Chapter One "The Shrine of the Once and Future King"
HMS Nelson, the first and namesake of her class, was the first to enter as her battleship nature would allow her to survive firepower that would have crippled or destroyed a lesser shipgirl. She was soon followed by her cruisers and destroyer compliments. The last following Nelson's lead were the marines of Blackmoore Naval Base.
She frantically entered the room with her radar working at full power, ignoring the possibility of giving away her position and the element of surprise. Her eyes assisted with her radar was unable to pick up much as there was simply too much dust in the air acting as interference.
"Admiral, are you alright?!" Nelson shouted as she attempted to locate her commanding officer.
"I'm okay!" a familiar voice coughed, but Nelson's pounding heart started to slow. "Sitrep!"
The battleship sighed in relief as the dust started to settle and she saw the familiar sight of her Admiral. She wanted to march up to her commanding officer and inspect his body, but military protocol was clear.
"Sir," Nelson saluted, "an estimated force of three cruisers, fifteen destroyers and frigates launched what was likely a diversional attack while the main target…"
Nelson's mouth froze up as the dust cloud revealed more than just her unharmed Admiral. She spotted multiply battleship, and cruiser Abyssal-analogues in various state of gore. The least severe damage seemed like they had taken a hit from a main gun of a battleship and some were in a state not imaginably caused by WWII era naval weaponry.
Yet, the corpses of the Abyssal was not the most eye-catching thing that Nelson spotted. It was the emerald eyed, blonde haired woman that stood protective beside Admiral Muramasa.
Something seemed to awaken within Nelson. Without realizing it, Nelson got down onto her knees and bowed. She only noticed her abnormal actions when her mouth shouted, "All hail, her Majesty!"
Nelson's snapped open and she looked around to see her fellow shipgirls had reacted the same. Well, not all the shipgirls as it seemed only those from the British Royal Navy had behaved like her. The few non-British shipgirls looked at Nelson and their British counterparts with confused looks.
Her gaze switched to the British Royal Marines that had followed her. None of her human subordinates seemed affected by whatever had caused the British shipgirls to kneel and shout, "All hail, her Majesty!"
"Nelson, what are you doing?" asked Admiral Muramasa.
"I think the cause of their unusual behavior might have to do with me," said blonde haired woman. "My name is Arturia Pendragon, but I am famously known as King Arthur…"
"What you said makes absolutely no sense-"
"Master," Arturia chimed. "I will explain later as it is a very sensitive topic that will take some time to explain, and this information is for your ears only."
Nelson's ears perked, and she doubted she was the only one that was curious about what girl claiming to be "King Arthur" had to say.
"Whatever you have to say you can say it…" Shirou stopped when remembered the marines that was currently securing the area. "We can talk in a more secure location, but all Nelson and the other girls."
"Of course, if that is your decision, Master." Arturia replied stoically and quickly followed Shirou as he left the room.
Nelson stood there shocked for a moment and only snapped out of her daze when the footsteps of Shirou and Arturia echoed from the nearby corridor.
"Nelson has any Shipgirl ever reacted that way?" asked Janus, J-class Destroyer.
The battleship frowned as she racked her memories. "I think the Japanese girls reacted in a similar manner when they met their Emperor… If I recall correctly."
"You are suggesting…" Janus eyed the door that Arturia had walked through not to long ago. "…That we encountered royalty? That makes no sense. We have plenty of shipgirls named in honor of royalty, but no shipgirl has reacted to them like we did."
"Well, we should find out soon," said Nelson and she rushed after their commanding officer and the new shipgirl. The cruisers and destroyers, part of Nelson's taskforce, quickly followed suit.
Nelson ran after the echoing footsteps and quickly located her target of interest.
What she did next could be considered rude during non-combat operation, but Nelson was just too curious. A burst from her radar resulted in a ping that made Nelson's eyes widened and slam face first into the ground.
"Nelson, are you okay?!"
"What's wrong, Nelson?"
More startled voice followed suit, coming from Nelson's taskforce.
The shocked battleships ignored all the voices. All she could do was bring her head up and stare at the newly summoned shipgirl that protectively stood besides her admiral. Her radar had to be wrong! There was no way that-
A second radar ping made Nelson nearly faint.
"What are you?!" shouted Nelson as she jumped up and pointed accusingly at Arturia. "There has never been any warship anyway remotely close to 500m in length with a beam of 80 meters. That's larger than the United States' Ford-class Supercarrier, or the largest civilian ship, Seawise Giant. Then there are the main guns that are larger than Yamato's 460mm (18.1 Inch) guns. And finally, why do you have jet engines instead of screws and shafts?!"
Arturia's lips twitched as if what she heard was amusing. "That is the very least you have to worry," she chuckled. Turning to the stunned Admiral, she continued. "What Nelson brought up is the very least things you should be worried, Master. What I have in store will no doubt give you a heart attack."
Without saying any further, Arturia grabbed Shirou's hand. The Admiral was so confused by what he had heard that his mind froze up and was gently pulled into a corridor.
"Nelson," said a HMS Kent of County-class cruisers as she helped the battleship stand up, "what do you want to do? The new shipgirl doesn't seem to have hostile intentions, so should we leave the Admiral alone with her? She did seem to have some private matters to talk about with the Admiral."
The battleship frowned. Kent was right. If Arturia had wanted to harm the Admiral then she wouldn't have saved him from the Abyssals cruisers and battleships that had somehow sneak into Blackmoore Naval Base. Still, some part of Nelson screamed that it was unwise to leave the Admiral alone with the newly summoned shipgirl. Another part of her loved the mystery surrounding her latest comrade.
"We can't leave the Admiral alone," said Nelson while coming to a decision. "Our new comrade might mean to harm the Admiral, but it wouldn't be the first time that a summoned shipgirl might accidently injury someone since they are not familiar with their new human self." The cruisers and destroyers making Nelson's taskforce nodded their head in agreement. "And besides," Nelson smiled, "I think we are all curious about our new comrade's secrets. Let's go find them."
Nelson and her taskforce quickly chased after Arturia and their Admiral.
The familiar corridors and rooms might have been a maze to others, but the shipgirls had been stationed at Blackmoore Naval Base for months. It was a simple task to navigate through the base. Nelson and her taskforce was find their targets within minutes.
As they reached the corridor leading to where Arturia and their Admiral had entered, the shipgirls stopped. Nelson and her girls looked solemnly at the whether statues lining the walls and paid their respects. Each statue was a tribute to a great historical figure that made up what many considered one of United Kingdom's greatest era.
Nelson gently pushed the heavy oak doors. There she was greeted not just by the sight of her Admiral and the newest shipgirl, but shrine dedicated England's most famous monarch.
"I hope you are not planning of doing anything foolish here," said Nelson in a grave tone. "Every Royal Navy shipgirl knows what can and cannot be done in this sacred room."
The upwards curling of Arturia's lips rang alarms in Nelson's mind. She was prepared to stop whatever foolish behave that her new comrade when Arturia's body collapsed, but at the same time, a semi-translucent Arturia seemed to climb out of the collapsed body.
"It's a ghost!" screamed one of the pre-teen destroyers.
Nelson sighed as her destroyers screamed and started to panic. It was easy to forget that they were human-shaped destroyers will enough firepower to easily take down a building when they acted like pre-teen human girls.
What surprised her was how half of her teen-looking cruisers were also afraid. Nelson pinched her nose and blamed human culture for influencing them. The notion that ghost existed shouldn't be too surprising as they, shipgirls, were technically spirits of warships taking human form.
But, Nelson hated to admit, she was kind of spooked by the sight of a semi-translucent Arturia climbing out of her collapsed and unresponsive body. Afterall, the only supernatural thing that anyone seemed to have encountered so far were the Abyssal and Shipgirls. It seemed that the existence of ghosts might soon join the list.
The battleship snapped out of thoughts when the semi-translucent Arturia walked up to what was arguable the most sacred and historically important place of Blackmoore Naval Base.
"Stop, whatever you plan to do you mustn't-" shouted Nelson as she rushed towards Arturia.
"Nelson!" shouted the Admiral, causing Nelson to freeze up. "Let's wait and see."
She was about to protest her admiral's decision when Arturia slipped through stone monument erected in honor of England's greatest king. The battleship launched into the sprint to inspect whatever the vanished Arturia could be doing then the stone monument started to shake and cracks formed.
"No!" Nelson shouted as one of England's greatest historical objects started to break apart and she attempted to repair it.
The younger cruisers and destroyers also rushed to the stone monument. They tried to stop stone monument from breaking apart using their hands, but it proved futile as the stone monument continued to shake and crack apart. Their cries of panic and prayer stopped when the stone monument break apart to reveal a body with remarkable semblance to the one that Arturia had stepped out, only much younger and in her early teens.
"I've returned," said Arturia as her eyes opened and those word would be recorded down in history as the first words that the Once and Future King of England would utter since the death of King Arthur.