Illustrious immediately placed her right hand on the hilt of her sword, assuming a drawing stance, and closed her eyes to sense the enemy's killing intent.
Upon closing her eyes, Illustrious entered a world of darkness. There was no one else in this entire world, only her. Her perception concentrated continuously, her mind became exceptionally tranquil, and the things around Illustrious suddenly began to slow down.
Having found the core of the enemy's killing intent, Illustrious quickly opened her eyes. A golden light flickered where she was drawing her sword.
The golden light flickered continuously, and then she quickly drew her sword.
"Momentary Final Slash!"
Illustrious gave a cold shout that echoed through the air.
Hundreds of eight-zhang-long silver sword marks were left in the azure sky, and the hundreds of incoming Red Spear Chains were slashed into fragments in the blink of an eye.
Taihou was also within the range of the Momentary Final Slash. Although she defended with a Ship Qi Shield, the Momentary Final Slash was too powerful. Her Ship Girl shield was instantly shattered, and the sword marks struck Taihou, causing her to fall into the sea, severely injured.
Floating on the sea with heavy injuries, Taihou murmured in a low voice, "How can she be this strong! Dammit! If I were still a Legendary Ship Girl, she would have absolutely no hope of winning against me."
Illustrious turned into a stream of light and flew rapidly toward Taihou. Severely injured and unable to move, Taihou could only watch helplessly as Illustrious flew in front of her.
"You win. Kill me!" Taihou closed her eyes.
"Hmph! You finally have your day. Now I'll take your life." At the thought of Taihou taking her first time, Illustrious grew angry. She had originally intended to give her first time to Azuma after they married, but she hadn't expected her purity to be defiled by Taihou that day.
Illustrious hadn't even given her first time to her Master; back then, she had only used black tea to knock her Master unconscious to steal a kiss and take a few artistic photos.
As for five years ago, when she pushed over the Atlantic Military Police's capital Ship Girl Vicious and Princess Fiona of the Free Iris, those didn't count either, because neither of those times was done while she was conscious, so she was still pure.
Her purity, kept for 16 years, had been ruined by Taihou not long ago. How could Illustrious not be angry? She raised the sword in her hand, wanting to finish Taihou, but stopped halfway through the downward swing.
Looking at Taihou's curvy, slender-waisted, and graceful body, Illustrious suddenly felt that she couldn't let Taihou off so easily. It definitely wasn't because she craved her body that she didn't kill her. "You think dying is that easy? Don't think you can just die and be done with what you did to me."
"What did I do to you?" Seeing that Illustrious hadn't killed her but instead looked furious, Taihou asked with a face full of confusion.
Seeing that Taihou didn't recognize her, she immediately used a Ship Girl Transformation Figure to transform into Azuma. "Look who I am!"
"Eek! Aren't you that Azuma I slept with that day? So it was you who transformed that day! Hehehe! Serves you right!" Taihou said with a look of delight.
"Hahaha! You've successfully provoked my anger. I won't let you die; I'll make you wish you were dead." Illustrious changed back to her original appearance and took out two rings from her Ship Girl space.
Illustrious put one on herself and the other on Taihou. Taihou wanted to resist but couldn't because her injuries were too severe.
"What did you put on me?" Taihou felt that this ring was definitely no ordinary ring.
Illustrious said with a look of joy, "What I gave you is a Heavenly Radiance-Class ship device, the Ring of Dominance. There are only two rings: the Master Ring and the slave ring. The person wearing the slave ring will unconditionally obey the words of the person wearing the Master Ring."
"The one on your hand is the slave ring, and the one on mine is the Master Ring."
"For every day the slave ring is worn, the wearer's affection for the person with the Master Ring increases by a day. In the end, you will fall completely in love with the person holding the Master Ring. Oh, right! If you have an Admiral, your soul network with them will also be severed. If I tell you to go east, you'll go east; if I tell you to go west, you'll go west. Even if I tell you to commit suicide, you will obediently commit suicide."
Taihou began to sense her Admiral's soul network and found it was indeed severed. Her face instantly turned pale, and she tried to take off the ring but couldn't. She looked at Illustrious angrily. "Why can't I take it off?"
Illustrious smirked, "No one can take it off unless I do it for you. If you try to take it off yourself, you'll be punished. The punishment is an electric shock!"
Just as Illustrious finished speaking, Taihou began to be shocked by the ring. Already heavily injured, her condition worsened.
"Ah! You bastard, I'll kill you!" Taihou tried to use her last bit of strength to hit Illustrious but was unable to attack her.
Illustrious looked at Taihou and smiled, "Give up on killing me! The person with the slave ring cannot attack the person with the Master Ring. Oh, I forgot to give you orders. I'll give you three: first, you cannot harm my Ship Girls; second, you cannot leave this Naval Base; third, if the Naval Base is in danger, you are responsible for protecting it."
"Hahaha...!" Illustrious became happy. With a Legendary Ship Girl like Taihou protecting the Naval Base, they could avoid Abyssal attacks like the one from Island Princess. When the time came, if anyone dared to bully her Ship Girls, she would send Taihou to beat them into the ground.
"Hmph! In your dreams! As a grand Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, how could I possibly listen to you?" Taihou said proudly.
Illustrious said disdainfully, "Oh? It seems you haven't realized the situation yet. I'll have to show you what I'm capable of."
"Spin around three times on the spot, then act like a puppy and keep barking."
Taihou wanted to resist as soon as she heard this, but the slave ring wouldn't let her.
Taihou's body trembled for a moment as she tried to resist, but in the end, she smoothly followed Illustrious's words, spinning three times on the spot and barking like a puppy. "Woof woof woof... Master... woof woof woof... I was wrong... woof woof woof...!"
Hearing Taihou admit her mistake, Illustrious said with satisfaction, "Stop! It's good that you know you were wrong. You must remember at all times that you are my dog! Hehehe!"
"Thank you, Master!" Taihou said, grabbing Illustrious's arm.
Seeing Taihou's pathetic state, Illustrious's anger from being forced by Taihou gradually faded. "Let's go! I'll take you back to the Naval Base."
"Yes, Master!" Taihou nodded obediently.
On the surface, Taihou was obedient and respectful to Illustrious, but internally, she was cursing Illustrious's ancestors back eighteen generations. She knew she couldn't resist Illustrious now, so she planned to grind Illustrious's affection. As long as she could make Illustrious fall in love with her and then get her to take off the ring, Illustrious surely wouldn't refuse.
Once Illustrious took off the ring, she would kill her to avenge this humiliation.
Looking at the expression in Taihou's eyes, Illustrious knew what she was planning and thought to herself: "You want me to take off the ring? Hmph! Dream on! Even if I die, even if I jump off from here, I will absolutely never take it off for you."
"Master, you were so mean just now, treating me like that." Taihou kept rubbing her chest against Illustrious's arm.
Feeling the softness on her arm, Illustrious squinted her eyes and accidentally became entranced. "So... so good!"
Seeing Illustrious entranced, Taihou took the opportunity to say, "Master, I'm being so good, can you take off the ring?"
"Oh oh oh! Taihou is so good, I'll give you the ring right away... Wait! Take off your head! Spin around three times on the spot and bark like a puppy." Illustrious reached out to take it off, and was halfway through helping Taihou remove it when she suddenly snapped out of it. With lingering fear and a darkened face, she gave Taihou the order.
Hearing Illustrious's words, Taihou immediately spun three times on the spot and barked like a puppy.
"Woof woof woof... Master... woof woof woof... I was wrong... woof woof woof...!"
Taihou apologized on the surface, but inwardly she thought it was a pity. She was so close. She would try harder next time and surely succeed.
"Shut up! Keep barking!" Illustrious wiped away some sweat. That was close; she almost took off the ring. It seemed she would have to be careful in the future.
After punishing Taihou for half an hour, Illustrious brought her back to the Naval Base.
On the way back, Taihou was shocked to learn from Illustrious that she was not only the Silver King but also an Admiral. She asked Illustrious why she was an Admiral when she was a Ship Girl.
Illustrious replied to Taihou like this: "Ship Girls have limits. The more a Ship Girl fights the Deep Sea, the more she realizes those limits. To break through them, one must transcend being a Ship Girl. Thus, I became an Admiral."
Taihou said, seemingly understanding yet not quite, "I see. I understand now."
After Illustrious used her soul network to notify Azuma and the others that they were safe, Azuma and her group appeared before Illustrious. Illustrious then introduced Taihou to the assembled Ship Girls.
"This is the Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl Taihou, whom I captured. I used the method of the Ring of Dominance to bind her. She is now my dog and obeys my every word. From now on, she will protect our Naval Base."
Hearing Illustrious call her a dog, Taihou wanted to bite her to death in her heart, but on the surface, she feigned happiness and said, "Yes! Taihou is Master's dog. I look forward to everyone's care in the future."
Illustrious, you just wait. Once this ring is off, I will definitely kill you.
Except for Ayanami and Aircraft Carrier, Azuma and the others introduced themselves to Taihou very politely. After all, Taihou was a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, an existence they looked up to.
Seeing so many people being polite to her, Taihou said triumphantly, "It's nothing! As long as you work hard, you can become a Legendary Ship Girl like me too."
But Taihou's pride didn't last long before she heard a voice that made her displeased.
"Yo! Isn't this that very arrogant senior from that day? Why aren't you arrogant anymore?" Aircraft Carrier circled Taihou, kicking her while she was down.
"You are...!" Taihou frowned. She didn't know this person; why was she so hostile?
"You forgot me so quickly? Well, that makes sense! How great and glorious a Legendary Ship Girl is; it's normal to forget a small fry like me," Aircraft Carrier said sarcastically.
Ayanami followed up, "What a pity. Such a strong Legendary Ship Girl ended up becoming the Admiral's dog. Truly tragic, lamentable, and sorrowful, yes!"
Another one she didn't know. Taihou tried hard to think, but she couldn't remember who this person was. This person was also very hostile to her. Could it be a Ship Girl she had bullied before? That was possible! "If I offended you in the past, please don't mention it. Now I am Master's dog, and I will obediently listen to Master's words."
Originally, they wanted to give Taihou a good lesson for using her pressure to suppress them that day, but seeing Taihou so obediently admit her mistake, Ayanami and Aircraft Carrier felt it wasn't right to humiliate her further.
After all, Taihou was miserable enough. She was a dignified Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, yet she was being treated like a dog by the Admiral.
Ayanami and Aircraft Carrier began to introduce themselves and get to know Taihou. As a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, Taihou would definitely have many leveling and combat techniques. If they built a good relationship and learned everything from her, it wouldn't be impossible to become a Legendary Ship Girl like her in the future!
...In the holy land of the Deep Sea Cult, a black-robed figure walked in front, with Atago following behind. Suddenly, the black-robed figure stopped.
"Holy Lord, what's wrong? Why did you stop suddenly?" Atago asked in confusion.
The black-robed figure made a mechanical sound. "My Ship Girl, Taihou, has disconnected from my soul network. Go and investigate for me."
"Holy Lord, Taihou couldn't be dead, could she?" Atago asked.
The black-robed figure started walking again. "If she is alive, I want to see her person; if she is dead, I want to see her corpse!"
Atago immediately followed. "Yes! Holy Lord!"
...Half a month passed in a flash. The day before yesterday, Ayanami won first place in the East Pacific Ship Girl Go-Kart Race, bringing three months' worth of resources and supplies to the Naval Base.
Today, while Illustrious was processing documents, Azuma suddenly burst through the door and said to her, "This is bad, Admiral! Unicorn has been taken!"
"What? Unicorn was taken? Who took her?" Illustrious immediately stood up and asked anxiously.
From Azuma's mouth, Illustrious learned that Unicorn had gone out today with other Ship Girls to fight the Deep Sea and level up, but she hadn't expected an Epic Ship Girl to suddenly appear and snatch Unicorn away without a word.
"This is the letter that Epic Ship Girl wanted me to give to the Admiral." Azuma handed the letter to Illustrious.
Illustrious snatched the letter and began to read it.
The content of the letter:
So you are the murderer who killed my son. How audacious! You even dared to kill my son.
Now I have captured your Ship Girl, Unicorn. If you want her to live, come alone. The location is Lin Zhentian Naval Base. If I find that your Legendary Ship Girl, Taihou, has left Illustrious Naval Base, I will immediately sink Unicorn.
"Admiral! What does the letter say?" Azuma asked curiously.
After reading it, Illustrious gave the letter to Azuma. After Azuma read it, she returned it to Illustrious and said, "Lin Zhentian! The Lin Zhentian Naval Base, one of the three major Naval Bases in the East Pacific. It seems he wants to avenge his son. Admiral! What should we do? The enemy this time is the Lin Zhentian Naval Base!"
Crumpling the letter into a ball and throwing it into the trash can, Illustrious knew that the one who captured Unicorn was the Admiral of the Lin Zhentian Naval Base, who had sent his Ship Girl to do it. "A mere Lin Zhentian dares to capture my Ship Girl. He truly doesn't know death when he sees it."
"Don't worry! No matter who the enemy is, I will bring Unicorn back."
"Admiral, can you do it alone?" Azuma asked worriedly.
Illustrious rubbed her chin with her right hand and said, "It seems Lin Zhentian has investigated our intelligence and knows we have the Legendary Ship Girl Taihou here. If Taihou were to help, the Lin Zhentian Naval Base wouldn't be worth a damn."
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