Rise of the Inquisition (Arc 1-3)

Chapter 67: Accept yourself

Everything for Paladin seemingly felt like it was moving in slow motion, the steel blade of his sword breaking into two pieces, the separated steel pieces of the blade crashing into the ground with broken fragments falling.. And the crowd reactions, only a few shocked voices, but a large amount of cheering. Paladin had a shocked look on his face, as the blade slowly came down.

"School of Light, Boltshield!"

Suddenly, a golden glowing transparent shield appeared in midair right below the blade and right above Paladin. Paladin fell back, and crashed into the ground. But, Captain Cassius' falling blade was stopped by the shield.

"Enough of this Cesar! There is no stopping me now!"

The Boltshield disappeared, and suddenly Captain Cassius charged at Paladin again with both of his hands on the handle of his blade. As the blade came crashing down again at Paladin, Paladin rolled over on his arm to the right, and avoided the blade strike.

"Stop running! Take it like a man!"

Captain Cassius picked up his sword, as Paladin stood up from the ground. Paladin was breathing heavily, and he had made fists out of his hands. Captain Cassius swung at him again, and Paladin jumped backwards, Paladin was able to react to Captain Cassius' attacks quickly because of Eagle Vision, he was able to see his attack and react faster than Cassius could attack. Captain Cassius stood still, and he looked at Paladin dead in the eye. Paladin was breathing heavily, and many thoughts were racing through his head. He attempted to calm himself, and he tried to focus.

Space, I need space.

Paladin slowly started to walk backwards, he was walking backwards towards the Royal Knights crowd. He kept his eyes on Captain Cassius, not taking his eyes off of him for even a second. Paladin was paying attention to Captain Cassius, paying attention as Captain Cassius hunched over. But, he was also hearing the voices of the crowd.

"Chicken, why won't you just give in and die already!"

"Fuck you Cesar! You don't fight with honor, just kill yourself already!"

"I hope when you're dead they put your head on a spike and parade it around the city Cesar!"

Paladin was hearing the voices, and he was starting to become angered within himself. The voices, for awhile until now he was able to block them out from coming into his ear. But now that he was in a weakened state, he couldn't block them out anymore. Now that he was in a weakened state, the voices would impact him more than before.

"I knew it, Captain Cassius was always better than Cesar. Look at how strong the Captain is, he just broke Cesar's sword into two halves!"

"Look at Cesar, look at how he is breathing heavily and he is shaking as he is scared! He can't fight, he is weakened!"

"Good riddance to Cesar!"

Paladin, breathing was heavier than before. As he listened to the voices, the constant hatred that there was for him. The constant disdain people had for him was getting to him. He was clenching his fists extra hard, as he heard laughter coming from the crowd. He didn't want to listen to it before, and he didn't want to listen to it now. But now he was given no other choice. With the hatred that was being spewed at him, he was having angry thoughts.

Why! Why the fuck do they hate me so god damned much! What did I do to everyone here! I'm not Cesar! I'm not his son! I'm not his blood! I'm not him! Why do you people have to hate me so goddamn much! All I want to do in this world is find my friends and make sure we have a good life in what it seemingly a disaster for us! Why! Do all of you have to make this hard on me! Why must you all be so spiteful!