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.

36. Charge!

"Good morning, master. Please wake up."

William heard the unmistakably sweet voice of Belfast, she came to his room to wake him up as usual. William rubbed his eye as he groaned a bit, he opened his eye, and looked at Belfast who's standing beside him as she patiently waited for William to wake up. He sat on his bed naked, without a single article of clothing, and the only thing covering his lower side was a single sheet of blanket. After stretching for a bit and cracking his joints, William turned his head toward Belfast.

"Urgh…morning Bel…Is the assault commencing already?" William asked Belfast.

"Not yet, it's the day after tomorrow, master." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"I see..." William said to Belfast as he stood up.

Being naked in front of Belfast is something that no longer fazes him, especially with what they've been doing with one another for the past week. So, he just gets up and heads straight for the bathroom to take a morning shower, he needs to get ready for the day. In the meantime, Belfast prepared William's Serpent Armor and spread it on the bed piece by piece. As usual per her morning routine, she will help him dress up for the day. William came out of the shower five minutes later, after drying his hair with his towel, he proceeded to equip his armor's undersuit: the first thing he had to put on before the armor pieces. Belfast took the armor parts and helped put it on William's body; she had been doing it for a while to allow her to properly put on the armor parts in under five minutes. Lastly, she holds the helmet for William, which he took and carried in his hand instead of equipping it. Belfast immediately knows that William doesn't plan to venture out of the VIP section for now, because he always equipped it whenever he goes outside, to shield his face from public view. She didn't know why he would do that, but she's sure he has his reasons.

"…Did something happen, Bel?" William asked Belfast while he smiled a bit.

"Oh? Why yes, you will find out later." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"If you say so." William said to Belfast as he shrugged.

Why did he ask her that? Because Belfast hasn't stopped smiling ever since she saw him, there's this faint blush decorating her cheeks as well, and at a glance, William could tell that she's in a REALLY good mood. He's sure that she will tell him what later, so he didn't touch the subject any further for now. William and Belfast exited the bedroom, and both of them started walking to the mess hall, it's time to get some breakfast. Along the way however, William noticed that the halls were empty. Usually, he will meet a few ship girls along the way, but they are absent for some reason.

"This area looks a bit empty today." William commented out loud.

"The majority of the girls already got up and had their breakfast. They're currently gathering inside the VIP briefing room." Belfast informed William.

"Hmm? I don't think we have any plans to execute today, did something happen?" William asked Belfast.

"No, they are currently talking about other matters concerning…feminine topics~" Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"…Okay. Hmm? Laffey?" William said to Belfast before they entered the common room and saw Laffey alongside several destroyers.

"Good morning…commander…" Laffey said to William in a sleepy tone.

"Morning, have you seen the other girls other than the destroyers?" William asked Laffey.

"The big girls are holding a meeting…we were told to play around until they're done." Laffey said to William.

"…I smell something fishy here." William said out loud as he stared at Belfast.

"Master, please remember that they are currently discussing feminine topics, and they will definitely hate you if you decide to show up." Belfast said to William while she smirked a bit.

"Right…Carry on Laffey, make sure the other destroyers don't wreck the common room area." William said to Belfast then to Laffey.

"Roger…" Laffey said to William as she threw a salute.

…Thus, William and Belfast departed for the canteen, the whole place that is supposedly bustling with activity is now silent as a graveyard. The VIPs? Beside William and the ship girls, there aren't a lot of them, so the majority of the deck occupants already ate their breakfast. The cooks are free until lunch at least, and they took some time off for themselves before starting to cook again sometime before noon, that's the reason why there is no activity within the kitchen. William and Belfast entered the canteen together, while wondering what Belfast cooked for him this morning, William's eye fell toward someone who's waving at him from the corner…it's Lucas himself and beside him on the table there's a holographic projection of Erich.

"Huh, you're having a meeting so early in the morning?" William asked out loud.

"Yup, meeting over breakfast. Solving two problems in one go." Lucas said to William while he grinned.

"Master, please take your seat, I will bring your breakfast from the kitchen." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"Sure." William said to Belfast as he sat in front of Lucas.

"She's a good girl, definitely wife material." Lucas said to William.

"Yeah, she's definitely a good girl." William said to Lucas while he smiled a bit.

"I heard that she's the one who helps you in managing your hormonal surge, kommandant." Erich quipped, and William stared at him in surprise…that was supposed to be some kind of secret.

"…Yes, that's true…Where did you hear that from?" William answered, then asked Erich.

"I believe you know who." Erich said to William while he smiled.

"Thanks Lucas." William said to Lucas with half closed eye and annoyed tone.

"Ah don't sweat it." Lucas casually answered while he grinned.

"Not what I'm insinuating, but you're only jerking my chains at this point…Hah. So, what are you discussing today?" William sighed before he asked out loud.

"Hold up, let's wait for Belfast first." Lucas said to William.

So, Belfast did have something she wanted to say to him? What she wants to say and having to be in front of the two leaders of the military alliance? William did ponder for a bit on the possibility…Being too tired since they're fucking every night, and she requested for an extended vacation? That's quite possible. Hmm, how about that she requested to be switched out with someone from the base? That's also a possibility…after waiting quite a while, Belfast appeared from the kitchen while holding a tray with a plate filled with food on top of it. She put the plate down in front of William and he widened his eye, it's Fry Up!

"…This is quite an extravagant breakfast! Are we celebrating something?" William asked out loud.

"Oh yes we are, today have been a joyous day!" Lucas said to William.

"Huh, who's the lucky one?" William asked Lucas.

"You." Lucas immediately answered.

"Me?" William asked back with cocked eyebrows.

"Ja, you are the lucky person. Glückwunsch an Sie, Kommandant Blaze." Erich said to William while he smiled.

"Huh? I don't recall doing anything worthy to be congratulated recently?" William said to Erich in confusion.

"Maybe Ms. Belfast could jog your memory for a bit." Lucas said to William as he stared at Belfast.

"Master, there's something I have to tell you…I am pregnant." Belfast said to William in a low tone.

"…Huh? What?! Really!?" William stared at Belfast; his face full of shock.

"Yes, I am…I took a test today." Belfast said to William as she put something on the table.

It's a pregnancy test kit and it showed two lines which mean it's a positive confirmation…William did have confidence that he could do it now, but he didn't expect that he'll get Belfast pregnant in one go…Wait, with how much he filled her every day, he shouldn't have doubted himself. Even without the modification, there's a chance that she'll get pregnant anyway if her womb is seeded every day, like he did to her for the past week. But really, this is the first time the reality hit him that he's going to be a father, and to a KANSEN no less! The news did hit him like a truck! What would Hood think about this…William widened his eye, all he could think about the fact he didn't tell her about all of this, and there's a fat chance that she will go ballistic when she found out, elegance be damned.

"…Positive…You really are…Oh shite, Hood's going to kill me!" William said out loud.

"Well, you got some time to prepare for the bloodbath. I don't doubt she'll use her rigging on you" Lucas said to William in an offhanded tone.

"Not helping, Lucas!" William retorted while he frowned.

"Master…you didn't want it?" Belfast asked William in a crestfallen tone while she frowned.

"What are you saying!? I'm happy Bel! It's just that I'm afraid of how Hood will take this news…She's my girlfriend…and I don't know how to tell her about this." William said to Belfast while he frowned.

"Madam Hood is an understanding person, I'm sure she will understand why this happened, especially with the circumstances. In fact, she might already know~" Belfast said to William…as if she's already certain that Hood already knew…

"…Ah fuck, it's even worse if she knows this from someone else…" William said to himself in a low tone as he held his head.

"Now that you've proven your man-cannon can fertilize a ship girl, we will have to be prepared for every contingency…I have to be honest, if this news gets out, it'll be a new source of problems, and the cause is the humans themselves. Power hungry bastards and bitches will make sure they could get this technology and power, whether by acquiring the ship girls, the children…or using the serum that you took. Safe to say, we have to keep this under wraps within ALASUC only." Lucas said to William.

"What if some nosy busybodies asked about Ms. Belfast?" Erich asked Lucas.

"There's a reason why the ALASUC base is a highly restricted area for those who aren't approved by the commander of the base, which includes anyone from Azur Lane or Crimson Axis, we can maintain our secrecy and keep the girls away from prying eyes. In this era, everyone could be our enemy at the drop of a hat. The passing civilians could turn out to be agents in disguise and with globalization? We will not be able to know who they are working for without extensive research." Lucas said to Erich while he smiled a bit.

"Is it really that dangerous, High Commander?" Belfast asked Lucas with a concerned tone.

"We're talking about you and your child, Ms. Belfast. No matter what you think, you are a variable that is often referred to as a 'power' by the others, and there are people out there who will take advantage of you…Hence, the reason why ALASUC is given free reign under William here. I already set up some rules concerning this whole matter far before William took the serum, but I wouldn't put it on the playing field until the news comes out, and even then, I'm planning to twist it in a way to prevent any misuse of the girls." Lucas said to Belfast with a serious face.

"Wait…there's something I don't understand." William said to Lucas.

"Oh? What is it?" Lucas asked William while he cocked his eyebrows.

"You said once that you're doing this so we can have a fair shot against the Sirens, to enhance humanity and evolve us…" William said to Lucas, he still remembers why Lucas did this in the first place.

"Are you willing to let Belfast be taken away, experimented upon, and your children brainwashed as minions for the power-hungry ones?" Lucas asked William with a calm tone.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" William suddenly shouted at Lucas.

BANG!

"Calm down, Will…We're not going to let that happen." Lucas said to William without losing his composure in the slightest.

The food on the table is scattered all over the place, the metal table itself bent, which was caused by William banging the table, and that's him not using his full power yet. Erich widened his eyes as he recoiled back, and Belfast put her hands on her mouth in shock, only Lucas managed to stay calm and kept his posture despite William's outburst…he kind of expected this reaction. Ever since that inspection, William has begun experiencing the symptoms, and one of them is unstable emotions…As a special operations soldier, William was taught to stay calm no matter the situation at hand. But he just couldn't help it right now…

"…Sorry…It's hard to control my emotions at the moment…" William said out loud while he looked to the side in shame.

"Being a teenager for the second time is a bitch, huh?" Lucas asked William while he smiled.

"We're getting off topic, Lucas." Erich said to Lucas in a firm tone.

"Alright, just trying to lighten the mood here…The head researcher of the team who made this serum actually advised me that I should put that plan on hold for a very VERY long time. She does make a good point; humanity is not ready for this kind of power. Even you aren't ready for this power Will, and I consider you as someone that could use your power responsibly…While people in the high seats are already aware of the possibility of incoming children from ship girls in the future, they're not yet aware that it's already happening, and that it's only possible because of the serum…I did this, in my moment of weakness…I didn't think this through, at all, especially when I'm not considering those who will use this power for their personal gains." Lucas said out loud.

"…So, what are you going to do? Sooner or later, someone will start to sniff around for clues." William asked Lucas.

"Yeah, I'm aware. That's why, I froze the project and made sure the team kept their silence as they worked on other stuff." Lucas said to William while he smiled a bit.

"Shutting down the project? How many serums are left?" Erich asked Lucas.

"Just one, and the head researcher is the one who stored it away, not even I know where it's hidden…Just in case something happened." Lucas said to Erich while he smiled.

Lucas realized many things could or already went wrong the moment he witnessed how the serum affected William personally, he also dreads the fact that there's a possibility that Crimson Cleanser themselves could use this knowledge to lay ruins to everything they've been trying so hard to maintain: cooperation between the two giant alliances. Do not underestimate what a group of dedicated people with bombs could do to stir old animosity, they could do it, and if Azur Lane and Crimson Axis turned on each other again, earth wouldn't survive, and that is guaranteed. It is too late to conceal the fact that artificial superhumans exist, but it's not too late to hide the fact that KANSENs could easily conceive if they mate with that superhuman. Oh no. Lucas couldn't let the public know of that just yet. The last thing he needs is for the ship girls to be treated as a convenient military tool that can be bred more, he doesn't want such a fate to happen to the girls who have been earnestly fighting the Sirens.

Call him inconsistent or even downright hypocritical, he knows when to stop doing things that could cause widespread problems. He did originally try to commission the serum as a way to enhance humanity, but he forgot that they are not ready for such power to be handed out, even with the threat of extinction at hand. Why? Because humans are dumb fucks. They are capable of creating many engineering marvels and performing amazing feats, but the moment they are given power, some of them WILL DEFINITELY use it for their own gains. What are the odds that once the Siren War is over, they decide to do a hostile takeover of the entire world? Crushing the less fortunate who didn't get the serum, creating even more problematic racial issues and completely changing everything? Not a definite one hundred, but certainly above zero percent in chances, something that Lucas wouldn't want to gamble on since the risks are just far too great.

He's fine with William, he knows that the man has no ambitions to take over the world. From the start of his military career, he just wants to do his job and call it a day when it's completed. Lucas KNEW him personally, knew what drives him, his motivation to fight, and even his interests. He's a responsible man that could be given power, and he definitely needs it in his fight against those Sirens. There's a very low chance that William would just decide to screw everything and do something else. No, he has far too much personal stake in this fight to just decide fuck everything. With his child being conceived by Belfast, he has even more personal stakes in this war. Thus, Lucas knew that he could entrust the power of being a human-KANSEN hybrid to him and be at ease. He knows that even if William deviates from the course for a bit, ultimately, his goal is to make earth safe once more. Whatever he did after the war? Well, it's not for Lucas to decide. By then, he would've done so much for the world that he deserves rest, undisturbed, and probably waiting for when the world needs him once more.

"I'm glad you've taken precautions." William said to Lucas while he smiled a bit.

"Caution is my middle name." Lucas said to William while he grinned.

"What a heap of bollocks…" William said to Lucas with half closed eye.

"On that we can agree, kommandant…Still, you work quite fast, Lucas. Then I'll trust you for the next step, we have much to do." Erich said to William then to Lucas.

"Ah yes, feeling dank, Erich." Lucas said to Erich while he grinned.

"It's vielen dank, Lucas." William said to Lucas with half closed eye.

"I never passed my German language course during high school, you know?" Lucas said to William while he shrugged.

"And you still managed to read my formal letter to the chancellor which is written in German? I call bullshit on that one." Erich said to Lucas while he smiled bitterly.

"…What if the news gets out about the child?" William asked Lucas.

"You have someone with a knack for experiments, right? Akashi, if I'm not wrong." Lucas said to William.

"Yeah, I believe you already met her as well." William said to Lucas.

"Make a cover up story with her, I'm sure you two could do something. With her brains and your brawn, you'll make an excellent team to come up with the most believable bullshit to convince the others regarding the children." Lucas said to William while he smiled a bit.

"…I believe she can do that…" Yeah, Akashi and him could pull off something like that.

"Excellent. Man, my breakfast and yours are scattered all over the table now." Lucas said out loud as he looked at the mess all over the table.

"Hah…I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry Bel, you must have worked hard on that dish." William said to Belfast after he sighed.

"Think nothing of it master, I'll get you a new one. Excuse me." Belfast smiled as she headed back into the kitchen.

…After getting two sets of replacement breakfast, both Lucas and William enjoyed their food while talking with Erich. They mostly discussed the current situation that's happening on Eagle Union's Eastern Coast, but occasionally they also talked about the developments in other regions as well. William easily talked with them concerning military matters, but when the talk hit other topics, he preferred to listen to the two leaders. Based on what he heard, William could safely assume that the both of them are well suited to their job. Military? Politics? Economy? Social? Culture? Both Lucas and Erich touched those topics, and not even once the conversation derailed because one of them doesn't know what the other is talking about. If they somehow have to rebuild a civilization if they lost this war? William is confident that the two of them could do it easily…wait, that got dark real fast.

After that, Lucas left for the Terranova's CIC to do something, and that leaves Belfast and William alone in the huge canteen. Belfast sat in front of William and was currently eating her own breakfast while William watched her, his mind filled with thoughts about their current situation and contingency plans in the making…with their situation. Everyone outside ALASUC, except Lucas and Lena, is a potential enemy, he won't take any chances…The moment he smelled that something is wrong, he will pursue the lead immediately like a ravenous wolf to quell anything that might threaten them…William knows how fucked up humanity could be despite all the good things they could do, better be safe than sorry later. Anyway, he noted that Belfast had finished her breakfast, and William decided that he'd like to discuss something with her.

"…Bel, how are you?" William asked Belfast before he winced a bit, that's not what he wanted to say.

"I'm doing fine, master." Belfast said to William.

"Sorry, let me rephrase it…How do you feel now? Our child is growing inside you, and both of us aren't even in a relationship." William said to Belfast

"To be truthful, I am happy and nervous at the same time…I have consulted with Madam Vestal, she does possess knowledge regarding pregnancy and childbirth, so when the time comes, we have nothing to worry about…It's just that my mind wanders toward what High Commander Carville said, about the possibility of someone taking advantage of me...or our child." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"You know I won't let that happen." William said to Belfast with a serious face.

"If it happens anyway?" Belfast asked William.

"Then count on the fact that I will raise hell and kill all of them without remorse, just to make sure both of you are back with us, safe and sound. I will do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening." William said to Belfast with a serious face.

Oh nothing will stop him if that ever happened, he's willing to go through hell for his unborn child, so imagine what he will do when they have been born into this world. No one will get their hands on them without his permission, and he won't just even give that permission to anyone. William especially has to be mindful when any of the girls get out to the city. Nothing so far happened, but it's only a matter of time until then…he knows that Crimson Cleanser, who has been silent lately will attempt something, there's people within high command, who didn't like ALASUC, but want the girls for their own goals, and there's the fact that the Sirens are seemingly far from defeated…he wanted a bright future, even more so now with a child on the way.

"…Thank you master, I'm happy to hear that." Belfast said to William while she smiled softly.

"…So, what about us?" William asked Belfast.

"Pardon me, I don't think I understand the question." Belfast said to William, what about them?

"You and me, we're going to be parents…do you want to be in a relationship with me?" William asked Belfast while he stared at her.

"…Master, I have dedicated myself to you, my body and my soul are yours…I don't think we need to be in a relationship with one another, we are already in one." Belfast said to William.

"…You don't want more? More than master and servant?" William asked Belfast while he frowned a bit.

"Right now, I'm content with what we have between us. We're still the parents of our child, regardless of our status with one another…" Belfast said to William while she smiled softly.

…Yeah, she's right, being a parent doesn't mean both of them have to be in a relationship with one another. While it's customary to do so, not being in an official relationship isn't bad by any means. No matter what, William and Belfast are both the biological parents of the child, with the dynamic currently going and will happen in the future? Maybe this kind of relationship will be the best for now. William still doesn't know if he could marry multiple women in the future, he doesn't know how exactly the paperwork will go, and whether it will be legal for him to do so. So, he shouldn't make any rash decisions at the moment…if he gets married to Hood, it'll be just like those cliché stories where a child is born because the lord is having an affair with his maid…Honestly? The thought is quite exciting…wait, William shook his head sideways for a bit, what was he thinking? He needs to respond to Belfast's answer…

"…I see…I'll respect your wish Belfast. However, if you want to change it, talk to me anytime." William said to Belfast while he smiled a bit.

"Understood, master…I'm really happy that you talked to me about this." Belfast said to William while she smiled.

"And Bel, when we're alone, just call me William. You don't need to be a maid all the time, you could just be a woman when we're alone." William said to Belfast while he smiled.

"Oh my, ufufufu…Understood, William." Belfast said to William after she giggled for a bit.

"Oh, commander!"

William and Belfast looked to the canteen's entrance where there's several ship girls entering the room, they're the girls that have been absent since breakfast to go to that meeting. There's Enterprise, St. Louis, Helena, Cleveland, Victorious, Formidable, Illustrious, Amagi, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau who are looking at both Belfast and William. All of them have an interesting reaction of their own when they see him, especially after hearing the news from Belfast herself. The head maid only smiled at them, it looks like the big girls made their decision…she could take some rest whenever William is done from battle, someone else will take the duty off her hands from now on.

"Hey, you girls are done with your meeting?" William asked the girls.

"Y-Y-Yeah…Um, congratulations commander." Enterprise said to William while she stuttered.

"Congratulations, shikikan-sama." Amagi said to William while she smiled.

"You actually did it." Illustrious said to William while she smiled.

"I never thought it's possible." Formidable said out loud.

"So all that raw mating did produce results." Scharnhorst said out loud.

.

…William chose to rest for today, there's nothing big going on in the frontline, and frankly speaking, he needs to rest himself. He's been going back and forth between the Terranova and the frontline for the whole week. Despite his enhancements, he could still feel the burnout from non-stop combat. It would be better that he takes a brief rest and goes back into the fight with maximum strength, rather than keep pushing on while being tired physically and mentally. So, after eating breakfast and getting congratulated by the girls, William chose to walk on the central flight deck of the Terranova with his helmet on. With his equipment being currently maintained by the engineers onboard the ship, he was left with nothing to do, and as much as he liked to game, his new phone didn't have any installed, and nothing caught his eye in the online store. That caused him to walk outside with nothing to do, maybe he'll find something to amuse himself if he just takes a walk around the ship?

Along the way, William took in the scenery around the flight deck. The F-35 fighter jets are neatly lined up on the edge of the carrier's flight deck, he could see that there's technicians currently performing checks on the jets just in case when there's an emergency and jets are needed in the air ASAP…that reminds him, he should attend a refresher course for air combat since he's been quite sloppy in riding a jet. William did successfully survive the air battle on Furushima back then, but he could account for the fact that not many of those Siren fighters were chasing him, and he got lucky. Maybe Morpho would be willing to give him some pointers? That guy is practically untouchable in the air. Just as he walked around, he saw someone familiar standing near the bow's edge of the central flight deck, overlooking the ships ahead of the carrier. Shoulder length brown hair, Azur Lane blue officer uniform, tight skirt that enveloped that supple ass, black stockings, and officer heels? Yup, it's no other than Helena McAllen.

"Hey." William said to Lena as he approached her.

"Hey there." Lena said to William as she turned around to face him.

"Enjoying the view?" William asked Lena as he stood beside Lena.

"Yeah, being in the center of a massive fleet like this should've made you feel safe…But all I could think is when plasma rounds started raining upon us." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"Can't help it, you and I know how strong those aliens are." William said to Lena.

"…Commander. Do you think he can be trusted? That prophet in black?" …

Lena never called him by rank unless in the presence of other people, but there's no one around them at the moment. There's only one conclusion from that clue, they are being watched somewhat, possibly Lena being bugged at the moment, but she doesn't want to make it clear that she already knows…goddammit, even at times like this…well, William decided to play along, but the topic caused him to raised his eyebrows for a bit. She's obviously talking about Nyx; he did tell Lena and Lucas regarding what happened with that psionic link horse shit. Lena and Lucas, both told him to not mind about it too much, they already know that the Sirens are interested in him ever since he fought Tester Beta, so knowing about it from Nyx after that is no surprise. There's one thing that did catch both of their attention though, the fact that they want to conduct 'tests' on him, and the implication that they're in for a long fight…Nyx knows more than he lets on…

"…So far, his warnings are justified…He either did it because he cares for us, or he's just lied to us so flawlessly as he leads us into a massive trap." William said to Lena.

"Do you ever think that these Sirens look like us to be suspicious?" Lena asked William while she folded her arms.

"What, their humanoid nature?" William asked Lena while he cocked his eyebrows.

"Yeah…Our physical forms are too similar: four limbs, skeletal design, and even our facial features…The only difference is, the Sirens are pale skinned and have yellow blood. I'll be honest, if they show up at cosplay conventions they'll blend in naturally. Think about it, what are the odds that something out there is shaped exactly like a human? The chances are…astronomically low…almost impossible even if their planet of origin has a similar environment like earth, there's no way their evolutionary path is the same as ours. There will be something that makes them differ from us, even if they are humanoid." Huh…Lena did give that some thought.

"…Didn't take you as a xenobiologist, admiral." William said to Lena while he smiled a bit.

"My side job I suppose." Lena said to William.

Lena reached for something in her pocket and took out her phone, she then casually threw her said phone into the ocean, and that prompted William to widen his eye…so that's where the bug is located, Lena looked at William to gauge his reaction, and the man only nodded in understanding. They know each other so well that sometimes they could just understand each other through their body language. Lena knew that William already got her cues the moment she called him commander despite being alone. Still, she can't believe that the goons of the opposition managed to install bugs on her phone, guess she can't simply settle with normal phones anymore…she should get a custom one with enhanced firewalls so this won't happen again. Oh? How did she notice that she's bugged? Simple, her phone's performance is higher than usual even without her opening any applications, and it's actively using her data package. She's sure that wasn't her phone going wrong, it's a relatively new one after all. She didn't take any chances with that anomaly; she could always get a new one later.

"…By the way, I heard you're a father now. Congratulations, Will." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"Ah yeah, thanks Lena." William said to Lena while he rubbed his nape.

"…You know, I used to think that I'm the one who will be in Belfast's position. Unfortunately, that didn't happen." Lena said to William while she stared into the ocean again.

"Who knows, there's a chance it'll happen. Especially with your plan in hand." William said to Lena.

"The chances are there, that's for sure." Lena said to William in a low tone.

"…You didn't sound thrilled with the prospect." William asked Lena while he frowned.

"…I'm a normal human, Will." Lena said to William while she rubbed her left arm.

"And so what? KANSEN or not, I'm willing to be with you once again. If you would have me." William said to Lena in a serious tone.

He doesn't care if Lena is a normal human or KANSEN, she's still the woman he cared deeply about, and frankly speaking, he wouldn't mind if they got back together. But there's several problems that need to be taken care of first before that could happen. It's not that Lena didn't like the idea, she's just apprehensive with everything else currently going on. She doesn't want to be exploited by the enemy, so they could get him, but she would be lying if she didn't want to get back with William. The risk will always be there, the problem is whether she's daring enough to take that risk in order for her to be happy…

"…So, what number will I be in? Third? Fourth?" Lena asked William while she smirked.

"Hey come on, even with the situation I'm in, I don't plan on putting numbers. Everyone is equal." William said to Lena with a serious tone.

"Until you find out who has the tightest cunt, don't worry, mine still is~" Lena said to William while she grinned.

"I'm being serious, Lena." William said to Lena with half closed eye.

"Ah right, I forgot you're under the effect of the modification…Don't worry, I believe in you." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"…Yeah, thanks." William said to Lena.

"Once I deal with those problems, I'll give you an immediate answer. Sounds good?" Lena asked William.

"Don't worry, take your time. We both know the answer already." William said to Lena.

"Fufu, that we do…well, see you later, I'll be heading back to the CIC." Lena said to William.

William watched as Lena started walking, he then turned around and looked at the view in front of him. Dozens of escort warships composed of combinations between Azur Lane 2nd Atlantic Fleet, Azur Lane 12th Atlantic Fleet, Ironblood 5th Fleet, and Ironblood 9th Fleet are forming a massive cover all around the ALS Terranova, sailing together toward New York. The raw military combat strength of the entire fleets is enough to commence a long military campaign, that's how much the humans bring in preparation to meet the Sirens in a show of force. Of course, that's also combined with the force coming from the mainland, so the humans supposedly outnumbered the aliens…but even with the battle going well so far, if the Sirens decide to screw them over by sending their own reinforcement? They could be fighting for an entire year, sieging the city even. William shook his head to dispel the thought, he hoped it wouldn't come to that. With that in mind, he also chose to walk back. Midway, however, he saw a familiar face, walking while staring at the parked F-35's.

"Carl." William called the man's name.

"Ah William! I stayed here for a week, and I never saw you in person." Johnson said to William as he extended his right hand.

"Testament on just how big this ship is." William said to Johnson while he grabbed his right hand and shook it.

"That or the fact you're in the VIP section most of the time…You know, for someone so famous, many don't refer to you with your real name. Why is that?" Johnson asked William as he let go and started walking.

"I think them knowing me as Azur Knight, the Leader of The KANSENs, is a lot cooler and more symbolic than William Blaze. Besides, if they did some brief search on the internet, they'll find my name easily enough." William said to Johnson as he also walked with him.

"I can't argue with that. Well, you proved yourself as a wrecking force on the battlefield, doubt anyone would mess around with you. I mean, single handedly crushing a Siren Peace Breaker's head with your boot? Damn man, you're just that strong." Johnson said to William.

"Yeah…It was the quickest way I could think of back then. You watched the videos huh?" William asked Johnson.

"With it trending on Youtube? How could I not?" Johnson said to William while he smiled.

"I see…You're here with your men?" William asked Johnson.

"Yeah, I'm one of the few thousand people that will be making landfall directly on New York once the massive fleet guarding it is neutralized." Johnson said to William.

"Ah, the party that will hold the beach…It'll be a tough fight." William said to Johnson as he looked at the flight deck.

"No doubt. But the marines and I have been preparing for this for months, ever since we heard that Brawlers have been spotted in New York. I'm busy spending the last couple of months training and equipping them with the best gear I could get my hands on, I want them to survive this." Johnson said to William while he smiled.

"I feel the same, though you must realize that casualties are unavoidable." William said to Johnson.

"I know, but I'm actively trying to minimize it. A man can hope." Johnson said to William.

So, he will be participating in the massive beachhead assault directly on New York, which will immediately happen as soon that massive Siren fleet is neutralized…William is honestly a bit concerned for his friend, he'll be diving straight into Siren controlled territory to establish one of three firebases that they will use as rally points on the New York area before making the concentrated push toward Siren base itself. Not to be a pessimist but landing their armor in the New York coastal area will be difficult, so they won't be able to land it without at least securing a proper LZ. To do that, infantry and helicopter gunships will have to make do combined with shore bombardment fire support. It will be tough for those who will make the landfall, but they need the best to do this, and that includes Johnson's forces who have experience fighting against the Sirens directly.

"…Will, I want to ask something." Johnson suddenly said to William.

"What is it?" William asked Johnson.

"Having that much power, to single handedly win many fights against those aliens directly…How do you feel?" Johnson asked William as he stopped walking.

"…It's a tough question. What makes you ask that?" William asked Johnson as he also stopped walking.

"Call it curiosity." Johnson said to William.

"…If I want to brag that I'm the strongest warrior on earth right now? I could certainly do that, and no one would doubt me…But that's not how I want to be seen…Did you know? Even with all of these enhancements I got, I still failed to kill Midnight. I've spent months preparing myself to face him, and I won, despite failing to kill him…But that victory itself is hollow…I got a feeling that the portals that he went into weren't created by him, someone interfered with our fight to make sure that alien survived. He doesn't look like the type to run when things go south…Despite this power that I have, it's not enough. I need more, but I know it's a pitfall, and deep inside, I'm scared that one day I will get drunk with power and lose sight of what I'm fighting for…At least that's how I feel…You know, I don't really speak out my feelings like this to just anyone. But you're a reliable guy that has helped me on occasions. I think you deserve to know how I feel if you're curious." William said to Johnson as he folded his arms while he smiled a bit.

"…I appreciate you being honest with me, Will…I'm glad that you spoke out, I could still see humanity in you." Johnson said to William while he smiled widely.

"Humanity?" William asked Johnson while he cocked his eyebrows.

"Ah, sorry, I should've been more honest…There are talks out there, while many are glad that you exist there's also some who fear you. Some people believe that your existence is an abnormality, the people that are afraid you will turn on them after the war is over…I don't know what procedure you underwent to get this kind of power Will, but I'm fine not knowing about it. I'm just glad they picked the right person." Johnson said to William with a serious face.

"Yeah…well, those people are getting too far ahead of themselves, even we can't be sure that this war will be over soon…or even with us living through it." William said to Johnson.

"Agreed. But you know how humans are, afraid of the unknown…You either venture forth to know it, or live forever being afraid of it." Johnson said to William.

"Wise words." William said to Johnson while he smiled a bit.

"Heh, I have my moments…" Johnson said to William while he shrugged.

"…What do you think of our odds, Carl?" William asked Johnson as he looked at the ships around them.

"Honestly? I have my doubts. But, with you in the ground and Morpho in the air? I believe we have chances in beating these Sirens in one fell swoop…Still, both of you are one single man. We need more people like you two." Johnson said to William while he frowned.

"Well, I can't argue with that…maybe this battle is the proving ground, I'm sure there'll be others that will show their prowess." William said to Johnson.

"I already heard that there are some. Heroes like you." Johnson said to William.

"Heroes?" William asked Johnson as he cocked his eyebrows.

"Folks need heroes, Will. To give them hope in the darkest time…To be truthful, I do have one as well, High Commander Carville." …William did a double back with a widened eye.

"Ho? Him? Really!?" William asked Johnson in a surprised tone.

"Yep. He's among the best Azur Lane has, proving his mettle during the Great War and keeping our heads afloat during this Siren War. It took me a great deal just not to say 'Sir! It's an honor to speak with you!' just after we successfully defended Battlegroup Dakota…It seems that nothing can break that man, he has the aura of a leader, and so far, he has made all the right choices. I am glad that someone like him is in charge!" Johnson said to William while he grinned.

…He probably didn't know that man on a personal level, William knew how annoying or frustrating Lucas could be with his impromptu jokes and tendencies to do or say something outrageous at inappropriate moments on occasions. Sometimes, William forgot that despite all those drawbacks, Lucas is someone that is very competent in dealing with every situation and problem that Azur Lane has faced. He's well suited in the art of diplomacy and in the art of war, capable of fighting on both types of battlefields without stumbling. He has lots of experience and possesses the wisdom that came with age, no wonder when seen from outside perspective, he's an accomplished man with proven capability. Honestly, William felt he could see him the way Johnson did if he didn't know Lucas personally.

"What about you?" Johnson asked William.

"Me?" William asked Johnson.

"Yeah, you must have someone you admire?" Johnson asked William while he smiled.

"…My own father, though these days I rarely think about him." William said to Johnson as he looked up to the sky, remembering the face of his late father.

"Oh? Why is that?" Johnson asked William.

"Maybe because I'm busy these days, I haven't had the chance to reminisce." William said to Johnson.

"Mhm…What's he like?" Johnson asked William.

"The wisest man I ever knew…He and mum have quite the age difference, six years. Father is a decorated military man, winning many honors, and performing exemplary feats during his time in the Royal Marines…Unfortunately, that's what caused him to lose his life…One mission went awry, and he's crippled, he spent the rest of his days bed ridden. Worst of all, I couldn't be there when he needed me the most…But, at least I got a chance to see him off…" William said to Johnson in a low tone.

His father has proven himself as a battle-hardened Royal Marine who has accomplished many of his missions with exemplary results, he's the one reason why William chose to follow his path as a soldier. He remembered all of the stories his father told him, he always wondered whether he could be as good as his father, and he's given that chance to prove himself when he joined the Bellerophon Program. He worked hard to prove himself, to make sure he could live up to his father's accomplishments, maybe even surpass them…In a sense, he did, but his father couldn't witness them directly…During his training, William's father was still on active duty despite his age. There's a mission to take back a nuclear reactor from hostile forces overseas, but the mission went awry, and the whole area became exposed to radiation that forced both sides to retreat. William's father was exposed to a severe amount of radiation, and he struggled hard to cling to his life as long as he could, but he eventually gave out. William was there to talk to him when his father passed, just after saying that he's proud of William and gave him his final lesson…

"…Sorry to hear that." Johnson said to William while he frowned.

"Yeah, thanks…Well, I wish you luck, Carl." William said to Johnson.

"You as well. You will take part in assaulting our captured HQ, won't you? It'll be a bloodbath if it goes wrong." Johnson said to William while he frowned.

"Not when I could do something about it." William said to Johnson with a serious face.

"Heh, I like your confidence, and I'm sure you could back it up…Later buddy." Johnson said to William while he smiled.

Johnson patted William's upper left arm as he walked away, William nodded before he also walked away though in a different direction…walking around like this has resulted in him meeting up with a few people, the talks really help to pass the time. However, despite meeting two people on the flight deck already, it hasn't been half an hour since he stepped outside…well, seeing that he's already out here, why not just meet up with anyone who's free at the moment? Maybe the ship girls are willing to chat with him? He already met and talked with several of the ship girls new to ALASUC, there's still several of them that William needs to get acquainted with. He already met and talked with most of the Task Force 38 members, some of the girls are quite quirky too. While he walked, he saw a woman with waist long silver hair, dressed in black with a bald eagle sitting on her left arm. She stroked its head gently before it flew upwards and headed to the west…

"Ms. Yorktown, I believe we haven't had the chance to talk." William approached the woman.

"Ah, Commander Blaze. Yes, I believe so." Yorktown turned around and smiled at the approaching William.

"Is that your pet that flew off just now?" William asked Yorktown as he stood beside her.

"Yes, his name is Grim…Oh, by the way, I want to thank you for taking care of my sisters, especially Enterprise. Unlike Hornet, she can be quite…difficult to handle." Yorktown said to William while she smiled.

"Well, yeah, it comes with the job." William said to Yorktown while he shrugged.

"She told me that you've been quite influential to her. I'd say you genuinely care for her, even outside your supposed job." Yorktown said to William.

"Really? What did she say?" William asked Yorktown.

"That you're someone that has given her advice and been a good friend to her." Yorktown said to William while she smiled.

"Is that so?" William said out loud.

Yorktown did ask how William treated Enterprise back on the base during their sleepover; it turns out she does have a lot of stories about the man. She told Yorktown about all of his feats that she managed to witness directly or heard from the other girls, and how William often gave her advice when she needed it, whether concerning military matters or just about daily life in general. Overall, he's someone Enterprise could always count on, and Enterprise said that he's a great commander and a good friend. Yorktown tried asking whether Enterprise has feelings for the man, subtly of course, and that's when she saw her cheeks reddening a bit…she's remembering all those times when she kissed the man on the cheek…

"…Has she given you any trouble, commander?" Yorktown asked William.

"Nah, she's been behaving. Sure she did have a couple silly ideas, but none that would endanger herself in the long run." …He still remembers her shenanigans during their vacation…

"How about Hornet?" Yorktown asked William about Hornet.

"She's quite behaved, though I don't really interact with her that often." William said to Yorktown, he might need to interact with her more.

"Is there a reason?" Yorktown asked William while she frowned a bit.

"Maybe just because I haven't got the chance, she's a good girl and behaves well, so she never got herself in trouble." William said to Yorktown.

"Sounds like Hornet...when she's holding herself back." Yorktown said to William while she muttered the last part.

"You really care about your sisters." William remarked as he smiled.

"Of course, they're everything to me…Being apart from them for the past two years was quite saddening, but when I saw them landing on the Terranova's flight deck looking happy and well…I believe the wait is worth it." Yorktown said to William while she smiled softly.

"I see…Tell me about yourself, Ms. Yorktown." William said to Yorktown.

"I was an active participant in the Great War until I took a fatal hit from Sakura Empire's 1st Carrier Division, I spent the next two years recovering within Azur Lane New York Regional HQ. A few months ago, I made a full recovery and returned to active duty…I think you could read about the details of my activity or participation from my dossier." Yorktown said to William while she smiled bitterly.

"I have read the summary…You've been through a lot." William said to Yorktown…honestly, that's not what he wants to know about her…

"…Compared to what Enterprise and Hornet have been through, I believe I got it easy." Yorktown said to William as she looked at the sea in front of her.

"Ah, don't think like that. You've already contributed and are quite lucky to survive your injuries…Many didn't have the chance, don't envy those who had to stay awake throughout the nightmare we know as the Great War." William said to Yorktown, he noted that she has…low self-esteem…

"I can't help it…It feels like I didn't make any contributions, I feel quite useless." Yorktown said to William while she smiled bitterly.

"You're far from one…But, if it really bothers you, then take this operation as a chance to redeem yourself." William said to Yorktown.

"Yes…I will surely give my all against the Sirens, commander." Yorktown said to William as she smiled a bit.

"However, you will not take unnecessary risks in doing so. The last thing we want is for Hornet and Enterprise to cry because their eldest sister got fatally injured a second time." William said to Yorktown with a firm tone.

"Is that an order, commander?" Yorktown asked William while she smiled bitterly.

"Yes, that's an order." William said to Yorktown without missing a beat.

"…Understood." Yorktown said to William while she nodded.

He didn't know her that well, but he could already see the signs of low self-esteem. While he did tell her that she can make up for her small contribution by participating in this mission, he wants to take precaution, so she won't do anything stupid out there. He understood her desire, but he also didn't want that to be the end of her. Yorktown's survival back during the Great War is a miracle in itself, she shouldn't throw away her life so easily just so she can prove herself useful. That's the reason why he makes it sound like a command to preserve her own life, he didn't know how far Yorktown would go, so he better make that a standing order. Just before he's about to say something to Yorktown, his phone rings, and he takes it out to see the caller…It's Lena? Didn't she just throw her phone into the sea? How? Ah, maybe she used one of the terminals in the CIC.

"Yeah?" William asked Lena on the phone.

"Will, we need to go to the staging ground, now." Lena said to William on the phone.

"Why?" William asked Lena on the phone.

"The old man said so. He wants us to learn about our newest prototype units in preparation for the battle." Lena said to William on the phone.

"Fine, I'll meet you on the flight deck. William said to Lena on the phone.

"Got it." Lena said to William on the phone then hung up.

"Going somewhere, commander?" Yorktown asked William.

"Yeah. I'll be going, Ms. Yorktown, nice talking with you." William said to Yorktown while he nodded.

"Likewise." Yorktown said to William while she smiled a bit.

…The ALASUC Acheron Dropship swiftly approaches the staging area for Azur Lane ground forces on Long Island, the dropship hovered above one of the few available landing areas before extending its landing gear then touched the ground. The rear hatch opened which revealed William and Lena, both immediately stepped out of the aircraft, and the dropship immediately took off once again while closing its rear hatch. Lena and William walked forward for a bit when they saw someone wearing white officer uniform walk toward them. Upon closer look, William recognized the man as Admiral John Stanford, the current commander of Task Force 38.

"Admiral McAllen, Commander Blaze, welcome to the staging area." Stanford said to William and Lena as he saluted them.

"Admiral Stanford, you're our tour guide?" Lena asked Stanford as she and William returned the salute.

"Unfortunately, I have to return to my ship, so no. I just want to greet you two before heading off." Stanford said to Lena as he lowered his right arm.

"Is that so?" William said to Stanford as he lowered his arm as well.

"Your tour guide is Major Yamato, he's the leader of the Sakura Empire task force that will be participating in this operation. Ah, I'll be going now, my ride's here." Stanford said to William before he noticed the incoming Blackhawk helicopter.

"Sure thing, admiral. Safe ride." William said to Stanford as he stepped aside.

Stanford only smiled before he proceeded to walk toward the Blackhawk, Lena looked at William and vice versa before nodding then started walking again. Not a moment too soon, they came face to face with an Asian man with jet black hair and crimson eyes dressed in Sakura Empire Army BDU. He must be Major Yamato that Stanford talked about few seconds ago, he seems to be quite young to have the rank Major…Oh who is William kidding, Lena might be as young as him, and she already has the rank admiral…In these times, age didn't really matter as much as performance and merits are what determined whether someone could get that rank or not. Then again, that caused William to wonder on how the fuck some incompetent people managed to get a high rank despite that notion…

"Major Akira Yamato, Sakura Empire Special Warfare Group One. Good to meet you two." Yamato extended his hand and shook both William's and Lena's hands.

"Likewise." Lena said to Yamato while she smiled.

"Special Warfare Group One huh, you guys are hardcore soldiers." William said to Yamato while he nodded.

"You knew about us?" Yamato asked William.

"We…have an experience with your group." William said to Yamato while he smiled bitterly under his helmet.

"…I see…Regardless of the past, we stand here together against a common enemy now. That's all that matters." Yamato said to William while he smiled a bit.

"I can get behind that. So major, what do you have?" William asked Yamato.

"Showcase and trial run. If you're a fan of the military sci-fi genre then you might love what I'm about to show you. Follow me please." Yamato said to William and Lena.

Both William and Lena followed Yamato, along the way, William and Lena took in the sight of the staging area that was bustling with activity. The area is packed with tents and temporary structures as soldiers patrol the area, gathered in small groups, carrying something, or even just sitting somewhere as if they're waiting for something. They could also see engineers running around with tool kits, many are working on battle damaged vehicles in the motor pool, some are tinkering with downed helicopters, and a few could be seen working on a futuristic looking vehicle with a blue dome on top of it…must be one of the new prototype vehicles that were sent here for field testing. Some scientists could be seen walking around while holding clipboards or talking with the engineers; it looks like the staging area doesn't run short of people from all fields of work. While walking to their destination, both Lena and William pass by a lot of people, and everyone who sees them has something to say to each other.

"…Whoa. It's him."

"Damn, he's as tall as the others said. He beat Siren ship girls in straight combat?"

"Yeah, I heard it from the Task Force 38 marines. He engaged seven of them and lived, not to mention slamming down a Spider tank after throwing it high up in the air…The dude's a monster."

"What is he doing here? Is he going to participate in the assault?"

"Dear lord, I hope so. Someone like him could even the odds."

"Seems fitting for the leader of the ship girls to be so strong, but seriously, how could he become like that?"

"He must've been involved with experiments that could turn someone into a super soldier."

"For real, you've seen the videos, right?"

"Yeah, if the Sirens are massacred like that, I can't imagine how easy it is for him to decimate us."

"Luckily, he's on our side."

"Better stay that way man, I would book it if I have to fight him."

"…You're getting quite famous." Lena said to William while she smiled widely.

"I hope they don't put too much expectation; it'll be a great let down if I can't deliver." William said to Lena while he frowned.

"Despite the power and advantage that you have?" Lena asked William while she smiled.

"Power and technological advantage alone don't win the fight, how you make the best use of it does. You know that." William said to Lena while he frowned.

"Fufu…yeah. Though, it's a good thing that they have expectations of you." Lena said to William.

"Hmm?" William hummed in a questioning tone.

"Hope? Morale? Come on, a retreating army could turn around and make a thunderous charge if someone that could even the odds arrived on the battlefield." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"That's even heavier than just being an inspiring soldier on the frontline." William said to Lena as he shook his head.

"The burden of the strong. With great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben said so~" Lena said to William while she smiled widely.

"Yeah yeah I get it." William said to Lena with half closed eye.

"Now…what do you say on piloting a Gundam?" Yamato asked out loud.

""A what?"" Both Lena and William asked Yamato at the same time.

"You heard me, a Gundam…Well, not exactly one, but it's the closest thing we got without getting a strike on copyright issues and all of that bullshit back home." Yamato said out loud while he folded his arms and smiled confidently.

"Oh, the Sakura Empire mechs. Lucas said that they will bring around eight units, they already arrived?" Lena asked Yamato.

"Arrived and ready. Behold, the best of the best Sakura engineers could offer, large robot culture made into reality. I present to you, the First-Generation Mechanized Combat Platform, MCP Type Ronin." Yamato said to Lena as he stepped aside.

Behind him, there's eight mechs in crouching position and being tended by multiple engineers and scientists. William and Lena looked in amazement at the new eight machines of war, there's several containers behind each mech, which both of them immediately presumed to be the mechs' weaponry. Anyway, both William and Lena walked toward the mechs to get a better view of them. The mechs' body have an appearance that resembles an ARX-7 Arbalest, but with the head that resembled KG-7 Areion's head. Six of them are colored in green khaki paint jobs, with one colored in red and white, and another colored in blue and white.

"Holy shit…" Lena said out loud in amazement.

"These are very cool looking mechs, one I could see taking on those Sirens. But what's the deal with the one painted in different colors? Squad leaders?" William asked Yamato as he pointed at the mechs.

"Yeah, though I let all of the pilots customize their own mechs, so they felt 'attached' to their unit, but they haven't got the time yet. Each unit is an expensive piece of equipment, so it should help in preventing reckless action. That white and blue one belongs to my second in command. She called it Pekodam 2.0." Yamato said to William.

"…Wait, Pekodam? Is she-" William asked Yamato as he cocked his eyebrows.

"I know, she watches V-Tubers too much…But anyway, this mech is built based on the data from that real life functional Gundam, Kuratas, and several other prototypes. We combined what we know from those prototypes, combined the data, and successfully created MCP Tengu. However, we were stuck on the power generation issues until Northern Parliament managed to reverse engineer the Titan Bomb into a compact nuclear power generator. We refitted eight of twelve available units and immediately trained and equipped them for combat." Yamato said to William.

"All of that in the span of a few months?" Lena asked Yamato.

"Yup, everyone is working around the clock to meet the tight deadline…That's why, I don't exaggerate when I say that we came here half baked. We still lack proper training despite all of the advanced weaponry we have, we will be learning through fire in this battle. All data that we accumulate on the upcoming assault will immediately be used to improve training regiments and asset optimization…" Yamato said to Lena.

"To put it bluntly, you guys are sent here to die and collect as much data as you could, so the others won't." Lena said to Yamato while she frowned.

"Pretty much." Yamato said to Lena while he shrugged.

"Hey, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" William said to Lena while he frowned.

"It's the truth, Will. You can't advance without making some sacrifice in the process. Sugar coating it won't do anything good, they know what they signed up for." Lena said to William while she frowned.

"Don't worry about it, Knight. Like the admiral said, we know what we're in for." Yamato said to William while he smiled.

"…Just try not to make unnecessary sacrifices. An experienced mecha pilot is better than raw data being sent to the lab, some things can only be passed on by direct teaching." William said to Yamato while he frowned.

"That's a wise sentiment, I'll be sure to remember that." Yamato said to William while he smiled.

Really, William thought if all of them survived this fight, it could be a testament to just how a mech could perform well in combat. The legs are the vulnerable part? SO ARE THE TANK THREADS, AND THAT DIDN'T STOP ANYONE FROM MASS PRODUCING THEM! Yeah, their size might be problematic, but the sheer firepower each unit could potentially bring should be more than enough to compensate for the risk of deploying one! With the right equipment customization and setup, each unit could take on any threat! It sounds plausible in theory, but show, don't tell. That's why their performance here will definitely impact on the decision whether the mechs would be mass produced in the future…Honestly thinking, William would like for Azur Lane and Crimson Axis to keep making one. And, he'd like a personal unit if he could afford one! Come on, what kind of man didn't want a personal robot to slay aliens?!

"Anyway, want to drive it?" Yamato asked out loud.

"Can I?!" William asked Yamato in surprise.

"Yeah, it has an onboard simulator program, so you can learn driving in your spare time. It's not a perfect simulation since it's still lacking many features, but it will do for movement and target practice." Yamato said to William while he smiled.

"Sign me up!" William immediately said to Yamato.

"Alright then, let me set a few things up." Yamato said to William as he turned around and climbed aboard the snow white and red MCP.

"…Is your inner nerd having an orgasm right now~?" Lena asked William while she grinned.

"You can say that…I'm quite excited, never thought I'll be able to pilot a mech in my lifetime." William said to Lena while he smiled widely.

"To be honest, me neither. But it is what happens." Lena said to William.

Oh man, William is excited at the prospect of riding a mech! He has always wanted to ride one ever since he's a kid, who loves to watch sci-fi mecha shows on TV. Nice to get the chance to fulfill one of his childhood wishes! How cool would it be sitting in the cockpit, firing at enemy mechs, blowing targets up with big cannons, and even freaking engaging a mech in close quarter combat? If the Sirens have Kaiju? Even better, they could make the proper sequel for Pacific Rim! Makes William wish he could punch monsters using the mech in front of him as the theme song is roaring inside the cockpit! Oh shit, he's too excited for this! William looked at the mech, he's all in to board and fight in one, but what about Lena? She's the thinker between the two of them, what is her opinion about these mechs?

"…What do you think?" William asked Lena as the both of them stared at the mechs.

"My old militaristic side says that this thing is a big waste of money on the battlefield, it's a huge target and an easy to immobilize platform. My more optimistic side says that this will be a great counter for those Siren Mechs, the potential, strategy, and tactics that infantry normally used could be applied to vehicular combat…I've seen the footage, our tanks could only damage one with concentrated firepower. Their cannons take a while to reload, and the damage output doesn't sit well with Siren Mechs' shield strength and damage output…Analysts say that at least four tanks are needed to down one mech, resources that we can't always spare." Lena said to William.

"How about missiles?" William asked Lena.

"…Well, in a sense they still work. Perhaps we can supplement some APCs to support the tanks…But even then, the number of missiles that each APC carries are also limited. It doesn't mean our traditional tanks and APCs are useless in fighting the mechs, we just need more in order to combat one, and the mobility of each unit could still be used as hit and run tactics. The MCPs will be a good supplement in our arsenal and serve as the direct challenger for Siren Mechs…I figured that the results could be seen in the upcoming assault." Lena said to William.

"Yeah, we will see how effective the MCPs are later, and then we can judge. I'm quite optimistic though." William said to Lena while he smiled.

"Don't get me wrong, so am I." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"…Which one of you want to go first!?" Yamato asked out loud from on top of the mechs.

"Me!" William said to Yamato while he raised his hand.

"Alright! Climb aboard, Knight!" Yamato said to William.

"What will you do in the meantime?" William asked Lena.

"I got some phone calls to make. Can I borrow your phone, please?" Lena said to William while she smiled.

William wordlessly took out his phone and handed it to Lena, she then started inputting numbers on the dial page, while William used his jet thruster to fly and landed on top of the mech's right shoulder. There's a hatch on the mech's upper torso just below the chin of the head, and Yamato told William to sit inside, he immediately entered through the hatch and immediately faced the cockpit of the MCP. The cockpit has three large main screens that serve as the means to look outside, it's like having three large flat screen TVs in front of the pilot seat. The cockpit's interface has the same appearance like the ones on fighter jets, there are various screens that displayed data related to the mech including radar, health monitor, armament status, and other miscellaneous info. There's a small screen on the underside of the interface, between the two pedals that William isn't sure about the function just yet. It displayed the underneath of the mech, probably so the pilot could watch their step. William also noticed that the mech has two hand interfaces in the form of sticks, and seems connected to his seat's armchair as well. There are various buttons on it including two control sticks like ones onboard a fighter craft…for now, William tried not to mess around with it.

"It's a double seater?" William asked Yamato as he also descended into the cockpit.

"The unit is perfectly capable of functioning with one pilot despite the feature. The backseat is for a more specialized role. Radar operators, tech experts, scientists, field researchers, or even soldiers in case we need a ground infantry team for investigation. Our engineers want each MCP to be versatile." Yamato said to William as he went to the seat behind William, it almost has the same cockpit layout with the exception only having one main screen.

"Huh, good thinking," William commented as he looked around the cockpit excitedly.

"…Are you ready to begin a crash course?" Yamato asked William.

"Yup! I'm ready to learn!" William said to Yamato.

"Alright, I'll show you the startup procedure first and work our way from there." Yamato said to William.

Yamato begins teaching William on how to turn on the MCP and check its status, William being excited, quickly absorbs the lesson given. In half an hour, he's already familiar with the startup procedure and the functions of the instruments all around him. Yamato is also a good teacher, he's able to simply explain each function of the components around William, making sure the man has an understanding of it before moving on to the next one. He also teaches him the basics first and branching out to the details when William asks him to elaborate the functions further. William also didn't shy from asking Yamato regarding what to do in various case scenarios, such as startup failure, or when one of the components are damaged, or even quick startup in case of emergency deployment. Yamato explained it as best as he could, even teaching William a trick to make the mech up to speed within thirty seconds. It's not the correct way according to protocol and the instruction manual, but it's a functional method nevertheless. That's the result of Yamato spending the majority of his time tinkering with his mech for the past few months, he's very familiar with the way it functions.

"Yosh, it seems you're ready for this. Initiating simulator…Welcome aboard the MCP Ronin, Knight. This mech stands at around twelve meters, has two-centimeter armor plating supplemented with one centimeter composite under armor, the mech is equipped with a 75mm assault cannon supplemented with a 120mm underbarrel grenade launcher, and a 50mm backup hand cannon. In case you run out of everything, the mech also has a three meters tanto style blade for melee combat…Good luck, have fun. Let's begin with learning to move the mech before doing target practice." Yamato said to William.

"Oh I'm going to enjoy this!" William said out loud excitedly as he grabbed on the sticks and put his feet on the pedals.

.

…Two days later, the massive scale assault is commencing on schedule. Azur Lane and Crimson Axis combined ground forces rolled out from the staging area on the Long Island, tanks and APCs traversed the streets of the war torn urban area at steady speed, infantries are riding on the tanks or inside the APCs as they head for their deployment areas, the MCPs are moving out in two groups with four mechs each, and they walked while carrying huge assault cannons in their hands, the Seraphs are jumping using their jets on the rooftops to head for their positions, helicopters both transport and gunship are flying above the moving ground forces, and artilleries are being set up in their designated points. Their destination? The edge of New York City. Their mission? Take out the Siren army that spans the city perimeter with defensive emplacements behind them. It will be a massive firefight between the two clashing armies, the Sirens have prepared their arsenal well. Siren troopers fortified themselves inside various buildings or rubbles on the streets, Brawlers are lurking in the alleyways or the rooftops and ready to ambush the approaching humans, Spider tanks are in position around the buildings or the streets, and their mechs concealed themselves behind tall buildings while waiting for the humans to come in range.

As expected, the humans opened fire first by shelling the Sirens' outer perimeter to soften up any of their forces stationed there. The artillery fired for around five minutes, shelling the area with high explosive shells before switching to cluster munitions for the last shelling. Hey, the Sirens didn't sign the Geneva Convention, and they're not human. It's free real estate to go all out with the full might of humanity's every available weaponry. As soon as the shelling stopped, tanks and APCs charged toward the Sirens' defense line while being supported by MCPs, which were taking cover behind tall buildings. They're able to swiftly eliminate any Siren survivors from the shelling, quickly setting up a perimeter and started pushing further into the Sirens' defense line. However, as soon as they're in range, the Sirens fire everything they got. Siren troopers supported by Spider tanks immediately countered the human charge and both sides are immediately locked in a stalemate, which is broken almost immediately because of Siren defensive emplacements, the trapezium towers opened fire at the closest human forces, destroying the vehicles and killing everyone in the area of impact.

"Athena, what's the status of the ground assault?" Lucas asked Lena on the radio.

"The assault is proceeding as planned! Our whole army is pushing through and have made contact with the Sirens' outer perimeter guard!" Lena said to Lucas on the radio.

"Good, we'll notify you once the Siren fleet reacts to your presence. There's no way they won't try shelling your position once you're in range." Lucas said to Lena on the radio.

"Got it!" Lena said on the radio.

"How's Knight?" Lucas asked Lena on the radio.

"He's in position sir!" Lena said to Lucas on the radio.

"Alright…Good luck out there." Lucas said to Lena on the radio.

"You too High Commander!" Lena said to Lucas on the radio.

William watched the ongoing battle from one of the rooftops, he frowned at the sight of his fellow soldiers engaged in heavy combat against the Sirens, and many of them were being blasted into oblivion from Siren defensive emplacements. Some of them managed to deal direct damage at the emplacements, but that wasn't enough to stop the machines from retaliating, but no matter what happened, the human forces kept sending additional tanks, APCs, and infantry to plug the holes in the perimeter. They got the numbers, but at this rate, they'll run out of men before even reaching the captured Azur Lane HQ, which has been turned into a Siren base...William's team's purpose is quite simple, the moment it is clear that their army can't make a push, he alongside several ship girls will run interference by destroying the cannons from afar. But they have to keep themselves hidden until they are absolutely needed, otherwise the Sirens will definitely prioritize them the moment they are detected.

To that end, he's accompanied by Helena and Cleveland, who will be providing the firepower. Illustrious is also part of the team, but she's on the reserve for the moment. Her planes would easily get shot down if she deployed them now. Both girls also stared at the battlefield in front of them, Helena couldn't help herself but to frown deeply at the sight of the soldiers being in the thick of it. She really wants to help, but the plan is clear. Cleveland is also apprehensively fidgeting as she watches the battle, she has been glancing back and forth between the cannons and William. She's really waiting for that green light from him, she couldn't bear the thought that with each second passing more and more soldiers died in front of them. What is William waiting for? Surely he knows that their comrades are getting slaughtered down there, why didn't he immediately order them to commence the attack? Unbeknownst to both Helena and Cleveland, William is scanning the area beyond the defensive line…he wants to know where the Sirens are readying their quick reaction force, so he could get some intel on them.

"…I hope the admiral is alright, leading our forces directly from the front." Helena said out loud.

"Lena's in the thick of it, that's for sure. Nothing new in her line of work." William commented as he kept looking at the battlefield.

"…Should we just go and help her, commander? Our forces are getting pounded hard over there." Cleveland said to William while she frowned.

"She'll be fine, our task is far more important." William said to Cleveland without an ounce of hesitation in his voice.

"You're that confident?" Cleveland asked William as she turned to stare at him.

"Lena's force, Task Force Pluvia, is among the best of the best within Azur Lane. They could handle it, unless they specify that they will need help." William said to Cleveland as he stared at her.

"After her performance during our brief war game on the resort, I think I could see why she's in charge." Helena commented while she smiled a bit.

"Precisely…our units were shredded as soon as they entered those cannons' effective range, we can't let this continue. We really have to intervene directly. Helena, Cleveland, get ready to fire on those cannons. As soon as we open fire, there's no doubt that our position will be swarmed by Sirens." William said out loud.

"Yes commander!" "Heh, let's get the party started!" Helena and Cleveland said to William as they deployed their riggings.

"Good…fire when ready." William said out loud.

Helena and Cleveland immediately opened fire, sending out continuous salvos immediately after their guns were loaded. As a result, dozens of armor piercing and high explosive shells pounded the Siren Trapezium towers without stopping. All across their perimeter, there's six of them spread across the Sirens' defense line and to eliminate all six? William's team has to move between three positions and eliminate two emplacements on each position. Right now, they're in the southernmost position, the first one. Helena and Cleveland combined their firepower to take down one tower before doing the same to the other one, it took them around two minutes and dozens of shells before they destroyed the towers. William originally planned to bring in the battleships for this, but Enterprise and the rest would be needed for all of them to take down Orochi, he had to compensate for this one, and he immediately chose Helena and Cleveland.

"Deploy the Aegis!" William said out loud on the radio.

"Cannons eliminated on the south side!" Helena said to William while she smiled.

"Good shot you two." William said out loud while he smiled.

"Uh! Return fire!" Cleveland said out loud as she saw several plasma bolts moving to their location.

"Don't worry, we should be good." William said to Cleveland while he smirked.

The plasma bolts exploded before they even reached William's team as it made contact with something, there's an almost transparent looking blue energy dome that covered the surrounding area, and they're within the said dome's protection. This is the fruit of research that came from Iris Orthodoxy's laboratory, a defensive vehicle that could project a large energy shield in the form of a dome, codenamed Aegis. The vehicle is larger than a standard main battle tank with a dome on top of its chassis, a blue metallic dome with dozens of blue glowing parts around it that functioned as the shield emitter. The shielding it produced is around fifty meters in diameter and thirty meters in height, the dome is quite sturdy as it could take repeated bombardment from three squadrons of fighters carrying UGBs during the field testing, and it loses only around seventy percent of its shield integrity. However, there's one drawback it has which is whenever it has to activate its shield dome, the vehicle cannot move. The computer and the generator are still not strong enough to make the vehicle able to move while deploying its shield at the same time.

"That vehicle is really useful! Hey, commander, can we get some upgrades for personal shields? Like Eugen or Hipper or Zara?" Cleveland asked William while she smiled.

"We'd get to that later, Cleve-" William said to Cleveland.

"My radar just lit up! Incoming dropships!" Helena interrupted them with a serious face.

"Guess they got their priorities straight! Athena, this is Knight. We're going to need some backup over here; they're coming for us directly." William commented before contacting Lena on the radio.

"Roger. I'm heading to your position." Lena said to William.

"You? Oh well, just don't take too much from the main assault force." William said to Lena on the radio while he frowned a bit.

"Don't worry about it. Be there in two minutes, Knight." Lena said to William on the radio.

"Grab on to me, you two." William said out loud.

Cleveland and Helena stored their riggings temporarily as they grabbed onto William tightly, he carried both girls with him and jumped off the rooftop of the building they're on. Then, he activated his jet thrusters just enough, so they could land on the ground smoothly. After landing, Helena and Cleveland immediately summoned their riggings once again. Helena summoned her hand cannon, one derived from her rigging which she used for close quarter fights. William, however, found himself staring at it for a bit, he's not aware that Helena has something like that. He better ask her about it later. Still, Lena coming to their position directly? Granted, there's various majors and colonels participating in this battle, so she didn't always have to give direct command on what to do. But, coming to meet them directly? William is concerned about her safety since she's only human! The chance of William to be swarmed by a huge number of Sirens is very likely, and the situation is potentially dangerous for Lena, who's only equipped with light armor and rifles!

"Alright, this is it! We've got incoming Siren dropships! We need to move toward the second position now, or we will get surrounded! Protect the Aegis! Light any aliens along the way!" William said out loud to the soldiers around him.

"Yes commander! You heard the man! Fire and move! Cover to cover!" The captain in charge of escorting the vehicle said out loud.

Thus, the group begins to move, both light infantries and heavy infantries provide perimeter security as they move toward their second designated position. There's a lot of opposition along the way, granted that they're very close to the frontline, but none of them expect the Sirens to manage to counter them so quickly that they already reached their route, which is supposedly two hundred meters away from their supposed perimeter. William took out his GPM Assault Carbine and started firing at the Sirens to help the soldiers. Helena and Cleveland huddled closely to William as they prepared themselves for their next salvo. Helena occasionally opened fire at some stray Siren troopers in front of them with her hand cannons. Things are going well, they managed to defeat any Sirens in the way, and it's a smooth ride to the second position. That's when shit goes down…

Dozens of Siren fighters dived into their convoy, Helena and Cleveland fired their AA guns to try to take down as many as they could, with Cleveland especially working hard to make the sky black with flak. However, the jets are proven too much even for two KANSENs, and the ones that aren't shot down yet immediately launched missile barrage at the Aegis. William grabbed both Cleveland and Helena then dashed using the jet thruster away from the Aegis, which was slammed by dozens of missiles split second later, effectively destroying the vehicle and reducing it to nothing but a burning scrap.

"No! The Aegis!" Helena said out loud while she frowned deeply.

"Shit, not even the both of us were enough to shoot them down…" Cleveland said to herself in a low tone.

"Nothing we can do about it now, stay focused you two!" William said to Helena and Cleveland.

"Sir." "Yes commander…" Helena and Cleveland said to William.

"Motherfucker! They really know how to be excessive!" The captain said out loud angrily.

"DROPSHIPS!" One of the soldiers shouted out loud.

"SCATTER! FIND SOME COVER!" The captain immediately barked orders.

William, Cleveland, and Helena split up as plasma bolts rained upon their position from above, three Siren dropships dived at them before hovering above them. The dropships opened their hatches which resulted in a few Siren troopers and a large number of Brawlers pouring down onto the convoy's position. There was immediate chaos, firefights erupted on the street the convoy was on, but it was apparent that the humans were quickly getting overrun. Lots of soldiers are killed seconds after the Sirens deploy their infantry, even the Heavy Infantry are overwhelmed by the amount of concentrated plasma fire or because the Brawlers gang up on them. There are a few soldiers who are still alive, but it's only a matter of time before the Sirens start hunting them inside the buildings which they take cover on.

"Dammit! We're surrounded!" William said out loud as he fired at the Siren troopers on the street.

"Commander! Brawlers are surrounding Helena's building!" Cleveland said out loud as she pointed to the building opposite of them.

"I see them!" William said out loud as he aimed his GPM Assault Carbine.

However, a large group of Brawlers stormed the building William and Cleveland used to take cover. Cleveland managed to escape the ambush by diving out of the building's window, which resulted in her landing in the alleyways, the same can't be said for William though. The man is surrounded and restrained by Brawlers, his body constantly flashes blue as his shield soaked up the punches and kicks the Brawlers sent him. William struggled heavily, his hands and legs were all being restrained, and the moment he freed a limb, it immediately got grabbed again by the Brawlers. The Brawlers restrained him as if they knew how dangerous he is if he's not, all of them looked desperate to put William down as fast as they could.

"COMMANDER!" Cleveland shouted out loud.

"GO GET HELENA AND CONTINUE THE MISSION, CLEVE! CATCH!" William shouted at Cleveland.

William freed his right hand and threw his GPM Assault Carbine at Cleveland, who caught it easily, Cleveland stared at the weapon for a bit before she gritted her teeth in frustration and started running. She has to save Helena, but in order to do that he will have to abandon William. She knows that he's strong, but what if the Sirens get lucky this time? How can she face the rest of the ship girls if William got killed because Cleveland left him behind? No, Cleveland shook her head as she ran to the building Helena's in, she believed that won't happen. Sure, William has had some close calls in the past, but he's a tough one, and she believes that a few Brawlers would not be able to end him so easily. She has to focus, her close friend is in trouble, and it's up to her to save Helena. Cleveland entered the building and found Helena down on the floor at the corner of the room she's in with a large group of Brawlers slowly approaching her. Cleveland quickly raised the carbine she held and aimed at the Brawlers, then pulled the trigger with zero hesitation.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Cleveland shouted out loud.

TRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

The Brawlers fell lifelessly to the floor with their backs filled with bullet holes oozing yellow blood, Cleveland ran inside the room and quickly approached Helena. She crouched as she tried to inspect Helena's condition, Cleveland didn't see any visible wounds on Helena's body but figured that she would need some time to recover. Helena looked at Cleveland, at first when she heard the unique sounding gunshot, she thought William just saved her. Turns out, it was Cleveland who's carrying his weapon. Helena wondered why did Cleveland have his weapon, where is William? Helena tries to stand up first before asking Cleveland, but it takes a lot of effort to do so. She got slammed to the wall by a Brawler before, and her body is still recovering from the shock. She'll need a few seconds before she can walk again…

"Hey, you okay?" Cleveland asked Helena as she helped her stand up.

"Urgh…I'm okay, thanks for saving me, Cleve." Helena said to Cleveland while she smiled.

"No problem. Come on, we have to move to the second position! Our job isn't over yet!" Cleveland said to Helena.

Both of them get out of the building they're in, and they witnessed the building William's in is being sieged by Brawlers, a few are waiting to enter the building as the interior is jam packed by the rest of the Brawlers that ambushed their convoy. Both Helena and Cleveland could hear gunshots and Brawler screams coming from the building before they witnessed a Brawler being thrown outside, a headless Brawler. It's obvious that William is still alive, and he's kicking ass hard, but it would seem he's got his hands full right now. Now Helena knows why it was Cleveland who rescued her while carrying his gun. William is being surrounded by dozens of Brawlers at the moment, and he will need some help!

"That's the building you both were in! C-Commander William is still in there, right?! W-We have to help him!" Helena said to Cleveland as she aimed her hand cannons.

"He can handle himself! He'll catch up to us! Come on!" Cleveland grabbed on Helena's hand before she started running.

"We can't just leave him, Cleve!" Helena said to Cleveland while she frowned deeply.

"He ordered us to! If we don't take care of those towers quickly, our assault will fail! Come on Helena, he's strong and skilled! He'll survive those Sirens, and he will catch up to us!" Cleveland said to Helena while she frowned.

Cleveland believed she just spewed some bullshit at Helena because honestly, she also has her doubts. But his order is clear, and Cleveland will say what she has to say in order to get Helena to come with her. Helena looked back at the building where William squared off against the Brawlers as her hand was being dragged by Cleveland, she really wanted to help him. But his order is clear, and the stakes are real. Helena chose to believe that William will pull through in the end…Helena stopped being hesitant and started running with Cleveland instead of being dragged, her resolve to complete her mission is rock solid, and her belief in her commander's fighting abilities eased any worries she had…Their convoy is destroyed, the escorting soldiers are all killed as their bodies could be seen on the streets Cleveland and Helena ran on. Both Cleveland and Helena only stared at them for a bit as they frowned in sadness, both girls silently vowed to make sure to complete their task, so the soldiers wouldn't die in vain.

After running for around five minutes, the both of them reached the second position. Unfortunately, Brawlers are in the area, and both of the girls are spotted not too long after that. Cleveland wanted to save her munitions, so she aimed then fired William's carbine at the approaching Brawlers. Helena also used her hand cannons to take out the Brawlers, and the both of them swiftly dispatched the Sirens. Cleveland fired the gun until it went click. She looked at the ammo counter, and she clicked her tongue because it only has triple zeroes on the counter, which means the carbine is out of ammo. Well, it only has around one hundred rounds left when William tossed it toward her, and she spent most of it when she rescued Helena, it's to be expected. Suddenly, Helena and Cleveland heard distant animalistic screams amidst the distant gunfire and explosions, it's the sound of the approaching Brawler group.

"They're coming, we have to take them out first before we could destroy the cannons." Cleveland said to Helena.

"Yeah, I hope Commander William could catch up soon and help us." Helena said to Cleveland as she readied her hand cannons.

"Heh, he better be. Otherwise, we're going to spend a lot of time kiting those Brawlers." Cleveland said to Helena.

The Brawlers appeared from an intersection, Cleveland and Helena readied themselves but bit by bit they found themselves becoming not ready for what they're about to face. Both of them thought they'll be facing a small group of them but what's coming is an entire horde, so Helena and Cleveland immediately used their rigging and fired their main guns at the incoming Brawler horde. It's effective at massacring them since one shell has a huge blast area, and the both of them sent out a salvo, but despite that, the guns aren't auto cannons, so it will take a while to reload, and by then the Brawlers already swiftly approaching the both of them. Just when Cleveland and Helena are about to dash backwards and bail out to kite the Brawlers, they see something approaching them from behind the Brawlers. It's a white thing, moving fast, and it landed in front of both girls. The impact stunned the Brawler horde, making them stop for a bit.

A humanoid figure cladded in snow white armor stood in front of Cleveland and Helena, the figure has a set of transparent purple mechanical wings with a solid white wing frame, the figure is holding a shield on its left hand and a longsword on its right. The figure raised its right arm that held the sword, the sword glows blue before the figure swings the sword upward forward and producing bright flash and deafening sounds that forced both Helena and Cleveland to look away and cover their ears…when they opened their eyes again, the figure is already jumping toward the Brawler horde, which has a huge empty hole in the middle of their formation that stretched all the way to their backlines. Naturally, the Brawlers proceed to swarm the figure, but they fail because the figure jumps high in the air while being aided by twin jet thrusters on its back. The figure raised its longsword once again before aiming it at the ground, that's when the two ship girls saw it.

Lightning, the figure shot lightning out of the longsword, and it impacted the ground and eviscerated the Brawlers that got hit directly. The figure dived to the ground, hitting one of the Brawlers with its feet and slamming it down hard against the asphalt. Then, the figure started brawling the Brawlers. Cleveland and Helena stared a bit then nodded at each other before they switched to their secondary guns and started helping the armored figure. Cleveland noted that the figure is moving too fast for a normal human, its combat ability is unquestionable as it used the longsword to either stab a Brawler in its heart directly or decapitate one with extreme ease. The figure also utilizes its shield to tank Brawler punches and kicks quite well, and it could also use its shield for offensive moves like backhanding a Brawler with it. The figure is an agile fighter that strikes with precision and lethality…With the three of them working together, they managed to drive the Brawlers away after murdering ninety percent of the horde. Cleveland and Helena sighed in relief, now they could resume their work…But really, who is that figure?

"Glad I came right on time." The figure said out loud as she approached Helena and Cleveland.

"Who are you?" Helena asked the woman.

"Oh, even though we share a name? I'm hurt, Helena~" …Helena widened her eyes.

"Eh? Admiral Lena?!" Helena said out loud as she pointed at Lena.

"Yup, that's right~" Lena said to Helena as she stopped in front of her.

"You're wearing armor! Just like Commander William!" Helena said to Lena while she smiled.

"William's mother commissioned one for me, she knows I will be fighting in the front, and I will need the best gear available. What do you think?" Lena asked Helena.

The snow-white armor with purple stripes in some parts? It's designed as warrior princess in style, but with a futuristic design, a mix and match of both aesthetics. Her helmet resembles a medieval knight helmet but with a crown on its top part, the visor shaped like two slanted eyes that glow purple. The armor has a slender torso armor part supplemented with lean pauldrons, upper arm armor, lower arm armor, a pair of gauntlets with sharp edges that covers some of her upper hands, complete set of leg armor, and a pair of sabatons. Unlike William who has segmented armor that provided the scaly look, Lena's armor is smooth, streamlined, and has a pair of wings. Both are looking lean in design, however, so that should contribute greatly to their agility. Both are commandos that are trained to move swiftly, so their fighting style is naturally attuned to moving agile and striking precisely. William did have an additional advantage in strength factor though, something Lena couldn't have unless she also became a human-KANSEN hybrid…Hey, that's an idea…

"It looks cool and beautiful!" Helena said to Lena while she smiled widely.

"I want one honestly, would make my title as Solomon Knight more legit with the right appearance." Cleveland said to Lena while she grinned.

"Fufu, maybe we'll get you some in the future, Cleveland. Anyway, where is he?" Lena said to Cleveland before asking her concerning William's whereabouts.

"He's behind us, our group got ambushed. Everyone is dead, admiral." Cleveland said to Lena while she looked down and frowned.

"I see…Ah, speak of the devil." Lena said out loud.

Cleveland and Helena heard the roaring sound of jet engine before something landed near them a few seconds later, it's William himself, and his armor is coated in yellow liquid in lots of places alongside lots of scratches on its paint job…William is NOT having a good day, being surrounded and gangbanged by dozens of Brawlers is not how he predicted today will go. He used the combination of moving quickly with jet thrusters, firing his guns, then followed with melee attacks using his wrist blades, and his Siren Slayer. After wasting five minutes duking it out with the Brawlers, William kneeled to rest for a bit because that fight really drained him. He survived against far worse than a horde of Brawlers, but he couldn't help himself to think that surviving an alien gangbang felt a lot more accomplishing than wiping out an entire task force somewhat.

"Commander! Are you alright?" Cleveland asked William while she frowned.

"I got dozens of Brawlers wanting my autograph, but yeah I'm fine now." William said to Cleveland.

"Phew…at least you're unscathed." Cleveland said to William while she smiled.

"Yeah, just my armor that got scratched up a bit." William said to Cleveland while he nodded.

"Glad to see you're okay, Knight." Lena said to William while she smiled.

"Athena? Wow, you look gorgeous." William said to Lena.

"My, thank you~" Lena said to William while she smiled.

"What's the name?" William asked Lena.

"Prototype Seraphim Battle Armor, it has no correlation with the Seraphs by the way. Your mom doubled down on the defensive aspect with a high-capacity energy shielding module, though that doesn't mean I'm invincible against KANSEN grade firepower." Lena said to William as she twirled once, Helena and Cleveland stared at each other in confusion when they saw that.

"At least you didn't have to dodge attacks most of the time, moreover with you having a literal shield at hand…Judging by the wings, you can fly as well?" William said to Lena as he looked at the wings on her back.

"Oh yeah, maybe even more maneuverable than your armor~. Care to test it out in a race?" Lena asked William while she grinned.

"Challenge accepted. But let's put that on hold for a while, here they come." William said to Lena as he pointed at something behind her.

"Wow, they came back with more friends in tow." Lena commented as she turned around and saw a large horde of Brawlers swiftly approaching them.

"Cleve, Helena, you two continue the attack against those Siren emplacements. Lena and I will cover you, after you're done, if we're not finished yet, go to the third position ahead of us." William said to Cleveland and Helena.

"Got it, commander!" Cleveland said to William while she grinned.

"Leave it to us! Do your best, both of you!" Helena said to William while she smiled.

"Oh don't worry, it's what we're trained to do~" Lena said to Helena while she smirked.

"Commander, catch!" Cleveland said to William as she threw the carbine.

"Huh, ammo's out? You didn't hold back." William commented after he caught the carbine and inspected it.

"Thanks for lending me that! I want one for Christmas!" Cleveland said to William as she and Helena entered a building to get to its rooftop.

William only snorted in amusement while he grinned, giving an experimental gun for a Christmas present? Hoo boy, that's a recipe for a disaster with how rowdy the ship girls can be…William took out the empty magazine, and it disappeared in his left hand with a blue flash, he opened his left hand, and a fully loaded magazine materialized out of thin air in blue flash as well. The perks of being able to store things away in a pocket dimension provided by the Wisdom Cube, very convenient in the heat of battle. William put the magazine in the carbine and cocked the gun, loading the chamber with a fresh round. Lena sheathed her longsword and summoned her own GPM Assault Carbine; William cocked his eyebrows when he saw that…Lena's armor is also powered by the Wisdom Cube? Of course, where else did it get the power to fly and generate shields? Still, why did Lena say nothing to him about the armor? Or even Diana? William decided that he can just ask why later, he needed to focus on this one, so he wouldn't get surrounded again.

"…Most melee kills get to order the other to do what they want?" Lena asked William while she smiled.

"You're on Lena." William said to Lena while he smirked a bit.

TRATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA

TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA

TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATAATATA!

Both Lena and William immediately fired their carbines in full auto, unleashing accelerated bullet barrages toward the approaching Brawlers. Those that get hit immediately lose their balance and tripped the other Brawlers that are running behind them, four hundred accelerated bullets tore through the horde in under ten seconds. William and Lena are good at fighting in close quarters, but not even they are confident in taking on an entire horde of superhuman creatures. It goes without saying between both of them, they will have to thin the opposition's numbers before they jump into the fray…they successfully killed around forty percent of the horde, now comes the fun part. Lena took out her longsword while William summoned his broadsword, then the both of them dashed toward the Brawlers with their jet thrusters.

Lena went in, and she stabbed a Brawler in the chest before she dashed and stabbed another one, she made sure to keep moving in order to avoid being grappled by them. Lena precisely strikes each Brawler in their weak point, either stabbing them in the heart or decapitating them. It's the most effective method in fighting a Brawler for those who didn't have superhuman strength. Sure, the armor exoskeleton helps in enhancing her power and speed, but that is still not enough. William on the other hand has no problem whatsoever, each swing of his broadsword could take out multiple Brawlers at once and his punches or kicks are lethal enough to crack their skulls open. However, he doesn't have the same speed as Lena who's able to move quickly and smoothly glides from a Brawler to another. He has to make it up with multiple kills in one strike if he doesn't want to lose to Lena…Both of them make quick work of any Brawler that dares to engage them in close quarters, it didn't take long until the Brawlers rushed in all at once to dog pile the two. But both William and Lena noted the signs, so they dashed out of the horde and put some distance between them.

"Hey, how many did you get?" Lena asked William.

"186, you?" William asked Lena back.

"179." Lena said to William.

"Looks like I'm winning, not many of them left as well." William said to Lena while he smiled a bit.

"Not for long~" Lena said to William while she smirked.

"You sound so confident." William said to Lena with cocked eyebrows.

"Fufu! You don't want to be caught in this!" Lena said to William while she grinned.

Lena's longsword glows blue and William widens his eye, wait, her weapon has an extra mode?! Lena pointed her longsword at the Brawler before lightning shot out of the sword and impacted the horde. The lightning surge fried the rest of the Brawlers, which made the second position cleared of hostiles. William has his jaws dropped a bit because man he wants one of those! His Siren Slayer has no extra features whatsoever, imagine how awesome would it be if his Siren Slayer could shoot out energy waves like those that are usually seen in RPG games? He'd be unstoppable! Lena sighed as she sheathed her longsword on her hip, the lightning strike feature is really useful though it has a cool down time, so she can't just spam it. Furthermore, she can't hold the charge forever or the sword's capacitor will overload. That could potentially break the sword, discharge the energy randomly, and possibly fry herself then everybody around her. So, if she charges her blade, she will have to release the energy stored in her blade no matter what. That's why she has to be careful with its usage, it's a prototype weapon after all.

"…Well?" Lena asked William as she turned her head toward him.

"I didn't expect that, at all. I doubt that counts as melee kills." William said to Lena as he put his broadsword on his back.

"I used my blade, didn't I?" Lena said to William.

"Yeah, but it's ranged kills." William said to Lena.

"It still comes from a blade, so it's still counted as melee, we call that one an extra feature~" Lena said to William while she grinned.

"There's no winning against you, eh?" William said to Lena with half closed eye.

"Your fault for not throwing additional terms on that agreement~" Lena said to William while she grinned and shrugged.

"…Fair enough, I got screwed legally." William said to Lena while he shook his head.

"Fufufu, you should really try to be more careful with agreements…Now you're at my mercy, Will~" Lena said to William while she smiled.

"Commander! We're pinned down! They got mechs and troopers in the third position! We can't punch through by ourselves!" Helena said to William on the radio.

"Alright, hold on Helena! We're coming!" William said to Helena on the radio.

"Fuh, looks like our break is over. Let's go" Lena said to William.

William nodded his head and the both of them immediately engaged their jet thrusters. Helena and Cleveland already went ahead of them, looks like William and Lena took too much time cleaning up those Brawlers. The third and final position is to the north, William looked to his left and noted that the battle turned in their favor for now, with four of those trapezium towers destroyed. They have to take back their headquarters today, so the Sirens wouldn't have any route to flank the invasion party to New York directly. Recapturing the HQ would be easier than defending it though because William didn't doubt that the Sirens would immediately launch a counter offensive to retake it.

"Aibou, threat assessment on the third position." William said out loud.

"Three Siren mechs and forty Siren troopers are detected on sensors." Aibou said out loud.

"Which one do you want to take?" William asked Lena on the radio.

"I'm not superhuman, so I'll take the troopers. Distract the mechs, so I can clear those pesky bastards quickly." Lena said to William on radio.

"Roger that." William said to Lena on the radio.

Lena looked around to get a lock on Cleveland's and Helena's position before she quickly dived down, some Siren troopers noticed her and started firing their plasma rifles at her. Lena put her shield up in her front which protected her from the bolts then slammed into a Siren trooper at full speed. She rolled on the ground while grabbing the fallen plasma rifle then used it to fire at the troopers that had been pinning both KANSENs while she ran. Some of the Siren troopers switched their target toward her, and that allowed Helena and Cleveland to run into the building they're going to use to fire at the trapezium towers. The Sirens have another target they have to take care of quickly. She's so problematic according to them that the Siren mechs which originally fired at the human army choose to target her instead, luckily, she always has a knight in shining cobalt armor watching her.

"Unfortunately, no ODM. But, let's make Levi proud anyways." William said to himself while he smirked a bit.

Better blast Guren no Yumiya out loud as he does this. William flew toward one of the mechs at full speed and jammed his broadsword at one of the mechs, however, the purple energy shield blocked his blade from touching the mech's body. William clicked his tongue as he dashed back then charged again while striking the mech, it still resulted in the mech's shield protecting it from his blade. He only needs to distract the mechs from targeting Lena, but now that he's involved here, he wants to take them down anyway. So William slammed the target with his Siren Slayer repeatedly in order to chip its shield, but the mech realized what he's trying to do so it tried to grab him. William saw the shadow caused by the mech's arm moving toward him, and he dashed away from the mech. Just as he did that, the other mechs immediately fired their plasma cannons toward him, which caused him to fly around erratically to avoid the projectiles.

"Tch, those mechs do have tough shields…Azur Knight to any nearby Azur Lane and Crimson Axis forces, is there anyone that can assist in fighting a Siren mech, over!?" William said to himself then asked for extra help on the radio.

"This is Hoplite 1-1 to Azur Knight, our squadron is on station and ready to assist." Suddenly, someone called Hoplite 1-1 said to William on the radio.

"Appreciated! We need you to lower their shields, so we can take them down!" William said to Hoplite 1-1 on the radio.

"Affirmative, we're going in." Hoplite 1-1 said to William on the radio.

William was still moving around erratically to avoid plasma bolts when he noticed something, four Apache Helicopter Gunships descended from the sky and started firing their chin mounted guns. The four gunships also moved around to avoid getting targeted and try their best to land as many hits as they could. William himself has to retreat temporarily because he really doesn't want to get caught in the line of fire, so he goes up to a nearby rooftop and reloads his carbine while he temporarily hides. The gunships were relentless and two of them focused their attacks on one of the mechs, the two helicopters then launched Air to Ground missiles which impacted the mech and cracked their shielding.

"One of them is vulnerable, commander. Now is your chance." Hoplite 1-1 said to William on the radio.

"Roger! Cleve, I'm going to need your help! Watch the mechs!" William said to Hoplite 1-1 then to Cleveland on the radio.

"Got it! I'm ready!" Cleveland said to William on the radio.

William dashed out of his cover and immediately saw the mech that was being shot by two gunships, the moment they saw William dashing toward the mech both of the helicopters switched their targets. William has read the battlefield reports regarding the Siren mechs and saw what Morpho did back when he first arrived, naturally he's going for the mech's power source. William swung his broadsword ferociously at the mech's chest area, he kept up with his attack and managed to cause the mech's chest to be filled with holes where William focused his attack on. Then, William dashed toward it once again with his right foot extended, William kicked the mech's chest area, causing it to cave in and exposing its power generator. Well, that did it, William will leave the rest for Cleveland and move on to the next mech.

"Cleve! My position! Main gun!" William said to Cleveland on the radio.

"On it!" Cleveland said to William on the radio.

BOOM!

The mech's power source takes a full brunt of armor piercing shells salvo causing it to be destroyed in a brief purple glow and followed by a huge explosion. William sighed in relief at seeing the mech falling to the ground in several pieces after the structure was torn by the internal explosion, hard to believe that impromptu plan works, especially when he only bets on the fact he could open the mech's chest cavity with his blade alone. It would be super uncool if he had to completely rely on the gunships to do all the work, the gunships would probably need to reload their weapons to completely take down three mechs too.

"Commander, the mech's shield to your left is down!" Helena said to William on the radio.

"Got it Helena!" William said to Helena on the radio.

William dashed toward the mech that was busy shooting at the gunships, now this is his chance! However, the mech already noted him and when he got close the mech swung its right arm at William, which basically backhanded the man. The force is enough to send him crashing into one of the buildings through the glass window, unfortunately, that didn't reduce his momentum whatsoever, which allows him to pass through two brick walls then rolling on the floor before coming to a complete stop when he hits the third wall. William groaned out loud, the armor alarm rang as his shields were depleted, all of his body experienced pain combined with soreness, and he's also a bit dizzy. Wearing armor might not get him killed from that amount of force, but goddamn, it's quite a pain to live to tell the tale.

"…Ouch…bitch…that hurt…" William groaned to himself as he stood up as he grabbed his Siren Slayer, his whole body shaking.

"Commander?! Are you okay?!" Helena asked William on the radio.

"…Might need a massage after this…But yeah, I'm okay…I'm going back in!" William said to Helena on the radio.

Nothing is broken in his body, so as far as he's concerned William is A-Okay! William reengaged his jet thrusters and came through the holes that he crashed into, as soon as he's out of the building he immediately used his broadsword to break the mech's eye. The force is enough to tilt the mech's head and cause it to stagger for a bit, William took advantage of that to do the same thing he did to the first mech and exposed the mech's power generator before flying up.

"Cleve! Now!" William said to Cleveland on the radio.

"Okay!" Cleveland said to William on the radio.

BOOM!

BOOM!

"Target is destroyed, commander!" Cleveland said to William on the radio.

"This is Hoplite 1-1, the third mech is also downed and no factor. We're clear." Hoplite 1-1 said out loud on the radio.

"Thanks for the help, Hoplite Squadron, we owe you." William said to Hoplite 1-1 on the radio.

"Ah no sweat sir, just glad we could help. Hoplite Squadron pulling out." Hoplite 1-1 said to William on the radio.

William landed on the ground as he watched the gunships retreating and heading for the staging area; they probably needed to rearm since they must've expended everything they had. Lena approached William while she sheathed her longsword, and her armor has specks of yellow blood in a few places. Looks like she has been engaging those Siren troopers in close range. Cleveland and Helena also come down from the building they're on, the mission is accomplished, and their army shouldn't have too much problem in advancing now. If one of the Siren leaders decide to intervene, however, that would be a different story as William and Lena will surely try to intercept them. If they didn't, how many soldiers would lose their lives to them?

"Excellent work Helena, Cleve. Your dinner is on me." William said to Helena and Cleveland while he smiled.

"I'll remember that, commander!" Cleveland said to William while she grinned.

"I'm looking forward to it." Helena said to William while she smiled.

"Yeah, now go get Illustrious. We're going to need her for this push." William said to both ship girls.

"Aye sir!" "Yes commander!" Cleveland and Helena said to William.

Both of them started running back to the point where they originally waited to execute the mission. That's where they left the jeep that William, Helena, and Cleveland used to get to that point. Who would want to run all the way to the edge of Long Island? Even for a ship girl, that will be an amazing feat if they can manage to do that in a short time…The next part of the assault would be breaching the Siren front and doing a direct assault to their base. William will lead the Seraphs to strike their base directly, causing chaos within their perimeter while their army is pushing as much as they could. To do that, William and the Seraphs will have to get past tight defenses that would normally be impossible to penetrate as infantry. This is where Illustrious comes in, she has the ability to cast protection fields that should make them invulnerable to damage for a short time. She will cast this protection to William and the Seraphs who will then quickly jump into the Siren base, bypassing all of their outer defenses. Then, their work begins.

"Wow there, Casanova. You're working fast and low~" Lena said to William as she bumped his right arm while she grinned.

"You know, I didn't have that intention when I said I'll treat them for dinner." William said to Lena while he frowned.

"But if it happens after that?" Lena asked William.

"…Don't tease me." William said to Lena while he frowned.

"Ah, you must be imagining it. Imagine, after a hard day of work, the two girls approached their commander in negligees. Both are eager to be complimented for their good job on the field, the sexual tension is high, and the three of them getting frisky until dawn…Quite a threesome if I say so myself~" Lena said to William while she grinned.

"Yes, now shut up." William said to Lena while he scowled.

"Fufufufu…I'm getting reports of shore bombardment, from all over the place…The Sirens took the bait." Lena said to William after she giggled.

"Are they really?" William asked Lena.

"They split their fleet. It seems they realized that their ground forces would get steamrolled if they don't act fast." Lena said to William.

"…Wait, how do you know that?" William asked Lena as he cocked his eyebrows.

"My HUD, it also has a command module. I basically could coordinate our entire army using my armor alone, a handy feature for a frontline commander like myself" Lena said to William as she folded her arms.

"…Damn, sounds useful." William said to Lena.

"You should get an upgrade for it later…Anyway, Orochi's guard fleet should weaken by now." Lena said to William.

"It would still be a powerful foe to sink, but let's take our chances…High Commander, this is Knight. Hellfire surge! I repeat, hellfire surge!" William said to Lena before contacting Lucas on the radio.

"Understood, Hellfire surge confirmed…Keep up the pressure you two, we're moving right away." Lucas said to William and Lena on the radio.

.

"…All fleets, sound off." Lucas said out loud on the radio.

"This is Azur Lane 12th Atlantic Fleet, we're ready for orders, sir."

"Azur Lane 2nd Atlantic Fleet reporting, all ships accounted for."

"This is KMS Fredrick Barbarossa, Ironblood 5th and 9th Combined Fleet are present and accounted for, standing by for orders."

"This is USS Enterprise, ALASUC is in position, High Commander."

Lucas nodded his head, everyone was ready. What's the deal with KMS Fredrick Barbarossa? Oh, other than being a cutting edge Ironblood Battle Carrier? She's their current flagship for the entire Kriegsmarine. Erich did not hesitate to send their flagship for Operation Eagle Storm. The ship has three powerful 460mm main guns, fourteen 152mm secondary guns, her hull is littered with CIWS complimented with SAM launchers, and her hangar is fully loaded with experimental combat aircraft. The Terranova might be larger in size, but the Barbarossa is the stronger one if directly comparing the combat strength between the two. Not to mention, the ship is planned to receive rail cannon modifications and stronger engines in the near future, so the ship would be overpowered by the time it finished its refit. When the technology for the anti-gravity module is completed, it will undoubtedly be installed on the ship as well. Both the Terranova and Barbarossa would be literal flying fortresses when that happened.

"Good…All units, saturation attack! Do not hold back and give those aliens something to remember on their way to hell! Fire at will!" Lucas said out loud on the radio.

The combined human fleet that had been steadily advancing toward the massive Siren fleet posted outside New York then opened fire on Lucas' command. Missiles are launched and cannons are fired, the Sirens didn't hesitate to counter attack them by charging in while firing their main guns. The human frigates, destroyers, alongside cruisers commenced the saturation attack by launching missiles as fast they could toward the smaller Siren vessels while the human battleships immediately targeted the Sirens' own battleships and carriers on the back formation. The carriers are launching their fighters to stave off the incoming Siren fighter horde, the battle has only begun, but for now, the humans have the upper hand with their relentless assault. Lucas watched the battle from the command seat of the ALS Terranova, the holographic projection in front of him showed the battle space view, with hundreds of icons littering the screen. He watched as their fleet managed to carve a path to Orochi that is stationed in the back row of the Siren formation, Lucas nodded his head…it's time to sink that monstrosity.

"…Ms. Enterprise, it's time." Lucas said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Roger that High Commander, ALASUC is moving out." Enterprise said on the radio.

"7th Fleet, let's give the ladies some covering fire!" Lucas said out loud.

"Siren fighter swarms are approaching us! Bearing 270!" An operator said out loud.

"They're that confident huh? Light up our CIWS!" Lucas said out loud.

…But the fighter swarm disappeared from their sensors one by one, many of the operators cocked their eyebrows until the reason for that appeared in front of the Terranova's bridge. There, hovering in front of them, are two squadrons of Ironblood prototype combat aircraft. But what's hovering in front of them is not like your typical aircraft, it has legs, and those said legs are giving the thrust the aircraft needs to hover in the air. One of the aircraft then started moving by joining its legs together and retracting it to form the typical fighter jet engine on their back, thus the aircraft were able to accelerate forward, and the squadrons immediately followed suit before moving to intercept more of the Siren fighters. When it's in its plane form, it looks very similar to the design of FB-22 Strike Raptor with the only difference being the shape of its rear fins. Either way, it's a cool looking plane that reminds Lucas of a certain anime series.

"Oh, that's the Ironblood new combat aircraft. Heh, somebody on the development team watched too much Macross." Lucas said out loud while he grinned.

"I can see those planes as our new edge against those Sirens, but wouldn't one unit be quite costly to produce, sir?" The captain of the Terranova, who became Lucas' XO in this battle, said to him from Lucas' right side.

"Yeah, we'll reserve those transforming fighters for the elite squadrons, until we can make it cheap enough as humanity's standard fighter craft. Then we could start stationing idols above our warships to enhance their combat capability by using songs." Lucas said to the captain while he smiled.

"…How does that work?" The captain looked genuinely puzzled as he looked at Lucas.

"I recommend you watch the series, captain." Lucas said to the captain.

"Uh, I'm afraid I have to decline that recommendation." The captain said to Lucas while he frowned a bit.

"Why? Personally, I like Delta the most, even though the protagonist looks like a femboy-" Lucas said to the captain.

"Task Force 38 is approaching the splinter sect of the Siren fleet!" An operator said out loud.

"Alright, that should prevent them from bombarding our ground troops. Everything is in place, now we do our utmost to win." Lucas said out loud.

"Sir, an anomaly to our right flank, a small Siren battle group is exiting a portal and approaching us!" An operator said to Lucas.

"Counter them immediately with a battleship barrage…Heh, keep it coming, xenos. We'll sink each and every last one of you." Lucas issued command before he muttered to himself.

"Another Siren aircraft formation, exiting from the portal above us! It's their attackers! There's...Ah, Apollo Squadron just turned them into flaming balls sir, airspace is clear." An operator said out loud.

A squadron of F-22s passed by the Terranova with multiple burning fireballs falling into the ocean behind them, Morpho and his squadron just ambushed the Siren attacker formation from the clouds. Their primary job in this battle is to intercept any Siren aircraft that managed to enter the Terranova's airspace. Their squadron is also given priorities to land, refuel, and rearm so they can stay in the fight as long as possible. Originally, Lucas wanted to send Morpho and his squadron to aid the fight on Long Island, but he thought it over before having him stationed on their combined fleet for defense. His skills will definitely be needed when they commence landfall on New York, the army is already overpowered enough with William, Lena, a few ship girls, and all of the experimental units that are assaulting the Sirens over there.

"Good, because blue balls could still be cured while flaming balls can't." Lucas said out loud while he smiled.

"…They're really focusing their attacks on this ship." The captain said out loud as he looked at Lucas.

"Just the usual, prod the enemy to see their reaction, and find any gaps to take it out of commission. They're doing the same thing we're doing to the Orochi; both are the opposition's flagship and sinking them would greatly affect morale." Lucas said to the captain while he smiled a bit.

"I'm not sure if those aliens' morale would be affected with them losing their flagship." The captain said to Lucas while he frowned.

"Maybe, but the reduction in threat would already serve us greatly when that happens." Lucas said to the captain while he shrugged.

"Sir! Siren Submarines are detected within the perimeter!" An operator said out loud.

"I see they're trying to force their dicks upon our sweet virgin hulls. Nova could surely take it, but I prefer if she didn't receive any pounding." Lucas said to himself while he frowned a bit.

"Uh, I'm not sure that's an appropriate analogy, sir…" The captain said to Lucas with an exasperated face.

"What, you never watched an alien gangbanging a maiden before?" Lucas asked the captain as he cocked his eyebrows.

"…No sir?" The captain was stunned before he answered.

"Well, outside of hentai, I haven't as well…Ms. Albacore, this is High Commander Carville. Submarines are approaching the Terranova, do not let them touch this ship." Lucas said to the captain then to Albacore on the radio.

"Leave them to us sir! Alright girls, let's move it!" Albacore said to Lucas on the radio.

"Send out our ASW helicopters as well." Lucas said out loud.

"Yes sir!" An operator said to Lucas.

A small fleet of Eagle Union submarines led by Albacore are on standby near the ALS Terranova. As ordered by Lucas, Albacore and the others will immediately begin conducting Anti-Submarine Warfare on the detected Siren submarines. The submarine ship girls are stationed below the flagship, Lucas predicted that the Sirens will bypass all of the escort ships to hit the Terranova directly. Lucas actually also thought about this strategy, sending submarines to sneak around and torpedo the Orochi directly, but he doubts that dozens of torpedoes will sink the behemoth quickly, and the escorts will surely notice the moment Orochi gets struck by torpedoes. They'll immediately pursue and surround the submarines, it's basically a death sentence to get caught in the middle of a massive enemy formation like that, and it's even worse if they're the submarine ship girls.

"…Sir, permission to speak freely?" The captain asked Lucas.

"Granted." Lucas said to the captain.

"How do you act so professional while not being one at the same time?" The captain asked Lucas in genuine curiosity.

"What? Is this regarding me making those remarks?" Lucas asked the captain back.

"Yes." The captain answered without hesitation.

"…Don't you see, captain? When you're as old as me, you'll have seen enough of this world, from all its beauty to its misery. Needless to say, it's better if you keep it fun and make fun of anything that is not. It keeps you entertained and reduces the amount of stress accumulating. You'll be able to last longer in any fight. Well, it really depends on the person and the situation though, so it doesn't always work." Lucas said to the captain while he smiled.

"I see…are you nervous right now, sir?" The captain asked Lucas while he frowned a bit.

"Are you kidding me? Massive naval combat with three gigantic flagships to determine the fate of the entire battle or possibly the entire planet, and a huge city with millions of populaces being at stake? This is straight out of an anime!" Lucas said to the captain while he grinned.

"You didn't answer my question, sir." The captain said to Lucas.

"And that's the second part of this method, captain." Lucas said to the captain while he smirked.

"…I'm afraid I don't follow." The captain said to Lucas in a hesitant tone.

"No worries, take your time to decipher my words…Operators, status on ALASUC's main force?" Lucas said to the captain before asking the operators.

"They're rapidly approaching the Sirens' formation!" An operator said to Lucas.

"Nice, now we let them work their charms on those aliens." Lucas said out loud while he smiled.

…Enterprise stared right and left for a bit; dozens of ship girls spread out in a loose formation as they charged at the Siren armada. Missiles and cannon shells flew from behind them, hitting the mass-produced Siren ships in an attempt to eliminate as many obstacles as they could, so the girls could directly assault Orochi. The plan is simple: bombard that ship with countless shells and make sure it's too holey to even float on water. To that end, ALASUC brought every available battleship KANSENs on the east coast of Eagle Union which was being led by Maryland, one of the Big Seven. This assault that is being conducted by ALASUC will determine whether Azur Lane and Crimson Axis could make landfall on New York today, and without heavy casualties beforehand. Safe to say, they have to succeed if they don't want to lose the majority of their fleet and landing forces.

"Girls! Formation split!" Enterprise said out loud on the radio.

"Roger that!" Ranger said to Enterprise on the radio.

"As you command!" Brooklyn said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Yes ma'am!" Shangri-La said to Enterprise on the radio.

"Gotcha!" Baltimore said to Enterprise on the radio.

ALASUC will split into five smaller fleets, four of them are the screening fleet while the other one is the real attacking force. Enterprise has discussed this seemingly simple strategy with Amagi and Yorktown beforehand. Making sure that the Sirens will keep engaging their screening fleets would be quite difficult, but as long they could pull it off, what they will need to worry about is when Orochi fired its main guns or when the Siren leaders decided to join the fray themselves, and both prospects are dreadful to imagine. This is why speed is the important aspect to mind in this fight. The longer they take down Orochi, the bigger the possibility of Sirens countering them with something hideous. With the lives of her fellow ship girls on a very thin line, Enterprise did not want to take any unnecessary risks that could prolong the battle.

"Fleet Two is engaged!" Brooklyn said out loud on the radio

"Fleet Three is skirting to the left!" Baltimore said out loud on the radio.

"Fleet Four, we're in combat!" Shangri-La said out loud on the radio.

"Fleet Five is moving to the right!" Ranger said out loud on the radio.

"Copy all. Fleet One is moving into position…Maryland, are you and the others ready?" Enterprise said out loud on the radio before asking Maryland.

"Heh, don't worry, Enterprise! We'll deal with that monster!" Maryland said to Enterprise while she smiled confidently.

"Glad to hear that" Enterprise said to Maryland while she smiled.

"…Okay! We're in range! All battleships! FIRE!" Maryland shouted out loud.

Deafening cannon sounds could be heard from behind Enterprise and a few others as every ALASUC battleship and battlecruiser on site fired their main guns at the same time, a salvo of hundred combined shells between armor piercing and high explosive flew toward Orochi, which makes an attempt to maneuver itself. Not even that behemoth is confident in taking that many shells, its efforts are in vain, however, as the shells started pounding at Orochi's hull without mercy. The armor piercing shells tore through the thick armor, the high explosive shells scorched its hull and caused some of the impact spots to catch on fire. A single salvo coming from dozens of battleships should be quite devastating, but Orochi is a beast that could take that much punishment. Orochi began charging its main guns and Enterprise saw it. She immediately ordered the first fleet to disperse as Orochi fired its main guns. Four huge plasma bolts hit the water where the KANSENs stood previously, if any of them got caught in that then it's over.

"That thing is still floating! Give it another salvo!" Enterprise said out loud.

"We'll finish loading in ten seconds!" Maryland said to Enterprise.

"Keep our formation loose for now, we'll avoid those bolts easier that way." Enterprise said out loud.

"Enterprise, this is High Commander Carville. We're detecting several anomalies near your position, Siren KANSENs is detected within our sensors." Lucas said to Enterprise on radio.

"Roger that sir, we're moving to handle-"

WHOOSH!

STAB!

"…Eh?" Arizona said in a low tone as she stared at her chest which started bleeding due to a puncture wound.

"ARIZONA!" Pennsylvania shouted as she rushed to her sister.

WHOOSH!

STAB!

"AHCK!" Gneisenau fell to the water with something stabbing her in the chest.

"Light arrows?!" Alabama said out loud.

"Get behind me!" South Dakota said to Alabama as she brandished her shield.

WHOOSH!

STAB!

"URK!" Tennessee grunted in pain with a light arrow lodged in her left shoulder.

WHOOSH!

STAB!

"…You're not…taking me down that…easily!" Maryland shouted as she kept standing despite a light arrow embedded in her stomach.

"Enterprise! Our battleships are taken out one by one!" South Dakota said to Enterprise on radio.

"Tch! Get everyone wounded to pull back to Vestal's and Yuubari's position! Get some emergency healing before returning to your post! Amagi, command seat is yours! Takao! Atago! Hipper! Eugen! Follow me!" Enterprise barked orders at a rapid pace.

"Ara ara, what a troublesome situation. Oh well...Everyone, this is IJN Amagi, I'm taking over command temporarily. Any remaining battleships and battlecruisers, continue the attack. We're still going as planned for now until I say otherwise." Amagi muttered to herself before she said out loud on the radio.

Their plan just went south within seconds! Who is that Siren?! Must be one of the leaders! None of them have ever used light arrows so far, but that won't stop Enterprise from directly engaging it, she will keep the rest of her comrades safe! Takao and Atago cruised on Enterprise's sides while Prinz and Hipper formed a protective cover in front of them with their shielding field at the ready. There are various Siren ship girls in front of them, they will have to take them all down first. A light arrow flew toward them then hit Hipper's shield, it managed to break through her energy shielding in one hit.

"That light arrow is too powerful! My shield isn't strong enough to tank it!" Hipper said out loud.

"Focus on taking out those Sirens in front of us! I'll search for its origins!" Enterprise said out loud.

"We'll cover you!" Prinz said to Enterprise as she got in front of her with Hipper.

Prinz, Hipper, Takao, and Atago kept their distance while firing their main guns or launching torpedoes at the Siren ship girls. None of them want to charge in to take the Sirens in close quarters with the threat of enemy light arrows that could pierce their defenses so easily. Enterprise kept her focus in searching for the light arrows' source despite the chaos all around her, her eyes carefully scanned the horizon when she saw something on the back of the Siren ship girl's formation that was being annihilated one by one…that Siren seems different than the rest of them!

"Found you!" Enterprise said out loud.

Enterprise drew her bowstrings and unleashed her own light arrows toward the Siren, however, she immediately scowled. Why? The arrow she just launched? It collided with the enemy's light arrow in the middle…whoever's firing that light arrow is so good that it can deflect her own launched arrows?! Now Enterprise is really curious, who is that Siren!? Enterprise could not take this one lightly, that Sirens are capable of severely injuring four of her friends within a short amount of time. This Siren is a higher priority than Orochi right now.

"Did you hit them?" Prinz asked Enterprise.

"No…our arrows met in the middle…" Enterprise said to Prinz while she scowled.

"Ho, it seems that thing is charging toward us." Prinz said to Enterprise.

"Prinz, Hipper, hang back for a bit until we're in contact with the hostile. Takao, Atago, please support me!" Enterprise said out loud.

"We got your back, Enterprise-san, let's go!" Takao said to Enterprise.

"Jawohl, let's do this." Prinz said to Enterprise.

Takao and Atago unsheathed their katanas before charging ahead of Enterprise, both of them will distract that Siren to make sure Enterprise gets a sure shot. Takao saw something, and she swung her katana in reflex, which successfully deflected the light arrow that was fired at her. Takao narrowed her eyes; this will be harder than it looks. Atago and Takao split up to flank the Siren, however, instead of engaging them, the Siren dashed toward Enterprise directly. This prompts Takao and Atago to double back and chase the Siren. Enterprise widened her eyes, well that didn't go as planned! Enterprise fired her bow rapidly, sending multiple arrows at the rapidly approaching Siren, and all of them MISSED?! This leaves her with no choice other than CQC, and that's what she does. Enterprise charged at the Siren, and both of them clashed in the middle with their bows crossed with each other. That's when Enterprise saw the Siren's face, and she was absolutely in shock.

It's just like looking in the mirror, they have the same face, they have the same eyes, although this one is devoid of any emotions, and her lips are plastered in an eternal frown. Enterprise felt greatly disturbed when she looked at her face, it's like looking like a machine that only has one function…to kill. How come the Sirens have someone who looked exactly like Enterprise?! What tricks are they up to this time?! Enterprise did not care, both of them are different enough, and the fact that she's in cahoots with the Sirens is more than enough reason to take her down…Ash did predict that Enterprise would be here, she thought by wounding her friends that will make her stand down…she really forgot on how persistent Enterprise could be. Both of them pushed each other off while drawing their bowstrings, a light arrow appeared on both bows and ready to be fired. Atago and Takao managed to get close, but when they saw the Siren that had been firing at them, even both of them had to pause in confusion.

"…M-Majikayo?!" Takao said out loud.

"Ara, what is going on here?" Atago said out loud.

"Who are you?!" Enterprise immediately asked Ash out loud.

"…You shouldn't be here, Enterprise." Ash said to Enterprise in low tone.

"We outnumber you five to one, it'll be better if you surrender now!" Hipper said to Ash as she and Prinz surrounded Ash, which caused the Siren to be encircled.

"Numbers don't matter, Hipper…I will only warn you once, Enterprise. Take the girls and get out of here, you will find nothing but suffering in this battle." Ash said to Hipper then to Enterprise.

"Not a chance. You Sirens invaded my home; you will answer for that!" Enterprise said to Ash while she scowled.

"…Then you've made your choice." Ash said to Enterprise.

"Get her!" Enterprise said out loud.

The four ship girls immediately dashed toward Ash, she remained standing still until the very last second where she switched her aim toward Prinz. Ash unleashed her arrow, and Prinz tried to block it with her shield, but the arrow pierced her shielding quite easily and embedded itself in her stomach. Ash extended her right leg and kicked Hipper in the face so hard she went unconscious. She moved her body and dodged an arrow fired by Enterprise before dashing toward Takao, who's already swinging her katana midway. Ash used her bow to deflect the katana strike and punched her in the face, Ash immediately dashed backward while drawing her bowstring and fired several light arrows toward Atago, who deflected two of them and dodged the rest. Atago fired her cannons, but Ash managed to dodge the shells before dashing forward and sending a punch to Atago's gut, the woman's mouth opened forcefully and blood spewed out of her mouth before she fell to the water.

Enterprise's mouth opened wide in horror as she watched four of her friends easily taken down by Ash, the four of them are battle hardened ship girls that have been fighting each other AND Sirens then live to tell the tale! It's hard to believe they couldn't put up a proper fight, granted Ash moves quite fast even for ship girl standards…but her attacks? They are unrestrained and full of killing intent. Enterprise had enough, so she decided to take on Ash herself. Enterprise fired light arrows rapidly, which Ash dodged without issue, however, that's nothing more than a distraction as Enterprise charged in toward Ash directly. Enterprise fired one more arrow that Ash dodged as well, Ash extended her legs toward Enterprise's face. However, Enterprise ducked before launching an unrestrained uppercut toward Ash. Her fist that was filled with anger connected, and Ash was thrown aback. The Siren landed on the water after back flipping once. Ash rubbed her chin for a bit before she drew her bowstring, she produced a light arrow, but this one glow brightly in red.

"…It's over." Ash said to Enterprise out loud.

…Enterprise sighed before she also drew her bowstrings and produced a light arrow, the arrows then glowed brightly in yellow…Enterprise has no doubt now that she has seen it, whoever this Siren in front of her is designed to resemble her. That glowing light arrow? It's Enterprise's signature move, one she uses whenever she really wants something to die or be destroyed…This is the determining moment, if she dies here then that would be it. If she lives, that's a wakeup call for her to get even stronger…She's sure William would help her if she asked him. To be stronger so she can protect her friends and family better, to end this goddamn war.

"Not when I could do something about it!" Enterprise said to Ash out loud in a tone full of determination.

Both Enterprise and Ash unleashed their arrows which met in the middle, the clashing arrows produced a bright light that could be seen from far away. Then, the arrows exploded, engulfing both combatants in a huge explosion.

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

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

Aaron: Yeah, I remember you reviewing chapter 6 and what you said really stuck until now. Thank you for your kind words man!

…Welp, this one is finally out. I'm sure that dear readers have been waiting for a long loong tiiimmmmeeee so here you go everyone, enjoy, and may all of your gacha draw be blessed enough because holy shit the Iowa class comes to Azur Lane! I wish everyone luck in getting New Jersey! Thank you for the follows, favorites, reviews, AND your patience dear readers. Still can't promise you any regular updates, but I'll do the best I can. So, the cat's out of the bag, possible inner treachery, an uncertain future, and the Ashes finally made contact with ALASUC. William and Lena are stuck in the ground war, and the battle against Orochi might not turn out as well as the humans thought, things are really looking dicey for them. All hope is not lost though, they could still turn around the situation…given they play their hands right.

See you next time!

- Dasmara