265. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - The Song of Roland (14)
265. Knights of Charlemagne vs Rin - The Song of Roland (14)
***
The beautiful petals of the Great Crimson Lotus that had bloomed before Serin filled the entire front, and immediately began clashing fiercely with the massive light surging toward her.
Fsssssh!
The instant they met, five red petals shattered and scattered widely, and even the tip of Serin's sword, extended as if supporting the central axis of the red lotus, began to tremble.
Facing the blinding cluster of light, Serin frowned faintly.
'So techniques like the Great Crimson Lotus are unstable.'
She felt anew that she couldn't execute sword-related techniques as perfectly as she could with the Crescent-Moon Weight.
The massive petals shouldn't have broken so easily.
Fsssssh!
Four more petals burst in succession, scattering red light, and the cluster of light pushed back even more violently, disorienting her vision.
'Can I block this?'
Serin, still extending her sword, felt even her confidence in the technique waver.
Her judgment had been leaning toward being able to block it, but—
Fsssh!
As three more red petals shattered in succession, Serin coldly assessed the situation.
Her right hand, supporting the red lotus, was now shaking violently, and it wouldn't have been strange for it to be pierced at any moment.
Moreover, only six petals of the red lotus remained now.
She could see that the oncoming cluster of light was also gradually losing its force, no longer radiating as intensely as at first.
Fssh!
As two more petals shattered and scattered, only four red petals now protected Serin.
Compared to the original eighteen that had unfurled, it was utterly pitiful.
'I'll deflect it.'
In an instant, Serin made her decision.
The fiercely resisting red lotus erased its petals in a single moment.
And as the petals that had been blocking the light vanished, the light seemed to regain its freedom and struck directly—
—!
Serin swung her sword upward with concentration pushed to its absolute limit.
Immediately after, the cluster of light's angle bent sharply, surging upward with all the force that had been directed at Serin.
"...What?"
Roland's head lifted blankly, following the cluster of light that shot high into the sky.
Watching the light's trajectory, he couldn't understand.
The Judgment of Heaven, which he hadn't even thought would be effective while deploying it, had produced a completely unexpected result when Rin chose to meet it head-on.
It had turned into a contest of total force, colliding directly.
Immediately after, when the light rapidly broke through the multiple layers of petals like the red lotus, Roland had even felt a small hope.
But the result revealed at the end was nothing short of bizarre.
'How in the world?'
In that brief moment, not even Rin could have deployed a technique.
And since the cluster of light had shot up vertically, it wasn't as if she had dodged it either.
Only at the very end did it occur to him that she had deflected it. But rather than understanding, only disbelief filled his mind.
"..."
As Roland's dazed gaze slowly lowered to the ground, there stood a woman sweeping back her disheveled silver hair.
Roland unconsciously raised his sword as if on guard, while Serin calmly collected her thoughts.
'It'll be worth showing.'
At first she'd wondered if she'd suggested the settings change for nothing—but now she was rather glad.
Serin made up her mind.
Slide.
Slowly, reverently, she raised Durandal upright before her chest.
Taking a stance like a knight swearing an oath of fealty, Serin faced Roland directly and parted her lips.
"Because endless pain accompanies me, the will to overcome it grows ever firmer......."
————!
From beneath Serin's feet as she recited, holy light burst forth as if exploding, beginning to envelop her body in radiant brilliance.
At the sight of her being wrapped in unprecedented radiance, Roland's eyes flew wide open in disbelief.
The reverent stance with the sword raised before her chest, the woman's voice ringing out clearly as if in recitation—
'The Song of Roland.'
He had never heard the words before, but he couldn't help but know what it was for.
"Because I know that at its end, I will face a great light......."
There wasn't the slightest hesitation in Rin's continued recitation.
Roland found himself staring blankly at her as she carried on without pause in a clear voice.
Whoosh!
The light bursting from beneath her feet was gradually transforming into a brilliant golden radiance.
The change in light meant the Song's effect was nearing completion.
'How can she show this level of completion?'
While Roland was astonished, Serin had already reached the end of the Song.
"...Because the ideal cannot be reached, in the end, the faint scattering handful of light is resplendent."
Having finished The Song of Roland in a composed voice, Serin's form was now fully enveloped in golden light.
Her appearance, so reverent it seemed to embody divinity itself, looked beyond human.
Ding.
*
————
'Rin's' Song.
*The Song of Roland efficiency: 94%!
-Due to The Song of Roland's effect, stats increase by 94%.
(Due to PvP adjustment, stat increase efficiency is changed to 47%.)
-Skill power adjustment: 30%.
Duration: 9 minutes 59 seconds.
Use of The Song of Roland restricts the use of Awakening Skills.
(Restriction due to PvP adjustment.)
————
*
The Song of Roland effect that appeared in Serin's vision was shared with Roland as well, showing him the efficiency.
"..."
Looking at her body dyed in golden light, Serin let out an involuntary laugh.
'94%, huh.'
The effect of the Song she'd used for the first time exceeded her expectations. Moreover, the lines of the Song that Roland had used in Black Ark seemed to apply properly, showing high efficiency.
But Serin also instinctively understood that it wasn't 100%.
Because she hadn't recited the original content of Roland's Song verbatim.
The more she recited the Song, the more Roland's ending came to mind, so Serin had changed that ending, unlike the original meaning.
The real Roland's end had been utterly hollow.
She couldn't bring herself to sing of glorious splendor when the Roland in her memories was a tragic figure who had never seen that light.
'No matter how I think about it, it was a cruel ending.'
As if forgetting its original blood-red color, Serin pointed the now golden Durandal downward and turned her gaze to Roland.
She didn't immediately go on the offensive.
If she attacked in her current state, it was obvious the match would end in an instant.
"That Song just now. Don't tell me you composed it yourself?"
When Roland asked as if he'd even forgotten the duel, Serin hesitated briefly, then nodded.
"Yes."
It stung a little, but she couldn't exactly say she knew the real Roland from Black Ark.
So that was the answer she gave.
"...I can't believe it."
When her opponent expressed genuine admiration with eyes full of envy, Serin's conscience pricked her.
When she averted her gaze for no reason, even that looked like humility to Roland.
'To recite such an incredible Song and then be humble about it.'
He had personally confirmed with his own eyes that the Song's efficiency was 94%.
That was an efficiency level he'd never seen before—an absurd efficiency.
As Roland let out a hollow laugh amid his swirling thoughts, Serin turned her gaze to him.
Aware of her gaze, Roland slowly raised his sword before his chest.
Slide.
Taking the same stance Serin had just assumed, but even more precisely, Roland began to deploy the Song he had truly composed himself.
***
The Song of Roland that then resounded through the space was extremely short compared to Serin's.
*
————
'Roland's' Song.
*The Song of Roland efficiency: 88%!
-Due to the Song's effect, stats increase by 88%.
(Due to PvP adjustment, stat increase efficiency is changed to 44%.)
-Skill power adjustment: 28%.
Duration: 9 minutes 59 seconds.
Use of The Song of Roland restricts the use of Awakening Skills.
(Restriction due to PvP adjustment)
————
*
The effect of The Song of Roland, which sang of loyalty and glory, appeared in each of their fields of vision, and both of them, now bathed in golden light, had their stats greatly increased by the Song's effect.
They exchanged calm gazes without exchanging a single word.
Tap.
When Serin lightly kicked off the ground, she vanished as if disappearing in an instant.
Roland's eyes gleamed as he took in the brilliant golden spectacle adorning the space.
—!
Serin appeared behind him before he knew it, slashing horizontally with Durandal wrapped in golden light. As if expecting it, Roland turned his body and swung his sword.
BOOM!
Roland, who seemed to be properly parrying, was sent flying back with a massive explosion.
By the time Roland urgently righted his posture with a startled expression, she had already vanished again.
——!
Her sword, appearing from all directions around Roland while carving golden afterimages, raged like a storm.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
They were nothing more than simple attacks, not even techniques, but the sword thrust at light-like speed transcended most techniques on its own.
An attack beyond common sense, as if golden lines were being drawn across multiple spaces in a single instant.
Roland's form, meeting those attacks, wavered precariously like a flame caught in an endless storm.
'...An absurd speed.'
Even as he perceived the situation and parried, Roland had to desperately swing his sword while watching the golden lines cutting in from multiple directions.
Rin's movements, fast enough to leave afterimages, were certainly visible, if only for instants.
But even knowing those movements, all he could do was block. Going on the offensive in return was nearly impossible.
BOOM!
Roland, having blocked Serin's strike from the front and been pushed back heavily, desperately swung his sword behind him.
BOOM!
Then, meeting the surging golden line, he was pushed back hard in the original direction as if struck by another massive impact.
BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions rang out endlessly as Roland's sword was repeatedly knocked away, over and over without limit.
———!
Then Serin appeared above Roland like a golden line, thrusting sharply with Durandal.
Roland immediately twisted his blade and blocked her sword with the flat of his own.
CLANG!!
A massive metallic ring echoed, and Roland's arm, unable to properly absorb the force with the flat of his blade, buckled downward as if breaking.
THOOOM!
A crater formed around Roland as if a meteor had struck, and even the shockwave swept through the space once.
The exchange that unfolded between the two after that was so brutal it defied description.
***
Twitch.
Yena, who had been twitching her hands restlessly, fidgeted and couldn't sit still, until Seojin finally couldn't bear to watch any longer and spoke up.
"Give up."
"Give up...?"
When Yena turned her head blankly and asked, Seojin shook his head.
Even Seojin couldn't find words for what was unfolding in the Colosseum.
One side was on the attack, and the other was simply defending.
How Rin could gain the upper hand even when both used the Song of Roland equally—even the Knights of Charlemagne players couldn't understand.
But the reality unfolding before them was exactly that.
Sihyeon was desperately struggling just to withstand Rin's onslaught.
And he had already been doing nothing but blocking for dozens—no, hundreds of exchanges.
'No, can you even call that blocking?'
BOOM!!
Another massive explosion erupted, and Sihyeon's form flew through the air like a severed thread.
Judging by the fact that he hadn't turned into light and vanished, Sihyeon had clearly still managed to block Rin's attack.
But the aftermath was far from ordinary.
Even if there was no direct hit, his body jolting as if taking damage with each explosion—
There was no way the person enduring that was mentally unaffected.
That reality had been repeating for nearly ten minutes now.
From a spectator's perspective, it was actually pitiful to watch.
Wouldn't it be better to just forfeit or surrender? The thought crossed her mind countless times.
"Seriously... what do we do?"
Yena asked as if she wanted to stop the match somehow, but Seojin shook his head.
BOOM! BOOM!
Even at this very moment, Sihyeon was enduring the attacks, and despite struggling to hold on, his eyes visible from afar still seemed alive.
The person actually fighting wasn't giving up like that—so what could the people watching possibly do?
Tap.
When Rin suddenly stopped and the golden light began fading from her form—
"...Huh?"
"Oh?"
Seojin and Yena let out exclamations at the same time.
Because Roland, who had done nothing but take attacks until now, went on the offensive for the first time, as if he'd been waiting for this.