Erwin tried to use his magic power to forcibly prevent this matter from flowing into the light shield, but the entire light shield was like a turbulent sea, while Erwin's magic power was like a small raft that was only just barely keeping itself afloat. What was even more terrifying was that the spherical light shield was like a vortex that was constantly sapping away his magic power. At this point, his face was already completely devoid of color, and his magic power was about to be completely exhausted very soon.

Erwin looked out at the chaotic black arcane spell that was close to covering the entire surface of the spherical shield, and he could only pray that Lana was powerful enough to break this spherical shield soon. Otherwise, it wouldn't take long before he was completely sucked dry. 

At this point, Lana was also beginning to notice the strange condition that Erwin was in. She could clearly sense that Erwin's magic power was being rapidly expended, and she could also sense that his magic power was close to being completely exhausted.

None of the students in the classroom had witnessed such a perilous clash before, and all of them had risen to their feet with anxious expressions. In fact, many of them had already turned around to look at the lecturer, wondering if he was going to step in soon. The lecturer himself was looking at the two people on the stage with tightly furrowed brows. He could sense that this battle had already gone well beyond the realm of intermediate magicians. Setting aside the fact that the red-haired student's powers were very close to, or perhaps even superior to his own, what was that spherical light shield that Erwin had conjured up? It was something that went completely beyond the scope of magic, and he couldn't comprehend what it was!

The lecturer had naturally also identified that Erwin was in trouble, and he immediately whipped out his staff to unleash several advanced spells toward the spherical shield. However, as soon as those spells made contact with the light shield, they were immediately absorbed into it, unable to inflict any damage upon the shield. A bewildered look of astonishment appeared on his face as he stared at the spherical light shield.

Meanwhile, Lana looked on as the thorny black vines slammed into the spherical light shield over and over again, but the effect was downright negligible. An urgent look appeared in her eyes, which began to glow with brilliant radiance, and her long red hair rose up all around her. The black flame that was burning above her head began to expand rapidly to form a powerful black vortex. Gusts of fierce wind were sweeping through the entire classroom, causing the magician robes of many of the students to flap incessantly.

The powerful black flames that were surging into Lana's body were causing her immense pain, and her pinkish gray cape was flapping wildly amid the magic turbulence. She was biting down onto her own lower lip with such force that she was drawing blood, which was trickling down from the corner of her lips. However, she paid no heed to that as she stared intently at the thorny black vines wrapped around the spherical light shield.

With the increased influx of arcane power, the thorny black vines crawling all over the spherical light shield seemed to have been completely revitalized, sprouting countless back tentacles that frantically slammed into the spherical light shield over and over again. Finally, the light shield began to waver, and some of the light that was adhered to the surface of the spherical shield began to fade, forming dark patches on the light shield.

The lecturer unleashed around a dozen penetrative spells of all types of different attributes upon seeing this, aiming the spells directly at the dark patches on the spherical light shield, and he was finally able to break through it.

All of a sudden, all types of matter surged out of the openings that were created on the light shield, which then immediately disintegrated.

Erwin was gulping down lungfuls of air, feeling as if he had just survived another near-death encounter. A hint of color finally returned to his cheeks, and he could sense that not even a single ounce of magic power was left in his body. If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to humiliate himself in front of the entire class, he would've already fallen unconscious. Furthermore, he could feel that some of the wounds on his chest had been torn open again due to the turbulent churning of the magic power within his body from earlier.

Lana was also exhausted after unleashing that arcane spell, and her legs almost gave out from under her in the instant that the black flame faded.

The lecturer heaved a long sigh of relief upon seeing this. With his current status, there was no way that the academy would stand up for him at the expense of offending the noble families. As such, if something had happened to Erwin just now, he would've been in a world of trouble.

"Alright, both of you have displayed exceptional abilities. You can return to your seats to rest now," the lecturer said as he forced a calm and composed look on his own face.

Meanwhile, all of the students in the classroom were staring at Erwin's duo as if they were looking at a pair of monsters.

Larwood's trio looked on with astonished expressions as Erwin returned to his seat, and they suddenly felt like he was extremely unfamiliar to them. They had grown up together and were as close and inseparable as brothers, but the magic that he was using was completely incomprehensible to them.

"Thank you... If it wasn't for you, I would've..." After returning to his seat, Erwin took a glance at Lana, and a hint of guilt welled up in his heart at the sight of the blood trickling down from the corner of her lips. He had been so cold and forbidding toward her earlier, yet in that dire situation, it was her who had saved him.

"I didn't want to save you, but if you died only a few days after our battle, the implications for me would be disastrous!" Lana heaved a faint sigh as she laid down onto her desk to rest. "That's not something I'm keen to do again anytime soon! I've learned some arcane spells in the past before, but the arcane spells in that book of yours are far more vicious!"

"Wait, you're telling me that the spell you just used is one that you just learned? That was an arcane spell from the book?" Erwin asked with an incredulous expression.

"It sure was! Didn't you see how much the backlash from the arcane spell hurt me?" Lana replied as she rolled her eyes at Erwin.

Seeing the perplexed look on Erwin's face, she explained in a resigned voice, "You really do need to book up on your magic theory. Arcane spells are different from normal spells in that they involve absorbing large amounts of magic energy from the outside world before releasing it through the caster of the spell, and when unleashed, arcane spells will inflict backlash upon the caster."

No wonder she looked like she was in so much pain when the black flames descended onto her. Erwin thought to himself.

"You learned that arcane spell way too quickly! Did you really only learn it just now from that book?" Erwin asked as he cast his gaze toward that copy of "The Origins of Arcane Spells".

Lana was too tired to reply, and she continued to lie on the table while resting on her check as she flipped through the pages of "The Origins of Arcane Spells", then pointed a finger at one of the pages as she said, "Here, this is the one."

"The many attacking weapons of the Arcane Inferno Black Dragon..." Erwin looked at the title of the chapter, then briefly read a few passages. Sure enough, the arcane spell that she had used really was described in the chapter, and Erwin couldn't help but develop a sense of admiration toward Lana.

I can't believe there are people this ridiculously talented! Erwin thought to himself.

He then thought about how he was still yet to master the second chapter of the "Laws of Time and Space", and how he had almost killed himself just now, and he suddenly felt like a deflated balloon.

"By the way, what was that spherical shield that you conjured up? It didn't look like a normal magic shield," Lana asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"It's no big deal, it's just a shield that contains a space in which time stands still," Erwin replied with a wry smile.

"A space in which time stands still? How can you make time stand still?" Lana was suddenly reinvigorated upon hearing this.

"I just think about how I want time to stop, and the power of my thoughts makes time stop," Erwin replied with a half-hearted lie. He was grateful to Lana for saving him, but there was no way that he was going to tell her about the secrets of "Laws of Time and Space".

"Tch, I save your life and this is how you repay me? I should've just left you to be sucked dry," Lana grumbled in a disgruntled voice.

"You tried to kill me once and you saved my life once, so doesn't that make us even now?" Erwin chuckled.

"I feel like you're different from most magicians..." A perplexed look appeared in Lana's eyes as she thought back to Erwin's unorthodox style of battle. "You don't seem to be as persistent in your pursuit of magic power. Instead, you seem to be more proficient when it comes to the concepts of matter, space, and time."

"You make me sound far better than I am. In reality, I'm just lazy, so I'm always looking for shortcuts," Erwin replied in a self-deprecating manner. He was also feeling a little tired, so he laid down onto his desk like Lana.

Unlike other girls of her age, Lana wasn't shy in the slightest, and she was staring unabashedly at Erwin as if she were trying to see through him, allowing her luscious red hair to drape down lazily onto the desk around her. A ray of sunlight was shining through the window and spilling down onto her delicate cheek, highlighting the barely detectable red flush on her face, which was perhaps a result of the physical exertion from the backlash of the arcane spell.

Even though the two of them were lying on their desks and openly chatting with one another, the lecturer didn't dare to say anything. 

Finally, it was time for the end of the lesson, and Larwood and the others turned to Erwin with an inquisitive look, posing him a wordless question: "Do you wanna go have some fun?"

Erwin shook his head in response with a wry smile. Even if he had the heart, he simply didn't have the energy.

Larwood took a subtle glance at Lana, who was still resting on her table, then nodded at Erwin with a knowing look on his face, giving Erwin his support and blessings. Chase and Kaiba immediately caught on as well, and they gave Erwin the same understanding nod.

Erwin couldn't retaliate, so he could only allow them to do as they pleased.

Lana had naturally spotted what they were doing, but she had no interest in dealing with Larwood and the others anyway, so she simply turned a blind eye to their antics.

Larwood and the others knew that their presence was unnecessary here, so they promptly departed.

"I'll be taking this book back with me. You can treat this as repayment for saving your life." Lana yawned as she stretched lazily, then picked up the book and turned to leave.

"Hey, you... I..." Erwin stood up to stop her.

"What? You're not going to let me take this book?" Lana asked as she turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"No, it's fine. Just remember to return it to me when you're finished with it," Erwin replied in a resigned manner.

He looked on with furrowed brows as her gorgeous figure passed through the columns of sunlight shining through the floor-to-ceiling windows, but a faint smile was creeping onto his face.