Hector, Who Only Does Sloppy Work

"Haah—"

Taking advantage of Mary Rico's moment of daze, a crafty smile appeared at the corner of Hector's lips.

"Gotcha, Rico."

"Heh—!"

He kicked the petite Mary Rico off the ground and thrust out his spear—

Squelch—

Mary clutched Durandal's shaft and spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Have you betrayed us, Hector?" Her hands trembled as she stared into Hector's eyes.

"Take a good look around you, Mary, Anne." Hector sighed. "There's no such thing as loyalty here. I was never on your side from the very beginning, that's all."

On the Golden Hind, the others naturally noticed something was wrong as well.

"In just an instant..."

"What happened?"

Lawrence frowned as she looked over the sea, which had been covered in ships just moments ago, but where the fleet had now vanished without a trace.

"Oushen must have made a move." Doris walked over to her side. "I can sense it. These ships had similar magical wavelengths, so they must have come from the Noble Phantasm or some other effect of one or two people. And now they've all disappeared at once, which means..."

"The source has been cut off." Lawrence nodded.

At this rate, things might be resolved faster than she had expected.

Mary Rico and Anne Bonny returned to the Throne of Heroes in a flash of golden light. Hector turned to look at Columbus.

"I really didn't expect you to activate your own Battle Continuation even after I pierced your Spirit Core, and with no Master continuing to supply you with mana, Columbus." Hector crouched beside the weakened Columbus. "You've got quite the perseverance."

"I knew something felt off. Why did it suddenly feel like we were slowing down?" Columbus leaned against his ship's wheel, clutching the penetrating wound in his chest as he looked