Chapter 7: : Rebirth
Note this chapter was made using my phone so if you see any mistakes let me know. Also sorry if it's rushed.
Sorry for taking it down after publishing it Inkstone was being weird and removed all my spaces but it's fixed so enjoy the CHP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Haruka, at this point, was royally screwed.
Her boilers were running at maximum capacity sending her hull through the surrounding rocky area as fast they could away from the beast that was awakening.
Another pressure wave slammed into her, jarring her electrical components and equipment but they were rated to survive hurricane-force winds thus this was nothing new.
From the peak of the huge mountain, a bright glow covered it entirely as a giant tornado was hanging some hundred meters above the peak, giving it a feeling that something powerful was awakening and Haruka didn't want anything to do with it.
Her AEGIS system finished powering up giving a feeling that she never felt before. Her senses were sharper than before almost as if she had hawk eye view.
With her lookout posts, she could zoom in more on distant objects and the resolution wasn't bad at all, her turret sights looked to have been improved greatly with simpler sights and best of all she felt as if she had a seventh sense.
It wasn't there fully but she felt like her reaction speeds would increase if she focused on that sense.
Another pressure wave slammed into her but this time it was followed by a constant booming roar. The ground shook under the power the roar had and this sent tremors down her keel (spine)
She looked at the peak again and saw the vortex get more violent as her eyes could barely make out a creature emerge out at max zoom.
At this point if she was doing a retreat she might as well damage it on her first go.
Her radar locked onto to the general area of the peak as the magic was really messing it up, alarms in her turrets blared as Type-99 nukes were loaded into them ready for sweet destruction.
Her hull turned to show her full broadside as her turrets aligned with the painted target, her radar guided her turrets as they locked in and raised their barrels to the right position.
Rain and hail soon started to pelt the battleship as she made her way into the stormy part of the storm but no matter the weather a battleship can still function.
Ka-Boom! Ka-Boom! Ka-Boom!
Her turrets let out an earth shattering boom that sent 9 special shells to the fox.
The barrels lowered to neutral as more nukes were loaded into them. The shells in the air continued to rise high in the air before they reached their max height and descended onto the peak.
Today it seemed that luck was with Haruka as her shells were inching closer towards each other instead of the opposite making it her first good dispersion.
Seconds later the shells hit their target area before exploding releasing their nuclear firepower. A large pressure wave slammed into the surrounding environment, making the storm silent for a while as a heat wave followed evaporating any water left behind.
By the time the pressure wave hit her it was nothing more than a mere thump and in time for her second salvo as her barrels lifted up into the sky before letting out another round of loud Ka-booms.
Her eyes tracked the shells as they cut through the air until she saw a light blue hue erupt from the mountain just before the shells could make contact with the ground but they still hit something as an orange glow erupted from the light blue colour as another wave of destruction was released.
Haruka for a few moments stared into the explosion as she felt her 7th sense flare up, her secondaries all locking onto the mountain making her sense of fore boarding grow as she saw something white in colour erupt from the mountain peak.
A few seconds later her ears vibrated as a deep loud roar echoed around the mountain area before a white mass was seen bolting down the mountain side at full pelt.
With her sharp zooming and resolution she could easily see the wolf and though her radar still had a hard time locking on cause of the amount of magic spewing out from that thing, it wasn't modern for nothing and the computers somewhere in her linked the 2 optical and radar systems for a precise targeting that was sent to her turrets of destruction.
She focused on her 7Th sense and felt it take control of her weapons before firing them all at once, her phoenix guns laying down a continuous barrage of AP shells.
Her 18 inch shells arrived first with most landing in front of the wolf and some to its sides, the explosion that followed blinded her eyes for a bit as her optics reset only to see the wolf lunge out of the explosion, its fur slightly charred but its body was still unharmed by that nuclear punch.
Its white eyes locked onto the retreating battleship as more explosion occured around it with even some AP shells smacking right into its body and just deflecting or getting crushed showing how tuff its skin is.
The wolf gave a snarl as another massive explosion burst to life all around it. Multiple pressure waves slammed into it and the heat burnt some of its fur but all this it could ignore as the pain and anger of losing its other half was so much its mind tunnelled onto the sole battleship.
A white glow covered its legs as it burst out of the nuclear explosion again and this time when its paws touched the ground a shockwave boomed as it hurtled itself forward at Mach speeds.
Haruka could only see a streak blast down the mountain as it grew closer and closer and her 7th sense went haywire as information on the wolf's speed and distance went through Haruka's head and the thought of a big sonic wolf did scare her.
In a split decision she released 2 of her spotter planes all loaded with bombs as the wolf was only a few seconds till striking her.
In those few seconds left, her main guns were already reloaded and they were aligned with the incoming wolf making it easy as the guns all let out a roar of their own, their shells cutting through the air as their nuclear payload streaked through the air and into the path of the wolf.
Out of the nine fired only 3 made a direct hit but this was more than enough as the wolf felt an immense heat on its body before an immense force struck it stopping it in its tracks as the combined 3 nukes slammed it into the ground.
The combined pressure and heat forced the wolf down into the earth, it it let out a roar as a white glow encased its body before another explosion occured in the small crater made.
Haruka trained all her guns on the crater as a secondary explosion occurred followed by a deep powerful roar. The roar shook her to her keel as even the storm itself reacted as it started to spin around their general area the winds picking up as a form emerged from the crater.
A white flame danced on the fur of the wolf well now werewolf as it stood on its 2 hind legs, a sense of power filled Haruka's every sense and her radar started to glitch even more as the magic aura around the wolf grew thicker.
The wolf gave a growl as it flexed its claws before a white glow encased both of its claws.
The wolf then raked both of it's claws in an X shape as a deadly wave of destruction followed that shape.
The ground tore as the deadly mana ripped through the earth closing the gap between it and the battleship at super sonic speed.
Haruka could sense the incoming attack due to her radar as she saw a big splotch getting ever closer and it's now that one of the disadvantages of being a battleship hit her.
She was a ship that carried the world's largest naval artillery and for the extreme firepower she boasted her turning radius and speed were sacrificed.
Thus even when her rudder was turned to the max making the battleship swerve to the right it wasn't fast enough.
With a shrill metallic sound the wave of mana cut into her hull armour but luckily due to her improved composite armour and angling the cut didn't puncture her internals keeping her citadel safe.
Seeing it's first attack not make any damage the werewolf snarled before rushing towards the slow creature, a sonic boom echoing as it closed the gap quickly.
As soon as the battleship stabilised her 7th sense took over as her main and secondary turrets opened fire at the sonic wolf.
For the wolf time seemed to moving slower as it watched the shells spins ever so closer to it.
A demonic smile plastered the wolf's face as it poured mana into its claws and raked them across the air multiple times.
But instead of pure mana surging out, a cresent of wind shot out its claws forming deadly wind blades. It was a Sky wolf thus had a mastery of wind magic and now was when it displayed its full power.
One by one, each of Haruka's shells were sliced into 5 pieces destroying the warhead and it's firing mechanism.
But for the nukes, they exploded after being sliced since the mechanism for igniting the uranium was gone and the warhead exposed, it made the uranium destabilise and explode creating a smaller but still nuclear explosion.
For Haruka in her view she just saw faint sparks and random explosions as her shells were intercepted and sliced.
This made her break into cold sweat as the wolf was already bearing down on the ship.
The wolf curled it's right claw into a fist as it swung with all its might onto the battleship combined with it's super sonic speed to do the impossible.
A loud groan was heard from the hull of the ship as it's armour buckled under the wolf's strength, deforming it as the 78 thousand ton ship was tilted back by the force of the punch.
Haruka was left in a daze before she felt something rip across her hull.
A moment later the shrill sound of metal being split open sounded throughout as a giant slash was plastered on the ships hull.
Her mind couldn't keep up with the rate at which she was being gutted apart but that's why she had her 7th sense.
2 of her long unused ASROC came online as 2 missiles were launched out of their cells, sending them past the deck. The boosters didn't even get a chance to ignite before the warheads detached, a parachute slowing it down as it reached its target.
Who said anti-submarine missiles couldn't be used to hit ground targets. As long as it can be launched and has a warhead it will be used.
The sonar in the 2 warheads pinged the wolf which was in the process of gutting the ship apart and once it was close enough they detonated.
The explosion caught the wolf of guard throwing it back a couple of metres giving Haruka's punching bags the line of sight needed to fire.
But Haruka knew if she fired right away it would slice her shells and probably her if it could.
Thus it was time for her planes to be useful.
The 2 recon planes dropped their altitude quickly as they were dive bombing a wolf.
The noise produced by the 2 ended up pulling the focus of the wolf as it gathered its mana into its claws before raking them both upwards.
After a few moments the 2 planes suddenly broke into 5 pieces causing Haruka to lose her connection with them but the wreckage was still plummeting due to gravity thus crashing into the wolfs surrounding area.
The explosion kicked up a lot of dust and this was what she was waiting for as her turrets let loose.
KA-BOOM
Her main turrets let loose a salvo full of vengeance followed by a secondaries as her phoenix turrets fired a constant salvo of AP
The combined barrage flew into the dust with pinpoint accuracy even if the radar was being scrambled by the mana in the air.
The first to hit were her 6 inch nukes which upon exploding blinded the wolf due to the blinding white light produced.
This was followed closely by her massive 18 inch nukes which hit around the wolf's position as their target lock was scrambled but this didn't stop them from inflicting damage.
Out of the nuclear fie the wolf was charred as it's fur was signed by the intensity of the heat but this time it protected its vision against the blinding white light, a lesson learnt from previous explosions.
After the 18 inch shells hit her 8 inch phoenix shells shredded into view as their high rate of fire was on full display.
Multiple AP shells smacked into the wolf as some found gold and dug into its skin before exploding tearing a slice of skin and flesh away.
Others just bounced because of how thick the wolf's skin was but not without taking some fur with them.
This relentless assault continued mixer in with 6 inch nukes after a few seconds and the main punching bags around a minute later.
The wolf though was getting pissed at the way it was being driven into a corner and like a cat if put in a corner it will always fight back.
A white glow covered it's legs as it took the brunt of the attacks before it finished pouring mana into its legs.
The wolf waited patiently for the main guns to fire and soon enough they did and it was now that it attacked.
The ground beneath it cratered as big fissures were created following the wolf jumping forward with it's magic used as a boost.
The wolf only became a streak in the air as it closed in at well over Mach 4 becoming a sonic wolf indeed.
The speed at which the wolf blitzed Haruka was faster than she could react even with her 7th sense on full use.
It took Haruka a moment to realise that the wolf was there and in that span of time she already lost a phoenix turret.
The wolf used it's glowing claws and slashed the first phoenix turret causing the turret itself to be ripped into 5 pieces but the mana didn't stop their as it slashed the bridge leaving giant claw marks on it.
The next phoenix turret in line was already reacting to the wolf as it let out a short burst before the turret was slashed in half horizontally.
All this destruction was happening quickly as Haruka could only watch as her phoenix's on her left were decimated.
The 155 mm secondary on her left also fired a salvo of 3 nukes.
The wolf sensed the new threat and in a similar fashion it's glowing claws let out an arc of pure wind blades that sliced the shells apart before continuing to slic the turret into pieces.
The sliced shells continued forward cause of their momentum before exploding as the uranium destabilised. The explosion created a smoke screen of sorts which the wolf didn't hesitate to use against Haruka.
It's legs kicked it forward through the smoke screen quickly before it sudden faced a salvo of 8 inch shells moments from striking it.
The air around the wolf started to shimmer as it collected mana and condensed it onto its body, this created a shield of mana that glowed white.
The AP shells smacked into this barrier and either bounced due to it being too thick or deforming as they couldn't pen the shield.
Some shells even shattered as the wolf closed the distance its right claw glowing white before it slashed the barrel clean in half.
The wolf then plunged it's claws into the turret housing before ripping it from its rim. The wolf growled before it threw it at turret 3 but it seemed like it's rampage was cut short.
Before it threw turret 3 had already finished reloading thus as soon as the turret was thrown it also fired.
The shock wave produced slowed down the turret as 2 18 inch shells punched through it, the other shell merely grazed the thrown turret.
The distance was already closing at a high rate thus the wolf tactically strengthened its shield as cutting all 3 would leave its body open to other attacks.
The 3 shells slammed into the shield before a blinding light enveloped the battleship as a catastrophic rumble shook the earth.
From the battleship a figure was seen being sent some distance away towards the base of a small hill.
Haruka was still in a daze from the events that happened which all occurred too quickly like the lightning wolf before.
But for that stunt she payed a price as the smoke cleared to reveal a wounded ship.
Her aft fire control system was blown clean off as well as her rear secondary turret being disabled putting it out of the fight.
Her turret 3 managed to escape with minor damages. Her forward turrets were largely shielded thus escaped with minor damage.
Her funnel collapsed in on itself causing Haruka to feel like she's slowly suffocating as her boilers were getting clogged with their exhaust but she had back up exhaust that kicked in before her boilers shut down.
Her bridge was snapped clean off as the earlier claw marks acted as lines of weakness thus it couldn't last long under the force of a nuclear explosion before snapping off.
This meant that Haruka had to rely on her turrets to see but the other major setback was losing her 7th sense. Though she still had some radars left the AEGIS part was lost thus from that point she had to fight with her own strength.
Another huge problem on her hand was that her secondaries on her left were decimated and problem was the wolf was in front of her but on her left.
Thus she decided to to turn hard to port or her left side bringing her intact right secondaries to bear as well as all her other guns as they turned to lock onto the wolf.
As she turned sharply the pain of having a wide turning radius hit her as she could sense the magic attacks moving in to hit her from her radar.
Thus she decided to put her trust in a certain movie before dropping her port anchor.
The anchor quickly dropped into the liquid surface, it weight pulling it down as the shrill grind of metal sounded on the deck as the metal chain was pulled.
Time slowed as Haruka could sense the magic get closer, she prayed even harder as the anchor finally hit the rock layer and the metal chain becoming taut.
Her hull which was moving at flank speed was suddenly robbed of all of its forward motion as it lunged forward before its rear started to turn even faster as the battleship sort of pulled a drift on land.
'It works!?!!'
Haruka was shocked by this but in reality it wouldn't even work.
Suddenly her anchor chains started snapping one by one as the force of keeping a 70 thousand ton ship at bay was too much for the anchor which wasn't even made to do that!
Haruka could only believe in Japanese ingenuity as the wind magic swept past her, the only damage being that it nicked her imperial seal giving it a trim.
But the fact was, she dodged the attack and now every gun was pointing at the wolf, talk about convenient.
KA-BOOM, KA-BOOM, KA-BOOM
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The echoes of her guns sounded throughout the land as her shells streaked through the air with nothing but revenge fueling them as they struck the ground around the wolf, making it's world turn white.
The wolf at this point was starting to run out of mana since putting a barrier to stop a nuclear explosion is nothing short of a lot of mana.
With the wolf running on fumes it tried to intercepted the shells but it could slice half before the rest found their Mark exploding and sending it back into the side of the hill cause it to form a small crater where it landed.
The wolf took longer than normal to get out which would be something it regrets as a stream of 8 inch shells slammed into its body and the crater.
The wolf maintained it barrier but the kinetic impact of all those shells sent it deeper into its crater.
Following this destruction Haruka's remaining 6 inch secondaries fired sending 9 shells downrange and into the crater.
A blinding flash of light followed by a slight rumble as the wolf found that's it's crater was now a chock point.
Seeing the opportunity Haruka decided to go all out as the phoenix's switched to their nukes.
This was something she found in her final fight against the lightning wolf. It seemed that her last upgrades also affected any new ones which was very helpful.
The wolf was starting to feel exhausted as it's mana was running dry but somehow it was scrapping by.
However, it wasn't given long to rest before the shells returned but this time it knew they were deadlier as it's instincts screamed at it to dodge but it couldn't.
It could only hope to survive as it bolstered it's shield and it's world turn white.
Haruka at this point wasn't pulling any punches as she nuked that wolf to kingdom come.
Her ship let out a continuous roar as all of its surviving turrets fired nuclear shells making the person on the receiving end have a very bad day.
Meanwhile the wolf was in pure agony as these new shells were more powerful than the smaller ones now with a continuous rain of these shells from hell its shield was broken and now its body taking the brunt of the attack.
The wolf could feel its life flash before its eyes, the life it lived and the pain, the chaos it has to go through.
The wolf showed its fangs even when it was being pummeled it could remember its fragment and the pain it went through losing a piece of it's soul.
The anger, pain and grief all passed through its head. The emotions flowing through it affected its mana as it suddenly surged back to full power but this time the white colour was tinted with a shade of red.
The wolf let out a roar as its right claw glowed more prominently than before, it was funneling all its mana into 1 claw rather than 2.
Suddenly, its vision was soon captured by 4 large shells that spun closer and closer, the glossy black colour reflecting bit of light as they impacted the wolf and wall before sending everything to its nuclear death.
Switching to Haruka we see her main guns let out a stream of smoke from their barrels after they fired.
The shells detonated with the 4 causing the hill to collapse in on itself as from the rumble a mushroom cloud hung over it all.
Haruka paused in her relentless firing to let her guns cool as she observed the rubble for any sign of movement. Her radar stopped picking up the magic which was weird and probably concerning since she doubts the wolf died from a simple cave in and a nuclear blast.
Her worry was proven true as her radar immediately was scrambled to the point it automatically shut down and never started.
This made Haruka restless as the last time this happened she had 4 spikes sticking out from her citadel.
Her eyes quickly spot the wolf raising from the rubble and open fire but something felt wrong as her gut had a really bad feeling.
This feeling increased as she watched the wolf raise one it claws before swinging it down.
A burst or air quickly struck her as she paused her firing to see what it had done.
Explosions occured in the background where the wolf was.
She didn't feel anything odd until like a strike of lightning the wind roared, the sound greater than any force of nature she heard.
The explosions where the wolf where suddenly split in half as they were quickly dispersed into the air before she felt something pass through her and continue on.
The damage didn't hit her until a moment later when her hull was suddenly and violently split into 2 again.
Her bow pitched up as well as her aft revealing her still spinning blades.
A delayed shockwave ripped through the land tearing away chunks of soil and rock as even the storm above them was split in half.
Haruka was left speechless at the sight of a storm split in half.
Then the pain hit her, the sweet pain of being split in half.
Again it felt like her cut ends were drenched in lava as the 2 split hulls groaned in many ways.
In the middle of her pain her still functional turrets located the wolf and swiftly sent retribution.
Even when her ship was in 2 pieces she could still control her remaining turrets but movement was becoming more and more sluggish.
The shells in the air didn't even make it close before they were shredded to pieces.
Haruka could see her shells blow up midway and quickly sent another salvo in hopes of wearing down the wolf even though she was already finished.
Before she could fire she felt her hull tremor as it was split again this time in between turret 1 and 2 and lastly turret 3 and the disabled rear secondary.
This caused her pain metre to go through the roof as mini explosions were continuously happening inside her.
Black smoke billowed from all 4 segments as a black liquid was forming a puddle around the badly beaten battleship.
Before she could even focus her remaining phoenix guns were slashed in half with 1 clean horizontal slash.
The destroyed barrels and casings hit the deck with some falling overboard.
The wolf now appeared onto the deck with a slight bang from it using an enhanced jump.
A devilish smile was on the wolfs face as it gave a mighty roar.
A roar a winner.
The sun peaked from the split storm as its golden rays shined on a battle torn landscape that had been remade by the force of their battle.
In a war there's always a winner and a loser and that would be the case if Haruka allowed herself to lose.
Her last guns turret 1 and 3 locked onto the wolf as their loading mechanisms gave them their final shells to fire.
Haruka with her last bit of sanity would fight till the end.
The wolf exhaled from its nose before raising both its claws and releasing countless wind blades.
The last turrets were gutted apart and as they begun to fall apart fires erupted in the turrets which quickly led down to the magazine.
Normally Haruka would have stopped this but she didn't have the strength for it nor the sanity as she thought.
'If I'm going to hell I'm taking the wolf with me!!'
She let the fires rage on before arming every single Type 99 nuke in her hull. Normally there would be restrictions but she's THE SHIP and she was going out with style.
The wolf was soon about to leave to lick its wounds when its vision suddenly became white as a monstrous force slammed it back followed by another larger blast.
The combined pressure wave was enough to break the wolfs shield and damage it but it was the heat wave that did the most as the wolf was cooked till it was charred and very much dead.
What happened seconds before Haruka imploded, was that her magazines cooked and blew up, with the combined nuclear shells in there caused the explosion yield to be around 50 Gigatons as all that pressure blew her deck open like a can connected to a compressor as well as her compromised left armour.
Her right armour mainly withstood the punishment as the blast radiated outward.
A similar explosion occurred on the other segments and the combined explosion was something spectacular and also menacing.
The shockwave could be felt some 10 km away and more while the earthquake tore open the earth it could be felt around the mountain region till even the coast.
The destruction caused by Haruka's last trump card was massive as the land around her was reshaped again to form a crater with her in the middle of it.
Her ship was worse than it ever was,. Its deck was open like a can of sardines.
Her turrets were blown away by the force of the blast as they landed some hundred meters away from the hull.
Keep in mind her turrets weighed as much as a DESTROYER when fully armed, well that is with the magazine included.
Her engine was a husk of itself as everything in the hull was charred or molten slags due to the heat produced.
The only thing still attached to the ship would be the imperial seal of Japan as it gave a golden glint in the sun as the rest of the hull was nothing but a smoking charred wreck.
Yet somehow Haruka's spirit was still there which was surprising but it was quickly fading away as her body was all but destroyed.
She was blind as her turrets were disconnected and sent airborne in the blast thus she could only hear the surrounding areas as she waited for her time to end soon.
Moments later a ripple appeared in the air as our demon fresh from a tough battle looked at the surrounding destruction with the smoking hull to her back.
Selene slowly turned around as she saw more destruction as the land turned a darker shade of black.
She could see the separated turrets and bridge lay scattered around the battle and finally she could see the remnants of a once mighty battleship now a smoking hull that's been cracked open.
Selene could instantly sense the faint and fading soul of Haruka and this sent her to action.
She quickly landed on the bow section with it being the most intact and quickly cutting her palm letting a drop touch the scorched deck.
The blood seeped into the deck before it and then entire hull was enveloped in a blazing inferno that was coloured black with red accents.
Selene had to hover in the air due to intensity as she felt her mana being depleted quickly.
Haruka's hull quickly pieced itself back together under the flames but Selene quickly found her mana was nearing its end and the ship nowhere near completion.
She opened her storage before stuffing the soul of that stupid centipede and flame demon bringing her mana back to full.
The flames grew in intensity as the speed was increased, now the deck was fully repaired and her turrets were coming back though there was still a lot of internal work to go.
Her mana continued to be depleted and now she found herself at the end her stored souls.
Her gaze quickly looked around for any soul and found one one the ground.
Her mana reservers were now being used as she quickly plummeted to the ground while attracting the soul to her.
She could see the huge amounts of mana leaking from it and the very small wind currents moving above the souls surface signifying a wind ability.
With much regret Selene stuffed the soul inside her mouth and instantly found relief as her mana was back to full.
That relief soon turned to pain as her body was ripped apart by small wind blades.
The consequences was now on full display as Selene's body was torn from the inside out.
Her body plummeted through the air as her attention to flying was out the window.
She soon hit the ground with a loud thud hurting her more than the ground.
Her pain still continued as her mouth was open in silent agony, her eyes glowed an ethereal white as she struggled to keep her sanity.
She could barely see the ship burning in her fire but that was enough of a jolt as she slowly crawled towards the battleship.
She could still sense Haruka's soul even if it was very faint there was still a chance.
Through sheer willpower she stood up with some difficulty as she walked forward, every step a pain to do but she believed in her adaptability and soon in proved it's worth.
Soon her pain went away as she suddenly felt a new power circulate her body.
Her mind briefly thought about the new mana in her veins but she had more pressing matters as she quickly flew to the ship only to sense that the repairs were finished.
With it she had some hope until that hope was crushed as she felt Haruka's soul vanish from the ship.
"This can't be real"
Selene denied this sense but to cement the fact even more, the contract between her and Haruka appeared before her eyes and it soon burned itself to ashes that were carried in the wind.
The world grew silent for Selene as she stared at the silent battleship.
She remembers the recent interactions she had with her and jow she felt an odd feeling spike her heart.
It's only when we lose something we care about that we truly realise how much they meant to you
~~~dragon sage
Her eyes stung as tears spilled from them streaking across her face until they splashed onto the deck.
"Haruka" Selene said out loud as she stared at the battleship whose guns had gone silent.
Her fists clenched as her hands shook from her emotional turmoil.
Slowly she crouched as she placed her hand on the ships deck. She knew it was a long shot but any chance she had she would take it.
A burning dark blue pentagram appeared on the deck as Selene poured i
n massive amounts of mana.
"Come back! Please, Haruka."
The entire battleship erupted into dark blue flames as well with Selene pouring mana in hopes of attacking the soul back.
Haruka's POV
Darkness
How she missed it.
After all the troubles she went through she can finally rest.
She could still feel a faint numb feeling around her but that didn't matter.
She could finally let go of all the stress of battle, surviving and no socialising if you count a demon as one.
Her thoughts stopped on her as she remembered all the times she interacted with her, the times she made her feel like an ant.
She was basically the one who have her the power to even live cause without the upgrades she got she would have sunk in the ocean and her wreck trapped on the sea floor.
Haruka gave a mental sigh before she thought about something else and that was her family.
There were many things she left unfinished back on Earth.
She never got the Shikishima even though she planned to in her game WoWs.
She never did get to date anyone yet with her being slightly antisocial as well as your common degenerate teen.
Thinking about all these made her miss her home even more but in the end she knew she was stuck this void Selene warned her from succumbing to but that's hard when your internals are fried and everything else blown Sky high.
She could still remember the feeling of her main guns as they were sent airborne like some T series tanks only higher and further away.
Thinking about it now made it funny as then she was being gutted apart by nuke.
Haruka kept on thinking about the bizarre adventures she had until she felt something shift in her body?
This made her confused as last she checked her body was a smocking hull.
She waited as she felt her senses come back though faintly until she could feel something on her back as the faint texture of a paved road.
Wait road?
Her mind did a double take as her hearing come back and this time she could hear voices of actual people.
Her body shook in anticipation as her vision was assaulted by a bright blue sky.
It took her some time to get used to the single set of eyes cause for long she was used to multiple giving her a sensory overload.
She could see people walk on by as if the girl lying down on the street wasn't obvious.
She waited patiently for someone to help her up until she saw a kid run over her.
Wait, her mind replayed the scene. The kid didn't go over her they went through her!!!
This caused her to sit up straight and stand up though she had to use a pole as support as 2 legs were weird cause she's used to 4.
She looked at the people around her before spotting a cemetery across and then at herself where she made a shocking discovery.
In the shadows her body looks like her normal self when she was alive she even had the same outfit she had when she died but in the sun her body becomes faded.
She only needed 1 other test and she knows what happened to her.
Haruka walked onto the pavement before standing in the way of a man in a suit.
To her utter disappointment the man fazed through her like she wasn't there.
But with Haruka her hopes of being alive were cut short and this only made her more disappointed.
"Out of all the things that can happen why am I a ghost of all things, this sucks"
Haruka was pissed since her hopes of going back to everyone was spoiled and now she can only haunt people in their dreams or whatever things ghosts do.
To cool down she decided to walk into the cemetery and look for her grave cause it would be stupid if she woke up not anywhere near her grave.
She continued walking as she took note of other graves which she remembered when she was young they had buried an uncle somewhere in that cemetery she was.
Some time later she stood in front of her very own grave.
She looked at the kanji chiseled into the stone as it read.
Haruka
2006-2025
May her spirit find peace wherever she is.
Haruka's eyes lingered on the text as she felt her eyes sting from reading them.
She used the sleeve of her right hand to wipe any tears as she walked away from it but not without her ears catching something.
"Yuu thanks for coming here. I know its not easy doing such at your young age" a smooth familiar voice sounded but this one had a tone of sorrow.
"I know mom I just don't want to make her angry at me for missing the other 5 ones even though I should have been there" a young voice talked in a low tone as it's voice was laced with sadness.
"Its okay son, we know it's hard for you, even for us it's hard but we do it because we don't want our daughter to be stuck on earth because of us, we want her to have a peaceful life wherever she is" a deep voice spoke up and comforted the son as they got closer.
Tears streamed freely down Haruka's face as she could see the 3 people she wanted to be with in the entire world.
Her parents and Yuu. Her eyes landed on Yuu and could instantly spot the height change but he was still shorter than her.
Her parents looked the same at a glance but looking closely you could see wrinkles and grey hair forming well before their age showing the amounts of stress they're going through.
A frown replaced her smile as guilt chewed her up.
While she was off laying waste to monsters her parents had to deal with the sudden loss of their daughter and what's worse is that no body can be recovered to prove that she died.
More tears flowed freely as she thought how her few friends reacted to this.
She really did leave everyone suddenly and now she wished things were different.
She watched her family enter silence as they each made a prayer to her.
Afterwards they soon departed but Haruka didn't want that to be.
"Mom! Dad! Don't go please!"
Haruka shouted trying to get their attention but it didn't work.
Tears again flowed as she tried to at least get their attention and in desperation she yelled
"MOM!!"
For her mother she felt as is she heard a faint sound and stopped staring back at Haruka's grave lost in thought.
For a brief moment she closed her eyes as she whispered out something she thought would help.
"Wherever you are always know that you're not alone."
Haruka at that moment hugged her mom for probably the last time, she could faintly smell her scent and even if it was only a moment it felt longer.
It didn't take long for her mom to quickly go back to her father's side before they all disappeared past a corner.
Haruka wanted to go after them but she felt like she couldn't at the same time which was very conflicting.
In the end she just sat next to her grave and closed her eyes waiting for the next person to come.
When she heard the footsteps stop at her grave she opened them only to see a more matured Rin.
She looked more unkept than usual which was concerning as her shirt was also stained with red dots on its edges.
This didn't look like the usual Rin she knew and loved but held her thoughts as she started speaking up.
"Hi, Haruka sorry I look like I'm from a zoo it's just life being life and making your day feel like shit.
*Sigh* I told myself I won't come back here yet here I am. I can't seem to keep promises even those with myself."
Soon her emotional state deteriorated as she begun to cry which made start walking away while whispering.
"Why did I come back here? Why am I so useless? Why can't I be better?"
Haruka didn't get to hear much but she could tell that her friend was going through a lot and it was eating her up inside only problem was that she was a spirit thus couldn't even help her even if she wanted.
Soon she felt a tug on her soul that pulled her in.
Her body erupted into blue flames as she felt her vision slowly darken.
She didn't want to leave just yet but she had no power to stop it as her spirit was taken away.
Her vision was once again filled with black as her soul was moving to a place she didn't know.
Soon her surroundings erupted into a faint blue colour.
She saw clumps of a gas zip past her as she could feel something powerful in that dimension.
And that being had set its sights on Haruka's small feeble soul that drifted through its dimension.
The being was pissed at this puny object intruding it's boundaries and it was about to bring sweet anger to it.
But before it could destroy the soul it sensed traces of its power in the soul.
The being remembered now how it found a pure soul and gave it the power to grow.
This was part of its plan for getting a strong champion which some gods were already prepared for.
But now it was confused as the souls strength was far too weak to have triggered his power.
"You shouldn't be here yet," the being said before gathering a tiny amount of his power in his hand
"Return and get stronger my champion"
With a flick of his hand he sent the soul back to the world it had first sent it to but, it decided to briefly look at that world to see what happened to its champion.
Meanwhile
Selene POV
The demon felt like a failure as she blankly stared at the battleship with no soul.
She tried to attract her soul back and used almost all of her new found power but it didn't work.
She only managed to turn the surrounding crater into a lava pool due to how hot her flames were.
She barely had enough power to stop her from being expelled from the world leaving her to think about all the things she had done with Haruka.
She knew if it wasn't for her efforts she wouldn't have gotten the strength she had.
'She risked her life for both me and her'
Selene thought as she looked at the palm of her hand.
A blue flame danced on her palm as she stared at it.
After combining the wind attribute to her body her flames changed to a blue colour as they burned silently but the heat they gave of was immense.
Her lightning also became stronger where one bolt equals about 3 to 4 normal lightning bolts giving her greater destructive capabilities.
Her wind she didn't know much only that it was silent fast and had a blue hue.
However even though she had this big power up she couldn't even protect Haruka and save her.
Her glowing blue eyes locked onto the battleship as she felt many different emotions rage inside her.
She closed her eyes before letting out a long sigh.
In that moment she had her eyes closed she felt a wave of powerful magic sweep through the lands.
Her eyes snapped open as she looked at the battleship before she felt a strong quake rock the land.
Selene used her wings to hover in the air before she saw a weird magic formation form above the hollow warship.
She wanted to stop it but the power that foreign formation was giving out made her sweat drop even though she's far away.
The formation pulsed with a blue colour that rocked the lands again but this time a massive shockwave erupted from it that toar up the land right Infront of her eyes.
Selene had no choice but to brace as the shockwave of air and rocks slammed into her like a brick wall.
She was sent flying for a good while before she used her lightning to blast her way through.
The sight she saw before her eyes was as if she had seen an angel.
2 of those foreign formations were put above the ship and below as it seemed like the 70 thousand ton monster was hovering in the air.
The formations begun to turn in opposite directions as a hum filled her ears.
The hum was coming from the formations as it sounded sort of soothing.
Soon she spotted a bright spot slowly descend onto the ship.
Once her eyes saw it she instantly knew what it was.
A smile graced her lips as the soul fused back to the ship.
A deep boom echoed around as the power in the gates flooded into the ship, illuminating the ship with a blue glow.
Once the gates were absorbed into the ship was when gravity suddenly woke up.
The ship fell faster than a rock and Selene watched it smack into the charred land.
Part of her thought it would be damaged from all that impact force but to her surprise the curse was still there making the land act like water cushioning the 70 thousand ton monster.
The ship rocked up and down for a while before it stabilised and in that short time the soul was waking up.
Haruka knew all too well the feeling of her body as her senses came back one by one.
First to come was her 6th sense or better yet radar and she immediately detected something hovering just above her bow.
She had a guess on who it was but she needed to be sure.
Her other senses all came back and soon as her vision was back she looked at the threat with her forward facing turrets ready to let loose.
Her guess was more or less right as she saw her demon hovering with her legs crossed and a smile on her face.
She felt a shiver run down her keel as the smile was giving her both sweet and menacing vibes at the same time.
Haruka didn't have a chance to talk before Selene drifted closer until she was arms reach of her turret 1's barrels.
Her hands touched one of the barrels before she spoke up.
"Welcome back Haruka, you scared me for a while when I found you all broken but I'm glad you're back."
Haruka would have never thought that Selene was concerned about her or even to the point she had a tone that had a tiny bit of sadness.
'Is this the same demon or a different one?'
Her comment wasn't missed by the demon who got slightly pissed but she had more important things to talk about.
"I'll make you pay for that later but," Selene paused as her gaze had a sad look to them "when you..... died the contract between you and me was burned"
The fact that Haruka had died and came back to life was something she had trouble wrapping her head around.
"But if you want we can do the same contract if you want."
Selene silently hoped she would as she looked at the metal monster for an answer.
'I'll do it but the contract has to account for monsters that fuse together and those small monsters that attack in hordes like goblins'
Selene thought about it for a moment.
"Okay, for the monsters that can fuse they'll be treated separately and for the monsters in hordes it would depend on their soul quality. Does that meet your requirements?"
Haruka thought about what she said and they didn't sound bad though part of her knew that she was still being scammed but she didn't really care.
"Good you agree"
Once both parties agreed Selene formed the contract similar to the previous one but with some changes.
Once finished Selene pulled out her dagger and slit her palm.
"The reward from the previous contract is still in effect so choose wisely what you're gift will be"
A flashback of her recent defeat flashed through her head as she tried to think of what held her back the most.
Her armour worked a bit before being shredded and to her knowledge she didn't know of any other material that can beat a mix of composite and cobaham armour without making her too heavy and too slow.
Her firepower even with nukes was still lacking, she needed something more destructive and if that fails she could always use rail guns but those would need her to have a nuclear heart to charge them.
Other than missiles she didn't know how to properly counter fast and powerful enemies.
But if she can't decide on a upgrade then she'd just take a page from the US navy and future proof herself and she knew just the right upgrade.
Once she decided her gift, Selene let a drop of her blood hit the deck.
The battleship burst into dark blue flames that burned intensely but quietly.
As her mana was being cobbled up she sensed something within Haruka. Even if it was brief she sensed that foreign power within her, which confused her.
But before she could look into it deeper her body was rocked by mana fatigue though before she used her reservers the gift was fully given.
Selene eyed this new battleship with I interest as she eyed the upgrades done.
Haruka knew that in the modern era things grew smaller and deadlier but it was still known that Bigger is always better in some cases.
That's why she decided she needed a bigger punch to her attacks.
[Upgrade]
Type 45 51cm/50 Triple barrel turrets.
This is the bigger sister of the proposed Type 94 460 mm Triple barrel turrets.
It benefits from having an improved loading system as well as a modern touch of sensors, hydraulic systems as well as the barrel being significantly reinforced.
Reinforcement was done to increase barrel lifespan and some other reasons that cross paths with rail guns.
Whoever finds themselves on the receiving end of this monster shall be pitied.
[End]
Slowly but surely she will rise to the top of the food chain!!
The ships fog horn blasted 2 times before it inched forward as her boilers built up their steam increasing her speed at a good pace.
Haruka steamed forward ready to lay waste to any monster.
Higher dimension
The being we had seen earlier stroked its chin as it finished catching up on what happened to its champion but now he was stuck.
"She did defy death and come back to life only with my help but her willpower and strength are commendable but *pauses* should I give her a reward for her feat or not?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And done, I hate using a phone to write, sure I can bring it anywhere I go but my speed is slow.
So how's the chapter, good, bad, mediocre?
Next chapter will take a while but I will update stay safe.
Drago -out.