Parallel Memory

I open my eye albeit rather slowly. I could only see things in white color like in movies when someone dies and open their see in heaven.

( Am I dead? NO way)

My eye was wide open when I thought about the prospect of me being dead but then I noticed the white ceiling. I tried to turn my face but I couldn't.

( Where am I? )

Then I tried to move my body.

[ "Ahhhh..." ]

The pain was like the needles that had been soaked in acid had been stabbed into every part of my body, and that acid was dripping on my veins.

[ "Healing Magic: Soothing pain" ]

While I was enduring the pain. A healer rushed into my place and cast his healing skill. Though only one minute has passed since I woke up, the pain made me feel like a hundred years had passed.

After having cast the spell over me, I felt my pain being alleviated though I still couldn't move my body. Though with the damage that my body has sustained, it was already a miracle for me to be alive.

The healer went outside. He seems to be talking with someone. The voice sounded was rather loud and lively but I couldn't turn my face to see who it was.

[ "Yo. Zero Elea looks like you are up. Can you talk?" ]

I tried to answer the man who seems to be the doctor judging by his outfit but I couldn't even move my mouth.

[ "It's okay if you can't speak. I am here to tell you to not try to move your body. Your body is in an awful state. It is already a miracle for you to be alive" ]

He came closer to me, checking my body to see whether something is wrong or not.

[ "HaHa. Man how did you really survive man, all your muscle was torn and some of the veins were burst open. Your body is really sturdy. ~Hehe I really want to cut open your body to see what your body is made up of." ]

He strangely looked at me, like when you find a new toy or something. He sounded like a mad scientist which made me scared of him. I got a dangerous vibe from that man.

[ "Anyway it will take around three days for you to recover but if you don't recover by then don't worry I have a new medicine developed which will make you healthy in seconds. Hehe~" ]

He checked the health monitor before leaving.

*****

[ [ "Zero. Zero" ] ]

[ "I think he has just fainted from exhaustion." ]

[ "Misha, Go take him to the forest. I will help Kale to take care of that last person." ]

Misha nodded and immediately carried Zero's body into the forest. Misha noticed Zero's body becoming colder and colder like his blood was becoming ice.

This made Misha nervous. She watched Zero fight the Devil Contractors all by himself. Even when they overwhelmed him with the number, he didn't back down nor escaped instead he killed them one after another even when sustaining heavy injuries. She was worried when he was fighting alone, astonished and then happy when he killed three Devil Contractors, and scared when he collapsed.

She couldn't do anything but respect and admire such a person. He was powerful, no he was immensely powerful. He had managed to defeat several Devil Contractors all by himself while she along with her teammates couldn't even take down a single Devil Contractor.

She felt guilt and regret when she saw Zeros' unconscious and injured body. She knows that it was their team fault that he became like this, he came to help them when he could have easily escaped by himself.

She wanted to beat herself up for being so powerless. She thought she was strong and would help others as a hero when in reality she was so weak that others had to help her by risking their life.

Even though she wanted to punish herself, she couldn't because the threat was not over. She stared at the distance where the battle was taking place.

[ "Multiple Fire Ball" ]

Kale quickly dodge the attack and continued to close the distance between him and the Mage.

He thought he could easily dodge the attack with his speed but he had forgotten about his injuries. He was heavily injured by Fire Bomb earlier. The injured led to Kale's speed being slowed and as a result, he couldn't completely dodge the attack.

-Boom!

He was about to be hit by the Fire Ball but he reacted in time and block it with his arm.

[ "Kale, I will cover you." ]

[ "Multiple Shot: Dazzling Light" ]

[ "Mana Shield" ]

Sylvia attacked with multiple arrows containing destructive power but was easily blocked by the enemy shield. All the attacks failed to break the shield showing the difference between Rank E - and Rank E power.

Sylvia being only one sub-Rank lower than the enemy had thought that she would be able to deal with her enemy easily but turns out her attack are nothing to him.

Sylvia watched Zero fight. From the fight, she had guessed that Zero was Rank E - like herself or Rank E at maximum. Zero was able to defeat Rank E + who might have been two sub-rank higher than himself and also manage to defeat the other three Rank E at the same time.

She thought that even she might be able to defeat others who are stronger than herself. She was the daughter of one of the executives of The Authority, the strongest group in Humalia Domain. She was given strong skills and Art to learn and many other resources to increase her strength but even that was not enough.

Her strength and talent were far inferior to Zero. She was feeling the disparity in talent between herself and Zero. But it was no time to feel jealous or depressed, she had to defeat her opponent first.

She continued attacking the Mage with her arrows. It was so that she could keep the enemy occupied while Kale makes his way to the enemy.

[ "Explosive Fist" ]

[ "Mana Shield" ]

-Bam!

The enemy easily blocked the Kale attack. It didn't matter whether Sylvia attacked or Kale attacked, he could easily defend against them.

[ "Gigantic Fist: Overflowing Power Strike" ]

-Bam!

( Dammit just why can't I even defeat a single person. I messed up once, I don't want to mess up twice. )

Kale was feeling the pressure as he couldn't break the enemy's defense. Kale was regretting not defeating other Devil Contractors when Zero had them frozen. It was a golden opportunity but due to him having his guard down, he was knocked out before he could even help a little.

When he recovered, Zero had already killed the other three Devil Contractors and was fighting with their Vice-leader. He had scars and bruises all over his body, the body was also covered in blood and it was all his fault. It was because he couldn't do his job properly. If he had finished Devil Contractors earlier, Zero wouldn't have been heavily injured and we would have already won.

One mistake and all their lives were in danger. He felt pretty pathetic right now. He always called others "weakling" and "coward" because they didn't have the talent nor trained enough to become strong. But this incident taught him, it was him who was a weakling.

( How can I let Zero effort be wasted. We had survived till now thanks to him. Now, it is my turn to finish the job. I had to )

[ "Explosive Fist" ]

-Bam!

[ "Damiiiittt. Hah..Hah..Hah." ]

The Mana Shield was still unbroken. Devil Contractor Mage seeing that both Kale and Sylvia were exhausted, choose to attack them.

[ "Multiple Fire Ball" ]

The experience of Devil Contractor was vastly more than a mere student. It was already hard for the same rank student to defeat them, not to mention students rank lower than them. Talent and strong skills could cover the gap but Devil Contractors was also not a weakling, they had their organization support. The Skill and Art granted to them was on par with the Gold and Diamond graded guild.

So, for a student to beat them was unthinkable. Only some really powerful students could do that. Kale and Sylvia were also capable of that but only if they were in their top condition, right now they can't even exert 50 % of their power with their injuries.

Both Sylvia and Kale were surprised by the attack. The Mage had continued to defend against their attack and in an instant when they were tired he canceled his Mana Shield and fired his magic. It was a perfect time for the enemy to attack them.

They had no strength to dodge the attack. They tried but the body was not responding. They could only defend using their hand and wait for the attack to land but the attack never landed on them.

1 second…2 seconds…3 seconds…

They slowly opened their eyes to see a shield of Ice in front of them, protecting them from enemy attack. They turned around to see someone familiar protecting them.