Law of Space and Time

Chapter 13-3: Worth the Ticket Price (3)

Thus, as long as he was inside the light shield, he would be the fastest caster of spells on the entire continent. No other magician, not Lana, not Princess Onean, not even Master Piro, could cast spells faster than him. At the very least, that was theoretically the case.

However, without any matter around him to be drawn upon, there was no point in chanting incantations. Thus, the enormous amount of energy gathered within the light shield was what he had prepared to fuel his spells.

From the outside, it appeared that the thickness of the light shield had changed, but in reality, the light shield consisted of countless layers. Erwin was controlling the matter energy in every single layer, thereby controlling the rate at which matter energy from the outside world entered the light shield. As a result, the speed of time was also altered. From the outer layers of the light shield to its inner layers, time became slower and slower, until it fell completely still in the innermost layer. This gave Erwin enough time to convert the enormous matter energy gathered within the light shield into his own spells.

Thus, Erwin was allowing the inner wall of the light shield to constantly expand inward. In doing so, he was completing the conversion of the energy within the light shield.

However, Erwin's magic power was quite lackluster, and it was no exaggeration to say that converting such an enormous amount of matter energy could cost him his life. Some of the energy that had surged into the light shield was converted by Erwin, but there was also some that directly entered his body before seeping out of his pores. All types of negative status conditions were being inflicted upon his internal organs and nerves, and some of the energy had also transformed into hundreds of bursts of magic turbulence that were constantly surging around him, occasionally slicing gashes onto his body. Due to the excessively large volume and high quality of matter energy that Erwin was absorbing, the energy that was being expelled from his body and the magic turbulence around him refused to dissipate, so he was being tormented by them over and over again.

From the outside, the light shield was in a state of complete chaos, and it was constantly fluctuating in brightness, making it impossible to see what was happening inside it.

Am I about to die? Erwin thought to himself.

There was a bitter taste rising up from the back of his throat, and he could feel that some of his internal organs were being filled with blood, some were churning violently, and some were being elongated. All types of energy were flowing through his veins, and they were pulsating occasionally. The sporadic pulsing of the energy was the only thing telling him that he was still alive. All of his nerves and sensations were in complete disarray, and all types of pain were spearing through all parts of his body, completely overwhelming his senses until all he could feel was a constant pain in every part of his body.

Where is the pain coming from? Or does it actually just hurt everywhere? 

Erwin's consciousness was beginning to fade, and his mind was becoming quite scattered. The images of the intense matches he had witnessed in the morning began to flash through his mind.

I want to be that powerful as well! I want to... I want to... 

He gritted his teeth tightly amid the chaos as he held tightly onto his staff, doing everything he could to weather the storm, fighting through the excruciating pain with every fiber of his being.

His magic power and physical energy had already been severely overexerted, but he could still sense the matter energy that was surging back and forth. Little by little, they were being converted into the magic energy that Erwin needed.

At this point, Erwin had already remained completely still in his light shield for quite some time, and some of the administrators around the competition platform were beginning to approach the edge of the platform, but Fuller instructed them to remain uninvolved with a shake of his head.

Lana was staring intently at the chaos within the light shield, which was fluctuating sporadically in brightness, and her palms were sweating profusely as she held tightly onto her staff.

Princess Onean was also watching with a nervous expression, and she turned to Master Piro with an uneasy look in her eyes, but Master Piro merely shook his head with furrowed brows, indicating for her to wait a bit longer.

Chase and Kaiba had already stood up in the spectator stands as they stared at the light shield. In fact, many of the students of Teedus Academy had already risen to their feet as they looked on with concerned expressions.

Many of the spectators were already beginning to fear the worst for Erwin, and some hushed chatter was beginning to break through the tense silence.

Shaun was waiting for the administrators to adjudicate him as the victor, but all of them were staring intently at the light shield without paying any attention to him, and he was beginning to grow very anxious and uneasy.

All of a sudden, the entire world seemed to have fallen still. The light shield exploded from the inside to the outside, and all types of matter energy instantly erupted out of the chaos in all directions with violent force, sending waves of heat sweeping through the entire venue.

"ARGH!" Erwin's feral roar echoed throughout the entire ring-shaped venue. His hair was completely disheveled, giving him the appearance of an untamed wild beast, and dozens of gashes had already been sliced into his magician's robe from magic turbulence. Through those gashes, his skin was clearly visible, and he looked as if he had gone insane.

With that guttural roar came several terrifying advanced spells, the incantations of which had all been chanted by Erwin using the ancient magic language. As a result, their power was significantly enhanced, and they were released with earth-shattering might.

A plume of dark purple lava erupted out of the ground from beneath Shaun's feet, instantly blasting him up into the sky, while a massive hole appeared on the competition platform. Immediately thereafter, countless bolts of purple lightning came crashing down from the heavens, instantly electrocuting Shaun to the point of unconsciousness. Darkness-attribute magic excelled in destroying the target's mind, and after being struck by two ancient advanced spells from Erwin in a row, Shaun was already completely immobilized and powerless in mid-air.

However, Erwin's eyes were completely bloodshot, and he was still roaring like a madman. It was clear that he had prepared more than just those two advanced spells. All of a sudden, a vast expanse of dense purple clouds gathered above his head. The purple clouds encompassed virtually the entire venue from above, and rain instantly began to fall from the churning clouds.

All of the spectators initially thought that rain had been summoned to alleviate the waves of heat that had just been released, but all of a sudden, one of the spectators on the top level yelled, "This isn't rain, those are swords!"

Everyone took a closer look upon hearing this, and sure enough, all of the rain falling from the sky were actually countless longswords that were giving off purple magic energy. The storm of swords was falling with merciless fury, and in his deranged state, Erwin didn't have the presence of mind to think about holding back to spare the unconscious Shaun's life.

Only now did Fuller issue an order for the administrators to get involved, and around a dozen of them instantly flew up into the sky. One of them caught the unconscious Shaun before carrying him back down onto the ground, while all of the other administrators conjured up magic shields in unison, and only then were they able to keep the storm of swords from falling upon Shaun.

Finally, an administrator raised their hand to adjudicate Erwin as the victor, and only after seeing that did he allow himself to relax. At this point, his magic power had already been completely exhausted, and his body was filled with all types of internal injuries, including burns and lacerations. His skin was also riddled with bleeding gashes, and he suddenly covered his own mouth with his sleeve before throwing up a large mouthful of blood. He stared momentarily at the black blood that had splattered all over his sleeve, following which a wry smile appeared on his face, and his vision blacked out as he fell unconscious.

Having fallen unconscious, Erwin was unable to maintain his levitation spell any longer, and he fell from the sky amid a chorus of alarmed cries from the spectator stands.

Right at this moment, two figures flew through the air, one from the western contestant's spectating platform and the other from the eastern contestant's spectating platform, and they caught Erwin before the administrators were able to get to him.

As it turned out, it was Princess Onean and Lana. Erwin's entire body was smelling like a charred block of wood, and he was being carried by both women as they slowly descended from the sky. If Erwin were to regain his consciousness at this moment, he would most likely fall unconscious again from excessive elation.

Lana had an angry look on her face as she glared at Erwin, but there was no hiding the concern in her eyes. Princess Onean was also looking at him with a worried expression, and Lana was very displeased to see this.

Looks like I'll have to teach him a lesson when he wakes up! 

To her surprise, Onean also looked up at her in the same instant, and the atmosphere suddenly became quite awkward as the two women stared at one another. However, neither of them let go of Erwin, and they didn't seem to be embarrassed, either.

All of the spectators heaved a collective sigh of relief now that Erwin had been saved, but immediately thereafter, many of the young male spectators realized who Erwin had been saved by, and they suddenly wished that he had been allowed to fall, after all!

The two women gently set Erwin down onto the ground. The fact that both of them had swooped in to save Erwin made it clear to all of the administrators that Erwin was at least somewhat important to both of them. With that in mind, the administrators took extra care as they lifted Erwin onto the stretcher.

Thus, all of a sudden, the limelight was directed back to the two women. The spectators were already hoping that some conflict would arise between them, and it would certainly be well worth the money they had paid for their tickets if they could see the two women fight over a man!

Lana turned to Princess Onean with a slightly provocative smile, while Onean looked back at her with a polite smile of her own. The two women were extremely competitive, and they were carefully sizing up each other, trying to find flaws in the other that would give them an advantage over their counterpart. However, the two of them were truly evenly matched, at least in the looks department, and neither one was able to spot any glaring flaws.

Thus, the two of them exchanged a smiling nod, but their smiles faded as soon as they turned away from each other, and they calmly left the competition platform. All of the spectators were quite disappointed to see this, but little did they know, they had already just witnessed a fierce clash of wills between the two women.

Prior to this, the earlier matches that had involved Lana, Jeff, and Onean were the ones that were most talked-about among the spectators, but Erwin's performance had truly opened everyone's eyes. He had displayed multiple spells that no one had ever seen before, and in particular, that light shield had been a breathtaking spectacle to behold.

Of course, no matter how spectacular the matches were, they paled in significance compared with what appeared to be a love triangle between Lana, Onean, and Erwin.

Many people had already heard that Erwin and Lana shared some past ties, and it seemed that this was indeed the case. However, it came as quite a shock to everyone that the princess had also swooped in to save him. Could it be that both of them had feelings for Erwin? Prior to this, it seemed that they were only competing in magic and looks, but now, it seemed that they were competing for a man as well! This was naturally an extremely exciting subject for the more gossipy spectators in the venue.