The Grail Works Mission Dossier (Discussion & Ideas)

[RanmaBushiko]

Darn it, I was going to reply to RB, and I took so long now I have to respond double. In order, then.

I have... VERY little exposure to Kantai Collection. My understanding is roughly at the level of "gacha game with anthropomorphic shipgirls", and the Abyssal ships are... some mysterious monster group. So I don't really recognize any characters here to a useful degree. Given that minimal context, I can tell that Wolfen is doing nice things for the Abyssals (for reasons based on information she has derived from the local TV/Internet that I would probably have to research the setting to understand), and seems to have gotten off on a antagonistic footing with the nominal protagonist of the setting, the Admiral. Though it looks like there are multiple Admirals in different countries, and may be working at cross-purposes. I don't really understand what these actions mean in the context of the setting, though. I'm having trouble making any predictions about what Wolfen will do though, since she's effectively a new character. Thus far I have "cautious, extremely proud of her father and origins, also has that prideful/boasting thing that Erik does, kind of... lacking in guile, generous to the oppressed"

I can see why you'd need to prefix an omake that intermixes all these settings with some explanation. And I heard TWO more series, hoo boy.


This dialogue right here is CONFUSING. The first two times I read it, based on where Kongou's facepalm is, I assumed she was the speaker, and was confused. Based on the sentence content, it's obvious who the speaker is, but the sentence structure does not do it any favours.

Just so you know, Kieran, those links don't QUITE work. I think they'll work if you drop the GET parameter, and maybe some of the extra path info after the filename, like this and this.
Huh, Red Riding Hood matches what a Geist might be. Very interesting. I have no idea what she can do, and I have little idea of her personality, but this is an interesting portrayal. Typically I thought Geists didn't really have a separate existence, but it definitely makes it much more interesting to explicitly personify them. I don't... think that explains the date, though. "When she finds us" does not fit in the slightest. Aka-chan is an interesting nickname... oh, that's a very literal "little red". Nice.

That's a FNaF reference, right. And the Archer class continues to be made up of Archers. Typecast is definitely an amusing term to choose, given the Nasuverse. I think Godafrid's class-picking might be much more... interesting, but I can see why you'd want to probably think about it more. Also, Shirou is the hero of this story, so it does make sense to focus on him a bit.
I am now remembering the High Jump. Gosh darn it.

You accidentally double posted here. I'll try to fix that bit, later, by the way.

Loosely, Abyssals = eldritch horrors that can summon storms, and each princess has unique powers. USUALLY tries to fight off any shipgirls they encounter, disrupt shipping, etc. There are a few more ambiguous ones, though... such as one of the ones in the event involving Northern Princess/Northern Ocean Princess, who represents Dutch Harbor. Usually nicknamed Hoppou or Hoppou-chan by fans for the "Northern" part of her name. She's a bit more of the yelling at her enemies to "Go back home already!" in all her fights she's involved in.

You can take it as sea routes for shipping? All utterly fucked and surmise from there how things are going for Japan, the United States, etc.

Not good, especially considering how much Japan needs food from fishing.

As for other things? Kantai Collection is almost rather blatant about how the Abyssals seem to be copies of the forces they fought in World War 2, if... made to look evil. Their planes are something akin to flying round vaguely head shaped balls, complete with teeth that breathe fire. And sometimes carrying other weapons.

For this? I'm going for a more realistic series here. Not sure if the admirals exist, or are even part of the groups of admirals that could exist in real life.

But considering the sheer naval losses of attempting to fight back against the Abyssals, and failing?

Things are bad right now. You'll see a lot of politics at work, in a somewhat realistic scale for this.

As for the other series involved with this eventually?

There was a single crossover event early on with Kantai Collection. Christmas 2013.

Which I had to do a fucking ton of research on, because it left my brain going "THEY CAN DO FUCKING WHAT?!" on repeat when I first read about it.

Arpeggio of motherfucking Blue goddamned bullshit Steel.

I am going to suppress the urge to just swear rant about that series. Or just swear. You're welcome.

But as I researched? And did more research?

My brain just kept going "Oh fuck, Kantai Collection went against WHAT and drew even?! HOW THE FUCK?!". Over. And over. And OVER.

Suffice to say, as I read through exactly what the manga edition of Kongou out of Arpeggio of Blue Steel was capable of as a flagship for a fleet (And let's not go into the fact that she made a minature DEATH STAR COMPLETE WITH SUPERLASER OF DOOM in the anime...) and I'm going to have to state that it's going to be a much different fight than it was in Kantai Collection...

Yes, shipgirls can hurt them.

But considering what I know about Kongou now compared to how little was known then?

Things are going to be a lot more interesting when we eventually reach that part.

Also, after I fix that bit involving Kongou and Missouri, I'll post the next part.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 1: Aleutian Island Chain (And Allied!) Abyssals



10 AM, on a small unnamed Aleutian Island


Wolfen slowly awakens, to warmth around her. Slowly, she opens her eyes, then blinks at Hoppou in front of her, smiling at her.

“Ah, you’re awake! Good! You called me Hoppou, right? That works well enough as a name, I suppose! Or a nickname, at least. Those are supposed to be with friends, right?” Hoppou smiles at her, as Wolfen slowly nods.

“Nice to properly meet you, now that I know you won’t try to shoot me, Hoppou!” Wolfen smiles, then pats Hoppou’s head, gently. “How’s the food, by the way?”

“That chocolate stuff is tasty, but the fish is wonderful!” Hoppou smiles more. “Did you want to eat with us? We might not be able to heat it as well, but we’ll still give you plenty.”

“Cute girl. Kinda reminds me of that girl that was with Father. Illyasviel, wasn’t it? Young, too. Probably not as much of a threat as others that those two seemed to be worried about.” Mordred muses, studying Hoppou carefully.

“I have the benefits of only one crew member that needs to eat or guzzle fuel, unless I need to launch my companies of mecha.” Wolfen replies while thinking over Mordred’s commentary.. “Leaves me needing to eat less than your little group of kids. Daddy made me quite well for needing low fuel intake, unless I go into combat.”

Hoppou smiles, stretching, before pausing at the realization of what Wolfen said. “You knew your builder?”

“Daddy’s still alive somewhere. We ran into something that was a horrible fight. I felt myself falling apart slowly from it. Then when we finally exposed it’s core, something went… wrong. Reality tore open, likely due to a prototype reactor Daddy was working with at the time, and… it sheared off a third of myself to be lost in between universes, until I wound up… here. Well. Not exactly here, but…” Wolfen trails off, as Hoppou and her children blink.

“Meaning you’re not part of the Great Battle at all, then… I’ll let the others that I’m allied with know.” Hoppou admits, then settles down on her dress, careful to not let her feet touch the cold ground.

“Great Battle?” Wolfen asks, quietly.

“Something’s interfered with it, we know that much for certain. Our counterparts weren’t all ready to fight us, for who would rule the ocean. Moreover, the trident still has yet to be found…” Hoppou muses, quietly.


“Sounds like a legendary artifact hunt in the making. I had enough of that shit with that search for the Holy Grail once before, so nope. I’m not touching that with a long stick, not with how things went the last time…” Mordred half snarks.

“Hm. You’ll have to tell me more, later.” Wolfen admits. “I don’t want to get you in trouble or anything, if you say too much, too soon.”

Hoppou nods, thinking. “Would you know how to work with wood, to make homes, or anything? We really need better defenses against the cold.”


Wolfen pauses, looking at the land, then smiles. “Save wood for the furniture, and floors. I’ve got ideas…”

With those words, the Wolfen gets to work, with only a mild remark back to Mordred as she starts up. “Worry more about artifacts later, let’s figure out how to make them a stone house for her and the kids now, Mordred. And wasn’t the last time involving Daddy?! How dare you say that it was ba- actually, no. Considering how much damage was done to me, and people under my protection...”

“Yes, yes. My point exactly. But if you insist on tabling it, here’s the basics for how to cut stone properly so it’ll all fit in one piece. If that doesn’t help, use minecraft, with the stone methods I’ll show you.” Mordred shoots back at Wolfen, ignoring their current situation, then gets to work.



A few hours in, Hoppou stares at the stone building in front of her, complete with a stone roof made of stone shingles.

“Hoppou didn’t know that stone could be cut so finely like this…” Hoppou muses out loud, while studying things carefully. “They’re so well cut, and finely cut, that it’s almost seamless for water to get in!”

“Mmm. Daddy knew some pretty impressive skills for building, didn’t he? I’m not nearly as good as he is, but between his knowledge of building, and mom’s knowledge of Japanese design, as well as Uncle Scylla and Uncle Fenris’s own, I know a lot of varying styles for building. Even if it’s only what notes and books they left behind, since they’re not dead...” Wolfen trails off, rubbing her chin. “And my Captain lived in a castle, so I’ve got a good idea of how to heat one, and keep it comfortable. Thus the chimney in it’s style. Captain Mordred knew most about how to cut stone as bricks like this...”

“Aww. You’re making me smile here.” Mordred smirks in her chair. “Aww, damn it, where the hell’ did my clothes go! I need to find them again, or get a new set made, damn it! Fuck this fucking bikini”

Hoppou nods, studying it carefully. “So we just carve the wood to make some basic floor boards?”

“Probably better that your kids do it, and learn how to work with wood, while I show them where to cut with saws I’ll make for them. The lasers I’m used to working with will burn the wood to ash too fast.” Wolfen replies, patting Hoppou’s head.

“It’s too hot, then… interesting.” Hoppou muses, studying things. “Hoppou sort of gets it, but it’s still hard to understand.”

“Mommy! Come investigate with us! It’s all neat!” The various abyssal children call out to Hoppou, smiling. “There’s so many rooms inside, we can all fit!”

“Be right there!” Hoppou calls out with a smile.

“You play with your children… I’ll try to get some sand, to make glass for the windows. Okay? Just keep in mind that wood burns easily…” Wolfen smiles at Hoppou, before pulling her up into a hug, then starts walking off. “I’ll be back in a few hours!”

“Be safe! Hoppou will miss you until you’re back!” Hoppou calls out, smiling.




3 Hours Later




Wolfen floats, checking over the glass panes, while humming a tune to herself, high in the atmosphere. “Well, the glass is done. Now let’s see… Mordred? How far along is that Satellite?”

“Looks like we’re done, though you should have already known that. Unless you’re feeling lonely, and wanted to hear my voice?” Mordred replies, a bit of teasing in her voice as she works. “Also, could you get a captain’s uniform that WON’T disappear when I fall asleep in it, for me, soon? I’m starting to loathe this bikini…”

“Yeah. Not a problem, Captain Mordred! I’ll work on it after launching the satellite once it’s finished. Then we can head back to Hoppou and meet her… relatives?” Wolfen muses. “Not exactly sure how to classify them, honestly…”

“Well, at least they’re not Eldtritch Kaiju, as Erik would call the thing we tangled with, that resulted in you existing like this…” Mordred mutters under her breath. “On a plus side, I’ve finally managed to manifest Clarent! Downside, Clarent Blood Arthur feels like it’s range is in inches now.”

“Tough to hear, Captain.” Wolfen muses, before pausing at a loud egg timer going off. “And there’s the satellite complete! PAB Wolfen, firing it out my railgun!”

With those words, Wolfen loads the satellite into her railgun, then fires, smiling at it zooming up into the air as calculated before.

“Receiving data from the satellite… a couple of course corrections, from the micro-thrusters on board, but it looks like it’s working. Congrats, Wolfen. We’ve done it!” Mordred’s voice is kind as she congratulates the ship she’s now captain of.

“Mmm… nice tasty data. With that, and the Legion of Coal units on board, we’ll be able to contact Kongou soon, and get internet access again.” Wolfen muses. “Now, for returning to Hoppou…”




Elsewhere…




Four Abyssal Princesses sit on logs, studying each other, deep in thought. Aircraft Carrier Princess sits on one side, Midway Princess on another, and Battleship Princess all sit, studying Northern Ocean Princess, newly dubbed as “Hoppou”.

“You’re sure she has no interests in the Trident?” Midway Princess asks, at last.

Hoppou frowns, her arms folded, as she studies her allies. “It’s true. My children can vouch for me. She’s not the same as the others, and has no issues with looking at us whatsoever. Free food, even going out of her way to get that ‘chocolate’ stuff that you hate to share, no questions asked. Furthermore, don’t you think it’s odd, that none remember the Great War we’re supposed to be doing right now? Having her as an ally might point us to why our lighter counterparts weren’t summoned at the same time, and why the Trident is hidden.”

Aircraft Carrier Princess rubs her chin, as she leans closer to her rigging, the warm fires of her rigging helping counter the icy cold. “She built this with no questions asked for you, and fed your children. I can’t see you exactly being wrong, though is she loyal enough to help us in our goals?”

Midway Princess glances over, casually drumming her fingers against one leg as she thinks, even as her massive rigging keeps her warm with it’s breath. “I’ve had quite a few other tribes try and get me to join them, and work as their raid party leader on humanity’s convoy trips. It’s all foolishness, though. So much raiding, but no privateering, or ensuring the merchants live so that we can continue to profit upon them.”

“Mmm. It’s why we built this alliance, didn’t we? To rule the oceans, and islands within them, and charge tithes?” Battleship Princess admits, rubbing her chin as the warmth of her rigging helps her relax. “Perhaps a test, letting us know if she’s strong enough to stand as an ally?”

“Are you sure? She’s super nice, and if we just explained this to her…” Hoppou starts up.

“A test, I think. After all…” Midway princes slightly winks, before standing up to look aggressive. “I’ve gotten such good offers from others, you know?”

Hoppou moves back, frowning. “You know those offers aren’t rational, Midway! They’ll just lead to more lives lost, rather than a kingdom that we can trust to have our backs when the Trident is claimed!”

“And the sheer amount of experience my own children will need to rule won’t be worth it, Northern Ocean?” Midway grins, leering at Hoppou.

“Suggestions for dealing with them, Mordred?” Wolfen whispers, as she stares at the fight in the making she just arrived to see.

“Come now, be rational, Midway.” Aircraft Carrier Princess smiles. “Our strategy is sound. Let the petty Abbyssals south of us run themselves ragged against each other and our lighter counterparts, until we can swoop in and finish them off with a single blow.”

“I’d say grab that one that looks like they’re about to turn traitor, and bluff with the Radiant Wave Surger. They don’t have to know that we need to add momentum to that for it to really hurt something on their level, right?” Mordred replies, musing.

“I agree with them, Midway. We stepped into this knowing we were going for the long game. Why fight now?” Battleship Princess adds her own two cents in, smiling as well.

“Perhaps a test of if this Wolfen can fight well enough to beat me, then?” Midway leers at Hoppou. “Roughing up Northern Ocean here to make her fight me should ensure I get a good f-GURK”

Midway flinches, desperately clutching at her throat, as Wolfen appears behind her, holding Midway’s neck with her left arm.

“I find your lack of friendship with Hoppou… disturbing.” Wolfen snarls.

“Get your hands OFF ME!” Midway struggles to breathe, desperately holding onto the metal gauntlet around her neck, struggling to pry the fingers free.

“Feel free to struggle with my gauntlet, if you want the Nuclear Pulse Weapon in it to go off by accident, and make your head go ‘pop’.” Wolfen’s voice is like ice.

Midway slowly, slowly moves her hands down as she struggles to turn and look at Wolfen in no little horror.

“Please don’t kill me.” Midway whispers.

“Good to hear you have reason.” Wolfen lets go, then moves to sit next to Hoppou, one hand on her rifle. “Now, what’s going on?”

“I was… getting ready to set the stage to test your loyalty to her. Ensure you’re willing to fight for at least our side of things, or defend us at the very least.” Midway admits, hesitantly. “Or, if not us, then at least for Northern Ocean here.”

Wolfen slowly nods, thinking. “Is that true, Hoppou?”

“They were ready to decide on it being a ‘yes’ when you showed up, for looking like I’d need your help, at the very least.” Hoppou admits. “They have a hard time trusting shipgirls, even one that doesn’t see us as eldritch abominations to be killed.”

“Could you explain that, in any detail?” Wolfen sighs softly. “It sounds like a story.”

“I can probably explain that. Please, call me Aircraft Carrier.” Aircraft Carrier Princess nods, before speaking up.

“Once, in times long ago, Poseidon made a deal with Hades. For the souls of those that were lost at sea, and the ships thereof. He was losing a great many followers back then, and started to be concerned about the lack of faith flowing to him.”

“Hades, in his ingenuity, ensured he would pay three ways. One. A tithe of half the faith these souls would generate, would go to Hades or any successors of his divine station. Two. These souls would be stored in Poseidon’s divine realm, not in Hades’ own domain. Finally as for Three… that one is the most important part. All souls are allowed to make a play at Poseidon’s divinity, title, and capabilities if he ever fell.”

“Aww, fuck. It’s the Greater Grail War 2, Electric Boogaloo, only with dead folks instead of Servants!” Mordred half snarks, as she listens in.

Aircraft Carrier Princess pauses for a moment, letting it sink in, as Wolfen’s eyes widen slightly, her mind immediately recognizing where this is going. “The third part is important. Because, whether Hades knew it or not, the souls of ships counted as beings under Poseidon’s purview back then. More than that, we count as minor divine beings, with the spiritual weight of our crews backing us.”

“Correction! SHIPGIRLS instead of Servants! Fuck my life, and I thought it wasn’t going to get any worse so far! THEN IT DOES!” Mordred curses under her breath, and sighs.

“Whoever claims Poseidon’s Trident, claims his station. His throne. And the full weight of the faith that all of us naturally give him. More importantly, all of us don’t want to be stuck in limbo, unable to move, or sail again.” Aircraft Carrier Princess finishes, sighing.

“What Aircraft Carrier isn’t mentioning is that whoever wins the trident, wins control over all of us, on each side. For good or ill. Seeing as us ‘Abyssals’ are created with the souls of those who lament dying at sea…” Battleship Princess trails off, quietly.

“Oh, hey. Plot twist. Wonder if there’s any side effects to being made like that?” Mordred snarks under her breath.

“But, more importantly, we didn’t start the fighting in Poseidon’s domain. Rather, we’re fighting with solid bodies, empowered by the souls and faith of our crew.” Midway Princess admits, gently rubbing her throat. “Nor is there any sign of the Trident we seek. More importantly… the shipgirls didn’t come all at once like we did. I fear something’s gone wrong. Perhaps some twisted version of Ragnarok has come to pass for the Gods of Olympus?”

“Didn’t Erik counter that in his universe? Bring that up, Wolfen. I want to see their reactions.” Mordred orders, musing.

“Daddy averted Ragnarok in the universe I was made in.” Wolfen puts her two cents in, before all of them still, wide eyed.

“How, pray tell, did he do that?” Midway Princess asks, quietly. “The sheer strength of what had to have been done to ensure that happened…”

“Mmm. Basically, father killed Jormungandr, and then convinced Uncle Fenris to live on board me rather than go after the Norse Gods. With whispers of colonizing Mars, and having all the faith of those on Mars for themselves… after a long terrible quest to claim the key fragments that Uncle Fenris’s chains were made with.” Wolfen admits. “He froze Jormungandr solid, and was respected as the Norse God of Mecha, and Innovation.”

“Then you are a God’s personal ship…” Three of them whisper in stunned awe while Hoppou simply gives Wolfen a hug.

“I was built as one, yes. But some worlds are more terrifying than others. And that last one had a third of me ripped away, cast off to make… this avatar for myself. My spirit, being the ‘Kami’ or ‘God’ of my ship, a good chunk of me resides within here. But I can faintly feel the rest of me, somewhere far away, being rebuilt by Daddy somewhere.” Wolfen admits.

“As for your situation… it sounds like you’re all struggling to claim Poseidon’s title, without realizing the downsides to such a thing. You’d become him in doing so, or a new version of him, one more likely to see you stuck in the prison from before.” Wolfen frowns, thinking. “But it doesn’t really make sense how you’re all here… unless perhaps he set it up that way? To find one amongst you all to be an heir?”

The four Abyssal Princesses frown, thinking, before slowly nod. “There are so many irregularities, it might be that indeed.”

“If you want, I can try to approach one of the shipgirls I met, Kongou, and see if she knows anything of all this.” Wolfen rubs her chin, thinking.

“Would you be willing to also shoot at Abyssals that aren’t part of our fleets, and help ensure we’re not targeted by the humans whenever possible?”

“Hoppou would be easiest to convince them of her kindness, I suspect. But I’ll do that, so long as you let convoys through if they go down below here, without damaging them.” Wolfen muses. “Japan’s going to starve if they’re not careful, from what internet connectivity I’ve managed to get has hinted at. And shipping by plane is nowhere near as good as by boat.”

“If they’re willing to open negotiation for trade with us, or at least give us a tithe of what they send, I think we could come to an agreement, so long as they’re willing to leave us be until the other Princesses are dealt with. Of course, if they fire upon us, we’ll have to shoot back…” Midway admits.

Wolfen slowly nods, thinking. “Do you mind if I give you all nicknames? You’re all princesses, but you’re identified only by who you are, or where you’re related to, am I correct?”

The three of them nod softly. “Not that hard to tell, is it?” Battleship Princess admits.

“Midway Princess… I’m gonna call you Ayako. You sound like one, for some reason, and it feels like it would fit.” Wolfen nods towards her, as the newly named Ayako blinks in surprise.

“As for you, Aircraft Carrier Princess, Saki seems fitting for some reason. You mind that as a name?” The newly named Saki muses. “It sounds… fine.” Saki replies, rubbing her chin.

“And you, Battleship Princess… sound like a Misato for some reason. You’ve got that ‘cool, calm but attractive leader vibe’ going for you, as well.” Misato blinks, then blushes softly. “Thank you, I suppose?”

Hoppou smiles, then muses. “Names for everyone! But… we’re going to have to do a lot of fishing to ensure we get plenty of fish for eating dinner tonight, with the fuel it took them to get here, Wolfen. Do you think we can get enough in time for dinner?”

“Yeah. Should be fine. I’ve got the glass for the stone house, too, as well as a decent wood burning stove I welded together, and some pans for cooking on. I’ll pick up oil tomorrow for you, so you can cook them, and a couple guides on how to gut the fish.” Wolfen smiles.

“Thank you! That’ll be nice and warm…” Hoppou smiles, settling back. “It’s nice to be warm…”

“After I get oil, I’ll try making a trip to Japan, and see if I can’t contact that shipgirl about the trade or tithe arrangement for you all.” Wolfen admits. “Should be a couple days trip, and it gives me an excuse to refuel my reactor.”

“Refuel?” Hoppou asks. “I would think with the plentiful fish…”

“It doesn’t translate to the uranium I need well, so I’m getting just enough to keep my reactor going, instead of being able to store extra fuel rods without issue. One of the articles I read mentioned that those shipgirls who burn extra rich fuel types like coal, need spice added to their diet, so I suspect I’m going to need to purchase a lot of hot sauce, or something equivalent.” Wolfen admits.

The four princesses slowly nod, as they think. “Makes sense, then. Let’s all go fishing tonight, and then send you off tomorrow, then!” Hoppou smiles softly.

“Can you give me an IFF signal for your group, so I know who to not shoot at, by the way?” Wolfen asks, as they walk off to the beach.

“Not a problem. Hoppou can make one for you easily!” Hoppou smiles, rubbing her chin. “Give me 6 hours, and extra fish!”

Wolfen giggles as she nods. “Not a problem, then.” A long moment, before Wolfen pauses. “By the way, what are the areas you girls normally work out of? So I can visit if necessary?”

Misato muses, before nodding. “Ayako, Saki and I usually switch out who’s defending up here to keep Hoppou safe, and receive tithes from the human villages under our control, when we’re not guarding Midway. So it might be any of the three of us you’ll meet. Hoppou keeps our children safe, and under control.”

“Under control? What do you mean?” Wolfen asks, curiously.

“That sounds… off to me.” Mordred adds with a mutter. “Aha, a new captain outfit! Now to warm up!”

“Basically, our young ones, when they finalize, receive a crew from the lands of the dead that died at sea. Those that stay with Hoppou usually had peaceful deaths, but many of our number tend to get flashbacks of fighting against enemies when near Shipgirls. It may debilitate even one of ourselves, if we aren’t careful.”




Two Days Later




Kongou frowns, staring at the newest group of Abyssals that have off and on steadily harassed not only her but the convoy she’s guiding from America to Japan. It had truly surprised her, and her newly summoned ally, how many would constantly harass them.

“These are really starting to irritate me, Dess!” Kongou snarls, before glancing over at the newly summoned submarine near here. “Any sign of them letting up?”

“They keep testing our radar range, Kongou! I’m not sure when it’ll stop.” Iku replies, folding her arms underwater.

“Probably planning on getting us when we’re tired.” Kongou frowns.

“Got it, Wolfen. 500 Pound Bomb in the railgun, etched for cloaked firing. We’ve got 5 shots before we lose the cloak, make them count.” Mordred smiles, as she finishes verifying the numbers.

The head of one Abyssal just out of easy shooting range suddenly detonating leaves her wide eyed, and looking around.

“You know, you mentioned me and a tea party, the last time we talked?” Wolfen’s voice suddenly intrudes in their radios. “Care for one more to help with the convoy?”

“Keep watch on the cargo ships. One of the sailors mentioned they planned on capturing you if they can, Wolfen!” Kongou smiles, looking around.

“If they think they can catch me, I just have to stay out of range and snipe with my railgun, huh?” Wolfen retorts, over the radio.

“Railgun?!” Kongou blinks, repeatedly.

Another Abyssal’s head detonating answers her question.

“Got some interesting answers out of the Abyssals living in Midway, and up in the Aleutian Islands, by the way. I think you’ll want to hear it during a tea party. Perhaps you could invite your Admiral along with you?” Wolfen smiles, sniping a third Abyssal, as the Convoy’s sailors rush out to look around.

“Mmm… Teitoku and myself in a Tea Party with you…! FOR BURNING LOVE!” Kongou shouts over the radio, before blushing.

“Aww, does someone have a crush on their admiral?” Wolfen retorts with a grin. “Well, you seem nice enough, as a lady and a ship. Hopefully that works out well for you!”

“I’m a nice, properly built, british made, Japanese lady!” Kongou retorts with a grin, as the Abyssals finally flee. “Meet you in Japan, I suppose?”

“I’ll provide overwatch and snipe any that get too close.” Wolfen replies over the radio, a smile on her face. “Meet you there, away from the convoy. Try to get out into the streets so we can meet up soon, huh?”

“Roger that, Dess! I’ll be sure to have a delicious Tea Party just for you, too!” Kongou replies, cheerfully.

“Kongou? Who was that?” Iku asks, visibly confused.

“A shipgirl the baka army admiral wanted to join up, before either destroying her weapons, or giving them all to the Americans alone.” Kongou replies over her radio, carefully, with a bit of a huff. “Not very nice of them, hmm? If we can get her to help us, we’ll have one major advantage in this, Dess!”

“I suppose I can see with the railgun… but why?” Iku asks, thinking.

“She’s capable of cloaking, like in those Star Trek movies. Or that Predator film you mentioned you were going to watch, Dess!” Kongou replies over her built in radio, humming a tune as she does so.

For a long while, a wide eyed Iku stares at Kongou. Kongou simply nods with a smile.


“Huh. That’s a thing, then. Interesting to know about.” Iku says with a smile, before frowning. “I wonder if I could get one too?”

For a long moment, they look at each other, thoughtfully. Then, with a smirk, Wolfen contacts them. “You’re still broadcasting well enough for me to hear, you know. And unless you know a friendly kitsune willing to become a member of your crew, and carve into every inch of you how to be invisible, like mom did for dad? I don’t think you’ll get one.”

Twin choruses of “KITSUNE ARE REAL?!” erupt over the radio, as Iku and Kongou stare at each other, flabbergasted.

The fading giggles of Wolfen, over the radio, are their only answer as the convoy sails on.


Author’s Notes:
First? The four princesses are from the same event involving Kantai Collection. Attacking the Aleutian Islands, followed by Midway Island.

You’re seeing them effectively decide to be privateers, rather than monsters, so far. That doesn’t mean there might be plot developments irregardless.

As for what happened with Midway? We’re seeing a massive bluff from Wolfen, with what she did to Midway. Yes, it does extra damage. Yes, it can block attacks, especially ranged weapons, to a certain scale. But a Radiant Wave Surger effectively converts blunt damage into aggravated damage, with a side effect of vaporizing most rounds outright. There’s still quite a bit that can and will hurt Wolfen if she catches a stray shot in the right place, or fails to catch a round with it as an impromptu shield.

Also, it’s the equivalent of horrifying cancerous death in the making, if people don’t outright detonate from getting hit by it. So there’s that little war-crime in the making to consider, too.

[Kieran]

Darn it, I was going to reply to RB, and I took so long now I have to respond double. In order, then.

I would apologise, but I'm hoping you enjoyed it.

Just so you know, Kieran, those links don't QUITE work. I think they'll work if you drop the GET parameter, and maybe some of the extra path info after the filename, like this and this.

I have been having a lot of trouble getting and receiving images via links on the board lately - and I'm not tech-savvy enough to understand why . . . I still don't getit, but implementing your fixes seems to work, so thank you.

Huh, Red Riding Hood matches what a Geist might be. Very interesting.

That was part of what drew me to her in the first place. It's one less bending of the rules of the Nasuverse I'd have to do to make the concept fit.

I have no idea what she can do, and I have little idea of her personality, but this is an interesting portrayal.

Thank you. Given her manner of death and her appearance, the Torn might seem an appropriate Threshold for her - but with the overall context and portrayal of her story (not to mention Frid's own nature), I think making her one of the Silent makes more sense. As for which Keys or Manifestations she grants . . . That's still a bit of a debate in my head.

Typically I thought Geists didn't really have a separate existence, but it definitely makes it much more interesting to explicitly personify them.

It's something of a gray area; while they're described as melding into one soul with their Bound, and not really having a separate existence, the book also describes what a geist looks like, presumably to an outsider . . . Though that may be due to certain Manifestations which allow that.

In this particular case, you can assume that Red is messing with Frid's own perceptions - which is something a geist can do - to appear.

I don't... think that explains the date, though. "When she finds us" does not fit in the slightest.

Why, no - no it doesn't.

Aka-chan is an interesting nickname... oh, that's a very literal "little red". Nice.

No one ever said Shirou was overly creative with names - and it's easier than using her full name every time.

That's a FNaF reference, right.

Yeah. No matter her Threshold, I suspect that Little Red Riding Hood would take issue with the murder of children, and abuse of their souls . . . And one particular Key specifically involves wrecking the hell out of technology; the older, the easier. In fact, given my tech issues (and Red's association with elevators), having that one might make perfect sense.

. . . Either way, you can rest assured that Mister Afton had a very bad - and very final - night.

And the Archer class continues to be made up of Archers. Typecast is definitely an amusing term to choose, given the Nasuverse.

*Chuckles* True. It is, I admit, also the easiest to work with; as I stated earlier, there is a frustrating lack of information on the various classes and stats available, even in the light novels themselves. This is one of the few I could find with any level of detail worth mentioning attached to it.

Still, it makes sense, I hope - and though I loathe twisting settings to make the story work (it should either work naturally, or be dealt with specifically as an out-of-context problem in cases like that), I can add D&D elements like "Arcane Archer" as a later upgrade (as it's implied that class changes and upgrades can be done, at least).

I think Godafrid's class-picking might be much more... interesting, but I can see why you'd want to probably think about it more.

Yeah - it's not a simple decision, not least because I need to be able to explain it . . .

Also, Shirou is the hero of this story, so it does make sense to focus on him a bit.

I am trying.

I am now remembering the High Jump. Gosh darn it.

Oh? Why so?

[Arbitrarity]

You accidentally double posted here. I'll try to fix that bit, later, by the way.

There was almost a gateway timeout during initial post, then I tried to edit it and the server was unhappy. I deleted one copy.

Arpeggio of motherfucking Blue goddamned bullshit Steel.

Oh THAT'S what Kongou is from. This is interesting, and gives me a bit more info to draw from. Also, thanks for the setting outline, that's helpful in contextualizing events.
I wasn't sure if this trident plot is Kancolle-related or original. The latter seems more likely, given that Olympus seems like a very Scion-related concern.

Hoppou keeps our children safe, and under control
...
That doesn’t mean there might be plot developments irregardless

Ominous.

While grappling with Wave Surger is effectively a bluff, the railgun would not be, so I think bluffing is the more... maybe not friendly option, but definitely not trying to escalate immediately. Not as safe though, which is an interesting choice. Wolfen seems quite willing to take risks to avoid more violent outcomes. I do still find it weird how willing she is to essentially boast about her weaponry (i.e. she doesn't need to say she has a railgun, when she's specifying she's sniping), but I'm guessing that's mostly being proud of her creator, plus a bit of Erik's normal shock and awe tactics.

I think the normal romanization of です is "Desu", though the pronunciation matches "Dess" better, honestly. Wolfen going with Kongou also should get us some useful information from the other side of the setting conflict. I do suspect most countries wouldn't be happy about effectively being extorted for safe shipping, but considering the needs of the Abyssals seem relatively modest, that might not be an excessive burden, compared to how much damage they can cause.

I have been having a lot of trouble getting and receiving images via links on the board lately - and I'm not tech-savvy enough to understand why . . . I still don't getit, but implementing your fixes seems to work, so thank you.

Those images are from the wiki, which has an underlying file, and several different ways to display it (i.e. shrunk/compressed to save bandwidth). For some reason, the links you had had a argument `?cb={something}` where that something looked like a Unix timestamp. This could mean a few things, i.e. it could be a cache-busting strategy, or a way to check the link isn't too old. So I just removed the parameter, and it worked. Additionally, both links had several path parameters after the filename (ends with .webm, .jpg, etc) which I suspected were also modifiers to request a smaller or compressed image. So I eventually just removed everything to the right of the `.jpg` file extension, to keep it simple.

That was part of what drew me to her in the first place. It's one less bending of the rules of the Nasuverse I'd have to do to make the concept fit.

Thank you. Given her manner of death and her appearance, the Torn might seem an appropriate Threshold for her - but with the overall context and portrayal of her story (not to mention Frid's own nature), I think making her one of the Silent makes more sense. As for which Keys or Manifestations she grants . . . That's still a bit of a debate in my head.

I did briefly look at the Sin-Eaters mechanics, and I don't really have a strong idea in either direction. Silent feels appropriate with Godafrid given some of the angst I recall from Galen, though, though I'm unsure if a Geist tends to be attracted to Bound with similar conditions as their Threshold.

It's something of a gray area; while they're described as melding into one soul with their Bound, and not really having a separate existence, the book also describes what a geist looks like, presumably to an outsider . . . Though that may be due to certain Manifestations which allow that.

In this particular case, you can assume that Red is messing with Frid's own perceptions - which is something a geist can do - to appear.

He couldn’t see her, of course, any more than he could see an astralised Servant; but he was well aware of her existence, just the same

I was thinking there would definitely be some sort of effect to either see them, or to reveal their presence to others. I did NOT realize on first reading that Shirou couldn't see or hear her though, so that fits considerably more now that I noticed it.

*Chuckles* True. It is, I admit, also the easiest to work with; as I stated earlier, there is a frustrating lack of information on the various classes and stats available, even in the light novels themselves. This is one of the few I could find with in any level of detail worth mentioning.

Still, it makes sense, I hope - and though I loathe twisting settings to make the story work (it should either work naturally, or be dealt with specifically as an out-of-context problem in cases like that), I can add D&D elements like "Arcane Archer" as a later upgrade (as it's implied that class changes and upgrades can be done, at least).

I think magic-imbued arrows sounds like a fairly expected upgrade in that class path, honestly. I think characters normally have to train to get into Advanced classes (Aqua being an exception), but it's very loosely defined. Magic arrows seem either like one of those, or a skill.

Yeah - it's not a simple decision, not least because I need to be able to explain it . . .

Ominous.

Oh? Why so?

Mostly because I have recently seen some silly variations on that scene, but also because it's one of the funnier pieces of backstory.

[Kieran]

Those images are from the wiki, which has an underlying file, and several different ways to display it (i.e. shrunk/compressed to save bandwidth). For some reason, the links you had had a argument `?cb={something}` where that something looked like a Unix timestamp. This could mean a few things, i.e. it could be a cache-busting strategy, or a way to check the link isn't too old. So I just removed the parameter, and it worked. Additionally, both links had several path parameters after the filename (ends with .webm, .jpg, etc) which I suspected were also modifiers to request a smaller or compressed image. So I eventually just removed everything to the right of the `.jpg` file extension, to keep it simple.

I'll take your word for it.

I did briefly look at the Sin-Eaters mechanics, and I don't really have a strong idea in either direction. Silent feels appropriate with Godafrid given some of the angst I recall from Galen, though, though I'm unsure if a Geist tends to be attracted to Bound with similar conditions as their Threshold.

Yes - and while his tendency towards martyrdom might fit Jeanne d'Arc as a geist, were I to interpret her that way, for Red, the Silent seems a better choice.

Hence, the Stillness Key is a must; Red's other (innate) Key . . . Still debating.

I was thinking there would definitely be some sort of effect to either see them, or to reveal their presence to others.

And there is. Several, actually, depending on interpretations and creativity.

I did NOT realize on first reading that Shirou couldn't see or hear her though, so that fits considerably more now that I noticed it.

I'm glad it's cleared up for you.

I think magic-imbued arrows sounds like a fairly expected upgrade in that class path, honestly. I think characters normally have to train to get into Advanced classes (Aqua being an exception), but it's very loosely defined. Magic arrows seem either like one of those, or a skill.

That's my thinking, yes.

Ominous.

A little - given that a lot of his powers would register as necromancy (or undead-related Skills) . . .

Mostly because I have recently seen some silly variations on that scene, but also because it's one of the funnier pieces of backstory.

Ah.

. . . The question is, whose attention is Shirou likely to catch here . . .? (Other than Luna's, being the hard-working, conscientious soul that he is?)

[RanmaBushiko]

There was almost a gateway timeout during initial post, then I tried to edit it and the server was unhappy. I deleted one copy.


Oh THAT'S what Kongou is from. This is interesting, and gives me a bit more info to draw from. Also, thanks for the setting outline, that's helpful in contextualizing events.
I wasn't sure if this trident plot is Kancolle-related or original. The latter seems more likely, given that Olympus seems like a very Scion-related concern.

Ominous.

Kongou... is Kantai Collection's Kongou, thankfully. Arpeggio's version is... utterly terrifying for this setting. And showed up as an event boss. Oh why, oh why did they have to put her in as a fucking event boss?!



Yeah. Kantai Collection's lore is... rough to say the least. There's effectively three different versions of the lore. The movie being rather blatant about the fact that it's an eternal cycle of "if a shipgirl gets sunk, she comes back as an Abyssal, and vice versa". Then there's the lore from the anime where it's the spirit of ships, found within cute moe girls, who are literally the reincarnation of ships. I think, at least? That's what I got about it, anyways... Then there's the lore from the game(s), where these are literally the dead spirits of the ships, summoned back from the dead in the body of cute ladies.

I took one long look at it, sighed, decided to NOT throw all that together into a horrifying mishmash of all three, and went with the third one.

The trident plot is original, and far easier to handle than the whole "Eh? No one knows? Fanon doesn't know, from one side. Fanon doesn't from another?" and the few that try to pull off a decent story long term either succeed beautifully, or wind up like Belated Battleships, with confusing, half understood stuff.

I'm giving it a decent one that can be built into decent world building without collapsing the whole deck of cards that is this story.

As for Hoppou and her girls? I'm treating the Abyssals as having one massive case of PTSD in regards to shipgirls, for reasons that Wolfen hasn't learned yet. Admittedly, considering how much of an utter dick all the Olympian gods could be? It's... pretty safe to say that life for them before they wound up back on earth was, to say the least, bad.

While grappling with Wave Surger is effectively a bluff, the railgun would not be, so I think bluffing is the more... maybe not friendly option, but definitely not trying to escalate immediately. Not as safe though, which is an interesting choice. Wolfen seems quite willing to take risks to avoid more violent outcomes. I do still find it weird how willing she is to essentially boast about her weaponry (i.e. she doesn't need to say she has a railgun, when she's specifying she's sniping), but I'm guessing that's mostly being proud of her creator, plus a bit of Erik's normal shock and awe tactics.

Wolfen... Yeah, she's a daddy's girl in part here. Who hasn't exactly found something that can fight back "yet". She's honestly the equivalent of a princess or two working together, right now. Strong, much like any shounen fighter, but she's not really realized how it's different to even fight yet. With some training, she'll bounce up to better levels and more appropriate tactics, but that takes time.

The Radiant Wave Surger is stupidly good for most setting's end game stuff, because Aggravated Damage is stupidly horrible damage that affects you on a spiritual level, due to how radiation and aggravated damage works in Scion 1.0. The laser, on the other hand, is a 25 Aggravated Damage weapon.

Last bit about this? Wolfen's still mentally a little kid, with Mordred being the only sane source of reason in her head right now, partially due to the fact that the other characters aren't exactly dead right now. For all the good and ill that means.

I think the normal romanization of です is "Desu", though the pronunciation matches "Dess" better, honestly. Wolfen going with Kongou also should get us some useful information from the other side of the setting conflict. I do suspect most countries wouldn't be happy about effectively being extorted for safe shipping, but considering the needs of the Abyssals seem relatively modest, that might not be an excessive burden, compared to how much damage they can cause.

Yeah. Usually it is Desu. However, this might be fanon, or might be anime related, but everyone quotes her with "DESS!" all the time instead. So likely the anime had her capitalize it? She's rather British after all, being built there, even if she's become a proper Japanese Lady later...

Hmm... Would that song about turning Japanese be appropriate here? Or no?

As for the rest of it? On the side of the the United States? We're a pretty big bread-basket, no matter how you swing it. Especially the whole of Puget Sound. I live roughly in Everett's boundaries. I occasionally get a walk in with family in a place overlooking the naval base. Being offered food, in return for "insert specific item being produced for them still and shipped back" is... useful.

Especially when you realize that without global shipping the United States economy would literally crash and burn until you started training local workers again. Other countries might not be quite so willing to make a deal, but if it keeps them off their backs, and the country fed? Well. Desperation can happen...

At the same time, the Abyssals don't have much of a supply line, thinking this would be a short war, someone would claim the Trident, and then vanish to be Poseidon's replacement.

Those images are from the wiki, which has an underlying file, and several different ways to display it (i.e. shrunk/compressed to save bandwidth). For some reason, the links you had had a argument `?cb={something}` where that something looked like a Unix timestamp. This could mean a few things, i.e. it could be a cache-busting strategy, or a way to check the link isn't too old. So I just removed the parameter, and it worked. Additionally, both links had several path parameters after the filename (ends with .webm, .jpg, etc) which I suspected were also modifiers to request a smaller or compressed image. So I eventually just removed everything to the right of the `.jpg` file extension, to keep it simple.


I did briefly look at the Sin-Eaters mechanics, and I don't really have a strong idea in either direction. Silent feels appropriate with Godafrid given some of the angst I recall from Galen, though, though I'm unsure if a Geist tends to be attracted to Bound with similar conditions as their Threshold.

I was thinking there would definitely be some sort of effect to either see them, or to reveal their presence to others. I did NOT realize on first reading that Shirou couldn't see or hear her though, so that fits considerably more now that I noticed it.


I think magic-imbued arrows sounds like a fairly expected upgrade in that class path, honestly. I think characters normally have to train to get into Advanced classes (Aqua being an exception), but it's very loosely defined. Magic arrows seem either like one of those, or a skill.

Ominous.


Mostly because I have recently seen some silly variations on that scene, but also because it's one of the funnier pieces of backstory.

Kieran replied to the rest of this, but good job with pointing things out here. Quite good commentary.

Also, since more commentary has happened, next post will be another chapter uploaded.

- - - Updated - - -

Chapter 2: Political Machinations, and Gunboat Politics (Or: Wolfen + Politics = “SHE DID WHAT?!”)


3 days later, Japan

Kongou sighs, as she stretches out. “You sail off to Teitoku, Iku. I’ll handle ensuring all the supplies are offloaded first, before I set up a meeting with Wolfen. Okay?” Is sent by radio, as Kongou glances around carefully.

Dozens of people continue to cheer the arriving convoy, as Japanese citizens move to help in an orderly fashion. Smiling, Kongou waves at the crowds, before she sighs, glancing around for Wolfen.

“Roger that, Kongou. Iku, swimming off!” Is the reply Kongou hears, leaving her smiling more widely.

“Kongou-Sama! Thank you so much for your aid! If there’s anything we can do to help, we’ll do it!” A young child shouts, as he approaches.

Kongou kneels, patting the child’s head. “Thank you. Go off to be with your family, okay?”

She continues smiling, as the child rushes off, then stretches, before walking towards the nearby military parking lot.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Wolfen in the crowds momentarily, nodding towards her. Kongou’s smile widens as she spots it, and continues on towards the military parking lot.

The smile half fades, as she looks for the truck she was awaiting, that was supposed to be there for her already.

“I’m not liking this, Wolfen. The look on her face…” Mordred mutters.

“Trouble?” Kongou hears, whispered over her radio.

“Hmm. Teitoku promised I’d have a ride here when the convoy showed up…” Kongou muses aloud. “The fact that it isn’t here yet is somewhat concerning to me.” She muses, searching the nearby parking lots carefully.

Her eyes, after careful searching, spot some paint, matching the colors of the truck sent last time, in the parking spot she had seen it parked before. The parking spot, in fact, where the truck was supposed to have stayed the entire time.

Quietly, she moves, glancing over the railing that is now damaged.. There’s no sign of a truck, or an accident, at first glance, but there’s a few scrapes of paint hinting that the truck was pushed off the edge.

“Looks like some ruffians threw my ride over the edge! How irritating. Teitoku had just bought that new truck to hold my weight, too!” Kongou frowns, folding her arms.

“She’s not changing my mind for liking this…” Mordred mutters. “This REEKS of a trap, damn it.”

Then she glances up to a truck pulling in, as well as a soldier leaving it to bow.

“Kongou-sama? Sorry we’re late. We’re here to take you to a meeting scheduled by the Admiral and some politicians insisting on meeting up with the Savior of Japan once more.” Kongou glances at the truck, then sighs. “They donated the replacement truck, in order to get on my good side, I suppose?”

The soldier shows no sign of confusion, or remorse, but simply nods at Kongou. “Indeed. We’re to set off immediately.”

“It doesn’t irritate you that the last truck was brand new, but it’s being replaced already? I can see flecks of paint from where it slid down against the cement.” Kongou questions, carefully.

“Again. Trap. Reeks of it. She’s seeing it too, now.” Mordred mutters, carefully watching. “Good poker face, though.”

“It’s not my station to think about what the higher ups ask of me, just my duty to obey.” The soldier retorts, calmly. “Now, your ride, Kongou-Sama?”

“They’re not soldiers from Teitoku. He’s been ranting and railing about how hard it was to get that truck, and it couldn’t have been replaced so fast.” Kongou whispers over the radio, carefully.

“Best to follow for now, Wolfen. We’ve got the fuel, after all.” Mordred muses.

“Roger that. I’ll follow.” Is the barely heard reply, as Kongou gets in the back.

In a nearby alleyway, Wolfen slips out of view, then takes to the skies to follow.

The ride is a quiet one, as they drive through the traffic, leaving the city proper to go into the countryside.





Eventually, 2 hours later, they arrive. A mansion with quite a few guards, built almost like a fortress. Discreet places where weapon emplacements could easily be installed, as well, line the well built walls and gates.

All eyes are on the truck that Kongou is within, but none see Wolfen floating overhead, carefully sending down a small drone to land in Kongou’s hair. Or the drone, for that matter.

“One of mine, Kongou.” The quiet whisper from Wolfen is far closer now, directly against the location where her communications tower should be at. “Small drone so you can send it directly to me, rather than rely on radio.”

A small smile flickers across Kongou’s face for a moment.

“Get one of your fairies to drag out a line to plug into your receiving equipment, and I’ll be able to set it up better.” Wolfen’s voice continues.

A small whispered “Dess!” from a fairy later, Kongou smiles at a new communications panel in her mental image of her bridge.

“Like this, Dess?” Kongou sends, feeling amused.

“Yup. Scouted out the place with drones, and I’m nearby.” Kongou slowly looks outside, carefully, as she listens to Wolfen.

“It’s a little different to send like this. Thank you, though! I’ll make sure to get you a nice British tea party after we’re done here!” Kongou sends amusement lacing her voice that she doesn’t show.

“Hey, Wolfen? Why are you going along with her on the British tea party, anyways? Is it really that important?” Mordred asks, quietly.

“It’s from your homeland, Mordred. Why wouldn’t I want to see what it’s like, and enjoy something from your home?” Wolfen quietly replies, while watching carefully.

“We’re ready for you now, Kongou-Sama!” A chorus of voices echo from outside. Slowly, Kongou emerges from the truck, studying everyone and everything around her.

“Nice to meet you all, Dess! Is this the place where I’m supposed to meet the politicians, then?” The smile on her face is respectful, but diplomatically so.

A soldier nods. “Come right this way, Kongou-Sama. We’ll introduce you to them as soon as we can get you through the door.”

Kongou nods, beckoning him to lead on. Eventually, they walk in, only for the Soldier to remove his shoes. After he finishes, he pauses, looking at Kongou.

“Won’t you remove yours, Kongou-Sama?” At his words, she shakes her head. “If you want me to be able to focus on the politicians, I won’t be able to remove them. Removing them only works right before I sleep, or if I’m able to focus on them not coming back. Would you rather I hear your politicians, or ignore every word they say because you insisted on me not having the ability to move?”

“Smart girl… I’m liking her more already.” Mordred muses, quietly.

At her words, the soldier flinches quietly, before bowing low. “I did not realize that was the way things were for you, Kongou-Sama. I apologize for any insult I may have inadvertently caused.”

“If you were a soldier of Teitouku, you would have already known that fact, Navy or otherwise.” Kongou retorts, calmly.

For a moment, the soldier flinches outright, knowing that she knew all along the truth of the matter. Then he straightens himself up, nods, and continues.

“Where are you at, Wolfen?” She quietly sends, frowning as she follows the soldier.

“Don’t you think it’s absolutely amazing that no one ever looks up?” Wolfen sends back with a smirk on her face.

A hint of a smile covers Kongou’s face for a moment, as they continue on together throught the building. “Up in a tree, then?” Kongou sends to Wolfen, her voice full of amusement and barely hidden laughter.

“Hah! Good sense of humor on her, too!” Mordred smiles, watching carefully from the cameras. “Hint we’re higher than we are, though. No sense in letting her know we’re flying a couple feet above her head, with our cloak cancelling out how we’re seen.”

“Not quite. On the vents in the attic. Or below, in some cases, clinging to the bottom.” Wolfen responds, barely restraining from giggling outside the communications channel.

“What’s our escape plan, Wolfen?” Kongou sends as she moves, her communication full of her hidden amusement.

“Lasers tend to work, and my rigging has plenty more where my main cannon came from. They’re about the same range as the cannon right now, but a kilometer of guaranteed destruction is well worth it.” Wolfen sends back, a bit more professionally.

“Is your cannon usually longer ranged?” Kongou asks, eyes carefully watching the passageways.

“Considering that before, when it was salvaged after I got an upgrade by Daddy, it was able to hit the ground from orbit? Same height as the International Space Station? It’s been downgraded drastically, and I haven’t had time to find a dock, to work on it. Or find strong spices to fix how poorly I’m fueling my reactor.” Wolfen returns, musing.

“Isn’t it over 200 miles in orbit?!” Kongou sends, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Yeah. Yeah it is. To be fair, it helps that space doesn’t have that issue that atmosphere does, but there’s still a bit of diffusion in power over a long enough range.” Wolfen retorts. “Only the atmosphere really counts, when firing from space. So about an 8 mile range, if I can fine tune it enough.” Wolfen admits.

“Dess! That’s pretty spectacular! Though why would he put it in something like that…” Kongou muses. Her thoughts are interrupted, though, as she comes to a door.

“Clever girl… she’s already thinking about how to use that to ensure it helps her out.” Mordred smiles with amusement. “Still, she’s genuinely friendly, too. I think keeping her as a friend will be fun.”

“Right through here, Kongou-Sama.” The soldier admits.

Kongou nods, leaving her face expressionless, then walks through.

For one long moment, her eyes swept the room, staring at several minor officials, two major ones, and an Admiral she refused to serve. All parts of the party that think the Emperor should take power back, and start conquering nearby nations using her strength, rather than relying on the Americans for resources.

“Ahh. Now it makes sense. The destruction of the truck. The mystery of another truck with a similar strength capable of holding Shipgirls like myself… all part of your cunning plan to look like idiots when I say no to your false Teitoku!” Kongou shouts, pointing at the admiral in question.

The room pauses, before the two highest officials laugh. Notably, Kongou smirks at the admiral in question looking like he’s enraged for one long moment, before his expression returns to neutral again.

“Kongou, Kongou. Don’t be like that! You’re the beloved ship of our nation!” One of the two officials in question moves forwards, smiling. “All you need to do is admit the old ways were better, and we’ll be happy to ensure that Kouzuki is… shall we say, replaced with a fitting admiral that will help you grow with Japan more!”

“And if I refuse, due to my love for my Tei-tou-ku?” Kongou retorts, a dark smile still on her face.

“Oh, but we’d be more than overjoyed to ensure you marry him. Of course, you could never afford to get pregnant until the war ended, but that wouldn’t be much of a hardship…” The official continues, a smile on his face.

“And if I say ‘No’ and walk away? Again? You might be a member of the Diet, Ryu Kuonji, but you aren’t doing much more than bringing up old arguments once more.” Kongou retorts. “As for you, Shinji Kumon, you haven’t even said anything yet. Were you even planning on helping with this in the first place?”

“Just what we need. A power play by the local government that wants a return to the crazy World War 2 bullshit that I read about… not fun. Especially if they’re hoping for a Nanking 2.0 or some shit like that.” Mordred mutters. “Get us to the vents, in case we have to shoot one of them. I don’t like this.”

“Oh, but of course I did, Kongou-Sama!” The man with an oily smile moves forwards, to stand beside his counterpart. “For while Kuonji-San has your carrot, I have the stick.”

“Oh?” Kongou raises an eyebrow. “And what gives you the courage to insist on having a ‘stick’ meant for me, to my face?”

“Why, the simple fact that I have explosives lacing everywhere your precious ‘Teitoku’ might be!” Shinji Kumon smirks.

“So you have a threat that may or may not exist, against my Teitoku. So what? I’m supposed to believe that you’ve magically set up explosives everywhere, risking killing many of the members of a military base that I trust and care about?” Kongou retorts, her ire visibly rising.

“Why, certainly!” Ryu Kuonji smirks, then opens his mouth, preparing to talk more, before the room pauses at a cell phone ringing in his pants.

“Ah… one moment, I suppose. It seems like it’s my darling grand-daughter…” Ryu Kuonji smiles, then answers his phone. “Yes dear?”

“Oh, they finally caught we’re broadcasting this little incident to the entirety of Japanese television in the country? Took them long enough… right from that little spy drone in Kongou’s hair, too!” Mordred grins, watching the fallout. “Now to see if they’ll give up from the fallout…”

A moment’s pause, as he frowns. “No, I specifically said not to broadcast this. Why are you saying that you’re getting this?”

A longer moment’s pause. “What, exactly do you mean that your friends are texting you, trying to get you to answer why your grandpa is on tv?!”

Ryu Kuonji frowns. “Every channel?! Someone turn on a tv, turn it to any channel!”

Rapidly, a projector screen slides down the wall behind him. As he turns to look, the screen snaps on, and he frowns. The frown deepens for him, as the tv turns on, showing a view of him from behind, as well as the rest of the room they’re in. Shinji Kumon pauses, then glances to look behind him, only to freeze up.

Slowly, they both look at Kongou, then at the tv behind them. Then they move, waving their hands to see if they see themselves do it.


“Oh. That’s why you’re so smug.” Shinji Kumon admits, with a defeated tone of voice.

Silence rights for a long moment, as the political party stare at the tv in no little horror. Well, except for Kongou’s smug expression.

“Well, if you’re so smug about your victory, take this!” Shinji Kumon shouts, pulling out a remote control, and holding a finger on the button. “The moment I press this, say goodbye to your precious admiral, Kongou!”

“Oh, really?” Kongou asks, her eyes narrowing. “I swear, if you hurt one hair on his head…”

“Time for ECM, Wolfen! Countermeasures are a go!” Mordred grins, and raps the button in front of her.

“Too late! WE WIN!” Shinji Kumon shouts, a grin on his face, as he presses the button, with a loud Click.

Then he pauses, frowning, at the button not producing a proper beep.

Click Click.

The frown deepens.

“I’m sorry, a friend apparently jammed that on you.” Kongou smiles.

A low snarl erupts from Shinji Kumon, as he glares at the button, rapidly clicking it over and over again.

“Wolfen, could you deal with the button for me? I know you’re no doubt in here by now.” Kongou asks with a smile.

Bzzt

Silence reigns for a moment, as a light shines. Then Shinji Kumon stares at the wreck of his right hand, his fingers and the remote control falling from useless fingers.

Bzzt

Desperation is evident on his face, in his eyes, as Shinji Kumon desperately reaches out to slam the palm of his injured hand against the button, only to stare in horror as his palm falls in half, as well as the remote control.

“Hah, got it on the second cut!” Mordred grins, watching carefully.

“Anyone else you want me to deal with, Kongou?” Wolfen asks aloud, from on top of the ceiling ventilation ducts.

“I think we’re done here, Dess!” I know Teitoku will be here soon with backup to arrest these… miscreants that have dared to threaten myself and him. Including this shoddy fake admiral they keep trying to push on me.” Kongou retorts with a snort.

“Gotcha. Well, folks. Your plan is ruined. We’re gonna be looting that truck that Kongou rode up here in, got it? And if you pull stuff like this again, I’m not going to be nice this time.” Wolfen smiles, humming a little ditty as she drops from the ceiling.

“Let’s go, Dess!” Kongou smiles.

“You won’t be going anywhere. By my rights as an Admiral of the Japanese Defense Force, I-”

“He sounds like-! NOPE! FUCK THIS SHIT, HE DIES!” Mordred snarls, then fires a laser manually.

Bzzt.

Silence reigns, as Kongou looks back at the room, only to stare at a now headless Admiral. Moments later, she glances up to stare at the now dark screen.

“Yeah, I killed the feed before I cut the idiots’ head off. Should I deal with the rest of them, so they don’t talk? We can call it ‘self defense’ after all.” Wolfen admits, her arms folded, while the rest of the room stares at them in slowly dawning horror.

“I don’t want to deprive their grandchildren of knowing them, even if they’ve made mistakes such as this one, Dess!” Kongou retorts, a sad smile on her face.

“Mmm. I wasn’t built by a nation, so I can’t really agree so easily, I’m afraid. Though, mom was a wonderful influence on me when I first awoke as the Kami of my ship, due to her influence!” Wolfen admits, a bit of a smile on her face.

“How can you be smiling?! HE’S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!” One of the guards screams.

“And if I used this little doo-hickey in my left arm, you’d all be dead. Or if I fired one of my special rounds. Be glad we’re being nice and not killing you for being too stupid to live, okay?” Wolfen retorts.

“Now, we’re off to take that truck to that place Kongou’s admiral is at. If I spot any of those explosives that were placed by the oily bastard I took the hand off of, still being there, by this day tomorrow? I’m going to be coming back, and finishing the job. Got it?” Wolfen almost snarls the last words out.

Rapidly, the room shakes their heads in assent.

“Good.” Woflen breathes out, takes Kongou’s arm, then leads her out.

Hesitantly, the soldier that brought Kongou in follows.

“You’re the one with the keys, Dess! Hand them over, please?” Kongou smiles.

“Kongou-Sama… fine. As you wish, ma’am.” The soldier admits, breathing out, before bowing low. “I’m sorry they acted treacherously. Please forgive this foolish soldier for letting their plans go so far!”

“Get up, Dess! You can drive us to Teitoku’s base, and all will be forgiven!” Kongou smiles.


“R-Really? I can still be of service? I mean, of course! Of course, I’ll gladly be of service, ma’am! Please, let me get the truck for you!” The soldier runs ahead.

For a moment, Wolfen just sighs, slumping, much to the confusion of Kongou. “I’m still not sure why my captain fired at that admiral. Something pissed my Captain off, and I found my rigging just… shot.”

“Perhaps British Tea will help?” Kongou muses. “Along with you talking it over with your Captain?”

“Considering my Captain is a fragment of the legendary child of King Arthur, Mordred Pendragon?” Wolfen admits, quietly. “I think Mordred may have had a flashback to his mother…”

Kongou blinks. Then blinks again. “Perhaps we need to hear things about you more than we thought we did, Dess.”

Author’s Notes:
Yeah, Mordred… isn’t exactly over her mother. Or what was done to her by her mother. Hearing a male admiral sounding much like dear old mom, getting ready to use politics to try and force them to submit? That shit wasn’t about to fly. Period.

On the plus side, Mordred’s starting to like Kongou now.

And, to be fair, I put in how much time writing this out, from how the interactions flowed so well between Wolfen and Kongou?

Ugh.

[Arbitrarity]

I think you're writing faster than I usually respond, goodness.

Yeah. Kantai Collection's lore is... rough to say the least. There's effectively three different versions of the lore. The movie being rather blatant about the fact that it's an eternal cycle of "if a shipgirl gets sunk, she comes back as an Abyssal, and vice versa". Then there's the lore from the anime where it's the spirit of ships, found within cute moe girls, who are literally the reincarnation of ships. I think, at least? That's what I got about it, anyways... Then there's the lore from the game(s), where these are literally the dead spirits of the ships, summoned back from the dead in the body of cute ladies.

I took one long look at it, sighed, decided to NOT throw all that together into a horrifying mishmash of all three, and went with the third one.

The wikipedia page did seem to imply the plot was rather... loose. I'm a bit shocked they made multiple contradictory secondary media, but I guess they're not really about the plot.

The trident plot is original, and far easier to handle than the whole "Eh? No one knows? Fanon doesn't know, from one side. Fanon doesn't from another?" and the few that try to pull off a decent story long term either succeed beautifully, or wind up like Belated Battleships, with confusing, half understood stuff.

I'm giving it a decent one that can be built into decent world building without collapsing the whole deck of cards that is this story.

Also picking a plot device that fits with your existing mythological theming dovetails nicely. When the standard is "make up something", pick something that matches.

As for Hoppou and her girls? I'm treating the Abyssals as having one massive case of PTSD in regards to shipgirls, for reasons that Wolfen hasn't learned yet. Admittedly, considering how much of an utter dick all the Olympian gods could be? It's... pretty safe to say that life for them before they wound up back on earth was, to say the least, bad.

I was assuming that they had been previously sunk by regular shipgirls and reincarnated, or lost someone important to them, which seemed like a reasonable default assumption. Shipgirls are paranoid about Abyssals, so it cuts both ways.

Yeah. Usually it is Desu. However, this might be fanon, or might be anime related, but everyone quotes her with "DESS!" all the time instead. So likely the anime had her capitalize it? She's rather British after all, being built there, even if she's become a proper Japanese Lady later...

Auuugh muh consistency. This is what I get for not knowing anything about the series.

As for the rest of it? On the side of the the United States? We're a pretty big bread-basket, no matter how you swing it. Especially the whole of Puget Sound. I live roughly in Everett's boundaries. I occasionally get a walk in with family in a place overlooking the naval base. Being offered food, in return for "insert specific item being produced for them still and shipped back" is... useful.

Especially when you realize that without global shipping the United States economy would literally crash and burn until you started training local workers again. Other countries might not be quite so willing to make a deal, but if it keeps them off their backs, and the country fed? Well. Desperation can happen...

Oh entirely, naval shipping is critical to the economy, it just doesn't seem like a stable equilibrium to be extorting tariffs on all shipping. Given the trident plot, that might get resolved before it becomes too bad, but charging shipping fees that way means you're effectively claiming all of international waters, and you'd better be prepared to fight the entire world. Abyssals seem to do reasonably well at that, but I don't like to bet on them in the long run, because they seem to lack any R&D. They just have appeared spontaneously at a threatening power level.

Gunboat Politics

Ah, Wolfen being gloriously above the existing technology level is very satisfying. This does raise some questions for me about how her propulsion works, I'm assuming antigrav? Cloaking well enough to hide a few dozen meters up seems reasonable, but close range inside a building while flying, I'd usually expect some sort of noise or air displacement to give it away. Then again, we are literally dealing with magi-tech illusion cloaking, so that might be covered, and if she's the size of a human, plus is using anti-grav, invisibility might be sufficient.

I'm unsure if Kongou's confidence in the hostage situation comes from expecting Wolfen's technological superiority, or reading it as a bluff. It feels weirdly unjustified. If she was told Wolfen was broadcasting, so she should ham it up, that would explain it, but we don't see that being communicated beforehand. I suppose it is funnier to leave that opaque to the reader until the point everyone is aware of it, though, so I'm going to assume that was the case.

I get the distinct impression Mordred is expecting the equivalent of Command Seals, and if that's something they have, that has rather scary implications. If it's just typical chain-of-command formal phrasing, where consequences are court-martial or similar, then it's more of an overreaction, but quite interesting. You comment about

Hearing a male admiral sounding much like dear old mom

implies the latter, I guess.

I'm also going to assume that you're going to have some consequences for this level of flaunting technological superiority later, given that the alternate title (Wolfen + Politics = “SHE DID WHAT?!”) says that you recognize this may not have been the wisest way to address the situation. Always needs some degree of balance in your threats.

[RanmaBushiko]

I think you're writing faster than I usually respond, goodness.

I covered about 33 pages in a two day period, so yeah. Inspiration hit.

The wikipedia page did seem to imply the plot was rather... loose. I'm a bit shocked they made multiple contradictory secondary media, but I guess they're not really about the plot.

And now you know why this has so much world building to make it reasonably fit, as well as how much emphasis is going towards both sides of the story right now. More corrupt Admirals and Politicians are literally drooling at the idea of using a shipgirl to conquer nations.

When the Japanese are literally eyeballing things, and going "Hey, maybe going back to how we fought before World War 2 is a good idea!" is the result of how badly shit has hit the fan? Things have gone horribly, terribly wrong.

Also picking a plot device that fits with your existing mythological theming dovetails nicely. When the standard is "make up something", pick something that matches.

Yup, exactly. Might not be perfect, but considering Wolfen is her father's creation...

I was assuming that they had been previously sunk by regular shipgirls and reincarnated, or lost someone important to them, which seemed like a reasonable default assumption. Shipgirls are paranoid about Abyssals, so it cuts both ways.

Mmm. This has it more complex, as you'll start seeing later. Though you're somewhat close. Think of it like a Yin and Yang situation.

Auuugh muh consistency. This is what I get for not knowing anything about the series.

Eh, I get it, no worries.

Oh entirely, naval shipping is critical to the economy, it just doesn't seem like a stable equilibrium to be extorting tariffs on all shipping. Given the trident plot, that might get resolved before it becomes too bad, but charging shipping fees that way means you're effectively claiming all of international waters, and you'd better be prepared to fight the entire world. Abyssals seem to do reasonably well at that, but I don't like to bet on them in the long run, because they seem to lack any R&D. They just have appeared spontaneously at a threatening power level.

Shipping fees versus sinking fees is all around a better deal, for now. But they're all having issues with food supplies and the like due to not having people backing them. If they can gear up enough to build (or raid!) oil pumping installations in the ocean, however, that could change fast.

Ah, Wolfen being gloriously above the existing technology level is very satisfying. This does raise some questions for me about how her propulsion works, I'm assuming antigrav? Cloaking well enough to hide a few dozen meters up seems reasonable, but close range inside a building while flying, I'd usually expect some sort of noise or air displacement to give it away. Then again, we are literally dealing with magi-tech illusion cloaking, so that might be covered, and if she's the size of a human, plus is using anti-grav, invisibility might be sufficient.

She has two flight methods. One is the flying hunk of metal she was literally built around, donated by Wayland Smith. As long as she has legend, she's technically able to fly. Realistically though, she's having to augment it with the electromagnetic flight system as seen in Fate/Anarchy when said flight rune failed for a much expanded upon then here, Wolfen. So she's cheating with keeping the electromagnetic system on just enough to keep flying, but relying on the flight rune for most everything.

Mostly because her parents aren't on board as crew, or her uncles.

As for everything else? Between no one looking up, and easily being able to brush her hands against the walls to pull her forwards without sound? She's capable of keeping up soundlessly.

I'm unsure if Kongou's confidence in the hostage situation comes from expecting Wolfen's technological superiority, or reading it as a bluff. It feels weirdly unjustified. If she was told Wolfen was broadcasting, so she should ham it up, that would explain it, but we don't see that being communicated beforehand. I suppose it is funnier to leave that opaque to the reader until the point everyone is aware of it, though, so I'm going to assume that was the case.

She's reading the enemy actions as a bluff, but she may have spotted something being broadcast from her. Realistically, she knows that they can't actually kill the admiral in question without massive fallout, but them attempting it anyways? She'll be having words with Wolfen later, as you can imagine.

I get the distinct impression Mordred is expecting the equivalent of Command Seals, and if that's something they have, that has rather scary implications. If it's just typical chain-of-command formal phrasing, where consequences are court-martial or similar, then it's more of an overreaction, but quite interesting. You comment about implies the latter, I guess.

They don't have Command Spells, but Chain of Command is what was meant, yeah. Mordred's just gone full nope and dealt with the issue, irregardless of fallout.

I'm also going to assume that you're going to have some consequences for this level of flaunting technological superiority later, given that the alternate title (Wolfen + Politics = “SHE DID WHAT?!”) says that you recognize this may not have been the wisest way to address the situation. Always needs some degree of balance in your threats.

Yeah, she's going to have to talk with them a lot about things. Tea Party With Kongou, the next chapter is about 9 pages long right now, unfortunately, rather then the 10-11 I've been posting at. Maybe a few hours before I can get Mordred's perspective properly added to things, since Kongou and Wolfen just simply flow when I write them for this stuff.

As for consequences? They're seeing her as a valuable as fuck ally right now, but one that's a loose cannon. Things will clear up a bit come next chapter... somewhat, anyways.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 3: Tea Party with Kongou (Who might be Bongou, but if so, at least she’s fun?)


Japan, En-route to Yokosuka Base


Wolfen sighs, softly, as she stretches, relaxing alongside Kongou.

“First, before anything else?” Kongou starts up, before hugging Wolfen close. “Thank you for saving my Admiral, and ensuring that their political party got shut down hard like that.”

Wolfen blinks repeatedly at the hug, before hugging her back as she replies. “Of course. Sorry for not letting you know that the drone could do that, but I was working as fast as I could to get the situation broadcast to a satellite I put in orbit, then ensured it would take over all television broadcasting abilities.”

“Well, the hug feels nice… why the hell can I feel it too?” Mordred mutters, still acting out of it from earlier.

Kongou nods, quietly, as they sit for a bit, before returning to relaxing together.

“On a different note? You look a lot better than you did when we first met, Dess!” Kongou smiles at Wolfen.

“Aside from my captain losing it back there, you mean?” Wolfen retorts, with a sigh.

“Considering what little I know of Mordred?” Kongou retorts, smiling more widely.

“Fair, I suppose. Well, on my end, I managed to meet some abyssals, convinced them to not fuck with one of their number to test my resolve, and the kids are actually not too bad compared to the adults that always scream ‘Sink!’ at any nearby shipgirls!” Wolfen smiles a bit.

Kongou’s eyes grow wide with surprise. “An interesting tale! Your railgun also does well against the small fry, too!”

Wolfen slowly pauses. “Small fry?”

“The strongest ones seem to be like princesses, Dess! Next strongest group call themselves Demons, if they talk about anything other than sinking us!” Kongou nods, stretching.

“And it’s taking the heavy munition loads to kill those weaker ones with a single shot…” Wolfen mutters, then sighs as she turns to look at Kongou directly.. “I can likely kill the strongest ones with the laser rifle, but it’s getting up that close that’s the problem. Railguns seem to do okay, but barely work against their armor so far. The lasers seem to be my best bet, over the few missile launchers and mortars I have…”

“You have working missile launchers?!” Kongou actually squeals with joy, as she gets up close to Wolfen’s face.

“With a 250 Pound equivalent load for them, while the railgun and mortars take the full 500 pounds.” Wolfen nods. “It’s useful, but it’s hard to aim with my rigging. Daddy’s upgrades built me up to handle things without those issues, later, but they made me stupidly bulky, too.”

Kongou winces. “Ahh. So it’s heavier weapons versus speed for you then? As expected for what I suspect to be a prototype assault battleship!”

“What.” Mordred mutters, blinking as she simply stares at Kongou for a bit. “Well, this benefits us, at least. Let’s admit it isn’t assault, but keep the real word quiet for now.”

“Not quite Assault, I’m afraid. Daddy’s built me around a one of a kind chunk of hull plating on my underside, that his mentor made for him as a gift for surviving some of the things he did.” Wolfen smiles.

“A mentor? Interesting, Dess!” Kongou smiles.

“Would you happen to know where any spicy foods might be, for after the tea party? Even if the fuel in my reactor is slow at running out, and normal food restores the stuff in my reactor? I still need much spicier foods than fish come from out of the ocean. It’s just not spicy enough for me to build up extra fuel reserves…” Wolfen asks.

“Are you seriously letting them know about that? Then again, she seems trustworthy enough. Let’s see how this goes if we tell her.” Mordred muses.

“Spicy… wasabi might do it! We can try that after with some japanese fare, and move on up if necessary!” Kongou replies, before pausing. Then, slowly, Kongou frowns. “Sorry about the lack of help when I first met you, by the way. The political situation in America is… volatile right now, to say the least. And the Army Admiral that took over for the Navy one in there has seemingly gone mad with power, with enough clout for getting Missouri summoned under his watch… considering she’s an Iowa class Battleship, he’s effectively got her as a trump card most can’t ignore.”


“That he can do anything, if he words it right?” Wolfen asks, quietly, finishing Kongou’s sentence.


Kongou simply nods, pulling her arms around her knees. “If I had more clout, I may have been able to help. But with how the metal was eaten by you? I lost enough to not be sure I could help with things. Especially between those Imperialists we dealt with, and their faction messing things up.”

Wolfen quietly nods. “They were an issue in mom’s eyes, too, but she could never deal with similar factions without pointing out that she was a Kitsune in the process.”

“Eh? Your father married a Kitsune?!” Kongou smiles widely.

“Mom was quite wonderful, really. Even designed upgrades for me, to take into account the cloaking ability she developed for me, so her and father could live a long time on board myself. It’s just a pity she was rather hated for failing in a mission for her mother, and wound up demonized as a result.” Wolfen admits.

“Demonized?” Kongou tilts her head, thinking.

“Mom was infamous for failing to stop the emperor of the time from getting poisoned, had the blame dropped on her instead of being able to find the true poisoner, and was sealed into a rock for quite a few centuries as a result. Or, at least, that’s what her diary said about things.” Wolfen admits.

“Sealed into a ro- wait. Your father’s wife was TAMAMO NO MAE?!” Kongou blinks repeatedly at the shipgirl next to her..

“A version of her, at least! Unfortunately, legendary beings were a lot more prevalent than this universe seems to have them be. I’m not sure if they’ve been hunted to extinction, or it’s something else though.” Wolfen admits, stretching.

“Any proof of it?” Kongou asks, a smile on her face.

“I should still have a copy of dad’s photo album. Lemme set that drone up to show you copies of the pictures…” Wolfen muses.

“Not a bad idea, Wolfen. I’ll send the data over in a moment.” Mordred muses, as she works.

Moments later, Kongou blinks, before going wide eyed. “Those pictures are… honestly beautiful to see, Dess! She’s a beautiful lady, and I’m glad you got to enjoy her in your life!”

Wolfen smiles, nodding. “She was able to talk to me, while I was the whole spirit of my ship, too! As well as talk with other creations of father’s…” Wolfen trails off, smiling.

“We’re here, Kongou-Sama!” A voice ahead reaches them.

Kongou smiles widely. “Thank you for bringing me here!” With those words, she jumps up, stretching, then grins.

“TEI-TOU-KU!” While shouting her next words, Kongou rushes out the back of the truck with a wide grin on her face. Then, when she sees her Admiral, she forwards somersaults in the air four times, before landing with a glomp, hugging her Admiral and kissing his head over and over.

Wolfen sticks her head out, only to simply stare from behind, wide eyed and blinking.

“What in the hell?” Mordred quietly utters, staring as well.

“At least she’s friendly?” Wolfen replies internally, thinking as she watches.

“A very aggressive friendliness. How the hell would a ship even do that multiple aerial somersault without tapping her feet against the ground, just now?” Mordred muses.

“Eh… I mean, Daddy could’ve done it! But considering it was Daddy…” Wolfen muses.

“OFF, Kongou! I need air!” Admiral Kouzuki snarls for a moment, before slowly prying Kongou off. “We’re in public, damn it!”

A quiet giggle erupts from Wolfen’s throat, leaving Kongou and her Admiral looking up with wide eyes to stare at her watching. Then, a smile covers Kongou’s face.

“Burning love is wonderful to have! Now, shall we go? I’m pretty sure I promised you a Tea Party, did I not?” With those words, Kongou grabs Wolfen by the arm, before dragging her off, Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki following them both with a sigh.




30 Minutes Later




Wolfen sighs, relaxing in the room for a moment, eyes carefully checking the room for bugs as she relaxes.

“We should be safe here.” Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki admits, with a smile.

“Mind if I release some small drones to verify?” Wolfen asks, bemused.

“As long as you promise to return them, and ensure there’s no communications going in or out, I suppose. After that incident with Kongou broadcasting video to the entirety of Japan earlier, I’d rather not have that happen with what we might discuss.” The Admiral admits, folding his arms.

A slow nod, as Kongou returns, bringing tea and scones for them to eat. Wolfen smiles, settling back for a moment. “Nice to sit in an actual chair again… I digress, though. What do you want to know first?”

“Would you be willing to work with us, Dess?” Kongou asks, smiling.

Wolfen thinks, musing. “Somewhat. I’ll help patrol on occasion, and it works with the Abyssals I got in contact with…”

“Could you explain that?” Admiral Kouzuki asks carefully. “Kongou mentioned you were going to look into them yourself…”

“That…” For a moment, Wolfen pauses, sipping on tea. “Hang on while I set up the video for you two to watch.”

Quietly, with wide eyes, Kongou and her Admiral watch Wolfen slowly set up a tiny projector. Then they go still at watching her meeting with the Abyssals, minus her own chatter with her captain.

“Nuclear… pulse weapon, Dess?” Kongou says, quietly staring at Wolfen’s left arm with some worry in her eyes.

“Daddy’s Radiant Wave Surger? It lets me damage souls directly, but unless I’m about to be doing something like ramming speed, or dropping from a high flying plane, it’s not nearly as strong as my laser cannon.” Wolfen admits, quietly.

Admiral Kouzuki’s eyes narrow, as he thinks over the things brought up. “Aside from the horror story that a melee nuclear pulse weapon is, one thing stands out to me. Your father was a Norse God…”

“But not one of this universe? No. That keeps me from being… easily affected? By the local politics, let’s say.” Wolfen admits, carefully.

“You’re certain that that group will be friendly to people?” Kongou asks, curiously.

“To humans? Trading seems necessary. To shipgirls, though…” Wolfen trails off, thinking.

“Yeah, I’m more worried about that myself. Admittedly, I’m worried about you talking about so much of your abilities, but he seems trustworthy so far. And he isn’t trying to burn us at the stake for having a radioactive weapon...” Mordred admits quietly.

Kongou slowly nods, thinking. “They seem to be as bad off as Japan is, Teitoku.”

Wolfen nods as she speaks up with a reply. “They were sleeping in a pile, to stay warm, while their mother figure, Hoppou, slept in a ragged tent while shivering. If I hadn’t helped them, I suspect they would have started resenting humanity for not giving them beds, not completely understanding that they as a threat to humanity wouldn’t be given beds…”

A wince from the others, as Wolfen digs into the scones and tea, quietly.

“If we could set up trading with them, we might be the first to get them to not fight us, even if they won’t be specifically allies…” Admiral Kouzuki admits. “But the fact that they’re not jumping to throw away the idea of going for that… Trident is what worries me.”

“I agree, Dess!” Kongou smiles weakly.

“Honestly? They seem mostly confused. That you’re not fighting in Poseidon’s domain. That there’s a need for supply lines in the first place. That you weren’t all summoned with them to fight when they showed up, most of all.” Wolfen admits, leaving the room silent. “At the same time, I can’t exactly blame them for being willing to fight, considering the options. They more or less said that whoever loses, will be put through whatever the winner wishes.”

“And this group, at least, understands the concept of being privateers…” Admiral Kouzuki admits, thinking. “If we can get them to agree to not target certain places, we could get fishing started again.”

“As long as it’s close to their places, and they’ll get a tithe of it, you mean?” Wolfen asks.

A quiet nod is her answer, as they all think over things.

“I almost forgot, you need spicy food, don’t you? Let me run and get some Wasabi, see if that helps you out!” With those words, Kongou rushes out of the room.

Admiral Kouzuki blinks, a soft smile on his face for a moment. “I’m honestly honored that she’s chosen me as her Admiral, and the one she’ll follow.” He admits, quietly.

“I think it’s a staple of all beautiful Japanese ladies, myself.” Wolfen admits with a smile. “Mom was beautiful, and fell for Daddy just like Kongou has fallen for you.” She continues, a smug smile on her face.

Distantly, they listen to Kongou bustling around in the kitchen, humming happily as she works.

“So. Spicy food, huh? You aren’t coal powered…” Admiral Kouzuki queries.

“I’ve got a Nuclear Reactor in me, as well as a couple prototype spares. Unfortunately, I remember those spares quite well. Daddy built them before he built me, and only had a week of testing before firing me up. They may have generated power, but father had massive issues with the things whenever they were on…” Wolfen admits, sourly. “To the point where they were rarely on, and only if I was seriously fighting for my life.”

Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki winces with a nod. “In other words, best used only for emergency power, then. You’re able to upgrade them, then?”

“Perhaps…” Wolfen muses. “It would take time, effort, and a lot of material I don’t exactly know how father built. Towards the end, he was making metals for me wholesale from tips he’d gotten from his engineering and smithing mentor, Wayland Smith.”

For a moment, a look of almost pure greed is in the Admiral’s eyes, before he sighs. “You don’t know how to do what he did, do you?”

“Whatever he was doing, it was fueled by faith.” Wolfen admits, sourly. “I had to eat almost the entirety of my ruined parts to restore myself to this level, but without Daddy, Mommy, or my uncles on board, I know I’m not operating at peak proficiency. I haven’t had the time to fight any high up Abyssals yet, either…”

The Admiral nods, thinking, before going still at Kongou’s arms wrapping around him to hug him. “Teitoku! Are you feeling down? Do you need a bit of ‘BURNING LOVE!’ in your life?” Kongou whispers in his ear, a wide smile on her face.

“I swear, if you manage to make me get you pregnant, Kongou…” Admiral Kouzuki admits ruefully. “I’ll be dragged in front of the Emperor to commit Seppuku, no doubt, if we go too far before the war is done.”

Wolfen winces, while Kongou simply hugs her admiral closer. “And if he insists on that, I’ll be beside you, ready to join you, Dess!”

The others in the room still at Kongou’s retort, while her smile widens.


“Unless I do a smash and grab save to help you both out?” Wolfen smirks at them both blinking.

“Ah, you mentioned your mom is a kitsune, didn’t you?” Kongou muses. “Can you tell me more about yourself?”

Wolfen muses, thinking, before slowly nods. “I was built in 1992, over the course of a mad several weeks, as my father learned the only real threats left to cause the Ragnarok were Jormungandr, and Fenris. Seeing as Daddy knew Fenris might well listen, the one to truly worry about, was Jormungandr.”

A glance over at the wall with images projecting on it, the images change, showing a picture of several people fighting a colossal serpent, mind-bogglingly huge in its size alone and cloaked with some sort of shadow. “Jormungandr was a canny little bastard to fight. Father had made an experimental melee nuclear pulse weapon to fight him with, a Radiant Wave Surger, for his allies. As I was assigned to overwatch the entire situation, I got some good pictures in, especially after Jormungandr’s death.”

One man punching it, so hard that the shadows around Jormungandr had shattered appears next. “Daddy’s companion, the King of Svaltalfarheim. Unfortunately, his name was damaged from corruption, from me going through space. It was originally Lucas? I think it was changed, though… but I digress. He punched Jormungandr so hard, the trick to make itself harder to hit simply… failed entirely.”

A quiet whistle from Admiral Kouzuki is her only reply.

Another picture, a massive giant of frost standing on the water, unhurt by Jormungandr. “And Daddy there, when he actually took off the kid gloves and fought as a God.” Wolfen smiles.

Silence reigns for a moment, before Kongou smiles widely. “Your father was super impressive, Dess!”

Wolfen nods with a smile, showing the last picture, Jormungandr frozen completely, utterly solid, and turned to ice.

“As you can see here?” Wolfen continues proudly. “Daddy froze the snake solid. Then when he tried to decapitate him and take his head home to mount on me, he accidentally shattered him. Whoops?”

“That right there is why I enjoy working with Erik and his creations so much. Yourself included, Wolfen.” Mordred admits with a bit of a smile. “It might be different, but it’s not any less worth it.”

A quiet giggle from Kongou is the only answer, while Admiral Kouzuki stares silently.

A loud ding of a timer in the kitchen goes off, before Kongou rushes off to the kitchen quickly.

Wolfen smiles, softly at the picture of her father’s victory.

“Here you go, Dess! One small feast, with lots of wasabi! Tell me if we need more spiciness for you, though, okay?” Kongou smiles as she returns with a warm plate of curry, with plenty of wasabi.

Wolfen smiles, and starts eating, making contented noises as the spices go down. “Oh, that’s much better, thank you!”

Kongou smiles widely, and sits beside her admiral.

“Anything else you’re willing to talk with us about, Wolfen?” The admiral in question queries carefully.

“I’ve got four mortar style bomb launchers, loosely based on some mine launchers daddy got from a mafia guy when he was young, for dealing with a giant plant thing rampaging through New York City one day. I’ve also got four missile launchers that are, unfortunately, half the size of the bombs, and do less damage as a result… oh! You mean about what I was made for, right?” Wolfen admits, blushing. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, Dess!” Kongou smiles.

“I was built as an emergency escape vehicle, because Daddy wasn’t exactly sure if Uncle Fenris would agree to live with him. Seeing as I call him Uncle, Daddy convinced him eventually… but I was built to call upon if Daddy had failed, and Daddy unleashed him anyways.” Wolfen admits. “A heavily armed one, yes, but meant for hiding, and escaping from things if things went bad. I’ve got some ability to fight underwater, I’ll admit, though I don’t have my later air purification systems for long term underwater work. I’ve also been tested for surviving in vacuum, in case several Gods could teleport us there, or something like that.” Wolfen pauses, thinking. “I was also built to help humanity as a whole. Not one single side, so much… but considering Daddy was raised American, and Mommy was Japanese?”

“You favor our countries then, over others.” Admiral Kouzuki smiles along with Kongou, as Wolfen nods in agreement.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not up for trying to find other ways to help out, like talk with Abyssals for you as a third party.” Wolfen admits. “Or trying to get into the divine realms for here, to see what’s going on. That might take time, though…”

Kongou blinks, then smiles widely. “We’ll be glad to take any help you’ll give us, Dess!”

Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki nods in agreement, thinking. Eventually, he speaks up. “I won’t be able to politically give you as much favor as I’d like, especially with that dead admiral found in the mansion you two were in. Legally speaking, I’m not going to ask much about that glove of yours, though I'll be legally obligated to acknowledge that I have a large suspicion of what you're wearing there, due to what you mentioned of your father’s inventions and that picture you showed… as an aside, please don’t fire off that in Japanese soil. It’ll kill my career if you do.” He admits, quietly. “But we can get you some money for purchasing supplies, get you a passport to get to places you need access to. Are there any specific things that the Japanese Government might be able to get you?”


Wolfen drums her fingers, musing as she thinks. “Extra spicy foods for long term work outside of your shores, for one. My crew is mostly mechanical, one of Daddy’s designs, so they’re good with lots of electricity and a bit of oil to keep the parts moving now and again, so long as I don’t fight. So I can supplement my diet with fish to make up for fuel costs and ammunition…” She trails off, thinking for a moment. “But if I want to have spare fuel for my reactor, I NEED spicy food. As it is, I can only keep up the fuel in the reactor, if I eat a lot. Until I started eating this wasabi here, I had no extra uranium fuel rods.”


Admiral Kouzuki frowns. “I could have sworn we use Thorium for Nuclear reactors, not Uranium.”


“Most pantheons didn’t want their idiot gung-ho descendants nuking each other or their enemies, so they did their best to suppress all information about nuclear equipment from their descendants, Daddy included.” Wolfen admits. “Daddy had to design my reactors from scratch.”

A sigh from the Admiral in question greets her, as he gets it. “In other words, your backups are one bad shot from being a nuclear explosion, aren’t they?”

Wolfen grimly nods. “Thus me wanting to replace them as fast as I can…” She retorts, and sighs. “I’m going to likely have to mine the damned material myself, and build it using later designs. Thankfully, I saw what Daddy did to make them…” She trails off as the three sit quietly, thinking.

“Another thing, would likely be lumber. Solar panels. Basic lights. Or a budget so I can get them while sneaking into America, if they’re hard to get here.”

Kongou blinks, then smiles. “For lights for them, hmm?” Wolfen nods. “If we can get them to realize that living with humanity, side to side is an option…”

“They won’t attack us, just possibly our shipgirls.” Admiral Kouzuki sighs and nods. “Fair. I’ll pull it out of what little discretionary budget I have left for this month, and get you some currencies, as well as basics for all of those.”

“To be fair, I’m pretty sure that for this to work, we’ll have to destroy most other Abyssal ships in the area.” Wolfen admits, frowning. “But since the group I’ve started working with seems keen on my driving off or destroying some of the weaker groups? I think we can manage to work something out with them.”

“A fair point, but not a bad one. Now, since we’ve finished discussing most of them, shall we get to the elephant in the room, Wolfen?” Admiral Kouzuki asks, a stern look now on his face. “You still haven’t bothered to tell me that you executed in cold blood another Japanese Navy Admiral, much less why.”

Wolfen frowns. “I… sorry. I should have brought that up earlier, huh?”

“And I should have thought of it, as your captain, as well.” Mordred mutters, rubbing her forehead. “I need to be a better example for you.”

Wolfen thinks, trying to word things. “At first, I didn’t like him because he was on the side of those people that were threatening Kongou and you. A bit later, though, he started talking in this… what did daddy call it? Snake Oil salesmen style voice, when he started talking about how we’d not be leaving. Then my captain snapped, and carved his head off, getting flashbacks of his mother as he opened fire with my lasers.”

Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki frowns, but nods. “Anything else?”

“My captain... well, you’ll have to meet him to believe in him. And if the clothing disappears, please don’t insult him for his gender. Someone… erm… messed with it? I don’t have clear details about what exactly happened back then, since my Captain doesn’t either.” Wolfen admits, then pulls out her arm, focusing.

Moments later, Mordred walks out, adjusting her captain’s outfit much like Nestor always wore.

“He-” Mordred pauses, frowning. “H-” A larger frown, as she grimaces. Repeated muffled sounds, at first sound like the word “Hey” come out of her mouth repeatedly, before they slowly switch to Japanese.

“Better. Captain Mordred Pendragon, Son of King Arthur Pendragon and Morgan Le Fey, at your service, Admiral Kouzuki.” Mordred announces.

Admiral Suzaku Kouzuki stares for a long moment, before passing out in Kongou’s arms as he faints. A moment longer, as Kongou is caught up between the options of squeeing like a fangirl, and cooing over her admiral, before she simply does both.

“You’re so adorable, Mordred Pendragon-San! Oh, but my Teitoku is so adorable when he’s sleeping like this!” For one long moment, she rapidly looks between the Admiral in her hands, and the captain on Wolfen’s hand, before she smiles widely. “Would you like some tea as well?! You’re British, after all, and us British always deserve a good cup of tea!”

“I think I’d enjoy that hospitality as well, Kongou.” Mordred admits with a smile.




15 minutes later…




Suzaku Kouzuki slowly winces, as he wakes up, head on Kongou’s lap. For a moment, he almost closes his eyes again to just enjoy nap time on Kongou’s lap. Then he hears Mordred continuing a story, in front of him.

“So. Here I was, the next day after that party involving Merlin, right?” Mordred admits, sitting up and looking at Wolfen and Kongou both. “Day before, I was functionally male, could pee standing up and everything. Day after? Huge funbags, as Lancelot always called them. Well, in the versions of history where he existed, and wasn’t a fucking glory stealing fanfiction character, anyways. Damned bastard had half of the rest of the Knights of the Round Table and our myths associated with him instead. Stupid French Fanfiction character that he was...”


“So… Merlin might’ve been the one to turn you into a girl?” Kongou whispers. “Oh, that’s so terrible! To be deprived of your natural form like that!”


“Considering how much of a bitch my mother was, I can’t really put it past her to have done it, too.” Mordred admits, grumbling. “More than that, Merlin hinted that Father was actually somehow female, too… changed to be able to get Guinevere pregnant, only for Mom to take advantage of things somehow.”


Kongou and Wolfen both flinch. Moments later, Admiral Kouzuki snaps his eyes wide open at the sheer horror of what he’s heard. Only to see Mordred in a skimpy bikini, captain hat the only thing left on her head.


“Why the bikini?” He hesitantly asks.


“Hell if I know.” Mordred retorts.


“And my fellow admiral… reminded you of your mother?” Admiral Kouzuki hesitantly asks.


Mordred nods. “He was sounding like the same sort of monster that could trick a tribe of the native people in Alaska, into purchasing ice. Or people that wander a desert into buying Glow in the Dark sand. Just like how dear old mother used to sound.”


“Daddy knew more about the universe we met Mordred in, I’ll admit…” Wolfen trails off, thinking. “Something about… Fate/Stay Night, or a spin off of it? Most of my data is rather corrupted involving the setting except for what we saw, sorry to say.”


For a long, long moment, Admiral Kouzuki can barely breathe. Then, one hand meets his face, as he puts his face in one palm. “So you have some sort of Servant from that series, as your captain?”

“Not a Servant, here. Maybe a fragment of one, though? As for the rest, I suspect it’s more that the series is based on something. Or maybe that vampire dude, Zelretch is around, involving himself with ensuring different series get published based on events in other universes?” Mordred muses.


A long pause, as Kongou, Wolfen and Admiral Kouzuki stare at each other, thinking. “That would make sense. Wonder if there’s a series based on what we’re going through?” Kongou admits, musing.


“Well, if I did know, most of my computers are on the rest of my hull Daddy’s in.” Wolfen admits. “So I can’t tell you the answer, one way or another.”

“As… intriguing as this has been, I suspect I need to go and deal with both paperwork, and getting the discretionary funds prepared for you to use, Wolfen. Kongou? I’m trusting in your intuition about Wolfen, that she’s a good girl here, and that her Captain is a fair man.” With those words, Admiral Kouzuki gets up and leaves.


Author’s Notes:
This… took longer to write than anticipated, to be honest. Mostly because of real life stuff going on in the background. Sorry.

As for the speech from Mordred at first, most “fairies” that pilot planes, or captain the ships in Kantai Collection are small miniatures that act as crew. Some fanon has it as the literal crew that served the ship in life. They’re also notorious in fandom for saying single words, or repetitions of the same word, with people magically understanding them as if they said sentences, instead.

If I recall correctly, “Hey!” is the term usually used for American fairies, from what works I’ve red. Your mileage may vary for this.


Considering Mordred’s a fragment of a Heroic Spirit, albeit one not summoned as a Servant, she’s better off than most in this situation.

Most being the key word here.

[Arbitrarity]

That so many universes have overlapping fiction leans quite hard on the fourth wall in a way that I'm not a huge fan of. I recognize Erik took advantage of this before, and that establishes precedent that Wolfen would reasonably know about, but having that be the case inside the KanColle universe stretches my suspension of disbelief, doubly so that characters are familiar wth those works. It saves a lot of time having characters explain context to each other, admittedly, but it feels like it makes the fic... shallower, somehow.

On the other hand, I'm not complaining about Mordred lambasting Lancelot as a glory-stealing fanfiction character, because I kinda love that characterization.

I don't really have much here. Trying to get a read on how the presumably-protagonist admiral behaves, and he thus far seems pretty inscrutable, in the sense that he doesn't really act differently than I would expect a generic background person with his set of allegiances to act. He seems to take the duty of being an admiral, and knowing another admiral was killed, fairly seriously, but is also willing to explicitly bend the rules wherever he can. Considering he was going to be assassinated by that same admiral, that seems like a weird area to be formal about, but it feels very Japanese.

[RanmaBushiko]

That so many universes have overlapping fiction leans quite hard on the fourth wall in a way that I'm not a huge fan of. I recognize Erik took advantage of this before, and that establishes precedent that Wolfen would reasonably know about, but having that be the case inside the KanColle universe stretches my suspension of disbelief, doubly so that characters are familiar with those works. It saves a lot of time having characters explain context to each other, admittedly, but it feels like it makes the fic... shallower, somehow.

On the other hand, I'm not complaining about Mordred lambasting Lancelot as a glory-stealing fanfiction character, because I kinda love that characterization.

I don't really have much here. Trying to get a read on how the presumably-protagonist admiral behaves, and he thus far seems pretty inscrutable, in the sense that he doesn't really act differently than I would expect a generic background person with his set of allegiances to act. He seems to take the duty of being an admiral, and knowing another admiral was killed, fairly seriously, but is also willing to explicitly bend the rules wherever he can. Considering he was going to be assassinated by that same admiral, that seems like a weird area to be formal about, but it feels very Japanese.

Yeah, agreed for the overlapping fiction. You'll see that Wolfen doesn't get Erik's meta knowledge, for good reason here. Any information about possible alternate universes? In the rest of the Wolfen. She remembers some of the stuff that happened, but a lot is damaged from the computers having been between universes for who knows how long... so the only stuff she remembers vividly, is her memories of what she personally experienced, and some video games her parents played, movies they watched, etc. In other words, not much. She didn't take the giant theatre with her, after all.

As for games and settings? Some video games will likely be mostly the same, but other situations might be totally different as well, especially with the world being in a crappy situation right now. (In other words, yes. I plan on messing with this trope thoroughly eventually. Just not right now. You can thank VGCats for inspiration on some of this. I WAS planning on posting a link to the comic in question, but it looks like I'll have to find it first. So later.)

As for Mordred's views on Lancelot? It's how I characterized her in Fate/Anarchy. She's not really changed her mind much about him, either. A good chunk of several other knights, AND Mordred's exploits were reassigned to Lancelot, and Mordred's not exactly fond of him for being a glory stealing fanficion character that stole much of her thunder. That's never really going to change.

The Admiral is pretty much being an admiral, here, who's having to juggle things carefully. Especially with Wolfen having a melee nuke weapon in one arm. On one hand, Wolfen ensured he's alive, so he's grateful. On the other hand, one of his coworkers is dead, the mess is in his lap because Kongou was involved, and Wolfen has a couple of unstable nuclear reactors in her.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 4: A Long Voyage


2 days later

“I’ll be happy to escort the convoy there, Admiral.” Wolfen admits. “Just understand that with that admiral in Everett, I’m not going to be getting too close to his harbor if possible. I’m sure he’s gnashing at the bit in a rage that he’s unable to get his hands on me, to roughly quote my captain.”

Admiral Kouzuki nods, thinking. “I’d honestly suggest using some of that money over there to get yourself on either some truly potent hot sauce, or perhaps some of those Carolina Reapers, Wolfen. With the wasabi only giving a minimal amount of fuel for you compared to our hopes, we’ll look into hot sauce production over here, too.”

Wolfen nods, smiling. “Thank you for the funding to ensure I’ll be able to help!”

“BURNING LOVE!” Kongou shouts, right before pouncing, jumping her admiral and repeatedly kissing his face.

“Kongou?! Get off of me!” Admiral Kouzuki squirms for a few moments, before sighing at the realization that she’s not moving. Then he pulls her close for a hug.

“Don’t you dare die out there, Kongou. Do you hear me?” Admiral Kouzuki asks, glaring half-heartedly.

Kongou smiles. “Of course, my Teitoku. Sinking would mean I couldn’t come back to hug you again!”

For a moment, Admiral Kouzuki muses, before grinning. “If you’re good, and do well with the others, I’ll have a tea party with you afterwards…” He trails off meaningfully.

“I’d love a good cuppa~” Kongou blushes softly, before snapping out of it, looking at everyone around, and smiling widely, letting her admiral go. “I’ll keep you to that promise, Admiral!”

“They make a cute couple, don’t they? Even if the Admiral is trying to be a proper leader, more than a husband like Kongou wants.” Mordred smiles as she watches from Wolfen’s “bridge”.

Admiral Kouzuki nods, before formally saluting her. “Kongou, your orders are as follows. Yourself and Iku are to escort the supply ships, along with PAB Wolfen, on a supply run to the United States of America. Lead the Convoy well, my Battleship!”

“Yes! I will show you what I’m made of!” Kongou salutes back with a wide smile, then turns to Iku and Wolfen both. “Now it’s our turn! Follow me! Everyone follow up!”

“Aww. Kongou’s completely adorable today with lines like this.” Mordred grins. “Time to follow her, I suppose!”

With those words, they dash towards the water, sailing off alongside the cargo hauler ships.




First Day of the Escort




“So, what have you been making over there, Wolfen?” Kongou asks, smiling. “You seem to be hard at work!”

“It took me a while to figure out how to use my manufacturing capabilities, I’ll admit.” Wolfen smiles over at Kongou, before continuing. “But I think that this should be of help to you.”

“Eh? Something of help to me?” Kongou asks, tilting her head.

“It’s not quite done, but I’ve been working on some laser secondaries for you, as upgraded equipment, if you’d like to test them out.” Wolfen grins.

“Hey, what about me?! I want something neat, too!” Iku sticks her head out of the water to frown at Wolfen.

“I’m working on ideas for you, but I’m not nearly as experienced with torpedoes, sorry. Well, except that Kongou should be able to jump over the things, considering she’s as much a girl as a ship now...”

Both pause, blinking. “Wait…” Kongou mutters, then tries jumping. With a splash, she lands back on the water, before she blinks more. “I can do that?!”

A long pause as Iku simply stares at Wolfen. Then at Kongou. “Huh. Being a girl is neater than I thought, isn’t it?”

“Especially since you probably can swim with your arms and legs, instead of the propellers, and go super quiet?” Wolfen retorts.

Iku simply blinks for a long moment. “Holy crap! I’d be nearly impossible to hear if I did that!”

Wolfen simply nods. “Common sense and thinking outside the box helps, doesn’t it?”

“Especially when I’m helping you realize it’s possible, right Wolfen?” Mordred smiles from the bridge.

For a long moment, Kongou frowns, rubbing her chin. Then she smiles, and simply pulls a gun out of it’s mountings, before handing it over to Wolfen. “It’s surprisingly easy to do, when you realize you’re more than just a ship, Dess! Take good care of my smaller turret while you ensure the new gun will fit where the old went, please?”

Wolfen nods with a smile as she accepts Kongou’s weapon, while Iku happily swims with her arms and legs, testing things.

Iku then blinks in surprise at seeing several mechanical crew from Wolfen move outside her body, look over the gun, and start measuring it carefully. Then they return, as Wolfen hands the secondary gun back.

“Got the specifics. We’ll be able to ensure it fits when we deliver the final product.” Mordred admits.

Kongou smiles, as she reattaches her guns, before pausing. “On a different note, Wolfen? Are there any signs of Abyssals? Normally we have a lot more showing up for a convoy mission like this for supplies…” Kongou asks, looking now rather curious.

Mordred frowns, as she glances over the charts, humming. “They’re too far south, but they’re grouping in massive numbers. Looks like a small army starting to form, or navy.”

“I’m not sure. The few satellite photos I’ve gotten are… confusing. There’s a huge group south of us, and by huge, I mean huge. But they’re doing nothing but gathering.” Wolfen admits.

“Here’s hoping they’re not planning to attack all at once, Dess!” Kongou smiles.

“Let’s hope you’re right…” Wolfen muses. “On a different note, have you gotten any further with your Admiral? I’ve noticed you’ve been looking into video games to play with him…”

Kongou smiles, half giggling. “Well, Fate/Stay Night was interesting to watch with him last month. Though the plot was confusing. They couldn’t get funds for much of the planned prequels after they first produced that.. Babylonia series?”

Wolfen blinks, rather confused. Mordred blinks as well, from in her comfy chair at the wheel.

“Erm… what?” Wolfen asks, carefully. “Babylonia? I thought that was part of Fate/Grand Order…”

“I heard Nasu was more concerned with his Tsukihime series, to be honest.” Kongou admits.

“That’s a lot different from what Daddy saw…” Wolfen admits, quietly. “Fate/Stay Night and it’s spinoffs exploded, where I’m from. Not Tsukihime and Melty Blood...”

Kongou blinks. “Interesting, Dess!”




Day Five of the Escort




“So, how long do these things normally take?” Wolfen asks, stretching as she does so.

“Usually about 15, 20 days.” Iku responds. “Depending on weather, or if Abyssals shoot at us to try and steal our return convoys. Considering we’re sending computer parts, microchips, and all those good things back, they don’t really see much interest in getting to the return convoys, except to harass us.”

Wolfen nods, thinking as she stretches.

“So, super fast for us, if we need to, but for anyone else? Super slow.” Mordred trails off, amused.

“Any luck in finding data in your hard drives, Wolfen?” Kongou asks with a smile.

“Slow going, to be honest. I’m having to look through my crew mates memory banks, for the few that survived the transit…” Wolfen trails off, musing.

“What exactly are your crew, anyways? I keep hearing a ‘Bzzt’ from yours?” Iku asks, curiously.

“Ah, they were a type of mechanical crewmates Daddy designed! I’ve got several manufacturing designs to be honest, as well as the tool sets to make more.” Wolfen admits.

“Huh. Friendly, but mechanical… no wonder it’s hard for you to think, Dess! We’ll have to figure out how to help you get more living crew on board!” Kongou giggles.

Wolfen smiles, stretching as she nods. “Definitely. Maybe if I can find some legendary items involving my parents, or uncles, perhaps something can be done about that?”

“Hmm. Did you ever have any crew like that on board?” Iku asks, thinking.

“Um… a few. They got moved to Daddy’s space station before things went… from bad to worse.” Wolfen admits, thinking.

“Pity I never got to meet them.” Mordred admits, grumbling.

“Define ‘bad’ please?” Kongou asks with a smile. “We’d like to help you, you know?”

“Go ahead and tell them, Wolfen. It’s the same stuff your dad told me, isn’t it?” Mordred sighs, settling back while glancing around for some popcorn.

For a long moment, Wolfen just sighs, thinking. “Daddy wasn’t sure, at the beginning, what happened. It was a huge jumble for most everyone, at first, especially considering we were working to colonize Mars at the time. The Greater Titans, the ones that existed before the gods, suddenly had an incident at the jail where a good chunk of the lesser ones involved with the Norse Pantheon, avatars for the Greater Titans, were once more sealed up again, through Daddy’s help…” Wolfen trails off, thinking.

“Then a far worse fate than Ragnarok hit, as somehow the Titans, Greater and Lesser Titans, alike, all became a single being.” Wolfen admits, quietly, much to gasps of shock, and wide, half confused eyes looking at her. “The Greater Titans, in our version of history, were… aspects of existence itself, literally having worlds within them. The Great Flood Noah barely survived with those animals, was a result of Ymir, Greater Titan of the Norse, actually being slain outright.”

Horrified silence greets her words, as Wolfen rubs her forehead. “Mommy and Uncle Fenris were drastically weakened, from helping her own mother out. I know something happened there, and it involved Mommy’s own mom dying… but I can’t tell you what happened. Too much lost data.” Wolfen admits, quietly. “The dozens of Nuclear Powered Battleships sent by Daddy to help were all lost, with no transmissions or reports sent, or even codes reporting heavy damage.”

Kongou shivers, quietly. “Not even a word, then… terrifying.”

“I got to see it. The end of the world, from where Daddy had me teleported to in Orbit as overwatch.” Wolfen admits. “That purple energy slowly encompassed the earth, and we could see time… reverse for lack of a better word for it. Going backwards.”

Kongou and Iku shudder in unison. “A trap, perhaps?” Iku asks, quietly.

“More than likely, one to reverse the clock if something happened. Daddy had an artifact of Ymir’s, that it started chasing us to Mars to retrieve. Seeing as Mommy hadn’t made plants that could actually survive Mars’ atmosphere naturally, and the air was going to run out, Daddy went for a desperate move. To jump universes entirely.” Wolfen admits, folding her arms, shivering quietly.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Kongou asks, moving over to hug Wolfen. Wolfen’s only response is a quiet nod.

“We were looking for a new universe to settle in, when we wound up in some sort of ‘Grand Grail War’, involving two sets of 7 Servants duking it out in teams… and another showing up to act as an Arbiter, or Judge.” Wolfen admits. “Called herself Ruler. She seemed nice enough, when she wasn’t poisoned and stuck convalescing in me while Mommy slowly cured her.”

“Pity she died like that.” Mordred admits. “I would’ve loved to spar with her.”

“I’m guessing you jumped around more, before you ran into what led you here?” Kongou asks, quietly.

Wolfen stretches, quietly, thinking. “Damned Eldritch Kaiju. Or whatever it was. My memories aren’t very clear of how many universes afterwards we jumped, to be honest, due to me needing heavy repairs from part of that Grand Grail War. Everything past that Grand Grail War was hazy.” Wolfen admits, closing her eyes. “I just remember horrible pain and then… drifting.”

“I’ve got you too, Wolfen. As your captain, I won’t abandon you.” Mordred admits, patting the wheel she sits in front of.

“Kind of like how we remember when we were sunk?” Iku asks, quietly.

Wolfen nods.

The rest of the day is quiet, as they sail more.




Day 10 of the Escort




Wolfen hums, as she goes along with Kongou and Iku, thinking as she goes.

“Pretty song, what’s it from?” Iku asks, smiling.

“Ah, Castle in the Sky, as Daddy first watched it over in America.” Wolfen nods, smiling.

“I wish I got to see that one…” Mordred half-heartedly grumbles.

“Huh. I think I’ve heard that music from clips of it on Teitoku’s cell phone…” Kongou muses, quietly.

“I’ve found some soundtracks for movies, and one of my crew member’s memories of some movies earlier. Just thought I’d enjoy trying to hum it. It’s not like I could before, after all!” Wolfen smiles. “Not in a way that others could hear besides Mommy, anyways.”

Kongou nods, and for a long moment, they all go quiet, thinking.

“Wolfen?” Kongou asks, quietly. “Could you check that satellite and see where any Abyssals might be? It’s gone from odd to downright disturbing that we’ve had barely any fights.”

Wolfen nods, focusing, as she links to her satellite. Then she glances up, blinking, before looking south. “There’s perhaps… hmm.” She trails off, focusing, trying to count. “A couple hundred to the south west of us, gathering. I think they might be going for an assault of some sort, towards Australia. But I simply can’t tell for sure.”

“Lemme try to get a better view, Wolfen. Give me a bit.” Mordred mutters, working on the screen in front of her.

“Why not?” Iku asks, quietly, pulling herself mostly out of the water to look over at Wolfen properly.

“I almost think it’s like a meeting, or perhaps a feeding frenzy?” Wolfen muses. “Too many ships are aimed inwards.”

“Feeding frenzy. They’re eating a couple of whales while they’re still alive and trying to get away.” Mordred mutters, grimly. “Let’s not mention the alive part, huh? They could have had the kindness of at least putting them out of their misery first...”

“Correction.” Wolfen admits, a few minutes later. “They’re eating a whale or two, and are now heading north while eating. Looks like they’ll miss us by a day or two.”

A flinch runs through Kongou and Iku.

“Let’s just, not think about that, for now. Okay?” Kongou half asks, half states, looking queasy.

Iku quietly nods in agreement.

Wolfen finally nods, thinking, before smiling widely. “So, how’s your attempts to date your Teitoku going, Kongou?”

Kongou’s face goes a brilliant scarlet, her blush shining brightly.




Day Fifteen of the Escort




“We’re getting close!” Iku admits, humming.

“Yup! Your cloaking device prepared, Wolfen?” Kongou asks, carefully. “We’re not sure if we got all those crew members on the last convoy identified, that wished to make sure you would wind up part of the United States…”

“Yeah, it’s ready.” Wolfen admits, then glances over, a wide grin on her face matched by her captain. “Now, you were getting ready to ask me for help with dating your Teitoku, weren’t you?”

Kongou blushes hard again. “Stop teasing me! Hmph!”

“I’m not teasing you at all, Kongou!” Wolfen admits, a grin on her face, as she moves over to hug Kongou from the side. “You’re becoming a good friend, and seeing you happy with him will put a smile on my face.”

“I’ll second that one. Cheery happy shipgirl is too nice for her own good.” Mordred admits, somewhat amused.

Kongou sighs, with a smile on her face. “Fine. If you have any tips, I’m willing to listen, Dess!”

Wolfen pauses, pulling Kongou’s ear to her lips, then starts whispering. “Now, this is what mommy did to get daddy to be with her…”

“Home cooked meals, Dess? That’s not too much of a problem… the legendary naked apron?! Whipped cream? What’s the whipped cream for?! Chocolate syrup, too?!” Kongou whispers, blinking. Then she starts going a brilliant red, as Wolfen describes to her in explicit detail about what those things are meant for.

“Oh my!” Kongou whispers, blushing scarlet.

“THAT’S how girls can entice men into having sex with them? Huh. Wow.” Mordred muses quietly. “I suppose that’s why so many men listen to their wives, then. Getting rewarded with something like that for doing what they want?”

Wolfen and Kongou quietly giggle, as they go over ideas on how to ensure Kongou’s Admiral will be more susceptible to her burning love, when Kongou returns to Japan.

“So if I’m in a naked apron, I should use that line, huh?” Kongou giggles hard, blushing. “Inviting him to have a bath, or a meal, or me? I’ll do it!”

For another hour, they plot and plan, Kongou working out with Wolfen exact specifics of the plan for her to seduce her Admiral. Then they sigh, smiling.

“Ah, that’ll be nice. Hopefully, it’ll work out soon. Well, at least if I’m stuck taking another airplane back, and Missouri is the one bringing the convoy halfway back to here, at least.” Kongou admits, blushing. “Sometimes we’ve got the political pull to have them help do things halfway.”

Wolfen nods, smiling, then pauses at a slight feeling.

“Aww, shit.” Mordred mutters. “Incoming Abyssals from North of us.”

“Incoming Abyssals, Kongou, Iku. Have the convoy speed up while I start heading to counter them.” Wolfen nods towards them, preparing her cloak.

“Hang on, something’s off about it. Can’t tell what yet, though. One of the IFFs is different from the others.” Mordred mutters, working at the panels. “None of the Legion of Coal are helping me like I’d hoped up here, so I have to control it myself, they’re too busy with those laser secondaries you’ve been building for Kongou.”

“Keep watch, but something’s different about one of them!” Wolfen calls out.

In the distance, they can slowly see a single Abyssal racing ahead of a group of 40 others, even as the convoy pulls further away.

“Oh, shit. That’s one of Hoppou’s kids!” Mordred snarls.

Wolfen’s eyes slowly widen as she recognizes the IFF. “First one’s friendly, Kongou! I recognize her, she’s one of Hoppou’s!”

Kongou’s eyes widen in surprise, followed by horror as her rangefinders finally spot the Abyssal properly.

Damaged guns. Burning metal. One of the arms shot off. Both aircraft launch pads melted ruins. What was obviously a new, young Aircraft Carrier Demon? Now barely floats.

“Aunt Wolfen!” A cry from her, as she desperately reaches forwards with one arm, eyes alight at seeing Wolfen there. “Run!”

Wolfen moves forwards, pulling up the young Abyssal, who clings to her.

“What happened?” Wolfen asks, glancing at the ones chasing her.

“Betrayal. Pacific Ocean’s other Abyssals… assaulting us.” A quiet whisper.

Several tiny Legion of Coal units jump aboard the Abyssal, before Wolfen gently pushes her back towards Kongou.

“Little one, stay with her. I know you might have problems with Kongou and Iku, but they’ve been letting me run this convoy in return for materials to help you and the others with.” Wolfen states, then moves towards the group behind her.

A whimper of pain is all that she hears from behind her, as she moves ahead. Towards the group that followed her.

40 Abyssals grin at her, widely. All young. More to Wolfen’s growing horror, she can identify a few of them as belonging to Hoppou.

“Why are you chasing her? Moreover, you little ones that I knew before? Why have you abandoned Hoppou?” Wolfen asks, pulling out her rifle.

“You know damn well why, Wolfen! Just SHOOT THEM!” Mordred snarls.

“Mother will belong to the greater fleet soon enough, you know?” Several smile at Wolfen. “She has failed to realize that all of humanity must fall, for us to reign.”

Silence reigns, as Wolfen looks at them, horror in her eyes.

“Why do they have to fall?! I agreed to a convoy, to get you and your mother, your aunts, all materials you needed! Equipment you could use! Your mother and her allies all have a good plan, a working plan!” Wolfen shouts at them, almost screaming. “It’s not impossible to live in co-existence!”

“And while your little group of ‘friends’ manages to live in co-existence, the rest of us gets to starve?” The others ask, in sync.

“I didn’t plan that for any of you. I hoped to see peace between humanity and Abyssals!” Wolfen retorts, then sighs. “Please, don’t make me fight you.”

“You don’t have to fight us at all!” One steps forwards, a wide smile on her face. “A simple token of blood, and service is all we require. Your service, and the blood of everyone else here that isn’t part of our group, including that little traitor that came to you for aid, the deaths of those two shipgirls behind you, and the deaths of every human on that convoy you’ve been escorting!”

Wolfen stares at the Abyssal in front of her. “You’re shitting me, right?”

The Abyssal in question smiles, shaking her head slowly. “That will happen, one way or another. All you’re going to do in this situation is make it slower, or faster.”

“Tell me why, at least!” Wolfen all but shouts, her rage leaving them blinking in surprise for a long moment.

“Part of the ship, part of the crew.” The one before her says at last, a sad smile on her face. “Branded, forced to join, perhaps. But part of the ship, part of the crew. So too is it branded by a fleet, part of a fleet!” With those words, she pulls down her shirt, showing a runic marking branded into her skin under her cleavage, covering an older marking that’s slowly fading away.

“No choice. No choice in our sailors, no choice in Poseidon’s games. No ability to keep our people that were our sailors, once! Forced to take those that openly were failed to be saved on the seas, or the monsters that ruled them. The children! The mutineers! Pirates! Brigands! Privateers! The fucking nazis!” She finishes with a scream, then, as she heaves for breath, she glares at Wolfen. “Not like the shipgirls that obeyed Poseidon’s games. The ones that won, and got to keep their crews.”

“You’re a Wo class, you can beat her!” Another calls out from behind, a wide smile on her face. Others shout out their encouragement as they all face Wolfen down, smug smiles on their faces.

Then Wolfen raises her rifle, tears dripping from her eyes, and fires the laser cannon.

The 30 foot wide beam of hot light is the last thing many see.

Wolfen dashing forwards, a 5 foot red light of death catching most of their shots, as she fires repeatedly from her rigging, leaves most of the rest of them staring in stunned horror a few moments too long for them to survive. Distantly, the fire from Kongou can be heard, with shouts of “Burning Love!”, as well as torpedoes from Iku. But Wolfen can’t register that so easily.

“She’s like a princess! No, like two princesses fighting us at once! RETREAT!” One screams, as Wolfen tears through all but two.

Two, staring at her in stunned horror. Two of Hoppou’s children.

For a long moment, they stare at Wolfen, stunned silence in the air as they stare at the massacred Abyssal fleet. Then they look at each other, before the one on Wolfen’s left quietly speaks up. “Maybe you can save mommy after all… before it’s too late for her.”

“What do you mean, too late?” Wolfen whispers, quietly.

“They’re going to make all of them join their fleet. Brand them, as we were. If we live, we’re only going to be your enemy, Aunt Wolfen.” The one on the right quietly whispers. “I’m sorry. I loved your fish. I loved your chocolate. But we’re part of the enemy side now, no matter how much we love mommy. So we’re going to have to die for you to save her.”

“Tell mommy we loved her, okay?” They turn towards each other, then mutually blow each other’s heads off, in front of a horrified Wolfen, who promptly collapses into tears. Soon enough, Kongou is gently holding Wolfen from behind, rocking Wolfen gently in her arms.




Author’s Notes:
More of the backstory involving Abyssals and Shipgirls in this universe, much to Wolfen’s trauma and horror.


There’s a lot of faceless mooks in Kantai Collection, ships that while have unique looks, aren’t really worth much of anything. Some authors all give them names. Others? Just treat them as faceless enemies to be destroyed.

I’m going for an interesting middle ground. Those that have personalities, mindsets, enough to be worthy to be stronger? Become Demons. Those that are stronger than that? Princesses.

There currently isn’t anything stronger as of yet.

That doesn’t mean that war hasn’t come.

However, as Wolfen’s starting to realize? War is hell. There is no plot armor for this war. There is no joy, no kindness, and as the war between Abyssals and humanity rapidly surges back towards “hot” once more, things are going to go back to being hell for both sides



Also, for why the fight went how it did? Yes. I know perfectly well that at first, it reads as Wolfen almost being Mary Sue-ish here. However, it’s for a kind of simple reason.

The bulk of the ships here were beginner enemy ships. Most basic ships are pretty weak in Kantai Collection. 20 hp, 5 armor, 35 hp and 10 armor, things like that. The only real threat here was the Wo class ship with 80 hp. 25 Aggravated damage from Wolfen’s Laser Cannon, as a pre-emptive strike, is going to tear through most of them like a hot knife through butter.


Next chapter you’ll see how Wolfen actually stacks up compared to Princesses...

[Kieran]

Continuing . . .

Start
*Continue*
Quit

Avalon Castle, Phantasmagoria Island (Grail Works, Ltd. Headquarters)
Outside the boundaries of time and space








To call the situation at the moment “pandemonium” would be doing a disservice to the concept; by comparison, mere pandemonium would be preferable.

In a very real sense, the idea known as “Grail Works, Limited” was Emiya Shirou; it existed not simply because it was his wish realised, or even that he believed in it, but because those who comprised it believed in him. Whether that belief was rooted in duty, familial affection, idolisation, or attraction the feeling of responsibility that came with not wanting to see him get himself killed, it was Shirou they were all here for. Without him, not only would the organisation not exist, but those who comprised it would, in all likelihood, have little or nothing to do with one another.

As it was, it was only Rin’s quick reactions which had Saber re-contracted to her before the Servant was returned to either her endless cycle of Grail Wars, or the Throne of Heroes. Meanwhile, Ilya was frowning in concentration at something none of them could see, Sakura was still in shock—with Rider trying desperately to elicit some response from her catatonic Master—while Rin was pacing the room and muttering dire imprecations under her breath, her new Servant looking mournfully dignified following behind her . . .

But all of them turned when Ilya suddenly said, “Oh, thank GOD!”

Mixes of disbelief, horror and betrayal were visible on each face—until she elaborated, “Onii-chan’s with Frid.”

Multiple eyes widened, before narrowing into slits that either seemed to or actually did glow, depending on the woman in question.

“Frid-san did this . . .?”

Sakura’s voice was very soft, like falling snow; in that, it was matched admirably by the colour her hair seemed to be becoming—

Ilya blinked and realised that no, that was actually a delusion on her part—like the way the shadows seemed to surround her in gloom . . . Still, the sheer malice exuded by the youngest (chronologically if not biologically) girl in the room was palpable, and not alone, either.

Ilya winced. “No, no—he got pulled off-plane a minute ago—”

“AGAIN?!” Rin exploded in disbelief.

“It was Onii-chan who did it!” Ilya exclaimed. “He got—what’s the word?— ‘isekai’ed,’ so he ‘isekai’ed’ Frid for help!”

There was a moment’s hesitation, before Saber nodded. “That would seem reasonable—he is largely knowledgeable about other worlds Shirou might potentially find himself in, and with the efforts you have put in to make him traceable, Shirou could re-establish contact with us swiftly.”

No one commented on the edge of hurt in her voice—the rest of them all felt the same, after all. Frid might be the logical choice when dealing with a totally unknown situation, in some ways, but not the one each of the girls wished he would have made.

“It is kind of clever of Onii-chan,” Ilya admitted, sounding equal parts admiring and disappointed.

“He’s learning,” Rin growled by way of agreement. “Finally.”

“. . . But if Sempai is there,” Sakura wondered aloud, “then why—?”

“Because this is obviously one of those ‘reincarnated-at-death’ scenarios, like in manga!” Ilya exclaimed. “But that’s no problem; we just need to get rid of the body, and Onii-chan can come home!” She shrugged. “It’s not like anyone but us knows he’s dead, anyway—or that anything’s happened at all!”

“. . . Actually,” Saber said reluctantly, “didn’t Godafrid say he would be ‘unavailable today, for anything more complicated than a brief phone call, unless it’s an absolute emergency?’”

Ilya blinked. “Oh yeah! He said he had a da—uh.”

The word died in her throat, the Grail spirit’s eyes going wide as the implications hit her—and her expression was mirrored by the others perfectly.

“Well, I need to monitor Onii-chan really closely, to know when to make contact,” Ilya said with forced cheer. “Bye!”

She vanished between heartbeats.

“I should prepare tea and snacks for company,” Sakura said, equally quickly. “Help me, Rider?”

“Of course, Sakura,” the taller purple-haired woman said immediately—and if the two did not run out of the room, they gave a good impression of seeming to.

Rin stared at the empty space of the two of them, betrayed. “Oh, come ON! I hate dealing with her—” She added hastily, “when she’s in the kind of mood that she’s liable to be in . . .!”

Saber cleared her throat. “Well, you are the Second Owner of Fuyuki, Rin—such is your duty.”

She made as if to rise, and Rin held up a fist threateningly. “Don’t make me use a Command Spell, Saber; you’re supposed to be a legendary king and diplomat, you can help me with this!”

“. . . I unwittingly presented myself so poorly that my subjects believed I was an inhuman, unfeeling monster—which eventually led to an armed revolt that ultimately wiped my entire kingdom from the historical record,” the blonde knight said flatly.

“I don’t care,” Rin said hotly. “You’re my Servant now, and I’m not suffering alone.”

Arturia Pendragon did not curse. It was not something that knights, kings, or paragons of chivalry did.

(And since no one alive but her spoke Welsh of a twelfth-century dialect, proving otherwise could not be done.)






Axel, Town of Beginnings
Kingdom of Belzerg
Date unknown









There was no doubt about it: they’d been gypped.

Sure, seven hundred and fifty thousand eris sounded like a ridiculous amount of money, unless you remembered that the “eris,” as described in the KonoSuba light novels, was roughly equivalent to the Japanese yen—to the point where it had actually referred to them as “yen” in part of the explanation!

Oh sure, it was a lot of money, by a number of measures. Just by doing conversions with currencies he knew, it would be around $7500 in American dollars, and locally, almost six times what Kazuma’s party had earned for the giant toad quest—which he’d described as equivalent to two weeks’ wages when he was doing construction work. By no means was it a paltry sum . . . Unless you knew that Frid had handed over more than 1.3 million yen in jewels, anyway.

Was he obsessing? More than a little—Frid wasn’t as stingy as Rin, but he liked to at least believe he was getting value for his money . . .!

“Shhh . . .” hissed the shadow behind his eyes, like a chill autumn wind, and bringing with it the sound of leaves scraping across stone. She didn’t like anger; not when she couldn’t direct it at certain targets, at least. It reminded her too much of—

The Bound stopped, and realised his emotions were surging for no good reason. Seeing no obvious supernatural factor (via either his own such factor or his meta-knowledge) for it, he chalked it up to teenaged hormones; confirmation that yes, Aqua’s stupid stunt had reduced his age—though how far, he wasn’t sure.

And I’m stuck like this unless this mission takes years—no matter what, I am so doomed . . .

Frid took a deep breath, compartmentalising things for the moment. So, he was a younger teen again; big deal. So the guild had taken almost half of what he’d given them; this was a “beginner town”—they probably didn’t have enough liquid funds to deal with such high currency amounts. And he didn’t really have a good idea of the value of an “eris,” anyways—until he saw what the cost of living was, he shouldn’t really complain.

But what now?

Part of the reason he’d gone to Luna’s station—aside from the fact that she was a known character—was because it was the only one with a line; it gave him time to think . . .

If they were ahead of Kazuma, then Megumin (and possibly Yunyun? They had travelled here separately, hadn’t they?) hadn’t arrived yet; she’d seen Kazuma and Aqua arguing on her entry into town. And there was no indication that Darkness hadn’t arrived within a day or two of approaching Kazuma, either—and while the lady herself wasn’t exactly ideal for watching their back in a fight, she was hardly useless. As much as Shirou would gripe about it, she’d be a perfect meat-shield for the newly-minted Archer to hide behind while sniping; and her social connections, both as a noble and to the “thief” Chris, could be invaluable going forw—

“Sir?” Luna’s voice broke into his thoughts. “It’s your turn.”

Frid had to give credit where credit was due—the lady was much better at being professionally polite than he ever was.

“I’m sorry for the trouble, Miss,” he said, as politely as he could, before setting his hand on the reading device.

It took two tries—either because it was trying to read both him and Red, or because, as a Bound, his inherent supernatural energies gave him a natural (for a given value of the word) resistance to other supernatural powers.

Whether it was the blood disciplines of the vampires, the spiritual gifts of the werewolves, the magicks of the awakened, the contracts of faeries and their changeling servants, his link to Red repelled them all. He was, in many ways, mortal—but in this, at least, he was more than that. And it worked across realities, as well. Rin’s attempts to use magecraft on him, at least directly, were repelled by the same energies, so the idea that whatever scrying ability the device used to engrave the Adventurer Card had issues wasn’t surprising—annoying, yes, but not surprising.

That might help, later on—didn’t Beldia show up because some soothsayer of the Demon King’s had foreseen “a great light, falling to Earth” in Axel . . .?

Presumably, that meant Aqua—or possibly Kazuma, Frid supposed—but it might also mean that they’d have more trouble seeing him coming . . .

“Hm,” Luna drew him out of his thoughts again. “Average Strength, somewhat above average in Agility and Vitality . . . Better on Intelligence and Magic, though not enough to qualify as an Archwizard—still, Intermediate Magic should be possible, but you’d do better with the Priest class, I think . . . And your Luck stat is very high, too.

“Really, though,” she murmured, “based on this spread, I’d recommend either the Priest or Thief classes, assuming you don’t want to just go for the basic Adventurer class.”

Frid frowned. “Based on the way you said it, I wouldn’t think I had the Agility to qualify as a Thief.”

“You don’t, really,” she replied. “You meet the bare minimum requirement; high enough to qualify, but not enough to be really good right off the bat. Except for that Luck stat—it should tilt things in your favour until you get a few levels to improve yourself. But you do have Skill Points, which is indicative of great potential.”

“And the reason you’re pushing ‘Thief’ over a magic-using class is . . .?” Frid pressed.

Luna stared at him, then sighed, and turned the card over.

Frid stared at it, blinked, then sighed. “Hey, Shirou—I can’t read the language; what does it say?”

The redhead glanced at the card, and then frowned. “Uh, where exactly does ‘Necromancy’ fall on that ‘Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced Magic’ scale you were mentioning earlier, Miss Luna . . .?”

The bar behind the counter went abruptly—one might even say, ominously—silent.

[Arbitrarity]

The intersection between ship and girl seems like the sort of thing that the game would not bother in the slightest to explore, because it messes with verisimilitude. It remains confusing here, because resources are somehow more efficient when consumed by shipgirls, I guess? But it does seem exploitable, of course.

I can definitely see that cross-universe variation you hinted at playing with. What effects that will have aren't quite yet known, but supposing a universe where Tsukihime got continued instead has some interesting implications, given what we've been told about the Human Order's ascendance in Fate universes.

Some very interesting backstory with the Abyssals here. Poseidon's games seem cruel indeed. Took me a couple of reads to fully parse what happened to them. Having your crew stripped from you feels like something that doesn't have an exact analogue in human experience, but would be terrible indeed. Definitely puts a darker spin on the Trident as well.
I am interested in seeing how you choose to narratively depict the power differences between basic ships and more powerful ones.

EDIT: Oh, I just simul-posted. Huh.

Konosuba, then. No real hints about the identity of the other member of the date, except that everyone doesn't want to deal with them, i.e. they are ill-tempered. Jeanne Alter continues to be a good guess, but I somehow feel like my expectations are being manipulated.

Godafrid is considerably more agitated than Shirou thought. And there's his... interesting powers. Definitely matches what I'd expect from his nature here, and the bias against necromancy seems quite expected. Wiz might be a useful acquaintance to cultivate, based on that.

[RanmaBushiko]

The intersection between ship and girl seems like the sort of thing that the game would not bother in the slightest to explore, because it messes with verisimilitude. It remains confusing here, because resources are somehow more efficient when consumed by shipgirls, I guess? But it does seem exploitable, of course.

I can definitely see that cross-universe variation you hinted at playing with. What effects that will have aren't quite yet known, but supposing a universe where Tsukihime got continued instead has some interesting implications, given what we've been told about the Human Order's ascendance in Fate universes.

Some very interesting backstory with the Abyssals here. Poseidon's games seem cruel indeed. Took me a couple of reads to fully parse what happened to them. Having your crew stripped from you feels like something that doesn't have an exact analogue in human experience, but would be terrible indeed. Definitely puts a darker spin on the Trident as well.
I am interested in seeing how you choose to narratively depict the power differences between basic ships and more powerful ones.

Some stories outright ignore the intersection between ship and girl, others embrace it. Others make people pointing it out as common sense, the only way to realize that things like that are options. Mordred has that magical, mystical superpower known as "common fucking sense" here. It'll help a bit.

Yeah, Tsukihime has interesting plot threads that you could make any sort of spinoffs from.

As for the backstory for the Abyssals? Most Gods are fucking dicks. Most Gods can be fucking utter monsters.

As for the sensation? I'd roughly estimate it to be the equivalent of getting lobotomized, fixed in the wrong way, then a repeat, over and over, every time one fails to keep their crew. You'll note, after all, the Abyssals didn't mention it only happening once...

As for narratively depicting the strength and power differences? You'll see once the next chapter is written...

On a different note, you'll want to read up. Kieran wrote a new snippet before you wrote your reply.

[Arbitrarity]

Some stories outright ignore the intersection between ship and girl, others embrace it. Others make people pointing it out as common sense, the only way to realize that things like that are options. Mordred has that magical, mystical superpower known as "common fucking sense" here. It'll help a bit.

Yeah, Tsukihime has interesting plot threads that you could make any sort of spinoffs from.

Well, it's more about the metaphysical implications, a world where Tsukihime is continued is one where the Human Order is weaker, or the Throne doesn't directly exist, and that might relate to Mordred lacking power in this world. It also has parallels with the existence of Abyssals.

As for the backstory for the Abyssals? Most Gods are fucking dicks. Most Gods can be fucking utter monsters.

As for the sensation? I'd roughly estimate it to be the equivalent of getting lobotomized, fixed in the wrong way, then a repeat, over and over, every time one fails to keep their crew. You'll note, after all, the Abyssals didn't mention it only happening once...

Oh I understood that implication entirely. The moral horror and violation seemed like something without direct analog in human experience, while the repetition was clear from the variety of forced crews. Ships seem attached to and protective of their crews, and so that's an important part of the horror.

On a different note, you'll want to read up. Kieran wrote a new snippet before you wrote your reply.

I did notice, yeah.

[Kieran]

Well, it's more about the metaphysical implications, a world where Tsukihime is continued is one where the Human Order is weaker, or the Throne doesn't directly exist, and that might relate to Mordred lacking power in this world. It also has parallels with the existence of Abyssals.

There's that, yes - personally, I'm pushing for a Magical Girl Altrouge spinoff that has Fou as her mascot, with Primate Murder as his "combat form" . . .

I did notice, yeah.

Given that your reply was the leading one just before I posted, he might not have realised that it was actually a later post; everybody's signals were getting crossed at that hour, I guess.

EDIT: Oh, I just simul-posted. Huh.

See what I mean?

Konosuba, then.

Well, I figured I might as well finish that particular cliffhanger - though I fear I managed more comedy in the Works' scene than in the KonoSuba world itself . . .

No real hints about the identity of the other member of the date, except that everyone doesn't want to deal with them, i.e. they are ill-tempered. Jeanne Alter continues to be a good guess, but I somehow feel like my expectations are being manipulated.

Again, she would be interesting (and it would certainly explain Saber's reaction), if I could figure out how to justify it . . . As things stand, given that Rin is the one complaining the most, someone like Caren, Luvia, Reines or Olga Marie seems more likely. Heck, even Akiha is a possibility - or Fujino or Ryogi Shiki, if I stretch things a little - although RB keeps trying to push Ereshkigal as an option . . .

(. . . And granted, if this is someone who can look heartbreaking when upset - you know, one of those innocent people it hurts to see cry, like Mash, then Ereshkigal might make sense . . .)

Godafrid is considerably more agitated than Shirou thought.

Well, leaving aside whatever his personal issues are (for now) . . .

Unfortunately for Godafrid, while they use a variant of the same rule system, characters of the New World/Chronicles of Darkness (like Sin-Eaters) are not the powerhouses that Scions or Exalts are; heck, they're even weaker than their predecessors of the Classic World of Darkness games (and yes, that includes mortal characters). They get a much lower amount of Attribute and Ability points - which may accurately represent vanilla mortals compared to the divinely-empowered, but it means he's a lot less naturally competent and a lot more squishy. Shirou may actually be in better shape than he is.

And there's his... interesting powers. Definitely matches what I'd expect from his nature here, and the bias against necromancy seems quite expected. Wiz might be a useful acquaintance to cultivate, based on that.

She'd be a useful acquaintance, period, given her history. What interests me story-wise (among many other details) is that her difficulties making a profit lie in the fact that she doesn't just sell largely-useless things - she "sells end-of-game equipment in a beginner town." Which, given the amount of money they have on hand, Shirou and Godafrid might actually be able to afford . . .

[Xamusel]

Hey, Kieran, I have an idea that's gonna require use of the Tohsaka sisters, Medusa, and Arturia. Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal Shirou's harem away from him, far from it. Indeed, this idea would be able to give them a better chance at fighting off certain threats, if that makes sense. The idea revolves around a Campaign that follows a certain tabletop RPG's rules (13th Age, if you're curious). On top of that, it'll be something of an introduction for my primary MC... who may or may not be a Self Insert. I'm still debating that one.

On that note, yes, I still plan to do the Reign of Winter story in its entirety. It'll just need a fair bit of adjusting at this rate.

[Kieran]

Hey, Kieran, I have an idea that's gonna require use of the Tohsaka sisters, Medusa, and Arturia.

Well, I suppose that gives me more of an excuse to exercise the Tsukihime side . . .

Don't worry, I'm not trying to steal Shirou's harem away from him, far from it. Indeed, this idea would be able to give them a better chance at fighting off certain threats, if that makes sense.

It doesn't, but I assume the context will be clear in-story.

The idea revolves around a Campaign that follows a certain tabletop RPG's rules (13th Age, if you're curious).

A rarity.

On top of that, it'll be something of an introduction for my primary MC... who may or may not be a Self Insert. I'm still debating that one.

You've had my advice on that score.

On that note, yes, I still plan to do the Reign of Winter story in its entirety. It'll just need a fair bit of adjusting at this rate.

You've had my advice on overcomplicating things before, too.

[RanmaBushiko]

Chapter 5: Princesses and Pain



Wolfen sits on the ocean’s waves, crying, as Kongou holds her tight.

“I’m here for you, Wolfen. Just try to breathe, and relax with Kongou. She’s got you safe in her arms, okay?” Mordred whispers in Wolfen’s bridge, gently, patting the panels she has access to. “Just cry it out, as long as you need to. I know it hurts, especially with how much we’d helped them over those few days.”

“I’m here, Wolfen. I’m here…” Kongou whispers, softly, into Wolfen’s ears, as she gently rocks Wolfen, helping her relax slowly.

Wide eyed, the young Abyssal Aircraft Carrier Demon watches, even as she quietly eats food to refuel.

After a few moments, Wolfen towards the Demon in question, before pulling her close and hugging her, too. “I’m so sorry! If I’d been a little faster, maybe I could have saved more of your siblings!”

“We couldn’t have, as much as I wish it was otherwise. But… if wishes were fishes, as Erik would say.” Mordred admits, quietly.

Kongou just bows her head. “You were busy making a deal with Teitoku, Wolfen. Nothing you could have done would have changed things.”

“I helped raise them, damn it!” Wolfen shrieks, shaking for a long moment. “Those poor children… Not even 19 days ago, I was teaching them how to fish, Kongou! How to learn to gut their food, how to search for clams, even what sort of pearls they might come across to be able to trade to humanity for supplies!”

“Auntie Wolfen, we don’t blame you!” The Aircraft Carrier demon speaks up, as she moves to hug Wolfen with her remaining arm. “It hurts to be around Shipgirls… I remember losing my crew while they kept theirs, being better than us, so many times… but Mama Hoppou said that the one you’d likely be traveling with would be nice, if you said she’d be nice.”

“You heard her. She doesn’t blame you. Hell, she’s trying to trust Kongou right now! Trust in them.” Mordred gently encourages Wolfen.

Slowly, Wolfen nods, hugging the young Abyssal back. “Tell me what happened.”

“That…” The Abyssal Demon in question pauses, thinking. “We’d just settled down on Midway for a training exercise with Mama Hoppou! One of Aunt Ayako’s would be training with us, so we switched our shells out for some practice rounds. Then, half an hour earlier than the assault was planned, we’d heard some explosions in the distance. Aunt Ayako was heard shouting to switch the training shells back, then we didn’t hear anything but gunfire from their location for a long time…”

Aircraft Carrier Demon pauses, frowning. “It gets a bit hazy, but… the last thing I clearly remember was a bunch of our sisters suddenly getting ambushed by submarines dressed in black, Mama Hoppou shouting at me to escape and find you, to ask for your aid, then having to evade far too many fleets on my way out.” She admits, quietly. “Now I’m so badly damaged, I can barely float, and…”

Aircraft Carrier Demon, pauses, looking behind Wolfen at once of the cargo ships, getting closer.

“Well, we know the basics, at least. Still, what’s with that cargo ship?” Mordred mutters, grumpily.

“By the new United Nation Rules, we get to execute that one!” A sailor calls out, gleefully.

“Don’t kill the idiot.” Mordred mutters.

Wolfen pauses, glaring at the ship, then simply moves in between the sailor and the Abyssal.

“Oi! Get out of our way! We’ve got an 8 inch shell with that Abyssal’s name on it!” the sailor calls out, growling. “Huge bounty for the ship, if we can claim that one’s life with video proof!”

“Again, don’t kill the idiot, Wolfen.” Mordred states, louder this time.

“I’ll send you some crew, and give you some food, okay?” Wolfen asks, quietly, her eyes far harder.

“I don’t recall that being authorized as a rule! Are you sure of your sources?” Kongou calls out, loudly.

“It’s one according to the United States! Don’t forget who’s helping get you your food, girl! Now, get your friend to step aside, so we can tear that one to bits for what’s been done to us!” More sailors call out, as they grin. “We’ve got backup on the way, ever since that fleet showed up, including the Mighty Mo!” The first sailor grins.

Wolfen stares at them, quietly, even as a portside gun slowly turns to aim at her.

“Don’t kill the idiot, Wolfen. Be prepared to catch the round, but don’t kill him.” Mordred continues to state, eyes narrowed.

“Could you stop?” Wolfen asks, glaring.

“Nope! Too many good American citizens were slaughtered by monsters like her, little shipgirl! Now, obey our laws, and move!” The sailor retorts, with a grin. “You can’t ignore a Lieutenant, can you? All you shipgirls start far too low to have any ranking when it comes to us right now!”

“He’s just an idiot that won’t listen right now. He’s likely lost family to Abyssals. Don’t kill the idiot. I know you want to, but that won’t solve things here.” Mordred continues trying to calm a ticked off Wolfen. “Point out that she’s a child, see if that calms the moron down, okay?”

“She’s a child. Moreover, she’s a child of a group that’s hoping to trade with humanity, not raid it.” Wolfen retorts.

“I don’t give a shit, if she’s a child! She gets the gun!” The lieutenant retorts, frowning.

“You’re ruining a plan from someone far above your paygrade with your belligerent actions, sailor.” Wolfen retorts.

“Again. I don’t care.” The lieutenant grins. “You can tell your admiral your sob story, when we’re done sinking that there bitch behind you, but move your ass, shipgirl.”

“Now, he’s pissing me off. Get ready to shoot that gun out if he continues being this stupid, but don’t kill the idiot. We can’t afford to do that again after we took out that rival of Admiral Kouzuki.” Mordred growls.

Wolfen’s eyes narrow, as she summons her rigging. “And if I sink your ship for trying to ruin the plan that can keep the entire Pacific Ocean safe from Abyssals attacking humanity?”

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY, WOLFEN?!” Mordred snarls.

“You… what?” The Lieutenant pauses, staring at the rigging. “You don’t have a chance of doing that, girl. Not as long as you’re a naval ship of the United States, or Japan!”

“I wasn’t built by either, I’m afraid.” Wolfen’s eyes narrow. “Nor am I held hostage by being under someone’s command. So, will you reconsider your situation, knowing that I’m escorting this convoy for the sake of helping out Kongou, not because I care about you and your issues?”

“DAMMIT, WOLFEN! WE CAN’T KILL THE STUPID BASTARD! I KNOW YOU WANT TO, BUT IF YOU’RE GOING TO BLUFF, YOU HAVE TO BE READY TO BACK IT UP!” Mordred all but shouts from her chair.

“I’ve detected Missouri and two other ships, closing fast, Wolfen.” Iku pulls her head out of the water, to warn them.

“Aww, I was scared for a moment there, but it looks like Mighty Mo’ pulls through! My, you’re that ship that got away from her, though, aren’t you? Talking with the Abyssals behind our backs, are you?” The Lieutenant in question grins. “Now, move away from the girl, or else you’ll get shot by us to-” His further words are interrupted by a sharp crack.

A long pause, as the Lieutenant glances to his right, to the destroyed cannon he was getting ready to shoot at Wolfen, then back at Wolfen lowering her rifle.

“Good job, Wolfen, and thank you. You had me worried there, damn it.” Mordred sighs with relief.

“Don’t piss off the shipgirl with a railgun, you asshole lieutenant.” Wolfen sighs. “I get that you’re mad, but she’s a child.LITERALLY A CHILD. Moreover, you’re endangering a time sensitive, critical operation with your actions, Lieutenant, that’s from high up enough in the Japanese Military that if word of this leaks, you’ll be scrubbing toilets for decades if you’re lucky.”

“I don’t see no time sensitive mission, I see an injured Abyssal that should be put out of her misery, and a dangerous shipgirl who’s firing upon a convoy she’s supposed to protect!” The Lieutenant retorts.

“Shut up.” Kongou states, climbing out of the water, and picking the Lieutenant up, to glare at him. Then, she pulls him over her shoulder, and starts walking off with him.

“Iku! Catch!” Wolfen calls out quietly, before tossing the newly finished laser secondaries to the shipgirl in question. “Get them to Kongou, while I get Aircraft Carrier Demon out of here, okay?” Iku quietly nods, catching the two devices, before swimming a little deeper to hide them in her hold.

“You will put me down right now, or else I’ll see you stripped of your pay, girl!” The Lieutenant retorts.

“Get out of here, Wolfen, do as you need to do!” Kongou calls out. “I’m going to introduce the dear Lieutenant to tea, and have a long talk with him about how foolish he’s being!”

“Tea?! We have an ABYSSAL TO SHOOT AT! I don’t care about TEA!” The Lieutenant retorts, as Wolfen picks up Aircraft Carrier Demon, in her arms, before both slowly fade out of view.

“Where the fuck did those two go?! LET ME GO, so I can shoot the one, and capture the other!” The Lieutenant shouts. “My orders were to ensure Missouri brings that shipgirl into protective custody, and I’m going to ensure that she goes into custody!”

“You’re seriously going to try and make a shipgirl with a cloaking device follow your orders?” Kongou retorts, darkly. “You aren’t my admiral, you aren’t my chain of command. You’re just a traitor to humanity, hoping to steal Wolfen’s secrets for your own gain, before both our nation's burn from the enemy.” Kongou continues. “Get out of my sight, you don’t deserve my tea.”

With those words, Kongou throws the Lieutenant away, leaving him on the deck, breathless, and staring at Kongou with no little horror.




15 Minutes Later…




Kongou sighs, looking at USS Missouri sailing up, a large smile on her face. “Well, if it isn’t Kongou! Enjoying the slower cargo transport ride here? I’ve come to take your ‘friend’, Wolfen, into custody.” Missouri calls out, a smug smile on her face.

“You just missed her, I’m afraid. Some of the classified work she’s been doing for Teitoku seems to have almost been ruined in the last day or so, and one of your Lieutenants was ready to destroy the remaining work.” Kongou smiles sweetly.

“Oh, to destroy a damaged, hurt Abyssal?” Missouri continues on with a smile. “They’re all trash that should stay dead, Kongou. No more, no less. We’ve been summoned back to destroy them all, not to disobey superiors!”

Kongou sighs, shaking her head quietly. “I see your Admiral has almost decided to commit an act of war against Japan, then, by shooting at an allied ship under orders from my Teitoku himself.”

Missouri stills, a bigger frown on her face.

“I’m afraid that I don’t care if it’s considered an act of war to you, Kongou. She will be taken in, and produce equipment for the good of America!” Missouri continues. “We have an order from quite a few Senators to that, as well as Generals.”

“Pity you missed her, then, hm?” Kongou shoots back, her arms folded. “Also, keep that mouthy Lieutenant off of the convoys, if you know what’s good for him. I’m surprised Wolfen didn’t blow his head off for being an asshole and blowing every form of operational security for this.”

Missouri pauses, then looks at Wolfen, amusement in her eyes. “I’m sorry, are you saying that she was ready to kill the Lieutenant?”

“Considering she’s been making in-roads with a group of Abyssals, in an attempt to get them to trade with humanity over warring with humanity and us?” Kongou shoots back. “The Lieutenant was ordering her to let him shoot a young Abyssal that she’d helped raise, and teach to fish.”

Missouri pauses, actual conflict in her eyes for a moment. For one long moment, she turns to look at the now bone white Lieutenant, hidden in the doorway. “Yeah, if I’d been ordered to murder a kid I’ve taught how to fish, I’d be shooting at the idiot ordering me to do that, too. Shit. You don’t just kill a kid you’ve taught how to fish, you know? It’s just not right or how things are done back in the state I’m named for.”

Missouri sighs, softly, then looks at Kongou carefully. “Damn, what a clusterfuck. They’re friendly, then? If she’s teaching them how to fish, she’s trying to civilize them, after all.”

“Not to us, Dess. But they’re friendly to humanity, and wish to trade with them.” Kongou retorts.

“Why the fuck not us, Kongou?!” Missouri growls, glaring.

“That involves a lot of classified intel that Wolfen managed to give us, Missouri. You’re a shipgirl. I’m fairly sure you’d fight for humanity, over a Lieutenant’s orders, if it came down to it…” Kongou pauses as she gathers her thoughts before continuing. “But Wolfen’s come across what the hell they’re fighting for in the first place, and why that nightmarish month where those Abyssals attacked in the first place, happened. Teitoku has classified it to the utterly highest level. Myself and Teitoku are the only ones that know what the hell is going on, because Wolfen entrusted me with the information as well.”

“More political bullshit?” Uss Missouri asks, halfheartedly.

“More the other politicians are trying to see either him die, or us marry the way Arizona did the last Admiral Richardson, so my Admiral is out of the way of their plans? Including multiple plots of ordering me to see China conquered, possibly with a Nanking 2.0 involved?” Kongou retorts. “If it wasn’t for Wolfen stepping in, at the cost of any political help for her long term? My Admiral would be dead. Those… animals had explosives set up in every inch of the base Teitoku normally goes to, as well as in Teitoku’s personal home.”

Missouri stills, flinching outright. “Shit. I… shit. We’re both in a fucked up situation, aren’t we?” Missouri admits. “Fuck. I’m sorry.” Missori finally says, with a sigh.

“What little I can say, though, is that we don’t remember what the Abyssals fully do, Dess. And they came back, thinking we all came back with, for one single, long battle to end all battles…” Kongou admits. “Winner rules all, literally.”

“But we didn’t all come back.” Missouri states, then freezes, as cold horrible realization sinks in. “Only a very small number of us came back! The rest…!”

Kongou quietly nods, then glances down at Iku sneaking something into her right palm.

“The rest didn’t come. Something’s terribly wrong from what little Wolfen managed to find out from a tribe of Abyssals that want trade, or tithes on caravans of goods.” Kongou admits. “The Abyssals are utterly terrified, especially of us.”

“Where exactly did Wolfen go, Kongou?” Missouri asks, quietly.

In the distance, both pause, listening to a distant sound of several jet engines firing up, before the sound rapidly fades away. Kongou and Wolfen both stare at where the sound was, then at each other. “I’d say that was her, cloaked, heading off to fight a bunch of Abyssal fleets, and princesses, to save a friendly group. Or at least a friendly leader.” Kongou admits.

“Subtle, Wolfen is not.” Missouri admits. “But if she’s got multiple jet engines on board, the plan for ships to catch her won’t actually work. My stupid, stubborn admiral...”

“Here’s hoping she’ll be safe. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be talking with Iku for a while.” Kongou replies, quietly.

Missouri silently looks at the bone white sailor staring at them. “And I have a disloyal sailor who didn’t ask the right questions, to punish.” Missouri admits.

For a long moment, Kongou sighs while watching Missouri sail off. Then she glances down, before casually pulling out two of her secondary guns, and sliding the new laser rifles into the places where the prior guns were before.

Then, reality seems to almost twitch as text seems to appear in her vision.

“Alternate Faction Equipment Registered.

To properly equip this equipment, you must leave your current Faction!


Warning! New Faction is not aligned to the war you are in! Faction will recieve no benefits from fighting in the War for Poseidon’s Trident!

Do you wish to leave the Faction of Shipgirls: Light, and discard your enmity with the Faction of Abyssals: Dark, in return for joining the Faction of Prototype Aerial Battleship Wolfen?

Yes
No”

For one long moment, Kongou stares at it, and the giant glowing yes and no buttons at the bottom, floating in midair. Then, she asks aloud, quietly. “Can I look this over later, please, when I’m with my Admiral?”

Kongou blinks at the screen changing in front of her.

“Arbiter of the War has acknowledged your query. Please remove equipment until your decision is made.”

Kongou looks down, slowly removing them, then focuses, storing them within her ship’s hold quietly, before putting in her old secondaries with a quiet frown.

Then Kongou blinks in realization. “Wait, that screen called her a WHAT?” Kongou whispers, quietly. “Wolfen’s amazing, Dess!”




With Wolfen, at the same time




Wolfen sighs, adjusting herself. “Stay quiet, little one. My cloak’s covering us, but I’ve gotta figure out how to fly us both out without being noticed. If I move wrong, they’re definitely going to see me, and even if I adjust myself right, they’re likely to hear my engines when they fire up.”

“I’m a Demon, though! I’m a big sister now!” Aircraft Carrier Demon retorts, a smile on her face. “Thank you for helping with repairs, though!”

“Mmhmm.” Wolfen nods, quietly. “Now, can you hold onto me like this?”

“Not a problem, even with one arm!” The Demon in question smiles back up at her Aunt.

“I’m going to have to save your mom, so we’re going to have to be careful with this one. My fairies should help you with most of your repairs, though, okay?” Wolfen admits.

Aircraft Carrier Demon nods with a smile.

Wolfen looks back up, still bent over, then focuses, adjusting internal systems slowly until they both slowly rise up out of the water to float in the air.

“Calibrating electromagnetic systems to counter the forces of gravity… check. Spinning up Jet Engine Thrusters 1 through 8… check. Adjusting fuel flow for maximum speed… check. Firing up Secondary and Tertiary Reactors… check. Bringing my Main Reactor to full power… check. All systems nominal for assault.” Wolfen mutters, as the main thrusters slowly grow to a whine.

“Ragnarok countermeasures… offline. Cannot access. Radiant Wave Surger online and ready… check. Fifteen 500 pound bombs modified for cloaked firing… check. A clip of 20 railgun rounds, modified for cloaked firing… check. Mecha launchers ready… check. All systems are geared for Aerial Assault. Launching!” With those final words, the thrusters engage as one, even as Wolfen starts humming the tune of Danger Zone.

“We’re going so fast, Auntie Wolfen! This is AMAZING!” Aircraft Carrier Demon squeals with glee as she realizes the sheer speed they’re going at, before blinking. “Eh? I don’t have water in my damaged spots? We’re flying?! AUNTIE WOLFEN, WE’RE FLYING!”

Wolfen giggles softly, hugging the damaged Abyssal Demon in one arm. “We are! Just keep a good grip on me, okay? I don’t want to drop you at this speed!”

It takes roughly an hour of flying time, before they see the storm over Midway. A massive storm, rain constantly pouring down, as steam and vapor flow up, making the rain look somewhat closer to a monsoon than rainwater.

Cracks of lightning flicker within, as more and more fog and water raises up from the ocean to join the storm and fuel the rain within.

“How’s your repairs, little one?” Wolfen asks, quietly.

“I won’t sink, but I don’t have guns yet. The new arm is wonderful though.” Aircraft Carrier Demon admits, quietly. “You mentioned mecha before?”

“Still not sure how to launch mine, I’ll admit…” Wolfen trails off, thinking. “Unless you have ideas?”

“If Mecha is like planes? Focus on your big gun, visualize your… mecha in a clip, several per bullet. Then fire. The bullet should turn into planes, or... whatever a mecha is?” The demon in questions admits. “That’s what I saw back before this war started, anyways. At least Mama Hoppou can ensure most of our sailors aren’t bad ones…” She trails off, frowning. “Unlike before…”

“I’ll talk with her about things, afterwards. Okay?” Wolfen whispers, quietly. “Now, grab my legs with both hands, and pull yourself further up, okay? We’re going to need to dampen the sound from my engines as much as possible for me to save Hoppou.”

Wolfen sails on, then slowly enters the massive storm, quietly searching as she looks around. There’s a noticeable flinch from them both, as the cloak flickers for a moment, weakening, before slowly fading back into full power.

“That’s not good, is it?” Aircraft Carrier Demon whispers, quietly, as Wolfen slowly lowers, her eyes narrowed.

“No, no it isn’t, kiddo.” Wolfen mutters. “I’m extending the cloak enough that keeping you in it and myself invisible is more fragile than normal.”

For a moment, Wolfen thinks, before handing Aircraft Carrier Demon a knife. “Use this if you need to cut bindings on Hoppou, okay? I’ll distract them while you get her and get out.”

Aircraft Carrier Demon nods, as Wolfen lowers her into the sea. Then, with narrowed eyes, Wolfen moves off, the sounds of her thrusters inaudible now.





15 minutes later...




“You’re sure of this working?” Southern War Demon asks, the four arms, complete with hands, sticking out of her rigging and holding her against the soil of Midway Island below her. Below, a long poker with an elaborate insignia at the end slowly heats up within the gaping jaws of her engine room.

Nearby, lies the unconscious figure of Hoppou, on the dirt. Drenched with rain, covered with injuries, she’s definitely had a harsh battle. Steel cables hold her in place to the ground.

“I am. She’s an installation, yes, but she’s one of their weaker numbers, with only Anti Aircraft batteries for defense. Since she’s run out of planes, Northern Ocean Princess is within our clutches.” Airfield Princess retorts, a wide smile on her face. “All you have to do is use those new, super hot engines of yours to heat up the Brand hot enough to fully take, and all debts are settled, Southern War Demon.”

Southern War Demon quietly nods. “I owe you. Just understand, you’ve given your oath that I won’t be branded and forced to bend the knee, Airfield Princess. I don’t take betrayal lightly, and if it means I screw over your war effort, branded or not, I’ll do my best to die before bowing.”

Airfield Princess frowns, before nodding with a sigh. “Fair enough. I just want those shipgirls to be done with. As do you, I think. The sheer amount of trauma the oldest ones put us through, I can’t forgive them.”

“Nor can I.” Anchorage Princess, along with a younger looking Anchorage Demon, walk up. “Midway Princess is held back, for now. Though Battleship Princess is having issues with their own Battleship Princess.”

A sigh comes from Airfield Princess, before she stretches, the two airstrips to each side of her jiggling as her body moves. “I’m glad your artillery cannons work well against them and their fleets, to be fair.” Airfield Princess admits.

“Indeed.” Anchorage Princess admits, before frowning. “Still no sign of the fleet we sent after Northern Ocean Princess’s little Demon, though. Do you think the ones that were turned, could have been lying about an allied Shipgirl?”

“Someone taught them how to gather food in those ingenious ways.” Anchorage Demon admits. “Gives a much higher yield than hunting whales did for us before, at least.”

A slow nod from Airfield Princess is all that’s answered, before she looks up. “Deepen the storm. I don’t want anyone or anything to get through.”

“Yes.” The group, barring Southern War Demon reply, as the rain increases from a monsoon with occasional lightning strikes to a thunderstorm filled monsoon, rapidly growing in size to encompass over 3 miles.

“Brand is at 75%, Airfield Princess!” Southern War Demon shouts.

“Hoppou… where is Hoppou?” A quiet whisper greets them, as Hoppou snaps awake.

“Oh? The guest of honor has awoken, just in time to realize she’s failed to keep her children safe, as well as herself!” Airfield Princess smiles calmly, walking forwards.

“Hoppou won’t forgive you for doing what you did!” Hoppou snarls, trying to pull herself up, then winces at chains groaning, but not letting her go. “This…!”

“Oh, we had Harbor Princess help make sure they’d hold up long enough for you to be dealt with, I’ll admit.” Anchorage Princess admits, a look of amusement on her face. “Can’t let you outperform all of us, you know what I mean? You’ve destroyed the balance of power in the Pacific Ocean far too much with your little antics, you and your group.”

Hoppou glares, sullenly, the loud thunder from constant lightning strikes all that’s illuminating her face. “If Hoppou wasn’t out of planes, Hoppou would deal with you here and now for this!”

Loud laughter erupts from the group, before Airfield Princess kneels to look at Hoppou. “Sorry, but we win.”

“Brand’s at 95%. Get it to full heat, like ordered?” Southern War Demon asks, her arms folded.

“Of course! We should ensure our guest succumbs properly and can’t fight it off, you know?” Airfield Princess smiles, the smug look on her face growing ever more pleased with herself, as she continues on. “It’s not like your Battleship Princess can save you, you know? There’s so many Battleships, after all, and she’s fighting another Battleship Princess!”

“Ninety Eight Percent! Almo-” A loud crack interrupts Southern War Demon, as an explosion detonates in the gaping maw of her body. “Enemy attack!”

A snarl erupts, as Airfield Princess and Anchorage Princess both start releasing massive numbers of fighters, spreading out as they search. A few seconds pass, as their eyes narrow.

“Any sign of the attackers?” Anchorage Princess calls out, loudly.

“Negative, I can’t spot a thing in this rain, nor can my fighters.” Airfield Princess calls back, her eyes narrowed.

Another crack interrupts their searching, before Southern War Demon screams in utter agony, slowly pulling out the Brand with one shaking, damaged arm. The other is desperately held against the gaping mouth, as she shakes with pain.

“That next shot drove it into my boiler! It was only bare luck that I wasn’t branded!” Southern War Demon calls out, holding her stomach. “Oh, that hurts so bad, too!”

“Tch.” Airfield Princess mutters, quietly, before raising her voice. “Lower the storm’s potency, the rain isn’t letting us know where they are! We’ll have to use sight to target them. Anchorage Demon, can you make sure the Brand is fine?”

“Of course, Ma’am!” With those words, Anchorage Demon moves forwards, her long hair flapping in the wind.

The monsoon lessens, as does the lightning storm, leaving dark clouds overhead with light falling water.

Another crack sound erupts, from their southwest, before Southern War Demon’s head detonates. The detonation rapidly reaches her magazine, leaving her going up in a massive fireball, sending the Brand flying.

“Oh no you don’t! Anchorage Demon shouts, running towards the Brand, as the fighters of both Airfield Princess and Anchorage Princess fly towards where the sound came from, mouths wide open and breathing fire as they rush towards the place the sound came from.

Then a chorus of confusion erupts from the Abyssal fighter planes, as they find nothing.

“Where the hell did they go?! I was planning for Southern War Demon to fall deeper into my grasp, not get sunk! It’ll take months before she resurfaces with a new crew!” Airfield Princess screams.

A moment later, another explosion occurs, as the Brand is sent flying into the water. A long hissing sound occurs, as all five people on the island stare, Hoppou with joy and the others with rage, as the heat goes out of the Brand.

“I couldn’t reach it in time, my Princess. Punish me as you will.” Anchorage Demon admits, shivering.

Airfield Princess narrows her eyes, and steps forwards. “Coward! I label thee coward! You, who fights with smoke and mirrors! Come out or Northern Ocean Princess gets what’s coming to her since we can’t brand her! DEATH!”

Eyes narrow for the group, as they stare. Up near the clouds, Wolfen breathes out, as she repeatedly launches several groups of Mecha Fafnir jets to harass them, then shivers as she waits for her cloak to resume.

The 25 jet dragons move down, launching attacks and bombs, but nothing results in actually doing damage to the 4 enemy Princesses below.

“What, are you out of range to hear me yourself, then? COWARD!” Airfield Princess growls, batting away a dragon trying to fire flamethrowers into her eyes, as she approaches Hoppou.Wolfen’s eyes widen, then narrow, as Airfield Princess picks Hoppou up, then puts one of her gun turrets directly against Hoppou’s head. “Call off the attack, or she dies! I know your fighter planes can hear me!”

For a moment the fighters pause, before pulling away. “Tch. Annoying little things you have, but they’re not good enough to beat us!” Airfield Princess snorts. “Now. We can do this the easy way, where you leave, or we can do this the fun way. We fight, and the loser serves the winner. Of course, if you miss, then my cute little hostage will take the attacks for me!” Airfield Princess grins.

A thirty foot laser beam slams into her head, barely missing Hoppou as the only reply she gets. For one long moment, steam hangs in the air, before Airfield Princess appears, hair somewhat singed.

“Was that your best shot? I’ll give you credit for not hitting her once, but now that I know you have such a wide attack…” Airfield Princess trails off as she smiles. Then she frowns.

“Wolfen, we can’t cloak yet.” Mordred admits, breathing out. “Not sure how we’re going to defeat them, either. I’m low on Legend from the ring Erik made me. We’ve got maybe one more cloak before we’re out, completely.”

“You think I’m out of tricks, then?” Wolfen calls out, frowning. “Still, I accept your little challenge.” Wolfen then pauses, looking at the Radiant Wave Surger on her left hand. “I’ve still got an ace to play, after all!”

Airfield Princess frowns, as she hears loud engines fade rapidly. Anchorage Princess also frowns. “I’ll pull my planes back, I suppose.”

The three move, then pause, at the sight of sunlight in the drizzling rain, a hole in the clouds letting them see sunlight for one long moment, before their abilities leave the cloud cover unbroken once more.

“What the hell is her trump card?” Airfield Princess frowns. Then the frown turns to joy, as she spots their allied Battleship Princess in the distance.

“Glad to have you back! We’ve got issues with an ally of Northern Ocean Princess harassing us, but the foolish girl agreed to an older style Pacting Fight.” Anchorage Princess calls out. “One against our Airfield Princess here!”

Battleship Princess frowns, nodding. “That other one was irritating to get away from. They’re taking names, too.”




Meanwhile, 2 miles up...




Wolfen frowns, locking her rifle to her back, as she checks up her systems. “I’ve only got one shot at this, Mordred, but I think it’s the best way.”

“We’re going to do a hell of a lot of damage to your internal structure pulling this, Wolfen. Are you sure?” Mordred asks, carefully. “It’s a hell of an idea, I’ll admit, but it’s dangerous to us, as well. ECM is keeping satellite footage from spotting us, but I can’t guarantee we’ll be able to do this trick too often.”

“Their armor is too thick for anything else we can throw at them, Mordred.” Wolfen admits. “And with the cloaking function not an option until you can regenerate more Legend? It’s the only thing I can think of, left. I can’t produce nukes yet, after all, and it’s going to take me a month or two for one.”

Mordred nods. “Let me buckle up first, then. Also, keep in mind we’re down to 25% fuel, Wolfen. You’re pushing your engines hard here, we’ll need time to check for issues after this is over.”

“Roger that, my Captain.” Wolfen grins, then looks down.

A loud click from within Wolfen’s head sounds, before Mordred smiles. “Ready!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR5RY7pnMGI (Joker and the Thief ~ Wolfmother)

With that word from Mordred, Wolfen rolls, aims her head down, then fires her thrusters at full power, sending her rapidly down towards the cloud cover below.

Faster and faster she goes, her speedometer giving her higher and higher readings as she pushes her jet engine thrusters to their limits, with the addition of gravity helping her move towards the enemy far below.

Then, Wolfen grins, activating her Radiant Wave Surger as she plows through the cloud cover, the fog rapidly vaporizing around her left arm as she continues speeding up, dropping more like a meteor.

Down below, Wolfen’s eyes catch Airfield Princess’ own eyes, the sound obviously alerting her foe below to her incoming presence.

Dozens of planes snap towards Wolfen, dashing in and launching attack after attack, as Wolfen descends into a massive amount of firepower from the terrified Airfield Princess. A flinch from Wolfen leaves Airfield Princess grinning with glee, as multiple hits make their mark on Wolfen’s hull, some punching through.

“Spider silk layers in the walls can’t hold up to this punishment long, Wolfen! GET HER!” Mordred shouts, barely heard over the whine of the jet engines. Airfield Princess smiles with glee, even as Anchorage Demon grabs Hoppou and pulls her back.

Then Wolfen slams into Airfield Princess, and carves a five foot sphere through her body like a hot knife through butter. It’s followed by a horrifying crunch as Wolfen slams into the ground, flight systems unable to counter the sheer amount of inertial force Wolfen had put herself through.

“Looks like you won!” Anchorage Princess smiles coldly at Wolfen. “Pity that killing her meant you can’t get her services after she comes back with a new crew, of course! But now that you’ve been damaged so heavily… sink!”

With those words, the four Abyssal leaders open fire on Wolfen, punching massive holes into her superstructure while ignoring Hoppou entirely.



Author’s Notes:
First, on Missouri and Kongou here? You’re starting to see aspects of their crews influencing them and their mindset. They’re not exactly human with their origins, and things slip through here and there on how they’re not exactly human in mindset. Doesn’t stop them from protecting humanity, though.

You’re also seeing more backstory on how much humanity dislikes the Abyssals right now. Imagine the sheer clusterfuck that had to have happened to islands, island nations, Hawaii, Panama Canal… really, anywhere with access to water deep enough for a ship, and you can see why that Lieutenant was so pissed.

Kongou and her situation, finally, is a little more unique. What she’s seeing is how her mind understands the message she’s getting, rather than things being more literal.

As for Wolfen’s foes?

Not too many princesses and demons were around this early in the game. You are however, seeing the beginnings of what would be several Kantai Collection events. Wolfen’s meddling goes farther than she knows...

As seen here, the group of loosely allied Abyssals working with Wolfen has sparked most of the other 2013 Demons, Princesses and the like to look over at them, and decide they’re a threat that needs to work under them. Mostly because Hoppou and the others have the ability to eat and feed themselves now, and with warm food, and comfortable shelter? They’re getting a lot more kids fed, so more young Abyssals survive, becoming major threats, etc. A slowly growing threat that the other Abyssals want absolutely no part of fighting. If it wasn’t for Wolfen, Hoppou and the others she’s allied with? Would have become a threat to be dealt with in 2014, by the Japanese Navy, clearing out the Pacific Ocean inch by inch. Now they’re a steadily growing power, instead.

The only weak one out of the combination of Anchorage Demon, Airfield Princess, Southern War Demon, yet another Battleship Princess aside from Misato, and Anchorage Princess, is Southern War Demon, with a paper thin armor of 10, much like Wolfen’s 15.

Every single Demon and Princess involved in the early game? Has over 100 armor, barring Southern War Demon. Who was implied to have her armor been a typo… irritatingly enough. Seeing as she’s the sole second generation demon boss of the entire franchise at this point, though? I’ll settle for her being the enhanced small fry of the group. Especially since Wolfen came into one of the worst situations to date for herself. Wolfen might have an overwhelmingly large offense, for most small fry, but it’s not nearly enough to outright kill more than one princess solo. Mostly because the only way for her to deal with her opponents right now is lots and lots of explosives and lasers, or using the Radiant Wave Surger at full speed. Which carries the risk of the damned thing outright shattering when used like that. The explosives have to break through armor to do real damage, and lasers are the only thing she has that can melt enough armor to do real damage.

That doesn’t stop Wolfen from getting a lucky shot in, here and there, or detonating an explosive inside a gaping, fire breathing jaw, for more damage, however…

Ironically, this comes from Scion being much more health point heavy than armor heavy. Scion: Companion has a listing for Yamato, as being 15 armor and 75k hp. In comparison, Kantai Collection’s Yamato has a base hp of 98, and armor of 88.

Wild, vastly different situations, huh? Considering Wolfen was built with 15 armor, and 100,000 hp, she can survive a lot of things that would sink others. At the same time, any shots into her will, as seen here, likely punch straight through dangerously sensitive equipment that she can’t afford to have damaged. So her armor is almost literally paper-thin in the setting.

Comparing that to the 100, 200+ armor some enemies have in this setting?

Yeah, Wolfen’s going to have issues down the line for damaging the real strong stuff.

Add in the fact that the only one thinking in her head is Mordred? It’s going to take a long while for her to realize how she can fix things, I’m afraid.

Also, that song only lasts for the intro, while reading this. But it's a good intro for the song, nevertheless. And let's be honest, a little variety in the music isn't bad...