The moment Hikaru said it, nearly everyone frowned.
"Z17's skill is terrifying, yes," Repulse cautioned, "but the instant she uses it she'll draw every gun. She'll be the focus of both sides—and I'm worried she won't live through it."
That was the tradeoff with Z17: the curse she laid on an enemy flagship was so oppressive that your whole side would naturally concentrate fire there—while the Abyssals would throw everything at Z17 to stop her. And she was still a paper-thin destroyer; she wouldn't survive many volleys.
Hikaru, though, was set.
"This fight's ugly. We have to take risks. If survival is the issue, then give her two—no, three—Elite Repair Fairies." He looked across Bismarck, Veneto, and the rest. "With that safety net, can you bring her back alive?"
Veneto crossed her legs with a little huff. "One Elite Repair Fairy is enough. I'll have a very thick invulnerability shield to cover the retreat."
With that as a floor, they could at least extract her, even if the strike failed.
But why insist on inserting Z17—the most fragile piece—into the spearhead at all? As formed, the spearhead was three monsters: Bismarck with her 'unsinkable' kit, Veneto with her saintly shield, and Missouri who could be rotation-swapped out in a pinch; all three would carry Repair Fairies. They could plausibly even force down Abyssal Musashi. Adding Z17 made the formation a double-edged sword; one weak link could flip the whole thing.
"Even if we're hunting Musashi," Prince of Wales ventured, "I don't think we need to go that far—"
"Not Musashi," Bismarck said, eyes brightening as the pieces clicked. She looked straight at Hikaru. "If I'm right—your target is the Airfield Princess."
Hikaru clapped, grinning. "As expected of you, Bismarck—our war-god."
Veneto's temper pricked; she nudged Hikaru's shin with her toe. "And why is the target her? That one will sit way in the back. She's far harder to kill than Musashi."
As a carrier-type, the Airfield Princess could be a hundred nautical miles behind her vanguard—two hundred there and back. That was a very long road. If the spearhead ran that deep, then for at least an hour the base would be missing its three strongest hitters. Pressure on the island would spike, maybe past the breaking point.
That ran against Hikaru's earlier concept—hold the line with Repair Fairies and Quick Repairs, grind the enemy down.
Hikaru tipped his head toward Bismarck. "Since she's read me, let her lay it out."
Bismarck stepped to the table, tugged a chart over, and traced with her finger.
"If the Admiral chooses to raise Vestal to 100 and keep her with the carrier group, Lexington's team becomes dramatically tougher. The Abyssals will press hard… and then find torpedoes and gunfire do nothing to her. Her evasion is beyond what they expect."
Prince of Wales nodded along. "So they'll bring the base forward and let 'Roasted Sweet Potato'—the Airfield Princess—hammer us from closer range. That thins her local guard and puts her closer to us."
"Exactly."
Bismarck drew a straight line from the island to the Abyssal core and circled both ends.
"It's a tightrope. We'll have to punch a corridor through five million bodies, reach the Airfield Princess, kill her, and then get out intact. Meanwhile Lexington's team must hold the island—while Musashi and company almost certainly throw everything at it. That's the part that worries me most."
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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