Firing her torpedoes in a concentrated salvo, Shigure ducked as the ship girls and Abyssals began their shelling and torpedo salvo.
And as Saratoga, Chitose and the Anchorage Demon sent out their planes amidst the chaos, Shigure noted the Abyssal Mark ll Fighter and Dive Bomber Planes flying towards them.
Shigure heard the voice of someone crying out in pain behind her, but she forced herself to ignore them as she fired her cannons in order to distract the rank and file Abyssals, thus allowing their bomber planes to accurate drop their payloads, Haruna's shell hitting the Anchorage Demon's shields and causing vibrant red ripples to dance across the previously invisible shields.
Shigure dived to the right in order to avoid the dropped payload of the Mark ll Dive Bomber, noting through the spray of seawater as a result of the detonation of said payload that Haruna and Chitose's combined Anti-Air fire managed to take out an incoming Abyssal plane, the Dive Bomber bursting into flames as it failed to pull up in time to avoid the sudden hail of Anti-Air gunfire.
She heard Kagerou's energetic voice call out,
"That's the spirit!"
Before being forced to evade a Ho-Class's medium-caliber shell.
Arare and Sendai's torpedo salvo struck the lone Ri-Class heavy cruiser as they worked together to force the Abyssal to evade one salvo, but was then steered into the path of another salvo, and while the Abyssal heavy cruiser was engulfed in a watery hemisphere of doom, Shigure could see that it wasn't killed by the torpedo salvo.
Second and third-degree burns plagued her left leg as she stepped out of the smoke, and while charred flesh was starting to peel off of her bones, flames were dancing on her left arm cannon as armor plates fell into the ocean.
The burns caused a copious amount of bleeding as ruptured vessels oozed out blood and fuel, further fueling the fire on her boots as they slid down her thighs to be ignited by the burning boat slippers, the flames licking at the descending drops of fuel and tempted them to rise up and further burn the weakened Ri-Class's leg.
Shigure could hear somebody grimly order,
"Put her down!"
A Type 99 Dive Bomber swept down in order to carry out the ship girl's orders, but the Abyssal was clearly still functional as she raised her arms to allow her Anti-Air turrets to take out the incoming bomber, succeeding as the armor plates of the Type 99 Bomber were shot off, sparks flying before smoke quickly erupted from the fuselage as the plane was quickly compromised.
The Fairy pilot ejected from its plane and activated the parachute in its ejector seat, but the spiraling plane droned on and spilled out smoke and fuel as it spun out and inexplicably smashed into the face of the damaged Ri-Class in an unintended, yet successful kamikaze attack.
The payload which the Type 99 Dive Bomber carried detonated at point-blank range, and killed the Ri-Class as Shigure looked away from the ensuing fireball, firing a round at a Ha-Class destroyer as she noted the Abyssal's final condition.
Blood and fuel was spurting out of the Ri-Class's neck, missing its entire head save for what remained of its burning steel skull as the corpse collapsed onto the ocean surface, knees hitting the ocean before she collapsed forwards as the Ri-Class's internal systems failed and allowed the spreading flames to cremate the sinking corpse.
Haruna shouted,
"Evasive maneuvers!"
Shigure snapped back to attention and strafed in order to evade the barrage of large-caliber shells fired from the cannons of the Anchorage Demon, whose Beast extruded a few large-caliber cannons from its flank which were previously hidden by the Demon's large dress attachment, shells whizzing past them as the Demon let fly a broadside salvo along with her powerful autocannon mount.
The Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer turned around to find that Jintsuu was taken out before this, joining the three other injured ship girls as she saw that Jintsuu was lying supine on the ocean surface, using Naka's legs as a head rest as she took fast, deep breaths while Kuroshio applied pressure on a wound on her stomach.
Arare sailed in as the Asashio-Class destroyer covered her with another torpedo salvo, accurately hitting the Anchorage Demon's shields and causing the hexagonal plates to flare up in violent red hues as explosions of water vapor flew everywhere and drenched the Anchorage Demon.
Sailing away from the large-caliber cannons which were shifting towards them in order to avoid getting shot at, Shigure sailed towards the remaining Abyssal posse and fired her cannons along with Shiranui, Kagerou and Arare in order to try and take out the Ha-Class destroyers to eliminate the possibility of the Abyssals crippling their battleship and carriers with torpedoes, allowing them to focus on the Anchorage Demon.
This succeeded as they torpedoed the destroyers into oblivion, their exoskeletons falling apart as the explosion blanketed them with a series of devastating explosions as Arare's torpedo smashed into the flank of the pretty-much destroyed Abyssal, wiping it from the face of the Earth as Arare held up a fist and cheered lazily.
"Score…"
Shiranui warned, sailing around the Anchorage Demon along with Kagerou as she explained their next move to Arare and Shigure over the radio.
"Arare, stay back until your torpedo launchers finish reloading. I counted the number of torpedoes which you launched, and you've fired them all. Shigure, Kagerou and I will fire any other torpedoes we still have in our launchers to open up a path for Haruna and Sendai to engage the Anchorage Demon."
Arare retreated in accordance with Shiranui's orders, and gave Shigure a quick nod as Shigure sailed up, emptying her torpedo launchers along with the two Kagerou-Class destroyers in order to fire as many torpedoes as possible to try and break the Anchorage Demon's defensive shields.
And as expected, the Abyssal Demon winced and recoiled as the torpedoes hit their mark, the sound of something shattering signalling the destruction of the bottom layer of the shields, leaving the Beast vulnerable to torpedoes as a result.
Shigure called out to Saratoga over the radio, performing evasive maneuvers as the Beast sent out another two Abyssal Mark ll Dive Bombers in order to incapacitate them before they could take advantage of her period of vulnerability.
"Saratoga-san! The Anchorage Demon's torpedo shields are down, and you can use torpedo bombers to try and take her down until her shields come back online!"
Shigure was then tag-teamed by the two Ho-Class light cruisers with their torpedo salvos, so that even when Shigure evaded one, she would be hit by the other, since the two Abyssals were obviously coordinating their actions to deal as much damage as possible while working together.
Performing a desperate roll on the surface of the ocean, she realized too late that this was actually a three-part plan as an Abyssal Mark ll Dive Bomber swept down for a bombing run, heading for her as its machine guns fired in order to soften her up.
Shigure put all of her energy into all her limbs as she pushed off in a great burst of speed in order to evade another attack right before the bomb detonated on the ocean surface, the high-temperature shock-wave of the explosion lifting her clean off the ocean as though a big bad wolf had blown her off her feet.
She felt weightless for a millisecond, the world shifting into a high shrill as she was showered with a powerful wave of seawater hitting her like a freight train while her ears rang with the echoes of the explosion, before gravity finally decided to kick in and drag her back down.
She hit the ocean while the thrown-up seawater threatened to drown her as a giant tidal wave pushed her into the ocean, Shigure struggling to learn how to swim in the midst of battle in order to try and swim back to the surface, tasting sweet, sweet air after accidentally inhaling seawater, causing her to hack and cough upon surfacing.
"AACCKKHHPPTT!"
And the first thing she saw was the Abyssal Demon sailing towards her, blanching and feeling the fear of being killed by the Demon settling in so fast, she instantly turned tail and scrambled back towards her retreating teammates, Saratoga's TBF Avengers dropping their torpedoes into the water in order to cover her escape as Shiranui called out.
"Be careful, Shigure. That cannon likely won't work now, after you were dunked in the ocean and likely drenched the gunpowder. Use your torpedo launchers from now on."
Shigure looked down at her 12 Cm Single Gun Cannon, grimacing as she attempted to fire a shell and felt her stomach drop upon hearing the cannon produce nothing but a damp and hollow, "Click".
But she looked down at the Fairies which were standing on her rigging as she coupled the cannon to her rigging, allowing her Fairies to fix her cannons as she noted that two of them were standing on her left shoulder, both of them dual-wielding hair dryers in order dry the gunpowder through home appliances.
Saratoga's Dauntless Dive Bombers swept down along with another two Type 99 Dive Bombers in order to destroy the Demon's shields, and Haruna was limiting her cannon fire to consecutive fire in order to strike at the same spot on the Anchorage Demon's shields repeatedly, concentrating all her damage on a single plate.
The Demon attempted to point the violent-red plate away from the Kongou-Class battleship, but with the help of Arare and Shiranui, who forced the Demon's hand with their concentrated salvo, it bought enough time for Haruna to fire another shell into the compromised plate after re-positioning herself.
And much like the dripping water which cut through stone with persistence instead of force, Haruna's last large-caliber shell broke through the Demon's shields much like a pin piercing through a bubble, smashing through the shield and barely missing the Abyssal Demon's head by a margin, her long, pale hair flaring up wildly in the wake of the large-caliber shell as her crimson eyes widened in surprise.
Everyone could hear Kagerou bemoan,
"Ah, so close!"
But as the Anchorage Demon prepared another salvo by pointing her torpedo launchers in their direction, Shigure watched out for a possible trap as she cautiously sailed in between the torpedoes whilst watching out for the aviation battleship's large-caliber cannons.
She noted how they were shifting to try and shoot them down as soon as they were bottle-necked by the Anchorage Demon's torpedoes, which forced them to sail through the gaps in between the salvo, Shiranui evading a large-caliber shell by the skin of her teeth as the shell threw up a shower of sparks upon grazing surface of her rigging.
The Kagerou-Class destroyer flinched and ducked a second late as an instinctive reflex even when the shell already missed her, Sendai covering her as she threw an armed torpedo towards the compromised hole in the Abyssal Demon's shields.
But the Anchorage Demon was prepared for this, spotting her entrance before she threw her torpedo, and the Beast's right arm tensed up in order to propel itself towards the left, gaining an incredible burst of speed as its arm muscles all activated in order to evade Sendai's torpedo.
Watching the Type 93 Torpedo detonate on the surface of the shield and cause one hell of a wave to ripple across the holographic shield was almost mesmerizing, the sheer brilliance of the fireball causing everyone to shield their eyes with a raised arm, also done in part to protect them from the scorching heat.
Sendai was then treated to the sight of the Anchorage Demon adjusting itself in order to aim its cannons at her, her expression morphing into one of shock as she barely had the time to exclaim,
"Oh, shit!"
Before diving to the side and putting a little spin into it in order to evade the incoming large-caliber shell which flew towards her, hitting the ocean hard as the enemy shell landed behind her and doused her in seawater as a result.
But this spectacle was all a distraction to draw the Demon's attention to Sendai, Shigure spotting a tubular projectile being flung into the air by Sendai at the last second before hitting the ocean.
The Anchorage Demon noticed the Type 93 torpedo spinning in the air, projected to land on her weakened upper shield layer and utterly destroy her holographic shields entirely, further extending the repair time and leaving her vulnerable as a result.
But the Abyssals weren't known for simply giving up, the Abyssal Demon muttering a simple, "Tch…"
And focused all her Anti-Air turrets on the torpedo in order to destroy it before it landed on her and detonated its payload.
But despite her best efforts, her Anti-Air turrets simply weren't up to the task of shooting down a thrown torpedo which was spinning in mid-air, shrieking as her shields caved in and allowed Sendai's torpedo to envelop her in the resulting fireball.
"Aaaaahhhhh!"
Shiranui ordered stoically,
"She's open to attack. Sink her."
And even though Shigure and Kagerou gave her strange aside glances in order to note her determination to take down the enemy without mercy, but eventually fired their torpedoes in a salvo alongside Shiranui and Arare in order to crush the Anchorage Demon in a series of devastating explosions, Haruna chipping in with her 35.6 Cm Twin Gun Cannons while Chitose and Saratoga sent out as many bomber planes as possible.
The dropped bombs, large-caliber shells and torpedoes absolutely devastated the Anchorage Demon as they all synchronized their attacks to land at the same time.
And even when the Demon's Beast attempted to gain another burst of speed in order to evade the incoming barrage, they only managed to strafe into Arare's missed torpedoes while successfully evading the other destroyers' salvos.
It was then hit by of Haruna's large-caliber shells, Saratoga's Dauntless Dive Bombers and Chitose's Tenzan Torpedo Bombers, the Beast stalling in the midst of performing evasive maneuvers due to tanking the damage of Arare and Haruna's respective salvos, overwhelmed by the amount of damage it sustained as everyone looked away at the resulting explosion which would have instantly sunk most Abyssals.
But the Anchorage Demon wasn't like most Abyssals, and amidst the thick, wafting smoke and steaming water vapor which descended like fine afternoon mist, everyone could see that a red light was brightening like a red-tinted spotlight, a previously low-pitched whir increasing in intensity before reaching a crescendo.
Hearing someone behind her shout, "GET DOWN!"
Everyone dived out of the way as a massive, red-colored energy beam carved a canyon through the smoke and seawater, displacing everything in its path and causing chaos in its wake as Shigure struggled to try and regain her bearings after coming into contact with an enemy weapon which she hadn't known about before.
She should have known about this, since she had prided herself on wanting to learn more about everything, but in the midst of battle, she didn't have time to reprimand herself for her lack of research on the enemy as a drenched Shiranui hauled her up from the ocean by her collar and arm.
Shigure could see that the Abyssal Demon was heavily damaged, her hair smoking, her skin charred by harsh burns and was colored with her own blood as she scowled, her uniform singed at the edges as her black underwear was visible underneath her partially burnt one-piece dress and large coattail attachments.
Her Demon was similarly hurt as its steel armor was wracked with serious cracks and holes which allowed them to look into its bleeding insides, its muscular arms missing chunks of flesh as Haruna's shell clipped it in several areas while its fingers were twitching in pain, coughing out red-hot mist in order to cool itself down after firing a hyper beam from its jaw.
Looking around, she noticed that Arare was hit by the beam, the upper right portion of her uniform top burnt off save for her training bra, the Asashio-Class destroyer missing her chimney hat as she winced while lowering her left hand which she used to shield herself, tearing up and hissing in pain.
"Ouch…"
Shigure knew that in a real battle, an attack of that caliber would have vaporized Arare's right arm and a large portion of her body which was marked out by her partially burnt uniform, the radiating heat from the beam likely searing off half of her face as the mild burn now was a stark reminder of that.
Predictably, Tone acknowledged this over the radio as she called out,
"Arare is too damaged to continue the battle!"
Everyone now knew that they were left on the ropes by the Abyssal's hyper beam which no one, not even Shigure, had expected, and Saratoga seemed to echo this thought as she asked of everyone while they all performed evasive moves in tandem, drawing their fire while Shiranui evacuated Arare to safety.
"Did anyone know what the hell that was?
I didn't know that Demons could do that, even if I understand that they're stronger than even battleships and carriers!"
Shigure shook her head despondently, telling the truth about how her first encounter with an Abyssal Princess didn't include a hyper beam being thrown their way.
"I never saw this technique being used by the Southern War Princess. I'm sorry, Saratoga-san, but I never expected this either."
Kagerou was the one to pipe up about how this technique was uncommon amongst Princesses and Demons, and how doing their homework would've prevented Arare's injury from occurring in the first place.
"Well, some Abyssal Princesses and Demons can perform a hyper beam, and in these situations, it's best to do your homework beforehand in order to know what you're going up against.
This was our mistake, but we can cinch this victory in order to make up for it."
Shigure could see that the Demon was preparing its remaining large-caliber cannons to fire in their direction, hearing Haruna bark, "Break!"
And everyone broke formation in order to throw off the Anchorage Demon since she wouldn't know which one of them to aim at.
But the Anchorage Demon unfortunately chose to aim at Haruna, the Kongou-Class battleship desperately trying to evade as Chitose's Model 21 Type 0 Fighter Plane tried its best to distract the Demon with its machine gun fire.
It was then shot out of the air as the irate Anchorage Demon focused all of its Anti-Air fire on the irritating fighter plane in order to avoid taking any more damage, holes being torn into its fuselage, left wing and vertical stabilizer fin in order to compromise its ability to fly.
A Fairy pilot ejected from the quickly descending plane in order not to get trapped by the seawater pressing onto the glass window of the cockpit and turn it into an underwater coffin, the Abyssal ignoring the Fairy which activated its parachute in order to focus solely on the ship girls.
Her Beast prepared another salvo of torpedoes and cannons, firing them all en masse in order to cast as wide a net as possible in order to catch as many ship girls as possible, and Haruna had to take slow steps in order to evade the torpedo salvo.
Her action of ducking saved her skin as a shell threw up massive amounts of sparks upon grazing the roof of a 35.6 Cm Twin Gun Cannon, a sharp, metallic screech screaming out throughout the battlefield as she narrowly avoided some sort of ammunition explosion, the dance of countless yellow sparks fizzling out upon hitting the ocean.
Shigure looked to Shiranui, seeing the look in her eyes as the Kagerou-Class destroyer met her gaze and nodded, Kagerou and Sendai sharing their knowing look as they all ran forwards, everyone else giving their all as Haruna aimed all her cannons while Saratoga and Chitose sent out every plane they had.
The Anchorage Demon responded in kind by firing all her Anti-Air cannons and charged up another hyper beam, the Beast producing more steam than usual as its exhaust ports discharged exhaust while the insides of its widened jaw brightened incrementally.
Shigure, upon hearing the Beast's high-pitched whirring reach the same crescendo before firing its hyper beam, heard Kagerou shout grimly,
"Break formation!"
Everyone strafed, some using their boost gauges in order to quickly accelerate out of the way of the hyper beam, Shigure cringing at how hot the beam was even at a distance, since even if it wasn't at steel-melting temperatures, it was still hot enough to cause minor burns on a ship girl's skin.
Hearing Haruna shout over the wireless radio, since she likely predicted that the chaos would be too loud for everyone to hear her orders, Shigure could hear Haruna's urgent voice become uncharacteristically serious as she shouted,
"FIRE EVERYTHING!"
Everyone did just that, the Anchorage Demon facing a triple threat of dive bombers, large-caliber cannon shells and torpedo salvos as she and her Beast desperately tried to look for an exit.
But it was not to be as the Abyssal Demon was engulfed in the mother of all explosions, dive bombers scrambling to get out of the way as everyone was forced back slightly by the blast wave which radiated from the epicenter.
The resulting fireball reached up to four meters in height, Shigure almost falling over due to the force of the blast wave as she thought that her damp hair and uniform would inexplicably be dried by the heat which accompanied it, finally seeing a figure struggling to sail out of the smoke.
Whatever internal mechanism allowed the Beast to charge a hyper beam to fire at the ship girls, it obviously misfired as parts of the Beast's upper jaw was blown right off, flames licking at the dead Beast and Anchorage Demon as the fire spread unchecked within the insides of the large alien carcass.
The Beast's fingers were twitching, its death throes playing out in a last, desperate attempt to keep itself alive as it failed to receive any orders from the deceased Demon, whose charred skin and burnt dress were nothing compared to the smoke which she exhaled through her mouth, her bloodshot crimson eyes dulling and rolling up as the Anchorage Demon duo fell as a result of its Beast losing its hold on the ocean, finally expiring after one hell of a battle.
Shigure heard everyone exhale tiredly, realizing that she let out a breath which she didn't realize she was holding as Sendai and Saratoga collapsed onto the ocean, fine misty vapor settling on the battlefield like the curtain falling after the climax and resolution to a great play, the Abyssal sinking back into the ocean to be repaired by the base for another fleet to fight some other day.
They had won.
It was by no means a perfect victory.
Far from it, it was messy and full of mistakes which could have been prevented if they were more experienced and were thus faster on the draw, like Ayanami and Arare's injuries which were the result of slow reflexes and a lack of knowledge about their opponents.
But it was a win nonetheless.
Shigure lowered her head tiredly as Tone sailed towards them in order to conclude the tiring training session, allowing them to hit the docks before going for dinner.
Their injuries weren't fatal since the amount of damage the Abyssal bots could do was toned down in order to speed up the recovery process and allow the ship girls to attend another training session as soon as tomorrow, something which Shigure was looking forward to after realizing the limits of their capabilities.
Sailing towards the edge of the Safety Zone meant that they might encounter Abyssals which were stronger than the Anchorage Demon.
And while it was best for them to avoid conflict as much as possible since they weren't the strongest fleets around, engaging in firefights with the Abyssals was seemingly inevitable, and they had a lot of training to do if they wanted to survive the upcoming sortie on the 14th of May.