The remaining KANSENs in the "fleet" went silent.

'Why did I not remain with her?'

The remaining battleship, Prince of Wales, became extremely puzzled amongst her sea of regrets. If it was the usual her, she would not have followed Hood's suggestion of leaving someone behind. She knew that they might be outnumbered, but she should have fought back.

Why couldn't she do something in the face of that situation?

Is it due to the intimidating dreadnought-class battleship? The one that also defeated them in history? 

Gripping her sheathed estoc, she composed herself. She knew that she needed to guide the other two in this otherwise despairing situation.

"We—"

Within a split second, she calibrated the aim of her naval artillery and launched a wave of explosive shells towards the distance. Still, she could not remove the lock-on imposed upon the three of them. Although, her random fire had been a calculated one.

Boom-! 

Midair, the shells struck each other and exploded. Due to their distance, only the shockwaves were dealt by the three of them.

"Prepare yourselves. Hostiles are incoming."

""Y-yes!""

The two heavy cruisers positioned themselves at Wales' side as they continued moving. They activated a function of their Wisdom Cube—detection—as they tried to pinpoint the area of their attacker. In this thick layer of fog, it became a daunting feat. Moreover, jamming was also present in this place.

"Halt."

Hearing her, the two KANSENs stopped.

"Hah? What is the meaning of this?"

"It is what it is."

"...A rebellion, I see."

Two voices were heard not far away from them. Taking a closer look, Wales immediately recognized both of them. The older woman wore a black-red uniform along her painted rigging while the girl wore a black dress, making her look unsuitable for this battlefield.

Still, she knew that they belong to the Iron Blood faction.

"The former secretary and... Prinz Eugen."

When Azur Lane was still a united front, the KANSENs took turns in becoming the Commander's secretary. Though, the girl, Z23, has one of the highest work efficiency among them.

"An infighting..?" She mumbled.

"Hold on. Am I misremembering something?" Prinz Eugen's expression became interesting as she said, "Aren't you preoccupied with something? Even with that, you should not have been able to arrive here quickly. Unless..."

She looked at "Z23" and began to notice subtle differences. Her vibe, which leaked out wisdom intermittently, as well as her ageless aura that could be seen deep within her eyes.

"...You are not our Z23."

*****

Anomalies.

Some time now, a select few already knew about these occurrences that could not be explained. A ruined futuristic base, Sakura Empire's modified Wisdom Cube, and so on. Many famous theories from the past also resurfaced due to this event.

"Oh? How did you guess it?"

"Akagi would not do something like this. She knows the consequences."

Right now, Bismarck did not refer to the woman in front of her as "Akagi", but an unknown one instead.

"You have something that Akagi does not have."

"What is it?"

"Control."

It was well-known that Akagi has a strong obsession towards the Commander of Azur Lane. It was too strong that it often affected her aura. 

The "Akagi" in front of her did not possess such craziness, but instead looked like an elegant woman. In a sense, she was similar to Bismarck.

"Looks like your eyesight did not dwindle with age."

"It does not matter in my current form."

Oblivious to the sarcasm, Bismarck replied with a straight face.

"...Who are you?"

Bismarck seemingly has a guess in her mind, but she still proceeded to ask her.

"Why ask if you already know the answer?"

"I see." She nodded. "You are Akagi... but not of this world."

For a moment, silence occurred between the two of them.

"You have been in contact with those Sirens."

"..."

Due to this world being a different timeline than theirs, Akagi could not accurately predict their movements. Even with her previous power—something that she could not fully use because of this unwelcome world—she could only see what was happening when she saw her target. It is akin to intuition but more potent.

"Let me guess. You seek for greater power?"

"It is necessary."

Knowing the anomalies that surrounded their world, Bismarck herself knew that everything that they have were not enough. The higher ups of their country also knew this, which was why they initiated a war. To procure more resources and prepare themselves for the attack of the Sirens was their main goal.

Even Sakura Empire who became aware of the Siren's true might wanted to do this. The Sirens whom they have defeated turned out to be unscathed, and that everything was nothing but a play sent a rippling wave through their hearts. Moreover, they hinted that something else was there to cause destruction—something feared even by them.

These actions were the main driving force, the spark which started this war.

"You will die." 

"Dying for my country is an honorable cause."

Seeing the determined woman, Akagi wore a nostalgic expression.

"As expected, you still had not changed."

She remembered the face of the woman who sacrificed her life for the sake of her country. Few months after the bombing of New York, the capitals of other countries followed. In the end, most of the KMS Fleet escaped successfully, with the exception of her and several other officers.

Akagi was not in the right mind back then due to Shiro's death, which was why she could not properly react to the bombings until it sank into her—the world that he tried to protect was crumbling.

She was sent back to her senses due to that realization. Even so, she could not resist the tide until the turning point began.

It was none other than the META project initiated months before her death.

"You are lucky this time."

"..?"

"Our hero is already back."

*****

"I wonder what pushed you to make this decision."

"Nothing much. He is pretty troublesome when it comes to some things... like this."

Dodging the shells sent by the heavy cruiser, Prinz Eugen continued her talks with "Z23" at a casual pace.

"He could go against the world if it was our enemy."

For some reasons, the word "our" had a different meaning on it.

"Him? I did not know you like someone other than the Commander."

"You are mistaken." She coldly replied. "I only love the Commander. After all..."

The words at the end were cut off by her, pushing Eugen's intrigue towards new heights.

"You are very close with the Commander of your world, no?"

"I am. He is my husband, after all."

"..."

The declaration sent  Prinz Eugen into a spiraling confusion. All these times, she could not make further advances with him as the Commander closely guarded himself. Even night assaults did not work due to other girls having planned the same thing. In the end, he was left to pacify everyone on the "battlefield" that was his bed room.

Knowing that someone became successful did not sit too well with her.

"Akagi too."

"How..."

The battlefield became serene as its two participants went into a temporary ceasefire.

*****

Inside a dark room, only holograms pertaining to many timelines' data was the only light source. Sitting in the usual leader's chair was none other than a man wearing a black hoodie.

He was looking at the huge black wisdom cube presented on a big screen. When he looked back, he saw the actual thing as it floated inside a glass capsule.

Then, he called forth a golden wisdom cube similar to it before it gently floated on the top of his palm.

"This is the endgame."

With this final step, he would now be able to lead this world into a new possibility.

Psssh-!

Of course, that was not without someone interfering with him.

"You..!" The girl could not believe what she was seeing. Other than the golden cube, the identity of the man shocked her the most. Her thoughts were fast enough to calculate thousands of possibilities, yet she had never imagined to see his face once again.

"How... how are you alive?"

"Didn't Aosta use the phrase 'Making the impossible possible' often?" The man said as his deep amber pupils glinted. "How could I not follow it as the one who gave him such a cool phrase?"

*****

A/N: We'll be back to daily updates starting tomorrow. I kind of lost a bit of my motivation writing this arc since these ideas are stuck since the finals week, but I finally got myself back. Shiro will be visited a certain world before the Azur Lane arc comes to its conclusion. After that, he'll be revisiting the mission worlds and finally deal problems that might have sprouted there.

Another thing, I was writing some chapters of a new fanfic idea. I just had the idea months ago and started actualizing it whenever I had free time (aside from writing this fic ofc). Thanks to that, my creativity came back. I have plans on publishing it before June ends, so do look out for it. Its plot is very simple—a man reincarnates to a modern Japan that's actually a mix of many slice of life (?) anime. He has a cheat which makes him grow faster but has flaws (not a system). Although, the story might progress unpredictably as he finds out more about his world. Do expect him to visit worlds such as Danmachi and Mahouka.

PS: I already gave out the fact that it's not ordinary slice-of-life lmao...

Happy Reading~!