"For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in relation to infinity, all in relation to nothing, a central point between nothing and all and infinitely far from understanding either."
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Megalith
Pacific Ocean, Area B7R
0730 Hours
*BOOM*
The projectile hit the pillbox and exploded, throwing off pieces of debris around it. (Y/n) had expected it to be more tougher, but he has no time to think about that now.
However, the Siren inside the pillbox survived the blast from the panzerfäust. The Siren aimed her laser cannons directly at (Y/n)'s position, but bullets from an A6M Zero tore the Siren apart as the plane quickly moved away from the pillbox, leaving a burning Siren behind.
"Go! Go! Go!" (Y/n) bellowed.
The soldiers behind him quickly ran ahead, weaving through the plasma rounds that were constantly raining down on them.
One of the soldiers was suddenly hit by a plasma round, blowing off both of his legs as he screamed in agony. He was quickly dragged off by someone before another plasma round landed dangerously close to him. He squirmed around and looked up, only to see (Y/n) dragging him off to cover.
"MEDIC!!" (Y/n) shouted. "MEDIC!!"
Soon, a marine with a giant backpack and a red cross on his helmet rushed in their position. The medic called out for another soldier to help him.
"I'll take care of him." The medic said as he began to take out medical supplies from his backpack.
(Y/n) nodded and picked up his M4A1. He motions three German soldiers to come with him, on which they nodded in response and came to aid him.
One of the German soldiers fired his panzerfäust at a pillbox near them, hitting it directly. As expected, the Siren inside survived the blast. She aimed her laser cannons and prepared to fire, but was met by another panzerfäust round that exploded right in her torso. (Y/n) makes a mad dash at her and fired a burst at the Siren's head, ending her life.
On the beach, landing crafts from USS Nimitz and USS Kidd continued to pour in, stopping as each craft hit the sand. The ramps opened, but the men were immediately gunned down by lasers and plasma rounds coming from fortified siren positions. While some of them managed to get off the craft and move to cover, many were unlucky.
Meanwhile, a fierce naval battle was taking place. King George V was accompanied by San Diego and Helena, both providing anti-air cover for the battleship. George placed herself in protecting the USS Nimitz alongside USS Kidd and USS Arleigh Burke. The Siren ships who dared to get closer were immediately sunk by the escorts, mainly by George's 14-inch turrets.
The Siren ships began spawning near the allied ships, forcing them to halt on sending more troops inland. George began firing her cannons at the Siren battleships, while the modern destroyers fired their anti-ship missiles at the enemy destroyers and cruisers.
The Nimitz launched F/A-18F Super Hornets in order to help the other pilots in the air and provide air support for the land troops. A Siren cruiser aimed its cannons directly at the carrier and fired in hopes of sinking the carrier, but Takao swiftly moved in and blocked the incoming plasma rounds using her sword.
Takao returned the favor and blasted the Siren cruiser with her turrets. Suicide boats suddenly came rushing at high speeds, prompting the CIWS from the Nimitz to aim at the boats.
*BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT*
Tracer rounds tore the suicide boats into pieces, harmlessly exploding at a safe distance. However, more suicide boats keeps on spawning with the intention to sink the carriers. Takao knew what the Sirens are planning and sailed around the Nimitz, managing to pick off the incoming hostiles one by one with the help of her fellow kansens, modern destroyers and Super Hornets.
"Ara~ Looks like Big Sis needs to remove some trash~" Atago giggled as she rushed in to the suicide boats and sliced them with great strength and precision, all exploding seconds after getting cut in half.
Takao simply shook her head and sighed at Atago's antics and continued on.
In the distance, the situation with USS Gerald R. Ford was the same as USS Nimitz, but far more worse. The Sirens managed to land some several heavy blows on the carrier, including the catapult, preventing it to launch planes. It was now on retreat, with Enterprise and Yorktown providing cover, accompanied by Laffey, Z23, and USS John Paul Jones.
Enterprise shot down a Siren jet using her bow and turned to Javelin. "Javelin! Cover my flank!"
"Got it!" Javelin shouted in response.
Using her weapon, Javelin shot down all enemy jets that dared to get close. Laffey assisted her in providing air cover for the carrier.
Z23 was shooting down all the suicide boats with her 15 cm cannons. Helping her was the USS John Paul Jones, firing its Mark 45 naval turrets with great accuracy.
"I detected a submarine!" Z23 shouted. "Dropping depth charges!"
Soon, multiple explosions erupted in the water, followed by series of water pillars. The USS John Paul Jones immediately recognized the threat of submarines which seemed to be targetting the USS Gerald R. Ford and immediately engaged on anti-submarine warfare. They couldn't afford to lose the carrier, and they will protect it no matter what.
JS Kaga remained in battle, though they still couldn't launch some helicopters yet due to the allied aircraft and Siren jets having an aerial battle above. The said ship was accompanied by Wales, Hammann, Javelin, Hornet, and Kaga herself.
A6M Zeros and Hellcats from Kaga and Hornet were doing their best to protect the helicopter carrier from enemy aircraft. Destroyed and burning planes from both sides began on falling down from the sky, causing the ships to do evasive maneuvers and avoid the incoming debris.
The debris that were directly falling down at JS Kaga were quickly cut down by flaming blue-colored paper crosses which came from Kaga (the kitsune).
Hornet's Hellcats dominated the skies, flying in formation with Kaga's Zeros and attacking the enemy carriers. The twintailed carrier smirked in victory when her bombers scored a direct hit on a Siren carrier's storage depot.
"Sorry, Kaga, but the juicy targets are all mine!" Hornet declared, launching more Hellcats from her flight deck.
"Whatever." Kaga mumbled with a sigh and launched more bombers to attack the opposing carriers.
---
(Y/n) fired off several shots on a pillbox before moving back to cover as plasma rounds rained down on him. He took a deep breath and rushed out to the pillbox. Plasma rounds landed dangerously close near him, but he kept on dashing and zigzagging until he reached the pillbox. He shoved the barrel of his gun on the small opening and fired, emptying the whole magazine. He took out the grenade and pulls out the pin before tossing it inside, finishing off the Siren.
A single Siren is a major threat and a formidable foe, but so is the Commander of Azur Lane with an undying courage and an M4A1.
(Y/n) spotted another enemy fortification - which was parallel to the ones he just destroyed - and dashed to it unnoticed. A Siren jet crashed a hundred meters away from him, but he ignored it and continued on his way.
He climbs on top of the pillbox and throws a hand grenade inside, covering his ears the grenade went inside.
*BOOM*
An explosion soon erupted as smoke and small traces of flames bellows out of the pillbox. He jumped back to the ground and went inside the fortification, only to find a petrified Siren. She was immediately pinned to the wall. She was about to strike back, but (Y/n) fired several shots on her limbs as she screamed in agony, preventing any further movement.
He pressed the barrel of his rifle against her forehead. "How can I deactivate the Chandelier?"
"W-What?" The Siren stuttered in fear.
"How can I deactivate the railgun?" (Y/n) repeated, pressing the barrel of the gun further.
"W-What?" The Siren didn't found the proper words to reply.
"English, motherfucker! Do you speak it?!" (Y/n) shouted in anger.
"Yes!" The Siren immediately answered.
"Then you know what I'm saying?!"
"Yes!"
"Then tell me how can I destroy the damn railgun!"
"W-What?" The Siren repeated the same word.
"Say 'what' again! Say 'what' again, I dare you! I double dare you! Say 'what' one more goddamn time!" (Y/n) threatened.
"T-There's a... A core... In the middle of the facility. It holds the railgun in place... The core is the one that gives the railgun a power... But, the area is heavily guarded... You can't get through... Hehehehehe... You will fail, human! You will fail!" The Siren began laughing maniacally.
"Let's see about that." (Y/n) said coldly, before he shoved the gun in her mouth and squeezed the trigger, firing a three-round burst which resulted on the back of her head exploding, yellow blood splattering on the wall.
With four batteries now decomissioned, (Y/n) effectively managed to secure an advance point for the Allied troops.
(Y/n) was about to get out from the pillbox when he spotted a Siren aiming her laser cannons directly at him. He managed to duck in time, a laser barely grazing past his head. He reloaded his rifle and fired burst after burst of bullets, which was enough to stun her.
He tossed the gun away and grabbed his combat knife from his belt and ran at the Siren, taclking her to the ground. The Siren managed to resist from his grip, but was immediately met with a knife to the eye.
"RAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!" (Y/n) shouted in rage as he repeatedly stabbed the Siren in the head, yellow blood splattering on his face.
The Siren soon stopped moving, the color of her eyes slowly disappearing. He immediately moved away from her and grabbed his gun, storming another enemy position.
While he was running, a Siren spotted him and aimed her weapons, but she got her head sliced off by a red origami. The culprit was no other than Akagi, a wicked smile plastered on her face.
"Hehehehehe~ No one will hurt Shikikan-sama under my watch~ Hahahahahaha~!" Akagi declared with her signature laugh, launching more planes while keeping a watchful eye to make sure her dear Commander is safe. Any Siren who dared to harm him were immediately torn apart by Akagi's Zeros.
Shells from New Jersey continued to bombard the Siren fortifications great precision, thanks to her superb fire control. The said battleship continued to fire her 16-inch cannons directly at the island, while managing to provide anti-air cover for Nimitz.
Siren jets dove in and attempted to drop more bombs in hopes to damage or completely sink the Black Dragon, but being an Iowa-class battleship, she easily avoided the incoming ordinance with ease. New Jersey retaliated by firing her CIWS at the jets, tearing them apart. Now that the air threat was gone, she resumed her bombardment at the Siren positions.
The numbers of Siren ships and aircraft had decreased drastically as the battle raged on, and so as the allied forces, both sides taking heavy casualties. Seeing this, the JS Kaga quickly prepared their helicopters as JSDF personnel began boarding the V-22 Osprey and UH-1 Iroquois lined up on the deck.
The helicopters soon took off, but maintained a low altitude flight, flying close to the water in order to avoid the incoming enemy aircraft.
Lieutenant Ren Kiyoshi, a combat medic of the Kappa Battalion, was steeling himself for the battle he is about to enter. It was his first deployment after he finished on graduating, yet he didn't feel fear nor nervousness course through him. In fact, he was excited. All of them are aiming for heaven, while serving in hell.
"Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?!" A JSDF member shouted.
"So we don't get our balls blown off!" Ren jokingly replied as he readied his rifle.
"Alright, listen up!" Their company commander shouted, his voice loud enough for them to hear despite the loud sound of spinning rotor blades. "Our objective is simple! Storm the enemy positions, while the others will link up with Commander (L/n) on the ground! Any questions?"
A JSDF soldier raised his hand. "Sir-"
"Good! Now get ready!" The company commander said and prepared his rifle as well.
The helicopter soon touched the ground, throwing off sand clouds rolling up in the air around the helicopter. Ren was first to jump off the vehicle, followed by his comrades as they scrambled for cover.
Hell rained upon them as lasers and plasma rounds continued blasting around. The helicopters quickly moved away from the location back to JS Kaga. As they rushed in the beach, they were immediately greeted by heavy plasma fire. Many of the unlucky soldiers were hit square in their bodies, all screaming in agony before they fell face flat on the sand, blood gushing out from their torso.
Ren saw the scene behind him as fear quickly loomed over him. The fear was quickly replaced by anger as he tightly gripped his rifle and rushed to an enemy pillbox. He pulled out a grenade and threw it inside the slit.
*BOOM*
Ren shoved the gun muzzle inside and fired burst after burst, killing the Siren inside. He looked back to his fallen allies and prayed for their souls before continuing on. He could not afford to freeze here.
Soon, he finally found (Y/n), the man he was searching for, stabbing a Siren repeatedly with a combat knife in the head until it dropped dead.
"Shikikan!" Ren called out to a Siren blood-soaked (Y/n). He took a few quick deep breaths before looking back up. "I'm Ren Kiyoshi. Kappa Battalion. My comrades will be here soon, Shikikan."
"(Y/n) (L/n), Commander of Azur Lane. That's quite a good news." (Y/n) nodded, reloading his rifle with a fresh magazine. "We're gonna storm the Megalith. Get ready."
"Ryōkai!" Ren acknowledged.
The Ribbon Fighter signalled Ren to follow him. Ren did so, both combatants making their way onto the facility. The rest of the JSDF personnel soon gathered with the two, along with some U.S. Marines who finished on clearing the enemy bunkers.
One of the marines sticks a C4 into the metal door. He sets the timer and moved away from the door.
*BOOM*
The metal door was breached open, throwing off metal debris everywhere. The soldiers immediately went inside, but was greeted by darkness.
(Y/n) turned around to the soldiers. "Alright, I've managed to get some intel on one of the Sirens. She said that there is a core in the middle of the facility, and it was heavily guarded. We need to reach the core and destroy it. Got it?"
"Affirmative!" Was the response he got from the soldiers.
"Now move it!" (Y/n) ordered and went inside first.
They turned on their flashlights attached on their rifles. The wall was filled with yellow and purple liquids of unknown composition, dripping slowly as it was getting dragged by the gravity. One of the marines tried to touch the liquid, but Ren managed to grab his hand.
"Don't." Ren warned.
(Y/n) raised his fist in the air, signalling the troops to halt, which they did so and kneeled down. He peeked onto a corner and spotted two Sirens guarding another door. He then gestured the soldiers to throw a stun grenade. A marine moved forward and threw a flashbang and quickly backed into the corner.
*BOOM*
There was a small flash, accompanied by an explosion which was loud as a normal grenade. The soldiers immediately began firing at the Sirens, each bullet was slowly chipping away their weapons and armor. The marines carrying RPGs aimed and fired, finishing the Sirens' life.
They went to the metal door, bypassing the dead Sirens, and noticed the card scanner on the right side of the door. Ren pulls out something from his backpack which seemed like a small computer.
Ren plugged a wire from the computer into the card scanner. A few seconds later, the card scanner showed the words 'Access Granted', followed by an audible hiss as the metal door slowly opened.
The combined U.S. Marines and JSDF soldiers immediately aimed their rifles, their fingers already on the trigger, ready to shoot if any threat would come in their way.
As the door fully opened, they were greeted by a dark room filled with destroyed computers and crampled papers on both the tables and on the ground. The men slowly entered the room, weapons raised.
The silence in the room was deafening, with the muffled explosions outside adding to the increasing tension. Their sweats ran on their necks and faces as the heels of their combat boots clicked against the cold floor, each soldier being aware of their surroundings.
Suddenly, the sound of a laser cannon powering up was heard as the soldiers tensed up, already knowing what's coming.
"GET DOWN!!" (Y/n) shouted.
Laser beams streaked in the air, prompting the soldiers to duck behind cover, barely avoiding the lasers that was about to cut them into pieces.
(Y/n) stood up and returned fire, distracting the Siren away from his comrades and making its attention focus only to him. It was one of the high-class Sirens on their list; Strategist.
Strategist aimed her cannons at the Ribbon Fighter, but she was blasted into oblivion when 16-inch shells slammed into her body as she exploded into pieces and destroying her rigging.
All of them turned around to the source of the shells, only to find New Jersey with her turret #2 smoking from the previous shot.
"That's what you get for trying to harm (Y/n)!" New Jersey shouted in pure triumph.
Ren looked at Strategist, who's body was blown into pieces. "Holy shit..."
"Indeed." One of the marines added.
"(Y/n)!" New Jersey immediately ran to him and checked his body, which made him very uncomfortable. After a while, she stopped. "Phew... Thank goodness you're okay. Katherine wouldn't forgive me if something happened to you..."
"I'm fine, New Jersey. Don't worry." (Y/n) reassured the battleship and gave her a headpat. "I need your help on something."
"Of course!" New Jersey perked up. "What is it?"
"According to the Siren I interrogated earlier, there's a core in the middle of the facility, and it's the one that holds the 'Chandelier' in place." He explained. "I need you to come with me and find the core."
New Jersey nodded. "Got it."
(Y/n) turned to the soldiers. "All of you, secure this position. Me and New Jersey will find the core."
"Affirmative." Rey acknowledged. "Be careful, Shikikan."
The Ribbon Fighter reloaded another magazine onto his rifle and went to the hallway which was parallel to the metal door they had entered. (Y/n) led the way, while New Jersey guarded their six.
---
Tester Beta sat on a chair, looking at the holographic screen in front of her, which showed a footage of the ongoing battle between humans and Sirens.
She clicked something on the far left corner of the screen. (Y/n) and New Jersey soon appeared on the footage, both combatants tearing through the Sirens outside the perimeter without much effort.
She looked at the glowing cube behind her, spinning at a moderate pace. She smirked as her riggings came to life, her weapons ready for combat.
"Let's see on why the Empress took interest on you, Ribbon Fighter." Tester Beta readied and positioned herself for the incoming clash between her, the Ribbon Fighter, and New Jersey.
---
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*
Another Siren's life was ended by New Jersey's cannons, scattering the Siren's limbs and riggings parts all over. Meanwhile, (Y/n) checked each room of the hallways to check on where the core was. If he remembered correctly, they're already on the center of the facility. They just don't know where it was exactly located. The multiple rooms didn't help either, adding to their dilemma.
Yellow and purple liquid dripped around the walls of the hallway as they dug their way deeper and deeper. The lights above continued to flicker, adding to the undesireable feeling of bad omen that was looming for quite a while now.
"Where the hell is it?" (Y/n) mumbled under his breath as he opened another room, finding nothing but darkness.
"(Y/n)." New Jersey called out, gesturing at the final room at the end of the hallway.
(Y/n) took a deep breath and approached the door. He raised his foot and kicked the door open with great strength, ripping off the doorknob and hinges.
There, it revealed a rather large room, and in the center was the core itself, finally revealed before their very eyes, floating in a height where it could be easily reached by an average-height person. It was the only thing that's been illuminating the dark room
Around the room was an unknown black material with glowing blue lights which seemed to replace the room's walls.
"So you've finally come, Ribbon Fighter." A voice snapped them out from their trance as (Y/n) and New Jersey quickly aimed their weapons on where the voice came from.
The individual stepped out from the shadows. It was no other than Tester Beta herself, a smirk plastered on her face.
"Let's not waste time any further." Tester Beta said.
The Siren aimed her cannons and fired, prompting the two to dodge. New Jersey returned fire, but Tester Beta rolled to the side, easily dodging the shots, causing the shells to slam against the wall, throwing off pieces of cement along with the unknown material.
(Y/n) aimed his rifle at the core and fired several shots, but the bullets bounced off just mere centemeters away from the object, much to his surprise and annoyance. "Goddammit..."
"This is AWACS Thunderhead to Commander (L/n)! Can you hear me?!" A distressed voice came to the comms.
"Commander (L/n) here. I hear you, Thunderhead." (Y/n) responded as he tried to get a good aim while New Jersey and Tester Beta was fighting.
"The 'Chandelier' and Megalith are about to be activated. We estimate that both of them will be activated in three minutes! Hurry!" Thunderhead warned.
"Shit..." He cursed in dread.
Tester Beta now focused on (Y/n) and began firing both lasers and plasma rounds. However, he was quick enough and managed to evade the shots in time. He fired several bursts of his rifle, which was enough to distract her as New Jersey came in and did a roundhouse kick, hitting her directly in the head, cauing her to get thrown into a wall.
New Jersey followed it by firing another salvo at her, covering the Siren with flames and smoke. There was silence after the shots were fired.
"Did I get her...?" New Jersey thought aloud.
The battleship stared intently on where Tester Beta was, until the sound of laser cannons powering up made her eyes wide. She was suddenly tackled to the side by (Y/n), both barely dodging the beams.
Tester Beta was still alive, although badly wounded as yellow blood seeped rapidly from her open wounds.
"Y-You-" Tester Beta stuttered, but several shots from (Y/n)'s rifle cut her off on continuing her sentence.
Before she could retaliate, she saw the Ribbon Fighter rushing at her, a combat knife in hand. She was about to fire, but it was too late as (Y/n) was already very close to her.
"Arrivederci." (Y/n) said to her coldly, before his knife dug in to her head.
Tester Beta's life was sucked out from her body as he lets go of the knife, letting her body drop on the cold floor.
"Commander, you have thirty seconds left before the 'Chandelier' and Megalith fires! Hurry!" Thunderhead warned again.
He quickly picked up his rifle and aimed at the core, then squeezed the trigger.
Time seemed to slow as the bullet went out from the barrel to the core. This time, the bullet finally hit its target, as the room was engulfed in a bright light, prompting the two to shield their eyes from the blinding light.
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Word Count: 4123 Words