Law of Space and Time

With a wave of her silver long staff, bolts of lightning began to crash down from the heavens, and the dozen or so Skycourt Kingdom magicians hovering in mid-air didn't even get a chance to react before they were reduced to pieces of charcoal by the fearsome lightning.

With a casual point gesture from Onean, the bolts of lightning turned and hurtled directly toward the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries who had made it onto the airship's deck. These powerful martial artists had been fending off the Four Winds mercenary legion with ease just a moment ago, but they were all zapped onto the ground in the blink of an eye, following which Larwood and Sherry immediately sent them tumbling overboard.

Of course, for some reason, several of these bolts of lightning were directed toward Erwin. Thankfully, he still had just enough energy to quickly roll along the deck of the airship and just barely evade the attacks.

"Looks like she's trying to get me back already," he sighed as he looked up at the sky. "It was bright and sunny just a moment ago, but all of a sudden, there's a lightning storm on the way. A woman's mood really is as fickle as the weather. I really should stay far away from powerful women like her in the future."

Despite what he was saying, his heart had no intention of staying away from Onean.

Right at this moment, a vast storm of meteorites began to descend from the heavens, and the dark clouds in the sky were immediately broken up by bursts of scorching flames. Erwin was staring up at the storm of meteorites, feeling as if doomsday had arrived, and his heart skipped a beat at the terrifying sight.

"All magicians, conjure up your magic shields!" Erwin reacted quite quickly as he issued an instruction to all of the magicians on the deck.

All of the remaining magicians immediately heeded Erwin's call, conjuring up a spherical magic shield above the airship, and only then were they able to weather the meteorite storm.

However, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the mountain path weren't so lucky. This wasn't just referring to the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the stretch of mountain path below the airship, it applied to all of the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the entire mountain.

The devastating meteorites rained down upon the entire mountain and even extended to the provincial road at the foot of the mountain. All of the Burmen soldiers on the city wall were extremely startled by this, and they hurriedly raised their shields in fear of being struck by shrapnel raised by the meteor shower.

Thunderous rumbling rang out incessantly as heaven and earth trembled and quaked. It was as if the entire mountain beneath the city of Xeto were about to be destroyed.

Even standing on the airship, Erwin could feel the violent tremors running through the whole mountain. The mountain path was instantly destroyed by the meteor shower, making it impossible to distinguish the mountain path and the mountain itself. There were meteorite craters everywhere, out of which thick smoke was billowing up into the air. It was impossible to even distinguish the ridge of the mountain from the valley, and many parts of the elevated terrain had been completely razed to the ground.

Everyone on the entire airship was staring at Onean with transfixed expressions, unable to believe what they were witnessing, unable to believe that a single magician was capable of unleashing such devastating power.

After this formidable assault, most of the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the mountain path had either been killed or severely wounded, and they had lost at least 10,000 men. Only the extremely agile martial artists who were able to evade the falling meteorites were able to just barely survive the assault. Of course, there were also some lucky individuals who were shielded by the piles of bodies above them, thereby allowing them to survive as well, but they were so scared that they didn't even dare to breathe too loudly in fear of being discovered.

"Wow... She really is a one-woman army," Erwin couldn't help but remark as he looked up at the gorgeous silver-haired figure hovering in the sky.

Right at this moment, a quiet voice rang out from the deck of the airship. "Hold on... Is that Princess Onean?"

Lanyon immediately cast a stern glare toward the person who had just spoken. He was also stunned by the fact that the person that Erwin had been hiding in that horse-drawn carriage the entire time was Princess Onean, but at the same time, he immediately realized that the princess's cover absolutely could not be blown at a time like this. Otherwise, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries at the foot of the mountain would instantly pounce on her like a swarm of locusts. However, as soon as those words were uttered, the observation immediately spread like wildfire along the deck of the airship, and there was no way to silence everyone.

Larwood had clearly also realized this, but it was already too late. Given Onean's incredibly striking and distinctive appearance, and the spectacular display of magic she had just put on, no one was going to believe Larwood even if he went around telling them she wasn't the princess.

In contrast, Erwin was quite calm and collected. This problem had occurred to him as well, but he then quickly realized that the fact that Onean was being so reckless by openly exposing herself meant that she wasn't afraid of her own cover being blown. In any case, with just a single spell, she was able to demolish all of the Skycourt Kingdom's forces, so she had nothing to fear.

Thankfully, all of the Skycourt Kingdom's remaining mercenaries had retreated back down the mountain, so there was no way for Onean's identity to be leaked anyway.

Meanwhile, Chase made his way over to Erwin and nudged him with his elbow, then looked up at Onean with an amused expression as he asked, "Are you gonna be able to tame her?"

"Do I look like I have a death wish?" Erwin shook his head with a wry smile in response.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. Have you forgotten what happened between him and Lana? Back when they first met outside the Redbud Pavilion, she tried to kill him, but in a matter of days, she was willing to kiss him in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of people. When it comes to wooing women, Erwin has already achieved legendary status," Kaiba chuckled as he turned to Chase.

Right at this moment, a cold voice rang out from behind Kaiba. "Oh? Is that so? I guess I should be swooning over Erwin right now then."

Cold sweat immediately began to pour down Kaiba's face upon hearing this voice. Due to his injuries, his senses were dulled, so he was unable to sense Onean even as she arrived right behind him.

"Your Highness." Erwin's trio immediately saluted Onean in unison. Her identity as a princess had already been revealed anyway, so she naturally had to be treated with the same formalities that a princess deserved.

Prior to this, all of the people on the airship still had some doubts about Onean's identity, but upon seeing the respectful salute extended by Erwin's trio, they immediately realized that she was indeed the princess, and they quickly extended respectful salutes of their own. Some of them were quite slow to react and were still gawking at Onean with stunned expressions, but they were quickly shoved into bowing positions by those around them.

No wonder. Only the royal princess could possess such beauty and poise, Christine thought to herself.

"No need for formalities, everyone. Thank you for your hard work, men of the Four Winds mercenary legion," Onean said with a gentle smile as she waved at everyone on the airship. "It's all thanks to your valiance and courage that the mercenaries of the Skycourt Kingdom were forced back down the mountain. I will be writing a letter later today in person to be sent to the front lines in Burmen, reporting your valiant efforts to my father."

All of the mercenaries of the Four Winds mercenary legion were ecstatic to hear this. With a glowing recommendation from the princess, their future livelihoods were essentially assured.

Meanwhile, Erwin was full of admiration toward Onean's innate charisma. Just her presence and words alone made the entire Four Winds mercenary legion feel as if they were being basked in a warm spring breeze. The Four Winds mercenary legion technically still belonged to Erwin's group of friends, but in this instant, Erwin felt as if Onean had become the true leader of the legion.

Seeing as Onean had directed her attention elsewhere, Chase and Kaiba immediately took the opportunity to flee the scene, leaving Erwin and the princess on their own.

"What are you going to do?" A nervous look appeared on Erwin's face as he took half a step backward, and his back was already pressed against the railing of the airship. "Are you really going to get me back?"

Having just witnessed how fearsome Onean was in full flight, it immediately occurred to him that she had to have held back during the Pillow Sword Tournament in order to avoid harming innocent bystanders.

"So you know to be scared now?" Onean asked with a cold expression. "Why didn't I see you show any fear when you were taking advantage of me while I was injured?"

"Well, that was then, and this is now," Erwin explained with a sheepish smile. "Besides, I didn't really take advantage of you..."

"Is that so?" Onean asked with a dangerous look in her eyes, and Erwin was suddenly struck by a sense of peril, a feeling that was oddly familiar.

Why is it that all of these powerful women are so prone to lashing out? Erwin thought to himself with a resigned expression, then thrust his palm toward the spell that Onean had fired at him, upon which he immediately winced in pain.

However, the dancing flame vanished on Erwin's palm, leaving minimal damage behind.

"Jeez, I didn't think you'd actually attack me," Erwin grumbled as he looked at his own bright red palm, which had been singed by the fire, after all.

As for Onean, she was staring at Erwin with a stunned expression, clearly unable to understand what had just happened. Why was it that the instant-release fireball spell she had just unleashed had disappeared into thin air?

"Is this the same thing you used against that attack from Talan?" Onean recalled back to what she had witnessed on that day from the shore. At the time, Talan had unleashed the second of his three killing strikes, but he was unable to inflict any damage upon Erwin. Standing inside his light shield, Erwin hadn't even thrown up any blood. In her mind, Erwin always had to throw up a couple of mouthfuls of blood in his light shield when fighting against a powerful enemy, and the absence of that ritual made her feel as if something were missing.

Erwin nodded in response with a smug expression. "What do you think? Are you amazed? I controlled my light shield so that it was the same size as my hand, and your magic energy was sucked into a space-time rift."

"A space-time rift? Is that something you recently developed?" Onean asked with a curious expression. "It doesn't seem to be anything special. That was only an instant-release spell, but your hand was still burned slightly."

"That's because I..." Erwin wanted to tell her that it was because his magic power had been exhausted, but that would be too embarrassing to admit, considering he had barely fought at all today.

"Oh, so you ran out of magic power because you're too weak. I was wondering why you weren't showing off today. Usually, you're always teleporting everywhere in battle," Onean jeered with an amused smile, reading Erwin like an open book once again.

"If it isn't for this pitiful weakling attending to your wounds every day and risking his life to kill those Falcon Beak Lizards, you'd still be bedridden and constantly moaning in pain," Erwin countered. When it came to wars of words, particularly ones that were slightly flirtatious in nature, there was no one who could best Erwin. His style of flirting leaned more toward banter than talking dirty, and his quick wits and sharp tongue ensured that he always had something to say.

A barely detectable hint of redness flashed across Onean's face, and she grumbled in a voice that was audible only to herself, "You make it sound like you did a good deed, but you made me pay with my body!"

Erwin failed to hear what she said, and he continued, "If it wasn't for you, the situation really would've been quite dangerous. I thought that I would be fine after resting for a night, but as soon as the battle began, I realized just how feeble my body still was."

"You should tell me about your time and space magic in detail sometime. I always feel like the magic you use is very dangerous," Onean said as she cast her gaze toward him.