She had known many versions of Abyssal Yamato—but not a single one had ever uttered the word retreat. That word didn't exist in their tactical vocabulary. It never had.
"A-Akagi and Kaga have both been sunk. The enemy is overwhelmingly powerful," said Abyssal Yamato, her tone heavy.
"We must preserve ourselves and bring the intel back to that person. That's what truly matters."
Abyssal Kitakami cried out anxiously, "It's not over yet! We've got three hundred thousand troops right here, and reinforcements are still rushing to this location. This isn't the end of the road yet!"
Abyssal Yamato was about to respond, when suddenly, Bismarck's thunderous roar rolled across the sea like crashing thunder, echoing in her ears even from dozens of nautical miles away.
For someone like Bismarck, that distance was nothing.
Abyssal Yamato looked up.
Within the vanguard of the Abyssal army—dense as an ink-black cloud—something had pierced forward. A sharp, black-red aura lanced out like a soul-hunting spear.
Bismarck's aura was like blood so thick it had turned black—darker than even the Abyss itself, darker even than the other Abyssals around her, who had been born of pure negative energy.
Abyssal Yamato shivered.
"No time to argue—we must escape now!"
She grabbed Kitakami's hand and turned south, trying to flee.
But Kitakami didn't budge. Her body remained frozen in place.
"What are you doing?!" Abyssal Yamato roared at her.
Kitakami stared coldly at her senior.
"Yamato, you still have a chance to redeem yourself. We J-class shipgirls inherited the spirit of a nation with weak people and barren lands, and yet we dreamed of the mightiest navy. To us, there is no such thing as 'impossible'!"
"If the J-class is doomed to lose, let it be at the hands of people like you—arrogant, ignorant, and delusional!"
Abyssal Yamato violently shook off Kitakami's hand and fled south like a dog with its tail between its legs.
Kitakami shook her head lightly and muttered something she never would've said before.
"Hah. Just as expected from the 'Yamato Hotel.'"
"Where is Abyssal Yamato?!"
A thunderous shout rang out from behind.
Bismarck had already broken through the Abyssal vanguard, exactly as those old war tales described—charging forth with her lance raised high!
Like a silver bottle bursting into spray, like iron cavalry breaking through with blades ringing!
Kitakami turned around to face her.
"I'm your opponent," she said calmly.
Bismarck looked at the small, frail girl in front of her, frowned, then glanced southward.
There, she saw Yamato fleeing alone against the tide of the advancing Abyssal army—an image impossible to miss.
"So that coward was Yamato... Get out of my way. You are not my opponent."
Yamato was a target specifically named by Kuramoto Hikaru—far more valuable than some unknown Abyssal flagship.
Bismarck activated her propulsion, ready to speed past Kitakami—but Kitakami raised her hand.
Thirty-six torpedoes flew out in a triple-layered fan formation, completely sealing Bismarck's path.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The cannons on Bismarck's sides fired in rapid bursts, blasting apart the incoming torpedoes.
But the one blocking her path remained.
Bismarck frowned.
"Even Yamato ran away. Why are you still here to die?"
Kitakami spread her arms wide. More torpedoes appeared from thin air around her—ten, a hundred, a thousand...
"To die with honor is better than to live in shame."
Bismarck froze, for the first time truly looking at the weak figure before her.
"What's your name?"
"Kitakami."
"Good." Bismarck reached to her side, grabbed a naval cannon, and hefted one of the barrels like a melee weapon.
"Then I'll grant you death!"
Behind her, an endless barrage of torpedo detonations rang out—not ten, not a hundred, but thousands, tens of thousands.
Abyssal Yamato trembled.
She recognized that sound—Kitakami had gone to battle.
That idiot...
She hadn't been running slowly, and by now had reached the 150,000-strong Abyssal main force, originally under Kitakami's command.
Over a hundred Abyssal shipgirls silently stepped forward to greet Yamato. They were all high-level battleships, most over level ninety. With Kitakami gone, their command structure had fallen into chaos.
"Kitakami is engaging Bismarck. Encircle and eliminate her!"
The Abyssal battleships accepted the order and marched off. The lower-ranking shipgirls followed silently, like wolves trailing their alpha, their movements full of cold coordination.
Abyssal Yamato exhaled slightly in relief—only for something in her peripheral vision to catch her attention.
She turned her head upward toward the sky.
The stormclouds—billowing with wind and rain—had been pierced by dozens of streaking rainbow-colored flashes. These airborne reapers locked onto Abyssal Yamato and dove, howling through the wind and rain with the piercing scream of death itself.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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