While the pirates were showering him with flattery, not far from where the Locke Fleet's flagship had exploded...
"Zzzzt!" Several streaks of red flashed past, and a huge chunk of warship wreckage suddenly split apart and burst open, its cut surfaces unnaturally smooth.
Kloros's Crypt Lord slowly emerged...
"Huh?" Nie Yun had been happily harvesting reputation among the pirates when he suddenly noticed something odd.
"He survived that?" Nie Yun was somewhat surprised.
Given the vector flying sword's speed, his opponent should have died before he could even react. So... how had he survived?
Naturally, Nie Yun had no way of knowing that Kloros had actually abandoned his fleet and tried to evacuate early. That slight head start had given him the chance to board his Legendary Mecha and, through sheer luck, escape death.
"Huh? Look! It's the commander's Crypt Lord! The commander's still alive!"
Since the Crypt Lord had to activate its shield to withstand the aftermath of the flagship's explosion, it could not conceal its energy fluctuations at all. Both sides, still locked in combat, spotted it immediately.
Yet before the Locke Fleet could celebrate for long, they discovered that... after appearing, their commander had turned tail and fled without a word!
Kloros had clearly prepared in advance. The Crypt Lord now carried an Auxiliary Thruster Module on its back, which, combined with the Legendary Mecha's already formidable maneuverability, gave it an incredible escape speed.
Their commander had survived, and then he had run away...
That was even more devastating to morale than if he had simply died in battle!
This time, the Locke Fleet's will to fight collapsed completely. Swathes of enemy forces began firing signal flares to surrender.
"Does that count as bonus damage from coming back from the dead?" Nie Yun wore a peculiar expression.