Law of Space and Time

He took an indifferent glance at the Shaved Purple Gem staff that he was holding, and for some reason, a sense of disdain welled up in his heart. Thus, he casually tossed the staff toward Onean before slowly closing his eyes, then withdrew the light shield with a peaceful expression.

The chaotic energy that had already been accumulating for a long time instantly surged toward Erwin, alongside the elemental matter that was still constantly striving to enter the light shield. Meanwhile, Onean, who had just caught Erwin's staff, was suddenly struck by a burst of immense force, against which she was completely powerless to resist, sending her flying far away from the battlefield in the sky.

Right as the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries were looking on with alarmed expressions as Onean flew into the distance, the emotions in Erwin's eyes became calmer and calmer, and the apathy and violence in his heart finally came together in a harmonious alliance.

His eyes were still closed as he spread open his arms and fingers, and all of the energy around him began to rapidly converge toward his hands at a rate so rapid that it was discernible even to the naked eye. Two balls of irrepressible radiance began to appear over his palms, and they were quickly becoming brighter and brighter, until it was impossible to look directly at them. It was clear that conjuring up these two balls of light was rapidly overexerting his reserves of stamina, and veins were bulging beneath his skin all over his entire body. The pulsation of the arteries on his neck was clearly visible, and the sweat that was pouring down from his forehead began to mix with the dried blood caked all over his face. His eyes remained tightly shut, and he was gritting his teeth with all his might as his entire body began to tremble and spasm once again.

He opened his mouth slightly, and after a brief silence came a thunderous roar that rang out across the entire sky, as if it were trying to silence all of the commotion in this world, or eradicate all living beings in existence. The sound pierced through the night sky, through the stars, through the mountain, and deep into the hearts of everyone present. Within the area in which the sound was audible, all living beings capable of opening their eyes, regardless of whether they were in the sky or on the ground, immediately opened their eyes as wide as they would go to stare at the man who was roaring up at the heavens.

He raised his arms high above his own head, then raised his head to the heavens and puffed out his own chest. The two balls of light that had gathered above his palm instantly began to change shape and form.

All of the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries looked on with alarm and horror in their eyes. They had no idea what Erwin was going to do next, but the wealth of battle experience that they had accumulated over the course of many years told them that they had to attack all at once and put an end to his life as quickly as possible. Only then would the fear in their hearts be assuaged.

Thus, around 20 martial artists charged toward Erwin in unison, and there was no lack of assassins among them. All of them were giving off fierce killing intent, and all of their weapons were aimed directly at the vital regions of Erwin's body, such as his throat and his heart.

Onean let loose an alarmed cry upon seeing this, and she immediately unleashed a string of spells toward Erwin's assailants, but she had been sent flying too far away for the spells to reach them in time.

Larwood, Kaiba, and Chase were also too far to help, and they could only look on helplessly as Erwin was attacked from all directions. They desperately wanted to protect their close friend, but they were simply in no position to do so.

As for Erwin himself, he was completely unfazed, and he couldn't even be bothered to open his own eyes as a pair of crescent-shaped "new moons" appeared above his palms. The light glowing from the pair of new moons wasn't as bright and radiant as it was before. Instead, it was a condensed light that adhered to the surfaces of the new moons, flowing peacefully with breathtaking beauty, much like the radiance of the light shield.

With a sweep of his sleeves, both of the new moons were sent flying through the air.

One of them seemed to be able to pass through space and instantly cross over any distance, no matter how vast, while the other seemed to be capable of flying through time to reach any point in the continuum, no matter how distant.

The two moons were like gliding shadows that sliced horizontally through the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries. Their momentum wasn't affected at all by the bodies of the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries standing in their way, and it was as if they were the sharpest and hottest of blades slicing through the most delicate butter.

The new moons were slicing through space and time, and not only were the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries affected, two thin black rifts had been sliced into space itself. That was the point where time and space were separated from one another, and the two new moons vanished into the pair of dark rifts. As for everything between these two thin rifts, they were first transformed into an eternal snapshot in time, then drawn into chaotic and destructive spatial turbulence.

The dozens of Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries who were in the process of attacking Erwin looked down at the wounds on their waists with incredulous expressions. The cross sections of the wounds were incredibly flat and smooth, and the delayed spurts of blood erupting from their bodies added a beautiful flourish to what appeared to be a masterful work of art. After that, the upper and lower halves of their bodies began to separate in a surreal and oddly poetic scene.

At this moment, Erwin finally slowly opened his eyes. Just now, he seemed to have lost many of the emotions that should've belonged to him. Everything around him suddenly seemed to be very unfamiliar, and there was not even the slightest hint of emotion in his eyes as he watched the scene unfolding before him. There was no relief from surviving a near-death ordeal, nor any joy from killing his dozens of assailants with his new moons. There wasn't even any disorientation, nor any sense of absurdity.

What was most terrifying of all was that thinking back, he didn't even know why he had done what he had done, or what emotions had governed his actions.

After that, a peculiar scene began to unfold. The two dark rifts that had been sliced into space began to collapse toward the center, resembling a pair of tiny black mouths that were devouring heaven and earth. Many of the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries' bodies were sucked into the pair of collapsing rifts, and the Four Winds mercenaries who were rushing toward Erwin to help him immediately stopped cold in their tracks upon seeing this.

The peculiar black rifts even absorbed the halo spell that Onean had just unleashed earlier, and the light that was sucked into the rifts began to display strange permutations, with its width and length constantly changing in a seemingly haphazard manner. Erwin observed the irregular changes taking place in the light, and he realized that this was a result of the extremely inconsistent rate of passage of time within the two spatial rifts.

Thankfully, the two rifts didn't linger for very long before they faded into nothingness, and it was as if nothing had ever happened.

Everything had reverted to the way that it was before, making it seem as if what had just taken place was nothing more than a distant dream.

At this point, there were only a few Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries remaining in the air. All of the ones who were close to Erwin had been killed, and even their bodies had disappeared. The remaining few Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries were staring at Erwin as if they had seen a ghost, and they immediately tried to escape, only to be surrounded by Larwood and the others. However, in the end, there were still a couple that managed to get away.

Meanwhile, the Skycourt Kingdom's forces on the mountain had also been forced into retreat by the soldiers led by Francis. Francis and his troops pursued the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries all the way back to their encampment at the foot of the mountain, and only then were they able to catch their breath. In the wake of that battle, the Skycourt Kingdom mercenaries had suffered at least 8,000 casualties, and many of the mercenary legion commanders had also disappeared under inexplicable circumstances.

Only now was Erwin overcome by a crushing sense of exhaustion. His eyes were so dry and sore that he was barely able to keep them open, and the wounds on his arm and calf were also beginning to throb with pain, much to his relief. The discomfort certainly wasn't desirable, but the fact that he was able to feel it meant that he was still alive.

All of a sudden, the situation had turned very awkward. Onean and the others had no idea what to say to Erwin. It was as if he had turned into a completely different person just now, and they were all feeling a little spooked.

Erwin didn't know what to say to everyone else, either, and he used what little remained of his stamina and magic power to fly back to the airship.

Christine's face was riddled with tear streaks as she dove into Erwin's arms, and Lanyon and Sherry also approached Erwin with elated looks on their faces, followed by all of the other Four Winds mercenaries. The people on the airship were unable to see exactly what had just happened, so they simply thought that Erwin had unleashed some type of devastating spell to decide the battle in one fell swoop.

Erwin didn't say anything as he patted Christine on the back in an expressionless manner. Christine was reluctant to let go of him, but she still obediently unwound her arms around him, following which Erwin made his way back to his own room without even a single backward glance.

Lanyon and Sherry couldn't help but exchange a perplexed glance upon seeing this. They had never seen their deputy commander like this before. His face was completely devoid of color, and he didn't seem to be experiencing any joy from his triumph over the Skycourt Kingdom's forces. Instead, there was nothing more than an exhausted and soulless look in his eyes.

Upon returning to his own room, Erwin immediately began to flip through the pages of "Laws of Time and Space", paying no heed to his sore and swollen eyes. However, even after reading through the book until his eyes were too sore to continue, he didn't find what he wanted to see.

He laid down onto his own bed and began to recollect what had just happened. He also thought back to what Onean had said to him in her carriage, and he murmured to himself, "Whenever my life is at risk, I become extremely violent and ruthless... But this time, it wasn't just a matter of becoming violent, I suddenly felt so cold and indifferent toward the entire world, like I wanted to destroy everything! Where did that thought come from? Could it be that pursuing time and space magic really will drive me insane? But Professor Hawk didn't mention anything about that..."

There were countless questions in Erwin's mind, but no answers.