Musashi opened her eyes. Her crimson pupils deepened as she looked toward Kirishima, who was attacking I-401.
Her ship body rapidly unfolded, and a Super-Graviton Cannon blast struck the Klein field surrounding Kirishima's ship.
Combined with the concentrated fire from the other Fog ships, Kirishima's Klein field instantly lost sixty-five percent of its power.
"Damn it, meddlesome fool."
A flash of ruthlessness passed through Kirishima's eyes. She pressed her right hand against the purple gem embedded in her chest. "Spacetime Fracture System—activate."
In an instant, the world dimmed.
Time slowed.
Kirishima maneuvered her ship, ramming toward I-401 at full speed.
Bang!
Kirishima's hull slammed into I-401's, clamping down and refusing to let go.
Their Klein fields collided, sending sparks flying in all directions.
"Please... give me—give us humans—a chance to talk."
Chihaya Gunzou's voice echoed from within I-401.
"Spare me the nonsense. We have no interest in talking to you. You're not worthy."
Kirishima ignored his plea, continuing to drive her ship violently against I-401.
Suddenly, a black hole appeared beside her. From its depths burst Musashi's bow, charging straight toward Kirishima.
At that moment, Haruna activated her own Spacetime Fracture System. She appeared in a flash, slamming her ship into Musashi's hull.
The impact deflected Musashi's ramming strike.
At the same time, both sides unleashed their full firepower.
Rumble—
The thunderous roar of naval artillery filled the air as explosions rocked the sea.
"Haruna, can you still hold out?"
Kirishima looked toward Haruna, who was withstanding Musashi's relentless barrage.
"Probably."
Haruna remained composed as ever.
"You two should disappear now."
Musashi was slightly surprised by Kirishima and Haruna's resilience.
A crimson data halo expanded up and down her ship body.
Kirishima and Haruna immediately sensed their ship nanomaterials being invaded and reset.
As expected of a super battleship—she even possessed such authority.
"Kirishima, we need to retreat."
Haruna initiated her ship's self-destruct protocol, already prepared in advance.
Hearing this, Kirishima nodded and activated her own self-destruct sequence as well.
The next second, both of their figures vanished from their ships.
Rumble—
The massive energy wave from the explosions swept across the entire sea region.
Space itself distorted, the sky shimmering with a kaleidoscope of colors.
I-400 and I-402, still engaged in battle with Hiei and the others, felt the powerful shockwave and realized their mission had succeeded.
"Mission accomplished."
"Begin retreat."
As planned, they submerged into Imaginary Space and withdrew.
...
Far East.
Aerial warship.
Through Kiana Kaslana's perspective, Kongou watched the massive explosion spreading across the ocean's surface.
If I-401 were only an ordinary Fog submarine, it could never withstand the simultaneous self-destruction of two major Fog battleships like Kirishima and Haruna.
An attack of such magnitude could even sink Musashi.
Yet after the explosion—
A super battleship, equal in class to Musashi, emerged on the sea, absorbing nanomaterials from the surrounding wreckage.
"Yamato."
Kongou instantly recognized her.
The Supreme Flagship of the Fog—Yamato.
Musashi appeared to have sustained only minor damage in the blast.
It seemed the two super battleships had jointly resisted Kirishima and Haruna's self-destructive assault.
"So she's finally shown herself."
Kiana Kaslana, too, seemed unsurprised by this outcome.
She turned to Kongou. "Well, what do you think?"
"Nothing to say."
Kongou took a light sip of her tea.
What Yamato planned, what Musashi desired—none of it concerned her anymore.
"She's contacting me."
A communication request arrived—from I-401.
But that vessel was now Yamato.
Kiana Kaslana's eyes narrowed. Currently disguised as Maya, she wondered what Yamato wanted from her.
Entering the virtual communication courtyard, she saw Yamato standing before her in a white wedding dress.
"Do you like showing yourself with Maya's face?" Yamato asked calmly.
"Caught me, huh?" Kiana Kaslana feigned surprise. "Impressive."
The illusion of Maya dissolved, revealing Kiana's true youthful form once more.
Since a single strike couldn't sink her, they might as well sit down and talk.
Kiana Kaslana studied her with interest, her gaze fixed upon Yamato's eyes. "You came to see me in a wedding dress—are you planning to become my bridal ship?"
"Bridal ship? Do you mean you like my Mental Model?"
Yamato chuckled softly.
"I like your ship body too," Kiana replied honestly. She really did like Yamato's body.
"Think about it—how about becoming my ship?"
"I don't mind."
"...?"
Kiana Kaslana blinked in confusion. Normally, wasn't it the protagonist's ship that was supposed to fall for the protagonist?
"Enough small talk. Tell me why you came to see me."
She disliked beating around the bush. She could already guess Yamato's purpose.
"I want you to spare humanity," Yamato said directly.
This planet's civilization was on the brink of extinction if things continued this way.
"I'd like to know—your sister Musashi, and your subordinates—don't you care about them?"
"They're your people, aren't they?"
"Then can you stop attacking us?" Yamato asked.
"I never intended to harm you," Kiana Kaslana replied. "It was your sister who made the first move."
Her original plan had been to transform this world into one inhabited only by the shipgirls of the Fog.
...
"I can apologize on behalf of my sister," Yamato said. "But please—don't do that again."
If apologies worked, humanity wouldn't have so much fighting and killing.
As for this planet—
To prevent others from profiting off her battles, Kiana Kaslana had already deployed bombers to "plant mushrooms" across the world before her confrontation with the Fog even began.
When Musashi lifted the Fog blockade, it had actually given her the perfect opportunity to do so.
Her bombers could now fly freely.
The plotline she hated most was when she and her enemy both ended up battered and broken—only for someone else to swoop in and take advantage of the chaos.
Silver bullets were nearly useless against Klein fields.
If an attack failed to reach the computational limit of a Fog ship's system, it couldn't break through.
The Klein field used force-field simulations to mimic a Klein surface structure. Since it possessed only one side, unlike other energy shields that intercepted attacks outside the hull, the Klein field instead bent and redirected the incoming energy around the ship. In essence, it was dimensional defense rather than simple energy shielding.
Whether physical or energy-based, if an attack couldn't surpass the limit—it simply couldn't penetrate the defense.
Only a sufficient quantity or intensity of attacks could push the Fog core's computational capacity to its limit.
By the end of her conversation with Yamato—
That woman had effectively sold out herself and her sister.
At last, Kiana Kaslana ceased her global "mushroom planting."
Though she hadn't achieved total annihilation, she had at least scattered her bombs across the world.
The greatest obstacle—the Fog—was no longer an issue.
As long as Musashi and Yamato could endure three waves of strikes, Kiana's Honkai energy would be depleted from producing nanomaterials for aircraft and munitions.