Belfast: Enterprise-sama, the fleet is ready, you just need to give the order.

Enterprise: You have my permission! Proceed!

The ships of Azur Lane began their approach towards the enemy fleet that still did not know what was coming.

FLEET OF THE ARMORED SAKURA EMPIRE, BATLESHIP FUSO.

At the lookout post of the battleship Fuso, Ayanami is standing somewhat worried when Atago approaches behind her:

Atago: Worried about something?

Ayanami turns to look in the direction of the voice and sees Atago walking towards her.

Atago: Yes, you have a problem, could you tell me, if so, I'll see how I can help you

Atago makes a kind gesture and tries to hug Ayanami, Ayanami has a slight flashback where Atago hugged her sister Takao, Ayanami starts to panic and back away.

Ayanami: I --- me. I'm fine

¡PLANCK!

It's the sound of metal when Ayanami bumps her back against the armored railing and Atago feels a bit bad due to Ayanami's reaction.

Atago: You don't have to be so cautious with me, I was just asking if you had any doubts about fighting?

Ayanami: (Answering honestly) I don't dislike fighting ...

Atago: But don't you like it either?

Ayanami: I love everyone from the empire, they are very important comrades for me ... But ... (melancholic look) The same is for the other side, they have friends like us, they laugh like us, they play the same as us ....

Atago not being able to know how to answer or solve Ayanami's doubts, she only limited herself to approaching and hugging Ayanami, Ayanami at first resists Atago's hug, but when she feels Atago's kindness, she stops resisting and lets herself be hugged .

On the other side of the ship, Zuikaku is still having trouble radio contacting her planes.

Zuikaku: This is bad, I still can't radio contact my planes.

Shokaku: What do we do?

Zuikaku: Well we'll wait for the planes to come back when their fuel is low.

Shokaku: However, that wait is what I do not like, the information delay is very bad during a conflict.

Zuikaku: I already know that.

FLEET OF AZUR LANE

The ships were already lined up and in position for the rescue operation, in the rescue fleet this: Belfast, Cleveland, Javelin, Laffey and Sheffield. On the battleship Prince Of Wales, using morse code through the searchlight, the information to open fire was passed within 10 seconds, all the ships loaded the projectiles into their guns and began to aim at the siren fleet.

Repulse: (slapping cheeks) Well I must be precise.

The guns of the Batlecruiser Repulse began to point towards an enemy ship.

Repulse: Neratee ¡POW!

¡BAM! ¡BAM!

Repulse guns roared, in Prince of Wales their guns finished reloading.

Wales: (drawing her sword) All cannons fire!

The cannons of all the ships began to fire towards the ships of the Sakura empire, which none of the imperialists expected this surprise attack.

Kako: ENEMY ATTACK!

Fuso: What !?

¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH! ¡BBBBBOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM x31!

Multiple splashes of water rise and some siren ships are hit and exploded, some of them sank.

Fuso: Quick! Prepare to fight back!

The girls of the empire run quickly to counterattack the enemy.

Takao: Is the enemy stupid? Or Are they underestimating us? That is clearly a simple distraction.

Atago: Yes, they must be using the fog to be able to rescue their friends.

Takao: We shouldn't have trusted Iron Blood, they haven't been doing their job properly. Ayanami! We are going to move.

Ayanami: Understood.

Atago: Even if they are decoys, we cannot ignore the enemy.

Zuikaku: In that case leave it to us, if the fleet is attacking with everything, Gray Ghost will be there without a doubt.

Takao: Okay, you can go, girls go!

All: Received!

The girls jumped into the sea and summoned their rigging and began to sail at full speed. Due to radio interference and the sudden attack from Azur Lane, the defenses of a certain part of the island were significantly weakened, which Cleveland and its fleet I use this golden opportunity to sneak in.

Belfast: We are almost there.

Cleveland: Remember to be vigilant and fingers on the trigger, remember we only have 10 minutes.

All agree to the order of Cleveland, this time Cleveland is the flagship of this fleet, when they entered the city they released their capes that camouflaged them from enemy sight, they continued sailing when in a corner they found themselves face to face with Takao and your fleet.

Cleveland: (Cursing) (Right at the best of times)

Takao when seeing Cleveland draws her sword and attacks with all her power, Cleveland manages to dodge Takao's attack by millimeters, Belfast and Sheffield when seeing that They fire their cannons making Takao of several jumps backwards.

Atago: Takao, are you okay?

Ayanami and Atago approach Takao and a fight began inside the island, Laffey fires her cannons towards Takao, which Takao cuts her projectiles and then explodes when they hit a construction, Cleveland begins to shoot Takao and Atago at point-blank range.

Cleveland: Belfast keep going! I'll cover you!

Belfast: I understand, Sheffield with me.

Sheffield: Understood.

Sheffield and Belfast drift away from the fighting site, leaving Cleveland, Laffey, and Javelin fighting Takao, Atago, and Ayanami.

Sheffield: Hurry.

Belfast: I am aware of that.

Belfast quickly sails alongside Sheffield and they try to find their friend, on another side of the island Zumwalt finds herself at a disadvantage fighting against the advance division of Iron Blood.

Z1: Well, We will return the favor for the earlier.

Me: So they already recovered?

Z23: You will not escape this time, I will get paid from that day too.

Hipper: So you were the one who seriously injured my sister?

Me: It was in self-defense, don't blame me.

Hipper: (a little furious) Like that self-defense !? You had clearly invaded the territorial waters of the empire!

Me: I would say the same about you, you attacked our base leaving it in ashes, so we were more merciful not to attack your base.

Hipper: (annoyed) This cocky bitch. Girls arrest her! If it resists, do not hesitate to shoot it!

All: (Iron Blood) Yes!

Z23: It would be better if you surrendered, we surpassed you by 1 VS 10, also I must assume that you have no ammunition to defend yourself and you are very badly injured.

Me: Don't be conceited, if they capture me they will torture me and additionally they will sell me to a siren to do experiments with me, so if they capture me it will be on my corpse.

Hipper: She asked for it, shoot to kill.

All: (Iron Blood) Yes!

¡BAM! ¡BAM!

Iron Blood ships fired and Zumwalt repelled them with her sword, impressing everyone.

Z1: Keep pressing.

The Iron Blood ships kept firing and attacking in the blind spots of Zumwalt, however, what they do not know is that Zumwalt does not have any blind spots that they can take advantage of, the ship's radars and cameras see everything and send information to the Zumwalt's nervous system and she then decides how to deal with the threats.

Z23: (Surprised) Who is this girl !?

Z2: It seems like she can predict our every move.

Hipper: (Damn, I think I'll have to help a bit)

Hipper loads her cannons with AP shells and takes aim at her enemy, using radar and control to fire at a distance of 700 meters when she notices something ...

Hipper: What !?

The Zumwalt signal did not appear on the radar and only the Z1, Z2, Z23, Köln, Z20 AND Z21 signals were displayed.

Hipper: How come I can't see her !?

Hipper was not aware that Zumwalt is a stealth ship, and it is so stealthy that for other ships to see it it has to have its radio reflectors on when not on a mission.

Hipper: That's impossible, that's impossible, [To all the allied fleet, get away from the enemy, I'll do a tactical bombardment] Shoot in manual mode! All turrets open fire!

Hipper fires her main and secondary cannons to maximize the damage to the enemy, the Iron Blood ships that were fighting against Zumwalt upon hearing the call of their leader move away from Zumwalt, Zumwalt also moves away in the opposite direction due to intercepting the call of Hipper and all of Hipper's projectiles crash into the sea without damaging their enemy.

Hipper: Tch, I guess? Or do I intercept my call? That's impossible, there is no one who can intercept Iron Blood's radio line (eager) After all, Iron Blood's technology is the best in the world.

Me: Don't be distracted, Grandma II!

Zumwalt fires a charge from a normal 155mm shell fired from the AGS cannon at Hipper who was deep in thought.

¡BBBOOOOMMMMM!

Hipper: ¡AAAGGGG!

This time the standard 155 shell hits Hipper's abdomen, damaging her considerably and enough to knock her out for a long time.

Z23: ¡Hipper!

Hipper: (weak, sore voice) [I'm fine, just give me 10 minutes]

Z23: [Understood]

Iron Blood ships kept firing at Zumwalt every second getting weaker and weaker and she is unable to escape, not in her current physical state.

Me: (Damn, my vision is getting blurrier)

[Damage alert: 35%]

Me: (At this rate they are going to capture me.)

POV THIRD PERSON FLOATS LURE.

In the decoy fleet they continued firing at enemy ships, until now they had dropped about 20 siren battleships, Oklahoma was still observing the panorama from its command tower when it saw empire bombers heading towards its position.

Oklahoma: [Enemy planes on the way!]

After the Oklahoma report, all the specialized anti-aircraft warfare vessels pointed their anti-aircraft guns at the sky and began firing.

TATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!

The sky lit up with a rain of projectiles of various calibers managing to shoot down some enemy bombers, in the sky Levitating this Shokaku and Zuikaku who are heading to the Azur Lane fleet, Shokaku playing her flute makes several bomber planes take off from their deck of I fly while dodging all the anti-aircraft shots aimed at her and her sister Zuikaku.

Sandy: Ohhhhhhh! Today I will bring you down at any cost!

Zuikaku: (hits San Diego with her sheathed sword) I don't have time to play with you!

Zuikaku hits Sandy's face with her sword that was still sheathed, this is only for disarmament as she didn't want to deal with it.

Shokaku: Where will the enemy aircraft carriers be?

Zuikaku and Shokaku started looking around for an aircraft carrier.

BBRRROOOONNNNNNN! ¡ATATATATATATATATATATA!

A Corsair flew past and shot down a Zero fighter attempting to attack a Nevada-class battleship.

Zuikaku: (looking at the Corsair) That plane, no question. It's from Gray Ghost!

Zuikaku somewhat impulsively launches the attack ignoring the mist, Shokaku follows her from behind to protect her reckless little sister, in front of them stand Suffolk and Norfolk.

Suffolk: Norfolk with me.

Norfolk: I'll do my best.

Suffolk: Fire!

Both Norfolk and Suffolk fired point-blank at Zuikaku and Shokaku, however none of their shots scored, Zuikaku and Shokaku in a desire to despise them waved their swords against the sea causing the sea to rise and bathe the two cruisers leaving them drenched.

Shokaku: (walking away from the actual cruise ships) Sorry, but I don't have time to play with you.

In the skies the battle between plane against plane was executed in a very even way, neither had an advantage and neither was at a disadvantage, it was a duel between skill against skill between these two Kansen.

Returning to our protagonist She was still dodging the attacks of her enemies, but not with her normal agility, her speed and reaction were slowing down due to her fatigue, injuries and lack of supplies.

Me: (heavy breathing) Damn, I don't think I can take it anymore.

In that Z1 approaches and throws a blow aimed at the stomach which could not react in time and Z1 achieves the first blow, the blow sends her flying several meters backwards and hits a wall.

Z1: (A little tired) At last, we were able to hit her.

Z23: Yes, she is a formidable enemy.

Hipper: Get it right now. (I wonder how powerful she will be under normal conditions? If she, despite being very weakened, gave us a lot of trouble to deal with her. (Shakes her head) No, there is no point in thinking about it).

Z2: Yes, immediately.

Z2 carefully approaches Zumwalt and Zumwalt grabs her and performs a martial arts maneuver and ends up throwing her at Z1 who could not react in time and Z2 collides with Z1 causing the two to end up out of combat.

Hipper: (Disgust) You don't know when to give up, do you?

Me: (Kneeling and while she grabs her abdomen and groans in pain) Ugh, as I told you, it will be on my corpse.

Hipper: I must admit that your stubbornness is top-notch, but you're already on the edge and even if you don't want to admit it, you can't keep fighting anymore. So answer. Where are your comrades? Where and who has the black mental cube?

Zumwalt: I already told you, I don't have the cube and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you.

Hipper: Well, I think you would change your mind if I told you that Roon would be in charge of your interrogation and I warn you, she is a ...

Me: Psycho? A sadist? Someone who enjoys torturing their enemies? (Giggle) Please tell me something I don't know.

Hipper: So if you know, you'd better talk now while I'm here.

Me: (serious look) Still I refuse.

Hipper: Z20, Z23, Z21, Capture it.

At that Zumwalt begins to laugh as if she had lost her sanity puzzling the destroyers and Hipper.

Z23: What do you think is funny?

Me: (Light Yagami-type laugh) I won.

Z23: Huh? What does it say?

¡SPLASH! ¡SPLASH!

Z2: What !?

At the time limit Belfast and Sheffield come to the rescue.

Belfast: Zumwalt Are you okay?

Me: Is that sarcasm?

Sheffield: (sarcastic comment) Belfast, I see Zumwalt is fine.

Belfast: I see, alright Sheffield, I think it's time to clean this up and get out of here.

Sheffield: I agree with you.

Sheffield and Belfast go on the defensive.

Hipper: (giggles) I see though, your forces were too slow, we won, not you.

Belfast: Don't talk too fast.

Hipper: I am not saying it because yes, if you wish I will explain it to you, we have a numerical strength much higher than yours, Currently the allied fleet is pushing back its combat force, you also want me to tell you something, Zumwalt is also a very clear example, an unbeatable ship, eh? With a firepower comparable to a battleship, a very iron antiaircraft defense that would make any AA defense cruiser jealous, however, somehow she ended up very badly injured. And do you know why?

Belfast frowns at Hipper's explanation, she understood exactly what she meant.

Belfast: You know very well that at the end of this you will not end well.

Hipper: Any complaints with Bismark, I just follow orders, so don't blame me for anything.

Belfast: Still, the ones that were slow are (points index finger at Hipper) You guys!

Hipper: (somewhat irritated) What did you say !?

In the sea lure fleet, Zuikaku and Shokaku are lying very wounded, behind them something damaged is standing Hornet while playing with Zuikaku's Katana.

Zuikaku: (Weak) Damn. Why?

Hornet: Sorry folks, but you have the wrong ship.

Shokaku: (Weak) How is it possible that she was so powerful? The last time we were able to beat her

Hornet: (laughs) You're right, that beating your gave me was monumental, but that was because they attacked us off guard, if I'm ready for combat I'm unbeatable. (Laughter laughing), well girls I have to retire.

Zuikaku and Shokaku watch as Hornet walks away

Zuikaku: If she's not Gray Ghost, where is she?

Shokaku: (Shock) ¡ Imposible!

Zuikaku: Oh no, she's with the rescue fleet!

Returning to Belfast and Sheffield, Hipper was doubtful what Belfast was saying.

Hipper: How slow are we?

Belfast: Maybe you should look back.

Enterprise: These are the forces of Azur Lane! Ships of Iron Blood we instruct you to stand down immediately! If you disobey, we are not responsible for any injuries you may suffer!

They all looked back and saw Enterprise on top of a building as she pointed her arrow bow at Hipper with a menacing look, Z23 looking at Enterprise tries to catch her cannon when Enterprise looks at Z23 with a murderous look causing Z23 to freeze from fear where she stands.

Hipper: (Somewhat panicked) Enterprise.

All the girls begin to see her with great helplessness.

Z1: (Damn, we were so close to accomplishing our mission)

Hipper: [To all the forces of Iron Blood, we retreat]

Z1: But ...!

Hipper approaches where Z1 is and shakes her head, she was sure that if they all attacked her they would not be able to defeat her.

Z1: But ...

Hipper: (Whisper to Z1) You know Enterprise is credited with the title of the second most powerful ship in the world, she has destroyed entire fleets of high ranking siren and has also won fights where she was in very bad shape, she is not an enemy that we can defeat.

Z1 understanding her leader's reasons she retreats, then all the Iron Blood ships retreat.

Enterprise came down from the building to see the status of Zumwalt.

Enterprise: (worried) Zumwalt! Are you OK!?

Zumwalt: No, I'm not okay, if you didn't notice sarcastic.

Enterprise: (Smiles) Go by your comments I see that you are in very good condition.

Zumwalt: Heh heh yeah, as you can see it's just a few scratches. Ugh! God how it hurts!

Belfast helps Zumwalt to stand up.

Me: Thank you very much.

Belfast: Okay, let's go back.

Enterprise: Yes, let's go home.

Me: (Smiling) Yes, finally, a shower, a very comfortable bed ...

Belfast: (Interrupting Zumwalt's words) But before that, First we must treat your wounds and second you must follow a strict diet so that you recover quickly.

Me: (Panic) Are you a devil or what !?

Then the girls took me to a USS Hornet medical bay to treat my injuries and we headed to the base.

TO BE CONTINUE........