Chapter 715: Battle of the Embers

Amid the sea, black‑red sword qi crisscrossed, deep‑red chains trailed black lightning, constantly weaving back and forth; in this fierce battle, blue butterflies fluttered, rendering the scene extraordinarily beautiful.

It felt less like a life‑or‑death struggle and more like a hallucinatory dream.

Not far away, on Qin Ge's command ship, all the faction leaders and several Sea Legend Rank shipgirls stood beside him, staring unblinkingly at the battle ahead.

"I've seen Feilong's sword qi before, but seeing it now still feels amazing." Qin Ge lowered his binoculars.

Actually, that sword qi isn't special; in the Sakura Empire or Royal factions, any sword‑wielding shipgirl who reaches a certain level can imbue her weapon with sword qi.

But having sword qi detach from the body with tremendous attack power, like Feilong's, is rare. As far as I know, I've only seen it on Atago, yet its power and range are far inferior to Feilong's. Tiancheng told Qin Ge.

Qin Ge nodded. "Hmm, besides Feilong's sword qi, that blue butterfly feels very familiar to me."

Saying this, he turned his head to look at Xinong beside him.

Her dignified bearing and graceful posture reminded him of a dream he hadn't recalled in ages—a dream that also contained a Xinong and such a blue‑colored butterfly.

It seemed she sensed Qin Ge's gaze; the Xinong looking ahead turned to him and said, "Commander, summoning the Phantom Butterfly isn't my exclusive skill; as long as one's heart turns to the divine, one can master this divine transformation."

"Heart toward the divine?" Qin Ge glanced doubtfully at Zhang Men beside him and said, "Then Zhang Men can't do it, can she?"

"I?"

Seeing the topic turn to her, Zhang Men pressed her lips, her small face set with determination and stubbornness, and said, "Although I am a shrine maiden, I am the Sakura Empire's divine child; in my heart, the Sakura Empire naturally outweighs the divine."

"Although saying this is somewhat blasphemous toward the divine, it is my duty, my fate."

Hearing Zhang Men say that, Qin Ge couldn't help but smile, he ruffled her hair and said, "Now in my fleet there's no need to impose that fate on yourself—for we're all equals."

"You...."

Zhang Men lifted her head to look at the smiling Qin Ge, feeling the warmth of his big hand, and her cheeks flushed involuntarily.

Although she felt a warm sense of being cared for and wanted to hold onto it, Qin Ge's action embarrassed her among the many flagships, for she saw that Enterprise and Bisimai were also smiling and watching her.

"You're really rude; without my permission, you dare to touch… my head… hurry and put your hand down!"

Seeing Zhang Men's flushed face, Qin Ge withdrew his hand and rubbed his nose, "Well, we can talk about that later when we're alone."

"You still say..." Zhang Men whispered.

Qin Ge laughed and quickly changed the topic, turning to Bisimai: "Bisimai, what do you think the black chains wielded by Gneisenau and Scharnhorst are?"

Bisimai, seeing Qin Ge turn to her, replied, "That's one manifestation of the Cube's power, and also a kind of our ship equipment; I never expected they'd think to use a ship's anchor chain as a weapon, but it looks effective."

Hearing Bisimai's explanation, Qin Ge suddenly understood.

Whether warship or merchant vessel, anchor chains and anchors are indispensable. As steel behemoths of the sea, battleship‑class anchor chains are naturally high‑quality; using them as ship equipment is quite feasible.

"Moreover, Commander, have you noticed this?" Bisimai gazed at the battlefield, furrowed her brows, and said, "Their coordination is extremely harmonious—far from a hastily assembled team, more like comrades who've fought side by side for a long time."

"Is that so?" Qin Ge raised his binoculars to the battlefield; although those before him weren't fighting like the small‑team tactics he taught his shipgirls, the offense‑and‑defense interplay still revealed their rapport to him.

Just as Qin Ge was observing carefully, George V beside him nodded.

"After Bisimai said that, I realized it. Their coordination really does have some rapport—it's as if everyone knows everyone inside out. Yet according to the information Helena earlier mentioned, they come from different worlds, so why would they have such rapport?"

Qin Ge lowered his binoculars, rubbed his chin, and said, "You say, is it possible that although they come from different worlds, after their worlds were destroyed they also crossed over to other worlds, and thus the Embers gradually formed like this?"

"But the Embers clearly have their own purpose, so even after forming they still need to act in other worlds; that's why they usually scatter, but when battle comes they gather together."

"The speculation you just mentioned, my lord, seems plausible, but logically, isn't concentrating together supposed to give greater strength to fearlessly withstand the Arbiter's attacks?" Tiancheng smiled.

Enterprise shook her head: "Helena said before that the Arbiters' duty is to prevent them from destroying other worlds' experimental fields; if they gathered together, acting would be slower, so being dispersed makes action swifter."

Moreover, crossing worlds is definitely not that simple; it certainly requires some cost or a more complicated process, and safety is also uncertain…

"I also agree with Enterprise's view." Lisailiu then said, "Based on the information we currently have, aside from battle the Embers rarely communicate; this can be seen from the relationships of Helena, Feilong and their companions."

Qin Ge nodded. "Hmm, these are things we need to learn about later; for now let's watch this big battle ahead—it's closely tied to our future fate."

"Hmm."

On the command ship, it didn't quiet down because of that, but many shipgirls focused their attention on the Embers' combat style.

The Embers are a gathering of the strong; their combat style is worth learning. Whether it's the application of the Wisdom Cube or of ship equipment, it opens many shipgirls' eyes.

This battle lasted a long time, because the Arbiters opposing the Embers are not easy to deal with.

Gravity fields and magnetic interference caused the Embers considerable trouble, but the situation has steadily been developing toward the better.

When Feilong and the Royal Ark used carrier aircraft to suppress Tianpa Lans's carrier aircraft, with Helena and Memphis assisting, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, Fusou, Yamashiro and the others finally landed accurate hits on the Arbiters……