The Black Dragon surveyed the land passing by her at a rapid pace and wasn't surprised. This place was as desolate as the home world she and her companions were on.
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After a chance encounter with another Siren, named Strength of the Arbiter class, the unlikely team of Shinano, New Jersey, and Purifier went to the remains of a ruined city. There, Purifier found a pair of specialized breather meant for her companions. These breathers helped her allies survive in the thin atmosphere found on the moon.
According to Strength, some of Omega's ships were attacking the Sirens there and she came to ask Purifier for help. She agreed and the two also came along to provide extra support. Shinano wanted to take advantage of the fact that nothing in Omega's arsenal could counter hers and New Jersey's combined power.
"There was one thing though," said Purifier, as the group prepared for their journey into space "a doomsday weapon of unimaginable destruction. Its armor was thick and it had guns from top to bottom."
New Jersey looked at Purifier with concern but Shinano was silent. She knew of the monster Purifier referred to.
"I thought Gungnir was Omega's most powerful weapon," said New Jersey.
"It was meant for long-range attacks," clarified Purifier "when it came to destroying and cities, she relied on the dreadnought."
"But, do not fear," said Shinano "that weapon of destruction fell during the second war. Thanks in large part to the Commander, Enterprise and Akagi."
Purifier was stunned by this statement. She couldn't imagine anyone capable of downing that thing, let alone someone like the Commander. But, she noticed Shinano's expression and realized there was more to her statement than she let on.
The Siren decided it was best to leave the subject be.
"We should get going," said Purifier "we still have a mission."
Purifier's world had two moons orbiting it. One was too small for development but the other was about the size of the one orbiting Earth. Their destination was a colony on the dark side of the moon. Typically, they would use a teleporter to instantly send them to their destination. However, the war resulted in the destruction of all gates on the planet.
The only way to reach was through specially modified rockets attached to Purifier's rigging. Strength and Purifier took care of the work and in less than three hours they were off.
This was the first time New Jersey and Shinano experienced travelling from planet to planet. In particular, the G force needed to escape the planet's gravity was a particular strain on the two. Purifier and Strength weren't that badly affected thanks to the technology in their systems.
Once they broke free and reached space, it took them a whole day to travel to the moon. They reached the moon and thought it was best to take a break. Even with the added speed of those rockets, Purifier exhausted herself carrying all four of them to the moon.
Shinano decided now was an ideal time to update New Jersey on everything that happened. She began with Omega's appearance and the formation of the Azur Lane. From there, she recounted the many events that took place, the sacrifices made, and the hard-won victory that came at the end.
"But, that is not all," said Shinano "Omega's hatred knew no bounds and so after coming here, she waited for years to rebuild her forces to once again wage war on our world."
This was the second part of Shinano's story: the Second Siren War. Here, she began with the surprise attack and how it killed many survivors of the first war, how Hood hatched a last-ditch plan, and the results of that plan.
The will of Azure.
The story continued about how this otherworlder gathered the four factions once again and even revived six ancient weapons that were meant to appear during the first war.
"Hold on," said New Jersey, raising her hand up "when you say Friedrich, do you mean our Freddy?"
Shinano returned the question with a warm smile and nodded.
"Our Freddy?" repeated New Jersey and got the same response "that ice-cold dragon?"
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Back on the base, Friedrich, who was in the middle of an evening tea with Queen Elizabeth, Prince of Wales, Tirpitz, Illustrious and James suddenly sneezed.
"Are you okay mom?" asked Tirpitz while James took out a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her.
"Do not worry," she said, wiping her nose with the cloth.
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"Hard to imagine her of all people taking a shine to anyone," said New Jersey, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back.
"More than that," added Shinano "she went so far as to call him her son, effectively making him an Iron Blood."
New Jersey let out a low whistle. Either 'Freddy' let herself go in the years that followed or this Commander is everything Shinano makes him out to be.
Shinano continued her story. She told New Jersey of the final battle, Omega Vs the Commander and the Siren leader's final act. She continued the story right up to the Commander's return and then stopped.
"What?" asked New Jersey and Shinano lowered her head "don't leave me hanging like that."
"That is all the story I can tell you New Jersey," said Shinano "the rest will wait till after we finish what we came here to do."
New Jersey sensed that what came next was the most important part. She imagined it to be the very reason why Shinano broke her sacred vow in the first place.
But, speculation will only get you so far and she thought it best to leave it be for now.
The group of four had a long rest and after six or eight hours they got up. Purifier was first, followed by New Jersey, Strength and Shinano. Now that they were rejuvenated, it was time to resume the mission.
Rather than relying on the glider, Shinano, New Jersey and Strength simply jumped forward. Their power helped them cover a great distance in a single leap. Purifier followed behind, in case any of them got tired.
About half an hour of this went by till they could see several large structures on the horizon. Strength and Purifier used their enhanced vision to zoom in and confirm that was the stronghold. What's more were the several Siren ships that were attacking the base.
"Damn that's a lot," said Purifier, bringing her glider to a stop.
"What do we do?" asked Strength.
"Hmm, I have a suggestion if you don't mind," said Shinano and Purifier nodded to her in agreement.
"New Jersey and I shall take care of those ships. Strength and Purifier, does your base have automated defenses?"
"Yeah, plenty," replied Strength "the turrets are working, but we'll need time to get the drone ships up and running."
"Good. Use the drones to search for survivors. And also, make sure the drones see us as allies and not enemies."
"Yeah, the last thing we need is a case of friendly fire," said New Jersey.
"Purifier," said Strength, turning to her ally "are you sure they'll be okay taking such a large force without backup?"
It was only now that Purifier remembered Strength did not see these two in action.
"I'm pretty sure those two will wipe out the ships before we even reach the base," replied Purifier.
The two in question smiled a little then took off.
In the air, Shinano stretched out her hand and blew into it. This created a pair of ethereal butterflies that fluttered out of her hand. Her creations then shot forward like bullets, hitting the back of a carrier. That caused the ship and the others to turn and search for the attacker.
On the ground, New Jersey pointed her rigging at a cruiser and fired. One of her cannons fired three scorching out beams of light that tore through the cruiser's armor. The attack turned the ship into three pieces as it fell to the ground.
"Whoo," commented New Jersey. It had been a very long time since she got to cut loose and showoff her full power.
Shinano now created half a dozen ethereal butterflies that shot out in all directions. These attacks hit the several Siren ships
Many ships pointed and fired. This was a combination of cannons and missiles. The pair tanked the cannon fire like it was nothing but dodged the missiles. They also noticed several Siren planes taking to the skies and attacking them in waves. While these attacks did little to slow their advance, it was indeed getting annoying.
As much as New Jersey wanted to, she could not use her weapons on such small targets. No, this task was ideally suited to Shinano, who formed several purple butterflies and sent them on their way. The ethereal creatures marked the Siren planes and chased them through the sky.
Several planes managed to flank the butterflies and shoot them, but Shinano produced more and more. Eventually, there were too many butterflies and they quickly overwhelmed the planes.
As the carriers were readying to launch their next squadrons, New Jersey saw her opportunity and lined up the shot. She fired from both cannons, producing her infamous sound as the blasts tore through the sky. The attack carved through the Siren armor, cutting them into pieces and sending them crashing.
Despite the numbers on their side, the Siren ships struggled against the pair. It seemed that with each second, the fox and the bunny were getting closer and their attack intensity grew fiercer.
When she was close enough, New Jersey leapt forward, covering maybe a hundred kilometers in that single leap. She landed on the deck of a battleship which immediately pointed all its guns at her. New Jersey simply stuck her tongue out and jumped up again. The cannons fired and all they hit was air. Up in the sky, she pointed her guns down and started firing.
New Jersey wasn't aiming for any ship in particular, her goal was to cover as much of the area with her guns. As a result, she landed critical hits on several ships and even took out multiple cruisers and destroyers.
As for the battleship that attacked her, she punched a hole in the thing and sent it crashing into the ground.
Shinano watched her friend take the initiative to down even more enemy ships. Despite being locked away in that depressing place for years and years, New Jersey did not lose her bite. She was every bit the force of nature that gave her and Friedrich a tough fight.
"Oy Shinano," she said through the communicator "you gonna just stand there or are you coming to help?"
Shinano also saw that now wasn't the time for reminiscing. After all, she had no intent of letting her friend have all the fun.
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Elsewhere, in the stronghold meant to withstand outside attacks for a thousand years, Strength and Purifier made their way through the ruins and debris. Purifier in particular, noted how many structures, outposts and defense turrets were destroyed.
"How long has this been going on?" she asked.
"Months," replied Strength "this place was meant to last generations, but that was only if we had enough forces in place. The children are too young to fight and the elderly are too old."
Purifier stopped when she saw Strength clutching her sides. The girl was doing everything possible to keep from breaking down
"Purifier, what if, what if I was too late?" she asked "what if the others…"
Purifier knew were this was going. There were many instances during their war with Omega of how survivors committed suicide rather than get caught be the enemy. It was a terrible sight to see and only served to indicate how against-the-wall they were when facing the enemy.
"Strength," she said, taking her allies' hands in her own "we'll reach them in time."
"But what if…"
"They're alive," she said, cutting her off.
"How do you know that?"
"They managed to survive for so long," she replied "they can survive for a little longer."
It was the best advice she could give. In truth, Purifier also didn't believe her own word and feared the worst. Yet, she couldn't be pragmatic right now, she had to be hopeful.
They heard several explosions nearby and saw a destroyer split down the middle crashing into the ground. Then, remembering the other two outside, these two redoubled their efforts.
It wasn't long before they came to the barrack's entrance. It was an enormous metal door with several metal-like bars, locks and barriers in place to add greater protection. The several scorch marks indicated that a few ships reached here, but not enough.
Strength now came forward and pressed her hand against a digital pad. A light came from the pad and scanned her top to bottom. She and Purifier heard the sound of locks coming undone echo through the door.
Rather than see the whole structure open, they saw a small door near them open inside. Through it came a shabbily dressed old lady, wearing worn-out clothes and greeted them with a tired expression.
"Are you all that are here?" she asked.
"There are two others," replied Strength "we need you to send out reinforcements to help them."
"There won't be a need for that," said another voice.
The trio of Purifier, Strength and the old Siren turned to see Shinano and New Jersey descending towards them.
"Told ya they could handle it," said Purifier to Strength, the latter of whom had her mouth hanging open.
Then, Strength refocused and turned to the old lady "please take us inside Elder."
The old Siren, the Elder shifted her attention from Purifier and Strength to Shinano and New Jersey. She focused on the last one, eyeing her up and down a little before she was seemingly struck with a memory.
"Get in, get in now," she said and went inside. Behind her came all four with the last one being Strength. She made sure to close the door and turn the locks back on.
"Come with me," said the Elder to Purifier, Shinano and New Jersey, leading them through a corridor.
The trio saw that both sides of the corridor were filled with Sirens, no doubt the ones that Strength referred to. Many of them were either too old or too young to walk. The children that were slightly old were helping the elderly in whatever capacity possible.
As the girls made their way through the corridor, Purifier noted the defeated and tired looks on their faces. This was perhaps Omega's greatest weapon, her ability to destroy hope. Her overwhelming might and near-endless supply of forces meant she could slowly and steadily whittle away at her enemy's defenses, all the while eroding their hopes of surviving the fight.
It was why Omega absolutely hated the Azur Lane. While she specialized in inflicting despair over her opponents, the AL instilled hope and courage. Though those six heroes were gone now, their unflinching resolve now echoed in their successor who was no doubt causing Omega immense trouble.
Purifier's thoughts came to a halt when she saw the Elder suddenly turn around and give a deep bow. She was even more perplexed when she noted that this bow was directed to New Jersey.
"On behalf of my people, those that reject the traitor's dogma," said the Elder, her head still lowered "I am truly sorry for what we did to you and beg your forgiveness."
"I begged her," she said, now raising her head up and showing what looked like tears forming in the side of her eyes. "So many of us begged her to find an alternative. We all pleaded to her not to follow through with her plans, but she didn't listen."
"In the end," continued the Elder "that monster took you from your home and turned you into a weapon. I cannot imagine the years you must have spent being an unwilling pawn in her game."
Shinano and Purifier remained silent.
New Jersey once again had to face her bias. Her time spent being used by Omega made her completely hate the Siren race. Yet thanks to Shinano, she came to understand that not all the Sirens were as evil as Omega.
With that in mind, she came forward and gently rubbed the water from the Elder's eyes.
"You have nothing to apologize for," she said, with a warm smile "I am thankful that I could meet beings as kind as you and as selfless as Purifier."
At that last bit, Purifier immediately became flushed and started tapping her fingers.
"Strength," said the Elder, returning to her senses "effective immediately, these two are our guests. We owe this young woman here and her friend a great deal for saving everyone here."
"Anything we need is yours," said the Elder, turning back to New Jersey.
"Thank you for the kindness," said New Jersey, bowing slightly in respect "right now, I think we need a little grub and for Shinano to finish her story."
As she said that, she turned around to face her friend.
"Shinano," said New Jersey "the way you spoke, it sounded as if the Commander is at the centre of a maelstrom."
Shinano bit her lip and lowered her head. The expression was enough to confirm what New Jersey had suspected. As much as she wanted to say what was on her mind, she knew it wouldn't carry much value.
"James," said Shinano "the Commander isn't at the center of this storm, the Commander IS the storm."
And so, Shinano told them the rest of the story, the reason why she left her duty and why she had to stop what was coming.
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Tick, tock, tick, tock, thus went the clock along from the world. Once again, the minute hand moved forward, inching towards its goal.
Two minutes to midnight