[FGO]: 116

These ultra-modern torpedoes, though significantly faster than similar models, left almost no visible wake. Combining speed, power, and stealth, they were practically the ultimate assassination tool!

However, the usually hyper-aware Yamato seemed entirely oblivious, as her main and secondary batteries continued firing without any evasive maneuvers from the ship itself.

The torpedoes quickly closed in on Yamato—four kilometers, three kilometers... one kilometer. Yet, Yamato appeared to remain completely unaware.

As the torpedoes neared the 500-meter mark, nearly enveloping Yamato, even the most skilled helmsman would have been at a loss. The joy on Captain Sugiyama's face became uncontrollable as he envisioned the pride of Japan slowly sinking under his torpedo barrage.

The torpedoes sped closer, now less than 100 meters from Yamato. Some crew members even began to celebrate early.

But they didn't notice the faint smile playing on Yamato's lips inside her bridge.

80 meters, 70 meters, 60 meters...

As the torpedoes closed to within 50 meters, a soft white light enveloped Yamato.

Before everyone's eyes, a 70,000-ton super battleship transformed into a beautiful girl floating on the water, equipped with strange gear and holding a double-layered red umbrella!

In this situation, if Captain Sugiyama managed to hit her, he might as well buy a lottery ticket—he'd be guaranteed a win, and not just once, but for three consecutive jackpots!

The jaws of the Combined Fleet crew almost dropped to the floor—where had the massive super battleship gone? It was just... gone!

Yamato now stood gracefully on the sea's surface, the tracks of the fifteen torpedoes gliding past her. With her fierce and imposing ship gear, the scene formed a strangely harmonious picture.

This was what Yamamoto Isoroku saw through his binoculars.

Sensing his gaze, Yamato turned gracefully, her ship gear's gun barrels swiveling.

"Fire!"

The deafening roar of gunfire rang out as nine miniature shells, shrunken to 1/100th of their original size and resembling toy shells, shot out as white streaks, directly striking the stunned Musashi.

It seemed that Admiral Yamamoto had used up all his luck in the previous battle.

The shells easily penetrated Musashi's bow, striking the magazine beneath the first turret.

Boom!

The mighty Musashi swelled like a balloon being burst, flames spewing from every crack.

"What a beautiful sight…"

Yamamoto Isoroku murmured this last admiration before being consumed by the inferno.

Within a minute, the flagship of the Combined Fleet and Yamato's sister ship, Musashi, was lost.

"Admiral Yamamoto! Damn it! You monster!"

Captain Sugiyama roared in anger, and the once-quiet Shimakaze opened fire once more.

But how could a 70,000-ton super battleship in her maiden form possibly be hit?

Shells fell harmlessly 500 meters from Yamato, splashing water but doing no damage.

Seeing Shimakaze's futile resistance, Yamato frowned slightly, her main guns subtly shifting to target the hapless destroyer.

Just then, a blue figure swiftly cut through the sky, diving toward Shimakaze.

In Captain Sugiyama's horrified eyes, the blue figure plunged into the water near the ship's stern.

A dull thud echoed from beneath the waves, and the previously fast-moving Shimakaze jerked to a halt, its speed plummeting until it finally stopped, like a dried-up fish.

The blue figure emerged from the sea, curiously examining Yamato. It was the adorable Ais.

Since being tricked once, Ais had learned to target the propellers—the core propulsion of any warship.

Thus, the rest of the division had also fallen victim to Ais."

As she prepared to cripple the final warship of the division, she noticed Yamato's predicament and rushed back to assist.

Even Ais hadn't expected Yamato to pull off such a slick maneuver, defusing the crisis entirely.

Incidentally, the last surviving ship of the division was named Yukikaze...

Meanwhile, Shimakaze became Yamato's prize.

As a shipgirl with a keen eye, Yamato quickly recognized Shimakaze's uniqueness—her speed and firepower far exceeded her peers.

The dignified and graceful Yamato would never admit that she was harboring a grudge against Shimakaze for being forced into her shipgirl form by the destroyer's new torpedoes. Absolutely not!

Captain Sugiyama, however, refused to surrender and even tried to scuttle the ship by opening the sea valves.

But he was horrified to discover that Shimakaze was being effortlessly lifted out of the water by a pair of slender, delicate hands with the power of 150,000 horsepower.

...

Far away in Yokosuka, where he was dealing with a new batch of prisoners, Ryou received a system notification.

[Congratulations, host, on achieving a glorious victory!]

[The enemy force was 400% stronger than yours, upgrading your rewards by two levels.]

[With a casualty ratio of less than 1%, your rewards have been upgraded by one level.]

[The host has directly acquired the inherent skill 'Leadership (E) [Master Exclusive]!]

[Your contracted special heroic spirit, the battleship Yamato, has achieved victory in a large-scale naval battle.]

[The battleship Yamato has reached maximum proficiency and can now undergo refit to enhance its technological level (Note: Refitting requires a large number of energy points, so the host should prepare accordingly).]

[As the battle stats came in, the host earned a total of 5 million energy points.]

Ryou, who had just opened the system panel, was immediately bombarded with a stream of data.

The various rewards dazzled him.

What he didn't expect was that a single battle could earn him the inherent skill 'Leadership.'

In games, this skill was quite powerful, but its actual use in past Holy Grail Wars had been disappointing, even almost useless.

Jeanne had a Leadership skill of C-rank, but he found that, aside from making her words more persuasive and making soldiers more obedient and effective in following orders, it didn't directly enhance their attributes.

Almost all Heroic Spirits' Leadership skills manifested in their control over troops.

But the Leadership skill he acquired, marked as "Master Exclusive," might be different from other Heroic Spirits.

Ryou quickly examined it in detail.

[Leadership (E) [Master Exclusive]: Slightly increases morale and destructive power, affecting up to 10,000 individuals.]

Indeed, it was different!

Moreover, while the E-rank Leadership only provided a small increase—about a 5% to 10% boost—the skill's range was vast.

It could affect up to 10,000 people, which could decisively influence the outcome of a battle in the age of cold weapons.

Moreover, this skill didn't just affect soldiers; even his contracted Heroic Spirits would be influenced.

In other words, this was a unique, aura-type skill just for him!

Ryou began to look forward to how this skill would perform when upgraded to a higher level!

But soon, he also began to worry.

Just one naval battle was enough to max out Yamato's proficiency, which shows how intense the fight must have been.

He needed to quickly enhance Yamato's strength.

Ryou hurriedly asked the system how many energy points were needed for Sister Yamato's first upgrade.

[Modernizing Yamato for the first time would require 4 million energy points.]

Seeing this number, his eye twitched.

Luckily, he was still left with a million points.

But soon, he would realize that this wasn't going to be enough.

When Yamato returned with the captured Shimakaze, Ryou, out of curiosity, asked the system how many energy points it would take to contract Shimakaze.

[950,000 energy points.]

Ryou started to twitch uncontrollably.

Before he could even react, the system popped up another message.

[Detected that Yamato is in a lightly damaged state. Would you like to repair her?]

[A full repair would cost 50,000 energy points.]

(Note: The composition of shipgirls is different from regular warships. Self-repair may cause irreversible damage.)

What else could he do? He was desperate.

He had no choice but to reluctantly hand over all the energy points he'd just earned to the system.

After giving up and paying the points, a golden beam of light engulfed Yamato.

The minor wounds on Yamato began to heal at a visible rate.

Then, Yamato's ship equipment was forcibly ejected, and sparkling light points started to converge on her, making it seem as if she were an angel bathed in holy light.

Ryou had a sudden idea and decided to bring the prisoners who were receiving education to witness this event as a live lesson.

People usually only believe what they see and hear themselves.

The pillar of light created by the system was spectacular, and coupled with his usual mystique, the prisoners' faith in him surged dramatically.

This live demonstration was highly effective. Some prisoners, who initially converted just to survive, became devout believers.

Those who were already devout kneeled and called out God's name, showing signs of becoming fanatics.

As the reincarnation of Michael, Ryou gained a wave of prestige and faith.

The upgrade would take a full 48 hours.

He couldn't wait around for that long.

Ryou ordered the captured crew of the Shimakaze to be taken to the prisoner camp and then decided to convert Shimakaze into a special contract spirit.

Perhaps because it was a destroyer, converting Shimakaze only took one hour.

An hour later, a golden light descended from the sky, enveloping the docked Shimakaze.

It was as if time had reversed. The heavily damaged Shimakaze suddenly transformed from head to toe, looking brand new as if it had just left the factory.

Then, shimmering points of light gathered to form a small, adorable loli.

"I am the destroyer Shimakaze. When it comes to speed, I won't lose to anyone. Swift as an island wind, desu!"

A lively voice rang out.

Then the short, 1.2-meter-tall blonde loli swiftly ran up to him.

Wearing a black headband that looked like rabbit ears, a sleeveless sailor uniform, long white gloves, and red-and-white striped stockings.

And the most eye-catching part, was the mini-skirt that barely covered anything, exposing a large portion of her pale skin and the sides of her thighs.

She was a loli, yet somehow exuded a strange allure.

Ryou suddenly felt his nose itch.

As he was sizing her up, Shimakaze began speaking at a rapid pace, almost like a machine gun.

"Hey! Hey! Are you the new Admiral of Shimakaze?"

"Admiral, Admiral! Let's race with Shimakaze!"

"Shimakaze is the fastest, you know~"

Seeing that she wouldn't stop talking, Ryou had to place his hands on her shoulders to interrupt her.

"Welcome, Shimakaze-chan!"

Shimakaze froze for a moment, then blurted out another line.

"Admiral, Admiral, do you like running?"

He suddenly felt a headache. He couldn't keep up with Shimakaze's train of thought.

At that moment, Jeanne's voice came from behind him.

"Ryou, I used to think you were just lecherous, but now it seems you're becoming a pervert. I'm truly disappointed that you would make a move on such a small child."

Jeanne said with a serious expression.

She was holding little Ayame's hand, who was looking curiously at him and Shimakaze, especially at Shimakaze's odd attire.

It seemed like Father liked this lady's outfit a lot. I wonder if Father would be happy if I wore it…

That was the small thought that sprouted in little Ayame's mind, like a seed taking root.

"Is that what you think of me?"

Ryou looked utterly defeated.

Jeanne's face lit up with a pure, angelic smile, and it seemed as if a pillar of light from the heavens shone upon her.

"The Lord says you are a pervert."

He felt like he had just taken a massive hit, completely turning him to stone.

"Let's go."

Jeanne pulled along Ayame, taking Shimakaze with them, as if afraid to leave them with him.

"Hey! Hey! Big sister, do you like running? Let's race!"

"I don't particularly like running, but someone back home loves running~"

"Really? Really?"

"Of course. When we get back, I'll introduce you."

The trio, one large and two small, gradually moved away, their laughter echoing in the distance.

In contrast, Ryou stood alone, a picture of loneliness.

Just then, light footsteps approached, and Ais appeared, munching on a cookie like a small hamster, staring at him with a blank (?-?) expression.

Ryou felt tears welling up inside. His kouhai was still the best.

Just when he thought she was there to comfort him...

"Senpai, Ecchi."

She casually threw this comment at him, then turned and left, leaving a pile of white ashes behind.

After everyone was gone, Ryou resurrected from the ashes, with a smile that showed no trace of frustration or despair.

"Honestly, do I seem like someone who's mentally fragile? Using this kind of tactic to help me relax and relieve stress."

But now wasn't the time to relax.

The threat of the Kabane horde was close at hand. There was no time to relax.

If the Kabane broke through his defenses, not only would it be nearly impossible to find a second Yokosuka, but starting over would be a hundred times more difficult. At that point, this dungeon mission would likely fail.

Though there was no penalty for failing the mission, he would lose his only chance for a ten-draw lottery.

Could he tolerate that!?

Just thinking about the ten-draw made him feel re-energized.

Aside from the system rewards, Ryou was now preparing to claim some additional spoils.