Parallel Memory

"How can she be alive?"

All these years Zero believed that Lilith, who was his close friend and his savior, died in that dungeon. He was haunted by her death for many years and couldn't believe that the person in front of him was her.

If it had been years ago, he could have accepted that but right now his emotions were in total shambles. Moreover, while she looked exactly as she was 8 years ago, she was a devil with a wing and horn.

"No! Lilith was a human. How can she become a Devil?"

Zero shook his head thinking that the devil that appeared was a different person. It was not impossible to have the same appearance. Just look at Lisa who looks similar to Lilith, Zero concluded that the devil was just someone who resembles her.

"How? Hehe… What a naive person you were. She has always been a devil!"

Xalvar said knowing exactly what Zero was thinking.

!!!

Zero didn't believe those words. Zero still remembers playing with Lilith and he would have noticed if Lilith was a devil. He was pretty convinced that Xalvar was just saying nonsense things to him.

"I don't know how you found out that I had a friend with a similar appearance as her but your words are useless. I will not be deceived by you."

Zero said firmly.

He thought that the enemy was trying to let his guard down so that he could take advantage of that. He was ready to attack Xalvar again.

"Won't be deceived by me? Haha, you really say some funny things. Did you forget who followed me into the dungeon and had his friends killed? I must say Wendy and others should be sad knowing that you already forgot them."

!!!

Now Zero was not as composed as before. He started trembling and started to think hard about Xalvar's identity. There was only one other person alive who knew what happened in the dungeon and that was.

"Y-You are Sixtus!"

Zero was hit by the sudden realization.

It was not that Zero forgot that incident but because of where he fought Sixtus, he didn't really see his face after Sixtus transformed into a devil and failed to recognize him.

"Bingo!"

Xalvar said.

Xalvar has no reason to hide his identity and he was looking forward to what type of expression Zero will make when he finds that and he didn't disappoint him.

Zero widened his eyes and bloodlust instantly raised from his body. He was gritting his teeth and tightly held his sword.

Even Hiro and Lisa who was near Zero were caught off guard by the intense killing intent that they felt and subconsciously back off a little.

They were surprised that Zero gave off such an intense killing intent and wondered what happened between Zero and Xalvar for Zero to show such killing intent. They already know from their conversation that Zero somewhat knows Xalvar.

"Kekeke…"

The person who was directly getting hit by the killing intent was just smiling. Rather he was still looking to provoke Zero more.

"I was sad that you forgot me despite being friends with me. Was those years of friendship just a lie?"

Xalvar said as he acted pitifully.

-CRACK!

Zero just got angrier listening to those words and watching him act pitifully. It is because Zero believed that because they were friends with Sixtus that they got his friends killed. Just hearing that he was Xalvar's friend was enough to make him vomit.

"How dare you!"

Zero said angrily.

It was clear to Zero that Xalvar was disrespecting Wendy and his other friends that got killed by him. They treated Sixtus with respect and as a friend but he killed everyone and he even got the audacity to mention them being sad.

Zero's killing intent was still rising. His hatred for Xalvar, no one could understand other than Zero himself. For years, he had the same nightmare of watching his friends get killed one by one by Sixtus.

However, despite the hatred, there was no way for him to know where Sixtus was and how he could fulfill his revenge. Now that he appeared before him, Zero wanted to kill him at any cost.

Watching Zero get angry, Xalvar found it very amusing. As he said, he had spent many hours playing with Zero to know him well. He knew his personality well. However, not a speck of that Zero remained in the current Zero.

During his operation acting as Sixtus, Zero was a bright kid with many friends and would never get angry or show hatred towards other beings. But looking at the current state of Zero, no one will believe that they are the same people.

"Zero, Calm Down!"

It was Sylvia who tried to calm Zero. Zero was emitting enormous killing intent and she knew that he was going to attack Xalvar. But to fight with Count Rank Devil head-on was courting dead.

She didn't want anger and hatred to cloud Zero's judgment. Therefore, before Zero took any action, she wanted to stop.

However, it was already late. No voice could stop current Zero. The cause for his years of nightmares was in front of him and he wanted nothing more than to kill him.

A black aura started to slowly rise from Zero's body. Zero was no longer thinking straight and his objective was only to kill Xalvar. For that, he deployed every power he had including the Dark Energy.

The pressure in the atmosphere started to increase with Zero releasing his Dark Energy.

"Ha-h! This is!"

Hiro and others who were near Zero were forced to kneel when Zero started to release his Dark Energy. They look at Zero in astonishment and bewilderment.

They all know that Zero has released Dark Energy and the only people who could use them are Devil and their Devil Contractors. Which meant that Zero was one of them.

"???"

Even Xalvar was caught off guard by this unexpected event. He also looked at Zero in surprise.

"Kaka… I can't believe this! Did you really sell your soul to another Devil?"

Xalvar said while looking amused.

This event was totally unexpected but he liked where it was going.

( I should find who that Devil was. )

It was natural for him to think so. With the soul in his hand, he could make Zero do everything he wants. He was going to toy with Zero until he was satisfied.

However, soon he realized something was wrong. Zero's Dark Energy didn't stop increasing and even was on par with his own energy. He knows that it was impossible for a Devil Contractor to have such intense dark energy unless one was in contract with a Duke Ranked Devil.

Zero didn't care what Xalvar was thinking. He immediately started to attack Xalvar with everything he had.

-WHOOSH!

Holding the sword in his hand, Zero quickly rushed towards Xalvar who was currently surprised by Zero's Dark energy. However, he was not worried about his safety.

"Lilith, protect me!"

Xalvar commended/

-BANG!

Just when Zero was getting near Xalvar, Lilith appeared in front of him to defend him.

Zero immediately halted his steps.

"..."

Zero looked at Lilith and Lilith also stared back at him.

Zero was still not sure whether the person in front of him was Lilith or another person. It didn't help that the devil in front of him didn't have emotion, unlike the Lilith he knew. Lilith he knew was cheerful and playful, nothing like the emotionless machine in front of him.

But still Zero could not attack her, who resembles Lilith too much. Even as an enemy, Zero could never attack Lilith who had saved his life.

-WHOOSH!

Zero tried to change the direction and attack Xalvar from a different direction but Lilith was able to keep up with him and stop him every time.

"Still a soft heart."

Xalvar muttered.

He was doing nothing but wait there knowing that Zero could never attack Lilith. He thought that Zero might attack Lilith to kill him but it didn't look like Zero could bring himself to attack Lilith.

He was disappointed that Zero had still not turned into a person such as himself. To fulfill his desire, it didn't matter if one was his friend or not, anyone that got in his way was killed.

He got bored after seeing that Zero will not attack Lilith.

"Lilith, Kill Zero!"

Xalvar commanded.

At that moment, Zero and Lilith were staring at each other. Zero was trying to find a way for him to attack Xalvar after outrunning Lilith. He thought he could because Lilith was not in a good shape.

Just looking at her, he could tell that before coming here, Lilith was in a tough battle. Despite being a devil with high regenerative power, she still has injuries that suggest that she was fighting with a strong opponent.

Just when he was thinking about how to get past Lilith, a voice was heard.

"Lilith, kill Zero!"