Lucas' little slip-up was resolved, but the situation virtually hadn't changed. Gilbert was still under questioning and now Lucas had left a less than great impression on the leader of the group, Leo. He could probably convince Micheal to leave them alone for now, but that was temporary. He would need proof if he wanted to continue his lessons without interruption.
"Micheal, what would you consider as proof of innocence? I would really like to help my teacher, he hasn't hurt anyone, I'm sure of it."
"My son, I support your kindness and pursuit of the truth, your dedication to someone else's life is heroic. Sadly, I'm not versed well in these kinds of topics. My brothers and sisters are the ones who deal with the Demonic Cult. I make sure that the church stays in order, while they do the crusader's work."
'So a dead end, great.'
Still, not all hope was lost, they didn't have anything now. After the priest searched the classroom they couldn't find anything that linked Gilbert to the Demonic Cult. There were plenty when it came to necromance, but that field wasn't forbidden, yet.
The priests didn't have any other choice but leave after talking to Lucas and Eleven didn't reveal any useful information. Leo was suspicious of Lucas, but Lucas didn't have anything to hide. He was a normal student that simply wanted to continue his pursuit of magic, and there was nothing wrong with that.
Gilbert looked tired, his eyes closed with his hand pinching the bridge of his nose. "Ugh, they smell like hypocrites and false virtue. How disgusting.", 'Only that Micheal guy seemed genuine', he added in his mind. He didn't want to openly compliment someone.
"Will this lesson continue or do you want to take a break for today?"
"Conrad was it? Sure, I promised to review your ideas today. It would be annoying to change my schedule any further. Anyway, hand it in."
Lucas gave his paper filled with the solutions of Elam, part of him memorized half, while Lucas's other half learned the rest.
'Let's see, what did they figure out? Hmm? They're at a high level, students shouldn't be capable of this. I guess I have two geniuses, perhaps we could finally start with that?'
Lucas was looking at Eleven, his face was covered so only his eyes were visible. He looked serious but in a different way. Lucas didn't care for other humans except for his family, but they were gone. His only goal was to grow stronger as the feeling of growth felt fantastic. Eleven felt like he was determent to do something, but he still had attachments.
Lucas couldn't help but smile, Eleven tried his hardest to not let any information leak, but his stance and his way of acting felt off. Lucas constantly deployed a mask, an act, to seem like a normal respectful person, but Eleven wanted nothing to do with anyone. He was trying to make it seem like he didn't have a care in the world.
It gave Lucas the feeling that Eleven had tons of emotions, but they stayed inside of him, bubbling until they reached a certain threshold. 'I wonder when it will explode.', an evil smirk slipped past his mask, but nobody noticed.
Gilbert didn't take too long looking over the papers. "Congratulations, it seems you both have succeeded. I guess it's time to start for real now."
Lucas glanced at Eleven, how did he do it? Lucas got the help of a Rank 2 teacher, but as far as he knew, Eleven didn't have anyone else to go to. It left Lucas with a few questions and he made sure to remember it for later.
Gilbert's lesson continued on, since they both were capable of quite a difficult task, it meant that they were ready for more advanced topics. The theories were a lot more complex, terms were being flung around as if they were the most used words. Lucas got to the point he almost couldn't keep up with Gilbert's preaching.
He couldn't grasp everything that was being said, but there were quite a few things that interested Lucas a lot more. Since Gilbert was skipping the basics, he had access to advanced magic theories. One is about raising the dead, using them as puppets, letting you see through their eyes, controlling their facial expressions, and so forth. There was simply too much to digest at once, but he knew that the next few weeks were going to be very interesting.
He was dismissed not long after, leaving the classroom he decided to talk to his only classmate. "Hey, Eleven, I have to say I'm impressed by the results you handed in. I simply figured out the different runes, but it looked like you were already forming spells with them, weren't you?"
Eleven looked at Lucas with a serious look. 'I wonder what's behind that lovely mask of his. A genuine man that wants to grow, a child with plans for revenge, a lost person looking for his destiny?'
'And you call me the weirdo? Also, he's clearly not listening to what you're saying, give it up.'
Lucas and Eleven stared at each other for a while longer. Neither Lucas nor Eleven looked away, they looked into each other's eyes. One with a calm and serious tone, the other almost playfully.
"I don't know you and you don't know me, let's leave it at that.", Eleven said before walking away. Lucas stayed still for a second, multiple ideas popping into his head. A tiny smirk appeared, but he hid it the moment he noticed it.
"C'mon now Eleven, tell me something about yourself, like how did you get your name?"
"We have nothing to talk about.", stoic as ever, but it didn't feel natural. Lucas knew exactly how it felt to be completely apathetic to everything around him. He had only once felt it, but that was enough for him to avoid it and use it as his last resort. Any emotion good or bad disappears, only survival counts. He couldn't live without any joy, no one could, and if they did they wouldn't live for very long.
But it did give him a view of how things worked, how emotions could be manipulated. During his time in Avesta, he had only once been genuine, everything else was simply an act to appear a certain way.
Eleven was strong, Lucas knew that the moment they let their willpower fight each other. In a single second, he knew that Eleven wasn't a normal person.
"Fine, if you don't want to speak, do you mind if I take a guess?", as they were walking and talking, Eleven knew exactly where to go. Guiding Lucas to the outside was an added bonus for him.
"Go ahead."
'So he doesn't mind talking to us, even though he keeps trying to be indifferent.'
'He's pretending, we both know that, just what are you planning though?'
'You'll see.'
Lucas loved to talk to himself. He had issues placing his trust in others, but he knew that he would never fail himself.
"Let me see, you're name is a number, you look like an assassin and you're pretending to be emotionless..", Eleven's eyes darted towards where Lucas' voice came from, but he had already circled around him. "You look determined and with a clear goal in mind, but you aren't sure how to achieve it."
Eleven quickly turned back around to face Lucas who was standing with his hands behind his back.
"When you introduced yourself, you needed some time to think of your name. Implying that either you're terrible at creating a fake name, or it's your real one, but it's emotionally tied to something else."
"What are you insinuating?"
Lucas tried to replicate Micheal's smile, but he was unable to, it merely made him seem evil.
'Now he looks emotional, seems you were right, but why? What's the point, he never hurt us nor is a threat to us, killing him would be a waste of time.'
'Tch, why can't you think of something else besides murder? Didn't I already teach you the value of relations?'
Lucas removed his smile and stared deep into the eyes of Eleven. He was hiding his mask for a moment, showing his real emotions. Like a calm lake with not a single ripple in the water, Lucas' eyes felt like an endless abyss.
"I think you're someone who has been trained to do a certain thing, but you were treated harshly. You were held captive against your wishes and forced to become what you are today. Your name is real, but also fake. I don't think you like your name, but you didn't know any other. I think your name, Eleven, is merely the number they gave to you."
"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!"
"I think it's pretty obvious, no? Did you not pay attention to what I just said?"
"That's not merely enough information to reach that conclusion!"
"Yes, but your reaction tells me everything I just said is correct.", his smile was back, seeing that Eleven was a lot more emotional than he originally thought. Putting his mask back off would make him feel more comfortable, if he only reacted with a sharp look, Lucas would keep his mask off. But he deemed Eleven not worthy of seeing his true self anymore.