Chapter 1343: Garden of Seclusion (4)

"Sss..."

Looking at the enormous Shira in front of him, Rhode sucked in a cold breath of air. Although he knew that the one occupying the core personality in Shira's mental world was definitely strong, he never expected the core personality to manifest itself in such an exaggerated form. No matter how strong Celestina's core personality was, it was only capable of capturing her two other personalities. But now, Shira actually imprisoned her other personalities in such a sandbox-like world, watching them perform like a monkey show.

She held a much more superior attitude toward her other personalities compared to the previous mental projections in Celia's and Celestina's mental worlds... Rhode considered whether or not he should deal with his mental projections in a similar way. Especially after recalling his other self who infuriated him in the city earlier, he suddenly thought that it was a good idea.

And now, since the core personality was found, the next thing to do was...

"Hahaha. Looks like Master hasn't had enough, huh? Actually, I haven't had enough either. Hahaha..."

Laughing like a broken doll, Shira's behavior made Rhode increasingly worried. One should know that she was a lunatic, whose intelligence and logic was simply not on the same page as normal people's. Although Rhode admitted that he also wasn't on the same page, at least he was much more normal than her! As for the question of what exactly was going through Shira's head, he reckoned it to be comparable to Goldbach's conjecture[1].

But now, he once again discovered that he couldn't understand her at all.

In his opinion, perhaps this was the end of this mental world, though the situation wasn't really that dangerous for him to go back and forth and felt more like a mystery game, where he couldn't find any evidence and was left scratching his head. Now that he finally found the core manifestation of Shira, the next step would be to pack up and head back, right? But no, he realized that he underestimated the situation... With Shira's way of thinking, it wasn't possible for her to let him go so easily. And as expected, the moment this thought cropped up in Rhode's head, he detected some weirdness and danger in the tone of her laughter. Soon after, Shira stretched out her arm and a tattered doll appeared in her hand, and she spoke immediately after.

"... This isn't fun, Master. It's not fun at all. It's really boring, don't you think? They're so useless. What a pity. Hahaha... Hahaha..."

Upon hearing the laughter that sounded like the grinding of broken gears, Rhode instinctively sensed that something was wrong. But before he reacted, he witnessed Shira hurling the doll with all her might, smashing it on the sandbox model in front of her. Then, she lifted her head and burst out laughing.

"In that case, they're useless! Hahaha. After playing with them for so long, they're not even as fun as Master, so what's the point of keeping them? Hahaha. I shall bite my little cuties, drink their blood, and let them die in eternal agony!"

What in the world!

Upon hearing her words, Rhode was stunned. And if it were someone else who said it, he might wonder if it were just a show to test himself. But this lunatic always kept her word. When she said to kill someone, she would surely do it!

At this thought, Rhode sulked and dashed toward the manor house in front of him instantly. Honestly, he had a favorable feeling toward the noble lady. And after spending a long time in contact, he sensed that she might also be the core personality of Shira.

After all, the undead puppet was also a dependent of the Dark Dragon. Judging from the other dependents like Erin, Lydia, Gracier, Madaras, and even Celestina, despite not knowing their true selves, they were all polished and behaved like high-class races.

Meanwhile, although Shira usually behaved this way, Rhode could see that if she dressed up and maintained herself well, she would also possess an outstanding aura of the upper class. In the past, Rhode met the original Dark Dragon on his trip to Earth and the Dark Dragon didn't seem like the kind of lunatic who smiled in the face of others, while enjoying torturing people in secret, so Rhode was certain that the noble lady was actually Shira's original core personality.

But he just didn't know what happened that caused the core personality to be suppressed by other personalities and dominated by the crazy personality. Or perhaps the two personalities were created much earlier than the crazy personality.

After all, judging from Rhode's observation, the maid might have been what Shira looked like when she was first created, while the noble lady was apparently her manifestation after the undead puppet gained self-consciousness. However, Rhode had no idea what caused the insane personality of Shira. He perceived that something huge must have happened to her to turn her into this manner.

Well, it wasn't all that surprising. The modern world was information-rich, so naturally, he knew that many people, who used to be mild-mannered, changed their temperaments drastically due to major events in their lives such as the death of their entire family, et cetera...

Considering the fact that she was created during the Creation War, where brutality was everywhere, it wasn't entirely without reason for her to behave this way. Besides, Rhode also remembered Celestina mentioning that even Shira's mental world was more normal than Gracier' and Madaras's. This proved that the other holy sword sisters had more or less some information about Shira.

But now, Rhode didn't wish for Shira to kill the other two personalities. The doll was bald and old. Apart from the tattered rag on her body, her joints were all exposed. Not only that, but her head also wasn't full of hair like normal dolls. On the contrary, there were just a few strands of hair, making it look really terrifying. The doll let out the same, eerie laughter as its owner, striding toward the manor house.

"Mr. Rhode, what's going on?"

After Rhode rushed into the manor house, he saw the noble lady who gazed at him in a fluster. And right behind her, the maid, though still as expressionless as ever, seemed as if she was also bewildered. Rhode didn't have time to explain too much to her. He grabbed the noble lady and maid by the hand.

"It's too dangerous for you girls to be here. Come with me!"

Rhode yelled and without waiting for their response, he dragged them out of the manor house. If it were someone else, he wouldn't have been so nervous. But Shira was different; he was really afraid that she would become even crazier after killing her other two personalities.

Although the current Shira was already insane, the other two personalities might still be able to more or less restrain her. If she were to kill the two personalities, who knew what would become of her. Not to mention, Rhode also preferred the other two personalities to hold that crazy Shira in check. So now, his only choice was to drag them along and flee as far away as they could.

Rhode was fast, but the doll wasn't slow either. Even though it seemed to be moving slowly, that was only an illusion due to its massive size. As soon as Rhode dashed out the door with the noble lady and maid, the doll followed closely and effortlessly crushed the manor house to debris like a child stamping on toy blocks. The sound of the collapsing manor house and rushing air currents in his ears flustered Rhode.

He looked over his shoulder, only to find the doll extending its arms toward him with a peculiar smile as if she wanted to seize him. At that moment, he hesitated no more. The instant the doll reached out its arms, he grasped the noble lady with his right hand, while grabbing the maid in his left. After yesterday's experiments, he was convinced that their bodies were really strong, so much so that he wasn't worried that his forceful grabs would hurt them. As with the previous mental worlds, he had absolutely no intention of destroying the bizarre-looking doll. His idea was simple: if he could lead the escape with the two of them, he could flee from the grasp of that crazy Shira!

At this thought, Rhode leaped and dodged the doll's sweeping palm. Soon after, a pair of dragon wings appeared on his back and he soared into the sky with the noble lady and maid in his arms. And in the face of his escape, the doll that pursued him relentlessly let out an odd shriek, jumped, and grabbed at them again.

Although Rhode flew up really quickly, the doll was released by the enormous Shira, after all. Rhode and the two young ladies were only 1:30 scale models in the eyes of the massive Shira, while the doll was almost like a giant to them. And upon seeing the giant grabbing at him again, Rhode sulked and widened his mouth...

He took in a deep breath of air.

Boom———!

A dazzling light beam like a river of stars erupted from his mouth. As the Void Dragon, it went without saying that Rhode possessed the 'Dragon Breath' skill. However, he thought that this move was too cheap, so he never used it. But now, facing the doll who chased him persistently, he didn't feel the need to show mercy any longer. The damage to the mental world was a problem for an average person, but in his opinion, it might be a good thing if he could 'calm down' the berserk Shira. Besides, his arms were occupied now, so he had no choice but to resort to using the dragon breath to 'entertain' this uninvited guest.

In the blink of an eye, the blinding dragon's breath bombarded the doll. Although Rhode deliberately held back and didn't completely destroy the doll in front of him, the powerful force still succeeded in pushing back the doll. Meanwhile, the doll apparently didn't expect him to have a way to fight back while his hands were occupied. And as a result, it couldn't respond in time at all.

Along with this assault, the doll screeched, collapsed to the ground, and the earth and lake in the surroundings were also blown to pieces. The manor house and island weren't spared either. However, Rhode didn't have the time to lament the destruction of the manor house that he had spent days in. On the contrary, as the doll fell, he sprang up with the help of the reaction force, flying into the sky again. But he wasn't fleeing aimlessly either; instead, he took the noble lady and maid with him and lunged in the direction of the giant Shira.

"No, I don't want to leave this place! No!"

And just at that moment, the noble lady, who lay quietly in Rhode's arm, put up fierce resistance, struggling and wriggling her body to break free. This was the first time she showed such a frightened and uneasy expression. Despite that, her gaze wasn't focused on the gigantic Shira. Instead, she stared at the void in front of her with dazed and bewildered eyes. All of a sudden, memories filled with ice-coldness and death flowed into Rhode's mind. And right before his eyes, a scene came to life; from when Shira was created by the Dark Dragon to the time she learned under the Dark Dragon's tutelage of all kinds of knowledge, combat skills, and etiquette. During that period, the mindless puppet gradually realized her soul and became an erudite undead puppet who also possessed elegance, discipline, and also held unparalleled combat skills. But for Shira, it was also the beginning of her nightmare.

Rhode didn't know if the Dark Dragon was really stupid or just hadn't thought about it. Generally speaking, simple-minded ones would apparently battle more effortlessly and conveniently because those who considered too much faced all kinds of situations. Under the Dark Dragon's training, Shira had certainly acquired a considerable amount of knowledge and etiquette. But because she possessed them, it caused her to harbor questions and pain about the brutal war between Order and Chaos.

This pain reached its apex when she was sent into battle: a battle in which the undead army was wiped out in the face of Chaos. However, Shira was spared. She remained 'alive' indefinitely due to her undead property no matter how much the Chaos creatures tore her apart, destroyed, and killed her. And this agony caused her to finally reach her limit.

In order to protect herself, she eventually created her last personality; the insane Shira. In the end, this personality erupted with the most powerful strength of the undead puppet and killed everything on the battlefield. Whether it was Chaos or her allies, everything turned to blood and corpses under her slaughter. This thrill and excitement eventually broke her and since then, she had been hiding in the deepest part of her mind, allowing that crazy personality of hers to take control as the master of the body.

I can't believe this happened...

After viewing Shira's memories, Rhode couldn't help but let out a powerless sigh. He never thought that this crazy young lady would actually be a sentimental one like Lin Daiyu[2]. After all, this was so contrary to the image of Shira in his memories that he couldn't relate her to the noble lady. But for that reason, he finally understood why this noble lady was so resistant to leaving this place.

Perhaps for her, the memories of the outside world were still stuck in that cruel, terrifying, world of killing; a place she should have taken responsibility for, but eventually gave up on. And because of that, she became weaker and eventually became a prisoner of this tiny world.

But...

"One has to face the past someday, Shira. Do you think you can continue to muddle through by being crazy?"

Looking at the noble lady with fear in her eyes, Rhode sighed in frustration. He stared motionlessly at the noble lady in his arm, while the noble lady who tried to break free stopped struggling when she detected his gaze. The young lady opened her eyes wide and stared at him, gaping but entirely speechless. And upon seeing her reaction, the corners of Rhode's mouth lifted into a smile and he pulled her closer with force, lowering his head and whispering in her ear.

"No matter what, you have to face what you've done. It is what you have to go through, and since you aren't willing to, let me help you then."

Rhode said and swung his arm abruptly. Along with this action, the noble lady let out a scream as she flew across the air, slamming onto the crazy Shira who was caught off guard. The noble lady's petite body struck the giant in her forehead and a dazzling brilliance erupted between them. At the next moment, the entire world was like a shattered glass bottle, disappearing completely and turning into an entirely different existence.

[1] One of the oldest and best-known unsolved problems in number theory and all of mathematics.

[2] One of the principal characters of Cao Xueqin's classic 18th-century Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. She is portrayed as a well-educated, intelligent, witty, and beautiful young woman of physical frailness who is somewhat prone to occasional melancholy.