Just as Ralyks told the team, he left them alone so he could patrol the area.
As a result, all nine Otherworlders—as well as Alicia's Rabbit—were left in the well-lit cave.
For a few moments, there was silence in the place.
No one said a word.
Rey looked around and saw the gloomy faces of everyone around him. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty.
'I didn't think things would get as intense as this.'
To be honest, he already knew all of this would happen since it was orchestrated by Ater.
"I'm really sorry, guys. I thought, for sure, that tied them up good. I didn't think any of them would escape like that…"
Justin was the one who broke the silence with his apology.
Adonis was the first to respond with the comforting words: "We all make mistakes."
Then, others said similar stuff. Things like;
"It's fine. As long as no one got hurt."
"That was a close call. Glad you're fine."
"It's as Sir Ralyks said… mistakes are inevitable."
Most people had their expressions darkened the moment his name was mentioned, and it was for an obvious reason.
Rey watched all of this, and while he nodded in agreement with everything that was being said, his thoughts flowed in a completely different direction.
'Ater purposely cut the strings at specific areas so that the Centipede could escape. He must have known Clark would do what he did, and everything else played out right as he wanted it to…'
In all honesty, Rey didn't completely get the full scope of Ater's plan, since he had requested for it to be simplified for him to understand.
Still, he knew the major gist of it.
'His goal here is to cause some tension. That sort of thing exposes some things about people…'
For example, it revealed the kind of person Clark was, and even broke him down into a crybaby.
Someone like Justin, who was usually all fun and jokes, actually stood up to Ralyks when even Adonis couldn't say a word.
Justin's current expression was also nothing like how he usually acted.
This time, he seemed a lot more brooding.
'He acts childish most of the time, but he's really effective in his role. The reason he didn't bother with [Perception], and even deactivated his [Stealth] is probably because he knew he did his job well.'
Ater managed to gaslight Justin, as well as everyone else in the room, to believe a false scenario that he made up.
'I shouldn't disrupt the flow and simply see how this ends.'
"I'm also really sorry, everyone." At this point, Clark was already recovered from his little outburst, so he spoke up.
"I shouldn't have left the formation like that. I disrupted… ruined everything."
Rey couldn't help but feel bad for Clark. Based on his Alignment and additional information, it was clear that the guy simply wanted to help.
That was all he wanted…
'He has a Hero Complex. If Adonis didn't snag that Hero Class, I'm sure Clark would have done so.'
Ater must have figured all of this out, even without [Absolute Appraisal], and created a scenario that would force Clark to act.
It was a pretty intelligent move.
'But it's also coldhearted. I'm beginning to regret going down this route.'
His initial thought was to simply use his [Absolute Mental Control] to pry everything he wanted out of his classmates, but that seemed extremely unethical and a breach of their privacy.
As a result, he decided to organically orchestrate a scenario that would help him learn more about them.
Unfortunately for him, Ater came up with this.
'This feels just as unethical. But, it's already started, so there's no point in stopping now.' Rey's thoughts trailed as he stared at Clark.
"I was never able to do much to help those around me back home, so… when I got to this world and received these powers, I just…" He stopped and sighed.
Everyone could get where he was coming from.
This world, despite its dangers, had given them an opportunity that didn't exist in normal reality.
They were special—having powers that many could only dream of.
With those powers, it seemed Clark thought he could finally help the people around him.
'Is that why he chose the classic superhero build? I guess it all makes sense now.' Rey smiled to himself.
"I understand where you're coming from, Clark. I'm right here with you." Adonis smiled, touching Clark on the shoulder.
He had his usual heroic expression on, one that won over anyone who gazed upon it.
Even Rey felt he wasn't immune to it.
"You don't have to deal with this alone, you know? Just as you want to help us, we want to help you too."
"Thanks, man."
Clark and Adonis hugged, and out of nowhere, Justin began to clap and cheer.
'What the—?' Rey thought it was weird as hell, but somehow, everyone began to follow Justin's lead.
They all clapped and cheered for the emotional display that could best be described as cringe.
With everyone smiling and cheering, Rey also ensured he was doing his best not to be left out. He stole a glance at Alicia and found her eyes to be moist.
'Now I feel bad for not being in the moment.'
Rey wondered if the situation would have been any different if he didn't know anything beforehand.
He still couldn't imagine being moved.
The only one who didn't seem to be concerned by what was going on was Snow. She was simply looking at everything with a blank face, and Rey suddenly began to feel a sense of camaraderie with the Beast.
He didn't consider the possibility that perhaps everyone was normal and he had become more Beast-like than he realized.
He simply went with the flow and cheered.
'I guess this is what Ater meant by all of this being beneficial for everyone.'
If that was the case, then he had no complaints.
~FWOOSH!~
A sudden darkness swirled at the center of the group, and Ralyks appeared before them.
The claps and cheers instantly died down, and a sense of dread immediately took over.
"Break is over. Time to advance."
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Thanks for reading!
Is Rey going over to the dark side, or has he somehow always been like this? I wonder…
