Ball of Nothing

"Look left. Good. Now look right... awesome!"

The shutter went off rapidly and Bob blinked at the strange device. He was highly curious about what Mii had conjured in Zero's mindscape.

Zero peered over the screen when Mii held the communicator and blinked. For some reason, he'd transformed. No, not really. He had grown.

The young doctor could hardly believe it. If Mii didn't take pictures as proof of his sudden growth spurt, Zero would have thought that she was pulling his leg. Curious about his new appearance, Zero swiped through the images and zoomed in to have a better look.

Although the brown hair and eyes remained, Zero found that his face was less round. Sadly, the chubby cheeks remained. He definitely grew taller and was around five foot tall. Still, it was nowhere near Truen's height although Zero had no doubts that he would catch up with the wood elf in a few years. The one thing that bothered Zero was how scrawny he looked despite the growth. The red tracksuit that he loved wearing grew to match his size but it didn't seem to suit him anymore. If anything, Zero felt embarrassed wearing something so eye-catching.

"Oh yes, I think I can change the colour of the tracksuit. What colour do you think would look less attention-grabbing?"

Mii and Bob thought long and hard. Zero had pale skin and light brown hair. Light colours were out of the question.

"How does blue sound?"

Zero tired it out and had Mii take another picture. After checking his picture, the brunet frowned. It was still too flashy. What did Baal and the villagers wear to make them look more normal?

Coux and Qin Yun's clothes were nothing but revealing in the chest area. Amaraline wore tribal clothes. Zenobia hardly wore anything, claiming that it restricted her movements. Wiser wore some long robe. Raj didn't wear a top. Vrald and Gerald wore light steel armour...

Zero shook his head. That was bad. He didn't realise how attention-seeking those outfits were until now. Maybe Baal and the other Demon Lords had relatively normal outfits?

Nope. Lilith was worse than Coux and Mammon screamed suspicious with his hood. Baal wore expensive silk pyjamas and Zero didn't want to appear like a slob.

"Why not wear something that you like? This is the Mindscape, nobody is going to judge you for what you wear or don't wear."

"That... makes a lot of sense," Zero admitted. He'd been too focussed about what other people thought about him that he almost forgot what it was like to be himself. It wasn't too surprising considering how he had four new sets of memories crammed into his mind.

For the next hour or so, Zero, Mii and Bob brainstormed about how he was going to re-identify himself now that he was no longer a child.

"I have so many memories that don't belong to me and different experiences. I don't know if this will change the way I behave or look at things once I'm back in my body. While some of them are really handy, I wish there was a way I could retain my original personality so that it wouldn't shock everyone too much."

Mii deadpanned. "Are you seriously thinking about this now? You've already scared everyone off their thrones with your split personalities earlier. Nothing will surprise them now. You should just behave as yourself, lest you shock them further when you reveal your 'true' personality."

Bob blinked. "I don't think you've changed all that much, master. You're still as kind-hearted and considerate as before. If anything, you're behaving more like a rational adult, befitting of the doctor you wish to become."

Zero smiled and patted the dragon on the head. Mii shrugged. Zero was still the same at the core. Solo and Zero were still the same person, with or without memories. She could already see the similarities. Now that Zero had more knowledge and some of his memories back, it was more obvious that they haven't really changed.

"I was thinking, I would like to wear some darker colours for practical purpose. Something like that faded light blue robe Hua Tuo once told me to wear. I think we would be travelling a fair bit on the road so it has to be something easy to move in like this tracksuit."

"In that case, what about some long pants like this tracksuit but in black? We can use the same shoes you're wearing but change the colour to black. As for the top, some light-weight fabric with short sleeves in white will make you look really smart. I've seen Leon wearing such shirts with strings to pull the top close together. Last but not least, you should wear a long outing coat just in case the weather turns cold."

Zero considered the idea and decided to look through the other outfits the Great Gods have gifted him. Among those, Zero found what he was looking for.

"Is that...?|

"Yes! Those are the dress pants in navy blue from the formal suit. The boots from the Magician set. The sky blue collar shirt that I ruined before and the lab coat that Raj and the rest gave me."

Mii took a look at the odd combination and gave Bob a slightly worried look while Zero got changing.

It didn't take long for Zero to show off his new 'identity'.

"Does this make me look more mature?"

Mii wanted to laugh. Bobbinskrier didn't care for respect and guffawed loudly. While it looked great on Zero, the dragon couldn't help but feel as if Zero was trying too hard. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing for Zero to put in 1001% of effort into everything he did. In fact, it would be odd if Zero didn't overdo things.

"Is it the pants? Should I switch it for the jeans? Or is it the colour of the shirt? Is it too blue? Why are you laughing?"

Mii shook her head with a poorly hidden grin. "No, it looks great on you. In fact, it looks just about perfect. You look very doctor-like."

Zero didn't hear the mirth in her voice and agreed wholeheartedly. "I wonder if I should wear the glasses like Wiser. Maybe that would make me look more reliable..."

"I highly doubt so, master..." Bob told Zero gently. Despite growing into a teen, Zero still had his moments of childlike thinking. This was one of those moments.

"What do we do now? I'm bored," Zero flopped onto the bed. There was no way to get out of the mindscape yet.

Mii left the entertaining to Bob while she checked on the situation. The sooner they were out of that cramped space, the better.

***

Truen was slightly surprised to see Mii but offered her some cookie dough. The strawcherry fairy didn't question how the wood elf ended up in the kitchen helping to bake cookies. While munching on cookie dough, they conversed in low voices.

"So Zero's soul is in Nirvana and his body is in Hell? How did that happen? Does this mean that Zero can't return unless his body and soul are together again?"

"This is supposed to be a secret but I guess you should know. Hades removed them completely so there is currently no connection between the body and the soul. Gaia has been asking if Zero desires a new body because there are some compatibility issues ever since Hades separated them."

"What do you mean?"

Truen sighed as he scooped the dough into smaller portions and rolled them into bite-sized portions on the tray. "The body has rejected the soul twice now..."

Mii felt weak. Does that mean Zero will be returning to the void now that the body isn't compatible with the soul?

"Gaia and Isis are discussing it. Buddha is not in a great condition, Hua Tuo is busy attending to him. They said he almost lost his Godhood and life there."

"What happened? How did it get so bad?"

Truen shook his head. "I don't know the details. It's better to ask Hua Tuo about it. In any case, how is Zero?"

"That idiot's doing well. In fact, I think he's doing great. There were some rough trials but he showed them who's boss. I must say, a slightly more mature Zero has its appeal."

"Mature? Did Zero grow again?"

Mii rolled her eyes. "After receiving four sets of memories who lived very different lifestyles, don't you think it's about time for him to see the world a little differently?"

Truen nodded. "It's a little too soon in my opinion but it might be for the best. Nobody would treat a child seriously as a doctor."

The strawcherry didn't stick around for too long after hearing what she needed to. The next person to look for was Merlin. Hua Tuo could wait.

"I see that you've already interrogated my student. What can I do for you?" the wizard asked, not looking up from the book in his hands.

"Why did the body reject the soul? Couldn't you do something about it?"

Merlin sighed and placed the book down on the table beside before adjusting his glasses. "This is not something I can answer. The body was created by Gaia and the soul was pulled by Hades. I do not know how the magic of Great Gods work and have no solution to the problem. What I can say is that the magic discrepancy issue has been resolved. Apart from the ridiculous amount of mana radiating from Zero's soul, I don't know what's causing the body to reject the soul."

"Hasn't that mana been absorbed into the void?"

Merlin shrugged. "From what I know, Zero is the void. Or something along that line... he can't store anything away into the void when he is a soul. That is his true form. In fact, I don't think he counts as a soul if we wanted to be technical about it. Souls contain a fixed amount of energy. Zero doesn't have a limit which is why he doesn't have a body in the first place. My guess is that Zero's current capacity has exceeded the amount of power his old body could contain."

"I see... I shall look for Gaia then. Thank you for your time. Also, you might want to think about how to start Zero's magic training as soon as possible. It won't be very long before Zero starts exploring with the new ideas from the inherited memories."

Merlin almost dropped the book he just picked up. Mii left before the wizard could question her for details. It was the teacher's job to figure things out, not hers.

***

"Mii! You came at just the right time. What do you think about this? It's a new body made from volcanic ashes and living wood."

The strawcherry fairy took a quick glance at the new work in progress before shaking her head. "Zero still likes how his old body looked like. I was wondering if you could create something to look like this," she pulled out her communicator to send them the pictures she took.

"Is that..."

"He grew after inheriting the memories and forming bonds with the four Divine Entity Fragments."

Isis held her nose to prevent a nosebleed. "Zero's still cute even as a teenager. This is so precious! What's with the lab coat... not that I mind because he's still cute. Also, why doesn't he choose to wear a set? I see that he's taken pieces of clothes from each set and put together an entirely different outfit by himself."

"Something to do with a new identity after inheriting four sets of memories with very different lifestyles. That's how he sees himself right now. I was hoping you could come up with something similar to match the growth of his soul?"

Gaia nodded. "Where is he right now? I might take a few days to complete it. There are some materials that require time to gather."

"He is still in the mindscape, Bob is entertaining him. Who is taking care of Zero's soul at the moment?"

"Hades has it," Isis explained. "He's pushing the trial in Hell back till after Zero returns.

Before Mii could question further, she heard Bobbinskrier begging her to return at once. "Zero is trying to invent new magic in the mindscape!"

"I'll take a rain check. Zero is trying to use unheard of magic in the mindscape."

Gaia ushered her to go and Mii disappeared with a poof. "Should we remeasure the ingredients required and modify the recipe? I don't think Zero's going to stop growing anytime soon."

Isis agreed. "Children grow up way too fast. If only I could reverse time."

"You could," Gaia pointed out and Isis raised a brow.

"And mess up the Great One's master plan? Please, spare me. I'm contented with revisiting time, not turning it back."

Gaia rolled her eyes. "Selfish. Thankfully I get to see the world through Zero's eyes literally after I finish creating his new body. I wonder if Zero wants to be a gentlemanly kind of handsome or a rugged kind of handsome once he becomes an adult... It's hard to imagine that he would never outgrow the clothing we bought him but he would outgrow the body we provide."

"Indeed," Isis agreed. "Who would've thought such a thing was possible. Imagine that these are only fragments. What would happen if he were to absorb a Divine Entity?"

Gaia froze. "He wouldn't! The multiverse will collapse!"

Isis wasn't so sure about it. "Are you forgetting that the three sisters are already a part of Zero? From the mad babbles, he seemed to have gained the ability to inherit sins. That's saying something, don't you think?"

The Goddess of Nature became gloomy. "So this is what the Great One wanted all along... I guess we were only pawns to his game."

Isis placed a comforting hand on Gaia's shoulder. The leaves were turning brown in her hair and Isis shook her head. "No, you're wrong. Zero isn't the Great One. I won't let that come true. If this was a game started by the Great One, I would align myself with Zero. I believe that the winner of this game will be Zero."

"How can you be so sure?"

Isis smiled. "Just a feeling."