****
Throughout the next two days, Gabriel didn't leave the Castle. He just remained in his bed, training in his dreams at night and absorbing the Soul Crystals in the morning.
He had realized that his own strength was the most important and everything else was secondary, especially now that he had offended the Churches even more.
Even though Gabriel didn't leave the Palace in the last two days, his name was still on the lips of everyone in the Empire and not for good reasons.
After the news spread that Gabriel had commanded the protestors who were blocking his path to be killed, the entire Empire was stunned! It was one thing for an outsider like the Church to do something like that, but for the person who sat on the throne to do it? Was he not a human?
They initially couldn't believe it. No matter how much they disliked Gabriel and wanted him to step down, they didn't expect him to be capable of doing something like this. The people were discontent and the news about Gabriel's ruthless nature was like pouring oil in fire.
The protests of citizens grew, becoming even more large. Moreover, violent protests arose all over the Empire as citizens banded together. Usually the citizens shouldn't have been able to gather so quickly, but not many people realized that it was mostly because of the Academy of Knights!
The students of the Academy were killed! The new Emperor didn't even give face to the Academy by killing their students which made the Academy stand on the other side of him.
As if this wasn't enough, the other neighbouring Empires were also keeping an eye on the situation with greedy eyes, ready to take action. The Empire of Arecia was in a civil war and at its weakest. Moreover, they now had a righteous cause to attack the Empire.
Fortunately, for now, the Churches hadn't started caring about Arecia, not even bothering with sending a delegate. The matters of Arecia didn't concern them as long as it wasn't about a Mage.
Throughout the days, the protests became worse and worse. The Saint Knight didn't know what to do anymore. He just followed the previous commands of Gabriel and ruthlessly solved the protests by violence!
That method did work for a few days, but it also failed in the end as the Royal Knights started feeling as if they couldn't kill their fellow citizens.
Today was the third day since Gabriel's path was blocked outside the Garden of Legacy. The Saint Knight stood outside the palace, looking at a huge crowd gathering in the distance.
The crowd was like nothing he had seen before. In the lead were the leaders of the Knight Academy. As if that wasn't enough, the second layer of this Rebellion Army consisted entirely of the Royal Knights that had resigned from their positions to join the people.
At the third layer of the rebellion were the citizens who were also given weapons by the Knight Academy.
Next to the Saint Knight stood Callum, frowning.
"Half the members of the Royal Army have resigned and joined the rebellion. Even if we manage to kill them, the losses would be too many."
Callum knew just what this implied. The scale of this thing grew to a stage that even he hadn't expected and all of this happened in just two days!
"The losses would indeed be too many. After this war, we'd be like sitting ducks, open to attack from the Neighbors." Even the Saint Knight felt distressed at the thought.
In the end, he could only sigh and step forward.
From the other side, the Dean of the Knights Academy stepped forward, carrying a heavy sword on his back. It wasn't wrong to say that he was someone who was even stronger than the last Saint Knight. Even the current generation of the Saint Knight wasn't sure if he could take this guy down or not. The Dean of the Academy was his teacher once upon a time after all!
The Saint Knight and the Dean of Academy stood before each other. Behind each of them was a huge army but the rebellion seemed stronger at the moment in terms of absolute numbers.
"Lord Tize, do you know what you're doing leading this rebellion?" The Saint Knight asked grimly. "If you don't stop, the consequences would be unimaginable!"
"You should've thought about the consequences when you killed innocent civilians!" the Dean of the Academy snorted. "Now that you're on the backfoot, you suddenly remember the consequences?!"
"Innocent civilians? After all the Emperor did for the citizens, they attacked him with stones! All of them! That was no different than an open rebellion and they were dealt as such! We only followed the rules set forth by the Saint King! An Emperor's dignity cannot be sullied!" the Saint Knight coldly responded.
He knew just what Gabriel did for these people. Even when they did all that, Gabriel ignored them until things went too far. The Saint Knight knew that they went a bit too far in their actions, but if they were to look at the Royal Laws, this was indeed what they were supposed to do even if Gabriel hadn't said!
"An Emperor's dignity?!" The Dean laughed as if mocking the Saint Knight. "Where was this dignity when he was hiding in the Palace while the Empire was on the verge of destruction? Don't tell me this dignity only makes an appearance before weaklings?"
"So the emperor really is a person who is scared of the strong and mighty before the weak?" he further asked. "If that's the case, then we don't need such an Emperor! The citizens have spoken and they don't want this person in the throne! Today, even gods can't save him, let alone you!".
After finishing, the Dean turned around and went back to the rebellion army. Today, he didn't come here to talk. He was here to kill the Emperor and punish him for what he did!
"Today, I shall see just what the hell this so-called Blood Demon is capable of!" He stated, glancing in the direction of the Royal Palace.
The Saint Knight also walked back to the Royal Knights, telling them to stay ready. No matter what, he had to defend the Royal Palace to the last man!
****
Inside the Royal Palace, Gabriel had woken up from his slumber and his dream training. He felt as if his body was even stronger now. Unfortunately, for some reason the constant pressure acting over his body was also stronger now.
He resisted the pressure on his body and stood up, getting dressed in a new set of attire.
He walked to the balcony, hearing some commotion outside. A sliver of coldness flashed in his eyes as he saw the scene outside.
