Hikaru opened his palm, and four tiny fairies flew straight into Tirpitz's body. One fluttered into Lexington's hand.
Lexington blinked. "You really spoil us. I'm just going to be fighting from the backline. Two damage control fairies are a bit much, don't you think?"
Hikaru waved it off, finally feeling a little more at ease.
No matter how powerful Abyssal Barbarossa was, with five elite damage control fairies on Tirpitz, there was no way she could lose… right?
To face someone as outrageously overpowered as Abyssal Barbarossa, the best reassurance was having a damage-control tank.
Tirpitz stored the fairies into her rigging. Her delicate fists clenched quietly, and a fighting spirit flared up inside her.
She wished Abyssal Barbarossa would appear before her right now.
Just then, Lexington furrowed her brows and looked up at the sky.
Hikaru followed her gaze. Under the overcast, leaden sky, at least ten thousand carrier-based aircraft were circling like a flock of birds. These were the fighter squadrons deployed to protect the forward command ship.
"What is it, Lexington?"
"Fifteen kilometers up, three Ghost stealth strategic bombers just passed overhead."
Hikaru inhaled sharply. "They're really going all in?"
The Ghost stealth bomber was regarded as the most powerful bomber of its era. Its most notable feature was its full-spectrum stealth. On radar, it appeared no larger than a bird. It had a range exceeding 15,000 kilometers and could fly at speeds up to Mach 0.95. Conventional human technology could hardly counter it.
Naturally, the price tag for such high-end military hardware was astronomical. A single unit cost roughly $2.4 billion—several times the value of its weight in gold. Just maintaining one of these monsters cost tens of millions of dollars annually. A single hour of flight burned through $200,000. Only twelve existed in active service.
Unless it was to drop a strategic nuke, deploying one of these bombers was essentially a net loss.
"Are they trying to bomb Abyssal Barbarossa?" Fletcher's cat ears twitched as she stared toward the heavy thunderclouds in the distance. "That's way too risky. It's a lightning storm over there."
Lexington lowered her gaze. "It's because of the storm that they have a chance. They're gambling on the Abyssal Barbarossa's limited anti-air defenses and the absence of any Abyssal carriers."
Even Abyssal shipgirls had to obey the basic rules of aerial combat. Storms and poor lighting disrupted them just as much as anyone else.
Hikaru quickly did the math. "We're about a thousand nautical miles from Abyssal Barbarossa—roughly 1,500 kilometers. Ghost bombers fly at subsonic speed, around Mach 0.95. We should see results in about an hour and a half."
Tirpitz murmured, "Regardless of the outcome, those three planes aren't coming back."
Even a massive Abyssal like Barbarossa presented a small target. To bomb her, the planes would have to descend to near ground-level and strike directly at her core.
A voice sounded behind Hikaru. "Glorious, brave heroes!"
Hikaru turned to see Wakayama Shogo—who he'd only briefly met once before. The man looked haggard, his head wrapped in bandages, clapping slowly and solemnly.
Seeing Hikaru turn, Wakayama offered a sheepish smile. "Apologies. I happened to overhear your conversation… couldn't help myself."
Wakayama was the one who had first reported the sighting of Abyssal Barbarossa. Hikaru hadn't expected to see him back at the front-line command.
Curious, Hikaru asked, "Do you think this operation has a chance of success?"
Shogo paused in thought, then shook his head.
"Courage is admirable, but I'm afraid hundreds of billions are about to go up in smoke. The truth remains: for shipgirls, hydrogen bombs scatter their power too much. Unless you strap Abyssal Barbarossa directly onto the nuke before detonating it, I don't see any hope of success."
Even knowing the odds were slim, they had to try. A flagship with 2,300 durability was a nightmare. If they relied solely on shipgirls throwing themselves at her, even the entire country couldn't afford the losses.
"Technology—at least as it stands now—can't replace shipgirls as the main actors in war," Wakayama said.
"Everyone knows this," he added bitterly, "but no one wants to admit it out loud."
At that moment, Cumberland walked by holding a camera. "Yamato's calling you all to the command center. There's an update on the situation."
Hikaru and Shogo exchanged a glance, then began walking toward the command hall.
[End of Chapter]
[50 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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