Parallel Memory

On the other place

Ostrimor who was fighting with Professor Mia and Professor Theo was in a terrible state. He didn't look like the same proud Devil that appeared from the portal.

"What is Xalvar doing?"

He shouted in anger.

Xalvar was supposed to help him, but he never showed up there. Although, he could sense that Xalvar was near and fighting but he failed to help him. He never wanted to rely on Xalvar who is weaker than him but the situation he was facing was not good.

Professor Mia by herself proved to be too much for him to handle, not to mention that she had help.

-BANG!

"TCH!"

He got hit by Professor Mia's attack. It was difficult to recover after getting hit by Professor Mia's magic because her attack froze their skin and made healing impossible. That is why even with Devil's incredible regeneration, Ostrimor was ridiculed with many cuts.

He has totally abandoned the thought of attacking Ace Academy and was thinking about retreating. Anyway, he could blame Xalvar for failing to provide support if others ask why he had run away before the decided time.

( Anyway, what is that Dark Energy that I am sensing? Why is one of our own fighting with Xalvar? )

Additionally, he was worried about the dangerous Dark Energy that he was sensing from Xalvar's direction. He knew that Xalvar was fighting with someone tough. Even as Earl Ranked Devil, he found the Dark Energy that he was sensing dangerous, almost as if it was from the Demon King. He knew that their raid would be stopped shortly.

On the other hand, Professor Mia was also worried. She has also felt the Dark Energy of Zero and unlike Ostrimor she knows to whom that energy belongs.

She knows that if Zero was forced to use Dark Energy then the enemy would be strong but more than that she was worried about other people finding out about that. She had to explain or protect Zero in case other people see him as the enemy.

In that sense, she was looking to eliminate Ostrimor as soon as possible.

******

On the battlefield of Zero and Xalvar. The fight was between the two and other people just watched them.

[ "Demonic Force Manipulation" ]

The first one to make his move was Zero. Using Demonic Force Manipulation, he extended the sword in a shape that is similar to a whip. Attacks from whips were hard to predict and dodge and could be used for long-range.

Zero decided to use that to probe Xalvar.

-PAK! -PAK!

Zero attacked Xalvar from a distance using the Dark Energy whip. While the attack could hardly take Xalver's life, it could at least hurt him.

-SLASH! -SLASH!

Xalvar used Claw strengthened by Dark Energy to fiercely hit the whips. Xalvar also might have known that it was difficult to dodge the attacks and choose to fiercely confront Zero's attack.

Xalvars attack destroyed Zero's whip which is made by Dark Energy but each time that happened, it could instantly be regenerated and continued to attack him. However, Xalvar has not much choice but to continue destroying it.

-PAK! -PAK!

They continued to fight like this for a long time. It is obvious that Xalvar who is just defending would be in a difficult position as many injuries appeared on his body but those injuries would immediately start to heal.

Even when he was seemingly having an advantage, Zero could not help but worry. The attack of his didn't have enough power to seriously harm Xalvar, on top of that he was worried about Lilith who was doing nothing.

He didn't understand why Xalvar didn't come together with Lilith but he knows that if they attacked him together, the situation would not be very good for him. Well, it was not that he would lose but it would indeed have made winning harder.

While he has his allies Hiro, Lisa, Zion, and Sylvia, he knows that their power was not enough to stop a Viscount Devil. It was not that he was underestimating the main characters but because he knows them well that he came to this conclusion.

They might keep Lilith occupied for some minutes but he knows that right now they don't have the capabilities to defeat her.

Moreover, with his displaying Dark energy, he didn't know whether they would help him or not. They might even point their sword at him.

Therefore, he was in quite a peculiar position where he really needed to think of a plan to get rid of Xalvar as soon as possible. With so many variables, he would like to finish what he was doing quickly.

On the other hand, Xalvar was also growing quite anxious. The reinforcement from The Authority had arrived and the Devils were finding themselves losing. He could sense other Devils and Devil Contractors losing their lives or running away.

The Earl Ranked Devil that was fighting with Professor Mia and Professor Theo also seemed to be losing. Originally, Xalvar came to support him but unexpectedly encountered Zero. He initially thought that he would play with him for some time before killing him and going to support Ostrimor.

Now, it seems impossible for him to do so as long as Zero is present.

(Sorry, Ostrimor! Looks like I need to get out of here! )

With the current situation, Xalvar was thinking about retreating. He had no idea that Zero was so powerful that he could stop him. As for Ostrimor, he didn't really feel sorry even if he died.

"Zero, it looks like playing time is over! We will meet again if you survive this!"

Xalvar said.

!!!

Zero didn't know what it was that Xalvar was implying but considering what they were doing, he thought that Xalvar was going to release some powerful attack or something similar. He immediately became more cautious.

"Lilith, Self-Destruct!"

Xalvar said mercilessly.

The reason why he thought that he would need to keep Lilith out of the fight was for her to regain some Dark Energy to self-destruct. Lilith was a Viscount Devil and listened to every command of his which is why she was precious.

However, despite that, he didn't hesitate to make Lilith self-destruct. Despite how precious she was, Xalvar could not help but want to see what Zero would do.

If he decides to ignore Lilith and make her self-destruct, then he wants to know how he would react when he found out that Lilith Devil is indeed the Lilith that he knows. As for in case he tries to save her, that was quite impossible.

He could only die with her if he decided to save her instead of running away. Any of the two was okay with Xalvar and he could not wait for Zero to once again be swallowed by despair.

Lilith's body has been emitting a dangerous level of Dark Energy. It looked like she was really going to follow Xalvar's command and self-destruct. They were sure that the explosion of that power would level the ground they were on.

-ZUSH!

"Until next time!"

After saying that, Xalvar disappeared into the portal. Although Zero wanted to chase him, considering his strength, it was impossible to kill him at this point. Anyway, he remembers what he looks like and there was plenty of time to kill him.

Unlike before, he was clear about who his enemy was. The next time he sees him, he vows to make him regret it.

*****

"RUN!"

Hiro and others were aware of what was happening. They knew that this type of explosion could neither be contained nor interrupted. And with their power, there was literally nothing that they could do but run.

All they could do was escape from that place and hope to be outside the area of the explosion. An explosion using Viscount Devil's life as a catalyst was nothing to scoff at. Even Rank-S heroes would not escape unscathed if they were hit by it, not to mention Rank-Cs and Rank-D people like them.

They immediately began running away.

Zero was also preparing to run away but stopped when he saw Lilith. He still doesn't believe that the Devil is the same Lilith as the one he knows. He just believes that Xalvar was telling lies to make him waver. The Devil was nothing like the Lilith he knew.

However, he still doesn't know what happened to Lilith he knows. Her body was never found suggesting that she might not have died in that dungeon.

He looked at the Devil who still didn't show any emotion despite being told to explode. Zero already thought that the Devil was weird because it seems as if she was a robot that only listens to Xalvar.

Anyway, even if she was manipulated into listening to Xalvar, and even if Zero felt pity for her, there was nothing that he could do to save her in this situation. She was a Viscount Devil and even he would die under her self-destruction.

"Huh!"

While staring at the Devil, Zero felt that the Devil was also staring at him. While it would be normal for one to stare back when others stared at them, the Devil was not normal. Even when fighting, Zero felt that the Devil's attention was not on him.

It is like she was before me but she was not particularly looking at me and just fighting because Xalvar commanded her. However, for a slight second, Zero felt that the Devil was looking at him.

"Must be my imagination!"

Zero said to himself.

Just when he was about to go, he again saw something that made him stop. The Devil who was about to self-destruct was smiling.

"Lilith?"