Kancolle Alt

by MasterBaiter4.0

A new destroyer joins the Yokosuka Naval Base, befriending old and new allies alike to fight their sworn enemies, the mysterious Abyssals. Little do they know, the first act of the war is drawing to a close...

43. Chapter 43 - The Art of War

Author's Note

Sometimes I ponder over tough life choices, like choosing between cat ears or bunny ears, the Nagato, Takao, Yamato, Kaga or the Myoukou-Class ship girls for best waifu, or between the Fortune and Venus swimsuits as the best swimsuit in DOA Xtreme 3.

Decisions, decisions.

---

It was a fine and sunny day on the 26th of May.

And it was on this day that the Abyssals activated a nationwide alarm around Japan by coming too close to their coasts for comfort, suddenly headed towards Tokyo Bay by advancing along the Izu Islands.

And although the population of Kanto had been placed on yellow alert due to the possibility of a large-scale battle, the prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka were placed on orange alert while the immediate area around the Sagami-nada Sea were placed on red alert by the government and military.

The reason why the Abyssals chose to invade them on a fine day instead of a stormy one was because while it would hinder the ship girls' ability to respond to their invasion, neither side could reliably send out planes for fear of them getting struck down by lightning or being sent spiraling into the ocean by a tempest gale.

And as the Abyssals were invading the Safety Zone, which was their domain, they needed full access to their three avenues of attack from the air, on the surface and in the ocean without any interference (in this case the weather) in order to maximize the potency of their armada and Princesses.

They had alerted the civilian population via the J-Alert warning system beforehand in order to prepare them for the possibility of evacuation in the near future, and on the 25th, the Abyssals had suddenly moved closer to indicate a possible invasion, and the threat was filed under the newly created 'Military threat: Abyssal assault' as they herded the civilians near the coast to safety shelters.

One thing which helped the humans implement the herculean task of installing the J-alert system throughout the country and helped them build safety shelters was the Fairies, helping them make the introduction easier by making the installation process more efficient and cost-effective, since an alien menace who wanted to exterminate all of mankind certainly lit a fire under everyone's asses.

If there was one consolation, it was that coastal prefectures were the focus of the 'Military threat: Abyssal assault' much like the Tsunami Warning System, because the Abyssals would focus their wrath on the coastal prefectures via a Normandy-esque mass landing before digging their heels in and pushing inland, and the Japanese population were sadly rather experienced in mass evacuations thanks to past natural disasters and an increase in mock evacuations in preparation for real emergencies, like in the days leading up to today.

Shiranui, having suited up almost an hour ago, was standing on the ocean along with the two fleets which made up the Yokosuka Division of the 1st Strike Group, and she looked around to see Inazuma, Kagerou, Sendai, Yukikaze, Haguro, Myoukou, Atago, Chitose, Kawakaze, Furutaka, Maya and herself.

Inazuma was wearing the Akatsuki-Class school uniform, but instead of looking her age, AKA looking as if she barely graduated from preschool, she looked significantly older than any of her sisters, almost looking to be about the age of a Fubuki-Class destroyer, which wasn't entirely expected.

Ship girls aged at an exponentially slower rate, with the destroyers displaying the most prominent traits of natural growth since retired destroyers were still aging even after all these years, while heavy cruisers, carriers and battleships barely aged, if at all even after a decade or two of simply existing, which gave way to the theory that their growth spurts plateaued at adulthood.

Remodels, especially Kai Ni ones, provided what was 'artificial growth', and this was where the body aging process was extrapolated, and the remodel process replaced current parts of the ship girl's body with ones which their matured body would possess, increasing the output of the soul and re-uploading the ship girl's consciousness into the brain to complete the remodel.

Unfortunately, this was a process which was refined through time, and the likelihood for a tester ship girl to die as a result of the psyche or mind rejecting the artificial growth was still significant despite the scientific advances and safeguards put in place, and those who went through a normal remodel in their bases had a process which was thoroughly researched and tested to be completely safe performed on them, with rejection an impossibility in those cases.

What was she thinking about again?

Oh right.

Inazuma.

Last she checked, Inazuma was almost half a head taller than her sisters because she aged for about a decade, and she had been through far more scrapes than anyone here did and had a wizened look on her face after going through the motions of combat for so long, and Shiranui had a deep-seated respect for someone who stuck by Admiral Mako so loyally and for so long and performing above expectations solely due to experience, since she wasn't particularly talented and currently didn't possess a well of potential in the form of Kai Ni much like Shiranui.

They had been sailing towards the naval mine formation for a while now, and while she had been silently listening to Yukikaze and Kagerou speak cordially with each others as sisters, she saw that everyone here was already prepared for the battle that was to come.

She couldn't detect the presence of the backup or supporting Strike Groups since she wasn't a carrier and didn't possess their powerful radars, but she knew that they were right behind them as they had seen them off at the harbor, waving at them as they set sail before lining up to suit up and sortie themselves, so that was one concern assuaged.

Honestly, the wait was more excruciating than the battle, since the less-experienced ship girls went to sleep obsessing about whether tomorrow would be when the other shoe dropped and the Abyssals invaded, but when the region-wide signal to evacuate blared, it was almost a sign for them to exhale silently, understanding that the their time was near.

And right now, it was like any other sortie, idly talking about topics they really couldn't give a shit about and being silently wary for any signs of activity or alien presences, but this was all part of the tried-and-true routine, and was no different from their usual sorties where they had to put their best foot forward to simply survive.

Chitose's attention was drawn somewhere else as she spoke up,

"We've got company.

Looks like the rest of the 1st Strike Group's here."

Turning to see the approaching 1st Strike Groups of other naval bases, she was greeted with the faces of those whom she knew, but Shiranui reminded herself that these weren't the same ship girls which she knew back in Yokosuka, an issue which cropped up a lot when dealing with doppelgangers.

And although there were ten naval bases participating in the Battle of Twelve Navies, excluding the Kamogawa, Isumi, Kujukuri, Shizuoka and Shimoda Naval Bases which were from either the West or the North, they had five naval bases around Sagami Bay which sent two fleets each in order to form the complete 1st Strike Group, and two fleets times five bases meant ten fleets, a sizable armada in and of itself.

They tried their best not to include any clones of any one particular ship girl in a Strike Group for the simple reason of simplifying the chain of command and the logistics behind the battle, so that when someone called a ship girl's name, there wouldn't be two replies and one hell of a time clarifying who was called.

On the battlefield, being unnecessarily distracted for even a millisecond could cost a life.

Shiranui, along with Yokosuka's 1st Strike Group, was notified by Atago and Inazuma beforehand about the fleet roster, so she saw the other fleets gather together as she detected the naval mines floating closest to the surface while still underwater, everyone looking ready to face the Battle ahead as the combined 1st Strike Group.

1st Strike Fleet

Yokosuka Naval Base

Inazuma (Flagship 1)

Kagerou

Sendai

Yukikaze

Haguro

Myoukou

Atago (Flagship 2)

Chitose

Kawakaze

Furutaka

Maya

Shiranui

Tateyama Naval Base

Kongou (Flagship 1)

Hamakaze

Mogami

Chikuma

Kako

Umikaze

Yuudachi (Flagship 2)

Shigure

Nowaki

Hatsushimo

Ayanami

Hiyou

Miura Naval Base

Iowa (Flagship 1)

Ryuujou

Jintsuu

Suzukaze

Haruna

Hiei

Tenryuu (Flagship 2)

Harusame

Arashi

Kasumi

Ooi

Kitakami

Itou Naval Base

Zuikaku (Flagship 1)

Shoukaku

Murakumo

Verniy/Hibiki

Ashigara

Akatsuki

Houshou (Flagship 2)

Hatsuharu

Teruzuki

Yuugumo

Mutsuki

Oshioo

Chigasaki Naval Base

Kiso (Flagship 1)

Choukai

Satsuki

Chiyoda

Tokitsukaze

Junyou

Souryuu (Flagship 2)

Aoba

Isuzu

Akebono

Kinugasa

Hayashimo

Shiranui looked at the various ship girls who were sent in from other bases, meeting atop the immobile naval mines as they tersely nodded to each other and greeted, with Houshou starting the conversation with a simple.

"Well, today seems to be quite the fine weather for a battle, yes?"

Everyone hummed in agreement, Atago turning to face everyone as she asked if every one of the flagships were capable of receiving Admiral Mako's signal, which was being broadcasted from Miura Naval Base as it was deemed close enough for her to be without being exposed to danger, while the bird carriers and battleships, possessing the strongest radio capabilities, were there to relay important orders to everyone.

"Flagships, carriers and battleships of the 1st Strike Group.

Can you clearly receive the signal which is broadcasted from Miura Naval Base, which is where mission control has been established?"

Shiranui could see them nod, and she suspected that their frequency was likely encrypted to prevent the Abyssals from listening in to their orders and conversations, these suspicions being confirmed as Atago spoke to the ships who were either tasked with communications or leading.

"I'll P.M. you all the password to bypass the encryption so that you all can decipher the signals, and as for the communication ships, you'll relay relevant orders to everyone else.

And as for the rest, I'll P.M. you all the password to the emergency frequency so that we can speak to each other in times of extreme crises without fearing that the Abyssals will listen in on us."

Shiranui entered the secret password and heard everyone testing out the reliability of the emergency frequency, inhaling the humid morning air as she looked out at the ocean horizon.

Now that the battle was so close and the tension amongst teammates running so high, she suddenly felt a shiver run down her spine as she predicted that the ocean would soon be diluted with blood, littered with corpses and filled with the chaos that was the whistle of shells, the thunder of detonating payloads and torpedoes along with the screams of ship girls and Abyssals alike.

And the ungodly explosive surprise that was to come, which, if replicated on land, would level an entire battlefield with its yield…

But she felt a hand clamp down reassuringly on her shoulder, and while she expected Kagerou to be behind her since she was Kagerou's sister, she was instead treated to the sight of Inazuma standing behind her, and Kagerou was standing further behind while talking to Yukikaze, shooting a concerned glance in their direction after seeing Shiranui react so adversely to putting herself directly in the line of danger with her life at stake.

Looking at Inazuma as the Akatsuki-Class destroyer nearly matched her height, which was abnormal for her class, the experience seeped out of her after having been through so many battles as she did her best to comfort Shiranui with the considerable experience under her belt.

"Shiranui-san.

I understand that this might be a battle on a scale which you've never experienced before in this life, or perhaps even in your past one if memory serves…"

Shiranui looked away, wishing to deny Inazuma's frighteningly accurate assessments of her inner thoughts, but her respect for the experienced ship girl outweighed her desire to keep others out of her own business.

Besides, she suspected that the wizened destroyer would pick up on her lies should she go down that route after having lived for so long, and she didn't want to burn any bridges out of sheer pettiness.

She spoke sullenly,

" … Yes.

I want to be strong like you all, to say that I'm not afraid and face this battle with a hardened heart, but I'm not as strong as you all."

And upon hearing that, Inazuma broke out into a sad smile as she verbally pondered over Shiranui's words.

" … Stronger, hmm?

We've certainly become better at our craft, but don't let appearances fool you, Shiranui-san.

In any war, becoming better at fighting and killing doesn't always equate to becoming stronger."

Shiranui, looking out at the ocean as she heard seniors from various naval bases speak with each other casually after being neighbors for so long nodded understandingly as she changed the topic and asked about the Akatsuki-Class's lack of a verbal tic, which her younger doppelgangers all shared.

"Next question, then.

It's also been commonly noted that you rarely include your verbal tic in your conversations, and even then it feels forced, so why?"

Inazuma shrugged, looking away as she answered truthfully.

"Well, after living for a while, you eventually outgrow these things.

I don't want to spook my sisters too badly regarding how my current behavior contradicts their image of who I should be, and that's why I throw in a 'nanodesu' every now and then, but I understand that even they've start to realize that I've been phoning it in for a while now."

Shiranui nodded, looking away as she tactfully changed topics again and asked, genuinely interested in the Akatsuki-Class's fighting experience.

"And I'd like to ask.

If you've been through so much, how many of these battles have you fought in?"

Inazuma looked away distractedly, recounting and sifting through her entire life experience in a span of about ten seconds before answering.

"At least once a year.

Especially during the first few years after the inception of Yokosuka as a ship girl naval base, the oldest seniors in this base had to be pushed very far, and very often.

Nowadays, you all have the luxury of sitting out battles like these and Admiral Mako, being a rare sort of Admiral, can and will find a replacement for you."

Shiranui lifted an eyebrow, looking out onto the ocean horizon along with Inazuma as she spoke.

"And how do you think we'll fare in this stage of the battle?"

She already knew of the explosive mine surprise, but she wasn't enough of an expert to understand if they could live long enough to begin their retreat, especially since they were facing off against an entire Abyssal armada.

But Inazuma, waving to a nearby Tenryuu who hailed from the Miura Naval Base, turned to look back at her reassuringly as she spoke.

"I'm not so idealistic to tell you that we can all make it back alive.

I'd be lying to the both of us that way, and you know it.

But having worked with a lot of the ship girls here ever since I was crafted, I can safely say that it is the Abyssals who need to worry about ending this battle in a draw as a best-case scenario."

Looking at the Kai Ni ship girls around them, which included Shigure, Yuudachi, Haruna, Hatsushimo, Ryuujou, Souryuu, Junyou and Hibiki, amongst many others who were all equipped with top-of-the-line equipment to fight in this battle.

And with the reconnaissance planes which were sent out to fly at maximum altitude in order to avoid being shot down by Anti-Air fire or fighter planes, looking out for and warning them about any missiles fired from the deck of the Dutchman when it arrived, Shiranui felt a little better about their odds.

Kawakaze then sailed up to the two of them, looking down at Inazuma since her Kai Ni remodel did wonders for her height, patting Inazuma and Shiranui on the shoulder as she spoke heartily.

"Well, don't you all worry.

We've got the carriers and battleships backing us up, so we're certainly well-covered here!

Besides, me and my quasi-sisters from other bases are all Kai Ni and are extremely skilled at our craft, so there's nothing much to worry about.

Cheer up, Shiranui-chan!"

Wondering how any of them could possibly 'cheer up' when participating in a large-scale battle where the enemy took the battle to them, she noticed Kawakaze lean in closer, the three of them turned to look as Chitose reported to the Yokosuka 1st Strike Group.

"Careful.

The Abyssals have already surfaced, we're barely detecting the signatures of their reconnaissance planes being sent out.

Everyone prepare for evasive maneuvers.

Don't worry if the Abyssals split up our Strike Group or if we need to space out; just stay at a distance where someone else can reach you, and try not to stray too far from the naval mine formation lest you get attacked from beneath.

We suspect that the Abyssals brought a sizable submarine fleet to the battlefield despite the presence of naval mines; likely as backup for when we try anything funny."

Taking Chitose's word for it since the information likely came from the sailors which hid on the outlying islands' observational posts, everyone slapped on their game faces in order to face their sworn enemy, and she saw the pinpricks which were the Abyssal reconnaissance planes appearing on the horizon, likely so that the Abyssal Princesses and battleships could improve their accuracy with artillery spotting and fire off an accurate salvo, and even if they missed, they could calculate the distance in which they missed the target and re-calibrate their aim to fire off an even more accurate salvo.

She sailed with Inazuma and Kawakaze as the whistling of incoming shells increased in volume, and she detected several torpedoes in the water as she leapt over one, feeling worried for Kawakaze as she gave the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer a quick backwards glance.

But Kawakaze, being a senior who had a few tricks up her sleeve, checked the skies for any shells that were headed her way before she leapt into the air and performed a Cloud Walk, one of many high-skill destroyer feats, over the barrage of torpedoes.

If Michael Jordan ever inspired one technique for the destroyers to emulate, it was the Cloud Walk in which destroyers quickly emptied part of their boost gauge while in mid air to achieve a hang time which was unmatched by anyone save for the most skilled of light cruisers.

Her boost gauge was unloaded in controlled bursts according to her weight and her body orientation respective to the ocean surface, and this move was hard to learn and easy to screw up because each destroyer's weight was different and the required boost needed to keep one airborne without causing her to face-plant into the ocean was different.

And as Kawakaze hit the floor, she achieved nearly 3.5 seconds of hang time, having evaded an entire torpedo salvo as Inazuma jokingly called out,

"Show off!"

Shiranui kept her eye on both the ocean and the air, her superhuman senses coming in handy in order to determine where the threats were coming from and possessing the reaction speed to evade a large number of them before they hurt her, the distance playing a crucial factor in that they were too far away from the Abyssals to be easily hit.

Unfortunately, as more of them advanced while others took their place behind the front lines to provide shelling support, that would soon change.

But the Kai Ni Shigure of Tateyama and Akatsuki of Itou sailed up to them, the former being an older version of Shigure with her hair flaps resembling dog ears as she wore a hair ornament not unlike that on Yamashiro's hair, possessing an intricately-designed, transforming battle backpack with several smaller cannons attached to it, while a hand-cannon was attached to the back of her gloved right hand.

Two upgraded Quadruple Torpedo Launchers were strapped around her thighs, and she was taller than her Yokosuka counterpart.

Akatsuki was wearing the classic Akatsuki-Class uniform with a 'III' pin on her left sailor collar with a grey-black navy hat and a black anchor emblem, and her Kai Ni rigging was more heavily equipped in that she had a searchlight behind her left shoulder.

She had some sort of curved, rectangular plate attached to her left arm not unlike a riot shield, a black anchor, a close-quarters Anti-Abyssal weapon, was hanging from the right of her rigging, and while Triple Torpedo Launchers were attached to her waist, she had a depth charge launcher attached to her left thigh, and she had two 12.7 Cm Twin High-Angle Gun Cannons on her right forearm and shoulder.

Her hair was dark-purple as well as her eyes, and she saw that Inazuma and this Akatsuki, who had likely been through her fair share of battles, shared knowing looks with each other after being alive and knew each other for so long as Shigure spoke up with a more mature voice than she was used to with Shigure of Yokosuka.

… Not that she had a thing about Shigure, mind you.

"Everyone.

Prepare your Anti-Air turrets for the inevitable bombing phase, the enemy planes should be coming any time soon.

The bird carriers are sending out their planes as we speak, so things are only about to get harder from here on out."

Everyone nodded grimly, sailing along the naval mine formation as Shiranui held up the Anti-Air turret which was slung across her torso, and she saw that Shigure, Kawakaze and Akatsuki, likely possessing stronger radar due to their Kai Ni remodels, bristled in response for something entering their airspace, and she could hear Akatsuki speaking up with a voice which spoke volumes about her experiences, no longer only aiming and boasting about about becoming a fine lady in a world as blood-soaked as theirs, but having become one through the blood, sweat and tears which were shed throughout her lifetime, turning her into a lady of war.

"Watch out!

We'll stick together in a diamond formation for now to ward off the bombers, but we'll try to regroup with our fleets later, if the Abyssals don't advance in the time it takes us to-

INCOMING!"

Everyone got into the formation which would guarantee the greatest protection against aerial threats as they lit up the sky with white-hot steel, and the drones of the Abyssal dive bombers got higher in pitch as they dived as per their favorite method of delivery.

And amidst the chaos of everyone shouting over the Anti-Air barrage and the explosions which were either a result of the dropped payloads detonating or the Abyssal bombers crashing into the ocean in a flaming wreck, Shiranui looked up to find their own planes joining in the fight.

An entire flock of fighter planes which consisted of Reppuu, Type 0 Model 21 and 52 and the rare Hellcat and Wildcat fighter planes trying to shoot the Abyssal bombers down, turning her world into a pandemonium which consisted of everyone simply trying to evade threats from everywhere, evading shells and dropping, flaming Abyssals planes while trying to retaliate before the enemy got too close.

As the humans said, just another day at the office.

She could see the Abyssals approaching them now, and the aura of hate and destruction which they gave off as a legion would paralyze any ship girl who was unused to feeling such intense malice being emanated from the pores of their enemies.

But Shiranui, despite feeling temporarily overwhelmed even at a distance, still pressed on as her eyes kept darting around, scanning for threats even as she heard Inazuma speak up.

"I think the others are just about ready to retaliate, seeing how our planes have flown in to stop them.

I don't think that the battleship Strike Groups further behind us will be able to hit the Abyssals at this distance, but we can with our torpedoes and buy time for them to move up.

Move from diamond to double line, and wait for my mark."

Everyone wordlessly moved into place much like a marching contingent knew who went where in order to quickly change the combat formation, Shiranui bearing witness to a dropped payload detonating next to them as Kawakaze shielded herself from the spray.

And eventually, Inazuma called out firmly,

"FIRE!"

As everyone dumped their torpedoes in the water while the fast battleships of the 1st Strike Group unleashed their cannons at a distance and the bird carriers sent out their bomber planes to perform a devastating opening strike along with the various Strike Groups behind them, Shiranui suddenly looking back as Inazuma received the first of many bad news from somewhere, Shiranui assuming that it was from the reconnaissance planes in the air.

"U-Um, girls?

Admiral Mako told us that she assumed there would be five Princesses participating in this battle as the worst case scenario.

The reconnaissance planes detected ten Princesses, about a third of which are currently surfacing or have already surfaced."

Everyone was silenced by that, but Shigure was the one to snap out of the shock of facing ten bloody Princesses in order to give out orders.

"Well, if they've sent out so many Princesses in order to sink us, we need to equalize the odds.

Everyone, regroup with the rest of the Strike Group, we'll try and find a way to take them on one or two at a time.

Move!"

Shiranui, secretly feeling out of her depth here, nodded along with everyone else as they sailed back to the gathering 1st Strike Group, everyone having temporarily dispersed so as to present a harder target to hit while still keeping a reasonable distance from the rest of the 1st Strike Group, but they now had to regroup in order to face off against an entire Abyssal horde.

And upon seeing everyone again, she turned back to see the approaching Abyssal Princesses leading the charge with a line of battleships before them in order to deliver a cannon salvo (which wasn't that effective at long range anyway), the Chi-Class torpedo cruisers and He-Class light cruisers blitzing forward as they rode atop their beast-like steed.

Watching Maya provide a hail of Anti-Air fire to cover them all, Shiranui turned back to Atago as she listened to her new orders after knowing that there were more Princesses than they expected.

"Well, after a bit of hasty discussion, we've come to a decision that we will relocate ourselves within the naval mine formation.

This doesn't change anything, except that we can't afford to fight while located before the formation of mines anymore, not while facing ten Princesses.

When they surface and fight us atop the mines, we'll coordinate with the carriers, battleships and the JSDF to try and stave them off for as long as possible, before the next stage of the battle begins.

Chitose-san, radio in the updates about the Abyssal Princess count!

Everyone, straight line formations and start backpedaling while firing forwards!"

Another payload went off next to them, Shiranui getting in between Maya and Furutaka and adding to the Anti-Air fire as she heard the boisterous Kai Ni Takao-Class cruiser scream out in order to taunt the Abyssals and goad them into making a mistake.

"WHATCHU GOT, BITCHES?!

WHATCHU GOT?!"

While her rigging erupted into a fireworks display of directed Anti-Air fire into the sky.

Feeling the battle become more intense with every passing second, Shiranui heard Chitose speak with someone on the other line in a strained tone since she had to juggle a conversation with the mental task of directing her planes.

"Yes, Ma'am.

You heard us right, there are ten Abyssal Princess signatures, five of which are known as the others are still submerged!

We're relocating ourselves within the naval mine formation and are about to engage the enemy right now!"

Shiranui aimed her torpedo launchers in the direction of the approaching Abyssal horde, firing them and forcing an Abyssal He-Class to swerve out of the way.

And as a He-Class drove its motorcycle-esque steed towards the vanguard of the 1st Strike Group, she heard Inazuma speak up behind her as she sailed into Shiranui's line of sight, pulling out some sort of black wire with anchor-shaped weights at the end.

"Don't worry.

We've got this."

And as Furutaka provided cover fire in order to force the He-Class to prioritize evading over aiming and firing, Shiranui realized that it was an Anti-Abyssal bola in Inazuma, Akatsuki and Hibiki's hand, the trio sailing forward and swinging them with practiced ease shortly before flinging them at the approaching He-Class.

One of the spinning contraptions caught the He-Class around the neck as it lowered its body frame to avoid getting hit, and spectacularly failing at that as it spasmed at the sudden weight that was thrown in the opposing direction choking it as it spun out on the ocean, its steed spinning out and skidding on the surface as its flank hit the ocean.

And as the Akatsuki-Class trio sailed up to the struggling Abyssal heavy cruiser in order to finish it off, Shiranui saw that Hibiki, as Verniy the Soviet destroyer, wore a white sailor's cap with red trim along with a red star and a hammer and sickle emblem on it, possessing essentially the same rigging and 'riot shield' attachment as her Kai Ni sister, with the difference being that she had an Anti-Air turret on her shoulder, and her hips were equipped with depth charge racks in lieu of torpedo launchers.

She had a chimney stack behind her, and she was pulling out her Anti-Abyssal anchor along with her sisters in order to bludgeon the Abyssal to death as and the trio approached the He-Class Abyssal, said Abyssal hacking and coughing while untying the bola from its neck, wincing at every shot Inazuma took with her 12.7 Cm Single Gun Cannon to its helmeted head.

Shiranui let the destroyer trio do their job in peace as she looked away, watching Maya perform a high-jump as she used her boost gauge to increase the explosivity of her jump, surprising a diving Abyssal Hell Dive Bomber with her jump as she Lebron James'd the Abyssal bomber, slapping it down into the ocean with a vengeance as she screamed, being the most physically active ship girl by far.

"GET THAT WEAK SHIT OUT OF MY AIRSPACE!"

A shot from Myoukou was all that was needed to take the downed plane out of the equation, Shiranui turning back to see the two senior Myoukou-Class cruisers who commanded the battlefield with her presence, and Myoukou's rigging was different from her sister's in that her rigging and her black skirt had a camouflage pattern, her rigging, cannon, torpedo launchers and even high heels were patched with earth-brown and army-green paint blobs on white steel, and her skirt was grey with black cloud patterns.

Two Anti-Air turret platforms were on her black belt, and her appearance was smart with a braided black hair bun behind her head, a hair pin on her right temple as her fringe was neatly trimmed above her considerably thick eyebrows.

Her four 20.3 Cm (No. 2) Twin Gun Cannons twitched in response to another enemy entering their 'safe zone' and fired in sync in order to down a Ri-Class heavy cruiser and damaged a Ro-Class destroyer in the process, truly a veteran who had participated in almost all the major battles in the Pacific back in the war, and was one of the most experienced ship girls in Yokosuka.

As Chitose relayed the developing situation to them by announcing,

"Girls!

The battleships have moved up to provide a more accurate shelling salvo, and the JMSDF, 11th and 13th Strike Groups as well as the AC-130U gunships have all re-positioned themselves after the initial appearance of the Abyssal armada and their Princesses!

We can now engage them, since our backup's back online!"

Myoukou turned to her little sister as she instructed in a firm, businesswoman-like voice.

"Let us move up, Haguro.

We must hold our ground right now until further orders come in."

Haguro nodded respectfully as she simply uttered,

"Yes, Myoukou Nee-san."

Before the two ship girls joined the increasingly chaotic clusterfuck that was three Princesses making a beeline for them along with their Abyssal posse while the other Princesses hung back to provide aerial, shelling and torpedo support, and the ten fleets of the 1st Strike Group had to engage the Destroyer Princess, one of two Battleship Princesses and an Air Defense Princess with help of the other Strike Groups as well as the human soldiers, sailors and pilots.

Shiranui fired at an approaching Abyssal destroyer who was lurking in the water, clearing the stage for the heavy-hitting, boisterous butch/assertive ship girls that were Maya, Iowa, Tenryuu and the Kai Ni Hiei, Ashigara and Yuudachi to surprise the Abyssals by running in in order to engage the Abyssals in close combat which they specialized in, while the more feminine, but equally dangerous ship girls went to town on the Abyssals, like Shigure, Haguro, Myoukou, Chikuma, Jintsuu and Haruna, every one of them possessing Kai Ni remodels and were thus skilled and powerful in their own right.

Just as each of the Myoukou-Class sisters honed a particular skill over the years, Myoukou's skills were put on display as she weaved, ducked, strafed and spun between and around Abyssal humanoids who crowded the battlefield, Haguro performing equally swift evasive maneuvers while speaking to their Admiral on the other end of the line.

"Yes, Admiral!

Clear the AC-130U gunship for danger-close firing, we will work around them!

We need them to engage the Abyssal horde behind the front line in order to stand a chance, lest they get comfortable and bombard us!"

And as she heard the last dredges of the conversation be drowned out by the commotion around them, she looked up towards the heavens shortly before some sort of high-speed projectile streaked down and struck a Wo-Class dead.

The howitzer shell obliterated the Wo-Class and engulfed a large area in a grisly splash of blood, fuel, seawater and steel flesh as the splash damage caused to nearby units were mild at best due to their armor, but the Abyssals who were trying to consolidate their forces in order to provide supporting fire had to disperse for fear of a well-placed howitzer shell wiping out a whole lot of them.

Shiranui then heard the Americans speaking up from their flying fortress, the voice crackling a little as they spoke in English, because the Americans ran the risk of miscommunication if they spoke in Japanese; ship girls communicated clearer in English because of their comprehensive language modules.

"Banshee to Birdman, we're seeing a lot of Abyssal activity down there; where do you want us to concentrate our fire?"

She could barely hear Chitose speaking back in English as one of the many communication carriers in every Strike Group who were all designated 'Birdman', helping the Americans prioritize the Abyssals who stood further behind the front lines and were getting ready to provide devastating long-range support.

"Birdman 2 to Banshee, focus your attention on the Abyssal Princesses standing further behind; we can't have them lining up to take us out!

We'll radio for you and deliver the coordinates to you if we need any more danger-close support fire, thank you!"

And upon that, all that was heard was a simple,

"Acknowledged.

Engaging now."

Before auto-cannon and machine gun rounds rained down in a hail of death, Shiranui looking away too late as an auto-cannon round sheared through the pod headdress and the head of a Wo-Class carrier, getting a peek of the brain matter and cerebrospinal fluid barely spilling out from what remained of the Wo-Class's skull along with the damaged machinery within her headdress before the splash from the sizable round hitting the ocean blanketed the gruesome scene.

Another Abyssal, this time a Ri-Class, had her upper right arm ripped off after she attempted to evade the autocannon round even though it led towards her position and hit the ocean shell by shell, and the Ri-Class looked down in horror as she collapsed onto the ocean, trying to clutch the bleeding stump which existed instead of her right arm with her hand cannon, whose protective cocoon hindered the move as she emitted a ghastly shriek.

[AAAAHH!]

Shiranui then saw that to the left of her, the ground vehicles of the JGSDF were firing their SAM (in this case, Surface-to-Abyssal Missiles) and blew several Abyssals out of the water with their explosive payload detonating and taking off entire limbs, if not outright bisecting Abyssals as they were flung into the air.

The overwhelming support which they received was why the 1st Strike Group wasn't immediately and completely screwed from the aft before being forced into retreat by the Abyssal armada, because of the 11th and 13th Strike Group's support from the flanks, the AC-130U Spooky 'II' raining death from above as well as the other Strike Groups behind them adapting to the changing circumstances and providing support with their various combat equipment.

They all worked together to make sure that the Abyssals behind the front lines couldn't clear the path for the Abyssal front-liners with support shelling and bombing and hence allowing their advance to snowball by slowing them down with swift and decisive retaliation right out the gate, halting their advance by making their stand.

Looking back as she saw how the name-ship of the Myoukou-Class physically ran circles around their enemies, Myoukou went into the zone and had an aura of concentration around her, something which most ship girls exuded when in tune with the flow of battle as Myoukou scanned the crests and troughs on the ocean as well as the enemies which she faced before plotting out her path and adapting to unpredictable movements, all done subconsciously with training and experience which was drilled into her mind over the years.

The ocean, much like the weather, was fickle in that it was an even playing field with no cover for ship girls or Abyssals to hide behind and trade shots, and the ocean tide was always shifting with its own unique rhythm without consideration for either side.

And although ship girls and Abyssals had naval experience and background mental modules to account for the tide as they fought in battle, as a certain skilled heavy cruiser found out and exploited like those who came before her, the chaos of battle could throw even the most hardened of veterans off their feet as one psyched them out with feints, were swift enough to pull the enemy into your rhythm, to force them to move along with you and make them plant their feet on the ocean at a wrong angle as the tide shifted…

This was the ship girl ankle breaker.

Of course, this was harder to pull off against slow enemies, who were tortoise-like but were firm-footed most of the time, as well as Abyssals who either rode on vehicles or weren't bipedal since they didn't get around on their own two feet.

But as demonstrated in real-time, a Ne and Ri-Class cruiser as well as a Wo-Class were all attempting to overwhelm her with sheer numbers as the Myoukou-Class heavy cruiser blitzed in between them in order to run interference, moving into certain spots within the Abyssal ranks.

And as the humanoid cruisers and carrier were pulled into her rhythm and planted their foot down on certain spots of the shifting ocean, their center of gravity shifted as they all fell onto the ocean in the wake of Myoukou.

Cleanup duty was performed by Haguro, whose threat-perception abilities helped her to detect enemies in her presence through their killing intent and her heightened spatial awareness, allowing her to blind-fire accurately and shooting them either on the upper torso or in the head, uttering all the while,

"Sorry, sorry, sorry…"

As every shell landed on their intended targets.

But as a Tsu-Class fell onto the floor after a 20.3 Cm shell broke her helmet, Shiranui turned to Haguro as the Tsu-Class had blood trickling down from her temple into her left eye, possessing a bruised face since the shell cracked her steel helmet and dealt superficial damage, but didn't get to penetrate her head since the Abyssal miraculously angled her head correctly and caused the shell to bounce, lifting the cannons on her left arm in order to fire at Haguro's back.

Shiranui called out with genuine concern,

"Haguro-san!"

But the Myoukou-Class, while still sailing forward, angled her body sideways in order to point her handheld 20.3 Cm (No. 2) Twin Gun Cannon behind her, unceremoniously firing a round into the Tsu-Class's head without even looking back.

Shiranui turned back to see the headless Tsu-Class fall back onto the ocean, a fountain of blood and steel polluting the ocean as it hit the ocean like a string-less puppet collapsing onto the floor before disappearing underwater, Haguro uttering her last,

"Sorry."

Before sailing on, but Haguro eventually gave her a backwards glance as she thanked Shiranui with a shy smile.

"And thank you, Shiranui-chan."

Looking away abashedly while remembering the mines beneath them, Shiranui understood the reason why the Abyssal corpse wouldn't set off a naval mine was because the Abyssals tried to use Abyssal corpses as dummy units to set the mines off, back when they only programmed the mines to activate in the presence of an Abyssal, dead or alive.

Needless to say, the 'dead dummy' cheese tactic was patched, and mines now only activated in the presence of live Abyssals.

Another large-caliber shell flew in her general direction, and it was simple enough to evade since her superhuman senses allowed her to take in everything quickly and make snap decisions, wincing at the splash of seawater which was thrown up in the shell's wake, and she heard Kagerou sail up to her while keeping a low profile as she spoke loudly to Shiranui.

"Come on, Nui-Nui!

We're missing out on all the fun!"

Before sailing away in the direction of the Abyssal Battleship Symbiotic Princess and the Destroyer Princess, and Shiranui followed along while vainly attempting to use her pathetic cannons to distract Abyssals who were occupied with fighting other ship girls of the 1st Strike Group.

Erratically evading enemy shells and torpedoes at every step while firing her own torpedoes back at the Abyssals in retaliation, Shiranui now started to see how out of her depth she was as more Abyssals tried to join in the fray, but she looked up to find another two waves of allied dive bombers flying in opposing directions, surmising that they were planes sent by the 11th and 13th Strike Groups as they delivered death from above.

As other Abyssals were devastated by the dropped payload which leveled the ocean, it left Shiranui stumbling at the blast wave which threw her off-balance and shifted the ocean beneath her feet as she saw that a Wo-Class carrier, in evading the detonating payloads dropped from above, stumbled into the path of a seasoned Tenryuu, who sported a slasher smile as she engaged an unprepared Wo-Class in combat by calling out,

"En garde!"

She slashed down diagonally at the Wo-Class as the latter held her cane in a reverse-grip, and for her trouble, she had a nasty gash torn into her left hand as the tip caught her bare abdomen and left a bleeding slit in its wake, the Abyssal spinning back and wincing in agony as Ooi came in running.

And as she sailed through the battlefield, she could feel the moistness of the air on her skin as the detonation of the payload threw vaporized seawater into the air, and she could see that the torpedo cruiser Ooi had drop-kicked the damaged Abyssal for Kitakami to finish off, calling her sister ship.

"Kitakami-san!"

Kitakami sailed in as she idly responded,

"Hai, hai, Ooi-chi.

I've got this in the bag.

Nice setup b.t.w., Tenryuu-chi."

The Kuma-Class torpedo cruiser brought up her free arm in order to hold a torpedo which was still nested in the launcher which was strapped to her left arm, swiping her right arm in a clockwise motion as she grabbed hold of the torpedo in order to fling the lone torpedo at the downed Wo-Class on the ocean surface.

Ooi scrambled away as she used her rigging for cover from the blast wave and as a shield from the blood, oil and steel flesh which flew everywhere, Shiranui making her way to the Destroyer Princess as the battle raged on.

Bomber planes from both sides were now starting to drop like flies, being shot down by opposing sides in a bid for air supremacy on the battlefield while denying the enemy the same opportunity, and while the Abyssals had an Aircraft Carrier Princess or two on their side, the occasional howitzer shell and the hail of good ol' American freedom raining down on them as the AC-130U 'Spooky II' gunship, code-named 'Banshee', couldn't be touched by World War 2 Anti-Air fire due to the altitude which it cruised at.

And as she laid eyes on the Destroyer Princess, she heard something like the sickening crush of steel and the sound bubble shield plates made when they broke as the ocean trembled from the impact, surmising that some Princess behind the front lines had their shield broken by a howitzer shell from above, but the shield did its job by crushing the shell like a beer can on a ship girl's forehead and protected the Princess within.

The Destroyer Princess was surrounded by her posse as the ship girls of various naval bases engaged them in battle, and she could see that Houshou was standing further behind as she had the remnants of a ship girl strapped to her back with steel wires, Shiranui's HUD updating her of who it was and her current status.

'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND

YUUGUMO-CLASS DESTROYER 133

"YUUGUMO"

STATUS: DECEASED'

Ah, that explained the burnt green hair, looking to previously tied in a braid.

Her corpse pretty much consisted of only her head and her upper right shoulder-slash-arm, a torn up and charred inner torso revealing her disemboweled insides as they slowly flopped out and messily slid down Houshou's back while what little remained of her battle backpack belched out smoke.

Her right arm was uselessly flopping about as her lolling head was tucked in between Houshou's neck and right shoulder, Houshou looking uncomfortable all the while and doing her best to focus on the battle ahead and not the slimy, bloody insides of a dead child sliding out of her seemingly bisected corpse.

Shiranui had seen this kind of wound before.

The thing about torpedoes was that their warheads were exposed to the elements to be fired on a whim, but a stray shell hitting a torpedo (a rare occurrence due to their relatively small size and the mobility of the ship girls who carried them) would cause one hell of an explosion to occur at point-blank range, and you were considered lucky if there was anything left of you to salvage.

One shell must have struck Yuugumo's right torpedo launcher, blowing off everything beneath her waist and likely destroyed her rigging in the process, taking off her left arm and leaving an arc diagonally across her body as her purple school uniform and white collared-shirt were set ablaze.

Licks of flame likely caught her braid and worked their way up her hair, forcing others to dunk her in the ocean, explaining the dampness of her clothes and hair.

Before them, the Destroyer Princess was firing all her cannons as her expression was a rictus of focus on making their complete and utter annihilation a reality, looking like Harusame as her glowing purple eyes shone with determination.

Her white hair was tied in a long left side ponytail as her headdress possessed horns atop it, the longer one on her right and the shorter on her left as it bore a significant resemblance to Harusame's beret, albeit larger.

She wore a black steel choker with a sleeveless sailor uniform colored in the usual Abyssal black with a maroon-purple neckerchief, and her pale abdomen was exposed as her nether region was covered up by a dark cloth, and it was commonly accepted that the Destroyer Princess had no legs as she had two steel rings covering the stumps at the end of her sheared-off thighs.

Two armed Abyssal destroyer-esque attachments to the sides of each thigh was what supported her as she sailed with their assistance, each possessing Quadruple Torpedo Launchers of their own on their flanks and a small-caliber cannon on their snout, and her steel cuff held up her black-colored right glove while her left hand and forearm was enveloped by a twin-barreled hand-cannon.

She was fighting off the two fleets of the Itou Naval Base as well as the second fleet of the Tateyama Naval Base, and Kagerou ducked underneath a Ri-Class's attempt at a backhand as she spun around counterclockwise while jumping and pulled off an airborne reverse heel kick into the solar plexus of a nearby Tsu-Class.

And although it didn't do much damage since Kagerou was still a Kai destroyer going up against a light cruiser, it temporarily stunned the Abyssal and bought enough time for Shigure to run up, delivering a devastating blow to the same spot on her abdomen as her Kai Ni strength blurred her fist, causing the Abyssal to nearly double over.

Kagerou scrambled out of the way while providing cover fire to keep the Tsu-Class occupied as Shigure boost-kicked the Tsu-Class in the groin, and while she didn't possess male genitalia to feel too much pain, the blow caused the Abyssal to become weak in the knees as she doubled over this time, almost in a bowing position as her bent legs trembled.

Shigure took the chance to plant her hand-cannon near the nape of the Tsu-Class's neck, uttering her parting words,

"It's over."

Before pulling the trigger and causing the Tsu-Class to drop dead from the nervous system running down her neck being severed by a shell fired from a point-blank hand-cannon shot.

As Yuudachi, Hatsushimo, Shoukaku and Ayanami engaged the Air Defense Princess and the Abyssals in their area, she could see that Ashigara was cooperating with Murakumo to take out the Ri-Class who tried to backhand Kagerou, Ashigara holding Murakumo's hand as she spun the Kai Ni destroyer about in a merry-go-round with her boat slippers sticking out dangerously.

And as the undersides were sharp in order to cut through the ocean, they slashed the Ri-Class across the face and left a nasty gash as the Ri-Class bled out, Ashigara making sure to throw Murakumo towards a safe spot on the ocean as she let go before continuing her spin on the spot, jumping and performing a dynamic entry kick without any running start.

Siding up beside Hiyou, Shiranui fired off a few torpedoes to keep the light carrier safe from harm as Hiyou sent out a few more bomber planes to keep their teammates safe, and she could tell that the light carrier was even more out of her depth than she was.

That was probably why she was standing so far away from the battlefield; her Admiral, possessing a lack of carriers to send to the front lines, had to send Hiyou to provide air support, but because of her inexperience compared to the rest of the Strike Group, she was ordered to stand near the rear of the formation and not unnecessarily expose herself to danger, Hiyou asking Shiranui worriedly.

"U-Um, why are our ship girls engaging the Abyssals in such dangerous close-quarters combat?

Isn't it safer to simply stand further behind and bombard the enemy with our shells, instead of allowing the enemy to come too close and fight them while being outnumbered?

And on that note, why are the Abyssals advancing and allowing us to destroy them en masse?

I'm so confused!"

Shiranui, firing her cannons and torpedoes while her Anti-Air armament barked in retaliation to enemy bombers loitering about in her airspace, turned back to speak to her gruffly.

"Naval warfare is always changing.

Ships in the Age of Sail had their own distinct style of fighting, and so do the ships of both World Wars which are all considered irrelevant in today's human navies ever since the march of technology sped up after the end of World War 2.

We ship girls have our own way of fighting, and I think you can understand that the old ways of 'stand back, guesstimate and fire' won't work here when our enemy has a limitless pool of resources to tap into.

Every shell matters, and that's why we've gotten very good at close-quarters combat, since this method of engagement conserves our ammunition for when they're truly needed."

She watched a drunk Kai Ni Junyou in the distance boost-jump onto a Ri-Class's upper torso, clamping the panicking Ri-Class's head in between her thighs as she locked her legs and sat on her shoulders while keeping a low profile so as not to get shot at, and Isuzu performed a sliding tackle from behind the Abyssal, tripping the Ri-Class up as she fell backwards and left herself vulnerable to Kinugasa's torpedo salvo while Junyou rolled off the supine Abyssal and scrambled away.

Shiranui continued,

"Besides, even if they tried to simply stand behind and bombard us to smithereens in a place like this, we can simply stand beyond their range, or even hunker down and form a turtling defense in Sagami Bay in order to force them to advance beyond the naval mine formation.

But that way, neither of us can reliably engage the other, since they wouldn't want to sail too close to our shores without taking a few of us out first and not when the shore's full of JGSDF vehicles laying in wait for them to come closer, and we can't do much except spam torpedoes and bomber planes in that situation, which would take a huge toll on our bauxite resources.

I suppose this is a compromise in battles like this, where both sides have their vanguard combatants engage each other in close-range combat while others provide support from behind and try to disrupt the opposing side's backup fleets, in our case, with the backup of various Strike Groups as well as the American gunship, known as 'Banshee'.

In scenarios like this, the battle'll probably go on until one chickens out and retreats, allowing the other party to advance.

Their quantity versus our quality.

Who will win?"

Of course, Shiranui thought to herself.

It wasn't as if either side could wholly invest in one and ignore the other attribute, as Abyssal quality was shown in the Princesses while the ship girls, even though they didn't possess the well of infinite resources which the Abyssals exploited in order to create reserve units, had to respond primarily with quality along with a sizable quantity in the form of their armada, since quantity was indeed a quality all on its own.

While both sides had a preference, they never risked overspecializing in either by investing in both attributes.

Hiyou nodded, sending out a Ryuusei Kai torpedo bomber as Shiranui saw that Hiyou noted something else being transmitted over the air, likely from the humans who were doing their part to contribute to the battle as she smiled in relief and announced through the ship girl radio channels in a hopeful voice.

"Everyone!

The JDS Myoukou and the JS Atago are patrolling the ocean, and they've brought friends in the form of Mitsubishi F-2, F-15 Eagle and F-4 Phantom fighter jets, and the F-35 and F-22 fighter jets are taking off from the mainland as we speak!

In other words, the cavalry's here!

Banzai!"

And fate threw them another curve-ball as a faint splash was heard in the distance, a customized warning signal for this battle used to indicate the presence of the Flying Dutchman blaring on her HUD as everyone around them turned back and gave Hiyou the stink-eye for jinxing the situation, the Hiyou-Class light carrier withdrawing within herself as she meekly squeaked,

"Oops…"

But their attention turned back to the Abyssals who found a second wind upon seeing their commander grace their presence with a capital ship which was upgraded to fight battles in a modern age, advancing with a newfound vigor as Shiranui heard Admiral Mako speak with the leader of the Fighter Squadron 'Sparrow' and captain of the JDS Myoukou on the emergency channel, since the Flying Dutchman's presence required everyone to understand what was going to happen next.

"Captain Akihiro, Pilot Yamamoto of Flight Squadron 'Sparrow', the Flying Dutchman is here.

You both know what to do?"

And Shiranui heard the Captain of JDS Myoukou speak up, the sounds of sailors preparing for a naval engagement apparent in the background along with a blaring alarm of sorts to notify everyone to get to their battle stations.

"You got it!

We'll try our best to lay down cover fire with our missiles whenever possible, but we're gonna need several submarines and destroyers to take the Dutchman down first!

She was modeled after the pride and joy of the IJN, after all!"

And the leading pilot of the incoming Fighter Squadron responded, his voice sounding muffled since he likely had his oxygen mask on in order to breath easily while flying, using the call-sign of the carriers for some coordinates to fire their missiles at without flying too close into the no-fly zone.

"Acknowledged.

We're coming in hot right now, Birdman, we need one of you to relay coordinates for us to fire at for maximum damage."

In which Admiral Mako, being the one who coordinated the various Strike Groups and the JSDF trinity behind the scenes, spoke up to try and direct everyone while standing further behind the front lines.

"Alright, any one of you girls spot the Princesses or a cluster of Abyssals who are easy targets, call them in and Sparrow Squadron will engage them in their missile barrage.

After making a pass on the Abyssals, Yamamoto-san, try to double back and flank the Dutchman with your planes."

Cue Captain Akihiro's concerned response,

"Copy that, we'll hold our own until then.

Watch out, though.

The Dutchman seems to be heavily armored with what seems to be missile launchers from what I'm seeing, and it's not unreasonable to think that as an Abyssal aviation battleship, it's likely got several Hell and Revenge Bombers on hand to try and ward you guys off."

Shiranui turned around to watch the approaching squadrons of fighter jets flying in fours in diamond formation as she heard the pilot speak up,

"Alright, thanks for the heads-up, Captain.

Birdman, we've received coordinates from several of you.

Missiles away."

Before she saw the pinpricks that were the JASDF fighter jets unleashing a barrage of missiles, Shiranui recognizing them as JDAM missiles as they flew past her and blew the Abyssal aliens to kingdom come, watching them pull up above the no-fly zone so that they would avoid the dogfight between the Fairy pilots and Abyssal planes as well as the Anti-Air fire which the Abyssals would no doubt unleash upon them, suddenly seeing something new appear on her HUD.

Her HUD blatantly displayed in red,

'INBOUND MISSILE'

As it projected a red circle on the ocean before her, the color intensity fading as it radiated from the epicenter in order to show the projected splash damage caused by the airborne missile as proof of the reconnaissance planes doing their work, hearing a ship girl yell out,

"Evasive maneuvers!"

And an unknown pilot shouted over the frenzied burst of activity on the radio,

"Shoot 'em down!

Shoot 'em down!"

As everyone scattered, even the Abyssals who didn't want to get caught in the explosion as the missiles didn't discriminate in their destruction.

Not for the first time today, and neither would it be the last, the ocean quaked in terror as the Flying Dutchman's missiles rained down upon them like fire and brimstone, Shiranui pulling Hiyou's sleeve as she led the inexperienced light carrier away from the explosion, performing sidewinders and steering clear from the red circles on her HUD, barely hearing a humanoid Abyssal shout to another as they performed evasive maneuvers and paid the two ship girls no mind since they weren't really high-value targets.

[Come on!

Since when did Commander Yuubari care about danger-close?!]

A missile detonated next to them, a blast wave throwing her off her feet as Shiranui wondered how the Dutchman tried to engage them.

The missiles didn't seem as if they were locked onto any particular ship girl signatures, and in her daze as she shook the seawater and sweat from her hair and face, she surmised that the Dutchman likely used geographical coordinates to direct their missiles instead of other missiles which required a lock-on onto an enemy signature before firing.

Bloody hell, if the Dutchman could devastate enemies at such long range, how did the ship girls at Mikura Jima Island survive at a closer range?

Hiyou, since she was taller than her as a light carrier, pulled her up as she tried to be gentle with a recovering Shiranui, speaking worriedly into her ear,

"Come on!

We have to keep moving!"

Nodding, she put her weight back onto her own two feet as she continued her run, joining Atago just as the heavy cruiser was being attacked by a Ha-Class Abyssal, the fish-like Abyssal destroyer trying to take advantage of the situation by leaping out of the ocean and aggressively attacking.

But as much as she wanted to help her senior, she knew that the Takao-Class heavy cruiser had this in the bag, her faith being rewards as the heavy cruiser rolled backwards onto her back, bringing her shapely legs in before slamming her heels into the Ha-Class's underbelly, displacing it upwards as it let out an unholy, banshee-like shriek in pain.

Atago rolled with the momentum as she continued rolling backwards, catching her beret just as it slipped off her head and hit the ocean, coming full-circle as her backwards roll transitioned into a kneel, one knee on the ocean as she looked up with her drenched hair clinging to her skin and uniform.

She uttered a pre-mortem one-liner,

"Pan-paka-pa~n!"

Before one of her three 20.3 Cm Twin Gun Cannons fired two shells into the sky, entering the Ha-Class's belly and ending its life.

Sailing on in order to join the fight, both light carrier and destroyer joined Hibiki and Akatsuki, Shigure and Yuudachi and various others in fighting the Destroyer Princess, noting Yuudachi's upgrades to her look as she sported the ear flaps on her hair as her left fringe was held up by a hair clip, a white scarf wrapped around her neck, possessing crimson pupils as she had a twin-barreled hand-cannon on her right hand.

Her rigging had a white flag on it to reflect her past misadventures, small-caliber cannons attached to platforms which extended from her waist, a golden throat guard on her collar and Quadruple Torpedo Launchers attached to her thighs, her attitude rambunctious and aggressive as she taunted the isolated Destroyer Princess.

"Just because it's daytime right now, doesn't mean the nightmares stop haunting you, baby!

Let's get this party started!"

And the Destroyer Princess responded,

[I won't be defeated!]

Before launching her torpedoes in a broad salvo and forcing everyone to disperse, Shiranui emptying her 12 Cm Single Gun Cannon into the Princess's shields for all the good it did, the shields stopping the shells and spreading the impact over an area as evidenced by the transparent red spots blooming on the bubble shield.

Upon seeing another red circle blooming near her position, she simply remarked disdainfully,

"Shit."

Before strafing away from the area, hearing another explosion sound out behind her as her world was shaken again, being thrown across the ocean as she felt her steel bones rattle a little this time while the intense heat took her by surprise, almost heat-drying her sweat-drenched clothes.

Too close.

Shigure evaded a large-caliber shell which was fired in their direction, likely because the Destroyer Princess called for backup and the Flying Dutchman provided it in spades, Akatsuki and Hibiki sailing in tandem as they spoke with each other, their uniforms soaked in the blood of the Abyssals which they had melee'd to death before this.

Akatsuki, sounding as if she was insinuating something, asked Hibiki about something which sounded somewhat random,

"Hibiki!

Want some flying lessons?"

Hibiki simply responded,

"Please.

You don't teach a phoenix how to fly."

Before sailing up to Akatsuki, Shiranui now realizing it was a password of sorts to lead up to a certain move being executed, Hibiki sailing up to her sister as Akatsuki held up her riot shield parallel to the ocean surface for Hibiki to vault onto, now standing on the riot shield as they both bent their knees in preparation for the next move.

As the both of them boost-jumped, Akatsuki's momentum was transferred to Hibiki and allowed her to jump higher, easily clearing a battleship's height and almost hitting the minimum height which dive bombers usually reached in order to drop their payloads.

Upon reaching the apex of her jump which was located above the Destroyer Princess, Hibiki dropped her prepped depth charges like a hail of explosive death upon the Princess's upper shield layer, completely demolishing it as explosions engulfed the Princess, the Destroyer Princess yelping in pain while Hibiki landed on her feet.

But sudden movement within the smoke which belched out after the explosion caused everyone to be on edge, the Destroyer Princess surprising them all with a burst of speed which no one expected from a legless humanoid Abyssal, Shiranui jumping to the rescue and pushing Hibiki away as the Abyssal boost-jumped with her unusual mode of transportation, judging herself to be of less value and hence more expandable than the Akatsuki-Class destroyer, taking the brunt of what came next.

The middle layer of the shield smacked her like a bubble football, except that this time, she didn't have her own bubble football to protect herself, and unlike bubble footballs which were somewhat soft due to the material used to make them, the bubble shield of the Destroyer Princess was unyielding and tough like steel despite being invisible.

Shiranui felt her entire front profile burst out in spasms of pain as she was displaced by the surprise attack, tasting her own blood flowing from her mouth and nose as she hit the ocean hard, and she picked herself up with shaky limbs as she saw the Destroyer Princess looming over her with malice dripping from her expression, every weapon at the ready while she was still partially paralyzed from the impact.

But Yuudachi was already flying above the Destroyer Princess, with a positively demonic smile and bloodthirsty expression on her face as she dropped her torpedoes and fired at the Abyssal in mid-air since the Abyssal's upper shield layer was destroyed and left her vulnerable, the Abyssal looking up in surprise at the Nightmare of Solomon while Shiranui spotted a shadow streaking towards her from her flank.

The shadow turned out to be Teruzuki saving her from the resulting explosion which occurred from within the bubble shield, and since the bubble shield only blocked solid objects which approached from the outside, the internal explosion freely radiated from its epicenter as Yuudachi landed and boosted away, everyone hearing the Destroyer Princess's screams upon being hit with torpedoes.

[AAAHHHH!]

Shiranui looked up at her savior, noticing that Teruzuki had armor-plated Rensouhou-chans with her (or whatever the Akizuki-Class called them), and in this case, one closed its right eye while looking to be smoking a cigar (actually a small-caliber shell) while the other on the destroyer's right simply had its left eye closed, and they both had twin turret barrels sticking out of their boxy foreheads.

Her rigging was a pair of 'wings' which spread out from the base of her spine to envelop and protect the platform on which the two Rensouhou-Chans were located, and on Teruzuki's thighs were drum magazines which fed shells into the twin Rensouhou-Chans' platforms and indirectly into them, and she had a large Quadruple Torpedo Launcher on her back like Shimakaze.

Much like her sisters, she wore an armored corset and thigh heel boots (although her boots were red) with white stockings, wearing a pleated black skirt with a white stripe and a white sailor uniform top with a black sailor collar and white stripes, and she wore an unusually long yellow neckerchief with a small Fire Detector holding it together while snugly located in her sizable cleavage.

On her black headband, in golden fonts, were the Japanese words which translated into '61st Destroyer Division', and her light-brown hair was tied up in twin braids which were held in place by golden propeller hair ornaments at the ends, and she possessed grey eyes which looked down at her with concern as she flashed an easy smile at her, asking sincerely

"Be careful, Shiranui-san.

I was glad that you weren't knocked unconsciousness by that attack…"

Shiranui nodded tersely, looking at an approaching Hibiki as the Akatsuki-Class destroyer looked rather solemn at the face that another destroyer had to take a mortal blow for her, apologizing while on the move.

"... Sorry about that.

To think that I was unable to react fast enough to that attack, despite being a senior…"

Shiranui waved her apology away, still feeling a little short of breath as the bubble shield impact hit her on the chest and caused her to cough a little, gasping for breath to avoid antagonizing the throbbing chest pain as she wiped the blood from her cracked nose and felt out the location in her mouth where she accidentally bit down on her inner cheek upon impact, now oozing blood as she tasted its metallic flavor.

She gathered up the blood in her mouth along with her spit and crudely spat it out into an unoccupied spot on the ocean before speaking hoarsely.

"Don't… don't worry about… it.

Let's just focus on… the task at hand."

Hibiki nodded, watching Houshou, Hiyou, Ashigara, Murakumo, Hatsuharu and others hold the line and clear space for them to engage the Destroyer Princess freely as the Kai Ni destroyer responded simply,

"... Fine."

Replacing her remorseful expression with her game face as Akatsuki, Shigure, Yuudachi and Teruzuki joining them, making it six versus one, with the Abyssal Princess possessing the Flying Dutchman to even the odds somewhat.

And as the smoke cleared, it was clear that the Abyssal Destroyer Princess had suffered damage, but wasn't going down easily as her partially burnt face contorted into a pained scowl, uttering a mantra to focus her attention and efforts into one singular goal.

Their deaths and sinkings by her hand.

[Unforgivable…

Unforgivable…

ABSOLUTELY UNFORGIVABLE!]

Her rigging was damaged and broken in places, revealing wires and machinery in some areas and bleeding flesh in others as her left arm's pale flesh was marred with second-degree burns, bleeding from her right temple and bringing her panting breath under control while everyone visibly recoiled from the killing intent that was emitted by the demure Princess.

And as Yuudachi remarked about how this lookalike of Harusame had the exact opposite personality traits,

"Yoo, Shigure…

Even though this Abyssal looks like Harusame-chan, she behaves in the exact opposite manner and really makes you appreciate how nice Harusame-chan is in real life, hmm?"

Shigure responded as they stared down the seething Abyssal Princess, getting into a martial arts stance as she did so.

"Even if she shares the same looks and, on the extremely unlikely off-chance, the same memories, she's but a shadow of her former self.

To be driven by pain and hatred like the Abyssals are, I think that is a form of torture in and of itself.

Whoever she was in her past life, she deserves to be put out of her misery.

That is what I believe, and that is why I fight."

The Destroyer Princess growled menacingly as she fired her cannons and several torpedoes in order to scatter them, another large-caliber shell fired from the Dutchman entering their general vicinity as Shiranui shielded herself from the spray thrown up by the resulting water column.

The Destroyer Princess likely called in shelling and missile support in order to balance the scales, and Shiranui tossed a torpedo of her own into the Abyssal's middle shield layer, causing another explosion which tested the integrity of the shield plates.

Another red circle appeared next to her on her HUD, forcing her to relocate just as the Dutchman laid down support fire from afar without concern for danger close, likely at the discretion of the Destroyer Princess who wanted support of any kind after her posse was wiped out.

She boosted out of the way just as an enemy torpedo sailed towards her, performing a jump while she watched the Kai Ni Shigure perform a Cloud Walk over several torpedoes before hitting the ocean and preparing for combat.

Her battle backpack unfolded in halves to become tonfa-like weapons with cannon barrels at the ends while still attached to her steel waistband via mechanical arms, firing at the Princess's compromised shield plates while Teruzuki provided Anti-Air fire to ward off any bomber planes who wanted to come to the Abyssal's rescue.

Hibiki, at Akatsuki's wordless urging, threw an activated depth charge in her sister's direction, but before Shiranui could ask them what they were up to, Akatsuki pulled her leg back before she kicked the depth charge in the direction of the Abyssal Princess like a soccer kick, spectacularly shattering the middle layer of the reddened shields with the resulting explosion.

And as the Destroyer Princess staggered back from the explosion, Shiranui noted Teruzuki calling in the carriers behind them for an airstrike while Shigure and Yuudachi stepped in to fight in close-quarters as blue and red auras flowed out from their pores to signify their concentration, Shigure storing her cannon tonfas as Yuudachi stepped in to start the combo.

Yuudachi started out with a jump before transitioning into a drop-kick, bringing her knees in to drive her boat slippers out as she fired her boost gauge into the defending Destroyer Princess's uniform, the Abyssal still somewhat disoriented from the explosion as Yuudachi's overwhelming Kai Ni strength and the boost gauge forced her back and caused her to lose her balance.

Her back hit the ocean, her platform doing its best to re-orientate itself relative to the ocean surface as the Destroyer Princess tried to push herself back up.

Shigure then came in as she grabbed the Destroyer Princess's platform at where she wouldn't be hurt, its exposed bottom which was supposed to be in contact with the ocean surface, but was exposed now that the Destroyer Princess laid back on the ocean, Shigure spinning around clockwise with an Abyssal Destroyer Princess in hand, the spinning Abyssal facing the sky as she was taken for a ride.

The spinning Destroyer Princess gained a bit of air time as Shigure's strength lifted the Abyssal with the help of centrifugal force, and as she let go of the Abyssal, she allowed the Destroyer Princess to fly for a few milliseconds…

Right before Yuudachi, having scrambled back onto her feet while Shigure performed her swing and flung the Abyssal away from them, jumped on the Destroyer Princess as they both flew parallel to the ocean surface, grabbing the Abyssal Princess in a bear hug and putting a lot of spin into her jump in order to pull off a horizontal Izuna Drop as she screamed,

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

And since Yuudachi hugged the Princess's abdomen and tucked her head into the Princess's almost non-existent cleavage, the Destroyer Princess bore the full brunt of the damage as her head was driven into the water, landing on her back while Yuudachi came up on top by landing on the Princess, hurriedly scrambling away after untangling herself.

The Destroyer Princess had seconds to spare as Teruzuki's order for an airstrike was granted in the form of Type 99, Suisei and Type 0 F.M. 62 Dive Bombers all diving in sync, dropping their payloads together on the Destroyer Princess.

But before she could celebrate the death of a troublesome enemy as the payloads streaked towards the Abyssal Princess, she saw that the Destroyer Princess likely took over manual control of her shields as she raised the platform wrapped around her leg stumps, and somehow raising her lower shield layer to face the sky in order to act as a makeshift shield against the dropped payload, still being engulfed in a fiery explosion as Shiranui felt her damp clothes dry a little from the radiating heat.

She saw a Wo-Class soundlessly speaking with a difficult expression on her face in the distance while pointing towards them, every ship girl fleeing the scene as the Flying Dutchman sent a few more missiles in their direction, as evidenced by the three red circles concentrated around their position to get them to retreat from the wounded Princess, which they reluctantly did for fear of being blown to smithereens.

And in their exodus, she heard Yuudachi yelping in surprise at the missiles which nearly knocked the destroyers off their feet,

"Motherfucker!"

And Akatsuki chiding her for her foul language, still striving for some form of elegance even in a battle as heated as this.

"Language, Yuudachi-san!"

She could see Yuudachi's red pupils roll up in exasperation, but Shiranui took the time to check herself for any unexpected injuries and the conditions of her comrades before turning back to the Abyssals as shells started flying, the smoke clearing to show the backup Abyssals cradling the injured and likely unconscious Destroyer Princess away from the battlefield while other Abyssals covered their retreat with cover fire.

Shiranui, noting the partially destroyed platform, lolling head and extensive burns showing through her charred uniform, it was likely that the Princess was unable to participate in this battle, and even as large-caliber shells flew towards them and forced them to evade, their fierce battle in this sector was over, Shiranui hearing the emergency channel crackle with life upon activation, a pilot speaking up as they were likely engaging enemy planes in battle.

Only, they were speaking in extremely confused tones about what was sent out of the Dutchman's hull, Shiranui's spirit sinking with every word as she slowly but surely realized what was going on.

"Swallow 3 to Minerva, the planes are coming out of the Dutchman, but they aren't anything like the Hell and Revenge Bombers we were told to expect.

In fact, they're… they look like human fighter jets!"

Oh, shit.

Admiral Mako spoke into the emergency channel in order to speak to the pilot while making sure that everyone could listen in on the conversation so as to keep everyone on the front lines fully updated on the developing situation in real-time, speaking urgently.

"Swallow Squadron, can any one of you get a visual on the unknown enemy plane and who the hell's piloting it?!"

Shiranui kept moving as she looked closer at the blue skies with her bionic eyes' zoom function, barely spotting the pinpricks on the horizon flitting about something visually unrecognizable over the horizon as she finally heard a reply, along with a live feed request on her HUD.

"Bogey spotted!

It…"

Shiranui looked up at the corner of her HUD, spectating the aerial battle through the pilot's helmet camera.

It had a bird's eye view of the ocean and the ship girl/Abyssal engagement on its surface, looking to be the size of ants in the distance and required coordinates to ensure accurate bombing with little to no collateral damage.

The JASDF fighter jet flew alongside a jet-black fighter plane which was on his left, clearly looking to be of Abyssal origins if the color scheme was anything to go by, and through the slightly reflective cockpit window which shielded the pilot from the outside elements, it was clear that there was something… not human inside the enemy cockpit, the pilot parroting her thoughts.

"It seems to be… I think it's an F-35 Lightning II, judging by the design of the plane and the shape of its wings, and the engine inlets are the wrong shape to be an F-22 Raptor.

And is that a…

Is that an Abyssal destroyer in the cockpit?!"

Everything clicked into place regarding the choice for the fighter pilot, since the Abyssal destroyers were streamlined in shape, wouldn't weight the plane down too much compared to the other classes and would fit inside the oval or tear-shaped cockpit, and they would still possess equal, if not outright superior reaction time and abilities to the best human pilots even if they were destroyers, thanks to being part machine.

And on the streamed feed of the pilot's point of view, she saw that the F-35 Lightning II suddenly banked left and performed a sharp turn, almost vanishing from the pilot's vision in an instant while another pilot shouted over the air,

"Bank!

Bank!"

And a third voice pointing out the absurd speeds achieved by these new Abyssal fighters,

"Bogey just went supersonic!

Stay on him!

Stay on him!"

The channel was then filled by the Captain of the JDS Myoukou speaking up in a worried voice, relaying his movements before cutting it short with a curse, and finally a panicked warning.

"This is the JDS Myoukou.

We're circling around the Dutchman while maintaining a safe distance so that we can approach it from its opposite flank.

There're two portholes or… whatever, opening up on its hull at its bow, and…

Fuck they're gun-ports!

ALL HANDS, BRACE FOR I-"

Shortly before an earsplitting whistle filled the emergency frequency and blocked out all possible communications as Shiranui noted an absolutely horrified Hiyou pointing upwards with a trembling finger, her expression contorted with fright as she called out as a warning.

"Incoming fighters!

T-They're faster than anything I've ever seen!"

Before hearing a grim-sounding Shigure call out with no room for insubordination, argument or delay.

"EVERYONE! ANTI-AIR TURRETS!

FIRE EVERYTHING!"

The battlefield was in complete chaos as everyone spoke, cried and questioned all at once, but they managed to band together as experienced veterans who knew how to follow orders even under fire.

And watching the fruition of Apocalypse in real time, Shiranui's heart dropped as the red dot on her radar flew in at hitherto unknown speeds for any Abyssal plane and slowly transitioned from a black pinprick into an airborne Grim Reaper as its black armor and slip-streamed shape made for on hell of an imposing sight.

One of the F-35's missiles underneath its wings flared up, Shiranui snapping out of her frozen panic over the surprise demonstration of Apocalypse as she joined in the Anti-Air fire which was directed in the alien F-35's direction, and the missile was launched as it flew true towards…

IN HER DIRECTION.

OF ALL PLACES.

MOTHERFU-

She started boost-sailing backwards as she concentrated all her Anti-Air fire on the nearing missile, and even though she wasn't religious, she supposed this was as good a time as any to start as she started praying to a higher power to not die (or God forbid, sink), for all the good it would do against a guided missile to her face.

Her wish was granted as the guided missile exploded prematurely before it could hit her thanks to the Anti-Air turrets shooting it down, and an explosion which wasn't at absolutely close range while her friends were nearby meant that sinking was quite unlikely.

The bad news?

The epicenter of the explosion was only about four meters away from her, and there was nothing standing between herself and the explosion, so a spectacularly gory and fiery death was pretty much an inevitability.

Shit.

As the fireball erupted at near point-blank range, it looked like a mini-sun majestically flickering into existence, and she was flung backwards by the blast wave as her entire front profile was engulfed by the radiant heat which triggered almost every pain sensor in her body, and if the wind hadn't been knocked out of her scorched lungs, she'd already be screaming in agony as she felt weightless in the air, no longer feeling the ocean beneath her.

Everything faded to white.