This was the most scathing insult that Sword God Buu had ever received. 

This young man standing before him dared to call him foolish! Never did he think that there would be someone who dared to insult him like this.

In the face of this situation, Sword God Buu was struck by an immense sense of absurdity, the scale of which he had never felt before.

Indeed, it was absurd, just as Erwin had remarked.

A layer of white light gradually began to appear over the surface of Carefree's blade, resembling a layer of frost.

He then slashed his sword through the air, unleashing two bursts of sword energy that were imbued with the power of heaven and earth, hurtling directly toward the pair of new moons.

Erwin's brows instantly furrowed tightly upon seeing this. Never did he think that Sword God Buu would be capable of unleashing such devastating power.

He felt as if the entire world were crashing down upon him.

The unfathomable power imbued within Sword God Buu's sword energy was completely unaffected by the space-time rifts, passing directly through the pair of new moons to hunt down Erwin with unstoppable might.

In that instant, Erwin was struck by a sense of panic, and he couldn't understand why the two bursts of sword energy were capable of bypassing the space-time rifts.

A serious look had also appeared on Aglea's face, and just like Erwin, she had the same question in her mind.

I didn't think the old fart would be hiding such a powerful trump card up his sleeve, she thought to himself.

At this point, it was already too late for her to intervene and save Erwin.

Stopping the two bursts of sword energy was beyond her capabilities.

Meanwhile, Perry had fallen into deep thought as he watched the sword energy glide through the air.

Onean and Lana were busy at work on the fortress wall, but both of them stopped what they were doing at the exact same moment before turning toward the heavens in perfect synchronicity.

Tears were flowing down Lana's face as she reached out toward Erwin from afar, desperately trying to grasp at him and pull him out of harm's way.

Onean was also looking on with a frosty look in her golden eyes. For the first time in her life, she was struck by the urge to fight someone to the death. If Erwin were to meet his demise, there was no way that she would simply stand by and allow Sword God Buu to leave. Even if she had to sacrifice her own life, she had to exact revenge.

In the face of death, Erwin wasn't fearful at all. Instead, he was merely a little surprised.

Never did he think that there would be power so immense in this world that it was capable of passing directly through space-time rifts.

At the same time, he was a little unwilling to part with this life. In the instant before his demise, he wasn't thinking about all of the women that he held so dear to his heart. Instead, a hint of guilt had arisen, and that guilt was directed toward Lia of all people. His guilt also extended toward all of the people living under the rule of the City of Freedom. He didn't know what was going to become of those people after his demise.

He had thought that he wouldn't care about them, but now that he was truly facing death, he felt like he owed them a debt. It wasn't that his apathy had faded, he was simply feeling a sense of responsibility for the future of those people.

Right as the two bursts of sword energy were about to completely engulf him, he was enveloped by a pool of gentle water.

Erwin faltered slightly in the face of this sudden turn of events, and a gentle voice that resembled the murmuring of a kitten that had just awoken from its slumber rang out beside his ears. "You'll remember this incompetent slave of yours, right? Make sure you don't forget me."

Theresa's eyes were filled with warm affection, and they were shimmering with tears as she bade farewell to Erwin before drifting further and further away with the wind.

No one knew when Theresa had arrived by his side.

"NO!!! STOP!!!" Erwin screamed with all his might as he frantically grabbed at the air with his hands, but he was unable to grasp onto anything.

The two bursts of devastating sword energy gradually vanished in front of Erwin amid a cloud of blue mist, and what vanished along with it was the body of elemental matter that was Theresa.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye.

Erwin was standing rooted to the spot with a dazed expression. He didn't even get a chance to cherish Theresa before she became nothing more than a memory.

The wind blew past to carry the mist away, and it was as if Theresa had never existed in this world at all, as if the warmth of the woman who always liked to lay against his chest had never been there to begin with.

He had thought that he would no longer have to watch helplessly as those around him perished for his sake, but in the end, he still couldn't escape that terrible fate.

He had thought that with his powers of time and space, he would be able to dominate this entire world, but ultimately, he was still just as powerless as ever.

It seemed like nothing had changed at all, and he stood there in a dejected manner, looking like a defeated lion.

...

However, Sword God Buu had no sympathy for Erwin.

He was just about to put an end to Erwin's life with his sword, but this time, Aglea's Windage stood firmly in the path of his blade.

"Don't smother the future," Aglea said in a cold voice.

"But he's..." Before Sword God Buu had a chance to finish, his expression suddenly stiffened.

An arrow had come flying out of nowhere and pierced straight through his lower abdomen.

Concealed amid the mountains in the night was a girl who was casually folding away the portable arcuballista under the moonlight. She had stolen the arcuballista from Erwin's tent. This was her master's weapon, so she felt like Erwin didn't deserve it, and that it rightfully belonged to her.

As for why she had saved Erwin, the reason for that was very simple.

Her master had instructed her to kill Erwin, so she naturally couldn't allow someone else to do the job for her. She didn't dare to go against her master's orders. If anyone tried to kill Erwin ahead of her, then she would view them as a sworn enemy, even if that person was revered as the sword god.

In her mind, she was the only one who could be allowed to take Erwin's life.

...

Sim was overseeing the battle from below, and even he couldn't help but feel a little panicked upon witnessing the injury that Sword God Buu had just sustained.

He knew that an extremely important factor that allowed the Delair Dukedom's forces to maintain an advantage over the City of Freedom was the presence of Sword God Buu on the battlefield. His presence was far more important than the numbers advantage held by the Delair Dukedom's army. With Onean and Lana presiding over the battlefield, that numbers advantage would be quickly erased, so Sword God Buu was the absolute key to this battle.

If he were to fall, the City of Freedom would immediately be able to turn the tables.

With that in mind, Sim hurriedly urged his troops to scale the walls of Fort Lungpierce, not giving the troops of the City of Freedom any respite.

After a fierce battle, the City of Freedom only had around 10,000 troops left, while the Delair Dukedom still had around 35,000 troops remaining when taking their reinforcements into account.

Sim knew that this battle had to be put to an end as quickly as possible as the Delair Dukedom's army no longer had the power to outlast the enemy in a drawn-out battle. If the battle were to drag on for much longer, the tides were bound to turn, so the battle had to conclude on this day.

However, with the likes of Sherry, Shiba, Bracken, and Lanyon fighting with all their might to keep the enemy at bay, the Delair Dukedom's forces were unable to establish any formations on the fortress walls despite their numbers advantage.

"Go protect him," Onean said. At this moment, she was standing with Lana with their backs against one another, and they were firing off all types of spells at the enemy soldiers that were constantly surging up the fortress walls.

"Alright, I'll leave things here to you," Lana replied, then leaped up into the sky.

A ferocious battle was continuing to take place all over the fortress walls.

At this point, Kevin the Fool was already a spent force.

Shiba had sustained a wound to the cheek, giving him a terrifying appearance, but it was nowhere near a grievous injury.

In contrast, several holes had already been punched through Kevin's chest and abdomen, and there was also an extremely deep wound on the inside of his left leg, out of which blood was pouring profusely.

It was clear that this renowned general of the Delair Dukedom was about to meet his demise on the walls of Fort Lungpierce.

As for Count Cooper, he was shocked by how persistent and tenacious Sherry and Bracken were. He was panting heavily, and he sensed a premonition of danger. He knew that this was a very bad premonition on a battlefield, but he couldn't help but think about it. Looking at the fierce determination in the eyes of his two young opponents, he couldn't help but wonder for the first time whether he was too old for this.

Bracken was just barely holding on despite his severe injuries, and he was determined not to fall before Cooper did.

Sherry didn't know how powerful Erwin's opponent was, but he could sense that this was an extremely fearsome character. He didn't know what Erwin's current condition was, but all he could do was give everything he had and refuse to back down even half a step.

"For our commanders! For the City of Freedom!" Sherry yelled, and his rousing cry instantly ignited the will and courage in the hearts of all of the troops of the City of Freedom.

"Don't let them regroup! Attack!" Count Cooper yelled at the soldiers of the Delair Dukedom behind him.

Clearly, the Delair Dukedom's forces had a numbers advantage, and their collective war cry was even louder.

However, they were still unable to scale the fortress walls in full force, and that was always the most difficult part of siege battles.

Lanyon could see that the battle was about to reach a climax, and with that in mind, he made a decision, leading the fleet of airships out of the airspace above Fort Lungpierce to arrive directly above the mountain path. This allowed the magicians on the airships to maximize their offensive output. Lanyon was assessing the orderly ranks of the Delair Dukedom's troops down below, and he knew that as long as they could prevent all of the enemy forces from scaling the fortress walls, the outcome of this battle could still swing in either direction.

As soon as Sim saw the approaching airships, he immediately issued an order to the hundreds of archers beside him, and countless arrows were fired in an instant.

The undersides of the airships were clanging incessantly, and occasionally, a magician would have their head pierced through by an arrow flying up from below, but these were necessary sacrifices that had to be made. All Lanyon could do in this situation was buy more time for his brothers on the fortress walls and delay the rate at which the reinforcements of the Delair Dukedom's army scaled those walls.

Meanwhile, the battle taking place in the night sky had reached a rather awkward stage.

Aglea had no sympathy for the severely wounded Sword God Buu, but right as she was about to lash out with her Windage sword, a thin figure positioned himself in front of the sword god.

"Are you going to try and stop me?" Aglea asked as she looked at Perry with an indifferent expression.

"No..." Perry was rather perplexed as he didn't even know why he had done that himself.

Meanwhile, Lana was standing by Erwin's side, watching the trio in the sky with an alert expression. She snuck a glance at Erwin, and she couldn't help but heave a forlorn internal sigh at the sight of his empty and hopeless eyes. She didn't know Theresa all that well, and she detested her slightly for always being so physically intimate with Erwin, but she felt nothing but gratitude and admiration for Theresa's self-sacrificial gesture.