Commander Blaze, a front line commander story

by Dasmara

Meet William Blaze, a veteran who royally screwed his last mission and was thrown into prison. But when The Sirens invaded, Azur Lane High Command need him once more and so he is reinstated. His new job? Command the beautiful ship girls and give The Sirens big F you in the face. Join them as William balanced his daily life between dealing with the girl's antics and killing Sirens.

22. Stand by for knightfall!

He only ever heard it from the stories and after-action reports, but William found himself in awe, seeing the mighty Ironblood fleet in action under Bismarck's lead was a sight to behold. They managed to calmly eat through Siren ship girls like they were nothing. Powerful, fearsome and their advanced riggings provided a huge advantage in combat against Sirens. William noted that they managed to cause the Sirens to break their encirclement and focus on the newly arrived Ironblood fleet, which means Meguro's regular fleet's path was cleared.

"Reinforcement has arrived, I repeat, reinforcement has arrived! Keep your pace Commander Meguro, we'll handle the Sirens!" William said to Meguro on the radio.

"Outstanding! We're moving now!" Meguro said to William on the radio.

"Bismarck, send a few ladies to escort the fleet." William said to Bismarck on the radio.

"Ja kommandant. Nimi, take a few others with you and go escort that fleet." Bismarck said to Z23.

"Jawohl!" Z23 saluted at Bismarck as she responded.

Z23 contacted Z1 and Z25 for assistance, the three of them then immediately headed for Meguro's regular fleet which had already begun moving again…Occasionally, the regular fleet would exchange weapon fire toward the Sirens' mass-produced ships in front of them which slowly retreated toward their base. Regular human ships are obviously less advanced and less armored than Siren ones, but they do have one significant advantage: their maneuverability. They managed to catch up with the retreating Siren ships when they noticed that some parts of their fleet had gone missing, Meguro realized that the Sirens must've circled the small islands around them to flank and encircle their fleet again. His fear proved to be true when they saw several Siren mass produced ships coming from behind them after their maneuver was complete.

"They're splitting up, they will hit us from the rear!" Meguro said out loud on the radio.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Bismarck calmly responded to Meguro on the radio.

"Let every ship do her utmost! FIRE!" Someone shouted on the radio.

Multiple battleship shells tore through the hulls of the Siren cruisers behind the regular fleet, several smaller high explosive shells hit and burned the rotting hulls before several dive bombers swooped down and released their armor piercing bombs straight toward the ships' center. Within ten seconds five Siren cruisers were slowly sinking while burning, William stared from the cockpit of his jet in wonder who just did that? Then he slowly looked at the formation behind the Siren ships, he smiled widely when he saw Mikasa in front of numerous Sakura Empire ship girls.

"Mikasa! Am I glad to see you!" William called her out on the radio while he grinned.

"Bismarck-sama suggested that we approach them from the west in a flanking maneuver, shikikan-sama. The Sakura Empire Task Force is under your command!" Mikasa said to William on the radio.

"Push them back from attacking our regular fleet and then join the assault on the nearby Siren base!" William said to Mikasa on the radio.

"Wakarimashita! You heard him! Souryuu, fighter cover! Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna! Shell those approaching Peace Breakers! Myoukou, lead the cruisers and destroyers around their left flank! Sink them all!" Mikasa said out loud on the radio.

Alright, all of their reinforcement has arrived and ready to pound those Sirens to the bottom of the sea. William felt confidence rushing back at him as he accelerated the jet that he rode toward the Sirens' base, so he could scout the area and call out targets. The fleet took a while, but they eventually managed to reach their designated position to launch their attack on the Sirens' secondary base. The name might be 'secondary', but it was clear that their base is a large installation filled with hundreds of KANSENs, dozens mass produced ships, and its perimeter littered with defensive emplacements. William narrowed his gaze when he realized that flattening this base to the ground might be harder than he thought it would be, fortunately Meguro said to leave that matter to him.

"…That's it, that's their secondary base. Prepare to launch our Tomahawk missiles!" Meguro said out loud on the radio.

Tomahawk missile, of course. Any modern mass produced small warships in this world compensated their cannons' firepower with missiles, one of them is the infamously lethal Tomahawk missile which any Frigate or Destroyer commander ordered to fire whenever they had to fight directly against something larger than a Siren battleship or as ground support…The Siren ship girls realized that they have reached their controlled waters, and they stopped retreating as they spread themselves out with their cannons pointed at the approaching Sakura Empire and Ironblood forces, Purifier reappeared from behind the Siren ship girls' formation as she prepared to fight the combined forces off.

"That's her, that's Purifier! Kill her! Concentrate our fire on that demon!" Meguro said out loud on the radio.

William watched as every ship in Meguro's regular fleet fired all of their weaponry toward Purifier, cannon salvos, missiles, and even torpedoes were focused on her that William was sure that Purifier won't be able to survive all of that. The projectiles rained upon Purifier's position, but even after all of that she's still alive, and it turns out she managed to dodge most of the attack. Only several cannon shells managed to hit their mark, and that only scratched her rigging. There's also some part of her clothes that were burnt, but that's it…that's all the damage an entire fleet could give?! Purifier stared at the approaching Sakura Empire and Ironblood forces while she scowled, those humans are really persistent.

"Dear Purifier, I thought you said you could handle this?" Observer Alpha suddenly said to Purifier on the communicator.

"Shut your mouth! All of this happened because you're being too lenient!" Purifier said to Observer Alpha on the communicator.

"But that was a necessity. You know we need more data…Is he there?" Observer Alpha said to Purifier on the communicator.

"What do you think?!" Purifier said to Observer Alpha on the communicator while she stared at the approaching human fleet.

"I see…Start phase two of the experiment." Observer Alpha said to Purifier on the communicator.

"Ha? What gives you the idea that you could order me around you bitch?!" Purifier said to Observer Alpha on the communicator with an angry tone.

"Because I'm the one that will take your head off and spin it in front of everyone, again. Now, do as I say." Observer Alpha said to Purifier on the communicator.

"Tch! Fine!" Purifier said to Observer Alpha on the communicator.

…Purifier hated that woman so much sometimes, but well she had no choice but to comply. Purifier stared upwards at the F-15 that William rode, her objective is quite simple, and that is to down him…The Sirens have marked Commander William Blaze as something anomalous, among all the commanders they fought, he's the first to fight against them on the frontlines from the start. Purifier was given orders to do 'experimentation' on him but for that to happen she had to take him down first from the sky…William noticed that Purifier didn't make any moves even after all of that, he wondered what she was really planning…

"Oi commander! Come down here!" Purifier said to William on the radio.

"Won't happen lady!" William said to Purifier on the radio.

"Bah! You humans always had to make everything complicated huh?!" Purifier said to William on the radio.

Well, if William didn't want to come down and meet her himself then that leaves her no choice but to shoot him down, Purifier moved her Hammerhead Shark like rigging and proceeded to aim at William's F-15 with a yellow holographic screen displayed on her right eye. When Purifier got a lock on him, she fired her main gun that produced a huge yellow plasma beam which shot through the air and almost hit William's F-15 left wing. The beam weapon energy surge caused a turbulence which resulted with William's jet to rattle as he stared down at the origin of the beam with a widened eye. Did Purifier just seriously try to kill him with her main cannon?!

"THE FUCK?!" William shouted as he was surprised.

"That's Purifier's main cannon!" Bismarck said to William on the radio.

"Shikikan-sama! Get out of there! She's targeting you directly!" Akagi said to William on the radio.

"Eugen, Hipper, protect Herr Kommandant! Divert that woman's attention!" Bismarck said to Prinz and Hipper.

""Jawohl!"" Prinz and Hipper said to Bismarck.

Prinz and Hipper immediately broke from formation as both of them went to charge at the Purifier directly; their commander was in immediate danger if they didn't act. Hipper saw how big was that beam that Purifier shot at William, and she knew it would shoot any aircraft down in one shot, she had to make sure Purifier wouldn't get another chance to shoot that cannon of hers, or this time William could actually get shot down. Bismarck chose them both for two simple reasons, they're both hard hitters in close quarter combat, and both had shields, so they are pretty much well rounded to face any adversary. As they glided to Purifier's position both of them could see that the other Siren ship girls were busy engaging the other ship girls, which means they could fight without much problem.

"Her main cannon is dangerous, Eugen, we should stick together." Hipper said to Prinz.

"My, wouldn't you be even more pessimistic if she had to compare our breasts if we stick together?" Prinz asked Hipper while she smirked a bit.

"Do you really have to use that as an excuse you devil?!" Hipper angrily shouted at Prinz then she gritted her teeth.

"Ufufufufu…Either way, we need to divert her attention away from each other." Prinz giggled before she said to Hipper.

"…Fine, let's do it your way." Hipper said to Prinz then she sighed.

Prinz and Hipper accelerated forward Purifier at maximum speed, they will aim to take her down from close quarters despite past experience showing that Purifier was quite good at close quarter combat. Purifier noticed the two approaching heavy cruisers then set her fighting stance, and her rigging started to charge its main cannon. Prinz nodded at Hipper who quickly fired her main guns and AA guns to the water around Purifier which created multiple explosions that formed a water splash screen which blinded Purifier temporarily. Prinz switched her approach direction to the left side while launching torpedoes at Purifier, the torpedoes almost missed their mark, but one did connect on target in which the explosion managed to stunned Purifier. Hipper dashed forward, spotted the stunned and confused Purifier on top of her rigging before she launched a powerful right hook straight at her face which sent her flying back.

"Eugen!" Hipper said to Prinz.

The flying Purifier didn't have time to respond when Prinz used her right rigging to deck her back toward the surface of the sea, Purifier fell and hit the surface of the sea where she's immediately gunned by Prinz from above as she hovered on top of Purifier. Prinz relentlessly fired all of her guns for ten seconds straight when she's hit by a feeling that not all of her shells connected with Purifier, so she stopped firing. Her prediction came true when she could no longer see Purifier. A water splash sound was heard from slightly behind by Prinz who immediately dropped down to the surface of the sea and side stepped to the left, which caused her to dodge Purifier's laser beam that she fired in the nick of time.

"Tch, she's craftier than she lets on!" Prinz clicked her tongue as she rejoined Hipper.

"Nice try! My turn!" Purifier said out loud while she grinned.

"Schwester!" Prinz nodded her head at Hipper.

"Ja!" Hipper said to Prinz as she nodded too.

Purifier fired her main gun again at Hipper and Prinz who huddled close to one another before they projected their energy shielding in front of them, the beam hit the energy shield and caused a blinding yellow flash that's noticeable kilometers away from the location. The beam then caused a massive explosion that engulfed both Prinz and Hipper inside the water splash and smoke, Purifier grinned as she killed two of them in one shot.

"Heh, how about that!? Now you…Eh?" Purifier said while she grinned before she did a double back.

Well, she only thought she killed the two of them because Hipper is still standing. She charged forward while unleashing three torpedoes at Purifier who simply jumped while she also charged toward Hipper, Purifier launched a drop kick at Hipper who crossed her arms in front of her, and she managed to block Purifier's powerful kick. She's not finished however as Purifier dropped to the surface, dashed forward, and started to launch multiple jabs and hooks at Hipper who kept her defenses up while she occasionally dodged Purifier's attack. Hipper saw a gap in Purifier's attack pattern, after she deflected Purifier's left hook Hipper dashed and choked on Purifier's neck, which Purifier responded by grabbing on Hipper's arms…Despite being choked, Purifier didn't show any anxiety or signs of suffocation.

"…Don't you think that torpedo attack is too obvious, you flat!?" Purifier asked Hipper while she grinned.

"Don't you think that was a very obvious distraction, you bitch!? Get her Eugen!" Hipper said out loud.

Hipper yanked her hands away from Purifier's neck which caused her arms to be outstretched while at the same time Prinz's rigging surfaced from the water. The rig latched on Purifier's arms before the rigging bit Purifier's arms and then yanked her away from her current location. Prinz surfaced from beneath the water in a drenched state, her rigging opened their mouths and two lower human arms fell to the surface of the sea…Purifier managed to stand up as she looked at her nonexistent lower arms and the stumps were leaking yellow blood profusely, she clicked her tongue as her rigging surfaced beneath her feet. Two drones appeared from it and shot their cannons at Purifier's remaining arms. The plasma cauterized the wound and temporarily prevented her from bleeding out, Purifier groaned a bit before she returned her attention to the two Ironblood heavy cruisers…

"Heh…you two gave me some difficulty, it's been fun really. But this ends now, say your prayers!" Purifier said out loud as her main cannon started charging.

"Fine…I pray for a mighty heavenly angel to come down from the heavens in the name of god to smite the nonbeliever in front of me~!" Prinz playfully prayed by crossing her fingers while Hipper stared at her as if Prinz went crazy or something.

"…Okay, good one, that was amusing. Bye bye now!" Purifier said to Prinz while she grinned maliciously.

"Oh wait, I forgot to mention one tiny detail. The angel is made of metal!" Prinz said to Purifier as she winked.

"Metal? What kind of angel was tha-" Purifier asked out loud.

BOOOOMMMM!

An F-15 fighter jet rammed Purifier directly at the speed of Mach Two, destroying her rigging, shutting off her drones, and possibly crushed her body with the sheer weight alongside the kinetic force alone. Hipper widened her eyes while Prinz smirked at the sight, Prinz looked upwards only to see the pilot of the F-15 drop down slowly to the sea with the parachute opened wide. The pilot landed on the sea, and both of them approached the downed pilot who swam back up after untangling his parachute, the pilot is none other than William Blaze who chuckled to himself when he realized that his extremely stupid plan actually worked, and he's still alive…Prinz immediately lifted him off the water with her rigging, William steadied himself on it before Hipper approached him.

"That was reckless, you dummkopf! What if the ejection mechanic failed to work, HUH?!" Hipper said to William as she hit his left arm.

"Ouch! Hehehehehe, if that were the case though, I would've dropped all of the bombs before pulling up. Nice to see your beautiful, dishonest face didn't get scorched, Hipper!" Despite the painful punch, William still grinned and said to Hipper.

"Shut up!" Hipper pouted as she crossed her arms and looked sideways.

"You're not concerned about me~?" Prinz cutely asked while she switched to shouldering William now.

"Oh, nice to see you're unhurt too Prinz." William said to Prinz while he smiled.

"Hmph…Still, vielen dank, kommandant~" Prinz said to William before she pecked him right on the lips.

"…Happy to help." William said to Prinz while he grinned.

"Blaze?! Respond dammit! Your blip is gone from radar!" Meguro suddenly shouted on the radio.

"Don't worry! I rammed the jet at Purifier. But I managed to get out safely, she's been dealt with!" William said to Meguro on the radio.

"For now, she'll come back soon. She seems to have multiple bodies in store." Prinz said to William while she frowned, experience is a hell of a teacher.

"Really?! Dammit!" William cussed as he deeply frowned.

"You reckless fuck! Hah…we got a clear shot at their base. We're launching the Tomahawks now!" Meguro said to William on the radio.

"Copy that, I'll just stay here and maybe record the explosion." William said to Meguro on the radio while he smiled.

"Do what you want then…You owe me a fighter jet by the way!" Meguro said to William on the radio.

"Heh…I'll see what I can do about it!" William said to Meguro on the radio while he cringed.

…Souryuu would pinch his ears off later when she knew he had to use some of their budget to buy a replacement jet for Meguro, that shit is expensive. William saw four Tomahawk missiles flying straight at the Sirens' base, and he smiled. As an infantry during direct combat, he always felt at ease whenever Lena or someone in command sent a Tomahawk missile at their objective which usually meant a mission accomplished for him. He was told by Johnson months ago during their talk that today's Tomahawk warheads have been significantly modified to yield even more powerful blasts than the ones in the past as response to the Sirens' open aggression at humanity.

"Look, one of those would be enough to blast our base's main compound." William said to Prinz and Hipper as he pointed at the flying Tomahawk Missiles.

"Hmmm, do we have countermeasures in case one ever flies to our base?" Hipper asked William with a hand on her chin.

"Ah…now that I thought about it-" William said to Hipper with a half-closed eye.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Four massive explosions erupted in the direction of the Sirens' second base, William huffed in satisfaction to know that their remaining task is to go in and mop the rest of them that managed to survive those devastating missile strikes…When the blinding light of the explosions faded off, William will order the ship girls to join formation and head off for a clean sweep, but that never happened because when the light died out there's a massive yellow colored energy wall surrounding the base. William widened his eye in horror when he saw that their base wasn't damaged in the slightest! Their missile strike was intercepted by that shield?!

"…I say that would make an excellent defense for that missile strike, ja?" Prinz said out loud while she frowned a bit.

"Blaze! What happened!? We got confirmation of the missile impacts, but it didn't even reach our intended target!" Meguro said to William on the radio.

"The Sirens deployed some kind of energy shield! Missiles struck the shield! No damage to the Sirens' base! Repeat! No damage to Sirens' base!" William said to Meguro while he grimaced at the sight.

"Goddammit! Huh? Sirens are mobilizing their defense forces! They're heading straight for us!" Meguro said to William on the radio.

"Looks like we've kicked a hornet's nest. We wouldn't last doing a consecutive fight like this! Let's retreat for now!" William said to Meguro on the radio.

"Agreed! All units, RTB! We're pulling back!" Meguro said out loud on the radio.

"Kommandant? Why? We have more than enough strength to destroy that base!" Hipper asked William while she frowned.

"Let's not tempt fate anymore today. We rest, and we return to the fight later, hastiness won't do us good Hipper…there's still tomorrow in this case." William said to Hipper.

"Ja, I had to agree with kommandant, schwester. We better reconsolidate, we lost our momentum with that failed missile strike." Prinz said to Hipper.

"…Alright, then let's head back." Hipper said to Prinz and William as she nodded her head.

.

…They managed to pull out safely from the frontline while leaving some rear guards who only took light casualties to make sure the Sirens didn't chase after them. They returned to the base while cursing that energy barrier because all of that effort was wasted. Soldiers, munitions, fuel, all spent in the effort to bring down that secondary base, and all they manage to bring back to their headquarters are casualties…William stood inside a specialized medical room that is meant to take care of the ship girls, two women laid down on the beds in front of him.

Shoukaku and Zuikaku survived with severe burn damage and concussion. That's what knocked them out, and the medics and doctors have done their absolute best to make sure their wounds were treated. Hiryuu had to undergo intense medical operation due to suffering third degree burns in a major part of her body, she was kept in the other room for intense Regel therapy to restore her burnt muscle and skin. Souryuu has been accompanying her ever since they returned to the base, he decided to let her off the hook from any missions temporarily until Hiryuu's condition improved…or if she chose to. A female doctor approached William who was still wearing his flight suit as he stared at Shoukaku and Zuikaku, she tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"…How are they?" William asked the doctor in a low tone.

"The girls are stable for now, the damage to their bodies will heal in due time, but for their rigging…I can't say much. It is clear that Zuikaku-san and Shoukaku-san won't be able to participate in any fights for the next few days, Hiryuu-san might even be for a month. Ship girls do naturally have a quicker recovery rate than an average human, they could fully heal minor cuts in two days completely, and it won't leave a single scar behind…No matter what happens, given enough time, they will retain their original beauty…Hah, I'm so jealous of that ability." The doctor explained to William.

"Ditto on that." William said out loud as he nodded his head.

"…I already prescribed them medications to heal the burn wounds, we also received a crate of Regel from your helicopter, so that will greatly help with our supplies. You can rest easy, commander." The doctor said to William in assurance.

"Thanks doc." William said as he stared at the doctor.

"Just doing my job. I'll be on standby here, they're in good hands." The doctor said to William while she nodded her head.

The doctor left him alone as she headed over toward her desk to jot a few notes down, William approached the girls and stared at their faces. He caressed Zuikaku's left cheek that caused her to squirm but then fell at ease again, maybe she's dreaming or something…William turned toward Shoukaku, and he had to frown even deeper. Her wounds are more severe than Zuikaku because she was in front of her when that concentrated energy bolt hit them both. William leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her forehead before he turned around and left the room. He hoped that will somehow return the luck that was given to him…she clearly needed it more than him.

William approached the command center of the headquarters, he opened the door and headed straight for a meeting place where he could already see Meguro looking up at the map of the isle. Meguro turned around and noticed William who stared at him before he sat down in a chair. He took a plastic cup from the table and a pot, poured pure black coffee inside it before he placed it in front of William. The man took the cup and drank the liquid in one big gulp, bitter, just like how they felt right now with this failed operation.

"…What the hell is that thing?" Meguro suddenly asked out loud.

"…Yuubari concluded that the large energy shield wall was projected straight from a building in the center of their base, it formed a perfect circle around the area, and it could be their last resort or something. Those Tomahawk missile strikes were wasted for nothing." William said to Meguro regarding what Yuubari said to him about the shield wall.

"The way I see it, it didn't get wasted for nothing. Now we know that shield is fucking durable enough to withstand FOUR Tomahawk missile strikes…We're running out of options here Blaze, logistically and strategically…" Meguro said to William as he leaned on the table, frustration was apparent on his face…

"…What are our remaining options?" William asked Meguro in a low tone.

"Well for now, I believe we only got two. Either we somehow take that shield out and launch the rest of our Tomahawk missiles at it to destroy the base then take the other base down in a combined assault by ship girls…or we could chip their defenses bit by bit, and then it's only a matter of time before we get steamrolled by those Sirens." Meguro said to William while he frowned.

"Somehow took the shield out huh…Would an EMP weapon work on it?" William asked out loud before he sighed.

Yes, naturally something like that must've been powered with a generator which could be knocked out with an EMP blast…if they aren't EMP proofed. Take down the generator that powered the shield and maybe even their defensive emplacements, then they could always shell the entire base into the Stone Age with continuous fire. But this plan could only work if their assumption regarding that generator is proven true, then there's the issue regarding the suitable weaponry for an attack like that. Something that could generate a powerful EMP blast? They don't have something capable of taking out an entire base yet, their best bet regarding the issue is to use nuclear detonations within the upper atmosphere of their location. But even that, despite the seemingly easy solution, has huge risks too…literally.

"…Don't know, even if it could we don't have something that could generate a powerful EMP blast to bring down a building that's surely to be big. We could use a nuclear missile but do that here and detonate it in the atmosphere for a powerful EMP blast, but not even our base would be safe from the effect due to the wide radius. If that's our only way out, we're officially fucked." Meguro said to William.

"Well…it's worth a shot. But let's rest for now, we could figure something out tomorrow when we're not exhausted." William said to Meguro as he stood up from his seat.

"After today's event where you crashed an F-15 at a Siren? Can I assume that you will somehow participate in any mad plan if we manage to procure an EMP weapon of such caliber or even a Weapon of Mass Destruction?" Meguro said to William who's about to leave the room.

"Depends on the situation." William said to Meguro without looking at him.

"I see…Blaze, aggression and recklessness are two different things. I'm sure you know the difference, so I'm sure I won't have to lecture you about it." Meguro said to William with a calm tone.

"…Duly noted." William nodded his head before he exited the command center.

With a heavy sigh William left the command center building, he walked toward the busy courtyard of the headquarters where people and vehicles were busy passing through it. William saw that the ships on Meguro's fleet are still unloading casualties from their previous engagement, many of the crew suffered burns or downright loss of limbs, and William occasionally saw dead crewmen being carried and gathered in special place near the corner of the courtyard…he stopped walking to allow a few crewmen to walk past him while carrying their injured comrades on their shoulders, they ran straight for the overcrowded infirmary.

William walked all the way back to their temporary housing, but he didn't enter the building as he went toward the right side. He found a small ledge a bit farther from the building that overlooked the entire HQ there. William sat on the edge, took out his cigarette, lit it up, and he smoked while he stared at the busy HQ…Damnit, he knew not everything could go according to plan, but it still sucked when it happened. They could be enjoying dinner right now, drinking some alcohol, basking themselves in their victory or something. But instead, they wasted their night sorting out casualties, repairing their equipment and vehicles, administering medical help, and even constructing additional rudimentary defenses to help in case the Sirens did stop by…The cigar burnt out, so William threw it away. He sighed melancholically as he recounted what happened today.

He's about to light up another one when he hears someone walk up behind him. William stared back, and he saw a blonde woman who walked and sat beside him without uttering a single word. William cocked his eyebrows in wonder but found his eye narrowed when Bismarck reached for something behind her, she took out a flask and handed it to William who shrugged and took it. He tasted the liquid inside, he's pretty sure that whatever it is, the drink has strong alcohol in it.

"…How can I help you, Bismarck?" William said to Bismarck as he returned her flask.

"…I thought you could use some company, kommandant." Bismarck said to William as she took back the flash and drank from it, hey that's an indirect kiss!

"Originally, I planned on being miserable by myself. But, since you're here…sure." William said to Bismarck as he smiled somberly.

How did Bismarck find him? It wasn't a simple coincidence, she tailed him all the way from the courtyard. She actually wants to speak to him about something, but she was told by Amagi that William has been secluding himself from the others ever since his return, he seems occupied. Bismarck immediately knew what was occupying his mind that really bothered him so much that the usual William Blaze, who would debrief everyone involved after a fight, secluded himself away in the medical room for hours. He felt accountable and responsible for what happened today…to some extent.

"…What happened to the three carriers wasn't your fault, kommandant." Bismarck decided to test the waters.

"Considering that I could've reacted sooner, it is my fault." …So, Bismarck found her assumption was right.

"Tell me, how did you expect to react against an attack that came from what was basically the fog of war under half a minute?" Bismarck asked William.

"I rode an F-15 for fuck sake! I have the means!" William answered Bismarck with a firm tone.

"Can you then pinpoint their position immediately?" Bismarck immediately asked William while she frowned.

Could he? There's just no way he could immediately find those Peace Breakers when Hiryuu just got sniped for the first time, he's two kilometers above the sea surface back then. Even if he could find them, what would be his next step of action? Call out targets? Most of the ship girls are out of range and not even Amagi could shoot accurately at something thirty kilometers away, carriers? Their planes would take a while before they could reach their target. Going by himself? One fighter jet against the entire fleet of Siren ship girls? He might as well book a ticket for the afterlife if they concentrated their AA guns at him, he's no Ace Combat protagonist for fuck sake…the answer from all those conclusions are.

"No." William said to Bismarck, there was nothing he could do.

"Then there's still a possibility that the result would be the same, regardless of the situation…Sometimes, things beyond our immediate control happen. Best we could do? Is to manage it properly, so we could save as many as we can and to make do as best as possible despite what happened…In this case, we still have more preferable outcome because those three could've died, were if not for the quick action of their comrades and yours in identifying the threat…Try to look into the more positive aspect, kommandant. You're not a bad commander by any means." Bismarck said to William as she put a hand on his broad right shoulder.

"…Really?" William stared at Bismarck with a widened right eye.

"Ja…You stared at me as if I've just grown a second head. Is it that weird for me to compliment someone?" Bismarck asked William while she frowned a bit.

"No…it's just, that's the first time I've heard you compliment me...It's getting late, you better get some sleep." William said to Bismarck.

"Don't worry, I've used to stay awake for days during combat." Bismarck said to William confidently.

"That won't do you good. If the Sirens attack us, we need everyone to be in their prime, even you." William said to Bismarck with a serious gaze.

"…If you insist, kommandant." Bismarck said to William as she stood up.

"Where's your room?" William asked Bismarck.

"Right next to yours by the entrance." Bismarck said to William.

"Come on, I'll walk you there." William said to Bismarck.

"…Why do you insist that I should rest, kommandant?" Bismarck asked William.

"Like I said before, we need everyone in their prime for tomorrow. Any downtime you could get during a battle is a luxury you shouldn't waste..." William said to Bismarck.

"Wise…I'll take that escort service to my room then." Bismarck said to William.

Bismarck offered her right hand to William who stared at it for a bit before he took it and stood up, he walked with her toward their dorm hand in hand. It was a short walk, less than five minutes since it's close enough. They entered the building, and both of them immediately went toward Bismarck's room, unlike the others: the fleet representatives, the ship girls that were originally stationed here, and William himself were given a private room. The others stayed in the other bedrooms, still in the same building, but one room has four bunk beds for them to sleep, ah the privileges that the leaders have.

"Danke kommandant, for taking me back." Bismarck said to William while she smiled a bit.

"You're welcome. Rest well, Bismarck…and also thanks for making me see reason, I feel better now." William said to Bismarck with a serious face.

"Think nothing of it, kommandant, if you ever feel you need a friend to talk to…I'll be there." Bismarck said to William.

"…I appreciate it…Good night, Bismarck." William said to Bismarck while he smiled.

"To you as well, Kommandant William." Bismarck said to William as she also smiled back.

Bismarck closed the door to her room while William's smile turned into a grin, he was glad that Bismarck started to open up bit by bit. William stood in front of her door for a bit before he turned around, only to meet Prinz who leaned on the door to his room, arms folded, and a wide smirk plastered on her lips. She watched how the two of them walked together from the right side of the building hand in hand, she made sure that she's at the right distance to tailgate both of them before she watched their conversation from the side because she knew William had a keen sense of hearing…

"What?" William asked Prinz while he narrowed his gaze.

"Oh nothing, just wondering what were the two of you doing~?" Prinz asked William back while she smiled smugly.

"Nothing, we're just talking." William said to Prinz.

"Really? I thought it's strange to talk in the secluded right side of the building in darkness, are you sure you didn't do anything else~?" Prinz asked William while she smirked.

"Like what?" William asked Prinz with cocked eyebrows.

"Hmmm, maybe you both talked while you pinned her to the wall? She faced you as you slowly bumped her stern from the rear to cause as little noise as possible? The two of you talked in low, hushed tones while struggling not to moan in delight as your wiener slowly went in and out of her-" Prinz said to William while she smirked.

"Okay! We didn't do anything like that!" William said to Prinz while he gritted his teeth, his mind showed him lewd images that he liked but really didn't need to have right now!

"Did you know that a strong rebuttal usually means whatever accusations I just said are true~?" Prinz asked William while she grinned now.

"We did not do such things!" Bismarck suddenly yelled.

Bismarck's room door was thrown open, and the woman stared out at Prinz with a clear blush on her face while the accuser only giggled heavily as she leaned on the wall. William's body jerked a bit in surprise because who would've thought Bismarck would open back her door just to say that out loud. He looked around to notice that currently there's only the three of them in the corridor of this building which is good, he didn't need any onlookers.

"Maybe, if you still want to talk to him, you shouldn't just stand there behind the door. You could've invited him in too~" Prinz said to Bismarck while she winked.

"How did you-. Wait, you knew?" Bismarck asked Prinz in a serious tone.

"Of course, you noticed me tailing both of you, and you wondered what I would talk about with the kommandant. Sometimes, you're too predictable in social manners, Bismarck~" Prinz said to Bismarck with a teasing tone, the subject of the tease only got even redder because she found it to be true.

"Alright, enough, we don't need her to turn into a lobster right now hehe…What do you have for me, Prinz?" William asked Prinz while he smiled a bit.

"Akashi requested me to call you, she needs you in the lab of this island." Prinz said to William as she went into her serious mode.

"Lab…what is she doing there?" William asked out loud.

"I don't know, but it's something important. Best get going now." Prinz said to William.

"Lead the way Prinz, time to see what she's up to this time." William said to Prinz.

.

The laboratory was located on the other side of the Headquarters, a bit to the center of the island. It's an underground complex that served as a Wisdom Cube research facility alongside prototype testing for Sakura Empire's new weapons. William was sure as hell he wanted a Gundam if the Sakura Empire produced one…Okay, wishful thinking aside, Prinz and him had to go through several security screenings before they were permitted to go inside the inner complex where Akashi and Yuubari already waited for him. They're inside a large room with various equipment and a large metal box in the center of the room, William wasn't sure why he's called here but he guessed he's about to find out.

"Ah shikikan, welcome nyaa!" Akashi said to William while she smiled.

"What do you need me for, Akashi?" William asked Akashi as he looked around.

"First of all, promise me that you won't get mad." Akashi said to William.

"…I have a bad feeling about this, what did you do this time?" William turned and glared sharply at her.

"Nyaa! Scary! Don't eat me!" Akashi shrunk with a blue face immediately.

"Kommandant, you ought to listen to her first. Whether you want to 'eat' her or not after that, your call~" Prinz said to William while she smiled smugly.

…Prinz does make the sentence about eating sound very sexual, and William can't say he's appreciative of jokes right now. Akashi caused a few troubles in the past, but at least it's within their base so containing it is pretty easy. But this is a Sakura Empire frontline laboratory! If she decides to experiment, and it goes wrong, the damage could be catastrophic! William, however, chooses to give Akashi the time to explain what she did this time. He actually trusted her when it came to something serious as she could deliver results, and he can't really see how she will make practical jokes when they're on the frontline…

"…Fine. So, what did you do?" William asked Akashi.

"We managed to finish your Albion Battle Armor in time, shikikan." Akashi said to William.

"That was quick!" William looked at Akashi with a widened eye.

"Ja, how did you manage to finish an entire battle armor in just…under a month?" Prinz asked Akashi while she folded her arms.

"The key is this facility, Prinz-san. This facility has the technology necessary to get the attuned Wisdom Cubes for the Albion, once we got the cube? All we have to do is to put it into the armor and then program it to work nyaa." Akashi explained to Prinz.

"You mean you brought Albion? Here?" William asked Akashi.

"Hai, of course! Take a look!" Akashi said to William as she pointed her thumbs behind her.

Yuubari pressed a few buttons on the tablet she held, and the metallic box behind her opened, and it revealed a full set of body armor that William immediately recognized as the Albion Battle Armor from the design that Akashi was given to. It's cobalt colored painted armor with a turquoise visor. The chest plate looks thick enough, the abdomen was coated in some kind of flexible armor joints, the shoulder pads looked wide, there's bicep protectors, elbow guards, wrist armor, crotch armor, thigh armor, knee protectors, and lower leg armor as well the armored boots, and all of them were connected with the matte black under suit. William walked around it to inspect every detail the armor has, the longer he stared at the Albion Armor in front of him the wider his smile that it turned into full blown grin by the time he was done.

"What do you think, shikikan?" Yuubari asked William while she smiled.

"…Bloody hell…it looks gorgeous, an outstanding work. I can't see why I would be mad about this." William said out loud while he grinned.

"So that's the content of the box you insist on carrying here." Prinz said out loud as she rubbed her chin.

"And it's about to get even better shikikan, you are going to test it. I assume you have some time to kill nyaa?" Akashi asked William.

"Yes! With pleasure!" William answered excitedly.

William didn't hesitate to untangle his clothes all the way until his boxers remained…Putting on the under suit took some effort because it's goddamn tight! And even after that, William had to spend some time getting used to the undersuit's tightness, and he moved around to get a feel for it. He stopped when he realized that Prinz, Akashi, and Yuubari stared at him specifically at something beneath him. William looked down and noticed there's a large bulge in his crotch area, and his cheeks flushed in an instant when he realized that the under suit even outlined his penis and testicles, he immediately adjusted the suit, so it won't really show out his nether regions.

"…This suit is very tight." William commented out loud.

"Vacuum sealed, shikikan, of course it would be tight enough to fit your body. It might be worthy to note that this suit alone could resist a direct hit from an assault rifle rounds nyaa." Akashi said to William.

"5.56 or 7.62?" William asked Akashi.

"Hmm, 7.62mm. But that isn't an excuse to go charging straight against bullet hell, Hood-sama would have my butt." Akashi said to William while she frowned.

"Noted." William said to Akashi while he cringed.

"Right, let's put on the armor now nyaa." Akashi said to William.

Both Akashi and Yuubari worked as Prinz discreetly recorded the whole event with her phone; the armor parts were fitted on William's body, who had to stand still as they put on the torso armor. Akashi and Yuubari each put on the armor for the arms, shoulder pads, and finally the crotch armor. Both Yuubari and Akashi took some effort and finally put on all of the armor pieces, Yuubari then proceeded to seal and sync the armor with the under suit which caused William to suddenly kneeled down with face in pure shock, pain, and agony.

"Ngghhhh…." William groaned loudly as he felt his soul leaving his body.

"Shikikan?!" Akashi asked out loud in worry.

"The…crotch…armor..." William squeaked out a few words.

"Is it too tight?" Yuubari asked out loud as she made a few adjustments to William's crotch part.

"Oh…Oh god…That was horrible." William finally was able to breathe again after his crotch armor loosened up a bit.

"I see you don't like ball busting…I will cross that off the list~" Prinz casually said to William while she smirked a bit.

"What list?!" William asked Prinz with a widened eye full in horror at the implication.

"Now, put on the helmet nyaa." Akashi handed William the final part of the armor.

The helmet was in William's hand, he stared at the reflective, polarized turquoise visor and saw his face staring back at him. He turned the helmet around before he put it on his head, the helmet immediately muffled the sound around him, and he could hear his own breathing sounds. The view was of course narrower than wearing a motorcycle helmet, but it's more enclosed, and it sealed automatically to the under suit. William then looked around as he tried to get a feel for being in full armor. The visor is polarized, but he could still see everything in normal color, he then stared at Prinz who approached him.

"How do you feel?" Prinz stood in front of William as she asked him.

"…It's claustrophobic in a sense…and hot." William said to Prinz in a muffled voice.

"Hmm, we haven't activated the armor yet, so the temperature conditioning and other auxiliary functions are still offline." Yuubari said to William as she typed a few things on the tablet.

"The wisdom cube is already inside?" William asked out loud.

"If we hadn't then we certainly wouldn't call you here, we called because we know it works. Armor booting up now, Wisdom Cube synchronized, energy readings look good, starting up the armor operating system now." Yuubari said to William as she turned on the armor OS.

"Okay, I'm bringing the HUD online now shikikan. I trust you have played enough FPS games to know the function of the HUDs, for your situation I purposely brought the HUD to the right side…I'm unlocking the hydraulic system now. Try to move around nyaa." Akashi said to William

William watched as the armor OS booted up, he saw the HUD went online, and his body felt at ease when the temperature conditioning function turned on. William tried to move around but it felt heavy, as heavy as one would expect when they're equipped with one hundred kilograms worth of reinforced titanium alloy, Kevlar weave layer underneath the plating, and specialized ballistic foam layer to reduce the kinetic impact so the wearer could take more punishment while still gunning and killing anyone they're in combat with. He could still walk, but at this rate he won't even get out of this room without tiring himself out. William stared at Yuubari and Akashi who observed his movement before they returned to the tablet that Yuubari held.

"There seems to be a bit of delay in the hydraulic system, it doesn't respond quite accurately to the movement impulse and inertia." Yuubari said out loud.

"No wonder it felt quite heavy moving around in this!" William commented as he stopped moving.

"Hai, we're adjusting the system." Akashi said to William.

All of a sudden William almost fell to the floor because his body just got lighter suddenly, as if he didn't wear any armor. He took a while to get a feel on the armor now before he unconsciously grinned, William walked a few steps before he broke into a sudden sprint and stopped a few steps before the exit. He turned around and tried to be as frisky as possible, running into walls where he ran up toward it, and used it as a foothold to perform an aerial flip then landed. William tried to roll around the floor in the armor, getting up with it, and dived to the floor before he deemed the result satisfactory as it doesn't hinder his mobility in the slightest and even making his body felt lighter overall.

"…It feels natural now." William commented while he grinned.

"Okay…all readings checked out, let's test it immediately." Akashi said to William while she grinned.

"Test it?" William asked with a confused gaze directed at her.

"We've prepared a training module currently in use by Sakura Empire troops to practice their hand-to-hand combat, might not be much of a real threat because they're not programmed to kill anyone, but they could still dish out painful hits nyaa." Akashi said to William.

"And you want me to fight it, fine." William said to Akashi.

A humanoid robotic construct appeared from the other door on the room, the robot immediately set up fighting stance when it stood in front of William…the man cracked his fingers as he also set his fighting stance, but he didn't wait for his opponent to attack first as William dashed forward before sending a high kick which didn't only knocked back the robot, but also unhinged its head away from its body into the walls…

"Did…did I just take its head off?!" William asked out loud in disbelief.

"With a single hit nonetheless. Maybe you can finally convince Hood to let you do field work." Prinz said to William while she nodded her head.

"Maybe…this is bloody awesome, Akashi! Can I use this in the field soon!?" William asked Akashi excitedly.

"Sure, but I can't give you clearance until we complete the additional testing. You might want to get used to the armor before taking it out to the field, nyaa." Akashi said to William while she grinned.

"Fair point…Right, let's begin." William said to Akashi.

…He might have made a mistake by doing that armor testing right after he just returned, he's now tired, filthy, and hungry. William took a long warm bath and soothed his tired muscles before he changed into more comfortable clothes, in this case though there's only that traditional inn garb, and William shrugged as he put it on himself. He grimaced however when he saw the fair amount of lower leg the garb showed because of his height really made the garb only cover all the way to his knees, but he thought that it's better than going around naked…who knows when Prinz decided to have ideas and start taking pictures from the window outside. He then heard the door to his room was knocked, and he went to answer it, William opened the door to see Amagi herself standing in front of him…

"…Ms. Amagi?" William asked Amagi.

"Do you have a moment, shikikan-sama?" Amagi asked William.

"Sure. Anything I can help you with?" William asked Amagi again.

"Can we talk?" Amagi asked William in return.

"Alright. Come in." William said to Amagi as he moved from the door to let her through.

As Amagi passed him William caught the scent of her perfume, and it threw him off a bit because it smells sweet yet mixed with something else that got William in some excited mood, what did she spray on herself? Aphrodisiac? Nah, he thought too much once again. William realized that standing in the doorway wasn't his plan for tonight, William closed the sliding door only to find Amagi stared at him from the place where she sat. William stared back at her when he realized that Amagi was inspecting him as if she's expecting a reaction or anything…William decided that he had to stop making hasty conclusions as he opened the fridge, he took out a bottle of sake and two glass before he put it on the table in front of Amagi.

"Do you drink, Ms. Amagi?" William asked Amagi while he smiled.

"Hai. And shikikan-sama, please, just call me Amagi." Amagi said to William as she smiled softly.

"If you say so, Amagi…Well, I'm getting quite hungry. Do you want something to eat too?" William asked Amagi as he rummaged through the fridge again.

"That would be troubling you shikikan-sama, even though I already troubled you by coming this late." Amagi said to William, despite her smiles, her eyes stared at William in a calculative manner.

"Nonsense. I'm willing to lend an ear to the ship girls under my command even this late." William said to Amagi.

"Does the time when you sleep also count?" Amagi asked William while she smiled.

"With the exception of that, I love my sleep and not even a beautiful lady like you could change that fact." William said to Amagi as he turned his head around for a bit to stare at her and smiled.

"Ufufufufu, I'll be sure to remember that." Amagi giggled then said to William.

"…Where are the other ingredients?" William muttered to himself while he still rummaged through the content of the fridge.

"Do you need some help, shikikan-sama?" Amagi asked William.

"Don't worry, you're my guest. Sit back and wait a bit, I need to polish my cooking skills too, since it's been a while." William said to Amagi as he took out all the necessary ingredients.

"Been a while?" Amagi asked as she stared at William's back.

"Well ever since I arrived and became the commander for ALASUC, I found myself being served magnificent dishes everyday by the ladies, I didn't cook because of that." William said to Amagi while he shrugged.

…A grown man like him surely could cook right? Well, he hadn't burnt water yet, so William thought he had some decent skills in the art of cooking. He took out a few slabs of salmon meat, some vegetables, some eggs, and he even started to cook the rice with the rice cooker. He started to prepare the necessity for a soup, prepared the seasonings, the frying pan in which he poured some cooking oil and heated up in low heat. William then took out a kitchen knife, twirled it in his right hand twice, before he started chopping off the vegetables with extreme precision and skill. When the vegetables were chopped, he mixed it with the soup while he switched to fry the salmon. The frying pan sizzled when he put the meat on it. William carefully measured the color of the salmon as he cracked a few eggs open in a bowl, added some seasoning before mixing it up while he watched the salmon cooking up.

"…How about your time before you became the commander, did you ever cook?" Amagi suddenly asked William again.

"…I cooked…occasionally." William answered with a hint of nervousness in his tone.

"At least you have some experience, I'm sure your cooking won't taste too bad." Amagi said to William as she smiled…

"Not 'Too bad' eh? That's some confidence, but we'll see." William said to Amagi while he cringed

"…Based on what you were doing…Do you know how to cook an eastern styled dish, shikikan-sama?" Amagi asked William after she observed what he was doing from where she sat.

"I don't have much of a menu selection, but I do know a few, and the ingredients here are just fine." William said to Amagi while he smiled.

Setting up the plates, William put the cooked salmon on it, stirred the soup for a while, then cooked the eggs. The eggs are a lot easier to cook, and he's got some fair share of experience with it. He still doesn't know how to make the rolled ones like he usually sees in manga or anime. That's why he just made some scrambled eggs. The eggs were done, he put it on the other plate, took two bowls, and poured the soup in them, served it on the table where Amagi sat, took two additional bowls which he filled with rice with different portions since he eats a whole lot more, took two set of chopsticks, returned to the table, and set everything up…Amagi nodded her head in approval, he managed to set up the table in less than a minute, so she's impressed.

"Voila! Not too shabby, isn't it?" William asked Amagi while he grinned.

"You displayed quite some skill when you cook, but we can't know for sure about the taste yet…Hmm, the eggs are a bit deformed, the salmon looked a little overdone, this is a western styled soup instead of miso soup, and the rice…is cooked nicely." Amagi said to William, she didn't pull out any punches in her opinion…

"Yikes…what I do well the most is knife work huh?" William asked Amagi while he cringed.

"Hai, the salmon are cut in a neat shape. But don't worry, this will do. You've done quite well for someone who hasn't cooked for a while." Amagi said to William while she smiled.

"In that case, please dig in." William said to Amagi.

"Itadakimasu." Amagi clasped her hands as she prayed.

Both of them started to eat with William taking the chopstick to his hand, when in Rome do as the Romans do. William started to eat the salmon with the rice, he found the meat did overcook a bit, but he's fine with the taste. The scrambled eggs tasted nice, just like the ones he made in the past. The soup broth lacked some kick in it…he wondered why he didn't taste it before, the tiredness really got to him it seems. The vegetables are passable he guesses, and the rice was done quite well…Yeah, overall, a satisfying meal, but he has a lot to improve. William snuck a glance at Amagi who ate calmly, but she managed to clean her bowl of rice, and she smiled as she stared at William, hoping that's a good sign William hoped as he put down his own empty bowl.

"…Well?" William asked Amagi.

"Hmmm…I will give this passing mark." Amagi said to William while she smiled.

"Nice to know, hah." William said out loud then sighed in relief.

"You're quite skilled in handling food and cooking utensils." Amagi noted as she stared at William.

"…It's because of my summer intern job at a restaurant when I was sixteen. The chef there taught me quite a bit." William confessed at Amagi.

…It was when he just started high school during summer vacation and before he met Lena, William heard that a new game console would be released alongside its premier game, which was a sequel to a most awaited sci-fi shooter game that year beside that dystopian futuristic shooter. He's happy to know the series didn't die, but he wanted to scream when reality hit him that he's got no money to buy it, that's when he got a brilliant idea to get a job…Father? Busy being in the fight. Mother? Busy with her research. Sister? Well, she's pretty much capable of handling herself for a middle schooler. That's why he got the job without anyone knowing, he got accepted and started as a dishwasher.

Slowly but surely though, he managed to socialize and fit in with the people that were working in the restaurant. The young chef took a liking to him and taught him knife work, how to cook some simple dishes, and even how to set up the tables for the guests. They put him on the registry as a waiter after a while, which really improved his social skills because he's not that good at handling people before he interned. He got the money, he got the console, he got the skills, and overall, it's a good thing for him…he kept working there until he graduated from high school when he decided to join the military, that was some good times…simpler times.

"He's not Gordon Ramsay, right?" Amagi asked William while she smiled.

"I would've lost count on how many he will say the word 'fuck', 'donkey', or even 'bellend' to me because I screwed up during my internship, a lot. He would also insult me to no end if he saw my work just now…" William said out loud.

"Ufufufufufufu…" "Hehehehehe…" Both Amagi and William laughed at the idea…

"…So, what did you want to talk about, Amagi?" William asked Amagi as he started to clean up the table.

"I have lots of things I want to talk about, but I'll start with this one…Why did you fight in the front?" Amagi asked William as she helped him.

"Good question…You know, I was a frontline soldier before becoming a commander." William said to Amagi as he washed the dirty plates and bowls.

"That much I know, what I don't know is your true motivation…you're not a ship girl, you can't float on water, you don't have ship rigging, nor the endurance of a ship girl. Then why?" Amagi asked William.

…Not the first time anyone or even himself asked that question, why? If he wants to earn the ship girls respect there are a lot of other ways to do so, though William guessed he only knows how to prove himself by being useful in combat. But he did that already, he proved himself as a capable commander and an effective combatant who can handle himself when Sirens encroached in close quarters at them. Why did he insist that he fight in the front? He then remembered something that Benjamin McAllen, Lena's little brother once said to him before Operation Dradetheus regarding what he believed…maybe this will help him answer this question.

"…Every single man or woman, in the right place at the wrong time can make all the difference in the world…As a commander of the ship girls, staying back inside a Combat Information Center would only do so much, compared to being actually in the front, direct assessment of the situation backed by information from the control center would do well to provide intel needed to make a judgment in the field of battle. I experienced that directly as a frontline soldier, and it proved to still be effective even when I became a commander…however, the enemy this time is quite different. These creatures encroached the waters around the earth, they possessed outstanding futuristic technology, and frankly speaking they got what it takes to conquer earth ten times over. Who are those Sirens? What do they want with us? Why did they just suddenly attack us for no reason without demands even though they can speak? These are very confusing indeed…" William said out loud as he washed the dish.

"I see, so you want to learn more about them? To learn about the enemy?" Amagi asked William.

"Yes, but there's something else, something deep inside that told me…that I have to do my part, as a human who has his home world under siege by the Sirens. I was trained to be a soldier, with the necessary skill set and knowledge. It felt like to be a waste if I didn't use it to the best of my abilities, and I find that fighting in the front might be my best bet…I'm not that good in grand strategy, my knowledge on management is very basic, diplomacy is not my strong suit, and all I am good at is wielding a gun and killing someone. That's why I'm very grateful that my many secretaries are very capable in their duties. They helped me immensely with base management." William continued as he finished washing the dish and sat with Amagi.

Mother Earth will need every last human she could get who's willing to stand up in her defense, every man and woman who's capable should stand to protect their only home within the vastness of this universe. William has no idea how long this war will continue, how long until they could return to peaceful times, but he knew it won't be anytime soon. He's originally a soldier that was trained to protect his home, and that's his purpose, now that purpose has transformed into the wider spectrum from a single country into the whole planet, and it's his duty to protect this only home for the human race. However, as a soldier he's not that knowledgeable regarding other things, which is why he's very grateful that the girls are very capable in their secretary job.

"…Sorry, I'm rambling right? Heh…" William said to Amagi while he smiled bitterly.

"Now I understand you, shikikan-sama…I see the reason why you fight in the frontline. Tactically, you did something foolish for a modern-day commander where the Sirens fight with fire and forget weaponry. Philosophically? Those that lead from the front are called leaders, someone that leads others in the frontline, experiencing the same thing as those under their command, and you surely fit the bill…Strategically? You are the prime example of the prowess and courage of the human race; your action alone could inspire the others to stand and fight instead of falling into despair…Do you know what kind of people like you are called by the high command? An asset. Do you know what ordinary people call someone like you? A hero" Amagi said to William with a serious face.

"Hero? Well, I don't think of myself as such. I've done lots of horrible things, Amagi." William said to Amagi while he frowned.

"The definition of hero itself is diverse, shikikan-sama. Take the heroes that you've heard, let's take Robin Hood for example. To the nobles, he's a menace who stole their riches. To the ordinary people, he's regarded as a hero in their eyes…Now, stealing is an evil thing to do, but he's still regarded as a hero…Being a hero doesn't always mean you are a saint. Sometimes, they're just people who do what's necessary, and all of that depends on perspective." Amagi said to William while she smiled a bit.

…Putting it like that, it makes a goddamn sense. Heroes and villains are just matters of perspective. The Sirens might have their own heroes too as well as Azur Lane and Crimson Axis. Heroic deeds? Let's say the Sirens' objective is to wipe out an entire base of an Azur Lane unit, the one Siren soldier who single handedly managed to do that will be regarded as a hero. It works the opposite way when humanity is tasked to destroy a Siren base, the one who managed to do it will instantly gain legendary status among humans…just like his action for the past two major battles that happened between them, now there's a possibility the name William Blaze is known across the world as a daredevil bastard who didn't hesitate to fight a Siren in close quarters. Quite a reputation if he could say so, William didn't plan to be a hero, but if his task required him to be one…

"…You know what Amagi? If you're going to join ALASUC after all of this, I'd like you to be one of my secretaries." William said to Amagi with a serious face.

"Ara ara, that was quite sudden shikikan-sama. Might I ask your reason for picking me?" Amagi asked William with a surprised tone as she held her right cheek.

"I've been searching for a strategist, and someone who could make tactical judgments despite the chaos of battle. I've seen that you are capable of doing both, and frankly speaking, I want you in the unit." William said to Amagi with a serious face.

"Is that so…So, you only saw me as a strategist and a talent you want to use?" Amagi asked William.

"…Right now? I'm afraid my answer is yes." …He'll be ruthlessly honest, yes that's his answer.

"Ufufufufu, of course. I would call you a liar if you say otherwise, shikikan-sama…we've only known each other for a day, of course that's how you will see me...Very well then, I will consider your offer after this." Amagi seems satisfied as she answered to William.

.

It's already nine in the morning by the time William came to, he woke up tucked inside the futon that he didn't remember setting up last night. He knew the exact reason why when he saw the table between him and Amagi last night, there's three empty bottles of sake that stood prettily. William groaned when headache assaulted him so early in the form known as hangover…He stood up while staving off his hangover like a champ, and with the aid of aspirin, washed up nicely, and equipped his officer uniform before he opened the door to his room. William looked around and noticed that the ship girls must've awakened earlier than him, he subtly made his way toward the headquarters' command center where Commander Meguro and Amagi already waited for him…

"Pleasant night, commander?" Meguro asked William while he raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yes it was, how's yours?" William asked Meguro back.

"I would've slept until noon if not for the lieutenant waking me up, fortunately it's good news. The 8th Carrier Group has been diverted from their patrol route, and they're heading here." Meguro informed William.

"How long until the Sakura Empire 8th Carrier Group arrives?" William asked Meguro.

"Two days…Well, now that your reinforcement has arrived, we might stand a chance at defending this base for two days, Commander Blaze." Meguro said to William as he showed a projection on the hologram projector.

The 8th Sakura Empire Carrier Group is comprised of four aircraft carriers, three fast battleships, five cruisers, four destroyers, and several landing ships…William thought that he didn't really understand why would Sakura Empire hold this front at all cost, sure it's a research place and strategic position, but they're throwing in so much manpower and resources into this battle. He knew the Sakura Empire was still recovering from the Great War a few years back, so expending their manpower and resources in this one battle seemed to be quite a foolish thing to do. Is there something about this isle that he didn't know about?

"Assuming they won't steamroll us, they should've learnt from their previous attack." William said to Meguro.

"Right, that's why I said 'might'…It seems they didn't take too kindly that we destroyed their staging area and supply base, they have begun to move some of their forces toward this area. Satellite reconnaissance showed that these groups are too small to be a unified assault force, they must be a harassment unit to make sure our patrol behaves." Meguro said to William as he displayed the local map and unit positioning on the hologram projector.

"…Any plans, commander?" William asked Meguro as he folded his arms.

"And that's the bad news. For today I already sent one squad of Special Operation Units to undertake a recon mission on this island, this…was a residential area and a location of our experimental lab that we were forced to abandon when the Sirens began their assault. I sent them in to make sure that the tested nuclear arsenal was still there." Meguro said to William with a serious face.

"Sakura Empire used this place to develop nuclear bombs?" William asked out loud in a surprised tone.

…Of course, now some things started to make sense. If this place served as a nuclear bomb development and testing facility of course the government wouldn't want to lose it, any nuclear arsenal that they could get their hands on would be an edge they could use sometime in the future. Why let people settle here though? Isn't that dangerous? But William's got another, more immediate question, tested nuclear arsenal? Where did they test those things? And if it's tested, that means it's ready for use too…So in a sense, it's a tested nuclear weapon that could be deployed anytime, and the reason why Meguro sent in a team to recover it. He planned to use that nuclear arsenal in this battle against the Sirens, William had to admit that they're quite desperate for a powerful weapon to knock the shield out but-

"…We do possess some, and the storage is on that island…I was under the order to preserve it until the situation demanded it, like what we're experiencing now. Approximately twenty minutes ago, we lost all contact with the squad in the facility. The loss is so sudden that we still don't know whether it's a simple communication blackout or the Sirens managed to find and kill them. Are you up for the task? You could go in, and the ship girls could provide some cover around the area." Meguro asked William as he stared directly at his eye.

"…Amagi, what do you think?" William glanced to the side and asked Amagi.

"It's certainly preferable if we undertake this mission, shikikan-sama. Our chance of success would be higher than our conventional soldiers, we also need to prevent diverting too much manpower from the headquarters." Amagi said to William.

"Agreed…Admittedly, getting the nuclear arsenal is a top priority. Besides, I've got something I want to test out." William said to Meguro.

"Then it's settled. Armory is yours, good luck." Meguro said to William while nodding his head.

Both William and Amagi walked out of the headquarters command center, Amagi thought that she could finally see how well William would fight the Sirens on the ground as infantry…William, however, contemplated a lot of things with the example being who to bring alongside him? It's clear that the girls won't let him go in to search for the missing squad by himself after they escorted him to the area of operation, if that's the case he would want a close quarter specialist which means Sakura Empire ship girls will help him nicely. He would also need a level headed strategist that could take charge of the situation, and someone who could lead them in the heat of battle, which means…

"…Have you thought about who will accompany you on this mission?" Amagi asked William.

"You, Mikasa, Akagi, Takao, Atago, and Kawakaze." William immediately said to Amagi.

"Ara, you're quite prepared…I shall gather them, shikikan-sama." Amagi said to William while she smiled.

"Thanks. I have something to talk about with Akashi." William said to Amagi as he nodded his head.

Both of them parted ways with Amagi gathering up those that William mentioned before while he walked back toward his room to get a few things he might need. William untangled his blazer as he switched to the shirt that he wore underneath it. William then exited his room where he heard a light gasp coming from his right, he looked only to see Bismarck who just got out of her room dressed as usual…William nodded his head as an idea came up inside his head, she might be able to do it.

"Bismarck." William called her name.

"Kommandant William?" Bismarck asked William.

"I need you to do something…Set up aerial reconnaissance with Graf Zeppelin and try to find a vantage point closest to yesterday's Siren base, a high ground or something. Then, I want you to run a lightning raid at that base. Try to provoke that shield into activating." William said to Bismarck.

"Understood. What are you planning?" Bismarck didn't hesitate to respond to that tall order…

"I want to test some theory…Do that, make sure their shields are activated, find out its coverage, and test all of our ammo at it. Record everything and when you have enough data or things get too dangerous, pull out immediately. Clear?" William asked Bismarck.

"I understand, this shall give us something to work with…Are you heading for the front?" Bismarck asked William while she folded her arms.

"Yeah I am. Good luck, Bismarck." William said to Bismarck as he smiled confidently.

"To you as well, kommandant. May victory be on our side." Bismarck said to William as she smiled…softly.

…Akagi frowned a bit as she's deep in thought, she looked all around her and noticed that everyone was minding their own business. Akagi knew that William would be there with them to search for the missing squad, but why did he tell them to go ahead? To secure a landing spot? Last time Akagi checked the map for the operation when Amagi briefed them, the facility is located uphill and possessed a vast underground complex, they will land on the designated beach before storming the facility. Sometimes Akagi didn't know what her big sister was planning, but she had faith in her plan. Amagi surely thought that this approach might be beneficial for them.

"Amagi nee-sama?" Akagi asked Amagi.

"Hai, what is it?" Amagi asked Akagi back.

"Why didn't shikikan-sama go with us?" Akagi still wants to ask why he didn't go with them.

"He said he will take a while to prepare his equipment. He's very experienced in ground warfare, so I trust he could do his work better than us. I already shared the strategy with him." Amagi said to Akagi while she smiled.

"Understood…Let me scout the area, nee-sama." Akagi said to Amagi.

Akagi launched three fighters to the air to scour the area for any enemies, the recon plane circled the whole island for a while, but Akagi couldn't detect any sign of movement or presence of Siren forces. This island was among the first to fall when Sirens first attacked the isle. It's a very important island for the Sakura Empire, so why didn't they post some guards around? Why is there no sign of combat that happened with Sirens and the previous Sakura Empire missing squad? Could they retreat inside the facility?

"…How is it looking, Akagi?" Amagi asked Akagi.

"Strange…the place is devoid of life, nee-sama." Akagi commented as she kept her plane circling around the island.

"Hmmm…Takao, Atago, Mikasa-san, move in on the residential area. Advance slowly and carefully, check for any sign of bodies." Amagi said to the three of them.

"Bodies? Alright. You two, follow me." Mikasa said out loud.

""Hai."" Takao and Atago answered as they followed behind Mikasa.

The three ship girls landed on the beach and started to make their way toward the nearest residential area which has the closest main access to the facility from below. They walked through the streets with rigging equipped and eyes on the door, windows, or alleys. It was a strange sight to see this area being devoid of any signs of life, like a ghost town. Mikasa noted that there's not even a single body laid on the streets despite the brutal implication of the previous battle with plasma scorches, bullet casings, fallen infantry weapons, abandoned vehicles, and even deployable steel barricades that Sakura Empire infantry set up in the intersection for helicopter evacuation…

"…Where are the bodies?" Mikasa asked out loud.

"Hai, supposedly they are scattered around the area after the Siren assault three days ago." Atago said to Mikasa while she frowned.

"Draw your swords girls, something is not right." Mikasa said to Atago and Takao.

Mikasa, Atago, and Takao took out their blades, and they started to scour the inside of the buildings. The three girls found an abandoned bar in the intersection, and they proceeded to enter it carefully, Takao and Atago entered the bar while Mikasa stood guard at the entrance in case they needed a way out, and also as an onlooker for trouble. Atago stopped to check for any sign of bodies near the entrance while Takao went inside further, Takao heard some slow footsteps near the kitchen area, and her hands instinctively drawn her katana…Takao approached the door and nudged it slowly with her blade, it easily budges as the door didn't even shut properly, and Takao widened her eyes at what she saw. Multiple Brawlers huddled in close as they ate, a decomposed human body was being torn apart as the Brawlers fed on it. The light shone from where Takao stood prompted the Brawlers to stop eating and stare at Takao who quickly turned from surprised to utter disgust.

"Not you guys again! Brawlers spotted! Five of them!" Takao shouted as she turned around and ran.

"Out you two! Get out!" Mikasa shouted from the entrance.

Atago managed to get out first with Takao just a few seconds behind, Mikasa could see the five Brawlers moving at incredible speed to chase them. Mikasa summoned her rigging and loaded high explosive rounds; she didn't hesitate to fire her battleship grade guns at them into an enclosed space. The high explosive rounds exploded at the Brawlers with the explosion being large enough to destroy the bar and make a really big hole to the building next to it, from that hole even more Brawlers appeared as they're attracted by the explosion sound. They also heard a faint screech coming from all over them, this entire tiny town had become their nest?!

"*Cough*…dammit! Amagi-san! There's so many Brawlers here!" Mikasa said to Amagi on the radio.

"Retreat to the beach! We'll cover you!" Amagi said to Mikasa on the radio.

"Got it! Let's move!" Mikasa said out loud.

Mikasa, Atago, and Takao opted for a shortcut through the roofs of the building to head straight for the beach area and to avoid the Brawlers. But that isn't as easy as it sounds because the Brawlers also jumped on top of the roofs. One of them jumped on Takao, but it failed as she just sliced it into two at the midriff with her katana. A few try to form a blockade in front of them, but Mikasa fired her main guns again and blew them to smithereens, Atago dashed forward, jumped across the gap between the building they're on into the next, and landed on top of a Brawler which got knocked down and the blade struck in its nape before Atago yanked it and proceed to run further.

"Kuso…there's so many of them!" Takao said out loud as she ran.

"Just don't stop, Takao! We need to get out of this area!" Mikasa said to Takao.

"Bombs away!" Akagi said out loud on the radio.

BOOM!

A bomb dropped at the crowd of Brawlers behind the three from a dive bomber that was flying overhead, Akagi has sent several of her dive bombers to bomb the increasingly large swarm of Brawlers. Atago decapitated another Brawler and jumped down from the building all the way to the beach area, Mikasa and Takao slowed down a bit as they fired their main and secondary guns at the approaching Brawlers to fend them off a bit before Akagi's bombers circled back and dropped several bombs to give them some breathing room. They started to run again when they saw the Brawlers in the immediate vicinity were dead. Takao, however, widened her eyes when she saw the Brawlers take a flanking route from the streets.

"Atago, right side!" Takao shouted at Atago.

Atago immediately faced her right side just in time to see a Brawler dash at her, she side stepped to the left while she swung her katana upwards which cut the Brawler into two, then she used her superhuman strength to jump back and gain some distance from the crowd of Brawlers. They didn't get far before Takao gunned them down from on top of the building, however, Takao was punched from behind by one Brawler who managed to get a drop on her. Takao slammed into a wall, and she gritted her teeth as she turned around then avoided a lethal punch to the head from one of the Brawlers, its hand was stuck into the wall which Takao immediately cut off and then slit its throat from the side.

"Mikasa-san, Takao! Get down from there!" Amagi said out loud on the radio.

Takao and Mikasa jumped down from the roof of the building they're on, the building was obliterated in a huge explosion that came from Amagi who fired her main guns from fifteen kilometers away. The explosion took out many of the Brawlers, but there's so many that it seems it didn't make any dent on their numbers. Takao, Mikasa, and Atago faced against a large wave of Brawlers, and they made a dash to the water…only to see something blocking the view, a large helicopter flew above them at low altitude.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTT!

A hail of lead rained down from the helicopter's side mounted minigun, which fired nonstop as the helicopter did a strafing run. The large helicopter's side armament suddenly vanished as it was replaced with rocket pods. The helicopter hovered and rained rockets upon the advancing Brawlers, most of them were shredded from the first salvo alone, and the helicopter fired four salvos of high explosive rockets. The armament once again changed into the minigun, and it kept raining bullets until the remainder of the Brawlers retreated hastily back into town. The beach was littered with yellow splatter, torn bodies of Brawlers alongside craters and scorch marks, and the girls looked up at the helicopter that hovered above them.

"Cavalry has arrived ladies, sorry that we took a while." William said out loud on the radio.

"Shikikan-sama!" Mikasa smiled widely at the timely arrival of their commander.

"Thanks for the help, shikikan-kun!" Atago said to William on the radio while she smiled.

"We appreciate it, it would be hell to fight all of those Brawlers!" Takao said to William on the radio.

"You're welcome! Alright, the remainder of them are pulling back into the facility or to the forest. I'm dropping in straight in the facility to clear a landing zone, the helicopter will circle around to pick you ladies up. We'll meet there!" William said on the radio.

"Understood shikikan-sama." Mikasa said to William on the radio while she nodded her head.

"…It seems your prediction was right, Amagi." William suddenly said to Amagi on the radio.

"While it is, I'm not happy in the slightest shikikan-sama." Amagi said to William somberly on the radio.

"Understandable…" William said to Amagi in low tone on the radio.

The prototype helicopter raised its altitude as it headed straight for the facility on top of the large hill while the three ship girls watched from below. Mikasa had some doubts as to how William would clean the landing zone for the helicopter. He might be a skilled soldier, but is it possible for him to fight an entire Siren unit, that's highly probable to occupy the facility's surface level alone? He did survive the fight in Southern Ironblood, but that might be because of the situation at the time where it was night, and he had Prinz as support, could he do so now alone? Mikasa shook her head sideways, he could definitely do it…if the contents of that large metal box that Akashi insisted on carrying here are what she suspects, Mikasa won't have to worry about him.

"You knew, Amagi-san?" Takao asked Amagi out loud on the radio.

"I suspect that the Sirens will make use of the civilian bodies as a way to bolster their ranks. A few reports I read in the past suggested that the Larva possessed some capability to reanimate dead bodies." Amagi said to Takao on the radio.

"They don't show any restraint…If this is what happened to those in the residential area, I can't help but dread what we will find when we enter the facility." Akagi commented out loud on the radio.

Akashi was sweating bullets right now as she stared at the courtyard with her pilot helmet, the HUD clearly marked many hostiles in preparation to intercept the helicopter. Not even two seconds since she thought that, several Siren Troopers fired their plasma rifles from below, which prompted Akashi to take evasive action to dodge the purplish plasma projectiles, several of the plasma bolts managed to hit the helicopter, but it failed to give any severe damage as it scorched the hull of the passenger bay.

"What's with the shaking, Akashi?!" William asked Akashi on the radio.

"In case you're deaf shikikan, the LZ is hot nyaa! Of course I would evade them!" Akashi half shouted at William on the radio.

"…Couldn't things go smoothly for once?" William melancholically asked out loud on the radio.

"Urgh! We are inside a large helicopter which makes lots of noise, so of course they would notice nyaa!" Akashi groaned then said to William on the radio.

"Yeah you're right…pass above that flat roof near that storage building Akashi, I'm dropping in." William said to Akashi on the radio.

"Hai, opening the rear hatch now!" Akashi said to William when she saw the roof William mentioned.

The helicopter circled around the facility as the rear hatch slowly opened and revealed the passenger bay with a single man standing there, a single armored man. William took some time in donning his new Albion Armor, fresh cobalt paint on the armor gleamed in the sunlight that hit him from outside. He has various bandoliers and attachments around his body which were filled with ammunition and explosives. William held a PKP Pecheneg machine gun with a 7.62 x 54mm ammo belt connected to it, and wrapped around his right arm in thick wrapping, alongside several boxes of magazines in his pouch. On his right thigh, there's a P90 SMG with a red dot sight, his left thigh held his usual snub-nosed Colt Python revolver, and he has a sheathed combat machete on his back. Looking at the weaponry, the ammo, and the explosives William carried, he shouldn't be able to move, but combined with his large build and the hydraulic system installed in the armor, he felt like he carried nothing. The hatch completely opened, and William stepped forward right before the edge as he grabbed on the hull edge for support as he stared at the scenery, the turquoise visor reflected the sunshine as he prepared himself to go all out now so no more sneaky beaky entrance.

"Stand by for Knightfall!" Akashi said out loud on the radio.

"I believe the word you're searching for is Titan instead of Knight, Akashi!" William asked Akashi on the radio with cocked eyebrows.

"Whatever! Drop now nyaa!" Akashi said to William on the radio.

William jumped down from the helicopter, landed, rolled back, and kneeled on the flat rooftop where several Brawlers were already waiting ahead of him. William slowly raised himself up, he quickly took every piece of information as fast and as much as he could. Enemy positions, vantage points, etcetera…He saw the Brawlers making their charge at him, so William grinned viciously in response as he also charged at the incoming Brawlers while firing his PKP machine gun. It took some effort to down a charging group of Brawlers, and William managed to gunned the Brawler group down with several bullet sprays to the head. But that's just the opening because few other Brawlers get on top of the roof from his right side, several others also appeared from the left, so William did something he never thought he would do…William fired his machine gun at the right group, one handed without looking while his left hand took out the revolver on his left thigh as he started gunning down the ones on the left with precision shots.

The only reason why he could do this was the fact that the armor's hydraulic system also minimized the effect of recoil, that's why he could fire a machine gun with one hand. Both groups died almost at the same time, two Troopers spotted him, so William only fired his remaining belt ammo at the two of them before his machine gun went empty. Before he could reload the machine gun with the box magazine, a team of Siren Troopers get a drop on him from across the building. They fired their plasma rifles at William who quickly ran, slung the PKP, grabbed the P90 on his right thigh, and fired one handedly at the Trooper team. The bullets managed to kill three of them which left two who pursued William as he jumped off the roof, when he landed on the ground the previous two chased after him while they fired their weapons.

William took cover behind the building, he checked his P90 which only had around twelve rounds remaining in the magazine. He came out of cover with the SMG in his left hand, William fired at one of the Troopers who quickly died with several bullets to the chest as he rapidly closed in on the last Trooper on the team. The Trooper realized that William was closing in for a melee kill, so it swung the plasma rifle toward William's head. The man grazed the blow by using his left elbow and angled it so the weapon slid off toward his left forearm, while at the same time William took out his machete with his right arm. William jammed the blade at the Trooper's torso then yanked it to the left, swung the machete in hand, before jamming it on the Trooper's back without facing it. William took out the blade as the Trooper fell to the ground and died, he noted that the rest are still trying to find him, so he used the opportunity to reload all of his weapons.

…There's a mini map on his HUD lower right corner where it functions as a map and radar at the same time, he saw a few red dots which means enemies are moving toward him from the top left. William realized that the group would show up directly in front of him, so William took cover from behind the building he took cover before and reloaded his P90, he would ambush them. A combination of three Troopers and four Brawlers appeared, William smiled as he took out a fragmentation grenade from his pouch and took out the safety pin. He waited for a bit before he primed the grenade and threw it at the approaching group, the group scattered immediately when they noticed the grenade, but not all of them made it as three Brawlers and one Trooper were killed in the ensuing explosion.

William sprinted toward the surprised Sirens, he lunged forward and delivered a powerful right hook to the Brawler's face who was thrown toward the wall. The two Troopers fired at William who narrowly dodged the projectiles, he took out his machete and slashed diagonally to the right toward one of the Troopers which got a deep cut from its shoulder to its chest. The other Trooper however used its plasma rifle and swung it toward William's head which caused him to fall to the ground from the unexpected retaliation, however, William was quick to recover as he used his leg to slide the Trooper who fell to the ground. But before William could jump on it, he was tackled first by the previous Brawler into the ground before it screeched at his face revealing its sharp row of teeth, William recoiled in surprise at the sight.

"You're one ugly motherfucker!" William said out loud.

After he said that William immediately launched a right jab at the Brawler which due to his own power combined with the hydraulic system managed to throw the Brawler off of him, as soon as he did that the Trooper pulled out its sidearm and fired at William. Fortunately, the bolt from the plasma pistol missed, and it gave William a chance to lunge at the downed Trooper. He sat on top of the Trooper, grabbed his machete from the ground, and jammed it straight into the Trooper's helmet cladded head. William took out the machete, flicked the blood off its blade and sheathed it, he held his PKP as he started to run toward the facility's main entrance by the courtyard where he noticed that few of the remaining Sirens are charging toward his position, so William took a knee as he fired his machine gun in full auto at the Sirens.

The four remaining Troopers were mowed down by the bullet storm due to the unexpected attack, but the Brawlers are elusive enough to dodge majority of the rounds that William fired, so the man slung back the PKP as he took out the P90 and begun charging at the five remaining Brawlers. William methodically aimed and fired the SMG at one of the Brawler's heads which instantly killed it, but it didn't go as planned as one of them managed to grab his right hand and then throw him toward the large facility's main entrance. William coughed a bit in response to his body absorbing the kinetic impact, even with armor it still felt painful as hell. He saw that the four Brawlers now charged at him and rapidly closing, William wasn't scared however as he took out a flashbang, took off the safety pin, and threw it forward for a bit, and he looked away while turning his body around.

The flashbang exploded, it didn't blind him with the flash, but it did make his ears ringed since it exploded in close proximity. That didn't really affect him as William spun around, took out his Colt Python, charged at the blinded Brawlers which were so close to him, and fired off his gun which killed one of them, he shot one of them in the chest to briefly stun it, another one in the head which killed it, and the other one in the neck which also stun it. His revolver is out of ammo for now, so he put it back to his left thigh and unsheathed his machete, William decapitated the Brawler who got shot in the neck and threw his machete at the one who got shot in the chest. The blade embedded itself in its chest area, but that didn't kill it. William finished it off by running forward and kicked the embedded machete which sent the Brawler to the wall before it died on the ground…William huffed and took out his bloodied machete from the dead Brawler then cleaned it off by swinging it to the ground.

William looked around for a bit as he nodded his head, he's satisfied with the result of this encounter. Without this armor William won't be able to send a Brawler flying with a single punch, move faster, fire his gun with minimal recoil, and even outright murder the Siren forces guarding the entrance all by himself…William grinned as he realized that the armor really enhanced him to the point of being a superhuman, and oh dear lord he fucking likes it! William grabbed his fallen P90, checked his equipment and weapons for any damage, and noticed that the prototype helicopter approached him before touching down on the courtyard.

…The hatch opened then ship girls walked out from the helicopter and stared at William, they were honestly impressed at his direct proof of his prowess in combating the Siren guards. The ship girls looked around and noticed that William slain each and every Trooper alongside the Brawlers in the area, and the man still looked healthy. He didn't get hit by any plasma projectiles, and he was armed to the teeth. And they were also stunned to see William in full armor, now they understand and are relieved to know that William's got better protection than his old armor that he wore in previous battles. The girls that were sent here as reinforcement immediately connected the dots in how William managed to procure the armor, it's the reason why their flight to the isle was so agonizing with large amounts of space taken up by Akashi's box.

"…Shikikan-dono, you…killed all of them." Takao said to William with widened eyes and astonished tone.

"Apparently…the armor helps a lot; I could get used to this." William said out loud as he smiled.

"But still, you did outstanding work shikikan-sama~" Akagi said to William while she smiled.

"Thanks Akagi." William said to Akagi as he nodded his head.

"I will return to base now shikikan, good luck everyone!" Akashi said out loud on the radio as she took off with the helicopter.

"Be ready to pick us up on my signal, Akashi. If within three hours there's no contact from us, assume the worst." William said to Akashi on the radio.

"Hai, wakatta nyaa." Akashi said to William on the radio.

William reloaded his PKP then he approached the large entrance alongside the KANSENs, he knew opening the large door would require a control panel. By the way, why did the special operation squad lock it back up? Is there something inside that shouldn't get out in case they fail or something? William still had no clue, so he approached the control panel by the door to open it, the hiragana and kanji writing on the control panel made him grimace. However, he quickly worked on getting the BIOS system up and he decided to open the door through binary encoding instead…After messing it up for half a minute, the door produced loud hydraulic sound and it started to open, William nodded his head in satisfaction.

"…Well, hiragana and kanji didn't make sense to me. Binary code encryption however, is second nature." William muttered to himself.

"Your knowledge on technology is impressive, shikikan-sama." Mikasa said to William while she smiled.

"Thanks. I could teach you a few things about it, Mikasa." William said to Mikasa.

"M-Maybe later, I could use some help with my…handheld telephone." Mikasa said to William while she awkwardly smiled.

"Sure, after we get back. Just don't break it before then~" William said to Mikasa while he grinned.

"Meanie." Mikasa said to William then pouted.

"I'll take point, stay behind me and stay close, everyone." William said out loud to the ship girls.

The ship girls nodded their heads as the door fully opened, and William raised his machine gun then pointed it toward the dark hallways of the facility, he tilted his hand to the right a bit before he pressed a small button on the rear of his helmet, and the flashlight on his helmet left side was turned on. For something so small it provided a well-lit light projection to his front view, William and the ship girls advanced slowly and carefully into the black hallways with only the occasional emergency red light. The first few rooms were fine, but the deeper they went near the main elevator, the messier the entire scene looked. There's blood splatter everywhere and signs of combat that happened in this area…

"Dark, eerie, and blood splatter everywhere…What kind of carnage happened here? And the bodies are missing too." Atago asked out loud.

"Must've turned into Brawlers." Takao said to Atago.

"Hold up…Damn…" William said out loud.

The ship girls stopped when William said so, they looked what's in front of him and few of them held their hands in their mouths. In front of them there's a man wearing a Sakura Empire Special Force Group uniform, or well, half man. The dead man laid on the floor, facing to the ceiling, his face forever frozen in a shocked expression, and he missed his lower torso. His blood coated the floor around him, William looked a bit further and found his remaining lower body, and he grimaced…whoever killed this man has such power to even separate his body into two in a ten-meter radius.

"Oh kami…" Akagi said out loud with hands covering her mouth.

"He lost half of his body…who did this?" Kawakaze asked out loud as she stared at the dead man.

"I don't know…But the cut was too clean, this could only be done by bladed weapons. The blood has dried out, he's already dead for at least an hour. We lost contact with everyone on the team around one hour ago, it's possible their communication was jammed and then they got picked off one by one." Takao said to Kawakaze as she inspected the dead man.

"How unfortunate." Kawakaze said out loud.

William nodded his head at Takao's conclusion, it seems plausible that's what happened with the man here. He crouched down beside the dead man and noticed that he wore a wrist terminal which is something that today's combat engineers often carried around, this guy must be one. William unclasped the terminal from the dead man gently, he took it from the man and inspected the terminal before he turned on the screen. As expected, it's in Japanese, William couldn't read absolute jack shit about it…

"Sorry mate, we need it…Shite…Um, Amagi, can you help me with this?" William said to the dead man then to Amagi when he realized he can't read whatever is written on the terminal.

"Sure. Might I assume that we're looking for their briefing file to locate the nuclear arsenal, the map of this facility, and possibly the IFF locator on his comrades?" Amagi asked William as she operated the terminal.

"Spot on…I'm impressed, you know what I want to say." William said to Amagi as he stared at her in awe.

"I happen to make a correct assumption, that's all…Here it is." Amagi said to William.

Amagi showed the screen to William and the other ship girls, there's a 3D map of the facility and various blue dots could be seen around the facility. Hmmm, a 3D map? That's very convenient for them because with this they won't be blind regarding the direction they must go, but then something hits William's thought…Blue dots around the facility, and they move? That means the squad members are still alive! Oh thank god, William thought all hope was already lost with them!

"…Okay, apparently his squad mates are still alive too." William said out loud as he pointed to the blue dots.

"No, check the movement out. It's randomized, there's no pattern to it. I don't know what that means, but let's be on the lookout if we detect any of them. I'll be in charge of monitoring them, shikikan-sama." Amagi said to William who nodded his head.

"I see…Then let's head for the generator engineering section for now, we have to reactivate the power to this facility." William said out loud as he stood up.

Something's wrong with them, given what they know about the Larva, William didn't really have the best assumption with those blue dots now. Just like Amagi said, they better take precautions when any of those blue dots are around them…William led the group through narrow corridors into the engineering section where the main generator is located with Amagi's guidance, they have to turn it on before they could access the main elevator and light this whole place up because their eyes are starting to hurt from the red emergency light. William looked back to make sure everyone was still there, Takao valiantly watched the corners, Atago stared back at William before she smiled at him, Akagi also stared at William while she smiled, Mikasa had her hands ready on her sword, Kawakaze looked around as she tried to remember the path they took, and Amagi was busy with the wrist terminal that she equipped on her left arm.

"Are you ladies fine with only your blades?" William casually asked the ship girls.

"We are quite proficient with it, shikikan-dono. Firearms aren't really our strong suit." Takao said to William.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with carrying a sidearm at least. I might decide to allocate some of the budget for handguns or machine pistols when you ladies have to fight in enclosed spaces like this in the future." William said out loud.

"How thoughtful of you, shikikan-sama." Akagi commented while she smiled.

"I just want all of you to be ready for anything…" William said out loud as he stared ahead.

"We're close to the generator room…*gasp* One of them, fifteen meters to our left!" Amagi said before she gasped and whispered.

"Hug the wall." William whispered to the ship girls as he pointed at the wall.

The ship girls formed into a single file and hugged the wall to their left, they're currently at the intersection, and the blue dot is approaching from the left. William turned off his flashlight, hugged the wall, and backed away bit by bit then his back was gently grabbed by Amagi who peeked from his right side to see what's in front of them, the other girls followed her lead as they kept themselves close with one another. William took out his PKP and aimed it to his front side, his finger moving to the trigger when something came into view. The blue dot is indeed one of the soldiers, but he moved slowly and abnormally, the soldier still carried his MP5 SMG in his right hand as he stopped moving…Maybe the man was injured and shocked with his circumstances regarding the situation. They would assume that if not for the black mass that circled around his body, his limbs and two tentacles that moved on his shoulder. Whatever his condition, William was sure that he couldn't be saved anymore…

"…What…the…fuck." William muttered to himself with widened eye.

CLANG!

Atago yelped as she unconsciously kicked a tool box on the floor and knocked its contents to the floor, the sound immediately caused the man in front of William to jerk his head toward them. Amagi widened her eyes because the man brought the MP5 up, and it was aimed at her face. William instinctively turned around, grabbed Amagi, and held her to his chest as the SMG fired. The 9mm rounds impacted William's back, and the man gritted his teeth to hold off the painful sensation of being shot. The gunfire stopped when the man ran out of ammo that caused Amagi to look up from his chest to stare at William's polarized turquoise visor. But before Amagi could say a word, William already let her go as he turned around, dashed toward the man, and launched an unrestrained left uppercut.

The man was thrown toward the ceiling, impacted it before falling back to the floor. But before the man could land William already spun around, extended his right leg, and kicked the man away, which caused the man to land on the floor before William aimed at him with his PKP. William squeezed the trigger and the machine gun fired; the man tried to stand up but failed completely due to the rain of 7.62 rounds. William fired at the man for five second straight, lodging dozens of bullets at him before William let go of the trigger. The man was filled with holes that spurted out yellow blood before he fell to the floor and stopped moving. William turned on his flashlight to get a better view of what he just killed.

It's indeed a human man but with bright yellow eyes, pale white skin. There are tentacles located on the man's shoulder which spurt out of the black mass that circled his torso, and he bled yellow colored blood. It was obvious that the black mass on his abdomen is a Larva, he's clearly already mutated into a Brawler, but this is the first time where William witnessed an incomplete transformation which was also capable using the equipment the host has…William fired few more rounds at it to make sure the creature really died, huffed a bit as he stared back at the ship girls who just stood there because it happened so fast. The ship girls were busy taking cover when that thing fired its gun, and as soon as the sound stopped, they already saw William in the middle of kicking the creature before gunning it down.

"I'm so sorry, shikikan-kun! It's my fault!" Atago said to William while she deeply frowned.

"Doesn't matter now, we are compromised! Move!" William said out loud as he started running.

He made a lot of noise engaging that creature, so William and the KANSENs immediately ran toward the generator room. Amagi stared at William's back as she tried to identify the spot where he was hit by a barrage of 9mm bullets, she noticed that the armor's new coat of paint was chipped in multiple spots which means that must be where the bullets hit him. She didn't even have the chance to say thanks to William properly, he already went off to kill that creature back then and all of it happened in under five seconds. William and the ship girls heard screeches and footsteps echoing from all over the place. William knows that the loud gunfire will surely attract the attention of the Sirens, and they will surround them in no time…maybe he should've used his machete instead of his machine gun, but he just didn't have the time to think clearly because as soon he noticed that the gun wasn't aimed at him his reflex immediately kicked in to protect the ship girls behind him, and his hulking body successfully tanked all of the bullets. If any of his ship girls are in danger like that of course he will-

"Shikikan-sama! Generator room is straight ahead!" Amagi said to William.

"Alright." William said to Amagi.

The horizontal double door to the generator room was half shut, but William got around the problem by putting his left hand on the top part and his left foot on the bottom part, he then simultaneously pushed the door parts. It took some effort even with his natural strength and the hydraulic system combined, but William managed to do it in the end. The door was wide open, and the ship girls went in before William also entered the room and let go of the door which returned to its half-closed state. William immediately checked the console to turn the generator back on, while the ship girls secured the generator room from any hiding Sirens. William found the operation console, but it only displayed their constant system crash error message. Rebooting the system will take considerable time, but fortunately Sakura Empire power generators has the same standard as other generators around the world which means they could use as a shortcut, it must have an auxiliary console located directly on the generator.

"Bloody hell, the generator has to be turned on directly from the generator's auxiliary console!" William said out loud.

"Can you do it, shikikan-sama?!" Akagi asked William out loud.

Before William could answer Akagi the half-closed door was rammed by a Brawler, the ship girls that carried blades immediately converged on the entrance to thin out their numbers by either slicing their limbs or stabbing them through the gap which is too small for the Brawlers to pass easily. Looking on the bright side, if they could successfully defend the area long enough the stack of Brawler corpses would make an excellent barricade.

"Don't worry I'm on it! Keep those guys off of us!" William said out loud as he pointed at the door.

"Wakarimashita, shikikan-sama!" Akagi answered while she smiled confidently.

William started to climb the large diesel power generator to find the terminal on top of the generator, he couldn't be bothered to use the stairs because it'll be faster to just climb the solid part of the generator. He predicted that he would need at least a minute to turn the power back on. William briefly looked down to see Takao, Kawakaze, Atago, and Mikasa valiantly hold off the advancing Brawlers from getting inside the generator room. William then quickly operated the console which thank the lord used English for its standard operating language, he messed with the commands and successfully switched the generator on which resulted in the lights turning on a few seconds later.

"Powers back!" Mikasa shouted out loud.

Takao looked to the left and noticed she's the closest to the door terminal, Takao immediately hit the control to shut the door which resulted in the door closing. Several discomforting crushing sounds were heard as the door cut off several of the Brawlers' hands, Takao sighed when the door had completely shut, and they got some time to rest and a well-lit room. William jumped down from the top of the generator, the impact produced loud metallic sound and bent the metal floor a bit with its sheer weight…The ship girls flinched when they heard the sound, they supposed that armor must've weighed at least a hundred kilograms.

"Good job ladies…Amagi, where to next?" William complimented the ship girls before he asked Amagi.

"…Based on the schematics, the nuclear arsenal storage is located fifteen floors down and inside a secured section of the facility." Amagi said to William while she frowned a bit

"Why do I sense a 'but' there?" William asked Amagi as he folded his arms.

"Correctly assumed. We have to head toward the security center first to disable the lock, only then we can access the secured section." Amagi explained to William.

"Looks like our task just became much more difficult…" Kawakaze said out loud.

"Great…" William huffed in annoyance at that point, not even he felt confident in hacking a sensitive secured section, so the security station is his best bet.

"Kochira Kitahara Gunso, dareka? Otoushitekure! (This is Sergeant Kitahara, anyone? Please respond!)" Someone suddenly said something on the radio in Japanese.

"Gunso? Gunso? Kikoemasuka?! (Sergeant? Sergeant? Can you hear me?!)" Amagi immediately answered the sergeant on the radio.

"Hai! Ah yokatta! Kimi wa dare da!? (Yes! What a relief! Who are you?)" The sergeant asked Amagi on the radio.

"Watashi no namae wa Amagi, KANSEN desu yo. Eigo wo hanasemasu ka? (My name is Amagi, a KANSEN. Can you speak English?)" Amagi asked the sergeant on the radio.

"Hai, hanasemasu yo. (Yes, I can.)" The sergeant answered Amagi on the radio.

"Yoroshi (Good)…He's Sergeant Kitahara, shikikan-sama." Amagi said to the sergeant on the radio then to William.

Finally, a survivor! William was dying to know what went completely wrong with the special operation squad. He would ask the sergeant for the complete story when he could meet with him because he will need all the information, only then he can get to get this job done smoothly. Amagi offered her left arm toward William because that's where the radio contact came from. William gently took Amagi's left hand, and he leaned on it so he could speak with Sergeant Kitahara clearly.

"Sergeant Kitahara, this is Commander William Blaze of ALASUC. I'm inside this facility to recover your team and the nuclear arsenal, give me a situation report!" William said to Kitahara on the radio.

"Y-Yes sir. My team and I went inside this facility approximately two hours ago. We managed to make it all the way toward the fifteenth floor but before we could access the storage room, all of a sudden we lost power. That's when we were ambushed, dozens of Brawlers and a few Troopers poured out of nowhere and captured my comrades. I…I managed to evade capture and hid myself in the security center, that's until the power went back on, and I know someone else must've entered the facility." Kitahara said to William on the radio.

"I see…we're coming to the security center now; we can formulate a plan to bring the nuclear arsenal out." William said to Kitahara on the radio.

"Sir, there's something else I need to tell you. There's a humanoid among them, a woman." Kitahara said to William on the radio.

"Woman?" William asked Kitahara on the radio while he narrowed his right eye.

"Yes. I didn't catch her features that well, but she wore white clothing and carried a katana. Be careful." Kitahara said to William on the radio.

"Got it. Stay put sergeant, we're coming." William said to Kitahara on the radio.

The sergeant spoke calmly, but William noted there's an edge on his voice. The sergeant seems to be mentally unstable, so William would have to tread lightly when he met with him…Wait, a woman among the Sirens that carried a katana and dressed in white. He didn't remember Purifier, who dressed with somewhat white clothing, ever carrying a katana with her, who was she then? William subtly glanced to the left to see Takao and Atago who still stared at the floor in processing the information they just got, both of them could spook the sergeant into attacking them…

"A woman carrying a katana and white clothing? Who's she?" Akagi asked out loud.

"I don't know." Kawakaze simply responded while she shrugged.

"But it's apparent that she's with the Sirens…Atago, Takao, you stay behind us and don't enter the room until I say so. His shaky tone means he's shell shocked, I don't want any friendly fire case." William said to Takao and Atago.

"Hai, shikikan." "Wakarimashita, shikikan-dono." Atago and Takao answered simultaneously.

"Wait. That dead man we saw near the entrance, his body was cut clean in half." Amagi said out loud as she stared at the floor.

"Could it be that woman is the perpetrator?" Akagi asked Amagi with raised eyebrows.

"Yes, there's a huge possibility that she did it…sounds like she possesses the capable tool to do so." Amagi said to Akagi while she frowned a bit.

"We can talk about it later, maybe the sergeant could give us an answer. Let's head toward the security center for now, get ready." William said to the ship girls.

…The ship girls lined up at the door in case the Brawlers outside would swarm them. William held his machine gun in his right hand as he approached the door terminal. He took a second to confirm if the girls were ready or not in which the ship girls nodded their heads at him. William nodded back, and he pressed the button on the terminal which caused the door to open. The ship girls readied their weapons, and William pointed his machine gun outside the room only to see the remains of the dead Brawlers in front of the generator room door, the rest retreated? Whatever the reason, they were glad that they wouldn't have to fight for a while, and William, alongside the ship girls, moved to the main elevator.

After a brief ride down to the third floor, the group moved out straight toward the security center section. William noted that the door was open and he couldn't help but to think something must've happened in there, he quickly walked while reading his P90 SMG. William entered the section and headed straight for the control center. There he spotted someone standing in front of the main console. That person turned around, and William widened his eye, based on the physical attribute that person is a man who is equipped with full body black scaled armor and slanted blue visor who faced William who slowly raised his P90 SMG.

"…Well, you people are sure to be easily fooled." The armored person said to William.

"…Who are you?" William asked the armored person as the ship girls arrived behind him.

"Not in the mood to speak, William?" The armored person asked William while he moved forward a bit.

"How did you know my name!?" William asked the armored person with a widened eye.

"We all got our own ways." The armored person said to William while he shrugged.

Who the fuck is this guy!? Where's Sergeant Kitahara? There's no sign of him! William inspected the armored man closely and he widened his eye. He had met with the man in front of him in the past! No, more like inside a dream! William remembered the dream where he woke up inside the destroyed administration building of his base which was also surrounded by thick fog!

"…Wait a fucking second, I've seen you before!" William said to the armored person.

"If you're talking about that brief duel we had? Yeah, we've met. You gave a nasty kick to my head, mate!" The armored person said to William while he folded his arms.

"That wasn't a dream?!" William asked the armored person in disbelief.

"In a sense, it's not. The universe works mysteriously-" The armored person said to William.

"Enough! Where's Sergeant Kitahara?" William asked the armored person as he pointed his P90 at him.

"In case you didn't catch up yet, like Amagi over there, Kitahara is me you dimwit. Heh…" The armored person said to William before he snorted in amusement.

William stared at Amagi who gazed sharply at the armored person. She felt that she should've realized that this entire thing is nothing but a fraud. When the armored man masquerading as Kitahara contacted Amagi, she didn't bother to check the 3D map for blue dots in the security center. She just took him as one of the surviving members of the team that they searched for, so she was quite relieved and forgot to double check it…Reckless, Amagi was fuming inside, she actually fell for this simple trap, and she's not happy. William could clearly see that Amagi seemed to figure it out ahead of him, he stared back at the armored person as he wondered what this guy wanted with them?

"…What do you want with us?" William asked the armored person.

"The girls? Nah, you? We got something to talk about mate, and it'll be best if we're…alone." The armored person said to William as he pointed at him.

"Not until we got what we came here for." William said to the armored person while he shook his head.

"Ah, the mighty Titan Bomb. A tactical nuclear weapon, the size of an Eagle Union football. It's in those green modular cases." The armored person said to William as he casually pointed at two modular green cases stored beside a console.

"…Just why?" William couldn't help but ask, this man's action didn't make any sense!

"Why indeed…why spend my time and energy to get you a weapon of mass destruction to fight the Sirens? As far as I'm concerned, I got nothing by doing that…except your attention." The armored man said to William, he couldn't see it, but William is sure that the armored man is smirking right now.

"Fine…you have it. Now, what do you want?" William asked the armored man.

"Don't you remember? Private meetings." The armored man pointed at the ship girls who already took out their weapons and pointed it at the armored man.

"Hah, insufferable cunt…Akagi, Kawakaze, take the cases then get out of this room with everyone. Wait for me outside." William said to both of them.

"Shikikan-sama, we can't leave you-" Akagi said to William.

"That's an order. Do as I say." William immediately said to Akagi.

"…Hai." Akagi frowned as she answered.

Akagi and Kawakaze walked inside, they passed the armored man while eyeing him. The armored man didn't bother to look at them as his helmet cladded head still focused on William, who's still got his P90 pointed at the man in case he did something stupid. Both Akagi and Kawakaze grabbed the case and then walked back toward the other. Akagi briefly stared at William when she arrived beside him, but he only nudged his head to the side that told her to leave them. Akagi nodded her head as she alongside the other ship girls left William alone with the armored man.

"You know, you don't have to be that harsh?" The armored man asked William.

"You're starting to get on my nerves, get to the point because my fingers have been itchy, and I'd be delighted to unload a full mag at your face." William said to the armored man.

"Oohhh, such hostility! Do you think those bullets would work!? Ah fine, I see you don't have a sense of humor!" The armored man said to William with an amused tone.

"I have one, what I don't have is patience." William said to the armored man with a serious tone.

"Heh…pull Sakura Empire forces back and defend your HQ at all costs." The armored man said to William.

"You expect me to believe such a heap of rubbish?" Pull their forces even the patrols back?!

"I'm saying this for your own good. All you need to do is to hold out until tomorrow at least, by then you will find a gap to exploit." The armored man said to William.

"And why should I trust you?" William asked the armored man.

"Bah, William, are you actually this daft?" The armored man waved dismissively at him.

"Then stop speaking cryptically you fuck!" William said to the armored man as his finger moved to the trigger.

"Bahahahahaha…Ah man, terribly sorry about that. I'll explain it in one sentence…The Sirens have what they came for." The armored man laughed then said to William.

What were those Sirens after? Not even they know what did the Sirens want with this isle, but their prediction is that the Sirens would like to use this place as their base to assault Sakura Empire's Honshu Island which was the mainland, but the armored man made it sounded like it's not the case with these Siren forces. Then what do they want? What did they want so badly, that they sent such significant forces to combat them here?

"…I suppose you know what they are after?" William asked the armored man.

"You" The armored man simply answered as he pointed at William.

"Me?!" William asked the armored man with a shocked face and tone.

"Yes, you. Believe it or not, you've become quite popular among them and all of this? Is to provoke your response! Nothing with the Sirens is ever as it seems, and they got what they came for. You come charging to Furushima like a knight on a thunderous charge atop of the horse with his lance! So, what do they really want with you? Simple, a mere test, and you proved yourself, especially, when you rammed Purifier with that jet, oof~" The armored man explained to William.

"What test?!" William asked the armored man.

"You ask a lot of questions you know?" The armored man said to William with an amused tone.

"Then don't tempt me in the first place!" William half shouted at the armored man.

"Hahahahaha! Ah, toying with you has been fun. But take heed of my words, if you didn't get out of here within the next hour you will suffer the consequences. It's up to you mate, if I were you, I'd immediately warn everyone. See you next time William!" The armored man said to William.

The armored man snapped his left finger and a purplish portal opened behind him. The armored man only waved casually at William before he jumped backwards, entered the portal, and disappeared alongside the portal. William lowered his P90 as he stared at the floor, he walked around a bit as he tried to comprehend what did the armored man just say to him…He just basically said to William that he's the reason for this invasion to happen, he's the reason why the Sirens did this attack. Why? Because they want to test him! Regarding what? He's got no fucking clue whatsoever, all he's got right now are assumptions, and he felt that whatever the Sirens wanted with him, it's not going to be good…

"...Goddammit! Does everything need to be complicated as fuck?!" William asked out loud before he turned around and exited the room.

.

…Somewhere in the forest area a purple portal opened, and the armored man jumped out from it. He landed on the ground and stared at the closing purple portal before he turned around and started walking into the forest. He walked a bit while he hummed to himself, the armored man reached the end of the island, where there is a cliff that overlooked the island where the facility that he's just in was located, a few kilometers away. The armored man was about to sit when a blade was put in front of his neck from behind by someone, the armored man however didn't show any signs of fear or even surprise…

"What did you say to him?" The person that held the sword asked him in feminine voice.

"Now now, there's no need to hold me at sword point, am I right? Besides, how did you know that I-" The armored man said to the female behind him.

"What. Did. You. Say. To him?" The sword was pressed tighter to the armored man's throat as she asked him again.

"…I warned him, simple as that." The armored man answered calmly.

"You-" The female said out loud.

The armored man broke free from the female and stared at her; the female is the one that he mentioned to William when he was inside the facility. She's a woman with long black hair, with golden eyes that glared at the armored man, dressed in white clothing, a black coat, and a black katana in her hand. The armored man put his hand forward in mock surrender, he tilted his head to the left a bit while he chuckled amusedly.

"Hehehehe whoa, careful dear, I don't want to use violence against a gorgeous girl like you." The armored man said to the girl.

"One more word, and I'll disembowel you!" The girl declared firmly as she tightened the grip on her katana.

"You wouldn't, I know you too well~" The armored man said to the girl with a teasing tone.

"Enough!" Someone said out loud.

The one who said that is a woman with long hair and wearing a black coat, she glared at the two people from above a tree with her purple eyes. She dropped down from the tree she stood on, landed gracefully on the ground before she stared at the armored man who sighed as he lowered his arms. The woman walked to the armored man's side before she threw him a package which he caught effortlessly. The armored man opened the package to find a large futuristic pistol which he took with his right hand. The armored man stared at the pistol for a bit before it disappeared in a small purple light, he then stared at the woman in front of him who still held her blade at him.

"Yeah, Ash is right. Look, I know we're not exactly buddy buddy with each other now, but let's not start pointing weapons…this whole thing is bigger than us." The armored man said to the woman.

"I'm not saying what you did was right either." The woman or 'Ash' said to the armored man.

"Yikes, I thought you're on my side." The armored man said to Ash as he stared at her.

"I'm on neither side with this nonsense…Ember, sheathe your blade already." Ash said to the woman or 'Ember'.

"…Hmph." Ember complied and sheathed her katana.

The armored man then noted that there's several portals that appeared on the sea; from that portal several mass-produced Siren ships appeared before the portals closed. Some smaller portals also appeared from beside the mass-produced ships and Siren ship girls also appeared, the armored man whistling in awe at the Siren forces that showed up nearby before he stared at Ember and Ash who joined him by his sides. Ash and Ember didn't show any signs of surprise at the mass appearance of the Siren fleet. They knew it's only a matter of time before this happened.

"…Would you look at that? Alpha was not happy with yesterday's raid, she's going to test them to the limit, but at this rate they'll die without even having the chance to fight back." The armored man said out loud.

"…Nyx, what you did back there is extremely reckless. Now he knows that something is up, worse, even they could find out what we are planning." Ash said to the armored man or 'Nyx' as his name.

"What? Paranoid much? He and the girls would die sooner if I didn't." Nyx said to Ash as he shrugged.

"It is their fate on this world line then." Ember quipped from Nyx left side.

"Don't talk about that world line universe bollocks with me…Every single man or woman, in the right place at the wrong time can make all the difference in the world. He's not destined to die now, don't believe everything 'she' said." Nyx said to Ember in a gentle yet firm tone…

"…If you know that he won't die yet in this world, then why did you still come to him?" Ember couldn't help but ask Nyx that question.

"Why? Heh…I'd just like to see his face again, to see 'this' William Blaze up close. Shame he's got the armor on." Nyx said out loud as he stared at the facility he was just on.

"Already?" Ash couldn't help but asked out loud with widened eyes.

"Yeah…that should help him when he has to fight against-" Nyx said out loud.

"Nyx. This is Alpha." Suddenly, Nyx's communicator went online.

Yikes, Nyx sighed before he answered the communicator for Observer Alpha, turned it into a holographic screen which showed her personally, and she seems displeased with something. Nyx felt like he cringed when he saw Observer Alpha's face directly, she didn't say anything yet, but he knew he's about to be involved in something nasty. Ember and Ash noticed the screen as both of them only stared at it for a bit before they left Nyx to deal with her himself by going off screen, that caused him to look at both of them exasperatedly, however Nyx shrugged as he faced Alpha to ask why would she contacted him.

"Uh, go ahead darling. What do you need?" Nyx asked Alpha who sat with legs crossed and tapping her cheeks.

"I noticed you were in that facility a few moments ago, what are you doing there?" Alpha immediately asked Nyx.

"Didn't you want me and Code T to make sure those Sakura Empire troops did not get the nuclear weapon?" Nyx asked Alpha in a confused tone.

"I suppose, but you took your time while Code T already moved out when the tasks were done." Alpha asked Nyx while she folded her arms.

"Can't a man get some quality quiet time for himself?" Nyx reasoned while he shrugged in a tired tone.

"…Arguing with you wouldn't get us anywhere." Alpha sighed before she said to Nyx.

"Surprised you notice, 'Observer'~" Nyx said to Alpha in a teasing tone.

"Don't test my patience next time, Nyx…Now, I have something I need to take care of. and your parameters would prove to be suitable for the task. I will assign 'Midnight' to replace your position there." Midnight? Oh, that mean motherfu-

"Oohh, are you actually going to pay me this time? You know, my supplies for alcohol have run dry." Nyx asked Alpha in a sarcastic tone.

"…I'll discuss that with the Zero later. Come to me, immediately." Alpha said to Nyx with a no-nonsense tone.

"Okie dokie~" Nyx answered in a cheery tone and with an 'okay!' hand sign.

The communicator holographic screen disappeared, and Nyx sighed heavily, man he hated working overtime. Nyx noted that Ember and Ash returned to their original positions as soon as the calls were done, both of them were not keen on meeting with Observer Alpha or even any Siren at all unless they had to. Nyx huffed as he turned around to face the two of them, it's time to talk about their plans.

"…Hmph, there's always something with her. Ash, make preparations for New York per 'her' instructions. I don't want that woman to hound us for progress any longer, her nagging is a pain in the arse." Nyx instructed Ash in a serious tone.

"Tch, fine then." Ash said out loud before she walked away.

"Ember." Nyx said to Ember

"I know where I must go, don't expect me to always help in this little scheme since I favor work both ways…Remember, we still have our original objective to fulfill." Ember said to Nyx while she frowned.

"Noted. See ya later." Nyx said to Ember while he waved at her.

Ember snorted before she turned around and walked away following Ash. Nyx once again turned toward the facility and noted that the Siren fleet had passed the area. Nyx's armor HUD turned into digital binocular mode and zoomed in toward the island in front of him, specifically the facility he's just been on. He saw the prototype helicopter that ALASUC owned hover above the facility before it slowly landed, several minutes later the helicopter took off again and immediately moved toward the direction of Sakura Empire Regional HQ. Nyx sighed in satisfaction, he snapped his fingers again and a purplish portal appeared beside him.

"I hope you will do the right thing, William. We have so much to do in the near future, don't die yet mate." Nyx said out loud before he entered the portal which vanished two seconds later…

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Updated: 14-02-2022 (Beta readed by Culture-Hunt3r)

…Boi! So much happened, and I have to postpone the release for this chapter, to make up for the long waiting time I decided to make it extra-long. Really, it went through 20k words…Now, thank you for the follows, reviews, and favorites readers. As you might have noticed, shit went from thirty to one hundred real fucking quick, and the Sirens have started to notice that William is a person they should investigate. But hey! Some good news! The man has acquired his Albion Battle Armor which is a tough, hard-hitting piece of hardware that will play an important role in William's fight against the Sirens! With that armor, he could fight toe to toe with a Brawler directly and even outright kill them with his own bare hands if he has to, the man has turned into a temporary superhuman when he wears it. Okay, I think I blabbed enough. Time to rest for a bit before continuing the next chapter.

See you next time!

- Dasmara