Chapter Fourteen: Carter Town in Ruins

Chapter Fourteen: Carter Town in Ruins

Thank you all for your support—just a tap of your finger, a nudge to your fellow readers, and I'll have all the more motivation to keep updating. If you have a recommendation ticket, cast one my way; if not, a simple bookmark will do. Every bit of encouragement fuels my writing, and with motivation comes inspiration.

Now, onward with the story.

"Heh, I saw it while you were sleeping, Brother. Your sleeping posture is truly amusing—Sakuya managed to arrange you into an even cuter pose without you noticing a thing. Hehehe." Lolita teased Huster from the side, while Sakuya, watching the pair, couldn't help but feel they were talking behind her back.

"Ah, I still can't let it go! I want to bring that person back before I even think about feelings." Huster listened, then forced a smile, his tone suddenly growing despondent.

"That person? Impossible. I sealed those memories away myself. I would never let you be hurt by them again. How can this be..." Lolita's expression remained unchanged, but a tempest raged within her. This alternate personality had surfaced long ago, serving to bear the pain that the main personality could not endure, separating itself from the original to contain those unbearable memories.

Dissociative identity disorder is a condition found in children subjected to severe psychological trauma in their early years—most commonly, sexual abuse, physical abuse, or the loss of loved ones. In the beginning, these personalities are mere fantasies created to escape reality—a self-protection mechanism. Children, unable to withstand such blows, develop sub-personalities to shoulder the pain in their stead.

Indeed, at first, these fantasies exist solely to facilitate escape. Yet, they carry with them fragments of memory, or rather, of the self. With these fragments, the sub-personality appears and grows. Imagine the mind as a sheet of white paper—when a blot appears, how can you keep the rest pristine? Simply tear off the stained part. The original sheet remains immaculate; the blemish belongs to another piece. If further trauma occurs, either the previously torn piece takes the blow, or the main personality endures it and another piece is torn away. This is the body's self-preserving instinct: children, unable to bear the pain, create sub-personalities. The main personality continues life, unburdened. When adulthood brings a hardened consciousness, it is believed the individual can face those memories. The sub-personality then emerges, and the illness manifests. This is why most cases surface in adulthood.

Psychological torment compels children to force themselves into avoidance, spawning multiple personalities. Children, with their fragile sense of self, are especially susceptible. For adults, the emergence of multiple personalities is rare, possible only with overwhelming trauma. Of course, there are cases with no apparent trauma, rooted instead in genetics. Some patients, with no history of trauma, still display pronounced dissociative identities due to genetic defects—such as microdeletions in the CHRNA7 gene, located on chromosome 15q13-14, common among families with schizophrenia.

In short, Huster suffered trauma as a child—the death of a little girl who had been his only companion. This memory, which should have existed only in Lolita's mind, resurfaced in Huster’s own. No wonder Lolita was so shocked.

"You... You... How do you have that memory? It's impossible—you can't have that memory!" Lolita stared at Huster in disbelief, pointing at him, her voice trembling.

"Heh, you've worked hard, being my alternate personality for so many years. I regained that memory recently, but I've already lost so much—what's one more thing to lose? From that moment on, you're no longer just a part of me. You're my sister now. When we reach the next dimension and I lose the Reaper, I'll help you obtain a body of your own." Huster, who was, in essence, Lolita herself, understood perfectly what she was thinking. He reached out and gently patted her head, speaking softly.

"...Alright, I understand, Brother." After hearing Huster’s words, Lolita let go of her worries. She had feared Huster would shun her upon discovering this memory, or even come to resent her. Now, she realized there was nothing to fear. The events with Catherine and the others had made him stop running away. Indeed, Huster had lost too much—his mother at the start, Kamiki Shumo, though only in memory, had left an indelible mark on his soul, and finally, the members of the Spark Mercenary Corps. Huster would no longer flee from loss, shunting away painful memories for an alternate self to bear. All he needed was to grow stronger, to become someone who could protect those he cared about from ever leaving him again.

"Sakuya, let's travel on land for a while. We still have some distance to cover—let’s replenish our supplies." Huster turned to Sakuya, who had been watching their sibling-like banter with curiosity.

And so, another day passed.

This was Carter Town, on the outskirts of the Eastern Empire. Once, it had been a peaceful and beautiful place. Now, it lay in ruins. Figures wandered aimlessly through the streets—on closer inspection, their pallid, bloodless skin revealed them to be none other than Level Two undead—zombies.

A spray of blood arced through the air as a zombie’s head burst apart under a bullet’s impact. Following the trajectory, Huster could be seen wielding his silenced Paradise Spark. Behind him stood Lolita, equipped with Lucifer, and Sakuya, vigilantly scanning their surroundings with throwing knives at the ready.

"Damn it! These demons have joined forces with the undead... Has the Eastern Empire fallen completely?" Huster gazed at the ruined town, striking the ground with his fist. The force left a pit twenty centimeters long and ten deep—a testament to his fury.

"Calm down, Brother. We should search for any survivors, take them with us, and then burn this town to the ground." Lolita grabbed Huster’s arm, preventing him from striking again.

"Alright, I know. Let's go, Sakuya. Don’t alert the undead—if we do, stronger demons might appear. Move out!" Lolita’s intervention calmed Huster at once. He swiftly formulated a plan and set out decisively.

Huster led the way, careful not to attract any high-level demons by suppressing their auras down to level five. At a corner, as he was about to take another step, Sakuya held him back. She stooped to pick up a rotten branch that Huster had nearly stepped on. With a flick of her hands, the branch disintegrated—her alchemy was formidable. Huster crept forward, pausing at a corner to use a mirror to scout ahead. Then, he slipped behind a zombie and fired a bullet into the cerebellum—only this spot would cause it to fall backward, and with deft hands, he caught the corpse and set it gently on the ground. Every move was seamless and silent—a true special forces operation. In that moment, Huster felt as if he’d returned to his old days in the military.

They approached a relatively undamaged house. Huster gave a signal to cover, handed his Paradise Spark to Lolita, who was holding her Blood Dance Crescent, then produced a small bent hairpin and picked the lock. With a soft click, the door opened. Drawing a level-five magical dagger, Huster quietly slipped inside. After a moment, his gloved hand appeared at the door, signaling the others to follow. Lolita and Sakuya entered to find a clean, dust-covered interior with few signs of recent habitation. Each drew a tactical flashlight and began their search.

"There are footprints here!" Lolita called. Following her light, they saw a clean plank in the corner. (The house had wooden floors.) Huster crouched and gently pried up the plank with his dagger, revealing a hidden passage below. The three exchanged glances and nodded. Sakuya teleported down first, then reappeared, signaling the way was safe. They descended and followed the passage until, at its end, they saw the flicker of firelight. They switched off their flashlights and advanced.

"Alert!" At the end of the tunnel, a sturdy young man of about twenty suddenly stood, calling out quietly.

P.S.: The next volume will be "Infinite Horror!" ...I realized this volume is running short on words, so I’ll update one or two extra chapters daily. Thank you for your support! Let’s step it up—a little push, and we’ll be back on the rankings!