Paladin Academy

"The sword of the paladin is not a weapon, but a tool. A tool for them to use to protect the innocent and pass justice onto the wicked."

—Blue Ghost, Chapter 4

Paladin Academy: A Playground-Inspired Story is a Web Serial Novel written by Silverraptor on the GiantITP Forums. Originally a story about some of Silverraptor's friends as newbies in a school of Paladins, it has expanded to include a grand cast of... well, perhaps a dozen.

The first arc involved an invasion from the Legions of Hell and a traitorous Senior Paladin attempting to slay our heroes, Viola and Kurama. Unsurprisingly, they survived. He didn't.

It can be read in this thread on the forums.

Tropes used in Paladin Academy include:

• Academy of Adventure: Well, duh.
• Action Girl: Female Paladins, notably Viola and Penny.
• Actual Pacifist: Blue Ghost.
• All There in the Manual: There is a list of posters and their "characters" including ones who have yet to appear.
• Assassin: Recaiden.
• Battle Couple: Viola and Kurama could evolve in this direction.
• Big Bad: Mangosta the Demon King. Also King Lock.
• Calling Your Attacks: The paladin's powers, although this seems to be optional since they pick the names themselves.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Grim, first seen in part 1 and returns in part 17 after his Face Heel Turn.
• Chekhov's Skill: Viola's unarmed combat trick.
• Cool Chair: Mordokai has one.
• Convenient Coma: Happens to paladins who get separated from their crystals.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Prerequisite for the Paladin's Call to Adventure
• Elemental Powers:
  • An Ice Person: Kurama's power.
  • Casting a Shadow: Grim's power.
  • Light'Em Up: Nil's power.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: Viola's power.
  • Playing with Fire: Lix's power.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Grim: from ordinary kid to first Blackguard and nearly destroyer of paladin order, to be specific.
• Dark Is Evil: Grim. After going rogue, that is.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Grim. It is implied that while he was still Jerkass whilst a paladin, he was not evil.
• Evil Gloating: Mangosta mostly, but also Grim, Recaiden and Sarudrak.
• Extranormal Institute: The Paladin Academy.
• Gilligan Cut: Bis suggests Nil is messing about with Mordakai's chair when the later's been left in charge. Cut to Nil spinning around in the chair while speaking to Blue.
• Healing Factor: Grim's secondary power.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Nil's view of his power.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Paladins.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Viola and Kurama both come close to it.
• Instant Expert: Rabbit, Viola too, albeit to a lesser extent
• Kid Hero: Most Paladins in Training, especially Penny.
• Lawful Good: Mordocai especially.
• Light Is Good: Mordocai.
• Love Makes You Evil: Mordocai hints at his fear of this, though he might be proven wrong.
• Loyal Phlebotinum: Paladin Crystals.
• Manipulative Bastard: Mangosta. Just...Mangosta. The number of characters that have NOT been manipulated by him during the course of the first arc can be counted with one hand.
• Mutual Kill: Grim and Viola seemingly do this, but one part later it is revealed that Viola survived after all.Grim bit it for real, though.
• Naive Newcomer: Viola.
• Nigh Invulnerability: Mangosta has this, as he just will not stay dead, no matter what. Even Grim does not know what it would take to kill him.
• Not Quite Dead: The heroes shatter Mangosta to pieces. He is very much not dead.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now: Or so Grim thinks when night falls, amplifying his power to even greater heights. He is proven wrong
• Personality Powers: Averted. While every Character has unique powers, they are not openly related to their personality.
• Play-Along Prisoner: Exactly As Planned.
• Power Crystal: The Paladin's Power Source.
• Pride: Grim's Fatal Flaw.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Mordokai.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Kurama and Viola.
• Signature Move: Unlocked Cystal's Powers
• Suicide Mission: A 14-year old girl invading hell alone? Yeah, that qualifies.
• Swivel Chair Antics: Nil, when Mordokai leaves him in charge.
• The Paladin: Most (main) characters.
• The Starscream: It is implied that Grim would have eventually turned against Mangosta, having his own plan to cut the demons loose after they had served their purpose.
• The Stinger: Recaiden speaking with The King.
• Thwarted Coup De Grace : Mangosta, several times in a row.
• Took a Level in Badass: Paladins do this when they unlock their crystals.
• Training from Hell: Viola receives a good-natured version of this from Rabbit.
• Tsundere: Viola shows signs of this behavior.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Kurama and Viola.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Jesse's Power is to partially become a dragon.
• Your Days Are Numbered: At least according to Recaiden they are if you end up on his hit list. Bonus points for explaining the manner of victim's death in detail beforehand, too.