Dimensional Descent

Time passed and it wasn't long before Leonel was all alone within the Segmented Cube. Well, alone if Vice, Candle and Little Blackstar were ignored. As for Silam, he had left after recollecting himself, realizing that he and his family didn't quite have much of a choice in the matter.

Life worked in quite mysterious ways, honestly. Leonel had initially wanted to target the Radix and Midas families in order to complete the Silver Empire's legacy, but he actually ended up gaining the Umbra family instead.

Of course, it was a chess piece that he couldn't use quite yet, but it was one nonetheless. Having them would make things… Interesting.

As of right this moment, though, Leonel wasn't really concerned about such matters. Even now, with how real everything had suddenly gotten, it felt like a distant future. Instead, he was spending some time with Little Blackstar, trying to figure out exactly how the little guy had changed.

Raising the little mink by his arm pits, Leonel looked into Blackstar's deep black eyes. The little mink's long whiskers twitched as though to show his dissatisfaction toward being treated like a baby. Toward this, Leonel could only laugh.

"You're only three or four years old this year, right? You are a baby."

"Yip!!" Little Blackstar protested. "Yip! Yip!"

Leonel, who could feel Blackstar's meaning through their connection, almost choked on air. Did he gain another little pervert for his group? Why was this little guy saying such vulgar things.

"Look at you, being so boastful. What are you so proud about? The both of us are virgins."

"YIP!" Blackstar tried to claw at Leonel's face, but he only burst into a fit of laughter.

Leonel was quite surprised at the little guy's strength, though. It was only a casual swipe of the paw yet the wind pressure made Leonel's face sting a little bit.

For Leonel to even feel anything he didn't want to feel was a tall task considering his body had been forcefully raised to Tier 9 recently, let alone for him to feel pain. Yet, not only had Little Blackstar done exactly that, the little mink hadn't even tried very hard.

With a single look, Leonel could tell that Little Blackstar's Dimensional grade hadn't budged a single inch. The little guy was still in the first tier of the Fifth Dimension. And yet, his power had actually undergone such a qualitative change.

Leonel's smile beamed. He would have to remember to thank Kira when they met again. He had a feeling that they most definitely would at some point.

Little Blackstar hopped up to his favorite perch atop Leonel's head as Leonel himself turned toward Vice and Candle.

"Thank you two for helping me out."

Candle immediately turned flustered. Someone without context might think she was a girl in love, but Leonel knew enough to understand that Candle's mind hadn't even matured enough to give breath to such emotion. She was functionally still a child, as was Vice.

In truth, the more time he spent with them, the more guilty he felt treating them like he did.

Ultimately, no matter what predispositions the two had, they were still human. Locking them away and rearing them like cattle while only releasing them when they were useful to him… It truly didn't sit well with Leonel.

Leonel sighed.

If he released the reins on them, their power would grow far too quickly.

Leonel took a deep breath and looked up into the skies. Finally, he made a decision.

"I've treated the two of you poorly. You may not understand enough about the world to understand this, but the fact that I know it is enough. I hope to treat you both the same as I do my brothers. I will trust you two so long as you don't give me a reason to doubt you."

Candle and Vice both blinked, clearly not quite understanding Leonel's words. Even concepts like freedom and free will were foreign to them, let alone terms like family and 'brother'.

However, Leonel had expected as much and chose to take things slowly.

He realized at that moment… If he wanted to unite the Dimensional Verse, was he just going to avoid all the Savants to ever be born? There were most definitely powers out there that used Savants like their own hidden trump cards, would he just have to leave those powers alone?

Of course not.

Was he willing to give up his dream then? After all, how could a normal human possibly defeat a Savant…?

But the answer was the same: Of course not.

In that case, why was he so scared of the two Savants by his side? If he couldn't out pace their growth, if he couldn't subdue them with his own strength, what right did he even have to think of conquering the Dimensional Verse?

Having made such a decision, Leonel suddenly felt lighter. His King's Might involuntarily wafted out from him, growing thicker as the color of his pale violet irises deepened before cooling back down to their original shade.

Without much hesitation, Leonel reached out into thin air, causing a snowglobe to appear in his hands. With a thought, Monkey's body appeared in the training arena, blood beginning to ceaselessly pool out from his wounds.

The expressions of Candle and Vice changed. They both remembered this man, though his face was greatly disfigured at the moment. However, before they could understand what it was Leonel was trying to do, Monkey's vocal cords finally healed back into place.

The moment they did, an enraged roar shook the Segmented Cube, causing Leonel to shake his head and sigh. He had wanted to give Monkey a chance at the same deal Vice and Candle gained as well, but it seemed that this wouldn't be possible.

'I will still give it a shot.'

Leonel's oppressive aura bore down, locking onto Monkey's every action, however the latter had seemingly grown feral. Before Leonel could understand what was happening, his expression warped.