HUMAN INCUBATORS

It was a few hours before Leonel and Aina returned to the kneeling people. Now that he was looking more deeply, he noticed a few things.

There were less than a hundred of them. Only three of them were in the Ninth Dimension, but there wasn't even a single Eighth Dimensional expert. The second tier of strength started at Anya who was in the Seventh.

There was still more to explore in this world, but Leonel felt that he shouldn't for now. Like he had said, these waters were deeper than he knew, and that Shadow Tail statue was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Well, it was funny to say that considering what they had just done under that statue. But that was neither here nor there.

Leonel smiled beside himself, his gloomy mood having vanished into the wind. Standing with Aina's hand in his own, he couldn't be bothered to give a damn about anything else any longer. These people were irrelevant to him, and they were only as useful to meet his ends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

He swept a glance and his gaze landed on Anya and Seltin.

"You two, come forward."

Anya, compared to Seltin, was far more obedient. There was a graceful expression on her face and her demeanor was just as Leonel remembered it. Even after being forced to kneel for so long, she didn't lose any of that bearing at all.

Seltin, however, was greatly reluctant. There was a large amount of humiliation hidden deep within her eyes, and it seemed that even now, she felt that she should be above Leonel.

Those were eyes that Leonel remembered quite clearly. Their falling out didn't have to be so terrible, but whether it was Seltin or Leonel, both were endlessly prideful and unwilling to take any losses.

"Why are there so few of you," Leonel asked Anya.

Anya's hands clasped in front of her, gently resting just below her waist. She wore a familiar veil, but her dress was black, in sharp contrast to her flowing white hair.

It was hard to associate this woman with a demon at all. In fact, much like Aina, it was hard to associate her with humans either. They both looked far more like Spirituals.

Anya didn't hesitate to respond, seemingly not feeling any sort of hatred for Leonel personally killing her.

"These are all the people we've ever had," she said softly. "The number that could make it here is very small, and though the Incomplete Worlds were a good chance to increase the number who could successfully take on the Lineage Factor, many were... sacrificed."

It had to be remembered that though the Human Race was the only successful experiment, that didn't mean all of them were successful.

Of the humans that remained in the Bubble Worlds, there were none with the ability to take on the Northern Star Lineage Factor.

Although Leonel didn't know it now, the Constellation Families were an excellent example of this...

The Incomplete Worlds had become a breeding ground for reviving long lost Lineage Factors. But oddly enough, something that had started as a last ditch effort of the Fawkes had ended up benefitting so many other people.

It made you wonder...

"And that includes your Variant Invalids and Savants?"

"They were... commandeered," Anya said softly.

Leonel's eyes narrowed but he didn't ask about this topic any further. He could trust Aina to protect her mind, but not these people. They were practically puddy in his hands, let alone the hands of an actual expert.

If he had to guess, this version of the Three Fingers Cults was probably an anchor left in the Human World so that the true Cult would have a foothold to interfere with the Incomplete Worlds. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

Now that they had finished their experiments, they took what was useful and abandoned what was not.

'No... not abandoned. I can think of dozens of uses for these people that could range from anything from using them as a scapegoat to obfuscate their involvement in the future, all the way up to hoping they might mingle with their fellow humans and trigger unexpected mutations...'

Leonel fell into his thoughts for a moment and then looked toward Seltin.

"Your Umbra family cut off connections with the Three Finger Cult. Why are you here?"

Seltin clenched her teeth but exhaled a breath.

"There was no choice in the matter. Those that managed to survive were brought here and that's the end of it."

"Survive what."

"I don't know... but as you can see, our numbers used to be much larger than this," Seltin all but growled.

Leonel nodded. The Umbra family was indeed much larger than this. But now, there were less than a hundred people here in total.

He reached forward and suddenly grabbed Seltin's wrist. She tried to resist, but even without his Life Tablet, she was no match for him. His grip was like a vice and it had no give at all as she tried to pull away.

Leonel ignored the woman's struggle, trying to see something.

Then he noticed it... the wounds.

They were hidden, and almost undetectable. But that was because they had long since healed. Even so, his senses could pick them up.

'Why do her inner organs have so much scar tissue?'

Leonel released her and took Anya's wrist. Unlike Seltin, she didn't resist at all. What was the point?

'Interesting... Anya doesn't have the same scarring at all...'

Leonel went through everyone and checked one by one, and to his shock, Anya and the Ninth Dimensional experts were the only ones who were unscathed.

His Dream World organized the scars and their parameters and he felt like he understood.

'Bits and pieces of them were cut out and regrown as though someone was taking samples of them. Then why were Anya and those three spared?'

Leonel felt that he understood this as well. They were more valuable.

If these people wanted to use the Human Race as a scapegoat to hide their actions in the future, how could every member of the supposed "Cult" be a weakling?

No, they needed people who were worthy of carrying their sins, and as such they couldn't afford to kill them or experiment on them.

These people had practically been human incubators, reborn for no other reason than to supply their own inner organs.

And why?

Well, that felt obvious too... Wasn't it so that the likes of Wicked could gain a Lineage Factor he had no business having?

The saddest part is that Seltin and the others didn't even seem aware.