In this situation, Erwin couldn't help but lament his own ill-fortune. He was still yet to recover from his own injuries, and to compound his woes even further, he had overexerted his own magic power so severely during the battle against Talan that even a night of rest wasn't enough for him to fully recover. He had thought that a night of sleep would've been enough for him to fully recharge, as had been the cause during the Pillow Sword Tournament, but he had underestimated the toll that a battle of life and death would take on his stamina and magic power.

Right as Erwin was struggling to fend off his three adversaries, another agile martial artist suddenly emerged before stabbing his sword directly toward Christine's chest. Christine was so frightened by this that she was rooted to the spot in fear, completely forgetting to dodge. Her mouth was gaped open, her eyes were wide with horror, and she was completely paralyzed like a mouse staring into the eyes of a cat.

With a sweep of Erwin's staff, two rings of purple lightning began to revolve around him. His three adversaries attacked him in unison, and two of them were struck by the ring of lightning, following which they were immediately afflicted by the stunning effect imbued within the lightning spell, striking them with a rush of dizziness.

However, Erwin was also struck by the third martial artist's attack, sustaining a laceration wound to his left arm. He gave a muffled groan, but there was no time to tend to his injury as he immediately unleashed a space split technique to arrive in front of Christine.

A loud clang rang out as the martial artist's sword struck the light shield that Erwin had just conjured up, and Erwin was panting heavily, but he was relieved that he had managed to save Christine just in the nick of time.

"Brother Erwin, are you alright?" Christine asked with a concerned expression as her gaze settled on the wound on Erwin's left arm.

Erwin couldn't be bothered to respond to her question. He glanced down at his own injury to find that his entire sleeve was quickly becoming soaked with blood, and he couldn't help but think to himself, Is this girl an idiot? Can she not see that I'm bleeding? Do I look alright?

The other three martial artists weren't about to let him off the hook, and they immediately surrounded him.

Erwin cast his gaze toward the direction that Larwood was in. Even though the Four Winds mercenary legion had a numbers advantage, they weren't able to do much against the enemy mercenaries, and the martial artists from the Skycourt Kingdom were warding off the enemy attacks with ease. 

"Are you two blind? Hurry up and send some people over to help me!" Erwin yelled at Larwood and Sherry as he withdrew his own light shield.

Kaiba and Chase had been close friends with Erwin for over 10 years, so they couldn't just stand by and watch any longer. Despite their injuries, they immediately rushed to Erwin's aid, but it was clear that just running toward Erwin was already putting them under great physical strain, as evidenced by their worsening complexion. The four Skycourt Kingdom martial artists had also noticed this, and they quickly exchanged a glance with one another before resuming their attack on Erwin.

Larwood could see that the situation on Erwin's side had become quite perilous, and he immediately made a hand signal toward several of the Four Winds mercenary legion's most powerful martial artists. The martial artists in question immediately understood Larwood's intentions, and they quickly rushed to Erwin's aid.

However, the four Skycourt Kingdom martial artists were very cunning. They made no effort to target Kaiba and the others, focusing solely on trying to get through to Christine instead.

Erwin didn't dare grow complacent, and he continued to remain close by Christine's side.

"Brother Erwin, why aren't we running away?" Christine asked in a frightened voice.

Erwin offered no response aside from pointing at the steering wheel and the series of control levers around it. What he was trying to convey was very clear: if they were to run away, the enemy martial artists would be able to destroy the entire steering system of the airship. If that were allowed to happen, everyone on the airship would be doomed.

Only now did Christine come to realize the severe drawbacks of the airship's open-air design.

Truth be told, it would actually be fine if Christine were to run away. Through observing her over the past couple of days, Erwin had already learned how to pilot the airship. However, he was unable to ensure a safe getaway for Christine given the immense pressure that the four enemy martial artists were exerting upon him.

Just as Erwin had anticipated, as soon as the four Skycourt Kingdom martial artists noticed that he was protecting Christine, they immediately made it their objective to destroy the steering system. Erwin naturally wasn't going to allow them to do as he pleased, and with a wave of his staff, a barrage of spells was immediately sent flying toward them.

With Erwin at the helm, the situation was finally stabilized, albeit just barely.

While the Four Winds mercenary legion was dealing with the powerful enemy martial artists on the airship's deck, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the mountain path down below were also beginning to think of ways to get onto the airship. Some of the mercenaries leaped onto the bottom of the airship, using the gaps between the metal plates on the airship as handholds that they used to gradually climb up onto the airship's deck. The Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the bottom of the airship were essentially in a blind spot as far as Lanyon and the magicians were concerned, so there wasn't much that could be done about them. Thus, more and more Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries were appearing on the deck.

The Skycourt Kingdom's magicians were emboldened by the sight of more and more people climbing onto the airship, and some of them began to fly to the same altitude as the airship using levitation spells before unleashing spells upon the airship with reckless abandon. Some of the magicians who were still firing spells onto the enemy mercenaries down below failed to notice this, and they were sent overboard by the enemy magicians' attacks.

More and more of the Four Winds mercenary legion's magicians were being forced to contend with the Skycourt Kingdom's magicians outside the airship, and an urgent look appeared on Lanyon's face upon seeing this. "Master Erwin, we need to increase the altitude of the airship!"

Erwin immediately reacted to this call, using the control levers beside him to increase the airship's altitude.

Due to the cessation of the barrage of spells from the airship, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries on the mountain path down below were beginning to assemble.

The airship was already operating at well over its maximum weight capacity, and with so many Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries getting onto the airship as well, it was becoming extremely difficult to raise the airship's altitude, so much so that Erwin couldn't even feel the airship rising at all.

Driving an airship into the sky above tens of thousands of enemy soldiers appeared to be an act of courage and heroism, but it was also severely looking down on the mercenaries of the Skycourt Kingdom. At this point, Erwin was already beginning to regret making such a bold decision with Larwood.

Right as Erwin was watching the untenable situation unfolding on the airship's deck with tightly furrowed brows, something that made his heart sink even further happened.

A dull thump suddenly rang out, and the entire airship swayed slightly, causing all of the people on the deck to stumble at once.

What was that sound? Why is the airship completely unable to move now? A sense of bewilderment arose in Erwin's heart as he unleashed a space split technique to take himself to the railing of the airship, upon which he was greeted by a sight that left him furious.

As it turned out, some of the mercenaries of the Skycourt Kingdom had hatched a plan. Several of the enemy mercenaries who had leaped onto the bottom of the airship had driven a series of rivets into the small gaps between the airship's metal place, then tied lengths of rope tightly to the heads of these rivets. Meanwhile, the mercenaries who remained on the mountain path were tugging on the other end of the ropes, forcibly pulling the airship downward.

The airship was already struggling to elevate, and with so many people dragging it downward, black smoke was beginning to billow out of the blast furnace of the airship. It was clear that the airship's engine was struggling to keep up with the excessive demands being placed upon it.

At the same time, the rosewood frame of the airship was also creaking audibly from the dragging force exerted upon it by the dozens of rivets.

Under normal circumstances, Erwin would've already flown out of the airship to toss these pesky Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries one by one, but in his current state, he simply couldn't work up the power to do that. His body was far more exhausted than it normally was, and he was already completely out of breath after unleashing his space split technique a few times. After conjuring up his light shield just now, he could sense that his magic power reserves were close to running dry.

Thus, he could only look on helplessly as the airship was forced on a shuddering descent. His hands were gripped tightly around the airship's railing, but there was nothing that he could do.

If the airship were to be dragged onto the ground, the Four Winds mercenary legion would be instantly swarmed by the tens of thousands of enemy mercenaries down below. With that in mind, Erwin's heart was filled with a sense of dread.

...

Right at the height of Erwin's despair, a burst of bright radiance suddenly erupted out of the window of the captain's room behind him. Immediately thereafter came an eruption of dazzling golden light, and even though the sky was extremely bright and sunny, the natural light was unable to outshine the light radiating from the room.

All of the people battling on the deck blinked with dazed expressions as they turned to face the tail-end of the airship with bewildered eyes, wondering what was happening there.

All of a sudden, the glass panes of the window exploded, and the window frame was also detached from the airship before flying into the air currents in the sky above Xeto.

Everyone had suddenly forgotten that they were still in a battle, and they all had their attention fixed entirely on the spectacle unfolding before their eyes.

A woman with silver hair and golden eyes emerged from the captain's room, and there were still hints of chestnut coloring that were still yet to fade from the ends of her luscious silver locks. Her golden eyes were filled with cold killing intent, and her seductive body was sheathed in a loose-fitting magician's robe. She was slightly out of breath, and her panting caused her chest to rise and fall incessantly, briefly mesmerizing all of the men who were fighting on the airship's deck.

Erwin cast his gaze toward the red rope marks on the woman's arms, and he observed a moment of silence for Kaiba's magic-restricting rope, which had definitely been torn to shreds at this point.

Christine was staring at the woman with her eyes and mouth both gaped wide open in shock. She had traveled to many places with her father, but never had she seen a woman so stunning and gorgeous. Even as a girl herself, she couldn't help but be entranced by the woman's regal majesty and holy beauty.

Her gaze then wandered toward the hints of chestnut coloring that still remained on the woman's hair, and she suddenly realized that the woman and the chestnut-haired man were one and the same.

With that in mind, she turned her gaze toward Erwin, feeling a little dejected.

If Erwin knew that Christine still had the mental capacity to be thinking about so much irrelevant nonsense in such a perilous situation, he'd be inclined to give her a firm knock on the head.

The silver-haired woman flew through the air before landing beside Erwin. She turned her gaze toward him, and a mischievous smile began to play on her lips as she asked, "You know you're not going to get away with this, right?"

Seeing as Onean had managed to escape from her bindings, Erwin knew that she had made a full recovery, both in terms of her physical condition and her magic power, and he replied with a wry smile, "You can do whatever you want to me after we kill these Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries."

"Good," she replied as a cold look returned to her face, and she flew out into the open sky.