Chapter 51 – Uneasy & Appreciation
The sea... Often described as a place of tranquillity, while others view it as a mysterious world teeming with aquatic life. Some have even suggested that it is an infinite expanse of uncharted territory filled with enigmas. So, what is actually the sea? Everything was correct, everything was never wrong, because it all leads up to different interpretation of each individuals.
Soon to be... That peaceful surface turned into dread when everything changed from below of the water. Leviathan, the creature that is presumed to be from the water, attacked everything on sight without mercy. As the survivor of that time says, "When there's a darkness roaming around, that thing will appear with the dark fog."
No one knows where did they originated from, or even came from. All they know, that it was the sea that spawned the fog and it was accompanied by that thing. Stormy weather, roaring sea, and the call of death. The surivor of that catastrophic world-ending occurrence labeled the being as, "Leviathan" shadowy creature that even void themself bowed down to it.
Technologies that era produced, far more advanced from the previous war, but it was rendered useless by them. Leviathan, the same name that came from Iris Orthodoxy's teaching. Described as the primordial serpent that came out to wreck the sea, larger than anything and could engulf the entire continent.
Though, the KANSEN were created before even the Leviathan incident, and the Siren were created to battle it out, the humanity still doomed perished completely. METAfication, they happened across the multiple timeline after the Leviathan started growing in power and travelled into another timeline just to destroy more civilization of humanity. The Siren and the rest of KANSEN created alliance, though, it wasn't a long alliance until a disparity happened between them.
Moral and Ethical tactics has been abandoned by the Siren and they wanted to experiment with the humanities to make them become even more stronger. Thus, under those hundred, thousand years, more and more META slowly appearing from millions timeline, until a singularity on a timeline appeared and changed everything.
"There's no ending to them." Memphis bit her lip, she looked straight beyond the sea, it was a swarm of Siren fleets surrounding them from all direction.
"The pawns are coming! Don't let them distract you from that thing behind the fleets." A blue long-haired girl spoke, her calm red eyes scanning the surrounding area and decided to take the best way to halt their movement.
"Helena! What are you doing! Don't make unneccesary movement!" A male voice was heard behind them, it was the Commander of the Azur Lane.
"Don't worry Commander, it won't be long before we reached our current objective." She leapt out from the command vessel to halt the enemy movement, she turned back briefly. "Please fight until the last light has faded."
The cruiser, was gone from the sight instantly. Feeling hopeless, the Commander punched the floor, because he failed to save yet another girl. The rest of the fleets are already gone, it was not in his prediction that the enemy could laid a trap here. He was sure that the enemies won't ever chase them to the secret area, but he was wrong.
The Commander shouted on top of his lungs. "You fucker... I will make you PAY!!!"
The vision rapidly changing until everything went black. Greynar woke up from his afternoon nap, stretching his hand while yawning. The Commander rubbed his eyes, shining light dawned on his room as the sun still up on the sky.
'Another dream? I feel tired by dealing with these dreams.' The Commander complained silently.
He picked up the cold coffee on the table and sipped on it. "Bleeeghh... This coffee taste better when it was hot. I will need to get another."
The encounter with Purifier was kept secret by the groups, it was certain that Purifier received an order to destroy the creature. It as if the Siren knew about him and trying to avoid harmful confrontation, or it maybe just a coincidence because Purifier's experiment was not registered on their database and needed to be destroyed immediately.
Either of those two possibility, he couldn't give the exact answer to it.
Next month, they will begin their operation to confront Jean Bart, the countermeasure against an unforseen circumstance will be taken in mind as the fleets will be divided into three team. The main fleet that will be dealing with Jean Bart is Massachusetts's that consist Massachusetts, Cleveland, Ranger, and Jenkins.
It was decided that he will just follow the story thoroughly until the end in fear of changing the storyline will affect everything the Siren has made from scratch. And by means of playing it safely and to look for other fragments of S.A.V.I.O.R that are scattered throughout the world who knows where.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door to his office. Not wanting to keep the other party waiting any longer, Greynar allowed them to enter the room. "Excuse me, Commander," a girlish voice opened the door. Her pinkish hair and jade eyes shimmered in the sunlight streaming through the windows.
"Good timing, how are you doing, Memphis?" The Commander curiously asked about his subordinate condition.
Memphis replied with a cheerful smile. "Thanks to the role you assigned to me, im quite enjoying it."
"Is that so? Well you better keep the good work, and also since you're here, can you help me with something?"
The cruiser tilted her head. "With what?"
"Oh nothing important, but can you help deliver this blueprints materials that i got from HQ to Akashi?" He presented a bundle of rolled blue-coloured papers that looks heavy but its actually quite light enough to pick them by one hand. "This just been delivered today, and i was pretty busy and got no time to send it to her, may i ask you to deliver these?"
"Sure, no problem. Also, Commander, the reason i come here is to console you about something." Memphis kindly reminded him about her reason.
"Oh, right, im sorry for wasting your time." Greynar politely apologized.
"No, it's okay, i know how busy you are and the time you have is limited, i can help you with some small job." She assured him that it's okay to rely on her help.
"...thanks, so what did you want to talk about?" He got flustered and changed the topic immediately.
Memphis hold her breath and sighed, "It's about the concern with White Tower incident, i am uneasy and still thinking about it." The cruiser wore a very worried expression as she sat on one of the seat.
Greynar silently listened without uttered any word, she continued. "Saratoga told me the other days about seeing some sort of figure floating on where the White Tower was destroyed before suddenly gone with no trace."
'A person? I think i have to cross most people that came into my mind. Was it Bon Homme Richard?'
"Commander?" Memphis word broke the silence that Greynar created.
"Oh, nothing. Ahem, sorry about that let's continue." The commander fixed himself. "As you say, the problem with that incident still remain mystery to everyone, even myself. The figure that Saratoga have seen... Lets make that remain a secret from everyone for a while, we don't want the world on chaos just because of a mention seeing a figure of someone after we destroyed one of anomaly structure."
Memphis chuckled softly. "Okay if you say so, i wouldn't mention this to anyone and i will ask Saratoga to keep it as secret."
"Good, i just hope this will make you a little bit on ease."
"Thank you, Commander. Also i hope i'm not disturbing you in your middle of work." Memphis replied attentively while looking at the pile of document on the side.
"Oh, that one has been done yesterday," The Commander continued while spinning the pen on his hand. "I'm just managing the reports of comissions and escort of the girls right now."
The cruiser let out a small sigh, relieved that her Commander was actually a fun person to talk to. There was no doubt in her mind that they had chosen a good commander, one who cared about the emotional state of the fleets. He is also the only person who manages the entire harbour without any help. 'I want to help him' is what she wanted to say, but she stopped herself and swallowed her words.
"Sorry for causing you a trouble, i'll take this blueprints then, see you Commander." Memphis left the room hurriedly after a brief silence.
"Wait," Before she could open the door, she was stopped by Greynar. "Let's take a walk while i take some time to refresh myself, being confined in this place made me bored."
Memphis nodded slowly, she was quite nervous when the Commander approached. Greynar opened the door for her as her hand was full, and she thanked him with a gentle smile. They walked side by side, keeping a reasonable distance between them. They were talking about the recent comissions that was taking place today.
"...Speaking of comissions, how many comissions have you done, Memphis?" Greynar curiously asked.
"Oh... uh.... 3.. 4... I think i lost count on how many." Memphis bitterly laugh.
"Well that's okay, comissions are important for our ports, and im sorry if i looked like i forced you guys to do it everyday." The words that the Commander uttered made Memphis slightly taken aback and shook her head.
"Don't worry, we know that you also give us time to rest so that we don't overwork our minds and bodies. Besides," Memphis glanced at the windows where the girls are chatting outside of the building. "You made this port lively and a comforting home, there won't be a single girl who dissatisfied with how you manage it, so be proud Commander." She gave him a reassuring genuine smile.
"Alright, i'll do what you say." The Commander felt a burden loosened on his back, her words gives him a courage to feel proud of what he has done for the past months.
They arrived at intersection of the hallway, since Memphis need to go to Akashi she need to take a different path from Greynar. They bid farewell to each other and continued their own separate objective, which clearly the Commander doesn't have any and just mindlessly wandering around.
"Fuck, now where should i go..." The Commander cursed beneath his breath.