Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 15]

A woman slammed into my front and tried to run through me. She resisted all efforts to be turned aside, wide eyes and mad, lashing out and screaming in my face. Several more hit the back of her and tried to claw through her. Weiss cried out as someone knocked her down and I lost sight of her under the sea of bodies. Blake cried her name in alarm and lashed out, knocking someone down and fighting her way through to save the fragile Mage.

The screams, pleas and cries for mercy intensified. Faces filled my vision – as though every single person in Vale was trying to fight me at once. Weiss wasn't the only one down. So many students, those of less sturdy Classes, had been bowled over. The frenzied mob didn't even realise. Or didn't care.

"STOP MOVING!"

The command erupted from somewhere behind me. I felt an immediate desire to do as asked but shrugged it off quickly, my Resilience taking hold with a pale flicker of blue eyes. Others weren't so fortunate – the woman in front of me suddenly going rigid and stiff, eyes still wide and rolling in her skull, but her body no longer under her control.

"Labour Caste!" the voice continued, still with that powerful, commanding, quality. "Step to the side and press yourselves against the walls. Make way for the Heroes. Heroes, continue as you were."

The command was granted to those of the Hero Caste and I could still feel the weight on my muscles. I didn't count as a Hero. Ignoring it, I managed to look back, where I saw Ozpin stood with his arms raised. The ocean parted before him, men, women and children stepping aside toward the walls, standing there like a crowd to a parade. It was like my first time in Vale, where the people had cheered the oncoming of new students to Beacon. Myself among them. There was no cheering now, only stunned and frightened silence.

Charisma. It was terrifying like that.

—Forged Destiny [Book 9: Ch. 15]