Azur Lane: Kaiserin (Book 1)

Ch56: There are guns and then there are GUNS

Who the hell is this chick? Wait, she seems familiar. White hair, golden eyes, eagle...

Me: You must be Enterprise.

Yep. I'm certain about it. From what Zhejiang told us about her, this is 100% her but I don't recall her mentioning anything about her being merciless. Then again, it is possible that the friendship they had changed her Enterprise kind of like how I have changed since coming here. 

Enterprise: I will kill-

Me: Yes, yes. You've said that already.

Ignoring her threats, I motion to the other girls that we'll be retreating towards our shores. At the same time, I send an encrypted message to forces stationed along the coast to get a few squadrons to meet us halfway and provided air cover. 

Enterprise: Come and face me!

Me: Love to but we already have what we need. You'd be nothing but a waste of time.

Without waiting on a reply, I turn my back to her before heading off. As expected, this infuriates her and it isn't long before she opens fire sending wave after wave of dive bombers towards us. I don't even bother paying them any mind as they easily get mowed down by the simply impenetrable wall placed up by our fleet's combined AA capability. She may have overwhelmed a single ship on its own but with us in our KANSEN form, we're effectively a whole fleet's worth of AA occupying the same amount of space that a single destroyer would. That is to say, a comparable AA system would see a ww2 battleship like the Yamato equipped with the AA capabilities of 2 battleships, 3 cruisers and 2 destroyers all on the surface of a small torpedo boat whilst maintaining many times the firepower of said Yamato. 

As such, we easily avoid taking on any damage whilst deleting her airwing from existence. She lives up to her reputation, however, and as such it isn't long before she's swapped to torpedo bombers and is lacing the entire sea with torps. It takes every bit of manoeuvring we can muster to hold formation whilst avoiding the torps but we just about manage to force the rest of the enemy fleet to finally engage us in close quarters. 

Their destroyers are the first to attack, launching all their torps the minute we're in range but by doing so they come well within the range of my guns and at this range, my guns are too big to miss. 

BOOOOOOOOOM

One full broadside later and their vanguard ceases to exist. Their battleships respond with an opening salvo of their own but they must have miscalculated the potential range of my guns because they are well within the optimal range of my main artillery. It's possible they assumed that because I took so long to open fire on the destroyers and hadn't fired on the cruisers behind them, it meant my range was low but on the contrary and as the guns finish reloading and open up one after the next, all other sounds on the battlefield get dwarfed. 

BOOOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOOOM BOOOOOOOOOM!

One by one, I watch as girl after girl goes down via singular hits. The shells being fired from my guns rip through their hulls with ease as if a sharpened knife striking through paper. The others in our fleet can only watch on in amazement as I singlehandedly drive the enemy back. 

Hipper: I'm starting to wonder why we're here...

Eugen: For emotional support, clearly.

Everyone laughs but the danger is not yet gone and as if to remind us of that face, a torpedo slams into Bismark knocking her back. It barely leaves a scratch but it is a strong wake-up call.

Me: Focus! We still need to get out intact.

Focus they do. Our destroyers quickly zip ahead to scout the way and ensure that we aren't ambushed whilst the rest of us maintain our attacks against the chasing enemy. We continue like this for another couple of minutes before they finally break chase but the minute they do I also stop our withdrawal. We wait a couple of minutes as they fall back, presumably to aid their fallen friends, then after some time, I have everyone charge back in. 

This time, we're the ones who catch them off-guard as they were seemingly so sure that we'd gone that they didn't even have anyone keeping watch, instead using every pair of arms they could muster to assist one or multiple other girls in need of serious repairs. 

Smirking to myself, I launch every last aircraft onboard my carrier. I arm every last one of them as much as possible. Even my fighters who usually fly as light as possible to maintain maximum manoeuvrability, I arm them with as many armaments as they can carry before sending them off as well. 

Once they are near the enemy's position, I have every girl open fire. The light from our guns is clearly seen as we soon spot flashes coming from the enemy's position but all it does is bring a smile to my face. The fact that they fired means they don't know about the horde flying towards them or they'd have gone defensive.

Me: Checkmate.

Bismark: Huh?

Taking a note from my mother's book, I take out the baton she'd given to me when having me practice leading an orchestra. Straightening my posture, I imagine each aircraft and gun belonging to me as separate parts within my orchestra. There are violins, trumpets, and drums. There are flutes, clarinets and cellos. There are the Guzheng and Huqin, the Dizi and Sheng too. It's all here and as I lift the baton towards the heavens, silence falls. They all stand still awaiting my command.

The first stroke begins with the thunderous boom of the Lambeg drum (Main Guns). This is followed by a softer melodious symphony with highs and lows, produced by the Strings supported by the Brass (Air Wing). 

As I continue twirling the baton around, my body moves to the melody as I lose myself within its rhythm. Gun after gun fires without pause. My secondaries join in, accompanied by my AA batteries in a harmonious acapella. 

Around me, musical lines and notes appear and begin floating around copying my every move. I close my eyes and the world fades away.