Night had fallen, and fog hung thick in the air.
Belfast, who had been busy all day, was finishing up her work in the Speaker's office in the Mother Port.
In the Azure Lane camp, where the high council was controlled by hero-class shipgirls, the role of Speaker was rotated among the various factions. Currently, the Speaker was undoubtedly Prince of Wales.
Belfast finished tidying up the slightly scattered documents on her desk and put them into the nearby filing cabinet. Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door opening.
"Belfast? Didn't you say you wouldn't be working as a maid for a while?"
Wales walked in, seeing Belfast still busy. She took off her red military coat as she spoke.
The golden buttons on her chest were undone one by one, freeing the slightly restrained jade peaks and causing the white shirt underneath to swell.
"I've gotten used to it, Your Highness," Belfast replied with a faint smile. "It's just that I've been given more tasks lately to assist Akashi and Yuudachi with their research. It's nothing much for me."
"Shouldn't you be resting at this hour, Your Highness?"
"I saw the lights were still on in the office, so I came to check," Wales sat down behind her own desk, resting her chin on one hand, her fingertip tapping rhythmically on the surface. Her ruby red eyes turned to Belfast. "I'm not really sleepy anyway. So, Belfast, show me the research report Akashi and Yuudachi compiled today."
Belfast nodded, walked to the filing cabinet, retrieved a report and handed it to Wales. Then she heard Wales say, "And tell me about your Commander."
"The Commander, ah…"
Belfast subtly distanced herself from Wales.
Thinking about her interactions with Bai Yu recently, Belfast's expression unconsciously softened. "He's a very easygoing person. Although he holds a high position, he never acts like he's better than anyone else..."
Wales nodded as she listened, her eyes quickly scanning the report in her hand.
It was just some testing results of Belfast's current stats.
Suddenly, Wales noticed the date at the bottom of the report.
"Huh? Why is this a report from three days ago? Didn't I say I wanted today's-"
She raised her eyes and stopped mid-sentence, staring blankly at Belfast, who was now clad in her shipgirl form and pointing a cannon at her.
She froze for a moment, the seriousness on her face gradually fading, replaced by a seductive smile that had never graced Prince of Wales' face before.
Her crimson lips parted, her cold voice turning into a soft, sweet, alluring tone, "Oh my, when did you discover it, Belfast-chan?"
"I thought I disguised myself well."
"You don't need to know, Siren - Observer."
Belfast wouldn't be so foolish as to reveal the reason, but inwardly she was grateful to Bai Yu.
The contract had brought her more than just an improvement in her stats due to Bai Yu's mental strength. After in-depth research on Belfast, Akashi and Yuudachi had a hunch that Belfast seemed to be on the verge of achieving something that had never happened before, something that had only been speculated within the ranks of shipgirls:
『Cognitive Awakening』.
But for some reason, even though Belfast's stats had reached their peak (max level), she still hadn't managed to achieve Cognitive Awakening (break through the level limit).
According to Akashi, maybe something was missing.
Despite not achieving Cognitive Awakening, Belfast still possessed some abilities she didn't have before.
When the Observer, disguised as Prince of Wales, appeared in the office, Belfast smelled a strange aura from her.
The Mind Cube within her constantly reminded her that there was something wrong with the Prince of Wales in front of her.
The clever maid, after a brief thought, reached a conclusion. Although she had defeated the Tester, Belfast knew it couldn't be so simple to wipe out a Siren's hero unit. The defeated Tester would definitely have relayed her information about the Commander to the Siren's rearguard.
Someone would come to investigate, there was no doubt about that.
And who better to do this spy work than the Observer, who was extremely adept at disguising herself as a shipgirl and a human, infiltrating the Alliance and causing them immense trouble time and again?
The Observer completely ignored the cannon pointed at her by Belfast. She continued in the guise of Prince of Wales, her smile becoming even more alluring and flamboyant.
"Not going to tell me? But I can guess. From the looks of you, Belfast-chan, you seem close to achieving 『Cognitive Awakening』? Want me to help you?"
The warm lights in the office suddenly dimmed.
Belfast only caught a glimpse of a shadow moving, then felt countless writhing tentacles, resembling those of an octopus, swarming around her.
Before she could react, a piercing alarm sounded over the Port District.
Belfast's face changed drastically. She instinctively turned towards the nearby window.
In the distance, the dark sea shimmered with the glow of gunfire.
"Oh dear, it seems my comrades can't wait, can they?" The Observer's playful teasing voice made Belfast turn back. The one who had just been posing as Prince of Wales had now reverted to her silver-haired, gold-eyed, little-loli appearance.
Behind her, countless writhing octopus tentacles had formed into a monstrous, luxurious-looking armchair, engulfing her entire body. She propped up a white, bare foot, pointing it at Belfast.
Her toes tapped lightly in the air, and an octopus tentacle curled around her milky-white, jade leg, eventually stretching out from the Observer's foot and straight towards Belfast.
With an unsettling laugh, the mischievous silver-haired loli asked, "Now, Belfast-chan, are you going to capture me, your enemy, or go help your comrades first?"
Belfast fell silent.
Although the Observer had hardly ever directly engaged in combat, no one knew her true strength. But she was definitely among the most dangerous enemies on the known list.
If she attacked now, Belfast wasn't sure if she could subdue the Observer in a short time. And given the Observer's cunning, she didn't believe that the mischievous loli in front of her wouldn't have any tricks up her sleeve.
However,
The Observer was taken aback by the sudden change in Belfast's expression, which then revealed a smile that was unfamiliar to her:
"What's with this little girl? Not cute at all."
While the Observer was still stunned, Belfast, her small hand, adorned with pure white lace gloves and covered by a metal armband from her shipgirl outfit, casually reached out and grabbed the Observer's dainty foot.
Then-
You know that classic scene in Marvel where the Hulk, in a fit of rage, grabs Loki and slams him repeatedly on the ground like a punching bag?
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The ground: I'm cracking!
Hulk: This god is weak!
Bai Yu: This Siren is weak!
Observer: - ???