"Ohhhhh—!"
Artoria swung down her blade, and the Excalibur transford into a beam of light, directly striking the Purifier's rigging.
The massive impact caused a tsunami to surge across the sea. Nearby Siren mass-produced ships were overturned by the waves, while those closer to the blast were disintegrated into ash by the golden light.
The brilliance of the light, combined with the sea spray, rose skyward, forming a massive waterspout that swept up nearby warships into its vortex.
"What the heck is thisssssss—!"
The Purifier and her rigging were caught in the waterspout, spinning wildly as it lifted them hundreds of ters into the sky.
She had assud this would be another simple skirmish, similar to the ones she'd had with shipgirls wielding outdated cold weapons. To her dismay, this ti she was up against sothing far beyond her comprehension.
The surrounding Sirens and shipgirls stared in stunned silence, their eyes locked on Artoria.
"Tch. In our world, she's definitely one of the strongest humans," Tohru remarked with admiration for Artoria.
Boom!
The waterspout shot into the sky, exploding into a massive golden cross high above the ocean.
With a loud thud, the Purifier and the remnants of nearby Siren warships crashed into the sea, sending debris and seawater splashing everywhere.
After a few monts of bubbling, the Purifier managed to resurface, clinging to her battered rigging for dear life.
"Ugh… blech—"
She spat out a mouthful of seawater, along with a few unfortunate fish and shrimp. Wiping her face, she scanned her surroundings.
Above her hovered over thirty space warships.
Leading the fleet were the dark blue Eternal Snowfall and the silver-white Richelieu.
The fleur-de-lis emblem was vaguely familiar—it belonged to a certain faction of shipgirls from the port. But she didn't recall shipgirls ever being able to create such massive space warships.
Their flags weren't the port's naval ensign either; instead, they bore the black-and-red eagle insignia of the Starsea Alliance.
Above her lood a four-legged dragon, its massive body over a hundred ters long, watching her intently.
On the ocean's surface stood a towering Gundam wielding a mace and spear, alongside several sword-wielding, cold-weapon-bearing spirits.
The resemblance between Jeanne Alter, Jeanne d'Arc, and Artoria was uncanny, leaving the Purifier unable to tell them apart.
"Who are you people? Why are you attacking ?!"
The Purifier's voice was filled with confusion as she shouted her existential query. She had fought against shipgirls for years, but this was her first encounter with such a bizarre array of people and creatures.
"You're a Siren! Who else would we attack?!"
Enterprise stood on her bridge, looking down at her from above, her tone cold and resolute. She harbored no goodwill toward Sirens.
"It's you?!"
The Purifier also recognized her old rival.
"How did you all end up flying into the sky?!"
"Save your breath and prepare to die—"
Enterprise was just about to make her move when Yat Sen stopped her.
"Wait."
"Didn't you notice? She has no intention of fighting back."
Yat Sen gazed steadily at the Purifier.
Although she had taken a direct hit from Excalibur, she only looked a bit disheveled. Her hair was damp and slightly unkempt, her sailor uniform had a few tears, but her rigging and core remained unhard.
High-level Siren shipgirls possessed an incredible level of vitality.
"Lay down your weapons and surrender," Richelieu demanded coldly, her piercing gaze fixed on the Purifier.
"Hah? I'm the strongest of the Purifier-class in the Tribunal. Do you think you—"
The Purifier started to retort.
Click-click-click-click—
The main cannons of over thirty starships simultaneously locked onto her.
Heroic Spirits readied their Noble Phantasms, Tohru bared her massive jaws, and Gudako hefted her mace-spear, testing its weight.
Gulp—
The Purifier swallowed hard.
"I demand proper treatnt as a prisoner of war! You follow the Geneva Conventions, right?!"
...
...
Half an hour later.
In the Azure Lane port, a conference room had been hastily converted into an interrogation chamber.
The Purifier sat at a table, a pen and paper placed in front of her, while Setsuna and several shipgirls conducted the questioning.
"Na?"
"Purifier."
"Gender?"
"Are you blind?! Are shipgirls ever male?!"
"Age?"
"I don't know."
"Affiliation?"
"The Siren Tribunal."
"..."
Setsuna studied the Purifier with interest.
Compared to the mass-produced ships, which were mindless and imdiately hostile, high-level Siren shipgirls bore a certain resemblance to port shipgirls.
However, their fairer skin, combined with white hair, golden eyes, and black rigging, made them highly distinctive.
To be fair, despite her figure being less voluptuous than that of the aircraft carriers, the Purifier was undeniably attractive.
"Are all the mass-produced ships in this sea under your control? What's your objective in besieging the port?"
Tirpitz tapped the table as she posed the question.
"Of course, to break through the port, capture all of you, lock you in small dark rooms, train you thoroughly, and then—"
The Purifier shalessly replied.
Bang!
She got a knock on the head from Richelieu.
"Honestly, keep talking nonsense, and I'll knock you out," Richelieu warned.
"Uh—"
The Purifier let out a muffled groan, clutching her head as she slumped over the table.
"Fine, I'll be honest. I noticed fewer and fewer shipgirls around the port and got curious about where they all went."
"So, I thought I'd co take a look. But your coastal defenses were too strong, so I had to slowly surround you, hoping to catch a lone shipgirl to ask about it."
Since the dinsional anchor had been created, inter-world travel had beco much easier. Most shipgirls had moved to Constantinople to undergo starship modifications.
With the supplies sent by Setsuna, shipgirls no longer needed to go on distant expeditions. At this point, not even Bulins or Manjuus could be caught, let alone isolated shipgirls.
"..."
The Purifier's gaze lingered on Setsuna for a long mont.
"Tch, so there's a commander now? That explains why those shipgirls suddenly got smarter..."
"You're from another world, aren't you?"
"You figured that out?"
Setsuna looked at her in surprise.
"Of course. I know this sea like the back of my hand. I can tell you how many sharks are in it. The port didn't have a single man before, so you couldn't have just popped out of thin air."
The Purifier wore an expression that scread, "How could you be so clueless?"
"..."
Setsuna felt like this was the first ti he'd ever been looked down on by an idiot.
"Tell about the Sirens."
He decided to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand.
The shipgirls had been fighting the Sirens for countless years, yet they knew very little about them. Having the chance to talk face-to-face with a high-level Siren was unprecedented.
"Eh, there's not much to say," the Purifier replied, scratching her head.
"We have two main organizations: the Terminal and the Tribunal. Technically, they're supposed to manage the fleet together."
"But the Terminal in this universe has gone dark, so it's just and a few Elite Sirens from the Tribunal left on this planet. We're stuck guarding this boring stretch of sea, day in and day out."
"Fighting the shipgirls used to be entertaining, but lately, none of them co out anymore. Did you take them all away?"
"..."
Setsuna paused, processing the information.
"Why are you always at odds with the shipgirls at the port? The ocean is vast. Don't you have enough resources? Why bother taking things from the port?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's because we've been fighting for so long, it's beco a habit."
"..."
The shipgirls glared at her with fury.
Setsuna pondered for a mont. The situation was more or less as he had expected.
Because he had arrived in this world relatively early, the port hadn't yet split into the factions of Azur Lane and the Crimson Axis. The seas contained only a handful of high-ranking Sirens. They had been locked in a tug-of-war with the shipgirls for years, neither side able to gain a decisive advantage.
"In that case, how about joining ?"
Setsuna extended a hand toward the Purifier.
"Look, I'm about to move all the shipgirls to a new world. You'd be left here as a lonely Siren with nothing to do, right?"
"In my world, I can modify you into a starship like Richelieu. Though we haven't studied Siren equipnt, I'm sure Akashi can figure it out."
"And we can fight aliens in other worlds together. Seriously, stop picking fights with my girls already!"
"..."
The Purifier tilted her head in thought.
The idea of being upgraded into a flying starship like the port's shipgirls was undoubtedly tempting. If Setsuna really moved the port entirely, she'd have little left to do here besides watching sharks bare their teeth.
"What if I refuse?"
The Purifier asked.
"Then I'll dismantle your rigging for research, lock you in a small room, and, well… you know, hehehe every day…"
Setsuna propped his chin on his hand, smirking.
High-ranking Sirens like her were far stronger than individual shipgirls. He was deeply curious about how she summoned endless waves of mass-produced ships from the sea and how she had managed to withstand Excalibur head-on.
"Whoa, perverted commander!!!"
The Purifier shivered, hugging herself protectively.
"I demand the sa treatnt as the Azur Lane shipgirls! No racial discrimination or oppressing Siren shipgirls, okay? Don't make pick cotton or mine coal… I don't even eat waterlon or drink grape juice!"
"Don't worry, I treat everyone equally. Even Sirens get full citizenship rights in my world. Heck, I've even got dragon girls living there."
Setsuna ruffled the Purifier's hair.
It was cool to the touch—her body temperature was noticeably lower than that of regular shipgirls.
"So, who else is left among the Siren shipgirls here? Take to them. If they're reasonable, they're welco to join. If they're not…"
He glanced at the surrounding fleet.
"We'll use starships, Excalibur, and dragons to make them reasonable."
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