[Identity Replacement, Brainwashing]

Her ears were still ringing. Cannonfire whizzing by her head, haunting her after the last skirmish she had taken part in. And yet, there was no sign of danger here. Just darkness. Deep and suffocating darkness.

She didn’t bother asking herself where she could be, already knowing that she had been captured. With her hands tied behind her back and her legs tied to the feet of the chair she sat on, it wasn’t exactly difficult to put two and two together. And neither was the reason for her capture.

The blonde sitting there in the middle of the dark room was Bismarck, the supposed head of the Ironblood navy. Thanks to her stellar collaboration with the Admirals that staffed the organization, she was able to suppress as many of the western and eastern enemies that her nation had acquired. Unfortunately, this meant that many of those enemies gunned straight for her.

“So, I was sunk and brought to this place.” Bismarck muttered to herself as she continued looking around, trying to discern anything within the shadows that surrounded her. “You must find it amusing to see me bound like this, my captor. Does it excite you? Stimulate you? I assure you, once my allies find out about my continued existence, you will not last…”

The soft sound of heels clacking against the ground heralded the arrival of her captor, a woman clad in a pristine white uniform, with a single sword serving as a waist-bound ornament. “I wouldn’t use such crude words to describe the joy I feel, looking down upon an enemy of our nation.” The woman, clearly an Admiral given the decorated medals hanging from her chest as well as the cap resting on her head, smiled with an abnormal degree of sadism.

One look at her, and it was obvious that she had to be one of the highest ranked Admirals from the Imperial Japanese Navy. Not just from all the decorations on her uniform, but her expression was just like the cruel men that were at the top. It wasn’t too surprising to find a woman amongst their ranks, especially considering the ship girls that they fielded.

“Who, pray tell, may you be?” Bismarck asked, closing her eyes as she neglected to struggle. There was no point to doing so, since her strength from her last skirmish still hadn’t returned. She was a sitting duck, a proper captive. “Before you execute me or interrogate me, allow me to know the identity of the one who had bested me.”

The smug-looking Admiral scoffed as she put a hand on the blonde german ship girl's chin, squeezing it to establish some sort of dominance. “Your words drip with barely restrained contempt, Ironblood scum.” She spat down on her leg, before withdrawing and adjusting her uniform. “But, as I am clearly the better woman… I am Fleet Admiral Otomo Tsubaki of the IJN. And unlike what you may think, I did nothing to ensure the way you sank in your last encounter.”

“Oh? The Japanese did not betray us, you say? Then why did they abduct me?” The blonde quickly saw through her facade. Leave it up to the captive leader of the Ironblood ship girls accomplish that, despite her current condition.

Tsubaki’s eyebrow twitched, her nerve quickly being lost. “Abduction is such a foolish word to use. We suppressed the advance of the Royal Navy after you were left in a critical state following your skirmish. Thanks to this, neither the German navy, or the British, know that you and your mortal enemy have still remained functional. As you’ve both been made into our property. Property that we intend to wring as much use out of as we can.”

Bismarck narrowed her gaze. “So you really have betrayed us. What use do you gain from detaining both an ally and an enemy’s crown jewels? More than that, what do you intend to gain from me? I will not willingly fight for you, despite our current alliance.” She glared straight into those wicked eyes. Despite the warmongering nature of the Ironblood navy, she would not fall victim to another’s plans.

“I trust that you’ve heard about the concept of retrofitting.” The Fleet Admiral replied, reaching into her uniform to pull out a set of papers, her smile growing as she spoke. “Improving the foundation of a vessel to ensure that it is sturdy and powerful enough to keep on equal footing with the rest of the ones in service.”

The blonde ship girl nodded. “Commonly carried out on Carriers and Destroyers that have fallen behind the times, even changing their classification should the need arise. I am familiar, some of the girls under my wings have been subjected to this process before. What are you getting at?” She asked once more after confirming her knowledge. Was she going to be retrofitted, turned into a Japanese vessel? Surely they wouldn’t be able to tame her inner spirit…

A laugh left Tsubaki’s lips as she pulled a single article away from the main stack of documents, turning it towards the blonde and showing it to her. “Tell me, Bismarck. Who is this?” She asked, her tone dripping with utter contempt and lack of respect for her captive.

The question seemed rather stupid, as it was clearly a picture of one of her rivals. King George V. The memory of their last firefight flashed before her eyes, bringing a smile to her lips. “So, this is who you captured? King George V? What do you think you accomplish by showing me her image? Rage? Do you think I am so simple that I cannot keep my temper held in?”

“No, I am merely showing you a vestige of the woman that you once fought. Consider it a parting gift from her.” The Fleet Admiral said as she turned the picture over to the other side, revealing a much more familiar face, one that did manage to bring a sign of weakness onto the blonde’s expression.

It was her face. Bismarck’s very own. But it didn’t look nearly as exhausted or as dark as she did in the moment. When did they take this picture? Did a Japanese spy ever get a chance to examine her vitals or interview her? She didn’t understand. “...What trickery are you employing?” Her sharp gaze started radiating with killing intent. If not for her binds, she would’ve put the woman in front of her on the floor, reversing the situation in an instant.

“Did I not tell you? Retrofitting technology allows us to improve upon a vessel to allow it to function better, after continued and arduous use.” Tsubaki explained, her wicked smile curving further up. “However, the Imperial Navy has developed a further evolution of this technology. With just a sample from another ship girl, we are able to do a full conversion, turning one into another. That is how your rival, the useless blonde from the Royal Navy, ended up a precise copy of you. Down to her mental state as well, after we made the necessary alterations.”

The blonde Ironblood girl grit her teeth a bit. To see her enemy, the one who she actually enjoyed trading blows with whenever they met out at sea, turned into nothing more than a mockery of her, devoid of all the parts that made her admire her. It made the fire in her heart, the rage that all of her sisters carried that made them so warmongering, intensify to the point where the binds against her body started to shake. “You will not get away with this. Defacing my rival for your own petty schemes… You will not get away with it!”

“I do believe I will, King George V.” The Fleet Admiral said, and the pin started to drop. “Before I start the process, something that you will no doubt grow to enjoy before your identity spirals into nothingness, I must inform you. Once we’ve properly converted you into the shape and the mind of your rival, you will have two new directives. The first is to act like you never went through this process. You were salvaged by a lucky crew from ‘your side’, and returned to be repaired in private. The second is to always listen to orders from a confirmed officer of the IJN. You are our property after all. A spy in our enemies’ ranks.” She explained, her sadistic tone making it clear that twisting her into a shape that contrasted her original self brought nothing more than outright pleasure to the wicked-hearted woman…

Bismarck wasn’t about to stand for this. She poured as much of her remaining power into her limbs, snapping the ropes that kept her bound to the chair. “I will have your head!” She cried out, her nerve fully snapped. Now all that remained was utter killing instinct, ready to tear this traitor limb from limb.

A chance that never came, as the hilt of the Fleet Admiral’s decorative sword met her stomach, stunning her for a crucial amount of time. “Say good night, Ironblood leader.” The chill that left those words were just as cold as the woman’s heart, as she tossed the papers from her report away, using that now-free hand to pull a Wisdom Cube from her uniform. A cube with the visual imprint of the Royal Navy woman inside it, waiting to be unleashed on a corresponding subject.

She didn’t hesitate to shove that thing straight into the black-clad blonde Ironblood girl, sending shocks of pain through her body at the start. Her psyche was rejecting the process, but no matter what her mind wanted, it would fall to the advanced retrofitting process. Especially as the wicked woman shoved it further and further, ignoring the black sparks that arouse around the two of them.

Bismarck’s body was changing. Fast at that, as the black shades that made up the majority of her outfit gave way to royal reds, erasing her identity bit by bit. Her glorious service to the motherland was being erased, the cape that wore on her back turning from a gentle red to a stronger red as it took on further and further cues from the woman that she had fought so many times before. All while she grit her teeth, trying to fight back against it, the colors shifting repeatedly between the two contrasting shades…

“You’re still putting up a fight. Impressive. Your rival fell within two minutes, and her mind within four. Leave it up to the leader of the Ironblood girls to serve as a challenge.” Tsubaki chimed as she grasped the struggling blonde’s chin, her smile growing wider as the front of the blonde’s bangs shrunk upward, losing more and more of herself…

Her expression was wavering as the sparks between the cube and her body started dying down. The object was sinking further and further into her, resulting in more of her outfit turning red. Not just that, but her paler complexion, formerly a sign of the fire she kept hidden inside, started to deepen. All of her colors, whether it was her skin tone or her clothing, grew bolder and brighter. Just like the obnoxious Royal Navy that stood in her way time and time again…

Bismarck’s cape blew backward, the power of the cube fully consuming it as it turned into the cape that her rival always wore. Her outfit had fully changed just the same, turning into a flashier uniform with a skirt that left absolutely nothing to imagination. As well as a set of pantyhose that stuck out from under the bottom of the skirt, showing off everything important.

The last touches to her physical transformation came in the form of her bust and her head. While she was already a busty battleship, one of the bustiest among her kin, she was nothing compared to the girl from the Royal Navy. They pushed out, constrained within her tight and flashily regal outfit, displaying just enough to drive the common officer mad with crazy fantasies. Combine that with her hair, having shortened in the front to reach down to her shoulders only, blowing back with the same power that transformed her cape only to turn said hair into the exact same styling as her rival, and she looked almost identical to the girl who she had fought against so many times…

Finally, as her eyes turned a crimson red, her transformation had completed. Any and all traces of the leader of the Ironblood girls had disappeared, leaving behind a regal woman. King George V. Only her mind stayed intact, and that was only for the time being. Knowing the wicked Admiral in front of her, it wouldn’t last…

“Are you satisfied..?” The words that left her mouth belonged to the woman that no longer stood there, but the voice was definitely more english. No matter if she had been transformed or not, she would still stand up to the one who had tried to use her. The spirit of Bismarck would not allow her to back down, not without a fight.

Tsubaki did not care for this, as she drew her blade from its scabbard. “Your resistance is sweet, King George V. Unfortunately, this is the part I most enjoy. The part where you swear utter allegiance to your superior.” Her voice was firm as the fine steel started to glow. “By the power vested in me as Fleet Admiral, I am fully permitted to convert a captured ship girl into one of my own.”

“Now, Kneel.” She said, and the parts of the Wisdom Cube that had served as a conduit for the transformation forced the blonde to obey. She fell onto her knees, staring up at the woman with utter contempt in her eyes. Such a pitiful look, one that brought the woman the greatest joy in the world…

The Fleet Admiral carefully put her blade’s tip on the girl’s shoulders, as if she was knighting her. “King George V. As of today, you will be loyal to the Sakura Empire. You will be loyal to the IJN. But most importantly, you will be loyal to me, Otomo Tsubaki. Any disobedience will be punished. Any act of treason will be punished. Any slight show of disrespect will not be tolerated. Your only role is to serve. Serve, and fully engross yourself in your role as a spy.”

King George V’s expression faltered as she heard the words ring throughout her head. Any thought that went against those orders was quickly turned into nothing more than dust. Any semblance of the spirit of her former self was destroyed, leaving behind only a shadow of the girl that she had now become. The cube that was embedded in her, keeping her in this form, would sustain her and feed her a proper personality. The personality of her… of her own. Her personality.

Her crimson eyes grew dim as any smidge of resistance was snuffed out, leading her to slowly stand tall and salute her commanding officer. Once she was let out of these chambers, she would return to the Royal Navy where she belonged. They had been missing her. She would keep their spirits high, while keeping a good eye on their numbers, so that she could report back to her commanding officer. That was her main mission. Relaying intel so that the Sakura Empire and IJN could dismantle allies and enemies from the inside. All while saying a single line that cemented her new identity…

“King George V-class battleship, King George V. Do use me well, Commander.”