A-kun: Before anything, I thank you all for appreciating this story and giving this book your support. It's only 11 chapters in and it's getting the support that I could never have dreamed. I thank you all for the votes, reads, everything. Thank you. Now, enjoy this new chapter!

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With a perfect stance in the way she sat, with that gleaming eyes, she was that type of person that you'd call yourself lucky to be friends with. 

If there's a word that can describe the woman seated in the center of the room, reading a book like there's nothing else to do in life, the word would be beautiful.

Well, at least, that's what the little girls felt when they are watching their seemingly perfect person doing their daily routine.

Then, the beautiful woman finally looked at the direction of the 2 little girls. Making their fox ears perk up in the process.

"You two, why are you hiding over there? Come on. Here, with your sister." She said, giving a smile that can melt any heart.

The two cried out, "Amagi," as they were running and the two fell on her lap. Making her smile. This is just a normal day in their lives. Amagi would do what she needed to do for the day, who to send on missions, and as she is doing all of that, Kaga and Akagi would watch her. Even without breaking the gaze from her.

For a long time, this would be their routine, Amagi doing her normal work, and then play with Kaga and Akagi. It was like that for a long, long while. But at this time though, it would be anything but "normal". 

As the Amagi was telling about a story that the 2 always loved, the door opened, and 5 people came in. And each soldier here laid down a big footnote in this generation. And their achievements were large enough that you could write a whole book just with their accomplishments.

"It is time..." said Lion of the North named Bismarck. One of the finest ships of her generation. Arguably the most powerful ship of all time.  Countless battles have been won with just her presence in the field. And her offensive arsenal is almost limitless. 

Behind her is Jean Bart. A loyal and chivalrous knight who spoke nothing but the truth. She is the cornerstone of the Vichya Dominion's tough, gritty Navy defense. 

Sakura Empire's own, and stalwart shield of the Empire, Atago. She may look slow, but if she finds a target, not even divine intervention can save the target from living to see another day.

Avrora. High-flying speedster of the North Union. Loves showmanship, also likes beer. From her looks, she looks light as a feather. And that's what she brings to the table. Because no other ship in her generation can take 1 on 1 and keep up with her remarkable speed.

And the last one...

Hood. Unlike the other legendary soldiers in the room, who made a name for themselves by doing numerous heroic acts, she just joined this prestigious group. But she was really famous because of her marvelous skirmish with the Sirens. Named 'Saving Grace in the Danger Zone'. In which she saved a large group of fighters of the Royal Navy single-handedly and also kept the Sirens from advancing any more further. Giving her friends time to escape the danger zone.

"Amagi," said Jean Bart. 

"So the time has finally come." She said. Closing her book and taking the 2 girls off her lap.

"Yes." Bismarck nodded. "We have their location. It's time to finish this."

"Sister!" Akagi tugged on Amagi. "Can we come to help you?"

"No. You need to stay here, my dear,"  Amagi told the pleading fox. "You just stay here and before you know it, I'll be back." 

"You promise?" Said Kaga. Looking down and worried as much as Akagi was.

Seeing the worried expression plastered on their faces, she bent down, putting her hands on their heads and gave that signature warm smile and said: "Of course girls. I'll always be there for you."

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This same dream would sometimes repeat itself. Since this was the last memories that they had with their beloved sister. And at that time, that was before the heroic forces of Azur Lane defeated the Sirens and brought back peace to the world.

Akagi woke up in a dark room. With little light seeping through the curtains. She rubbed her head, she got up from her bed, went to the curtains, and she slid it away from the window. Making the light finally illuminate the room.

"Sister," A voice came from behind Akagi. "Good morning."

"Kaga, I didn't hear you come in." She turned around to face her sister.

Her sister, still bowing said: "I apologize for interrupting you, I'll be-"

"Don't worry... It's all right." She said. "Can you remind me of what am I going to do today?"

"You have a meeting with the resource department, research wing, after that, more reports and paperwork to finish and we'll finally have our answer from the coalition."

'That's right.' She thought. 'That otherworlder has caused me so much trouble.'

"Alright. I'll get to it. Wait outside for me and I'll get ready." said Akagi and Kaga nodded and walked out the room.

'I've come so far. I won't let him ruin my plans.'

In the wake of Amagi's death and many others at the final battle, Sakura Empire went months without a consensus leader. And it left a power vacuum. In which the whole faction was in fractures with small little groups here and there trying their best to take advantage of the situation.

Not until Akagi stepped in and took control of the situation. How did she do it thought? Even with the chaos of that power vacuum, she took control in a timely manner before anything can be more volatile.

Akagi didn't have the legendary achievements that her sister had, but her deft manner of handling day-to-day operations and paperwork of the Sakura Empire and her ability to make the smaller groups calm down made her the unquestionable leader of the Empire.

As time went on, she had pretty remarkable victories, achievements throughout her career. But never let her leadership skills weaken.

And this is why the Sakura Empire is the largest faction in the world. Their sheer numbers can overwhelm any opponent they face. In fact, if the 2nd Siren war never happened, the Empire would have absorbed any other faction in the world with little resistance.

This day was just any other day in the office. She bathed, cleaned, dressed up and went to her office. She did what a leader would do in a day-to-day office. Never once she showed tiredness while working. She always showed vigor and a passion for her position. In which everyone in the Empire respected. 

This is going to be Caster's opponent. A functioning Empire that will no doubt have the numbers advantage. How shall Caster tackle this?

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3 days ago...

"We're playing with lives... Don't waste them..." Caster silently mumbled as he was looking through the maps of the Sakura Empire. But Caster thought that the maps are really unreliable and he needs better knowledge of the landscape.

"I can't see this... Where are my glasses..." He looked everywhere on his desk but couldn't find the reading glasses that he had yesterday. "Did someone took it? Damn it. I have to ask Belfast about this." Caster cursed as he groaned loudly. 

He really wanted to get a grasp of the geography of the area of the Sakura Empire before he will make his response. And then a bright idea popped in his head. He smiled. Knowing this might be the one thing he can be sure to use against the enemy. 

So he called the important ships and the most knowledgeable ones. So, Hood, Nimi, Belfast, Enterprise, Cleveland, and Illustrious.

"Why are we here, Commander?" Illustrious asked Caster. Who had a nervous look on his face? 

"Master, what do you ask of us this time?" Belfast also asked.

"Okay, okay, okay. The maps that I've found about the Sakura Empire is really bad. Really low-quality stuff." Caster explained his situation right now to the girls. In which they got confused. But he was doing the planning so the girls couldn't really voice their disagreement.

"I think... If we can, we'll scout the Sakura Empire to see what we're dealing with." 

Then the girls became nervous. And Caster already knows what this means. 

"I... I don't think that's possible. That's the enemy territory." Illustrious was the first to voice her concern/opinion on his idea.

"Yeah Commander. It's not safe at all. And the Sakura Empire has patrols too. Like us." Cleveland gave her take on his plan. 

And the other girls took turns voicing their concerns and the more they explained why that would be a bad idea, it made sense to him. But he isn't giving up yet. He wants the geography of the Empire. 

"Okay..." Caster nodded... "How about this?" As the girls' heads turn to him and ready to listen again.

"How about... We scope out the outskirts of the Empire. Because I don't want the fight to be happening in our territory. It's too dangerous." 

The girls thought about this for a good minute and they huddled up together so they can talk about if they agree or disagree. And Caster just watched them talking. He looked to his maps once more.

"We made a decision to agree with that idea," Hood told Caster while smiling. 

 "But we need to really take caution. We can't possibly be found by the Empire's members or our mission is doomed before it starts." Enterprise told Caster and he nodded in agreement. 

"But how are we going to the enemy territory? We can't just glide through the waters and expect them to not see us. They'll notice." Z23 commented. Asking what Caster's plan on how to infiltrate on enemy soil. 

He smiled. As he already got an idea.

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It was time for lunch. Akagi went back to her room. Not wanting to be with the others. Back then, she would absolutely eat with the others in the cafeteria but she just one day wanted to eat alone. Kaga noticed and got worried. She would repeatedly ask Akagi on what's making her eat alone but Akagi just brushed off the concerns. Not wanting to say anything on the matter. Saying that its nothing to worry about. 

In the silence of her own room, with no one to bother her, Akagi reached in her drawer and opened up a false bottom on her drawer to reveal a small black Wisdom Cube. 

She placed it in front of her, then a hologram showed up. 

"Greetings, Akagi," said Observer Alpha of the Sirens. "You sure took your time to finally call us. I was wondering if you forgot our daily meetings."

"No," Akagi shook her head. "There were more things than usual to take care of today."

"Hmm... I see. I'll let it slide." said the Siren. "Any news on the elimination of the otherworlder?"

Then her tone changed and the look on her face turned sour as she remembers how Caster was disrespecting his opposition. 

"He was very disrespectful. But he looks more capable than the last one." Akagi gritted her teeth in more anger in her voice. "But he will be nothing more than dust after this."

"I very doubt that." Said the Observer. "Just crush them, and you'll be on your merry way." She said in overconfident fashion.  

You know in the human world, there's a really famous saying: "Don't deal with the devil."

This saying stems from a man that well, once made a deal with the devil to be rich in all of his mortal life. In exchange for selling his soul. And he lived his life full of riches, all the pleasurable desires granted in an instant. 

The long and short part of that story is the man lived his life almost perfectly. But nearing his death, he tried to trick the devil. But he obviously failed and suffered for eternity. That's the problem of dealing with them because they WILL always come to collect. 

This story fits so well with Akagi's situation. 

During the time the 2nd Siren War was ongoing, the threat of Sirens still lurking around the Earth was still overwhelming the people's mind and some not if almost all of the smaller factions of the Sakura Empire. Threatening to quit and leave the faction. Thus, making it easier to conquer.

Akagi knew that this would eventually happen. So Akagi contacted the Observer. One of the 3 leaders of the Sirens. Then she made a deal, she vowed to eliminate all the other factions if the Sirens will leave the Sakura Empire alone and unharmed. 

Observer, seeing that the deal was so lob-sided and they didn't have to do anything on their part, they accepted the deal and the Sakura Empire was filled with prosperity for the last few months. While the other factions were always busy. Although the Sakura Empire would encounter Siren forces from time to time, it was relatively smaller than everybody else. 

It was also an added bonus that, the other smaller groups finally set their differences aside and finally joined back to the Empire.

And then came the problem. The 2nd "otherworlder."

Akagi didn't have any problems with the 1st otherworlder. In fact, she just let the Sirens do whatever to him and she didn't have to do a thing. But as she tried to take down Azur Lane, she was stopped single-handedly by Enterprise and it was an embarrassing defeat on them. They were already planning to do the 2nd invasion, but then Caster came around, and the demoralized girls of Azur Lane had finally found a leader that isn't scared of the enemy.

But unlike the 1st otherworlder, he stood tall with his aces when she made her deal with Caster in the base. And they were not scared at them at all, the girls rubbing off Caster's confidence and authoritative aura. She tried her damn best to hide her slight nervousness. 

She can't let him continue. 

The Sakura Empire is the last part of her sister's legacy and she will do whatever it takes to stop him. Not when they're this close. 

Then Akagi heard the alarms go off and she immediately went to the balcony of her house. And she saw the otherworlder and her other aces lined up.

"Sister," Kaga spoke walking next to her sister. "They made their response." 

"I offered him peace, then he spat in my face," said Akagi. As she clenched her fist. "It won't matter."

"Say the word, my lady." Kinu bowed. "Our forces are awaiting your orders."

"Crush them," she said. Still looking on the Azur Lane fleet. And especially the otherworlder. Who was smiling even in the face of danger. As all of her aces were deployed. Awaiting her orders. 

"I think this will be the perfect example. Let us show you," Akagi marched to the door. "how dangerous we are."

Word Count: 2692 Words.

12:52 AM
4/20/20