Azur Lane: Savior

Greynar's fleet arrived at outside of NY Harbor entrance, they strolled past through the waters as his command ship touched a broken ship's hull. They could still hear some explosion sound at the direction where they are going to. He clicked his tounge in annoyance.

"They really have done it." He muttered.

"Yeah," Hornet nodded in rage. "They wrecked our home." 

"I'll make them pay for what they have done." Baltimore was in a pretty bad mood, she bend down and picked up a pieces of Siren ship then crushed it on her palm.

"Let's all be cautious, we don't know if there's any Siren aroun—!" A laser suddenly headed to his way but it was blocked by Baltimore.

"One minute and thirty-five seconds ahead of schedule. Revising combat rating assessment." A harsh female voice came from above, Tester appeared before them with her Siren fleets around her.

"If it isn't the Tester this time. Looks like you bunch are really out in force." Baltimore crackled her muscle. "Since you finally decided to show your face, it'd be a pity to not smash it in first."

Tester talked while her eyes scanned Baltimore. "Eagle Union heavy cruiser, Baltimore, with a full load displacement of 17,000 tons, nine 203mm main guns, and excellent anti-aircraft firepower..."

They locked their eyes with each other, Baltimore was the first one to break the silence. "Looks like you've done your homework already." she shuddered, looking at the Siren with disgust. "But it’s really uncomfortable to be told such detailed data by others in person."

"The intellegence data that we've got shows that you are the current flagship of Eagle Union defense fleet. Are you the strongest warship around here? As long as you are defeated, the mission will be completed." Tester said in unamused tone. The Siren slightly glanced at Greynar for a bit, then looked at Baltimore again.

The Commander knew that the Siren was hinting something when her eyes wandered around. He silently called someone from NY Harbor now that they're on the range of short-range communication channel. As he was busy calling, the Siren and the shipgirl started their fight with a big explosion. 

"Let's see with that big mouth of yours, Tester. Even if im just a weapon, as long as it's within my range, I will protect everything I hold dear." The cruiser charged at the Siren in rage.

"Balti—!" Hornet tried to call her but the Commander stopped her. 

"I have a plan, let Tester be distracted for some minute." He said.

Baltimore rushed as she kicked from the water and jumped to Tester. The Siren shielded the impact from her fist, she took a step back but the brunette girl won't let it happen. Baltimore used her gun as a distraction while she charged again using the tip of her rigging to stab the Siren's body. At this point, the girl was exhausted due to last battle against Purifier but it didn't demoralize her to defeat the Siren in front of her. 

She shoots a barrage of bullets into the Siren, but it still didn't make Tester scratched. Baltimore changed her fighting stance as she blitzed from her position behind the Siren in a quick attempt. Thanks to Eagle Union's recent technology, they could have a short distance to speed up their momentum to caught enemy off-guard. The Siren was forced to use her forcefield on that moment, Baltimore shattering it to pieces due to the explosive power of her fist that caught Tester as she aimed her gun again to Tester. 

The dust settled off, but even with Tester's forcefield shattered, she was unscatched. Baltimore was surprised as she took a step back from Tester and went to Greynar's side.

"This armor... the power of the 203mm gun isn't enough to penetrate it..."

Tester chuckled with a boringish tone. "You have reached the end of your rope so quickly. Where was your momentum just now?"

Baltimroe smirked. "Not yet... You seem have to miss something, Siren." she slowly walked to the side, getting her attention. "Did you think that we'd blindly challenge a monster like you without having made our own preparations?"

"What do you mean?" Tester slightly tilted her head.

"You're exactly where our Commander wants you to be!" 

"Alabama, now!! Fire!" Greynar shouted.

"What!" The Siren opened her eyes wide.

Tester was on the range of the battleship's weapon, explosion resounded as a heavy shell penetrate her armor and rigging. She couldn't do anything except submit to the power as it hit her. The Siren tried to escape but the heavy shell rained above her.

"It's actually... the long-distance initiation of 406mm artillery shells... How can it reach here!" Tester's body slowly chipping away as some part of her started to get destroyed too. 

The barrage stopped, her condition was in pretty bad shape but she was still standing. The Siren glanced at the ship behind her, she was surprised that the Siren fleets has been taken down while she was distracted on her own.

"Did I miss 'er? Can't tell from this distance..." Alabama spoke from the communicator.

"No, it was a direct hit, just like in training. You did good job." Baltimore whistled in amusement.

"Mm... it was only possible 'cause you provoked her." the dark-skinned battleship replied.

"Nah, it's possible due to Commander's plan, so take it up to him." Baltimore smiled softly, winking at Greynar.

"Then... Commander, thanks for the guidance." Alabama' soft voice resounded on his ear.

"It's all thanks to all of you who agreed to partake in the training, seems like we hit quite a big this time." He eyed at the almost-broken Tester.

The Siren had her head down, as she looked at Baltimore, she said something unusual to her. "Evolution and progress necessarily bring about suffering and sacrifice. The salvation granted in the end pales before the desolation wrought through the means."

"Evolution and progress? You may talk like you're a savior, but your actions are utterly despicable." Baltimore snorted, she continued. "You are nothing more than a crazed butcher, an enemy to all of humanity."

Tester sighed in disappointment. "Putting on a posture of ignorance while releasing hatred to the heart's content, this is indeed the reaction what an experimental materials should have." she laughed, looking at the shipgirls around her.

Victorious consumed by emotion replied to the Siren. "Arrgghh... I've had enough of all of you! What do you mean, ignorance? You keep prattling on about evolution and all these experiments without telling us anything!" she continued to argue. "I hate the way you bunch always show up smugly, start attacking us smugly, start rambling on smugly, and then disappear smugly!" tears started to stream down her face. "Why? Why can't you tell us what you want, like normal people?!" 

Hornet got closer to the Royal Navy carrier and comforted her with a hug. She cried on her shoulder, the pain they put on them can't be reversed as the Siren gonna keep destroying everything they loved. She has grown tired of the Siren as they never state their reason to attack or even anything regarding their objective.

"V-victorious..." Baltimore glanced at the girl, and looked at Tester with an angry expression.

While the moment were tense enough to have a second battle to break out again, Greynar received a call from an unknown signal, he silently picked up as he don't want to let any of the girl know. 

"Hello, who's this." He answered first to the call.

"Hey there, Commander~" It was Purifier's voice

"Purifier? What's wrong, we just followed through with your script, Saratoga should be here in a moment but she hasn't yet to appear. What happened to NY Harbor?" He questioned the elite Siren.

"Ah... Uh... That's the reason i called you, bad news... All Siren's fleet on NY Harbor has deactivated simultaneously due to something, and now that thing will appear in your position, so get out there quickly!"

"Fuck!" He went outside and warned everyone. "Everyone! Scatter around!! 

The fleets looked at Greynar in confusion but when they sensed the water suddenly rumbling, they immediately retreated from the location. A tendril suddenly stabbed Tester's body and ripped her apart, a familiar structure suddenly appear as it came from below the sea. It pierced through the water and raising rapidly. 

"Tch, what a timing." Greynar clicked his tongue.

The familiar white structure, was indeed the White Tower itself, and one of the kind. NY Command has given labelled it as a priority to destroy it as soon as possible. It was out of their prediction that the White Tower will appear here. Having no time to stand still, Greynar begin to prioritize everyone's safety first.

"Juneau! Hornet! Pick Birmingham to NY Harbor and gather fleets to immediately attack the structure! Victorious, Baltimore i need you guys to stay with me, assist me in detecting it's weakness!" 

"Okay!" Everyone nodded. 

'Even we are not powerful enough to take measure on this.' He gritted his teeth in frustration. 'Should i use S.A.V.I.O.R?'

"That wouldn't be necessary..." Suddenly Observer appeared behind him, but the girls beside his ship didn't notice.

"Observer, you are here... Did you predict this will happen?" He pointed at the structure. 

"No..." She shook her head, looking at the White Tower. "That thing suddenly made everyone unconscious in a mere second."

He widened his eyes, he couldn't believe what he just heard. "What do you mean... everyone?" 

"The White Tower you're seeing is related to X and we don't know what it is." Observer explained. "We also found similar thing happened on other timeline recently, but not as bad on this test site-β."

"You're kidding right!?" He looked at the still-growing structure. "How are we suppose to beat that." He pointed out to the tower.

"If you want to do it... we're gonna need reinforcement, which coincidentally also nearby." Observer glanced at the window.

"You don't mean the Ashes?" He asked.

She turned to him and chuckles. "Who else if it's not her?"

Suddenly a Corsair appeared around the tower aiming at the tall White Tower, it fired their gun indiscriminately to the surface of the body. On the distance, a short-haired Enterprise could be seen along with a mysterious figure that seems to be Takao. The White Tower let out a rumbling sound as it suddenly shoots a black miasma around the area. 

"Wha-" Baltimore was surprised when a Corsair attacked. "Is it the reinforcement?" 

Victorious also looked at the direction where it came from. "But something is strange, is that Enter—" Victorious plopped down to the water as a tentacle grabbed her and hit her from the neck. 

"Victoriou—" Baltimore tried to save her friend but she also got hit on the back, rendering her unconscious.

Observer appeared again, she smiled. "You made a good decision to get the rest of your escort team to go NY Harbor... Now should we end this quickly? S.A.V.I.O.R?" 

Greynar appeared on her side with his command ship. "Probably if you literally help me on how this thing work, i can go by myself."

The petite Siren chuckled again. "You're an amusing human, i will try to help you when i have some time."

"You say that before but you never did help." He muttered slowly with annoyance on his face.

A short-haired Enterprise appeared behind them. "You're finished talking? I got no time to entertain you here," she walked past Observer. "The Observer of this timeline, what is your true objective. Asking a request to their enemy is something i've never seen from an Antiochus." she eyeing at her, full of curiosity and caution.

"I don't know what are you talking about," she shrugged. "Our enemy is them, so it's natural for me to request someone's assistance, right?"

"Enough with the talk, Enterprise." Another person joined beside Enterprise. a dishelved Takao appeared as she clutching her sword, preparing to slash the White Tower. "We will take this thing alone, we don't need your assistance, Antiochus," she glared at Observer with an eye full of hatred.

"My, my... Do as you wish." the Siren shrugged, she turned to Greynar and said. "I will just see from the distance, just remember what i told you to do, Commander..." in an instant, she disappeared in a blink of an eye.

'This fucking AI! Ditching me next to two most dangerous ship on the fucking earth!' he rubbed his head with a sigh. 'I hope they won't ask me any question about my relation with Observer.'