Parallel Memory

I waited for Lilith to appear.

"She is late."

Usually, she would be the first one to arrive and would be waiting in front of my house. However, she had yet to appear. I didn't know the reason, but still, I waited as I thought that she would come soon.

However, one minute turned into 10 minutes, and 10 minutes turned into 30 minutes. Still, Lilith was nowhere to be seen.

( Is she not coming today?)

Zero thought.

"Zero!"

Someone called him.

Initially, Zero thought it was Lilith, but it turned out to be another friend of Zero. They all seemed to have been there together.

???

Zero didn't understand why they were there. Normally, they would not bother coming even if one was late and would continue playing with each other even if someone was missing.

"Why are you all here?"

Zero asked. Anyway, if one didn't know the answer, one could always ask the one who could provide the answer.

"We were waiting for you and you still didn't come. So, we came to get you."

Sixtus told.

He seemed to be in a particularly good mood.

( Did something good happen to him? )

Zero thought. Normally, Sixtus would always be in a bad mood even when they were playing. Anyway, setting aside his good mood, the situation was still odd.

???

Zero was still confused about the situation. As mentioned before, one or two kids missing were not a big deal and happened normally and no one would go to bring them unless you are very very close.

"We were planning to go to the place that Sixtus is talking about. We didn't want you to miss that."

Wendy said. She was a cute little girl around the age of Zero and was somewhat like Misha, only less shy.

"I found this cool place yesterday. Let's go! I will show you all something amazing!"

Sixtus said excitedly.

Looking at them again, there were all kinds of tools that they had bought for exploration. Little protective armor along with a small knife.

Zero now understood why they were there. Unlike usual, it seems that today they planned to explore this 'Cool place' that Sixtus had found.

"I cannot! I have to wait for Lilith."

Zero refused.

While he was also entranced by the fact that they could explore this cool place that Sixtus was talking about, however, he still decided to wait for Lilith. Anyway, he thought that he could follow them after Lilith arrived.

"Lilith?"

"Haha…"

???

Suddenly they started laughing. Zero didn't understand why they were acting crazy.

-TAP!

"Zero, did you forget that Middle School starts today? She should be attending school. You are wasting time waiting for her."

John, who was rather a big fellow, said.

!!!

Then only did Zero understand why Lilith didn't come. If the school had already begun, it is understandable that she didn't come.

Zero didn't know that Middle School started one week before their school. Anyway, he was not a middle schooler and didn't know that.

"Let's Go!"

Even Sixtus kept his arrogant side at home and didn't argue. He led the group of kids to the place which he described as cool.

With that, they dragged Zero into going with them. They all looked excited.

******

"Look!"

Sixtus proudly showed the area which had been covered in forest. Previously, this place was covered in rock but now it has completely changed into a different area.

"Is this the place?"

Wendy asked.

Zero looked at the forest and was somehow having a bad feeling about it. The area seemed to be completely different from what a normal forest should be. More than that, it was an isolated place just like some haunted areas.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

Zero asked.

"Yes! Follow me!"

Sixtus said as he led the group into the forest. He seemed confident that this place was not dangerous at all. Seeing that Sixtus was so confident, the other kids also followed him.

Anyway, they were here to explore the place and creepy places like this were just what they needed. They thought of this as a preparation for future exploration.

-THUD! -THUD!

Upon entering the forest, the atmosphere seemed to be completely different from the outside. Zero, felt that the mana inside this place was very different from outside, though other kids didn't seem to notice.

The only thing that made him less worried was that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary other than that, and they were perfectly fine right now.

"Isn't this scary?"

John asked while trembling.

John was not very good at dark places and since the sunlight seemed to be mostly blocked by the big trees, the route we were taking was dark.

"Shouldn't we go back?"

Zero asked.

Seeing the situation, Zero thought that heading back was probably good. It seems that he can't seem to get rid of his bad feeling, and his friends appeared to be scared of going further.

"Just a little further! We will see something amazing there."

Sixtus insisted. He seemed dead set on showing us that amazing thing that we had no idea of.

"Well, let's continue a little."

Wendy said.

In addition, she was not fond of such a place, but it seems that she is willing to follow Sixtus just a little because he was her friend.

"Well… If it is just a bit further."

John also said.

Just like Wendy, he was also considering Sixtus' feelings about who had found this place and wanted to show them and also because he wanted to see that amazing thing that Sixtus kept talking about. Other friends also nodded.

Just like that, we agreed on going a little further.

*****

Still, there was nothing there and the place just became more creepy.

"Hey, we should stop!"

Zero said.

It didn't seem that they were going to see anything in that place other than trees.

-THUD! -THUD!

However, Sixtus kept on walking, not heeding Zero's word.

"Hey, Stop!"

Zero shouted.

However, there was no response.

-THAD!

Zero grabbed Sixtus' shoulder, making him stop.

"Hey, I said stop!"

Zero said to Sixtus in a little irritating voice.

While he didn't intend to blame Sixtus for bringing them here as they were also partially responsible, Sixtus' refusal to listen caused Zero to be angry.

*GRIN!

Zero couldn't see Sixtus' face properly but Zero could have sworn that Sixtus was smiling.

Sixtus suddenly turned around and struck Zero's abdomen.

-BANG!

"ARGH!"

Zero felt that he was going to vomit. He didn't understand what was going on. Why did he attack me? Did I do something wrong? All types of thoughts were going through his head.

The same was true for other kids who watched this in shock. They didn't know why but their friend Sixtus had attacked Zero suddenly. And it didn't seem like a prank seeing how Zero was suffering.

"SIXTUS! Have you gone mad?"

"Why did you attack Zero?"

Other kids angrily asked. While they were friends and could make some jokes to a certain extent, however, they knew that this had gone beyond what one might say is a joke.

"Hahaha…"

However, Sixtus began laughing eerily while holding his face in his hand.

!!!

His voice was so eerie that even just hearing it gave them goosebumps. Zero knew that something was wrong and that the one who was in front of them was not the one that they knew.

"Fools!"

Sixtus said.

-WHOOSH!

Sixtus' appearance started to change soon after. Two horns were grown while a pair of wings and tail had grown from behind. His height grew from 110 cm to 180 cm.

!!!

Instantly, everybody there knew what that was. While they were immature and had yet to explore the world, they knew about the major species of Edolas of which Devil was one of them.

Even without ever seeing one, they could tell Sixtus was a devil.

*SHIVER!

The kids started trembling at the sight of Sixtus's Devil form. Though it was not only appearance but also because Sixtus has started to exert his mana pressure.

While they were not sure which rank Sixtus was in, however, they knew that he was at least stronger than they were. Moreover, Devil's rank starts from E, unlike humans which meant that Sixtus was at least Rank-E, which is far stronger than they were.

-THUD! -THUD!

Sixtus slowly approached them. He was slowly going toward them intentionally so that they felt more scared.

Zero was equally scared as other kids. This was his first time encountering something like this. Moreover, there was still the pain of being punched in the abdomen.

"How I waited for this moment?"

Sixtus said excitedly.

He looked at the kids like a tiger would look at its prey. Right now, Sixtus was the big tiger while Zero and others were all his prey.

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Zero asked.

He suppressed his fear and bravely said. They were a bunch of kids that had never offended anyone. Why were they in this position? Why were they targeted?

"Why? You ask?"

Sixtus turned his head towards Zero while replying.

"Because it's fun!"