Parallel Memory

“I-Is Mom and Dad alright?”

Hiro said to himself as he continued to hide in the hidden room. The hidden room contains soundproof materials so that people outside don’t know what is inside. But it was the same for the people inside the hidden room, they didn’t know what was happening outside.

It had not even been 10 minutes since his parents went away but for Hiro, it felt like an eternity. He became extremely nervous and was imagining the worst things that could happen.

However, with a sister that was in his arms, he held his desire of going outside to look inside of himself and continued waiting.

******

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANK!

Both Hiro’s parents refused to listen to the Rank-B Devil and fought with everything they had. They, knowing that the devils were targeting their child, had no intention of surrendering.

However, even with their best intentions, their bodies had limitations. Hiro’s father who had been fighting for so long using all his power had built up quite a large amount of fatigue.

[ “Negation of Exhaustion” ]

Hiro’s mother used her spell on her husband as she tried to take away the tiredness that he felt. It was not that he was filled with energy again but he will feel as if he is not tired anymore. Just deceiving the body into thinking that he was in perfect shape.

“AAAAAAH!”

Hiro’s father was able to show the same ferocity as he did at the start.

-BANG! -BANG! -BAM!

Hiro’s father once again went on a rampage as he started to kill all the Devils. Unlike Hiro’s father, the Devil could not show the same power as they did when the fight started, and hence, they suffered more than when the fight had been initiated.

To Hiro’s parents’ relief, the number of devils had decreased considerably and the only thing that they had to worry about was the Rank-B devil who was just watching with ecstasy.

He still showed no sign of making a move even when the devils that he bought were all annihilated.

-CLAP! -CLAP!

“As expected from the descendants of one of the ancient heroes.”

The Rank-B Devil said.

“Even though the ancient family has declined, its blood still stands strong against demons. I would have watched more but it looks like time is running out.”

The Rank-B devil continued.

Hiro’s parents didn’t understand half of what he said. Hiro’s parents were from ordinary families and all the things that the rank-B devil said just looked like gibberish. However, one thing that they understood was that he was going to make his move.

“My name is Xalvar! A Baron Devil.”

The devil introduced himself.

“Unfortunately, I would not be able to deal with you personally.”

-SNAP!

Xalvar snapped his finger. Immediately a portal opened up and from the portal came another Devil.

“…”

Both Hiro’s parents were speechless for a second. They had seen their fair share of devils in their lifetime but they had never seen a devil as beautiful as the one that had just come out of the portal.

Silky black hair with golden eyes. She very much matched the image of a goddess that many men had inside of their hearts but she was a Devil.

Although, even with those thoughts, they never let down their guard. They could clearly sense that the girl that had just shown was on the same level as Xalvar. In other words, she was a Baron-ranked Devil.

“She will keep you entertained until I come back. Lilith, kill them and capture those kids hidden in this house.”

Xalvar said those things but the person who he had commanded didn’t seem like she was listening to him at all. She was standing in the room staring at the flower pot with an emotionless face as if she had no intention of killing anyone at all.

Xalvar who ordered Lilith didn’t seem surprised at her behavior. He just giggled as he began flying, seemingly preparing to go somewhere else.

-CLICK!

Before departing, Xalvar pressed some kind of button. Then he just flew off.

Hiro’s parents were relieved to see Xalvar go away. They could not win if they had fought Xalvar in addition to the newly appeared Devil.

Sadly, their relief soon turned into dread when the Devil girl who appeared started releasing her mana aura. The devil still had that emotionless expression on her face but the aura that she released was filled with intense killing intent as well as it was similar to that of Rank-B + peak.

Which meant that the devil girl standing in front of them was stronger than Xalvar who left.

Lilith raised her hand while gathering Dark Energy. Sensing the incredible amount of mana, Hiro’s father immediately knew that Lilith was going to launch a very powerful attack.

“Alia, Get Back!”

Hiro’s father immediately called out to his wife. He pulled her back and immediately got into a defensive position.

-ZZZNNG!

Lilith launched a black beam toward the couple. The size of the beam was no bigger than a pencil but everyone present there knew that the beam was extremely deadly.

[ “Horizon Split” ]

Hiro’s father immediately tried to cancel out the attack with an attack of his own.

-BOOM! -ZZNNGG!

However, the beam that was shot still continued to come towards them without any sign of slowing down. Hiro’s father’s attack didn’t seem to have done anything to the beam.

[ “Stone Shroud” ]

Hiro’s mother immediately deployed a barrier of stone that covered both her and her husband. With her husband failing to stop the attack, she knew that the attack was incredibly powerful and it was not something a Rank-C like her could do anything about but even so she knew that she had to try.

-CHIUNG!

However, even the layer of protection that Alia had made was nothing in front of the black beam. It easily made a hole in the barrier.

Hiro’s father used his sword as protection and tried to deflect the attack that was coming his way.

-CLANK! -CRACK!

The resistance only continued for a second before it made a hole in his sword and soon after a hole in his body as well.

“ZEN!”

Alia shouted in panic.

-THUD!

‘Hah…Hah…”

Hiro’s father fell down as he started panting heavily. The black beam had pierced his body completely. It has literally made a hole in his body.

The only positive thing was that due to the black beam size being very small, the area of destruction was very less. Although this type of attack could be very lethal as long as it hit vital areas of the body.

Due to the beam hitting him in a non-lethal place which was just below his shoulder, Zen was able to survive. Though with a hole in that area, he was far from being okay.

Alia immediately went to him and started chanting healing spells. While the damage could not be healed immediately by a weak healing spell, it was better than doing nothing.

Zen also stood up immediately when he was able to because they knew the danger was not over.

The owner of the beam had only made one move and that was enough for them to be on the verge of dying. They knew that they were up against someone very powerful.

Lilith didn’t make any move after she had shot her first attack. But after Zen stood up, Lilith immediately began rushing toward him.

!!!

-BANG!

Lilith threw a punch at Zen and although Zen saw that, he was not able to respond to it and was immediately flung back.

-WHOOSH!

Zen immediately stood again and this time he went ahead and attacked Lilith.

This time also, Lilith was not attacking anyone after she had punched Zen but seeing Zen attack, she went and countered with her claw, which had become longer and stronger.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANK!

Surprisingly, Zen and Alia were able to survive for a long period of time. It was not because the Devil girl had become weak or that they had become stronger, but because of how Lilith fought.

Lilith, despite being on the same Rank as B +, seemed to miss the experience and the complexity of the attack. She was basically just attacking without any tricks or she would not use any combos.

This was the same as going against a kid whose strength was Rank-B +. Though the kid was strong for sure but when battling against weaker but experienced fighters, that kid would struggle.

Similarly, Zen and Alia were able to survive thanks to Lilith being extremely incompetent at fighting. Though because of how much stamina they had consumed, they were not able to take advantage of that fact and could only focus on surviving.

However, it might be because Lilith realized this as she began preparing for another skill. She began gathering her Dark Energy.

Hiro’s parents who had experienced her skill became extremely nervous as they had previously known how strong her attacks were.

However, unlike earlier, it didn’t seem to be the same move. The amount of mana that was being used seemed to have exceeded the previous one, which meant that she was executing a more powerful attack than earlier.

Even the other devils who were just watching earlier panicked when she began using that move, and some even fled the scene.

Lilith emotionlessly fired her attack without considering the feeling or the safety of the devils.

-BAM!

A similarly black beam was launched, but the size of the beam was bigger, big enough to cover the whole room.

When Hiro’s parents tried to defend themselves, they could only grit their teeth. They didn’t have any method other than deploying a mana barrier with every mana they had and could only hope that their barrier could at least save their lives.

“AAAAAHHH!”

The devils who had yet to flee started to scream as the attack hit them.

The attack indiscriminately wiped out everything, including her fellow devils. The Rank-C devils had no hope of defending against the attack of Lilith as they instantly turned into ash.

-CRACK!

The barrier of Hiro’s parents could not withstand such a powerful attack and was immediately broken by Lilith’s attack.

Now only their bodies remained!