Law of Space and Time

Chapter 68: Signs of Defeat

Lana could see that Faye was in no condition to defend herself, so she immediately positioned herself in front of her teacher. A wry smile appeared on Faye's face upon seeing this. Never did she think that a day would come where her student would have to save her life. However, in her current state, she truly was powerless to do anything.

All of a sudden, a vortex of wind appeared amid the layer of churning crimson clouds in the sky, and a bolt of black lightning descended from the center of the vortex before stroking the top of Lana's head, causing her body to jerk involuntarily bolt upright, while her long red hair danced wildly around her. Her brows were tightly furrowed, and she was biting down onto her own lower lip with such force that she was drawing blood. Cold sweat was pouring down her forehead, and even though her wrist was trembling violently, her hand remained firmly locked around her silver staff, not daring to relax even for an instant. It was clear that the backlash from the energy of this arcane spell was inflicting immense torment upon Lana. This wasn't the significantly watered-down version of the arcane spell that she had unleashed during the Pillow Sword Tournament. If it weren't for her exceptional magic power and mental fortitude, she would've already been devoured by the arcane energy flowing through her body.

Faye was looking on at her student with a pained expression, and a film of tears welled up in her eyes.

A burst of black flames erupted from the tip of Lana's staff, and in the blink of an eye, it had already transformed into a black phoenix with a pair of glowing blue eyes.

The phoenix opened its beak to let loose a shrill cry and a burst of black flames, then spread its wings and took flight, flying toward the oncoming white phoenix.

Thus, the two phoenixes clashed in mid-air, tearing at one another with vicious force. Even though the white phoenix had been imbued with two bursts of enormous magic energy, the arcane energy of the black phoenix was able to keep up, and the two phoenix were trading blows on equal footing, with neither one able to gain any advantage over the other.

Among the Court Magician Council, the grand magic mentors like Professor Hawk were busy contending with the fearsome snake projections unleashed by Faye, and out of their peripheral vision, they caught sight of Lana withstanding Master Piro's final spell, and all of them were both shocked and immensely impressed to see this. Lana was the daughter of the enemy, so they couldn't openly praise her, but deep down, they couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration. They then thought of the monstrous sea of fire unleashed by Princess Onean and the impressive magic that Count Friar's son had displayed, and they wondered whether the turning of the tide from the older generation to the younger generation was already taking place.

As soon as the clash between the black and white phoenixes commenced, Count Friar had already risen up into the air from the saddle of his horse to catch Master Piro's lifeless body. He could see that even in death, there was a faint smile lingering on Master Piro's wizened face, and he was glad to see that Master Piro had at least been happy in the moments before his death. 

Truth be told, he hadn't interacted much with Piro in the past. Even though he and Piro had been Cameron's most trusted subordinates on the battlefield over 20 years ago, there was no private relationship between the two of them to speak of, and they were nothing more than comrades. Thus, Piro wasn't exactly a close friend of his, but seeing the fall of such an illustrious and celebrated magician still evoked a sense of sorrow within his heart.

Cameron and Lazaar were locked in a fierce battle, but they had also noticed Piro's demise. After Piro had fallen prey to that sneak attack from Lazaar, Cameron had already guessed that such an outcome was inevitable. However, now that such a reality had actually eventuated, he was still feeling a little shaken, and even his previous unwavering conviction that he was going to win this war was beginning to falter. After all, the impact of a figure as important as Piro wasn't just limited to this battle alone. He had accompanied Cameron through the most difficult and most glorious times of his life, and to Cameron, he was both a subordinate and also a psychological pillar. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been content to entrust Piro with his own daughter.

For Cameron, Piro was a senior who was like a mentor, but also like a friend. Whenever he had a difficult decision to make or a predicament to face, the first person he would turn to was always Piro, and that wasn't even mentioning the loyalty and dedication that Piro had shown to the Effer Kingdom and the Cameron Family throughout his lifetime. Thus, it was very saddening for him to see such a special person in his life perish on the battlefield.

Lazaar was the one situated closest to Cameron, so he had naturally noticed the minute changes in Cameron's expression. Thus, he took advantage of a lapse in concentration to cast his gaze toward the northeastern side of the Marrod Plain, where General Gilgen was catching his breath.

His gaze seemed to be raising an unspoken question: What are you waiting for? Don’t you want to take Cameron’s life?

Gilgen immediately responded to Lazaar's unspoken signal, instructing what little remained of the Skycourt Kingdom's army to retreat to their encampment in the north, while he continued to watch the unfolding battle between Lazaar and Cameron intently.

As a result, the remaining troops of the Effer Kingdom in the southeast, of which there were fewer than 20,000, were left in a predicament where they didn't know whether to advance or retreat. With the wyverns lingering in the sky, they didn't dare to approach the reserve troops in Illingburn Fort, and without an order from Cameron, they didn't dare to pursue the retreating Skycourt Kingdom's soldiers.

Count Friar was observing the entire battlefield, so he had naturally also noticed this as well. He knew that it was imperative for the two branches of the army to come together in one place, but many of the reserve army's troops had been struck by negative status conditions such as sluggishness and paralysis from the church magicians, and they were also struggling to get past the defensively adept church cavaliers. In addition to that, the wyverns in the sky were standing as a major obstacle, so there was no way for him to combine the two units of troops together.

...

Meanwhile, Erwin and Aiden were also locked in an impasse. Aiden couldn't figure out what type of spell Erwin's light shield was, so he was taking the cautious route, prodding the light shield over and over again with his halberd.

Inside the light shield, Erwin was struggling immensely. For him, things would be far easier if Aiden were to launch a devastating attack like the one that Mistress Faye had unleashed, thereby scattering all of the matter energy outside the light shield, resulting in the opening of a space-time rift. However, Aiden was taking the approach that he was most afraid of, striking the light shield over and over again with consistent and powerful attacks. Thus, Erwin was having to expend a huge amount of magic power and stamina to absorb the energy surging into the light shield from his halberd.

Aiden was like that spear-wielding martial artist that Erwin had faced during the Pillow Sword Tournament, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks upon Erwin's light shield, trying to figure out exactly what it was. However, Aiden was far more powerful than that spear-wielding martial artist, and after withstanding just a few attacks, Erwin's robes were already soaked in sweat, and his complexion was also looking very pale.

All of a sudden, a fierce look appeared on his face, and he withdrew his halberd before twirling it over his palm, then spun around to build momentum before lashing out with tremendous force, and on this occasion, the blade of his halberd was finally able to pierce into the light shield.

Erwin stared at the tip of the halberd that had almost reached his head with an alarmed look on his face. He didn't recognize Aiden, but as soon as the clash between the two began, he saw that Aiden had the signature blue eyes of the Lazaar Family, and as a result, he was able to roughly guess his opponent's identity. 

What is Prince Lazaar feeding his children? Why are both of Lana's brothers such monsters? Erwin couldn't help but think to himself.

He knew that if things were to continue like this, his magic power would eventually be completely exhausted by Aiden.

However, right as Aiden was about to unleash another attack, around a dozen bolts of lightning suddenly shot forth toward him from behind.

As it turned out, Onean had spotted the perilous situation that Erwin was in, and she hurriedly fired off a string of instant-release spells toward Aiden to give Erwin some respite.

Erwin took advantage of this opportunity to absorb all of the energy adhered to his light shield, and even though he could already feel his own body protesting in the face of such a huge influx of energy, he couldn't do anything aside from grit his teeth and unleash a Magic Explosion toward Aiden.

However, a bewildering scene then suddenly unfolded. Aiden had vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye! It was as if he had learned Erwin's space split technique and teleported out of sight, and Erwin was so alarmed by this that all of the fine hairs on the back of his neck instantly stood up on end.

As a result of Aiden's sudden disappearance, Onean's instant-release spells and Erwin's Magic Explosion all lost their target, and they gradually fizzled out into bursts of magic turbulence in the air.

...

Lana was watching the battle between the two phoenixes when she spotted what Onean was doing out of the corners of her eye, and a flash of rage immediately flared up in her heart.

Who's giving you permission to act all lovey-dovey on the battlefield? she scoffed internally, then rose up into the air and drifted toward Onean and Erwin.

After reaching the outskirts of the sea of fire, Lana drew to a halt before casting a cold gaze toward Onean. The staff in her hand began to glow brightly once again, and a lotus flower of swords emerged behind her. It was clear that her Shadowgleam Sword Array was going to be directed at Onean. The Shadowgleam Snake Array that Faye had just unleashed had exclusively struck the court magicians of the Effer Kingdom, so Onean had been left unscathed, and she was continuing to maintain her sea of fire. The wyverns were unable to force their way through the ferocious flames, so they couldn't reach the southern battlefield.

Onean had witnessed Lana's Shadowgleam Sword Array during the Pillow Sword Tournament. However, at the time, she had swooped onto the competition platform to save Erwin, and her mind was entirely occupied by Erwin's terrible condition, so she didn't get a chance to think carefully about the intricacies of the sword array. Thankfully, after seeing Mistress Faye's snake array pierce through the court magicians' magic shields, she already had a rough idea of how this spell worked.

Even so, she still didn't have a good way to counter the sword array, because no matter what spell she chose to use to oppose Lana, she would have to abandon the spell that she was currently maintaining, which was keeping the flying dragons at bay. After all, against an opponent of Lana's caliber, she didn't dare to multitask and divert her own magic power toward two different causes.

However, she couldn't afford to abandon the sea of fire as doing so would allow the flight of dragons to reach the southern battlefield, and the consequences of that would be catastrophic.

Unfortunately for her, Lana wasn't going to wait for her to come up with a solution to her dilemma. With a gentle wave of her silver staff, a burst of bright red light instantly erupted behind her, and she let loose a delicate cry, upon which the sword lotus behind her split up into countless swords before flying through the air, piercing toward Onean from all directions with lethal killing intent.

"Look out, Your Highness! Leave the dragons to us for now!" Professor Hawk hurriedly yelled upon seeing the perilous situation that Onean was in. Immediately thereafter, he and several other grand magic mentors from the Court Magician Council sped toward the wyverns in the distance. At this point, Professor Hawk and the others had only just finished taking care of the snake projections unleashed by Mistress Faye, and they hadn't even had a chance to catch their breath yet. In the wake of Mistress Faye's devastating spell, the court magicians had suffered severe casualties, and there were only around 200 of them left.

Onean was reluctant to relinquish her spell, but she knew that it was the only way to proceed. Thus, she ceased her magic power output, and the fiery red clouds in the sky finally gradually dissipated. The wyverns immediately let loose roars of elation, as if they had just been liberated.

Turning her gaze toward the countless oncoming flying swords, Onean's brows furrowed slightly as she brought down her staff, and a ring of light began to spread from the top of her staff. In the blink of an eye, the ring of light had formed a dazzling wall of radiance that protected her from all sides.

The magic flying swords that struck the wall of light instantly pierced into it, following which the magic energy imbued within them were instantly absorbed by the ring-shaped wall. As for the flying swords that had taken on a substantial form, they were also kept at bay by the constantly revolving wall of light, and no matter which direction the flying swords tried to attack from, they were unable to pierce into the wall.

Despite this, Lana remained completely unfazed as she looked on with a calm expression, displaying no frustration or urgency. The reason for this was because she had identified the special nature of the ring-shaped wall of light that Onean had summoned.

Judging from her teacher's style in battle, it seems that Piro likes to take his opponent's magic energy and use it for himself. Seeing as she's his disciple, her spells most likely possess the same properties as Piro's spells. That was the educated guess that Lana was making, and because of this, she didn't want to release any more spells, only for them to be absorbed by the wall of light.

In her mind, Onean had to have already expended a significant amount of magic power from unleashing that sea of fire earlier. In order to withstand this Shadowgleam Sword Array, she would have to expend yet another sizable portion of her magic power to maintain this wall of light, and there was no way that she could keep this up for very long. Thus, Lana decided to take the calm and patient approach, only striking again once all of Onean's magic power had been exhausted by her sword array.

In the meantime, neither of the two clashing phoenixes in the sky had managed to emerge victorious over the other, and they were completely spent. Both of them plummeted from the sky onto the southern battlefield, crushing many Effer Kingdom soldiers beneath them. For Count Friar, this was only compounding his woes.

However, what he failed to anticipate was that the wyverns had already reached the sky above the battlefield.