Parallel Memory

-WHOOSH!

Since the Dark Guild members sent to capture Hiro and the others were all defeated, he headed back so that he could take care of the other Dark Guild members who were securing the building.

However, before that, he had to check on Professor Mia and Frey's fight.

*****

Professor Mia and Frey have been fighting for quite a long time without any apparent winner. Both would quickly counter with their techniques.

Frey has an advantage over Mia as her element fire is superior to Mia's element ice. Despite that, Mia's art and rank were both higher than Frey's.

"Mia Frostine, aren't you worried that your students would be killed?"

Frey asked. She wanted Mia to commit some kind of mistake by making her anxious.

"I wonder? Maybe it should be you who should be worried about your subordinates!"

Mia replied.

Contrary to what Frey expected, Mia Frostine was not worried about Hiro and the other students at all. It was not because she was underestimating Dark Guild but because she knew that there was someone who would help them.

Yes! She knew that Zero was among one of the Dark Guild members that went to capture the people who learned Dual Art.

She was certain at the time when Zero was not affected by her Icy Burst and used his Ice energy to cover himself in ice. She knew that the person was not frozen by her ice and moreover, she found the ice energy to be extremely familiar.

Even if Zero's ice energy had become stronger, its essence remains the same and as someone who had trained him many times, Professor Mia was certain that it was Zero in disguise. It is one of the reasons that she allowed the Dark Guild to pass through her.

If not, even if she was facing Frey, she would have gone all out to stop others from pursuing Hiro and the others.

As for doubting Zero's motives? She never had one. She believed that he was good at the right thing and that he would definitely help Hiro and others when in danger.

She also has no doubt about his strength. Being Rank-A and also being able to resist her technique easily showed how strong he was. That is the reason that no matter how much Frey tries to sweep her attention, it would not work.

"Humph! Don't regret it!"

Frey said. It was disappointing that Mia was not distracted by her talks, however, no matter she was not going to give up on defeating her. She also felt that Mia Frostine was just keeping up her confident face to not let her take advantage.

Frey believes that she would soon have the advantage after her subordinates captured Hiro and the others. At that time, she believed that she would win. She just needed to wait for her subordinates' success.

[ "Inferno Sonata Blast" ]

[ "Ice Spear" ]

-BOOM!

Frey and Mia Frostine exchanged a couple more moves with each other…

( Where are they? )

Frey thought!

Frey waited and waited for her subordinates to show up, however, they never did. She was thinking about making Mia give up using Hiro and the others. However, her subordinate was not showing any sign of coming any time soon.

And she was at a disadvantage. Even if her element was advantageous against Ice, Mia's Ice quality was more than her fire could handle. Furthermore, with Mia Frostine's higher mana stat, Mia was overwhelming Frey.

She couldn't wait anymore. It was either do or die. Wait any more and then she would have no mana to do anything and Mia would win naturally.

[ "Primordial Ice Palace" ]

On the other hand, Mia Frostine has no intention of letting her escape. If Frey tried to escape and show her back to Professor Mia, she would get attacked by her.

Furthermore, Mia had used her ultimate technique and there was no escaping that. The area inside her palace was all in her control. If Frey wished to escape now, she had to destroy Mia's technique.

[ "Raging Flames Assault" ]

Frey used one of her weaker skills. She just wanted to see what Professor Mia would do or see what her Primordial Ice Palace could do. However, what she witnessed was completely terrifying.

Professor Mia used no other technique and just waved her hands to put off Frey's fire attack. Furthermore, the ice energy in the area where the Ice palace was has increased. It was disadvantageous for Frey, especially since she was a fire user.

*TCH!

Frey knew that the situation was not looking good for her. She didn't care whether her subordinates were able to complete the mission or not. She had to escape now or she would have no chance at all.

Keeping Professor Mia in check was her work and she insisted on taking this mission. However, she had failed miserably. She knew that this mission was important and that abandoning this would get her a harsh punishment. However, she knew it was better than staying there.

Moreover, she had the perfect reason to run away. She could just say that her subordinates were all defeated and she had no choice. Whether it was true or not didn't matter as she knew that the moment she escaped, they would be defeated by Professor Mia.

And as a Rank-S executive, there was also no way that she would be treated badly even with her mission's failure.

[ "Blaze Strike" ]

Frey launched her attack. She had to somehow distract Professor Mia before she took the chance to escape.

However, without much trouble, Professor Mia blocked it. She raised her hand and 2 pillars of ice moved and blocked the incoming attack. Not only that, but she had also created multiple ice shards which were heading toward Frey.

[ "Raging Fire Assault" ]

She tried to melt the ice that was heading toward her but the power of her attack was not enough. She immediately tried to dodge but was unable to and sustained quite a bit of damage.

[ "Pyro Rhapsody Barrage" ]

Frey didn't hold back and used her strongest attack. And she quickly began to run in the opposite direction. She didn't want to prolong her escape and did everything to run.

15 pillars had come to protect Professor Mia and 5 pillars were sent to block the path of Frey. Professor Mia knew that Frey's escape would be disastrous for humans and she knew to defeat her once and for all. She can't afford to run away.

-BOOM!

Frey's attack hit Professor Mia's ice pillar, however, it could not break past the defense made by the pillars. Frey's escape path had also been blocked by 5 pillars.

[ "Blaze Strike" ]

Frey tried to break the pillar and then escape. However, she was incapable of doing so. Her fear was increasing and she knew that she would lose.

( Dammit! Dammit! Where are they? )

Frey thought worriedly. She had no way to defeat Mia nor any way to escape from that place. Therefore, she was once again putting her hopes on those who had gone to capture Hiro and the other students.

-THUD! -THUD!

Just when she was thinking that Zero, who is a Jester, appeared. He had come to check the status of Frey and Professor Mia and also to go out of the building.

She was sure that Frey would lose and it was indeed the case as Frey looked as if she had been run over by cars multiple times. Though in truth, she might have gone through worse to end up in this state.

Anyway, she was very excited when she noticed Jester. She thought that her team had succeeded and that she had the advantage now.

"Haha… Mia, you lose! Your students had all been captured. If you don't want them dead, surrender to me!"

Frey said confidently. She laughed and threatened Professor Mia immediately.

"…"

[ "Frozen Surface" ]

Professor Mia continued to attack Frey. She had also seen Jester arrive, however, she already knew that he was not one of the Dark Guild. If he appeared, it only reassured her that Hiro and the others were okay.

"What? WHAT? Did you not hear what I said?"

Frey panicked. She didn't expect her threat to fail, especially when one of her subordinates had come.

[ "Blaze Strike" ]

She tried to escape while also trying to melt the ice. She was once again back to her weak self where she could only run and protect herself.

"Hey, YOU! Help me!"

Frey ordered. It was shameful for her subordinates to see her in this state and more shameful to ask for help but she was in no position to bargain.

However, Zero stood there doing nothing. He just watched as Frey was getting frozen by Professor Mia's ice.

"HEY, CAN'T YOU HEAR ME?"

Frey yelled again.

However, Zero stood there doing nothing even with all her shouting. Then only did Frey realize that something was wrong. It was already unexpected that Professor Mia was attacking with her threat and her subordinate was also not helping her.

She looked at her subordinate's face. Zero smiled. It was the last face that Frey saw before being frozen by Mia's Ice.