Paladin

"Death!" someone screamed from the audience.

But then, he found that no one yelled after him, and everyone seemed to suddenly quiet down, only a moment of embarrassment spread in the silence.

Lawson stood unsteadily and seemed to be dizzy due to excessive physical exertion. He barely supported his body and said calmly: "I am guilty. I swore allegiance to God the Father, but lost my chastity. According to the commandments, I am no longer qualified to stay in the In the Kingdom of God the Father."

He slowly took off the power ring in his hand. This movement was slow and trembling. When the power ring was finally peeled off, Lawson staggered again, barely stopped with one hand on the chair, and continued: "In the Pope's crown Pending the arrival of your papers, I request a final exercise of the Cardinal's rights—"

"I request the 'Decree's Judgment'."

"What is the 'Sacred Judgment'?" Evan turned his head and asked Hewitt in a low voice.

The mage replied in a low voice: "The prerogative of the cardinal is used to save his life. They will soon invite the statue of the saint who is in charge of the judgment. At that time, they only need to go through a cutscene to prove that the saint believes that Lawson is not worthy of death."

While the two were talking, opinions had already been exchanged on the judge's bench, while the remaining bishops on the stage were arguing.

Someone ran down from the high platform and handed Lawson a letter of request.And Lawson stamped the power ring he just took off on it, and signed his name at the same time.

After obtaining the letter again, the judge checked it carefully, and finally said loudly: "The Great Court of Moa agrees to Cardinal Lawson's request, and this imperial edict ruled that 'in accordance with this request, the eight leaders of the Knighthood will be appointed—" And the arbiter of justice—cum the intervention of the saint of 'Dawn'."

"Where did this ridiculous rule come from?" Evan whispered, "How can a statue show that Lawson is not worthy of death?"

Hewitt said indifferently: "The statue is just an excuse. The essence of the oracle ruling is nothing more than a compromise made by the secular kingship to the supreme divine right; all high-ranking figures in the Holy See will have the same punishment when they are judged by secular laws or are about to be executed. It is the privilege they use to save their lives."

The paladin only felt absurd for a while, not to mention that Lawson happened to choose "Saint of Dawn" as an excuse; however, when he looked up, the audience was solemn, as if no one felt that there was anything wrong with doing so. OK.

The lives of high-ranking clergy are extremely precious, and the laws of mortals cannot sentence them to death, only the decree of the kingdom of God can—this view has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

A special stone door in the court was opened, and several soldiers walked out from it, pushing a marble statue about two people tall—the so-called "Saint of Dawn" was placed in the center of the court.

Evan and Hewitt looked up at the same time. The statue was holding a sword in one hand and a gold-plated balance in the other.

The judges still read aloud the law on the "Sacred Judgment."When the danger seemed to be over, he emerged from under the table, and now read the holy law, resuming his majestic figure as a magistrate. — as if reading a piece of paper could give him enough energy.

Two soldiers climbed up a special ladder and placed a feather from a pheasant on each end of the balance supported by the statue.

The delicate balance shook slightly, and quickly regained its balance.

At this time, the judge said: "The sinful soul will have extra weight, but remember: each of us is guilty. This court only judges the severity of the sin. A person who is not guilty of capital crime will be lighter than a feather."

He fetched a piece of parchment soaked in holy water, wrote Lawson's full name on it in red ink, rolled up the parchment, and beckoned the soldier to put it on one end of the scale.

The soldier took down the feather on one side and put the parchment on it; the statue was slowly turned, and the gold-plated balance seemed to be emitting sporadic light; then, under the eyes of everyone, the balance immediately shook and tilted towards the end of the feather .

Everyone held their breaths, and the judge pronounced the verdict: "Under the watchful eyes of today's adjudicator 'Saint of Dawn', this oracle trial is coming to an end. Mr. Stephen Lawson's crimes did not amount to the death penalty, and his trial will Transfer it to a higher court—that is, the First Court of the Holy See of Santo Corunna for a ruling."

Then it was time to wait for the recorder to finish the lengthy paperwork.

Everything was in order, and no one mentioned how unreasonable such a child's play sentence was. They even started to talk about this wonderful trial and several dramatic truth revelations.

Evan took two steps forward, staring directly at the enforcers and bishops sitting on the high platform above, his gaze was so majestic that they all stopped for no reason.

"What the hell is this?" Evan asked bluntly, pointing at the statue and the scale, "Tell me what the hell is this?"

"This... you!" The judge was dumbfounded, "This is one of the eight leaders of chivalry, who was canonized thousands of years ago—"

"I know the name of this statue." Evan interrupted coldly, "I just want to know, what power does a statue have to decide the sentence of a sinner? What do you believe in sitting in this court? Prayer is the extension of morality, law and justice!"

Gradually, some people began to whisper.

A bishop got up and took the initiative to say: "Your Excellency, the rationality of the oracle has been concluded as early as a thousand years ago. Isn't the judgment from the saint more effective than the laws of our mortals?"

There was a echo from below.

Evan couldn't believe it, he shook his head and said, "Are you kidding? Isn't it just to overthrow this kind of judgment based on individual subjective wishes when you formulate and perfect these laws and regulations? A piece of parchment is lighter than a feather , The unreasonable thing is obviously caused by other factors, and this can prove the severity of a person's crime? This is a joke with life and the law!"

The bishop glanced at his colleagues on the left and right, seemed to find enough support, and retorted: "But... this is the judgment of the saint."

No one thought it was inappropriate or absurd to do so. This redemption ceremony, which took advantage of the ignorance of the people, was cloaked in a sacred cloak by the rulers with ulterior motives, and instantly became a dogma that believers took as a standard.

Evan stood among them, like the only one among 1 applauding people who felt unfair and angry.It made him seem all the more lonely.

Evan took a deep breath, took two steps forward, and looked up at the statue of the "Saint of Dawn".

Hewitt frowned slightly, and seemed to reach out his hand to stop Evan from doing so for a moment... But he didn't in the end, just looked at Evan quietly, as if he was ready to take him out of this place if any dangerous changes happened. film location.

And Lawson, who had just taken off the cardinal's aura, subconsciously took a step forward and said, "What are you going to do? You better understand that this is a ruling made by the oracle, and we can't change it just by thinking about it—" "

"Shut up." Evan said.

The paladin took off the phoenix long sword behind his back, and at the moment when everyone was shocked by his actions, he swung the sword without hesitation——

There was only a loud sound of marble shattering, and the statue was broken by the blade. The power of the holy light infused in the sword made it crack open.

Then Evan pushed it casually, and the stone statue burst open.

Stones and fragments fell one after another, and the exquisite gold-plated balance rolled down among them. Evan handed out the long sword in his hand, and cut it in two with a fierce sword light——

In the confusion, he seemed to hear a few small iron balls falling from it, bouncing on the ground several times, and being buried in the stone chips.

The paladin had no intention of pestering it, and just said indifferently: "It's not as special as you imagined."

The screams continued, and the seats where the clergy sat were filled with horror. The bishops were tongue-tied and could no longer sit comfortably.

"What are you doing! You are blasphemy! Blasphemy!" Someone shouted hoarsely, "Guards! Guards, take down this pagan disguised as a paladin on the spot!"

There was chaos in the arena, and several guards raised their spears horizontally, surrounded Evan and Hewitt, and looked at the stone fragments rolling down at their feet in horror.

Huitt glanced at them slightly, then turned back casually, and said indifferently: "What now, Evan? Their law is a prostitute with heavy makeup. Are you going to do it yourself and destroy this court by the way?"

"I haven't been used to this statue for a long time." There was a smile on Evan's mouth, and it disappeared in a flash.

The paladin crossed the phoenix long sword in his hand, facing the guards' encirclement.

He glanced around, but no one dared to look at him. The guards even had weak legs and were so nervous that their foreheads were sweating.

"You are not my opponent." Evan said lightly, "Back now."

The guards looked at each other.

Evan shouted suddenly: "Back off!"

The scene was silent for only a moment, and dozens of well-trained guards in chain mail couldn't resist Evan's implied reprimand and majestic gaze, and they really started to back away.

Evan dragged the phoenix long sword, walked up to Lawson, and said coldly: "You want the verdict of the 'Saint of Dawn'? I will give it to you now: Stephen Lawson, you! Damn it."

Lawson was short of breath, staggered back and said, "No...you don't have the power...mortals don't have the power to decide my death..."

Surrounded by killing intent, he was dripping with sweat, and finally fell to the ground in embarrassment.

And Evan pointed his sword at his throat, and said in a deep voice: "Now is the time for you to admit your crime and repent."

"I am not guilty... No, I am guilty, but I am not guilty of death! I only killed a few insignificant commoner women. I am a cardinal, and I am a cardinal of Sabylon!" Lawson said. Red, roared hysterically.He opened his arms, calling out a barrier of light, trying to use his own magic to fight against it.

"—and now your time is up."

After Evan finished speaking lightly, he raised the phoenix long sword, and the flames composed of holy light were unstoppable.

The next moment, the sinner's blood gushed out of the narrow wound made by the blade.

A piece of marble shards rolled down to Evan's feet, Evan gently wiped the two spots of blood splashed on his cheek with the back of his hand, and looked down.

This piece of face comes from a statue, with a huge emerald gem inlaid by a craftsman in one right eye.

The carvings are very similar, and 1% to [-]% are indeed the image of Evan Paladin [-] years ago.

Evan kicked the fragments away, and said to Hewitt: "I have done another thing that is mostly righteous or wrong. I don't like personal will above the law... but now I am doing the same thing. thing."

Hewitt clasped his hands in his sleeves, and lazily replied: "At least I changed my will. It's time for us to exit, Evan, let's go now, or should we walk harder later?"

Evan looked around, and several guard teams had surrounded the entire court.

The paladin sighed wearily, and was about to say something when he suddenly saw a figure walking down from the high platform in a hurry——

Archbishop Kyle Spencer was out of breath, walked in front of them, paused for a long time, and finally said: "Who... are you? Evan Paladin, are you a descendant of the Holy Dawn? Are you... are you?" who?"