Vice and Candle

Vice was confused about what was happening but sensing a threat to his life, he immediately reacted with all the strength he could muster, freezing everything for several kilometers in space as he took a step behind Leonel, fearfully looking around.

Leonel's gaze glowed when he felt this.

For one, Vice's ability no longer seemed to have any impact on him. This wasn't because Vice wasn't as good a Savant as he seemed to be originally, but rather that his ability had barely reached a Fifth Dimensional level.

Thanks to Leonel's Divine Armor being constructed with Evolution Ore as its core, what should have been his Fourth Dimensional armor actually had the strength and abilities of a Fifth Dimensional Armor. Thanks to this, he was able to concentrate his Spatial Domain down to becoming the equivalent of a Force Skin, thus allowing him strong control over the Space Force around himself.

This was all to say that Leonel was likely the only one not impacted by Vice's ability. However, even this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Vice's ability wasn't as simple as a spatial lock. Its boundaries worked similarly to Leonel's [Valiant Seal] and were like the borders separating two worlds. This meant that not only were all the Invalids surging toward the two of them frozen, but this also meant that the Invalids that had been rushing toward them could no longer sense the wild fluctuations Force being released by the golden koi fish.

Leonel whistled, feeling that Savants were really the universal cheat code. If he wasn't restraining Vice's progress, just how powerful would he be by now? Leonel couldn't even wrap his head around it…

"How long can you maintain this?" Leonel asked Vice. Content is property © .

Vice, who had been 'hiding' behind Leonel, looked toward him with a blank expression. Every time Leonel looked into his eyes, all he could see was vacancy.

With Candle, she at least had a normal range of human emotion, it was just that she tended to the extreme. However, after a long while of observation, Leonel felt that Candle might have grown up to be a perfectly normal girl had she never been locked away. Now, though, her trauma was a weight on her heart that was difficult for her to release.

Vice, however, didn't have these emotions. And, any emotion that he did show was just a reflection of what he saw around him as though he was projecting what he thought others wanted to see rather than being his true self.

If someone like Vice had grown up in normal society, he would probably be very charismatic and have a knack for manipulating the people around him. It was just too bad for him that his skill in this facet was stunted by his upbringing, thus allowing Leonel to see through him easily.

Even now, while Vice was acting scared and 'hiding' behind Leonel, he was only doing so because this was exactly what Candle would do if she was suddenly brought out like this. The more time those two spent together, the more of her personality that Vice imprinted onto himself.

At this moment, though, Vice was looking at Leonel as though he couldn't understand the question. It was then that Leonel chuckled and understood. That was something only non-Savants had to worry about. Vice's look was as good as telling him that he had no time limit and could hold this indefinitely. He didn't have a concept of 'how long'.

"Got it. Then keep it up."

Leonel brought out the surfboard and allowed Vice to stand on it so he could release his grip on the latter's shoulder. Then, he also brought Candle out.

As expected, seeing the dark clouds above, the frozen rain in the surroundings, and the giant tentacle monster to the side, Candle immediately shrieked and hid behind Leonel as well.

Leonel's approach to dealing with Candle was much different than how he dealt with Vice. He gave her comfort and a few caring words almost immediately. He realized that this was his own bias shining through. After all, he felt that Candle was genuine while Vice was not. But, for now, he let things play out this way.

He wanted to see just how Vice evolved from here.

'Maybe I shouldn't do this myself… I wonder if the Dimensional Verse has therapists and psychologists specialized in dealing with Savants… But if they do, which of them can I trust?'

There was a hidden reason why Leonel had chosen to take the risk of raising two Savants on his own, and that was his grandfather.

Leonel simply didn't believe that his grandfather could be so cruel as to kill 99% of Earth's population for the sake of clearing out as many Invalids as possible ahead of time, and yet leave such a hidden danger like these Savants behind without cause or reason. There was definitely something about this choice that Leonel didn't have enough information to understand just yet…

Leonel patted Candle on the head until her tears were soothed and her breathing became even once more.

"I just wanted to let you out to experience the world, if you want to go back in it isn't a problem. Just let me know."

Candle sniffled and looked around, her shoulders shuddering when she saw the tentacle womb. She stretched a hand out and caused a massive mirror without borders to appear in the sky, blocking the view of the monster. Only then did she relax.

When she swept her gaze around and saw the koi fish, her eyes lit up.

"… So pretty…"

Leonel smiled. "You two stay here, I'll be back."

"Okay." The two replied at once.

The surfboard hovered just a foot over the dark waters, allowing Candle to sit and glide her feet about it.

…

Leonel appeared on the other side of Candle's mirror and observed the tentacle womb. He could tell that it was struggling to move away, but it couldn't no matter how hard it tried. The abilities of Savants were truly too sick. Such a powerful creature couldn't even lift a finger to stop it.

"Can this tentacle womb clone creatures?"