Parallel Memory

"The contest is over. Winner, Zero Elea!"

Zain declared in a loud voice.

Zero at that time was still running, not aware that Karn had collapsed. Only after hearing the judge's announcement did he stop.

-HUFF -PUFF!

Zero hearing the announcement turned around and saw Karn had collapsed.

His uneven breathing showed he was tired after running for so long with 300kg in 10x gravity.

Though he could still run for a long time before being in the same state as Karn.

"Wow! He beat someone from the Holy Guard team. Are Ace Academy students as strong as they say?"

"Befitting the student of Ice Enchantress. The student is as talented as his teacher."

"I had never expected that a child so young could be so powerful. Worthy of being Saintess's guest."

The maids behind the Saintess were surprised to see one of the guards lose in a contest of endurance.

The maids serving Saintess were all Rank-C and higher, but that didn't mean they could do what Guards could do. They don't have the will nor the power to train with added weights and 10x gravity.

They know guards who regularly train like this are strong with high endurance. They had never expected them to lose to a mere kid.

Though they did accept the fact after realizing whose student he was. Zero, they might have never heard of but they sure knew who Ice Enchantress was.

Being her student could mean that he was talented. This comes to a natural conclusion after seeing him beat Karn.

( Mia, at least he is as talented as you say. )

Saintess Amelia thought.

She had listened to the story shared by Professor Mia who could not stop talking about how talented and hard-working her disciple is.

While she didn't think that Professor Mia would lie to her, she didn't fully believe her either.

A person you are close to will always tend to exaggerate their achievements. She believed that while Professor Mia might be telling her the truth, she may also be exaggerating it.

Otherwise, how can she possibly believe that there is a monster whose talent surpasses her friend?

She had expected Zero to lose to Karn. While she heard that he was a beast in training, Church guards were no slouch either.

They had been through grueling training since they were selected as Church guards. Their endurance and power were beyond the same rank.

She followed along with Zero, even when she thought he would lose. That was because if Zero was even a little like what her friend said, then Zero would be able to at least display an amazing performance.

Even with his defeat, he could get access to the training place as long as others acknowledged his power.

Though it seems that Zero's performance was beyond her expectations. She thought that maybe her friend was not exaggerating as much as she thought.

"It looks like my sacrifice was worth a little."

( But will he stand on humanity's side or oppose it? )

She did think that Zero had the amazing talent to even have her neglect the fact that she lost some of her life spans to heal Zero.

But she also knew that Zero could use Dark Energy. A power that is a nemesis to humanity.

A talented person like him could either become a hero or the most dangerous villain.

Saintess Amelia could not arbitrarily judge Zero's character with the little information she had of Zero. She needed time, which she had, to observe Zero and determine whether she had saved a Hero or a Villain.

******

"As per the agreement, I hope that you all let me use this place to train."

Zero said which also looked more like a statement than a request.

It was okay for them to reject and badmouth him the first time they met but now that he had shown them his capability, he could not stand it if they tried to do so again.

He could only let his fist talk otherwise.

The Church's guard, who was the target of Zero's word, remained silent. They had to accept it since one of their guards had lost and they had agreed on the bet.

They could not use excuses like Zero had no power, or endurance or he used the backdoor. Instead, he had shown that he was better than them, at least in terms of talent. They had to admit that Zero was perfectly qualified to train there.

Taking their silence as okay, Zero turned to the Saintess.

"Since Zero had won the contest, I hereby give my permission for him to train here."

Saintess Amelia announced.

Since gaining permission to use the place for training, Zero had been training in that building for most of the days.

However, it was not like it was a private room that he got so he had to train with the Church guards.

At first, many thought that Zero was using the backdoor to get the position of Holy Church guard. However, later they found out that Zero was just staying here temporarily to which they felt relieved.

If Zero were to join them, his talent would overshadow them which was something that they don't desire.

To rise in rank, the lesser the competitor, the better, especially someone who is as talented as Zero.

They had been observing Zero's training when they came to train. With Zero winning against Karn, they had naturally developed a keen interest in Zero.

They wanted to find out Zero's real limit. In the contest, Zero had won even before he had shown any signs of exhaustion.

As the guards were always training with each other, they could at least tell whether one was reaching the limit or not.

They could only marvel at the training Zero was going through. He had been carrying the same 300kg weights from his contest with Karn and had been training with those weights on.

Zero had been training with that weight for one hour before resting for a while and continuing with the same training.

It was not that there was no person in their team who could do that but those people were all Rank-B and quite old to astonish them.

While Zero was the youngest there and was training using those things. They can't help but be motivated to work hard themselves.

It was similar to how one sees a kid working harder than you. You would naturally feel that you need to do more work.

One more change that the Guard felt in the training session was the appearance of Saintess.

She, who rarely visited them, was showing up more often. ( Saintess Amelia hates the Guard due to them not allowing her freedom which they were oblivious to.)

She would always come to observe Zero. While others may simply think she was looking at his body, she had been paying more attention to his mana aura.

His Dark Energy has subsided quite a while, with Ice Energy taking over. With her observation, she could see that Zero's Ice Energy was as strong as Professor Mia's.

She could finally understand the real reason why Professor Mia had taken Zero as her mentee. She was the ideal teacher for Zero.

***

( Is she still busy?)

Zero thought.

One week had gone by since Professor Mia left him.

He was a little worried since he was missing so many days from school. Though even with him going to school, most of the time had been spent sleeping in the class.

He knew that Professor Mia had only officially announced her new rank causing a sensation around the world. The youngest Rank-S had emerged.

Zero has seen many news articles covering her. Professor Mia had been in the limelight for many days.

It was only after three more days that Professor Mia had come to take Zero back.

She suddenly appeared beside Zero, which gave him a shock.

"Zero, has Saintess Amelia been taking care of you well?"

"Haha… Y-yes, she has."

Zero answered quite awkwardly.

Saintess Amelia was observing him, quite like a stalker. It would be weird if he didn't see her observing him.

She didn't care about how others saw her and would look at Zero like a hunter looking at its prey.

The only good thing was that Saintess Amelia didn't really disturb or make trouble for him. And she had been treating him like a guest which he was thankful for.

Looking at how Saintess was showing disdain for the Dark Energy, Zero for one thought that he would be treated miserably once Professor Mia was gone.

He thought that Saintess was not that heartless, and had thought that maybe she might be as kind as the rumor states.

Though rumor tends to be exaggerated especially when it comes to things related to God and religion. And Zero himself learned how Saintess could lie without batting an eye.

"Is that so? I will need to thank her later."

As she said, she went to find the Saintess.

Zero was delayed going back by one more day. Saintess had kept pushing Professor Mia to stay there.