Parallel Memory

Seeing the scene, they didn't know how to react. The scene is as unbelievable as it can get. Not only was Rank-S beheaded, but the time it took was also only a few minutes.

This kind of thing is unbelievable even when two Rank-S were to fight. It would take hours before the winner is declared.

And the winner would also not be dead. At most, he/she might escape, and only die if he/she continues to fight even when he is at a disadvantage, which is a rare case. Most of the time, they would prefer to run away.

That's the only way one could kill a Rank-S person is to be much stronger than him. So strong that he wouldn't be able to escape even if he wanted to.

And that was exactly the case! Zero killing Rank-S Devil Contractor doesn't mean he is on par with him, but that he is much stronger. And looking at the time taken to kill S-Rank Devil Contractor, it was for certain that he was indeed much stronger than Kurtis.

"T-This… How?"

"I-I can't believe this!"

"Who is Sir Jester? Is he a Rank-SS and hiding his mana aura?" …

They had many questions that they wanted to ask Jester, however, when he finally appeared before them, they couldn't. They were afraid that they might accidentally offend him or say something wrong.

"YOU! You have really grown stronger."

The one to say was Saintess Amelia. Others might be scared of him, however, she was not. She obviously was when he used Dark Energy because of her trauma but she was not afraid of Zero personally.

She looked at Zero in doubt. While many people might find Zero's strength unimaginable, Saintess Amelia found it a lot more unbelievable. She knows Jester is 18 years old.

"How did you know?"

Zero asked. He didn't really know much about Saintess Amelia. Not much is described about her in the novel other than saying that she was an extremely beautiful person with a kind heart. Though Zero agrees with the first point, he would rather argue with the second point.

"Hmph! Of course, nothing can hide from my eyes."

Saintess Amelia replied. She was thinking that Zero trying to deceive her would only happen in his dream.

When the two of them were having a conversation, the others were confused at how close they sounded. However, they thought that Jester was someone who is an acquaintance of the Saintess. They felt relieved knowing that.

"Your eyes?"

Zero asked as he stared at her eyes.

( Does she have abilities similar to X-ray? )

Zero thought.

"What are you looking at?"

Saintess Amelia said. Her face blushed a bit. Of course, it was because Zero was staring at her eyes so intensely that it had embarrassed her.

"Saintess Amelia, is he your friend?"

Christian asked. He was confused about their relationship and inquired. Christian believed that Jester was just some random person who happened to save his life. He never thought that Jester was someone that a Saintess might know.

"Ummm…H-He is-"

Saintess Amelia didn't know how to answer. Zero was a student of her best friend. But what was her relationship with him? Friends? That was out of the question. She still remembered how Zero insulted her by saying that she was an old woman.

"She is my savior. I was on the way because I heard that she was going to war. I was worried that something like this might occur."

Zero said instead of waiting for Saintess Amelia's answer. He replied because he thought that it might be hard for Amelia to explain about him. He was just a student of her friend. But his appearance was not exactly that of a student right now.

"Ah! So, it was something like this."

Christian nodded. He could understand Jester's motivations then. He owed her, so he came to pay her back.

"..."

Saintess Amelia didn't say anything. She did save Zero's life at Mia's request. However, it was weird hearing Zero say that she was his savior. And more so, when he said that he was worried about her.

( Maybe he is not that bad! Mia does have good eyes! )

Saintess Amelia said approving of Zero a bit. Zero seemed much better in her eyes now.

-CLANG! -CLANG!

The battle between Zero and Kurtis indeed concluded, however, it was not the end. There was still a Devil Contractor who had been fighting with the Holy Knights.

There was a little chaos among Devil Contractors as they had also seen the dead body of their leader, Kurtis.

"Kurtis has been killed! What do we do? Should we retreat?"

One of the Rank-B asked. He was one of the weaker Devil Contractors without any authority. He asked as he was scared of dying. If even their Rank-S Devil Contractor has been killed, doesn't it mean that people like him would be killed easily?

He was thinking of running away but he couldn't as there were still his superiors who were still fighting.

"Humph! Kurtis has been killed but we will not retreat. Him dying just means that we would get all the rewards. As for that guy, he must be pretty exhausted after fighting Kurtis."

One of the Rank-A + said excitedly. He was the strongest after Kurtis. Kurtis being killed meant that he would be in charge of the group. He was cautious of Zero but as he said, he thought that Zero used everything and couldn't fight anymore.

He was the strongest at Rank-A + and Zero was just Rank-A. He just thought that Zero might have used some one-time artifact or used some tricks to kill Kurtis. Moreover, there were many Rank-A Devil Contractors.

"In any case, we can't retreat. If we did, Lord Aamon would definitely kill us. Better complete the mission."

Another Rank-A said. He was not thinking about rewards but punishment if they retreat. As for Zero, his mentality was similar to Kurtis'. Even Zero's Rank-S status did not deter them since they had more than 20 Devil Contractors.

Another reason was that they didn't know what happened in the Blizzard Storm. They could not feel scared unless they felt the mana aura of Zero using Dark Energy. If they did, they would have already escaped.

-CLANG! -CLANK!

The Holy Knights were losing one after another. Without the Saintess' support, most of them couldn't contend against the Devil Contractor.

"I have to help them!"

Saintess Amelia said.

"No! Saintess, you can't! It is dangerous and you have already used all your mana. We can't have you push yourself."

"But-"

The Saintess wanted to refute. She couldn't sacrifice her men for her life.

"You stay here! I will go!"

-WHOOSH!

Zero said as he went to fight off. He didn't even listen to what she had to say and left the place.

Unlike what most people were thinking, Zero still had plenty of mana to spare. He could even fight for another half an hour with the Kurtis if needed.

However, to others, he had used everything and barely won against Kurtis.

On the battlefield, many had noticed Zero approaching their location. However, they acted as if it was not a big deal.

Two of the Rank-A Devil Contractors even went to confront him on their own.

"Keke… I don't know who gave him the courage to attack on his own!"

"This person should be worthy of some rewards. I wonder what Lord Aamon would give me for this head."

They approached. One of them uses Claws while the other one has Karambit. They seemed very good at the close battle.

Zero didn't waste his time waiting for them to get close to him.

[ "Shadow Ice Shard" ]

Zero launched multiple attacks.

The two of them halted their steps and got ready to defend themselves against the incoming attacks. They used their weapons to flawlessly destroy the attack without incurring a single scratch.

However, the attacks were numerous and the attack power was also high. Their weapon even showed some kind of wear and tear after Zero finished his attack.

[ "Shadow Cryomancy Bomb" ]

Zero threw the bombs and those two tried to defend themselves just like when they did with the Shadow Ice Shard. But just at the moment they were going to strike the bombs, Zero activated them and froze those two on the spot.

-CRACK!

Zero took advantage of that and finished the job.

The fight ended as instantly as it started. One of the reasons was obviously those two underestimating Zero, however, more than that it was also because they two had been fighting for quite a bit and Zero didn't hold back using Dual Art right from the start.

!!!

This display of power alerted quite a lot of Devil Contractors. If previously, they were wary of Zero's power then now they were scared.

There was a lot of speculation about Zero winning against Kurtis because of tricks, Zero being exhausted, and him being overconfident. However, when Zero entered the battlefield, he already proved that he was not someone that they could just ignore and underestimate.

Zero didn't care about what they were thinking at the moment. He quickly entered the midst of the battlefield and when he thought that the range was enough, he used his technique.

[ "Nightfall Shackles" ]