U.S.S. Dominatus, Water pounder lab.

"The fuck do you mean she's GONE?!" Nico was angrily yelling to his science staff. Professor Cameron cowered behind his clipboard from his newly transformed superior. The commodore had always been imposing to the men under his command, but his new kitsune form radiated a dark and chilling new aura, and not just because of the ice powers he now possessed. His purple eyes blazed with the dark energies from the black box, burning into the Professor's soul even through the clipboard.

"I-I don't know how! One second she-she was restrained on the t-table...when I looked b-back again she was just gone!" Cameron fearfully reported. "There's n-no damage, no signs of struggling, nothing! Please don't hurt me!" He begged, yelping as he tripped over a chair backing away from Nico. The commodore growled before throwing a large icicle at the table, impaling the metal and ripping the table from its mounting.

"Well screw that bitch, we got what we needed from her; besides if she shows up again I''m more than ready." Nico declared in a cocky tone, grinning widely as icicles appeared between his knuckles, an audible crackling noise sounded out as jagged, almost serrated claw like spikes of ice sprouted from his fists. He briefly inspected them, before suddenly, with the speed of a ninja, spun around and sliced a nearby scientist, making him and everyone else scream in horror at the attempted murder.

Fortunately for the scientist, Nico hadn't intended to kill him, he opened his eyes and looked down, sighing in relief...then his clothes all fell to pieces. He gave another short scream of shock before using a nearby clipboard to hide his now naked shame.

"Sorry about that, I needed to test drive these babies, Wolverine eat your heart out!" Nico laughed before retracting the ice claws. Impressed with his new abilities he forgot about Akagi vanishing and headed back out the lab. He was just passing through the double doors when the intercom next to the entrance sounded off.

"Bridge to Laboratory, come in." Captain Jackson's tired voice inquired from it. Nico scoffed before pressing the reply button.

"What is it now Captain?" Nico demanded, irritated with the interruption.

"Sir...the Azur Lane fleet is almost here, the Commander wants to talk to you, he says if you don't respond he'll board the ship." Jackson explained. The commodore chuckled before replying.

"This should be fun. We'll look for our missing foxy friend later, go ahead and let him know I'm on my way; But first send a message to Admiral Samson, we need assistance." He ordered the Captain. Nico then left the lab and headed for the flight deck.

A few miles away

Task Force Alpha was speeding through the sea towards the human fleet on their hulls. However their was another kansen with them: Musashi,

The Commander was standing on the super battleship's hull with a neutral expression. He didn't want to interfere with their combat strength by riding any of his task force members into combat, he picked Musashi for her hull's durability and extreme firepower for his own protection. While he wouldn't normally directly command the kansen like this, he felt his presence was needed to keep this conflict from escalating any further. He was hopeful the human fleet wouldn't try to fight back, but he knew Nico could push them too far.

Musashi walked over to him from the superstructure, her face had a look identical to the Commander's own, looking ahead at the ice ship on the horizon with Nico's fleet.

"What the hell is that..." The Commander wondered out loud, squinting his eyes through a pair of binoculars watching the huge ship. With her much better long range vision, Musashi could see Nico on the ice ship's bow, sailing it towards them, upon seeing Nico's new look, Musashi's eyes narrowed considerably.

"Shimota." The battleship muttered under her breath. The Commander glanced down to see Musashi's fists clenching, looking up in mild concern he saw her teeth grinding in anger.

"Musashi...what is it?" The Commander asked her, a worried look on his face. The battleship looked at him scowling, the Commander instinctively felt intimidated, before realising that anger wasn't towards him.

"That foolish Commodore has crossed a line, I don't know how he has done it, but he's stolen the splendour of a kansen; he has fox tails!" Musashi yelled at the Commander. The officer's face drained of colour before looking back through the binoculars. There was Nico standing on the ice ship's flight deck, smirking evilly with his nine white tails rolling outfrom behind him.

"Wha- How?! Water pounders are only supposed to give humans rigging! Not completely change their biology like that!" The Commander exclaimed frantically. "That just shouldn't be possible...what's he done to himself?" he added more quietly. While the Commander was watching him, Nico seemed to notice and pointed upwards while waggling his eyes tauntingly. Confused the Commander put down the binoculars and looked up, just in time to see a Blackburn B-24 dive bomber, covered in icicles, screaming towards them.

"Musashi! Above us!" The Commander yelled before running for the relative safety of the main guns. The fox woman looked up, and with only a thought, aimed all her hull's AA guns upward, but before she could fire anything, the plane suddenly pulled up. Instead of any bombs, it dropped a single, finger sized glowing icicle at Musashi's geta sandals.

"Wow Commander, you see one plane and run away like a little girl?" Nico's voice announced from the ice spike with a chuckle, the ice pulsating with light with each syllable. The Commander stormed back to the bow from the main turrets, his face red from a mix of anger and embarrassment.

He picked up the ice spike before angrily replying to Nico.

"Commodore just what do you think you're playing at?! We both know water pounders are too dangerous to use!" The Commodore just laughed at the Commander's irritation.

"Yeah but as you can see, we've fixed that problem. I admit the fox tails were a surprise, but I suppose that's what I get for using your girlfriend's base code to bring this hulk of ice and badass to life!" Nico jested smugly. The Commander's face twisted into an expression of extreme rage, even Musashi felt the need to step away slightly, if looks could kill, The Commander's glare would have vaporized Nico and his hull from here.

"What... the fuck...did you do to Akagi you bastard?!" He demanded darkly, he stalked to the very edge of Musashi's bow, glaring straight at Nico on the ice ship. "Listen very carefully asshole: I don't care how powerful you think you are right now, if you've harmed Akagi, even slightly, I will END you." The Commander told him, venom and fury dripping from the words. The commodore's chuckle again broadcasted from the spike, clearly not phased by the threat.

"Is that so? Well since you've ignored my authority, assaulted me, incarcerated my men and now you've just threatened my life, I must take official action: Commander, I herby relieve you of your command and place you under arrest, Azur lane is now under my command!" Nico announced.

The Commander looked shocked hearing all of that, but it wasn't long before his angry face returned. "You can't do that without direct authority from the Admiralty!" The Commander pointed out.

"I'll have it in a few hours, come on then Commander, if you and your ship-bitches think you can take me on now, you're welcome try!" Nico finished, the ice spike then melted into water, leaving the Commander growling as he watched Nico's icy hull close in on his fleet. Before he could do or think of anything else, a blue paper plane flew a few feet from his face. He grabbed it and held it to his ear.

"Commander." Came the voice of Kaga from the plane. "My scout planes report Akagi's hull is not with the human fleet, the Grey ghost reports her planes can't see it either." She reported. The Commander's eyes widened in great worry hearing that news.

"She has to be there somewhere! You and Enterprise send some planes for a perimeter sweep as far as you can!" The Commander ordered her.

"Understood, I will find my sister Commander." The plane then vanished in a puff of blue flames. The Commander sighed, knowing he couldn't do anything else from out here he walked back to Musashi's bridge, the purple fox woman in tow, watching him with concern.

Unknown location

"Feels like old times this right Akagi? You know what to do~" Observer Alpha told the fox woman.

Akagi just frowned at the dark water beneath her and then looked over at Observer annoyed. "This didn't help me against Azur lane during the Red Axis war, why would it work now?" The kitsune accused harshly. Observer giggled before she replied.

"Well it was Enterprise who messed things up for you, this time its just Nico you have to deal with; even with his new kansen powers, you shouldn't have a problem with a whole dimension on your side again, good luck!" Observer then summoned a portal before floating away through it. Akagi didn't look convinced about this, but she sighed seeing how she had little choice in the matter.

She tentatively stepped onto the black water, a pink luminescence lit up where she placed her boot, lighting up the ripples in the otherwise completely black void she was hanging in. She then repeated the words she had once said to trap Azur lane in her very own mirror sea, this time however she said it with less of her old manic enthusiasm, and instead with a more determined, serious tone.

"Heavenly wind, stop the passage within the clouds, the heavenly maidens...must remain on earth!"

The moment she finished speaking, the water beneath her shone brightly in a massive white fractal patten, before enveloping the whole void in a giant flash of white light.

U.S.S. Dominatus fleet.

Commodore Nico smirked as he watched the Azur lane fleet speed towards him from on top of his Habakkuk hull, while he was feeing cocky, it wasn't without reason; he had one more advantage no one but him knew about: He knew the black box could do more than just keep his water pounder suit stable, he'd read the reports on Akagi's use of the cube during the Red Axis war, and planned to replicate the effects himself. He chuckled, thinking about how ironic this whole thing was.

Nico was snapped out of his thoughts by a flash of red lightning, it struck the ocean's surface close to his hull. Confused he looked around and saw a storm had come from seemingly nowhere, it was clear skies moments ago. The Commodore watched the sky, and his eyes widened upon seeing fractal patterns and red lighting criss-cross the now darkened skyline.

"What the fuck is this, did I do this?" Nico thought looking around. He noticed the rest of the human fleet was in serious trouble, as massive waves whipped up by the strange storm slammed the warships around.

Captain Jackson had ordered his crew to batten down the hatches, while it was too late with how fast the storm had swallowed them, he and his men fought hard to keep the Dominatus afloat and online. The captain was bracing himself against the forward console, trying to both steady himself and command.

"Holy fuck! Where the hell did this storm come from?!" Jackson yelled over the roaring winds and rain. It didn't help that the ship's bridge no longer had any glass to protect the command crew, leaving them fully exposed to the elements.

The red lightning started to gradually intensify, until it abruptly exploded in a huge burst from one of the fractal patterns above Nico's hull, encasing the whole area around the human fleet like a cage. Suddenly a massive burst from each strand of lightning blinded everyone in its area of effect, leaving them with no idea what just happened.

Azur lane fleet

The Commander and all the kansen had gathered onto Musashi's hull after seeing the storm, everyone was slack jawed at the spectacle they just witnessed: Nico and the entire human fleet had just vanished in front of them. They had seen the red lightning and the flash. But it was over as quickly as it had started.

"Does...does someone want to explain to me what just happened?" The Commander asked blankly. Kaga narrowed her eyes before stepping in front of everyone. "I believe I can." She started, looking across the group at expectant faces, the white fox woman started explaining.

"Many of you will remember one battle in the Red Axis war, where Akagi trapped Azur lane in a mirror sea, I believe since we cannot find her, she has somehow done it again, this time to the human fleet." Kaga declared.

"WHAT?!" The Commander yelled in disbelief. "How? She's not in league with the Sirens any more!" He pointed out. "How the hell does she still have the power to summon mirror seas?"

"I'm not sure, unless Nico has accidentally done this himself, you did say water pounders are unstable Commander." Enterprise chimed in.

"There is a third possibility." Bismarck stated making everyone look at her. "Perhaps the Sirens themselves have done this? I can't think of why they would however..." She admitted. Placing her hand on her chin in thought.

"We can speculate on who did this later, right now we need a way in there!" The Commander ordered. Musashi placed her hand on the Commander's shoulder reassuringly, but a solemn look adorned her face.

"Commander... I'm sorry but, there has never been a successful attempt to enter a mirror sea by force, we need to wait for it to resolve by itself." She told him sadly. The Commander opened his mouth to protest, but realised Musashi was right. He sighed and turned back to the other kansen.

"We need to leave, this area is too dangerous to hang around, if they don't return by the time we're ready to depart, we'll assume the whole fleet has been lost...along with Akagi..." The Commander said the last part with a breaking voice. Everyone nodded in agreement, everyone but Kaga that is, she got a very irate expression on her face before grabbing the Commander by his shoulders and shoving him against one of Musashi's gun turrets, catching everyone, especially the Commander by surprise.

"My sister is still out there! I already lost her once to a mirror sea, I won't leave her alone out here again!" She exclaimed angrily as she pinned him to the turret.

The Commander groaned a little since Kaga was being rough with him, but he managed looked up at her dead in the eyes, with a fire Kaga had only seen one other time: when he tore into Nico in his office. Despite knowing she was many times stronger than this young man, Kaga's anger deflated instantly in the sights of that dark glint in the Commander's eyes, her fury being replaced by a terror she had scarcely felt before. The Commander gently grabbed Kaga's arms and despite the fox woman's immense strength, he was able to calmly push her arms off him, like her body had given up command of itself to his own.

Kaga's fearsome facade completely crumbled under the Commander's now overpowering glare, she started backing away as he advanced on her, not saying a word. Her previously angry tone replaced by one of fear and repentance. "C-Commander...I...I'm sorry I...I just...wait!" she stammered out, her back hitting the hand railing of the deck. The other kansen could only watch as the Commander and Kaga squared off; Unsure how this would end.

Kaga looked away, closing her eyes as the Commander now stood barely a foot from her, still glaring her down. "Everyone please leave, now." He commanded to the other kansen, in a low and very powerful voice. Everyone around the Commander and Kaga then dispersed obediently, leaving the two of them alone.

Kaga was shaking, scared witless, nothing like the stoic, fearless woman she was known as. She couldn't understand it herself why she felt like this, the Commander isn't a kansen or a Siren, just a normal man, why was he suddenly scaring her?

"Kaga...look at me." He ordered her, still in that low tone. The white kitsune whimpered, but opened her eyes to look. He was still glaring at her, arms folded and standing completely straight, instead of one the more relaxed postures he normally held. Kaga gasped as she then realised he was crying, a tear flowed from each eye down his cheeks, but he still radiated that intense, overwhelming pressure that completely disarmed her.

"You really think... I don't care... about your sister? My lover...partner...the one person... I keep in my heart... at all times?" The Commander scolded her, his voice quaking as he spoke. "You think I want to leave her out here... all alone? Of course I fucking don't!" He took in a deep breath and tried to calm himself down, wiping away the tears. With a softer look on his face he added:

"I'm sorry Kaga, but I have other kansen to worry about, I can't risk their lives waiting for her, or what happened to Nico could happen to us; you know how dangerous mirror seas are." The Commander told her. Kaga just looked crushed by the Commander's words, she looked away again, not wanting to accept it. The Commander sighed and started walking away.

"I'm not leaving." He suddenly heard Kaga announce. The Commander looked back and saw her looking back at him, a tear rolling down her cheek as anger and sadness mixed on her face. "I can't leave my dear sister... not again...please let me stay..." Kaga pleaded with him. The Commander turned back to her, wondering what to say next. He then smiled at her, which left Kaga confused.

"Alright, I'll let you stay longer" The Commander told her. "We can't stay longer than 24 hours however, even that is risky at best," he added,

"We? Commander what are you talking about?" Kaga asked.

"Me and Musashi will wait with you, I don't want you all alone if Nico reappears." The Commander told her. Kaga's eyes glinted in happiness, she suddenly rushed the Commander and glomped him, even her tails wrapped around him in her excitement.

"Thank you Commander! Thank you so much!" She replied, in an uncharacteristically girly tone for her. Without thinking she started kissing him, not a peck either, a full on make out. While surprised, he wasn't put off by the act and gently held her close as they kissed. When they pulled up for air the Commander told her one more thing.

"I'm not giving up on her Kaga, I'm sorry I gave you that impression, but I promise you, 24 hours, but after that we have to leave."

Kaga nodded to him with a smile. "Thank you Commander." She replied and they both went back to kissing.

The mirror sea

As Nico's eyes adjusted from the lightning storm hitting his fleet, he found himself all alone, somehow it was night here, but the whole sky had a slight red tinge to it, apart from the ripples his hull was creating, the red water's surface in this place seemed completely still, no waves and no wind.

"Well...this isn't creepy at all...where the hell is my fleet?" He thought. That was when he spotted them some distance away from him. His fleet was surrounded by black and red rectangular buildings of various sizes. He then used his telescopic vision and realised beams of light were being emitted from some of the larger towers towards the ships, encasing them in bubbles of light, like they were being protected.

"What the fuck is happening to them? Wait...oh you bitch!" Nico thought angrily, having seen a familiar figure floating above the fleet. It was Akagi, even from this distance he could see her playful grin, placing one hand on her cheek as she watched over the fleet with glee. Then her devilish smile became a confident smirk upon seeing him looking at her. She then called out to him, her voice somehow projecting across the whole domain

"Welcome to my sea commodore! I think its time you and I had a real talk about project water pounder!"