Adonis looked as handsome as ever, even with that simple one-piece clothing that we were all wearing. He seemed sharper now though... more on edge. Whatever he found out about Adrian wasn't pleasant at all.
That was one fact that Rey thought was interesting about their arrival in this world.
'They were preparing for our arrival for some time now.'
The house had new clothes, basic information on the country they were residing in and another room with basic weaponry. Alicia convinced most of us to leave the sharp pointy things for tomorrow and Rey had only spared a cursory look for the items in his room before going out and talking with Billy.
Adonis was still quiet, we had already reached the courtyard where we were escorted to after our 'cleansing'. The cozy ground was a relief from the cold biting air. It was comfortably warm somehow - even though he couldn't see any obvious heat sources.
He suddenly stopped in front of Rey, and he almost bumped into him.
"I have an S-Tier skill called [Heroic Might] that activates when I face evil. It's an active skill so it required me to access the status window which Lucielle helped me by..." Adonis started speaking, as if almost naturally.
Rey was used to this particular scenario.
It started when he first stayed back with Adonis to clean up after a party.
It was little things at first like how tired he was that day from organizing everything and how it was a bit annoying that everyone left just expecting him to magically clean everything up.
Then little by little Rey would fine Adonis beside him more occasionally and start telling me more things about him.
Maybe it was the silence I offered him to his confessions, the indifference with which I treated how he revealed the sides of him he didn't easily reveal to others.
Our relationship was a casual one. Where sometimes he would confide in me, and I would ask him for favors related to schoolwork.
But then one day Rey asked him…
'Why? Why do you tell me all these things?'
Adonis didn't seem surprised by this question but neither did he seem happy about it . At that moment he looked at Rey with a face that he would never forget, a face that seemed conflicted over telling the truth or giving a kind lie.
In the end, he said nothing, and we left quietly. Our relationship returned to how it was as if nothing ever happened.
But, Rey understood those eyes. Those same eyes he sometimes had whenever someone he didn't know tried to start a conversation with him.
'He doesn't care what I think about him. To him it doesn't matter if I think of him as bad or good or lazy.'
As long as Adonis was the picture of perfection to the rest of his classmates, it didn't matter what someone like Rey thought of him. Rey was boring, someone who stayed in the background.
Someone who was just an extra…
So, it surprised him that Adonis would call him out for just this in front of their classmates.
'No, there had to be something else. Something that made me involved in this situation somehow.'
"… basically it gives me an overpowered buff when I face Evil but gives me a debuff if the opponent is 'neutral' or 'good'. Lucille told me about the debuffs, the skill details only mentioned that it gave me a buff when facing evil and nothing else."
"It's one of the well-known skills used by heroes of the past and is well documented." Adonis was explaining some of the skills he had.
"So, what happened when you used it on Adrian.?" Rey interrupted. It was starting to get late, and he didn't want to waste any more time.
Adonis was silent for a moment.
"I experience a surge of power as soon as I activated it." Adonis replied.
So, that means the skill identified Adrian as evil. And as Adonis mentioned before, the skill only activates on 'demons' or people who have classes that are in alignment with evil. Like [Murderer], [Assassin], [Thief]…etc.
"I mean so he just picked one of the evil classes, right whats the issue then. It doesn't really mean that he was possessed by a demon." Rey asked confused.
Adonis shook his head. "I thought the same as well, until Lucielle explained further."
"The skill isn't that simple. It only activates on awakened classes."
"Awakened Classes?" Rey asked.
"The classes we have right now are essentially dormant, otherwise we all would have received some of the beginner skills of our classes
"They have to be recognized by the system first. Each class has its on set of requirements, though it usually just means acting out properly in the world what your class is." Adonis explained.
So, basically Adonis would have to act like a [Hero] or do something substantial that a hero would do for him to be awakened.
"Don't you have the [Heroic Might] and [Serene Mind] skills though?" Rey asked. He would have to have done something pretty substantial to be awakened.
"Well… the angel helped me with that. Adonis glanced away.
Was he… embarassed???
Adonis cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, its not something that can be replicated for other classes. Since the [Hero] is a special case."
"So… the only explanation is that he's a demon." Rey realized.
Adonis nodded. "Unless, the Arch-mage is lying somehow. Adrian has indeed become a demon now. Which I doubt since I tested the skill on her first and had gotten a debuff." Adonis clarified.
His expression was troubled as if saying it out loud made the situation worse than it already is.
"And what does that have to do with me?" Rey finally asked the burning question on his tongue.
Adonis hesitated a bit.
"He talked a lot. 'Adrian' no, the demon. He said a lot of things, about the how all our classmates would die and about other… less pleasant things."
"He mentioned secrets only me and Adrian should know, things about my life. If Lucielle didn't warn me before about the possibility of his possessing the memories of Adrian, it might have gotten to me." Adonis admitted.
Adonis spoke carefully now, enunciating each word.
'He's observing how I'm reacting.' Rey thought with a jolt.
"The demon mentioned you, Rey." Adonis said.
Rey had to force his face into a cool mask before Adonis could see the conflict on his face.
"It seemed… grieved somehow. It said that you had stole everything from him" Adonis stated.
He looked me in the eye, searching for a clue.
"It seemed crazy for the most part, but when he mentioned you I saw his eyes, and there was perfect clarity in them."
"Do you know anything about this Rey?" Adonis asked coldly.
Rey paused for a moment, trying to think of a way to get out of this situation but gave up thinking and just decided to be honest.
"I have no idea what he's talking about. How could I have stolen anything from him? I barely interacted with Adrian. And anyway should you really be believing what a 'demon' says?"
Rey said all at once, his face was a bit tense, but he didn't stutter and his words were clear.
Adonis released a sigh; it seemed he was holding a breath that he didn't even know about.
"Lucielle and the other members of the demon inquisition team had told me that there was nothing to worry about. That all demons are like this and that say things that corrupt the very soul." Adonis swept a hand through his blonde hair.
"They said that even the most noble of saints would fall to a devil's words if they heard them long enough and that I shouldn't blindly believe in it." Adonis looked at Rey again and his eyes were apologetic this time.
"But I just had to make sure you know… I just didn't want to lose another classmate." He looked a bit down, as if he actually felt guilty about interrogating Rey.
Rey didn't buy it.
"What other skills did you choose?" Rey asked changing the topic.
Adonis also looked happy to change the topic. "Other than the two skills I received with my class awakening A-Tier[Serene Mind] and S-Tier [Heroic Might], I also bought two other skills."
Rey found it hard to hide his jealousy. An A-Tier skill and an S-Tier skill for basically free was insane!!!
" A B-Tier skill [Sword Expert] and another D-tier that gives me better instincts." Adonis said.
"What class did you get?" Adonis asked curiously
"Though, Its totally fine if you don't want to answer me." Adonis offered politely.
Rey was appreciative that he would be so considerate even though he himself was pretty open about his skills and classes.
"No, its fine." Rey said.
"I didn't choose any class. I only have the default [Commoner] class." Rey explained scratching his head.
"Oh, you must have chosen had a good skill in mind then." Adonis replied, nodding as if he understood.
"… I just have one skill." Rey muttered underneath his breath.
"Huh?"
"I said I only have one." Rey said louder this time.
"It must be SS-Tier then. What does it do?" Adonis asked.
"Yeah the tier's pretty high. But… I don't really know what it does yet." Rey replied a bit embarrassed this time.
Adonis's eyes widened.
"Did you choose [Wish]? That scam of an SSS-Tier skill that gives you nothing and only gives you the worst debuffs." Adonis looked astonished.
Well, it made sense that he would know about it. Since it was the only SSS-Tier skill that was affordable was that, he would have noticed it instantly.
"That's… that's the dumbest thing you've ever done." Adonis said without any filter.
Rey nodded silently, he could feel his cheeks redden a bit.
"I mean I knew it would be alluring since it was the only SSS-Tier, but I thought you would know better since you played a lot of games." Adonis said sighing.
He looked like a disappointed parent who caught his son smoking outside.
Adonis then looked at me, smiled his most charming smile and put an arm on Rey's shoulder.
"Don't worry. I'll carry you." Adonis said proudly.
He truly looked like a benevolent savior coming to save this poor sheep who had strayed from the wrong path.
And as for what Rey was thinking…
He wanted to die.