"Get you filthy hands off Vivian!" Duke shouted as he held Silvan down with his hands! Letting Vivian escape from the creep's clutches.
"Why you fatass- Wha?!" Silvan realized he couldn't remove Duke's hand.
Silvan had always used Duke as a punching bag during their spars. He was one of the few people who made Duke their sparring partner to humiliate him.
Never had Silvan felt humiliation this extreme as he felt furious it was Duke who was humiliating him right now.
But all the anger he gathered cowered in front of Duke's wild and beastly eyes that glowed yellow and had black thin predatorial slits in between them.
[W-where Duke's eyes always like this?!] Silvan thought, nearly pissing himself.
"Release Silvan at once!" Darius shouted at Duke, forcing him to remove his hands from Silvan.
"Do you want the loan or not?! You fucking fatass! How dare you lay a hand on one of my guests!" Darius indignantly ranted.
"If you still want the loan, then you should ask for Silvan's forgiveness" Darius smiled, wanting to humiliate Duke.
Since Duke needed Darius' loan, he could do nothing but bow his head down.
"Tch" Silvan snorted, not wanting to see Duke's furious eyes once more while Deacon chimed in with the insults once more.
Duke fiercely looked at Darius and said: "Now that I have asked for forgiveness, can we talk about the loan now?" Duke asked without any hint of weakness.
"I came here to ask for a loan, not to be humiliated" Duke fiercely growled.
"Pfft! What's that look on your face? You think you can take me on? Huh?!" Darius became furious when he saw Duke's defiant eyes.
"Maybe if you beat me in a sword fight I'll think about it..." Darius thought sinisterly, wanting to humiliate Duke more.
*Clench* Duke knew he couldn't fight against Darius, and even if he did, he was traumatized a lot by Darius. He had already lost on a psychological level.
[Vivian...] But then he remembered Vivian behind him.
[Will I always be the coward who ran away from his problems?] Duke asked himself.
When he was humiliated by them during the last party, he ran away.
When he was in boarding school, instead of confronting them, he ran away.
When he discovered that Darius was their last hope, instead of facing Vivian's words, he ran away.
When Annie died and he fell into depression, he used Vivian as an emotional scapegoat and also ran away. Almost pushing her to death.
And finally, when his grandfather died, he ran away to the capital...
[No longer will I be a loser!] Duke firmed himself as Darius asked for two wooden swords.
[No longer will I let others down me!] Duke repeated as tears of determination began to form from his eyes.
"What? Crying already? Hahaha, the match hasn't even started!" Darius laughed, mistaking Duke's tears of determination for tears of fear.
A fatal mistake if this was a real battlefield.
Darius lunged at Duke as he always did.
Duke experiencing this scene a thousand times during his time as a punching bag in the Boarding school dodged Darius' lunge which greatly infuriated the self-entitled fool.
"You think just because you dodged it once you're better now?! Huh?!" Darius grumbled as his missed lunge swung downward cleaving Duke on the shoulder.
[It's fucking hard!] Darius shouted in his mind.
"GRGH!" Duke grunted as he used his head to headbutt Darius.
Darius met the headbutt head-on, literally, as he used his head to bash against Duke's head.
The battle of hard heads waged on, but sadly Duke's body consumed too much energy due to his fats and he fell down on the ground first.
Darius became complacent when he saw Duke fall from his more tenacious stamina.
[Ha! Take that you fatass!] Darius shouted victory in his head completely forgetting that Duke was still holding his sword.
Duke might've fallen down, but that was only his legs that crumbled. NOT HIS WILL!
*Clench* Duke tightened his grip on the wooden sword as he made a side slash at Darius who was currently looking down on him (Both literally and metaphorically)
*KAK* Some bones breaking were heard.
"Arghh!" Darius shouted in pain, which made Duke slightly happy.
But as always, the cruel world once again bared its fangs as Duke's happiness was shortlived.
"You cheater! This is swordfight yet you fight with dirty tricks?! I'll be forced to take compensation from you... I guess I can only give you 450 gold now..." Darius slyly said which greatly strained Duke's thinking.
During the gap in Duke's thoughts, Darius used this opportunity to hit him on the head with a sword.
But to his surprise, Duke once again just staggered lightly from his attack and immediately counter-attacked, hitting Darius on the leg making him fall down.
Darius sighed in humiliation. He couldn't believe he had to show his full strength in front of Duke.
[You forced my hands!] Darius shouted in his head as he planned to return the humiliation he received to Duke a thousandfold.
Darius got up and summoned a transparent force that covered his body.
It was Aura, a form of physical magic that let a person strengthen or hasten their muscles.
He began to one-sidedly hit Duke on the head, the knees, the face, and in every part of the body to maximize pain.
"Kuh!" "Argh!" "ARHHH" Duke shouted every time he was hit. His eyes were especially numb. If a person from earth were hit by Darius they would've already been blinded.
"Please stop!" Vivian shouted as she saw Duke get bruised up. She couldn't take it anymore.
"Amazing! He's already emitting Aura at our age!" A nobleman shouted, blatantly praising Darius despite his disgraceful display of blackmailing Duke in the middle of a fight.
"Poor fatass, he's gonna get beat up like a pig for roasting! Hahaha" Another Nobleman laughed letting everyone sigh in relief.
When they saw Duke actually fight back they felt their sense of superiority becoming weaker. But now that they saw Duke get beat up again, they once again felt better about their despicable selves.
[[[Atleast there's always someone below us]]] They despicable thought to themselves.
"You think your strong now just because of a little sword training?! HUH?! FATASS! Answer me!?" Darius relieved his anger on Duke, crippling his legs, making him fall on his knees.
The crowd felt thrilled when Duke was stabbed in the eyes. And when he was forced to bend down on his knees as their laughs and jeers became stronger.
"""Darius! Darius! Darius!""" The crowd cheered while some laughed at Duke's state.
"Fatass! That's what you get!"
"Dumb fuck! You think you can mess with us?!"
Darius' Noblemen lackeys shouted.
Vivian was distraught and stiff from fear. She couldn't move her body from the amount of belittlement, ridicule, and sheer hostility they showed.
Vivian was always ignored throughout her life, but for the first time in her life, she felt like she wasn't even human.
The way they treated Duke like an animal or even less, and how they saw themselves as the heroes petrified her.
[If I escape now...] Vivian thought in shame.
[What the hell am I thinking...] Vivian couldn't believe she had thoughts of leaving Duke who was in this position because she urged him to take Darius' loan in the first place.
Sadly she was only human. And human as she was, she was powerless...
She could only watch as Darius severely beat Duke and she prayed with all her heart for this to stop.
Seeing that amount of violence changed something inside Vivian that day...
"Enough of this!" Hugh watched as Duke was beaten up.
But his sister Sylvia stopped him from taking a step further.
Hugh realized the reason for Sylvia stopping him, but he still couldn't let what was happening in front of him continue.
Getting beat up in a duel was a pretty normal thing to happen, in fact some Nobles even accidentally died from duels!
But what was happening right now was obviously torture!
Hugh couldn't take it anymore as he stepped forward.
But his steps stopped because of the events that unfolded in front of him.
Darius, feeling good about humiliating Duke in front of his classmates like the good old days became more chatty to entertain his classmates as they saw the scene in front of them as funny.
"I must admit, fatty. You've improved since the last time we met! HAHAHA" Darius laughed.
"Yeah, he even beat back the bandits!" A nobleman added.
"Ahh, I lost the bet on that one. Stupid Duke! Beat him up more, Darius!" Deacon shouted.
"Bet?" Duke weakly asked.
"Puwahahaha, yeah, you sure did pull a fast one on us! We saw your letters for reinforcements. But we thought you'd lose" Darius laughed.
"But you surprised us all, you even got all the credit for yourself! You think you're better than us?! Just because you successfully lead a bandit subjugation?! Huh?!" Darius angrily kicked Duke. Like everyone in the room who didn't give reinforcements, Darius planned to step in once Duke was defeated by the bandits to maximize the glory he could get. Such was how the level of entitlement Darius had.
"So you're telling me... Annie didn't have to die?" Duke's devastated face revealed great sadness.
"Who's Annie? What nonsense are you talking about?" Darius asked.
"Did he finally loose some screws?" Deacon added.
"Just beat him up already!" The humiliated Silvan impatiently shouted.
"Annie she, she was so innocent... If you had just sent reinforcements, she wouldn't have died" Duke's voice echoed in grief.
But that grief was the final nail on the coffins of the people who attended this party.
Later on, this party would be dubbed "The Party of Fools"
Duke's grief ravaged his heart as the pain became unbearable.
But then, the pain slowly changed as it was replaced by searing heat.
The unbearably great pain was suddenly eaten up by a greater and far more dangerous beast:
That beast was anger.
{Grief does not suit a mighty Dragon, for Dragons do not cry... They roar "Dragon's Wrath" has awakened!}
Slight changes to Duke's surrounding aura could be felt. It was the start of Aura-Awakening.
Duke clenched his fists as blood began to fall.
Only Silvan a Protogee Spear Master, Darius a genius with the sword, and Hugh a Paladin in training could feel the changes that happened with Duke.
Duke stood up as he looked at Darius with eyes of indescribable rage.
"Primal" was the closest thing Darius could describe it with.
Hugh stopped in his footsteps, Silvan peed himself again, and Darius' hands sweated. Only the three realized the changes that were happening with Duke as the crowd ignorantly continued their mockery.
"Why did the idiot suddenly stand up?" A Noble laughed at Duke.
"Maybe he wants another beating! Give him hell, Darius!" Another added.
Darius couldn't move when he looked straight into Duke's eyes. Throughout his life he had always been the predator preying on the weak. And he considered Duke to be weak prey.
For the first time in his life... he was prey.
In fear of Duke, Darius began to stutter: "D-Didn't you want a loan?!" as he clung to the last trump card he had against Duke.
Duke flinched from Darius' taunt as he lowered his head, covering his facial expression from Darius.
[Ha! It worked! I don't know what dark magic you just did! But you're still below me!] Blinded by fear and his pitiful ego Darius victoriously thought.
Little did he know that if he only saw Duke's face that day, he would've pissed himself and probably bowed his head a million times to Duke...
Maybe then he wouldn't have had such a pitiful ending.
"Are you reneging on your words?" Duke asked.
"R-Reneging?! Y-You haven't even won!" Darius stuttered but was met with Duke's eerie silence.
Darius mistook Duke's silence for weakness as he smiled mischievously, blinded by humiliation and fear.
"B-Bring me the money!" Darius shouted to a servant as the servant fetched a sack of gold.
As Darius received the money, he threw it in front of him, forcing Duke to pick it up.
"P-Pick it up!" Darius shouted, the last pillar of entitlement he had. He had thought Duke would pick up the coins and be severely humiliated like he was.
Darius thought the greatest humiliation he could give Duke was forcing him to bow down to his prey.
[No!] Vivian shouted in her mind. She couldn't let Duke do this one, [Not this one] Vivian cried in her heart as she forced her feet to move...
Sadly she was still petrified by fear due to the atmosphere and all she could do was watch Duke be humiliated once more.
[I'll never let this happen again... Never, never, never!]
[Never] Vivian repeatedly swore in her heart as she etched the scene of everyone's faces here as they humiliated her, and more importantly... as they humiliated her Duke.
Vivian WILL have her revenge... one way or another as she stood there, planning... waiting for the day she sees their cries.
{Tirr na Bolg has awakened due to the extreme amounts of cruelty found deeply buried inside your heart. He, the God of Brutality and Retributive Cruelty is pleased and has named thee "The Cruel Thorn of Fate" for he knows, none of your enemies will have happy endings}
Duke silently picked up the sack and even the coins that fell from the bag, one by one, with his face still covered from Darius.
"I will be sure to repay you for this" Duke swore without anger nor weakness in his voice still lowering his head as he took Vivian away from that disgusting hell hole.
{Deargrin The God of Vengeant Retaliation has seen thine plight and has blessed you with the "Vindictive Soul of Retaliation"}
Something cracked inside Duke that day...
Something cracked.
And the fools who made fun of him... will pay.