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Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Sonmmary Log:

The commander and Azur Lane have failed on their second attempt at taking down the Siren fleet. The commander has demonstrated not only high affinity with his praetor rigging, but he has also manifested a set of capabilities that affect those around him. A rather symbolic irony that the commander of Azur Lane has developed a skillset to boost those fighting alongside him, meanwhile father has skills and spells to control the flow of battle by afflicting his opponents with various negative effects. This has been the only -real- failure for Azur Lane, the projections are still on the green, hopefully commander Anderson will truly reflect on the folly of his actions.

“Commander, we will also begin reviewing compiled information on siren assaults on cities in the last couple years. T.B. has reported that there are several matches regarding behavior and tactics during Siren sieges on inland cities, when compared with the notes on the doctor’s fleet.”

“For now, it could be worthwhile asking someone from the Sakura empire, the name sounds somewhat related to them, I believe.” Hipper added almost as is talking to herself.

The commander was startled by Hipper’s voice that seemed to have cut thru a curtain of darkness, his eyes darted quickly to every direction in a frantic panic, he was no longer feeling like breathing was a painful endeavor and he stared at his left hand which didn’t feel like it was covered in pins and needles anymore. He briefly sensed a similar feeling of panic that slowly receded onto relief, coming from his link with Unbreakable, along with yet again a deep sense of disquiet from the Praetor Rigging.

He felt like having these feelings was something made too much sense somehow, while at the same time it was both impossible to fully explain to anyone both those that had experienced what they had. As such, that Unbreakable was feeling on edge was not something he could reproach to the rigging, doubly so when he himself was barely coming to terms with what was happening.

The commander looked around finding that there was no downpour of water, they were not surrounded by the encirclement of fallen debris they had created, they were not currently being assaulted by the siren carronades, nor by the black siren airplanes.

“While we check on information for that, there is another thing I need you to keep in mind, Commander. The Doctor’s tactics were always focused on misdirection. He had us continuously thinking he was coming for a certain approach and then we would be caught by surprise, ambushes, surprise pincer maneuvers, concealment of objectives.”

“Uh… Yes.” The commander muttered, still trying his best to come to terms with the changing situation.

“This is not the time to panic just because the enemy seems to have much more powerful weapons, Dummkopf…” Hipper chided, her words sounding less harsh than usual nonetheless.

“But don’t blame yourself over this. As you eagles say, hindsight is always 20/20. There is no way you nor anyone else could have foreseen this. I will offer you all the information we can scrounge about the doctor’s forces. Now, please keep Herr Bismarck and yourself safe.”

The sound that the commander had heard before a couple hours and a few times already prior happened again, the booming sound of Doctor Bethencourt entering the battlefield, startling everyone not familiar with him yet, as if a new unexpected rhythm had been added to a methodical and calculated symphony.

The commander and Unbreakable immediately targeted a single object flying through under the ominous dark-sea-sky within the mirror sea again, it came at them at a speed that was not unlike that of an airplane moving at its maximum speed.

Unbreakable enhanced the visuals available to the commander, making him able to discern a bit more of the shape of the object, too small to be an aircraft, and a little too big to be some sort of ammunition, with protruding parts at regular intervals that didn’t seem to be either wings, nor propellers of any kind. It was much more easily recognizable as a person, now that this was his second time seeing him. The Doctor’s rigging was black with a few purple lights showing here and there, which became more prominent as he suddenly came to a halt a few kilometers away from them, remaining floating still even though he was high on the air.

The commander kept focusing on the doctor again in a daze about what was happening, he allowed Sirius and Magdeburg to move him around, in order to not have him remaining still in the same position. The Doctor’s rigging truly resembled a manta ray, as he observed yet again that what he thought were the “wings” of said animal, were in fact flaps of some sort of black fabric that hung like a cape from the Doctor’s rigging.

The Doctor’s praetor rigging’s black armor was not too dissimilar to the Valkyrie’s riggings, but with some of the plates following the contour of his body. By now it was obvious that the interlocked hexagonal plates on the shoulders were part of a conduit for the suit, plates which glowed with the same ominous purple light that the siren mainframe that shone menacingly over everything.

“Hipper! Doctor Bethencourt is ‘The Wizard of the depths’, He can move at high speeds on the air and has access to the same spells he does in the game. He will try to pincer maneuver us with carronades and black airplanes.” The commander said, deciding to share as much information as possible even if he was still feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

He recalled what had happened on the last “attempt” at this combat scenario that they had undergone, now focusing on having Unbreakable bring forth the files he had sent, the previous ones along with any new information he had managed from their last two encounters, he made sure the files were being sent as high priority.

Sure enough, Unbreakable pulled a series of files of their “last two” encounters with Doctor Bethencourt. He was initially confused as he saw several files that were not his, but rather files that had arrived from the Azur Lane Base. The finest example being one titled “ Infodatei Hipper ” which meant something similar to “Read Me, Miss Hipper” in IronBlood, but these files seemed to be part of the file packages meant to be delivered to Azur Lane, nonetheless.

This confused the commander deeply, again, but rather than trying to figure out what had happened or what he could do about it, he pushed those files towards the base and Hipper as well.

“T.B. I’m sending you high priority files, have Hipper and everyone at the research lab make sense of these, please!” The commander told his adoptive AI daughter.

“Yes, commander!”

“What is this? There's a file addressed to me?” The commander heard Hipper talking in the background, obviously confused too about the files to close the communication line.

The commander then heard T.B. reading what he figured was the same document. “The contents are also written in Iron Blood, ‘ Hipper, our secret is -Hydrangeas for Hipper class-’ ? ”

The commander then heard a wordless shrill cry that probably emanated from Hipper, before the line went quiet.

“T.B.! Is everything alright?!” The commander asked, confused about the unexpected turn of events.

“Y-yes, Dad.” The commander’s adoptive daughter replied, sounding like she was both confused as well as amused. “It seems like Hipper sent a message to herself? I can only assume this from the rather personal code she put there.”

“That’s-” The commander started, confused by this whole new development which he hadn’t seen before.

“The files you sent have hours of combat and the timestamps make no sense unless this mirror sea creates some sort of time loop. Which is something this file speaks of.” T.B continued.

“Yes… that’s-that’s correct I think.” Hipper finally said, sounding slightly annoyed but for the most part still mostly embarrassed. “It seems like, we?... Yes- ‘we’ figured something like this would happen… or had happened, rather. This file mentions that Gascogne and T.B. had theorized for a way to test this if a ‘time buckle’ was real and taking place, with greater benefits for us if her hypothesis held true, which I suppose we did?”

“The short version of all this, commander. Gascogne, T.B. and I, from a different point in a time that has yet to happen, loaded files on Unbreakable. Files intended for ourselves to obtain in the future? ugh… Ok, yeah! whatever!” Hipper said, sounding quite frustrated as she had to stop various points of her own conversation, in order to think her words through.

“Now we possess possible results, or maybe ‘likely results’ of the analysis of the forces you will be facing? Or have been facing?
Nevermind the details, I will send the results to everyone while we inspect the rest of the files, Gascogne and T.B. created an index to compare the theories and results, indicating some of the files you have sent.”

“Gascogne, please assist the commander, you were the only one able to find ways to defend against the doctor when he reached the point where he would bring the Wizard of the depths into battle. Do consider that this is Doctor Bethencourt himself. As such the wizard will most likely attempt high-risk high-reward maneuvers. I will send you a copy of the files, we have a record of speeds and known attacks which he is capable of.”

“Uh…” The commander said. “Well dang Hipper, I’m rather glad you stayed to help at the base us out.”

“Mmph. This is nothing for me! I will show you what the Iron Blood is capable of!”

He was quite grateful that he was surrounded with such capable people. He felt that this plan they had concocted was something it would have never occurred to him.

“Understood, band mate Hipper.” Gascogne replied over the line as Hipper was now mumbling numbers and information most likely from the document they had sent to themselves.

“Analyzing information received… Commander, you need to stay on high alert, as Band mate Hipper suggested… before.” Gascogne said in her monotone voice, yet somehow sounding confused.

“All the information has been correct so far. The previous appearances of Doctor Bethencourt as the ‘Wizard of the depths’ have been followed by him modifying the battlefield on a considerable scale. Immediate attack on the Doctor is advised. It is very likely that he requires a certain amount of focus in order to use more powerful versions of his attacks. As such, even with no evidence of meaningful damage done to his rigging, or any reduction to its capabilities, reducing the adverse effects on the battleground is in itself a tactical advantage in our favor.”

  Before the commander could respond to either of them, his attention was brought to a single window that seemed to have aggressively shown itself in the middle of his field of vision. A small window of light blue and white.

The other Helena had sent him yet another message. “I believe I have detected more activity from the Magician nearby you. Please remain calm in the face of whatever unlikely and impossible situations you might face.”

The commander furrowed his brows at that, the message had been brief and cryptic. He now had a better idea of what Helena meant and what this “Magician” could do. Yet, he remained unsure of what sort of useful information he could offer.

He simply nodded in acknowledgement, after all it did not seem like the other Helena needed his actual response.

“Warspite. You saw that black thing approaching, correct? I need you to pester him, but keep yourself safe, see if you can coordinate something with your team for this. Gascogne will provide you with information regarding speed and capabilities”

“Correct, knight commander. But… did you just say ‘Him’?” Warspite replied.

“Correct, that is Doctor Bethencourt, in a Praetor rigging much like me and Unbreakable.”

“That is seriously troubling. Wouldn’t me attacking him put him in danger?”

“Hah, trust me on this, High Explosive 406mm’s will only inconvenience him.”

“mrrph” Warspite harrumphed at that, sounding vexed about the commander’s words “Understood commander. But that is quite troubling thing to hear.”

“You and your team have gotten quite good at this,” Song’s voice spoke as her radio channel cracked to life. “They have been adapting quickly to the situation, as unlikely as it is.”

“Yet I failed twice already, correct?” The commander asked, at this point seriously wondering how much of what he had been experiencing had been real.

“Not really. My father is not a pushover, nor will he play nice. As such, a few defeats are only natural part of the course you have embarked. In reality, I would say you have only failed once.” Song stated with an analytical tone that sounded very much like Doctor Bethencourt.

“Uh?! Care to explain?” He asked, barely able to control his own disbelief at those words.

“So, this was your plan, Song. To make up for Azur Lane’s lack of strength and experience, they will simply obtain it by using my fleet as sparring partners? ‘Practice makes perfect’, non ?” Doctor Bethencourt said with an exaggerated fake humor to his words.

“I am afraid so, Father...” The little girl replied back with a certain sadness to her voice.

“Again with the ‘father ’...” The doctor said, right before an explosion occurred right where he had been but a moment before.

A single shell had landed and exploded against the Doctor, sending him flying in some direction, making him disappear from view, rather than take him down, as the force of impact of a singular high explosive 406 mm shell had been proven to not be enough to finish him. But it was just enough of a measure to keep him on his toes.

“Landed that shot. Darn, commander, you weren’t kidding, he just zoomed out of sight after that.” Warspite spoke on the radio.

“I said before that you must use the other options available to you and yours, as a group. Yet you focused only on what -you- could do. It was truly a valiant effort, but you must know this was not what I meant. Losing against my father is simply part of your path to victory. To die because you misjudged your role, that’s an actual failure you need to address, commander.”

Song said, sounding annoyed when mentioning the commander’s actions, completely ignoring that Doctor Bethencourt had just been shot.

Thinking about this, the commander realized that what he reached before had been indeed only a part of what the child had suggested. Now that he had observed the various events taking place, twice, he had realized that the changes that Song was referring to took place on everyone, not only on him. What he had achieved in the last loop had been akin to him becoming a catalyst for his group, giving commands that enhanced everyone around him. But he had not been the only one that had performed in ways that had would have been thought as impossible, prior to the arrival of Song and Doctor Bethencourt to Azur Lane.

Even in their first encounter against the forces within this mirror sea, with him stopping the battlefield by invoking his authority as appointed leader of Azur Lane, there were various other instances with everyone bringing forth powers never seen before. Examples such as Richelieu’s unwavering faith converting onto a golden shield to protect them from danger. Akagi’s and Kaga’s various uses of magic that had been bolstered by the Sacred Saura. Royal Fortune’s capability of stealth, which rivaled the pair of kitsune’s spell works, as well as her radical yet natural-to-her approach to “sieging”. Musashi’s electric attack that seemed to be able to split the heavens and end the storms within the mirror sea. The meowfficers lending their assistance to them. As well as a myriad of other remarkable examples, just like Sheffield and Avrora’s dirty tactics had been, and even Magdeburg’s usage of a crossbow that had been originally donated to Azur Lane and in no way should had been capable of damaging a siren before the events of this day.

All such examples had been completely outside of orthodox naval warfare, even when that term was used vaguely at best within Azur Lane. Yet there was no denying each one had a certain intrinsic affinity unique to each individual.

The more the commander thought about it, the more he came to a singular possibility.

“We are able to lean much more on the -concepts- of who we are, and make such perceptions reality.” The commander said, almost whispering to himself.

“I see you are quick on the uptake. That is great. Uh, what is that?-” The little girl said before her communication abruptly ended.

***

Warspite scrunched her nose as she peered at the battlefield through the binoculars on her hands.

She observed every little detail of the battleground that she thought that could be of import and whenever she found something she would stop briefly to take note of it in a small notebook before pocketing it away and continue with her observation of the battleground far away from her.

The appearance of the many rock formations on the water had been both surprising as well as infuriating for her.

Warspite was quite peeved that they had somehow ended up in such a situation where her vast knowledge would put her in the rear, rather than at the frontline facing their enemies. And she was most certainly mad that this choice of tactics had led her with her back towards the blighted Siren megastructure.

If it had been up to her, she would have thrown away all caution and attacked the structure the moment they made a landfall within the siren city.

Fortunately for everyone, Warspite included, the commander was much more composed than her. Which was in itself a weird happenstance, given that their commander hailed from the Eagle Union. She was keenly aware she was in the wrong about the actions she would have taken if she had been the one commanding the operation.

Warspite scrunched her nose as she looked at another section of the battlefield, she huffed in annoyance and shook her head before putting the binoculars down.

“Another agreement with the notes passed by Gascogne” Warspite said to Gangut who was within earshot from her, keeping an eye on the surrounding area, making sure no Siren Walkers would bother Warspite

“These notes seem reliable enough, was it not you who made them?” Gangut asked in good humor due to their swift progress on their tasks.

“I am not in the habit of believing everything I am told. Doubly so when it is something as outrageous as leaving notes for myself in the future.” Warspite said.

She made a quick annotation in her notebook, adding yet another one to a growing list of minor corrections to a plan that apparently she had helped to make in the “near past future”. Or something akin to that gibberish of an explanation.

“But is it not something you would have suggested?” Gangut asked as she peered at the notebook on the small Royal’s hands.

“Also, by seeing your notes, you seem to be continuously in agreement with these pointers you yourself will have… left?” The tall Kansen said, sounding more humored than confused by her own statement.

“I really dislike weird mirror sea effects…” Warspite said.

“Hah. I am in agreement with you in that matter.”

“Warspite, we have a situation.” U-556 spoke over the radio, prompting Warspite to close the notebook.

“Is there a problem? Are we in danger of being overrun?”

Warspite asked, wondering if the notes from her “future self” had finally revealed themselves as a trap, the information given by Gascogne made no mention of any force of considerable size coming their way after they had seized control of the artillery cannon. So of course this was exactly what she had expected to happen.

“No. Shigure found someone requesting, er… parlay?” U-556 said, sounding somewhat confused. “I think she wants to negotiate.”

“Parlay?” Warspite raised an eyebrow at that.

Before she could make a statement about how ridiculous that was, she was interrupted by the radio channel crackling on, a telltale sign of Royal Fortune using her handheld radio, which did not offer the same seamless and well-practiced connection the inner components of their riggings did.

“Oh! Parlay?! Sure! That sounds interesting!! Let us see what they have to offer!”

Warspite sighted at that. If it had been up to her, she would have refused to have any sort of peace talks given their current situation. She was aware it was not the right choice, which is why she just tried her best to follow through the whimsical good intentions of her team.

She looked at the notebook in her hands, thinking about giving it to Gangut to continue comparing the notes with what was visible on the field. She shook her head at that, she was still unconvinced the information given by Gascogne had really come from herself, so she would rather continue making the comparisons on her own.

“Can you keep an eye on Doctor Bethencourt? Doesn’t matter if you land a hit, just keeping him occupied is enough.” Warspite told Gangut as she pocketed her notebook.

“Oh? Are you sure about that? Isn’t he a normal human?” Gangut asked as she turned to look at the battlefield.

“Would you look at all this place and say he is a normal human?” Warspite asked as she raised an eyebrow at that.

Warspite left Gangut to the task of keeping an eye on Doctor Bethencourt as she walked back to their makeshift encampment at the main console of the cannon. It was more or less something they had expected, rather than being a traditional piece of machinery, the cannon had a computer console at the front, vaguely resembling one of the control panels at the more recent mass construction ships. Full of screens which replaced various gauges and instead showed all the information that Warspite needed to know in one single confusing format that required her to ask one of the more technological oriented girls to spoon-feed her the important information.

The thrice damned cannon was the same way. Located at the edge of one of the buildings that formed a faux cliff that faced the battlegrounds where now the commander was fighting the Siren forces. Aside from the artillery emplacement, the top of the building was a pretty stark place, which allowed for a clear view of any forces approaching them.

Fortunately, U-556 and Hero were savvy enough with new technology, both of them were currently working the console, trying to find the right way to operate it, with little success at that.

As Warspite reached the console, she raised one hand to greet U-556 and Hero, both had ceased their work on the console and quickly made their way to her side, to accompany her towards the location on which both Royal and Shigure were currently at.

Both of them were facing a humanoid siren. Long white hair with a single purple streak on it, crowned by 2 thin horns that sprouted from the sides of her head, pale skin and bright glowing blue eyes, all which pinpointed her without a doubt as a Siren. She was wearing what looked like a short black summer dress, one that opened vertically in the middle, showing cleavage as well as exposing her midriff, all of that was contrasted by a white lab coat that she was lazily wearing. The siren had a sign in front of her, with big bold letters that said “Parlay” , something that would have been easy enough to read even from a distance.

But there was something more disquieting of a sight here, much more than the uniqueness and odd behaviour of this humanoid siren, who had arrived asking for a temporary ceasefire in order to talk. Her face.

She had the same face as that of the human scientist that came to Azur Lane along with Doctor Bethencourt and the mysterious little girl, Song.

There were striking differences, but those were mostly due to the skin and hair complexion of the sirens. Warspite briefly wondered if she should just cut this short and continue with her own tasks.

“It looks too similar to Doctor Soriz…” Warspite mumbled.

“Oh you do remember me! I am glad, that makes all of this a little bit less complicated.” The human facsimile said with the same voice of Doctor Soriz.

Both U-556 and Warspite aimed their weapons at her as an immediate response, the humanoid siren in turn squeaked in surprise and raised the parlay-banner in front of her, as if trying to use it to protect herself from the incoming heavy fire.

“Now now, we cannot shoot someone that comes wishing for Parlay just because she speaks.” Royal fortune said as she waved her sword playfully as if attempting to cut down the figurative line of sight between her companions and the Siren standing in front of them.

“At least not before getting a profit out of it,” Royal Fortune said with a dangerous smile.

“Y-yeah that’s actually fine really.” The humanoid siren said.

“Anyways” Warspite said, grabbing her sword and putting it in front of her. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“Oh? But that was cleared up already. I am Doctor Janeth Soriz.” The humanoid siren said, one eyebrow raising up.

“Really? The -human- scientist that visited Azur Lane, the one that died in Senator’s McDowell’s ship when it was attacked by the sirens?”

“Weeeell… you never asked if I was a human back then!” The Doctor-Soriz-lookalike said as she crossed her arms and made a pout. “Also, really? ‘Died in a siren attack’? the same where Doctor Bethencourt was at? The one perpetrated by his own forces? The same Doctor you are currently fighting? Is that the one fleet where I supposedly died?”

Both U-556 and Warspite were evidently confused by that, not so much by the explanation. They were much more used to the sirens either being a bundle of joy and destruction, or mind bogglingly cryptic, they were so used to those kinds of spiels, that this approach full of logical reasoning was throwing them off in unexpected ways.

“The doctor didn’t die. He faked the attack and made his way here, and of course the same goes for me.” The humanoid siren said, matter of factly.

“Ugh. Regardless. What is that you want?” Warspite said looking as if she had bitten a sour lemon.

“I am offering our assistance, I bring information that the commander has to use, in order to defeat Doctor Bethencourt.”

“That the commander -has- to use in order to defeat him?” Warspite said, sounding quite offended by the statement.

“That- Why- Why would you help us to defeat the Doctor?” Hero stammered confused by the revelation.

“Why help us? Why are you betraying your benefactor?” U-556 asks, baffled by the turn of events.

“Oh! we are not helping -you-, per-se. This is all part of Song’s plan, she considers that the best way to defeat the Doctor is to give you this information.” Doctor Soriz said as she wagged a manilla folder she had behind the comical parlay banner.

“I come from a faction within the Doctor’s army. We who are loyal to the Doctor’s daughter, Song. But make no mistake, even if we were to turn against the doctor which is something we cannot openly do. Your commander has no chance in defeating doctor Bethencourt without Song’s assistance.”

“After all, we truly believe that she is the one that will bring true salvation to everyone, humans, Kansen, and even the siren.” The doctor said with a certain zealous edge to her words that was seconded by a manic grin to her face.

She handed the folder to Hero who had approached her without fear, yet being cautious enough about the siren’s movements. The moment the petite destroyer had the folder on her hands, she turned it as if looking for some device on it, she quirked her brows and got the papers towards Shigure. The two exchanged a brief look before Shigure caved in and sniffed at the papers.

After both destroyers had inspected the papers she brought them back to Warspite, who quickly opened it and skimmed through the documents inside.

“This is information regarding the composition of the Doctor’s army.” Warspite said.

“Correct. It also includes the general composition of the fleet, as well as data regarding performance and tests done on all the equipment we use. While it is not much, especially given that the Doctor’s creations have no inherent flaws to them, but this knowledge should be invaluable to the commander.”

“ ‘Siren Replicants, to host a human’s mind and soul within’…” Warspite read aloud from some of the papers she had on her hands.

“Hah! Well not every human you see in this place is a true Siren cultist. And fortunately, very few of the Sirens you see here are true cultists. Myself included” The woman inside of a siren shell said, shrugging her shoulders and eliciting more than one of those present to raise an eyebrow confused by the statement.

Warspite scrunched her nose at that, this was something that she had feared, but it was also not entirely a surprise. The number of divergent Sirens in this place was at odds with what little they knew of the Siren formations. This was a proper, if not unwanted, explanation to that.

Warspite continued looking at the papers, her cannons never stopped aiming at Doctor Soriz even while her eyes moved from subject to subject among the papers.

“Over here! There is information on a gigantic Megaship! Woah! 3 kilometers in length! It has capital cannons AND aircraft carrier capabilities!” Hero said, reading over Warspite’s shoulder and continuously pushing forward as she got onto more and more of the nigh impossible details of the ship.

“Well not only is your information truly disquieting. But this battleship is certainly some bad news, while it is also severely lacking in good taste.” Warspite said with a tone of annoyance and disgust to her voice.

Royal fortune and Hero got closer to read the documents over her shoulder intrigued by Warspite’s obvious annoyance. They both read the title of the same page at which the Royal dreadnaught had stopped.

“Orochi class supercarrier, -Worldspite-.”

***

The commander had seen various positive changes in this loop.

For starters, they were now facing Passion in what seemed to be much more favorable terms for them. When his group arrived the fight was still going on the earlier stages of what he had seen before.

He decided to use his commanding skills sparsely. He was not limiting himself to not use them, but he would use it to give them an advantage against their opponents.

One thing he did that was different was sharing his understanding on how the Kansen could be empowered by their own perception of who they were and what they were capable of.

It was subtle, especially when they were fighting such strong forces, but they quickly realized that believing in their commander and then believing in themselves and -who they are- led to a marked increase in their performance. The most obvious example of this was that the fight against Passion was not as perilous as it had been before.

She was still an incredibly tough opponent, but it certainly seemed like it was less of an uphill battle this time. Richelieu seemed less taxed with her deliverance of shield protecting others, Perseus had many more airplanes in the air, as she was not overwhelmed with providing nigh impossible amounts of emergency healing for everyone.

This did not mean that everything was a positive outcome. The pillars summoned by the Doctor were still present. The man had managed to call for this change in full power even with Warspite and her team taking potshots at the man. There was still a rain effect within the place, not the downpour that had happened way before, but still a rain that hampered their communications and visibility.

One thing that was vastly different this time now was the presence of Akagi so early on.

Akagi had rushed back towards the commander even before he had the opportunity to communicate with her team. When they arrived, he also noticed that Bismarck was in a much better shape than the previous times. When he questioned them about their sudden arrival along with Bismarck’s state, Akagi had mentioned that she felt that the commander needed her, she then overpowered the vessel she had been tasked with dealing with, and then rushed to Bismarck's aid somehow being aware that the leader of the IronBlood needed assistance.

Akagi’s words surprised the commander as it was the very first time she had said such a thing in the various loops they had been part of. This prompted the commander to focus on that inner space that he was able to reach with Unbreakable’s assistance.

When he did, the main differences became evident. Not only was he able to focus much more easily in this conceptual space that Unbreakable was grasping for him, but now he was able to see a little bit of it, mostly the vague shaped of everyone in his group, even if they were currently far from him, he had a feeling of their current whereabouts.

The other main difference was Akagi, or rather, Akagi and him. In the last loop he had incensed the fiery kitsune trying to test his commanding skill, and now by looking at what had been the presence of Akagi, he could feel and see a thread of carmine red which had indicated her presence before. Unlike the previous time in which he had reached for it, the red thread was not somewhere above him slightly out of his reach anymore. It was now circling around him, the moment he paid closer attention to it, it became obvious that this string ended up on his left hand, tied to his ring finger.

As he looked at the red string, which in his own senses seemed to be both incredibly warm and bright as burning coals, he also noticed two more bands on his ring finger, bands which seemed to be made of light. By focusing his attention to a band that was slightly golden, he became aware of another string of light. The other band, a slightly silvery one, also showed a string of light, one that twisted around the golden string before splitting towards a different direction than the other two.

The commander furrowed his brows at this. The symbolism of his finding was not lost to him. But it was still surprising, especially when he thought that perhaps the change in Akagi had been something he unknowingly provoked. She was more of a spiritual creature than other Kansen, so his meddling with her concept could have resulted in her own beliefs modifying her in a way that would permanently change her.

Whatever the case, that would have to be something solved on their own personal time. With tea, snacks and probably Amagi and Shinano attending, in order to help figure this out, before he even mentioned anything to his wives, or Akagi herself.

While pondering this, he received a call through the Juustagram program.

Which was most certainly not something that the Juustagram application run by Akashi was not capable as of yet. He decided to accept the incoming call even while the caller was not shown, but he already had an inkling of who could be contacting him.

“Hello, commander Anderson” The other Helena said once he answered the call “I hope you and your group are faring well”

“I have deciphered most of the signals in your sector. Communications are open for us as well as access to your site. The Magician is certainly there, even if she is masking her signal, I can recognize the patterns of her frequencies.” The other Helena shared, sounding somewhat smug, and closer to the Helena he knew.

“Understood, what’s next?” He asked, unsure of what all of this implied for them.

“Mmm... Just stay still and try your best to not be too surprised?” The other Helena said, now sounding somewhat mischievous.

Before she finished speaking, the commander’s attention was immediately grabbed by what appeared to be giant blue radar circles on the facsimile sky of the mirror sea. Three of them were visible from his point of view. And he could hear the radio chatter from diverse sources, some even of his own forces.

“This is an action from someone willing to help us…” He said through the secure Azur Lane radio channel “From, a- er… another Helena…”

The three radar-like circles seemed to activate, with a weird sound not too dissimilar to one from Ayanami’s retro consoles just like when there was an error on loading a cartridge

One of the circles was located far onto the east, discernible only by its sheer size, quite a contrast to the one looming above them, and lastly a third one by the siren megastructure

Even if he could have naturally peeled his eyes away from the circles, a deafening booming sound emanating from the siren megastructure demanded his attention much more.

Upon looking at the giant tower, he saw beams of energy attacking the structure, quite likely from some devices he was barely able to discern, as they were not easily recognizable from the distance. Even when Unbreakable zoomed in closer, the devices were moving at high speeds as almost as if they were airplanes, darting around and bombarding the structure with energy fire which resulted in various fires and explosions on the structure.

Before the commander could even begin to ponder on what sort of attack was taking place, he managed to see several more devices darting nearby.

It was then that the blue radar circle closer to them began reacting. It did so just like a regular radar would do, with a line sweeping the circle. Although in this case, affecting the whole area in an unbelievable manner, looking like a wall of light was quickly moving through the area.

Everyone was fixated on this wall of light, so it became evident to those present when the wall seemed to -ping- upon finding something.

When the commander inspected that direction, he immediately found what the radar must have been looking for, as Doctor Bethencourt was being highlighted by some unknown effect most likely created by this radar-like attack.

It was immediately evident that whatever effect was on Doctor Bethencourt made him slower. As he didn’t move away from the location at incredible speeds, as he had done so many times before.

The devices that had been around the place quickly darted in the doctor’s direction.

The devices were a dark-blue color and cylindrical, similar to a torpedo in shape and size, but with a bright blue light coming from the front of it. Without any preamble at all, these devices shot a continuous beam of bright white energy at the doctor. Quite possibly the same attack that the Siren Megastructure was also being subject to.

While it was evident that he tried to avoid the fire, the number of beams coming his way, as well as whatever effect was diminishing his speed, meant that he had very little opportunities to effectively avoid all of the attacks.

The commander was dumbfounded by this sight, to the point he barely heard when the siren Passion screamed at the top of her lungs before rushing towards the doctor and offering her back to a rather unemphatic La Galissonniere.

Several beams landed true on the doctor, the commander could see a spherical shield covering the doctor, deflecting most of the beams and blocking the rest. There were a couple of lightning bolts that likely emanated from the doctor, the same he had used against Enterprise’s airplanes before, but the mysterious devices attacking him only staggered back upon being hit by the lightning.

More beams converged on him as his movements were severely affected by whatever the blue circle was doing. The commander was startled when he saw a gigantic black claw appear from the now blinding area where the doctor was likely at. The claw managed to grab one of the black devices that were attacking the doctor, ending the attack of that one flying armament with an explosion as the claw crushed it.

Before the claw could reach for another one of the flying energy cannons the commander saw what he could only describe as an eagle made out of light flying nearby, it then swiftly began diving towards where the beams converged, doing it so fast that it looked like it had transformed itself onto beam of blinding white light. The beam collided against the shield of Doctor Bethencourt, which seemed to stop the eagle’s movement, until it’s brightness increased and the eagle pushed through, breaking the shield, and leaving a trail of light as it moved way past where the Doctor had been floating on the air.

With the shield now gone, the devices continued bombarding the doctor with the beams of energy, completely obfuscating him from view as only the blinding brightness of the energy beams remained.

“NOOOO!!! FATHER!!!” Song’s voice resounded over the radio, overpowering all the frequencies within the mirror sea. “SHUFFLE!! SHUFFLEE!!!”

Chapter Text

Song's Log:

We were attacked. The Metas somehow found us and launched a surprise attack on our stronghold. The mainframe was damaged and my father died…
Mother came to the rescue fortunately, and we were able to shuffle reality again, bringing him back, but with the mainframe quite damaged, this made the energy cost massive. Emergency repairs have begun.

“This situation is quite bothersome. Do you think it was a trap, Helena?”

“No, this is but a reactionary attack.” Helena said as she focused on the readings on a console in front of her along with multiple screens of light that surrounded her.

“It is proof enough that they moved the whole test site out of our reach.” Helena said as she clicked some of her screens before focusing on one of the physical consoles.

“But we left valuable equipment stranded in the middle of nowhere. Now we are at a disadvantage.”

“While that is true, that much could be considered but a sloppy tactic used against us. We are still at our base. Had that been a trap from the Magician, we would have become trapped on some forgotten closed off dead branch, trying to figure out a way to establish contact with our base.”

“That reminds me, how were you even able to detect the Magician? She is usually quite keen on keeping her own location a secret.” Yorktown asked over the line, with gunfire still being within hearing range.

“It seems like the commander in that branch is quite capable. His research team managed to create a communication device that links with the concept of someone. It was intended to connect with their Helena, but with no knowledge of us Metas existing, their communication device overreached and connected with me too.” Helena Meta said as she half-absent mindedly oversaw the progress of the defense of the base, keeping most of her attention on the screens with information regarding the Magician’s information attacks towards them.

“Connect with the ‘concept’? isn’t that quite a lower branch? It didn’t seem like it had any particularly advanced development.” Yorktown Meta asked as she herself pondered on her own statement, commanding her own fleet to move back, in order to complete a trap, set for the invading Siren fast vehicles.

“They had an unexpected breakthrough on their research from the look of it. Then again, this could be part of the Magician’s involvement here. It is quite weird that she had a spare mainframe in hiding.”

“Are you worried about this commander?” Yorktown Meta asked, interest obvious to her voice.

“Yorktown. It’s not like I will become smitten by any commander that happens to have some good results and a good personality.” Helena calmly stated “His capabilities are the real deal, so at the very least I want to have him available for when my commander needs assistance.”

Yorktown pursed her lips at that, while she would have appreciated for Helena to be a little bit less Zealous about -their- commander, she couldn’t deny the positive points of her idea.

“But he is not the only anomaly within that branch.” Helena said, sounding somewhat peeved about it.

“You mean the other human with the Siren rigging you mentioned?” Yorktown asked as she sent more of her planes to deliver reckoning to some of the siren mass produced battleships that had been making their way to her flank.

“Yes… at least partially. That rigging produced a signal all too similar to that of the Magician’s rigging, but then again so did the mainframe, which could simply indicate these were constructs made by her. Which is why I decided that we attack both at the same time, it could be just another magic trick from her deck of cards.”

“But no. What bothers me is the other signal.” Helena said as she furrowed her brow and defended their base from another set of conceptual attacks sent by the Magician.

“Inside of the mainframe there was yet another signal similar to that of the Magician. Similar but not quite the same, sharing many similarities in fact. There is no way the magician could have set such a signal without an ulterior scheme behind, almost a copy of her own and then just badly masked it. It is too obvious of a trap with just pointless layers of intrigue to it.”

**

Song sat on what seemed like a gaming chair, looking at various monitors in front of her. Her eyes darted from one screen to another while her hands moved quickly over two sets of keyboards in front of herself, a physical keyboard part of the console she was sitting in front of, and another keyboard made of translucent purple light. She was fiercely inputting commands on the console and reviewing the information in front of her at the same time, typing on both peripherals in unison, hands and tentacles moving without hesitation in a precise fast paced and bizarre spectacle for those that had never seen her but outside of the mainframe’s control room.

She was not the only one working hard on a computer station. All around her were others frantically typing on their own stations, there were others running from station to station delivering electronic parts to replace some that had been burned, or some that had somehow exploded, all due to the attack of Helena Meta to the mainframe.

All of this was taking place in the main control room deep within the Siren mainframe. Her seat of power. A room filled with computer consoles and screens showing all sorts of data from the mainframe as well as within the mirror sea they were inside of.

All of those around her were for the most part scientifically oriented, with very few Siren cultists among their ranks, all of them handpicked by Song herself, for those that she had selected were those that she could see their potential.

In turn, all of them believed in Song from the bottom of their hearts. Even if Doctor Bethencourt had been the one to give them the opportunity to rise in power, the one that gave them an opportunity to change the world, and in some cases, the one that had brought them back from among the dead.

Those that had been given a second chance found themselves reborn as war machines. Now inhabiting a siren body, capable of superhuman feats that put them on par with the Kansen, and with their minds now capable of functioning like supercomputers with nigh perfect memory, greater mind clarity, and an incredible intellect, all useful new traits that made them capable to work under Doctor Bethencourt and Song without falling behind too much.

Most of the fires in the room had stopped by now, and no alarms were blaring anymore. For the first time since the surprise attack there was a certain lull within the control room.

This moment of respite was brought thanks to Song’s mother.

While her mother had warned her that she would not take part in her plan to stop her father. Defending their home from the intrusion of the Metas was a completely different thing. Song’s mother had come to the rescue the moment the attack of the Metas had taken place.

She was currently leading a counter offensive against those that had attacked them, leading some of their forces, as well as some of her own, straight to the Meta’s base, seizing the opportunity created by their own attack against them. She had also relocated their entire world to a safe location out of the reach of the Metas.

It had been up to Song to find the reason behind the intrusion of the Metas into their seemingly safe stronghold. In the end it had been her own shortsightedness and stubbornness that led to this outcome. The communication system that Azur Lane had been using communicated not through a network, but rather by linking with a singular person by focusing on the concept of that person. A truly ingenious device that was most certainly something that would have been beyond the reach of Azur Lane before Song had decided to “nudge” them onto a much more promising direction than the one they were before.

It had been her own oversight not realizing that the signal faintly echoed from the Helena of this world onto Helena Meta who was actively looking for possible signals of the Arbiters.

Song finished patching the code of the mainframe, allowing for the communications of Azur Lane to happen as it was originally intended but with the signal being limited only to their Helena. She felt like the modification she had made to the mainframe had been a rather minor one, she was certain that it wouldn't have taken her mother any time at all to fix it. Which meant that her mother had realized what the problem had been already, and she wanted her to learn from it.

Song scrunched her brows at that. Bothered a little bit that even in such a situation both her parents wanted to keep giving her life lessons.

“Miss. All fires have been taken care of, energy levels are as high as possible before any major repairs take place. All personnel report that the systems are as stable as the current situation permits.” One of the very few humans in their group came and reported to her.

“I see… Thank you, please continue with your duties.” Song said, trying to keep a calm and commanding demeanor.

She did so as this man in front of her was after all one of the very few Siren cultists that were part of her hand-picked personnel. Her father always insisted that for them not only facts mattered, the way she handled herself in front of them was of great import too. 

“Mistress Soriz sent a report before the attack,” This additional comment got all of Song’s attention “She reported that she managed to make a successful peaceful contact with the Kansen group that is stationed on one of the city’s cannons, she sent the details about her progress and her methods.”

Song raised her eyebrows in surprise at that, Doctor Soriz was a crafty woman with great conversational skill and a decent enough amount of charisma. Yet she hadn’t had any success on any of the previous loops in regards to approaching Azur Lane. Now in the next loop they would tell her all the information she needed to know about what to do so as to not be destroyed before trading information.

“Good. Please make sure the information is sent her way the moment we shuffle back.” Song told the man who nodded in response before making his way towards one of the workstations around the room.

That had been truly a good piece of news, more progress in regards of having Azur Lane defeat her father was always a good bit of news. Which had become a bigger issue than she had originally planned.

The mainframes could only function fractionally in the manner they were doing it right now, while keeping the time of the entire world at a stop. They needed to make major repairs to regain full operational status, and in order to do that, they needed to allow for the flow of time to continue.

This meant that she was now forced to continue the fight between Azur Lane and her father. This much had been originally part of her plan.

Not for the first time since she had begun her strategy against her father, she wondered how her father was able to be so successful with his own schemes. Her mother was truly impressive, but that much was obvious given that she was not human, on the other hand her father was a little bit more like she herself. And yet he seemed to be always capable of creating scenarios in which he would remain undefeated. Even with all the additional elements that she had managed to slip under his knowledge, the surprise attacks to the lab, all the newfound experience that Azur Lane had gained on augmentation and spirituality, and the knowledge that commander Anderson had acquired from the few loops that he had gone through, she feared that it might not be enough.

She knew that her father wasn’t actually invincible, otherwise her plans would have been all but folly. But any time he encountered an obstacle, something that “defeated him” he would grow from the experience and find ways to become stronger, to be smarter, more cunning, finding ingenious ways to overcome such obstacles, to crush them. In layman’s terms, he was truly a sore loser.

Which was a problem she was going to face now. She was keenly aware that her father would be mad that he had technically lost in the last loop. He was sure to come back with a vengeance, and she didn’t have Shuffles to spare to try and save Azur Lane.

Song looked at the screen in front of her and once again she felt a knot form on her stomach. The current state of the mainframe would only allow for a couple more of “Reality Shuffles” at best, and this was only in regards to available “safe energy”. Trying to force more than that was already a dangerous proposition without fully devoting some time to repair all the systems.

At that moment Song noticed something out of the corner of her eye. When she turned around, she saw what seemed to be a blue butterfly made of light, gently flapping around.

“Wha- Wait, I have seen you before. You have been lurking around in various parts of the laboratory and the mirror sea during the last few loops.” Song said half speaking to herself as she recalled seeing the butterfly randomly appearing at different places and times in each new reality shuffle.

“You what? You want to help Azur Lane? You want to help me too?!” Song said, shock evident to her face as she somehow began communicating with the butterfly.

Chapter Text

Song's Log:

Even if my words seem meaningless, even if it feels like I'm carrying the weight of the world,
I must believe that all my efforts will make it so that life will change.
Even when you push me away, I will hold you tight.
I will make you acknowledge me and change this reality,
for existence would be a merely a pitiful song of a broken world without you.

**

“Commander, we will also begin reviewing compiled information on siren assaults on cities on the last couple years. T.B. has reported that there are several matches regarding behavior and tactics during Siren sieges on inland cities, when compared with the notes on the doctor’s fleet.”

“For now, it could be worthwhile asking someone from the Sakura empire, the name sounds somewhat related to them, I believe.” Hipper added almost as is talking to herself.

The commander was again startled by Hipper’s voice, now that her words seemed to have cut through a curtain of darkness that had forcibly taken a hold of him.

Unlike in the previous times, he was certain he had not died.

Which somehow hadn’t made the transition anymore pleasant to him. After Doctor Bethencourt had been attacked, he felt how the world had come to an grinding halt, but now he felt how he couldn’t move, rather similar to the very first time that he had interacted with the other Helena, but in this occasion it felt like it had been a much more forceful and oppressing experience.

He once again experienced a brief feeling of panic that slowly receded into relief, again coming from his link with Unbreakable, along with yet again a deep sense of disquiet from the Praetor Rigging.

“While we check on information for that, there is another thing I need you to keep in mi-”

This time Admiral Hipper wasn’t able to finish her sentence before the communications seemed to crack and sputter.

“Co- Comman- We- Losing-  Link!-” The commander managed to make out a few of the words that Hipper had said before the line went quiet.

This was a completely new scenario they were facing. Up until now it seemed like they were meant to simply face the Doctor’s forces under the same circumstances with only his memories of the previous engagements remaining.

“What was -that-, Song?” Doctor Bethencourt’s voice resounded over the radio almost as if he had activated it on his own, the voice of the man sounded calm, yet it was laced with cold anger.

“You had already defeated me. Did you not? Then why have you brought us back to this sorry state of affairs?” The Doctor said in what seemed to hold self-deprecation and mockery.

This confused the commander, making him turn around looking at the area they were at. Much like in previous loops, the mirror sea remained an ominous place, yet it didn’t have any of the effects that the doctor had placed previously on it as of yet.

“And don’t even pretend to say it is because I was defeated by ‘unforeseen assistance’. Regardless of how formidable and secretive the ‘Metas’ can be, we both know they have come to sprung our trap -months- ahead of schedule, only because -you- gave them a lead to follow.”

“While that is true, it was never my intention that things developed to such a degree, father.” Song answered through the open line.

“Again with the -Father-…” The doctor said, cold anger seeping through his words. “Is that your plan, Song?”

“I am aware that you have seen my files within the Network, as well as all the pictures of my deceased family. I know what you intend to do” he said but in a hiss.

“Father that is not-”

“Enough!!” The Doctor cut her off, with his signal overpowering the communications channels, almost as if transmitting his anger “Do you intend to mock me till the end? To torment me? Killing me over and over again while wearing the face of my deceased daughter?!”

“Practice is over…” The Doctor said with a cold murderous tone of voice

“All units, disengage and gather around the Worldspite, I will take direct command of the offensive. We have no more loops available to play with Azur Lane” The doctor said before the communications went silent.

The commander looked around confused, finding around him many faces sharing a similar bewildered look on them.

“Commander! Look, the tower!” Magdeburg yelled while pointing at the Siren construct.

Now that the commander laid eyes on the Siren megastructure, he realized he was seeing a very distinct difference within this mirror sea, it was the very first time that he had seen something that was different from every other loop he had gone through.

The Siren Megastructure was obviously damaged. with burned lines that carved through the structure, some of them still on fire. Now that he was paying attention to the tower, he realized that the ominous purple light that emanated from the middle of it seemed much less intense than he remembered.

“-mander! Commander! Can you hear me?!” Hipper spoke through the radio once again.

“Loud and clear, Hipper” The commander answered without thinking twice while his mind raced about the implications of the damage they were seeing on the Siren structure as well as the behavior of Doctor Bethencourt.

“T-Thats a relief, you idiot! Communications broke off for a moment, what is your status?”

“I- er. we are doing well so far, but the situation has changed drastically.”

“Well don’t just remain dazzled off then! Get to it, I know you can do it!” Hipper said, once again sounding harsh yet cheering up on the commander at the same time.

“Right…” The commander said, trying his best to focus on the new situation they found themselves in. “T.B. I have a data package for the base, please make it a priority transfer and begin analyzing it.”

“Helena?” The commander said, focusing as best as he could on the other Helena. 

“Yes, commander?” Their Helena, the one full of life and soon-to-be engaged to Cleveland, answered.

“er- How are things on your side?”

“Everything seems to be fine for the time being.” She answered, sounding somewhat confused by his question.

“That's great. Thank you, please keep up the good work.”

This was something he more or less expected. If his guess was right, the other Helena had performed some sort of attack on Doctor Bethencourt’s base, sneaking past their protections somehow. He had but a hunch that such an approach would be only possible once. Doubly so now that the Doctor seemed to be enraged.

It was also quite likely that whatever glitch had allowed for them to communicate with the other Helena had been “patched up” so that they couldn't reach her now.

The sound of an incoming call interrupted the commander’s thoughts, he answered quickly, having lost their communications, even if only for a brief moment, had made him uncertain that they could continue having their lines open at all times.

“Commander, it has certainly been too long hasn't it?” A familiar voice sweetly spoke to the commander.

“Clemenceau?”

“Oh my, commander! You can really tell it is me, even when you have not heard my voice in such a long time? I am honored, truly.” Clemenceau teased him in her usual way.

“I always make a point to remember those who are the most capable and remarkable” He answered honestly.

“As well as those that need assistance, right?” Clemenceau asked teasingly.

“Of course." he answered without hesitation.

“Hehe. Well well, isn't our commander quite chivalrous?”

Clemenceau teased him but at the same time he got the notification of files being transferred to him. Unbreakable opened the files that seemed to be a series of pictures, images of a group of people as well as research facilities.

“These pictures… Doctor Bethencourt is in them!”

“That is correct, commander. Shinano contacted us just moments ago, she gave us a name and a date, that was all we needed to find the first picture of him, which led us to finding much more information about Doctor Bethencourt.”

“Just as he claimed, he was indeed part of the Basillica project, although with an alias, but we don't know the fine details about what he did. From the reports I have about the research he showed at Azur Lane, as well as his research on the little girl ‘Song’, it is easy to discern that he was quite the important figure in the Basillica project.”

“What do we know about his family? or his reason for defecting to the sirens?” The commander asked as he looked at the pictures that Unbreakable brought when he asked this.

He saw a picture of Doctor Bethencourt with an older couple that resembled him to a degree, as well as a little girl that looked to be around the same age as that of Song.

“His family died as a result of one of the first Siren land incursions within the Iris mainland.” Clemenceau said, her teasing receding back and now her words turning more serious.

“Then why?...”

“They did not die due to the Siren’s attack. The city itself became the target of gangs and criminals after the local government fled without giving evacuation orders nor a warning about the attack.” Clemenceau said, not finishing the sentence as it was obvious the result had been.

The commander chewed the inside of his cheek as he thought on what Clemenceau had just told him. He looked at the pictures that Unbreakable had brought upon his unspoken request, various pictures of a happy family, although it was obviously a non traditional one, with only one father, the daughter, and two grandparents, it was not such an uncommon thing, nor a bad thing really.

But now that the commander saw the pictures, he noticed that while the Doctor’s daughter in the pictures held a resemblance to Song, they were also evidently two different persons. The two of them resembled each other if only because they also shared many traits that were obviously something they had inherited from Doctor Bethencourt himself. The two children truly looked like the daughters of two equally beautiful women, which in turn also shared the same father.

The commander pondered on the implications and what all of this meant, he had very few pieces of information, but fortunately he now had a direct line with Clemenceau, which meant that the two of them could bounce ideas while he gathered his forces.

Almost as if in response to this idea, he felt a figurative tug from the red fiery thread that connected him to Akagi. He focused on soothing her as well as requesting for her to be by his side.

“I am counting on you, Akagi.” He said, without actually activating the radio, just mentally focusing on Akagi’s team, this in turn raised many eyebrows which he ignored for the most part.

“Enterprise, please help me gather everyone, we will engage against the doctor’s forces. We will begin planning in earnest with Clemenceau and Gascogne as soon as those of us on the water arrive..” He said as he pulled off his helm to look directly at his wife, which in turn nodded and then focused on her own radio.

“Clemenceau. Please tell me all you know of Doctor Bethencourt.” The commander said as he focused on the forces available to him as well as on the new situation they found themselves in.

“It will be my pleasure commander. I will prepare a comprehensible file for you. Meanwhile I think today’s saviour wants to have a few words with you.”

The commander nodded solemnly at that, unsure of what Clemenceau meant.

“Commander.” A soft and quiet voice spoke to the commander through their radio, one voice the commander had not heard in some time now.

“Shinano?” The commander quickly responded, unable to hide his surprise.

“This one greets you and wishes to apologize for one’s delay.” Shinano softly spoke 

 “I am happy to hear you are back with us, Shinano. You were in a deep slumber for some time now.”

“This one apologizes. I was lost looking at the wrong dreams… I kept seeing little Akagi-chan and Amagi-chan… This one knows you would never betray your wives’ trust… I kept looking at different dreams under this wrong impression, until I found a little girl that guided me here.”

The commander couldn't quite fully grasp what Shinano was talking about, but that was usually how things went when talking with her. Half her words seemed riddled in knowledge of things that had already happened as well as things that had yet to happen. 

“This one wishes to congratulate you, for this one has been witness to your efforts in this perilous place, doing your best for everyone, each and every time... You have been doing the right things, and pushing everyone forward in the right ways.”

The commander nodded at that, trying his best to comprehend what Shinano was telling him. Most of the time the drowsy Kitsune was cryptic, but this time she seemed to be completely aware of all that had occurred even in the previous loops. 

“The little girl has provided me with some information that has been sent to Clemenceau… As much as I would enjoy conversing more with you, there are more messages this one must deliver to be of help to everyone… Stay strong.”

The commander had very little time to answer before Clemenceau began speaking back to him. Maybe it was for the best, if Shinano said he was doing things the right way, he was almost certainly on the right track.

**

“<Esteemed older sister, this one greets you.>” Shinano spoke through the radio to a surprised Musashi.

“<Dear sister, I am glad to hear from you, but I don't see a reason to keep the formalities when it's just the two of us.>” Musashi answered back 

“<While it is true that it is only the two of us, I bring with me our elder sister’s words>” Shinano said in a slow and soft way.

Musashi did not respond to that, she only nodded in acknowledgement. If Shinano was bringing orders from their sister, it meant that Shinano was about to deliver their sister’s will, and that meant it was the will of the Sakura Empire itself that Shinano was about to deliver. As such, formalities were indeed needed.

“<Our elder sister wishes for you to use the treasures of the Sakura Empire that she has confided you with.>” Shinano spoke with a sense of formality and seriousness that was uncharacteristic of her but still well within her character.

Musashi’s lips flatlined at that. She held with her a few relics from the Sakura Empire, each one an invaluable national treasure, all given to her by their older sister, Yamato. But she was never given a proper explanation as to why she should carry them with her. And now of all times, their sister had asked of her to use them freely. Just a couple weeks shy of finding a proper meaning and a way to use the relics for combat.

“<I understand. Thanks for delivering the message, sister.>” Musashi said as she looked for the relics within her robes.

“<I am glad i can be of assistance, sister… Please excuse my rudeness but I must impart more messages and tasks to our friends.>”

“<Nothing to apologize for. By all means, do what you must, we seem to be in need of all the information we can get.>”

**

“Akagi…” Shinano’s voice resounded on Akagi’s radio.

Akagi would have thought much more profoundly about how to direct her words to one of the three political and spiritual leaders of the Sakura empire. Now that she had been given a mission and powers by the Sacred Sakura, it would be arguable that she stood on a standing similar to them. But assuming that would have been wrong, for the Sacred Sakura did not give her its powers and influence for the sake of political power games. There was also the fact that Shinano always moved with the best interests of the Sakura Empire in mind, something Akagi could fully respect.

But now Akagi had a mission to focus on, as well as the reassurance that her thread of fate had somehow connected with the commander. She didn't know how it happened, and she was quite uncertain as to the “when” it happened, for she felt like it had been an event that had occurred  both in the future as well as in the past.

“<Shinano-sama, this Akagi greets you.>” Akagi said, focusing her best on lending assistance to someone who would surely be of help to her dear commander.

“<Nn… Thank you. Please, call your sister to your side… I know you prefer actions over pretty words, with your assistance I will make it so that you can remember.>”

Akagi signaled for her sister to move closer to her. Their group was making their way back with the commander’s team, after having finished their task of dealing with the air carrier force that the Sirens had kept on the rear. They were doing great in regards to time, much better than what she expected, or rather, much better time than what she -felt- it should have taken. But even so she was pushing their group to head back to the commander as quickly as possible, refusing to slow down even while talking with Shinano.

“<Akagi, Kaga>” Shinano spoke to the two of them over the radio, yet it felt as if she was speaking being right in front of them “<Join your hands and focus on the power of the Sacred Sakura tree>”

“<Pray to the Sacred Sakura and to the kami, pray for your memories to be unimpeded, and to have the clarity to see the paths you and our friends have threaded.>” Shinano said with a solemn voice that soon became a murmured chant.

While Akagi and Kaga focused on what Shinano had requested of them, they couldn't help but to notice that while Shinano was all the way back to the base and merely murmuring her prayers through the radio, her voice seemed to thrum and intensify, like the quiet murmur of the night enveloping them.

As the prayer continued, they realized that they could hear words echoing Shinano’s own, as if monks had joined her in her prayer. As bells suddenly chimed, they finally realized that Shinano was not alone, they now recognized the other voices echoing in the background as Chitose and Chiyoda chanting alongside Shinano.

Rather than focusing on small changes on the area surrounding them, instead they put all their attention to their prayers, trying their best to make their words reach the Kami and the Sacred Tree. As the impromptu ritual came to an end, marked with a flash of pink light erupting from them, the light seemed to move as far away as the eye could see, soon reaching every corner of the mirror sea they found themselves in, leaving glimmering dots of light that resembled sakura petals behind, they finally opened their eyes, shock evident to their faces.

And they were not the only ones, Bismarck, Z-16, and Azuma all had looks of disbelief on their faces. 

Bismarck’s face would have been the most surprised one, with her eyes quickly moving back to the direction of the now gone Siren copied vessel where they had fended off the humanoid siren, Discipline.

But it was Akagi’s face who was a mixture of many emotions that moved too quickly from one to the next, from elation to rage, then from joyful surprise to furious understanding.

“We have been trapped in a loop” Bismarck finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen on them.

“So it seems. And this has brought much pain to my commander.” Akagi said with cold anger in her voice.

Chapter Text

The next hour or so had been spent mostly on communications between their teams and the commander, with conversations filled with frantic explanations of what each side had experienced. With their spirits and anxieties going wild, mostly due to the convoluted experience after having fought several times the same battles with different results.

Outside being focused on the various messages coming back and forth, keeping an ear out for the most important information, the commander could barely peel Sirius off himself.

The devoted maid was faced with memories of losing him at least three different times, plus with her having sacrificed herself for his safety, those around them were happy enough to let their maid companion have her moment.

There had been a message that Warspite had sent privately to Sirius, congratulating her for her unyielding loyalty to the commander and their mission, but it seemed rather private, and the commander had only been able to hear some of it as Sirius was quite literally close enough that he heard the radio communication.

“Is there any option available other than a frontal confrontation?” The commander asked through the Azur Lane channel, the answer already obvious in his voice.

“Not really.” The girl song replied while using the same frequency. “My father has the advantage in this place, trying to create an ambush, a pincer move or anything of the sort would be almost impossible.”

“Besides, for better or for worse, he is intent on a singular clash between your forces. Plus, commander you managed to keep the Meta Kansen alive, with your newfound experience, powers and that new ally, you have a real chance against the doctor.”

“… Was this your plan all along?” The commander finally asked something that had been nagging at him “Were you goading him all this time in order to accomplish a frontal confrontation?”

The line remained silent, every Kansen around the commander looked at him, even while his head was covered with Unbreakable’s helm they wanted to look at their commander’s face as he asked such a simple yet complicated question.

Finally, there was a long tremulous sigh that sounded all too close to breaking into a soft sob.

“I never intended to play with my father’s feelings... I had planned many things, and while the general result is favorable, I do not like it one bit.” The little girl finally replied.

The commander scrunched his nose at that, he gathered his thoughts regarding the incoming fight, trying to not think too much about the series of events that would lead for a father and his daughter to face each other.

Warspite’s voice resounded over the radio then, shaking the commander from his inner musings.

“I have information regarding the doctor’s ship. The little girl has apparently some bone to pick with her father. She has offered us plenty of information regarding the ship’s specifics”

“That’s great, Warspite.” The Commander said as various people nodded in agreement, many who were confused about the Royal’s actual willingness to cooperate with a faction with so close ties to the sirens.

“It's my job and honor, commander” warspite said “I can share most of the specifics with Gascogne so they can formulate better ideas on the finer details, but there is one main concern that we need to address first” She said, sounding somewhat worried.

“The ship possesses a massive energy shield, not too dissimilar to what the doctor displayed at the base, but the energy output of the ship is capable of having that shield reach a whole different level altogether. The Little girl claims that the shield could withstand massive amounts of punishment before it would even crack.”

“By their recount, just from a numerical perspective, all our gunfire together wouldn’t be able to put an end to the shield” Warspite said sighin before continuing “If her estimations are correct, it would need all the firepower of Azur Lane combined to even begin putting a dent to that shield.”

“I think I will be able to be of assistance with that” Musashi said “My sisters had foreseen some situation like this would happen and they have provided me with the means to deal with it”

“Wait, really?! but why didn’t you use it before?” Magdeburg asked, echoing the sentiment of others hearing Musashi’s statement. “That much power would surely have allowed you to finish that ‘Passion’ Siren from the very beginning.”

Musashi turned to look at Magdeburg and then a quick glance to those around her before she sighed dejectedly 

“The arrival of the doctors to Azur Lane, as well as all that they have taught us, as well as our experiences from the last few -Times- here…” she said, putting an emphasis on the word implying the more complex meaning it had for their current situation.

“It has made it evident how I am to use the tools that I have been given by my elder sister. The fault is only mine for it has been pride and lack of experience that clouded the path that laid in front of me.”

“We are here, and we can use the experiences as well as your assistance.” The commander said “I know you are not wont to blame yourself over things that have been out of your control. Our current situation is quite extraordinary, and as they say ‘hindsight is always always twenty-twenty’. Let's focus on what we can do.”

Musashi looked at the commander before nodding in agreement once, the commander knew that Musashi would have reached the same conclusion, but it still seemed important for him to share his opinion in the matter, if anything to appease Musashi’s mind.

“What about you, Gallisoniere?” The commander said, turning to the darker version of the Irisean Kansen they knew “Will you lend us a hand to face the doctor’s forces?”

The dark Galissonniere looked at the commander for a moment, almost as if she was seizing him up, before she briefly took a side glance at Richelieu and then she shook her head once.

“You won't be alone in this fight. My mission has evidently changed, as there are no arbiters present at this place. But I cannot in good conscience leave you and allow that madman to use this kind of power freely.”

**

In the end, it had been those among his inner circle who had helped him the most to arrange the formation. Concrete ideas and plans seemed to flow out of Enterprise, Akagi, Musashi, Warspite, and Bismarck. With the memories from the last few loops in which they had faced the doctor, they thought they had a solid idea of what kind of -commander- the Doctor was. Although there were a few uncertainties. After all, the Doctor himself had seldom taken part in the previous scenarios, he had modified them to his advantage, but they all got the impression that he had not directed the flow of combat to the extent that he might have been capable.

“Incoming forces at 12 sharp” Warspite said over the radio, announcing the incoming clash between their forces.

The commander could also see them, aside from the serpentine movement of the siren vehicles on the water, moving more like snakes on water, rather than the convoys of car-like machines they were, there were obviously much more traditional Siren warships, various vessels surrounding a few battleships which in turn were keeping a tight control around a massive ship.

-The Worldspite-, Warspite had informed him of the name of the vessel, as well as a whole plethora of information regarding its capabilities and range.

Warspite had shared all the information which she had received by striking a deal with some of the sirens within the mirror sea.

Or more specifically a faction of humanoid sirens and researchers that were loyal to Song, rather than to Doctor Bethencourt.

Once again The commander made a mental note to profusely thank Warspite for all the information she had obtained regarding the massive Siren ship that doctor bethencourt was commanding. Even if it seemed meager, the little details they now knew were key to the battle arrangements they had prepared.

Had they rushed blindly they would have been caught in a novel pincer maneuver as the shield would impede their movement and they would have been easy pickings for the highly maneuverable Siren vehicles and their bombers.

Going for a more defensive approach would also have doomed them. The massive vessel’s shield could have worked as a one sided screen, allowing for long range attacks performed by the Doctor’s fleet while any attempt to attack back would be stopped by the shield that could function as a one-way pass.

Balance was the key of their plan.

Bismarck, La Galissonniere, and Richelieu moved ahead of them, eliciting columns of the siren vehicles to dart towards them, like snakes quickly snapping forward to bite at them.

Just at the same time the amphibious vehicles moved, so did several of the black airplanes, both conventional high-tech siren ones as well as the enhanced black copies.

It seemed like they would have been quickly overwhelmed, but in an instant the rest of the Azur Lane forces jumped to the action.

Akagi and Enterprise launched waves of their own fighters to counter the black clouds of siren airplanes. Richelieu had quickly erected a barrier that negated the continuous fire that came from the artillery placed on top of the siren vehicles.

Once again, Magdeburg, King George, and Z-16 jumped to fight and harass the columns of vehicles, throwing them in disarray and making easy pickings of those that strayed too far. An interesting enough change was that Kaga had jumped straight onto the fray this time.

Rather than try and mimic Akagi’s tactics, the white-haired kitsune had jumped onto the action. With her attire changed once again due to the blessing of the Sacred Sakura Tree, she now looked the part of the fierce warrior as she vanished from view only to appear on top of an unwary amphibious vehicle, she would either slice the machine with a katana or burn it to flames and then send the burning wreck on a collision path with the other vehicles, quickly disappearing from view once again only to be attacking a new target.

At some point the commander lost track of Kaga entirely only to see her blue flames erupting from a siren cruiser that had strayed too far away from the protection of the massive Siren ship.

Everyone was much more prepared than they had been on each previous loop, with their memories restored, with some ritual that Shinano had instructed for Akagi and Kaga to perform, they were able to fight with an unprecedented level of skill and knowledge of their enemies.

And it was not only a matter of battle prowess anymore, the commander saw the usage of many different weapons everyone had brought from the special armory at Azur Lane, mixing in some sort of unconventional fighting skills which would have been unthinkable maybe just a couple of weeks prior to the arrival of Song to Azur Lane.

Their fight would have been just fine if that had been all the involvement from the mega vessel.

“Their batteries are charging, commander” Song announced over the radio.

“Estimation of the attack pattern has been completed” Gascogne added as new information was fed onto Unbreakable which in turn showed onto his map.

“New danger zone updated!” The commander shouted, pinging those that were closest to the murder zone marked on their maps, and warning everyone else to take care of the incoming fire.

With the assistance of Song and Gascogne, they were able to predict the patterns on which the Worldspite would fire its missiles and rockets, the commander would then signal to everyone which areas to avoid entirely or to prepare some non-traditional means to avoid the enemy load.

Such examples were brought foremost by Enterprise and Akagi. Enterprise would valiantly dash forward and then evade the missiles by the skin of her teeth, performing an extreme battle dance that combined her luck and skill. Meanwhile Akagi would deftly throw some of her burning red talismans towards the enemy attacks, destroying any missile or rocket that was on a collision path with her or those that were behind her.

The battle was developing pretty much the same way they feared it would.

“Commander, everyone has spread too much” Warspite warned him over the radio.

Gascogne had warned him that even in a direct confrontation, the doctor was able to arrange and create a flow of battle that favoured him, even when it seemed like he was losing ground. And this was one of such instances.

“A massive group is coming from the eastern side, commander. They must have been hiding behind the stone pillars” Warspite informed him over the radio.

“Can you take potshots at them?” He asked as he updated his map.

“My pleasure” Warspite replied darkly a moment before the artillery that her team had hijacked began shooting at the incoming reinforcements.

“Commander.” Perseus said sternly as she looked at the commander and then at Sirius who stood stubbornly at his side.

He only nodded in response as he moved forward.

He dashed to the center of the chaos that was taking place, according to Gascogne’s estimations, he was moving to the focal point where the doctor’s forces would close onto them.

He could actually see both siren vessels as well as the amphibious vehicles quickly approaching him, focusing more on getting towards him rather than taking proper aim, as no shell really got past Sirius.

The commander came to a stop in the middle of the chaotic battlefield, he looked at the incoming forces encroaching towards Azur Lane, forces trying to put a stop to his work, their work of safeguarding the world from the siren menace.

He briefly took but a moment to capture the sight in his mind before his next decisive move.

“In these turbulent times I, Erick Anderson, call upon my ship!” The commander stated grandiosely as he unsheathed the Royal navy sword from his belt, aiming it towards the skies.

“Royal Fortune, come! Your captain has a need for you!”

The moment he finished speaking, the waters around him began darkening, it was a deep black that didn't allow for light to go past it, obscuring the already negligible visibility of the waters under them. Then just ahead of him the water broke into an explosion, a stempost pointing towards the sky at an angle with the Tempesta’s ship following suit, still moving water out of its deck.

“YES! YES!” a shrill almost manic voice echoed in an almost ethereal manner around the nearby area. “Your Royal Fortune has come as requested, my captain!”

The Tempesta Pirate was on top of her ship, her eyes fixated on the commander, she was obviously delighted by the turn of events as her smile threatened with splitting her head in twain.

“Commander…” Sirius said from his side.

“W-W-What the heck was THAT?! Did you see that thing?!!” A panicked voice said somewhere on the deck of Royal fortune.

“What do you mean? She told us to close your eyes.” A different voice replied.

“I w-was curious! I thought it was to help with the transition! not to avoid looking at the freaking abyss in the eye!!”

As the commander was getting closer to get on board of the Royal Fortune, he saw the origin of the voices; the three Valkyries that had accompanied him were also on top of the wooden vessel.

Buggy, the red-headed one was lecturing the other two, one which seemed to be just about to run away as if trying to escape to be anywhere but on top of the ship.

The commander looked back, witnessing the following part of his plan.

All around them, the siren vehicles and airships that had been encroaching him soon found themselves trapped by a myriad of tentacles that had sprouted nearby the Royal Fortune. The black and red tentacles didn't bother too much with any elegance or subtlety, they seemed rather reactionary in fact, anything that got too close was quickly grabbed and either crushed, sunk into the depths, or tossed away, often crashing against the rest of the siren forces.

This created a whole new and unexpected variable to the combat that surely doctor Bethencourt wouldn't have been able to prepare for.

Very few people were truly prepared to deal with Tempesta.

“Excellent job, Royal Fortune” The commander said, turning his head, only to find the eldritch Kansen right in front of him, her expecting eyes wrinkling merrily just as her smile somehow widened even more at the praise right before she latched herself onto his arm.

“We will have some great adventures together, my captain!” Royal Fortune merrily stated “Your two weeks of service will be so thrilling you will surely ask for even more time with me in the seas!”

The commander nodded at that, regardless of how ominous it might sound, “serving time” on the Royal Fortune was always a good time.

“I think the eyes looked directly at me! I can still feel them looking!” Stormcat cried from somewhere on the deck of the wooden vessel.

The momentum of the fight had turned in their favor for the moment, but there was still one huge obstacle standing between them and any possibility of a real victory.

Fortunately enough, the commander had capable people working with him, so he was more concerned about them pulling it off, rather than them not having any opportunity.

**

Musashi stood in front of a small team that had gone directly to meet the massive Siren ship. Around them everything seemed to be a chaotic battleground, black tentacles sprouting from within black waters, sending siren machinery flying left and right, fiery pink and blue airplanes battling ominous black airships on the skies.

Every now and then, the siren ship would shoot a massive beam of purple energy into their direction. Each time, Richelieu would provide protection with a golden dome of light, the energy within each of these ominous beams was probably more than they had ever faced against, the protective dome would deflect each beam, but it was obvious that it would be something that Richelieu would be able to keep up indefinitely, and they were not sure if the same could be said about the cannon being used against them.

Even without the energy shield of the ship impeding them from getting too close, the likely scenario would have been that of a slow uphill battle against their enemy.

“An Orochi class ship…” Musashi muttered softly, “It is all too apt, almost like written by fate.”

Musashi stared but for a moment at the massive ship in front of them, then she glanced at the Sakuran treasures that had been entrusted to her by her older sister, Yamato.

A small mirror, a jade jewell, and an old sword. The seemingly mundane items were in reality invaluable treasures, which held great historic and spiritual importance within the sakura empire.

With her newfound knowledge of herself, as well as how their own perception of the self could change themselves as well as their powers, Musashi allowed herself to embrace a part of herself that she had never felt like she quite deserved.

She felt the thrumming of the treasures echoing within herself, a rhythm of old, one that resounded within the divine festivals of her country, with her very cube singing to the beat brought by the treasures.

The treasures dissipated, becoming one with her rigging and with herself. Her rigging became taller, its appearance changed ever so slightly, with the katana of lightning glowing much more brightly. To those that were accustomed to the sight and presence of Musashi, it felt like there was a warrior by her side, reveling in the fight to come.

“Resilient souls within a siren hull, I salute you!” Musashi said, with her voice echoing in a thunderous-like manner, sounding very much as if rigging had been the one that spoke for her, with lightning and thunder at her beck and call.

Musashi’s rigging swung its sword around in a circular motion, a well practised and somewhat ceremonious gesture bringing the eyes of friend and foe alike to lay on her, looking almost as if she had been imitating cliche motions performed on Sakuran movies of samurai times.

For an instant everyone thought they saw the moon appear in the battlefield, being drawn on the air by the sword held by Musashi’s rigging.

“How our hearts sing in the chaos of the seas and the skies. Those who bear witness to the glory of the sakura empire… Rejoice!”

Musashi´s words echoed through the mirror sea as the sword of lightning that her rigging held was swung down onto the shield of the Worldspite. Rather than being stopped by the shield, the moment it made contact the whole area was suddenly enveloped in a brightness akin to that of a lightning striking the ground with thunder soon following the light.

When the light was gone everyone was surprised by the sight in front of them, not only had the energy shield of the massive siren ship been cut, but the very ship now seemed to be scarred, part of its hull had blackened on a section almost as if the blade had somehow scorched everything on a single path through the ship.

The commander was at a loss for words about what he was seeing, and most likely everyone else within the mirror sea was held in the same trance, looking at the impossible result of the attack.

Now that the commander paid attention, even the skies and the horizon seemed to be fractured after the attack. Rain started falling without clouds having formed at all like in previous instances, perhaps an after effect of the tormentous attack just performed by Musashi.

Everyone was soon brought back to the now, as several explosions started taking place on the massive siren ship, the blackened area began exploding on various parts as well as others all around the ship, that and the massive siren ship began moving onto a whole different direction. The reason for this, as well as the magnitude of the damage became evident once the bow of the ship started heading in a different direction than the rest of the ship. Before the commander could begin wrapping his head about what had happened, the radio communications around them exploded.

“The Worldspite has been hit!” A voice with an Irisean accent said.

“Where is the doctor?!” Some other voice asked.

“The bow has separated from the rest of the ship!! Energy lines have gone out of control! Beginning evacuation protocols!” a panicked voice all but yelled.

“All units fall back, stall the enemy forces and look for any survivors from the bow of the Worldspite!” someone commanded over the radio.

Another explosion took place from the main part of the Worldspite, from it, a large black claw emerged, pulling out from within the ship a monstrous visage which the commander had only seen a small part of during one of the previous loops.

A dark creature which somewhat resembled a hermit crab, but more monstrous and sinister. With a shell made of black metal, purple glowing eyes lurking from inside of the shell where its claws and legs emerged from, all of it covered in an arrangement of guns, with lines of purple energy adorning it. One of the claws seemed to be damaged as well as some of the legs as it seemed to have difficulty moving.

The Commander made changes to their current tactics, after the first wave of radio communications done by the forces of doctor Bethencourt, it became evident that most of the forces had swapped tactics to focus on a hasty retreat after having their trump card so badly damaged.

“Allow for those retreating to do so, deal promptly with those who remain to fight, otherwise gather with me at the enemy ship.” The commander ordered, being short about his order and instead focusing on the latest development taking place.

“Royal Fortune, let's go, we are boarding that ship” The commander said, ignoring the evergrowing grin of the eldritch Kansen as she stared at him.

Ignoring the rest of the fights taking place, which had dwindled down considerably as most of the siren forces now seemed to be focused on evacuating the massive ship and rescuing personnel still inside of the now stray bow of the ship, the commander was taken in front of the broken ship. Looking at Royal Fortune and nodding at her, she responded by lifting him as well as Sirius and the three valkyries and dropping them on the deck of the massive ship.

“Protect the commander” The Valkyrie Buggy ordered her companions, who quickly surrounded him along with Sirius who had never left his side.

They found themselves on one of the flight decks of the Worldspite, with sizable cannons on the sides but fortunately enough those seemed to lack energy to function properly.

Finding the transformed praetor rigging of Doctor Bethencourt was a simple enough matter not only due to its size, but also as incoming waves of Siren walkers were making their way towards them.

The Valkyries jumped to the fight without needing to be given an order. Sirius kept closer to the commander, dealing with the eventual stray walker or even deflecting a shot fired towards the commander. With Royal fortune quickly joining the Valkyries, the commander kept his attention on the rest of the fight at large, which had quieted down for the most part, with various of the girls making their way to join his side on top of the worldspite.

The commander saw several planes make their way after a scuffle with remnants of the black airships, moving in his direction only to go ahead of him and dropping their explosive loads on top of the doctor’s monstrous transformed Praetor rigging.

“I… will… not… yield.” The Doctor’s voice resounded placating all the other communications taking place.

“Should I surrender this fight, what will become of it all…? What will become of our triumphs? our hopes? Our…our despair?”

To the commander’s astonishment, one of the claws of the doctor’s rigging reached the cannon and with little effort made it turn towards them, the shell of the rigging began glowing and the energy seemingly transferred to the cannon which began humming in turn.

Not only had the energy emanating from the Doctor’s rigging increased, but there was another thrum of energy as purple energy coalesced onto the rigging, very similar to all the times that the Doctor had manifested nigh magical effects onto the battlefield.

“Everyone take cover, the doctor intends to attack with the cannon!” The commander warned.

There was a quick and melodious voice that cut through the battlefield, sounding as if a few notes of a song had just been performed by a singer.

At that moment the energy that had been coalescing onto the Doctor seemed to simply fizzle out, as if it somehow just refused to gather onto him.

The commander’s surprise quickly surpassed once he saw the same thing occur again, dark purple energy gathering towards the Doctor before another melodious riff had been sung and the energy disappeared as if a bubble had been popped.

“No no no!” The Doctor screamed.

“What of this anguish which yet burns inside of me and everyone who has been wronged by the corrupt and evil? I will not let it be all for naught!” The doctor continued as his transformed Praetor rigging moved towards one of the cannons on top of the Worldspite.

After more explosions had taken place, the commander signaled for everyone to remain still, he was certain that the rigging would protect the Doctor from the worst of the attack, at least Song had assured him they should attack with everything they could against the doctor, and he was still willing to take the doctor captive.

The commander signalled towards those around him as he sent a brief signal to the rest of the group. He made his way towards the still smoking area where the doctor’s rigging could be seen decreasing in size.

The Doctor was panting, seemingly exhausted and a little bruised, he was close to the now twisted cannon that he had attempted to fire, his Praetor rigging had taken a shape they had yet to see, looking like a huge metallic conch shell that the doctor was using to rest against while sitting on the ground.

Another sight they didn't quite expect was that of one of the humanoid Sirens standing beside the doctor. It was the one that had named herself Discipline, with her umbrella being the most notable factor to identify her.

“Stay down, lower your weapons and surrender!” Enterprise shouted to the pair as she aimed her bow at them.

The humanoid siren paid them no mind and instead seemed to focus on the doctor on the ground.

“All forces are retreating, dear doctor. Azur Lane is allowing for anyone not aiming a gun at them to retreat to the tower” The siren said with her thick iron blood accent.

“That cannot be… It cannot end like this.” The doctor answered.

“It will come to an end if we do not agree to a proper surrender” The humanoid siren continued.

“You say that, like they will not just finish us off.” The doctor scoffed in return.

“Please, my dear doctor. You know that Azur Lane is not so uncivilized to attack us while we talk about our surrender.” Discipline answered back as she glanced in Enterprise's direction.

“Please, father…” Song’s voice resounded from somewhere beside the commander, making him turn in response.

When the commander turned, he found yet another surprise that was echoed by everyone around him as they gasped in shock.

The little girl they had come to know was beside him, gingerly approaching the angry doctor. But she looked almost like an illusion. No, rather, she looked closer to a mimicry of the girl he had met. She wore the same girly dress that Song had brought from her trip to the city within the mall at the base’s island, the same crocs. She had the same face and the same hair.

But not quite the same.

Rather than the sunkissed skin the commander had seen on the girl, it was slightly paler while still maintaining a slightly darker hue somewhat similar to the doctor’s deep brown skin. Her golden locks were drained of all color a ghostly white instead, except for two streaks of a vibrant purple on each side of her face.

“Thats not a hat!” Sirius exclaimed in surprise.

The little girl had appeared with what seemed like an oversized witch’s hat, but at the mention of it, the hat seemed to become… startled. When the commander paid closer attention to the garment, he noticed that what seemed like ribbons and loose pieces of cloth adorning it were actually tentacles that receded back onto the brim of the hat.

While looking at this movement, the commander was signaled by Unbreakable, a prompt in his view signaling at an eye staring back at him from within the hat.

“She's a siren?!” King George whispered softly almost as if afraid to voice her doubt.

“Is that hat an octopus?” Someone else asked.

“Dad! A new Siren signature has been detected!” T.B. called to the commander over their coms.

“Song, have you come to finish me off personally?” The doctor spat. “While I must congratulate you for your victory. I didn't think you held such a grudge against me.”

“Father, could you shut up and listen to me?!!” The little girl yelled, surprising the doctor as well as everyone around.

“I know I look like Claire did! I am sorry that my appearance brings you back so many painful memories! But I am me! If I resemble her, it's only because I resemble you!”

The commander knew that name, it had been recently brought in the documents that Clemenceau shared, it was the name of the now deceased first daughter of Doctor Bethencourt. The mention of the doctor’s first daughter seemed to shake the doctor a bit but he shook his head almost immediately.

“W-What are you saying? That doesn't explain why you would want me dead” The Doctor stammered

The other humanoid siren shook her head at that but said nothing otherwise.

“ Merde! I have never intended to kill you!” The little girl yelled back.

“¡Hey! Language!” The doctor replied sternly.

“Father, I have been forced to do this only because I know about all your plans!” 

The doctor squinted his eyes in response as he seemed to evaluate the girl’s words.

“Yes! I know all of them, regardless of your security level, you stored them in -my- mainframe” The girl said as she shook her head dismissively. “It is -my- birthright, after all”

“I care little about most of the stuff in those plans, except how in all the endings you have written, you end up sacrificing yourself one way or another.” The girl said with her voice becoming almost a whisper at the revelation.

Her words seemed to startle the other siren, Discipline, who now reacted from her seemingly aloof stance and stared intently at the doctor and then back at the little girl.

“Doctor?!” Discipline said with concern obvious in her voice.

“It is something that is needed! The world will always require a grand villain so that everyone can join forces against. At the end of the story the bad guy must go down.” The doctor said, looking at Song and Discipline, his voice once again sounding impassioned.

“ Ça suffit! ” The little girl spat back “I know you have your grand villainous plans! And I don't really care if your moral compass is misaligned! I am here only because you brought me to this world, and albeit for a short time you raised me, and cared for me!!”

“I can only imagine how it pains you to see Claire in me. But I am also your daughter! A daughter that needs you! A daughter loves you!” The girl yelled with her voice breaking, as tears flowed freely through her cheeks.

“I… I…” The doctor opened and closed his mouth several times before his mouth flatlined and he stared at the little girl with mixed emotions evident on his face.

“We found an identification code hidden within the unknown siren’s signal! Arbiter class… Thesis?!” T.B. informed the commander, sounding confused over the information that they had just discovered.

As the members of Azur Lane watched this situation develop in front of them, they had various mixed feelings about what was happening. A few of them felt like they should arrest everyone involved and let the league of nations figure out what was supposed to happen next. A whole different extreme opinion would have been that of the Dark La Galissonniere, who would have likely requested to shoot down everyone involved with the siren technology, although she had remained back as she began chasing down the other humanoid siren, Passion.

The commander was sure he would need to bring the doctor to the league of nations, but aside from that he wasn't quite sure of what should be done.

One person who had a better idea of what ought to happen was Azuma. The Sakuran Kansen had moved up front at some point and she gently pushed the little girl towards her father.

The girl couldn't control herself and with that little push she jumped towards her father, holding him close and now loudly sobbing. The doctor hugged her back, almost as if by an automatic response, still looking a little confused but his eyes quickly darted around everyone before settling back on the little girl, before his eyes began watering too.

Before the commander could say a word about what had just happened, he was startled as Sirius raised her sword in the direction of the other humanoid siren that had begun walking in their direction.

Soon enough other weapons were raised towards the umbrella-wielding siren, who simply stood in front of the commander, only stopped by Sirius' blade which was aimed straight at her chest.

“I come to formally issue our surrender. Commander Anderson. Effective immediately, the ‘Black Water fleet’ surrenders to Azur Lane.” The pale siren woman said as she bowed minutely towards the commander.

“Understood.” The commander said as solemnly as he could, trying his best to shake off all the confusion that had piled up on him.

A new and grand explosion shook the place, just a few moments after the commander had begun issuing orders to those inside and out of the mirror sea.

“Commander! There was an explosion within the tower. I don't think it was any of us!” Warspite said over the radio.

The commander turned to look at doctor bethencourt and the young siren girl in his arms. The girl looked at the tower for a moment and then sighed morosely.

“The damage was too extensive, the core of the mainframe must have cracked at some point… It will go out of control within minutes.” The girl said in a weird monotone voice.

“Commander!” Richelieu yelled from behind him “La Galissonniere informs me that we need to evacuate, that once that structure explodes it will probably be too massive of an explosion”

“There is no escaping THAT explosion…” The doctor said.

“He is correct,” The little siren continued “The mainframe is anchored to this world, not physically, but rather, to the very concept of this world…”

“What does that mean? Is it not possible to get away fast enough?” Richelieu asked.

“Not at all. Once the reactor explodes, it will tear away a chunk of the core concepts and even the functions of the world”

“Think of the world as if it was a rather complex… clock…” The little girl said after a moment of hesitancy. “The mainframe is not on the surface of the clock, where any repairs can be done with some glue and lacquer. The mainframe is instead rooted deep into the very gears of the machine, working as a fundamental part of it.”

“When it blows up, it won't be a superficial damage that could be easily repaired with some glue, even if the whole world does not collapse from the explosion, all the insides will be melted, twisted, and irrecuperable.”

“Richelieu?” The commander turned towards the Irisean leader.

She did in turn nod knowingly and focused on her comm line with La Galissonniere Meta.

“She has confirmed that it would be more or less the end of this world, or branch as she calls it, if that mainframe is rooted to the concept of this world itself.”

“What are our options?” The commander asked no one in particular as he looked at those closest to him.

“Nothing -you- can do about it” Doctor Bethencourt said.

The commander furrowed his brow at that, the doctor didn't seem like a petty sort of character, so the comment felt out of place.  When he looked back at him, he saw that there was something behind the doctor.

It looked as if inky black water was floating perpendicular to the ground, as if it was a wall rather than ground. While he was entranced on that, along with everyone else, The doctor finally stood up, holding the still tear faced little girl.

“I already lost one daughter, so you will probably understand I am not wont to allow anything bad to happen to my adorable terrible petit canard, or her favorite branch for that matter . ”

Another explosion happened within the siren city that surrounded the tower, one that shook the waters and startled everyone. When the commander looked back, he realized that the doctor, the humanoid siren and the little girl were walking towards the black portal that had appeared behind them.

“Thanks and sorry for everything, Azur Lane.” the doctor said as he, Song, and Discipline walked inside of the black splotch of ink.

“Wait!” Azuma said as she dashed forward, the inky portal disappeared before she reached them, only barely grasping the little girl's palm as she had in turn waved her goodbye.

“Gascogne, prepare an evacuation. Have everyone already on the surface get as far away from the island as possible.”

“Negative, commander. Our orders are to evacuate all personnel that have gone into the laboratory, as well as the commander and bring them back to base.” Gascogne replied in a monotone, although the commander could discern a hint of stubbornness to her voice.

“Thats an order, Gascogne. Sorry.” The commander said before closing the line he had with her.

“Richelieu, If you would.” The commander said, without saying it, he invited the leader of the reformed Iris libre to say her last goodbyes to her sister.

The commander approached Enterprise and he grabbed her hand, having Unbreakable drop back his helm, allowing him to kiss the hand of his wife and then her lips in a tender fashion.

He smiled at her ruefully, and without letting go of her hand, he looked at everyone around him. Many of the faces he looked at shared a complicated expression to their faces, not resignation per se, but fully understanding there was a certain gravitas and meaning to the moment.

“Ladies.” He began “We are not giving up just yet. But it seems like the odds are stacked against us, so just as a precaution of the unlikely eventuality, I wanted to let you know it has been my greatest honor and pleasure to have served alongside you.”

There was a warm agreement at that from everyone, as well as a brief reply from everyone who concurred with the sentiment, and maybe a less than chaste kiss from Akagi towards the commander.

They had quickly finished the sombering moment and made their way towards the siren city when they were hailed by Warspite.

“Commander, something is happening!” The power levels of the superstructure are all over the place.

“We are evacuating, Warspite. There is a high probability that the power source of the tower will explode.” He said, regretting forgetting including Warspite on their impromptu maybe-goodbye.

“What?! Commander, do you have an estimated time on that?!”

“I-” The commander began, before the whole place began shaking violently.

“Look! the tower!” Bismarck yelled.

As everyone’s eyes fell on the tower, they saw the same impossible sight.

The massive nigh impossible building had somehow dislodged from the ground and had begun moving towards the ceiling of the mirror sea, onto the inky black waters that functioned as a faux-sky within the siren facsimile of reality.

The tower continued its upward movement as it created a continuous quake due to the tower dislodging and rubbing against the ground of the mirror sea. Looking as if it was sinking onto the waters above them, an impossible sight that no one had seen ever before, only made much more complicated as more explosions took place within the tower as it slowly disappeared onto the waters above them.

Within ten minutes of awe-struck silence for the members of Azur Lane, the tower, along with the majority of the inhabitants of the mirror sea and secret laboratory of doctor Bethencourt, had completely disappeared into the unknown.