73 Chapter 71: Lucky Ship
I can see the anger on Zuikaku's face. What? Do you really expect me to let them continue the operation like this?
"I agreed to help because I figured since you helped my girls, I should return the favour. And Zuihou convinced me to as well. I was under the assumption this was going to a simple rescue mission. Draw the guards away, infiltrate the large ship, find and save your sister, destroy the ship and we are go home. Sure, we will definitely encounter some resistance along the way. But no one told me that we were going to be up against multiple hordes of Siren ships and robotic Kansen who are stronger than their original."
"Hah! Do you think it was going to be such a simple job? If it was, I wouldn't have asked for your help in the first place. I would have done it myself a long time ago. Hell, even my original plan was to storm the place on my own." (RA Zuikaku)
"Oh so now you're back-pedalling. Who was the one that said she realised the number of enemies were too much for one person to handle? Tell me. You were the one who came begging us for help to save your sister."
"Was I the one that decided a single 7-man Strike Fleet was enough? This whole operation was planned by you!" (RA Zuikaku)
"You intel was insufficient! If you had given me sufficient intel, I wouldn't have endangered my girls like this! The diversion fleets already had a hard time attracting most of these scrap metal away. Now we have to deal with stronger robotic versions of your colleagues."
"Jeez! Both of you, don't fight!" (Agano)
"That's right! Calm down, Admiral. This is not the time to be arguing!" (Zuihou)
"I concur. We are in enemy turf. Our supplies are already thin as it is and we are exhausted. This is not the time or place to be arguing." (Ooyodo)
"Hmph! Your Admiral started it." (RA Zuikaku)
"Oh, screw you! You were the one who landed us in this mess."
"Admiral, please. Stop it already." (Zuihou)
"Alright alright. Everyone calm down. We need to focus on what to do next." (Ooyodo)
I took a deep breath. Ooyodo is right. This is not the time or place to be arguing with a Turkey.
"I say we retreat. We will resupply, and tackle this with a combined fleet."
"No. We advance. The Sanctuary is just right there! There are no Sirens as far as my planes can see. I'm not letting this chance go to waste." (RA Zuikaku)
"You... goddamn Turkey! Do you even understand the situation we are in?! My girls barely have any ammo left. I bet you don't even have much planes left."
"What did you just call me?!" (RA Zuikaku)
"Aaahhh. Come on. Quit it already." (Agano)
"Everyone, heads up. We got company." (Ooyodo)
"The target seems... awfully strong... I thought they know I'm not the type to engage in face to face combat..." (???)
A red dot appeared on my radar. It's just one after the other.
A small girl with long waist-length hair came into view. She was scantily dressed, wearing only the top half of a white Serafuku and brown pleated mini-skirt. There are floral patterns on her brown collar, the underside of some cloth tied to both arms with blue ribbons, and on her skirt. Two white and blue metallic accessories stuck to her head, with a noticeable ahoge in the middle of her head. Attached to her waist are her weapons, a 12.7cm twin gun mount on her right and a torpedo launcher on her left. Written on her torpedo launcher were the hiragana for 'nowaki'.
If I were to hazard a guess, this is a Kansan called Nowaki.
"Nowaki..." (RA Zuikaku)
Yep. Called it.
"Geh... They didn't tell me I would be fighting four of them though..." (RA Nowaki)
"Sorry, Nowaki, I don't have time to play games. Shoukaku's in danger, so I want to finish this quick." (RA Zuikaku)
"Me too... Those two vixians woke me up just to fight you... The three of you over there... Can you stay out of this...? Pretty please...? I want to finish this so I can return to my nap..." (RA Nowaki)
"That's not goi-" (Zuihou)
"Stand down. That's an order. We will do as she say."
"Admiral!" (Zuihou)
Ooyodo let out an exasperated sigh,
"Affirmative. We will let you two duel each other." (Ooyodo)
"Fine by me. You guys listen to your Admiral and take a break. I will handle this." (Ra Zuikaku)
"Thank you..." (RA Nowaki)
Zuikaku placed a hand on her sword as a plane landed on her flight deck.
"You're strong... but I'm also strong... I've fought carriers before... I can do this... probably..." (RA Nowaki)
The enemy Nowaki aimed her guns and launcher at Zuikaku.
"I was given some authority, but since we have an audience... I won't use it... And it's a drag to summon them..." (RA Nowaki)
"Works for me. Let's get on with it!" (RA Zuikaku)
Just like before, Zuikaku leaned forward before charged towards her adversary, releasing a large burst of water behind her.
"Eh?! Wait!" (RA Nowaki)
The crane drew her katana and performed a Iaido slash. Nowaki scrambled on all fours and barely dodged the blow. The smaller girl tripped over one of her ribbons and rolling across the water.
"What the actual... I didn't expect you to close in on me like that..." (RA Nowaki)
"Less talking. More fighting." (RA Zuikaku)
Nowaki got back on her feet and started blasting at Zuikaku. Zuikaku weaved about, dodging her shots and deflecting a few with her Katana. Before the sword-wielding maniac could get close enough, Nowaki repositioned herself, maintaining her distance while launching salvo after salvo.
The whole scene was straight out of some action movie or anime. Both sides attacked each other ferociously but aren't able to land a hit on each other. As cool as it is, this is getting nowhere.
I want them to retreat but Zuikaku has a point. We have already come this far, retreating will just waste more time. But everyone is already exhausted and low on supplies.
Frankly speaking, I couldn't give a damn about Zuikaku's sister. I agreed to help only because I felt I owe her for saving them earlier. But now, this is not about returning the favour or not. The mission has became too dangerous for Zuihou and the others. Shigure almost died and Prinz Eugen was injured. Everyone is low on supplies and we still do not know how many more battles have to be fought before we can find our target.
"O, furious storm!" (RA Nowaki)
A blue light enveloped the Destroyer briefly, before wrapping itself around her gun and launcher. Nowaki immediately fired and launched a torpedo at Zuikaku. The carrier attempted to deflect the shells but it looked like it was too heavy as the shells stopped her advanced and forced her to raise her sword in a guard stance. A shell broke her guard stance and caused her to stagger backwards. An explosion enveloped her as the torpedo launched by Nowaki earlier made contact.
"Zukaiku-san!" (Zuihou)
I can see Zuihou clutch her bow tightly and brought towards her chest. An anxious and fearful expression appeared on her face as Zuikaku's body bounced on the water several times before she twisted and landed on her feet.
Zuikaku's left sleeve was torn and burnt. Parts of her outfit was singed and her breathing was ragged.
"What a lucky day!" (RA Nowaki)
"Kh...!" (RA Zuikaku)
Three planes made of red phantasmal flame spawned on her flight deck. The carrier slammed the hilt of her katana on the flight deck and the planes immediately charged towards the katana. The blade was again enveloped with the same flame she used against the robotic Akatsuki earlier.
"I wouldn't count on that." (RA Zuikaku)
The same thing happened again. With Zuikaku rushing towards Nowaki and missing her attacks as the latter dodged and maintained her distance while launching salvo after salvo. This time, the blue light that was in her weapons were wrapped around her feet instead.
"This looks bad." (Agano)
"I know how you feel, but..." (Ooyodo)
"Admiral, please! Let us help her!" (Zuihou)
"You girls barely have any ammunition or planes left. Besides, this is an one-on-one duel. She can manage her own."
"But..." (Zuihou)
"Woah!" (Nowaki)
"Tsk! Stop bouncing around like a rabbit!" (RA Zuikaku)
"That's what they called me too." (RA Nowaki)
"Anti-aircraft!" (Zuihou)
"Huh?"
"I still have my AA rocket launchers. I barely used them so they are still loaded with ammunition." (Zuihou)
This girl... She still wants to help despite her condition.
"Please. Just for a bit. I want to help Zuikaku-san save Shoukaku-san." (Zuihou)
"You barely kno-"
I can see her tighten her grip around her bow as tears well up in her eyes...
"One round. Make it count."
"Yes!" (Zuihou)
What a stubborn girl...
Zuihou turned around and crouched to compensate for the AA guns inability to fire straight ahead. She waited for a chance.
Zuikaku manged to close in on Nowaki once again. She jumped up. With her left hand, Zuikaku grabbed the blade and raised it over her head. As though handling a bow, she pulled the blade and used the momentum to slam it down onto Nowaki's head. The rabbit was barely able to evade by jumping backwards. The flaming sword hit the water surface, creating a burst of steam which enveloped both girls.
"Now!" (Zuihou)
Zuihou fired all the rockets that are currently loaded in her launchers. The swarm of rockets zipped into the smoke.
"Eh? OUCH!!" (???)
While there were plenty of rockets that zipped through the smoke before falling into the water after running out of fuel, orange flashes of light can be seen from within the smoke, accompanied with yelps of surprise and pain.
A small figure flew out of the smoke with a much larger figure clad in white chasing after it. Nowaki fell onto the water surface, clutching her stomach. There were some tiny burn marks on her body, most likely from Zuihou's rockets. Zuikaku pinned Nowaki down with her foot and pointed her katana mere inches from her neck.
"Finally..." (RA Zuikaku)
"Ouch... I'm not such a lucky ship... after all..." (RA Nowaki)
"You are lucky. You just picked a bad opponent. Now tell me everything you know." (RA Zuikaku)
"Well, I got lost and wandered into this place... then I met some strange people. And the 1st CarDiv women. They've been researching some kind of technology the "Creator" gave us in hopes of turning the tide of war around..." (RA Nowaki)
"I knew it. Akagi and Kaga are in this. That more or less matches the intel I got. Then, what's this mold that was mentioned in the plans?" (RA Zuikaku)
"It's essentially the same concept as the mass-produced Siren ships we are using. Using our bodies as the base, we can created robotic, mass-produced versions of us. I heard they are stronger though." (RA Nowaki)
Nowaki pointed towards the large ship,
"Over there... Just keep going in that direction and you will see a Torii gate... Go through it and it will teleport you into the sculpture room inside the ship... It's pretty to navigate inside... Shoukaku is in the center of the ship... The deepest part..." (RA Nowaki)
"Thank you." (RA Zuikaku)
Zuikaku got off Nowaki and extended a hand towards her,
"Come with us, Nowaki. I need to save Shoukaku, and the more support we have, the better." (RA Zuikaku)
Nowaki sat up and just looked at Zuikaku solemnly,
"But I can't go against their will..." (RA Nowaki)
"Even if this "Creator" is nothing but a lie?" (RA Zuikaku)
Nowaki shook her head,
"I can't..." (RA Nowaki)
"I see. Good luck then." (RA Zuikaku)
Zuikaku sheathed her katana and sailed away.
"Admiral...?" (Agano)
"Can we..." (Zuihou)
"...Go with her."
Fine. Since we are this far, might as well see it through. Hopefully, once they are inside the ship, they can find some weapons and useful equipment to make up for their current lack of supplies.
