- As night comes on, Charlemagne and Baligant recognize each other by their loud cries of "Montjoie!" and "Precieuse!" They meet in epic battle in the middle of the field, ripping their armor and falling off their horses in the violence of their whacking.
- Then they start in with swords.
- Charles is full of courage but the emir is neither afraid nor in awe of him. They hack and make sparks but neither will admit defeat or that he is wrong.
- The Emir tells Charlemagne to ask his forgiveness for killing his son and unjustly invading his land. Be my vassal, he offers, and I will let you own it as a fief.
- But Charles will never accept such terms. His Christian duty doesn't allow him to find peace or friendship with any pagan. He has a different offer. If Baligant accepts Christianity, Charlemagne will make him his vassal. Then they go back to sword-bashing.
- The emir gets a lucky blow when he splits Charlemagne's helmet and slices off a handful of skull skin to the bone. Charlemagne reels but God is on his side. Gabriel appears and demands to know what he is doing.
- At the sound of this angelic pep talk, Charlemagne's strength returns. He cleaves Baligant's head down to his beard. Duke Naimes hears Charlemagne's celebratory "Montjoie!" and holds his horse, Tencendor, while Charlemagne mounts.
- The pagans flee in terror and the Franks pursue them all the way to Saragossa, while Charlemagne urges them to avenge their sorrow.
- When Bramimonde sees her people fleeing before the galloping Franks from the top of her tower, she cries that the emir has been destroyed. Marsile, still nursing his chopped-off hand, hears and dies from despair. Devils take away his soul.
- Charles breaks down Saragossa's gate and takes over the city, even Bramimonde's sixty towers. That night 1,000 Franks roam the streets smashing idols so that Christianity can enter the city. Bishops bless the baptisteries and force-convert more than 100,000 Saracens.
- Anyone who opposes them is either imprisoned or killed. Bramimonde is to be taken back to France and converted there, once she has a chance to learn the truth of the Christian faith.
- The next morning they ride back to France, conquering Nerbonne (modern-day Narbonne) on the way.
- At a church in Bordeaux, Charlemagne makes an offering of the oliphant so pilgrims will see it and honor Roland's memory.
- They cross the Gironde River and leave the bodies of the dead knights in the church of Saint-Romain. Then they ride on uninterrupted to Aix.