Way of the Knights

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The crowd still find it hard to believe what just happened.

The announcer already made the announcement and all but still, that was just too surprising. A kid took down none fully grown adults, not only he wasn't injured in the process, his opponents couldn't even fight back.

It was so one sided that it almost seemed impossible. Nevertheless, Raven had no interest at their reactions nor what they think. He was somewhat disappointed with the battle sure but it had to be known that he wasn't on a low profile anymore. His actions greatly surprised he crowd and he also knew that there's still people who are watching him behind the scenes.

He just basically introduced himself to the masses, and he can't undo this so he could only continue.

"I object!"

A sudden loud shout caught the attention of the crowd. All of them, including Raven, looked at the source of the yell and saw the brown haired man glaring at Raven while raising his hand.

"I plead the council to re-evaluate their decision. This kid must've cheated to achieve victory!" His bitter complaint reached the ears of the crowd as well as the council who were presiding over the event. They looked at each other and pondered, what the brown haired man said might be right, this kid must've used underhanded tactics to cinch victory.

Elyion who was watching this scene unfold, started to get nervous for Raven. Inwardly, he also had thoughts Raven might be cheating but knowing his personality, he figured that this shouldn't be the case. Nevertheless, he's still nervous.

The announcer stood by the side and waited for further instructions from the council. His position granted him no privilege to express his opinion in this incident, he could only wait until they come up with a decision.

The crowd watched this scene to unfold. Some of them looked over to Raven's spot and saw him with an expressionless face. They too felt like something fishy was going on but they were only bystanders so they can't truly voice their opinion freely.

A member of the council signaled towards the announcer, telling him to come closer. The announcer moved and by the time he arrived, he leaned towards the member of council to get informed about their decision. He nodded in understanding and stepped onto the stage once more.

All eyes were on him, he cleared his throat and said in crisp tone: "The council heard the plea of this contestant. After a full deliberation, they came towards a unanimous decision. May the individual in question step on the stage?"

Raven stepped up wordlessly. Once he arrived at the stage, he faced the inspecting gaze of the announcer head on.

The announcer's words were caught in his throat for a second, the indifference in this young man's eyes was chilling. It was like the one who's staring at him wasn't a child but instead a jaded soldier who have seen countless corpses on the battlefield and was already immune to it.

He cleared his throat once more and looked at the brown haired man next.

"The one who raised a complaint, please step up on stage as well."

The brown haired man felt cold sweat drenching his back. He slowly made his way up the stage and stood together with the announcer and the kid. He felt the announcer inspecting him so he tried to act as brave as he possibly could.

"You had caught everyone's attention by saying that constant number 117 had possibly cheated."

The announcer started, "Can you show us any proof of your claim?"

Once the brown haired man heard this, a wide smile appeared on his face. How fortunate that he had been thinking about the same thing as well and that he came up with explanation.

"Isn't it obvious?" He asked with a sarcastic tone, "The fact that he's just a mere kid and he was able to take us down. Imagine? Nine fully grown adults can't even touch the hem of a kid's clothes? What sort of concept is that? That's something that you see in fairy tales, so someone pulling that off in reality is just outright impossible!"

His words fell on the ears of the crowd, and some had to admit that he had a good point. Most of them was already looking favorably at this guy. Of course, the brown haired man felt that he was gaining the trust of the crowd so he inwardly started gloating at the fate of this kid.

'I don't have any proof if you truly cheated or not. But boy, it is your god damn fault that you went against me. Don't think about getting away from this!'

Even the announcer felt that his words truly makes sense, but he couldn't show impartiality and just listen to his opinion alone, he also had to get the opinion of the other party in question.

"Do you have anything to say about this?"

"How embarrassing." Raven said with a deadpan voice.

Just this word alone felt like it discredited everything that the brown haired man said earlier. The brown haired man's face turned ugly at this very moment, the kid was obviously mocking him.

"Wasting my time just because of some baseless accusations, aside from thinking some excuse there are no valid proofs shown yet some people started believing him. How embarrassing. If this is what it means to become an adult then I might as well kill myself before I turn into one."

His words were ruthless, cold and extremely offensive. Added the fact that he said it like he was grumbling or throwing a fit makes this more of a slap towards the adults who fit his descriptions.

"You think that only you can play that game?" Raven met the brown haired man's gaze with a cold one, he then spat. "I'll accompany you then!"

"Can't accept the fact that a kid whooped your ass? Feeling like it's an unbelievable concept so much to the point of saying that it's impossible for me to have one? Fine!" Raven raised his hand and pointed at the window of the highest room in the Astral Observatory.

"You said it's impossible right? Then care to explain how an old man like him exists?"

His words were followed with nothing but absolute silence. Even a pin dropping on the ground could be heard at this point.

The brown haired man's eyes dilated as Raven's words feel onto his ears. He could swear that he almost felt his soul leaving his body with how much he despaired.

It wasn't a foreign idea that their beloved leader was not only a benevolent man but also a fierce warrior. Legends of his youth was being retold even to this day, his escapades and how he fought valiantly in the great wilderness beyond the walls. It was said that he could fight against five fully grown beasts and remain unscathed during his prime. Now considering that age caught up with him, his prowess should've fallen into a degree but not that low for anyone to blatantly disregard it.

The brown haired man wanted to slap his face so much until he couldn't be recognized even by his own family. How was he supposed to defend his claim now?

"Don't you love getting people's attention? All eyes are on you now, so speak. Win their admiration again."

Raven's merciless mocking reached his ears. He wanted to retort and say something back but he couldn't even think properly now so he could only send a hateful glare at Raven. Certainly, if looks could kill, then Raven would've been torn to pieces by now.

"I-" The brown haired man stuttered, "Don't you dare refer to His Holiness like that! Y-you disrespectful spawn! "

"B-besides! His Holiness' might was achieved through rigorous training and it was displayed when he achieved his prime! But you? You're just a child! How much training you could possibly experienced?"

The brown haired man instantly became proud of himself by managing to think of more false accusations and excuse against Raven. But when he looked at Raven's visible sneer, the pride he felt instantly vanished.

With a calm and unhurried tone, he started speaking:

"Raul Newdawn, current leader of Thorn City. Born and raised as a pastor and grew up to become an excellent one at that. He lived a very peaceful life until the day that he turned 25 and received the 'whispers of god' allowing him to go under a complete metamorphosis and devote his sole existence in serving god. It was said that he was gifted by god with a superhuman prowess, allowing him to fight multiple beasts that threatened to destroy the city on equal terms, and it is also the same reason why he was chosen as the new leader of Thorn City."

"Have you ever heard of this story? It's a pretty common one, I've heard it multiple times already actually."

"As for your version…"

"Achieving his strength through rigorous training? Now I haven't heard of that one yet.. Care to explain in a detailed manner?" Raven crossed his arms and coldly interrogated the brown haired man.

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