These were times of unrest, and turmoil was brewing in the Fulway Empire, both in the Boll Dukedom of the southwest, and the Fano Dukedom of the south. In these chaotic times, many figures were rising up from obscurity, and chief among them was Erwin, the commander of the Universal Church Freedom Army.

It seemed that Erwin had no intention of allowing the unrest to settle anytime soon.

His plan was to conquer Newfando before winter arrived, by which point the Universal Church Freedom Army would've taken over the entire Boll Dukedom. After all, winter was a very harsh season to wage a war in, and if they were to delay the conquest of Newfando until winter arrived, then they would have to wait until spring the next year. Furthermore, he didn't want to allow Duke Eru and Theresa any respite.

During the past few months of recruitment, the freedom army had amassed over 10,000 troops. In addition to that, Onean was a perfect counter to Theresa's Demonic Puppet Legion, so Erwin was very confident that Newfando was there for the taking.

However, there was something that was constantly bothering him, and that was the mystery of his assassin's identity.

Never would Erwin have imagined that his assassin would've pursued him all the to Zans.

It was a misty morning, and Erwin was hurrying somewhere, accompanied by his personal guards. At this point, Yuho had already miraculously woken up under the care of Onean and her magic potions and been taken to a residential home by Erwin. Erwin had left Faya in the home to look after Yuho as he was still yet to fully recover from his injuries and couldn't move around without assistance, so someone had to be present to take care of his needs. Furthermore, this was a delicate task that wasn't suited to men. If Erwin were to leave someone like Chinba to look after Yuho, Yuho's chances of surviving in his frail condition would not have been very optimistic. After considering all of the people around him, Erwin decided that Faya was the only one who had the time and energy to perform this task. He had thought that Faya would object to this arrangement, but to his surprise, she happily agreed after hearing about how Yuho had selflessly taken that arrow for Erwin.

On this day, Erwin was on his way to visit Yuho.

All of a sudden, a green arrow shot out of the dense mist toward him with unbridled killing intent.

One of his personal guards was unable to react in time, and he only just managed to turn around before he was pinned to the wooden wall of a residential home, perishing on the spot.

"Everyone, be on alert!" Erwin roared, and the remaining guards immediately drew their weapons before forming a circle around Erwin with their backs facing him.

The assassin made an annoyed sound in the wake of his failed assassination attempt. He knew that Erwin was already prepared, so this assassination attempt was also a failure. He didn't want to engage in senseless slaughter, and he knew that killing those guards wouldn't serve any meaningful purpose, so he immediately decided to retreat.

"Pack everything up, we're leaving," the middle-aged man said as he patted Stinkbag on the shoulder.

At this moment, Stinkbag was holding a pair of daggers while peering into the dense mist with a wary expression. If anyone dared to approach them, then they'd immediately be met by a fierce assault from her.

"You failed again?" Stinkbag asked as she took a glance at the middle-aged man, then quickly sheathed her blades before disassembling a compound cross-shaped arcuballista in a well-rehearsed fashion and storing it back into the wooden box.

"Just admit that you're old," Stinkbag jeered in a mocking voice as she looked at the middle-aged man's white sideburns.

"You need to learn when to shut up, Stinkbag," the middle-aged man snapped as he kicked the back of one of Stinkbag's knees.

Stinkbag almost fell to one knee after receiving that kick, but the wooden box on her back was so heavy that it acted as an anchor that kept her upright.

She pursed her lips with a resentful expression, but didn't dare to say anything further.

Shortly thereafter, the two of them vanished into the surrounding dense mist.

Ever since then, Erwin was made aware that the assassin had come to Zans. It certainly wasn't an enjoyable lifestyle, living in constant fear of one's life, so Erwin was racking his brains for a way to capture this annoying rat. It certainly wasn't unheard of for the hunter to become the hunted in situations like this one.

Recently, Shiba and Bracken had been pulled out of the barracks by Erwin and stationed on the streets of Zans to maintain law and order. The two of them were technically supposed to be patrols, but in reality, they were searching for suspicious characters in the area. Among all of Erwin's subordinates, these two had been in Zans the longest, so they'd immediately be able to identify any new faces.

However, this was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack, and it wasn't yielding any meaningful results.

Prior to Erwin setting off on his march with his army, he was unable to find any leads on the assassin.

However, taking down Newfando was his top priority, so searching for the assassin had to take a backseat.

Prior to setting off, he had a discussion with Lia about how many soldiers should be left to guard Zans. However. Lia told Erwin that he had absolute jurisdiction over all military affairs, so there was no need to discuss this matter with anyone else.

Even so, the proper procedure had to be followed. In Erwin's mind, if he were to lead all of the soldiers of the Universal Church Freedom Army out of Zans to attack Newfando, there was always the possibility that Mackney would strike with sinister intentions. The two sides were supposed to be allies at the moment, but the relationship was a very tenuous one. If Theresa were to win the battle in Newfando, there was no guarantee that Mackney wouldn't decide to jump ship. Zans was the current base of Erwin's operations, and he couldn't afford for it to fall into anyone else's hands. Having said that, with Shane acting as lookout in Tellier, Erwin would have an informant if Mackney were to try any funny business, so he wasn't particularly concerned.

Lia's opinion was that Erwin should take as many troops as he needed to take down Newfando in one fell swoop.

After some consideration, Erwin agreed with this idea.

Hence, he didn't hesitate any longer, quickly choosing a date to march for Newfando with 10,000 soldiers under his command.

Commanders like Sherry, Shiba, Bracken, and Lanyon had all been taken along by Erwin, and Christine's airship naturally accompanied the army as well. Members of the Shadowfeather Division such as Georgina and Chinba were also present. He had brought everyone into this final showdown against Theresa.

Thus, only Lia and the clergymen of the Universal Church were left in Zans.

...

In the face of the approaching Universal Church Freedom Army, Theresa did something very unexpected.

She emerged on her own and met the army alone.

Erwin's camp was set up at a mountain pass around 10 kilometers away from Newfando. The display of courage from the enemy commander was also inspiring a great deal of courage within the likes of Sherry and the others, and they were all gathered at the entrance of the encampment, ready to charge forward at any moment. However, they weren't going to do anything without receiving instructions from Erwin.

Theresa's intentions were very clear: she only wanted to meet Erwin and Onean, and she wasn't planning to fight them.

After learning her intentions, Erwin immediately went to fetch Onean.

"What? You can't deal with her on your own?" Onean was flipping lazily through the pages of a magic book, and she didn't even raise her head. It seemed that she was completely disinterested in this unexpected gesture from Theresa.

"That might be a possibility," Erwin said with a sheepish smile.

"Are you really unable to deal with her, or do you simply not want to deal with her?" Onean asked as she cast her gaze toward Erwin with a cold smile on her face.

"I'm genuinely not sure that I'll be able to deal with her," Erwin insisted.

Onean rose to her feet, and after taking a displeased glance at him, she accompanied him to the entrance of the encampment.

Everyone immediately parted to grant them free passage.

Erwin cast his gaze toward the lone purple-robed figure standing outside the encampment, and for some reason, he was struck by an inexplicable sense of sorrow. At the same time, he deeply admired Theresa for her courage in meeting the enemy army on her own. Given his and Onean's powers, they could've easily subdued her and ensured that she met her demise here.

Theresa's purple robes were flapping incessantly in the breeze, and a warm smile appeared on her face at the sight of the approaching Erwin as she happily greeted, "It's been several months since we last met. I've really missed you."

This came as quite a surprise to Erwin. After all, he was here with an army to take over Newfando. Even though Theresa was an extremely cruel and ruthless character who was willing to stoop to any means to accomplish her goals, Erwin didn't detest her on a fundamental level. That wasn't because he was attracted to Theresa or anything like that. Instead, it was because he could sense that Theresa was a far more nuanced person than her one-dimensional cruel facade suggested, and that was why he couldn't bring himself to put an end to her life.

"Are you that eager to take over my territory?" Theresa complained with a displeased pout. At this point, she had already transformed into a body of water that had enveloped Erwin. Looking at them from a distance, it was as if Erwin had been wrapped up by a humanoid seductress with a serpentine lower body. However, instead of the tail of a serpent, Theresa's lower body actually consisted of a swirling vortex of water.

White light immediately began to glow from the tip of the Everlife Chinaberry Staff in Onean's hand, and she was watching Theresa with a cold look in her golden eyes.

She wasn't worried that Theresa would attack Erwin. Instead, she was marking her territory, telling Theresa that Erwin was her man, and that she wasn't just going to stand by and watch as another woman interacted so intimately with him.

"There's no need to get so worked up now, we'll have plenty of fighting to do later," Theresa said as she looked back at Onean with a cold expression of her own.

As soon as her voice trailed off, she returned to her human form, then beckoned toward Erwin with a smile before riding toward a plain on horseback.

Erwin and Onean exchanged a glance before following along behind her. It was clear that Theresa had something to discuss with them, but others had to be excluded from the conversation. Furthermore, her statement about how "we'll have plenty of fighting to do later" made both Erwin and Onean rather wary of what was to come.

"How many soldiers did you bring with you? 10,000?" Theresa asked as she turned to Erwin. At this point, she had put on a serious expression, and it was clear that she was ready for business. It was no surprise that she was aware of the scale of Erwin's army. After all, Newfando and Zans were separated by over 100 kilometers, and during the army's march, scouts had already reported its scale to Theresa.

"What do you want to say?" Erwin asked.

"Newfando has over 20,000 soldiers," Theresa replied in an indifferent voice.

"Numbers alone can't determine the outcome of the battle," Erwin said in an unfazed manner.

"That may be true, but no matter how powerful you are, you can't ensure that you don't suffer any losses, right?"

"What are you trying to say?" Erwin asked as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I'm sure you know what allowed you to win that battle on the Canston Plain, right?" Theresa asked as she cast her gaze toward him. "Or do I have to remind you of what happened?"

"Ha, I thought you had something important to say," Erwin scoffed with a derisive sneer. "Given the quality of Mackney's troops, even if he had refrained from entering the battle and preserved all of his forces, he wouldn't have posed any threat to me anyway."

"Do you think I'd be issuing this warning if we're dealing with someone as useless as Mackney?" Theresa asked with a dark expression.

"Who are you referring to then?" Erwin asked with his brows furrowed in perplexity.

"My aunt is constantly keeping an eye on us."

"Who's your aunt?" Erwin asked, failing to realize who Theresa was referring to.

"My aunt is Duchess Silon, otherwise known as the ruler of the Delair Dukedom in the north."

Erwin took a skeptical glance at Theresa as he asked, "There's no bad blood between her and me, why would she plot against me?"

"You must think I'm only bringing up my aunt to intimidate you and stall for time, right?" Theresa asked with an amused smile.

"Is that not what's happening here?" Erwin asked/

"Have you not wondered about the identity of the one who sent that assassin after you?" Theresa asked, and the amusement in her eyes became even more pronounced. After gauging Erwin's reaction to her question, she also took a subtle glance at Onean.

She knew that given Onean's powers, she would've definitely been able to identify just how powerful that assassin was, which mean that she would've ruled out Theresa as the culprit behind this as there was no way that Theresa would've been able to recruit the service of such a powerful martial artist.

"I didn't think you'd know about that," Erwin said as he put on a surprised expression. "How can you tell me you're not behind this when you know everything that's been happening?"

He was naturally aware that with Theresa's sources, there were many avenues through which she would've been able to learn about this.

"If you insist on playing dumb and pinning the blame on me, then you can think whatever you want," Theresa snapped in a disgruntled manner.

"What I don't understand is why Duchess Silon would send an assassin after me when I've never provoked her," Erwin said with a puzzled expression.

"Perhaps she feels like you'll pose a threat to her in the future, or perhaps you're already a threat to her."

Erwin wasn't convinced by this. "I think that's a little far-fetched."

"If you want to determine whether that's a far-fetched notion or not, you can wait and see if she's going to strike after our battle. However, if you decide to do that, your victory will be worthless as Newfando will fall into the hands of someone else. On top of that, your City of Freedom is most likely going to be razed to the ground as well," Theresa sneered.

Erwin knew the significance of what Theresa was saying. If Duchess Silon really were lurking in the shadows, then this would be a massive trap that she had set up for him.