"And then what happened?" Javelin asked excitedly.
"…Kurama said, 'I'll show you what true strength really is,' and then proceeded to wipe out an entire Siren fleet all by himself," Emperor continued. "We didn't need to lift a finger; he took care of them all in the blink of an eye."
A bunch of "oohs" and "aahs" left the lips of the little Kansen surrounding him.
"Does that mean this Kurama is stronger than you?" One of the destroyers raised her hand.
"Out of all of us, he is certainly the one with the most destructive firepower," Emperor said with an exaggerated pensive expression on his face. "But that doesn't necessarily make him stronger."
"That's not true! The one who makes the bigger explosions is always the stronger!"
Hermione brought a hand to her lips, trying to hide a smile.
In the morning, Chaser had asked her for help in preparing a bunch of sandwiches with the intention of inviting Emperor to a picnic. The shipboy had been more than glad to accept, of course, and when the light carrier asked him about the other shipboys that had come with him, he started recounting some of the anecdotes from their past together. Now they were all sitting on a tablecloth sprawled onto the grass in the garden, sipping tea and listening to his tales. It didn't take long for some of the passing destroyers to overhear the conversation, and soon, a small crowd of Kansen had gathered around them, all too eager to hear his stories.
"He is so good at entertaining the little ones. Who would have ever thought?" Illustrious giggled.
One of the shipgirls who had remained particularly enraptured by his storytelling was Unicorn. The little carrier was taking a stroll with her big sister when they bumped into the gathering, and now, there she was, sitting next to Chaser, tightly hugging her plushy. She had her eyes fixed on the male Kansen, hanging from every word coming out of his lips, while Illustrious kneeled close to Hermione.
"Indeed, it was truly unexpected," the maid agreed.
Despite his willingness to help, Queen Elizabeth couldn't shake the feeling that he was still hiding something from them. That's why she had assigned Hermione to him as his personal maid, so that she could keep an eye on him and maybe pry some more information from him in a subtle way.
Hermione took her task to heart, like she always did. She figured she'd start by asking him about his brothers and their intentions for the future after they reunited, but Chaser beat her to it, which led to the shipboy not only talking about them but also sharing precious knowledge about his world and the Sirens that plagued it under the guise of adventure stories for kids.
She didn't know if Emperor was aware of it, but it made her job easier, so she wasn't going to complain.
In the corner of her eye, she noticed Warspite approaching them. She was about to stand up and greet her, but the battleship motioned for her to stay at ease.
"As you were, Hermione, I'm here to inform Emperor about something, then I'll be on my way," the shipgirl stated.
"Oh, look! Warspite is here. Everyone, say hi to her," Emperor said to the group of junior Kansen.
"Good morning, Miss Warspite!" The destroyers chanted together.
The battleship, taken aback by the warm welcome, cleared her throat and greeted them back before addressing the male Kansen.
"Emperor, Her Majesty just finished talking with the Iron Blood. They found one of your brothers, and they are bringing him to the Azur Lane joint base," she summed up. "We are going there too for an important meeting."
Emperor, still sitting on the tablecloth, widened his eyes at her in disbelief, then let out a sigh of relief. "And I imagine you'll want me to come with you, right?"
"Exactly. Also, Chaser, Illustrious, Her Majesty requests that you be part of the fleet. Hermione, since you are his personal maid, you'll have to come too."
"Of course, Miss Warspite."
"Warspite, can I come too?! It's been so long since I last saw Ayanami and the others." Javelin jumped on her feet, startling the battleship. "I really want to see them again," the destroyer added with pleading eyes.
"I don't see the problem, and I don't think Her Majesty will be against it-"
Javelin jumped on her neck and hugged her, cutting her off mid-sentence. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Then she addressed the smaller carrier. "Unicorn, do you want to come too? We'll have so much fun at Azur Lane."
A glint passed through Unicorn's eyes, and she timidly grabbed the hem of Illustrious' dress, as if asking for permission. The bigger carrier smiled and patted her head. "Of course you can come with us, Unicorn. I can't leave you behind all alone while my sisters are out on sortie."
Smiling at the interaction between the two carriers, Emperor asked, "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
Before departing from Wilhelmshaven, Leviathan fed the yellow Cube to Liebe. She would keep it in her stomach until they arrive at Azur Lane.
After she swallowed the alien contraption, he turned to August and offered his elbow to her. She gladly accepted, wrapping her arms around his, and the two slowly began making their way to the docks, where the rest of the fleet was supposed to assemble for departure.
August was having a hard time walking, and it was his fault. The previous night, he had kept her up for hours, and when they woke up in the morning, she almost couldn't feel her legs. It's true that she had basically given him free rein to do as he pleased and that she had thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty at being the cause of her current discomfort.
When they reached the docks, they were greeted by Bismarck herself, who was waiting for them next to her docked ship. The Iron Blood faction leader seemed to be in much better shape than the night before, they noticed.
"How are you feeling this morning, friend?" August asked her.
"As if nothing happened," the flagship stated with a neutral tone. "What did you do with the Cube?"
"Liebe's guarding it," Leviathan replied with a much colder tone than he intended.
Both Bismarck and August raised an eyebrow at him, the battleship not understanding what he meant, the carrier silently reprimanding him for his attitude.
"What about you, August? You are walking funny," Bismarck asked her, genuinely oblivious to the true reason behind her weird posture. She was clinging to Leviathan's arm as if her life depended on it, and she was slightly hunched over.
"Nothing to worry about, friend," August reassured her, straightening her back. "I just had a rough night," she said, sending a telling look to Leviathan, who averted his gaze from her.
Bismarck blinked, then widened her eyes as realization hit her, and a slight blush came to her face. Luckily, the other members of the fleet arrived in time to save her from the awkwardness of the situation.
"Why is that lowly animal here? Don't tell me he is coming with us." The voice of a certain heavy cruiser grated Leviathan's ears, and he turned to watch as five figures approached them.
He recognized three of them: the bitchy heavy cruiser and her laid-back sister, accompanied by Friedrich der Große. The other two were ones he was unfamiliar with. Two shipgirls, clearly sisters, dressed in purple with matching hair color; one of them was wearing a pair of red glasses, and the other had a black eyepatch on her left eye.
Everyone ignored Deutschland's rambling, and when the group got closer to them, the woman with the eye patch greeted him. "Hey, you are the male Kansen; we finally get a chance to meet you. My name is Scharnhorst, and this is my schwester, Gneisenau; we're known as the 'Ugly Sisters.'"
"Schwester, please don't introduce us with that moniker. It doesn't make for a good first impression," Gneisenau reprimanded her sister.
"My dear, Scharnhorst is one of our best long-range gunners," August explained. "She is the one who fired the volley that saved you that time."
"I see. You have my thanks for that," he said, bringing his fist to his chest in a show of respect. "I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."
"Honestly, it was nothing. That kind of shot is child's play for me."
While her subordinates exchanged pleasantries, Bismarck addressed her second in command. "Friedrich, I don't see Parzival; do you have any idea where she could be?"
"U-556 is probably sleeping in as always," the horned shipgirl said with a smirk. "Or not…"
All of a sudden, a small bundle of energy impacted Bismarck from behind, wrapping her arms around her and making her stumble forward.
"Lord Bismarck, I'm here!" U-556's happy voice reached her ears. "Hehe, did I surprise you?
"Yes, Parzival, you got me." Bismarck smiled and patted the head of the submarine. "Friedrich, I entrust the base to you while I'm away," she said to the PR ship, then addressed the rest of the group with her usual commanding tone. "Everyone, get on board. It's time to set sail."
"Brother, this is really hard," Chaser lamented, hanging her head in frustration.
"Take it easy," Emperor told her with an encouraging tone of voice. "This is your first time, so don't overexert yourself."
Letting out a sigh of fatigue, Chaser handed back to her brother the product of his Wisdom Crafting. The polyhedron was hovering on the palm of her hand, and he extended his own so that the weird contraption could float back into his grasp.
Emperor wanted to keep his promise of teaching Wisdom Crafting to the Kansen of the Royal Navy, and Chaser was the obvious choice to begin with. But before she could start conjuring matter from the data contained in her Cube, she had to learn to control it first.
It wasn't an easy process, let alone a quick one. Back then, it took him almost an entire year of constant training to do it properly, and on top of that, he had to learn to effectively use his Morphing Polyhedron once he became able to conjure it at will.
The issue was that he was among the first to learn how to do it, and he had no one else he could take a cue from for help. On the other end, it meant he could take advantage of his experience to help others succeed in the endeavor. And that's exactly what he was doing with Chaser, just like he did with his brothers in the past.
"Master, Miss Chaser, would you like a cup of tea?" Hermione asked them, approaching the two of them with a tray in her hands.
They were sitting at one of the tables inside the mess hall of the Hermione, the maid having offered her hull to travel on for the both of them, while the Queen Elizabeth sailed next to her, with Javelin, Unicorn, Illustrious and Warspite onboard, headed for the Azur Lane joint base. Elizabeth was all too happy to split the fleet if it meant she didn't have to tolerate the attitude of the male Kansen for the entirety of the trip.
"Thank you, Hermione. That's exactly what I needed," Chaser said, as the maid set the tray in front of them and proceeded to pour them a cup.
Emperor converted his polyhedron into its hat form and left it on the table, then he raised an eyebrow at the maid. "Hermione, why are there only two cups on this tray?" He asked her.
She tilted her head, not knowing what he meant by that. "Why, Master? One is for you; the other is for Miss Chaser."
"I'm asking why there's not a cup for you," Emperor said.
Realizing what he was trying to imply, she let a smile come to her lips.
"Master, I appreciate the thought, but it's considered improper for a maid to sit at the same table as a member of the Royal Court," Hermione explained to the shipboy. "Our only job is to attend to others' needs."
"Well, that's some bullshit," Emperor declared. "There's no way your presence could ever be considered 'improper.' Am I right, Chaser?"
"Honestly, this is one of those British things I could never understand," she agreed, taking a sip from her cup.
Not wanting to upset her guests, Hermione relented, her smile widening even more. "Very well, Master. As per your request, I shall fetch another cup for myself and sit next to you."
Once the maid had taken her place at the table with them, Chaser suggested, "Now that I think about it, Hermione, why don't you give it a try?" She pointed at Emperor's tricorn hat, her gaze shifting between the two other Kansen, as if asking for their opinion.
"I don't see why not," the shipboy said, reaching for his hat and changing it back into its mechanical form. The contraption, which was as big as a basketball, started hovering again a few inches above his palm, with the two pyramids that formed its structure rotating in opposite directions.
When he offered it to the maid, she hesitantly reached out with her palms facing upward. Upon receiving the object, it just kept fluctuating in her hands without doing anything.
"What am I supposed to do now?" she asked in confusion.
"Try to mentally reach for your Cube and adjust its wavelength so that it matches that of my polyhedron," the shipboy explained. "It will respond to your will, and you'll be able to make it change form."
Noticing the troubled expression on the maid's face, he quickly added, "Don't worry, I set it so that it doesn't turn into anything dangerous. You can rest assured."
Reassured, the maid closed her eyes and tried to follow his instructions.
Emperor felt a little bad for lying to them, but this kind of process was better conducted with a clear goal in mind, even if it was fabricated. There was no way for the two of them—or anyone else, for that matter—to be able to manipulate his own Wisdom Craft. It was as if he tried to control Leviathan's chains or summon Freedom's wings; it was simply impossible. Of course, what they were doing wasn't entirely pointless; otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed them to do it in the first place. This was training. Learning to attune one's own Cube to an external factor—like his Morphing Polyhedron—was the first step to gaining better control over it, allowing one to perform feats such as interacting with the Cube of a defeated Elite, screening one's mind from Siren's control, and preventing any kind of alteration they could force upon a Kansen. And lastly, at the highest level of expertise, it allowed to master Wisdom Crafting.
They could have kept going, but the session was interrupted by Elizabeth reaching for Hermione with her radio, startling the maid out of her focus. "Hermione, we are approaching the agreed meeting point; tell those two to get ready."
Leviathan was leaning over the railing of the Bismarck, watching Liebe as she jumped in and out of the water, much like a dolphin would.
Once they had reached the agreed meeting point, Bismarck had dropped the anchor, and now they were all waiting for their Royal allies to arrive. Everyone else was inside the bridge, assessing the points of discussion to bring up with the Royal Navy and with the rest of the factions during the impending meeting. Since he had no right to meddle in their business, he figured he'd just step outside and take a breath of fresh air.
After a while, he heard someone approach him. Turning to his right, he saw Admiral Graf Spee making her way toward him.
"The others are finished talking. You can come back in if you want," the shipgirl informed him.
"Thanks for the heads-up, but I think I'll stay here a little longer."
"You know, you could have just stayed inside with us. It's not like we were talking about secret intelligence or anything," Spee pointed out.
"I know, but political talk isn't something I enjoy. In my world, the one who takes care of it is my older brother. I've always shunned that side of the war; I consider it unnecessarily complicated and counterproductive," the shipboy replied.
The shipgirl lowered her gaze, fidgeting with her metal claw gauntlets. "I agree, things would be a lot less complicated if everyone could just get along… and become friends."
Leviathan eyed the contraptions on her hands, confused. If he remembered correctly, she was wearing them yesterday too. "Those claws, are they part of your rigging? Why do you wear them all the time?"
"Yes, they are part of my rigging," the shipgirl replied with a downcast expression, her face hiding even more behind her scarf. "But for some reason, I can't make them disappear like the rest of it. Putting them on and taking them off is a long and uncomfortable process, and since I must be ready to sortie at a moment's notice, sometimes I end up wearing them all day and night…"
"I see, it must be tough…" Leviathan didn't know what else to say. He wasn't the best at relieving other people's worries, unlike Emperor, and he was always afraid of making things worse for the person he was trying to comfort, but maybe he could find a way to help her…
But before he could voice his thoughts, an unfamiliar feminine voice came from behind them.
"External variable detected. Assessing temporal provenance."
They both turned in a flash.
A tall, dark-skinned woman was standing on one of the ship's turrets, looking down at them with her piercing yellow eyes and a neutral expression on her face, her long grey hair flowing in the wind. She had black metal bits and torn clothing on her body, which showed plenty of her scarred skin. The most notable parts, though, were the two gigantic prosthetic gauntlets she was wearing; they were even bigger than Spee's, and each arm was grafted with a double-barrel turret.
"Strength…" Spee breathed out in shock.
"Unable to identify temporal provenance. Initiate termination protocol."
Leviathan pushed Spee out of the way, summoned his chains on his wrists, and braced himself to receive her attack.
Her eyes lit up and she jumped him, pushing him with his back to the ground, keeping him down with one of her oversized gauntlets. He tried to break free from the hold she had on him but noticed he couldn't lift a finger, literally. He was being crushed by an invisible force that was preventing him from lifting his arms and his chains, making him feel like he was sinking into the deck of the battleship beneath him.
The Arbiter raised her left hand, pointing the ends of the two barrels to his face, but before she could shoot, Spee summoned her rigging and fired her guns. The rounds hit her in the side, making her fly away and crash into the railing of the warship. The heavy cruiser moved to the downed shipboy and helped him back up on his feet.
Strength recovered immediately and regarded the shipgirl with a hostile glare that made Spee flinch in fear.
"Detected hostile behavior from an internal variable. Assessing relevance to the simulation."
Suddenly, a giant mechanical shark jumped out of the water with a powerful roar. Liebe landed right on top of the Arbiter, crushing her with her weight and making the ship sway slightly.
Before Spee and Leviathan could breathe a sigh of relief, Liebe started levitating. Or rather, Strength was effortlessly lifting her up like a powerlifter would with a barbell. The Elite stood up on her feet, with her hands raised, holding the struggling shark-like rigging in the air.
"Relevance to the simulation: inconsequential. Proceed to the termination of both variables." She threw the mechanical shark at them, and Leviathan jumped on top of Spee, pushing her down with his weight. As Liebe's body flew over their heads and the railing, the Arbiter lunged at them before the rigging could even touch the water, and Leviathan, unable to retaliate from his position, could only use his chains to protect himself and the smaller shipgirl under him, praying they could be enough to deter the Elite from getting close for a few instants. With a right hook, the Arbiter hit the center of the shield formed by the chains, and the same invisible force he had felt earlier flooded into his body. He gritted his teeth, forcing himself to not lower his arms—and his chains with them.
Strength then brought her other arm back for the follow-up… which never came because she was forced to jump back to dodge another volley coming from the side.
Leviathan and Spee turned to see Deutschland with her rigging on display and a furious expression on her face, the other Iron Blood Kansen following behind her. "You dirty Siren! Keep your hands off my little sister!" She barked in anger.
"You took the words out of my mouth, Deutschland." August's voice came from above. "Stay away from my familiar, harlot." Drachenberg's figure slowly descended towards them, hovering a few feet above Leviathan and Spee in a protective manner, with the shipgirl riding onto his back sporting a very upset expression on her face
"Multiple hostile internal variables detected. Recalculating priorities," Strength said, her gaze moving to Bismarck. "Failed experiment detected. All variables present hold no relevance to the simulation. Proceed to the termination of all variables."
Strength's eyes and gauntlets suddenly unleashed a blinding light, and she began levitating, rising a few feet in the air.
"Everyone, heads-up! I'm recalling my vessel!" Bismarck yelled to her subordinates before making the hull under their feet disappear and making everyone fall into the ocean.
When their feet touched the surface of the water and the light subsided, they all found themselves trapped inside a Mirror Sea.
Ryan was standing on the docks, flanked by both Belfast and South Dakota. Behind them, a small crowd was starting to gather, eager to welcome the Sardinian delegation to their new home.
The Italian fleet was now perfectly visible. His mind, though, was somewhere else. He was still trying to come to terms with what happened between him and Shoukaku; not to mention the fact that Cleveland already knew about it and was probably running around the base telling everyone of the latest news.
But that wasn't the reason he was feeling so overwhelmed.
Musashi and Peter Strasser had both wanted to be brought up to speed about the success of the mission and everything else that transpired, including the arrival of the male Kansen and the information he had brought with him. After he explained everything to them, they couldn't wait to report it to their faction leaders.
On top of that, Queen Elizabeth had contacted him and had told him about her intention of holding a formal meeting between the factions as soon as possible, which wasn't a cause for concern in and of itself, except for the fact that the runt of a queen wanted to hold it right there! Of course, that meant he had the responsibility of setting up everything and preparing lodgings and other accommodations for all the faction leaders and their retinue. No prior notice, nor any consideration for him and his already overwhelming workload.
Adding that to the imminent arrival of the Italian delegation and the fact that he hadn't received word about his report of the operation from High Command, he could already feel a headache coming his way.
Looking ahead, he noticed that the single battleship had entered the bay and was about to reach the docks. He didn't know which Kansen Vittorio Veneto had sent as her representative, but if he had to guess, he would bet all his money on a certain green-haired shipgirl. His guess was proven correct when the Sardinian Kansen jumped down from the vessel they were riding as it disappeared in a flash of light, revealing the figure of the Glory of Naples in all her splendor.
The group of Kansen, of which Freedom was part, he noticed, made his way toward them and jumped onto the docks. "Mio caro Comandante!" Littorio greeted him. "It's been so long since we last met."
He stepped forward to meet her, extending a hand for her to shake, but she grabbed it with both her hands and brought it to her lips, kissing him on his knuckles, eliciting a round of giggles from the small crowd behind them.
"Ah… yes, Littorio, it's been a while," he said, trying to hide his embarrassment at the public display.
The last time they saw each other was also the first time they met. It was during the celebrations for the reestablishment of Azur Lane. The top brass had organized a huge party, and they used it to introduce him as the man who would step up as commanding officer of the new joint base. Of course, the highest-ranking officers of every navy took part in the event, alongside the rulers of each nation and a handful of Kansen from each faction of the alliance. For him, it was an unnerving experience; good thing he didn't mess up on that occasion.
It was how he was able to meet the faction leaders and some of the members of their entourage, including that insufferable pipsqueak that was Queen Elizabeth, the exuberant Littorio, and Akagi... Just thinking about the Kitsune's bone-chilling gaze and the way she eyed him up and down was enough to send shivers down his spine. Good thing she was not assigned to his base.
Littorio introduced him to the new Kansen who would be under his command for the foreseeable future, and he welcomed them to their new home. He was more than surprised to see another shipboy among them other than Freedom, and they explained to him the circumstances of his finding.
"I see; I'm glad everything turned out all right," he said, after hearing their story. "By the way, Littorio, I imagine you are not aware of the latest development; I'd like you to come into my office so we can discuss it. Freedom, Sparviero, that goes for you too; I have news about some of your brothers."
The two shipboys perked up at his statement and were more than eager to follow him toward his office.
Once inside the Mirror Sea, Bismarck didn't waste any time. "All Kansen, fire at will!"
Their rigging came to life and fired one barrage after another at the Elite Siren. Strength who was still hovering in the air, and not a single one of those rounds reached their target; they all slowed down their course in her proximity before careening sideways or plummeting into the sea.
The Kansen stopped shooting after realizing they were just wasting ammunition. Strength hadn't moved an inch from her position and was just looking down on them from above like she was looking at walking garbage. Once their firing stopped, her turn came. She brought her fists together and extended her arms, aiming the two double barrels at them and releasing a barrage of energy blasts toward them.
"Scatter!" Bismarck shouted, moving out of the way with the other Kansen.
Leviathan jumped on top of Drachenberg, right behind August, and motioned for her to bring him up while the other shipgirls dodged the Arbiter's attacks.
Drachenberg flew as fast as he could toward their enemy. The higher they climbed, the more intense the constant shift in gravity became, but with enough effort, he was able to reach the Arbiter's position, forcing her to stop firing her guns and focus on them.
The rigging tried to hit her with his fire breath, but she just shielded herself with her arms, brute-forced through it, and punched him right in the snout with her gigantic gauntlets, sending the rigging plummeting in a free fall.
Leviathan jumped from August's rigging right before her fist connected and stabbed the Arbiter in the back with one of the blades at the end of his chains as the other quickly wrapped around the arms of the Elite like the coils of a snake capturing its prey in a vice.
Strength tried to get him to let go by struggling as much as she could, but the shipboy was holding onto her back with all his might. The chain wrapped around her arms was becoming tighter and tighter, until it crushed the barrels grafted on both her wrists, rendering them useless.
"I think I've got you figured out, Siren," the male Kansen said to the Arbiter, gritting his teeth in effort. "When you touch someone with your gauntlets, they get permeated with an incredibly powerful gravitational pull. To top it all off, the gravity in this Mirror Sea is shifting constantly, and you are immune to it. You truly are a fearsome opponent, but if I bring you down to our level and prevent you from moving your arms, you'll be completely defenseless."
He wrapped his legs around her waist and pushed his blade further into her back, paying attention not to let her touch him with her hands, but all of a sudden, she stopped struggling.
The shipboy was puzzled but wasn't about to let such an opportunity slip from his fingers. He was about to stab her again when he felt a looming presence behind him. He let go of her right before the jaws of a giant shark-like rigging crushed him to pieces.
He dropped down with his chains trailing behind him and landed harmlessly right next to August and Drachenberg, who was still trying to recover from the hit he had taken. The other Kansen were all huddled together in formation, trying to shield an unconscious and bleeding Scharnhorst from any incoming attack.
He approached the dragon-like rigging and his owner to check on their condition. "I disabled her cannons, but I can't think of another way to bring her down," he informed the flagship while helping August back up on her feet.
"August, can't you summon your planes to get us up there?" Bismarck questioned the carrier.
"They would just crash after a few seconds of flight; Drachenberg is the only one who can fly in these conditions," the shipgirl said, clutching her head with her hand while holding onto Leviathan's arm for support.
"How long until he can fly again?"
"She doesn't seem to be in a hurry," August replied, gazing up at the Arbiter. "Just give us a few seconds, and we'll bring you up there once more."
Indeed, Strength was just hovering in the air, doing nothing, now flanked by her own rigging's imposing figure. Its body was black and grey with light blue glowing lights running through it. It was as big as Liebe and Drachenberg, and just like the former, it was shaped like a shark, but its jaws operated differently: the mouth was vertical instead of horizontal like any other normal shark, and its jaws opened and closed sideways.
The alien rigging shifted its position below its owner and opened its mouth wide, aiming it at them. An azure glow started coming from the depths of its throat, and it began slowly increasing in intensity.
Sensing the impending danger, Leviathan shouted, "Everyone, take cover behind me!" He unraveled his chains and started swinging both of them at the same time, making them spin right in front of him. They were moving so fast that they became almost invisible to the naked, ready to deflect whatever the Arbiter threw at them.
The monster released the energy it was accumulating, discharging from its mouth a massive barrage of powerful energy blasts toward the group. The light of the attack was so intense that it was blinding. Bismarck grabbed Spee and Deutschland, holding them close to her chest, Gneisenau was clinging to her unconscious sister, and Drachenberg was shielding all of them with his body.
The barrage collided, and around them, everything was enveloped in a cacophony of light and explosions. Leviathan gritted his teeth in pain as many of the blasts were deflected by his chains, but many others seeped through his defense, hitting his body or August's rigging behind him.
The Arbiter was unrelenting in her attack. It lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity, and when the light and the explosions subsided, it revealed the battered body of the shipboy.
Leviathan's outfit was ripped and burned in multiple spots, and he was bleeding profusely from the wounds on his body. Drachenberg wasn't faring any better; his metal plates were charred, and his wings were reduced to smithereens.
The shipboy was panting heavily; his arms were shivering from the effort, and his chains were floating motionlessly in the water.
The Arbiter, sensing an opportunity to terminate her main target, darted down to their level, extending her hands towards him, but before she could reach him, something got in her way.
It was Spee. The shipgirl, who had stepped between Strength and Leviathan, intercepted her attack, grabbing the hands of the Elite with her own claws. The cruiser used all her Kansen strength to oppose the assailant, but the Arbiter pushed forward without even flinching, unperturbed by her pitiful attempt at resistance. Spee's claws were now being crushed in the Elite's gauntlets, making her wince in pain; on top of that, the gravity that was coursing through her small body was slowly making her lose all the strength she had left.
Before going down on her knees, Spee clenched her teeth in effort, retracted her head, pulled the Arbiter down with her, and headbutted her right on her face, breaking her nose.
Strength flinched back in pain and instinctively brought her right hand to her face. She widened her eyes in shock, not because her nose was now bleeding but because her right gauntlet was missing. She looked at the downed heavy cruiser, who was holding said gauntlet in her broken hands with a smug smile on her face, and for the first time in a long time, she felt something she hadn't felt in a while surge inside of her—anger.
She lunged at the shipgirl; her face contorted in a mask of fury. Maybe because she was blinded by rage, or maybe because she wasn't used to human emotions and didn't know how to control her anger, she didn't notice the harpoon decorated with the Iron Blood flag coming at her until it pierced her left shoulder, disabling her left arm and rendering harmless her remaining gauntlet.
On the other end of the polearm was the severe expression of the Iron Blood leader, now standing in front of her subordinate, protecting her from harm once again.
The two struggled for a few instants, with Bismarck trying to keep the Arbiter down and steady so she could aim her rigging at her, and Strength trying to pry the harpoon out of her shoulder with her free hand.
Suddenly a flash came to the mind of the Arbiter, and she remembered what Observer had done with the battleship in the past. She stopped struggling and fixed her eyes on Bismarck's, exploiting their proximity to try and reach for the Cube of the faction leader.
Before the battleship could realize what was happening, she fell victim to the Arbiter's trick. Images started flooding into her mind; she saw herself in the place of Strength, wearing her own gauntlets and sporting the same power she had displayed during the fight. Those images were swiftly replaced with the faces of her loved ones, her sister Tirpitz and her friend Parzival, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke and embers, as if they were burning in front of her.
She let go of her harpoon, clutched her head with her hands, shut her eyes, and bit her lips hard enough to draw blood, stumbling back. Not again. Never again would she let the Sirens tempt her as she did in the past; her honor and the last shred of humanity left in her wouldn't allow it.
The Arbiter removed the shaft from her shoulder and stood back up on her feet. She threw away the harpoon and stepped closer to Bismarck, retracting her fist and aiming it at the battleship.
"Frau Bismarck, watch out!" Spee shouted to her leader, who seemed too preoccupied fighting something inside her mind to pay attention to the enemy. Leviathan, understanding what was happening, tried to step forward, but his legs betrayed him, and he fell on his knees, unable to move.
Before the Arbiter could get any closer, a small bundle of courage and determination sprang out of the water below her. "Stay away from Lord Bismarck!" U-556 shouted at the top of her lungs, uppercutting the Arbiter in the chin and sending her flying backward.
Not content, the submarine grabbed a pair of torpedoes directly from her rigging and threw them at the Arbiter like hand grenades. Strength, too stunned to react, could only follow the two small metallic tubes with her eyes as they impacted the water and exploded right next to her face.
"Vessel is too heavily damaged. Victory is not guaranteed," the Elite thought, struggling to stay afloat. As much as she didn't like it, she had to admit defeat and retreat. She was hoping to take care of the external variable quickly before returning to hunt the Ashes, but in these conditions, she could barely keep her Mirror Sea up. She mentally reached for her rigging and stood still in the water.
The alien shark, who was finally able to move again after having drained most of its energy by unleashing the attack from before, dove down toward her, opened its mouth, and fell in the water face first right atop her, swallowing her whole body and disappearing in the depths of the water.
Immersed in the dark confines of her rigging's throat, Strength couldn't notice the presence of another figure swimming close to them. Liebe, who had been waiting the entire time for a moment to attack alongside the little sub, was silently stalking the other shark.
The alien rigging didn't notice her presence until she bit its neck from below, locking her powerful jaws in the exact spot where its owner was resting. The Arbiter felt the metal walls surrounding her suddenly clamp around her, and another unexpected emotion started filling her. Dread.
The monstrous shark struggled with all its might, but it was still too weak to fight back, and once Liebe secured a firm grasp on the neck of her prey, she extended the cannons grafted onto her body and fired multiple volleys at maximum power and point-blank range, disintegrating both the upper half of the alien and the body of its owner inside of it. Strength's Cube was knocked away by the force of the blast and slowly started drifting away, carried by the underwater currents, while Liebe headed to the surface, where her owner and their new friends were recovering from the battle.
AN: As you can see, I've taken some liberties with Strength's gravity-controlling power. I hope I was able to do her justice in my own way.
Also, I want to clarify something. What Strength was doing wasn't trying to control Bismarck; she doesn't have that kind of power. She was just putting images in her head to get her to lower her guard, and she succeeded. PTSD sucks.
Next Chapter: Fox Fire