Recaps

Gwen and Yorktown returned to Yorktown’s original world, where an unseen Mainframe triggered changes in her body and rigging. After the changes settled, Gwen found that Yorktown had reached level 125 and gained a new status panel, while the source and purpose of the Mainframe’s influence remained unclear.

• Gwen and Yorktown used their Mind Cubes to travel from the Main God Space back to Yorktown’s world, while Hu, another Aeon, and Aha sensed the disappearance of a cosmic weight.
• Yorktown’s Psionic Energy surged upon her return, causing pain and making her rigging feel like shackles as information flooded into her mind.
• Gwen sent his Psionic Energy and spiritual power through their Commander-shipgirl bond, stabilizing Yorktown while an unseen Mainframe repeatedly adjusted its programs.
• The Mainframe’s changes ended, and Yorktown stopped absorbing Gwen’s Psionic Energy; her rigging had changed and become more responsive, with some design flaws corrected.
• Gwen inspected a rainbow-colored status panel showing Yorktown’s abilities and level 125, while Yorktown confirmed that her changes seemed beneficial.

Gwen and Yorktown detected a Mirror Sea and went to investigate, while Enterprise and the assembled fleets fought the Sirens trapped inside it. Enterprise feared the Sirens’ experiment meant a greater threat was approaching, and Empress ordered Executor to continue pushing the shipgirls toward awakening without killing them outright.

• Yorktown launched Carrier Aircraft to test her new rig, discovered bombardment traces and abnormal spatial fluctuations, and confirmed the latter might indicate a Mirror Sea.
• Gwen and Yorktown headed toward the Mirror Sea, intending to investigate and help anyone in danger.
• Enterprise fought Purifier, Observer, Tester, and the Siren forces alongside shipgirls from several factions, while suspecting their unprecedented assault signaled a massive conspiracy.
• Enterprise feared the Sirens’ claims that a true enemy was coming meant their world was nearing its end, as reports described heavy losses and shipgirls stranded near death.
• Tester told Enterprise that the shipgirls were being pushed to evolve before the true enemy arrived, while Empress said near-death conditions could stimulate their awakening.
• Empress ordered Executor to join the experiment and warned her not to kill the shipgirls outright.

Empress and Lavoce discovered that Yorktown and Gwen were trying to enter the unusually powerful Mirror Sea, and decided to meet the intruders. Inside, St. Louis was near sinking as Honolulu and Helena tried to keep her alive.

• Empress and Lavoce saw Yorktown and Gwen trigger the Mirror Sea alarm and found their recorded combat data extraordinary.
• Yorktown told Gwen she could not break into the Mirror Sea, while Gwen analyzed its unusual spatial structure to find a safe way in.
• Empress recognized Yorktown and suspected Gwen might be the legendary Commander, then invited Lavoce to confront them.
• Honolulu and Helena struggled to drag the badly damaged St. Louis to safety as she urged them to leave and protect themselves.
• St. Louis tried to free herself from her sisters, but Honolulu refused to let go, fearing that St. Louis's sinking would erase their shared memories.

Gwen entered the Mirror Sea with Yorktown and healed the critically injured St. Louis and Zhenhai, while Yorktown's Carrier Aircraft destroyed Sirens across the battlefield. Bumblebee then recognized Yorktown among the newcomers and heard her say she had returned.

• Gwen caught St. Louis and Zhenhai after they were blasted into the air, and Yorktown joined the fight while he healed them.
• Gwen restored St. Louis's and Zhenhai's shattered bones as Yorktown's Carrier Aircraft attacked the Sirens.
• Yorktown's aircraft destroyed the Arbiters threatening Akagi and Kaga, and Akagi said she owed their unknown ally a favor.
• Bumblebee discovered through her Carrier Aircraft that the Sirens had been wiped out across the battlefields.
• Bumblebee saw Yorktown waving at her and heard her say she was back, leaving Haman and Sims stunned.

Gwen struggled to heal the critically wounded Zhenhai and St. Louis, then used his Psionic Energy to trigger an invitation from the Mainframe. Both shipgirls accepted his offer to join his fleet, leaving their recovery and the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• Bumblebee rejected Sims’s doubts and insisted that the carrier aircraft was Yorktown.
• Gwen’s healing restored Zhenhai and St. Louis briefly, but their bones broke again and they woke in pain.
• Zhenhai and St. Louis introduced themselves to Gwen and urged him to save his strength for the surviving shipgirls.
• Yorktown revealed herself to the wounded women and explained that ordinary treatment could not repair shipgirls’ injuries.
• Gwen tried channeling Psionic Energy into Zhenhai and St. Louis, and both received invitations from the Mainframe to join his fleet.
• Zhenhai and St. Louis accepted Gwen’s invitations.

Gwen used the Commander system and his Herrscher of Reason ability to upgrade Zhenhai and St. Louis, healing their injuries and restoring their rigging. He then brought other wounded shipgirls to the platform for treatment, where the arrival of Yorktown and Laffey began to convince them that he was truly there to help.

• Gwen examined Zhenhai and St. Louis's upgrade options and selected new ship bodies that would clear their negative conditions.
• Gwen created the required materials, spent Psionic Energy in place of resources, and upgraded Zhenhai and St. Louis, restoring them to health.
• Zhenhai and St. Louis formally introduced themselves to Gwen, who then located other injured shipgirls across the Mirror Sea and asked the two to persuade them to accept his help.
• Gwen brought the wounded shipgirls to his aerial platform, where Helena and Honolulu embraced the restored St. Louis and Zhenhai introduced Gwen as the legendary Commander who had saved Yorktown.
• Yorktown greeted the shipgirls, and Gwen upgraded the badly wounded Laffey, who woke healthy and ready to serve.
• The shipgirls remained suspicious of the Sirens' possible involvement, but the visible recoveries and Gwen's actions began to show them that the situation was real.

Shipgirls accepted Gwen’s invitation and received treatment and transformations, while Yorktown reunited with Enterprise and Bumblebee. Gwen discovered signs of emerging Psionic Energy and Meta-ization in Enterprise, then rushed to Yorktown when she cried out.

• Nagato urged Amagi to accept Gwen’s invitation, and Amagi agreed and completed her transformation.
• Akagi and Kaga spotted Gwen healing and upgrading shipgirls, while Akagi remained wary of trusting a possible Commander.
• Yorktown’s aircraft turned the battle against Observer, Purifier, and Tester, and Yorktown contacted Enterprise before bringing her to the reunion.
• Yorktown embraced Enterprise and Bumblebee, while Haman hesitated to join them and Sims teased her.
• Gwen transferred the remaining shipgirls and used Psionic Energy to ease their injuries and exhaustion, discovering early Psionic Energy and Meta-ization in Enterprise.
• Yorktown cried out, and Gwen immediately moved to her side and established a Psionic Energy link.

Gwen and the shipgirls prepared to face the high-ranking Siren Empress after an unknown enemy attacked their platform. Empress introduced herself as Queen and greeted Gwen as the Commander, while the mainframe’s order to contact him left her and the other Sirens bewildered.

• Enterprise suspected that the Sirens’ feared enemy was the Arbitration Mechanism, and Yorktown warned Gwen to be cautious.
• An unknown long-range attack struck Gwen’s barrier, and Soviet Union suggested the attacker might be an Arbiter.
• Yorktown spotted enemies approaching from the east, and Gwen bandaged his hands to restrain himself before fighting them.
• Empress arrived and challenged Gwen, while Yixian and Soviet Union stepped forward to protect him.
• Empress introduced herself as Queen and greeted Gwen as the Commander after the mainframe ordered her to make contact with him.

Gwen fought Empress to prove his strength, overwhelming her attacks and protecting the ship girls with a barrier. As Empress prepared for his next move, Gwen vanished and a figure hurtled toward her.

• Empress said the Mainframe had to permit her to reveal everything Gwen wanted to know.
• Gwen struck Empress and sent her flying, then absorbed her beam attack and returned it in a blast she barely evaded.
• Empress stopped treating Gwen as a curiosity and watched him with wary respect.
• Gwen sensed power from the ship girls, reassured them, and shielded their platform from harm.
• Gwen vanished as Empress prepared for his attack, and a figure hurtled toward her like a meteor.

Gwen defeated Empress and Lavoce, but discovered that Lavoce had become intoxicated by his energy and took control of her. He found Empress after she fell through the ice, and the chapter ended with Empress admitting she knew little about Lavoce.

• Gwen and Lavoce fought alongside Empress while Observer, Purifier, and Tester were captured and held by Yorktown.
• Yorktown reassured Enterprise and the other shipgirls that Gwen would be safe as he overwhelmed the two Arbiters.
• Gwen drove Empress and Lavoce through the ice, then confronted Lavoce when she clung to his arm in an intoxicated state.
• Gwen used the authority of erosion to control Lavoce and discovered that she was high on his energy.
• Gwen restrained Lavoce and found Empress, who had fallen into the freezing sea but survived and began repairing her propulsion system.
• Empress told Gwen that she had never worked with Lavoce and knew little about her unique Arbiter hull.

Gwen defeated Empress and returned to the shipgirls with the damaged Siren, discussing the Mainframe’s tests and the information Empress wanted to share. The shipgirls saw that Gwen was unharmed, while Lavoce remained attached to him and dependent on his energy.

• Empress said the Mainframe had issued no new orders beyond establishing contact with Gwen, though it had raised its assessment of his combat strength.
• Gwen accepted the Mainframe’s continued tests for now but said its experiments across worlds had caused debts of blood that he would eventually settle.
• Empress introduced herself to Gwen’s perspective on the Mainframe’s experiments and offered to correct errors in the information he had received from Purifier.
• Gwen led the barely repaired Empress back to the Floating Platform, where the shipgirls saw his crushing victory and Lavoce clinging to his hand.
• Yorktown checked Gwen for injuries, and Yixian examined his bandaged hand before Gwen reassured her that the blood on it belonged to his opponents.

After the battle, Gwen contracted the remaining shipgirls and told them to prepare for upgrades, then learned that the Mirror Sea held a construction machine that could revive those who had sunk. He agreed to follow Empress to the Mirror Sea’s core and collect the scattered Cubes.

• Nagato asked when Gwen would incorporate the other shipgirls, and Gwen sent invitations that hundreds of them accepted.
• Gwen told the shipgirls that the Sirens’ experiments made upgrades urgent, and asked each of them to study their preferred development paths before he upgraded them.
• Soviet Union urged the fleet to leave the Mirror Sea, but Empress said they could use its resources to revive the shipgirls who had sunk.
• Gwen asked whether the Mirror Sea contained a construction machine, and Empress explained that the mainframe had placed one there to maximize combat capability.
• After Yorktown cautioned him about Siren schemes, Gwen agreed to follow Empress’s coordinates and directed Prometheus to take them to the Mirror Sea’s core.

Gwen and his companions retrieved the Sirens’ vast stockpile of supplies and found the construction machine. He began constructing a shipgirl and used an acceleration tool to hasten the process.

• Gwen summoned Prometheus’s warship hull and asked the shipgirls to rest aboard while he explored the island.
• Taiho offered to accompany Gwen, but he declined and went underground with Enterprise, Yixian, Soviet Union, and Nagato.
• Empress guided Gwen’s group to the supplies, where they found far more Mind Cubes and resources than expected, including pink diamonds.
• Empress led the group to the construction machine, and Gwen fed it Mind Cubes, supplies, and some of his psionic energy.
• Gwen gently touched an acceleration tool to one of the resulting cocoons, causing the tool to dissolve into light and merge with it.

Gwen continued the major construction and summoned New Jersey, Anchorage, and Binhai, while Lavoce recovered from her strange attachment to him. The chapter ended with Binhai greeting Gwen and deciding he would roll with her.

• New Jersey emerged from the first cocoon, leapt into Gwen’s arms, and introduced herself as the Eagle Union’s strongest battleship.
• Garden noticed Lavoce in Gwen’s hand, and Enterprise asked her to trust that Gwen was powerful and different from the Commanders in their records.
• Gwen told the awakened Lavoce to get down; after she apologized and asked to be punished, he deferred dealing with her until later.
• Anchorage emerged from the second cocoon, called Gwen her Teacher, and hugged him; Empress and the Sirens discussed the Mainframe as Gwen comforted her.
• Gwen continued construction, and Binhai emerged as an Eastern Radiance light cruiser, appraised him, and declared that he would roll with her.

Gwen demonstrated his powers to the newly built shipgirls and established that he was not a fragile Commander. As he continued the major build, Essex appeared with her memories and level intact from before she sank.

• Chkalov greeted Gwen, shook his hand, and then spoke privately with Soviet Union.
• Gwen floated himself and the light cocoons to show the shipgirls his unusual abilities.
• White Dragon emerged, challenged Gwen, and lost control of her sword when he used his power to subdue her.
• Empress tried to win Nagato over as an ally, but Nagato resisted her teasing and warned her to answer Gwen's questions.
• Essex emerged from her cocoon, recognized Gwen as her Commander, and confirmed she retained her memories and levels from before she sank.

Gwen finished constructing shipgirls in the Mirror Sea, including the sunken Belfast, who revealed that an Insect Swarm had attacked the Atlantic fleet. After reading Belfast’s memories, Gwen ordered everyone to return to the Prometheus and reinforce the Atlantic battlefield.

• Gwen constructed sunken shipgirls and newly appearing shipgirls from several factions, who retained their memories and levels.
• Gwen’s final construction produced Belfast, who explained that she had been sunk fighting an Insect Swarm in the Atlantic.
• Belfast recalled the battle while Gwen read her memories and saw the swarm overwhelm both the shipgirls and the Sirens.
• Gwen concluded that the Atlantic forces were in grave danger and ordered everyone to prepare for spatial transfer to the Prometheus and support the Atlantic battlefield.

Gwen transferred the Prometheus and its shipgirls from the Mirror Sea to the Atlantic battlefield, where the Insect Swarm was overwhelming the surviving shipgirls and Sirens. He destroyed the swarm attacking his ship, protected and healed the survivors, then cleaved the vast swarm-filled darkness with a colossal sword of light.

• Gwen brought Belfast, Enterprise, and Soviet Union to the Prometheus bridge and prepared to transfer directly to the Atlantic battlefield.
• Soviet Union cautioned Gwen against individual heroics, and Gwen donned his Moon Sky armor before initiating the spatial transfer.
• The Prometheus arrived in the Atlantic, where Gwen saw an enormous cloud of insects bearing down on the ship.
• Gwen used Quasi-Black Hole to crush and erase the swarm approaching the Prometheus.
• Gwen located the surviving shipgirls and Sirens, shielding and healing them with pillars of light as they continued fighting.
• Gwen formed a colossal sword of light and cleaved through the dark cloud of insects with one stroke.

Gwen protected the shipgirls and Sirens from the Insect Swarm while investigating how psionic energy strengthened them and what the Sirens’ creator sought to learn. He used his Quasi-Black Hole ability to gather the swarm, and the girls watched as the threat was drawn into a dark sphere.

• Elizabeth trusted Gwen after his psionic energy restored the shipgirls’ reason, and Belfast reassured her that the Commander would recover their lost sisters.
• The shipgirls and Sirens aboard Prometheus fired on the Insect Swarm while Gwen’s barrier kept its attacks from reaching them.
• Hermit questioned how Gwen had defeated Queen and Empress, and Empress noted that the Arbitration Mechanism was only a middle tier in the Sirens’ hierarchy.
• Gwen observed that killing the insects granted experience and that psionic energy greatly increased the girls’ combat strength, while he considered the Sirens’ creator’s experiments.
• Gwen noticed the swarm spreading across the world and activated Quasi-Black Hole, drawing the insects back toward him.
• The swarm gathered into a dark sphere before Gwen, and the girls recognized him and watched with relief.

Gwen stopped the Insect Swarm’s invasion by repairing the spatial rift, then cleansed the polluted sea. As the shipgirls celebrated, Gwen sensed a sudden change in his body and wondered what the Psionic Energy experiment had triggered.

• Gwen compressed the Insect Swarm into nothing, while Elizabeth and the others recognized that the unrepaired rift still threatened the fleet.
• Marco Polo and Garden explained that Gwen had brought the reinforcements directly from the Pacific, prompting the shipgirls to consider whether he could repair the rift.
• Gwen sensed a vast, deep-sea-like aura beyond the rift, returned the insects’ attacks against them, and repaired the damaged space without crossing through.
• Gwen restored the ocean after Empress warned that the insects’ remains could poison the ecosystem, and the shipgirls praised him when the sea cleared.
• Gwen noticed a sudden change within his body as he reflected on how he had supplied the shipgirls with Psionic Energy during the battle.

After the battle, Gwen received powerful feedback from the shipgirls and met Observer Zero, who offered him access to the Sirens’ information and authority. Back aboard Prometheus, Elizabeth formally transferred command of the Royal Fleet to Gwen.

• The shipgirls’ praise and first battle under Gwen’s Psionic Energy support replenished and strengthened his power, and he sensed someone watching him.
• Observer Zero appeared before Gwen, explained that she had observed him, and confirmed that he exceeded the Mainframe’s requirements.
• Observer Zero offered Gwen access to information and authority within her permissions, then left to prepare the protected core data for him.
• Gwen returned to Prometheus, where Yorktown embraced him and the shipgirls welcomed him after Observer Zero’s departure.
• Elizabeth thanked Gwen for saving the Royal Fleet and formally transferred its supreme command to him.

Gwen took command of the Iron Blood, Iris Orthodoxy, and Sardegna Empire fleets, then chose to claim the Sirens’ supplies before traveling to the factions’ ports. During a mass construction session, he awakened Little Swan and Cheshire, who reunited with Belfast.

• Elizabeth, Bismarck, Richelieu, and Vittorio Veneto formally placed their fleets under Gwen’s command, and Jean Bart felt relieved that the Iris Orthodoxy had reunited.
• Elizabeth and the other flagships urged Gwen to visit their homelands and awaken their sunk sisters, but Hermes offered the supplies stored beneath a nearby Mirror Sea core.
• Gwen accepted Hermes’s coordinates, and he and the shipgirls found the surface base ruined by the Insect Swarm while its underground supplies and construction machines remained intact.
• Gwen used the recovered supplies for mass construction, and Little Swan emerged first, greeted him, and went to join familiar sisters.
• Cheshire emerged next, clung affectionately to Gwen, and then ran to embrace Belfast after recognizing the head maid.

Gwen restored the Atlantic fleet through mass construction and established a temporary base on the island chain before convening a meeting with shipgirl leaders and Sirens. The Sirens confirmed that they and the shipgirls shared a Creator, then explained the experiment’s success levels and said Gwen’s power exceeded the first phase’s limits.

• Belfast led Cheshire away while Gwen continued constructing shipgirls, including Prinz Eugen and her sister Hipper, whose reunion quickly turned into a scuffle.
• Gwen used all the available Cubes to restore and strengthen the Atlantic fleet, then rebuilt the damaged island chain and replicated Schicksal’s residential district as a temporary base.
• Gwen opened a meeting with faction leaders and Siren representatives, asking whether Sirens and shipgirls had been created by the same Creator.
• Hermit confirmed that shipgirls were the Creator’s near-perfect creations and that Sirens had been assigned to act as enemies and drive their evolution.
• Empress explained that the experiment ranged from level zero to level six, with its first phase ending when a Commander-supported fleet defeated an armed Arbitration Mechanism-led fleet; she said Gwen’s strength already exceeded that phase’s upper limit.

Gwen questioned Empress about the Sirens’ experimental sites, learning that failed experiments had not destroyed worlds and that the Mainframe had chosen worlds already threatened by outside enemies. Empress began explaining the Sirens’ rationale and revealed that the Mainframe had also tested whether human civilizations could develop defenses without Sirens or shipgirls.

• Empress told Gwen that defeating an Arbiter-led fleet was only the first phase of the experiment, and that she did not know what the second phase entailed.
• Gwen asked how many experimental sites had been destroyed or abandoned, and Empress reported 177 destroyed and 255 abandoned while denying that Sirens had caused any world’s destruction through experimental failure.
• Empress explained that the Mainframe selected worlds already facing eventual collapse or outside threats, then stopped investing in sites when experiments failed and redirected their resources elsewhere.
• Gwen accepted Empress’s explanation and soothed the shipgirls after her careless remark angered them; Empress then anticipated his question about human casualties.
• Empress admitted that the Sirens had caused human casualties but argued that their experiments sought a Commander capable of helping worlds survive threats like the Insect Swarm.
• When Soviet Union challenged her, Empress revealed that the Mainframe had established control sites without Sirens or shipgirls to observe how humans developed under different political systems.

Empress explained that the Sirens had tested human civilizations and placed shipgirls in a world whose history they had changed. In a private meeting, Gwen learned that the Arbiters had faced a powerful unknown enemy and that their mission had involved pursuing an Ember Fleet.

• Empress said human civilizations in the Sirens' experiments had been destroyed by internal conflict and the Insect Swarm, while the shipgirls' memories came from a parallel world whose wars never occurred here.
• Enterprise concluded that the shipgirls had been placed in this world before their historical hulls existed, and Empress confirmed that their instincts and memories came from another world.
• Roma challenged Empress over the Sirens' experiments, then calmed down and apologized to Gwen, who soothed her with Psionic Energy.
• After the larger meeting, Gwen asked Empress, Hermit, and Purifier about the external enemy; Empress said even the Arbiters had not seen it, or the Mainframe had erased the records.
• Empress revealed that Temperance and Strength had stayed behind to cover the other Arbiters' escape from the Insect Swarm and were being reconstructed from recovered consciousness fragments.
• Empress said the Arbiters had encountered the swarm while pursuing an Ember Fleet into unknown territory, and began explaining that the earliest shipgirls who suffered errors during Mental Awakening were called METAized.

Gwen learned more about the Ember Fleet and the dangerous Insect Swarm, then examined Lavoce after discovering that her rigging made her love dangerously intense. His Psionic Energy calmed her METAization, though Empress and Hermit noticed his unusual reaction while treating her.

• Lavoce explained that the Ember Fleet had completed the experiments and undergone Mental Awakening, giving its members abilities that might have helped them survive the Insect Swarm.
• Gwen asked how to find the Ember Fleet, but Empress said he would have to wait for them to find him; she also described the swarm's many insect types and a powerful unseen creature.
• Lavoce revealed that her rigging made her seek an emotion for the Mainframe's experiments and rendered that emotion lethally attractive, which had caused her intense love for Gwen.
• Gwen called Lavoce's condition an innate defect and used Psionic Energy to examine her while Empress and Hermit held her still.
• Lavoce's emotional turmoil and signs of METAization subsided as she absorbed Gwen's Psionic Energy, while Empress and Hermit noticed his fleeting expression and silently exchanged a knowing glance.