Erwin had paid a heavy price for his compassion and lapse in concentration.

Under normal circumstances, he definitely wouldn't have been such a pushover against an opponent like this. However, his opponent on this occasion was a woman, and quite a beautiful one, at that, so that was already one of his weaknesses. It seemed that Erwin simply could never bring himself to kill beautiful women.

Even more importantly, he was thinking that if he were to absorb, convert, and devour the body of elemental matter that was Theresa, then after she met her demise, not even a single trace of her would be left behind. It would be as if she truly never existed in this world. Having said that, given the current level of his abilities, it was still quite difficult to execute the aforementioned process.

From Erwin's perspective, one's body was the best proof that they had once existed in this world. This viewpoint of his was actually very narrow-minded as well, and in reality, he knew that there were many ways to prove that one had once existed in this world.

He was able to bury the body of his teacher, Professor Hawk, with his own two hands, but he was unable to provide a proper burial for his own father, and that was something that had always weighed on his heart. Hence, he was quite stubborn toward the idea that one could only truly rest in peace with a complete body that was buried in the earth.

In fact, there was even a strange notion that he was grappling with deep down in his own heart, which was that if he were to dispel the body of elemental matter that was Theresa, then that would be the equivalent of erasing her entire existence. Erasing one's existence was fundamentally different from the killing he had done in the past. To put it in simpler terms, he had no qualms with killing people, but he was quite remiss to deny one's entire existence through his own actions.

Hence, Erwin was quite reluctant to strike back against Theresa and was rather hesitant about how to proceed.

"Are you done already? Is that all you've got?" Theresa's seductive voice rang out beside Erwin's ears once again.

At this point, she had already transformed into a wave that had tightly enveloped Erwin, who was panting heavily.

"Get out of here... I don't want to have to remove you from this world," Erwin said in a strained voice as he fought to suppress the physical agony he was feeling. The wave around his body was becoming tighter and tighter, and he felt as if his own arms were about to sink into his ribs.

Theresa was initially of the opinion that Erwin was only bluffing, but her smile suddenly stiffened ever so slightly.

Despite the agonized look on Erwin's face, there was also a hint of fierceness in his eyes, and that was telling her that Erwin wasn't just bluffing, that even though she was posing a very real threat to his life, he was making the decision to spare her out of the kindness of his heart. In reality, Erwin really wasn't just bluffing. Instead, he really did have a way to take care of her. Perhaps with his current level of magic power, he wouldn't be able to completely control the elemental matter that Theresa's body consisted of, but all he needed was to find an opportunity where Theresa unleashed an all-out attack against his light shield, and he'd be able to completely push her into a space-time rift.

All of the emotions that were flashing through Erwin's eyes, including that faint hint of compassion, were clearly captured by Theresa.

"You don't need to take pity on me!" Theresa said with an enraged expression, but in reality, she couldn't help but be moved by the compassion and empathy that Erwin was displaying toward her.

She had never revealed to anyone else the fact that she had modified her own body into elemental matter, and even her father, Duke Eru, was completely unaware of this. This was because she felt like there was no need to let anyone know about this. Furthermore, in her eyes, this wasn't a very significant matter at all. For her, it didn't really matter in what form she lived and existed. Hence, her first reaction to seeing Erwin's expression just now was a sense of amusement.

However, in addition to that, she was also struck by some other emotions. She could sense Erwin's sympathy toward her, and she had thought that she would be quite averse to receiving pity from the enemy, even offended, but instead, she found her own resolve wavering, and this was something that she had never felt before.

"Don't flatter yourself," Erwin said in an indifferent voice. "Take a look at how beautiful all of the women around me are. You think I'm taking pity on you? Do you think I've fallen for you?"

Not only was Theresa not enraged to hear this, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she immediately withdrew the wave that was constricting Erwin's body. The blue wave of water returned to its original form as her body, and thus, Theresa reappeared in front of Erwin as a beautiful young woman.

"I'm not going to resist, and I'm just going to let you do as you please. Let's see if you have the guts to do anything to me." Theresa wound an arm around Erwin's waist as she spoke, and she raised her face to look up at him with a provocative smile.

After taking a glance at Erwin, Theresa turned around to look at Onean, who was standing not far away, and the provocation in her eyes became even more pronounced.

Onean averted her gaze with a cold expression. She had a rough idea of what Erwin was thinking, and she couldn't help but denounce him internally. In her eyes, it was almost inevitable at this point that Erwin was going to die by the hands of a woman someday.

Meanwhile, Lanyon was inspecting the battlefield from the airship, and he could see that Shiba and the others had already surrounded Count Onen's group, so he knew that he wouldn't have a chance to make a meaningful contribution in this battle. Thus, he was looking around in an absentminded manner when he caught sight of Theresa with her arm around Erwin, and a stunned look appeared on his face as he hurriedly leaned over the railing of the airship for a closer look. At the same time, he couldn't help but be impressed by Erwin's ability to draw women regardless of the circumstances.

Sherry and Georgina were situated in the west, and they had also caught sight of what was happening between Erwin and Theresa. They were just as impressed as Lanyon was, but at the same time, they were also somewhat accustomed to seeing this. After all, the three of them had witnessed Erwin's performance during the Pillow Sword Tournament.

Erwin crossed his arms as he averted his gaze away from Theresa's face, looking into the distance with a cold expression.

"What? You can't do it, after all?" Theresa sneered.

"If you really want to die so badly, then I can send you on your way," Erwin said as he cast a cold gaze toward the woman before him.

Theresa raised her chin with a smile as she challenged, "Go ahead! Look, I'm not even planning to resist."

"You really are insane," Erwin cast his gaze elsewhere as he wiped away the blood that was trickling down from the corners of his lips.

"You're a very interesting person, I have to say," Theresa said as she watched Erwin with an amused expression.

"How so?" Erwin asked as he took a glance at her.

"We've only met once before this, right?"

"What are you trying to say?"

"What does my survival have to do with you?"

"Nothing."

"In that case, why are you so reluctant to kill me?"

Erwin offered no reply to this.

"Why do you care so much whether I live or die?" Theresa asked with an amused expression with her eyes fixed firmly on Erwin's face.

"Aren't you overanalyzing the situation?" Erwin asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"You weren't so hesitant back when you struck down Cheren."

"But I didn't kill him, either."

"Don't try to placate me with that excuse, you just couldn't kill him because there were so many other people on the scene. If you had been alone with Cheren, he would already be dead," Theresa countered in an unconvinced voice.

"Alright, so what exactly are you trying to say?" Erwin was starting to grow a little impatient at this point.

"Are you that afraid to answer my question?" Theresa chuckled as she took a glance at Erwin.

"Let me reverse the roles here: why aren't you killing me?" Erwin asked with an amused expression, turning the question back onto Theresa.

Theresa immediately locked her fingers around Erwin's throat as a cold smile appeared on her face. "You think I wouldn't dare?"

Erwin was forced to raise his chin slightly by Theresa's strangulation, but there wasn't even the slightest hint of fear in his eyes. Despite the seemingly vulnerable situation that he was in, he didn't appear to be fazed at all.

Theresa's fury was only exacerbated upon seeing this, but the force that she was exerting with her hand only lessened over time. In the end, it was almost as if she were only caressing Erwin's throat with her hand.

This scene was rather reminiscent of the mural that Erwin had drawn in the Holy Jade Cathedral, and it was difficult to say who was the victim here.

Erwin swatted her hand aside as he challenged, "Weren't you acting all menacing just now? Why are you hesitating now that it's actually time to act? You keep asking me why I don't want to kill you, but how about you direct that question at yourself? Could it be that you're also in a sympathetic mood today?"

Theresa wasn't looking into Erwin's eyes as these questions were being raised. Instead, she was staring blankly at his chest with an absentminded expression, and all of a sudden, she burst into inexplicable laughter.

After that, she raised her head to look up at him in silence, then inched her lips closer to his ear as she whispered, "You really are an interesting little toy."

As for whether Theresa was trying to covet Erwin, that was up to Onean to decide. She couldn't hear exactly what Theresa had said, but she could roughly ascertain what had just been said by reading Theresa's lips.

Erwin faltered slightly upon hearing this, then met Theresa's gaze with his own, and the two of them stared at each other for a while.

Erwin then cocked his head to the with a provocative expression, making no attempt to disguise the mockery in his eyes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Theresa's expression suddenly fell again, and she was putting the fickle nature of a woman's mood on full display.

"You're just a little girl, yet you're trying to act all tough in front of me," Erwin chuckled. "You haven't even experienced what it's like to be with a man, have you?"

A lecherous look appeared in Erwin's eyes as he spoke.

"What a pity," he continued as he pursed his lips with a disappointed expression. "You have such a beautiful body, yet you threw it away."

To Erwin's surprise, not only was Theresa not infuriated by this, an ambiguous smile appeared on her face as she said, "You're severely underestimating me."

Erwin was completely rooted to the spot upon hearing this, unsure of exactly what Theresa was referring to by her statement.

"Also, I bet she hasn't given you a taste, either, isn't that right?" Theresa asked with an amused smile as she shot a glance at Onean.

It was Erwin's turn to feel awkward now.

Looking at the expression on Erwin's face, Theresa knew that she had struck the nail right on the head, and she immediately burst into laughter without making attempt to hide her amusement.

"Who's the one that's actually acting all tough here?" Theresa was making sure to rub as much salt into Erwin's wounds as possible.

Erwin gritted his teeth with anger and embarrassment, and he suddenly bit down onto Theresa's ear right when she was least expecting it.