Taihou guessed, "I think it must be that Ship Girl called Aircraft Carrier who did it."
Illustrious looked incredulous. "No way! You have to know, I am Aircraft Carrier's sister! She couldn't do such a thing."
"You can know a person's face but not their heart, Illustrious. Don't forget, she used to be Abyssal!" Taihou reminded.
"The past is the past. Now Aircraft Carrier has already been purified by me using the Abyssal Purification Potion. It couldn't be her." Illustrious still did not believe that Aircraft Carrier would harm her.
In order not to let this topic continue, Illustrious walked ahead of Taihou.
Sighing, Taihou shook her head and said, "Sigh! How pitiful, another person blinded by emotions."
Afterwards, seeing Illustrious look back, Taihou let out a heavy sigh of relief. That was close; she was almost suspected.
Watching Illustrious walk further and further away, Taihou hurriedly chased after her, quickly reaching Illustrious's side, and then the two walked side-by-side.
After walking for a distance, the two saw a cliff. Taihou was excited because on the cliff, she had set the final trap.
Last night, at the edge of the cliff, Taihou had rigged it so that as long as someone entered the cliff edge, the cliff would collapse, and Illustrious would definitely fall into the sea.
Below the sea, there was a Destroyer Abyssal Ship similar to a whale. As long as Illustrious fell into the sea, the Destroyer Abyssal Ship would leap up and swallow Illustrious in one bite.
Just as the two were about to reach the cliff, Taihou took a step back.
When Illustrious wasn't looking, Taihou continued to retreat a few more steps.
After retreating to a safe position, Taihou saw Illustrious walk into the trap, but strangely, the cliff edge did not collapse.
Seeing Illustrious safe and sound, Taihou almost vomited blood, thinking to herself, "It was one thing that she didn't fall for the first strong sulfuric acid pit trap and the second landmine trap, but the third cliff trap cost me so much effort! Yet Illustrious dodged it as well. This Illustrious's luck is just too good!"
"After walking for so long, we've finally arrived." Illustrious spread her arms and took a deep breath of the sea air, then said, "Taihou! Why are you standing so far away? Hurry up and come over!"
"Ah! No need, I'll just watch from here." Taihou raised her hand and waved it in refusal.
In Taihou's view, the cliff edge might have been a bit too solid, which was why Illustrious hadn't caused it to collapse. If two people stood on the cliff edge, the result might be that it couldn't bear the weight of two people, and then falling down to be eaten by the whale would be bad.
Taihou was unwilling to come to the cliff edge with her, and Illustrious was unhappy. One had to know that watching from the cliff edge alone was no fun at all. For a scene like watching the starry night sky, of course, it was better to hold a beauty in one's arms!
Illustrious came to Taihou's side, grabbed her hand, and finally walked toward the cliff edge.
Taihou struggled desperately, but in the end, Illustrious said, "Come with me to the cliff edge to watch the stars, that is an order!"
Just after saying this, the slave ring in Taihou's hand immediately activated. She stopped resisting, and could not resist, finally letting Illustrious take her to the cliff edge.
While walking, Taihou looked terrified, fearing that the ground beneath her feet would suddenly collapse and she would be swallowed by the whale in one bite.
Unfortunately, Taihou had worried for nothing, because after she and Illustrious arrived at the cliff edge, the cliff edge actually bore the weight of the two and didn't collapse.
Seeing this situation, Taihou gave up on the third trap, thinking to herself, "It seems I can't kill Illustrious tonight."
The two sat on the edge of the cliff, Taihou in front, while Illustrious held Taihou's slender waist from behind, her head reaching Taihou's ear as she whispered, "You were the one who asked me to watch the stars, yet you left me aside. That's not good, oh!"
"S-sorry! Please don't tease me anymore, my ears are a sensitive area." Taihou flushed red.
Seeing Taihou like this, Illustrious couldn't hold back anymore, then grabbed Taihou's head and finally kissed her cherry lips.
Taihou, who had been forcibly kissed, felt like crying without tears. Tonight was a total loss; not only did she fail to kill Illustrious, but she was taken advantage of by Illustrious instead.
After kissing for a long time, Illustrious let Taihou go, then raised her head to look at the starry sky. "The starry sky tonight is truly beautiful!"
"..." Taihou's face was flushed, her eyes unfocused, and she was panting. Her current state clearly showed she had been moved by Illustrious's superb kissing skills, and thus could not respond to Illustrious.
After the two watched for an hour, Illustrious looked at the time and requested to go back, but Taihou shook her head and said, "You go back first! I'll watch for a while longer here."
"Alright then! Watch out for the sea breeze, don't catch a cold. It wouldn't be good if you caught a cold." Illustrious waved her hand and left.
After watching Illustrious's back completely disappear, the smiling Taihou immediately became angry. "Damn it! Illustrious, count yourself lucky this time. Next time, I will definitely leave you with no corpse."
"This broken cliff, why didn't it work! It really infuriates me." Stomping continuously on the ground with force, Taihou vented all her anger over the failure onto the ground.
But Taihou hadn't stomped a few steps before the cliff suddenly collapsed, and then Taihou screamed and fell into the sea.
During the process of falling into the sea, the Destroyer Abyssal Ship, which was as big as a two-story building and had been waiting for a long time under the sea, opened its bloody mouth, intending to swallow Taihou in one bite.
"Wait! No!" Seeing that whale, Taihou said in terror.
The Destroyer Abyssal Ship did not listen to Taihou, because she was Abyssal, why should she listen to a Ship Girl? Then she swallowed Taihou and finally sank into the sea.
Illustrious, who had walked a long distance away, heard someone scream and couldn't help turning her head to look back. "Strange! Why did I hear someone screaming?"
Pricking up her ears to listen carefully, Illustrious found that she didn't hear the screaming again. "Forget it, maybe it was my imagination."
...
On the other side, inside the belly of the Destroyer Abyssal Ship, Taihou erupted with the power of a Legendary Ship Girl, and countless red curtains of light appeared around her.
"Swish, swish, swish..." From the countless red curtains of light, countless red spear chains shot out violently.
This attack was incredibly powerful. The Destroyer Abyssal Ship, which only had the strength of a Gold-Plated Ship Girl, had its body explode immediately.
"Bang!"
After escaping the imprisonment of the Destroyer Abyssal Ship, Taihou shot out from the sea and finally hovered in mid-air.
Taihou's face was cold, and she roared at the sky. "Damn it! Illustrious, remember this. The shame of today will be repaid tenfold in the future."
...Inside the Admiral's Villa, the Ship Girls watching TV began to discuss things after hearing Taihou's roar.
Ayanami said unhappily, "What's with the screaming in the middle of the night? That Taihou is sick!"
Shokaku tilted her head and said, "Who provoked her? Otherwise, why would Taihou be so furious?"
Unicorn said in a soft voice, "It's definitely not Sister Illustrious. You know Sister Illustrious is the gentlest."
Intrepid guessed, "Do you think she's going through early menopause? I heard women in menopause have very bad tempers."
Placing a finger to her lips, Azuma whispered, "Shh! Keep it down. She's a Legendary Ship Girl. If you make Taihou unhappy, you'll be in for it."
Just then, a voice interrupted their conversation.
"Hmm! It's so late, why hasn't everyone gone to sleep yet?" Illustrious asked in confusion after returning to the Admiral's Villa.
Azuma gave a faint smile and said, "Everyone has something to tell you!"
Illustrious immediately asked, "Eh! What is it? Oh my!"
"Sister, you're finally back!" Unicorn threw herself into Illustrious's embrace.
Patting Unicorn's head, Illustrious smiled, "Mhm! I'm back, Unicorn."
Watching Unicorn get her head patted, Ayanami had a face full of envy. "How nice! I want my head patted too."
"Ayanami wants one too? Sure!" Illustrious opened her right arm and said softly, "Come here!"
Ayanami didn't hesitate and immediately pounced into Illustrious's arms. "Admiral! Hurry, hurry!"
"Yes, yes! Coming right up." Illustrious raised her hand, placed it on Ayanami's head, and began to pat it gently.
Seeing Unicorn and Ayanami getting head pats from Illustrious, Haman immediately put her hands on her hips and acted like a little adult, saying, "You're being too childish. You can't become an excellent Ship Girl like this."
Ayanami turned her head, saw the longing in Haman's eyes, and immediately said with disdain, "You say that, but don't you also want the Admiral to pat your head?"
Hearing this, Haman's fur immediately stood on end. She crossed her arms and said, "Who wants the Admiral to pat their head? I'm a mature Ship Girl; I wouldn't do something as childish as letting someone pat my head."
"Mhm! I understand. Then Haman, you come here too!" Illustrious beckoned to Haman.
"Who on earth would want you to pat their head!" Haman was angry at first, then said bashfully, "But if you insist on patting my head, I suppose it's okay! But remember, it's only because you insisted that I'm letting you."
Haman went to Illustrious and waited for the head pat, and Illustrious immediately began patting Haman's head.
"Haman, what you just said was 'tsundere', right?" Illustrious teased Haman.
"Listen to what people say! It's clearly because you insisted on patting my head that I let you," Haman said angrily.
"Mhm! I completely understand. In other words, you're shy."
"You don't understand at all!"
Laffey tugged on Illustrious's clothes. "Laffey... doesn't particularly want the Admiral to pat her head! Probably!"
Seeing the longing in Laffey's eyes, Illustrious sighed. Good grief, another tsundere. "Don't worry, Laffey, there's some for you too. I'm an Admiral who understands fairness!" Moving the hand that was patting Haman to Laffey's head, Illustrious began to pat gently.
Laffey squinted her eyes comfortably while being patted. "Admiral! This feels so good!"
"Is that so? That's great then," Illustrious said with a slight smile.
"So unfair! I haven't had enough pats yet!" Haman pouted.
"Go away! Didn't you say you didn't want your head patted just now?" Ayanami was very dissatisfied that Haman had taken her head-patting spot and immediately scolded her.
"Shut... shut up! It's none of your business," Haman said in embarrassed anger.
"Ev... everyone, please stop fighting. We are all Ship Girls of the Illustrious Naval Base, we should get along!" Unicorn tried to mediate from the side.
Ayanami and Haman immediately turned their gaze toward Unicorn. Then, after exchanging a glance, they approached Unicorn.
Seeing the two approaching, Unicorn said a bit fearfully, "What do you want to do?"
"Don't be afraid, you know I'm not a bad person," Ayanami said nicely. "Unicorn, I see you've been hogging the spot for the Admiral's left-hand head pats since just now!"
"That... that's true, is there a problem with that?" Unicorn asked, puzzled.
Haman immediately followed up, "Of course there's a problem! You have to know the Admiral belongs to everyone. You can't keep her all to yourself; greediness isn't good."
Ayanami agreed, "Exactly! Unicorn, we'll give you a chance now. As long as you agree to one thing, I won't argue with this girl anymore."
Unicorn had a premonition, but to stop Ayanami and Haman from arguing, she continued to ask, "What is it? As long as I can do it, I will."
Ayanami and Haman were delighted; great, their goal was about to be achieved.
Haman said with a smile, "Unicorn, be confident, you can do it."
Ayanami said expressionlessly, "That's right. What we want you to do is simple: give up your head-patting spot."
"Wha... what! You want my head-patting spot!" Hearing that they wanted her spot, Unicorn immediately refused. You should know that this spot was given to her by her sister; no one could take it away. "I'm sorry, I cannot do that."
Ayanami said dissatisfiedly, "Unicorn! That's not right. Didn't you just say you'd do anything?"
Unicorn apologized, "I'm sorry! Only this, I cannot do."
"Then it's not up to you. Hah!" Haman immediately pounced toward Unicorn.
Haman pulled at Unicorn to make her leave the head-patting spot, but Unicorn refused to budge. Finally, Haman asked Ayanami for help. "Don't just watch! Let's push her aside together, and then we'll take turns in this spot."
"So we're allies then. Fine. Sorry, Unicorn. Don't worry, we'll always remember your selfless sacrifice." Ayanami also pounced toward Unicorn and joined Haman's team.
Under the cooperation of the two Ship Girls, Unicorn resisted bitterly. "Don't even think about it! This head-patting spot belongs to Unicorn, and Unicorn won't give it to anyone else."
Ayanami said seriously, "Give up your resistance! You are no match for the power of the two of us."
Haman followed, "Unicorn! A word of advice: stop resisting us. You won't be able to handle our wrath."
"..." Unicorn stopped speaking. Rather than wasting words on these bandits, she might as well save her strength for the battle.
However, Ayanami and Haman were too strong, and Unicorn was about to lose her grip. To save her head-patting spot, she used her strongest anti-fortress Noble Phantasm—Illustrious.
"Sister! Save me!"
Ayanami and Haman were startled; they didn't expect Unicorn to be so despicable as to use the cry-for-help technique, and so they met with tragedy.
---------------------------------
I hope you enjoy this fanfiction! If you're having fun and want to read 30 chapters in advance, feel free to check out my Patreon: patreon.com/TLScarlet
Your support means a lot so if you like the story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone.