"Nios… Nios? Are you alright?"
Azazel looked at the naked little boy in front of him, forcing a smile that was uglier than a cry.
"Nios?"
Azazel emboldened himself, raised his voice, and carefully poked the boy's ankle with the shaft of his trident.
Nios's bowed head slowly lifted and turned towards Azazel.
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at Azazel.
The eyeballs in his sockets had no pupils or whites, only pure black, like two black holes leading to nothingness.
These eerie eyes gave Azazel goosebumps all over.
"B-big brother…"
A tender, hollow, and flat voice drifted out of Nios's mouth.
Azazel froze instantly, as if struck by Petrificus Totalus!
The next second, he threw his trident to the ground.
With a crisp clang.
He pointed at Nios and roared heartbreakingly,
"What the hell is wrong with you! Why are you playing a Fullmetal Alchemist gag?!"
In his mind, a specific, most complete fragment of those fragmented memories appeared uncontrollably.
In a dim room, a chimera formed by a little girl and a dog.
This was definitely the most disturbing piece of his memory fragments!
"Hehe."
Nios's originally doll-like face suddenly bloomed into a smile filled with malice.
"You sick pervert! Can't you give me some normal, wholesome memories?! Like pretty big sisters or something!"
Azazel became even more enraged.
But Nios completely ignored the fuming plush toy at his feet.
He lowered his head and began to examine his body.
He squeezed his arms, lifted his legs, confirming every part.
After confirming, Nios stretched contentedly, his bones making faint crackling sounds.
"Heh…"
A light hum with a strange echo emanated from his throat.
"The feel of flesh and blood, the friction of joints, the restraint of gravity… I had almost forgotten this sensation."
His tone carried a hint of nostalgia.
Azazel looked at Nios, who was twisting his waist and shaking his neck in place, and retorted,
"Can't you put on some clothes first?!"
Nios realized it belatedly, exclaiming,
"Oh, I've been streaking as a ghost for so long, I forgot about that."
His tone was relaxed, without any sense of shame about streaking.
With that, Nios wobbled down from the center of the transmutation circle, like a baby who had just learned to walk.
The sensation of the cold, rough ground against his soles, and the slight pain, made a smile involuntarily curl at the corner of his mouth.
"How does it feel? This feeling of being grounded, restrained by gravity?"
Azazel looked at him, his tone uncharacteristically showing a hint of concern.
"Hmm, not bad."
Nios responded briefly, his voice betraying no emotion.
Slap!
He clapped his hands together, then clapped them onto the transmutation circle on the ground!
Blinding white light instantly erupted, then instantly receded.
"Holy crap! Flashbang!"
Fortunately, Azazel was prepared. The moment Nios clapped his hands, he tightly covered his eyes with his short hands, thus avoiding secondary blindness.
"Can't you give a warning, you jerk?!"
As the light dissipated, the transmutation circle had vanished, replaced by a black small suit, a black shirt, a pair of small leather shoes, cotton underwear, and short socks.
"Let's go."
After Nios neatly put on his clothes, he walked towards the basement door without looking back, his tone calm and unruffled.
"Let me go see my home."
"Wait for me!"
Azazel picked up his trident and followed behind Nios with his short legs.
Before leaving, he didn't forget to dig out a little pink from the corner and put it in his mouth.
The exit of Basement 3 was located in a corner of the main house's right garden.
Azazel followed Nios, chewing on the tasteless little pink, and asked indistinctly,
"By the way, Nios, you're just an empty shell now, without even a Soul Sea. How did you make this pile of flesh move? By willpower?"
He curiously poked Nios's newly changed trouser leg with his trident.
Nios kept walking, without looking back, and said calmly,
"You wouldn't be so naive as to think that I've been struggling for so long just to turn back into a fragile human, would you?"
Azazel's dog face was bewildered.
"Huh? Isn't that it? Then why did you make this body? To collect it as a figurine?"
"Of course not."
Nios's reply carried a hint of imperceptible sarcasm.
"I am merely driving this body now, just like driving a car."
"Without a Soul Sea link, I am merely the controller, not the owner."
"This body is this body."
He raised one hand and moved his pale, slender fingers, as if calibrating a precise tool.
"And I, am I."
His pure black eyes held no emotion belonging to Nios Chaos.
"Hiss…"
Azazel gasped, feeling even more disgusted than if he had drunk frozen lamb leg soup.
"That way of speaking is too sanity-draining… So what should we do next? Go for a joyride in your human flesh sports car?"
Nios stopped at the basement exit.
"Of course."
His voice was deep and firm.
"Create more demons, occupy more primordial authorities. Then…"
He paused, his pure black eyes staring at Azazel.
"Only then can we have enough power to influence… or… control… that damned Soul Sea."
Nios pushed open the creaking basement door and stepped into the dimly lit corridor connecting the back and front halls.
Passing through the dusty corridor, the two arrived in front of the main house's entrance.
The morning sunlight streamed through the tall window openings, slanting onto the ancient floor tiles, which were covered in cracks and moss.
In the light beams, dust motes danced like tiny sprites.
The walls were covered with dark green vines.
Nios stood under a beam of light, closed his eyes, spread his arms, and slightly tilted his head, letting the warm sunlight pour unreservedly onto his pale little face.
He took a deep breath, as if savoring the taste of the sun, and the faint smile at the corner of his mouth deepened slightly.
"Hey!"
Azazel kicked Nios's shiny leather shoe heel with his short leg, and mumbled with the little pink in his mouth.
"Stop acting like a literary youth here! Get inside quickly! If the sun gets any higher, your new body will attract a reinforced platoon of mosquitoes!"
Upon hearing this, Nios didn't even lift his eyelids, only emitting an almost inaudible hum from his nose, as a response to Azazel's mood-breaking comment.
He lowered his arms, finally no longer lingering in the sunlight, and slowly walked into the main house.
Branded Manor Main Hall
Thanks to Azazel's diligent repairs over the past month.
The main hall, which had originally been no different from a haunted house, had finally been downgraded from a ruin to a barely habitable hazardous building.
The murals and reliefs on the ceiling were still mottled and old.
The glass in the windows had been missing for hundreds of years, and the walls were covered in deep yellowish-brown stains.
Although a strange smell of decay mixed with damp wood still permeated the empty room.
At least, the floor had been cleaned by Azazel.
Nios stood in the center of the empty hall, surveying his surroundings.
Sunlight streamed through the hollow windows, casting irregular patches of light on the floor, making the entire space appear even more desolate.
He was silent for a few seconds, his gaze sweeping over the bare walls, the bald floor, and the dark, gloomy doorways leading to other rooms.
"Azazel…"
Nios's voice echoed in the empty hall, with a somewhat commanding tone.
"What now?"
Azazel was chewing the last piece of little pink he had brought, and upon hearing this, he vigilantly raised his head, his dog face filled with the ominous premonition of "What new mischief is he up to now?"
Nios elegantly raised a small hand, pointed to the empty room, and said unequivocally,
"Go get some furniture back…"
He paused, emphasizing his words.
"Fill all these rooms."
Upon hearing this, the little pink in Azazel's mouth plopped onto the ground.
He instantly darted in front of Nios, waving his short hands, his spittle almost spraying onto Nios's indifferent face,
"Are you crazy or am I crazy?!"
"Such a huge place! Three floors! Dozens of rooms! Do you think I'm Doraemon's Fourth-Dimensional Pocket?! How much do I have to get to fill it?!"
"It's fine!"
Nios again wore that harmless, standard smile on his face.
He even thoughtfully gave Azazel a thumbs-up.
"Ordinary people can't see you, so go ahead and get it boldly, for our wonderful new life!"
"They can't see me! But the things I take will be seen! Idiot!"