["At this stage, what fills the parasitized person's mind is no longer their past self, but a Heliobus that resembles them yet is utterly different. The host's body will soon be completely drained and consumed by the Heliobus, just like firewood burned to ashes."]
["So, Tail is dangerous too?" Stelle asked.]
[Tail corrected her discontentedly: "Hey little girl, watch how you talk! What do you mean 'dangerous too'? This old man is the most dangerous one out there!"]
[Huohuo timidly glanced at Stelle and quietly explained: "Tail… has already been suppressed by Lord Hanya on my tail. There's a seal—he won't harm anyone."]
[Upon hearing the word "seal," Tail clearly bristled, his temper flaring up immediately: "Seal, seal, seal… Pfft, sooner or later I'll make you tear that seal off."]
[Huohuo, looking utterly aggrieved, quietly grumbled: "Do you think… I want to be stuck with you?"]
[Ignoring the bickering between the two, Hanya continued her explanation with an expressionless face: "The troublesome part is that Heliobi are not creatures of flesh and blood, making them extremely difficult to destroy. Therefore, before the Creation Furnace is repaired, the Ten-Lords Commission plans to establish a [Binding Evil-Subduing Array] in this abandoned garden to imprison these demons."]
[Since the array was not yet complete, to ensure the safety of the two, Hanya would still escort them out.]
[The good news was that there were no ghosts running amok in Fyxestroll Garden. The bad news was that there were extraterrestrial parasitic creatures scurrying everywhere… which somehow made it even more terrifying.]
——
Naruto
"Looks like this Heliobus was forcibly sealed—neither side is particularly happy about it." Shikamaru lazily glanced at Huohuo. "A dangerous Heliobus sealed inside her body… Wait, this Huohuo kinda reminds me of you, Naruto?"
"Me?" Naruto pointed at himself with a blank look.
"Yeah. This Huohuo is basically a Heliobus jinchūriki." Shikamaru mused. "Heliobi can possess human bodies. Though I haven't seen it happen, it should be pretty similar to when the Nine-Tails' power went berserk inside you back then, right?"
"Haha! Now that you mention it, yeah! But Kurama's way more hot-tempered than Tail." Naruto scratched his head and laughed. "Compared to that, even though Mr. Tail looks all fierce on the outside and has a kinda awkward relationship with Huohuo, he hasn't actually done anything dangerous to her."
"Heh, who knows?" Shikamaru shrugged helplessly with a smile. "But Tail claims to be one of the most dangerous Heliobi. If he's not bluffing… I don't buy that he didn't have any intention of possessing Huohuo from the start."
"For now, it looks like the possession failed—we don't know the details—but the Ten-Lords Commission being willing to take in such a timid little girl as a Judge probably has something to do with the Heliobus inside her, right?"
——
[On the way out of Fyxestroll Garden, the two stuck closely behind Huohuo. But suddenly, Guinaifen seemed to hear something. With a piercing scream of "There's a ghost ahhhhhhh!!", she startled Huohuo so badly that the latter froze in place, unable to move.]
[She turned around, trembling like a sieve, her teeth chattering furiously: "Uwaaaah~ W-W-W-What happened?"]
["D-Don't be scared!" Stelle comforted her.]
["I-I'm n-not scared, I-I just… can't stand steady… Right, where's Miss Guinaifen? Miss Guinaifen—" Huohuo looked behind Stelle. The entire courtyard was empty—Guinaifen had vanished!]
["…W-We didn't lose her, did we…"]
[Huohuo told Stelle not to wander off; they'd search for Guinaifen together. But as Stelle passed through a narrow bamboo path and arrived at a secluded small courtyard, she turned back—only to find Huohuo had disappeared too.]
[Just as Stelle was about to turn around, the wooden door behind her suddenly creaked shut. She looked around. The courtyard was deserted except for some piled-up old vases and miscellaneous items, with only a single ancient mirror standing alone in the center.]
["This is… a mirror? It looks kinda creepy."]
[Stelle rubbed her eyes, stepped closer to the mirror, and waved hello to the beautiful girl inside who looked exactly like her.]
[Realizing how silly the gesture was, Stelle gave an awkward smile and prepared to leave. But at that moment, the "Stelle" in the mirror suddenly reached out an arm and yanked her inside!]
——
Record of Ragnarok
Seeing Stelle dragged into the mirror world by a "ghost," Buddha clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and began murmuring something softly.
"Buddha, I didn't expect you to care so much about Stelle's safety. Starting to pray for her now?"
Zeus chuckled. Though Buddha was usually unreliable and rebellious like a teenager, as the god who loved humanity most, his compassion still shone through in this moment.
"Hah? Old man, what nonsense are you spouting?" Buddha opened one eye. "I'm praying for the 'ghost' that grabbed Stelle—praying it doesn't get beaten to death by her on the spot."
"After all… any ghost with even a little intelligence wouldn't pick a fight with someone who can tank Phantylia head-on, right?"
"Not necessarily. Heliobi have no fleshly body. Even if Stelle has the skills, how would she fight something intangible? Besides, with a body like Stelle's… once possessed, heh heh…" Hades, the King of the Underworld, gave a meaningful laugh.
"Hey hey, you treating the Stellaron inside Stelle like decoration?" Buddha patted his own chest. "Stelle's got no vacancy here! Even if a Heliobus possesses her, it definitely won't last long. And you think the Ten-Lords Commission is just for show?"
"Compared to those two employees from the Ten-Lords Commission… Hades, even you as the King of the Underworld seem downright 'sunny'."
——
[When Stelle regained consciousness, she found herself in a sealed space. It resembled Fyxestroll Garden, but upon closer inspection, something felt off.]
[Stelle wandered around the space several times, each time looping back to the starting point like hitting a ghost wall. After carefully observing the paper figures on the nearby walls, she finally found the correct path.]
[At the same time, a sinister, chilling voice echoed through the air.]
["Hee hee, looks like you've noticed—this place is a maze of endless paths…"]
["Come on, lost wanderer, do you want to leave? If you do, come find me~"]
[Following the voice, Stelle arrived at an open courtyard. Four or five specks of ghostly flames suddenly appeared, gathering around her.]
["Hiss, there's a special scent on you. You are…" The voice paused hesitantly. "I heard the fallen leaves of Fyxestroll Garden whispering. They said a powerful body has approached…"]
["They said that person carries the aura of having fought Phantylia… You must be… the one who drove Phantylia away…"]