27. Counteroffensive (後發先制)
27. Counteroffensive (後發先制)
***
Clang!
Joy.
Pleasure.
The more her weapon and mine kept clashing, the more both of us—not just me—gradually grew accustomed to each other's techniques.
Just as the way she'd shown me openings so futilely in the first match had nearly vanished, Plea seemed like a completely different person now.
Clang, clang, clang!
Whenever the black Crescent-Moon Weight, wreathed in blood-red energy, embroidered the empty air, it was almost guaranteed.
The rapier shrouded in golden light would chase after it and dismantle the technique I had just unleashed.
It was, in the truest sense, the pinnacle of the principle of counteroffensive—striking later, seizing control first.
I took the initiative, yet the rapier that followed dismantled my techniques. Even while experiencing it in real time, Serin was dumbfounded.
Unlike having conceded the first move to my opponent, at some point it was unmistakably me who had taken the offensive.
That meant I had seized the upper hand.
And the more I pressed my opponent, the harder it became for her to respond—that was the greatest strength and defining trait of the Crescent-Moon Weight as a weapon.
Whether the weight embroidering the air would aim for the opponent's head, neck, waist, wrist, shoulder, or other vital areas, and from what angle—or whether it would suddenly strike at a critical point—the opponent had a hard time reading its path.
Because a weight that left the hand and embroidered the empty air was, in itself, a weapon of a thousand transformations.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang!
And yet.
Strangely enough, my techniques kept being blocked by that rapier shrouded in gold.
—Red Flower.
Once again, the blood-red weight embroidering the air shifted continuously at bizarre angles, as if drawing a flower.
It truly looked as though a red flower were being drawn in midair.
That was meant to trap the opponent's body within the weight's range, and while drawing the flower, to draw the opponent's death.
But not only were my techniques being blocked—in return, as if embroidering a golden flower.
The rapier that had been following along redrew my flower exactly as it was.
Toward the weight positioned in the air as if enveloping the opponent's body, the rapier that had wrapped around her own body drew a vivid golden trajectory and blocked every single path the weight had carved.
"Ha?"
Admiration slipped out before I knew it.
Each and every one of them felt too alien to dismiss as simple technique.
The fact that the meaning of "counteroffensive" didn't stop at a single instance but maintained that principle from start to finish—that in itself was beyond the realm of mere technique.
By now, it even felt as though Plea was swinging her rapier purely on instinct.
"..."
And for some reason, there was absolutely no sign of her using her Awakening Skill.
Could it be that the player called Plea wanted to dance this sword dance with me a little longer, right now, in this moment? The question even crossed my mind.
——!
At her sudden movement to attempt a parry, I hastily twisted my arm, twisting the weight's trajectory as well.
Clang!
By twisting the weight at the angle where the parry would normally have triggered, I deflected the rapier off-course and turned it into a mere collision.
"...Tch."
As I caught sight of her clicking her tongue, I took a step forward and yanked the black cord connected to my other hand mid-swing.
And at the same time, I twisted my head to avoid something invisible that was about to pierce through.
Silver hair seemed to obscure my vision for just a moment, then a blindingly bright golden radiance grazed past my face.
——!
But even so, I didn't so much as blink.
Closing my eyes while dancing along the line between life and death would only bring me closer to dying.
Even as my body kept signaling me to close my eyes, the moment I entered combat and my weapon met the opponent's at close range like this, I controlled my body thoroughly and let nothing escape my sight.
Whoosh!
The weight that left my hand flew not above or beside, but below, drawing a small crescent before suddenly shooting upward at insane speed.
—Dark Moon Weight.
And what existed at the place it shot toward was the blonde woman.
By the moment she retracted her extended rapier, the weight was already within close range.
The instant I thought this might actually land—
Clang!!
She... knocked it away.
Was this truly something that could happen within the principle of counteroffensive?
"..."
I felt the smile on my lips growing deeper and deeper.
Instinctively, I yanked my right hand back, retrieving the weight as I hurled my body forward.
And then came another endless exchange of blows.
Clang, clang, clang, clang!!
The vibration traveled clearly through the cord and into the hand gripping my weight. Even the collision itself was exhilarating.
Blade against blade.
Mine was a weight, not a blade, but the cord carried every tremor from its clashes with the rapier straight into my hand.
And at some point, I naturally realized it.
The principle of counteroffensive, pushed to an extreme that even I couldn't comprehend.
That this was the Awakening Skill of the player called Plea.
Even after the technique ended, the rapier remained shrouded in golden light.
There had been no warning, no sensation. I'd simply thought she had activated another technique and wrapped it in golden radiance.
But this was her class's Awakening Skill.
"...!"
The moment I twisted my head, a faint sensation brushed my cheek.
'Too late.'
The rapier's speed was gradually exceeding my perception.
That meant the rapier was gradually moving beyond even the principle of Counteroffensive.
—Explosive Spike.
I slammed the weight into the ground directly in front of me, not at the blonde woman.
At the same time came the explosion and shockwave.
BOOM!!
The structures inside the Colosseum shattered, kicking up clouds of dust.
Using the blast as cover, I put a large distance between us.
The hand holding the weight trembled faintly.
"...Ah."
It felt strange, so I checked my HP gauge—and it was far too strange.
I had definitely never allowed a proper hit or attack from my opponent.
Yet my HP gauge now had only about 20% remaining.
"...So I take damage just from having my techniques overpowered."
And only then did I realize.
The trembling I'd felt in my hand each time our weapons met.
They weren't merely the vibrations of our weapons colliding. Every single one had been the aftershock of damage.
It was only because this was virtual reality and I felt no pain that I'd dismissed it as mere weapon contact.
"It's already too late."
Even with the distance between us, the rapier now radiated golden light so dazzling it was blinding in itself.
As the smoke cleared, the revealed rapier drew my gaze naturally through sheer presence alone.
And seeing it, I was certain.
"An Awakening Skill..."
At my murmur, the blonde woman simply nodded.
"Honestly... at this point, I can only see you as a monster."
She said something I couldn't understand, and I wondered what she meant.
"Rin, do you know what counteroffensive is?"
At her words, which sounded like she was slowly explaining, I tightened my grip on the Crescent-Moon Weight and answered.
"I know."
"And yet I still haven't landed a single clean hit on you. It's really... unbelievable. Counteroffensive is basically a counter by design, so honestly, I'm still a little shocked."
"For someone who hasn't landed a clean hit, my HP gauge is at rock bottom."
Could I even call this blocking? In reality, the aftershock of having all my techniques shattered would have left the hand gripping the Crescent-Moon Weight torn to shreds.
Thinking about that, a hollow laugh escaped me.
"You won't be able to block this one either, Rin."
She spoke as she slowly walked toward me, and for a moment I almost nodded without realizing it.
Even with the distance between us, the energy I felt now was truly absurd.
The reason she wasn't chasing me despite my deliberately widening the gap.
It was because the golden radiance she'd accumulated while shattering my techniques had already gathered to an excessive degree.
That was what it meant.
And yet, throughout all my clashes with the rapier, I'd felt nothing unusual.
The golden radiance enveloping the rapier had emitted a constant, consistent level of light the entire time.
And now, the moment I'd widened the distance, it was suddenly blazing so brilliantly it covered the entire Colosseum.
That meant the opponent called Plea had deliberately concealed it.
"...You're meticulous."
I muttered as I watched her slowly approach.
Was it composure?
If I used my own Awakening Skill, could I block that?
'Final Performance.'
The final stage.
That meant the dancer's last dance.
It wasn't about landing a single tremendous blow in a short time.
That brilliant golden radiance illuminating the entire Colosseum—even at a glance, it had to possess enough destructive force to crush an opponent.
It was obviously a technique packed with raw "power."
"Ah."
Then, suddenly, a thought struck me.
The awakened dancer's senses.
With those, wouldn't parrying be possible?
Parry had been designed from the start to respond to all techniques.
The only exception was that it didn't work on Awakening Skills. The very design of Awakening Skills involved multi-hit attacks, so it was impossible to parry everything.
Parry was certainly designed to block everything, but against Awakening Skills, parrying was "realistically" impossible.
But if I was also in a state of using my Awakening Skill, wouldn't I be able to use parry even within that bombardment of colossal force and radiance?
And the transition from thought to action was instantaneous.
Serin's body began to stain crimson, like blood.
Even her pupils dyed blood-red, and her entire body began to be consumed by thick, viscous crimson.
—The 'Final Performance' skill resonates with the 'Madness' trait and changes to 'Divine-Blood Dancer.'
At the same time, the Crescent-Moon Weight, now steeped in blood-red energy, trembled strangely as an unidentifiable resonance began to fill the interior of the Colosseum.
Riiiiiiing!!!