Crossover Shipgirls: Building a Dimensional Empire from Scratch

Musashi had envisioned this battle as a grand duel—both sides forming up on the ocean, exchanging devastating salvos in a test of firepower, armor, and shielding.

She didn’t mind that Setsuna’s fleet hovered in the sky. After all, supergravity cannons could fire upwards.

In her mind, this was supposed to be like an 18th-century line infantry battle or a recreation of the Great Naval Battle from years past, where pure firepower and tactics would determine the victor.

This was exactly what the Fleet of Fog excelled at.

With superior firepower, defenses, and sheer numbers, Musashi couldn’t fathom how she could possibly lose.

What she never expected was that before even laying eyes on her opponent, she was already being pounded by a completely one-sided bombardment.

...

BOOM—

From the ocean’s perspective, the sky had turned into a dazzling light show.

Multicolored high-energy beams pierced through the clouds, striking the assembled Fleet of Fog warships below.

The fire control systems of the starships were far more advanced than anything on the ocean. They could simultaneously lock onto multiple targets and pinpoint weaknesses with extreme precision.

Mass-produced cruisers and destroyers were annihilated with mere secondary weapons.

Battleships and aircraft carriers were methodically taken out with focused main cannon shots.

It looked almost like a game of whack-a-mole in space.

Targets appeared on the radar, were locked onto, charged, and then erased from existence.

Swoosh—

Wave after wave of orbital bombardment triggered colossal tsunamis, scattering the Fleet of Fog’s formation into disarray.

”Counterattack!! Fire back at them!!!”

Under the relentless assault, Musashi activated her Klein Field and roared at the other Fleet of Fog warships.

This wasn’t even a battle—it was a one-sided massacre, and she hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the enemy yet.

More than half of the Fleet of Fog had already been wiped out.

”Even if you say that... We don’t even know where they are! How are we supposed to shoot?!”

Kirishima clung to the railing of her ship, swaying violently from the impact. She nearly got thrown overboard.

Neither their eyes nor their radars could detect the enemy’s location.

”FIRE!! IT DOESN’T MATTER! JUST SHOOT!!!”

BOOM BOOM BOOM—

The Fleet of Fog’s supergravity cannons charged up and unleashed a storm of energy into the sky.

Predictably, they hit absolutely nothing.

...

In orbit above the planet.

The Eternal Snowfall and its fleet hovered in outer space, surrounded by the endless stars.

Setsuna watched as scattered beams from below blindly fired into the sky, shaking his head with amusement.

At ranges of tens or even hundreds of thousands of kilometers, the slightest miscalculation meant missing by miles. While the Fleet of Fog’s weapons had the range, they completely lacked the necessary long-range targeting capabilities.

All they could do was rage helplessly on the ocean’s surface.

”So this is all Musashi of the Fleet of Fog has to offer?”

At the front of the starship formation, Azur Lane’s Musashi peered down with cold amusement, unleashing a devastating barrage in retaliation.

Like an act of vengeance, she mercilessly pummeled her Arpeggio counterpart.

High-energy beams crashed into Musashi’s Klein Field, filling her vision with endless warning alerts.

[Klein Field Saturation: 35%... 44%... 56%...]

[Warning: Computational Overload!]

[Alert: Field Saturation at 100%! Computational Systems Overloaded!]

Even if a single shot couldn’t breach her defenses, continuous concentrated fire eventually overwhelmed any shield.

No matter how powerful the computational capacity or how strong the energy barrier, there was a limit to endurance.

CRACK—

With a sharp noise, Musashi’s Klein Field shattered into pieces.

Before she could even react, several high-explosive bombs rained down onto her ship.

BOOM— BOOM— BOOM—

Giant holes were blasted into her deck, and her bridge was torn apart.

”Sister…”

Musashi stumbled and fell into the sea, watching as her warship became engulfed in flames under the relentless bombardment.

In less than an hour, the Fleet of Fog was nearly annihilated.

Only a handful of shipgirls remained afloat, barely holding on with their Klein Fields.

The battlefield was littered with wreckage, and molten metal spread across the sea’s surface, giving the ocean a metallic sheen.

”We surrender!”

”We surrender!!!”

The surviving Fleet of Fog shipgirls, realizing further resistance was futile, raised white flags and contacted Yamato through their Mental Models.

They had initially approached this as a mere test of strength, but if they kept fighting, Setsuna’s fleet would wipe them out completely.

”...”

”So this is the future of warfare... It’s definitely different from what I imagined...”

Yamato sat on the bridge of Setsuna’s flagship, staring in disbelief at the one-sided battle below.

The scene felt eerily familiar.

In her past life, the Yamato-class battleship was built as the ultimate warship, expected to dominate the battlefield with sheer firepower.

Instead, it was bombed into helplessness by aircraft carriers, marking the end of the battleship era.

Now, the Fleet of Fog’s so-called invincible ships were being obliterated by a space fleet, mirroring that very same fate.

No matter how powerful their supergravity cannons were or how impenetrable their Klein Fields seemed, they were nothing more than stationary targets in the face of astronomical-scale, long-range bombardments.

They couldn’t even locate their enemy.

”That said, I do admit their weapon and shield technology are quite advanced.”

”Which is exactly why I had no intention of engaging them in a direct shootout.”

Setsuna patted Yamato’s shoulder.

”If we had lined up for a traditional naval duel, we would’ve mutually destroyed each other.”

”But considering they managed to hold out against a space fleet’s firepower for this long... I acknowledge their combat capabilities.”

”...”

Yamato’s expression was complicated.

She wanted to praise Setsuna, but the ones being annihilated were her own sister and fellow Fleet of Fog members.

As their former flagship, her position felt strangely awkward.

”Now then...”

Setsuna snapped his fingers.

”Deploy Bulins. Start recovering the shipgirls.”

”Forget about the mass-produced Fleet of Fog ships—just retrieve the shipgirls. Iona, I-19, I-168, and Purifier, go retrieve Musashi.”

Hummm—

As the starships descended, over a hundred specially-equipped Bulins were air-dropped from the cargo bays.

They immediately began performing emergency repairs on damaged ships, towing them into the Eternal Snowfall or other Azur Lane shipgirls for safekeeping.

At the same time, they fished the dazed and battered Fleet of Fog shipgirls out of the ocean one by one.

”Is this some kind of shipgirl battlefield medical unit?”

Yamato watched in amazement.

...

Two days later.

Cough— Cough—

Musashi slowly opened her eyes, groggily sitting up.

She glanced around the room—it resembled a hospital ward.

Nearby, familiar faces of Fleet of Fog shipgirls lay in neat rows of beds.

Including herself, every battleship, cruiser, assault suppression ship, and even submarines I-400 and I-402 were there.

Some were still resting with their eyes closed, while others had woken up and were observing their surroundings.

”Uh... Are we... prisoners of war?”

Kongou rubbed her head and noticed unfamiliar high-tech medical equipment hooked up beside her bed.

The devices bore the emblem of the Azur Lane navy.

Yet, despite this, she realized she wasn’t actually restrained in any way.

Click—

The door to the infirmary swung open.

Setsuna entered, accompanied by Musashi, Yamato, and several other shipgirls.

”Oh? You’re awake? How are you feeling?”

He stood in front of Azure Musashi with a bright smile, examining the small loli-sized battleship.

”...”

”So it really was you...”

Musashi narrowed her eyes, recalling their previous encounter through the holographic interface.

Behind him stood another towering shipgirl with an impressive figure and a large fluffy tail—Azur Lane’s Musashi, the counterpart to her own class.

”Your ships sustained severe damage, but considering you’ll all be converted into starships soon, it’s not a big issue.”

”The entire Fleet of Fog’s shipgirls should be here, correct?”

Setsuna asked with a grin.

”Yeah, not a single one left behind. You hospitalized all of us.”

Fleet of Fog Takao rolled her eyes and sighed.

”Don’t worry, we have universal healthcare.”

Setsuna glanced at the defeated shipgirls. Though they had taken a serious beating, he had ensured no fatal damage was inflicted.

Otherwise, he would’ve needed to use the Wisdom Cube to reincarnate them all over again.

”So, do you admit defeat?”

Setsuna patted the loli Musashi on the shoulder.

”As per our agreement, the Fleet of Fog is now under my command.”

”...”

”Fine, you win.”

Musashi sighed deeply.

She had no intention of going back on her word. In truth, she suspected that Setsuna had spared her only because of Yamato’s presence.

Given the overwhelming power of his starship fleet, wiping out the entire Fleet of Fog would have been effortless.

”From now on, you should call him ’Commander.’”

Yamato smiled sweetly, pulling Musashi into a hug while poking her cheek.

”...”

Musashi stubbornly refused to speak.

”Come on, say it. Or else, your dear sister will be very upset.”

”And weren’t you rather disrespectful earlier? You should apologize properly.”

Yamato’s sweet expression darkened slightly as she pinched Musashi’s cheeks in a playful yet firm grip.

”...”

Musashi’s face was stretched and squished mercilessly, and it was clear that Yamato wouldn’t stop until she got what she wanted.

The other Fleet of Fog shipgirls watched with great curiosity, eager to hear their flagship’s response.

After a long, stubborn silence, Musashi finally lifted her head, took a deep breath, and forced herself to say—

”C-Commander...”

”I-I’ll be in your care from now on.”

”That’s more like it!”

Setsuna ruffled her hair with a satisfied grin.

”Be good from now on. Even though your cup size is much smaller than Azur Lane’s Musashi, we still appreciate loli battleships around here.”

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