Freedom opened his eyes and looked around. The sky was red, and the sea was black. He was surrounded by nothing but water as far as the eye could see, and the atmosphere was grim and eerie.
He felt a presence behind him and turned around. Purifier was standing on the water a few feet away from him, regarding him with an annoyed expression.
"You had the nerve to kill me. I hope you are ready to pay the price," she said with a crazy smile on her face.
Her rigging appeared behind her, and she started hovering menacingly. Behind her, several Siren drones emerged from under the water and pointed their weapons at him.
Then, she lunged at him, and everything went dark.
Purifier woke up with a splitting headache. She cradled her head with her hand, standing up on the deck of the warship she found herself aboard.
Freedom was leaning with his back over the railing of the bow, arms crossed, looking down at her with an unreadable expression on his face.
The sun was shining in the azure sky above them, and the water below was crystal clear.
"What the fuck did you do, you bastard?" She asked him.
"I simply resonated with your Cube, reached out for your consciousness, and dragged your soul inside of mine," Freedom said with a neutral tone.
Purifier let out a mocking laugh. "You? A mere Kansen having such control over the Cubes? Don't make me laugh!"
She tried to summon her rigging again, but to no avail. "What the…?" she paused. Something was preventing her.
"We are inside my mind, Siren. You have no power here," he warned her.
Purifier scoffed at him, then she darted toward the railing and jumped over it. Imagine her surprise when, instead of landing on the water below, she landed on the deck of the ship she had just jumped from.
"Resistance is futile; I have complete control of this space. You can't get out of here until I say so. Stop struggling and start answering my questions." He was telling the truth; in that space, he could do things that went beyond his wildest imagination, such as bend reality to his will or summon his old hull.
"AH! If you think I'm going to stand by and do nothing while you torture me for information, you've got another thing coming," Purifier responded.
"If I wanted to torture you, I would be doing so already. But this is the first time I meet someone like you, and since the Sirens of my world are not exactly the talkative types, I've decided to try a different approach this time." His voice took on a more menacing tone. "But if you prefer, we can always do it the hard way. I have no qualms about hurting an alien piece of trash like you, but I don't think you are going to enjoy it."
"That would be quite unpleasant, I'll admit," Purifier thought. She did enjoy fighting; hurting others and getting hurt was an integral part of any war, but she didn't like one-sided pain, especially when it was directed toward her.
"Fine, I concede," she finally said. "But before we start, explain this to me: why would you tell me such important stuff? What do you gain from revealing your origin to your enemy?" She was genuinely confused by his actions; with his previous statement, he had confirmed her theory of him coming from another world, a world where they had no influence but where, apparently, other Sirens were carrying on with their own agendas. And judging by his words, those Sirens seemed to be different from herself and her comrades; could it be...?
Freedom interrupted her musings. "Because I can't ask you about a way to go back to my world if I don't tell you about it first."
"Ah, so that's what this is all about," she said with a mocking tone. "You miss your home and you want to go back, how cute! But I'm afraid we know nothing about it; I suggest you give up and-"
Before she could finish her sentence, her body was forcefully pushed towards him by an invisible force. She suddenly found herself with his hand tightly clasped around her neck and her feet dangling above the ground.
"Don't mock me, Siren," he hissed in her face, his purple eyes emanating a menacing glow. "My brothers and I came here from a Mirror Sea; I know for a fact that those things are capable of manipulating reality to the will of their maker. I also know that a very specific kind of Mirror Sea, in a very specific kind of situation can be used to create a portal for another world; not another timeline, like the ones you like to create with your time looping shit, but an entirely different universe. I want to know exactly how to replicate it, so I can go back home with my brothers!" He finished, throwing her to the ground in anger.
Gasping for air and massaging her neck, Purifier tried to compose herself while also trying to process his words. He knew about their ability to time loop and had a lot more information about other worlds than they could ever hope to gather; that was concerning.
"Wait, I'm serious! We've only used our time loops to gather more data from this world; we've never tried to mess with other universes because we are strictly forbidden by our programming," she said, trying to shield herself from his looming figure with her arms.
"What the hell do you mean by 'forbidden'?" He asked her with a serious tone.
She lowered her arms from her face and looked up at him. His expression had relaxed; he was still regarding her with contempt, but at least his fury had subsided.
"It's our Creator's order," she began. "I don't know why; we were never given an explanation, and we never questioned it." She had to tread carefully with what she said. She couldn't reveal too much information, and she had to try to pry something from him too.
"Your… Creator?" Freedom inquired, perplexed. How different were these Sirens from the ones he knew? Initially, he figured it was only their humanoid appearance, with only their weapons and the mass-produced vessels being very similar. But the more he talked with Purifier, the more he noticed that things didn't add up.
Sirens weren't exactly "created." After draining every source of life and energy from a world, they would just send a "seed" through a portal to the next one, from which another wave of Sirens would spawn. If they lost, they would automatically activate their time loop ability, leaving behind the old timeline and going back in time to make another attempt until they were successful. Then, they would repeat the process with the next world.
Initially, he figured that Purifier and her kin were just the results of a mutation or a virus that had hit the core of the seed at the moment of its creation, giving them a human-like appearance. Now, he wasn't so sure anymore.
Wait… perhaps he wasn't so far from the truth. Maybe it wasn't a natural mutation; maybe this "Creator" did it on purpose. Maybe they were human, and just like "God created humanity in his image and likeness," they had modified the Sirens to have human features.
But for what purpose? If they were actually human and knew about the Sirens, why not just delete the seed? Why only change their appearance and not their warmongering nature?
He sighed through his teeth. He wasn't expecting so many new questions to pop up all at once.
Luckily, he had an Elite Siren at hand.
He bent down to Purifier's level, looked her in the eyes with a smile, and said, "I'll tell you about the Sirens that plague my world, and you will tell me about your plans with this one. And this time, I expect a serious answer; otherwise, there will be consequences. Is that clear?"
Purifier could only nod her head excitedly, a wide smile coming to her face.
Leviathan woke up with the light of the sun shining in his eyes.
The first things he noticed were the bandages wrapping the entirety of his torso and the wounds on his arms. The second was the unfamiliar place he found himself in.
He was lying on a soft, luxurious queen-size bed inside a room that wouldn't be out of place in a medieval palace. He got up, sat on the mattress, and looked around the room. Black and red were the predominant colors, and the walls were covered in pictures and effigies representing the Iron Blood cross and flag.
At the foot of the bed, folded neatly, was a long, black bathrobe with decorative fur on the collar and cuffs; he figured someone had left it there for him to wear when he would wake up. He picked it up, but instead of putting his arms in the sleeves of the robe, he placed it on his shoulders, leaving his bandaged torso open to breathe.
He fixed his hair in the tall floor mirror, realizing that he was still wearing his uniform pants, and he was ready to go out. He wanted to see how Liebe was doing, and then he wanted to find August and explain his situation to her; he couldn't do so earlier because of that Elite Siren, but this time he figured there would be no interruption.
Besides, he really wanted to see her. The memory of that kiss was still fresh in his mind, and just thinking about it was enough to make his Cube flutter. He didn't know how it was possible, but in only a few hours of knowing her, she was able to bewitch him. He figured fighting each other first and facing mortal danger together later helped a lot in bringing them closer. He knew that it would take a while before he could figure her out completely, but he had all the time in this world; they had a deal after all.
He stepped outside the room and started wandering around the place. He was walking inside what looked like a dormitory for Kansen, if the weird outfits and mechanical features on a few of them were any indications.
All the girls he passed on his way stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him; some of them would whisper between each other while pointing at him, and others would just greet him with a smile and a wave, but none of them stopped to talk to him, they were too intimidated to do so. Except for one.
A short girl was blocking his way. She had long black hair and a white and a red bang in front of her eyes, a black officer cap on her head, and a mechanical shark tail behind her. She was standing in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest and a mocking expression on her face.
"Where do you think you are going, you lowly animal?" She grinned at him with a smile that revealed two rows of sharp teeth.
He narrowed his eyes at her; he didn't expect her to greet him with an insult. For a second, he was tempted to respond in kind, but he was having a good day, and he wouldn't allow a pipsqueak like her to ruin it.
"Looking for my rigging, why?" He replied politely, not giving in to her provocation.
"Because I don't think you've been given permission to exit your room. You better go back inside if you don't want me to escort you there personally, plebeian," the shipgirl said with a haughty and menacing tone.
"I don't remember waking up in a cage or tied to a bed, which makes me believe I'm not a prisoner here. Besides, I don't see the harm in taking a walk around the place," he retorted.
"Unclog your ears and listen to me, imbecile. Just because August has taken a liking to you doesn't give you permission to stroll around like you own the place. This is the main base of the mighty Iron Blood, and you will behave in a way that befits your status as a lesser creature, is that clear?"
Leviathan sent her a look before deciding he was done with her.
…
"Unhand me this instant, filthy monkey! I am the proud Deutschland, and I will not be bullied by a lowly animal like you! Put me down before I unleash my wrath upon you!" Deutschland kicked and screamed while being carried under the arm of the shipboy, her body wrapped in a bundle of chains.
Leviathan walked down the hallway of the dorm, entering what seemed to be the main hall of the building. A few of the Kansen sitting in the lounge stopped what they were doing and watched them with an incredulous but amused look.
He noticed a ceiling light that looked big and sturdy enough to hold the weight of a person. He stepped under it and threw the other end of the chain upwards, which vaulted over the light and came back down. He grabbed it again and used it as leverage to lift the shipgirl a few feet above the floor while she kept spewing threats and profanities at him. Then, he stabbed the blade of the chain into the floor and stomped on it to make it go deeper into the ground.
Satisfied with his work, he turned around and stepped outside the building without uttering a word, her cries of anger slowly turned into cries for help.
"Hey, where do you think you are going?! Come back here this instant! I'll make you pay for your impertinence!" She yelled, struggling to get free from her shackles. "Grrr, what is wrong with these chains?! Why can't I even summon my rigging?! Spee! Where are you, schwester?! Come here and help me down, please!"
As he walked through the harbor, he noticed that the closer he got to the docks, the stronger the human presence became. Sailors and dockworkers crowded the place, going back and forth between the docked vessels and the storehouses, resupplying for their next journey or simply doing their job.
He was able to pass through them unnoticed and headed toward the furthest part of the harbor, where he could feel the presence of his other half.
Indeed, Liebe was inside what looked like a great open pool, big enough to harbor multiple warships at once. It being separated from the rest of the harbor made him question its purpose, though it became immediately clear to him when he noticed that she wasn't alone.
She was swimming in circles around other riggings like her. He recognized August's dragon, but the others he was unfamiliar with. Some of them had a more serpentine body, others resembled sharks like Liebe but were a lot smaller. Some of them floated on the surface, others hovered above it, and Liebe was the only one swimming below it, with her body half-submerged.
They were all huddled together at the center of the pool, with August's rigging sitting in the middle of them and Liebe swimming around the group as if she were a shark stalking its prey. Occasionally one of them would poke her in the side or head with their snout, and she would snap her jaws at them in a playful way, sending the offender to hide behind the larger figure of August's rigging. Then she would go back to swim, and the game would repeat.
He watched them for a couple of minutes from a distance before deciding that he didn't want to interrupt them. He turned around, but his path was blocked by another figure. This time, the woman in front of him was as tall as him, the red demonic horns on her head giving her a few inches on him. She had long, straight, black hair, yellow eyes, and an impressive bust, accentuated by her tight black dress.
"You must be Leviathan, August's new toy." She addressed him with a deep, soft voice.
"I am indeed Leviathan, but I'm no one's toy. If August said that, then she has sorely misunderstood our relationship," the shipboy responded, narrowing his eyes at her.
The woman in front of him giggled. "Forgive me, child. I was merely jesting; August would get pretty mad at me for disrespecting her guest like this," she said. Then she extended her hand. "I am Friedrich der Große; it's a pleasure to meet you."
He shook her hand without saying anything; he was still keeping his guard up to avoid an encounter like the previous one.
"You came all the way out here to look for me. Did you need something?" He asked her.
"I do, in fact. Our faction leader wants to talk to you, so she sent me to the dorm to fetch you, but when I arrived, I was met with an amusing sight: our dear Deutschland hanging from the chandelier, restrained by chains. She is the one who told me you were looking for your rigging, so I simply went to where I knew I would find you," she explained. "She's not dangling anymore, but any attempt to untie her was unsuccessful. Can I trouble you to remove her bindings before we head to the meeting room?"
He thought about it for a second. "No. I'll do it later. Maybe staying like that for a while will teach her some humility."
She giggled again. "Such pettiness is unbefitting of your character, child, but I certainly can't blame you. Come now, I'll show you the way," she added as she began walking away.
"Also, stop calling me 'child.' I'm an adult Kansen, if you haven't noticed," he said as he began following her.
"No. I don't think I will. Maybe calling you that will teach you some humility," she said, winking at him, and making him sigh internally.
"You are telling me that your Creator ordered you and your comrades to assist in the evolution of humanity, and that you use your ability to time loop after you exterminate them to go back in time so that you can do it again?" Freedom asked, a hand firmly placed on his forehead, kneading his temples.
"Yes! It's like a mutualistic relationship!" Purifier exclaimed, spreading her arms and laughing hysterically. "We bring humanity to the limit, they fight back with all their might, and we gather data from their struggling; then, we destroy them, we go back in time and do it again, using the data gathered previously to accelerate our evolution and theirs. It's a win-win for everyone."
As soon as she finished, his fist collided with her face, sending her flying toward his forward main battery.
"And here I thought we could establish some kind of connection with you lot, but it seems you aren't any different from those soulless monsters. No, you are even worse," Freedom said through tight lips.
The shipboy was fuming. He had established mental links with his world's Elites multiple times in the past, as it was the only way they had to gather information from them, but he had never felt more disgusted by a Siren than he was with Purifier.
Those monsters were parasites, ruthless predators, incapable of feeling emotions; they acted like the beasts they were, driven by their survival instincts. But these humanoid Sirens? They regarded humanity as nothing more than lab rats they could experiment on to their heart's content just to achieve their goal. They were scum that needed to be eradicated as soon as possible, and even if they were just following the programming of their Creator, it didn't change anything.
Right, the Creator. That was another unknown. Purifier had explained to him that the only traces left by them were their programs, that their true intentions were shrouded in mystery, and that she and her comrades had been following their instructions as best as they could.
In Freedom's opinion, the Creator was a human, or a group of people, that had found a way to manipulate the Sirens into following their orders. Unfortunately, like the wishes of a genie, there was a catch. These Sirens were following their orders all right, but they were doing it in the only way that came naturally to them, a way that was inherent in their very being and that couldn't be bypassed by any programming. It was violence.
His doubts still remained, though. "Assisting humanity's evolution" was too much of an ambiguous order. Why would the Creator wish for humanity to evolve quickly? Maybe so that they could defend themselves from something? But from what? Perhaps from the other Sirens themselves?
It made sense to him. What do you do when an alien force invades your world, and you find a way to control it? Well, you take precautions in case it happens again.
Or you take advantage of it and try to use it to conquer the world...
Of course, those were just his speculations based on what Purifier had told him, assuming she wasn't lying.
He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "All this stuff all at once, and it doesn't even concern my own world."
"Hey, asshole! What the hell was that for?!" Purifier had recovered from the hit and was standing on her feet again, clearly upset.
"Shut up, bitch! We are done here! I'm sending you back into your Cube, so I don't have to tolerate your presence any further!" He yelled back at her.
"Hey, wait! Tell me more about the Original Sirens! How strong are they-?"
Before she could finish her sentence, he mentally shut down their connection. The space around them collapsed like a shack in an earthquake, and everything went dark.
He then woke up in his bed to find that it was already morning.
"I didn't even get to rest properly," he sighed.
Friedrich opened the door to the meeting room, and Leviathan entered behind her.
"Ladies, I brought him," announced the horned shipgirl.
Leviathan looked around the room and his eyes fell on the figure of August. When she noticed him, her eyes lit up, and she strode towards him.
"My dear, you are awake." She put a hand on his bandaged chest, as if trying to gauge the state of his wounds. "Are you feeling all right?"
With a light smile, he reached for her hand with his own, looking her in the eyes. "I'm fine, August. I'm just a bit sore."
"I'm glad to hear that." The two lost themselves in the eyes of each other for a few seconds, until someone recalled their attention by clearing her throat.
The person in question was a tall blonde woman with blue eyes and a black uniform. She was standing in the middle of the room, regarding them with a questioning look.
"Greetings, Herr Leviathan. I am Bismarck, and I'm in charge of the Kriegsmarine," she said as she approached Leviathan to offered him a hand to shake.
"So, this is Bismarck, the Iron Blood faction leader," he thought, shaking her hand.
During the walk towards the meeting room, he had inquired about their leader, and Friedrich had given him an approximate summary of her background. Thanks to that, he was able to remove any doubt from his mind; she was not the counterpart of his sister ship, also named Bismarck, it was just a case of homonymy. They had a completely different history, and she had another sister called Tirpitz, whose name he was unfamiliar with.
"August told us what happened. You saved her life from that… Siren," she said with a serious but cordial tone. "Allow me to express my gratitude to you. Losing her would have been a hard blow for all of us."
"You are not being honest here, Bismarck. You could just say that you are grateful for his timely intervention because you'd miss her a lot if something happened to her," Friedrich intervened with a sly smile.
Bismarck coughed into her hand, sending a look at her second in command. Leviathan did the same to August. It seems the carrier hadn't told them how their first meeting actually went; either that, or they were so used to her antics that they didn't care about it.
"Hey, how long do you plan on ignoring me?" Suddenly, a haughty voice was heard. It came from the screen hanging above the table. He didn't realize it sooner, but the thing had been turned on the entire time.
"Leviathan, this is Queen Elizabeth, flagship of the Royal Navy," Bismarck said gesturing toward the screen. "We are already aware of your situation thanks to her meeting your brother, Emperor. He explained everything to her, and she kindly passed on that information to us."
At the mention of Emperor's name, his eyes widened, and he moved closer to the table. He was surprised to find a little girl with a crown atop her head on the other side of the screen, but he didn't make any comment about it, too preoccupied with the implications of what Bismarck just said.
"Emperor? Do you know my brother? Where is he?" He asked her with urgency in his voice.
"I don't know, probably having breakfast with the rest of my fleet. That bloke can do whatever he wants as long as he doesn't bother me with his brazenness," the queen said with a disinterested tone.
Leviathan was puzzled for a moment by her statement, but then a smile started creeping on his face, and he covered his mouth with his hand. His brother was still alive, and he was being himself even with the Royals of this world. He felt relieved.
"Hey, what are you laughing at? I won't allow another shipboy to make fun of me like that lecher of a bloke did," Elizabeth said with a hint of irritation in her voice.
"Forgive me, it wasn't my intention." He raised his hand to calm her down. "I was just relieved to hear that my brother is safe and sound, that's all. You have my gratitude for offering him your aid, Your Majesty."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's skip the formalities and get back to the matter at hand, that is, the Siren that attacked you and August," she said, brushing him off.She remembered that when Emperor had recounted the history of their world to her, he had failed to mention that particular detail; although, based on what he had said, she already suspected something.
"About that, I don't think there's anything to worry about. It's dead now, it won't harm anyone else," Leviathan said.
"Even if it's dead, we are worried there might be others around," Bismarck declared. "If that one was able to come here on its own, who's to say others won't be able to do it?"
"That one was just a straggler that followed us through the Mirror Sea; there weren't others around at that moment. Besides, the Sirens can't just travel from one world to another on a whim," Leviathan insisted. "They have to wait for a specific event to create a Mirror Sea powerful enough to act as a portal for another universe. It's how they spread their influence. What happened to us was an unfortunate accident, and the chances of replicating it are astronomically low, even for them."
"Even so, you'll understand if we don't wish to take any chances." Bismarck shook her head. "We need to take precautions somehow. Unfortunately, we can't do anything on our own. We must notify the higher-ups as soon as possible and let them decide the best course of action."
"I agree; whatever we decide to do will affect the future of the entire world. It's not the kind of decision we can make without consulting every member of the alliance," Elizabeth said, huffing. "And that's exactly why we are organizing a meeting between all the faction leaders; we'll meet at the Azur Lane joint base in a few days and discuss everything concerning the recent events, then we'll inform the higher-ups and wait for their instructions."
"Before that, we have to inform the commander of Azur Lane and the others," Bismarck added. "Elizabeth, I would like to depart as soon as possible and meet with you and your retinue along the way. Leviathan, you'll be coming with us, we'll need your input during the meeting, and you'll have the chance to reunite with your brother."
"As much as I'm not looking forward to the idea of traveling with that annoying prick, I have to fulfill my promise to him; I'll bring him along, so you can see each other again," said the monarch.
"Frau Bismarck, Queen Elizabeth, I'm grateful for your generosity," the shipboy stated, bringing a fist to his chest.
"As you should be," the queen replied. "Bismarck, I'll take care of informing my servant, the commander of Azur Lane, of our intentions; we'll talk again later to clarify the details."
Bismarck acknowledged her, and Elizabeth cut off the connection. Then, the faction leader turned to address her subordinate. "August, I imagine you'll want to come with us, right?"
"You are correct. I couldn't bear to be separated from my familiar right after meeting him," the carrier said.
"Not your familiar, August," the shipboy pointed out.
"You did accept my proposal of your own free will, my dear. That makes you my familiar," August said, sending him a look that didn't admit any objection.
"I agreed to stay by your side as an equal, not to be reduced to the rank of servitude," the shipboy insisted, with an almost accusatory tone of voice.
"That you did, my dear." August caressed his cheek with her hand. "Don't worry. Soon, you'll understand what being my familiar truly entails," she added. Then she strutted outside the room, openly swaying her hips for him while sending him a sultry look over her shoulder.
With his breath caught in his throat, Leviathan could only watch as she walked away, while Friedrich giggled at the exchange.
"Leviathan, remember that this is a naval base. Whatever you two end up doing, keep it behind closed doors," Bismarck told him after sighing.
The shipboy absentmindedly nodded his head. "I'll remember that."
Then he excused himself and left the room as well.
Freedom walked down the stairs to the main hall of the Eagle Union dormitory. Waiting for him were the three South Dakota sisters. His eyes lit up at seeing Massachusetts. The day hadn't started in the best way possible, but her mere presence was enough to lift his mood.
When he got close to them, they greeted each other, but Massachusetts' serene expression was replaced by worry when she saw his face.
"You look tired. Did you have trouble sleeping?" She inquired.
"I just had a lot on my mind. Nothing to worry about," he told her brushing off her worries. She wasn't entirely convinced but decided not to press any further.
The four of them began heading toward the mess hall, with South Dakota and Alabama walking a few feet ahead of the other two. When they reached their destination, it was teeming with Kansen of every kind and size. Behind the counter of the cafeteria were both the shipgirls on duty and the small chicks he had seen the day before, serving breakfast to those waiting in line; other Kansen had already taken their seats at the tables.
His presence turned a few heads toward him, and a few of them whispered among themselves, but everyone was too engrossed in their breakfast to actually pay attention to him. Better that way; he wasn't in the mood for another scene like the day before.
They sat down at an empty table and started eating, until Alabama finally addressed the elephant in the room. "So, everything's solved?"
Freedom and Massachusetts stopped chewing their food, looked at each other, and then nodded their heads to her.
"Good. Mamie was acting like an idiot the entire way back from the mission. At least now her mind is back on track," added the battleship.
Massachusetts sent her a look but didn't reply and went back to eating.
"So, what are the plans for today? What's there to do around here?" Freedom asked, trying to change the subject.
"Everyone's got their assignment, whether it's patrolling, commission duty, or simple training. As for us, we have a couple of days off since we've just returned from sortie," South Dakota answered. "I think I'll head to the training ground and find someone to spar with."
"Dakota, you got pretty roughed on sortie; you should take advantage of the days off to rest," Massachusetts intervened to chastise her sister.
"I can't afford to rest on my laurels, not after what happened yesterday," she declared with a determined expression on her face. "I have to become stronger if I want to prevent it from happening again."
"You are still beating yourself up over that..." Massachusetts said with a dejected tone.
Freedom pondered her words for a moment. If she wanted to become stronger, maybe he could help her with that. After all, he had all the time he needed before he started seriously searching for his brothers with Ryan.
"Dakota, if you want, I can be your training partner," he offered. South Dakota perked up at his words, and Massachusetts looked at him with a betrayed expression on her face.
"Don't look at me like that, Mamie; it's not like we are gonna spar." He sent her a reassuring look, then addressed the elder sister again. "Hear me out. I also think you should rest after yesterday's battle, but I also understand that you don't want to sit back and do nothing all day, which is why I have a proposal for you. If you want to become stronger, let me teach you how to do it."
Then he addressed the other sisters. "That goes for you too. If you agree to it."
"Sounds interesting. Count me in," Alabama declared. Massachusetts and South Dakota also gave their approval with a nod of their heads.
"Great. Though there's a bit of a catch to my proposal. I think we should ask for permission from Ryan first," he said sheepishly. If a bunch of Eagle Union Kansen suddenly stopped being able to summon their old hulls for no apparent reason, he figured there would be a lot of problems; they needed to talk about it with their commanding officer first. Besides, not every Kansen would be ready to say goodbye to their old bodies as he was when he started learning Wisdom Crafting.
"What are you talking about?" South Dakota inquired.
Before he could answer the question, a voice resounded in the mess hall.
"Freedom! Are you in here?" It was Cleveland. The cruiser had barged in all of a sudden and was shouting his name at the top of her lungs. Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her before turning their heads to him.
"What is it, Cleveland?" He replied from his seat, raising his voice so she could hear him from the other side of the room.
"We've received a communication. The Italians are coming, and they've got your brother with them!" The cruiser shouted again, excitedly.
"What?!" He jumped on his feet. He looked at the three battleships, and they gave him a nod with their heads, with Massachusetts mouthing a "go" to him.
He darted towards the door and exited the building without a second thought; the light cruiser was hot on his tail.
"Cleveland, what direction are they coming from?" He asked her as he kept running.
"From the west, but they are still a few hours away."
"It doesn't matter." He brought his arms behind him before thrusting them upwards to jump as high as he could while summoning his wings and departing from the base with a sonic wave. His rocket-powered trisect wings left a contrail behind him as he kept gaining altitude.
"Damn! It's so cool when he does that," Cleveland cheered, watching him slowly fade away into the distance.
Leviathan found August standing on the pier of the artificial bay where Liebe had been playing with the other riggings earlier. She turned to face him when she heard his footsteps and beckoned him closer.
He came to stand next to her, and she grabbed hold of his arm, pressing her body against his side. The two stood like that for a few seconds, watching Liebe and the dragon play together in the water. The other riggings were all resting on the pier, seemingly sunbathing. Liebe was swimming around August's rigging, leaving only her dorsal fin above the surface. The dragon would try to bite it with its jaws, and the shark would dive at the last second to avoid it.
"They seem to be having fun, Liebe, and... your rigging." He broke the silence first.
"Drachenberg," August said.
"Pardon?" Leviathan asked her in confusion.
"His name is Drachenberg. I've been treating him like a squire this entire time, but I never even considered giving him a name because I regarded it as redundant. It was long overdue that I gave him what he rightfully deserved, and I never realized how important it was to him until I met you, my dear." She turned her head to face him, looking at him with the same eyes that had made him lose his mind for her the first time.
The two leaned closer, and their lips met once again. This time, without the euphoria of the battle and the near-death experience, he was able to reciprocate the kiss with more eagerness. He couldn't lie to himself. He had been waiting for this moment since he woke up.
"Aw, you two are so cute together." A voice came from behind them, and they separated from each other.
"Heinrich. What are you doing here?" August said, regarding the newly arrived shipgirl with an annoyed glare.
"I'm about to go out on patrol, so I came here to pick Eisen up. I also wanted to say hi to Sir Cuddly Drake before- MEIN GOTT! Who's that beautiful chunky shark over there? I've never seen him around before." She stopped mid-sentence, and her eyes sparkled like searchlights at the sight of Liebe swimming around the artificial bay.
"Sir Cuddly Drake?" Leviathan raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"Forget it, my dear. That is just her wishful thinking," she replied before addressing the armored cruiser again. "Heinrich, that is Liebe; she belongs to Leviathan, here. And for the record, I've finally given my aide the proud name he deserves; he is now called Drachenberg, and I would appreciate it if you addressed him in such a way from now on."
"Oyyy! Liebe! Sir Cuddly Drake! Come over here so I can pet you!" The shipgirl with the impossible underboob shouted excitedly.
"So you do listen when I talk. Why do you ignore only half of the things I say?" August's eye twitched in irritation.
The fuss they were making on the pier drew the attention of the two metal beasts. Drachenberg started swimming in the water, slowly moving forward, but Liebe let out a powerful roar and started speeding in a beeline straight toward them.
Before slamming on the side of the artificial bay, she dove under the water and pushed herself up with a leap, landing on the pier with a powerful impact right beside the trio.
She was now laying on her belly, with all her body on the concrete except for her tail, letting out a metallic screech that sounded like whimpering, clearly trying to draw her owner's attention.
Leviathan moved closer to her, raising his hands, trying to assuage the upset shark. "Liebe, calm down, girl."
He put his hands on her jaws and touched her snout with his forehead. The difference in size between them was almost comical. "I made you wait here this entire time; you must have been worried sick. Forgive me; I promise it won't happen again."
The rigging answered letting out a deep, long bellow that reverberated through his core. If she had a tongue, she'd be drooling all over him right now.
"Wow, she's even more adorable up close. Say, Herr Leviathan, do you think you can let me ride on her back? Pretty please?" Heinrich asked him with a begging tone.
"Ehm… Actually, she doesn't like it when new people start climbing on her back. She usually gets pretty cranky," he said, trying to dissuade the shipgirl.
"Don't you worry. Maybe I don't look like it, but I'm pretty good at handling others' rigging," she responded, making a V sign with her fingers and sending him a wink.
"Heinrich, please, cease with your insistence. We were having a moment between ourselves and you-" August wasn't able to finish her sentence that Liebe started acting up.
"Meine Liebe, what's wrong?" Leviathan asked her with a worried tone of voice.
The shark's body started convulsing, like a dog choking on a bone. She started thrashing around, shaking her head; her convulsions kept increasing in intensity until she let out one last cough and spit something out of her mouth.
The object flew over a few feet in the air and landed on the ground between them. Leviathan and August widened their eyes. They both recognized it. The cube-shaped object was shining with an ominous yellow light.
It was the Cube of the Siren they had defeated.
AN: Not much to say here. Some important stuff for worldbuilding and some character interaction.
Next Chapter: Making Up