Day 200
Today was a bit of an odd day. All of us were at the fleet's communal computer, reading reports about Reaper's progress. Only Ariel was absent because she is still in the baths, but that should be over in a few days. Everyone else hung around me while I went through news reports. It felt kind of weird to do when I barely ever did the like before becoming Abyssal. Then again, this here concerned me personally.
I fully expected some sort of running commentary or jokes, or something at least. But my Abyssals are a bit less loose on this particular subject than a group of humans might be. Maybe apprehension added to it, too. Either way, it was mostly quiet beyond discussions of the pictures and headlines.
We get all of this somewhat delayed for obvious reasons, but it still gave us a decent idea what happened. Reaper followed my instructions, at least to the point that she did not swerve into Tokyo along the way. Going by how many the reports claimed could be 'saved' from the rampaging beast, she also allowed them to evacuate civilians en masse.
Hannah was still not convinced of that particular strategy, by the way; I think she feels the strongest due to being the youngest and thus having less other information in her head. Thankfully, Frostbite was around at the time to dissect the strategy better than I ever could: instead of just killing them all and making the defenders more stalwart, Reaper forces the JSDF to divert considerable resources into protecting civilians. That concept needed some explanation for Hannah, it never occurred to me Abyssals would find it alien.
The other nuance of this plan, which I told exactly no one, is that I am not comfortable with ordering a slaughter like that. It may be hypocritical after I remade Godzilla to let loose on the Japanese, but still. This feels like a separate line from sending my monster to destroy their main naval base. This way, if the refugees suffer further, that is on the human systems being unable to support them.
Admittedly, I am also curious if someone will clue in to that strategy and be callous enough to bomb their own civilians to get at Reaper.
From how the reports read, Japan is playing into my hands; shipgirls from across the various naval bases are withdrawn to the hub at Yokohama. They correctly predicted Reaper's path based on the lane of destruction she carves through rural Japan. A little sad for such a beautiful nation to get devastated, but they started it.
She is slower on land and further slowed down by occasional air raids, but the JSDF has trouble pinning her down. All the tanks they field only become reserves for her self-repairs. So does anything else made of steel or precious metals, mind. Her armour belt still holds just fine, so the tungsten alloy was definitely worth it.
She will reach Tokyo Bay tomorrow or the day after. I think I will keep Ariel on computer duty to tell us once something happens.
Day 201
Reaper's march through the Japanese countryside continues unabated. I noticed that Ariel is starting to grow restless in the bath, though I kind of get it; she has been in there for almost three months.
Even with Jeanne visiting her sister on the regular, Ariel is getting antsy and wants to return to duty. We had a bit of a talk about that, too. I spent some resources into improvements mainly for battleships; both for selling to Frostbite and to make sure Ariel will not end up like this again. Better armour belts, reduced fuel consumption, redundancies in their electronics. Next I will definitely improve repair bath efficiency and speed, though. That stuff is hideously expensive, which is why I stayed away from it at first. Then I was building Reaper. I am still far short on what I need to get that project started, but this is the goal.
It was nice talking to Ariel one-on-one. I still appreciate how far she went to protect Haven, as well as Orion and Ionia. At the same time, I got to see my usually serene battleship almost vibrate with unspent energy. It took some convincing to make her stay the final two days, just to make absolutely sure she is fine. I do not want some small chink to cascade into another catastrophy.
In other news, Hannah has become something of an ambassador with how often she visits Frostbite's fleet. She is polite and friendly, but I sometimes spot the edge of cunning underneath. We had a little talk as well and she freely dropped the mask for me. I did not even need to ask. In her words: "My duty is to my Princess and my fleet. I do not mind being around others if that serves your plans, I will even tolerate humans if I must."
I am not sure if she is a full-on sociopath, has some such tendencies, or is just overly devoted to the concept of her fleet. Can Abyssals even have sociopaths by human definitions?
Day 202
It happened tonight. We read all about it by noon, which is a small miracle considering the disaster it was for Japan. Even if it is inspiring in what happened, the result could spell the country's end if other Abyssals find out.
First off, the admiralty ordered every available shipgirl to Yokohama. This included two squadrons visiting from America who were greenlit to support the IJN girls. It was a massive fleet, though none of the reports say how many exactly. I recognised some of the names that were spotted patrolling Tokyo Bay; among them were the carrier Akagi and the super battleship Yamato. I am really grateful that all this makes international news... and for the auto translate function being somewhat accurate.
Second, the JSDF marched up in force; they brought anti-ship cannons, mines, bombers, tanks, and heavy weaponry for every soldier along the fortifications. Just marching up to them would have been suicide for anyone not Reaper.
According to the various accounts we cross-referenced, she came barreling over a hill and was halfway to the bay before the defenders reacted. Her armour belt ate the artillery and by the time she reached the water, several dozen shipgirls in the bay opened fire at her. She weathered that, too. Then she dove, effectively avoiding any more shells.
Turns out underwater mines do not work so well when the enemy can walk on the ocean floor. Maybe Reaper triggered some, but nothing of that nature was mentioned. I have no idea if the shipgirls throwing depth charges hit her, either. What it did say is that she then reenacted Jaws. Well, not in those words. But a doom lizard coming up below a shipgirl and dragging her into the depths evokes that sort of mental image.
I am once again a little intimidated by how smart Reaper is. She knew she can take her time to chew through the defenders.
After losing three ships this way, Yokohama called them all back into the shallows where Reaper could not hide. She then proceeded to wait for several hours before following. We discussed it and figure she took some actual damage that had to be repaired, or at least patched up. The psychological effect on the defenders was massive, though. Being tense for hours, just waiting for the invincible monster to emerge. And in the middle of night no less.
Reaper's dramatic timing was impeccable, too. By all accounts she showed herself again at the crack of dawn. Rose from the depths and swam straight for Yokohama base's docks. Several people say that the earth shook from the return fire. It must have been excruciatingly loud, what with how many ships were guarding the port.
I admit I was more than a little worried when we got to that part. Reaper was designed to take a lot of punishment, but it would have only taken one lucky shot of some sort to hit a weak spot or chink the previous battles opened. Yet none did. She emerged from the explosions with pockmarked scales and a single notable crack; the girls agree that must have been Yamato.
And in the silence, Reaper answered with her own guns. A single, living fortress spewing shells into the air to down as many planes as she could for a prelude. Then the big guns let loose on the defenders, too. I do not want to say it was a kill per shell after she got their measure, but the damage was clearly massive. And I have to give props to the shipgirls, too; their line held despite all of this.
Unfortunately for them, determination alone does not win a battle. It did not last long, either. Reaper kept coming at them while firing volleys of death; not even Yamato and the other battleships could so much as slow her down. They managed to crack Reaper's shell by the end, at least from the pictures I saw. But at that point she passed knife-fighting range, reached their battleline, and chomped down on the flagship, once again Yamato.
Once more, props to the defenders. I am almost certain that at last should have broken their morale, but they kept firing till the last capital ship was sunk. The JSDF proved just as tenacious; if they did not throw every piece of explosives on the isle at Reaper in the following hours, it must still have been close on that amount. There is something to be said about being stupid and just charging in, but Reaper was and is near Tokyo. They can not afford to back down there.
Alas, my preparations were more thorough. By the time the JSDF was recalled, only a handful of shipgirls were confirmed to have escaped the slaughter. Reaper is still busy leveling all of Yokohama after turning the naval base to rubble, though most members of staff and civilians were apparently evacuated.
However, the local commander remained at base; not confirmed dead, although the fact his dwelling was entirely burned to the ground should be indicative.
Suffice it to say, the world is in an uproar. From what else I read, Japan was one of the first countries to figure out how to summon shipgirls; their navy was one of the largest in the world, not to mention the most concentrated due to the country's small size. They still failed to defeat Reaper. Now there is worry and often outright paranoia going around about what will happen if the beast attacks other countries; they understand my monster can fight on land just fine, with all the advantages an Abyssal has over common warmachines.
I did not actually mention this in here yet, did I? Aside from the mentions of soul voodoo, but this falls in the same category. Abyssals and shipgirls both have some sort of conceptual defense against conventional arms. It is not perfect and enough firepower can punch through, which is what they tried with Reaper there. The effectiveness is severely weakened, though. She could outright ignore most of the bombs dropped on her from above.
Either way, anti-Abyssal doctrines heavily feature shipgirls for a reason. Conventional aircraft has trouble piercing the storms any Princess can summon; Reaper could have done something like that too, but decided against it for some reason. Maybe a show of power?
But here comes the fun thing: I know how humans work. The moment Abyssals are no longer a concern, the major nations have combatants still capable of shrugging off any conventional weapons. I am absolutely certain that a new struggle for global dominance would follow; it only takes one idiot in charge for that to happen.
As it stands, Japan was kicked to the curb. They lost most of their shipgirls, the JSDF got the beating of a lifetime, and a kaiju is still present in the area. My girl made me proud.
Day 203
Ariel came out of the bath today. She is finally back to full readiness. We had a little celebration with steak and cake. I can synthesize the ingredients well enough by now.
Today is probably the last time we all came together to read news of Reaper; she seems to be doing well enough. Though damaged, we know she has the capacities and resources to repair. What is more, she started weaving a storm over Yokohama to obscure her position. Tokyo Bay is completely cut off because Reaper patrols there, cutting off a profitable trade route.
Maybe I should feel a little bad about this after all? Up to Yokohama was fine with me, that was the plan. Now Reaper acts on her own ideas and seems intent to end Japan as a nation. Ariel just came in and told me her storm advances toward Tokyo proper. That madlass forces the Japanese to evacuate the most populated city in the world. Any attempt to deter her is swallowed by the storm and swiftly lost.
If I could establish contact, I would call her back.
I also wonder how valid an idea it would be to make landfall myself. With most shipgirls gone and the country in disarray, I may be able to slip through. Then again, I still do not speak Japanese. My engines also still guzzle fuel like nobody's business; the tech for switching to a fission reactor is some time away and expensive, not to mention problematic in case it blows up.
Day 205
I think I said something about an idiot in charge?
It took me all of yesterday to figure out why the internet suddenly died on me. Something went wrong with the cable, but I could set up something to keep getting data. Turns out that China went ahead and nuked Japan to take Reaper down.
Let me repeat this: they nuked Japan. Sent that bomb down almost in the center of Tokyo.
To say the world is freaking out would be the understatement to end all understatements. I have no idea if Reaper can survive a nuke and doubt it, too. But despite feeling a little numb about that, I am more dumbfounded by what in the world could make that lot decide on this course of action. The Chinese defend themselves at the moment, but whatever happened there will make some huge changes to the global scene.
Japan is reeling; I can not tell if they will collapse entirely, but this may have been the final nail in the coffin.
I went and asked Frostbite to expand in the other direction. As much as the Japanese deserved retaliation, this went out of control. As prudent as it would be to capitalise, I know what my ally would do to all the people there. So no, none of that.
At the same time, I am not sure how to feel about China. The assholes killed Reaper. I was never warm on them, but that is more the people in charge and not the Chinese population. And even if I wanted to retaliate, China is less accessible to Abyssal forces unless I build another Colossus. Which will probably lock me into a circle of wasting resources on a great beast that gets nuked by the next great power.
Alternately, I do nothing. From what I read, China made themselves incredibly unpopular with that move. Japan alone will hate them for at least a few generations, especially if the country collapses now. The bombing of Tokyo cost many times more lives than Reaper's march did, not to mention most of them were civilians. If I retaliate against China, they may ride a wave of sympathy and manage to get out of the hot seat. If I do nothing to them, it will be the rest of the world to judge them.
And I can still figure something out if they do make it out of this unscathed.
So to recap: Japan lost Yokohama and the majority of IJN shipgirls to my Colossus Demon; I then lost my Colossus Demon to a nuke. Japan also lost Tokyo to the same nuke. China lost Face with basically everyone, and everyone lost their minds over this entire affair.
I guess that is not too bad for my first foray into naval warfare?
For now I will hug my emotional support Hannah, though.
Day 206
Still moody, much like everyone else. I stood outside in the storm for most of the day. Ariel joined me for a while, as did Sapphire. They caught on well enough not to really talk to me, but I feel a little better now. Some people say rain and storms bring down their mood, but I appreciate them; the rain most of all. It just has something calming to me, watching the droplets fall and little waves ripple in puddles.
Outside of that, I had to explain what nuclear weapons are to Frostbite and the other Abyssals. I also made it very clear that I will not make any no matter what happens, which I only had to say because they asked me to make them; otherwise I would just not have said anything on the matter. I am not a good liar, so I generally just omit things I do not want people to know. A bit like a certain bunnycat.
The world as a whole is still reeling. Hannah took to reading a lot of online news, in her own words to learn more about how humans work.
This gave me an idea, though; it helped distract me, too. I never really made more sound systems so far. Now we have a bunch, and headphones, too. It was nice to put on some songs I heard in the past, they remind me of home. That is, the time before I became an Abyssal.
I got the girls interested, too. So we spent the rest of the day looking up various genres to see who liked what.
