257. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - Great Massacre (6)
257. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - Great Massacre (6)
***
After the match ended, Serin descended to the ground and naturally clenched her hand toward the empty air.
Clink.
As if by magic, Durandal was suddenly in her grip, as though it had always been there.
The sword's elegant crimson blade flaunted itself, dazzling Serin's vision as she held it and fixed her gaze upon it.
"..."
Her eyes, staring at the sword as if entranced, were not actually looking at Durandal.
The scene from just moments ago was still flickering across her blue eyes.
She had faced a technique imbued with immense power, and after a gambler's wager, she had hurled her sword wide and unleashed her own technique.
She had finished it by shooting her blade straight at her opponent's head.
Right now, she felt a strange sense of disconnect toward the version of herself who had made that call.
It was a judgment she wouldn't have made under normal circumstances.
'That was reckless.'
If she had slipped up even slightly, it wouldn't have been strange at all for her to be the one finished instead.
But even now, fully aware of that, she oddly felt no particular sense of alarm or danger.
Even as she felt the disconnect, her thoughts were hardening in the opposite direction—rationalizing what she'd just done. 'Of course I could do that.' 'It was a sound judgment.'
Looking back on it again, it felt as though she had thrown herself forward without a moment's hesitation, brimming with certainty that she could end her opponent.
Serin was newly realizing just how much her stats had changed.
Her movements were subtly different.
'I didn't expect it to be this noticeable.'
As her physical abilities rose, the baseline for her judgment had naturally risen along with them.
She didn't think the pro players she was facing right now were low-skilled.
It was more like looking at uncut gemstones—rough around the edges, with sharp or jagged protrusions, not yet fully polished.
Even if the variance was large, on average they were undeniably pro players. Even if they went up against G1's players, individually they had the skill not to be significantly outmatched.
And yet.
Right now, she was handling them far more easily than she'd expected.
And it wasn't even because she was exploiting the pro players' weaknesses or targeting their openings to finish things.
The reality was that she was overwhelming them in pure head-on combat, sword in hand.
She was swinging her sword as if showcasing Roland's movements, but even she was surprised it could be this easy.
"...You're incredible."
At the voice that suddenly reached her, she blankly turned her gaze to find her next opponent already down in the Colosseum.
A female knight clad in black armor like herself, wielding a one-handed sword, with striking pastel-pink hair tied in a ponytail.
Her next opponent was Angelica—Choi Yena.
The most popular player on the Knights of Charlemagne, and in terms of raw mechanics alone, the player with the highest potential of anyone on the team.
"Rin, were you originally a Knight player? You handle a sword far better than I expected. No, maybe it's more accurate to say your split-second judgment is amazing...? I was really surprised watching you finish off Mina at the end."
As Yena spoke, slowly straightening her posture, Serin shook her head.
"...I got lucky."
At her modest reply, Yena was dumbfounded.
"You're on a win streak against pros and you call it luck? I could tell your skill is simply better, Rin."
"Thanks for the compliment."
"I'm not just complimenting you—I'm genuinely praising you right now. I was sincerely impressed by your skill."
As Yena expressed her admiration with obvious sincerity, Serin let out a faint smile.
—The duel will begin shortly.
-10. 9...
Soon the familiar duel-start message appeared in their vision, and the countdown began.
Slip.
Facing it, Serin slowly straightened her posture and organized her thoughts.
In the first match, she'd displayed one of Roland's famous techniques against Olivier to put the whole team on alert.
In the second match against Bradamante, she'd provoked her and wounded her mentality, rattling her composure.
For the third match against Angelica... there was nothing.
Ironically, of the five players, she was the only one who needed none of it.
Simply put, she was the most talented player among them.
A player with high natural talent didn't actually need any of that. Serin believed that type improved most through firsthand experience, so no special preparation was necessary.
She figured Yena would realize things on her own just by crossing blades.
—1.
The moment the countdown ended, Serin kicked off the ground and surged toward her opponent, just as in the previous matches.
"..."
And Angelica, watching Serin approach, calmly held her ground as the match began.
She simply gripped her sword with both hands in place and raised the blade toward the direction of her charging opponent.
The jet-black blade immediately began to drink in a deep, dark aura.
Angelica's sword was a Mythic-grade one-handed sword—Laevateinn.
Officially classified as a one-handed sword, it was a peculiar weapon that could only unleash its full power when gripped with both hands.
In practice, Laevateinn had to be wielded like a greatsword.
That was why Angelica, holding her ground now, was the picture of caution.
——!
Unlike the previous matches, Serin took the initiative without mercy.
Durandal, wreathed in a blood-red aura, slashed swiftly at Angelica's legs.
Step.
Angelica calmly stepped back and swung her sword wide.
Clang!
A massive metallic ring echoed through the air as brilliant light burst across the space, and the two different swords were simultaneously knocked back as if their strikes had perfectly met.
***
Clang! Clang! Clang!!
The two women clashed blades relentlessly without giving an inch, bursts of brilliant light erupting continuously to mark the ferocity of their exchange.
The Knights of Charlemagne players watched with interest as the two traded blows on equal footing.
Seojin and Mina, who had suffered defeats at Serin's hands, were watching the match with even greater focus than before, while Hamin and Sihyeon carefully studied Rin's swordsmanship.
"I can't tell if Yena's doing well, or if Rin is just amazing for clashing head-on against Laevateinn..."
Seojin muttered his thoughts as he watched the two fiercely locked in combat.
"Well, Yena's never been pushed back in a straight-up fight."
Sihyeon spoke as if defending Yena.
Yena usually followed him closely, so just seeing her trade blows evenly with Rin made Sihyeon feel a sense of pride.
Moreover, Sihyeon knew that Yena's fighting style resembled his own.
Thoroughly orthodox.
Even though Laevateinn's handling differed from a standard one-handed sword, Yena had insisted on following Sihyeon's orthodox approach.
So Sihyeon had taught her personally, but whether that was the right thing... Sihyeon still hadn't found an answer.
Given Laevateinn's nature—a one-handed sword that had to be wielded like a greatsword—Sihyeon had suggested Yena should imitate the style of Kang Hyeok from a stronger team rather than his own, but Yena had replied that she was fine as she was.
'I appreciate it, but.'
Was that really the right answer? Sihyeon kept wondering, when—
A massive change was gradually unfolding within the Colosseum where the two women were savagely clashing blades.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
At some point, the mere act of their swords meeting began to produce enormous explosions that seemed to shake the entire space.
Because of Laevateinn's nature, even a one-handed swing carried destructive power surpassing most greatswords, producing thunderous booms that seemed to reverberate through the whole arena. Yet Rin, meeting those blows without being pushed back even an inch, looked utterly alien.
"Hey, Sihyeon. How is Rin pulling that off?"
Hamin looked at Sihyeon as if the situation made no sense, and Sihyeon let out a hollow laugh.
"Probably. She can deflect attacks, similar to me."
After the previous matches, Sihyeon had decided nothing Rin did would be surprising. But actually witnessing it again still felt strange.
The sight of Rin and Yena clashing swords with full force was all too familiar to Sihyeon.
It was almost identical to what he saw every time he sparred with Yena.
A kind of art—deflecting Laevateinn's immense power by striking it away with momentary force.
Sihyeon had no idea how Rin was pulling it off, but she was doing it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
At Sihyeon's answer, Seojin twisted the corner of his mouth.
"See? Didn't I tell you? Rin really gives off a similar vibe to Jeanne d'Arc."
And as Seojin said, it was one of the techniques Jeanne d'Arc could also perform.
Sihyeon had believed that within the pro league, he and Jeanne d'Arc were the only Knight-class players who could meet Laevateinn with a one-handed sword.
That belief was now being shattered before his eyes.
Because a third person capable of it had appeared.
As the distance between the two fiercely battling fighters widened,
————!
Darkness surged violently over Laevateinn's jet-black blade, beginning to savagely devour the air throughout the Colosseum.
And Rin widened the distance even further.
"If she's already pulling that out, she must be feeling pretty cornered."
Mina sighed and muttered, and the Knights of Charlemagne players in the stands all thought of the same technique.
—Great Massacre.
Along the trajectory of Laevateinn's swing, pitch-black darkness began to destructively swallow the light.
WHOOOOSH!!
An explosive surge of immense power that went beyond mere force, consuming the light itself.
Sihyeon, who had immediately turned his gaze to see how Rin would respond, soon caught sight of her.
"The opening stance of Great Severance...?"
With that blank murmur, at the edge of the space where the black line had been devouring the light,
————!!
A sudden, breathtakingly beautiful blood-red radiance blazed forth, announcing its presence.