Rise of the Inquisition: Reconstruction

Lord Inquisitor II

Pope Venetent smirks as Paladin was dead silent from his response. Pope Ventent telling Paladin that he knew he was the Lord Inquisitor caught Paladin off guard - to him he seemed so different from before; the armor, the hair, and his eyes were nothing like what they used to be. Combing this all together, it was a fair assessment to make that nobody in Orion would have a single clue of who he was - unless if someone close to him recognized him as the Lord Inquisitor, but Pope Venetent was not someone who was close to Paladin before he left Orion, and as far as most were aware, he wasn't even someone who was relevant before the battle for the Capital City.

I have no clue who Pope Venetent is, where he came from and how he came to know about me, but I can already tell that I'm not going to be fond of the man - the nonsense he's spewing out concerning the worship of the Inquisition is nonsense.

"Where are you from, Pope Venetent?" Paladin asks. "More importantly, who are you? How did you come to be the leader of this Septem Church?"

Pope Venetent smirks

"I am Pope Venetent, Orion is my home."

Paladin eyes slightly narrow at Pope Venetent, displeased with the information he was given

"What Royal house are you associated with?"

"I'm not part of any Royal house," Pope Venetent responds.

Huh?

Amused by how Paladin was taken back by the news he wasn't part or associated with a Royal house, Pope Ventent takes a few steps past Paladin.

Then how the hell did he manage to become the leader of this cult? How did he manage to have this cathedral be a place used by his cult? It doesn't make sense, it doesn't make sense at all.

"So how did you gain the authority within this cult to become its head?" Paladin asks. "How did you get the authority and the power necessary to be the head of some cult worshipping the Inquisition - when you have no connection to it?"

Pope Venetent chuckles

"My power comes from the people who worship the Septem, the people who worship the Inquisition as their savior, Lord Inquisitor," Pope Venetent states. "Therefore... Lord Inquisitor, you are responsible for why I am a thing. You are responsible for why the Septem Church is a thing - and not something thought up of as an idea."

Paladin didn't understand why he was responsible for why the Septem Church was a thing. He took no direct action for its creation and he never said anything to the people about worshipping the Inquisition.

"How?"

"Because you saved them from destruction, Lord Inquisitor," Pope Venetent responds. "You gave them hope. You saved them from annihilation at the hands of the Legion of Death. You saved them from a hard timeline, so now they worship you as their savior - their god."

Paladin shakes his head

"There was a heavy cost with defeating the Legion of Death, and the cost alone makes the Inquisition - and myself especially - unworthy of being worshipped," Paladin immediately responds. "Not a single one of us deserves a religion, not a single one of us deserves to be treated like some omnipotent being."

Especially when considering how the worship of the Inquisition is being twisted around to change society, and to make it become more controlled than before. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I don't know, but clearly it is a concern.

"But I disagree," Pope Venetent smiles, "for all of you Inquisitors - and especially you - are worthy of being worshipped by the entirety of Orion. Which is why you are the one who the Septem faithful worship out of everyone the most - for without you the Inquisition wouldn't be a thing, and without you the Inquisition wouldn't have saved Orion. So very much so... you are the sole reason why Orion exists, and so you are the sole reason why the Septem Church exists and thrives!"