Nox's POV:
It has been two days since the granny awakened, and since that time I have been spending every waking moment in doll hell.
"Little Noxy! I think you'd look super cute in this dress!" The granny said as she held out a frilly blue dress.
My spirit core went down a grade after pushing the 'on' button on the potato this baby-faced granny calls a brain. The reason for this down-grade is because of the energy wastage that occurred as a result of me having to rush the final procedure when fixing the granny's spirit body. If I didn't want this sinking ship I invested in to become a submarine, then I had to make up the difference with whatever I had on hand, or in other words, my core. Unfortunately, because spriggan cores need a fixed balance of energy to maintain themselves, I had to amputate an even amount of each element all at once or my core would have broken completely, resulting in a devolution.
Because of this, my power has become much more limited. If not for my aura chipping in, I would have gone down another grade just trying to make this small flesh-turd I'm living in. Fortunately, since my subconscious isn't against me this time around, I'm slowly but surely able to increase my height. Unfortunately, the granny has been using this as an excuse to treat me like a dress up doll as I'm dragged through every single clothing shop in Straw city because I can't be bothered nor do I have the energy to create new clothes for every inch I grow.
The only upside to this shitty body is that no bounty hunters will be able to recognize me like this from my wanted posters alone, not that it matters since the playboy already knows where I am thanks to that snitch.
"WE'RE BACK!"
"Ugh! Would you let me down already? I can walk myself!" I said as I was getting sick of being carried everywhere.
"I don't want to! You're just so cute and soft!" The granny said as she rubbed her baby-face on me.
"Okay, that's it! I order you to get the hell off of me!" I said as I activated the soul contract.
"Aww! Noxy no! You're gonna make your grandmama cry!"
While I was repairing her soul, I had taken the opportunity to plant a copy of my deal with the old man inside her soul as a precaution. I had secretly made a bet for ownership of the Yang clan with the old man over whether or not I could wake granny up, which I did. However, just because the old man has to follow everything I say now thanks to the soul contract, it doesn't mean the rest of the Yang's will as they didn't agree to the deal. I could very easily imagine rat-man staging a rebellion if I rose to power. Which is why I have taken the opportunity to extend the contract into the old lady's soul while she was in a weakened state. With her as a secret trump card, I can reveal myself as the master of the whole fish clan whenever I want, using her strength to smash any attempts at resistance. Of course, I don't really want to run this shitshow they call a clan, so I'm letting the old man stay in charge until I find a better candidate.
"YOU! GET AWAY FROM MOTHER YOU LITTLE-!"
"DON'T YELL AT NOXY YOU! Er! Son!"
"BUT MOTHER!"
"Ugh! Sorry, but this is still too weird for me! Could you just call me Ai instead for now?"
Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that the granny forgot all about rat-man when she woke up. A possible side effect from the procedure is temporary memory loss. It's random what things she loses. It could be anything from giving birth to a nice day at the beach, it all depends on where the memory was stored inside the soul which could be practically anywhere. Of course, as the new soul matter settles in, it will adapt to its surroundings like stem cells do in the body, and the mind will fill in the blank info with deductive reasoning based on the before and after memories. There is also a chance of some alteration to the personality, any sort of mental disorders and just straight up insanity depending on how bad it is, but fortunately, her soul was still in pretty good shape all things considered, so it shouldn't take to long for the stuff purely related to the soul fracturing to return.
"Later rat-man!"
"HEY, GET BACK HERE! I WASN'T DONE TALKING TO YOU!"
"Hey, rat-… I mean, uhm, Jing?"
"It's Ping!"
"Of course! I knew that! Anyways, stop picking on your niece Ping!"
"Mother! You don't understand! She's that witch's child!"
"Yes, but she is also my little Xing's daughter! So, chill!"
And that was the moment I left the range for which my sixth sense can eavesdrop on their conversation.
As I entered my secret saferoom, I let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm so sick of being a doll. Speaking of dolls. I wonder if Wimp is done playing with hers yet."