The Divine Throne of Shipgirls

A furious shout echoed through the command hall, and over a thousand heads turned simultaneously toward the massive screen hanging at the front.

On the screen, a somewhat slender figure had activated her rigging and was breaking through the storm, charging straight at Monitor.

"That's Hiei, belonging to Commander Kazeharu," said Yamato, reclining in her chair, her gaze unreadable. "She requested to challenge the enemy in a duel, in exchange for leniency toward Kazeharu. I agreed."

…

At sea, Monitor shifted her gaze away from the Silent Horizon.

Inside that command ship, over a thousand people had gathered, no more than 20 to 30 nautical miles from her position—a distance from which she was confident she could land a precise strike.

But no. Humanity was well aware of the possibility that she might try to obliterate their command center directly. That structure was protected by multiple layers of enchantments, and more than a hundred fully trained shipgirls were guarding it. It would not be taken easily.

Casting her eyes further afield, she surveyed the Southern Fleet arranged in three lines. At the very front were shipgirls sailing directly on the surface. Behind them was a single aircraft carrier. Further back still were several cruisers and submerged submarines. The weaker humans had all taken shelter aboard the cruisers in the rear.

Monitor glanced back at her own massive army—around 400,000 Abyssal shipgirls—but it wasn't enough. That strength alone would not suffice to shatter the enemy directly before her.

Very well then. She would cut down another of their champions, drown them in dread and despair, and only then launch a full assault.

She raised her right hand. A massive black-purple flag bearing a crocodile emblem rose from the sea behind her. It stood a hundred meters tall, flapping and roaring through the storm, radiating a dreadful aura.

Historically, the original USS Monitor was a low-profile armored warship, displacing under a thousand tons, with most of her hull submerged beneath the waves—only the upper deck and circular turret visible. To future generations, she resembled a lurking crocodile beneath the surface, and it was from this imagery that Monitor's rigging was derived.

Standing behind Yamato, Hikaru stared along with everyone else at the image of Monitor on the screen.

She had raised her standard amid the ranks of hundreds of thousands of Abyssals, standing atop her summoned crocodilian beast, a nightmarish yet awe-inspiring sight.

She wore a ship-style cap shaped like a crocodile's maw, complete with a turret on top and fanged jaws protruding forward. In her right hand, wrapped in her black-purple sorceress robes, she carried a stubby muzzle-loading cannon.

And yet, if one ignored all her menacing equipment, she looked like nothing more than a petite white-haired girl.

Or rather—a white-haired witch.

…

Hiei charged toward the Abyssal Monitor, rapidly closing to within ten nautical miles.

Monitor furrowed her brows—not because the enemy was formidable, but because she was too weak.

"What are you afraid of? I can hear the cowardice in your heart. If you're so terrified, why come here just to die?"

Even among fully trained battleships, there were differences in strength. Some shipgirls were simply not cut out for combat—more of them than not.

But war would not wait for readiness.

Hiei's hands were drenched in sweat. Trembling, she adjusted the barrels of her four main guns and unleashed a full salvo at Monitor.

Even Monitor wasn't keen on taking a full blast from a fully trained battleship head-on. Her strength didn't lie in raw attributes, but in her unparalleled combat instincts.

With a simple nudge to her crocodile steed, she vanished like a mirage, slipping dozens of meters to the side and dodging the volley entirely.

The shells detonated the moment they hit the sea, sending up a futile cascade of waves.

Hiei continued to fire shot after shot, each one missing, but she was gradually finding her rhythm.

She wiped her face—whether from sweat or rain she couldn't tell—and braced herself. "She looks powerful, but I… I'm trying my best too!"

Monitor circled Hiei atop her crocodile, laying down streaks of purple fog across the ocean surface—mist that, despite the storm, refused to disperse.

Watching tensely, Hikaru clenched his fists. "I wonder if Hiei has realized… Monitor is toying with her, laying a noose one loop at a time."

Lexington sighed. "Hiei's too fixated on her own performance. She hasn't noticed Monitor's trap at all. She won't last ten minutes."

Monitor even had the leisure to trace elegant steps across the water's surface. If one could ignore the death that trailed her every move, she could almost be called a graceful dancer.

[End of Chapter]

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