Our Bonds

Some details of our next operation have been released. There will be one in the Mediterranean island front, and another in the Barant Sea. I don't like this. They will be so far away from me! Maybe I can sit out on this operation. Yeah, screw the orders. I'm not letting my girls go that far!

"What are you talking about?! Don't be childish!" (Zuihou)

Ah. Did I say that out loud?

"Ufufu. I know how you feel. I also don't want my fleet to go that far. Maybe I can ask father to let us sit this one out." (Rei)

"Commander Rei, not you too!" (Zuihou)

"And then there is that problem with Azur Lane. They have an upcoming operation in the Philippines sea. Something about a thorn maze. We might need to provide assistance if they request it."

"Oh yeah. They said the maze itself is hostile. It will attack without warning." (Rei)

"Can't they just burn the whole thing down? It's a plant, right? They have some shipgirls whose attacks can set things on fire."

"Maybe they haven't tried anything yet. I know they are still trying to scout the area, but their drones keep getting destroyed." (Rei)

"Hmm. Ah whatever. Anyway, I don't want to join the next operation!"

I heard my bedroom door open. Shigure walked out slowly, rubbing her eyes,

"Ah. Sorry Shigure, were we too loud?"

"No. It's about time I wake up anyway." (Shigure)

There were new orders for every Naval district to initiate nightly patrols. There have been reports of unusual sea activity occurring in the night. Destroyer I-class and Light Cruiser He-class have been spotted near the shoreline on multiple occasions HQ is afraid that the Abyssals might launch an attack in the middle of the night so the alert level has been raised. I kind of understand them raising the alert level because this is unusual behavior. Abyssals are not so active at night, and They usually stay away from the shore at that timing. During the night, they will return to their usual haunts and move around in circles or plant themselves at one spot.

Today, it's Shigure's turn to be on patrol. She was taking a nap before preparing for her sortie. She will be going along with Yahagi, Amatsukaze, Shimakaze, Murasame and Satsuki. A Torpedo squadron or Destroyer squadron is more efficient when it comes to night battles. Under the cover of darkness, their mobility and torpedoes often catches the enemy by surprise. Of course, the enemy could do the same to us. So it's kind of a double-edged sword, but with the use of star shells, the odds are in our favor most of the time. If it fails, one of them is equipped with a searchlight. Apart from letting the fleet see their target, the enemy can also see the owner of the searchlight, making her an easy target. This tactic is extremely risky, so it's only used as a last resort, or not at all.

"Did you prepare the star shells before hand?" (Zuihou)

"Unn... I brought them out yesterday." (Shigure)

"Hopefully nothing shows up." (Rei)

"Moron! You can't say that! You will trigger a flag!"

"We will be fine. If we are lucky, we may be able to sink one or two Abyssal destroyers." (Shigure)

"I pray that will be the only dangerous thing you guys do tonight."

I hear a knock on my office door, before Yahagi enters,

"Excuse me, Admiral. Is Shigur- Ah. I knew you would be here. Come on, let's go. You need to put on our night equipment." (Yahagi)

"Okay. I'm going now, Admiral, Commander Rei." (Shigure)

"We will be off." (Yahagi)

Before the two of them walked out, I called out to the light cruiser,

"Yahagi,"

"Yes?" (Yahagi)

"Keep yourself and everyone safe. Make sure the six of you come back alive and well."

Yahagi just smiled at me,

"We will. I promise." (Yahagi)

I watched their backs as the door closed behind them. I can't help but worry. My gut is telling me that something bad is going go happen.

"Can we launch some night planes?"

"We don't have any land-based ones, only carrier-based ones. Relax. They will be fine. Probably... See! Admiral's nervousness is affecting me as well. Ahhh! Idiot! Now I'm worried too!" (Zuihou)

"Yeah. I'm going to get them to equip Emergency Repair Fairies."

"Both of you, calm down! It's just a patrol near the base waters. There's no need for any worry." (Rei)

----------------------------------------------

Shigure POV- 0100hrs- 6 hours after sortie-

So far, the seas are quiet. We have been patrolling for quite some time now. We thought we saw some movement to our starboard but it was just a JMSDF Destroyer on night lookout.

"I'm bored! There's nothing to do!" (Shimakaze)

"Come on. Focus. We are not doing this to have fun. The enemy could attack us at any moment." (Yahagi)

"The Abyssals won't attack at night!" (Shimakaze)

"They will. You have been through night battles before, so you should know." (Yahagi)

"I agree with Shimakaze-chan. It's not like the Abyssals actively seek out an target at night. They haven't been doing it for years, so why now?" (Satsuki)

"Maybe the Sirens are involved again. We know they can affect the Abyssals one way or another." (Murasame)

"Whatever the case is, we have to follow our orders. HQ is on hight alert, so that means we have more work to do."

"Amatsukaze, what are you looking at?" (Shimakaze)

Amatsukaze was quietly looking upwards, towards the moon.

"Say, has the moon always been this big?" (Amatsukaze)

We looked up at the moon. It does seem pretty big. Eh? Was it a full moon today?

"Wait, isn't today a half-moon? It was half just a moment ago." (Satsuki)

"Yeah. I could have sworn it's an half-moon today." (Yahagi)

There was a loud ear-piercing shriek, follow by an explosion in the distance. I can see something burning in the distance.

"Is that-?" (Murasame)

"That's the destroyer we passed by just now! We need to help them!" (Yahagi)

We quickly rushed to the burning vessel. As we get closer, the smell of burning oil and scorched metal became stronger. I don't think there are any survivors. The fire is very big, even from where we are. What caused this? Abyssals? But how come the destroyer didn't call for assistance? It's near impossible for them to get caught by a sneak attack. They have the searchlights on full power. It will hard for them to be caught off-guard. Even if they were, they wouldn't be wiped out this fast. There should have been a window for them to evacuate or call for help.

"KRREEEEE!!!" (???)

It's that shriek again. It's so loud! But we can't investigate it now, we have to rescue the survivors.

Before we reached the doom vessel, a high pitched whistling can be heard,

"Oh no. Everyone, halt! Brace for shock!" (Yahagi)

There was a flash of light, a deafening explosion and a wave of heat accompanied by a tremendous amount of force which sent us flying back. My ears are ringing!

It took me a bit to regain my bearings. I looked up to see that the destroyer has now been reduced to rubble. The sea was burning and there burning debris floated around us. There are definitely no survivors.

"Ugh! Everyone, report!" (Yahagi)

Yahagi stood up, trying to steady herself. She doesn't seem to be injured.

"Shigure, unharmed."

"Amatsukaze, all right." (Amatsukaze)

"Murasame, okay." (Murasame)

"Satsuki, everything is fine." (Satsuki)

"My ears hurt!" (Shimakaze)

"Good. Everyone seems fine. What was that? Did anyone see it?" (Yahagi)

"No. But that last attack was definitely from battleship. I can't think of that is of that caliber." (Amatsukaze)

"A long range attack? With that accuracy? No. That is possible. The fire basically screams 'hit me'. What about that shriek?" (Murasame)

"We should look for survivors. Maybe someone survived the blast.

"Before that, we should probably deal with that." (Satsuki)

Satsuki pointed into the darkness. At first glance, they might be nothing there, but my radar is picking something up. An enemy, and it is close.

"SKREEEE!" (???)

Argh! There is that screech again. So that is it's owner.

"Yahagi,"

"Yeah. Commencing night battle! All units, prepare to engage!" (Yahagi)

"Launching star shell!"

I fired the Star shell into the sky. It burst into a ball of light, slowly making its descend. The star shell will only last for a few minutes, before it run out fuel or falls into the water. Enough time for us to defeat whatever... that's... in front of us...

This is the worst case scenario. Standing in front is one of the toughest Abyssals of its class. A Battleship Re-class, and an elite rank one too. It's stance makes it looks so much more terrifying than usual. It has its hands touching the water surface, taking the pose of a wolf ready to pounce. It's tail cannon was pointing towards as the creature pierced us with its glowing red eyes. This Abyssal is definitely not normal.

"That thing is not normal." (Murasame)

"What is an Re-class doing here?" (Yahagi)

"This is the worst..." (Amatsukaze)

"Grrr... SKREEEE!" (Re-class?)

Without warning, it charged at Murasame.

"Wha- ghuho!" (Murasame)

Murasame fell to her knees as the Re-class punched her in the stomach. Her armour and equipment was blown off upon impact. What is this thing? It's too strong! It's like a beast.

"You bit-" (Yahagi)

Yahagi fired at the beast, only for her shells to land in the water as it dodged.

"Kh!" (Yahagi)

"I won't lose to speed! Take this!" (Shimakaze)

Shimakaze's Rensouhou-chan fired at the beast as she launched her torpedos. The beast dodged them and made a beeline to Shimakaze. Oh no. It's going to happen again...

"Move!"

I pushed Shimakaze out of the way. It got its hands on my face. Through the gap of its fingers, I can see it's pale face, piercing me with it gaze. It's claws of sharp. They are digging into my skin. I can't feel the water surface. What is this thing? I'm scared! Save me! Somebody... Admiral...

"Gaaahhhh!!!"

It hurts! It hurts! My eye... What did it do? It hurts... It's so painful... I can't hear properly anymore...