Standing atop the city wall of Illingburn Fort, Archbishop Sirius of the True Light Church was watching Erwin's handiwork with an appreciative and joyful expression. Looking at the chaotic abyss of space and time, he was struck by an almost irrepressible urge to applaud and cheer. Thus, he was naturally not very pleased to see Faye's attempt to interrupt the spell, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly, but he then quickly put on an indifferent facade again.

"Lana! What are you doing?" Faye yelled in an alarmed voice. Never did she think that her student would be so devoted to Erwin. To put it more accurately, she didn't believe that there were any romantic relationships in this world that were worth dying for. Lana was very similar to her in every way, so she had thought that Lana's attitude toward romance would be the same, but such was the unpredictability of human nature. Furthermore, Lana's father and brother were both about to fall prey to Erwin's time and space magic, so it was even more unbelievable to her that Lana would do something like this. Mistress Faye was a vastly experienced magician, but when it came to love, she was far less experienced, so she couldn't put herself in Lana's shoes. Little did she know that even a woman as proud and prodigiously talented as Lana still wasn't immune to the sweet trap of love.

However, Faye's concern and fear for Lana quickly turned into grief for someone else.

Faye stared at the wizened face of the figure who had positioned himself in front of Lana and Erwin, and she felt as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. Her eyes were wide with shock, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

The eyes of the fierce snake projection that she had unleashed were giving off piercing red light, and in the blink of an eye, it passed through the magic shield conjured up by Professor Hawk without any impediment. Its excitement was palpable as it spotted someone standing in front of it, and it eagerly flicked out its forked tongue with a murderous gleam in its eyes. A bright green spell was fired from the tip of Professor Hawk's staff, but it was powerless to stop the oncoming snake projection.

In the blink of an eye, the snake projection tore directly through Professor Hawk's chest, leaving a gaping hole in his body, causing him to throw up a huge mouthful of blood.

Blood trickled down from the corners of his lips as he stared blankly at Faye from afar with a slack-jawed expression. Through his actions, he was telling Faye that this student of his was not to be harmed. At the same time, he was giving her a parting glance, as if he were bidding farewell to an old friend. In the final moments of his life, he thought back to his time as a student in Sarus many moons ago. Perhaps meeting those two exceptionally talented female students in his cohort were the luckiest thing to have ever happened to him.

His hair was blown in all directions by the frosty wind as he stared at Faye from afar, and there were some things that he wanted to say to her, but he had kept them bottled up his entire life, leaving him with an overwhelming sense of regret.

While falling lifelessly out of the sky, Professor Hawk looked up at the heavens, at the student of his, who had already become such an adept time and space magician.

He's so much like his mother, he thought to himself with a gratified expression.

Truth be told, even he was quite surprised by his own actions. In this dire situation, he didn't care about any of the other people on this battlefield. Not even King Cameron was within his realm of consideration.

Perhaps she had already anticipated that this would happen in the future when she gave that book to Friar, Profesor Hawk thought to himself, then heaved a mellow sigh as he closed his eyes with a content expression.

After passing through Professor Hawk's body, the momentum of the snake projection was significantly lessened, but even so, the bright red light glowing in its eyes still didn't fade. A blue spell was surging out of the tip of Lana's silver staff, and it was just barely able to keep the snake projection at bay. Lana's long hair was dancing wildly all around her, and her magic power was rapidly seeping out of her body. Only then was she able to exhaust all of the magic energy within the snake projection just before it reached her chest.

At the same time, the two dark rifts in the air suddenly vanished, as did the pair of new moons that had shocked the entire battlefield. All of a sudden, the sky returned to its normal bright and sunny complexion, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

The reason for this was that Erwin had finally returned to his senses after witnessing the lethal blow that Professor Hawk had taken to protect him.

He looked on with a dazed expression as Professor Hawk fell out of the sky. In the past, he and Professor Hawk had never been particularly close, so never did he think that the stern professor would sacrifice himself to save him at this crucial juncture.

It was also at the same time that he realized Lana had also thrown herself in front of him to shield him with her body.

He was very touched by their selfless gestures, but at the same time, he was overcome by an intense wave of feebleness, and if it weren't for the fact that he was holding on through sheer force of will, he would've already fallen unconscious. He had just injected elemental matter that was far beyond his tolerance capacity into the two new moons, and as a result, his magic power and stamina had been completely overexerted. However, for him, this was far from the first time that he had been completely drained by space and time magic. The problem was that he was still situated on a chaotic battlefield, so he couldn't allow himself to fall unconscious.

"Catch my teacher before he falls onto the ground," Erwin gently whispered into Lana's ear.

The slight itch of Erwin's feeble breath brushing past Lana's ear made her heart quiver delicately, but at the same time, she was still quite concerned about him. He's too weak to even cast a simple levitation spell, how is he going to survive on this battlefield?

Lana pointed her finger gently in Professor Hawk's direction, and his body began to slowly descend like a weightless feather.

...

Having just brushed shoulders with death, all of the people on the battlefield in the sky were greatly alarmed by what they had just experienced, but they were still able to react very quickly.

Gilgen immediately sprang back to open up some distance between himself and everyone else, then cast a wary gaze toward everyone around him. Even though Cameron had just been gravely wounded, he still had to keep an eye on Lazaar and Aiden. In the face of someone as cold and scheming as Lazaar, he didn't dare to let his guard down even for a second. He was worried that Lazaar and his son would suddenly change their mind and kill him in Gilgen's stead. In addition to that, he had expended a significant amount of power in his last attack, and after that, he had to contend with those dark rifts. In his current condition, even facing the likes of Onean or Friar would be quite a struggle.

Meanwhile, Prince Lazaar cast a glance toward Aiden, indicating for him to organize the rest of the flying dragons to take care of Cameron's remaining forces as soon as possible.

Aiden nodded in response, then flew toward the flight of dragons. He knew that his father was going to take care of Cameron, so all he needed to do was to ensure that the rest of the Effer Kingdom's troops on this battlefield were decimated.

As for Onean, she immediately flew over to Cameron's side, then began to inspect his injury with a grim expression, unable to bring herself to say anything. Her teacher had just died before her very eyes, and now, her father had sustained extremely severe injuries. In this situation, the fact that she was still able to hold herself together was already a testament to her mental fortitude.

Count Friar and Cameron exchanged a glance with one another, and with just that brief glance alone, the two of them already understood one another's intentions. They were both very experienced and pragmatic commanders, so they naturally weren't going to cling stubbornly to any false hope that they could still win this battle. With that in mind, both of them immediately arrived at a decision.

"Don't go after them for vengeance for now," Cameron said as he grabbed firmly onto Onean's wrist. From the resentful look in her eyes, he could already tell what she was thinking. "You're still no match for them right now. We still have some troops in the east, and they should be able to last sometime. While Lazaar is wiping out those troops with his forces, find an opportunity to get away from here."

"But Father..." Onean was astonished to hear this. The thought of leaving her father behind for her own survival had never even crossed her mind for an instant.

"Don't argue with me, Onean. There's no way that Lazaar is going to allow me to leave this place alive today. If you stay with me, you'll just be losing your life in futility with me." The wound that had been inflicted by Gilgen's sword was really beginning to take a toll on Cameron's body now, and his breathing was becoming more and more sharp and ragged. Even so, he continued to stare intently at Onean as he said in a trembling voice, "Listen to me: you have to live on. Return to Sarus, and our Cameron Family will still have a chance to make a resurgence."

Onean knew that this was the best course of action for the greater good, and she nodded in response, but she didn't dare to look into her father's eyes for fear that her father would be able to see how vulnerable and fearful she was feeling.

A benevolent look appeared on Cameron's as he looked at his prized daughter. He began to envision her with the royal crown sitting on her head. He envisioned how joyful she would look in her wedding dress and how she would be surrounded by her own children and loving husband in the future. The thought that he wouldn't be with her as she achieved all of those milestones in life brought a film of tears to his eyes.

...

Meanwhile, Count Friar grabbed onto Erwin, who was struggling just to stay conscious, and Lana immediately flew away from the two to give them some privacy.

"Do you still remember how you asked me whether that turtle analogy had been told to me by your mother?" Friar asked as he looked at Erwin with a smile on his face. "I can tell you now that it was indeed her who had told me that analogy."

Erwin was rather perplexed about why his father was talking about something so seemingly trivial in such an urgent situation, but what his father said next came as a massive shock to him.

"Your mother is in the north. You should go to see her. I'm sure that with your skills and smarts, you'll definitely be able to find her. I already told you where all of the money in our manor is being stored, so I'd advise you to pay a visit back to Sarus, then set off right away," Friar said before taking a step back to carefully look Erwin up and down, then patted Erwin on the shoulder with a proud expression. "I've never said this to you before, but I'm genuinely very happy that I was able to be your father this lifetime. I won't be around to protect you in the future, so you have to be careful out there and be sparing with your money."

Erwin stared blankly at his own father, at a complete loss for what to say. A lump had suddenly formed in his throat, and it didn't even register in his mind that he had just been told that his mother was still alive. While he was using his time and space magic earlier, all of his emotions had been completely drained, yet now, his mind was being assaulted by all manners of powerful emotions, and the sudden and intense emotional influx struck him with a splitting headache, making his brain very sluggish at the same time.

While Erwin was still standing on the spot in a daze, Count Friar helped onto the back of a horse, which was also carrying Master Piro's body.

"Take your teacher with you as well. He hasn't had an easy life, and he deserves a proper burial, so you have to take his body back with you," Count Friar said as he tossed Professor Hawk's onto the back of the horse as well. Before Erwin had a chance to return to his senses, Count Friar gave the rear end of the horse a vicious slap, and the horse immediately neighed with pain as it set off on a gallop, rushing directly toward the wall of ice up ahead.

"Father!" Only after he began bouncing up and down on horseback was Erwin finally jolted back to his senses, and he immediately turned around with a panicked expression, but at this point, the horse had already traveled over 100 feet. He stared at his father's lonesome figure on the chaotic and unforgiving battlefield, and he was struggling to come to terms with this abrupt farewell.

Count Friar looked on as the figure on horseback sped away further and further into the distance, and he felt as if a massive load had been shed from his shoulders. He then picked up a golden lion's head flag that was lying beside his foot, then hurled it toward the wall of ice ahead of Erwin.

No sooner had the flag plunged into the wall of ice did a burst of formidable golden sword intent arrive, and the wall of ice conjured up by the church magicians was instantly shattered into countless pieces.

"Go!" Cameron immediately gave Onean a firm shove on the back, and she was sent flying toward the southeast.

She instinctively reached out to grab onto her father, only to see him drifting further and further away from her fingertips, and she knew that this was farewell. She gritted her teeth as she forced herself to turn around and leave everything behind, no longer looking back in fear that looking at her father any longer would shake her resolve to leave.