voice concerned about what the plan actually entailed now that everything went south for them.
"Umm, what's the plan now?"
Akashi's voice rang out dryly as she explained the situation to everyone in order to clarify things while receiving a pinned flash bang grenade which was tossed towards her, courtesy of the amphibious assault ship.
"Well, I get that there's a few of you who're injured from the previous exchange.
If I'm not wrong, Hatsuzuki suffered heavy damage while Maya and Hyuga likely sustained medium damage, and I've already sent Kiso your way to hold the fort over there.
We'll sink the Elites before focusing down the Southern War Princess, since it's risky for even someone like me to try and perform repairs with several Elites breathing down my neck.
When the Elites are disposed of, everyone not injured is to either engage the Princess or protect the damaged ship girls while I perform on-site repairs, got it?"
There was a chorus of,
"Yes, Ma'am!"
As Shigure looked at the approaching Akashi, unsure of her role in this battle now since she was undoubtedly the weakest ship girl present, feeling the signatures of Kiso, Hatsuharu, Kawakaze and Maya moving forward as Unryuu's planes swooped in to soften up the enemy while Hyuuga stood with the Unryu-Class carrier and the Akizuki-Class destroyer to guard them both as Shigure asked the repair ship.
"U-Um, what about me?
I can't do much against the Elites and the Princess, since I'm not strong enough…"
But Ise looked down at her as the five of them started making their way through the dispersing smokescreen, encouraging her and trying to lift her spirits.
"Aww, don't say that about yourself, Shigure-chan!
You may not be able to do much, but it's not as if you are unable to do anything against them, right?
Every shell and torpedo counts!"
Shigure didn't have anything to say to that as Akashi answered her question, not caring if Shigure looked more and more incredulous as Akashi uttered every word.
"You, Hatsuharu and Kawakaze will join us and take over Kiso's role in taking down the Southern War Princess should she be unable to participate in the final battle.
The three of you should be enough to make up for Kiso's absence should she be injured gravely, or even killed in battle."
Shigure's eyes widened in shock at having being granted such a difficult and suicidal task, but Akashi patted her on the head as best she could without staining Shigure's hair with blood as she explained.
"Don't worry, there isn't much of a possibility of that happening, since Kiso's a pro like us, and we want to cover all our bases with all the available manpower we have.
Much of it is left up to what happens between us and the Abyssals, and how much trouble they're going to give us before they go down.
So don't get your panties in a bunch, and just don't fall behind or get captured as a hostage or whatever."
She watched Hayasui and Akitsu Maru carve a path through any Abyssals who were foolish enough to stand in their way, calling out warnings whenever they detected incoming torpedoes to ensure the safety of their heavy hitter, Ise while using whatever they had on hand to wipe the Elite Abyssals out.
Akitsu Maru pulled out a bag made out of cloth and Hayasui flicked out her flare gun while using one hand to hold her flamethrower, Akitsu Maru digging into the bag and scooping out black, soot-like powder while Hayasui cocked the hammer of her flare gun.
Shigure could only gawk as another Ri-Class approached them, her red aura giving her position away as she already had her cannons out and ready to fire at them, Shigure having noted out the corner of her eye that Akashi had pulled the pin on the flash bang earlier and cooked it before hurling it at the Abyssal in a fastball pitch so that the flash-bang would reach the Elite in a fraction of a second, the flash-bang detonating almost instantly in the face of the Ri-Class and stunning her for a split second as the Ri-Class shook her head to clear her head.
But that split second was crucial in a battle and was the window needed for Akitsu Maru and Hayasui to move in, Akitsu Maru using her gloved hand to throw a handful of the black powder in the Ri-Class's scrunched-up face and her frozen upper torso while shouting,
"Raurava!
Cremating Flame of the Iron Sands!"
And boosted out of the way for Hayasui to fire her flare gun at the Elite Ri-Class, the Abyssal realizing that something bad was going to happen and dodged the incoming flare in the nick of time as she attempted to shake off the black powder.
Only to be caught in Ise's cross-hairs as the aviation battleship emptied a round square into her chest which blew her backwards from the force of the shell hitting her, the mystery black powder igniting explosively and nearly blowing the upper half of the Abyssal into oblivion, the Ri-Class unable to recover from the damage sustained and could only stumble around blindly as the dark smoke which cloaked her upper body cleared enough for Shigure to view the damage, the plume of pitch-black smoke wafting and rising towards the heavens.
Shigure could see that the Ri-Class had suffered extensive burns on her upper torso, her chest and upper half now ablaze and threatening to burn her face off as her eyelashes were seared off by the flames, her hair still aflame and producing a pillar of smoke which slowly rose from her the crown of her head, her red aura now subdued due to her compromised state of mind.
She fell backwards as her eyes rolled up lifelessly, the trio of ship girls moving on as Ise waltzed right up to her supine body, pulling out her katana and holding it up to behead the Ri-Class.
Shigure, horrified at what Ise was about do, raised a hand to stop her and questioned the battleship about her actions.
"I-Ise-san!
What're you doing?!
Hasn't she suffered enough?"
Ise looked down at the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer, meeting Shigure's eyes as she could see that the despite the aviation battleship possessing a jovial personality, it didn't stop her from doing what needed to be done, like right now when she had to execute an enemy before she could get back up, expressing this as Ise's tone was serious despite trying her best to give Shigure a reassuring smile.
"Shigure-chan, she's suffering.
Can't you see?"
Shigure looked back down, and sure enough, despite having suffered several lethal burns as a result of both the explosive ignition of the black gunpowder and Ise's large-caliber shell hitting her square in the chest, the Ri-Class was attempting to get back up as her red aura flared back up again, even trying to raise an arm cannon in their direction.
Her ghostly eyes displayed a tenacity and conviction that took Shigure by surprise, Ise explaining to her all the while as Shigure watched the Ri-Class attempt to get back up despite her horrific burns and her chest wound.
"If she's suffering, I see that it's my personal duty to put her out of her misery.
Besides…"
Ise cocked her head and stared back down at Shigure, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer seeing that the Ise-Class battleship was just as stubborn and unyielding in her beliefs as Shigure was about her own, asking the faltering destroyer about one last thing.
"This is an Elite, and this wound is likely not going to kill her.
If she gets back up and shoots a teammate in the back, how're you going to take responsibility, hmm?"
Shigure looked away at that, unable to find a proper counterargument as Ise stepped up and raised her katana menacingly, the moonlight reflecting off of the steel blade as the Ri-Class seemed to accept her fate, since an aviation battleship was looming over her, and even as an Elite Abyssal, she was too damaged from the black gunpowder ignition and large-caliber shell to fight back, and crash-diving at this point was pointless as Ise's sword would be faster as she lowered her arm, not even bothering to defend herself and accepting death.
Ise swung down her katana with a grunt, Shigure looking away squeamishly as she could see another stream of fire be discharged by the fleet oiler off in the distance, as well as several cannon shots going off in the distance, Shigure feeling sick despite her best attempts to remain detached from the situation, realizing that Ise's action was somewhat justified not just due to the threat the Abyssal posed to them as an Elite, but also the possibility that this Ri-Class wasn't entirely immobilized by her injuries, and might get up later and shoot them in the back at a crucial moment, after which Shigure would have to take responsibility if someone died or, God forbid, sank because she forced Ise to leave her alone.
Ise, looking down with a somber look at the horizontal fountain of blood which was spurting from the Ri-Class's neck, now dropped her happy-go-lucky attitude and was now fully focused on the battle at hand, wiping the blood from her katana on her uniform as she sidestepped the sinking corpse and walked forward, ordering the queasy Shigure as she did.
"Let's go.
We're falling behind."
Shigure swallowed the lump in her throat, nodding towards Ise's back as she mentally tried to rationalize the carnage that took place round her, the weaker auxiliary ships engaging their enemies with a new level of savagery to ensure that the enemies stayed dead when they killed them, feeling yet another chill down her spine as the sweat on her uniform evaporated and seemingly lowered the temperature around her, looking around her as the remaining wisps of the smokescreen were carried away by the gentle night wind.
Shigure could see Maya and Kiso throwing their torpedoes as though they were lances at the Abyssals who were standing off in the distance, the torpedo cruiser taking the extra step to shoot the torpedo warheads to detonate them so that even if the Abyssals succeeded in evading the hurled torpedoes, they would still be caught in the explosion and sustain splash damage, another Ne-Class Elite being blown back by the pressure wave.
The Abyssal fleets were being thinned out due to the unorthodox fighting styles of the 8th Fleet and the backup fleet, Akashi swinging her crane hook around in a circular motion with her right hand before throwing it out to catch the jaw of an Elite Ro-Class destroyer as though she were hooking a fish, the hook snagging the Ro-Class by the corner of its jaw and drawing blood from the fleshy insides of the Ro-Class's mouth.
The Ro-Class howled in agony as Akashi reeled in the destroyer by yanking on the heavy-duty steel cable with both hands, shouting animatedly with the enthusiasm of a shark who detected blood in the water.
"Let's get intimate!"
The poor destroyer was hauled through the air, red aura trailing behind it as Akashi readied her surgery tools, catching the Ro-Class destroyer and performing a judo flip to slam the shark-like Abyssal on the ocean floor, freeing up both hands to produce all her surgical tools with a manic grin on her face while looming over the floundering Abyssal destroyer, which was trying to flip itself back upright.
Akashi then proceeded to dismember the Ro-Class destroyer in a spectacularly gory fashion, Shigure looking away from the horrid scene to see Akitsu Maru providing cover fire with her Benelli M3 shotgun's Dragon Breath shells, Kiso using the confusion of the enemies and her high evasive speed to fight in the midst of the enemy ranks along with Maya, Unryuu manipulating her bomber planes to sustain the pressure despite some rather nasty holes being ripped into her flamboyant uniform, the Unryuu-Class carrier ignoring her injuries in favor of carrying out her duty.
Hayasui circled the battlefield, trying to incinerate any outlying Abyssals in order to box them in with the bloodthirsty ship girls, while Hyuga was utilizing a cannon as a second sword along with her katana which was already dripping with Abyssal blood, boost gauges actively used to quickly accelerate and change directions, the damage she sustained evident through her haggard breathing, the glossy layer of sweat on her skin and her blood-stained miko uniform.
Akashi got up, having finished her bloody operation on the sinking Abyssal Ro-Class, and was now almost entirely soaked in blood as she wiped her forehead with the back of her bloody hand, smearing her plain-white headband with alien Abyssal blood as she remarked,
"Whew, I must be getting slower since our last sortie!
I swear I was faster than this the last time I operated on one!"
But Akitsu Maru holstered her shotgun, drawing her katana as she replied enthusiastically.
"Come on, we're missing all the fun!"
To which Akashi shrugged while raising an eyebrow, getting up from her kneeling position over a now-missing Abyssal carcass with the help of a hand offered by Ise, the repair ship reminding them all of their objective.
"Ladies, remember why we're here!
Hunt down the Princess, she'll be at the rear of the formation if I'm not mistaken!"
Shigure spotted the Abyssal Princess standing on the outskirts of the battlefield and taking pot shots at the ship girls, scowling as she seemed rather irritated at not being able to join the battle and had to rely on her Elites who were trying to hold the fort while consolidating their remaining forces around her, Shigure unloading her torpedoes at them as she timed it with her sister's salvo to make things harder for the Abyssals since they would have to dodge even more torpedoes.
Shigure watched Akitsu Maru swing her flaming katana haphazardly in the direction of a retreating Wo-Class as the Southern War Princess was now summoning her fighter planes to stave off the inevitable, Shigure wondering aloud why they didn't simply retreat from the battlefield, since the ship girls still had trouble stopping them.
But Hatsuharu answered her as she joined the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer in the midst of battle, her fan now deployed and shielding her mouth in an aristocratic motion as she answered.
"Retreat is not a viable option in their minds, as to retreat after engaging 'weaklings' is an insult to her pride.
This, as well as to risk looking weak on her part as it would appear that she retreated in the face of mere auxiliary ships, is something that wouldn't sit well with her superiors after two losses before her upgrade to Southern War Princess.
It is also possible that she requires decisive victories to justify leaving her designated location and conscripting fellow Abyssal fleets, likely against their will."
Shigure nodded at that reasoning, adding on as she pointed her 12 cm Single Barrel Cannon to fire at a He-Class light cruiser to distract it, asking the Kai Ni ship of the Hatsuharu-Class about what the Southern War Princess had at stake here.
"I see.
And since we decimated their auxiliary fleet, it would stand to reason that she wants to win this battle, which we aren't making it easy for them since almost none of the members of the 8th Fleet fight like regular ship girls, hence making it harder for even the Elites to find a way to take them out except to play to their own strengths."
Hatsuharu nodded, using the mechanical arms on her rigging to fire at the Abyssals while replying gravely.
"Well, not even such a course of action might bear fruitful results when one observes the highly unorthodox move sets that our fellow comrades possess, like…"
She was interrupted by Maya grabbing an Elite Abyssal Ha-Class destroyer out of the air as she boost-jumped to gain an extra few milliseconds of air time in order to evade the incoming torpedo which was previously shot out of the Ha-Class's jaw.
Swinging around the screeching Abyssal in her hands while its red aura streamed behind it and highlighted the cyclic arc which the heavy cruiser swung the destroyer in, a He-Class light cruiser sailing in while keeping its distance as Maya used the remnants of her boost gauge to close the distance while still in mid-air to the surprise of the incoming Elite Abyssal, its Elite-red aura flaring up.
The He-Class light cruiser had a white helmet covering the majority of its head, having slightly pointed ears barely sticking out of the crown of its head, its torso leaning down on some sort of vessel which was modeled after a motorcycle of sorts as it rested a pale palm on the smooth, jet-black shell of the 'motorcycle'.
The Elite light cruiser's mode of transportation was equally horrifying as the front fork was replaced by a monstrous jaw of sorts with pearly-white teeth, and within it was a steel barrel which burned a hellish red while sharp pincers jutted out the sides of the beast-like orifice, a thick cable sticking out of its left flank and leading to the back of its arm-cannon on its muscular right arm, Anti-Air turrets added to its chillingly red-muzzled right-hand cannon of doom that the wearer attempted to fire at the airborne Maya.
Ignoring the hail of Anti-Air fire from the He-Class which bounced off of her bare skin in order to smash the snout of the Ha-Class destroyer into the helmet of the incoming He-Class light cruiser in a manner reminiscent of a slam dunk while body slamming the transportation vehicle of the He-Class, causing it to stop dead while both the He-Class and Ha-Class Abyssal screeched in pain, part of their armor now cracked and bleeding slightly as their auras flared up vengefully, snarling at the heavy cruiser.
Only for the He-Class to be silenced by Maya's left fist blurring as she punched through its damaged and therefore vulnerable helmet, the Kai Ni heavy cruiser calling out her attack to enhance the spirit which she put into her attack,
"SHUT-THE-FUCK-UP PUNCH!"
Spinning around on the spot to lift up her right foot and boat slipper, bringing it down on the cracked exoskeleton of the submerging Ha-Class as she screamed.
" … AND STOMP!"
The two Abyssals likely never anticipated such fast movements from a heavy cruiser who was now moving onto the next opponent, Hatsuharu sweat dropping as she bluntly pointed out.
"Like that."
Shigure nodded, gulping at the dead bodies of the headless He-Class and the smashed-in Ha-Class Abyssals, hearing Hatsuharu attempt to explain her teammate's skill set as the corpses sank back into the dark ocean.
"In our long years of service, we must admit that we have only had the honor of meeting but a handful of comrades-in-arms who match not just Maya-san's unladylike strength, but also her speed."
Shigure narrowed her eyes upon hearing that, respecting the heavy cruiser's destructive powers which not only had raw power behind them, but terrifying speed which could be observed through her kicks and punches which practically blurred, bursting with explosive strength which took her physical capabilities to a whole new level.
Hatsuharu then asked of her,
"Come.
Let us make haste, and tighten the metaphorical noose around our enemies' neck."
Shigure looked at the group of Abyssals huddled around the Abyssal Princess, seeing that they were pretty much down to one Elite flagship Ru-Class battleship, one last Elite Ri-Class heavy cruiser and an Elite flagship Wo-Class carrier along with the Southern War Princess.
But Shigure could see that the Abyssal Princess communicated something with them, likely through some sort of hive mind telepathy which they all likely shared in order to coordinate their movements, and the Elites all looked back at the Southern War Princess in surprise.
But they eventually relented, slowly sinking back into the ocean as the surrounding 8th and support fleet allowed them to retreat, which left the Southern War Princess alone on the surface of the water, Akitsu Maru asking.
"Well, what's this?
Getting them to leave yourself alone to die, hmm?"
The Abyssal's haunting voice escaped her lips, now uncharacteristically subdued as she addressed the ship girls surrounding her in a semicircle formation.
[I thought you all'd kill those Abyssals no matter what, and there's no point in asking them all to sacrifice themselves for me when the battle's lost.
I actually thought you'd sink them all, regardless of whether they retreated or not.]
Her eyes narrowed as her expression contorted into one of disgust, Shigure noting that all the ship girls subconsciously tensed up as the Southern War Princess's crimson red aura flared up threateningly.
[Since, you know, you're part of the 8th Fleet.]
Shigure could detect that the Princess's tone held some sort of recognition to it, as though recalling something from memory as she motioned to them with a flick of her chin, her expression now expressing her disdain freely and her anger becoming more and more evident as she called them out.
[The dreaded 8th Fleet of the Yokosuka Naval base...
How could I not have remembered such an unorthodox handful of ship girls recruited to be the last fleet of one of Japan's most influential naval bases?
Why did you not tell me where you hailed from?!]
The Southern War Princess's voice was somewhat pained as she sounded as though it were their fault for not telling her who they were, Akitsu Maru responding sarcastically.
"Well, like you said before about us ants fighting a godlike Abyssal like you, there's no point in you knowing anything about us weaklings now, hmm?"
Earning a sharp, audible inhalation from the Southern War Princess through her nose as she became silent upon hearing the 8th Fleet throw her own words back at her.
The Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer noted that the rest of the rest of the fleet was arriving on the scene by this point in time, feeling somewhat relieved that the situation was taking a turn for the better and that the Southern War Princess decided to take them all on alone, which meant that they had an advantage in terms of manpower.
Kiso was present, and the fact that she wasn't hurt meant the world to her, since it meant that she didn't have to take part in the battle while standing at the front lines along with her skilled destroyer comrades while the infinitely more powerful Kiso was here, since she had quite a few reservations against doing so.
But that came at the cost of Hyuga showing up to the battlefield while heavily damaged, her miko uniform in tatters and her rigging expelling black smoke ominously, looking to be one shell away from a devastating explosion which would scorch her back as the Fairies ran along the external platforms of the rigging, repairing the damage as best they could while Hyuga carried an unconscious Hatsuzuki, the Akizuki-Class destroyer still missing her left leg but her situation having improved somewhat as the bleeding was stemmed, Hyuga sheathing her katana and in order to carry the Akizuki Class destroyer with two hands while holding up a totaled flight deck-shield to protect them both.
Shigure turned back to the Southern War Princess as she continued her speech, the Abyssal looking at every ship girl present as her cannons lowered, the Southern War Princess's tone now carrying a tone of cautious curiosity as she angled her face to glare at the 8th Fleet and asked.
[But before we fight, I need to know.
How do you do it?]
Most of the ship girls looked confused at that, so the Southern War Princess clicked her tongue as she elaborated, ignoring the fact that there were twelve armed ship girls surrounding her.
[What I mean is, how are you ship girls all still fighting, despite the despair that plagues your hearts?]
A look of realization dawned on the ship girls as the Southern War Princess gestured to herself with her armed cannons, her tone now genuinely curious about the 8th Fleet's ability to fight despair as she continued.
[My existence is made up of sunken ship girls, all of which experienced indescribable despair before they sank which, when consolidated and used to power my hatred, a supreme being, it somehow meant that I can sense the onset of despair in the hearts of others and exploit it in battle.
And there are quite a few of you who have experienced losses and death in life, and that despair plagues quite a few of you here.
You…]
Looking at Akitsu Maru,
[ … you two…]
Glancing at Ise and Hyuga,
[And especially you, you, and you]
Shifting her gaze onto Kiso, Unryuu and Akashi as the Abyssal Princess continued her rant, the ship girls all around showing no signs of stopping her conversation either because of the damage they sustained, or genuine curiosity at what the emotive Abyssal had to say, something which would help them further understand their enemy better while still having their guards up and ready to fight at a moment's notice.
[Everyone knows that the soul experiences despair eventually in the face of death and loss, and it's akin to a psychosomatic effect which affects the delicate balance of the Trinity, where conditions of the soul can adversely affect the mind, and the body is sure to follow shortly after and render one impotent.
It is something that requires a titanic effort to overcome and get back on your feet, and yet…]
The Princess narrowed her eyes as a lone sweat drop roll down the side of her face as she questioned.
[You 8th Fleet bitches seemed to have suffered from despair which would break the spirit of ten ship girls!
So how?
How are you here, standing against me?!]
Shigure shot the the 8th Fleet aside glances as she gawked, thinking about what the Southern War Princess had just revealed about them, wondering.
'Ten ship girls' worth of despair?!
I felt sadness from Akashi-san and the 8th Fleet, but just how damaged are they on the inside?!'
Akashi seemed ready to retort, but a hand was politely raised in front of her to get her to halt, Kiso walking forward fearlessly as she considered the question while facing off against the Abyssal Princess in a heated staring contest, everyone holding their breath and hoping that this brief interlude wouldn't jeopardize their chances of winning this battle, which was currently in their favor.
And after a moment of contemplating under the moonlight which shone on them like a giant spotlight and was setting up the stage amidst the dark backdrop of the thick night air, Kiso answered as she gestured with her free hand.
"And may I ask you a question, Abyssal-san?
Is this despair still present within my heart?"
The Abyssal's eyes narrowed, likely suspecting a trap or a nasty surprise of sorts, but after about five seconds of tense silence, the Southern War Princess nodded tersely, ready for anything the torpedo cruiser might throw at her.
The last thing she expected was for Kiso to break out into a relieved smile as she remarked,
"Thank goodness.
If I went through everything I did without feeling something for everyone who sank around me, I wouldn't know what to think of myself!"
The Abyssal Princess seemed a little pissed off at that, a vein bulging out from her temple as she screamed,
[I don't give a fuck about what you think about yourself, bitch!
That explains nothing about why you're here, when the overwhelming despair you feel should have left you empty and without reason to live, let alone fight!]
But Kiso shook her head in the face of the Abyssal's hellish-red aura flaring up and the ship girls all tensing up at once, ready for combat and waiting for the cannon fire which would signal the resuming of the battle that never came.
Lifting her right index finger and lifting another finger for every reason, Kiso rattled off the reasons for her to be here.
"One, I'm here and am in good condition, which means that I'm battle ready.
Two, I have my weapons, hence, I stand a chance against you all.
Three, I have my comrades with me, which greatly improves my odds of winning this battle.
And fourth…"
Kiso clenched her fist and extended her index finger, which she used to point at the stunned Abyssal as she listed the last point.
"I have an objective given to me by my Admiral.
And when my target's right in front of me, how can I not push myself forward to fight?"
[But…
The deaths…
The losses…]
Kiso shrugged, her eyes softening from a slightly manic glint as she anticipated the battle that was to come, to wistful and even haunted, her tone now becoming somber and reflective as she replied truthfully.
"Yes…
I've suffered through them all.
All the tears of regret, pain and despair, I've cried my tear ducts dry.
And all the blood that I've shed as penance, I've bled all that blood away."
[SO HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!]
"Why don't you cut my heart out and find out?!"
Kiso shouted back, surprising both her conversation partner and any of her allies who weren't already aware of what she was like, a green battle aura flowing from her very being as she continued.
"Deaths occur everyday, and we sustain losses every now and then, which can break us.
But is that an excuse to curl up, accept our fate and die pathetically?
But in case you forgot, we're warships, you and I!"
Kiso pointed her sword at the Southern War Princess as she continued, becoming more and more aggressive and passionate as her expression morphed into one which was certain of her own words and her conviction.
"We fall into despair when we lose comrades and die, but we need no reason to fight, so long as we're in a war and whomever we deem as our enemy stands before us!
All we need is to slowly find that second wind within ourselves to drive us on and keep us alive in the face of death!
To not do so is an affront our very nature as weapons of war, Abyssal-san!
To continue on in the face of losses and threat of death, tirelessly moving from battlefield to battlefield and always ready to face tomorrow's battle!
Is that not why you are what you are?!"
The Southern War Princess flinched at that, Kiso working off of her assumption and counter-arguing,
"You, who was sunk not once, but twice, and came back even stronger!
You ask me how I get up from the despair of loss and death, but it only seems appropriate that I throw that question back at you!"
The Southern War Princess seemed quite shaken upon hearing that, what with her fringe covering her eye and her body frame leaning over to cast a shadow over her mostly nude body, and for a second, Shigure wondered if Kiso had shaken the Abyssal enough to make the Princess's fighting spirit falter, thus making their lives easier.
Then came the laugh.
It was like a creepy giggle at first, reminiscent of a small girl's laugh as its echoes rang in the ears of every ship girl present despite the lack of the environmental structure required to fulfill the basic criteria for such a phenomena to occur.
The Southern War Princess shook as she started cackling at Kiso's retort, eventually slipping into an insane laughter at the torpedo cruiser's words, Shigure shivering at how the unblockable echo materialized as the pained howls and anguished cries of countless sunken ship girls that made up the Southern War Princess's soul, drowned voices never again to resound in the ears of their comrades except as a poor shadow of its former self that powered the Abyssal Princess.
All the ship girls guarded themselves as the Abyssal's battle aura flared up dangerously and threatened to blanket the sky in its unholy shade of red as she reveled in the brilliance of Kiso's revelation and recovering enough to formulate her next words.
[I like you.
I like your answer!
You're right, since falling into despair is part of a death and rebirth of the soul, and not to be seen as the demise of our selves, but a chance to put ourselves back together again, to become stronger through our experiences!]
Gesturing to herself, grinning like a child who had chanced upon a new and intriguing discovery as she continued, her eyes almost grateful for Kiso giving her opinion.
[I admit, I've been feeling rather confused since my very being is composed of the suffering of countless souls lost to the ocean, and everywhere I see, my presence instills desperation and hopelessness in all my enemies as an end-bringer.
And I just couldn't understand why despite sinking not once, but twice, my desire to come back and fight on despite feeling like shit upon sinking just grew stronger and stronger, until I became this form you see right now.
So please understand that it did not compute in my mind when I met you all and felt within your hearts, the suffering you have endured through horrific tragedies and unspeakable losses.
And yet, in spite of the massive difference in our power levels combined, you all never succumbed to that despair and hopelessness, fighting on and actually winning against my Elites!]
The Southern War Princess sighed, looking somewhat understanding as she continued as her expression mellowed out, even if it was just a fraction.
[But you're right.
We're warships in the midst of a war, and we need no other reason for us to be here.
We just need to be driven to win, and be given an objective to work towards.
And as thanks for giving me such a beautiful answer, I'll kill you last.]
The Southern War Princess's smile grew and stretched her cheek muscles, made even creepier by her blazing hair ornaments flaring up and the Abyssal Princess flicking her fringe away to reveal a hazy stream of blood-red fire flowing from her right eye as she continued.
[Well then, I believe re-introductions are in order.
I'm the Southern War Princess, and this here is my Beast, Tezcatlipoca.]
The jaws on both her weapon stacks growled in unison as the cannons on the Southern War Princess's arm bristled, ready for battle.
[And you will all fall to the bottom, like all the others who came before you!]
Akashi deadpanned at the sight of the Abyssal Princess's aura flaring up,
"Well, good job making her even more driven to win and making our job so much more difficult."
But Kiso shrugged, not taking her eyes off of the enemy before her as she retorted.
"Oh, put a sock in it.
Just like me, you wouldn't enjoy this battle as much if our opponents didn't put up one hell of a fight.
It's why we're on the same fleet, right?"
Shigure could see Akashi mirror Kiso's grin as the repair ship flicked out her operating tools and slowly stepped back to perform quick on-site surgeries on Ise and Hatsuzuki, the torpedo cruiser tearing off her eye-patch and pocketing it as she brandished her cutlass.
Kiso's right eye illuminated the darkness, leaving a brilliant streak behind her as she brought up her cutlass and leaned in, returning the favor as her green-tinted battle aura flared up in response to the Southern War Princess's killing intent, grinning maniacally as she responded enthusiastically.
"Kuma-Class Torpedo Cruiser, Kiso!
And this here's my beloved sword, The Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven!
But there's no need for you to worry your pretty little head over trying to remember my swords's name, because it'll be coming off that elegant neck of yours soon enough as I grant you a resplendent death!"
[What blasphemous arrogance!
I'll enjoy the look on your pretty little face when my Steel Skin blocks that little toy you call a sword in your hand!]
Shigure could hardly stop herself from breaking out in a cold sweat from both the Southern War Princess's ferocious killing intent flowing out of her every pore, and the torpedo cruiser's fighting spirit which flared up in response to a strong opponent appearing before her, both of them excited at the prospect of being able to go all-out as the duo pointed their weapons at each other to signal the start of the final battle.