"You're more courageous than I thought," Aglea said with a faint smile as she looked at the furious young man standing before her through her mask.

Even though Erwin had lost all sense of reason from rage, he still had a basic assessment of his opponents, and he could clearly sense an aura of death and immense danger coming from the masked woman. Hence, even though he was like a wild beast that had been driven into an enraged frenzy, he couldn't help but falter slightly at the sight of this formidable foe.

He had seen many martial artists in the past who were capable of moving with incredible speed, but never had he seen anyone move in such a wraith-like manner. He had thought that the likes of Jeff and Aiden were already at the pinnacle of what martial artists could achieve when it came to speed, but only now did he realize that his assumption couldn't have been more incorrect.

However, Erwin had no intention of getting entangled in a clash with this woman. His objective was to save Lana, not to occupy himself with unnecessary battles.

With that in mind, he raised both of his hands, and around a dozen bursts of magical black flames erupted forth, instantly melting away all of the silver chains that tethered Lana to the golden pillars around her.

In her limp and unconscious state, Lana naturally fell directly into Erwin's arms now that she was no longer being held up by the chains.

Erwin knew that this was no time to be getting sentimental, but looking at her tightly furrowed brows and delicate eyelashes, he couldn't help but falter ever so slightly.

"This is a gift that I'm presenting to everyone here, taking her away in such a brazen fashion would be akin to a slap in the face for me," Aglea said in a cold voice as she swept a hand through the air to release a burst of sword energy.

The entire hall was instantly filled with blue radiance as everyone looked on with slack-jawed expressions.

All of the emperor's personal guards were exceptional martial artists themselves, but even they were put to shame by this burst of sword energy.

That casual wave of Aglea's hand was something that they couldn't replicate even with decades, perhaps even centuries of training.

It was truly unfathomable to imagine that someone was capable of wielding such extraordinary power.

Erwin didn't dare to take his opponent lightly. In the face of the oncoming sword energy, he held onto Lana with one arm while conjuring up a light shield to protect the both of them.

As soon as the tip of the sword energy made contact with the outer wall of the light shield, Erwin felt a turbulent sea of power surging toward him, threatening to devour him whole. In that instant, Erwin almost fell unconscious, and the only thing that was keeping him standing was his burning desire to save the woman he loved.

Thankfully, an icy halberd fell from the heavens to save him.

A loud thump rang out as the icy halberd clashed with the sword energy unleashed by Aglea, thereby preventing the power imbued within the sword energy to make its way into Erwin's body. If that energy had been allowed to enter his body, then he would've been dead on the spot.

Aglea wanted to take a closer look at Erwin's time and space magic, so she was naturally quite displeased to have been interrupted by the icy halberd.

Thus, she looked up with a disgruntled expression, only to discover a woman with silver hair standing in mid-air, looking down at her with a glacial look in her eyes.

Upon making the realization that Onean was a formidable magician, the displeasure in Aglea's eyes quickly gave way to excitement and elation. She had only been trying to lure out Erwin with Lana, but she had unwittingly lured out another powerful magician in the process, and she was extremely glad that she had decided to make this arrangement.

Onean descended beside Erwin, and she was just about to ask him what had happened, only to catch sight of the woman in his arms, and she had half a mind to kill him herself right then and there.

"Why is she here?" Onean asked, putting on a nonchalant facade.

"I don't know," Erwin replied with a shake of his head, and his robes were already drenched in cold sweat. "Forget that, we have to think about how to get out of here."

Even though Onean's intervention had warded off a great deal of the power imbued within the burst of sword energy, what remained was still enough to put Erwin through severe torment.

"By the way, how did you arrive so quickly?" Erwin asked with a wry smile.

"I heard some commotion going on inside, and all of the servants were rushing into the hall in a panic, so I decided to come and take a look, and sure enough, you're the one causing all this trouble, as usual," Onean replied. She and Erwin were standing with their backs to one another, and they were both inspecting their surroundings with wary expressions.

"It seems like trouble always has a knack for finding me," Erwin said with a faint smile. Even though his face was very pale, he was still in the mood to be joking around.

"If you have the mental capacity to be thinking of jokes, how about you dedicate your brainpower to thinking of a plan that'll get us out of here?" Onean snapped in a disgruntled voice.

Even though Erwin still had the courage and composure to be making jokes in such a dire situation, it would've been far too kind to praise him for his calmness. The fact of the matter was that he was simply indifferent to the situation. The two most important women in his life were with him at this very moment, and that instilled him with a great deal of tranquility, as if their very presence was enough to grant him good luck. Even if he had to die here, he was at peace with such an outcome with these two accompanying him.

However, that didn't mean that he was going to give up. He still had to do his best to get these two women out of here alive.

Aglea seemed to have gleaned Erwin's thoughts, and she smiled as she said, "Save your energy. Unless I let you go, none of you will be able to get out of here alive today. You're dreaming if you think you can take my slave away right under my nose."

"Slave?!" Erwin was very much taken aback to hear this.

"Take a look at the thing around her neck," Aglea said as she gestured toward Lana.

Erwin lowered his head to take a look, and only upon closer inspection did he realize that the bone claw bracelet was not just some random accessory that Lana just so happened to be wearing.

From the clash that had just taken place, Erwin was able to assess the masked woman's power, and it was no wonder to him that Lana had been defeated by someone so formidable. With that in mind, he couldn't help but feel pity for Lana, wondering what she had to suffer during her journey to the north.

"You look like you've already worked up the resolve to die, but there's no need for things to come to that. I have no intention of killing you here. As long as you play by the rules, you can win this prize fair and square," Aglea said with a smile, then turned to the young emperor before asking, "I'm sure you would be willing to let Erwin off the hook for what was surely just a rush of blood to the head, right?"

"Mr. Erwin's unexpected outburst only stemmed from the fact that he was enraptured by this present of mine," the emperor replied with a smile, then dismissed the guards who were standing around him with wary expressions. "Doesn't that only further indicate just how alluring this present is?"

"But Your Majesty, he..." Sanfesa wanted to protest, but Prince Xar gave her a stern look, and she immediately backed down.

It was clear that this was an act that had been orchestrated by the emperor and the masked woman. Furthermore, judging from the emperor's attitude, Erwin had a further role to play in this act, so he definitely wasn't going to punish Erwin no matter how much Sanfesa insisted. Hence, Prince Xar was cautioning Sanfesa against raising any protest as doing so would only irk the emperor in this situation. At the same time, Prince Xar couldn't help but feel like the masked woman was very familiar, bearing a strong resemblance to a woman that he had known many years ago, but there were some glaring differences as well. What was even more bizarre to him was that he was also reminded of his eldest son, Perry, for some reason.

"I'd advise you to let her go, Mr. Erwin. If you insist on a fight, I'm afraid the two of you won't be able to last very long," Aglea said as she watched Erwin with her arms crossed, giving Erwin a chance to back out of this predicament.

Right at this moment, Duke Tuhar also came to his aid. He made his way over to Erwin's side with a smile before patting him on the shoulder as he said, "It's only normal for us men to be attracted to such a beautiful woman, but you can't just lose your composure like that. Is one beauty not enough for you? Do you have to clutch onto this one as well?"

As Tuhar was speaking, he gave Erwin a subtle look, indicating for him to calm down and assess the situation before he did anything that he was going to regret. Duke Tuhar seemed to be quite a reckless and bullish character, but when it came to important situations, he was remarkably calm and objective. He knew that this was the perfect opportunity to save Erwin from his awkward predicament, and he was also doing Erwin a massive favor here. Even if there were a chance that Erwin could become a political ally for him in the future, there was no need for him to get involved in such a dangerous situation.

Erwin knew that Duke Tuhar was trying to save him, but even if he had to die, he couldn't let go of the woman in his arms. If he were to let go at a time like this, he would resent himself for the rest of his life.

Aglea could see that Erwin had no intention of letting Lana go, and an amused smile appeared on her face as she asked, "Are you really going to throw away your life for her?"

Everyone at the scene was rather perplexed to see this. Given that the emperor had already expressed a willingness to let Erwin off the hook, everyone had expected him to jump at the opportunity, so why was he still being so stubborn? At this point, it was clear that the red-haired woman had to be extremely important to Erwin, and they couldn't help but wonder exactly what kind of relationship they shared.

Of course, Sanfesa was very happy to see Erwin rushing to his own demise.

Right as Erwin was looking around with a fierce expression, ready to fight the masked woman to the death at a moment's notice, a pair of delicate arms suddenly wrapped themselves around his waist.

"Have you finally come to save me?" A feeble voice rang out beside Erwin's ears, and he began to tremble uncontrollably, feeling as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

In that instant, tears began to flow down his face before falling onto Lana's cheek.

At the same time, a content smile appeared on Lana's face. She couldn't tell if the tears on her face belonged to herself or Erwin, but she knew that everything had been worth it.

All of the hardship that she had endured was worth it for this moment of reunion.

"My memories were taken by that evil hag, so I don't remember what you look like," Lana said with a tragic smile. "But I figured the little rascal in my heart would look exactly like this. If there were anyone in this world foolish enough to defend me in a situation like this, then it could only be you."

"Aren't you a smart girl," Erwin chuckled as she looked at Lana with a concerned expression. "What was that about your memories?"

A wry smile appeared on Lana's face as she replied, "Aside from my own name, I can't remember anything else."

Erwin faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately cast a murderous gaze toward Aglea.

Aglea's eyes immediately lit up upon seeing this, and she couldn't help but wonder to herself how long it had been since she had been gazed upon with such ferocious killing intent.

"Don't do it," Lana urged with a shake of her head as she caressed Erwin's cheek with her hands. "You're no match for her as you are now."

A lump quickly took shape in Erwin's throat upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but be reminded of that night when Lana had stood in front of him to defend him for fear that he would come off second best in a fight against Jeff and Shreesan.

"I knew I should've taken you with me!" Erwin said with boundless remorse in his voice. If he had forcibly abducted her onto the airship, she wouldn't have had to suffer through all of this adversity.

However, at the time, he wasn't courageous or selfish enough to go through with something like that, so he could only bear the consequences.

"So you're only regretting your actions now, are you?" Lana jibed as she pinched Erwin's cheeks with an amused expression.

"You don't even remember what I look like, how do you still remember that you like to call me 'little rascal'?" Erwin countered.

"I don't know, I just can!" Lana said with a displeased pout, looking very much like a little girl throwing a tantrum.

Right at this moment, a cold female voice rang out behind Erwin. "Sorry to interrupt your flirting, but can you take a look at the situation we're in right now?"

"Who is she?" Lana asked as she cast a slightly dazed gaze toward the silver-haired woman, trying her best to recall who she was and also figure out why an inexplicable sense of enmity had welled up in her heart at the sight of the woman.

"Looks like you really have forgotten everything. I don't know whether I should pity you or envy you." Onean had naturally heard the conversation taking place between Erwin and Lana, and initially, she had been rather skeptical, but looking at the dazed look in Lana's eyes, she completely believed her now.

In the past, Lana would've definitely already been denouncing Onean as a silver-haired fox.