Law of Space and Time

Right as Aiden's halberd was about to reach Onean, a giant golden net emerged in his path. He could sense that the magic energy imbued within the giant net possessed extremely high temperatures and explosive properties, and instead of fighting fire with fire, he adopted a more slow and methodical approach.

Even though Aiden was a very large and imposing man, his burly frame didn't slow him down in the slightest, and Onean was already aware of that. She didn't dare to allow any complacency to set in even after conjuring up the golden net, and she quickly drew upon her own magic power to summon a trio of ice phoenixes.

The three ice phoenixes circled around Onean incessantly, lashing out whenever Aiden tried to attack Onean with his halberd.

Aiden unleashed several attacks in quick succession, but all of them struck the three ice phoenixes, while Onean was left completely unscathed.

Erwin wanted to assist Onean, but he could see that Aiden hadn't managed to gain any advantage over Onean after the first few exchanges, and that instilled him with a great deal of confidence and relief.

However, before he had a chance to catch his breath, a storm of countless swords came flying toward him.

Erwin turned around to take a look, and sure enough, it was none other than Lana's Shadowgleam Sword Array. This was a spell that he was already very familiar with. After all, he had already withstood this very same sword array with his own body on two occasions. On both occasions, the spell had almost taken his life, but the second time that he had faced the spell, which was during the Pillow Sword Tournament, was well worth the near-death experience.

He unleashed a string of instant-release spells toward Lana, then used his space split technique to arrive beside her.

Having slept for a few hours earlier during the day, Erwin had recovered most of his magic power, so he wasn't afraid of engaging Lana in a battle of magic.

"Are you going to use the same old tricks again, little rascal?" Lana asked as a mocking smile appeared on her face, and she was looking very relaxed, clearly not fazed by Erwin in the slightest.

"First, you're going to use your light shield. What are you going to do after that?" Lana was already very familiar with Erwin's battle tactics, and sure enough, just as she predicted, Erwin conjured up his light shield to ward off the flying swords that were hurtling toward him from all directions.

Lana cast her gaze toward Erwin through the light shield, and she wasn't in a hurry to attack as she casually leaned against the wall of the courtyard with her arms crossed, waiting for Erwin to absorb all of the magic energy raging within the ferocious sword array. Even though they were in the middle of a battle, it seemed that the two of them were in a world of their own, completely detached from everyone else.

Finally, Erwin was able to dispel the sword array, and he rushed directly toward Lana, only to suddenly stop cold in his tracks. Looking at the calm and composed smile on Lana's face, what little animosity that had arisen in his heart instantly faded.

"What's going on? You're not going to strangle me again?" Lana asked with a provocative smile as she raised her chin slightly to expose her throat.

Erwin was rather surprised by this gesture, and he thought to himself, Isn't she being a little too complacent around me? At this distance, I can easily take her life in the blink of an eye. No matter how fast and powerful Aiden is, he's too far away to save her.

However, despite what he was thinking, there was no way that he would actually attack her. At this point, the relationship between the two of them had become extremely convoluted. She had saved his life on multiple occasions, but at the same time, her family was responsible for his father's death. They were supposed to be enemies standing on opposing sides, but in reality, neither of them could bear to hurt the other.

Even though Erwin wasn't doing anything with his hands, his eyes were still moving, and he was staring directly at Lana's chest. In raising her head, not only had Lana exposed her own throat, a large section of her alluring cleavage as well, and Erwin couldn't help but be entranced by the incredible spectacle he was greeted by.

Her carefully tailored black magician's robe hugged her seductive curves and accentuated them to perfection. The only regrettable thing was that ever since the incident in front of the Redbud Pavilion, Lana had been dressing quite conservatively, so there wasn't a lot of skin being exposed, much to Erwin's disappointment and dismay. However, he then thought back to a few days ago, when he had "unintentionally" groped Lana while trying to lift her off the horse, and that was a very pleasant memory.

"Do you like what you see?" A bright blue flame lit up over Lana's palms, and a dangerous gleam appeared in her eyes.

"I do," Erwin chuckled as he seized the initiative, pressing his entire body against her as he grabbed tightly onto her wrists. His hands were like a pair of metal shackles, and he pinned her hands firmly against the wall, refusing to let her go.

Right before his hands closed around Lana's wrists, he conjured up a pair of miniature light shields over his palms, generating a pair of space-time rifts that devoured the blue flames that Lana had just summoned.

Lana lowered her head to take a glance at her own wrist, upon which she discovered that there was blood flowing down her hand.

"You really are going all out for her, aren't you? The wound on your hand has split open again. If you keep aggravating that injury over and over again, you're going to lose all function in that hand soon," Lana said as a concerned look appeared on her face. At the same time, there was a hint of displeasure in her eyes, as if she were silently fuming at Erwin for not looking after himself. She didn't seem to care that Erwin's body was completely pressed up against hers, but then again, it had always been her style to maintain a calm facade at all times.

"It's alright, I'll just hold onto my staff with my other hand." Erwin wasn't concerned about his own hand at all. "The art teacher who taught me painting when I was a child is going to be very disappointed though. With this injury, I won't be able to keep my hand steady when holding a brush in the future. He always said that I had a great deal of talent, but it looks like that talent won't ever be fulfilled now. Now that I think about it, he was probably just saying that so my father would book more lessons with him."

Lana couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this, but her laughter quickly subsided as a film of tears began to well up in her eyes. Despite her blurred vision from her tears, she continued to look deep into Erwin's eyes.

"Are you determined to die with her?" Lana asked before pointing her chin at Onean, who was still locked in battle against Aiden in the sky.

"I have no plans to die anytime soon. Of course, I'm not going to let her die, either," Erwin replied as he looked at Lana. "What's going on with you? Have you become addicted to crying lately?"

Lana couldn't help but chuckle with amusement upon hearing this. "I guess I have. I really shouldn't cry for you though. It's a waste of my tears."

"How so?" Erwin asked with a curious expression.

"No matter how many tears I shed for you, you're still going to leave with her anyway, aren't you? If you're not even going to stay with me, then all of the tears I shed for you are completely wasted," Lana replied with a wry smile.

"It's not that I don't want to stay with you, your family simply gives me no choice but to run away," Erwin sighed as he released Lana's wrists, then pulled out a small magic potion vial from his pocket. He carefully pressed the rim of the vial against Lana's cheek, catching the tears that were flowing down her face.

Lana allowed him to do as he pleased, turning her head to the side in silence while biting down onto her own lower lip.

"You know, you can stay if you want. No one would dare to do anything to you," she said in a gentle voice.

"So you're saying you want me to stay with you and cling onto my life by appeasing the people who killed my father?" Erwin asked with a faint smile.

"There's no need to put it so bluntly," Lana sighed as she lowered her head in a dejected manner. After a brief moment of silence, she raised her head again to look at him, then asked, "Do you hate me?"

"Of course not. I just feel really powerless. In the grand context of this war, I'm so weak and insignificant that I don't even have the right to resent anyone," Erwin replied with a wry smile. "Well, that took a sad turn all of a sudden. Anyway, I truly have no intention of dying here, so you don't have to worry about that."

Lana was staring blankly at him, and her mind was still lingering on Erwin's sentiment about how he was so powerless that he didn't even have the right to resent anyone. The pain in his eyes as he uttered those words was something that she had never experienced and couldn't empathize with.

Right as Erwin was about to inspect the state of the battle taking place between Onean and Aiden, Lana suddenly wound her arms around the back of his neck before inching closer with her lips.

Looking at the loving flames smoldering in Lana's eyes, Erwin leaned forward as well to meet her halfway, and the two shared a deep and passionate kiss.

He grabbed both of Lana's wrists with his hand, removing them from the back of his neck before pressing them firmly against the wall behind her, then wound his other arm tightly around her waist.

As a result, Lana was forced to arch her back and raise her head, and her arms were being held in an immobile position above her head. The vulnerable and submissive position that she had been placed in was quite frustrating to her, and she bit down onto the tip of Erwin's tongue in protest.

The jolt of pain surging through Erwin's tongue instantly made his eyes spring open, upon which he was greeted by the sight of Lana's mischievous smile.

An amused smile also appeared on his face as he looked back at her, and the two of them stared at each other in silence. As far as they were concerned, the cries of pain and sounds of clashing weapons around them may as well have been coming from another world altogether.

Right at this moment, a massive shadow passed over the street and the courtyard, and the source of the shadow was slowly moving across the sky. With the radiance being released by Onean's spell, everyone was able to identify what the object in the sky was.

"Is that the backup plan that you were depending on to save your life?" Lana asked as she raised her head to look up at the airship in the night sky, and there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"It is, but I didn't think that it would arrive so quickly. Looks like my life isn't meant to come to an end here," Erwin replied as he also looked up at the night sky, and a joyful look appeared on his face.

"So you're running away like a coward after stealing a kiss from me? How typical of you," Lana said with an amused smile, but despite her expression, it was clear that she was trying to hide the disappointment and sadness in her heart.

Erwin was able to see right through her, and he released her wrists, allowing her hands to drop back down to her sides, then wound his arms around her slender waist and looked at her in silence.

"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you be going now?" Lana's head remained lowered as she tried to unwind Erwin's arms from around her waist, but Erwin was holding on with considerable force and refusing to let go, so she could only give up in the end.

"Sometimes, I find myself wondering if it would've been better had we never met in the first place, but I can't seem to imagine a life without you anymore," Lana sighed as she finally raised her head to look up at Erwin. A rather forced smile appeared on her face as she said, "Get out of here."

"If you miss me, come and find me in the north," Erwin whispered into her ear.

"Ptui! Why would I miss an unfaithful coward like you? Get away from me," Lana chuckled as she gently pushed him away.

Erwin released her waist with a gentle smile, leaving her to stand in the night alone, looking on at Erwin's departing figure with a slightly despondent expression while wondering when they were going to meet again.

She watched as Erwin faded into the distance while praying for his safety and welfare, and the tears that she had been holding back began to flow from her eyes again.

Her head of long red hair was like an undying flame of longing in the night.