Chereads / Horizon-Amalgamation / Chapter 7 - Chapter 7 - Children of the Sea Part 3

Chapter 7 - Chapter 7 - Children of the Sea Part 3

Fubuki sat down on the chair facing the vast empty ocean. Lots of girls were still running around. Fubuki knew some of them and by the looks of it, most of the girls seemed to also have come from a different reality. She took a deep breath, while it was calm and peaceful.

"May I sit beside you??" A girl with long brown hair carrying lots of food approached Fubuki.

Fubuki looked up at the girl munching food. This one reminded her of someone she knew.

"Ummm"

"Oh! I'm sorry! You kind of remind me of Akagi senpai."

"My name is Akagi too!"

"Eh?"

"Ahem. I am Aircraft Carrier Akagi of the Japanese Navy!" She said as she struck a pose to add to it.

This Akagi somewhat resembles the Akagi senpai Fubuki was familiar with. The only difference is that this one had a much longer skirt.

"I'm Destroyer Fubuki."

"So tell me, what does the other me look like? Does she also have a pair of fox ears??" The other Akagi asked excitedly.

"Ummmm…"

"Oh my, who is she, Fubuki?" Fubuki's Akagi-senpai, who was also holding a lot of food, approached them.

"Hello there, I am Akagi."

"Likewise, I am Akagi too!"

Both sit beside Fubuki and begin sharing food.

"Why hello there!" Akagi with fox ears approached the three.

"Want some?" The other Akagi offered.

Both Akagi (1 and 2) shared some food with Akagi (3) with fox ears. She took one meat bun and sat alongside them.

They all were eating and chatting peacefully when they got startled by the blaring sound of a siren.

"Enemy attack?!" All the three Akagi-s shouted in unison.

The Valkyries on-board immediately sprang into action and jumped over the ocean. Midair, their bodies were enveloped by glowing green orbs as their rigging materialized.

"Ummm… Miss Fubuki!" Fubuki shouted. "I want to join you in battle!"

"I also want to help!" The three Akagi-s shouted in unison.

"We can't allow you all to go out and fight. You all are our guests! We can't allow our guests to get hurt!" The other Fubuki replied.

"But!"

"Please understand it, we're just following orders!" She immediately dashed out, joining her fellow Valkyries.

After getting into formation, the group of Valkyries set off, slowly disappearing over the horizon. The four begin to wonder what they shall do.

"What do we do now??" Fubuki asked.

"Hmmm... How about we do some mock exercises?" The other Akagi said as she ate a meat bun.

"Yea! Let's do that! I want to see your capabilities!" Akagi energetically replied.

"Fine by me." Akagi with fox ears added.

The three Akagi equipped their riggings and headed out to the open sea nearby. Fubuki followed them.

Akagi drew out her bow and launched one of her A6M arrows. To her surprise, the arrows fired didn't transform into A6M.

"Huh?"

Akagi launched another one but nothing happened at all.

"Why?!"

"L-let me try…"

Other Akagi also launched some planes in the same fashion as Akagi but nothing happened too.

Fox-eared Akagi threw out her plane talisman but it also did not transform into planes.

"What is happening?"

The three started worrying.

"I thought they were being jammed by the enemies…" Fox-eared Akagi gulped

"Allow me to explain~" A girl with blue hair wearing spiral glasses appeared out of nowhere, she was hauling something huge behind her.

"And you are?" Fox-eared Akagi questioned the girl with blue hair.

"I am Valkyrie Akashi, nice to meet you all!" She politely said as she bowed.

"L-likewise!" Fubuki replied and bowed back.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Fox-eared Akagi continued.

"Ahem. To begin with, your riggings don't abide by the [rules] of this [Reality]." Akashi said, pointing at their riggings.

"Huh?" Fubuki blurted.

"You see, each [Reality] has its own unique [rules]. this [rules] prevents people from different realities from intervening on the [Reality] they're invading."

"Our rigging is powered by our own [souls], this allows us to do this!" Akashi snapped her finger and millions of glowing green orbs appeared and instantaneously formed a ship behind her.

"Wow!" The four aside from Akashi exclaimed.

"Since you girls are from a different [Reality], your riggings don't abide by this [Reality's] [rules]." Akashi added.

"Then... How come we can float?" Fox-eared Akagi asked.

"I guess that's the only one who abides by this [reality's] [rules]… which is a rare blessing." She answered.

The four girls followed Akashi after she started moving along.

"I wonder if our Akashi is also here…" Fubuki wondered.

"I do know other Akashi-s exist, but is your Akashi the cat one or the pink-haired one?" Akashi asked.

"The pink one! That's our Akashi!" Fubuki exclaimed.

"We may need to think of a way to prevent confusion because a lot of us have the same name…" Akagi said and sighed.

"Even more so, when each of us looks alike." Other Akagi followed, sighing with the same energy.

"Right…" Fox-eared Akagi added.

"What is this thing you are bringing back?" Akagi asked and pointed at the thing Akashi was hauling in.

"It's some sort of plane, and we three are repairing it!" Akashi answered.

"YOU GUYS ARE REPAIRING IT?!" Fubuki, Akagi and Akagi with fox ears shouted, the other Akagi was a bit confused.

"Eh? Why do you guys look a bit worried?" other Akagi asked.

"Well… Our Akashi loves to build stuff and most of them, well, fail to work properly…" Fubuki explained.

"Our Akashi build stuff and sell them at a very high price. Most work way too well that it becomes very dangerous..." Akagi with fox ears added.

"I wonder if this Akashi is also the same as our Akashi…" both wondered.

Akashi nervously broke a sweat after the three stared at her intensely.

"Yes, she is the same as our Akashi." the three whispered.

Fubuki followed Akashi towards the 'R&D Department' area. There is a clanking sound and a lot of machinery noise coming out of the area.

"If you're gonna meet your Akashi, you need to wear a hard hat. It's a bit dangerous here in the R&D section." Akashi handed over a hard hat to Fubuki.

Fubuki is greeted by a huge plane, the other two Akashi are working on it.

"Oh! I found the cockpit, nya~!" Akashi with cat ears yelled.

"Nice! Let me see what it looks like inside!" said another Akashi who climbed up to the cockpit.

"You guys! I found the wing parts of the plane! I also brought one of your friends, Akashi!" The other Akashi shouted.

"Don't know her, nya."

"Oh! It's Fubuki!" Akashi with pink hair hopped down and hugged Fubuki.

"I'm glad that you're okay!" Akashi exclaimed.

"This other world is amazing! The other me also loves to make stuff!!" Akashi smiles.

"Hello." Fubuki waves at the cat-eared Akashi.

"Nyallo, nya~" Cat-eared Akashi greeted her and waved back.

"I'll be going back to my work, I can't wait to fly this baby!" Pink haired Akashi ran back to the aircraft.

"I think we can't fly it nya…" cat eared Akashi slaps the canopy.

"Why not?" blue haired Akashi tilted her head.

"There's no control stick, nya." cat eared akashi sighed.

"Let me see…" The blue-haired Akashi climbed onto the tinkered plane.

"Hmmm.." She verbally concentrated while examining the cockpit. "I think this touchpad at the side is the controller."

"How can a touchpad control a plane?"

"This looks super futuristic nya!"

"I think this is some sort of Opto-Neural control type.." blue haired Akashi guessed.

"Ohhh! We don't have this kind of technology in our world!" pink haired Akashi exclaimed.

"I think the sirens in our world have this kind of tech, nya." cat eared akashi replied.

"I'm excited to test flight it!!"

"We need to put the wings first before that nya."

"Ummm… I'll be taking my leave now.." Fubuki said, before bowing and leaving.

"Okay! Bye!" Pink haired akashi waved at Fubuki who is about to leave.

"Bye nya~" cat eared akashi waves back.

Fubuki walked out of the R&D area. She stepped outside, there are a lot of girls chatting outside, some are new faces.

"What happened?" Fubuki asked Akagi.

"Seems like a lot of girls got transported to this world too." Akagi answered.

"I wonder if there's also another Fubuki.." Fubuki whispered to herself.

Eight girls approached the fox-eared Akagi; one of them had long white-gray hair.

"Seems like Miss Akagi knows them." Fubuki thought to herself.

"Oh my. Did you all also get transported to this world?" Fox-eared Akagi asked all eight of the girls there.

"Seems like it." The girl with white-gray hair answered.

"Who are they, Miss Akagi?" A blonde-haired girl sporting a short ponytail with antenna-like ornament on her head asked fox-eared Akagi.

"How am I gonna explain this?" Akagi scratched her head. "You three! Go introduce yourselves."

"H-hello! I'm Fubuki!" Fubuki waved at them.

"Eh?" The eight stared at Fubuki.

The two Akagi were seen busy munching on noodles they weren't able to finish earlier. Upon being caught, they both wiped their faces clean with a napkin.

"I am Akagi!" They both introduced themselves at the same time and are in sync with each other.

"EH?!" The eight girls shouted in united confusion.

Fubuki by this point expected that they'll react like that.

Then suddenly, a blonde girl with a calm demeanor carrying someone on her back shouted at them.

"Medic! I need a stretcher quickly!!"

"What happened to her?" Fox-eared Akagi asked.

"Fell off a warship, nearly drowned." A girl with white-gray hair answered.

"Also, um, he's a boy…" she added.

"Oh."

They put him on a stretcher and took him to the medical bay. The three Akagi-s then explained the situation to the eight girls who just arrived. They pretty much got the gist of it but still were skeptical about how they ended up in this world.

"So basically speaking, this is the other [world]." Akagi with short skirt explained.

"I still can't believe this is all real…" The girl with white hair said before resorting to a sigh.

"If I remember correctly, the Sirens we are fighting are from the future or another world or something." Fox-eared Akagi added.

"A-anyways, I am Eagle Union's Second ship of the Yorktown-class Aircraft Carrier - Enterprise, Hull Number CV-6." The girl with white hair introduced herself.

"I am Eagle Union's Cleveland-class light cruiser Cleveland, Hull Number CL-55." The long blonde-haired girl wearing a coat smiled as she introduced herself.

"I am Royal Navy's J-class destroyer Javelin, Pennant Number F61!" An energetic girl with purple hair sporting a ponytail introduced herself.

"[yawn] Eagle Union's Benson-class destroyer - Laffey, Hull Number DD-459… Zzzzz…" The little girl with long white hair sporting a twin-tail while ornamented with a pair of bunny ears said before falling asleep while still standing up.

"Laffey-chan!" Javelin shouted and shook Laffey awake.

"..! Mmm."

She did wake up and stayed awake this time, though still narrow-eyed and awaiting the next opportunity to sleep.

"Errr. I'm Ironblood's Z23, a Type 1936A Zerstörer. You can call me Niimi." The dark-blonde short-haired girl wearing a cap politely introduced herself.

"I am Sakura Empire's First ship of special Type II Ayanami class destroyers, Ayanami, yes." The blonde hair girl sporting a short ponytail with antenna-like ornament on her head introduced herself.

"I'm Ironblood's Admiral Hipper, an Admiral Hipper-class Heavy Cruiser." The girl with blonde long hair with twin side tails introduced herself.

"I'm Ironblood's Prinz Eugen, an Admiral Hipper-class Heavy Cruiser." The voluptuous girl with long white hair introduced herself.

"I'm Fubuki, a Fubuki-class special destroyer." Fubuki saluted.

"Oh! So you're the other world Fubuki! You look very cute!" Javelin exclaimed.

"Ehehehe. Thank you." Fubuki flushed but didn't hide.

"This Fubuki looks more mature than our Fubuki, yes?" Ayanami nodded.

"Eh?" Fubuki tilts her head in confusion.

"Hey! Fubuki!" Javelin shouted.

Two girls looked at them. Both had blue hair; one had animal ears while the other didn't have one but had longer hair. The one with animal ears held the hand of the other one as they ran towards us.

"Guys! look, look! This girl is the other me from a different world!" The girl with an animal ear hugged the other blue-haired girl.

"Hello." The girl with long blue hair waved at them.

"Introduce yourself and her!" Javelin asked the two girls.

"I'm Fubuki!" The girl with short blue hair with dog ears introduced herself.

"Hello. My name is also Fubuki, nice to meet you all!" The girl with long blue hair introduced herself politely.

"H-hello, my name is Fubuki too!" Brown-haired Fubuki introduced herself to the others.

"Wow! This Fubuki looks very lady-like and beautiful!" Dog-eared Fubuki exclaimed.

"Ehehehe." Brown-haired Fubuki blushed at the compliment. "But but, the other Fubuki is way more ladylike than I am!"

"Ehhh? I wanna see her!!" Dog-eared Fubuki jumped in excitement.

"Me too, me too!!" Long blue-haired Fubuki requested.

"Ummm…" Brown-haired Fubuki wondered if the other Fubuki had returned as she looked around.

Apparently, the Valkyries have already returned from their latest mission. She saw the other Fubuki talking with the others.

"Miss Fubuki!!" Brown-haired Fubuki called out to that Fubuki specifically.

She walked towards them upon hearing.

"What's up, other me~?" She asked.

"These two with blue hair are also named Fubuki, they wanted to meet you!" brown-haired Fubuki introduced the two Fubuki's to the mature-looking Fubuki.

"WOW!" Dog-eared Fubuki exclaimed.

"These two are super cute!!!" She leapt in and hugged the two Fubuki-s.

"Come here you!" Mature-looking Fubuki joined in the circle of Fubuki-s.

"It feels like I have three new sisters!!" Brown-haired Fubuki happily exclaimed.

"I'm jealous. Yes…" Ayanami joined the cuddling.

"Me too!" Javelin added.

"... Laffey too."

Both Javelin and Laffey joined the cuddling.

"A-ahem." Enterprise tried to catch mature-looking Fubuki's attention.

"AH! I-I'm sorry, I lost my senses back then!" Fubuki embarrassingly blushed and fixed herself.

"Is it possible for us to go back to our world?" Enterprise asked.

"Yes, it's possible. We're currently looking for a way for you all to get back to your respective world safely." Fubuki answered.

"Enterprise!" Akashi shouted.

"A-akashi! You're here?! then that means…"

"Y-yes.. Our base got attacked…" Akashi begins to explain that their base got attacked by a new Siren and all of the elite Kansen-s got beaten by them.

Everyone went quiet. All of the girls from the different world seemed like they had lost their bases; the one place each of them regarded as "home".

"Then, one last thing." Enterprise said.

"I request you to assist us in taking our base back." Enterprise pleaded.

"I apologize but we can't help you with taking back your base." Mature-looking Fubuki apologized. "We have a rule not to help other worlders with their homeworld problems. Unless…"

"Unless?"

"Your world is attacked by our enemies. By our problems." She pulled a tablet out of her pocket. "Do these new Sirens you've seen happen to look like this?"

Her tablet displayed multiple pictures of their enemies.

"Oh! This is the one that attacked us!" Akashi exclaimed.

"So, they're also the culprits huh?" Fubuki added.

"I'm gonna ask the others if they fought this guy." The mature-looking Fubuki walked out.

According to what info Fubuki gathered within that time, it would seem like most of the girls did encounter them along with a mysterious hooded figure, whose body was made up of mechanical cogs.

"There's no doubt about it. It's a Kronosapien…" She noted. "With the intervention of our problems within your worlds, we will be helping you after all!"

This news brought a smile to the girls. Now they'll be able to have a shot at retaking their home base with the help of new allies.

"For now, though, you guys take a rest." The mature-looking Fubuki ordered them.

Fubuki was chatting with Yuudachi and Mutsuki at the medical bay when Enterprise entered the room.

"Oh, hello Miss Enterprise." brown-haired Fubuki greeted and waved at Enterprise upon notice.

"Oh, hi." Enterprise greeted her back.

"Are you visiting someone?"

Yes, this is my sister. Hornet." Enterprise introduced a blonde girl with twin tails to the three.

"Yo!" Hornet saluted.

The three introduced themselves to Hornet.

"Man. Other worlds are a real thing? I thought it only existed in comic books or novels." Hornet commented.

The five had a conversation about what their respective worlds look like and were surprised to find that their worlds have a bit of similarity.

"Ugh…" Someone groaned at the next bed.

It was the guy (who was mistaken for a girl) who fell into the ocean.

"He woke up! Please call someone!" Enterprise asked Fubuki.

"O-okay!" Fubuki was about to leave the room when he suddenly said

"Wait, aren't you… Enterprise of Azur Lane?"

"Huh?"

All of them looked surprised.

"Wait, how did you know?" Enterprise worriedly asks the boy.

The boy pinched himself.

"I am awake, why are the girls from Azur Lane and Kantai Collection here? What in the world is going on?" He looked around confused.

"Even the girls from Warship Girls are here?!" he exclaimed.

Fubuki and Admiral Hipper quizzically stared at the recently woken boy.

"Who is he, Miss Fubuki?" Fubuki asked the other Fubuki.

"This is."

"I can handle that." The boy stopped the other Fubuki mid-sentence. "I am Sam Shirohime."

"So, can you explain how you know us?" Fubuki cautiously asked.

"The thing is, they exist in our world." Sam replied.

"That's impossible! Their [code] is completely from a different world!" Other Fubuki exclaimed.

"Well. They did exist in our world, but in an entirely different form."

"What do you mean?"

"They all exist in the form of a video game, the characters in it, I mean. You know Hermione Knight, right?" Sam asked Fubuki.

"Yes, she is one of Madame Rheilei's successors. What about her?" Fubuki asked.

"Hermione came from an [alternate Reality] of my [Reality] where we exist as a form of a comic book in her world." Sam noted.

"So, this girl existed in our world but in a different form?" Admiral Hipper asked.

"Yes, Enterprise came from Azur Lane cross.. uhhh… I forgot the name of that super old game. Fubuki, Mutsuki and Yuudachi came from the Kantai Collection franchise. And that girl in the back… uhhh, you're O'Bannon, right?" Sam asked the girl with blonde hair.

"Yes! I am O'Bannon!" The girl replied.

"Right. O'Bannon came from Warship Girls. These girls came from the genre called 'Ship girls', basically anthropomorphizing warships."

Everyone went quiet. They can't believe that they exist in the form of a video game in his world.

"So, I guess everyone here is having trouble with the name's because a lot of you have the same name right?" Sam asked.

"Yes, yes! We are having that kind of problem just now!" Fubuki exclaimed.

"Okay!" Sam jumps out of the bed.

"I'll help you with this one. Also also, are you guys planning to give these girls your Valkyrie blessings?." Sam asked the girls who were concerned.

"Not really. Because we will return them to their respective worlds later anyway." Admiral Hipper answered.

"I think you should give them some Valkyrie blessings…"

"Why?"

"While I was defending the ship, I saw them… a lot of them! This base will get overrun by them!" Sam warned them.

"Hmmm…" Admiral Hipper verbally thought to herself.

"But some are still injured…"

"Don't worry!" Hornet stands up, "I'm all good now!"

"Me too!"

"Same here!" Mutsuki and Yuudachi added, respectively.

"It's time for us to return the favor!" Hornet readies herself.

"That settles it then! Gather Everyone in the courtyard!" Sam ordered.

"We're gonna fix this confusing name game problem of yours!"

In a moment, everyone gathered in the courtyard. Sam ordered Enterprise to stand on the left side, then he ordered Akagi of Kantai Collection to stand in the middle and Akagi of Warship Girls on the right side.

"Everyone! Line up with the girls in front if you're from her world! Or in layman's terms, you know her." Sam instructed.

Everyone begins to line up with their respective sides.

"Okay! Now that you all are lined up neatly. All the girls lined up with Enterprise will use the code name 'AL' before their names. For Akagi in the middle, it'll be 'KC', while the Akagi in the right will be 'WSG'. while the girls behind me will use either V or Valkyrie." Sam noted.

"Ehh, that sounds lame!" Javelin shouted.

"Lame!" Mostly everyone shouted in unison.

"Why do they have a much better sounding one? We also want a much better-sounding one!!" They protested.

"Oh boy…" Sam whispered.

"Boy, you're bad at this…" the mature-looking Fubuki snarked at Sam in disappointment.

"I-I hmm… Then how about this? AL will be 'Kansen', the KC will be 'Kanmusu' and the WSG one will be 'Shipfu'. How about that?"

"I guess this is better." Javelin commented. "Still sounds normal buuut better than the previous lame one."

Afterward, the Valkyries started transferring their mana to the other girls for them to be able to use the Valkyries' power. This process completely enhanced their power fiftyfold and completely modified their riggings. Some got a minor rigging modification while the others got an overhaul modification on their riggings. Everyone flew out towards the open water and tested their new powers. All of them were satisfied and overjoyed with what they've witnessed so far.

"Oh right, I need to get back to my group. Can you guys help me?" Sam asked Valkyrie Fubuki.

"What do you need?" she asked.

"First and foremost, I'll need the portal to open again and I'll need a way to get in the portal, probably a plane." Sam noted.

"I'll give you the plane!" Valkyrie Akashi replied, patting Sam on the back.

"Me and the other Akashi-s have salvaged a very awesome plane!" All the three Akashi-s pulled their thumbs up.

"Errr. N-no thanks." Sam worriedly refuses the three.

He knows that these three made something crazy. A little optimism, and they might hand him a plane that'll explode seconds after flight.

"But but, this plane felt like it came from another world! Why not take a look!" Valkyrie Akashi replied.

"I guess…" Sam came through half-willingly.

Quickly realizing he had no other option, he gave in and followed the Akashi-s.

Valkyrie Fubuki then noticed the three Akashi-s leading Sam to the R&D area so she followed them silently. Sam and the three Akashi entered the darkroom, they turned the lights and Sam was greeted by this aircraft.

"This plane…" Sam noted.

"You know it?" Valkyrie Akashi asked.

"Yes! This is R-101 Delphinus 1!! A fictional Aircraft that first appeared on Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere!!!" Sam immediately jumps into the cockpit.

"Wow! So this is what COFFIN looks like from the inside!" Sam exclaimed.

"COFFIN?" Kanmusu Akashi asked.

"Connection For Flight Interface." Sam noted. "It's a type of control system where a human can use an aircraft with their thoughts or body movements. Such aircraft do not feature glass canopies or front windows; instead, sensors on the aircraft's body transmit live pictures of its surroundings to either interior screens or the pilot's mind." Sam added.

"Where did you learn this stuff, nya?" Kanmusu Akashi asked.

"Wikipedia!" Sam exclaimed.

"…" The three akashi went quiet.

"W-what? Wikipedia is a good source of knowledge, you know?"

"Hey Sam!" Valkyrie Fubuki entered and inserted herself into the room.

"What's up?"

"You fell in the ocean right?"

"Yes. What about it?"

"Don't use your magic abilities. The water disrupts the mana flow in your body. Your magic won't function normally."

"Oh really?"

"Go ahead and try then! Don't cry when my warning explodes in your face later!" Valkyrie Fubuki seriously said, crossing her arms.

Sam tested it himself by casting a low tier fire magic called 'Lighter'. Small fire as it may have come, it combusted instantly and burned the caster. It literally exploded in his face, comically charing his hair and part of his clothing.

"Whoa!"

"Told ya…" Valkyrie Fubuki said with a snicker.

Then a siren noise alerted everyone in the base. A huge enemy force was approaching the Midway base. Everyone readied and went into battle formation. Sam busied himself with starting up the newly tinkered aircraft.

"Those things were the ones that attacked us." Kansen Javelin points at the creature they just fought before being transferred to this world.

"We call them 'Leviathan'. They're enemies from our world." Valkyrie Fubuki noted.

"So, basically they're like the Siren equivalent of our world." Kansen Javelin added.

"Or the Abyssal." Kanmusu Yuudachi added.

"Or the Abyss fleet!" Shipfu O'Bannon added.

"To be honest, the Abyss fleet in our world are more like doppelgangers of us warships…" Shipfu Akagi noted.

"Ohhh."

"Seems like they're few in numbers…" Valkyrie Alabama denoted.

"Are they a scouting force?" Valkyrie Admiral Hipper asked.

"Seems like it…" Valkyrie Alabama answered.

"Everyone! Our goal is to annihilate the enemy fleet while protecting Sam and his way to the portal!" Valkyrie Alabama shouted.

All of the ship girls moved into their respective formation, forming an arrowhead. Arrowhead is composed of cruiser and destroyer type ship girls while the aircraft carrier and battleship type ship girls form a horizontal line behind the arrowhead. In no time, they were welcomed by an enemy fleet composed of multiple Leviathans, Abyssal, Sirens, and Abyss fleet.

The battle began. They drew first fire after commenced attacks by firing salvos of torpedoes towards the enemy fleet, sinking multiple Abyssals and Sirens. The Aircraft Carrier summoned their respective ships and launched fighter planes to attack the enemy. In retaliation, the enemy also launched their planes to counter them. The sky was soon covered in metal and smoke; a battle for air superiority commenced.

The ship girls countered by performing an anti-air barrage against the nearest enemy planes. Their air control was dwindling, leaving the enemy fleet vulnerable to an airstrike. But before they were able to do so, the enemy fleet commenced a series of artillery bombardments. The ship girls performed evasive maneuvers while maintaining formation during this. Their formation wasn't breaking. A lot of the attention was diverted from Sam.

"Sam! Are you ready to launch?" Valkyrie Akashi asked.

"Aircraft functionality is all green. Ready for take-off!"

Leaving her an iconic smile before the shutters closed, he took off the runway and climbed altitude steadily. After he reached 1000 meters, he looked around and saw a portal opening up.

"Hey Sam! We opened up the 'right' portal for you to enter!!" Valkyrie Fubuki shouted through the radio to connect to his comms on his plane.

"You have my gratitude!" Sam replied.

"You also need to hurry up! We need to close it as soon as possible! The sudden opening of this portal made it very unstable! I have no idea what will happen if we keep it open for too long! So gun for it as hard as you can!" Valkyrie Fubuki added.

"Okay!" Sam replied.

Soon after, Sam noticed a wave of enemy planes approaching from his left. Seemed like the enemies were anticipating escapees so they had reserves to go and take care of any of them. The enemy crafts locked onto him on sight and fired multiple air-to-air missiles. With his experience in these scenarios, Sam was able to perform evasive maneuvers and evaded all incoming missiles.

"Mister Sam is being targeted!" Kansen Javelin shouted.

"I got him!"

Kansen Enterprise locked onto the planes pursuing Sam and launched five of her F6F Hellcat. This F6F Hellcat wasn't any typical old generation plane. With the Valkyries' power, it was greatly enhanced to the point of being capable of going toe to toe against modern military aircraft.

For some reason, Sam's aircraft suddenly gained too much speed after one usage of its throttle. Casually hitting Mach 10. But the craft didn't seem to sustain that speed as its warning systems were all repeatedly shouting:

"WARNING! EXCEEDING SPEED LIMIT! SLOW DOWN!"

Sam slowly lost consciousness as the craft hit Mach 15 but he managed to eject himself before the craft broke down from the excessive G-force and exploded. He regained consciousness only to find himself free falling over 1000 meters mid-air.

"DAMN YOU AKASHI-S!!!!" Sam cursed boisterously as he fell.

The three Akashis hid themselves as they heard his shout.

"W-we thought removing the speed limiter will help him nya!!"

"We didn't think that would kill you!!"

"AAAHHHHH!!!!"

"No no no!" Valkyrie Fubuki yelled. "Quick! Someone catch Sam!!"

"On it!"

Kansen Enterprise again deployed a F6F Hellcat of Enterprise and managed to catch Sam safely. Its path was directed to fly smoothly all the way to the portal. But suddenly, a stray missile hit the Hellcat plane where Sam held onto.

"!!!"

The situation looked bad while the plane just hovered in the air, on the verge of exploding. But Sam was craftier than that and came up with a quick plan on the fly. When the burning craft got close enough, he used fire magic of a larger scale this time and purposely made the craft explode, but he did so in a way that the force of the blast would launch him upward. Considering its current volatility with just something small earlier, surely that would be enough force to launch him by recoil.

With his dear life, he latched onto the metal sheet that was once part of a plane and successfully made it all the way to the portal.

Kansen Enterprise wiped off the sweat that broke on her forehead and let out a big sigh of relief. She would've easily replaced that plane to escort Sam, but what he did worked just as well. Valkyrie Fubuki also was relieved. Afterwards, she menacingly glared onto the nearby trio of Akashi-s, who all then dispersed and went to be more useful somewhere else.

"All right! Sam has entered the portal! We will begin closing the portal!" Valkyrie Fubuki ordered. "Everyone, time to mop up!! Sink all of the enemies!!"

All of the ship girls went all-out to wipe out the losing enemy forces. Thanks to their newfound power, they've sustained very little losses. After they've eliminated all of the remaining enemies, they return to base.

"Wow. Valkyrie's power is amazing!" Kansen Javelin happily exclaimed.

"With this, we can take back our world easily!" Kansen Z23 added.

"What's going on there?" Kanmusu Fubuki pointed at the crowd gathering around.

"Let's check it out!" Kansen Javelin walks toward the crowd.

"Wow!" one of the valkyries with cat ears exclaimed. "These mad lads… they've captured an enemy!"

"Let me out!! LET ME OUT!" the girl with a long white ponytail shouts and tries to free herself from the net. "I'M GONNA SINK YOU ALL AFTER I GET OUT OF HERE!!"

"As if you'll be able to do that!" A Valkyrie with short dark brown hair replied as she placed handcuffs on the captured enemy.

"Isn't that Siren Purifier?" Kansen Javelin pointed at the captured girl. "Who captured her?"

"It's the Gearing-class!" Valkyrie Fubuki replied. "They love capturing enemies!"

"Why don't you be as docile as that one?" She pointed to the other girl with a weird-looking hat and short white hair.

The girl had very pale skin. This other one they captured didn't speak nor complain at all.

"Isn't that a Wo-class abyssal??" Kanmusu Fubuki pointed at the docile enemy.

"What will you do to them?" Kansen Enterprise asked.

"We'll interrogate them in due-time." Valkyrie Fubuki replied. "These other-worlder enemies can use their abilities while in the Rift. But… they shouldn't be able to use their abilities at all!"

"So that means…" Kansen Javelin asked.

Valkyrie Fubuki nodded briefly.

"Yes, someone is handling things behind the curtain…"