A massive abyssal fleet approached the Devil May Cry Naval Base, forcing Dante and his team into a defensive battle. Yokosuka and Sasebo fleets joined the fight.
In the skies, carrier planes from both sides clashed in a chaotic air battle, some plummeting in flames.
Sōryū: "Can't secure air superiority…!"
Kaga: "We haven't lost it yet!"
Akagi: "Admiral! It's a stalemate!"
Dante: "Keep going!"
Hōshō: "Launching!"
Carriers deployed more attack squads, but the air battle became a quagmire. On the surface, the enemy's numbers prevented deep strikes.
Fusō: "Flanking their sides!"
Shimakaze: "Got it!"
Yūdan: "Poi!"
Yokosuka and Sasebo fleets attacked the enemy's flanks. If Dante broke through the center, he could hit the princess and demon-class abyssals, but something bothered him. The enemy's movements were unnatural. If they meant to crush the base, all princess and demon-class ships would attack, but only lesser abyssals, Elites, and Flagships moved, with only carrier-capable princesses and demons active.
Dante: "(Some kind of strategy?)"
While destroying abyssals, Dante observed their movements. They seemed to be waiting for something.
Sendai: "You're strong, right? Do something!"
Dodging attacks and firing torpedoes, Sendai grew impatient with Dante's restraint. Then a demon appeared, wielding a staff topped with a clock-like object. It pointed the staff at several shipgirls, and the sea glowed in a circle around them.
Dante: "Get out of there!"
Heeding his shout, most escaped, but Aoba, Atago, Shiranui, and Akatsuki were too slow. The glow faded, freezing them in place. Abyssals seized the chance to attack.
Aoba: "Ugh!"
Atago: "Noo!"
Shiranui: "Tch!"
Akatsuki: "Kyaa!"
Kagerō: "Shiranui!"
Inazuma: "Akatsuki-chan!"
Ikazuchi: "Akatsuki, fall back!"
Aoba and Atago took minor damage, Shiranui and Akatsuki moderate. Kagerō, Ikazuchi, and Inazuma covered them, sinking several enemy destroyers.
Atago: "What just happened?"
The affected shipgirls were clueless. When Chōkai moved to dodge abyssal fire, the demon pointed its staff, rewinding her movements back to her original position.
Chōkai: "Kya!"
She took a hit. The demon could manipulate time.
Dante charged, slashing with Rebellion, but the demon vanished instantly.
Hatsuyuki: "Commander, behind you!"
The demon reappeared behind Dante, firing a mana bullet from its staff. He jumped, dodging, and fired Ebony & Ivory midair, but the demon vanished again.
Maya: "What the?!"
Yūdan: "Nyaa?!"
The demon froze Yokosuka and Sasebo's fleets, letting abyssals attack. Damage spread.
Dante: "Time for time."
Activating Quicksilver's "Time Lag" to slow everything, Dante approached the demon. Its clock ticked, forcibly canceling Time Lag.
Dante: "…?!"
Too early for the effect to end. The demon countered time manipulation. It fired another mana bullet, but Dante threw Rebellion, slicing through it. The spinning blade flew at the demon, which vanished again. Rebellion returned to Dante's hand.
The demon raised its staff skyward, summoning a black sphere. A storm raged, its suction pulling at the fleet.
Tone: "Bad news! Fall back!"
The fleet retreated, struggling against the intense pull.
Akagi: "Kyaa!"
Sendai: "Waaah!"
Kaga: "Akagi-san!"
Jintsū: "Big sister!"
Kongō: "Admiral!"
Akagi and Sendai were sucked into the sphere. Dante dove in to save them. The demon followed, and the sphere vanished.
Instantly, all princess and demon-class abyssals advanced, attacking the shipgirls.
Shigure: "They're moving!"
Shiratsuyu: "What about the admiral?!"
Hōshō: "Deal with this first!"
Without Dante, Akagi, and Sendai, the fleet faced a fiercer assault.
Sōryū: "Kaga-san, above!"
Kaga: "…!"
Distracted by Akagi's absence, Kaga moved sluggishly as enemy planes closed in. She dodged complex bomb patterns but was relentlessly pursued.
Hiei: "Firing!"
Hiei's Type 3 shells downed the planes chasing Kaga.
Kongō: "Fire!"
Her shot missed a battleship princess.
Kirishima: "Big sister, adjust left 10 degrees, elevation 45!"
Kongō: "One more!"
The corrected shot hit the princess, spurring the abyssals to fight harder.
Hōshō: "Are you holding up?"
Fusō: "Still fighting."
Hōshō checked with Yokosuka and Sasebo via radio. The fleet regrouped, returning fire.
Inside the sphere, Dante, Akagi, and Sendai landed in a jungle, stared down by a Tyrannosaurus. Akagi and Sendai were separated, leaving Dante alone under its gaze.
Sendai: "What're you doing?!"
Akagi: "Admiral, it's dangerous! Get away!"
They whispered to avoid provoking it, but Dante stood fearless, arms crossed.
Dante: "What? Wanna play?"
Casually talking, the Tyrannosaurus swallowed him. Its jaws showed his coat's hem.
Sendai: "What are you doing?!"
Akagi: "Admiral?! No, you can't!"
Seeing him eaten, they paled. Sendai needed Dante to keep his promise; Akagi didn't want to lose him like this. But the dinosaur's jaws parted—Dante forcibly held them open with his arms and legs.
Dante: "Not into this game. Drool's gross."
He leaped out. The Tyrannosaurus lunged again, but Dante shot a bullet between its eyes, killing it. More carnivorous dinosaurs appeared.
Sendai: "Run!"
Dante: "Hey, wait?!"
Dante drew Rebellion, but Akagi and Sendai fled. Unable to leave them, he ran too, dinosaurs in pursuit.
Dante: "You fight abyssals but run from these?!"
Sendai: "This is different!"
Akagi: "Is dinosaur meat tasty?"
Dante: "Lizard dinner?"
Sendai: "They're coming fast!"
Demon: "Nyahahaha!"
The demon reappeared, laughing at their chase. It pointed its staff at a mountain, which glowed and erupted—a volcano. The pursuing dinosaurs fled in the opposite direction.
Relieved, they were soon charged by herbivorous dinosaurs escaping the volcano. Dodging to avoid being trampled, the three got separated.
Dante: "Akagi! Sendai!"
Akagi: "Admiral, where are you?!"
Sendai: "Over here!"
Dante leaped between dinosaur backs, following their voices. Finding them, he grabbed both and charged the demon, aiming to kick it down. But the demon summoned a black sphere in front, swallowing them.
Transported again, they chased the demon while being chased.
Dante: "Slippery bastard…!"
Akagi: "Things keep getting worse!"
They landed in Edo-period Japan. Townsfolk screamed, mistaking the demon for a yokai. Dante fired Ebony & Ivory, but the modern weapons branded him a yokai ally, and samurai chased them, causing chaos.
Sendai: "Humans I can handle. Can I shoot?"
Akagi: "No!"
Dante: "Where are we?!"
Akagi: "Probably Edo era!"
Another black sphere appeared.
Akagi: "Admiral!"
Sendai: "Don't stop suddenly!"
Dante: "Whoa?!"
Dante tried to avoid the sphere, but Akagi and Sendai crashed into him, sending all three inside.
Sendai: "Ouch…"
Akagi: "Where now…?"
Thrown out of the sphere, they landed on the ground. Looking around, it was familiar.
Akagi: "Yokosuka Naval Base?"
Dante: "…What?"
Black smoke rose from the base. Shells exploded nearby, and battle sounds came from the sea. Two figures approached—a young man in a white navy uniform and Hōshō.
Hōshō: "What are you doing?!"
Akagi: "Hōshō-san?!"
?: "Who are you?"
Sendai: "Who're you?"
Admiral: "I'm the admiral of Yokosuka Naval Base…"
"…What?"
Yokosuka's admiral was female, yet this man claimed the title, freezing Akagi and Sendai's thoughts.
Hōshō: "How'd you get in? We're in combat!"
Akagi: "Uh…"
Hōshō: "Take cover! Admiral, you too—"
Admiral: "No, I'm staying."
Shells kept hitting the base. One flew toward them, but Dante drew Rebellion, deflecting it. He canceled out more shells with Ebony & Ivory, stunning Hōshō, the admiral, Akagi, and Sendai.
Dante: "Looks tough. Need a hand?"
Admiral: "You are…"
Hōshō: "Wait!"
Shells still flew; no time for talk. Dante offered help and, without waiting for an answer, took Akagi and Sendai to the sea.
Sendai: "What's with Yokosuka's admiral?"
Dante: "Later."
At the battlefield, Yokosuka's shipgirls were taking damage, the situation grim. Roughly 100 abyssals, but no Elites, Flagships, princesses, or demons—a small mercy.
Dante: "This'll be easy!"
Akagi: "Everyone, fall back!"
Dante and Sendai charged. Akagi launched planes in support. Yokosuka's shipgirls, shocked by the intrusion, were too damaged to intervene. Sendai's precise torpedoes sank destroyers and light cruisers.
Dante closed on a Ta-class battleship, slashing with Rebellion. It blocked with its arm, which Dante severed. The Ta-class tried firing point-blank, but Dante spin-kicked its rigging, redirecting the shot. He stabbed Rebellion into it, lifted it, and hurled it at a Ru-class battleship, causing both to explode and sink.
Enemy planes targeted Dante and Sendai, but Akagi's fighters shot them down. Her bombers and torpedo planes sank approaching heavy cruisers. Dante aimed Ebony & Ivory at a Wo-class carrier's open rigging mouth, hitting its planes inside, causing explosions that sank several carriers.
The trio decimated the abyssals, leaving Yokosuka's shipgirls stunned.
Yokosuka Naval Base, Office
Admiral: "Thank you for your help."
After repelling the abyssals, Dante, Akagi, and Sendai returned with Yokosuka's shipgirls and were brought to the office. The self-proclaimed admiral thanked them first, but his identity puzzled them, as Yokosuka's admiral was female.
Dante: "What year is it?"
Admiral: "Huh?"
Dante: "What's the date?"
Admiral: "…It's [REDACTED]."
A year before their time. Given their journey, one explanation made sense.
Sendai: "Could we have time-trav… mmph?!"
Akagi clamped Sendai's mouth. If this was the past, careless words were risky.
Admiral: "Time?"
Hōshō: "Tra?"
Dante: "Nothing."
Hōshō: "Who are you? How'd you get in?"
That issue remained. They couldn't tell the truth and scrambled to dodge suspicion.
Dante: "We're—"
Akagi: "From headquarters, here to inspect!"
Hōshō: "Inspection? No one told us."
Akagi: "Of course! It's a surprise inspection to prevent cover-ups!"
They were the ones covering up, though. Dante eyed Akagi skeptically, who sweated under her own bluff.
Admiral: "Oh! And you are?"
He bought it—a stroke of luck. The young admiral, curious about Dante's non-uniform attire, asked.
Dante: "I'm—"
Akagi: "Colonel Dante, inspection leader!"
Sendai: "Mmph! Mmph!"
Akagi answered for Dante, still silencing Sendai to avoid slip-ups. Dante's colonel rank was true—promoted posthumously to colonel after being presumed dead post-Jester fight.
Hōshō: "Colonel Dante… a foreigner?"
Akagi: "Recently joined the navy! Let's all cooperate!"
Dante: "(Is this BS gonna work?)"
Admiral: "My apologies!"
Whether due to Dante's rank or the inspection, the admiral saluted nervously. No more suspicion, it seemed. The remaining issues were the demon and returning to their era. The demon hadn't appeared since, and without it, they were stuck.
Admiral: "For the inspection, let's start…"
Dante: "…Huh?"
Dante: "(Not interested at all…)"
The admiral showed Dante records—shipgirl counts, resources, funds—but Dante, not really inspecting, found it tedious.
Admiral: "That's all."
Dante: "Looks fine, I guess."
"…What?"
His careless response stunned the admiral and Hōshō. Akagi whispered to him.
Akagi: "Admiral, choose your words!"
Dante: "I don't care…"
Akagi: "We're supposed to be inspecting!"
Dante: "Your fault…"
As Dante and Akagi muttered, the admiral and Hōshō tidied up. Next, they were to tour the base, but Aoba arrived.
Aoba: "Hi, Aoba here. Can I take a photo?"
Camera in hand, she explained she thought the admiral might be fired and wanted a shot for the base newspaper—a cold reason. The admiral bristled, but Dante agreed.
Aoba: "Thanks!"
Dante, Akagi, Sendai, the admiral, and Hōshō posed. Aoba snapped the photo and left. They toured the base, observed training, and got explanations, but Dante's half-hearted "huh" and "oh" replies earned him nudges from Akagi.
The demon appeared, unnoticed by the admiral and Hōshō, flying toward the sea.
Dante: "Gotta go."
Admiral: "Oh, leaving?"
Hōshō: "From the sea?"
Dante: "Yeah. Let's move, Akagi, Sendai."
They chased the demon to the sea. The admiral and Hōshō watched until they vanished.
Admiral: "That guy's amazing, standing on water like a shipgirl."
Hōshō: "What was he?"
To be continued…
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