Parallel Memory

"Thank You!"

Zero made his way to the stage leaving Lyon speechless.

Other students near Lyon were equally stunned. 

'Thank You? For what? For challenging you.'

The students could not comprehend what just happened.

They expected a badass confrontation between the two of the strongest students.

They hoped for cool lines like, 'I will be waiting for you at the finals' or 'Your strength is merely a fraction of what I possess' but instead they get a thank you from Zero.

It would have been totally okay with them even if Zero got angry at Lyon's provocation. Strong people don't like being challenged. 

They think that the challengers are not convinced of their strength and therefore are challenging them.

"Puah… Pahahaha…"

The student near Lyon laughed loudly as he could not hold back his laughter anymore. He was Lyon's friend and the third ranker, Toby.

"Haha… I didn't expect that kind of reply from him…"

Toby said as he continued laughing.

"But he seems like a nice guy."

Toby said as he looked at Zero.

Many would be angry or take Lyon's words as a provocation and insult. 

But Toby knows that Lyon didn't mean anything bad when he challenged Zero openly.

It was an indication of Lyon's approval of Zero's strength. Due to Lyon's nature as a straightforward person, many think of him as a rude and arrogant person.

But he was not the kind of guy that people think of him as. Lyon is cooperative, able to think about others' safety, and follows rules like a normal person.

Despite being the second strongest, he never showed off his strength. But his tendency to challenge the powerful has led to a lot of trouble that he as Lyon's best friend has to deal with.

During their first and second year, Lyon will challenge seniors leading to misunderstandings and problems with second and third-year students.

They seem to think that Lyon is arrogant and is challenging the authority of senior students. Due to Lyon being talented, he comes off as an arrogant person.

When Lyon reached Third-year, only Lisanna was left whom he would challenge but he could not even manage to make Lisanna take him seriously.

Someone who could even make Lisanna interested has now emerged. How could Lyon hold himself back without challenging him?

Despite the fact that Lyon's words may seem like a challenge, it was also a way of saying, 'you better not lose to others,' which Zero seems to grasp.

Therefore, Toby concluded that Zero is a nice guy because unlike many people he didn't judge Lyon based on how he looked. 

*****

Facing Zero, was a fellow first-year student.

While Zero had a relaxed and calm expression on his face, his opponent was the opposite.

Trembling like he was facing an extremely vicious monster, he was scared to the max.

The host was about to begin the match when,

"I-I… I Surrender!"

Under the gaze of many students, the boy surrendered. 

Many students were taken aback by the unexpected situation. Even Zero was surprised by his opponent's response. 

It was kind of embarrassing to give up in this selection as it would be seen as being a coward who runs away before even fighting.

The boy was from another class but he was present when Zero was fighting the two seniors, Lucas and Rowan.

He clearly remembered the brutality that Zero showed when beating the hell out of them. Furthermore, he has also seen Zero fight Lisanna.

He didn't think he would be able to win but it was not the only reason for his surrender. He was quite scared of Zero whose face was smiling when he beat down Lucas and Rowan.

He believed Zero was the kind of guy who loves to torture his opponents and he didn't want to be tortured.

Shameful as it might be, he chose to surrender.

"Are you sure?"

The host asked him.

He nodded and left the stage.

"Since the opponents have surrendered, the winner of the match is Zero Elea of the first year."

Zero left the stage feeling a little awkward. His opponent was trembling like he was to be eaten.

( Am I that scary? )

Zero thought to himself.

There was some disappointment in the eyes of some students. They expected a tense battle, but it ended before it even started.

However, some students could understand Zero's opponent thoughts. Who would want to face Zero who could fight on par with Lisanna?

However, whatever the reason may be, the selection continued.

The most thrilling match was between Lyon and a fellow third-year. Lyon totally dominated his opponent with his spear.

He continued to attack fiercely using his spear and gave no chance for his opponent to react or counterattack.

With Lyon beating his opponent, the first round ended.

-CLAP! -CLAP! -CLAP!

The second round began and this time my opponent didn't run away. 

He was a second-year student and his rank was only at Rank-E+. 

As soon as the match began, he started to attack me.

By using the hilt of the sword, I knocked him unconscious after dodging his attack.

Zero took less than a minute to end the match.

The other match finished quite quickly as well.

The third round began and this time, my opponent was one of the third-year students.

"Hmph! I will eliminate you before I eliminate Lyon. Do you think you're the only ones who came to win here?"

The Third-year said angrily. Lyon challenging Zero before the match even began was like an insult to other participants.

It was like Lyon was saying that he and Zero would definitely qualify for the final. This didn't bode well with him as he was also there to win the selection.

Lyon was clearly underestimating other students in the group including himself.

He had decided to defeat both Zero and Lyon and show them what happens when they underestimate him.

*****

"Winner! Zero Elea of the First-year!"

But like I said, resolution and sh*t don't matter when one lacks the ability. He was only at Rank-E+ peak and facing him was no different than facing any other students to Zero.

Zero only needed to strike him once to secure the win.

The other fight continued until the long-awaited match arrived.

After waiting for quite a long time, the fight between Lyon and Zero was finally going to start.

The excitement was all-time high as the students started to cheer and shout in loud voice.

"I have waited for this moment for too long. Finally, I have the chance to beat you and make Lisanna acknowledge me."

Lyon said as he pointed his spear at me.

"Really? Let's see if you are capable of that."

Zero said as he took out his sword from the spatial ring.

"The final match of Group 5 will begin now!!!"

As soon as the host signaled the start of the match, Lyon dashed towards Zero.

[ "Twin Night: Rushing Burst" ]

Lyon has seen what Zero could do. There was no way he would take it easy on the man who could fight toe to toe with Lisanna.

Zero calmly watched as Lyon accelerated and rushed toward him with destructive force.

[ "Ice Wall" ]

Zero deployed three walls of ice to stop Lyon's attack. It was expected that two would be sufficient, but just in case he'd calculated incorrectly, he added a third.

-CRRRRRRKKKKKKKK!

A collision between Lyon and the ice walls ensued. Lyon managed to break the first barrier, but his speed and attack power decreased significantly.

-CRRRRRKKKK! -CLANNKKKK!

And on the second ice wall, he was able to make a crack but didn't go past the wall.

It was a great opportunity for me to attack since Lyon was a tad worn out after that attack.

[ "Shadow Style: Shadow Slash" ]

-WHIIISH!

I immediately launched my attack once Lyon came to a halt.

[ "Don't think you can defeat me that easily." ]

[ "Twin Night: Brisk Strike" ]

Lyon didn't try to dodge as Zero's attack was too fast and he was kind of trapped due to the ice wall blocking his way. He decided to block Zero's attack.

A powerful thrust from his spear met the approaching attack and he countered it with an equally powerful thrust.

Zero closed the distance right after he had finished launching his attack and didn't give Lyon an opportunity to relax. Strengthening and making the sword swift with the mana, Zero attacked Lyon who had just finished countering the attacks.

-CLANK!

Lyon responded quickly as he blocked Zero's strike with his spear. 

-CLANK! -CLANK! -CLANK!

Zero attacked again and again as he continued to push Lyon back with each strike until he had nowhere to retreat as the area behind him was covered in ice.

"SH*T! I can't believe this."

Lyon shouted as he found himself helpless against Zero. It had only been the start of the fight and he had already found himself losing. 

It was more frustrating to know that Zero was not even giving his all. Lyon has seen Zero fight and knows that he has many strong skills up in his arsenal but Zero didn't even use them to corner him like this.

Lyon quickly tried to think of a plan to escape from his current predicament but before he could even start to think, Zero made his move.

[ "Ground Freeze" ]

Knowing that Lyon has nowhere to run, Zero used ground freeze to finish off Lyon.

Lyon quickly deployed a mana barrier to defend against the Zero's attack.

But it was no use as his mana barrier ended up freezing and breaking apart and in the end Lyon's body was also frozen.

-SILENCE!

The audience was silent. The fight was as thrilling as they had expected but Lyon lost too quickly. 

Zero treated Lyon as an ordinary fighter and easily dominated the match. Lyon didn't even get a chance to retaliate.

They hoped for a long fight between equally strong fighters but it turned out that Lyon was no match for Zero. The student realized that they have underestimated Zero too much.

That was the power of Zero!