The balloons that had been approaching Rose retreated backward. It was because Osian, who had been hiding like a mirage, scattered cold air around him.
Osian discovered the clown cleverly hidden among the movements of the balloons.
"Finally showing yourself. So how does it feel that your plan failed?"
The clown hidden in the balloon clouds glared in this direction. Bewilderment at his plan's failure and hatred toward the two people who had consistently interfered with him crossed in his eyes.
"For a beggar, you sure prepared a lot of balloons. Did you leverage these too?"
The clown didn't respond. He just quietly backed away and hid his body among the balloons. He knew that responding would only be disadvantageous to him. The presence he had been sensing was cut off. But the guy hadn't left the concert hall yet. He was waiting for the next opportunity.
The balloons that had encompassed the entire concert hall now surrounded Rose and Osian from all sides, as if pressuring them.
The audience murmured. All that could be seen on the projector showing Rose's image were balloons.
At least Rose's singing continued to echo, so it didn't matter.
Even that singing gradually diminished and began to cut out. Naturally, this was also the clown's doing.
"Speakers! What's going on! Did you tune them properly?!"
"We checked just 5 minutes ago! Th-this shouldn't be happening."
"What are those balloons! Try to get rid of them somehow!"
The staff were also in emergency mode. Rose suddenly singing an unscheduled song? That much was fine. They could get by making it seem like a surprise for the audience.
But if she couldn't be seen and her singing couldn't be heard. This was an unfixable major accident. This was a concert that had gathered people's attention. Not only media outlets but even the District 31 governor was paying attention. The moment the performance went awry, an enormous backlash would come rushing in.
"B-but there's no proper way!"
That said, there was nothing they could do to help. The situation had already left their hands. It was an ambiguous situation for even the safety guards to step in. Rather, doing so might give the audience the impression that something was happening.
The staff could now only desperately hope that someone else would resolve it.
Swoosh!
Inside the balloons, Osian swung his Moonlight Sword indiscriminately.
Pop! The balloons froze and then scattered as powder. Inside the burst balloons, tiny mini-balloons popped out. When one balloon was burst, more balloons filled the space.
'It feels like touching a spider web with baby spiders clustered together.'
It was like looking at endlessly rising bubbles. No matter how much he stabbed and burst them, they would never disappear.
Rose, who had been singing while playing her acoustic guitar, looked back at Osian. Her eyes clearly showed bewilderment. She was still singing, but she was asking Osian what to do.
'Cutting with a sword is difficult.'
There were too many balloons. While they didn't threaten life, they were more than enough to interfere with the performance. How many strikes of the Moonlight Blade would it take to cut all of these down?
Like the mythical Hydra where cutting off one head makes two grow back. The clown's balloons also multiplied instantly the moment you dealt with them halfheartedly.
"I see. Is there no proper way?"
Osian's muttering struck Rose's ears clearly. As much as she had expected, such words from Osian came as too great a shock.
Until she heard his next words.
"In this state."
Rose looked back at Osian. She happened to be resting from the lyrics, and only the sound of her guitar echoed like accompaniment. Rose asked with lip movements.
'What exactly are you going to do?'
"Rose. Let me give you one warning in advance. Don't be surprised by what I do. Never stop the performance."
Rose's eyes widened. Osian, who wouldn't normally say such things, had even given a warning.
"I'm going to sweep away all these balloons at once from now on. This is dangerous work that even I can't guarantee. You might get caught up in it."
This was why Osian was warning Rose. If things went wrong, she too might be affected by Osian's power to eliminate the balloons.
Osian didn't deny that possibility. That's why he was asking Rose whether it was okay to proceed.
-Nod.
Rose nodded and her pupils didn't waver. There was no fear.
"I see."
Osian gripped his sword anew.
"Then prepare yourself."
A full moon rose behind his back. It had a gentle, rippling beauty as if reflected in water. However, the moon's light gradually began to intensify. The bluish hue that seemed to sting the skin gradually turned yellow.
The brilliantly risen full moon had somehow become the sun that shines light on all things in the world and supplies endless life energy.
Osian combined the Moonlight Blades held in both hands into one.
-Clang!
The two blades locked together strongly. The two blade bodies intertwined as if burning and emitted intense heat. The bluish energy instantly changed to golden light.
Solar Straight Sword (日輪直劍).
Osian raised the sun ring high. The slowly rising sun spun fiercely in the form of a ring. Whirrrring. Along with the sound of gears turning, the light and energy emanating from the sun intensified.
Though a sun had suddenly risen and it would be natural to be surprised, Rose calmly focused on her accompaniment.
The moment the accompaniment gradually quickened and the sun ring's rotation reached its peak.
────!!!
Rose shouted into the microphone with all her might.
-Faaaash!
The light beams emanating from the sun ring became countless blades that tore through the balloons. The mini-balloons inside the balloons burst like firecrackers as soon as they touched the sun ring’s heat.
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-bang!
Tens of thousands of balloons trying to fill the concert hall exploded all at once. The brilliant sun that had been hidden by the balloons was imprinted in the eyes of over 100,000 spectators.
A clear yet intense high note that crossed the ears spread out. Under the brilliantly shining sun, Rose was singing with a smiling face.
"Oh, ohh."
"Wooooooh!!!"
The audience, who had been worried that an accident might have occurred, let out cheers. All the anxiety that had been creeping up disappeared. Rather, using that as fuel, the atmosphere at the venue burned even hotter.
Just like the sun that had risen at the center of the stage.
"Was this prepared from the beginning?"
"Ah. It's like a dream. This is truly a performance that will go down in history!"
"I'm glad I came to see Rose's concert!"
Rose didn't miss this atmosphere. Even while feeling the heat of the sun blazing above her head, she wasn't afraid at all and immediately prepared the next song.
There was no time to rest. The flow had come back to them and the moment she grasped it, Rose had no intention of ever letting it go.
For the sake of everyone who had worked hard for this moment.
'Excellent.'
Osian, who had risen as one with the sun ring, looked down at Rose and nodded with satisfaction.
If she had been even slightly flustered by the power of the sun ring, this atmosphere wouldn't have been created. Courage that knows fear but doesn't give up nonetheless. That's what brought the precariously tilting performance back to its original orbit.
'And I too am controlling my power as much as possible.'
Originally, the sun ring was an excessively destructive and powerful force. The sun ring was like a wild horse that wouldn't properly listen to its master and ran wild.
After the battle with Red Eternity, Osian had gained an even stronger sun ring. At the same time, he also gained firm reins to control the sun ring.
The extreme environment he had faced against Red Eternity had elevated Osian to an even higher level. And he had shown the possibility of combining the three powers of a knight into one.
'Compared to handling three powers simultaneously, controlling the sun ring now is an easy task.'
Of course, the power of the sun ring remained the same, so even with this control, the heat affecting Rose would be considerable. Nevertheless, Rose was singing as if nothing was wrong.
This would be impossible without the belief that Osian would never harm her. It was possible because she believed in him. Therefore, gladly responding to that belief was also his role.
-Whirrrring.
The dome ceiling of the concert hall began to slowly open. Osian's gaze turned toward the main control booth. The place called Steam Master Control was a space where staff and personnel in charge of the performance stayed during the show.
Through the transparent glass window, he could see the staff panicking. It seemed like they had no idea why the dome ceiling was opening.
'That means.'
Osian's gaze, wrapped in golden light, turned toward the ceiling. Through the opened gap, he could see the clown with bizarrely elongated limbs crawling like a bug.
As the dome opened, Tirna's pitch-black night sky spread out. A black canvas where the stars in the sky had disappeared due to pollution.
Osian shot up toward that endless darkness.
-Flash!
The outdoor spectators who had been watching through artifacts outside the dome had their attention seized by the sun that burst through the concert hall ceiling.
The sun that tore through Tirna's night and burned brilliantly illuminated all things. It was hot and intense, yet at the same time had a warmth that kindled sparks in coldly settled hearts.
While everyone's attention was captured by the sun, Osian found the clown who was somehow trying to quickly escape.
The guy was crawling around the dome's exterior like a bug. Perhaps sensing something, he looked back at Osian. His posture remained the same but only his head had turned 180 degrees like an owl.
Horror filled the guy's expression. Osian reached out his arm toward such a clown.
The moment he was about to shoot the Golden Sun Ray, he saw the clown grinning. Osian hesitated for a moment. There was absolutely no reason to suddenly smile in a moment of crisis.
Osian looked down inside the concert hall. Around Rose, who was singing to the audience's enthusiastic response, he could see remaining shadows starting to rise.
If he aimed for the clown here, he could eliminate the guy. Osian's dilemma lasted only an instant.
'I must keep the requests I accept. That's what a fixer does.'
Osian immediately lowered the arm he had extended. And he shot Golden Sun Rays from each fingertip.
Five pillars of light fell from the sky as if guarding Rose's surroundings. The shadows that had been secretly trying to ambush Rose were swallowed by the sun ring. The shadows disappeared without a trace, turning to ash.
Meanwhile, the clown flew up at high speed holding a balloon. When Osian aimed at the guy again, the clown deliberately flew toward where the outdoor spectators were gathered, as if to mock Osian.
'The moment he dodges, those people below will get hit.'
The guy had cleverly used his cunning nature to take the spectators hostage, hoping that Osian would hesitate even a little. Meanwhile, the clown flew at high speed on the balloon. The speed was like watching a dragonfly.
"Hee hee hee hee hee!"
The clown cackled and mocked Osian. He was ridiculing him for not catching him as he escaped. Osian found this absurd.
'No. He's running away having failed to interfere with the performance, so why is he laughing?'
There was no better example of mental victory than this. Well, that's probably why he lost so much money in stocks. Of course, the clown had never actually traded stocks or lost assets. But that image was already fixed in Osian's mind.
"Hoo ha ha ha ha!"
The clown laughed even louder, as if trying to wash away his defeat with this mockery. At the moment he was laughing like that.
-Bang!
The clown's head jerked greatly. A bullet had flown and lodged in his temple. Surprised, Osian looked in the direction the bullet had come from.
When she climbed up, Loraine was shooting with a sniper rifle near the concert hall rooftop door. Next to her was Diolan, who had taken off his boots and transformed into a giant black cat.
The clown also looked back at Loraine in surprise. He seemed not to have expected to be hit by a bullet from this distance.
"You bastard! Because of you, I couldn't properly enjoy Rose's performance! Take responsibility!"
Loraine spewed anger at the clown and pulled the trigger. With a thump, the bullet flew. The bullet was pure white, and a tail was drawn like a meteor along its trajectory.
The clown tried to turn direction in surprise, but it was useless. The gun Loraine shot wasn't that easy.
It was a gun modified with holy law that Osian had obtained from Petra Diocese last time. Because it was different from ordinary firearms, it could deal sufficient damage to the clown too.
-Thud!
The bullet lodged properly in the forehead of the clown who was making evasive maneuvers. Evasion didn't work against Loraine's inspired marksmanship. The clown's head trembled, and his two pupils rotated in different directions. The impact was by no means small.
"Hoo, hee, heek. Heeek."
The clown made deflating sounds but never let go of the balloon string in his hand. The moment Loraine quickly loaded a bullet to shoot the guy.
The clown moved desperately and hid among the spectators.
"Tch."
Loraine clicked her tongue and withdrew her gun barrel.
The clown staggered into an alley. It had truly been a terrible day. The ambush had failed, and he had unintentionally suffered major damage.
Thud. Thud-thud. The clown pulled out the bullets lodged in his head and threw them on the ground.
He felt nauseous. Right now, he couldn't handle the volcanic energy exploding in District 31. He could feel positive power that was anathema to the clown rippling like waves.
His skin stung and his bones felt like they were melting and flowing away. He felt like he would go crazy from disgust. The clown suppressed his anger inside and tried to escape District 31 as quickly as possible.
Then, from the opposite end of the alley, rimless glasses glinted. The clown involuntarily hesitated.
A cold-looking handsome man in black slacks and a white dress shirt. It was Balud.
"I'm sorry, but I'd appreciate it if you could stay still there."
Balud appeared, adjusting his glasses. In his other hand was a hand axe engraved with runes.
"On a day when everyone is enjoying themselves, I don't want blood to splatter everywhere from failing to control my strength either."
Crack. Crack-crack. Balud loosened his muscles by rolling his shoulders. A chilling cold wave ran down the alley and struck the clown once.
Crackle. Crack-crackle. Frost bloomed like flowers on the alley floor and outer walls.
Hah. Balud exhaled pure white breath.
"Don't worry. I'll slice you cleanly without it hurting."