Lanyon and the magicians sped directly toward the enemy's airship on their own airship, and dazzling spells of all types of different colors were sent hurtling through the air.

In terms of firepower, the City of Freedom held a clear advantage. Most of the Delair Dukedom's troops on the airships were martial artists, and there weren't many magicians among them. Hence, in the face of the wave of oncoming spells, they could only defend passively and didn't have the ability to retaliate.

At this point, Erwin had already developed a rough estimate of the number of people that they were being attacked by. As a result, he could tell that this was just a diversion, and that the main attack was most likely going to be staged against the walls of the fortress.

"Sherry, Shiba, don't be distracted by what's happening up there. Focus on guarding the fortress walls!" Erwin yelled.

Upon receiving this order, Sherry and Shiba began to instruct the soldiers that were rushing up to the fortress walls to adopt their positions. Thankfully, Sherry was a very competent and conscientious commander who often ran military drills at night, so even the new soldiers of the City of Freedom knew what they had to do, and there was no panic setting in.

Erwin then turned to the three women beside him as he instructed with a serious expression, "From now on, you three are not to leave my side. Unless I tell you to get involved in the battle, none of you are to act on your own. Do you hear me?"

This was the first time that Erwin had spoken to them in such a commanding tone, and the three women were very much taken aback.

In particular, Onean was always the one scolding Erwin, and she had never been bossed around by Erwin like this before.

However, none of the three women dared to say anything upon seeing the fierce look in Erwin's eyes. Despite the harsh tone of his voice, the three of them could all sense the concern that he was extending to them.

All three of them were more powerful than Erwin, even Theresa's magic power was superior to Erwin's, but they all chose to follow his orders without putting up any resistance.

It was no wonder that Erwin was being so serious, considering the perils of battle and how important the three women were to him. He knew that Sanfesa was definitely going to target them, so he wasn't going to let them out of his sight.

In light of the fearsome power that Onean and Lana had displayed during the Trapped Phoenix Tournament, there was no way that Sanfesa wouldn't have become wary of them, so Erwin had to take extra precautionary measures.

Thus, he had already decided to keep them by his side as much as he could, and even if they were required to fight in the battle, he would make sure that they were always within range of a space split technique.

As the commander of the Delair Dukedom's airship unit, Kevin the Fool was displaying courage befitting of his role, instructing his troops to raise their shields to defend themselves from the bombardment of spells while ordering the airship pilots to ignore the opposing airship and continue to advance toward Fort Lungpierce at full speed.

"All archers, fire!" Erwin commanded as he looked up at the airships that had entered the range of the arrows.

Countless arrows were instantly let loose at once, and a string of loud clangs rang out from the Delair Dukedom's airships, but there was hardly any effect.

It was clear that these airships had all been equipped with special armor plating, so normal arrows were completely useless against them. Even the spells unleashed by Lanyon and the magicians could explode in futility upon the airships without causing any damage.

Kevin could see that the airships were close enough to the fortress to launch an attack, and he roared, "Come with me, my brothers! Crush these maggots below us!"

He still recalled the humiliation that had been dealt upon him by Georgina's surprise attack last time, and he was eager to exact vengeance.

The well-trained soldiers of the Delair Dukedom immediately arranged themselves into groups of three to five, then used their shields to form a barrier all around them before descending from the heavens like a series of falling black lotus flowers.

Sim was watching the battle from afar, and a faint smile appeared on his face upon seeing this. He turned to Duba as he remarked, "Kevin is indeed a formidable warrior on the battlefield."

The black "lotus flowers" successfully landed on the walls of Fort Lungpierce without suffering much damage from the oncoming spells and arrows.

Most of the troops of the City of Freedom were new soldiers, so they were understandably quite fearful to see enemy troops so close to them.

Thankfully, Shiba, Bracken, and the other seasoned warriors were very courageous and ferocious, leading the charge toward Kevin.

Meanwhile, Sherry had been very calm this entire time, and he was constantly inspecting the battlefield, making sure that he was prepared for the imminent siege.

Kevin was extremely excited to be met with the commanders of the opposing army, and his blade was gleaming with boundless killing intent in the night.

On the fortress walls, more and more troops from the Delair Dukedom army were landing before engaging in battle against the soldiers of the City of Freedom.

At the foot of the mountain, Count Cooper could hear the thunderous war cries ringing out in the distance, and he knew that Kevin had already made it onto the fortress walls. Thus, he immediately led the second unit of the army to surround Fort Lungpierce.

...

It had to be said that Kevin the Fool was an extremely competent martial artist.

Even though he was being attacked by both Bracken and Shiba, he was still able to hold his own, and he had even managed to slice several gashes into Bracken's left arm.

At the end of the day, Bracken and Shiba were still only mercenaries. They were certainly capable of fighting other mercenaries and thugs, but they couldn't stand toe to toe with someone like Kevin, who had climbed through the ranks and clawed his way to the top of the military hierarchy.

Thankfully, Shiba had studied the copy of "Game of Swords and Shields" left behind by Renjay, so even though he was unable to gain an upper hand, he was more than capable of defending himself.

In contrast, Bracken was struggling immensely. Not only was he not able to land even a single attack on Kevin, he had been struck a few times himself.

Thankfully, the two of them were working very effectively as a two-man team, restricting Kevin and preventing him from joining the rest of the battle.

At the same time, the troops of the City of Freedom on the fortress walls were becoming more and more courageous, using their numbers advantage to force back the Delair Dukedom's troops.

On the other side of the battlefield, Count Cooper was also making rather lackluster progress.

Sherry was instructing his troops to fire the giant crossbows on the fortress walls, and that was causing a great deal of trouble for the Delair Dukedom's troops.

The soldiers of the Delair Dukedom who were pushing battering rams didn't even get a chance to reach the city gates before they were all shot down.

The ladders that they had set up against the fortress walls were also being tightly monitored by Sherry's men, so scaling the walls using those ladders was also next to impossible.

Most importantly, with Erwin's permission, the three women were also beginning to get involved.

With Onean and Lana working together, the battlefield at the foot of Fort Lungpierce was reduced to hell on earth.

Onean's Heaven Incinerating Inferno was threatening to burn all things in this world into ashes and dust, while Lana's Parting Seas and Clouds seemed to have transformed heaven and earth into a boundless expanse of black arcane energy.

With these two powerful spells acting in unison, the soldiers of the Delair Dukedom were barely able to ensure their own survival, let alone advance. Not only did they have to defend themselves against the fireballs raining down from the heavens, they had to avoid the arcane energy permeating over the ground beneath their feet as well.

Despite this, Sim remained calm as he looked on from afar, and he turned to Sword God Buu as he said, "You'll have to step in now, Buu."

Thus, the Carefree sword was unsheathed, and with a single swipe of the sword, all of the wind and clouds faded, while the enormous magic energy in the heavens and on the ground below also dissipated in the blink of an eye.

The sword intent didn't stop there as it continued to hurtle directly toward the fortress.

It arrived in an instant, so fast that Erwin didn't have any time to react.

All of a sudden, a blue sword appeared out of nowhere in front of him, unexpectedly keeping the oncoming burst of almighty sword intent at bay before dispelling it with ease.

No one knew where Aglea had come from, and she had descended upon this battlefield in a wraith-like manner.

After taking a moment to register the fact that he had almost lost his life, Erwin heaved a long sigh of relief.

If Aglea hadn't stepped in just now, Erwin, Onean, Lana, and Theresa would've all been killed on the spot.

Sword God Buu took a close glance at the Windage sword in Aglea's hand, and he heaved a resigned sigh. He thought back to his most prized disciple, whose life had come to a premature end due to his relationship with the owner of this sword.

Despite the fact that she was facing an extremely fearsome opponent, there was no excitement or elation in Aglea's eyes. Instead, she was looking at Buu with nothing but cold indifference.

"I thought you would've dropped dead," Aglea said as he leaped out of the fortress before arriving instantly in front of Sword God Buu, moving far too quickly for the naked eye to track.

She was most likely the only one in this world who dared to speak to Sword God Buu in such a rude fashion.

Cold sweat was flowing down from Duba's forehead upon hearing this. He was stunned that someone dared to be so disrespectful to Sword God Buu.

"I can still last a few more years," Sword God Buu replied in an indifferent voice, completely unbothered by Aglea's rude remark.

Duba was rather confused to hear this. The fact that Sword God Buu was being so tolerant of this woman had to indicate that she possessed power that was roughly on par with his. Only now did Duba begin to wonder exactly who this woman was. He finally understood why his father had told him to be wary of this swordswoman before he set off on his journey from Finklan. This woman seemed to share some similarities with the woman who had been in a tumultuous relationship with his elder brother. Her physical form didn't seem to match the woman that he was thinking of, but there was a familiar aura about her that made him very curious about her identity.

"I'll have to send you on your way a few years early," Aglea said, wasting no time with idle chatter as she lashed out with her Windage sword.

Sword God Buu wasn't surprised by this in the slightest, and he conjured up a burst of sword energy to oppose Windage.

"You've improved quite a lot during these past two decades," Sword God Buu said in an indifferent voice. He didn't seem elated or threatened, it was as if he were merely stating a fact.

The two were then both knocked back by each other's sword energy, flying back several dozen feet.

"Your prized disciple perished by my hands, and now, you're going to meet the same fate," Aglea said with a cold smile.

A hint of emotion flashed through Sword God Buu's perpetually still and placid eyes. "What did you do to him?"

"You finally decided to ask that question after 20 years? Looks like you don't really care about him, after all," Aglea scoffed in a disdainful voice.

Duba and Sim exchanged a glance upon hearing this, and both of them realized who this woman was.

Didn't she and my brother both perish in the Hoki Valley? Why is she still alive? Duba thought to himself. If she's still alive, could it be that my brother is also alive?

"I didn't approve of your relationship at the time, but I never did anything to try and actively split you two apart. However, looking at your current state, I'm beginning to regret letting him go to that valley to find you," Sword God Buu sighed as he shook his head with a forlorn expression.

Aglea took a glance at Sword God Buu's carefree sword, and a string of memories surfaced in her mind.