Chapter 21 of General is here.

It's quite a short one actually, but quite difficult to write. A battle scene really is a difficult one indeed.

So after a while pondering whether to write the entire battle scene in one chapter, or split it into two, I had decided on the latter, as it increases the drama, a bit (I think so)

So enjoy this short little chapter, which doesn't have any notes that requires an explanation. That saves a bit of times for you guys.

Disclaimer: Again, I do not own Kancolle and all of its characters

Chapter 21: Battle of Coalitions

December 27

The second of Okinawa has officially begun

On the cold December morning, each and every ship girls were present at the port of Asra island. Thanks to the one-day lull Hiroshi gave before the battle, they now at least have the time to mentally prepare for what is to come. Some had already departed beforehand, due to the the-earlier-the-better syndrome that a few of these ship girls had. But as those actions could prove benificial to the scouting effectiveness, Hiroshi simply let it pass.

"Don't forget anything, since we won't be coming back here."

Hiroshi did a check up on his Guards, as they wrapped up the rest of their preparation. Noticing how quickly his favorite radiogirl had packed up, he approached her for some revision.

"Keep in mind that battle communication in today's battle will be much more personal, since there isn't anyone we need to contact aside from each other. Limit the signal transmission to it."

"Yes sir. Everything is set." She replied.

"Very good. Since you are part of the attack group, you should remain at the back of the column. I don't want you to be severely damaged, since it would affect our communication line."

"Yes sir!" She saluted her admiral, before departing to meet up with her fleet.

The battle was to take place in an area 100 kilometers in width and length. Hiroshi had wanted blue skies and clear visibility for the best conditions to combat the superior Abyssal fleet, but reality wasn't what he expected. The sky was not in favor of his quest for peace, as layers after layers of grey cloud had blackened out the sun, the iconic symbol of victory for Japan.

Nevertheless, it didn't black out Hiroshi's recently bolstered spirits, with which he confidently gave the first order of the battle on his new destroyer flagship.

"Arthur's group had already departed. His scouting report would come to us at any moment. Now, we don't have to be too rushing for anything. First fleet, position yourself carefully among those islands. You don't want to mess this one up."

"Roger!" The voice of the first fleet's flagship, Ise, echoed through his radio.

"Arthur, keep those girls of mine safe." Hiroshi turned to contact his friend's flagship,

"Got it. Hope you can catch up with my pace soon enough." Arthur replied, as Hiroshi hung up the radio.

Arthur sighed calmingly, as he looked at the sky. Had his scouts returned yet? If not then what was their current status? He may looked so high spirited and calm on the outside, but deep down he was having a war with his own self, to keep himself intact, that he would not screw up once battle had been joined.

Two hours later, he stopped. That goes with the fact that he had encountered the enemy.

'Hiroshi's calculation is perfectly perfect…' The British vice-admiral muttered admirations as he watch his ships slowly taking cover among the islands. They arrived in just enough time to get ready.

"Sir, enemy's detected over the horizon!" His watchmen reported

"Commence launching aircraft." He responded, in which the planes were immediately taken into the air.

As the British aircraft and light aircraft carrier were launching planes, the Third Carrier Division also commenced assault on the enemy.

"I'm not signed up for this." Carrier Houshou growled as she was called back from her retirement, who unfortunately was also part of the defending group. Since the Admiral decided to focus more on the attacking group, which he said would play a decisive role here, in the end, powerful carriers were sent to the attack groups while light and outdated carriers were to belong to the other.

As she and her partner Zuihou released their arrows, 8 Type 0 fighters were spawned almost immediately, as they commenced to follow the British fighters.

Strangely enough, the Abyssals aircraft formation consisted of too many bombers and torpedo bombers, and they were too hasty to send it out early. Noticing some lonely enemy squadron, the Prime fighters gave them a few embraces, as they circled around them and steadily took them out.

Meanwhile, the Abyssal fleet still continued to move, closer and closer to the groups of islands, unaware of the position of the Prime Fleet.

"Battleships, prepare to fire. Destroyers, prepare your missiles."

To his order, the four Kongou class, the two Fusou and Ise sisters turned their broadside to the enemy. Slowly adjusting the lead to the enemy ships, they watched the Abyssals, one by one, entering their firing range. They decided to ignore the small and weak destroyers and instead focus their aim on the large and heavily armored cruisers and battleships. Before Arthur could actually deliver the order, Kongou decided to take the lead instead.

"BURNING LOVE!"

Following that, was a sound eradicating roar of forty 356 mm guns, erupting simultaneously. That salvo caught the Abyssals completely off-guard. The second column of ships, which consisted of Abyssal cruisers and several Ru-class battleships were wiped out completely.

"Dear God…" Arthur was hard-pressed to catch his own breathe as he just witnessed the most magnificent salvo he had ever seen in his life.

"Yes! I will show you what I'm made of!" Kongou puffed, as she punched her fist into the air.

But she had to wait for a bit longer. The firing had exposed their position, in which the Abyssals were quick to return the favor. Shells of both armor-piercing and high-explosives slammed mercilessly onto the unresponsive battleships, which forced them to cover themselves.

"Get back to those islands. It will give you enough cover. You're fast enough, go!"

They hastily rushed for it.

Through his binocular, Arthur also witnessed his fighters were getting caught up by the suddenly appeared bands of Abyssal fighters.

"Get out of there, we don't stand a chance against that many!"

His, Zuihou's and Houshou's planes also rushed back.

"Air-defense formation, quickly!"

On the while, Hiroshi and Mai's attack group had barely arrived in position. Half of the formation was missing, still behind, trying to catch up.

"Just in time." Hiroshi said, as he watched the Abyssal spreading out to attack Arthur's group.

"Admiral. The defending group is surrounded by their superior aircraft quantity. Shall we send back up?" Akagi flexed her bows eagerly, waiting for an answer.

"That will do, but a few squadrons only. They aren't aware of our presence. Sending out too much will make them suspicious." He replied, as the carriers nodded simultaneously and drew their bows.

"They are pouring almost every ships onto their location." Nagato said.

"Keep a close watch on their actions. Scan the area ahead with your recon plane, secretly." He answered, emphasizing the word 'secretly' to make them understand the importance of staying hidden.

"Yes sir." Nagato raised her left arm, as a spotter airplane took off. "Spotter airborne."

It flew to beyond the clouds, following the Abyssal's right flank, undetected. Less than 15 minutes later, the first report came in.

"An armored-carrier demon?!" Nagato's eyes that moment was as wide as a football. "And what?!"

Hiroshi was quick to notice her astonishment. He could have guessed what it was already, but didn't voice it out, waiting until she finished.

"What is it that makes you so surprised?" He did so once she hung up on the spotter plane.

"The enemy, there are an armored-carrier demon, one southern war princess and 5 escort fortresses presented in this battle."

"They're pulling a hard punch this time. From the looks of it, those two are the flagships of this operation. But well, as long as we have the information about them, we will be prepared for it." He switched his radio to fleet-wide transmission. "Our fleet will retire 3 kilometers south-west. Those who have not yet arrived, speed up!"

One destroyer column had entered the group of islands.

"Cruisers, break away from your position and engage the enemy destroyers. You must NOT let them get close to our carriers and battleships." Arthur ordered.

"Roger!"

"Dive bombers, 10 o' clock!"

You could curse him for saying it too late, as they had already innitiated bombing sequences. Four aircrafts dived to their targets, with one successfully hitting the huge flight deck, setting it on fire.

"Our deck is on fire!"

"Extinguish it, fast!"

The carrier retaliated, its anti air guns blazed the sky. The planes that managed to get through to innitiate the bombing were shot down instantly before they managed to retreat to safety.

"Hnngg!" Kirishima gritted her teeth in annoyance, as high-explosive shells relentlessly rained down on her and her sister ships, setting their clothes and their batteries on fire.

"That is enough!" All of a sudden, she removed her glasses, one len of which had already broken from the fight, revealing her bare naked goergous emerald pair of eyes.

"Kirishima?" Haruna turned to her, as Kirishima's expression held a very determined countenance to her front.

"4 enemy destroyers, wind speed 3." She carefully calculated, her 356 mm guns, turned to their own respective targets. Each of the guns were pointing in different directions and different angles, indicating the four different positions of its targets.

When the right time came, all four guns opened fire. The instant after that, the four unfortunate destroyers were blown up. That crossed firing was so accurately timed that despite in different places, the destroyers were wiped out almost simultaneously.

The column of destroyers that entered the area were neutralized, Arthur's group had pushed them out.

Noticing the dire situation of her underlings, the armored carrier demon decided to intervene. She, along with two escort fortresses moved up to the front, opening fire. To the witness of Arthur and all of his men, the shells had destroyed the stability of his formation in just a few minutes, fully demonstrating the firepower of a heavy aviation battleship

"Damn, I get the feeling that they are trying to drive us out of this place at all cost." Lord William Horatus, Arthur's co-commander and subordinate, stated.

"Ohhhh, you're only saying that because you aren't dead yet!" Arthur returned him with a statement full of sarcasm.

"In this pinch, we'll get wiped out if we let her in. I'll distract them for you."

He immediately ordered his ships to accelerate. His light carrier, along with three other destroyers slowly moved out of position, out of the group of islands entirely.

"All batteries, open fire!"

The shout echoed, as the guns blazed red. At the same time, his light carrier also launched its planes into the air, intentionally alerting the Abyssals.

Enemy fires were partially drawn into his group. His destroyers had to circle around to avoid damage coming to them.

His plan had worked

But his carrier was a lot less maneuverable. And there was a price for it.

One Abyssal battleship fired a full broadside. Several shells managed to hit his ship. The most fatal one sliced through his mast, where William and all his important crew members were manning the ship and the battle. Luckily, it hit below the main control room, so it didn't kill them instantly.

"Our captain is down!" But the shock of the explosion did take the carrier's captain out of the action.

"Don't falter! I'll be in command!" William raised his voice against his panicking men, his bionic hand reached for the radio tranceiver.

"When will he commence the attack?!" He almost shouted, as Arthur tried to pick the words to respond.

"Stay sharp Lord William, he will do so when the enemy's center is weakened enough."

"I know. Just…hurry!"

All of a sudden, his ships tilted again, as a salvo of near-miss shells crashed down on the area surrounding his carriers. Arthur looked around, to see his cruiser kanmusus under his command getting bombarded with firepower. One, who apparently looked like Furutaka , was hit by a torpedo, her clothes, cosmetics and weapons tattered. Another was struggling to get away from being cornered by Abyssal destroyers.

He could see the reason to William's concern. There was just too many. Currently, none of the ships are sunk, but moderate damaged ones are present. Casualties are mounting up quickly. And yet Hiroshi isn't conducting the move yet.

Arthur grabbed the radio forcefully.

"Hiroshi. We cannot hold out much longer!"

The defending group's position is extremely loose now.

"We got it, proceeding to assist you."

He hung up hastily, before Arthur could respond.

"Has everyone arrived yet?" He asked

"All, but one. The German Kriegmarine's battleships and cruisers are still approaching." Mai reported. "Maybe we should just…"

"No." He cut her off. "Not yet. Call for these German girls. Have them present at Arthur's position instead."

"Alright." She switched the radio to them. "Bismarck, abandon your current course and head for the islands, immediately."

"But we're already close to you. Why do you-" She responded in surprise

"You have to be there to assist the defending group, secure their defence. Admiral Hiroshi's order."

"As you wish." She cut off transmission, in doubts.

Mai could understand the tone of her voice. She was also incredibly anxious at the fate of Arthur and his group. They are already fighting with all their hearts, but it seemed to be not enough. There are too many, the odds are a little bit too much against us.

The other thing of her concern is her fellow colleague who isn't doing particularly anything but wait.

Half an hour later, another column of ships continued to come in. Anxiety were seen not only from the officers, but also the ship girls.

"Admiral, what are you waiting for?!" Maya shouted urges at her Admiral.

"Admiral, they have weakened another column to press the attack. Now is our chance." Yamato, who knew she was the one knowing him better than anyone, begged to him. But he didn't reply.

It isn't our chance yet.

Arthur's formation at one point seemed to break from the intense firepower of the Abyssals, but somehow, they managed to hold on, for a bit longer, only thanks to the arrival of Bismarck and her fellow ship girls.

It is more secured now, but still dangerous.

Hiroshi, who surprisingly looked calm, continued to remain idle.

Despite the all the arrival of the girls, but there were no orders issued

It isn't the time. The moment he has been waiting for hasn't arrived yet.

He was unusually patient, waiting in complete silence, despite the protests and urges from his men and kanmusus.

'Not yet.'

By 1420, another column left the Abyssal center. And yet Hiroshi kept imposing on staying hidden.

'Not yet…'

Finally, 1450, the moment he had been waiting for had arrived. Another column has left the center. Now it is weakened perfectly enough for him to smash it to pieces.

"All units, form the designated formation and advance!"

The long-awaited decisive order has been given.

All 142 ship girls, combining with a few conventional JMSDF's vessels, quickly formed two long columns. The heavier ones at the front, the lighter ones at the back. Mai's flagship, which is a heavy cruiser, was one exception, as it was placed at the front row. Hiroshi's destroyer was placed at the 7th row, which was also relatively exceptional due to its weak armor.

While the final rows were being formed, the two columns began to move.

To now, the Abyssals have been the one having the upper-hand. But that is about to change.