Unryuu ran towards the horde of Abyssals as she faced off against enemy shells, bombers, torpedoes and missiles while she struggled to suppress her feelings in the heat of battle, hearing the spirited roar of her teammates as they caught up with the 8th Fleet and slowly overtook them, the Abyssals trying to maintain their formation and lay down fire in order to stop their Banzai Charge.
She heard pained screams behind her, but to her, they were like the wind which howled in her ears as she kept running forward, spotting the whites of her enemies' eyes as the Abyssals realized that they were thoroughly screwed since the ship girls assaulted them from the front, the 11th and 13th's bombers attacked their flanks and the human-piloted jet fighters had devastated the hind of their formation with a barrage of missiles, some of them circling back for more.
Unryuu ignored the pop-ups on her HUD which indicated the grim situation behind her, which read:
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
NAGARA-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 109
"KINU"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
MOGAMI-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER 130
"KUMANO"
STATUS: DECEASED'
She mentally directed her bombers to drop their payloads and withdraw from the scene, lest they get shot down by the enemy fighters, hearing Nagato shout.
"ONWARDS!
FIRE EVERYTHING!"
And the ship girls behind them roared yet again, Unryuu hearing another chorus of their spirited voices as they called out in unison,
"TENNO HEIKA BANZAI!"
Although she saw the benefit of everyone screaming out in sync to surprise the enemy and bolster their fighting spirit, she secretly found it silly of them to call out their attacks before getting within fighting distance, but she kept these thoughts to herself at this point in time.
She saw that several of the Abyssals opted to crash dive rather than face them head-on, while others were lit aflame by the Fairy bombers dropping their payloads and engulfing them in fiery explosions as they either flailed their arms about uselessly or dropped onto the ocean and started rolling around in order to extinguish the flames.
And that was while more bombers were still approaching them, leaving them vulnerable to machine gun fire or more dropped payloads.
Unryuu spotted a Kai Ni Yuudachi as she transitioned from a bestial four-legged sprint into a running pounce, inexplicably evading a medium-caliber shell in mid-air before slamming her body frame into a Ri-Class heavy cruiser who fired the shot, looking positively feral with her glowing crimson eyes as she used her fingernails and canines to dig and bite into the Ri-Class's armored skin and vulnerable eyes while shifting around on the heavy cruiser's body to avoid getting shot at, both ship girl and Abyssal screaming for entirely different reasons.
"RRAAWWWRRRHHH!"
[AAAHHHH!]
Evading another torpedo salvo, which she extensively learnt how to spot and evade in this life, Unryuu saw that faster and/or heavier-built ship girls came in contact with the Abyssal vanguard first, watching Maya charge into before flipping a He-Class over her shoulder like a charging juggernaut, allowing Iowa the chance to elevate her cannons high enough to pump a shell into the airborne Abyssal's torso before continuing their charge.
The missiles and payloads kept dropping, and although their fighters were hard at work trying to shoot the enemy planes down before they could do so along with the hail of Anti-Air fire from the ship girls, there were just too many threats from above as Unryuu physically strafed away from the red circles which showed up on her HUD, hearing Hayasui shout out,
"Shit!"
Before her fleet split up in half in order to clear the blast radius, Unryuu barely fazed by the resulting fireball and radiant heat as she evaded a small-caliber shell and used her conducting staff to smack an airborne Ro-Class destroyer away from her as though swinging a baseball bat to hit a home-run, her face contorting into a grimace as she kept a lookout for any threats, the Abyssals all too happy to take advantage of an opportunity to sink a carrier, even if it was a low-ranking Unryuu-Class.
Just because she suppressed her emotions in battle didn't mean she was going to stand there and tank incoming attacks like a chump, shooting the dissipating fireball one final glance before looking ahead.
In her doctrine, they were to steer clear of avoidable damage despite not feeling fear, because to tank such damage when they weren't gifted in terms of stats was to be taken out quickly, which would in turn prevent them from participating in battle any further and render themselves useless.
It worked on simple logic taken to the extreme, free from emotional bonds which weighed a ship girl down in the heat of battle, where deaths and losses were likely, and they had to make pragmatic and logical choices when under stress.
Lifting her right foot before performing a well-placed high kick into a Ha-Class destroyer's flank and sending it flying, she opened up an opportunity for Kiso to fly in as she shouted,
"Flying Thunder God!"
And she promptly bisected the airborne, fish-like Abyssal destroyer without setting anything off as she performed a perfect landing before kicking the ocean in order to accelerate away.
Unryuu saw that several ship girls, namely Shigure, Abukuma, Maikaze as well as a Kai Ni Murakumo and Hatsuharu were circling and protecting her, since a carrier who was on the front lines was more exposed and vulnerable than one who commanded her planes from afar.
Unfortunately, except for Hatsuharu who had worked with her before, they all looked as if they wanted to be guarding anyone but her.
Not that she cared.
She sailed on with her fleet while keeping a low profile and constantly checked her surroundings to watch out for incoming threats, everyone sounding out in concern and raising their hands as if they could actually stop her, even when she was a relatively weak standard carrier.
She heard Abukuma ask worriedly,
"U-Um, Unryuu-san, do you think it's wise of you to fight up close with the Abyssals?
I understand that you have some experience, but this Abyssal horde-"
She didn't have time for this.
Sending out several fighter planes to deal with the enemy bombers which dropped their payloads on them without caring too much about danger close, she turned back to face the light cruiser, who was inexplicably looking more afraid of her than she was of the enemy.
She spoke in an emotionless tone, diffusing and suppressing the slight irritation she felt towards the light cruiser in order to give a collected answer.
"I am capable of holding my own in close-quarters combat, and although your support is appreciated, it is not necessary.
Be silent and support us, or find someone else who can stomach that responsibility."
Abukuma pulled back, looking downright terrified as she squeaked, the rest of the destroyers buying time for them to converse.
"P-Please don't hurt me.
I was j-just trying to help-"
Foolishness.
All of them were fools (Well, most of them anyway).
Did they think that just because she suppressed her emotions in battle, she automatically became a psychopathic murderer who didn't discriminate between her allies and enemies?
Even if she were one, she'd prioritize self-preservation above all else and work with others (albeit only to benefit herself) and was unlikely to be anything like her emotionless self right now; a psychopathic ship girl would do her best to blend in with the facade of an amiable personality which was assimilated from self-help books and from the behavior of others around them, because they didn't feel emotions and form social bonds like others did.
At least, that was how she understood it.
Her left hand shot out to grab Abukuma by the collar, causing the light cruiser to temporarily flinch at the assumption that she was going to get hit by the Unryuu-Class carrier, but Unryuu allowed a bit of derision to seep into her voice as she spoke in her icy tone.
"You are an ally, and you are still of use to everyone with your skills and weapons.
Striking you down is highly illogical.
So long as you perform your tasks and do not betray us, I see no reason to shoot you in the back."
Noting Hatsuharu's concerned cry of her name without her usual 'noblewoman' attitude,
"Unryuu-san!"
As well as recognizing a suspiciously stationary red dot on her radar, she extended her left arm and threw a surprised Abukuma towards a safe spot of ocean before twisting out of the way of a cannon salvo in her attempt to evade.
Spotting torpedoes in the nick of time, she launched herself into the air and tucked her legs in so as not to activate whatever proximity sensors were in the warheads.
She spotted the incoming medium-caliber shell a millisecond before it hit home, her nervous system at the end of her right collarbone and near her shoulder flaring up as a shell hit the affected area, Unryuu immediately focusing on diagnosing the severity of the injury and gauging its possible effect on her performance rather than let the pain get to her head, going limp as her body was disorientated by the glancing blow and she landed head-first into the salty ocean.
Lifting her drenched head out of the ocean and shaking her soaked, snow-white hair and braid after she successfully categorized the pain away, she saw Shigure and Murakumo dealing with the Ri-Class heavy cruiser who shot her while Abukuma and Hatsuharu helped her out, the former apologizing profusely for her lack of situational awareness.
"I'm sorry, Unryuu-san.
I should have seen the Ri-Class coming…"
Useless.
Apologies couldn't heal her wounds, expressing anger towards them would affect their performance, and since she was speaking to Abukuma in the midst of a battlefield while shells flew in every direction, she was partially to blame for her own injury.
She shook her mind both to dispel the pain from her mind and to shake off the ship girls around her as she pushed off of her bended-knee position and curtly ordered.
"I'm alright.
Just watch my back."
It arguably wasn't even Abukuma's fault that they were both distracted by choosing to talk to each other in the heat of battle, why was still looking so apologetic?
She ignored that question as she pushed on, flexing her fingers to determine the working condition of her arm as she watched Hayasui unload another breath of hell-fire from her flamethrower onto the horde of Abyssals, Unryuu noticing an I-Class destroyer pointing its cannon at Hayasui's exposed back and rigging.
In a split second, Unryuu prioritized Hayasui's safety over her own since she was carrying a heavily pressurized canister along with flammable substances on her back, lunging forward and reaching out with her left hand in order to block the incoming small-caliber shell with her left forearm.
The shell stung as the small-caliber shell mushroomed and flattened on the surface of her armored skin, but she only bothered to express it through a slight cringe as her eyebrows furrowed, and she saw that a thrown torpedo hit the I-Class in the flank, the I-Class going up in a fireball as the armor which formed its exoskeleton flew everywhere like the shrapnel in a grenade explosion, the blast wave accelerating them to lethal speeds as she reflexively closed her eyes.
Unryuu never lowered her arm as she felt shards of armor embed themselves into her skin, feeling the scathing armor fragments fly into her forearm, thigh, rigging and her gut as she tensed up, hearing Murakumo call out in a panic as she likely feared Unryuu's wrath.
"So-Sorry, Unryuu-san!"
Hayasui's head snapped back to find Unryuu shielding her from the potentially lethal shot of the I-Class destroyer and the following explosion which sent the Abyssal destroyer flying everywhere, whistling while Unryuu felt a chill run down her spine upon feeling the heated atmosphere dissipate and cooled down her skin in the process.
"Whoa, U-chan, you do care!"
What a ridiculous notion.
She pointed out bluntly as she walked away while fishing some of the armor shards from her bleeding skin regardless of the pangs of pain she felt, because to leave these fragments embedded in her skin was even more troublesome.
"Do not delude yourself.
You were still capable of fighting, and the Abyssal destroyer would change that should your rigging get compromised and set on fire.
I merely defended you with my armor, because I knew I could tank it and you couldn't."
Hayasui puckered up her lips and had a exasperated look in her eyes as she remarked.
"Heeee…
How cold of you, U-chan!"
Before turning back and unleashing another jet of flaming fuel onto a Wo-Class carrier, who partially succeeded in shielding herself from the breath of flaming liquid by holding up her cape to shield herself from the incoming fireball, but it only partially succeeded as the fire mushroomed and stunned the Wo-Class with first and second-degree burns.
This opened up the chance for Unryuu to get in close and deliver a high-kick to the Abyssal's throat guard, cracking the beast-sized set of teeth which protected the Wo-Class's throat.
Her high kick sent the Wo-Class flying as she planted her right boat slipper back into the ocean, shifting her body weight onto it before she spun around whilst lifting her left boat slipper in order to deliver a powerful hind kick into the Abyssal's lower abdomen.
Allowing the momentum to carry her forward and spin her around in order to face the Wo-Class who was sent flying, Unryuu planted both her boat slippers on the ocean and dual-wielded her conducting staff like a baseball bat in order to unceremoniously smash it down on the Wo-Class's torso like a baseball bat, delivering the blow which caused the Abyssal carrier to crash back into the ocean, her expression wracked with pain.
But Unryuu noted the Abyssal's Dive Bombers coming to their mothership's rescue as she strafed out of the way just as a hail of payloads detonated harmlessly beside her, Hatsuharu and Maikaze coming to her rescue as the three of them focus-fired their Anti-Air turrets in order to bring down one Abyssal dive bomber.
Turning back to face her escorts, she saw Maikaze and Hatsuharu as the former called out energetically.
"Hell yeah!
We got one of them!"
The Kagerou-Class destroyer was dressed very similarly to the name-ship of her class with her white, short-sleeved collared shirt and black, sleeveless vest along with a red bow holding her collar together.
In between her black miniskirt and knee-high stockings were Anti-Air turrets, and on her rigging were two Quadruple Torpedo Launchers while two Twin-Gun Anti-Air Turrets were slung diagonally across her torso and were held in her hands in order to be used, their barrels smoking after she emptied Anti-Air rounds into the air.
Her green eyes contrasted with her blonde hair which was tied up in a short ponytail behind her, her eyes transfixed on the flaming mess which was the crash-landing Abyssal Dive Bomber, burning fuel spilling out of the holes which their Anti-Air bullets punched into the dive bomber and pooled beneath where the spiraling dive bomber flew, smoke being coughed out at regular intervals and tracing the descending plane's flight path before it plopped into the shifting ocean with a hellish, flaming fuel trail strewn behind it on the ocean.
Maikaze, seeing that the Unryuu turned her attention to her, turned away to fight the Abyssals rather than face an awkward conversation with the stoic Unryuu-Class carrier, dual-wielding her Anti-Air turrets in both hands while her rigging helped her fire off her torpedoes as she shouted passionately.
"Come and get some!
Whoo!"
Unryuu's eyebrows furrowed at the amount of unneeded passion which would possibly get her killed, but she mentally directed her planes to back Akitsu Maru up just as she heard her teammate shout into the radio.
"Yo, U-chan!
I need you to send some torpedo bombers to my location; things are getting heated over here!"
Sighing at the incompetency of her comrades as they indulged themselves and their carnal desire for combat with only their sheer amount of experience as well as their unorthodox fighting styles keeping them (mostly) out of life-threatening trouble, she jumped over a salvo of torpedoes before marching on, spotting Hatsuharu getting roughly thrown onto the ocean as a Ne-Class heavy cruiser manhandled her and flung her into the distance to fire a torpedo salvo at her without getting injured by the blast wave, a lone enemy dive bomber tag-teaming the Abyssal to deliver death from above.
Unryuu noted Akashi flinging her operating hook towards the Kai Ni destroyer, Kiso cleanly evading the Ne-Class's tails firing their shells and decapitating the Abyssal heavy cruiser whilst in mid-air too late to stop her from firing her torpedoes, and Unryuu had already sent out her Type 0 Model 52 Fighter Plane to the rescue.
Akashi's hooks, when used in combat, were capable of being electro-magnetized through insulated copper wires within the steel ropes the instant contact was made so that even if her hook inexplicably slipped from the position it lodged itself into on someone's rigging or steel skin, there was still a good chance it would be attracted to a metallic surface for Akashi to reel them in, regardless of whether it was a ship girl or Abyssal.
Luckily, Akashi's hook snagged one of the mechanical arms on Hatsuharu's rigging while Unryuu's Model 52 Type 0 Fighter shot down the Abyssal Dive Bomber and detonated its payload prematurely, Akashi speedily twisting her body whilst yanking on the steel wire to pull her away from the incoming torpedo salvo and the descending fireball which engulfed the enemy dive bomber, Hatsuharu being thoroughly drenched in seawater as it went into her sleeveless sailor uniform top, skirt and ultimately into her face as she could only utter an unintelligible,
"Blarahghhahurgh!"
But the destroyer was at least pulled out of the projected travel path of the enemy torpedoes as they silently passed by, while Unryuu's Type 0 Fighter pulled up in time to avoid getting caught in the fiery explosion and hitting the ocean surface as Unryuu redirected her other fighter planes to back up their allied bombers in order to make sure that they didn't get shot down before they dropped their payloads and flew back to their carriers in order to reload.
And as the Kai Ni destroyer recovered, it was clear that Hatsuharu's fabulous mop of hair now looked even worse than Unryuu's drenched hair as it hung from the back of her head like a gigantic, purple paintbrush, Hatsuharu gasping, hacking and coughing in order to clear her airways as Akashi retrieved her steel hook.
The Hatsuharu-Class destroyer even allowed herself to spit out seawater like a hardened sailor before recovering some of her elegance by snapping her fan (which was miraculously still in her hand) open, breathing heavily as she looked down and expressed her genuine gratitude at being rescued from an explosive death.
"Tha…
Thank you, Unryuu-san, Akashi-san."
But Unryuu and Akashi had already turned back and were sailing away, the repair ship idly waving her hand about whilst remarking offhandedly.
"I don't need your thanks!
I just need you to get good!"
And upon hearing her saviors treat her rescue in such an inconsequential manner, despite knowing how they operated on the battlefield, the Hatsuharu-Class destroyer still looked crestfallen at being treated like small fry despite having attained her Kai Ni remodel, nodding once as she answered forlornly,
"Yes, Akashi-san."
But Unryuu and Akashi had already left her behind, not caring of her emotional state, only that she did her job.
Although they had the element of surprise, were fighting on their own turf and had a solid yet flexible strategy on their side, losses were a naturally recurring part of battle, and in such a large-scale battle, for every five Abyssals they sank, they ran the risk of one ship girl either becoming heavily damaged, killed or sunk outright as Unryuu saw the pop-ups appear on her HUD.
'UPDATING COMBINED FLEET SHIP GIRL STATUS
PLEASE WAIT…'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
SHOUHOU-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 113
"ZUIHOU"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
KAGEROU-CLASS DESTROYER 167
"ISOKAZE"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
UNRYUU-CLASS CARRIER 202
"AMAGI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
NAGARA-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 045
"YURA"
STATUS: SUNK'
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL SIGNAL LOST
KAMIKAZE-CLASS DESTROYER 276
"KAMIKAZE"
STATUS: SUNK'
Ship girls were crying out in pain, in aggression or in anguish all around her, and although she tuned these voices out with the implementation of her doctrine, she ignored the sight of light cruisers and destroyers dumping depth charges en masse around the battlefield to deny the submerged Abyssals space to move about and destroy them from beneath as she went against her own doctrine, thinking about her sister Amagi.
If Amagi, despite standing so far behind the front lines, was killed in action, it could be anything which got to her.
Submarine, torpedo, bomber, large-caliber shell, missile.
She should have-
Upon feeling an enemy medium-caliber shell bounce off her abdomen and inflict a pang of pain sharper than that of starvation-induced agony coupled with a punch to the gut, Unryuu quickly dispelled these thoughts of 'what if's, because they were nothing but distractions from the present, hastily checking her surroundings as she continued moving, for to stay still on the battlefield was to invite someone to take a shot at you, as demonstrated.
If that was a large-caliber shell which hit-
'Shut up!'
Unryuu mentally ordered herself as she sent out more torpedo bombers before recalling planes which were running low on fuel, suppressing the self-chastising mood she was getting into as she checked the wounds she incurred, a blue-black mark marring her left forearm while several Abyssal armor shards were still embedded in her flesh after blocking a shell for Hayasui.
Her abdomen was starting to bleed a little as the shell had partially worked its way into her skin armor before losing momentum and dropped back into the ocean, but other than that, she was fine.
As to Amagi…
Unryuu reminded herself of the Five Remembrances, and Number 4 read,
'I must be separated and parted from all that is dear and beloved to me.'
Part of her doctrine was to accept that everything and everyone was ultimately expandable and would eventually leave or die.
Admiral Mako, herself, Amagi, even her teammates.
They would eventually leave her, and she stressed the prevention of attachment or lust (in the non-sexual sense), where the desire to be reunited with her loved ones could be manipulated and warped upon death to turn a ship girl into an Abyssal, and if one were capable of cutting these bonds at any time should someone sink, be it oneself or someone close, it was quite simple for the practitioner to accept it all as an eventuality in order to detach herself emotionally from the situation to prevent unwanted fallout.
As much as she wanted to break down and cry over her beloved sister's death, it would do nothing but adversely affect her performance, and in this situation, she couldn't afford that.
Besides, they could be revived, so knowing that greatly diminished the threat of death in her eyes, yet she still found it puzzling how some ship girls cried when it was clear that their deceased sister ships could be revived.
Looking back at the front lines, she simply thought to herself,
'Sorry, Amagi-nee.'
Before swallowing the lump in her throat and sailed on, suppressing all thoughts about her sister in order to solely focus on mapping out an attack plan for her flock of Reppu fighters, Ryuusei torpedo bombers and Suisei dive bombers.
The Flying Dutchman didn't let up on its missile barrage, and when a red circle appeared on her HUD, ship girls and Abyssals alike ran out of the way, diving onto the ocean surface and hugging it for dear life as the missile devastated everything within its blast radius, the Abyssal high command having no qualms about firing danger close as they were more concerned with crowd control.
Unryuu detected the Abyssal jet fighters as they traded shots with several JASDF and USAF jet fighters who still possessed enough fuel to fight on, looking up at a F-22 Raptor duking it out with an Abyssal F/A-18 E Super Hornet, their Fairy planes unable to keep up with the improved performance specs of the modern jet fighters and could only play a spectator role.
That was fine.
Unryuu knew that their flight technology had limits, and the military brass knew that unless they sent out enough jet fighters to engage the Abyssal jet fighters, they'd lose air superiority as the Abyssal jet fighters, modeled after existing military jet fighters of various countries, could fly circles around their relatively outdated Fairy planes.
Another fireball majestically ballooned before dissipating, causing a roasting Abyssal to erupt in a harsh explosion of burning fuel and steel in a contained space that was her body, the intense heat warping the air above it as Unryuu saw Hayasui squeal in glee over the sight of Abyssals burning and writhing in agony, looking entranced by the fires which she created as she muttered.
"The flames…
They just dance so beautifully, don't they?"
Before unleashing another controlled jet of fuel at the retreating Abyssals, who were forced to leave behind their comrades as they were dropped by the fire, devolving into a screaming, writhing mess on the ocean surface for Akitsu Maru to deliver the killing blow with her Kagutsuchi katana and Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun.
The fuel spray caught an unfortunate Ne-Class heavy cruiser who didn't get out of her flamethrower's range quickly enough, igniting her clothes while the flaming fuel seared its way into the Abyssal's bare flesh, both the Ne-Class and her twin tails crying out in agony as the latter wildly fired off shells in its series of fits and feral spasms upon being immolated, three voices calling out at once.
[AHHH!]
[GRRRAAAGGHH!]
[NNHHGAAHH!]
And even though the Ne-Class still had her wits about her to do the Stop, Drop and Roll maneuver, Akitsu Maru placing her barrel next to the downed Abyssal's head right before emptying two shotgun rounds into the Ne-Class's head at point-blank range caused the flaming Abyssal to convulse as though suffering an epileptic seizure for a split second, before ceasing its death throes and sinking back into the ocean.
The sight of the Abyssal's steel skull breaking apart like a porcelain pot didn't faze her in the slightest, and neither did the spilling of the brain matter and the cerebrospinal fluid which were all previously enclosed within the shattered dome that was her skull, watching one bloodshot, glazed-over eye idly bob on the ocean as it was connected to what remained of her heavily charred head by the bundles of steel wire that was her optic nerve.
The still-twitching eyeball slowly sank with the rest of her corpse as the cerebrospinal fluid and blood which floated around her head loitered about on the ocean surface along with the burning fuel which wormed its way into the neck through the well-done tongue and throat, Unryuu stepping away as the corpse was cooked and illuminated from within and unwittingly exuded a noxious perfume of burning human flesh before going under.
She heard someone retching behind her, only bothering to look behind and see the bent-over form of a pallid Maikaze throwing up chunks of undigested breakfast along with vomit into the sea while Shigure patted her back, sighing as she focused on her own comrades, Akitsu Maru cheerily speaking up as she swung her flaming katana towards the neck of an evading Ri-Class and quipped merrily.
"Ah, well, remember kids!
It's best to not to lose your head in the heat of combat!
Ahahaha!"
With her radar granting her increased situational awareness, Unryuu directed another dive bomber to attack a partially submerged Ro-Class Abyssal in order to prevent it from targeting Hayasui and her vulnerable rigging as the pyromaniac fleet oiler worked with Akitsu Maru, the amphibious assault ship scattering black gunpowder onto the Wo-Class as she shouted,
"Cremating Flame of the Iron Sands!"
And retreated before Hayasui squeezed the trigger and unleashed yet another jet of flaming liquid onto the Wo-Class.
The Wo-Class's cry was nothing short of heart wrenching to the uninitiated as her cape was lit aflame and clung to her back while the naked flames licked her bare, pale skin.
[AAHH-]
But it was cut off just as soon as the black powder ignited and produced a rapidly expanding, roaring-red fireball which drowned out her cries mid-scream with a booming whoosh, her headdress producing flames from its deformed jaw and exhaust ports despite not being an Elite carrier, a brilliant display of ballooning fireballs enveloping the Abyssal carrier as she disappeared within it.
Akashi then called out,
"Unryuu!
Watch out!"
Just a millisecond before Unryuu tensed up from her teammate calling her name out with such concern in her voice, taking in all of her environment at once and instinctively evaded to the left with numerous sorties' worth of experience behind her, feeling the brush of a powerful beam attack pass by her, but managed to scorch her right arm as she hauled her burnt arm away from the heated air surrounding the incoming beam.
Smoke wafted from it as she felt the relatively cool air send signals of pain up her hand as first-degree burns reddened the surface of her forearm and part of her palm up to her ring finger, consciously trying to stop the tremors which plagued her arm while her spine tingled with the pangs of pain, as well as the grim thought of the beam attack burning a hole through her body had she been a sec-
Focus.
She shut these thoughts out of her mind as she betrayed no weaknesses or pain with her gaze and instead focused her attention on the enemy before her, a Re-Class aviation battleship standing with a Northern Water Princess as the former had a smoking tail to indicate its recent use of a beam attack, and backing them up was the 1st Fleet of Yokosuka along with the makeshift escort fleet from before, since they couldn't count on the fleets of other naval bases to back them up without being repulsed by their tactics and possibly be scarred for life.
The Northern Water Princess wasn't wearing her brimless top hat, instead wearing a black tiara on her long, snow-white hair whole on the crown of her head was a lone ahoge swaying with the wind, but the 'cape' cloaking her unfortunately wasn't doing the same as it was actually a large, balloon-like Beast on her back which was attached to her back, covering whatever indicators which might give them a clue as to whether the Princess herself had actual, humanoid arms.
The Beast occupied the space directly behind the Princess, a grey, spherical body stuck to her back with a hood and cape on the upper half on the Beast along with a chimney column sticking out of the 'hood' as it, along with two other exhaust ports, belched out black-red smoke, unlike its 'top hat' mode which puffed out blue smoke to indicate an undamaged and thus less imposing and powerful form, two sets of fat, grey-colored arms with stubby fingers protectively hugging its Princess and attending to her large-caliber cannons.
The Northern Water Princess had blood-red irises as the corners of her eyes emitted red flames in her limit-break mode, and just atop her generous bosom was a chest-guard, not unlike the Wo-Class's throat guard but more resembling a necklace which was located closer to her cleavage as she wore pure-white thigh-high stockings which seamlessly transitioned into high-heels, and the only two things which barely protected her modesty were,
One, her messy Godiva hair which covered her nipples while the Beast's 'cape' upper half covered half of each breast, and,
Two, a mini-mini triangular-shaped, black-colored steel plate stuck to her nether regions with no strings for support, and the the world's smallest Post-It note cut into quarters could easily provide more cover than what passed for 'clothes' according to the Abyssals' standards.
And the Abyssal Princess had the gall to stand with her legs slightly spread apart.
That didn't stop her from boasting intimidating firepower, health and armor in an unholy trinity, and the closest thing the Princess had to 'humanoid' arms were two humongous, jet-black bionic arms that had three thick fingers, the girth of each easily matching a tree trunk while its 12 Inch Triple Gun Cannons were mounted on the top of each wrist like watches.
Its forearms led back up where the Princess's humanoid arms were supposed to be while its elbows were supported by the Beast, and throughout her armed contraption and even on the large-caliber cannons were cracks, gaps and openings in the armor plates where red light seeped out, shaped like hellish veins which pulsed with energy, ready to crush any ship girls caught within its iron grasp with overwhelming mechanical strength.
The Re-Class's tail breathed out the smoke which was an aftereffect of the hyper beam attack and almost looked like a smoker exhaling after a puff, the Re-Class herself whining,
[Ahh, we almost got one of them with my attack…]
Her gaze hardened as she scanned the ship girl horde for signs of one specific ship girl, asking them threateningly when she couldn't find her desired target.
[Where is Kitakami?
I'm certain she's from Yokosuka, and you bitches from the 8th are also infamous for being Yokosuka's dark horse.]
Pointing to Kiso while her Beast, Quetzalcoatl, growled menacingly, the Re-Class finished her sentence while ship girls and Abyssals alike gave them a wide berth in anticipation of a heated battle which they wanted absolutely no part of, since it involved an ax-crazy Abyssal aviation battleship and a Princess against the dreaded 8th Fleet.
[And since I know you're related to her, Little Miss Chuunibyou, I'll make it simple.
Since she isn't here, how loud do I have to make you squeal in pain to get her to double-time it here and meet me again?]
Unryuu could hear Hayasui, Akashi and Akitsu Maru drawing back and speaking in hushed breaths,
"Ooohhhh…"
"That was a sick line."
"Yep."
And it was the fact that their muscles were coiled in anticipation and their fingers were on the triggers of their weapons in order to respond to any attack at the drop of a hat, as well as a lot of self-restraint on her part which stopped her from rolling her eyes in exasperation at the seemingly lax attitude of her comrades, scanning her sonar and radar for any oceanic and aerial threats and coordinating her fighter planes to ward them off.
Kiso smirked at the chance to kill powerful Abyssals in order to boost her reputation amongst the ship girls and Abyssals, as a so-called 'inspiring' figure for the former and certainly a fearsome enemy in the eyes of the latter, brandishing her cutlass as she retorted.
"The only way you're meeting my sister again is as a taxidermied Abyssal head which will be mounted outside the 8th Fleet's bedroom."
Akitsu Maru, Hayasui and Akashi all exploded into a chorus of,
"OOOOHHHHH!"
While back-stepping and holding their hands up in faux-surrender, and while Unryuu didn't appreciate the trash-talking which wasted precious time, the closest she got to expressing something resembling a laugh was exhaling sharply through her nose.
She saw that the ship girls supporting them, which consisted of Yokosuka's Hiei, Shigure, some other base's Shouhou in lieu of Junyou, Ayanami, Jintsuu and Naka in lieu of Tenryuu and Tatsuta, as well as Maikaze, Murakumo, Abukuma and Hatsuharu were looking extremely uncomfortable just by being in their presence and listening to their banter, and they looked really confused as to whether they should initiate the fight while chaos raged on around them.
The Re-Class growled menacingly, and Unryuu felt a large-caliber shell fly in from the direction of the Flying Dutchman as she called out curtly,
"Evade!"
Everyone dispersed swiftly just as a water column was thrown up from the Dutchman's shell hitting the ocean with devastating force, Naka stumbling a little as the resulting tidal waves tripped her up a little.
But the Dutchman's danger close firing was nothing compared to the Re-Class, who leaned back on a coiled Quetzalcoatl and pulled her legs in before being catapulted into the air, everyone evading the salvo of large-caliber shells fired by the silent Northern Water Princess, but in their attempt to do so while the Re-Class was still in mid-air, the Re-Class Abyssal managed to throw everyone off-balance by pulling off a ground-pound which shook the very ocean beneath them.
Unryuu's fighter planes battled the Flying Fish Dive Bomber which the Re-Class sent out as well as the abomination which was the Patrolling Attack Hawk which the Northern Water Princess sent out, a one-eyed skull exposing sets of teeth without any lips, its flesh the signature Abyssal black as its triangular wings looked like the underside of a shoe with its horizontal grooves, and on its aft was something resembling a hybrid between a frog's webbed feet stretched out to become a vertical stabilizer fin, and its two legs were the only things which resembled her namesake as they were muscular grey talons with pitch-black claws.
It held a depth charge in their grasp, Unryuu struggling to recover from the Re-Class's ground pound as the Attack Hawk scouted its targets out with its neon-blue eye while evading her fighters' machine gun fire, Shouhou quick-firing several bombers and fighter planes to back Unryuu's planes up, because even if they were uncomfortable with the 8th Fleet's cavalier behavior, they still had to watch each other's backs in battle.
The Abyssal Flying Fish Dive Bomber made its dive by attacking Jintsuu, and she could see the panic in Jintsuu's eyes like a deer frozen in the headlights while Naka, losing her composure, bolted towards her sister and screamed,
"JINTSUU!"
But the Re-Class Abyssal used this as a chance to close the distance and try to sink either or both of the Sendai-Class light cruisers, screaming while consumed by her blood-lust.
[NOW YOU DIE, BITCH!]
Akashi had other ideas, though.
Swinging her steel hook around before flinging it in the direction of the moving Re-Class, she managed to catch her scarf, her hoodie as well as one backpack strap, causing the Re-Class to lurch to a stop as her tail shot out towards Naka in order to finish the job, but Naka managed to see the attack coming due to Akashi stalling the aviation battleship's advance just long enough for her to spin out and hit the ocean as Quetzalcoatl's jaws clamped shut at the spot of air where Naka was previously at.
As for Jintsuu, Akitsu Maru managed to reach her and shove her out of the way as she aimed upwards and emptied a Dragon's Shell upwards with her shotgun, acting as a makeshift Type 3 'Beehive' Shell to pepper the diving Flying Fish Dive Bomber with an incendiary round in a narrow funnel full of fire and shards of flaming magnesium.
The Abyssal Dive Bomber emerged from the funnel of fire as a flaming wreck, and Akitsu Maru was no longer smiling or joking as she screamed into Jintsuu's ear,
"Move, bitch!"
While roughly hauling Jintsuu to her feet and shoving her out of the way, but like a dud grenade hitting the floor, unlike the spectacular explosion they were expecting, the falling wreck which was the aflame Flying Fish Dive Bomber and the comet trail of fire and smoke which it emitted plopped into the ocean with a pathetic little splash, and Unryuu directed her torpedo bombers to the Re-Class while all those who weren't part of the 8th Fleet tried to hold the Northern Water Princess at bay.
But aviation battleships weren't simply constrained to the confines of the ocean, the Re-Class using Quetzalcoatl to launch herself into the air as Shouhou's Tenzan and Type 97 Torpedo Bombers cross-fired their torpedoes with Unryuu's Ryuusei torpedo bombers, and Unryuu pulled Ayanami out of the way as Quetzalcoatl bent her tail forward and aimed its cannons in their general direction.
But Kiso flew in 'like a superhero' as she drawled,
"K-God in da house!"
She spun around in mid-air as she slashed the Re-Class Abyssal in the right forearm while the aviation battleship, despite her hotshot personality, did have some self-preservation skills and decent reflexes as she achieved moderate success in defending herself from the incoming Anti-Abyssal blade which was used to pull off a Flying Thunder God.
Her three shots went wide as Quetzalcoatl was distracted by Kiso's Flying Thunder God, Unryuu hearing Ayanami scream in fright as the incoming 16 Inch Cannon shells likely reminded her of her demise back in World War 2, at the hands of Washington the Battleship.
"AAHHH!"
But even as the shells missed them by a large margin, she knew that Ayanami would be incapacitated by the horrid flashbacks and the crippling fear as she shoved the shivering name-ship of the Ayanami-Class into Shigure's capable hands, gruffly ordering.
"Keep an eye on her."
Before turning back to the battlefield, watching Akashi fish another destroyer out of the water with her hook as it likely intended to even the odds in their favor by attempting a sneak attack.
The Flying Dutchman was still raining missiles down on the battlefield, sending destroyers flying while other ship girls were busy engaging the horde of Abyssals in combat with help from the long-ranged Strike Groups positioned further behind as well as the jet fighters above, who were manned by human pilots.
And although it wasn't readily apparent over the chaotic and noisy battlefield, there were muffled cries and screams everywhere as ship girls cried over their legs being blown up by torpedoes and were lying down and sobbing about their lost limbs, or were bombarded by dive bombers and suffered extensive burns and lost body parts while others around them tended to their burn and internal injuries.
She knew that those injuries hurt, because she had suffered those exact same injuries before, and instead of sitting around and having others kiss her injuries (a completely unsanitary act in and of itself), she instead shut out the pain and powered on through sheer willpower.
Those who were strong and talented had the right to feel and express emotions, kindness and mercy on the battlefield, while the weak had to be ruthless and unfeeling in order to get an edge over others and close the disparity in terms of strength.
Few of her teammates outside of the 8th Fleet had understood that way of thinking, and to her, those who were outclassed and weak yet assumed that they had the right to express compassion, empathy, pain and fear in the heat of battle, and worse yet, be swayed and adversely affected by them at the most crucial of moments, were downright hopeless in her eyes.
Sighing as fought the Re-Class aviation battleship and the Northern Water Princess with a mad doctor, a pyromaniac, a chuunibyou with a hard-on for glory and often basked in the spotlight as well as an ax-crazy psycho with self-esteem issues, and she sighed before thinking to herself.
'Why must I be burdened -
'- with such shitty teammates?'
Kiso kept herself airborne by alternate-firing her two 14 Cm Single Gun Cannons and quick-firing her boost gauge, thinking to herself as she landed on the ocean surface and physically strafed to her left in order to avoid another large-caliber shell.
'Oh, well.
Even if they're weak, they aren't entirely useless either.
They're my bestest of friends, and that's why I accept and accompany them on sorties, when it's so clear that they're more fucked up than I am.
But when going up against stronger opponents, that's when they have to depend on someone as skilled and talented as me.
I'll just have to outshine them and steal the spotlight from them by being the MVP of this fight, nothing Kiso the Great can't handle.
Knowing them, they wouldn't mind, anyway.'
She faced off against the Re-Class, who was honestly not the Abyssal she wanted to fight as the 1st Fleet and the escort destroyers faced off against the Northern Water Princess off in the distance.
The Re-Class's bleeding gash on her right forearm had already closed up, although the time needed to properly heal up from the damage dealt outstripped the battle's duration.
She had to end the battle here and join up with the 1st Fleet.
The glory she would receive from sinking the Northern Water Princess was outstripped by the genuine concern she had for the 1st Fleet, because despite the skilled destroyers that were a Kai Ni Murakumo and Hatsuharu along with a Kai Abukuma and Maikaze backing them up, the 1st Fleet was still woefully unprepared to take on a full-fledged Princess by themselves.
… Which meant this battle with the Re-Class was a time attack of sorts.
Well, it wasn't as if she was against taking up a challenge.
The Re-Class lunged forward as she fired Quetzalcoatl's two 12.5 Inch Twin Gun Cannons, introducing herself to Kiso as her cannons flared.
[I don't normally introduce myself to the prey I'm about to eat, but the name's WReck!
Not that you're going to live to remember it!]
Kiso replied as she readied her left torpedo launcher for what she had in mind next, coolly retorting.
"I don't introduce myself to scrubs trying too hard to matter when playing with the adults, the Northern Water Princess is who I'm really after.
Besides, you know my name."
That hit a sensitive spot in WReck's ego as her focused expression contorted with seething rage upon seeing others look down on her when stronger Abyssals were nearby, bolting forward and pulling her fist back for a sucker punch while Quetzalcoatl charged up another beam attack.
[Oh, yeah?!
Well, let's see how that attitude holds up when I shove my fist through your rib-cage!]
Kiso, understanding that although WReck was a small fry compared to the Northern Water Princess, she was still a credible threat to her survival, and as she strafed to avoid the Re-Class's blow which warped the air around her fist with its speed, she remarked.
"Oh well.
I suppose you can look, but don't touch.
Well, on second thought, you won't get to look either."
Before she performed a Shukuchi and blitzed out of WReck's sight, firing her prepped torpedo launchers in a broad salvo whilst evading what was arguably the Abyssal's strongest projectile attack, which was a crimson beam capable of annihilating anything less tanky than a heavy cruiser as it vaporized the sea it traveled over.
But learning high-level maneuvering techniques paid off as WReck, despite firing her cannons one at a time in order to lay down continuous fire, still couldn't hit Kiso, the Abyssal howling in frustration at the Kuma-Class torpedo cruiser.
[Stop. Moving!]
But Kiso ignored that in favor of detecting a whizzing sound headed in her direction and was quickly getting louder and nearer out of the corner of her eye, coupled with an incoming missile lighting up the spot of ocean right beneath her with a bright red circle on her HUD.
Joy.
Emptying whatever was left in her boost gauge, she managed to evade both threats as she sprinted out of the immediate blast radius which guaranteed instant death, springing up from the ocean surface with a gigantic bound which could easily clear a light cruiser's height.
The column of seawater which was thrown up by the Flying Dutchman's large-caliber shell was nothing compared to the missile's shock-wave which threw her off-balance while in mid-air, but as a torpedo cruiser who had spent a lot of time in the air, she shook off the water which engulfed and weighed her down as she kept track of her airborne orientation to get into a landing posture which allowed her the opportunity to evade anything quickly, noticing WReck running in to try and catch her off-guard when she landed.
But an army-green sphere smacking into and rebounding off of WReck's left arm exploded instantly as Akitsu Maru ran in, having cooked the grenade beforehand before throwing it as a distraction in order for her to run in with her Anti-Abyssal Benelli M4 Super 90 shotgun and cover Kiso's landing, mockingly calling.
"Hey, bitch, time for your meal!
It's full of nutritious 12 Gauge shells with a healthy serving of FUCKING DEAD!"
Before emptying five 12 Gauge shells at WReck without having to pump the shotgun in order to reload, her shoulders, bosom and head shaking slightly with every shot fired.
But Akitsu Maru had the body of a young adult, and she managed the recoil rather well as Kiso whipped out her 14 Cm Single Gun Cannon and joined Akitsu Maru's hail of gunfire, allowing Unryuu the chance to direct her torpedo bombers in for the kill.
But WReck was tougher than they expected as she shrugged off the 12 Gauge rounds despite obviously being hurt to some extent, screaming at the top of her voice while Quetzalcoatl whipped around to find a convenient target to take down.
[Enough!
Let's kill them, Quetzalcoatl!]
Her sentient tail roared in agreement and produced a minuscule shock-wave in the process, and they homed in on a seemingly vulnerable Hayasui, but Akashi, Kiso and Unryuu were as thick as thieves as they ran to save Hayasui, Unryuu swinging her conducting staff and causing it to splinter into dozens of steel bits as it came into contact against the back of WReck's steel skull much like a baseball player performing his wildest swing, except with superhuman strength.
Akashi went to work on WReck by flicking her wrists, jumping onto Quetzalcoatl and using a combat knife to dig into the tail's steel flesh and act as a grip as she called out, her eyes consumed by the blood-lust which was reflected in her bloody uniform, the caked blood on her skin and the deadly glint in her eyes.
"Let's see how your little pet cries when I dissect it before your very eyes.
Besides, I always wanted to determine how long your tail would remain alive if sundered from you."
Slyly and sensually evading Quetzalcoatl's coiling form, WReck's tail attempted to shake off the repair ship who was atop WReck and was uncomfortably close for a medic-slash-surgeon who had her tools out and had a dangerous look in her eyes, Akashi continuing her Bucking Bronco with Quetzalcoatl as she continued.
"Would it die instantly from lack of signals coming from you, or would it be another case of Mike the Headless Chicken and live on for awhile before expiring?
For science, of course."
Unryuu brought up her boat slipper in order to slam it into the Re-Class's kneecap from the side, and this caused WReck's leg to buckle as Akitsu Maru fired one 12 Gauge round into the temple of WReck's head.
It likely wasn't going to kill the Abyssal as its skull was likely reinforced to give her a thick skull (which would explain much of her behavior).
But hey, it wore down WReck's defense, and dealing some damage was better than no damage.
WReck's head snapped to the side as 12 Gauge shells were driven into her steel skull while Akashi was drawing blood by slashing at Quetzalcoatl's body-slash-throat, Akashi's arms deftly swinging and flying around like a skilled cook preparing a high-class meal, the Abyssal tail thrashing around as it charged up another hyper beam at danger-close range.
Kiso saw that Unryuu, upon seeing a Ha-Class destroyer open up its bestial jaw while floating on the surface of the ocean in order to fire the cannon within its jaw, spun the cracked half of her conducting staff, placing both hands on it in order to flex her carrier strength, arm veins bulging slightly as she straightened the slightly warped pole before she held it up like Zeus holding up his lightning bolt and harpooned the Abyssal destroyer as though flinging a spear.
The projectile flew true as it entered the Ha-Class's jaw barrel, the Abyssal destroyer only managing to gurgle a little in response as its jaw twitched in trying to clamp down on the foreign object and failing at that, blood leaking from the sides of its mouth and its bionic eye unfocusing before sinking back into the ocean.
But WReck saw this coming as she got Quetzalcoatl to bite down on her teammate with the hyper beam partially charged, Kiso cringing as she saw the searing jaw clamp down on Unryuu's left shoulder and collarbone, but the so-called 'silver lining' was that Quetzalcoatl simply tore off Unryuu's shoulder by utilizing its jaw muscles to shear through Unryuu's fairly thin carrier armor, Unryuu's burning flesh and bone bearing the full brunt of the close-range hyper beam shortly after.
Kiso felt herself shouting out with genuine concern, barely-restrained emotions choking up her voice as Unryuu hit the ocean hard.
"UNRYUU!"
As Unryuu's flesh and bone in the tail's jaw was blown apart by the beam and dealt superficial damage to Quetzalcoatl itself, it succeeded in scaring the 8th Fleet away as Akashi disembarked the ride from hell, but she left behind a parting gift in the form of one last cut into Quetzalcoatl's flesh before she hauled a wounded Unryuu away from the scene, Kiso recognizing what Hayasui had been preparing as she threw herself before Unryuu, holding up her cape and holding out her arm out of genuine fear at what the fleet oiler was about to unleash, shouting while retreating.
"Get back, get back!"
Hayasui had relentlessly trained in order to improve her lung capacity to be able to breathe fire, holding the dislodged faux-cannon which was really a refillable kettle contraption in her left hand and a lighter in her right as her increased lung capacity, reputation for speedy sucking and fleet oiler job meant that she could retain a large amount of fuel in her mouth and spray it out as a fine mist.
And since their kind drank fuel on a daily basis and was powered by it, this attack was far less harmful to their bodies than compared to human performers of the same art, Hayasui naming her fire-breathing technique,
Dragon's Desolating Sigh.
The fuel spray would go over the naked flame produced by the lighter, and the result was a majestic display of a fire breathing technique taken to the extreme by their superhuman capabilities, a funnel of hell-fire shooting out of her mouth and engulfing the Abyssal battleship while Hayasui stood at a fair distance, because her increased lung capacity allowed her to propel the jet of flaming fuel away from her and increased the range of her attack.
That meant that WReck was engulfed in a ballooning fireball which, although not doing too much initial damage, ignited her clothes and dealt damage over time as the flames ate away at her armored flesh, tortuously burning through each layer of skin as the aviation battleship screamed in pain, Quetzalcoatl similarly emitting a pained, animal-like howl as it wildly fired shells everywhere, being overloaded with pain while the signals it received from WReck were garbled since they were both immolated, hence the unpredictable lashing out without sense or reason.
It was because of this reason which made her even more dangerous than before, Kiso now shielding Akashi as she stabilized Unryuu's condition while she fired her 14 Cm Single Gun Cannon for what it was worth, and Akitsu Maru joined Hayasui in their attempt to keep pressuring the Abyssal aviation battleship, emptying 12 Gauge rounds into the Re-Class battleship in order to buy time for Hayasui to take another swig of fuel before unleashing another Dragon's Desolating Sigh, Akitsu Maru excitedly shouting out a rather suggestive order.
"Blow her!
BLOW HER!"
Hayasui held up one middle finger with the hand which gripped her lighter, but WReck managed to punch the ocean once more to throw them all off-guard, Kiso managing to circumvent the move by propelling herself forward into a running jump over the tidal waves.
Hayasui was left rocking about on the ocean surface, but Kiso made her presence known by shouting,
"INCOMING!"
Quetzalcoatl, noticing her approach, fired off a shell in her direction as WReck's flaming, serpentine tail did its best to hold itself steady despite being set on fire, but the medium-caliber shell only managed to tear Kiso's black cape as she boosted while in mid-air to change direction and descend quickly.
As the Re-Class shifted its attention back to Hayasui as she was the less mobile and more immediate threat, Kiso reached her in time to pull her rigging and the back of her blazer, planting her boat slipper onto the sea and added more spin into Hayasui's spinning dodge as they evaded Quetzalcoatl's attack, which involved firing its large-caliber cannons where Hayasui once stood.
The fleet oiler unleashed another Dragon's Desolating Sigh on Quetzalcoatl's burning, elongated neck-slash-body, causing the flaming tail to writhe about in unthinkable pain, swinging wildly and lashing out as Kiso dragged Hayasui down onto the ocean surface in order to avoid getting sideswiped and hurt by the flailing, burning Abyssal tail.
The Re-Class, in its attempt to Stop, Drop and Roll, likely decided to just dive back into the ocean in order to extinguish the flames which clung to her skin and burning hoodie, a large plume of smoke wafting from where WReck disappeared into the ocean.
And upon WReck crash-diving to escape the fight, Kiso pushed Hayasui off of herself and ran over to Akashi and Unryuu.
Unryuu's relatively thin armor stood no chance against Quetzalcoatl's bite force, but Quetzalcoatl's scalding-hot teeth shearing through Unryuu's flesh managed to cauterize the wound before Unryuu bled out, making Akashi's job easier.
Relatively easier.
Unryuu's breathing was still ragged and shallow after Quetzalcoatl chewed off her left shoulder and collarbone, which in turn sundered her entire left arm from her body, the body part lost to the ocean but could be picked up by a fellow submarine, several of whom were patrolling underwater.
Her skin was still pallid and glossed with sweat due to the shock of losing so much blood with the loss of an arm along with the burn injuries inflicted by Quetzalcoatl's searing jaws, but Unryuu's trembling, supine body was coming back under the stoic carrier's control as her eyes, although unfocused, still shone with the stubborn refusal to roll over and die.
Kiso leaned in as ship girls who were part of the backup Strike Groups formed a defensive perimeter around the wounded, but they were on the peripheral of Kiso's attention scope as she leaned in to ask Akashi with a grim expression.
"How bad is it?"
Akashi was suturing parts of the bleeding wound which the internal valves failed to shut off with help from her medical Fairies, answering bluntly.
"She's seriously damaged when WReck's tail tore off part of her chest.
Good thing Unryuu immediately threw herself onto the ocean to quash the flames before the internal fuel valves shut off fuel flow to the affected area, which was heated up by the charged hyper beam.
Otherwise, instead of a Cloud Dragon, we'd have a Burning Dragon followed by a Charred Dragon soon after."
Unryuu furrowed her profusely sweating brows upon hearing that, but her bosom slowed down its rapid rise and fall as she attempted to get up despite her injuries, speaking coldly.
"I can still fight."
Kiso narrowed her eyes as she asked dubiously about the carrier's weakened state.
"Uh, yeah, no, bitch.
Besides, without your conducting cane, this would mean that that more brainpower is needed to send out, direct and land your planes, further putting a strain on your mind and slowing down your reaction time.
Stay down."
But Unryuu's eyes had already iced over like her heart and mind as she retorted.
"They can bleed me white, they can kill me, but they will never stop me.
Let me back int-"
Before Akashi placed a hand on Unryuu's right shoulder, looking her in the eyes with a dead-serious expression as she requested.
"Hey, Unryuu?
Need you to stand up, there's something I want to help you out with.
I'm also a little afraid of getting bombed when you're still lying down, so please."
Everyone narrowed their eyes upon hearing that, but one thing about the military was that they were already lucky enough to have a repair ship sortie regularly with them, and the last thing they should do was to question Akashi's orders.
The circular perimeter formed a defensive wall of Anti-Air fire and torpedoes as Akashi held Unryuu's right arm to help her up, Unryuu's shapely legs wobbling like a newborn foal underneath her miniskirt despite her focused expression looking as if she were trying to do so without assistance, and Akashi released one hand to point at Unryuu's exposed abdomen as she ordered with a deadpan expression.
"Kiso, punch her solar plexus with all your might, please."
Kiso's eyes flew open as did Unryuu's, but before the Unryuu-Class carrier could use her one working arm to defend herself, Kiso flexed her arm as she put her teammate down by delivering a mortal blow to a weak spot which they all shared as humanoids, Akashi now using both hands to hold Unryuu's working arm back.
Unryuu released one hell of a cough with drops of blood being spat out from her mouth and onto Kiso's clothes, swiftly doubling over as Kiso's fist made contact with her bare abdomen while the white-haired carrier's legs buckled and spasmed, her carrier strength leaving her as she looked up and asked, no longer maintaining her stoic persona as her voice was more of surprise, perhaps even bewilderment upon seeing her teammates put her down for her own sake.
"Et tu, Kiso…?"
Before hitting the ocean hard, her face slamming into the ocean as Akashi squatted down and held her up by the collar to prevent her from inhaling seawater before pointing to Kuroshio and Samidare and giving orders to them, Kiso's attention already shifting to the 1st Fleet's battle with the Northern Water Princess.
"You, and you.
Escort Unryuu back to whatever base has docks available."
The two destroyers looked unsure of what was going on and what they were to do, Kiso sympathizing with them as they had seen the 8th Fleet in action, and then saw a repair ship order one ship girl to put down another, then ordering them to cart the unconscious carrier back home.
But Kiso, like Akitsu Maru, Akashi and Hayasui, had no more time to think about teammates whose well-being she couldn't change anymore, running towards the 1st Fleet and the supporting destroyers to get back in the fray and help those who were still alive and well.
Hiei realized that they were in quite a pinch.
Even as the members of the 8th Fleet came in to back them up, Abukuma and Maikaze were already down for the count, and in the case of the former, she was suffering from a bad case of dead.
Having your body crushed like an insect in the palm of the Northern Water Princess's deadly grasp would do that to you.
They fired everything they had in order to get the Northern Water Princess, calling herself Helena and her Beast Atlas as she seemingly carried her spherical Beast around on her back, to release Abukuma from her cast-iron grip as she screamed in a ghastly tone.
Oh, how she screamed…
Hiei shivered at how bones were crushed and vessels broke to ooze out a mixture of fuel and blood, and the life slowly left the light cruiser's eyes as her rabid thrashing in order to break free slowly gave way to teary begging, then finally uncontrolled sobbing which became increasingly muted and difficult with every breath as the life was squeezed from her body, Hiei unfortunately being at the perfect angle to see Abukuma's lifeless eyes roll up while blood flowed from every orifice as her rib-cage and her vital organs within were all now mush, her expression a rictus of absolute agony as Abukuma's cheeks were stained by tears flowing from the deceased light cruiser's eyes, her HUD reading.
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
NAGARA-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 110
"ABUKUMA"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Hiei wondered if she would be able to interact with Abukuma again without having a flashback to this very moment, or be able to sleep without hearing her grisly scream ringing in her ears and her final moments replaying in her mind for the next few weeks, trying to hide the slight tremor in her limbs when facing off against Helena the Princess.
Naka was dragging Abukuma's corpse around as the Nagara-Class light cruiser's body was warped by the crushing force on her body, splintered bones protruding from her rib-cage, shoulders and arms as blood and fuel leaked out from blue-black wounds, her bloodied uniform forming a unsightly depression as the mechanical hand pressed down on her and caused internal damage which required a dip in the docks to recover from.
Her collarbone and shoulders were also completely broken since Helena pressed down on Abukuma's shoulders and guts while her steel thumb pressed on her back and broke her spine, her limp shoulders flopping about like vomit-inducing Jello and making it extremely hard for Naka to try and hold her, as her broken shoulders slid out of Naka's grasp and hit the ocean.
The fact that Helena the Princess had called down a missile on their location didn't help matters any, Naka looking increasingly panicked about whether to leave Abukuma to die or not.
But as she fired her large-caliber cannons and saw them smash into the bubble shield of the Northern Water Princess, she saw that hooks flew out to catch Naka and Abukuma, Akashi hooking the two of them and hauling them backwards, with help of Kiso's Kai Ni strength lifting them clean off the ocean surface as though pulling fish out of the water while Naka screamed at the surprise move.
"KYAAAA!"
She was concerned about their well-being as the fireball didn't seem to engulf them, but it managed to block her view of the two light cruisers while the smoke surrounding Helena cleared to show red plates radiating from where her shells hit the shields as they diffused the force of the impact to prevent any one plate from outright breaking, Helena noting the presence of new ship girls as she asked coolly,
[Foolish...
Sink into the chilly place…]
But Kiso brandished her bloody cutlass before her, her torn cape billowing dramatically in the wind as she drawled, looking absolutely confident of their odds of victory.
If the 8th Fleet was still looking so chipper about facing down a Princess, she surmised that Unryuu, the missing member which was present when they faced off against the Re-Class, was likely hauled off in a medevac either in an unconscious or dead state.
"Well, your little Abyssal comrade literally ran with her tail between her legs as we trashed her.
We're now backing our little teammates up, since they look as if they're having trouble in trying to take you down."
Hiei tensed up as she noticed additional Abyssal signatures backing the Princess up, and the Northern Water Princess noticed them too as she barely turned her head to acknowledge their presence before turning back to face them, traces of a smirk forming on her face as she retorted.
[Well…
Looks like you should have brought more friends…]
But Hiei, strangely, was somewhat reassured by the next boast which the Kuma-Class torpedo cruiser threw out there, because even though the 8th Fleet's members were eccentric, and their methods were bloody and unorthodox despite being effective, their familial bonds with each other, easygoing attitude and unwavering confidence in their own skills at least allowed those around them to believe that they could ultimately get the job done.
"Hmph.
I don't need friends.
The 8th Fleet are as close to me as my sisters are, and they're all I'll ever need to sink you.
Now then…"
The ship girls tensed up for the battle with the Northern Water Princess and her posse of Abyssals, Hiei suppressing a strong shiver which ran down her spine at the thought of someone else dying or sinking on her watch, focusing on coming out alive with everyone else while Kiso lifted her eye-patch, firing up her spotlight eye as she asked coldly.
"Shall we dance?"