"Witness the power of the Le Fantasque-class!" Le Malin and Le Triomphant spoke in unison, and the three Kansen lunged at each other.
The shipboy was ready to meet them head-on, but before he could strike at one of them, the two split in opposite directions with a sudden dash, leaving a trail of torpedoes in their wake.
He was forced to dodge them by jumping. The projectiles harmlessly passed underneath him as he vaulted over their course, but when he landed, he wasn't prepared for the pointy blade of an estoc piercing his left arm. In the corner of his eye, he saw the white-haired destroyer right next to him, her weapon embedded deep between his elbow and shoulder. Before he could even raise his other arm to hit her, she had already retracted her weapon and reached a safe distance. He made to follow her, but before he could take a single step, Le Triomphant shot her guns at him, nailing him in the side and making him falter.
Le Malin took advantage of it and jumped him again, this time hitting the back of his head with the hilt of her estoc, making him stumble forward. He recovered from the hit and turned to retaliate, but his fist found nothing, as the shipgirl had already reached her sister's side.
"Soeur, I stabbed his arm, but he can still move it without issue, and that hit to the neck should have at least sent him out of commission. It's almost as if he can't feel any pain," Le Malin voiced her thoughts to her sister. "I suspect he's under the Sirens' yoke and can't defy their orders."
"Does that mean he attacked us and hurt Dunkerque and Jean against his own will?" Le Triomphant asked her, keeping her eyes on the shipboy.
"We can ask him directly when we get him out of it."
"But how do we do that?"
"We just need to beat him into a pulp," declared Le Malin.
Jean Bart approached Béarn from behind, wincing in pain as she held her mangled left arm with her right hand; her half-destroyed rigging was making it hard to keep her balance as she stumbled forward.
Béarn was using the right flight deck of her rigging as a makeshift stretcher for Dunkerque, who was still unconscious and bleeding her life out. The carrier was trying her best to tend to her while also manipulating her squadrons in the air, providing cover for Richelieu and the others, who were still fighting the Sirens ahead. Every now and then, a stray shot would impact a few feet away from her, and she would be forced to change positions and cover Dunkerque's defenseless body.
All those things, combined with the fact that she had to keep her guard up for a possible surprise attack from Tester, were putting her mental fortitude to the test.
That's why she felt relief washing over her when she noticed Jean Bart approaching from behind. For as much as she didn't like the Vichya shipgirl, the presence of a strong and experienced Kansen next to her was a boon, and seeing the condition she was in made her grimace.
"Don't look at me like that, Béarn. This is nothing compared to what Dunkerque's going through," Jean Bart said when she noticed the look Béarn was giving her. "What's the situation over there?" She asked as she directed her gaze toward her sister and the others, still in the middle of the fight.
"We have the upper hand... for now. Tester's intervention could tip the balance in their favor, but she's nowhere to be seen," Béarn reported. "What are you going to do? I could use someone to cover for me, but in your condition..."
"I can take a few more hits before going down. You do your thing and let me take care of the rest," Jean said, stepping in front of Béarn with her back to her and extending the right side of her rigging in a protective manner.
She was weakened and wounded, but she'd be damned if she allowed herself to be a burden. The situation reminded her too much of that time when she was fighting against a certain Eagle Union battleship, and just like then, it's not like she couldn't fight back. She still had a turret left, and if she had to go down, she'd do it on her own terms, namely fighting until the end and protecting her comrade in doing so.
She looked at Dunkerque, and her heart clenched. The euphoria of the battle and the rage that had assaulted her against the shipboy were slowly quelling, leaving space for sorrow and anguish. She bit her lips and fought back her tears, then shook her head and went back to scanning her surroundings for any sign of Tester while also keeping an eye on the enemy forces further away.
Her vision was starting to get blurry due to the tears in the corners of her eyes, and it was at that moment that an idea struck her.
"Béarn, can't your planes locate Tester's position with their radar?" She asked the carrier.
"Unfortunately not," Béarn responded. "It seems her camouflage can also protect her from detection; why are you asking?"
"Because I need you to do something for me."
Lenin had never felt so frustrated in his entire life. He had tried to resist as much as he could to the... torment those wretched Sirens had put him through, but in the end, he gave up on it. He was forced to retreat his consciousness inside his Cube, if only to spare himself any more of that unbearable pain. Of course, the Sirens capitalized immediately on it, overriding his will and taking control of his body, reducing it to a mindless puppet.
It was as if another him had taken over his body and was moving it against his will. The worst part was that he could see what was happening around him from the recesses of his mind, but something was preventing him from making his consciousness emerge from those depths again; the only thing he could do was watch helplessly as his body was used to do the Sirens' bidding.
He saw how he called his vessel and cleaved in half the hull of that gray-haired Kansen, how he disintegrated the rigging of the one with the ponytail with his fist, how the rest of the group fell into the Sirens' ambush, and how the two shorter Kansen had come to aid their comrade in need; he even heard them when they tried to communicate with him.
Of course, he couldn't reply, and they attacked him right away.
He was afraid he'd hurt them too, but after their clash started, he realized that his concern was misplaced.
The two destroyers were fast. Their movement speed was outside the chart, and they were unrelenting in their coordinated attacks. They would engage him in close quarters one at a time, only long enough to land a couple of blows, then retreat to a safe distance; if he tried to react, the other would just shoot him from his blind spot with her rigging, creating another opening for her sister to exploit.
They weren't giving him any room to breathe, but he could still tell without a shred of doubt that they were holding back. Their calculated strikes were clearly meant to debilitate him instead of killing him; in fact, his body and limbs were covered with so many holes and wounds that he looked like a colander, but none of them was lethal since they were openly missing his vitals.
It was pretty clear to him that their goal was to wear him out with a battle of attrition. Whether they were doing it to capture him alive or they were just taking their sweet time to kill him, it didn't matter; both options sounded a lot better to him than being under enemy control.
Of course, his body was not on the same page as him.
After the umpteenth thrust from Le Malin, he let his arms fall to his sides and stumbled forward, his cestuses too heavy to lift in the condition he was in.
"It looks like he's on his last legs," the destroyer thought. Sensing another opening to strike, she lunged forward, aiming her estoc at him for a final thrust.
At the last second, Lenin's cestuses disappeared in a flash of light, and he raised his left arm right in front of Le Malin's weapon. For a split second, she hesitated, and Lenin, using her own momentum against her, stabbed his own left hand through the blade of her estoc, reaching all the way down to the handle and grasping both it and her hand in a firm grip.
She tried to fight back with her free hand, but he grabbed her wrist with his right. She winced in pain as the shipboy clenched his grip and almost crushed her bones.
"Let go of her, you brute!" Le Triomphant immediately rushed in. She summoned her shield in her left hand and slammed it into the back of the shipboy's head with all her strength.
His legs buckled under the impact, and he let go of Le Malin. She didn't waste time and quickly extracted her blade from his hand, bashing him with the hilt of her estoc in his forehead. Le Triomphant followed with another shield bash, sending him towards her sister, who responded with a backhand slap to his face.
The two continued to beat him like that, thrashing him like a ragdoll in succession, until he went down on his knees, his body too battered to put up any meaningful resistance.
The destroyers stopped in their tracks and lowered their weapons.
"Soeur, I think we overdid it a little," Le Triomphant said to her sister.
Le Malin looked at his face and grimaced. His forlorn expression was still there, but now it was decorated with a bleeding nose, a swollen eye, a busted lip, and multiple cuts on his face. He was also bleeding profusely from the other wounds they had inflicted on him and probably had a concussion. She didn't regret what she and her sister did since it was the only way they could subdue him without killing him, but she was genuinely feeling bad for the shipboy. She couldn't even imagine what being under the Sirens' control meant, but based on what she knew, it mustn't be pleasant at all.
She bent down with him and met his eyes, which had lost a part of their yellow glee. "If you can hear me, I'm sorry for all that, but there was no other way."
Unexpectedly, his lips parted for the first time since they met. His gaze was still unfocused, but he was trying to speak. "B-b…"
"Mmh? Is he trying to say something?" Le Triomphant tilted her head at his stutter.
"B-behind… you."
A laser beam hit Le Triomphant in the back. Le Malin's eyes widened in shock as her sister fell face-first into the water, right next to the shipboy.
When she turned to face the attacker, the camouflage on Tester's rigging came undone, revealing her scowling expression. She was a few feet above her, too far for her estoc to reach her and too high for a clean shot with her rigging; the Elite's laser barrel was still fuming from the beam she had just fired.
"This whole ordeal was nothing but a huge waste of time. I was expecting a lot more from you, yet you've been nothing but a disappointment and a huge pain in the ass since the moment we found you." She shook her head in displeasure, not even acknowledging the destroyer's presence. "For as much as I'd love to just ditch you here, you are still a valuable source of information to us, and Zero would be pretty upset with me if I were to lose you."
"I won't allow you to get away with this, Tester!" Le Malin was on the verge of losing her composure.
"Quiet down, squirt! Be grateful I got your sister instead of you," she barked at the destroyer. "Now get out of my way if you don't want to end up like her."
Le Malin stood in defiance right in front of her sister and the shipboy. She loaded her gun and raised her weapon, ready to take on the Siren. In any other situation, she wouldn't be worried about a direct confrontation with an Elite; her speed was her strong point, and it gave her an incredible advantage against her enemy, but she didn't know how long she could last against her if she also had to protect not one but two other people.
"Do I just take Le Triomphant and leave?" She banished that thought from her mind. Le Triomphant would never forgive her if she abandoned someone like that. The shipboy needed her help as much as her sister did, and if he was such a valuable resource to the Sirens, it was one more reason not to hand him over.
"I am the mirage that chases the waves, the poisoned blade that protects the Vichya Dominion. Super destroyer, Le Malin, and I will not yield to the threats of a Siren," she declared resolutely.
Le Triomphant's weak and coarse voice reached her ears from behind. "That's right… You tell her, soeur."
Tester scoffed at her. "Then I'll take you along with him and turn you into a puppet. That is, if you survive this." She aimed all her barrels at her and started charging her lasers.
Le Malin braced herself for what was coming, but right before the Siren could unleash her attack, she felt a hand clasp her shoulder and pull her back. It was the shipboy. He pushed her down next to her sister and used his body to protect them from the attack.
Tester unleashed a barrage of laser beams down at the Kansen. It lasted only a few instants, but to Le Malin, it felt like an eternity. The beams impacted the water around them, but only a few of them grazed her and her sister. All the others were blocked by the shipboy and his rigging, which he had summoned on his arms once again to guard himself.
Tester didn't realize what happened until it was too late. When the light of the attack subsided, the Siren looked at the result of her action, and her smirk disappeared from her face. Before her was the figure of the shipboy, standing defiantly in front of the two destroyers, covering his face with his rigging, or at least what remained of it. His cestuses were broken and battered, and they were barely sticking to his arms; nothing remained of his sleeveless down jacket except for a few torn pieces of fabric. His body, which was already in bad shape because of the clash with the shipgirls, was now completely covered in wounds, at least in the spots he couldn't protect with his rigging.
Time seemed to stop for a second until the shipboy fell unceremoniously into the water face first.
It was at that moment that Tester knew she fucked up. She quickly landed on the water below, right next to his body, to check on his condition, and breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he was still alive, if barely. She had to bring him back before it was too late; if she were to lose such a precious test subject in such a stupid way, Zero would straight up erase her. Moreover, the male Kansen just broke free from their mind control to protect the shipgirls. Once she brought him back to their lair, she'd have to report it to Observer and tell her to increase the output of the Black Wisdom Cube on his mind if they didn't want him to turn on them again in the future.
Movement in the corner of her eye brought her back to reality. Le Malin, whom she believed was down for good, was already on her feet, charging at her. Tester was ready to respond, aiming one of her guns at her to fire a quick beam, but something tugged at her leg, making her lose her balance. Her attack only grazed Le Malin's shoulder, and the shipgirl took advantage of the opening to thrust forward her estoc, piercing the Siren straight through her chest, right below her neck.
She looked down at the handle of the weapon sticking out of her torso and at the hand of the shipgirl wielding it. Her gaze went further down, and she met the eyes of the shipboy, who was glaring defiantly at her from his downed position, with his hand clutching tightly to her ankle.
"You! How are you still able to move in that state?!" She bellowed in disbelief.
"I'm a nuclear-powered icebreaker... As long as I draw breath, I am unstoppable," Lenin let out, completely out of breath.
"You bast—AARGH!" Le Malin started twisting her estoc into her wound, causing the Siren to scream in pain. Tester grabbed the handle of the weapon and the shipgirl's wrist in a desperate attempt at prying her off of her, but then a twisted idea came to her mind: she couldn't shoot Le Malin because she was too close and couldn't hurt the shipboy, so she opted to aim her barrels at Le Triomphant.
Before Le Malin could realize her intention, Tester had already fired her laser, but the beam, instead of hitting the downed destroyer, impacted Jean Bart's rigging, who had just appeared out of nowhere to shield the defenseless shipgirl. The impact destroyed her remaining turret, but the battleship was unharmed, leaving the Siren slack-jawed.
"Now, Le Malin!" The Vichya flagship shouted at her subordinate.
The destroyer didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the hilt of her estoc with her other hand and mercilessly dragged it upward, through and out of the Siren's neck with a swift motion.
Purple blood started gushing out of Tester's wound, staining Le Malin's pristine dress. The Siren clutched at her neck before falling to her knees. She lifted her gaze, and her incredulous gaze met the shipgirl's uncompassionate eyes. At that moment, Tester couldn't help the crazy smile that came to her lips as life slowly left her body and she exhaled her last breath, collapsing onto the water.
For a few seconds, the only sounds that could be heard were the sloshing of the waves and the muffled sound of the battle that was still taking place at a distance from them.
Jean Bart watched as her sister and the others took out one after the other the remaining Siren units in the distance. Without the Elite controlling them, the enemy fleet was just an uncoordinated bunch and was being easily disposed of by the other Kansen.
Le Malin didn't even spare a glance at Tester's body and went straight to her sister, who was being helped up by Jean. Though, to be fair, the battleship needed as much help as the destroyer.
"Jean, don't strain yourself. You are in much worse shape than I am," Le Triomphant said to the battleship.
Le Triomphant's back was scorched and charred; just trying to stand up was awfully painful for her, but she wasn't in any kind of danger. Jean Bart's rigging was missing her left and right sides; only the central piece remained unscathed, and her guns were basically nonexistent. Her left arm was in a horrible state; it would be a miracle if she'd be able to use it again after this, and she clearly had some more internal injuries.
Le Malin went and put her sister's arm around her own shoulder, being careful not to hurt her, then addressed her flagship.
"Jean, how did you get here? Didn't I tell you to stay put?" Le Malin said to the battleship, without a hint of accusation in her voice; after all, she had just saved her sister's life.
"I just hitched a ride on one of Béarn's planes. I was flying around the place, trying to spot Tester's location with my own eyes, but I wasn't having any luck until I spotted a blur moving in the air towards your position," Jean explained. "I wish I had gotten here sooner. At least you are doing pretty well, Le Malin."
Indeed, Le Malin was doing a lot better than the two of them; she only had a scratch on her right shoulder, where the Siren's laser beam had hit her earlier. But the one who was in the worst condition was the shipboy himself. He had received all sorts of beatings during the battle; he even tanked a laser barrage from an Elite Siren. It was a miracle he was still conscious.
Speaking of which, Lenin was floating on his back, trying his best to endure the pain coursing through his body and reflecting on what just happened. He was able to break through the mind control only thanks to the beating he had received during the battle. The hits he had taken gave him a small opening to force his consciousness outside, if only for a couple of seconds. It happened right when he warned the two destroyers about the Siren that was coming at them from behind. After that, he only needed to do what he had been taught to completely banish the Sirens from his mind.
He did pretty well, all things considered, but he still had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up to his brothers' level. If he had been able to undo their control sooner, he could have prevented certain things from happening.
While he was lost in his thoughts, three familiar faces appeared in his line of sight, calling him back to reality. The woman with the ponytail, the white-haired girl, and the blonde with the bob cut were standing around him, regarding him with various expressions.
Jean Beart was the first to speak. "Don't make any sudden movements," she said in a harsh tone of voice. "You are still alive only because you were being controlled. Thank Le Malin for figuring it out; if it were for me, you'd be long dead."
He ignored her warning and turned his head to the one named Le Malin, her tired gaze full of concern for him. He lost himself in her deep sky-blue eyes for a second, but he quickly composed himself. "Thank you for that, and I'm sorry for everything," he said, his voice coming out in a breath. Speaking was still hard for him, especially with his injuries.
Le Malin nodded to him. Conflicting emotions were swirling inside her, and she was sure it was the same for her sister. He was the one who heavily injured Jean Bart and almost killed Dunkerque; the battlecruiser probably wasn't even out of danger yet. But she could feel the pain and the remorse in his voice, and after witnessing how he helped them out when he could, she was pretty sure she'd be able to forgive him in the future. "By the way, you didn't tell us your name," she said.
"You are right. My name is Lenin; it's nice to meet you," he said, trying to force a smile through the pain.
"Lenin, we are taking you with us to Azur Lane; the other male Kansen are also going there. Try to hold out until then," Le Malin said, trying to be as comforting as possible with her voice.
His eyes widened in surprise at her words, and a smile made its way onto his lips. After everything he went through, he couldn't wait to see his brothers again. He chuckled lightly, but his laughter was taken over by a light coughing fit. Even doing something as simple as laughing was painful, but he was still able to reply to her question.
"Thank you… Hehe, I can't wait to see them again."
"What a touching scene. I hate to interrupt it like this, but I don't have time to waste." An unfamiliar voice was heard, and all of a sudden, a portal opened right under the shipboy, from which a cluster of black tentacles came out. The tendrils wrapped around his limbs, neck, and torso, making him gasp in pain.
Jean grabbed Le Malin by the scruff of her neck and pulled her and her sister away from him. In the corner of her eye, she noticed that another portal had opened right under Tester's body, which was also being wrapped around in tentacles and dragged inside of it.
Lenin knew immediately what was happening; these were the tendrils of that other Siren called Observer. The pain he was experiencing quickly replaced the surprise with anger, and he started thrashing with all the strength he had left. "Let go of me, you filthy piece of Siren crap! I'll smash your teeth in and rip them out of your throat! Do you hear me?! Let me go, this instant!"
One of the tentacles stuffed itself into his mouth, muffled his cries of anger, and almost made him retch in disgust, but he didn't stop thrashing about in their grip.
"Lenin!" Le Malin was about to rush in to help him, but even with her speed, she didn't make it in time. She could only watch as his form disappeared inside the dark portal and vanished into thin air.
She gritted her teeth in frustration and looked up, where a black mass of tendrils had just appeared above their heads. Sitting atop it with a smirk on her face was a figure they knew far too well. Observer.
"What are you doing here, Observer? Do you want to get in on the action as well?" Jean stepped forward with hostility in her voice, putting herself between the Siren and Le Triomphant.
"Oh no, I'm here only to retrieve our new test subject and my foolish underling. I don't want a repeat of what happened with Purifier's Cube," Observer said with a sarcastic voice. "Besides, even if I wanted to take you out, I'm rather at a disadvantage," she added, pointing her finger behind them.
They turned their heads to look in that direction and watched as a fleet appeared on the horizon. Even from that distance, they recognized Royal Navy and Iron Blood battleships approaching their position. Jean switched her gaze back to the Siren, but she had already disappeared into thin air as if she had never been there. Tester's body had also disappeared, and the three Kansen were left alone with a bad taste in their mouths.
The Royal Navy and the Iron Blood joint fleet had followed the distress signal sent by Béarn to the location where the battle was taking place, but when they arrived, there was nothing left of the mass-produced Siren fleet except for the scraps and the burning wreckages scattered around the sea.
With Tester's defeat, Richelieu and the others easily took care of the rest of the Sirens on their own, and now, they were all huddled together around Dunkerque, still lying motionless onto one of Béarn's flight decks.
They all stood around her with grim and dark expressions, Richelieu and Jeanne d'Arc kneeling in front of her, their hands joined in a silent prayer. Her face had lost all color, and her heart rate was slowly fading. The only reason she was still alive was because she was a shipgirl; otherwise, she would have already kicked the bucket.
They were so absorbed in their mourning that they didn't even notice the presence of Queen Elizabeth and Bismarck approaching them. The two had dropped off the Hemione to reach the Iris fleet and were being followed by their retainers, Warspite and U-556.
Elizabeth, upon noticing the condition Dunkerque was in, immediately contacted Emperor, who was waiting aboard the Hermione with everyone else.
"Emperor, come down here immediately. Your assistance is required," she spoke through her internal radio.
"Madame Elizabeth, Madame Bismarck, well met," Richelieu addressed her fellow flagships, standing up on her feet to face them. "Forgive my manner, but we'd like to have some time with our dearest comrade before she's freed of her mortal coils."
"No one's kicking the bucket as long as I'm here." The voice of the male Kansen reached them from behind as Emperor made his way towards them.
But Algérie was having none of it. She stepped forward, putting herself between him and her friend. "Hold it right there; may the Lord strike me down if I allow another male Kansen to get close to her," she said with rising anger in her voice.
Emperor stopped in his tracks and put his hands forward with a half-grin on his face. "Relax, ma'am. I promise I'm not here to do any harm," he tried to appease her, but then he paused for a second as he processed her words. "Wait, what do you mean by 'another male Kansen?'"
"You heard me. It's all your fellow shipboy's fault if she's like this," Algérie said,
"He can help her if you let him. Just step aside and don't make such a ruckus," Elizabeth interjected.
"I don't take orders from any of you Royals!" Algérie snapped at her, and Warspite brought her hand to the hilt of her sword in warning.
"We don't have time for this; your comrade is dying." Bismarck spoke up.
"Algérie, please, stand back and let him through," Richelieu pleaded. If there was a slight chance for their friend to make it out alive, she'd take it.
Algérie clenched her fist and reluctantly stepped aside. Emperor moved towards the unconscious shipgirl and kneeled next to her. He took off his hat and placed it on her motionless form; as soon as his fingers left the fabric, it started shifting form, going back to its original state, before starting to expand laterally with a glow. Everyone watched in apprehension as Dunkerque's body was encased in what looked like a transparent, futuristic-looking coffin, just like the one he had used to heal Leviathan and Scharnhorst after their clash with Strength.
"Is she going to be all right?" Jeanne d'Arc questioned him, hope blossoming in her voice.
He stood up, shaking his head lightly. "I'm not a repair ship, and she's in too bad shape for me to heal her completely. I can only stabilize her condition to prevent it from getting worse until we reach Azur Lane. But for now, she's out of danger."
Richelieu brought a hand to her chest, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank the Lord," she breathed out.
Emperor spoke up again. "Now, ladies, would you be so kind to explain what you meant by 'another male Kansen,' please?"
Jean Bart, Le Malin, and Le Triomphant were making their way towards Hermione's vessel. The light cruiser was the only ship out at the moment, and everyone was resting aboard it. Once they reached the hull, they jumped on top of it from the water and landed on its deck, all three of them grimacing in pain from their wounds.
Everyone was there: the Royal Navy, the Iron Blood, and the Iris Orthodoxy Kansen. All were waiting for them to return, tending to the wounds their comrades had received during the battle. Dunkerque wasn't there; she had probably been moved below deck, and, based on what Algérie had told her over the comms, she was out of danger.
Upon noticing her sister's arm, Richelieu stiffened but was able to keep her composure. "Jean, what happened to your arm?"
"It won't kill me, if that's what you are asking, but it still hurts like hell," she said. She switched her gaze towards the only two male figures in the crowd and narrowed her eyes at them. "All because of that pipsqueak of a shipboy."
"So it's true, Lenin was here," Leviathan muttered from the side, completely unfazed by her hostile glare. "Your sister told us you three were the ones facing him. Where is he now?"
"Hell if I know. We had to kick his ass to get him out of the Sirens' mind control, but Observer came out of a portal and snatched him away with her disgusting tentacles before we could do anything about it," she huffed in annoyance.
"Say what! You lost him?!" Emperor outraged cry echoed through the deck.
"Are you deaf, Goldilocks? I said an Elite got him right before you arrived," she retorted.
He walked up to her with heavy steps and barely concealed anger in his eyes. "You had him out of their control, right in front of you, and you let them take him away without doing anything?!"
Jean held his gaze, not even flinching at his accusatory tone. "I would have never risked the safety of my subordinates for someone I don't give a crap about," she spat with venom in her voice.
"You bastard-" Before the situation could escalate, Le Malin put herself between the two, facing the shipboy. He looked down at her, not expecting the interruption.
"It was my fault," she declared. Emperor paused in his tracks, not knowing how to reply, and she continued. "I couldn't save him because I wasn't fast enough. Even though I promised we'd bring him to safety, I couldn't reach him in time, and they took him away. If your brother got kidnapped, the responsibility is only mine; I'm sorry."
Emperor didn't know how to react. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in anger; the destroyer's humble declaration had left him speechless, and his ire was slowly being replaced by anguish and frustration. He turned on his heel and walked away from the group, fighting back the lump that was forming in his throat, letting out a loud, "Bloody fucking hell!"
"Brother…" Chaser was about to go after him, but he yelled back at her, "Don't fucking follow me!"
Chaser flinched at his aggressiveness, a surprised and hurt expression on her face. A stiff silence fell over the group, and Leviathan glared at the Vichya battleship before addressing Chaser.
"I know what's going through his head; I'll go talk to him." He patted her shoulder in a comforting gesture and went to follow the other shipboy.
Elizabeth watched the interaction unfold and let out an exasperated sigh before gesturing for Hermione to follow them, then addressed the Iris flagship.
"Cardinal, let us retire into the bridge; we have a lot to talk about."
Leviathan had to walk all the way to the stern to find Emperor. He was leaning over the railing of the ship, with his chin resting on his crossed arms, and his gaze lost in the horizon.
"What do you want, brother?" Emperor let out before he even came to a stop.
"You were acting like a complete asshole back there," Leviathan said, coming to a stop beside him. "I know you are upset, because I am too, but that's not a good reason to treat Chaser like that. The poor girl looked ready to burst into tears."
Emperor let out a frustrated sigh and hung his head. "Dammit… I'll have to apologize to her later."
"Make sure you do."
A few seconds of silence followed his words. Instead of egging him on, Leviathan opted to let him collect his thoughts.
"He was so close, Leviathan... He was literally a few miles away from us."
"I know."
"If only I had summoned my planes... If I'd been a little faster... But I didn't make it in time."
"We didn't make it in time, Emperor. You don't have to blame this all on yourself just because you are the leader," Leviathan reproached him.
"It's not just that!" Emperor finally snapped. "Back then, I didn't make it in time for Ruler, Attacker, Bogue, or any of them... I was always one step too far behind to save them, and now it's happened again! I wasn't there for Lenin when he was being controlled, and I wasn't there to watch your back when you almost got killed by that Siren. I've always tried my best to keep up with you guys, but what's the point if I can't even be there for you when you need me the most?" He clutched his covered left wrist with his right hand so hard that his knuckles turned white.
Leviathan wrapped an arm around his shoulders and brought him closer to make sure he clearly heard what he was about to say.
"You've always been so hard on yourself, brother. I bet you are still mulling over what happened inside that Mirror Sea, right before we came here. I know how frustrating all of this is, but you can't take responsibility for everything bad that happens to us or for something that was out of your control," he spoke with an austere but honest tone of voice. "Remember that you are not alone in this and that we'll always have your back, no matter what. Once we get to Azur Lane and regroup with the others, we'll discuss the best course of action to save Lenin, but for that, we need you at your best."
Emperor breathed through his teeth, trying to regain his composure. "As always, you are right, brother. Dammit, what would Kurama say if he saw me like this?"
"He'd laugh in your face before telling you to get your shit together and stop whining like a bitch," Leviathan said, letting him go and patting the back of his shoulder.
"You didn't have to say it like that," Emperor deadpanned.
"You know it's true. Come on, let's get back to the others."
Making their way back to the bridge, Emperor spotted a flap of black and white frills appearing and disappearing from behind a corner. He knew immediately who it was and couldn't help the smirk that came to his lips.
AN: The Lenin was an icebreaker, specifically the first nuclear-powered icebreaker in the world. It belonged to the Soviet Union (obviously), and it was launched in 1957. It was powered by three marine nuclear reactors, and even though it suffered a couple of accidents, it remained in service until 1989. It was then repaired and converted into a museum ship in 2005.
Bear in mind that I'm leaving the year of the timelines unspecified on purpose because I want to maintain the post-war atmosphere without delving too deeply into details for the sake of immersion (and to not write myself into a corner). So, while Lenin is the youngest of all the shipboys, don't think too much about his ship being from 1957. I decided to use him as an OC because "nuclear-powered icebreaker" sounds cool as fuck and because I wanted a character that leaned on the young and hotheaded side, and his ship fits the image I have of him perfectly.
There was another icebreaker from WWI called Lenin. The ship was being built by the British for the Russian Empire, but before its completion, the Russian Empire ceased to exist, so the Royal Navy took the ship for itself and recommissioned it as the HMS Alexander in 1917. In 1919, it was handed over to the Russian forces after the North Russia Intervention and renamed Lenin. It remained with this name until 1957, when its nuclear-powered counterpart was launched. It was renamed Vladimir Ilich Lenin and then scrapped in 1977.
Next Chapter: Hot Water, Burning Love