Parallel Memory

-SWISH!

The attack was powerful enough to threaten Rank-S Hero, but Zero remained calm. His head was clear after he fought with Lilith. Even though his anger towards Xalvar had not cooled even a little, he was at least considering his next move before taking action.

He gathered Dark Energy to the sword quickly as he prepared to meet Lilith and Xavier's attack head-on. He knew that dodging was not an option.

Not only was the area of effect for that attack larger, but if he dodged then students like Hiro who was behind him would be hit by the attack.

[ "Demonic Emperor Sword: Cataclysmic Destruction" ]

An attack more devastating than Extermination Blast was launched by Zero. Extermination Blast has a wide area of destruction but Cataclysmic Destruction was sharper and contained more power.

This power could easily kill an average Rank-A person. Last time, he used this move to kill Rank-S Ice Griffin and even his Rank-B sword was destroyed because the power of the attack was too much for the sword to hold.

This time he had a more powerful sword, even so, the sword trembled viciously as it seemed to be on its limit. Luckily it didn't break and was barely able to withstand Zero's power.

Two powerful attacks came from the sky while an equally or more powerful attack was sent by Zero from the ground.

-BOOM!

The destruction ball of Lilith and Xalvar collided with Zero's Cataclysmic Destruction attack.

The impact of the collision was so great that the ground that the attack didn't even touch began to vibrate. It seemed that even the space was twisted for a second.

This could be seen as a great incident if not for many such things happening everywhere in Ace Academy. Rank-S was fighting all over the Ace Academy campus. Right now, Ace Academy was ground for a battle with many powerful attacks blasting off one after another at many places. Zero and Lilith's fight was just one of many such battles.

While it was not very great compared to Rank-S teachers fighting with Earl Ranked Devils, for those who were in the vicinity of Zero, the impact was very strong.

-BOOOOOOOM!

Hiro, Zion, Lisa, and Sylvia were hardly able to stay there without getting blown by the wind generated by the collision.

They were really useless after the two devils unleashed their attacks. Even the aura that was emitted by their attack was enough to make them immobile, not to mention blocking such an attack, it was hard for them to even move.

The mana in the atmosphere only increased after Zero released an incredible destructive skill that was equally powerful as the attack from two Viscount Devils.

-WHOOSH!

Looking towards the sky was Zero who just stood there without fear. There was no indication that Zero was nervous. He looked different from earlier when he almost went berserk and looked calm and confident.

"Everyone Alright!"

Hiro asked.

The place which was once a training ground was razed. Even without directly touching the buildings, their impact was powerful enough to destroy those reinforced buildings.

"Yes!"

They replied not sounding very happy about the situation.

Lisa was happy to have survived but also felt complicated when looking at Zero. It didn't matter to her that he was currently using Dark Energy but she felt inferior to him.

They had done everything to survive from Lilith but Zero was able to keep Lilith and another Viscount Rank Devil occupied by himself. This great dispersion in strength made even Lisa who normally doesn't care much about comparing strength to compare her strength with Zero.

Despite being called a genius since her childhood, she felt all those words were just a lie. Even with the emergence of the monstrously talented Hiro, she didn't feel inferior. But Zero had really shown the difference between a genius and a talented human.

She felt that she was just a big fish in a small pond. This feeling was shared with others who could only watch the fight.

*****

Zero already knew that Cataclysmic Destruction was very powerful. He knew that Lilith and Xalvar's combined power would still fall short of his Cataclysmic Destruction attack.

Though the Xalvar and Lilith attack was more powerful than he initially thought, it was still not able to overwhelm Cataclysmic Destruction.

However, using Dark Energy, moreover, to unleash attacks such as Cataclysmic Destruction, his body was under great stress. It was better than before as he was stronger now but still, it was difficult for Zero to unleash such an attack repeatedly without damaging his own body.

Despite that, Zero was sure that even Xalvar and Devil Lilith would also not be able to use that move repeatedly. For such a powerful attack, the Dark Energy consumed was very high, not to mention the time taken to execute that attack was long.

Zero stared into the sky, making sure that Xalvar was not attacking him. He would love nothing more than to rush toward him and punch him but even so he refrained from that. He knows that Xalvar had more than one trick up his sleeve and Zero didn't want to give him the chance to take advantage of his anger like earlier.

*****

!!!

"WHAT! HOW!"

Xalvar shouted.

Xalvar was truly shocked to see that Zero was able to stop the attack which was the result of Lilith and his. It was the first time he had not expected such a development.

As for the Dark Energy and sudden increase in strength, he had already experienced it before and was not very surprised to see the same development happening again. It was just that Zero's power exceeded what he had expected.

He stared down at Zero who was currently looking at him with a condescending attitude. There was no fear or excitement about having stopped his attacks like Hiro and others. Zero was behaving as if this was a natural thing to happen.

"ZERO!"

Xalvar screamed.

He was angry that Zero, who he looks down on, is showing as if he is stronger than him.

"You were not able to save anyone before and it will be the same this time as well! Zero, you are nothing but a curse!"

Xalvar said as he made his way toward Zero.

"..."

Zero didn't get angry at his word because his anger towards Xalvar was already maxed and there was no need to say anything to make him angrier.

It is clear to him that Xalvar, who kills others for fun, is unable to understand him and is continually reminded of his friend's death. For Xalvar, his friends' death was skin to fun while for him, it was his eternal nightmare. His hatred towards Xalvar is something that could not be subsided even if Xalvar was killed a hundred times.

Now that Xalvar was coming towards him by himself, Zero was not going to let him escape. As he gripped his sword, he was ready to attack Xalvar.

"ZERO!"

Xalvar showed no sign of stopping as he quickly appeared before Zero.

Using his extended claws, Xalvar attacks Zero from his left side where Zero is slow to react. Because they both had been fighting earlier, they had some idea about each other's fighting style.

-CLANK!

However, Zero also knew that Xalvar was aiming at his left side. Xalvar was very good at analyzing battles and knew which areas were vulnerable, which is why Zero waited for Xalvar to strike first. He already anticipated that Xalvar would try to attack from the left and he was prepared to block the attack with his sword.

Right after the Xalvar attack was blocked, Zero raised his left hand, and immediately a sword was created with his Ice magic.

-SLASH!

Due to how quick the counterattack was, Xalvar was not able to defend himself and got seriously injured by Zero Ice Sword.

"KEH!"

Xalvar backed off with serious injuries and an ice sword stuck to his shoulder. He looked at Zero angrier than before. However, unlike before he didn't make the mistake of attacking without thinking carefully.

Zero was the same. He didn't just blindly charge because he knew that his attack hardly did anything. With their regeneration abilities, he knew that he could immediately recover from such injuries.

If you want to kill a Devil, you should attack their vital areas or use a powerful attack that they can't recover from. A slash from his Ice Sword was not enough to defeat a Devil such as Xalvar.

Zero glared at Xalvar in hatred. It was very difficult for him to control himself when Xalvar was in front of him. He still remembers the ecstatic face that he made when killing his friends one by one.

( Wendy, John ... Today, I will finally take revenge! )

He glared at Xalvar with killing intent.

Xalvar was also in a similar position as Zero. He was truly humiliated by Zero and could not wait to kill Zero. But he also refrained from directly attacking him.

However, both knew that the one to lose their cool first would be the one to die. They prepared themselves for a fierce battle that was about to begin!