Author's Notes
Playing games with gacha are such a pain, and yet I come back for more.
I have a feeling Fate Grand Order is never going to give me Artoria Saber, Jeanne d'Arc Ruler or both their Alters, Nero, Saber Lily, Medusa Rider, Scáthach Lancer, Gorgon or Passionlip.
I fear this is going to turn out like IdolMaster Starlight Stage where Star jewel-drawing so many times and playing for so long only nets me only one SSR (Which isn't even one of my many waifus), and I'm getting Vietnam flashbacks over it.
Well, at least I have Boudica and Shielder, they are rather well-endowed.
Hiei pumped her left leg to evade to the right as Helena's large-caliber cannons fired, narrowly missing her while Murakumo, Shigure, Ayanami, Hatsuharu all fired their torpedoes in a combined salvo.
She saw Kiso and Akashi engage the Princess's posse which included two Ri-Class heavy cruisers, a Wo-Class carrier, two Ho-Class light cruisers and three I-Class destroyers.
They dispersed as Helena's mechanical arms opened up a cache of torpedoes where her wrists were, firing them into the ocean while holes opened up on her palms, ominous red lights dazzling the frightened ship girls as Murakumo yelled, firing the cannons on the mechanical arms of her rigging as she did so.
"Move!
That's two hyper beams charging up in her palms!
I'll try to draw her attention, so go!"
Murakumo had voluminous, billowing white hair as cut-off locks along her face were tied up with red ribbons, and her hair was flipped over her boxy rigging which was modeled after her real-life warship's superstructure, extending two mechanical arms with platforms at the ends as these platforms housed her Improved 12.7 Cm Twin Gun High-Angle Turrets for her to ward off enemy planes.
An anchor was attached to the bottom of her rigging for close-quarters engagement, and on the top of her head were two mechanical ears resembling rabbit ears with their sharp tips.
Her white dress had black buttons in a square formation on her gut while a red tie was laid down along her uniform with a tie clip holding it in place, and on the fringe of her dress was a dark-blue trim while her legs were entirely covered by her black pantyhose, and her black school shoes had red soles fused to the rudder-esque high heels.
Red wires led from where her lapels were supposed to be all the way to her sleeves, where similarly-colored cut-off brush ornaments were fastened to as they swung about wildly, Murakumo evading and firing her Anti-Abyssal turrets in order to destroy the Abyssal dive bombers and fighters which swarmed them.
Hiei fired two of her large-caliber cannons while getting in close, watching Jintsuu run in with Naka as she spoke up, having recovered during the 8th Fleet's banter with the Northern Water Princess in order to become the hardened veteran that she was, like everyone else.
"Naka, let's do this!
Follow my lead!"
And Naka loyally followed suit as she kept a low profile, jumping over one torpedo as she traded shots with the Ho-Class Abyssal before answering without a second thought.
"Of course, Jintsuu-chan!
Let's get them!"
Approaching quickly behind them was another ship girl fleet, recognizing that they were the 3rd Fleet of the Miura Naval Base which had been with them at Mikura Jima Island.
And like before, they consisted of Haruna, Kasumi, Naka, Hibiki, Kitakami and Ooi to back them up in battle.
She heard Kasumi loudly announce their arrival and intentions,
"What up, scrubs!
We're back for more and I just got my Kai Ni remodel, so let's send these Abyssals back to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where they belong!"
Before they fired their cannons in unison, Hiei joining in the cannon salvo to try and take down as many Abyssals as possible before she saw several red circles pop up on her HUD, and she was located on the peripheral of one of these red circles, while other ship girls were smack right in the middle of where other missiles were projected to land.
Shit.
There was nothing else she could do for everyone else, and she had to keep herself alive to make a difference, slamming her boat slippers into reverse as her stamina was finite, and despite being strong physically, she didn't want her legs to fail her at a crucial moment just because she overestimated her non-remodeled strength.
The missile came down like a meteor as it hit the ocean at breakneck speed, Hiei shielding her face and torso from the blast wave while her sense of hearing was protected from the drastic increase in volume by her internal mufflers which muted the explosion.
But even then, the detonation of the warhead's payload was enough to cause her to stumble back, and since her rigging was heavy and was stuck to her back, she fell on her bum while she heard other ship girls cry out at the amount of pressure the Abyssals were placing on them by firing so many missiles towards them.
But this wasn't her first time dealing with the wrath of this technological weapon, which allowed her to shake off the shock of the attack fairly quickly, gritting her teeth before focusing on leading her fleet as she shook the hollow ringing from her mind and powered on despite reading the pop-up on her HUD,
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
AKATSUKI-CLASS DESTROYER 072
"HIBIKI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Rolling over and pushing herself off the sea, she shouted into the radio for the other ship girls to hear, since the roar of the missile's shockwaves coupled with the din of the battlefield made communicating via shouting out orders nigh-impossible without the radio.
"Listen up!
We can't just allow them to pressure us without retaliating; fire back at them and whittle down their numbers!
Otherwise those who fight can't do so without fearing getting attacked by both the Princess and the Abyssals!"
Everyone nodded at that, and she saw that Kasumi, Shigure, the twin Nakas, Jintsuu and Ooi all fired their torpedoes, devastating (and in some cases, outright sinking) the Abyssals which got caught in the salvo, and even Helena, despite her Princess status, still reeled back from the impact of Ooi's accurate torpedoes threatening the integrity of her shields with a grunt.
[Grrrkkhh!]
Ooi smirking knowingly at how much of a threat she was, knowing how to keep her personal and professional lives separate as she focused on the Abyssals, calling out with narrowed eyes which belied her focus after putting aside her love for Kitakami.
"Let's see you bleed!"
But Helena had a quip ready for that, flames flowing from the corners of her eyes as she retorted.
[More ship girls… for target practice.]
Before unleashing her salvo of large-caliber shells, Hiei unfortunately hearing a ship girl cry out in a pained voice which was becoming horrifying familiar to the Kongou-Class battleship as one echoed by an injured teammate.
She heard Shouhou shout out a warning,
"Hiei-san!
Left!"
Following the order by pushing off her right leg and feeling the stress of doing so with her rigging on her back, Hiei exhaled sharply while she felt a shiver shoot up her spine at the sight of an enemy torpedo silently slipping past her boat slipper by a safe margin, wondering what would have happened had she questioned Shouhou's orders and was a split second later in doing so.
But her attention shifted back to the battle as the pressure didn't let up, torpedo bombers trying to take her down as she looked around at the planes which flew close to the ocean surface as per the procedure to drop their payload in the water, feeling conscious of her own expression shifting into one of increasing fright.
Damn it, were they trying to isolate her with torpedoes?
She suspected the Abyssals were trying to zone her out by firing torpedoes which threatened to hit her, forcing her to go around them, slowly goading her into making a mistake.
She couldn't keep up this intense dodge-ball with torpedoes forever, and she knew that the Abyssals knew this, because even though she wasn't weighed down as much as the slow battleships, as a compromise, her body was slightly, but significantly weaker in terms of strength.
But if she didn't use her physical abilities to evade, her escape options would be severely limited, and when they chose to focus her down with their birds and torpedoes…
But she saw on her radar that other ship girls protected her by forming a diamond formation around her, Ayanami coming within view as she did her best to reassure Hiei about how she wasn't alone in this, although it was clear that she was still shaken up by the Re-Class's 16 Inch shells reminding her of her sinking in the past.
"I… It's alright, Hiei-san.
We're here for you.
We'll cover you so that you can engage the Northern Water Princess with your large-caliber cannons, which are undoubtedly the only ones which are capable of breaking her shield's middle layer."
The Ayanami-Class name-ship then turned back to fire in the water, which was made easier by the fact that as humanoids, they could aim and depress their cannons in almost any orientation, but within reason.
Firing into the ocean, a torpedo bomber flew through the resulting water column and was surprised enough by the move to the point where it lost control and spun out.
Were it flying at a higher altitude, the Abyssal torpedo bomber could have easily recovered and pulled up in time to avoid kissing the ocean.
But alas, it was flying too close to the surface in order to perform its bombing run, and it hit the water at terminal velocity while her HUD displayed another casualty.
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
SENDAI-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 047
"JINTSUU"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Another torpedo bomber, after being shot at and riddled with holes by the destroyers, was belching out smoke as it spun out and flew over Hiei's head, coming into view and spiralling into the ocean while she heard Shigure shout behind her.
"Hiei-san!
To the right!"
Hiei took Ayanami's hand as the two of them sailed in the direction of where Shigure shouted whilst firing their Anti-Air turrets, their Fairies opening fire at the fighters and dive bombers in a hail of white-hot Anti-Air rounds, Hiei trusting her teammates enough to believe that Shigure wouldn't give her false information.
Being a fast battleship had some advantages in that she was more maneuverable than an Ise, Nagato and Yamato-Class battleship, and as she saw the torpedo which Shigure spotted pass by her boat slipper, Ayanami was engulfed in seawater as the Flying Dutchman's large-caliber shell flew in again, hearing the familiar pitch of the incoming shell flying in from a blind angle and pulling her comrade towards her just as the Dutchman's shell flew by them and hit the ocean before them.
The sonic boom reached them as Hiei tried to blink away the seawater from her eyes while a column of seawater unceremoniously crashed down upon them, hearing Ayanami scream at a battleship's shell coming so close to killing her,
"AAAHHH!"
And she did her best to shield her destroyer teammate from the possible splash damage which might affect destroyers, but since she was made of tougher steel, she could handle it as the water drenched her miko uniform, hearing Shouhou shout their name out of concern.
"Ayanami-san! Hiei-san!"
She shook her head as she was suddenly thankful that her short hair wouldn't cling to her skin, which the long hair of others would have done so and hindered their sights and movement, feeling the cold air chill her skin through her drenched clothes as she guided Ayanami away from the swarm of fighter planes that were pressurizing her into making a mistake.
These machine gun rounds were the real deal, Hiei feeling these minuscule rounds bounce off her armored skin, yet deal stinging damage like ant-bites to humans as she shielded Ayanami, her Anti-Air turrets all firing upwards to try and ward them off as she squeezed her right eye shut after one round hit her slightly beneath the eyebrows, nearly grazing her eye as she flinched and cursed.
"Kkkhhh!
Fuck!"
She brought up her right hand to check for injuries just as she felt something cool streak down the side of her face, wiping the blood away from her eyes as she noted two I-Class destroyers standing at 45 degrees on both sides, both firing their torpedoes in their direction.
She fired one of her large-cannons in a Hail Mary shot, and by some inexplicable miracle, it managed to hit one of the two Abyssal destroyers as it sheared off the partially-submerged destroyer's skull due to her cannon caliber, and it left parts of the cannon barrel undamaged while the lower jaw hung loose from the lack of jaw muscles joining it with the brain and the upper jaw, sinking back into the ocean.
But the torpedoes were getting closer, and in her attempt to help Ayanami evade the incoming underwater projectile, she grabbed Ayanami underneath the armpits and lifted Ayanami clean off the ocean with her battleship strength, making sure not to inadvertently expose her teammate to more danger as she lifted her right boat slipper to let the torpedo pass by them both.
But Ayanami called out after looking at something behind her, Hiei spotting a red dot on her radar and feeling something coming up beneath the ocean,
"Behind you!"
Hiei strafed to the left to evade an Abyssal lining up for a shot behind them as Ayanami fired her handheld 12.7 Twin Gun Cannon, but she realized that the threats didn't all come from above and around her, shouting for Ayanami to take care of the submarine which was approaching their location while still submerged.
"Ayanami!
There's a submarine sailing around underwater, I need you to take care of it!"
Ayanami looked concerned about not laying down cover fire on the Abyssal behind her which allowed it to hit her, but she eventually relented as she reached into her rigging and pulled out a depth charge whilst storing her 12.7 Cm Twin Gun Cannon, twisting the two halves and pressing the activating button as per the two-step arming procedure before Hiei planted her back on the ocean, suddenly feeling a shell slam into her right shoulder blade.
It hurt as always since their clothes didn't provide any protection from the enemy's attacks, but as the waves of pain radiated from her shoulder while she felt her spine tingle from the pain, she did her best to shake off the pain as she heard the tossed depth charge hit the water in the distance after Ayanami threw it.
But a Ho-Class light cruiser fired its torpedo salvo at them both, and she held Ayanami by the back of her collar and rigging in order to desperately throw her into a spot of ocean where she would be safe from the torpedoes.
But this left her vulnerable as she tanked the Ho-Class's shots, shielding her face with her hands and fired back wildly, missing all of her shots while narrowly avoiding getting shot in the head as the shells struck her on the forearm, kidney, beneath her left collar bone and on her belly button, inhaling sharply as she involuntarily froze up from the pain despite her best attempts to keep moving, suddenly feeling the dread creep into her soul at the thought of dying by torpedoes blowing her legs up.
But a shadow sped into her field of vision as it managed to detonate the torpedoes prematurely before they reached Hiei, and the last thing she wanted was what she heard as a teammate cried out before her, using her held-up arm to shield herself from the detonation of the torpedo's warhead as someone's voice screeched out in agony.
No.
Uncaring of the searing heat which caused her skin to smoke a little or the blinding fireball which dissipated into smoke as she entered the ground zero of the explosion, her eyes narrowing as the intense heat hit her like a cushioned wave.
Kneeling down in an ocean of blood and guts, she saw that one of the two Nakas had taken the full brunt of the salvo since as an unremodeled light cruiser, she probably saw herself as less valuable than a Kongou-Class battleship, but that didn't stop her heart from breaking upon seeing the upper half of Naka lie down uselessly on the ocean surface.
In fact, that was all that was left of her as the torpedo detonation had taken off her legs as well as most of her ribs, and it was by some miracle that the explosion consumed but didn't set off the torpedo launchers on her hip, Fairies attempting to keep Naka afloat without her blown-off boat slippers by deploying motorized rafts and floats from her rigging, which were attached to Naka's remaining body half via steel wires.
Hiei bore witness to the teenager's guts strewn out on the ocean, grabbing her by the shoulder to make sure that she didn't sink since she was missing her boat slippers while her large-caliber cannons provided cover fire, and she looked away from the sight of Naka's strewn intestines coiling around on the ocean surface like crimson snakes, Naka's stomach partially hanging out from her body as her flesh was warped by horrid third-degree burns which ended in waxed flesh, blood flowing out copiously and tainting the hem of Hiei's skirt and her thigh highs.
Her hands also became equally tainted as she tried to hold Naka's internal organs in, and she felt the sickeningly-organic feeling of the intestines which were lubricated by the crimson blood and seawater as she secretly dipped her hand into the ocean in order to try and wash off some of the blood from her hands.
Naka's hands were covered in scathing second-degree burns due to being held close to the fireball, and Naka was clearly in hellish pain as her eyes were unfocused and she was clearly crying, since good intentions in trying to shield your comrades from a torpedo salvo didn't save you from the fact that you'd be screaming your lungs out in a limb-losing explosion.
"AhHhhhhHHHHh!
It hurts!
Ple-e-ease! Medic!"
Bloody hell.
An uncomfortable lump refused to leave her throat no matter how hard she swallowed in order to digest the fact that someone had to cover her in her time of need by throwing herself in front of certain death upon seeing her in trouble.
But so engrossed was she in her thoughts that she nearly missed another large-caliber shell fly in from the Flying Dutchman, one shell clearly more inexpensive than a missile strike on a dying destroyer and an uninjured fast battleship, instinctively spinning around to protect Naka by physically shielding the supine destroyer with her body and punching the incoming shell with her left hand, squinting as she felt the shell break apart into smithereens upon contact.
Some of the steel shards went into her skin, but these only dealt superficial damage since she was a fast battleship and had decent armor protecting her, but they still drew blood nonetheless as she finally registered the pain which shot up her left arm as she looked down at it after she made sure that the larger pieces of the life-sized shell didn't hurt Naka.
There was some discoloration where her knuckles and the longest sections of her fingers were after punching an incoming shell which traveled at a lethal velocity, and she could feel that several bones were cracked or broken while skin broke and oozed out blood, but her hand maintained its structural integrity to be used only in the most dire of situations, since even flexing it sent signals of pain so intense it temporarily stunned her.
She looked down at the sight of the Fairies doing their darnedest to keep a sinking Naka afloat while Hiei dealt with the incoming threat, but even with their advanced technology, it was like a bunch of humans trying to keep an oil tanker afloat with tugboats and floats; there was a limit to even their capabilities.
Without a second thought, Hiei plunged her uninjured hand into where the Fairies' taut steel wires converged, shouting the light cruiser's name in the vain hope that she'd hear her cries.
"Naka?!
Naka!"
She desperately fished around underwater before feeling Naka's unresponsive, burnt hand, getting a good grip before hauling her out of the water.
She'd later wish she hadn't.
Naka's organs fell out in spades, Hiei unable to grab them as they plopped into the ocean along with a bucketful of blood hitting her boat slippers, Naka's skin pale while her expression was almost as if she were falling asleep, but with half-lidded eyes and an unfocused gaze into nowhere.
And on her HUD, it coldly displayed,
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
SENDAI-CLASS LIGHT CRUISER 048
"NAKA"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Fairies were hauled into the air by the steel wires which were attached to the floats and boats, the entire contraption looking like a ghoulish jellyfish from hell with Naka's upper half as the hood, and the various steel wires and organs dangling from her upper half as the tentacles, floats and Fairy-sized boats bundled together at the ends after Hiei lifted them from the ocean.
Some of the little helpers had released their hold in order to drop into the ocean, the Fairies floating on the surface and were shaking their stubby fists at her.
Lowering Naka's corpse, she scooped up the floating Fairies with her injured arm while Ooi sailed up with a grim expression on her face and gestured to take over possession of Naka's body, Hiei nodding towards the torpedo cruiser before lifting the bobbing Fairies onto her rigging, speaking to them in a grateful tone.
"Sorry about just now.
And thanks for keeping Naka afloat for as long as you could."
And upon hearing that, some of the Fairies nodded sadly after seeing the state Naka was in despite their best efforts.
Ooi sailed up, firing her torpedoes for effect while she firmly held Naka's burnt arm to make sure she didn't lose a fellow comrade to the ocean.
And even if this was well within the Safety Zone and allied submarines, either ship girls themselves or vessels manned by humans or Fairies would be patrolling the ocean, it was possible for the Abyssals to shanghai the corpse away to corrupt and reform it for their own nefarious ends.
That was when a ship-girl-sized large-caliber shell nearly struck them, Hiei shooting out an arm to grab Naka's corpse as a water column collapsed onto them after the Northern Water Princess took pot shots in their general direction, cold seawater chilling her to the bone her yet again as she maintained her grip on Naka's clammy and ice-cold forearm while she heard Ooi cry out in surprise.
"Goddammit!"
And as she shook the water from her eyes and looked Ooi in the eyes, the Kuma-Class torpedo cruiser was looking more and more impatient as she ordered Hiei.
"We can't have the Northern Water Princess keep firing on us like this when we have so many casualties!
You need to get in there, join the ship girls fighting the Princess and stop her, Hiei!"
Hiei looked down at Naka's corpse as she worried about protecting the dead and dying as well as those who either cared for them or evacuated them from the battlefield.
But as she remembered telling Yamato during their training, she was supposed to be a weapon which attacked, and defending wasn't her specialty.
Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, she opened her eyes and gave Ooi a determined look, getting up and dusting off her thoroughly bloodied miko uniform in order to enforce the adage that sometimes, the best defense was a good offense.
A Ri-Class's medium-caliber shell threw up sparks as it scraped the surface of one of her large-caliber cannons, but in order to conserve ammunition, Hiei did her best to feint sailing to the left when she intended to strafe to the right.
She pulled off her feint just as the Ri-Class fired her torpedoes in a broad salvo, and she managed a skip over one torpedo before barreling towards the shocked Ri-Class, who tried to prepare her cannons before getting pummeled by a charging fast battleship.
As Hiei closed the distance, she drew back a fist and coiled her muscles before taking in a deep breath, crying out in order to boost the next attack in her mind,
"HIIYAAHH!"
Before her fist blurred, and she heard a satisfying crack of the Ri-Class's jaw joint as a minor shock wave was produced, suddenly feeling two sharp pangs of pain spread out across her gut as the Abyssal heavy cruiser dealt mutually-assured damage by firing medium-caliber shells at point-blank range, and Hiei's mind spun from the pain threatening to disorientate her.
But even as spots of blood blossomed on her blood-soaked miko uniform, through heavy panting, doubling over while gritting her teeth, clenching her fists so tight to the point where blood was drawn by her fingernails and sheer force of will, she managed to power on as she lifted her boat slipper just as the Ri-Class was getting up, drool rolling down the Abyssal's lower jaw which hung open dumbly, since dislocating her jaw prevented her from closing her mouth in order to swallow the saliva, causing it to escape her gaping mouth and drip into the ocean.
Hiei smashed her boat slipper down on the Ri-Class's neck and put her back in her place, leaving the prone Abyssal to the ship girls behind her to finish off as she ran forward to join the fight against Helena and Atlas.
Hayasui, Akitsu Maru, Kiso, Murakumo, Shigure and Kitakami were on the case, and Hiei could see that although the ship girls had been worn down by doing battle with Helena, the Northern Water Princess and her Beast were also injured by the fight, Kiso flying in as she shouted,
"FLYING THUNDER GOD!"
But the sword stopped upon contact with Helena's skintight thigh-high-heels at the skin as the Abyssal raised her lower leg in order to defend herself, Kiso's eyes widening in surprise as she commented in bewilderment.
"Huh.
That same amount of force worked on the Southern War Princess."
Sword and cloth screeched as Kiso was slowly being overpowered by Helena, the aviation battleship huffing indignantly before answering.
"Oh, you mean Jayme and her Beast, Tezcatlipoca?
Please don't group me and Atlas together with trash like that."
Before kicking out and sending Kiso skidding backwards, and as she readied her dual 12 Inch Triple Gun cannons, Hiei surmised that the Princess's middle layer of shields were gone as Hiei fired her own cannons en masse to either hit Helena the Princess or at least distract her
But Helena's Beast, despite being a giant sphere of flesh attached to her back, was surprisingly mobile as it compressed and deformed to allow Hiei's shell to fly past unharmed, her Beast spinning around to position Helena so that she could raise a high heel in order to kick vertically upwards, deflecting Hiei's shell with a well-placed kick as another shock wave radiated from her location and caused small tidal waves to be formed on the ocean.
Everyone was shocked into silence by the Abyssal battleship's move, Helena raising her heel as she menacingly flexed her right leg's muscles and let out the cracks in her joints, completely at ease with her harlot-like appearance as she gracefully lowered her heel and glared daggers at them, exuding a menacing aura from her very being as she spoke.
[I have crushed a fair number of ship girls' skulls beneath my heels.
Are you sure you wish to continue?]
Hiei's body shivered at the thought of her head being crushed by sheer force, but she steeled her heart and looked onward while she saw others do the same, and Helena's murderous aura flared up as she commented.
[Well, I never expected to come to this battle without sinking a few of you.
On guard!]
Before digging the tip of her heel into the ocean and kicking out again, imitating the carriers' Storm Leg with the strength of a battleship, turning it from a move which mimicked a shotgun bird-shot into a potentially deadly buckshot as Shigure was late to evade, crying out in pain as she hit the ocean.
And above them, the flighty abomination which was the Abyssal Patrolling Attack Hawk went into a dive, emitting a shrill, metallic cry from its jaws and only got closer in spite of all the Anti-Air rounds emptied into the sky.
[KKRRAAAWW!]
It narrowed its relatively gigantic eye in order to minimize the size of its most vulnerable spot as well as to prevent the air from irritating its eyes, targeting Haruna as one of the core ship girls who could bring down the Northern Water Princess.
Helena tried to clear the area for it as she brandished her 12 Inch Triple Gun Cannons, calling out.
[Not gonna let you!]
And fired her cannons at the ship girl horde, forcing them to prioritize dispersing over shooting down the Attack Hawk as Hiei, despite all her armor, had to physically strafe as an enemy large-caliber shell whizzed by.
Akashi's hook flew out while Akitsu Maru emptied a 12 Gauge round into the air, but the evasive movements of the ship girls coupled with the Attack Hawk's acrobatic prowess as it performed a controlled loop to evade these attacks, Hiei already moving towards Haruna as she saw her sister's rigging lighting up with Anti-Air rounds being fired.
She didn't like to use a cannon to kill a mosquito, but this was her sister they were talking about.
There was always the option of overkill in order to save her sister.
Dropping down onto her knees while leaning backwards, she managed to elevate the angle of her cannons to a height that was nigh-impossible for any World-War-2 warship as she fired an entire cannon salvo into the sky, aimed roughly at where the Attack Hawk would fly as she led her shots, hearing the satisfactory shriek of the Attack Hawk as her large-caliber shell tore a bloody hole into its tail and threw it off-course.
[KII-YAAAWW!]
But the downside to that was the fact that an injured Attack Hawk reflexively released its depth charge in mid-air and dropped in Haruna's direction while the Attack Hawk spun out into the sea, Hiei instantaneously getting on her feet and throwing up troughs of seawater as she sprinted towards her sister ship.
Tackling her to the ground just as the depth charge plopped into the ocean since it failed to detect any nearby ship girl signatures, Hiei was now lying atop a slightly flustered Haruna as she became slightly conscious of the body contact and non-existent distance between them, speaking offhandedly about one of them being atop the other.
"This really has got to stop."
And since this Haruna was from another naval base, she could only utter a confused,
"Um, what?"
Hiei suddenly became even more self-conscious of her actions as she was speaking to a doppelganger from Miura and not Yokosuka's Haruna, shaking her sweat-drenched head as she tersely deflected.
"Nothing.
Are you alright?"
Haruna's face became somber, but she shook her head in order to indicate her answer, and Hiei got up before lending a helping hand to Haruna just as more torpedoes headed her way.
They both strafed in opposite directions as she shouted out another order,
"Evade!"
But to her battle-hardened sister, she was stating the obvious as Hiei heard another missile hit a spot of ocean where some ship girls were at, hoping that no other ship girls were taken out by them.
But as Akitsu Maru fired her Benelli M4 shotgun at the Princess it bounced off the reformed shields around Helena and Atlas as the amphibious assault ship cursed.
"Motherfucker!"
But Murakumo and Kitakami were working on wearing those shields down again, Hiei's Fairies reloading her cannons while Murakumo fired her Anti-Air cannons into the spaces in between the shield plates, and Kitakami was busy firing all her torpedoes while leading them such that even if they were to miss, they could zone the Northern Water Princess out or corner her into the path of other incoming torpedoes.
Hayasui attempted to get in close with her flamethrower, but she was now a priority target which Helena did not want to get up close and personal with as she fired off torpedoes in her general direction in order to scare her off.
Hiei aimed her cannons so that they would roughly hit in the same direction, and she fired her shells consecutively while Murakumo and Kiso distracted the Northern Water Princess with their own cannons.
But as the smoke cleared to show each shell weakening the shield as the shield plates reddened with each impact after diffusing the large-caliber shell's impact, Helena suspected that something was up as she strafed away and caused Hiei's fourth shell to only strike a glancing blow on the spherical shield, but this allowed Kiso the chance to distract the Abyssal by performing a Shukuchi, and as she got within range, she tilted her head and amped up the brightness of the spotlight in her right eye as she screamed.
"Reflections of the Eight Hand Mirror!"
And the sharp increase in the luminosity of the directed light beam originating from Kiso's right eye stunned Helena as she squinted and stopped dead, allowing Kitakami to hoist Kasumi up, the Asashio-Class destroyer having joined the fight after mopping up the Abyssal horde which Hiei left behind.
Kasumi was wearing a battle backpack with black straps as her Kai Ni uniform, and she was wearing a red ribbon on her collar while her black jumper dress partially covered the long-sleeved white shirt beneath it, and dual Quadruple Torpedo Launchers were attached to her thighs as she held a firearm with two Anti-Air turrets attached onto it in one hand and a 12.7 Cm Twin Gun Cannon in another.
Her red-colored kid's heels were pointed at the Northern War Princess, arms tucked close to her body as she formed a tubular shape with her body and yelled.
"And laaaunnccchhh!"
Kitakami heaved as she used two hands to hurl Kasumi through the air like a torpedo, Helena unable to do anything as Kasumi brought in her knees and forced her boat slippers into the swollen-red shield plates, breaking them as Kasumi drop-kicked the Princess's shields and fired her boost gauge for maximum damage.
The shield gave out underneath her weight and allowed the destroyer into the Northern Water Princess's personal space, and Kasumi fired whatever was left of her boost gauge while Helena slammed her mechanical left palm down as though swatting a fly just as another hyper beam was partially charged up in that palm, discharging the partially-charged hyper beam down on the ocean in order to throw Kasumi off-guard for the fully-charged hyper beam in Helena's right palm to fire at Kasumi.
But just as a 14 Cm shell glanced off Helena's temple while a burning signal flare flew into her field of vision to throw off her aim, a steel hook flew in and caught Kasumi's rigging, Akashi hauling the Asashio-Class destroyer away from the incoming beam of death as it carved a valley across the ocean and vaporized seawater.
And although it would have missed Kasumi anyway thanks to Ooi and Hayasui's interference, Akashi's hook provided a safety net as Kasumi hit the ocean after escaping the hyper beam's travel path and the area in which she would have suffered lethal burns due to her proximity to the scalding beam.
And as Murakumo applied pressure by firing Anti-Air turrets at Helena's face to distract her while Shouhou delivered death from above, Hiei fired her cannons while she heard Akitsu Maru dog-whistle and comment in genuine awe at Akashi's clutch hooks.
"And another Dendi-level hook from Akashi!
A round of applause, everyone!"
Hiei then turned back in order to check on Shigure's condition, and even though her unremodeled comrade suffered from several red splotches on her skin due to the seawater hitting her at velocities which would severely injure a human, her armored skin came in useful and defended her as best it could, Shigure firing off another salvo of torpedoes from her right torpedo launchers.
This was in conjunction with Murakumo's torpedo salvo as they approached the Northern Water Princess from the 10 and 1 o'clock direction, Kitakami readying her torpedoes in case Helena managed to evade both their salvos, in which she could deliver the final salvo which would almost certainly hit its mark.
The fact that the other ship girls were firing their cannons at her while bombers dropped their explosive payloads from above didn't do much to make her situation any easier, Atlas having produced Anti-Air turrets to defend the both of them from the aerial menace.
But the Northern Water Princess wasn't completely done in yet.
Akitsu Maru flung a cooked grenade at her, but Atlas lifted its Princess off the ocean and spun around, allowing Helena to kick the grenade away a fraction of a second before it detonated just outside of lethal range, and although Atlas plopped its Princess at a location facing away from an oblivious Kasumi and left itself open to small-caliber fire from the Asashio-Class destroyer, Helena had another trick up her sleeve.
With no time to spare due to the torpedoes closing in for a pincer attack, she flexed her leg muscles and lifted Atlas clean off the ocean, shifting its center of gravity onto her foot as she charged up her twin hyper beams before launching herself and her Beast backwards with a long jump, the unleashed hyper beams acting as thrusters in order to propel the both of them in Kasumi's direction while Atlas served as the shield against small arms fire, a bewildered Kasumi only able to utter a simple,
"Motherf-"
Before boosting out of the way.
Too little, too late.
Atlas acted as a gigantic cue ball being struck and sent flying across the battlefield, inflicting a glancing blow on Kasumi after Helena's makeshift thrusters added more velocity to her attack, Kasumi hitting the ocean hard as Helena landed, but Hayasui and Hiei covered Shigure in her attempt to help Kasumi up as the fleet oiler fired off a jet of flaming oil to keep the Princess at bay while Hiei fired two of her four 35.6 Cm Twin Gun Cannons, keeping the other two in reserve in case of emergencies.
Helena retaliated by evading Hayasui's flames before firing her 12 Inch Triple Gun Cannons en masse, Hiei watching one of her shells inexplicably striking Helena's shell on the nose, both of them mushrooming in slow-motion in Hiei's adrenaline-addled mind as their velocities drove them into each other before the shock wave radiated from the epicenter, cratering the ocean and distracting Helena long enough for Kiso to boost in while running on the ocean.
Flashing her spotlight for a second like the bulb of a camera's flash going off in order to buy herself more time, she emptied her boost gauge and went for a dead run as she called out,
"ATOMIC CUTTER!"
Helena instinctively fired off a left-legged high kick to intercept Kiso's attack as contact was made and they both traded blows within the space of a millisecond.
But just as Hiei was wondering just how much more effective that attack could've been if only Kiso hadn't called out her attack, she heard Helena speak up as she gracefully lowered her raised leg.
[You… truly are dangerous.
Playtime is over, and I should get serious in trying to sink you all.
I have a feeling that any less simply wouldn't… cut it.]
Hiei heard Akitsu Maru and Hayasui giggle like schoolgirls upon hearing that morbid joke, and she saw why the Northern Water Princess said so.
On her lower left leg was a thin red line caused by Kiso's blade, Abyssal blood oozing from it and indicating the fact that although Helena was powerful, she wasn't invincible.
Akashi highlighted that by quoting,
"'If it bleeds, we can kill it.'
I know that there's a killer joke about the Abyssal Princess bleeding 'down there', her being on her period and lashing out at us due to PMS as well as that Arnie quote, but it just escapes my mind.
Whatever.
Get her, girls."
The girls of the 8th Fleet giggled maniacally at that thought while Hiei, upon detecting Ayanami sail up beside her, looked down at her teammate as they exchanged uncomfortable looks with one another at how off-kilter their sense of humor was like, but they eventually joined in the fight as the Princess's shields came back online.
Shigure fired her torpedoes while Shouhou's fighter planes flew in, peppering the shields with low-intensity but continuous machine-gun fire while Kiso boost-jumped above the Abyssal Princess, hitting her top layer of shields with dual-wielded 14 Cm Single Gun Cannons as she orientated herself vertically upside down and spun around, stretching her body out in order to increase spinning speed and act like a pseudo-machine gun before landing on the ocean.
Watching several more missiles streak down from the broken clouds as red circles were blatantly displayed on her HUD along with the warning,
'MISSILE INBOUND'
She unleashed a hail of Anti-Air fire in order to try and shoot some of them down while she shouted to the others,
"Move!"
She recoiled as the missiles targeted strategic locations either to break up their formation or cover the Northern Water Princess's movements, her heart stopping as she saw Shigure get lifted clean off the ocean and be thrown about like a tumbleweed which was at the mercy of a strong gale.
It only started beating again as she exhaled upon seeing Shigure get up after being drenched in seawater, hearing Haruna speak up urgently over the radio.
"Hiei nee-san!
Let's fire our cannons together!
On my mark!
Fire!"
Haruna and Hiei fired their large-caliber cannons in a cannon salvo to draw Helena's attention.
This allowed Murakumo, Kitakami and Ooi to fire their torpedoes, and the Princess's underwater shields gave out as they successfully protected Helena and Atlas from all the torpedoes, but at the cost of her shields completely crumpling as Helena flinched at the sight of the torpedoes detonating at a safe distance thanks to her downed shields, underwater explosions blossoming around her.
Hayasui got in close with her flamethrower as she attacked Atlas from the rear by letting loose a stream of unholy fire which went through the shields, since fire and fuel weren't solids and couldn't be blocked.
And the shrill howl of the Beast shocked them all to the core due to its apparent lack of vocal organs and an orifice to project its voice as Atlas warped, deformed and squeezed in its unique way of flailing around in order to shake off the flames which stubbornly clung on its back, Helena's expression sharply darkening as her Beast submerged into the ocean and left her in an awkward position in which she was lying on the partially-submerged form of Atlas with slightly-spread legs and was without her shields, Shigure taking the opportunity to go on the offensive by firing all her torpedoes at the Princess.
But with a titanic amount of effort and with the aid of her mechanical arms, Helena grunted as she dug in her heels and lifted Atlas with her leg muscles, strafing to the right with her burnt Beast on her back as she grunted with the exertion.
[Grrkkt!]
Her mechanical arms charged up to fire at an incoming Hatsuharu and Akashi, the former boosting away while the latter strafed, Ayanami and Murakumo unleashing a torpedo salvo to keep her on the move while Hiei's cannons fired en masse, Shouhou's torpedo bombers coming in hot to drop its payload.
But even as Atlas's Anti-Air turrets successfully damaged a Tenzan to force the Fairy pilot to eject, the pilot-less torpedo bomber wildly spun out and spiraled into the bubble shield, and both the payload and bomber caused a brilliant fireball which caused Helena to stagger from the force.
Hiei saw this as a chance to allow Shigure the opportunity to save the airborne Fairy pilot, which had already deployed its parachute, and to maintain the pressure on the Northern Water Princess.
Shouting into the radio,
"Shigure!
Move up and rescue the Fairy pilot!
Haruna, lay down cover fire with me!"
She ran in with Shigure while Haruna followed her orders and fired at the Princess's shields along with her, but Hiei pushed Shigure into the ocean just as the aviation battleship fired her large-caliber cannons.
Struggling with the pain dealt by a large-caliber shell took a whole other level of hardheadedness and determination, and even if she spotted the incoming shells in the midst of evading and angled her body to allow the shells to hit her collar bone and liver, she gritted her teeth to the point where her gums began to hurt while sweat poured from her forehead and body, her miko uniform completely drenched in blood, sweat, and possibly some tears as her eyes watered, salty tears threatening to cascade from the corners of her eyes.
But she banished those tears by shutting her eyes, remaining in her 'doubled over' position for awhile longer in order to catch her breath before plowing through the pain, barely noticing Kiso, Kitakami and Ooi get in range to bombard the Northern Water Princess's shields by hurling them with their bare hands while Shouhou's Suisei Bombers swooped in for the kill.
Just as Hiei got in close to fire her shells, Akitsu Maru and Akashi approached Helena's point-blank range while brandishing their weapons, and Kiso had landed on the top of her shields after Shouhou had recalled her planes, the torpedo cruiser seemingly standing on thin air as the shield shimmered in the daylight and supported Kiso's entire weight.
Helena could only look up in surprise as Kiso held two torpedoes in a reverse grip in each hand, grinning maniacally before boost-jumping with everything she had in order to escape the blast radius as she swung her arms downwards, flinging her torpedoes down at the topmost shield layer where she stood, the resulting explosion causing the shields to cave in as Helena cursed.
[Shit!]
Akitsu Maru lunged with her katana, vaulting over her giant mechanical arms to strike at Helena, but as demonstrated by the Anti-Air turrets on its body, Atlas's body hid several more cannons as two more protruded from within its body, holes opening up in the 'fabric' in order to stick out two medium-caliber cannon barrels which coughed out shells at Akitsu Maru.
Being an experienced sword user, Akitsu Maru managed to cut through one shell with her blade, but at the cost of allowing Helena enough time to retaliate by digging her foot into Akitsu Maru's side and driving her into the ocean, the amphibious assault ship crying out in genuine agony.
"Gah!"
But as Helena fired her hyper beams at the ship girls who tried to assume a formation in order to fire a combined salvo, the Abyssal raised her heel to stomp down on the vulnerable 8th Fleet member which would potentially send her into medium damage, but Hiei got in close.
And as her cannons were still reloading, she raised her foot to block Helena's stomp attack, grunting at the sheer amount of power needed to hold a Princess's strength at bay while Akitsu Maru scrambled away from the scene.
But she shifted her center of gravity behind her planted boat slipper and allowed the weight of her rigging to do part of the job, flexing her leg muscles as she met Helena's stern gaze as both of them, with dark expressions, tried to out-muscle the other.
But as she heard metallic movement at her sides and heard Ayanami, Shigure and Shouhou shout desperately into the radio,
"Hiei-san, run!"
"Watch out!"
"You're gonna get crushed!"
She removed her foot in order to allow Helena to slam her heel into the ocean, but before the Abyssal's sole touched the ocean surface, she pumped all her strength into her legs and slapped her hands on the Abyssal's shoulders in order to perform a handstand on Helena's shoulders.
Supporting her entire weight and rigging with her own two hands, she felt Atlas's Anti-Air turrets tear into her clothes and skin, hurting like vicious ant-bites on her back while paralyzing pain shot up her injured left hand due to punching out a life-size large-caliber shell in a moment of hardheadedness as sweat free-flowed from the skin on her throat, face and forehead due to the exertion and the pain.
But the Northern Water Princess's mechanical arms slapped together in a metallic, screeching clang where she once stood as Hiei winced at the volume of the deadly clap which would no doubt have cracked, or outright broken some of her steel bones.
She received an update that her cannons had finished reloading.
Well, better late than never.
Flexing her arm muscles and pushing off of Helena's shoulders in order to land on the spot of ocean where she once stood facing off against the Northern Water Princess, she fired all her cannons at point-blank range into Atlas and Helena as the Abyssal's mechanical arms were brought apart.
But even before she landed, she could tell that Helena was charging up hyper beam attacks in both arms, coiling up her muscles just as she detected Akitsu Maru, Kiso and Akashi moving in.
Helena's left steel palm raised to fire a hyper beam at an airborne Kiso and forced her to land and skid on the ocean in order to avoid getting turned into cinders, but Akitsu Maru held up her sword as though it were a cue stick before pulling off her attack with a passionate roar,
"Triple Fiery Impaling Strike!"
While Akashi flew into the air with a pounce and a predatory look in her eyes, surgical scalpels flying towards the Abyssal's face.
And even as Hiei pumped her legs in order to evade the Northern Water Princess's remaining hyper beam in her other palm, an ominous whiz was picked up by her sharp hearing, tensing up at the amount of pressure she was facing.
The Flying Dutchman's shell came flying in as she skidded to a halt, and since she just stopped and couldn't immediately move off due to her heavy rigging and the nigh-paralyzing pain plaguing her left arm and torso, she had no choice but to punch the shell with her right hand as she sharply twisted her torso to put more energy into her punch, having no boost gauge of her own to accelerate away, and she was feeling fatigued after sprinting around so much.
The bones in her fist cracked as it felt as if someone took a sledgehammer to her finger joints and sections, feeling glad about closing her eyes before this as she felt a steel shard slice into the bridge of her nose and left cheek as she hissed sharply, losing the feeling in both her hands as they became numb to any more sensations.
Looking back at the Northern War Princess, it was clear that the battle had taken a toll on her as she was panting heavily, sweat glossing her snow-white skin as cuts ripped across her shoulder, left breast and a blade managed to nick her in the neck as several blue-black marks were left by their large-caliber shells.
Atlas suffered from burns, torn flesh, gaping wounds and even the occasional slash to its spherical body, Akashi looking as if she had been bathing in blood which had thoroughly dyed her uniform and body, idly swinging her hooks about whilst giving the Abyssal an ultimatum.
"Well, looks like your Abyssal comrades can't seem to back you up.
Not that it's your fault, you all were screwed by the chain explosion and were forced into retreat, and we chased you into a corner and called in for backup.
So I suppose I'll give you an ultimatum, since we're both adults and can understand when to throw in the towel in a losing situation.
Do. You. Yield?"
It was a thinly-veiled threat, and Helena knew it.
They could definitely kill her given enough time, and the outcome likely wouldn't change one bit in either case, but any soldier worth their salt would understand that it was better to retreat and fight another day than to stubbornly fight on when there was no chance of a comeback.
Helena lowering her head and her cannons in defeat as she began to sink was her answer, her voice soft and tired as Hiei only managed to catch it thanks to her super-hearing, being more preoccupied with hiding the uncontrollable trembling in all of her limbs as well as the blood which free-flowed from her raw knuckles and split skin on her hands.
[Very well.
I shall humbly admit my defeat and take my leave.]
But admit it.]
Hiei's taut muscles flexed as her unwavering expression darkened upon hearing the Northern Water Princess's next few words.
[Even with three fleets, you couldn't sink me.
I'm far stronger than the one you know as Southern War Princess.
And to my understanding, you may be a threat, but to secure the kill and ensure the safety of your members, you require real backup, not these inexperienced children.
Do you really think that you could have carried out your threat with that motley crew behind you, filled with unremodeled ship girls who lack experience and possess untapped potential?]
And slightly, ever so slightly, Hiei exhaled as she dropped her gaze and broke off the staring contest she had with Helena, because she knew that the Abyssal was right.
The 1st Fleet had been formed relatively recently, and in the heat of the moment, Hiei was the one to suggest helping out in one of the boss battles, and the only one they could find amidst the chaos was the 8th Fleet engaging in combat with the Re-Class aviation battleship and the Northern Water Princess (and Re-Class).
Jintsuu and Abukuma were dead while everyone else had suffered extensive damage and were fatigued from the battle, but the stinger was the fact that they simply couldn't kill the Northern Water Princess without taking on more casualties of their own.
But her trembling legs finally gave out on her as the Abyssal submerged, collapsing on the ocean floor as her completely blood-soaked arms, legs and body crumpled due to her strength leaving her, feeling completely bewildered at how she fell like a puppet with its strings cut as she stuttered while lying prone on the ocean.
"I-I… Impossible…
I can still fight… this can't the end…"
But her body ached thoroughly and failed to respond to her prompts as she awkwardly looked up to see Shigure, Ayanami and Shouhou reach her, Akashi standing over her crouching and kneeling teammates like the Grim Reaper herself as she retorted.
"Bitch, this is the end for you.
Probably for the best if your fleet retreats too.
Honestly, you may have made some plays worthy of MVP for this battle, but it's a miracle that the adrenaline in your body and your willpower managed to stave off the impossible for this long."
Hiei glared at Akashi as she said that, but Akashi's blank stare and her teammates' concerned looks forced her to relent as she backed off, knowing that Akashi was only speaking the truth and was a certified repair ship, which would explain how she could see Hiei had hit her physical limit.
Her Fairies had taken to holding up pom-poms in order to try and reinvigorate her while the rest conducted after-battle damage assessment, but Hiei had to disappoint them as her four limbs were unresponsive and she sustained cuts, wounds and contusion injuries all over her body after tanking shells and blows.
And as the adrenaline wore off, it allowed her to feel the stinging salt water cleansing the wounds on her hands after punching out the Flying Dutchman's shells twice, the sea rhythmically lapping up the blood flowing from her abdomen after the Northern Water Princess fired a large-caliber shell in her direction, the world went out of focus in her mind as the last thing she saw was of Shigure and Ayanami preparing to evacuate her from the battlefield.
Musashi walked across the battlefield, punching out the occasional Abyssal who dared cross her path as well as deftly sidestepping torpedo salvos and avoiding pot shots taken at her, heading for what she felt was the strongest Abyssal signature present.
The thing about Princesses was that their signatures were unbearably powerful to the point where they easily signaled their presence via their intense aura, and in cases like this where the radar was a clutter of red and blue dots, it helped that their aura was essentially a 'I'm over here!' sign for ship girls to either engage them or flee.
Sure, they could try to hide their auras by consciously suppressing them, but to do so in the midst of battle meant that you'd be focused on suppressing your aura in plain sight (which defeated the point) while fighting off ship girls, which was why they only did it when sailing underwater and not on the battlefield, where they could unleash everything they had.
That was fine by her.
She wasn't intending to hold back her punches anyway, unlike during training where some restraint was required lest she accidentally break someone's bones with a single punch, and that was why she only sparred with fellow battleships; they could take her hits without immediately breaking apart.
Unfortunately, that also meant that the enemy Abyssals also broke apart like porcelain when she introduced her fist to their faces, but that was why she was suited to take on stronger foes.
Namely, the Battleship Water Demon.
Approaching the location, she noted the Nagato-Class battleship engaging the Demon in battle along with Ise and Bismarck along with Hiei, Kongou and Iowa from other naval bases.
The Kai Ni Kongou Sisters had upgraded riggings as they shared the same miko uniform top and sleeves as well as the wired golden headdress which replaced the paddle-like designs in their original and Kai forms, 15.2 Cm Single Gun Cannons attached to their waists while their footwear had red soles with a golden knob as a heel platform, two of their four 41 Cm Twin Gun Cannons possessing Anti-Air turrets on them while an antenna and their chimney stack stuck out from their rigging behind them.
But where their getup differed was the jade-green dress Hiei wore in contrast to Kongou's black dress, and only Kongou's rigging had shell-like steel plates on either sides of her rigging which could be brought forward in order to form a physical shield before her, but was currently folded in to be used later.
Firing all her cannons in order to cover them, she sank well beneath the ocean surface in a basin of seawater as her shells formed a narrow salvo, watching it reach the Demon's bubble shield as several shells connected and engulfed the Demon in smoke while others missed the Battleship Water Demon by a small but significant margin.
But as her enhanced sight allowed her to see, the Demon wasn't fazed in the slightest by the cannon salvo as her shields and her Beast protected her just fine, and by some coincidence, it was then that a Southern War Princess joined them, the newcomer confusing Musashi as she sailed up to Nagato and asked when within earshot.
"Nagato.
I thought the Southern War Princess was caught in the explosion, so why is the one before us looking perfectly fine?"
Nagato glowered at the two Abyssal bosses as they met up before them while the ship girl battleships tried to encircle them without stretching themselves out too thin, Musashi hearing the slight exhaustion in Nagato's voice after charging the enemy, tanking some damage and having to physically fight the Battleship Water Demon for awhile.
"The Flying Dutchman's deployed another Southern War Princess after we took out one Southern War Princess and one Battleship Symbiotic Princess with the explosion.
The jet fighters destroyed the Aircraft Carrier Princess and managed to injure the Air Defense Princess, putting them on the ropes.
Enough that they'd deploy one more Princess from the Dutchman in order to even the odds."
Musashi nodded tersely as the Southern War Princess leered at them and taunted,
[Hey, bitches!
We may be outnumbered, but you're clearly outmatched!
Two is one too many Abyssal bosses needed to sink you all, but there's no kill like overkill!]
Musashi got into a combat stance as she felt a shiver shoot up her spine upon feeling the Southern War Princess's aura flare up menacingly, the Abyssal getting ready for a fight.
But not before the Battleship Water Demon partially lifted her arm to stop her, the Southern War Princess deflating as she looked at the Demon standing before her and sneered.
[What'sa matter, Granny Phoebe?
Pussyin' out when you're facing off against too many enemy battleships?]
Shaking her head, Phoebe looked poised even under pressure as she responded to that question by answering confidently.
[Quite the contrary, Jayme.
I'm becoming rather fired up myself.
I will sink them all, but not before making every single one of them realize their sin of daring to even dream that they could put a scratch on my armor with their sticks and stones.]
The air became even heavier and denser than before as Phoebe flexed her spiritual pressure on a scale previously thought unimaginable by Musashi as she tensed up, Phoebe's aura weighing down the air itself and created small waves in the ocean as she silenced even Jayme the Southern War Princess, who started sweating upon seeing a Demon demonstrate her might.
Phoebe held her head up high as she looked down at even Musashi even though she was but a few centimeters taller than the Yamato-Class battleship, speaking.
[I am the epitome of all Abyssal-kind, that which represents the embodiment of everything you could never hope to become.
In the company of ants, what has a Titan to fear?]
But the shot of a large-caliber cannon interrupted the conversation as a familiar silhouette graced their presence, a slug-like headdress causing the edges of Musashi's lips to lift up in something resembling a smirk as a confident Mutsu cut in.
"An Olympian!"
Nagato turned back, her stoic expression belying some element of surprise as she gasped,
"Mutsu."
Jayme cackled, having found it within her to take light jabs at her hierarchical superior without crossing the line as she commented.
[Hah!
Slug-girl really got you good there, hmm, Granny?]
Phoebe shrugged, having toned down on the intimidating aura as she gracefully lifted her heel like a soldier performing marching drills, being mature enough to roll with Jayme's attitude as she responded.
[Touche.
But it's not just words that win you a battle, you need the strength to back them up for them to make a difference.
Allow me to demonstrate.]
Before slamming her heel into the ocean, causing even Musashi to stumble around due to the titanic might behind her move as it created towering tidal waves, and in the confusion, Phoebe shot forward and inexplicably left behind her twin-headed Beast to fend for itself.
In her surprise, Musashi found it within herself to fire off several shells in a Hail Mary shot as the ocean rose and fell, but what completely stumped her was how Phoebe, due to her armor, punched her 46 Cm shell which flew towards her, her smoking fist revealing nothing more than some reddened skin after pulling off that obnoxiously overpowered move.
She sprinted towards a Kai Ni Hiei who was from Tateyama, tanking two glancing 35.6 Cm shells as Phoebe attempted to grab the Kongou-Class battleship by the throat, but Hiei was experienced enough to duck and evade the pale, clawed hand flying towards her.
Phoebe then attempted to knee Hiei in the face as her right knee, covered in black stockings, shot out from underneath her black dress and was about to cave Hiei's face in.
It was by a small miracle that the Kai Ni battleship's hands shot out and caught the dome of Phoebe's knee, causing a compression wave to form as Hiei's palm slapped Phoebe's knee hard and sent her stumbling backwards, Phoebe punching the ocean again to keep everyone off-balance before performing a sweep with her left feet, nearly crippling Hiei as she scrambled away in a panic and shook her reddened palm.
Musashi intended to provide cover fire for Hiei, but was interrupted by Phoebe's Beast and Jayme both covering the lone Demon on the battlefield, the Princess now wearing a psychotic smirk as she called out.
[I got your sexy back, Phoebe!
Let's mow 'em down, Janus!]
The two-headed Beast, appropriately (albeit sacrilegiously) named Janus, roared in agreement and caused the air itself to crack while tidal waves radiated from its position, firing the rest of the 20 Inch Twin Gun Cannons on its body as Jayme sensually licked her lips before following suit with her 16 Inch Triple Gun Cannons.
The sheer amount of firepower forced even Musashi to evade as Abyssal reinforcements arrived in the form of three Ta-Class battleships, two Chi-Class torpedo cruisers, two Ri-Class heavy cruisers and three Ro-Class destroyers, Musashi looking towards Nagato and suggesting.
"Nagato!
We need to take down the Abyssal small fry, otherwise we can't focus on the Princess and the Demon!"
But Iowa spoke up on the radio, not wishing for those fighting the Abyssal duo to lose too much firepower and be taken out in the process as she suggested.
"Well, I think that Musashi and I can take them on, if you don't mind!
If Nagato and Musashi-san are to fight them, my concern is that it'd put the remaining battleships at too much of a disadvantage!"
But a Kai Ni Kongou from Chigasaki interjected as she took offense to the unintentional insinuation that they were helpless without assistance from the top two classes of the IJN's battleships.
"Hey!
We're Kai Ni battleships, even if we can't match your cannon calibers, don't look down on our skills, desu!"
And Iowa uttered a hurried but sincere,
{Sorry!}
In English.
And as they spoke, Phoebe looked perfectly content to stand where she was and let them talk whilst retreat-firing at the Abyssal horde, Musashi hearing Ise putting forth a suggestion of her own.
"And if you want more backup, I have a few more battleships I can call to chip in.
Oh, Hyuga~?"
And Musashi, firing back and testing the integrity of Jayme's shields, could hear Hyuga speaking up as cannons, explosions and screams could also be heard on her end.
"Acknowledged.
I have Fusou with me here, and we're headed in your direction.
Estimated time of arrival, one minute."
In which Ise chimed, clearly happy about getting to join in the carnage as she sang.
"Yay!
I'm gonna join Musashi and Iowa-chan in taking care of the Abyssals!"
Musashi headed away as she fired at the Abyssal horde in order to break up their straight-line formation, noticing the torpedoes in the water as Mutsu shouted.
"Then go!
We'll keep Phoebe and Jayme at bay here for you to return!"
Musashi sidestepped the torpedoes, wincing as she evaded the Ta-Class's 16 Inch shell and heard the metallic screech of steel on steel occurring next to her ear, releasing a breath which she didn't know she held as she retaliated by unleashing whatever cannons she had left.
But the Abyssals weren't done yet.
Musashi looked up as she detected something unnaturally fast streaking across the skies, her HUD confirming that it wasn't one of the few confounded Abyssal jet fighters which were engaged in fierce dogfights with the JASDF and USAF planes as it displayed,
'MISSILE INBOUND'
Two were headed for the ship girls fighting the Demon/Princess duo, and the other two were headed for them.
With a simple,
"Tsk!"
She evaded just as she saw Ise perform a simple front-flip over the torpedoes which were sent out to bottleneck them, the Ise-Class aviation battleship apparently stumbling but was somehow able to boost-accelerate out of the way without losing her balance as the missile landed on none of them, but the situation behind them was less favorable as her HUD blatantly displayed,
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
BISMARCK-CLASS FAST BATTLESHIP 172
"BISMARCK"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Although the death stung, Musashi had no time to weep.
She bravely looked forward as the Abyssals dispersed and kept their distance, a reasonable tactic when fighting with battleships; kite them with your superior speed and keep them at arm's length to prevent them from hurting you with their battleship strength.
But that was an outdated way of fighting a ship girl battleship.
Raising her fist, Musashi yelled into the radio,
"Hang on to something!
Seismic Pulse!"
She swung her fist down and struck the ocean like a meteor, her physical strength capable of giving Phoebe a run for her money as the surface cratered yet again, the ocean rippling and wobbling as the heavier battleships, practically hugging the ocean, were able to maintain their balance somewhat while the Abyssals stumbled from the impact, the echo of her ground pound still resounding slightly in the background.
Iowa boosted as soon as the waves calmed down a little, watching her approach a Ri-Class Abyssal as her arm winded up for a punch while she screamed.
"Eat my knuckle sandwich, bitch!"
The Ri-Class backtracked whilst evading the incoming fist, and it apparently seemed as if Iowa's reckless charge opened her up to a point-blank medium-caliber shell, but Iowa instead rolled with the momentum and spun around to face away from the Abyssal heavy cruiser.
Leaning forward while bending her knees, she boost-accelerated in a retreating fashion and stuck her buttocks out in order to pull off an R. Mika, her rigging crashing into and displacing the Ri-Class with a compression wave sounding out as the American battleship called out her attack after executing it.
"Bubble Butt Bazooka!"
Looking away from the sight of the Ri-Class crashing into the ocean, she saw Ise stabbing her katana into the ocean before slashing at the other Ri-Class on the ocean, the tip of her blade throwing water into her eyes as it caught the heavy cruiser off-guard even after the Abyssal halted and pulled her head back, but it was too late as the high-speed seawater flew into her eyes and stunned her long enough for Ise to fire a large-caliber shell in her direction.
The shell caused significant internal damage as it crashed into her bare abdomen, leaving a nasty contusion wound marked out with blue, black and uncomfortable looking purple, but even though the Ri-Class coughed out a mouthful of blood and had snorted out drops of blood, she wasn't down for the count as she blinked the seawater out of her eyes, grunting hoarsely.
[Ghhkkk!]
But it was enough for Ise to get in close with her wet katana, Anti-Abyssal steel reflecting sunbeams as the Ise-Class battleship, with an uncomfortably enthusiastic smile on her face, sang with anticipation.
"Off with your head!"
And even though the Ri-Class wore a throat guard as part of her uniform, it did little good against a battleship with a sharp object as she decapitated the Ri-Class, bloody steel shards which previously made up her throat guard steel being forced into and beyond the Abyssal's throat as Ise's flight deck managed to block a shell which was fired wildly and wasn't aimed at anything in particular, but would've hit Ise's gut had she not reflexively raised her flight deck in order to deflect the shell as it plopped harmlessly into the ocean.
Musashi had no more time to spectate as she saw two Ta-Class battleships encircle her along with a Chi-Class torpedo cruiser which made things even deadlier.
The Chi-Class taunted as she revved her mount obnoxiously,
[It's over!]
Before dumping a broadside salvo of torpedoes in her direction, the Ta-Classes readying their cannons to shoot her down.
But the dark-skinned Yamato-Class battleship wasn't someone to mess around with in the past, present or future.
Firing a salvo at the Abyssal battleships in order to get the first hit in, one shell messily punching through a Ta-Class's cannon before it exploded in a fiery explosion which caught and engulfed the Ta-Class's entire left side, igniting her ivory cloak and setting her hair on fire as her horrified scream pierced through the chaos of the battlefield in a primal howl of fear at the thought of being killed via immolation, as well as being alive to experience every second of her agonizing and undignified end.
[KKYYYAAAHHH!]
The other concerned Ta-Class helped to dunk her flaming comrade into the ocean in a rare display of concern for each other, but got her palms slightly scorched in the process as it bought Musashi some time to evade the incoming torpedo salvo, bracing herself against the medium-caliber shells fired from the arm cannon on the Chi-Class's left hand as Musashi was forced into a certain path by the torpedo salvo and had no space to maneuver without either getting her legs blown off or shot at by the torpedo cruiser.
But aiming at Musashi meant she wasn't paying attention to where she sailed, her steed likely notifying her about the American battleship standing before her with her arm stuck out to perform a lariat, the Chi-Class lowering her head and tried to turn, but as she grazed the ocean while her steed slid on the ocean in order to pass underneath Iowa's arm, she fired several torpedoes to scare the battleship off, the Iowa-Class battleship hopping over the inaccurate salvo as she commented.
"You left yourself open!"
Landing on the ocean, Iowa only needed a second to aim before firing, one shell punching through the Chi-Class's upper left arm and into her torso, her chest collapsing as her sundered arm cannon dropped into the ocean, a surprised 'O' formed by her mouth complementing the features of her shocked face as her body, like a chrysalis, blossomed into a brilliant fireball which consumed the Chi-Class's motorcycle steed.
The late Chi-Class, still burning like the radiant sun, rode atop her bucking steed as it careened across the battlefield like a panicked horse, nearly missing Ise as she shielded herself from the flaming, stampeding wreck and commented.
"Oi!
Watch it!"
But they had no more time for banter as Iowa fired her salvo at the previously burnt Ta-Class in order to take her out of the equation as the enemy battleship sported charred skin as well as partially burnt-off hair on her crown, but the Abyssal displayed undying tenacity as she threw herself onto the ocean to evade the shells, two Ro-Class destroyers flanking her and firing their torpedoes at the American.
But as Musashi leaned forward to depress her cannon in order to scare one Ro-Class destroyer off with a 15.5 Cm shell while Ise deflected an incoming shell from an Abyssal Ri-Class who wisely kept her distance, flipping her katana into a reverse grip before holding it up like a harpoon and flinging it into the Ro-Class's flank, earning herself a bestial cry from the struck Abyssal destroyer as she quipped.
"I put the cute in execute!
I put the laughter in slaughter!
And the katana in the Abyssal, ahaha!"
Reaching the sinking Ro-Class, Ise ignored the small and medium-caliber shells which struck her repeatedly and drew blood as she regained possession of her katana by pulling it out as if ripping the cord on a lawnmower, splattering alien blood on the burnt Ta-Class and distracted her long enough for Ise to dig her boat slipper into the Ro-Class carcass, sending it flying into the Ta-Class's face and forced her to catch it in mid-air, raw skin coming into contact with steel as the Ta-Class winced in pain.
But that, too, was but a distraction.
Ise boost-accelerated forward and thrust her katana forward like a Chinese sword into the Ro-Class's body, but put her weight behind it to force her katana all the way through in order to pierce the Ta-Class in the face, cleanly going all the way through but allowing the Ta-Class a few more seconds of movement as she feebly clawed at the Anti-Abyssal sword that was stuck in her eye, valiantly struggling to remove the foreign object before collapsing onto the ocean as the sword was likely plunged into her brain, Ise finishing off by ripping her sword out as though slashing, partially bisecting the dead Ta-Class's head.
After another Seismic Pulse which shook the ocean with a battleship's mighty ground punch, Iowa managed to catch a stumbling Ri-Class as she called out for Musashi's assistance.
"Musashi!
Shoulder-to-Shoulder!"
Musashi understood as she stomped over to where Iowa kicked the Ri-Class Abyssal in order to keep her immobile before performing a Tetsuzanko, shoulder meeting chest as she sent the Abyssal stumbling into Musashi while she readied her own version of Tetsuzanko.
Her rigging got in the way of perfectly mimicking the move, but that didn't stop her as she used the roof of her 46 Cm Triple Gun Cannon right above her shoulder as a substitute in her version of the Tetsuzanko as she slammed her cannon roof into the approaching Ri-Class, sending her flying back to Iowa as the fast battleship brought her palms together and intertwined her fingers as though in prayer, bringing her arms up in a clockwise motion much like a guillotine raised for the execution.
Bringing her hand hammer down on the Ri-Class's head and likely sending the Abyssal into a coma in an instant, Iowa's expression contorted in fury as she was swept up in the fervor of the battle, screaming.
"MJOLNIR IMPACT!"
The Ri-Class went down hard.
Another Ta-Class battleship fired at her, Musashi wincing at the feeling of the 12.5 Inch shell hitting her in the upper left arm as muted pain signals were received by her brain to indicate some damage, but she had sortied enough times to know that it wasn't anything significant to someone like her as she touched the slightly swollen area with her other hand.
She looked on as Ise raised a detached cannon sword over her head, having somehow forced a Chi-Class torpedo cruiser off her steed and was now trying to crawl back onto her motorcycle ride, but Ise stopped any chance of that by smashing the Abyssal's skull in as she gleefully spoke to herself.
"Ha!
'The aviation battleship meta is over', they said!
What a load of bull, am I right?"
Her cheery expression didn't leave her face even as she got blood on her cannon and on herself as the Chi-Class hit the ground from a baseball-like hit to the head, and Iowa sweatdropped as she and Musashi prepared her cannons in order to fire at the remaining Ta-Class battleships.
"Wow…
The Ise from your naval base sure is unhinged.
If she's like that when she's happy, I'd hate to see if she's angry or upset."
Before turning to Musashi and asking worriedly about Ise.
"I mean, she does get angry, right?"
Musashi opened her mouth to answer, but then thought really had about the question and recalled all the times she had seen Ise in her lifetime, feeling unsure of her initial answer as she responded.
"Actually, now that you mention it, I've never seen her behave in anything resembling outright anger, really.
Thinking back about how often she appears happy really makes her seem creepy in hindsight, but whatever helps her cope with the stress and keeps her on our side."
Iowa lifted an eyebrow in morbid agreement as Ise brought up her right boat slipper in order to evade a torpedo salvo fired by the Ro-Class destroyers whilst firing the cannons to the right of her rigging in order to produce a clockwise motion, pirouetting on her left boat slipper like a ballet dancer as she evaded large-caliber shells fired by the Ta-Class battleships while she hummed, looking serene with her easygoing smile and eyes closed while spinning out of the way, allowing Iowa and Musashi a clear shot at the last two Ta-Class battleships.
The two Ta-Class battleships evaded the salvo rather easily due to their fast speed, but as Ise planted both boat slippers onto the ocean and accelerated towards the Abyssals with cannon sword still in hand, the Ta-Class took inspiration from their list of moves as she kicked up some seawater in Ise's direction in order to distract her.
But the thing about using conventional moves against a (likely) mentally disturbed ship girl was that it was likely to be ineffectual, Ise simply powering through the move by boost-accelerating and launching herself forward, exposing the crown of her head to lethal caliber fire as the Abyssals fired everything they had, but they certainly didn't expect the aviation battleship to torpedo through their cannon salvo as several shells struck her rigging, cannon roof and even her body, but none of them hit near her head as Ise merrily called out.
"Heads up!"
Slamming her head into a Ta-Class's abdomen, it caused the shocked Abyssal to cough out spit as she was sent flying backwards by the flying headbutt while the other Ta-Class got in close to try and get a few hits in, Ise crashing into the ocean after pulling off her reckless attack.
Big mistake.
For the Abyssal.
Grabbing her cannon sword and using it as a counterweight, Musashi saw Ise lean on the ocean and re-position her left leg, raising her right leg and performing a sweeping kick that would've knocked the Ta-Class out cold had she not stopped dead and leaned back, Ise's boat slipper throwing up strands of snow-white hair due to her battleship strength leaving an air wave in her foot's wake.
Ise then got up as her smile grew and the blood-lust in her eyes intensified, shouting,
"PSYCHE!"
And shifted her weight onto her boat slippers in order to hurl her cannon sword at the Abyssal, the cannon thankfully devoid of Fairies within it as they knew better than to stay inside them when the Ise-Class battleships used them as makeshift weapons, the relative size of the cannon and the close distance forcing the Ta-Class to catch the airborne cannon blitzing towards her upper half.
Ise then screamed,
"DOUBLE PSYCHE!"
And performed a nasty, close-range drop-kick on the Ta-Class, her boat slippers slamming into the Abyssal's abdomen and sending her flying backwards while Ise recovered, scrambling to her feet and picking up her partially-submerged cannon while she aimed her available cannons into the Ta-Class's body with the intention to put her down, throwing up a peace sign next to her joyous face while speaking to a downed Ta-Class as she emptied shell after shell into her body.
"That was fun!
Let's play again!"
Musashi and Iowa were busy finishing off the stragglers as Iowa punched the ocean again as though playing Whack-A-Mole, commenting on how the Abyssal destroyers were particularly difficult to catch due to their ability to quickly evade, swearing in English.
{Motherfucker!}
"These Abyssal destroyers are like fucking rodents; hard to catch, are innumerable and can easily fuck us over with their abilities!"
Musashi nodded, looking down at the corpse of the Ta-Class which Ise had headbutted, having stepped on her stomach and emptied a 46 Cm shell into her chest before the Abyssal could crash-dive, the remains of the Ta-Class and the bloody hole in her chest disappearing beneath the ocean as she turned back to Ise and Iowa.
The latter hadn't taken too much damage as Iowa had played it rather safe, but Ise's rigging was smoking a little, her uniform completely soaked in either seawater or blood.
Iowa make a call by ordering,
"Well, no point chasing destroyers when they're all that's left.
Let's get back to the rest of the battleships; I have a feeling that they're having some trouble with the Abyssal Demon and Princess."
Musashi nodded, and Ise was experienced enough to know not to make any smart remarks in times like these as she lifted an eyebrow in agreement, the three of them sailing in the direction where the occasional ocean-quaking blow originated from and where ship girls and Abyssals alike gave the widest berth.
After all, it was easy on paper for a destroyer or cruiser to dart around and fire torpedoes at battleships, but if they had two traits in abundance, it was titanic strength and endurance, and punching the ocean was a simple way to disorientate and unbalance the uninitiated, opening them up to a possible cannon salvo or physical attack.
Their monstrous strength meant that they could, circumstances notwithstanding, close moderate distances with a pump of their legs.
And while submarines had sunk battleships like Kongou in the past, punching the sea would produce an underwater shock wave which would not only throw off their aim as water was an excellent conductor of said shock waves, but these waves would resonate and resonate in their minds as repeated exposure could potentially cause tinnitus, dizziness, migraines and possibly even minor, but recoverable brain damage.
Musashi snapped out of her thoughts as she noted the swarm of allied fighter planes trying to hold off the other swarm of enemy dive bombers along with the Anti-Air turrets on their riggings all lighting up the skies.
Enemy torpedo bombers had trouble targeting the ship girl battleships since the ocean quaked and threw up troughs of seawater as they punched and stomped, forcing them to either pull up or risk crashing nose-first into a sea crest, Musashi noting the presence of two other aviation battleships.
Hyuga was there, and the aviation battleship beside her had two Prototype 41 Cm Triple Gun Cannons on both sides of her rigging near her shoulders with Anti-Air turrets and machine guns on the roof, along with two 41 Cm Twin Gun Cannons next to her hips and an askew, pagoda mast-like hair ornament atop her silky, long black hair, hair ends tied up in a white strip of cloth just like her forehead and fringe which was also wrapped up in a white bandanna.
Fusou carried a flight deck with two flight catapults, wearing a sleeveless miko uniform which exposed her shoulders with miko sleeves covering her forearms and elbows while being held up by armbands armed with Anti-Air turrets, her rigging connected to her via the steel wrapped around her waist in lieu of an obi, or a cloth belt.
Her red, pleated miko dress barely reached halfway down her thighs, her flexible kneecap armor armed with more Anti-Air turrets as well 12 Cm 30-Tube Rocket Launchers on both knees, the bottom ridges of the kneecap armor similar to her hair ornament in that the bottom was decorated with golden pieces which hung down from them and jangled along with the wind, wearing white socks and red-colored, flower-patterned slippers with steel attachments beneath them which acted as platform heels, Fusou's red eyes silently focusing on the enemies before them.
A partially submerged Hiei was being hauled away by Kongou, the dead Kongou-Class battleships's limp body unable to put up any resistance as her head lolled lifelessly while Kongou, holding her sister up by the armpits, was speaking into the radio in an emotionally strained voice.
"Kongou to anyone!
Please, send a medevac to bring Hiei back to the docks, desu!
Please!"
Along with the grim notification.
'ERROR: SHIP GIRL VITALS NOT FOUND
KONGOU-CLASS FAST BATTLESHIP 150
"HIEI"
STATUS: DECEASED'
Musashi's body tensed up in a barely-restrained rage as she saw that Hiei had a bloody, arm-sized hole messily punched through her chest, and the fact that Phoebe the Battleship Water Demon's black elbow glove was soaked in crimson-red blood, connecting the dots and realizing that Phoebe had run her hand through Hiei's chest, instantly killing her.
Nagato and Mutsu were slightly bruised, but didn't look significantly worse for the wear as Nagato asked the Abyssal about why they didn't bother to target a retreating combatant.
"You know…
Despite being put on the ropes, aren't you going to fire at Kongou and Hiei over there, or call in a missile and force their hand?
Not that I wish to give you any ideas, but it seems like something Jayme…"
Motioning towards the Southern War Princess with a nod and using the Abyssal's self-christened name, she continued.
" … would do, and this Hiei's considered a very valuable asset since she obtained her Kai Ni remodel.
So what's stopping you?"
Phoebe considered the question, finally choosing to unleash her aura which weighed down the air around her, Musashi tensing up at Phoebe's poised, yet slightly condescending gaze as she answered.
[Personally, I do not like or condone unsportsmanlike or dishonorable behavior.
Besides, even when putting us on the defensive and outnumbering us, did you think I would deign to strike down someone who was hors de combat?
Please.
The strong have no need to resort to such despicable acts to win.]
Musashi gulped nervously, but her cannons bristled in retaliation just as she saw Jayme and Janus point their cannons at them to cover Phoebe's advance, hearing Fusou shout.
"Evade!"
Musashi obeyed, the Abyssals' large-caliber cannons cratering the ocean as Musashi could feel the Beast's 20 Inch shells throw seawater on them, outclassing Iowa and Yamato's cannon calibers despite the fact that the two were the epitome of American and Japanese firepower back in World War 2.
Jayme's cannon caliber was also dangerous as they were similar to Iowa's 16 Inch Triple Gun Cannons, Musashi deciding to go on the offensive by firing her cannons in a concentrated salvo, watching her own and Fusou's shells flatten against the bubble shields of the Princess and the Beast as their shield diffused the force of the impact, red circles blossoming from the point of impact as she saw that Phoebe had already reached Nagato.
Fearing for her friend's life, she burst out into a sprint while Mutsu backed Nagato up by tag-teaming with her sister, Phoebe's unrivaled strength forcing the two Nagato-Class battleships to resort to deflecting her blows instead of outright blocking them, for that would run the risk of cracking or breaking their steel bones.
Musashi entered the fray as she pulled her right fist back, thrusting it out as she performed a physical attack known as the Lone Wolf Cannon.
Twisting her torso to allow the combined momentum of her entire body to accelerate her fist into Phoebe's face and allow her to plant her fist through lesser Abyssals, but Phoebe simply caught her left fist as a compression wave radiated from their gloved hands connecting, Musashi slowly getting muscled out as she saw Nagato lift a boat slipper in order to slam it into Phoebe's knee.
But Phoebe surprised them all yet again.
Jumping up while still holding Musashi's fist, Phoebe evaded Nagato's boat slipper slamming into the ocean as she crossed her legs around Musashi's arm and shoulder in a pseudo-arm bar and used her body weight and the strength of her back muscles to break Musashi's arm while she felt the Demon's calves pressing on the back of her head and face, barely able to flex all the muscles in her arm to stop the Demon's move and keep her suspended in mid-air.
Mutsu swung her fist upwards in an uppercut motion towards the Abyssal's exposed back, but Phoebe anticipated this as she stopped struggling against Musashi's titanic strength while using her legs as if they were pincers or chopsticks to tighten her hold on Musashi in order to lift herself as though performing a sit-up, the move catching Musashi by surprise as the continued application of her strength helped to pull the Demon up into a sitting position above her, the Demon's crimson eyes contrasting with the shadow that darkened her features as she eclipsed the sun in Musashi's eyes.
Leaning forward with great effort to look over Musashi's head as Nagato and Mutsu were forced into retreat by another large-caliber shell flying their way, Phoebe endured Anti-Air rounds fired at her as she struck Musashi in the side of the neck, paralyzing her and causing her head to spin from the disorientation caused by it, the nerves in the area flaring up with intense pain which was unlike getting shot at or struck anywhere else.
It reached her mind and stopped almost all activity due to its intensity and proximity to her head, but she still had the presence of mind to steady her trembling legs as she looked up at the stoic Abyssal, huffing.
"You will… never make a Yamato-Class… battleship go on her knees… with such an attack!"
Phoebe tanked several shells fired from Nagato, Fusou and Iowa's cannons as her expression barely changed into a wince of irritation, raising her fist before striking down on Musashi's neck twice with full-force, causing her legs to give out due to the stars which she saw, her spinning mind becoming numb as her feeble attempts to maintain her balance failed due to Phoebe shifting her center of gravity before Musashi and forcing her to plant a wobbly foot forward before awkwardly crumpling onto the ocean.
Tasting seawater as Phoebe, with her legs around Musashi's face, forced her head into the sea, Musashi was weighed down by her own rigging and Phoebe as the Demon got off of her, but her mind was still in a wreck as she tried to clear her mind and gather the strength to get back up again, but as she expected Phoebe to step on her back and dislocate, if not outright break her back, she heard someone run up to Phoebe as a crunchy, metallic grind of something breaking when slammed against something stronger was heard.
Stopping the spinning in her mind and watching the world come back into focus to some extent through sheer willpower, she craned her neck to see Hyuga holding a broken 35.6 Cm Twin Gun Cannon in her hands, holding the barrels to be used as a cannon sword while the roof of the large-caliber cannon had caved in after bringing it down on the Battleship Water Demon, Phoebe turning back to the aviation battleship as Hyuga deadpanned.
"Huh.
That almost never happens with most Princesses."
While Phoebe retorted.
[Hmm.
Unfortunately for you, I'm not like 'most Princesses'.]
And Hyuga, having released her right hand to transfer the broken cannon to her left hand, quick drew her katana to try and cut Phoebe.
But the Demon ducked beneath the katana's swing, bringing up her bloodied, gloved hand to block the incoming kneecap which was aimed at her face before using her shoulder to perform a Tetsuzanko, a pressure wave being produced as she drove her shoulder cap into Hyuga's chest and sent her flying, Phoebe quipping about how their moves weren't only privy to the ship girls.
[Hmm.
A few of your close-quarter combat moves are quite effective, and unlike other Abyssals who die too quickly to master them, I'm rather long-lived.]
Turning back to Musashi as she struggled to get back up and defend herself, fully lifting her heel as though performing a vertical split, looking down at the Yamato-Class battleship as the Demon continued.
[Too bad for you.]
But as Phoebe brought her heel down like a scythe, heavy splashes could be heard from beyond Musashi's field of vision before Ise shot into view, having performed back-flips before this as she supported herself with her left hand, pulling off a one-handed handstand as she used her foot to stop Phoebe's scythe-like attack.
The ocean cratered beneath them as their legs came into contact, Musashi's prone body feeling every crest and trough which was produced as Phoebe's eyes widened in genuine surprise at the aviation battleship's capability to stop her attack before narrowing, commenting on the limits to Ise's strength.
[Just an aviation battleship after all, hmm?]
Musashi looked down at Ise's arm and saw that as a low-tier battleship, her strength couldn't match that of the classes above her, and it showed as the muscles in Ise's planted arm were tensed up from the exertion of supporting her body and rigging's weight as well as resisting the Demon's strength, trembling from fatigue as Phoebe was out-muscling her, sweat free flowing from her forehead, face and throat.
But Ise's tense smile relaxed into a carefree one as she looked up, commenting on something entirely unrelated to the battle.
Namely, the risque view.
"Ooh, erotic-black lingerie with lace, hmm?
Admiral Mako would be so thirsty for you."
Phoebe blushed a little upon hearing that, but as Musashi felt more battleships run towards their position, Ise bought herself enough time for her cannons to point up at the Demon, forcing the Abyssal to spin away and retreat just as Ise fired a cannon salvo at point-blank range, Mutsu helping her to her feet while Ise retreated to allow Nagato to tag in, performing a double-fist attack as she drew both her arms back before launching them out whilst shouting,
"Twin Wolf Cannon!"
Her fists blurred as they made contact with Phoebe's abdomen, causing ripples to form on her black dress while the Demon let out an uncontrollable,
[Grrk!]
While her heels slid back on the ocean, forced out of position while Musashi saw that Fusou, Hyuga, Iowa and Kongou engaged Janus and Jayme in combat with their cannons wearing down their shields, the Kai Ni Kongou-Class battleship likely having transferred her dead sister to ship girls who were in charge of medevacs so that she could get back in the fight.
Ah, so that was why the cannon shots hadn't been coming her way for a while.
An enemy dive bomber's payload detonated close to their position, and although she could see Mutsu's Anti-Air turrets managed to shoot down the dive bomber as it spiralled into the ocean in a flaming wreck, Mutsu was still unnerved by the explosives and flames being rained down from above as she hissed with a terse voice.
"Tsk!
Too close!"
Musashi finally regained full control of her body as her mind cleared, Phoebe's blows being on a whole other level and left her immobilized for longer than she anticipated as she turned back to Mutsu, reassuring her with a determined gaze while she asked.
"Let me back into the fight, Mutsu!
I let the Battleship Water Demon get the best of me before, but with Ise and Nagato, we can take her on, and you know it!"
Mutsu blinked, before nodding again as they circled around to find Ise swinging her katana around while Nagato resorted to her secretly-armored gloved fists and the occasional shot from her large-caliber cannons to keep Phoebe on her toes, Mutsu and Musashi's presence turning it into a four-on-one.
Not that it made things seem any harder for Phoebe, deftly evading even as the four of them coordinated their attacks, Phoebe's boasts being backed up by her skills as she caught Nagato's punch, sidestepping Musashi's stomp and spinning her baby-making hips in a counterclockwise motion to avoid Mutsu's horizontal kick before pushing off of Nagato's fist and sending the name-ship flying backwards, the law of equal and opposite reaction pushing Phoebe back and putting some distance between her and everyone, this giving her the space needed to spin out of the way just as Ise brought down her katana in a vertical slash.
Another red circle was displayed on her HUD right on their position, Nagato allowing panic to creep into her voice as she shouted,
"Move!"
She could hear the irritation in Phoebe's voice as she bemoaned the unwanted assistance,
[Tsk.
I never asked for her support…]
Everyone ran away in order to avoid the incoming missile, the fear now becoming more evident in Mutsu's eyes as the missile was capable of inflicting splash damage in the form of a fireball.
And considering Mutsu's past and how she sank, it was understandable that she'd fear missiles and their capacity to leave behind nothing but a flaming wreck.
The missile struck the ocean and caused a fireball to erupt in its place, and even though it was unlikely for these explosive missiles to outright sink a battleship, as Bismarck's death showed, it was entirely possible for them to die as a result of getting caught in the blast radius.
She sidestepped the dissipating fireball only to find a 20 Inch shell flying into her rigging, cleanly penetrating her 15.5 Cm Triple Gun Cannon and smashing into her left shoulder, feeling the alien sensation of mind-numbing pain shooting through her body again as she fell onto the ocean and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"AAAHHHH!"
And that wasn't the end of it.
Her trashed 15.5 Cm Triple Gun Cannon exploded in her face, cracking her glasses as the resulting fireball nearly blinded her and she felt scathing pain plague her face, hair, left shoulder, arm and breast before she hit the ocean, her mouth now awash in seawater as her screams now translated into bubbles before her very eyes, pain radiating from her left shoulder while her skin stung from the burns she had sustained.
Her armor came in clutch by preventing her shoulder from being cleanly sundered from her body and minimized the burn damage caused by the resulting fireball, and upon feeling a gloved hand which belonged to an allied signature help her up, she gritted her teeth and seethed as it grabbed and helped her up by her left elbow and shoulder.
This aggravated her shoulder dislocation as a fresh wave of pain spread throughout her body, but being an adult and a warrior, she bit down and endured the agonizing pain, her affected limb already numb from the shoulder down as Mutsu revealed herself to be Musashi's guardian angel.
Enduring the stinging sensation of raw burns being exposed to the relatively cool air, she could see Phoebe shake off 41 Cm shells from Nagato as she stomped towards Mutsu, the slug-like battleship turning around and lifting a boat slipper to catch Phoebe's incoming kick as their heels caught each other, Musashi grunting as Mutsu had to lean on the roof of her 46 Cm Cannon, her knees buckling as she supported Mutsu in a bended-knee position in order to resist Phoebe's strength, and the only thing going through her mind then was,
'Ise managed this while doing a bloody handstand?!'
But in her own defense, she was still reeling from the point-blank explosion since there was still a chorus of shrill ringing in her mind to complement the slightly wonky vision in the wake of her own cannon blowing up in her face, but she could feel Mutsu flexing her Nagato-Class strength, commenting.
"Hmm… not bad!
But don't underestimate me!"
Before firing her cannons in a salvo to hit the Demon at close range, and while Phoebe looked unfettered by the slow battleship's salvo, the physical stress of battle was starting to take its toll as her breathing was significantly faster, and she was actually starting to sweat.
Ise roared as she performed a flying kick to Phoebe's gut, but the Demon still had the presence of mind to spin out of the way, catching her by the leg and throwing her into Mutsu in order to knock the three of them down like bowling pins, Musashi tasting seawater again as she went under.
Fortunately, this time, she managed to prop her body up with her working arm which allowed her to quickly pull her face out from the ocean, her drenched pale blonde hair and twin-tails hanging limply alongside her swollen shoulder and immobile arm, turning back to face the battle.
Mutsu recovered faster than she did, a fire burning in her eyes as she teamed up with Nagato in order to pressure Phoebe.
It was strange to see the normally playful and easygoing Mutsu try so hard in battle, but against an enemy like this who outclassed them in every way and didn't need her Beast or shields to take them all on, it was justified for her to drop everything and go all-out, and since there was no need to think too hard about tactics save for 'punch and shoot until dead', there was also no need to hold back and plan out their next move.
All that was needed from her were her swift reflexes and her raw, titanic strength.
Every instance of contact transferred some damage due to their superhuman strength, and Mutsu deflected an incoming left fist with her right forearm, it left one of many red splotches on her limbs and body after coming into contact with Phoebe's limbs as they hissed through the air with sheer speed.
Musashi joined in the fight by using her right arm and two legs to take on Phoebe while keeping her swollen left shoulder as far away from the Demon as possible.
Phoebe not only evaded, but also caught her right arm's Lone Wolf Cannon in her left hand and positioned herself so that Musashi was in between her and Mutsu, the Demon performing a sweeping hook with her left foot to move Musashi's right boat slipper, but upon seeing that Musashi had a strong foothold and wasn't budging an inch, she paid Musashi a genuine compliment,
[Not bad.]
Before drawing her free right arm back seemingly to strike Musashi's dislocated shoulder.
Musashi panicked as her body bristled in retaliation, thinking to herself,
'Shit!
I'm not down for the count, so it'd stand to reason that she'd still see me as a threat and aim for my weak point!'
It was a logical and reasonable conclusion, but it was incorrect as Phoebe had other ideas.
Lifting Musashi's working arm up and leaving her exposed since none of her cannons could depress low enough to cover her, Phoebe instead bent her right arm in like a chicken wing before twisting her entire body to inflict maximum damage, thrusting her right elbow forward while pulling Musashi forward by yanking on her arm, shouting.
[Six Grand Opening, Elbow Upthrust!]
The next blow knocked the wind out of her as its force was felt throughout her body, but even as her body spasmed and trembled from the elbow strike to her solar plexus, her stubborn and unyielding nature acted as a strength as she refused to go down on her knees, although this could arguably be seen as a weakness in the same vein as she didn't know when to quit and had thrown herself back into the fray.
Phoebe was then treated to a devastating Twin Wolf Cannon from Mutsu, who ran forward and thrust both her fists into Phoebe's side which in turn forced her to stumble away, Musashi's blurred sight sharpening as she thought,
'Now!'
Seeing her opportunity, she counter-hooked Phoebe's foot just as Mutsu raised a heel to drive into the Demon's wounded inside, causing Phoebe to release Musashi's working arm whilst tripping over Mutsu's boat slipper, and this allowed Musashi to retreat slightly before firing all her cannons at point-blank range as the spray of her own shells engulfed her body.
Nagato sailed in to fire an accurate cannon salvo at where Phoebe laid as she was repeatedly bombarded by high-caliber shells, running in and lifting her boat slipper to perform a punt kick into Phoebe's head.
But Phoebe's hand shot out from the smoke to catch Nagato's foot, the Demon's slightly bloodied face being revealed as she snarled.
[Not so fast.]
And spun her legs around in a clockwise rotation as if pulling off a dance move to get back on her two feet while forcing Nagato into a push-up-like position as the Demon still had a death grip on the Nagato-Class's boat slipper, raising it into the air to force Nagato to support most of her own and her rigging's weight with her arms.
Musashi, Ise and Mutsu triple-teamed the Demon as Nagato used her other boat slipper to kick at Phoebe's head whilst shifting her planted hands to keep up with Phoebe, raising them one at a time to block any kicks which Phoebe sent flying into her face.
Ise swung her katana down at Phoebe, but held back for fear of striking Nagato while Mutsu and Musashi lashed out with their attacks and kept Phoebe on the retreat, but Nagato seemingly lost the strength in her arms as her body dropped onto the ocean, her free leg pulling in as the motion caused Phoebe to temporarily halt.
It was a trap.
Nagato used the temporary pause in battle to kick into the Demon's abdomen while Mutsu performed an uppercut headed for Phoebe's face, shouting.
"Volcano Fist!"
The incoming kick or uppercut.
Phoebe couldn't block both in time.
She tried anyway as she released her hold on Nagato's foot to block her incoming kick as well as Mutsu's uppercut, but failed to pull off the former as Nagato drove her boat slipper into Phoebe's abdomen, sending her stumbling back to allow Musashi and Ise to follow up.
Ise performed a clean cut into Phoebe's left forearm before pirouetting on the spot to face backwards and deliver a heel kick, and Musashi stomped on where Phoebe's foot was to keep her foothold loose before backing Ise's landed kick up by performing her Tetsuzanko, feeling Phoebe stumble backwards before witnessing the satisfactory fall of Phoebe as the Abyssal hit the ocean hard.
They surrounded Phoebe as the Abyssal pushed herself back up, all of them already in their combat stances as Phoebe looked significantly worse for the wear with her dress being outright torn in certain areas, bruises plaguing areas of skin on her two arms and shoulders while her left glove was neatly cut and was seeping blood, indicating a superficial but ultimately damaging slash which penetrated her armored skin.
Phoebe's breathing was labored, although not to the extent of the fatigued ship girls as they had to contend with someone whose physical strength transcended class, although as demonstrated by the Demon coughing into her palm while blood was spat into her hand and rolled down her lower jaw, and she was still capable of being hurt, killed and ultimately sunk, albeit at great cost.
Phoebe looked away, apparently distracted by something not in the immediate area before relaxing her poised posture and making a T-sign with both hands, commenting.
[Alright, that's it.
I give up, it's your win.]
Musashi, like the rest of the comrades who stood beside her, didn't relax their combat stances for fear of an ambush or a nasty surprise as Phoebe continued.
[We received the signal for a mass retreat, so it seems as if our time together has come to an end.]
And it was right then when she heard the explanation for the deflation in the Abyssal Demon's fighting spirit, her radio transmitting a broadcast for her to hear some ship girl announce,
"The Abyssal flagship has been taken down!
They're retreating!"
Followed by a chorus of muted cheers in the background, everyone still slightly wary of whether the Abyssals would press on regardless of the loss of their flagship.
Phoebe's heels began to sink into the ocean as Musashi dared to exhale in relief after having fought so hard, and although the Battleship Water Demon wasn't down for the count, against her, getting her to bleed was the best they could achieve right now.
Phoebe voiced her thoughts by lifting her unstained glove to wipe the drop of blood from her lower jaw, bringing it up for everyone to see as she continued.
[Besides, I admit my defeat to those who can push me this far.
It's also the fact that you made my back touch the ocean which made me admit defeat.]
And as the water line went above her waist, Musashi briefly considered shooting her in the head, but Phoebe's eyes exuded a dangerous glint as she warned.
[And if you get any funny ideas about shooting me when I'm retreating, please know that those who have attempted this are no longer in the world of the living.
I play by my own rules, but that is because I have the strength and authority to enforce them upon everyone.
You really don't want to see me let loose.]
But Musashi gritted her teeth and stepped forward, eager to settle this fight with someone who was so much stronger than all of them combined as she called out in anticipation.
"Well, I do!"
Ship girls and Abyssals alike were silenced as she continued, now having seen enough of what the strongest existing Abyssals were capable of in order to redouble her training efforts, exclaiming.
"We, the battleships of Yokosuka, are gonna be the ones to take you down!
Your days are numbered the second we all receive our remodels, you hear me?!"
And instead of a biting retort or an outburst of prideful denial at the notion of being sunk, Phoebe's gaze softened as she displayed a forlorn smile as the seawater came up to her collarbones, the surprised battleships listening to the Demon as she sounded as if she were looking forward to it, but not for the reasons they thought as her expression seemed as if she was humoring them, but some part of her wanted to believe that they could live up to their boast.
[Is that so?
We won't be seeing one another for a long while, and I believe you all know why.
But I look forward to that day where I can truly go all out in our fateful confrontation, ship girls… of Yokosuka.]
Her head disappeared beneath the ocean surface, her mop of floating hair being sucked down along with her as Musashi relaxed, hearing Mutsu and Nagato exhale in relief as one while Ise, having lost her smile long ago, lowered her katana in order to sheathe it.
In the distance, she could see that the Abyssals were retreating, although no one was celebrating since the possibility that this was a trap to lower their defenses wasn't out of the question.
Musashi looked to Mutsu as the Nagato-Class battleship pondered over the Demon's sudden shift in attitude upon seeing them remain so confident about sinking her.
"To be strong and long-lived…
Perhaps it's not all it's cracked up to be to be able to live for so long."
Musashi was nursing her dislocated arm while Nagato was trying to catch her breath, so all she had to say was a simple,
"Elaborate."
Mutsu looked unnaturally solemn as she continued her train of thought, speaking about how being too strong made it near impossible for her to be sunk by her enemies.
"Well, I think that she's too strong to be sunk by battleships alone, and her saying that she's long-lived meant that she's seen a fair number of comrades sink around her.
Even as an enemy, I think I could feel that some part of her wanted to believe that we could live up to our boast of sinking her.
But not before we force her to go all-out in battle, because I can understand the feeling of sinking without being able to fight to your fullest potential; she wants to experience a battle which pushes her to the absolute limit before she sinks."
Ise was also uncharacteristically silent, although Musashi could see that she was listening to them and was taking the conversation seriously, Nagato nodding as she added on while slowing down her ragged breathing.
"I think I felt something like that too, and it's more obvious with the benefit of hindsight.
Playing by her rules, taking all four of us on at once, even splitting up with her Beast as a handicap…
It's all just to handicap and force herself to fight harder.
To think that monsters like her could still exist after all these years…"
Musashi nodded as she heard the cries of the wounded and the heartbroken as they still sounded out across the eerily silent battlefield, Fairy-piloted planes still circling the air to scout the area for potential ambushes while she noted the absence of the Flying Dutchman, since the oceanic vessel likely submerged back into the abyss once its commander realized that all was lost in this battle.
Ship girls either towed back corpses, were deathly silent themselves or were crying all the way back to their bases, and Musashi started the long sail home as she braced herself for the agonizing wait for a slot in the docks to open up, in which a repair bucket would likely be used to heal her up within hours right after the docks were used to stabilize or revive the mortally injured or the dead (if they hadn't already been filled with both as the Battle of Twelve Navies went on; hence the wait).
But the last question which flashed through Musashi's tired mind on the battlefield before zoning out was,
'Who took out their flagship?'