Lenin and Emperor had spent the night inside one of the many available rooms in the barracks, one of those assigned to the human personnel on base.

The shipgirls' quarters were obviously separated from those, but any other space was in common, and the two shipboys were heading to the cafeteria to have breakfast.

Lenin wasn't looking forward to it, despite Emperor being with him. While his brother could pass mostly unnoticed amidst a crowd of men, the icebreaker was another story. Even though the human personnel were used to some of the shipgirls having quite a childish appearance, a young man with his hair and eye color wandering around the place was bound to raise a couple of eyebrows.

Indeed, as the pair entered the building, the chattering of the people closer to the entrance, mainly the humans, quieted down a bit as a few of the sailors stopped their bantering to turn their heads toward them.

One of those men rose from his seat to regard them with a pensive frown. "Wait a minute…"

Lenin rolled his eyes. "Here we go…"

"You are the Kansen from that time!" The man exclaimed.

Now it was Lenin's turn to frown in confusion, as he realized that the man wasn't talking to him but to Emperor.

"Do I know you?" His brother inquired politely.

"Oh, sorry, of course you wouldn't remember," the young sailor said, scratching the back of his head. "I was with Captain Walker. You saved our lives back then."

"Ah, right, on the Serendipity." Emperor's face lit up in understanding as the man approached him to offer him a handshake, a bright smile on his lips.

"I would have never hoped to see you again," the man told him excitedly. Then he turned to the group of sailors he was hanging out with at his table. "Hey, guys, this is the man I was telling you about!"

"Really? So, he's a male Kansen?" One of them piped up.

"Wait, we have one of the famous shipboys on base?" Someone from another table chimed in.

Before long, a small crowd of people was gathering around them, everyone trying to get a peek at the new arrival, shake his hand, or ask him a question. Emperor, of course, was reveling in the spotlight, not doing anything to dissuade them, and hogging all the attention to himself. Not that Lenin minded; on the contrary, it gave him the perfect chance to slip through the mob and get out of the asphyxiating situation as his brother diverted their attention from him.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the icebreaker began looking for a free table, until he heard a familiar voice calling him. His eyes scanned the room until they settled on Le Malin, waving at him from the other side of the mess hall.

He quickly reached the counter and filled a tray with whatever he found before making his way toward her.

"Here, I saved you a seat," she told him, patting the chair next to her.

Sitting at the table were the rest of her sisters, with Le Triomphant smiling up at him, Le Terrible nodding her head in greeting, and L'Indomptable openly glaring at him.

Aside from Le Triomphant, he hadn't had much time to get to know the other two, given that the destroyers had been busy catching up with Le Malin, but from the few words he had exchanged with them the previous day, Le Terrible was mostly indifferent to him orbiting around her sister, while L'Indomptable was openly against it.

But today was a new day, and he wasn't about to let the chipmunk walk all over him again.

He glared back at L'Indomptable as he sat next to Le Malin, the latter completely oblivious to the silent exchange between the two.

"Did you have a pleasant sleep, mon ami?" She turned to ask him as she munched on her croissant.

He nodded absentmindedly as he drank his juice. "What about you? How are you feeling?"

She beamed at him, the corners of her mouth quirking up in an adorable smile.

"Much better, thank you," she replied. "I also slept like a log; must be the homely atmosphere."

Lenin smiled back at her sympathetically. Le Malin's mood hadn't been the best during the journey, but that was to be expected. First the distressing experience with the Ashes, then the news of the Basilica; both had hit her quite hard, and the frustration of not being there for her comrades when it mattered the most didn't help either. Luckily, it seemed that being back in a familiar environment, seeing her friends and sisters alive and well, and finding out upon arrival about Jean Bart's survival must have lifted her spirit quite a bit, as she seemed back to her usual, cheerful self.

And it was also thanks to Algérie, Lenin figured. From what he'd gathered, Le Malin and her sisters were very attached to the busty figured they must have spent quite some time talking about what was troubling her.

He was glad they did. Aside from Dunkerque, Le Malin didn't have anyone else to rely on during her stay at the joint base, and as much as the cruiser would have been glad to hear her out, she already had her own stuff to deal with. Here at Brest, the destroyer finally had a fellow Vichya senior Kansen and friend to confide in about what she went through, and it was the counterpart of the very same META who tried to kill her; no better way to get over the trauma.

Lenin didn't know what exactly Algérie told her to comfort her; he wanted to ask, but it wasn't his place to pry. At the end of the day, what mattered was that Le Malin was feeling better.

"Hey, Lenin, did you hear about that rumor?" Le Triomphant asked him excitedly, interrupting his musings.

He raised a confused eyebrow at her. "What rumor?"

"About that noise," she explained, whispering as if they were discussing classified information. "Some of the foreign Kansen assigned to the guest dorm have reported hearing weird noise in their lodging, like wails and howls."

"They mentioned it kept them up all night, but right when they went to check on it, it suddenly stopped," Le Terrible said. "As if there were a ghost infesting the building."

"What about you? Did you hear anything?" Le Malin asked him.

"I don't know; I spent the night in the barracks with my brother," he said, shrugging. "Wait, you said the guest dorm, right? Is that where August and the others are sleeping, by any chance?"

"Oui, why? You got something for us?" Le Terrible asked him.

"N-no, nothing; just curiosity," he stammered, going back to his drink.

Truthfully, he might have just figured out what the cause of the disturbance was. Apparently, a certain someone was a bit too excited to be reunited with their lover the previous night and didn't take into consideration their surroundings.

He decided that the girls didn't need to know that. There was a reason the sailors and the rest of the human personnel were being housed so far away from the Kansen dorms. He was sure that in a port full of both humans and Kansen, regulation on this kind of stuff would be pretty strict.

"R-rumors aside, what are the programs for today?" He asked aloud, trying to change the subject.

"I want to visit Jean Bart later; would you like to come with me?" Le Malin offered.

"Uh, are you sure she'd be okay with having me there?" He asked her.

"She's unconscious, you fool," L'Indomptable remarked, drawing a glare from him.

"I was trying to be considerate," he grumbled.

"In any case, we're going on patrol after that," Le Triomphant announced. "Would you two like to join us?" She asked him and Le Malin.

"What? Absolutely not!" L'Indomptable perked up in disbelief. "I understand Le Malin, but he'd just slow us down."

Lenin breathed through his teeth, trying to keep his composure. Despite her aggravating attitude, the destroyer was right. A mere icebreaker like him would never be able to keep up with a destroyer of the Le Fantasque class.

"He won't," Le Malin stated. "I can take him on my ship."

"But if the Sirens make an appearance, an icebreaker is just going to be a dead weight," L'Indomptable objected.

"Oi, I may not be as fast as you, but I can hold my own in a fight," he declared, narrowing his eyes at her.

"What, you mean to say that story is true? Did you actually face Algérie's META counterpart on your own?" She inquired skeptically.

"Yes, I did," he confirmed.

"And you also beat her…"

"Soundly."

"I find it hard to believe," L'Indomptable scoffed.

"I don't care," he declared said, crossing his arms.

"I bet Le Malin did most of the work, but she's just too humble to take all the credit," she added with a snarky grin.

"Guys, be nice to each other," Le Malin reprimanded them, munching and gulping her last bite. "Soeur, I already told you, Lenin saved my life twice; he's strong, he won't be a hindrance, trust me."

Not wanting to upset her sister, L'Indomptable averted her gaze and went back to eat, grumbling a "fine, if you say so," under her breath, while Lenin simply puffed his chest, taking the win.

As the exchange came to a close, Le Terrible raised a curious eyebrow and addressed the shipboy.

"So, Lenin, I've been meaning to ask, what exactly is your relationship with our beloved soeur?"

The shipboy choked on his bite, and everyone turned to regard Le Terrible with wide eyes.

"Wha- *cough* What do you mean by that? W-we're friends, nothing more," he blurted between coughs.

"R-right, friends," Le Malin said, clearing her throat in embarrassment.

"Mhmm, is that so?" Le Terrible mused, a mischievous grin appearing on her face. "Because it seems to me that you're always sticking up for him no matter what, soeur; you'll make us jealous at this rate."

"T-that's just what friends do..."

"Le Terrible, quit joking around!" L'Indomptable interjected. "What the hell are you trying to say?!"

Le Terrible shrugged, her grin widening. "Nothing; I just figured there's something more there."

Le Triomphant gasped. "Le Terrible!"

"What? Judging by the way she talks about him, I figured she'd fallen for him or something."

That night, the four sisters had a sleepover. They had spent the night catching up with Le Malin, listening to her recount the stories of her exploits with the shipboys and the Kansen of Azur Lane. Needless to say, the presence of the icebreaker in those stories was a constant, and they didn't miss the way their sister's eyes lit up in excitement every time she talked about him.

But that was a mistake on Le Malin's part, as Le Terrible wasn't going to pass up the chance to tease her beloved sister when it was offered to her on a silver platter.

As for Lenin, the poor boy was simply frozen on the spot. Was Le Malin really talking about him behind his back? As in badmouthing him or singing his praises? There's no way it's the former, right?

"F-for the record, it was only good things," Le Triomphant pointed out to him, stammering a bit.

"Yeah, like how cold and detached he appears on the outside but also how warm and soft he is on the inside, just like a pillow," Le Terrible added with a smirk, undeterred by her sisters' scandalized glares. "And speaking of pillows, you mumbled his name quite a lot in your sleep, you know, soeur?"

Lenin tried to ignore the others and turned to glance at Le Malin. She was hiding her face behind her hands, squirming in embarrassment, her blushing spreading up to her ears. Although, through her fingers, he could see that she was also glancing back at him, as if to gauge his reaction.

And when their eyes met, they both averted their gazes, their cheeks reddening even more.

A gesture that wasn't lost to L'Indomptable.

"Nuh-uh! Not happening! Not under my watch!" She snapped, slamming her hands on the table and springing up to her feet. A few of the people around them turned to look at them out of curiosity. "You might have saved her life, but that doesn't give you the right to hit on her, you hear me?!" She yelled.

"Soeur, quite down…" Le Triomphant tried to rein her in.

"Wha-? Hold on a second, I'm not hitting on anyone!" Lenin blurted out, incredulous.

"I don't care; you stay away from my sister, or I'll make sure you will myself!" L'Indomptable was leaning over the table, pointing an accusatory finger and a murderous glare at him.

A murmur arose from around them, the ruckus at their table drawing the attention of the other diners.

Lenin was fuming; whatever semblance of embarrassment he had was replaced by cold fury. He could understand being overprotective of a sibling, but he certainly wasn't going to ignore someone spewing unwarranted threats at him.

He stood up to her level, meeting her gaze. He had already decided not to let the chipmunk walk all over him again; if he had to put her in her place, he'd gladly do it, whether she was Le Malin's sister or not.

"Who the hell do you think you are, uh?" He growled. "Who gives you the right to tell me what I can and cannot do?"

"I am a Templar Knight of the Vichya Dominion, and it's my duty to protect my comrades and sisters from any danger!" She retorted. "Even from ill-intentioned pricks like you!"

"Guys, please-"

"Listen here, Templar Dwarf!" Lenin shot back. "I don't care what kind of grudge you have against me, but I'm certainly not going to stop seeing someone just because an egocentric little shit like you said so!"

L'Indomptable gasped in shock. In the blink of an eye, her rigging appeared around her, and she was brandishing her black lance, pointing it right at his face.

"You vile barbarian, take back what you said, and I'll go easy on you!"

"I refuse!" Lenin shouted, summoning his own rigging on his arms and clanging the cestuses against each other. "I'd rather take on an entire Siren fleet by myself than stay away from Le Malin!"

An excited murmur arose from the captivated audience.

"Way to go, garçon!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Let him have it, L'Indomptable!" Someone else joined in.

Le Malin was too bemused to react, torn between shock and embarrassment. Le Triomphant sought Le Terrible's help with her gaze, but the other destroyer had already cleared the way for the imminent showdown.

"You will be judged in the Vichya's name!" L'Indomptable yelled, jumping over the table.

"Bring it on, bitch!" Lenin yelled back at her, jumping as well.

A wave of excitement spread through the crowd as the two of them lunged at each other, but before they could clash, it turned into a collective groan of disappointment as a bunch of chains appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the bodies of the two Kansen.

Shock and surprise appeared on their faces as they both lost their balance, but their momentum didn't stop. A loud clunk resounded in the air as they literally butted heads with each other, making everyone in the room wince. They fell on the table, grimacing in pain as food trays and cutlery fell around them.

Then a tall man in Iron Blood outfit stepped through the crowd and into the open, right beside the two restrained Kansen.

Lenin rolled to the side, trying to ignore the pain in his aching forehead, and found himself staring up at Leviathan. Only at that moment did realization fall on him.

"Uh, good morning, brother," he said awkwardly from his downed position. "Did you sleep well?"

The blank stare on his brother's face told him everything.

"It's barely been a day, and you're already causing trouble," Leviathan stated. "Come on, recall your rigging."

"But-"

"Now. If you don't want me to tighten those chains."

Lenin obeyed, his rigging disappearing in a flurry of cubes, making his situation slightly more comfortable. Leviathan crouched and grabbed the chains around his torso, lifting him up with one hand like he weighed nothing.

"You too, missy," the taller shipboy said to the destroyer.

L'Indomptable tried to push against her bindings, but in vain. "If you think you can order me around-"

A sharp tug of the chains around her made her wince, and she acquiesced soon after, albeit reluctantly, and Leviathan moved to grab her as well with his other hand.

"The show's over, people; go back to your breakfast," he declared for those present to hear as he began walking away, much to everyone's disappointment.

"Wait, Monsieur Leviathan, where are you taking them?" Le Triomphant called out to him.

"To the training bay to give them a lesson," he declared, but after seeing the horrified look on the destroyer's face, he added, "Don't worry, it's just a quick workout session, but I'm going to make sure they'll think twice before causing trouble again."

"What?! No, you don't have the right! Let me go!" L'Indomptable complained.

"Would you rather I tell your flagship? I'm pretty sure they could use a hand on cleanup duty," he added.

L'Indomptable didn't need to be told twice. With a dejected expression on her face, she went limp under his hold, surrendering herself to her fate, all under the amused gazes of the other diners.

Lenin squirmed in embarrassment as the taller shipboy manhandled the two of them. His gaze fell on Emperor on the other side of the room, and he sent him a silent request for help, but the other shipboy grinned and shrugged before going back to basking in the attention he was receiving.

Le Terrible turned to glance at Le Malin, both of them watching as Leviathan walked away with their sister and Lenin dangling from his arms like sandbags.

"So, just friends, uh?"

Le Malin turned to glare at her, an adorable pout on her still blushing face.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you wish to reconsider your answer?" Le Terrible asked her with another smirk.

"N-no, I'm good," Le Malin shot back, scurrying away to find a place to cool off and put order in her thoughts.


Richelieu let out a sigh as she sat her pen down on her desk. Another pile of documents done, another plethora more to go.

She massaged her right wrist with her other hand, sighing in relief as she gave her sore tendons a breather. The fact that even her Kansen endurance was about to fail her meant that she really was pushing herself over the limit of what was considered healthy.

She wished she could be by her comrades' side, guiding them on the field during such dire times as her role as flagship dictated, but her attention was needed elsewhere. The few remaining dignitaries of the Orthodoxy, rightfully alarmed by the situation, were already pushing for pulling out of the alliance, claiming the reason the large-scale attack happened was because they were too busy mingling with the other factions instead of watching their own backs.

They were fools, every last one of them. They didn't understand that these were the kinds of times that required unity and collaboration and that if every faction pulled out of the alliance, the Sirens would just pick them apart one by one.

She let out a frustrated sigh as she cradled her aching head. She was dead tired, but she couldn't let up, not now that her homeland needed her.

A quick glance at the clock, and she noticed that it was getting late. Would she have enough time to go visit her sister for a quick prayer after finishing?

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, interrupting her thoughts.

"Enter," she called. She was surprised to see a certain shipboy cross the entrance.

"What can I do for you, Monsieur Emperor?" Richelieu asked him, her hands joined in front of her on her desk, trying to give herself some semblance of composure. She was privy to the shipboys' arrival, along with Le Malin's return, and she regretted not being able to welcome them.

Emperor slowly made its way through the room, greeting the Cardinal with a smile and a tip of his hat, taking in the sight of her working space. The French tricolor and other banners hung from the walls, along with plenty of paintings depicting historical and biblical events. Golden crosses and other symbols of the Orthodoxy's faith were also present, decorating the room.

But the opulence of the place was a stark contrast to the image of the Iris flagship, and he tried his best to hold back a grimace when his gaze settled on her face. Her skin was pale, she had bags under her eyes, her uniform was crumpled, and her hair was a mess. A distraught expression hidden behind a shaky poker face marred her pretty visage, and his heart went out to her.

"You could start by catching up with your sleep, Cardinal," he said, taking a seat in front of her. "I've seen corpses look livelier than you."

Richelieu simply closed her eyes, hung her head, and let out a deep sigh.

"S'il vous plaît, Monsieur, I really don't have time for this; there's so much work to be done," she said weakly. "Don't take this the wrong way, but please, be quick."

Emperor internally winced at her words. She didn't even have the strength to be offended by a joke.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry; I shouldn't have," Emperor said, raising his hands in apology. He was finally able to catch the Cardinal, and he wasn't about to waste her precious time with his antics. "Though, if the workload's so heavy, why are you alone? Don't you have a secretary or an adjutant to help you?"

"This isn't just base management, Monsieur. I'm trying to keep a nation from falling apart... again. This isn't the kind of work I can just delegate," Richelieu grimaced, glancing at the piles of papers on her desk. "Besides, we need as many hands and guns on the sea as possible, not cooped up inside an office."

"Well then, you'll be happy to know that my brothers and I are here to help," he remarked. "But we can discuss our deployment later; I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Richelieu asked him, her curiosity peeking through her exhaustion.

"Have you been able to get in touch with the Azur Lane joint base yet? Have you talked with Commander Travis?" He asked her.

Richelieu raised a tired eyebrow at that. Her interactions with the Commander and the other flagships had all been brief and to the point since after the Basilica. She was just too busy for any kind of meaningful interaction.

"I did, but we didn't have a one-on-one conversation," she explained. "It was a formal meeting with the other flagships, and I had to cut it short because of work."

"So, I gather you haven't heard from Dunkerque yet either," Emperor mused.

Richelieu shook her head dejectedly, guilt coming over her. With everything that was happening, she didn't even have the time to check on her friend. "Non, I haven't heard from her in quite a while. Why? Is something wrong with her?"

"Not at all; she's completely fine. Actually, I wanted to talk about your sister," he stated, making her wince with his words. "I understand the secrecy and not wanting to make such a delicate matter public, but in this case, you really should have entrusted your allies with this."

"What are you trying to say?" She asked him, trying to figure out where he was going.

Emperor grinned. "Would you believe me if I told you that there's a way to save her?"

Richelieu's heart made a flip in her chest, but before that timid ray of hope could shine in her chest, she forced herself to snuff it out, bringing her composure back.

"Monsieur, don't... Don't give me hope," she said, pursing her lips and avoiding his gaze.

Emperor's grin disappeared, replaced by a soft smile. "Hope? Nay, Cardinal, I only bring good news..."


Purifier let off a yawn.

She was leaning over her rigging, hovering in the air up above the clouds, her arms behind her head for support, with Freedom and Devil beside her.

How long were they going to stand there doing nothing?

After a couple of mind-numbingly boring days of reconnoitering with the male Kansen and the Antiochus around the base they were targeting, the Commander had finally launched the operation.

She was glad they were following her idea for once, but she would lie if she said she wasn't a bit disappointed. She was expecting a siege of some sort—a thrilling incursion with enough forces to crush the troops guarding the base and take over the place. It would have been a good way to show off her skill and make a good impression on the Creator. Instead, the Commander had opted for a more subtle approach.

What a way to kill her excitement. In any other situation, she would just go on the attack by herself, not giving a damn about whatever plan they had devised, but this time was different—Aoste was there. The idea of the Creator putting his trust in her made her giddy, and she had vowed to behave; she wasn't going to fuck up, that she swore.

But that didn't mean she was getting any less impatient.

She rolled over, turning toward Freedom. The shipboy was looking down at the Siren base beneath them. To save as much energy as he could, he didn't have his wings out; in fact, he was peeking down at it while holding onto Devil's rigging with one arm, which was hovering in the air miles above their target.

"Oi, how long are we going to stand here doing nothing?" She asked, voicing her complaints.

"Until we receive word from Ryan," Freedom retorted sharply, not even looking at her.

They were high enough to go unnoticed by the enemy's detection system, but thanks to the shipboy's perfectly trained eyes and the help of a pair of binoculars, they had a decent view of the constant flux of Siren units in and out of the base.

Mass-produced vessels, most of them transport boats, with the occasional low-tier corrupted humanoid Siren escorting them. Those that came in disappeared into the bowels of the base, only to come out some time later, loaded with raw materials, Siren tech, and other supplies.

"Freedom, how's the situation up there?" Ryan's voice suddenly came in.

"Nothing to report, Commander," Freedom responded. "Just more convoys coming through."

"Oi, Commander, can we get things moving?" Purifier interjected, leaning into Freedom from the side to speak. "I'm tired of waiting!"

"I'll tear out your nerves if you don't shut up," Freedom threatened, shoving her off.

"Hold out a little longer, Purifier; we're almost in position," Ryan replied.

"Master, I suggest you hurry up," Devil added, moving closer to the shipboy from atop her rigging. "The longer we stand here, the higher the chances of getting discovered."

"She's right, Commander," Freedom said. "We should get moving."

"Hey! Why are you so nice only to her?" Purifier complained.

"I hear you; give us a couple more minutes," Ryan conceded then shut off the comms, leaving the three of them to get ready.


Ryan and the rest of the fleet were far away, out of range of the base's detection system, waiting for Freedom and the others to give them the signal. He was inside Shoukaku's bridge, along with the shipgirl herself and Dr. Aoste.

TB was also there with them, but she had foregone her new body and was back to the same old watch that housed her software before their meeting with the Creator, as it was less cumbersome on a mission.

"TB, any idea where those convoys are transporting all that stuff?" Ryan asked the AI, bringing his wrist up. While he didn't know the answer, he had a fair guess, and he hoped she could confirm or disprove it for him.

"To the main base, most likely," TB declared, her hologram appearing above the small display. "They have no need for the secondary bases, but they require the resources amassed inside them."

"To what end?" Shoukaku inquired.

"To spawn more of their own," TB answered. "The Wisdom Cubes they stole from the Basilica alone aren't enough, and after the attack on the Sanctuary, they lost most of the mass-produced vessels they had at their disposal. They must be in a rush to replenish their ranks."

"But why would they need to go through all this trouble? Aren't there secondary assembly lines scattered all over the world?" Shoukaku asked.

"Yes, but those are intended for the fabrication of the mass-produced vessels designed by Zero," Aoste intervened from the side to explain. "Only the seed has the equipment and facilities required to produce vessels for the actual Sirens."

"Doesn't that mean they are giving up on the units they got from the humanoid Sirens- ahem, the Antiochus?" Sparviero wondered through the comms.

"They must have been upset with their performance at the Sanctuary," Kurama supplied. "I don't blame them; those things are as good as cannon fodder."

"Maybe for someone capable of blowing up an entire fleet on their own," Admiral Hipper commented. "For us normal Kansen, they've always been a pain to deal with."

"Your fault for being weak," Kurama blurted.

"Excuse me?!" Hipper exclaimed in disbelief.

"Kurama, be nice," Sparviero rebuked his brother.

Ryan chuckled under his breath. He made a mental note to warn the faction leaders about it so that they could increase their own patrols and intercept as many of those convoys as possible. Then, he called up the infiltration team again.

"Devil, send a couple of your drones to follow the convoy's route, just in case."

"Understood, Master," the Antiochus acknowledged.

Ryan shivered at that. To his chagrin, Devil had taken the habit of calling him "master," just like she did with Aoste. It was completely different from when Belfast did it; when the Antiochus did it, he felt shivers run down his spine. The worst part was that Aoste didn't seem to mind; on the contrary, he had told him that it was only natural because of their connection.

At least it meant that the Antiochus would follow his order without question—always better than having to coax her into working together with the Kansen like he used to do with Purifier.

"Commander, the last convoy is about to leave," Freedom informed him through the comms.

"Good, you know what to do, proceed as planned."


Following Ryan's orders, Devil sent a mental command to her rigging, and one of the compartments on its side opened to release a pair of drones, which took off in the air toward the departing convoy.

Three smaller drones the size of their forearms took off as well, but instead of joining the pursuit, they moved to hover beside Freedom and Purifier.

Purifier perked up and let out a grin, rolling over midair, itching to get down there, while the shipboy put away his binoculars and climbed back up on Devil's rigging. His wings appeared on his back in a flash of light, and he went down on one knee to let the Antiochus on.

"So, how do these things work?" He asked her, nodding at the contraptions hovering around them.

"They are jamming drones," she replied, climbing on his back between his wings. "They emit a small field of jamming waves that makes them go unnoticed by Siren radar. They'll mask our presence," she explained as each of the three contraptions attached themselves to their arms like seamless metal bands.

"Resourcefulness, cool," Freedom said, lowering his goggles on his eyes. "Let's go now." He stood up, the Antiochus, shorter than him, holding onto his neck. He peeked at the base down below and fearlessly took a step into the void. The moment he let gravity take control of his body, Devil's rigging disappeared into thin air, recalled by its owner, and they began plummeting into a freefall, with Purifier following in their trail.

The shipboy watched intently as the base became bigger with each passing second.

It was nestled into the bay of a small island, which was overlooked by a tall cliff. The cove was surrounded by steep, rocky formations, which hid the entrance of the base behind a natural barrier, making it impossible to be sighted from the outside unless it was from above. It was connected to the ocean through a passage, which was narrow enough to block the view of the inside but large enough to allow the small Siren transport vessels to pass through.

No wonder its presence had never been reported. The natural formation kept it hidden from any passing convoy or patrol, which, added to the inconspicuous appearance, made the place the perfect location for a hidden base.

In fact, the entrance was built like an underwater drawbridge, which would rise above the water to let the ships in and out as needed, only to disappear below the surface once the maneuvers were finished.

And that's exactly what was happening. With the convoy slowly moving away, the gate was inexorably closing behind it.

Freedom's afterburners came to life. No longer pushed only by gravity, he picked up speed, making Devil tighten her hold on him and making Purifier struggle to keep up. Just as it seemed they wouldn't make it, the shipboy's wings changed configuration, allowing him to make a sharp turn toward the entrance right before impacting the water.

With one last burst of speed, they got inside, the gate sealing itself shut behind them.


AN: Remember when I said in the interlude of chapter 39 that there weren't going to be 40 more chapters of the story? That there were going to be roughly 30 before the end? Well, it seems I grossly underestimated how much I was willing to keep writing.

The thing is, I'm not in a rush to end the story. The slice-of-life parts have been an integrating part of the narration since the beginning, and even if at a slower pace, they also serve to progress the plot through character arcs and interactions. For that reason, I won't be skipping them, not even toward the end of the story. I want to give these characters all the love and care they deserve, and I want to do this until the very end.

With that said, I'm almost catching up with the chapters I had written in advance, which means I'll be going on another short hiatus to allow me some breathing room and get more of them in line.

I don't know exactly when. I intend to finish publishing at least the first half of this sixth arc before that, so I'll let you know when that happens.

In the meantime, allow me to express my thanks once more to all those who've read this far, especially to those who go out of their way to leave comments and feedback. I cannot reiterate enough how much I appreciate you giving your precious time to this humble endeavor of mine.

Next Chapter: Stick to the Plan