CHAPTER 22 - LIGHTNING ELEMENT, FIRST FORM (2)

Nagato, Mutsu and Kawakaze rest in their own room. Although, Kawakaze insists that she needs to stay with Nagato because she fears that their enemies will attack her.

Thanks to Kaga and Akagi, the security of the Sakura Empire has already been reduced to minimum requirements. They're going to be in a very tough spot if Azur Lane or Sirens are attacking them right now.

"There is no need for you to protect me, Kawakaze," Nagato said.

"No," Kawakaze replied quickly. "With most of our fleet on the mission, no one is capable of protecting you just as much as I could. There's no way I'm going to let that happen, Nagato-sama".

"........Do as you wish, Kawakaze", said Nagato.

Mutsu plays while Kawakaze and Nagato watching her. She 's currently full of energy and she's sort of oblivious of the current situation.

Nagato relieves a deep sigh as she had to face some of the issues that had come to her. Since Azur Lane was able to resolve the challenge in the first act, the Sakura Empire had to take the blow.

They have not taken the opportunity, just to be ruined by Kay. Their attempt to conquer the Azur Lane was immediately shut down with no hope to challenge back. Kaga and Akagi failed to give the victory for them.

Yet, they still trust Kaga and Akagi.

"Do you still remember Azur Lane 's commander, Kawakaze?", asked Nagato.

"......I will always remember that human", said Kawakaze. "The humiliation when fighting against him........and the way he saw me......"

"In his eyes, I'm not worthy as his opponent".

"The way he sees me, makes me to fight him again".

"..............."

After Kay managed to sneak in, leaving the flag still on the Sacred Tree, Nagato was trying to find his motives.

"Nagato-nee! Nagato-nee!", shouted Mutsu.

Nagato and Kawakaze are looking at Mutsu, who has repeatedly called her sister's name.

"Look! Beautiful light has come out of that spot!" said Mutsu, pointing to that specific position. "It's very beautiful, Nagato-nee."

Nagato and Mutsu, gazing at the beautiful light, seem rather amused. Before they sense something strange about the sun.

Zapp....Zapp.

Zapp.... Zapp.

Several lightning surrounds the spot, forming a large tornado-like lightning structure. The lightning become bigger, reaching the sky.

Zapp .... Zaapp .... Zaappp ... Zaappp ...

"That's light!!!!", shouted Nagato. "Find where the light came from, Kawakaze".

"As you wish, Nagato-sama", responded Kawakaze.

......................

Prinz Eugen, Hipper, Z1, Z23, and Koln are shocked as Kay suddenly unleashed his element out of nowhere. That's not a ordinary technique, as they can feel the tremendous energy from Kay.

"What are you doing, Kay? "Admiral Hipper asked. "You're going to draw everybody else here!".

Zapp......Zapp......Zap......Zap.....

As the tornado-like lightning that surrounds Kay reached its peak, Kay unexpectedly cut it with his sword.

SLASH....

Several lightnings surround him, a yellow bolt shines on his body, and his eyes turn yellow.

When he's done unlocking his element, he's trying to walk away from them.

"Wait!! Where are you going, Kay?" asked Prinz Eugen. "Don't tell me that ...."

"It's impossible!! Even you're going now, it's going to take a few hours to reach them. There's no way you can help them."

Kay's not listening to her.

"The weather is very bad! You're probably going to be killed," said Prinz Eugen, trying to convince Kay to stay.

............

They watch Kay looking at direction where his allies are, and then suddenly gone from their sight.

....

"Wh ... what's going on here? ", asked Z23. "Where is he now? ".

"Possibly going to help them, I guess," said Admiral Hipper. "So, what are we going to do now, Eugen? ".

"We're going to follow him," Prinz Eugen said. "There's no way he'll survive this storm."

"Aren't you're also useless, Eugen", said Z1. "So, we have to babysit you?".

"..............."

****************************

A few minutes later, Kay had already reached the position where the fight was supposed to take place. However, there is not even one trace of the battle taking place. He saw nothing here, not even a ship.

"Belfast!!! Wales!!! Elizabeth !!! "Kay shouted calling their names several times.

Kay is trying to get in touch with Belfast, but he failed.

"Helena is Kay, the commander of the Azur Lane," Kay said throughout the communicator. "Tell me the location again, quick!! ".

Helena told Kay the location for the battle.

"There's no one here!" "Kay said. "Are you sure this is the right location? They didn't change it, didn't they? ".

Suddenly, a massive wave is coming towards Kay as the storm hit this place. Kay doesn't waste any time and immediately cut the waves with his element.

Zapp.....Zaap....

"No, they didn't dare to change it without telling you that," Helena said. "Are you all right, commander? ".

"Don't worry about me, Helena," Kay said. "Inform all the remaining shipgirls in Azur Lane to increase the security. I'm going to tackle this by myself.

"As you wish, Commander," Helena replied. "Be careful, commander. We're waiting for you to return back".

Kay closes the communicator and looks around. The weather is not on his side, as the storm is making the sea threatening.

Kay activates his element, trying to sense them. However his effort is futile.

"Where are they?", said Kay. "Well, this storm is very unhelpful right now".

"This not makes any sense. They can't just disappear just liked that".

..................

..................

Kay hears several sounds that came out of nowhere. As he looks the sources, he saw several sirens came through the teleporter.

BRRZZZZ....BRRZZZZ...

Not just a few sirens, there are over 100 of them, and even more..

"You gotta be kidding me!!", said Kay as he looks at the sirens. "Did they predict this? But, that's impossible.......".

The sirens prepared their guns, torpedoes, aircraft, and many others, targeting Kay as their target to be destroyed.

............

"I don't have time for this", said Kay. "But, if this what you want. Then, don't expect any kindness from me".

"I will kill you".

Kay activates his elements, with [Lightning Element, First Form] still active, the damage increase drastically.

..............

ZAPP.........

KABOOM......

All the sirens there have been destroyed in one hit. But, that's not the end as plenty of sirens came from the teleporter again.

Kay withdraw Zuikaku's sword, the lightning element flows into the sword. The distance between him and sirens quite far.

That's not a problem for him to destroy them.

SLASH...SLASH.....SLASH.....

BOOM....BOOOMM....BOOMMM...

Kay suddenly went in front of the siren just a mere seconds. Then, he slashes the siren, one by one.

The sirens don't stand still as they trying to hit Kay, but they cannot match with his speed.

SLASH.....SLASH.....SLASH..

BOOMM...BOOMM...BOOM...

It's a one sided battle as Kay easily overcome them.

...........

...........

...........

A few hours later, Prinz Eugen and the others managed to get there. It's still very late, though. They saw that a lot of sirens were destroyed, with Kay only standing still in the middle of the storm.

Fears surround the Ironblood fleet as they watch the sea full of shipwrecks.

"Impossible........",said Z23. "There's no way he can kill all of them by himself."

"A monster ...," said Z1.

They look at Kay, his face is full of frustration and stress. They're really nervous as they watched him.

"What do you want, mole girl?", asked Kay. "Just to tell you, I'm not in the mood right now. So, either you leave or you want a hard way".

The storm becomes stronger.

"You don't have any place to stay right, Kay?", asked Prinz Eugen. "With this kind of weather, you will catches a cold".

Prinz Eugen walks closely towards Kay. She stills remind herself to act more careful when talking to him. Any bad moves will probably triggered him.

"Just what are you planing?", asked Kay as ready to withdraw the sword. "Those girls are still missing and I don't have time to play around".

"But you can't just stay here", said Prinz Eugen. "However, stay with us for a little bit. At least, you can get a little rest".

"Or.....you want to wait here.....with this storm".

Prinz Eugen is right, it is very dangerous for Kay to stay here any longer. He needs to remember that he is still human and he can't uses his element for too long. He needs to rest.

Prinz Eugen takes Kay's hand, holds it with her both hands.

"So, what's your answer, Kay?", asked Prinz Eugen.

".................."

*************************

Inside Prinz Eugen 's ship.

Kay had already finished taking a bath and preparing to meet the other Ironblood fleet. He has the impression that he's not supposed to think them too much as he can handle them easily. But it's worth being extra cautious, particularly when you're inside sort of enemy ship.

BAM...a sound when two people collide.

Kay stumbles with Z23 as he's trying to find a cafeteria. It seems that Z23 is looking for him because he's a little late.

"Sorry about that little girl," Kay said, "Are you all right?"

"I ... I ... I'm all right!" shouted Z23. She is little bit scared when she saw him.

Then Z23 takes Kay to the cafeteria. Kay can see Prinz Eugen, Admiral Hipper, Z1 and Koln.

"Please come over here, Kay," said Admiral Hipper. "For God's sake, you're always making me work hard. I just hope I 'm going to get some rest in the Sakura Empire, just being forced to pursue you."

"You can just say that you're concerned about him, Hipper," said Z1.

"What! I never thought about it!" shouted Admiral Hipper.

......................

"You want to eat the same portion you want, Kay? ", asked Admiral Hipper.

"Yes, the same as usual," Kay said while taking the food from Admiral Hipper.

The others were watching both of them, having a little conversation that was too hard for everyone to talk to Kay. Yet, Admiral Hipper seems a little friendly to Kay, not knowing, or merely obstinately obstinate, that Kay is her enemy to begin with.

A few minutes later, they had finished eating. While Admiral Hipper is taking everyone's dishes, Kay is busy washing the dish.

"Do you need some help, Kay," Admiral Hipper asked.

"Well, you can help me if you want to," Kay replied.

Z1 who is constantly watching them two, start to do her own work, teasing Admiral Hipper.

"You seem to be behaving as his wife, Hipper," said Z1. "I don't know that you're married without telling me that."

CRACKS ...

The sound of a plate that was scattered when Admiral Hipper accidentally dropped it.

"HUUUUHHH!!! I'm never become his wife to begin with!" shouted Admiral Hipper. "What are talking about?".

"It seems liked you're a little bit friendlier with him", said Z23. "Even though, he is Azur Lane 's commander".

"So, that's why you returned late", said Prinz Eugen. "I don't know you're that kind of girl, nee-san".

"Huuhhhh........Why you!!!!", said Admiral Hipper angrily. "Said something to them, Kay".

Admiral Hipper asked Kay to tell them the truth. Basically, Kay made the mistake of assuming that Admiral Hipper was the little sister. Not knowing the truth, he kidnapped Admiral Hipper instead of Prinz Eugen. After he knew the facts, he finally forgot about her because of Enterprise for the last few weeks.

And indeed, he still forgets that she is the enemy of Azur Lane and coincidentally treating her as his ally without discrimination.

"Well I guess she is much better than someone that look at me with full of hatred", said Kay. "And, I must said she is easier for me to handle compare to some girls at the Azur Lane".

"I guess you called that an 'acquaintance, I think".

"Huuhhh........Who are you to call me your 'acquaintance'!", shouted Admiral Hipper". "Aren't you're our enemy? You're the Azur Lane 's commander, the one who has the highest authority".

".............I doubt that", said Kay. "To begin with, I never see you as my enemy".

Someone will said that he has the highest authority in Azur Lane. However, the truth is very painful to say as both faction have different opinion about him. The Ironblood fleet become confused after hearing that.

"What do you mean by that, Kay?", asked Prinz Eugen.

"I'm an outsider to begin with, mole girl", said Kay. "The reason I helping them because it was easier for me to finish my duty here. Although, I realized that it was unexpectedly double my work".

"Well their war are their problem to deal it by themselves and my job in Azur Lane is just to guide them. So far I said, I already helping them by a huge margin".

"Although, some of them are very ungrateful".

"But you're not winning yet, none of us have achieve the victory for this war", said Prinz Eugen.

"That's not my concern", said Kay. "But, you can easily see that Sakura Empire desperately wants to win another battle after constantly losing".

"............."

"I guess that's enough", said Kay while walking away from them. He want to go to the bed. "Call me if something happens".

Prinz Eugen stops him by taking his hands.

"Wait!...", said Prinz Eugen while holding his hand. "You said that you're helping them, right? So, that's mean you don't even care which side you want to help as long as you finish duty".

"So, how about you join the Ironblood faction, Kay".

"We can give you even better than Azur Lane".

...............

Prinz Eugen stares at Kay 's eyes as an attempt to persuade him. The crimson red coloured eyes, the hidden beauty gazing at him. Yet, his stances never changed as he will not betrays the Royal Navy.

"There is no reason for me to accept it, mole girl", said Kay. "I will never betray their trust".

".......That's very shame", said Prinz Eugen. "Can I know what your duty are,, Kay?".

"I don't think you're earning my trust yet, mole girl", said Kay. "Talk to me again if you manage to gain my trust".

Kay manages to get his hand away from Prinz Eugen and trying to move. Suddenly, Prinz Eugen grabs his hand again.

"This is very stressful", said Kay. "What do you want, mole girl".

"Before you leave, how about have a little drink with me", said Prinz Eugen.

".........What!!", said everyone else.

***************************

A few minutes later,

"Hehehehehe.............hehehehehe", said Pinz Eugen. Yup, she is drunk. "Nee-chan.....your chest are cute...hehehehehe".

"I'm not your sister, Eugen!", shouted Z23. "Stop hugging me!!".

"I never see someone get drunk just a minute after drink some liquor", said Kay. "Well, this kinda funny".

"So, can I go.....now?".

"Hehehehehehe...........hehehehehe........Nee-chan is cute", said Prinz Eugen.

".............."

"Can you carry her to her room, please?", asked Z23. "She is kinda heavy for me to carry her and Hipper is..........probably don't want to help her".

Kay reliefs a deep breath, he knew something liked this will eventually happens.

"Which is her room?", asked Kay.

........

........

........

Kay is currently laying down on a bed, taking a little rest while thinking about the problem. With the current information he got, it's very unlikely for him to get the answer.

"That white fox knew that I wouldn't came with them for the entire mission", said Kay. "But, I never told anyone except Royal Navy and Eagle Union".

"Is there a traitor among them.....no, that's unlikely".

"The next problem is their location. They should fight there but not a single trace of them there..........."

They can't change the location so quickly. Even they can, there will be at least some evidence. They just seem to vanish from that location.

"The sirens were waiting for me, too. So why are they wasting their force even though they knew they never had a chance to win?"

"To give them enough time ....for what?", Kay asked.

Kay gives up and begins to sleep because he's really tired. He will tried to think after he get some rest.

A few hours later, he wakes up after discovering that someone is coming into his room to lie down in his bed.

The girl with her sleeping clothes suddenly begins to touch Kay 's back for no reason at all.

"What are you doing, mole girl?" Kay asked.

"It's Prinz Eugen, Kay," said Prinz Eugen. "Please call me Eugen."

"Alright, what do you want, Eugen," Kay said. "I'm very tired right now."

"Nothing ... I just feel bored of staying in my room," said Prinz Eugen. "So, I 'm coming here to take care of my boredom. You don't care I'm staying right here, Kay."

"You can do to me whatever you want, if you want to."

............

............

"Just do as you please, Eugen," Kay said. "I don't care anymore."

As Kay wants to continue on falling asleep, Prince Eugen whispers to his ear.

"Are you sure you don't want to do anything at this defenceless girl", whispered Prinz Eugen.

"...................."

Kay wakes up in the morning and saw that Prinz Eugen was still sleeping beside him. Kay touches her hair softly as he rubs her head. Then, he hears that she's saying something while sleeping.

"Nii-nii....", said Prinz Eugen.

"........Let's ignore that", said Kay.

As Kay closes his eyes for a moment, he gets a glimpse of it.

"...........!!!!".

Kay grabs his coat quickly and prepares himself. Then he runs out while the other girl gets confused when they sees him acting like that.

"Where are you going, Kay!!", shouted Admiral Hipper.

Kay ignores her and suddenly jump from the ship. The weather is already quite calm and much better from yesterday.

He goes the same place as yesterday, the place that the battle should take place. Then, he jumps higher while withdrawing Zuikaku 's sword, activates his element and flows it towards the sword.

SLASH......

CRACK....something is cracking liked a glass when shattered.

".........".

He got his answer as he saw the truth, a mirror sea. A place where the girls trapped along side with Sakura Empire. After that, he saw Sakura Empire fleet has been attacked by sirens.

So, what's he going to do?