All of a sudden, she let loose a delicate cry, and a bolt of black lightning fell from the heavens before striking her directly on the top of her head.

Violent and chaotic arcane energy immediately began to surge mercilessly through her body, causing her to sweat profusely as her face took on an ashen complexion, but she had no other alternative. In the face of so many powerful martial artists, she had to accumulate an enormous amount of magic energy in a short time in order to ward off their attacks.

Meanwhile, Brad was looking on at Lana with a sympathetic expression, unwilling to attack her. He wanted nothing more than to swoop in and save her like a knight in shining armor, but he didn't dare to do so for fear of ruining his own future in the True Light Church.

Even though he was refraining from attacking Lana, in reality, he had already made a decision in his mind. The sight of Lana's agonized expression made him feel as if his heart were throbbing with pain, but of course, for men, this type of pain was never very severe. Either that or it would come to pass in a short time, anyway.

While Brad was making a pretentious display of sympathy toward Lana, purple magic energy was erupting out of the Shaved Purple Gem staff in her hand.

Immediately thereafter, the sound of dragon roars and phoenix cries rang out in unison.

The cold look in Lana's eyes seemed to be emphasizing that she didn't require pity or sympathy from anyone, especially not from someone like Brad.

A ferocious dragon and a mighty phoenix had been summoned, both of which were imbued with the darkness attribute, and they were attacking the True Light Church priests around Lana with formidable power.

The priests were all wearing suits of heavy armor and excelled in defense, but in the face of the powerful arcane spells that were imbued with severe negative status conditions, they were forced to focus solely on defense and couldn't arrange any effective assault against Lana.

Several of the priests had been struck head-on by Lana's spells, and they were so feeble that they couldn't even remain on their feet anymore.

The remaining priests were struggling to contend with the dragon and phoenix duo, and they couldn't pose much of a threat at all to Lana.

"What are you still waiting for, Brad?" Sirius's cold voice rang out from the altar.

Brad shuddered slightly upon hearing this, then heaved an internal sigh before finally releasing the chained swords hidden up his sleeve, sending them flying through the air.

Lana was also waiting for him to attack.

If it weren't for the fact that she had to be extra careful because she was being attacked by so many people at once, Lana wouldn't have paid any attention to someone like Brad. In fact, under normal circumstances, she wouldn't even have spared a glance at the walking baguette.

As she cast her gaze toward Brad, the disdain that she felt for him was unintentionally displayed through her eyes.

Brad had heard about Lana and Erwin's romantic battle during the Pillow Sword Tournament, and looking at the cold derision in Lana's eyes now, he was feeling extremely humiliated and insulted. A crushing sense of inferiority was surging repeatedly through his heart, intermingled with intense frustration.

In his unstable emotional state, he was naturally feeling rather distracted and was unable to focus all of his attention on the battle as a result.

Even though he was a martial artist who specialized in assassination, he was quickly struck by quite a few of Lana's instant-release spells while engaging her in close-quarters combat.

Immediately thereafter, Lana was able to easily nullify Brad's attack with a swift sidestep.

As she did so, a hint of derision flashed through her eyes once again, dealing yet another blow to Brad's fragile ego.

Looking at the woman before her, he knew that the gap between them was something that he would be unable to bridge even if he spent his entire life trying, and that was the reason why he had dedicated himself so wholeheartedly to the True Light Church.

If he were to pursue a woman like Lana through more conventional avenues, there would be absolutely no chance for him.

As the battle wore on, Brad's inferiority and frustration only continued to build, and finally, he reached a breaking point as he threw his head back and roared to the heavens.

However, Lana didn't even appear to have seen that, and she displayed no reaction to Brad's guttural roar.

In the face of the pair of silver chains that were flashing toward her, one of which was aimed directly at her face while the other was hurtling toward her lower body, she remained completely unfazed as dazzling purple light began to glow behind her.

As it turned out, she had already prepared her Shadowgleam Sword Array for Brad.

Even though this was a battle of life and death, Lana was still holding back as she had no intention of taking Brad's life.

At the very least, the two of them had shared a meal together, and she had also clearly detected the hesitation that Brad had displayed prior to attacking her.

An agonized howl rang out as Brad was sent flying by the storm of oncoming swords, only coming to a rest after crashing heavily into a stone pillar behind him.

His entire body was riddled with sword wounds of different sizes at this point.

"As expected of Princess Lana. Looks like these subordinates of mine are no match for you," Sirius said with a cold smile while continuing to inject magic power into his staff with one hand.

Lana cast a cold gaze toward him and offered no reply. She knew that Sirius didn't have the spare capacity to attack her.

With that in mind, she sprang up into the air without hesitation, then unleashed a devastating burst of flames from the Shaved Purple Gem staff.

The priests of the True Light Church were still completely preoccupied by the dragon and phoenix duo, so none of them were able to come to Sirius's aid.

However, there was no trace of panic whatsoever on Sirius's face as he looked at the oncoming wave of fire.

His brows furrowed slightly as he raised his spare hand, swinging his palm through the air to oppose Lana's spell.

Immediately thereafter, the surging flames gradually subsided as Sirius repeatedly swatted his hands through the air from side to side.

Lana was astonished to see what Sirius had just done, and she had no idea how he had accomplished this.

He hadn't conjured up any spells like magic shields to defend himself, nor had he unleashed any offensive spells of his own to nullify the wave of fire. Instead, he had taken on the spell with his bare hand, and in the aftermath, he was able to remain completely unscathed somehow.

Where had the magic energy imbued within the burst of fire gone?

This seemed to go against the fundamental laws of magic!

Right at this moment, something that her teacher had said to her flashed through Lana's mind: "This staff has perhaps witnessed the passage of more time than you can imagine."

Mistress Faye had been referring to Erwin's staff at the time, and given Lana's intelligence, she was immediately able to understand that what Mistress Faye had said had something to do with the influence that time and space magic had on the rate of passage of time.

With that in mind, Lana came to a startling realization. "You're also a time and space magician!"

Never would Lana have imagined that the pope of the True Light Church would be a time and space magician.

The spell that she had just unleashed appeared to have vanished within the span of mere moments, but in reality, it could've endured the passage of several decades!

"Oh?" A surprised look appeared on Sirius's face as he cast his gaze toward Lana, following which he quickly burst into laughter. It was clear that he had realized what Lana was referring to by the word "also".

"I see. It looks like you've managed to learn quite a bit about time and space magic through your relationship with Erwin Friar."

Lana harrumphed coldly in response, and it was unclear whether she was denying what Sirius had said or if she was simply incensed by the mention of Erwin.

"You're a very impressive man, Pope Sirius," Lana mused as she cast a meaningful gaze toward Sirius.

By impressive, she wasn't just referring to Sirius's time and space magic. Instead, she was also referring to the True Light Church's deception of both King Cameron and now Emperor Lazaar, as well as the sinister role that Sirius had clearly played during the Pillow Sword Tournament.

A cold smile appeared on Sirius's face upon hearing this. "What are you trying to say?"

"You were the one who poisoned my brother, weren't you?" Lana asked, and her eyes were filled with such glacial contempt that it felt as if even the air temperature in the temple had plummeted significantly.

"Wow, your wisdom is truly unmatched, Princess Lana. I didn't think you would be able to make the connection so quickly," Sirius said with a hint of mockery in his eyes.

"The fact that you're admitting to this so openly means that you clearly don't intend to let me leave this place alive, is that right?"

"You should've already prepared yourself to die from the moment you set foot into this divine temple," Sirius said, and despite what he was saying, his voice was completely devoid of killing intent. Instead, it was as if he was chatting about the weather and was going about it in a very casual fashion.

"In that case, if my fate is sealed anyway, then I may as well get all the answers I want to hear," Lana said with an unfazed smile, seemingly completely unperturbed by the notion of death.

"What are you doing here?" Lana asked as she cast her gaze toward the universe of Fall Crystals behind Sirius.

"I am summoning the True Light Holy Lord," Sirius replied in a calm voice.

A hint of ridicule flashed through Lana's eyes upon hearing this, but she didn't openly express it. For someone like her, who didn't believe in the religion of the True Light Church, she was already affording Sirius the utmost respect by not laughing directly in his face after hearing his response.

However, Sirius was extremely enraged by the hint of mockery that had flashed through Lana's eyes.

"So that's why you went out of your way to get all of these Fall Crystals into this divine temple," Lana said with a mocking expression. She didn't believe that those so-called deities could truly descend into this world, but the adamant look on Sirius's face told her that there may be some credibility to his claims.

In her eyes, there was no way that Sirius would work so extensively toward something that was completely futile, so her firm stance on denying the existence of deities was beginning to waver slightly.

"You know nothing, you foolish heathen!" Sirius roared, completely losing his composure.

Sirius no longer wanted to speak with Lana any further, and he made a pinching motion toward her with a frosty expression.

Lana immediately let loose an agonized groan, and she could feel the space around her compressing violently toward her from all directions. In that instant, she felt as if her skin were about to completely bunch up together, and that all of her bodily fluids were about to be squeezed out of her body.

"There's no way that a foolish heathen like you could comprehend the profound nature of time and space," Sirius said with a derisive smile. At this point, Lana had already curled up into a ball, and he was thoroughly enjoying the sight of the agonized look on her face.

As for Lana herself, her consciousness was already beginning to fade, and her eyes were filled with powerlessness and despair. She was still unable to understand why Sirius was so terrifyingly powerful.

Lana was a grand magic mentor, yet with just a pinch of Sirius's hand, she was already on the brink of death, and that was truly astonishing.

Lana couldn't help but wonder just how fearsome Sirius was. 

Even in the face of magicians and martial artists of the same caliber as Master Piro and King Cameron, Lana was confident that there was no way they could defeat her with just a single attack. 

Hence, there had to be something suspicious going on here.

The vast majority of people in the world had extremely limited knowledge of the uses of Fall Crystals, and their understanding of time and space magic wouldn't be much better. In reality, Sirius's magic power was rather mediocre, and the only reason why he was able to wield so much time and space power was because of these Fall Crystals.

However, Lana was unaware of this.

It looked as if Sirius were injecting magic power into his staff, but in reality, he was absorbing the energy from the Fall Crystals.

Each time and space magician pursued a different direction when it came to their research into time and space. The direction that Sirius had been working tirelessly toward was to maximize the usage of Fall Crystal ore, while Erwin was a complete novice when it came to this field.

At this moment, Brad was leaning against the stone pillar in the distance, and listening to Lana's excruciating wails, he felt as if he were also experiencing her agony, but he was unable to do anything aside from punch the stone pillar behind him in fury and frustration. It seemed that the woman of his dreams was about to die before his very eyes.

At this point in the story, it was time for him to swoop in and save the damsel in distress. As for whether that would lead to a romance blossoming between him and Lana, that was still yet to be seen.

Of course, that only happened in the storylines of typical novels. In the real world, a baguette was still just a baguette, and becoming a hero was something that was far beyond him. The injuries that he had sustained from Lana's Shadowgleam Sword Array were too severe, so all he could do was sit and watch.

At this point, Lana no longer even had the energy to cry out anymore. She stared at the Shaved Purple Gem staff in silence, and a gentle look flashed through her agonized eyes, while a bitter smile appeared on her face. "Looks like I won't be able to go and look for you in the north."

She wound her arms tightly around the staff as she spoke, and the tears that fell from her eyes dripped down onto the Shaved Purple Gem on the tip of the staff.

Memories of her life flashed through her eyes, and she felt a deep sense of guilt and unease toward her family, but when it came to Erwin, there was only a sense of bittersweet longing.

If I can be reincarnated, I want to become a Springlay Fox in my next life. I'd sacrifice my body to be brewed into a magic potion to save your life in your time of need. If that happens, you'll have to owe me your entire life, Lana thought to herself as she closed her eyes, and a content smile gradually appeared on her face.

Meanwhile, Erwin was standing on the deck of the airship in the town of Lomu, and for some reason, he had been feeling very much on edge the entire day. He couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

His brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at the small magic potion vial in his hand, which contained the tears of Lana that he had collected right before they had parted ways in Sarus.

All of a sudden, a gust of fierce wind blew past, and the vial was shattered out of the blue.