"This feels like a waste of time," Kawakaze lamented.
"Stop whining. This is both punishment and training, so take it seriously," Kurama scolded her.
The previous day, after lunch, Musashi had contacted them and reported the latest developments, like the success of the ASD and the arrival on base of the male Kansen. Immediately after, the faction leader of the Royal Navy reached out to Nagato and informed her of her intention to hold a meeting between the factions at the Azur Lane joint base. Not only that, but she also notified her of having met one of the shipboys, just as Bismarck did.
Nagato, deciding not to waste any time, spent the rest of the day organizing their departure, and the next morning, they set sail.
The fleet consisted of Kawakaze, Mutsu, Akagi, and Kaga. Nagato had decided to bring along the First Carrier Division to keep an eye on Akagi, Mutsu insisted on coming, and Kawakaze could never stay behind as her liege took to the sea. Of course, Kurama was going too. When Musashi announced that not one but two shipboys had arrived at Azur Lane, he felt like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. He was relieved to learn that four of them were safe, and Nagato's attendance at the meeting gave him the perfect chance to reunite with them.
Of course, the Sakura Priestess leaving the Sanctuary for an undetermined amount of time was bound to perturb the inhabitants, especially the human officers on base. The highest ranking of them attempted to persuade her to stay, reminding her of her duty as both the flagship and the priestess, but a menacing glare from Kurama, who had been standing behind her the entire time as they complained, was enough to shut them up and make them comply.
It was decided that Mikasa would take Nagato's place for as long as needed. Amagi had to stay behind because of her condition, and Shinano… she initially agreed to go with them, but on the morning of their departure, they couldn't wake her up in time and were forced to leave without her.
And now they were on the stern of the Nagato, Kurama sitting with his legs crossed and Kawakaze standing in front of him, with the ship sailing straight toward Azur Lane.
"I've been pulling on this thing for hours without accomplishing anything. This doesn't make any sense," Kawakaze let out a frustrated sigh.
The training session started with Kurama summoning his rigging and sitting on the deck of the Nagato. Part of his armaments consisted of three triple main batteries, but his rigging didn't gather them together as any other rigging did. Every single barrel was separated from the others, and it was sheathed in a metallic case that made it thicker and longer than normal. The weird thing was that from every single cannon protruded the decorated hilt of a katana, making the barrels act more like scabbards than guns. The nine contraptions were hovering horizontally above him in a half-moon formation, with the hilts pointing forward.
Kawakaze was standing in front of him. The destroyer, following his instructions, had grabbed hold of one of those hilts and had started pulling on it.
"I've already told you; you don't have to pull just with your hands, but with your mind," Kurama reminded her. "You have to synchronize the wavelength of your Cube with mine if you want to unsheathe the sword from my rigging."
"And how is that supposed to make me stronger?" She let go of the hilt and looked at her hands; her palms were now covered in calluses.
"It won't," he drily replied, prompting her to send him a glare. Before she could say anything, he continued, "Learning to have better control over your Wisdom Cube is the first step; only after that you will be able to unleash its fullest potential. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, keep pulling."
"It would help a lot if you told me how to do it properly," said the destroyer.
"If I helped more than necessary, it wouldn't be considered punishment anymore, would it?" He responded, sending her a sly grin.
Kawakaze growled in frustration but complied nonetheless. She grabbed the hilt of the same katana once again and went back to pulling. But this time, understanding that she would just hurt herself, she didn't put as much force into it as before.
She tried to think about something that could help her. He'd said she needed to manipulate the wavelength of her Cube to match his, but how could she do it exactly? Her thoughts automatically went to her rigging and the feeling it gave her when she summoned it.
She tried to focus on it; on the tingling sensation that started at the base of her neck and went down her spine, and the feeling of power coursing through her body that made her Cube flutter.
Then she fell backward, dragging the hilt of the sword with her.
Kurama smirked, but Kawakaze was puzzled. She had been so absorbed that she didn't even realize she was falling until her butt hit the floor.
"You did it. Congrats," he said.
"I… I did it?" She murmured, looking at the katana in her hands.
Actually, she didn't. She was just replicating what she always did when calling out her rigging, without actually deploying it. She wasn't manipulating the wavelength of her Cube to her will; she was just calling upon one of its natural aspects. He was the one who had adjusted to her, not the other way around, and when he did, the sword came out of the barrel without resistance.
Of course, he did it on purpose. He was waiting for the moment when she would try to manipulate her Cube, and when she did, he mentally reached out with his own, and the lock on his sword came undone. She was like a baby chick unable to come out of the egg; all he needed to do was simply poke the shell from the outside to show her where to focus her effort. Thanks to that poke, from now on, she'll be able to understand how to do it properly on her own.
"Don't get too comfortable now. There are still eight swords left to unsheathe, and I'll be increasing the difficulty with each one of them," he spoke to her with a stern tone of voice. "Now get up and go back to pulling."
Kawakaze internally sighed and went back to her training.
Kaga was standing atop one of the Nagato's turrets, watching Kurama and Kawakaze doing their thing.
"What a waste of time," the carrier said to herself, shaking her head.
Before they departed, Nagato had addressed the matter of Kawakaze's punishment, and Kurama had insisted she assigns her to him for a while. It was comeuppance for attacking him the day before, but it was also his way to make up to her for breaking her sword. Of course, the destroyer protested; she'd rather receive any other kind of punishment, but in the end, the promise of becoming stronger under his wing was enough to make her relent.
Kaga was genuinely curious about this training method he spoke about and decided to observe them for a while. She was expecting a sparring session or some sort of training regime, not the dramatic little scene they were enacting. In her opinion, he was just making fun of her for his own amusement.
Suddenly, a man's voice called out to her.
"Are you having fun looking down on us from up there?"
It was Kurama, and to her dismay, he was able to hear her muttering even from that distance. She jumped down from her position and landed on the deck below, a few feet away from them.
"I was simply keeping an eye on you. And from my observation, I can safely say that Kawakaze could find something better to employ her time with," the white fox declared. Then she addressed the destroyer. "Kawakaze, you know you are not forced to put up with his antics. If you want to become stronger, I can talk to Nagato. Maybe she'll agree to switch your punishment to something else Something actually productive, this time."
Kawakaze looked at her hand, where the first calluses were beginning to form. "I appreciate it, Kaga, but I want to keep at it some more," she said, closing her hand into a fist as she made up her mind. "I feel like I'm getting the hang of it."
Kaga was perplexed at her words. She was getting the hang of what? Unsheathing a sword from its scabbard? "Kawakaze, there is no way someone could become stronger by sitting around doing nothing all the time. True strength is achieved only through hardship and sacrifice; we of the Sakura Empire should know this better than anyone else."
"I totally agree with you, Kaga," the shipboy stated, standing up on his feet and turning to face her. "True strength isn't something you can achieve by twiddling your thumbs. If you want to become strong enough to protect those you care about, you must step up your game and get out of your comfort zone. Kawakaze understands it and is trying her hand at something she has never done before because she wants to become stronger to protect her liege. If you are too stuck in your old-fashioned mindset to understand something so simple, then you better keep to yourself instead of undermining other people's resolve."
Too ticked off by his words, Kaga couldn't help but send a barb at him, one she was sure would elicit a reaction. "Those are some nice words for someone who wasn't able to protect the person he cared about the most in their moment of need," she said mockingly.
Sure enough, Kurama was upon her in an instant, their faces only a few inches apart. His crimson-red eyes met with her cerulean-sky blue ones, and his tails bristled, swaying erratically behind him.
Kaga realized immediately that she had stepped on the wrong tail. She summoned a few of her blue paper planes in her hand as a precaution and held his stare.
The shipboy was furious. The only thing preventing him from lunging at her throat was the fact that he was on Nagato's ship. If he did that, he would antagonize all the Sakura Kansen and ruin everything he had done up to this moment, and he couldn't afford it.
"I seem to recall that last time our quarrel was interrupted just when the fun was about to start," he hissed in her face, his eyes glowing menacingly. "The challenge is still on, and this time I won't allow anyone to get in our way."
"I certainly won't back down," Kaga hissed back, showing her fangs.
Before they could lunge at each other, the space around them rippled like the still surface of a lake disturbed by a stone, and a curtain of black clouds covered the sky in a matter of seconds. They stopped at the last second, looking around in confusion. It took them only a few moments to realize what was happening. In the distance, a red, ominous light lit up on the horizon, like a bloody sunset.
Far away from them, a Siren with manta ray-like rigging smirked as her unwilling test subject entered the newly created Mirror Sea.
"And now, let's see what you are capable of, male Kansen."
"What are they up to?" Nagato asked aloud when she came out of the bridge with Akagi and Mutsu in tow.
"Absolutely nothing. They are just standing there menacingly," Kawakaze replied.
The group of Sakura Kansen was observing the enemy from the bow of the Nagato, waiting for them to do something. The fleet of Sirens was standing a few miles away from them, perfectly immobile. There were five mass-produced vessels, three battleships, and two carriers, surrounded by several low-tier humanoid Sirens. All of them were out of range, seemingly waiting for something.
"This is weird." Kaga voiced what was on everyone's mind. "They've trapped us in a Mirror Sea, they outnumber us, but they are not making any move. Their carriers haven't even deployed their drones yet."
"They have us at a disadvantage, but they don't seem to be in a rush; if anything, they seem to be waiting for us to make the first move as if wanting to gauge our reaction," Akagi said pensively, bringing a hand to her chin, then she smirked. "This is clearly Tester's doing."
"Tester?" Kurama raised an eyebrow at her. "You seem to be awfully familiar with our enemy."
"I've had a few close encounters with some of them in the past," Akagi replied, ignoring his accusatory tone. "Let's just say I might have some insight into how they think and act."
Kurama didn't buy it. Since the shipgirls told him about the different nature of their enemy the day before, alarm bells started ringing in his head. The Sirens of his world were powerful but predictable in the simplicity of their behavioral pattern, but these Sirens were different; they schemed and plotted, and they seemingly had an objective that wasn't the simple eradication of humanity. He had to be careful and watch his back from now on.
"Well? Are we just going to stand here and do nothing until they get tired of waiting?" Kurama spoke up after a while. He was getting restless. The enemy was right in front of them, and they were sitting on their laurels without a care in the world.
"This is clearly a trap, Kurama," Nagato replied. "Fighting those Sirens will just tire us out. The best thing to do is wait for the Elite that created the Mirror Sea to show up and take her out swiftly."
"Standing here twiddling our thumbs will tire us out," the shipboy retorted. "They'll win by doing nothing."
"Nagato-sama, I agree with him," Akagi interjected. The shipboy sent her a questioning look, not expecting her to back him up.
"You too, Akagi?" Nagato asked her in surprise.
"Instead of waiting for Tester to come out of her own volition, we should drive her out of her hiding spot, but we can't do it with all those small fries keeping us in check. I believe we should eliminate them now that we still have the strength to do so, without wasting any more time," Akagi explained her point of view, and Nagato could only hang her head in thought.
Usually, the only way to get out of a Mirror Sea was to take out the Siren who cast it or force them to dispel it, but if the Elite who did it decided to just hide behind the cover of her pawns, then there was nothing they could do outside of going on the offensive. Not to mention, this Mirror Sea was quite plain compared to others. Usually, those things had some kind of gimmick or feature that would throw the Kansen off until they could figure out how to navigate around it, but this one had nothing; it was just a section of sea immersed in an endless red sunset.
"Very well, I'll allow it," Nagato declared. "We'll go on the offensive and seize momentum before them. Everyone, get into formation and be ready to- Kurama! What are you doing?!"
The shipboy had climbed onto the ship's railing, ready to leap into the water below. He turned around at Nagato's outburst and regarded her with a glare that radiated impatience.
"Going on the offensive, like you said," the male Kansen replied. "Kawakaze, stay behind with Nagato and Mutsu. As for you, vixens, do whatever you want; just keep your aircraft out of my way," he said to the others. Then he addressed Kaga. "And you, keep your eyes wide open because I'm about to show you what true strength really is." With that said, he jumped.
He landed on the water, summoned his rigging, and started speeding towards the enemy fleet, ignoring the outraged cries of the shipgirls coming from behind him. He reached with both his hands for two of his barrels and unsheathed the katanas encased inside them.
When he entered the range of the battleships, they started firing at him; luckily, dodging their rounds was child's play for him. Zigzagging and ducking under their fire, he made his way towards the first group of Executor-class Sirens.
An Explorer was the first to perish under his blades; he cut her diagonally in three pieces with both his swords before she could put up any resistance. Then he jumped forward and slammed his nine tails into the side of a Tracker, sending her flying toward another Siren.
An Oceana was about to shoot her lasers at him, but he darted towards her, piercing her chest with a quick thrust before she could unleash her beam, then he pointed the two now free barrels at her and shot her point blank.
With the first group of enemies taken care of, the mass-produced battleships started firing on him once again. He resumed his course, making his way through the beams and the rounds they shot at him.
Speeding up, he reached the next group of humanoid Sirens. Without stopping, he used his momentum to cut through the bodies and rigging of every single one of those foolish enough to stand in his way. Limbs were severed and heads were sent flying as he kept moving forward, aiming for the three battleships ahead of him. This time, the mass-produced vessels didn't stop firing, ending up hitting their own allies. Maybe they realized he was getting too close for comfort and were getting desperate, he thought.
From above, the sound of aircraft engine reached his ears. The First Carrier Division had deployed their fighters, sending them into the air to intercept the Siren drones that were aiming for their flagship.
Kurama wasn't worried. He intended to end this battle before Nagato even had the chance of firing a single volley.
He came into proximity with the first Siren battleship; the small fries that had been hindering his advance up to that moment were either dead or too far from him to intervene. He sheathed his swords and focused on his cube.
"Wisdom Crafting."
His red eyes started glowing with an intense light, his rigging suddenly caught fire, and the nine scabbards were rapidly reduced to ash in the wind, his swords with them. When the last of his barrels disappeared in the flames, his tails erupted.
From their position, the shipgirls could only watch as an intense orange glow lit up the distance, right next to the mass-produced Siren vessels. When the blinding light subsided, they watched in shock as nine colossal pillars of whirling fire arose from the same spot in the water, like the tentacles of a giant sea monster.
They matched… no, they far exceeded the Siren warships in height and almost reached as high as the aircraft in the sky.
"What is that?" Mutsu let out a whimper.
"Is that... Kurama's doing?" Nagato wondered with wide eyes.
Kurama jumped as high as he could, the columns of fire that had taken the place of his tails trailing behind him. Once in the air, a few feet above his target, he performed a forward somersault; his tails followed his movement and slammed on the deck of the battleship in a cacophony of explosions and flames. The force of the impact was strong enough to split the hull in twain.
Using his momentum and his tails as support, he threw himself over the wreck of the ship, toward his second target.
This time, he rolled his body sideways; his tails, following his movement with a sweeping motion, impacted the superstructure of the Siren, reducing it to smithereens and leaving the hull as flat as the flight deck of a carrier.
Kurama landed on said hull, took a running start, and jumped in the air once again, aiming at the last of the Siren capital ships; this time, instead of hitting it with his tails, he smashed into its superstructure with his whole body, ending up inside the automatized bridge of the alien warship. The flaming pillars behind him, instead of following his movement, disappeared into thin air. The light enveloping the battlefield subsided for a second before reappearing once again, even brighter than before, when those same nine giant pillars erupted from the inside of the vessel, eviscerating it.
The remaining Executor-class tried to hurry to the back of the formation, intending to protect their two carriers, which in turn started recalling their drones toward their positions. That only gave a chance to the fighters of the First Carrier Division to attack them from behind, making short work of them in a few seconds.
To the Sakura shipgirls, those scorching pillars looked like the petals of a giant flaming flower, blooming from inside the ship with a destructive force.
Akagi and Kaga were awestruck. Never in their lives had they witnessed such a display of destructive power; not only that, but it presented itself in front of them with such splendor that they couldn't help but find it beautiful.
Nagato was doing her best to keep her legs from trembling. Mutsu, on the contrary, was hiding behind her big sister, shaking like a leaf, not in fear but in excitement. The Priestess of the Sakura was hit by a sudden realization: she had let a monster like that roam around the Sanctuary, right next to the people she cared about the most. What would have happened if she had done something to displease him during that time? The image of her home port burning to the ground and the Sakura Tree on fire flashed into her mind for a second.
She tried to banish those thoughts from her mind by shaking her head. Kurama had given her his unconditional loyalty. Despite his abrasive personality and having spent most of his time antagonizing the members of her fleet, he was on their side, right? If he wanted to do something, he would have already done it, or at least he would have waited until the moment he wouldn't need to rely on her anymore, right? Wait, now that she had kept her part of the deal by directing him toward his missing brothers, he had no further reason to put up with her... Great, now she was panicking.
Her train of thought was interrupted by the fabric of reality rippling around them. Like a mirage, the remaining Siren units disappeared into thin air, right when the columns of fire were starting to head toward the two alien carriers. With them, the black clouds in the sky also disappeared, and the light of the sun came back to shine upon them.
The Mirror Sea had been dispelled. But how was it possible? The Elite Siren who had cast it didn't even show her face. Did she decide that the risk was not worth the effort? Or maybe she had accomplished her goal? In the end, it didn't matter; they were free to go.
In the distance, Kurama's fire pillars were still burning bright. Now that they had no more targets to unleash their destructive fury upon, they resembled the petals of a massive scarlet lotus flower floating in the sea. Slowly, they started becoming smaller, until they disappeared completely. In their place, an orange dot appeared; it was the shipboy. He turned on his heels and made his way back to their position, with his real tails having taken the place of those giant pillars of flame behind his back.
Kurama reached Nagato's hull and jumped back onto its deck. When he landed on top of it, he was met with the distrustful gazes of the shipgirls, much like the one Kawakaze had when they met the day before, but this time, the wariness was accompanied by something else.
"Do I smell fear?"
The shipgirls flinched at the accusation, but none of them answered.
The only one who didn't flinch was Kawakaze, but only because she was too lost in thought. Was that what he meant when he talked about "true strength" and "becoming stronger?" Was that what she'd be able to do if she gained better control of her Cube?
Kurama took a few steps forward, stopping in front of them and crossing his arms. "Don't you have something to say, Nagato-sama?"
Nagato had to hold her breath to avoid wheezing. "L-like what?"
"Like how you are upset with me for engaging the enemy on my own or for overriding your authority. Or maybe you want to know how I was able to pull off such a feat." He scoffed at her; he was basically putting words in her mouth.
"I... I would like to know, yes," Nagato stammered. Her instincts were telling her to get as far away from him as possible, but her pride wouldn't allow it. She took a deep breath and stood up to him. "We'll talk about it later. We've fallen behind schedule because of this setback, and we should get moving. Until then, you get cleaning duty for the stunt you just pulled. Is that clear?"
A sly smirk made its way across his face. He bent over slightly and looked her in the eyes. "As you wish, my lady."
"G-good. Now, let us go back inside. We've had enough excitement for one day." She averted her gaze from him and walked away, eager to put as much distance between them as possible.
"Hey, Kawakaze. Catch," Kurama called out to the destroyer. He threw something at her, and she grabbed it on reflex. It was a Cube, and it was glowing weakly, as if it was dying.
"That's the Cube of one of the battleships I destroyed. Try to establish a connection with it before it snuffs out completely," he explained. When she sent him a questioning look, he added, "Do what you did earlier, and it will work. Don't worry, it's just a mass-produced vessel, you'll be all right."
She nodded to him and hurried next to her liege, following her below deck alongside Mutsu, who was doing her best to contain her excitement. "That. Was. So. Cool," she muttered to herself.
"So, you didn't tell us you had such an ace up your sleeve," Akagi said when the other shipgirls went out of earshot. She was still a bit shaken, but the thought of having such a powerful and knowledgeable ally on their side was enough to make her overcome the shock.
"You are right, I didn't," he said with a challenging tone of voice. "So what? I swore my unconditional loyalty to Nagato in fighting the Sirens and passing information, and that's exactly what I did. What you saw earlier is also part of that; it was just never brought up in a conversation," he said, shrugging. "Besides, I didn't know if I could trust you. I've decided to reveal my cards only because I'm getting closer to Azur Lane, and therefore, to my goal. Also, those Sirens were just an annoying setback; it was as easy as a cleanup duty for me."
"You seem to be quite sure of yourself. Understandable after seeing what you are capable of," Akagi said. Then she smirked, looking at his face. "But remember, the brighter the flame, the faster it burns out. I wonder how much longer yours is going to last."
Kurama felt something on his lips. A drop of blood was trickling down from his nose, and he didn't realize it until she pointed it out. He wiped his face with his arm, feigning ignorance, and watched as Akagi turned on her heels to join her flagship below deck.
Kaga, who had stayed behind with her sister the whole time, lingered a few more seconds before turning to follow her, still lost in her thoughts. Realization had hit her like a torpedo. She had been antagonizing such a monster the entire time and had almost come to blows with him.
She wondered how things would have gone if the sudden appearance of the Sirens didn't stop them. What would happen if they were to fight? Would he go all out? Or would he go easy on her?
The first thought filled her with dread, but also a weird kind of elation. Just the idea of being on the receiving end of such a destructive power was enough to send shivers down her spine, but it also made her feel something she had never felt before, like butterflies in her stomach.
The second thought, though… it filled her with anger and frustration. She, who always preached about strength and battles, never would have expected to be so outmatched, and the idea of him having to hold back for her to have a chance against him was infuriating.
She gritted her teeth, hung her head, and kept walking. Akagi had just entered the door for the bridge when she felt something grab the scruff of her neck and slam her on the superstructure of the ship.
Kurama was looming over her, keeping her between himself and the wall. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression, his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her skin.
It reminded her too much of the previous situation when they almost came to blows, but this time it was different. This time, she was aware of his true strength and wasn't prepared for the confrontation. Her fighting spirit was completely drained.
"What's wrong? What happened to all that mettle of yours?" He mocked her, holding her still with his hand on the scruff of her uniform. "Did you lose it during the battle? Or maybe it was just all talk?"
Her heart started pounding in her chest, and she felt like cornered prey, unable to move an inch. She could only return the stare, losing herself in his red eyes.
On his part, he was having trouble holding back. Having the person who had repeatedly mocked and underestimated him with her back to the wall and showing him that submissive expression was having an effect on him. He wanted to teach her a lesson, but he had to remind himself not to cross the line.
"The next time you feel like looking down on someone or belittling their worth, think back to this day and then remember your place." He slightly lifted his grip, bringing her up with it. "I hope you understand what this means, Snowflake," he whispered into her ear. Having said that, he let her go and walked away, sending her one last glare of warning.
Kaga stood still for a few seconds, then leaned with her back on the wall and let herself slide down along it.
Sitting on the deck of the ship, she let out the breath she had been holding the entire time, trying to bring her heartbeat back under control and fighting back the warm feeling that was spreading over her face.
The camouflage on Tester's rigging came undone with the Mirror Sea, revealing her figure to the bright light of the midday sun, and she watched as the Sakura battleship disappeared in the distance.
She had been observing the proceedings of the battle from a secluded section of the Mirror Sea, far away from the action, and she was more than satisfied with the results of her test.
It lasted less than she had initially hoped, but it wasn't a problem, since all she needed to do was prove the strength of the male Kansen she had come to test. It was the reason why she had dismantled the Mirror Sea immediately after he unleashed his destructive fury upon her pawns. She didn't need to see anything else.
Thanks to that, she was able to come to a conclusion: he was insanely strong, definitely on par with META-level strength, if not stronger.
Now, all she needed to do was report back to Observer and let her decide their next move; then, she would go back to look for Purifier's Cube.
Since Purifier's death at the hands of Azur Lane, they couldn't find her Cube anywhere, and without it, they couldn't upload the memories of her failure into her new body.
It wasn't exactly a problem; her latest backup was dated only a few weeks ago, so it wasn't a huge loss. But it would indeed be a shame not to be able to recover the memory of her defeat and the information that came with it. That's why her revival was being put off until Tester found her Cube; that is, if she managed to find it in the first place.
Tester let out a sigh. She was getting tired of all the scouring; it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. She only hoped Observer would let her play with their new toy a bit when she returned...
AN: Not much to say here. Both Akagi and Kaga are obsessed with power (albeit in different ways), and Kurama has plenty of it along with an awful personality. By the way, how did Tester know about male Kansen if Purifier and Strength weren't able to report back in time before "dying"? Mmh…
Spoiler: No, it's not Akagi's doing.
Next Chapter: Budding Friendship