Law of Space and Time

With a wave of Lana's staff, the black wyrm let loose a thunderous roar before plunging headfirst into the violent storm. The Chaotic Forcefield was clearly unable to break down such a powerful burst of magic energy. As the black wyrm entered the forcefield, only the outermost layer of black energy on its skin was stripped away, so looking at it from afar, it seemed that it had only grown slightly thinner.

Gwen clearly wasn't expecting her Chaotic Forcefield to be completely powerless against Lana's attack.

The black wyrm was glaring coldly at Gwen with its menacing azure eyes, and it seemed that the match was about to be decided.

However, Gwen clearly wasn't going to give up so easily. She abandoned control over her Chaotic Forcefield, then conjured up an advanced magic shield.

Lana looked on with a cold expression as Gwen scrambled to defend herself. She could've already controlled the black wyrm to attack Gwen and end the battle, but she simply allowed Gwen to complete her magic shield.

However, throughout this process, Lana had been constantly funneling arcane energy toward the black wyrm. As a result, the black wyrm began to give off a dense layer of azure mist, and soon, the entire air above the venue was entirely taken up by the black wyrm and the dense mist.

Once Gwen had completed her advanced magic shield, a cold smile appeared on Lana's face as she brought her staff down in one swift motion, and the black wyrm instantly rushed forward with unstoppable might. Due to the enormity of the black wyrm's body, all of the spectators had erupted into a frenzy, and many of them had stood up to take a closer look.

In the spectator stands, Governor Jenkins was staring intently at the massive black wyrm with a steely expression, unsure of whether his daughter would be able to withstand this attack.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fuller was a lot more conscious and alert, immediately making eye contact with all of the administrators around the competition platform as a silent instruction for them to prepare to save Gwen if and when required.

However, the magic energy imbued within the black wyrm was far more fearsome than the administrators anticipated, and it was able to instantly break through Gwen's magic shield. At the same time, the administrators that had leaped onto the competition platform were sent flying, and in the blink of an eye, Gwen was swept up in a ferocious black storm.

Everything in the wake of the rampaging black wyrm had been razed to the ground.

The foundation of the competition platform split in half down the center, and all types of rocks and stones were clattering everywhere.

The administrators had been sent flying into the spectator stands on the bottom level, where they crashed into many of the spectators who were unable to evade.

As for Gwen, she was swept to the entrance of the contestants' passageway, and she had fallen completely unconscious. Her beautiful orange dress had been reduced to tatters, and it was only just barely able to cover up her sensitive regions, but large sections of her fair skin on her chest and stomach, as well as both of her long legs, were exposed out in the open.

Governor Jenkins naturally couldn't just sit by idly any longer, and he immediately got up from his seat, then rushed over to his daughter before draping his own coat over her body.

Despite the terrible condition that Gwen was in, Erwin could tell that Lana had held back in her attack.

After that, Lana departed from the competition platform right before everyone's astonished eyes. Thus, the most highly anticipated match of the day concluded in a rather underwhelming, one-sided victory.

Larwood and his friends could only lament Gwen's ill-fortune.

The only match left for the day was Jeff's match, and the four of them quickly arrived at an unspoken agreement to not watch the match.

"Let's go have a drink. We have to celebrate Erwin's advancement to the semifinal!" Chase proposed with a smile. "We wanted to hold a celebration for you last time, but you turned us down, so you can't refuse again! We have to drink to our hearts' content today!"

"That's right! I can't believe one of us is actually doing something with our life! We're going to make sure that you get drunk tonight!" Larwood slapped Erwin's back in a joyful manner, causing Erwin to wince with pain from his injury.

"Indeed. Who could've anticipated this prior to the commencement of the Pillow Sword Tournament?" Chase said as he turned to Erwin with an impressed expression. "At this point, I won't even be surprised if you win tomorrow."

"At the time we were joking about how he was lucky to have been put into a branch of the draw where he would only encounter those three monsters during the semifinals. Who knew that he would actually make the semifinal!" Larwood chuckled with a shake of his head.

Indeed, even Erwin himself would've never imagined that he would be able to make it into the top four of the tournament.

"What are you thinking about, Kaiba? You've been awfully quiet," Chase said.

"Oh, I was just thinking about who Erwin's opponent for tomorrow is going to be," Kaiba replied as he withdrew his gaze from the tournament venue.

"That's actually something that we should consider. Erwin, would you rather go up against Her Highness or Miss Lana?" Chase asked with an expectant grin.

"I bet you won't be able to bring yourself to attack either of them," Larwood chuckled.

Erwin also shook his head with a wry smile at the difficult question that Kaiba had raised to him.

"In any case, if I go up against Jeff, I'll definitely try to find a way to avenge you," Erwin jibed, pouring salt onto Larwood's wound.

Larwood wasn't going to just accept Erwin's jibe without retaliation, and he immediately pounced toward Erwin to poke at the wound on his back, but he was stopped by Kaiba.

As Erwin and his friends were play-fighting with one another, they attracted some attention from the people nearby, and many of them had recognized Erwin. Some of the bystanders began to whistle and wave at him, and some of the more bold and daring noble women were giving him seductive looks. Erwin wore a smug expression as he waved back at everyone. His three friends were quite disgruntled by his cocky display, and they grabbed him with displeased expressions before dragging him out of the venue.

...

That night, Erwin and his friends indulged in a night of drinking and festivities again. However, for some reason, Erwin was unable to fully enjoy himself. He looked at all of the celebrating people around him, and he couldn't shake this feeling of detachment and emptiness. He didn't know where his dejection was coming from, nor did he know what the reason behind his unease was, but he was constantly distracted and absent-minded the entire night. Even as he drank more alcohol, he only became more and more conscious, and he wasn't even interested in fooling around with the seductive hostesses.

Chase and the others merely reassured him that he was still yet to fully recover from his injuries.

Erwin naturally wasn't going to rain on everyone's parade, so he did his best to make it look as if he were enjoying himself. Only after everyone had blacked out from drinking did he make his way over to the window, where he looked at the night scenery outside in an absentminded manner, holding a glass of low-quality whiskey from the Zam highlands in his hand. In the past, Erwin had always detested the strong taste of oak barrels in this whiskey. To him, it tasted as if someone had thrown a lit cigarette into his beverage. However, on this night, all he wanted was to get drunk as quickly as possible, so he was willing to bear the abhorrent taste of the whiskey.

Thinking back over the past few days of competition, he was already very satisfied with what he had been able to achieve, so it didn't matter to him who his opponent was going to be tomorrow. After all, he had witnessed all three of the other semifinalists in action, and he knew that their powers were all far beyond his.

In fact, there was even a strange thought in his mind, which was that his participation in the Pillow Sword Tournament had already concluded, and he was only going to participate in an exhibition match the next day, just like his sparring match against Lana during the offense and defense class. With that in mind, he became a lot more relaxed, much like the feeling of release after completing the final exam for a semester. However, this was also most likely the source of his glum mood.

"Everything's fine as long as I don't have to go up against Jeff tomorrow." A faint smile finally appeared on his face as he looked out at the bright and starry night sky.

The semifinals of the 29th Pillow Sword Tournament were about to begin.

Having watched the past few days of competition, many of the spectators were convinced that this was the most formidable semifinal lineup in the past 20 years. The four hot favorites of the tournament had all lived up to their expectations and made it into the top four. Thinking back, it was actually only Erwin who had a difficult path to this point in the tournament. In contrast, the other three semifinalists had swept through the competition with ease, hardly breaking a sweat in the process.

Prior to this, all of the match schedules had been laid out on the matchup board by the tournament committee, but now that the tournament's top four contestants had emerged, it was tradition for the four contestants to draw their opponents for the semifinals in front of all of the spectators. Thus, none of the four semifinalists knew who their opponents were going to be prior to the name-drawing ceremony.

Just like on the first day of the Pillow Sword Tournament, all of the most renowned and important figures in Sarus were present for this day of competition.

King Cameron wore a hopeful look on his face, and it was clear that even as the king, he was invested in the outcomes of his own daughter's matches. In contrast, Master Piro appeared to be much more relaxed and carefree. In his eyes, none of the other semifinalists were a match for his prized disciple.

Prince Lazaar was as calm and collected as ever, exuding his usual aura, which was neither haughty nor humble.

Of course, Governor Jenkins was looking a little more dejected than everyone else. His daughter had failed to progress to the semifinals, so he was naturally feeling rather despondent.

After that, Prime Minister Fuller announced the entry of the remaining contestants into the venue. The royal guard of honor was gathered on either side of the contestants' passageways both to the east and to the west, and ceremonial music rang out as the four contestants entered the venue with tens of thousands of spectators looking on with keen interest.

The Lazaar siblings came in from the east with their arms interlinked. Prince Lazaar had intentionally brought the two of them back with him to Sarus in order to prove a point, and they had well and truly stunned all of the capital city's officials and nobles with both their looks and their powers. Furthermore, Prince Lazaar's eldest son was still stationed in Burmen, and he had to be a formidable force to be reckoned with as well. With such an outrageously talented young trio, it seemed that the Lazaar Family's future was very bright.

Princess Onean entered from the west, with Erwin trailing along behind her. Onean had gone to study under Master Piro when she was barely even 10 years old, and following her return, it was only to be expected that she would be extremely powerful. Master Piro had taken many students under his wing throughout his lifetime, but Onean was the only disciple that he had to beg for, so he definitely wasn't going to spare any effort in her tutelage. During this edition of the Pillow Sword Tournament, Onean had fully capitalized on her monstrous aptitude, and Master Piro was extremely pleased with her performance.