Parallel Memory

Amidst all the jealousy and glare, Zero went with Professor Mia and watched the ongoing contest.

The student wanted to complain and make trouble for Zero but nobody dared to.

"Zero, I will make him pay."

Professor William said as he clenched his hand. Professor William's hatred towards Zero was increasing.

Professor William in a million years didn't think that his love rival would be a student who had no background at all.

Although Professor William was not dating Professor Mia, he was having a feeling of hatred like his wife had been snatched from him by another man.

With Professor William's narrow-mindedness, even when he was rejected several times by Professor Mia, he already considered Professor Mia as his.

Without knowing about Professor William's feelings, Zero continued to stay with Professor Mia to watch the contest.

On the big screen was Lisanna whose clothes were tattered.

She quickly left the area where she fought with me. Soon enough, she encountered two first-year students and quickly eliminated them.

She went on for a few minutes before encountering another student. The student upon detecting Lisanna tried to run away but there was no way he could.

Lisanna got qualified and was teleported back from the dungeon.

-THUD! -THUD!

Lisanna entered the Training field, and all the attention of the students was focused on her.

Some students quickly rushed towards her.

"Lisanna, congratulations!"

"Mrs. Lisanna, I believed in you. Though Zero was certainly powerful, I knew you will win against him."

"Yes, Yes! Zero showed incredible power but Mrs. Lisanna was able to win in the end. I was in awe looking at your power."

"Lisanna, your power has increased once again. I didn't expect your attack to blow out all the trees and change the place into a wasteland." …

Her friends went to congratulate her and other students were also there to praise her. Even while it seemed that Lisanna was equal in strength to Zero, it didn't mean she was weak.

They even thought that Lisanna defeating (Which they assume) Zero was proof that even while others may be talented, she could easily defeat them.

Contrary to them belittling her for taking so much time to deal with a little first-year, the respect, and admiration that they held for her increased. The power she displayed has reminded them why she is the strongest student in Ace Academy.

Most students, especially juniors, had no idea of how much power Lisanna wielded and only knew that she was the most powerful student in their Academy.

But after seeing the fight of Lisanna, they were convinced of her rank. Even with a cute appearance, she was someone they needed to be wary of.

"What? Zero lost"

Contrary to their expectation, Lisanna asked a question confusedly. She knows that Zero was not eliminated by her and that he has escaped or that is what she thought.

She was surprised and confused when they mentioned her defeating Zero.

"Mrs. Lisanna, you won! Right after the blast, Zero was teleported back."

One of the students replied. They could not think of any other reason why Zero would be teleported back right after their attacks collided. The only explanation that they could come up with is that Zero got eliminated.

"Yes Lisanna, you have won the fight. You might not have known due to the explosion but Zero did get eliminated after that exchange."

One of her friends reassured her.

Talking about Zero, some students began to look at Zero thinking about the reason why Lisanna looked confused. While the smarter one was able to tell from the video that Lisanna had to eliminate three more students which mean that she never defeated Zero.

Lisanna also started to look around and finally saw her opponent who seemed to be happily talking with Professor Mia. Lisanna looked at Zero before shouting.

"HEY! Did you get eliminated?"

Lisanna shouted and asked the question. She didn't believe that he got eliminated after escaping from her hands.

Zero looked at the little girl surrounded by many students. He thought for a while before answering.

"No!"

It was not something he can hide or needed to hide. Sooner or later it will be known, so he told her directly.

"Good!"

Lisanna nodded to Zero in satisfaction. She would not be able to handle it if she heard that he got eliminated right after running from their battle.

Unknowingly, she took Zero as an opponent that she needed to defeat.

Lisanna stared at Zero before turning around and leaving the area. The atmosphere there became noisy again.

"What? Zero didn't get eliminated. How is that possible?"

"He got teleported right after that explosion. Don't tell me he eliminated three students in that short period of time. It's impossible."

"Dammit, We will have to face him next if we are unlucky."

"Getting to fight Toby or Lyon might be luckier than fighting Zero. I at least know their power." …

Students realized they had a wrong assumption about Zero being eliminated. Some students with good imaginations had come up with the answer that Zero is a second found three other students while the explosion took place and eliminated them.

The ones who were qualified began to worry about facing Zero next. Zero power was unknown to them. While he had shown terrifying power in a fight with Lisanna, who knows what other skill he might have.

They thought Zero might have used some powerful or unknown skill to eliminate three students and get qualified in that split second.

"Thank god! He is not eliminated."

Sylvia said as she got relieved to hear Zero say he was not eliminated. Even though she thought he got eliminated.

While she didn't interact much with Zero, he did save her from Devil Contractor and she owed him her life. While many rumors about Zero were being brewed by others, she didn't care and only knew he was someone who had saved her life.

After seeing how strong Zero was, she thought it was a pity for the Academy to lose someone as strong as Zero as a participant.

"Yeah…"

Hiro answered not being able to tell whether to be happy or not. Hiro sensed that Zero was strong compared to many students right from the beginning of the school.

He got a feeling that if he was not careful around him, he might end up getting killed. Those feelings were reinforced after Zero beat up Lucas and Rowan.

Others might give a reason for his victory like him helping Zero to beat them. But Hiro who has faced Lucas and Rowan knows their strength the best. While he might have chipped away some of the strength of Lucas and Rowan, without adequate strength it would have been impossible to defeat them.

He was grateful for Zero's help even though he told him that he will handle them himself. After that incident, Hiro increased his training intensity and got promoted to the next rank quickly.

He became a little content with his progress until he saw himself getting beaten by a Rank-C Wyvern. And there he again realized that there were students more powerful and talented than him.

A monster that he failed to injure had his wings cut off by Zero. While it did seem he used some prohibited Art with high side effects, Hiro sensed the power behind the Zero strike.

If the attack was aimed at him, he knew he would be dead before he knew it. While Hiro didn't think Zero would kill him or anything, he did sense some kind of danger from him.

He became more motivated and trained harder during summer vacation. While he spent his time with his family, he didn't forget to train.

He became powerful and thought he had made good progress. But upon seeing Zero and Lisanna fight, Hiro thought he still had a long way to go.

It was not only Zero's power that Hiro thought was great about Zero fighting. Hiro felt that every strike that Zero made was precise and deadly. Zero showed an extremely high level of fighting experience despite being the same age as him.

Hiro felt something that he had not felt in a long time, Envy, envy of others' talent. He had system help and even The Authority would provide some resources for him but he got left behind by someone.

While he didn't think he was the strongest, he thought that with System's help he would be able to grow the fastest. Only now did he feel the feeling of being left behind.

But Hiro didn't despair or hate Zero for his talent because he knows behind a talent is countless hours of practice and harsh training. He was more motivated to work harder. He stared at the boy for whom he felt admiration at the moment.

"..."

Zion didn't even comment. He just started hating himself a little. It happened to him from time to time when he met stronger people, more talented people. He at those times would feel his weakness, his incompetence, and how inferior he is to those people.

He just got dragged into a world of self-pitying. He pitied himself for how weak he was. The accomplishment that he made felt like a joke in front of talents like Hiro and Zero.

"I didn't expect him to be equal to Lisanna."

Lisa said. Lisa's feelings were complicated as Zero was someone who used to chase her before. She didn't know which Zero was real. One was flirty and funny while the other was powerful and extremely serious.

She stared at the boy who was difficult to understand. Seeing him and Professor Mia laugh, she concluded he was still the same old flirty student who could not stop flirting with girls.

Though it didn't give her a pleasant feeling to see the guy who used to chase after her go to another woman. It was like her feelings were played by Zero.

After a few minutes, the last student got qualified.

The boy to get qualified looked really relieved and happy like he was able to accomplish a major feat in his life.

But it was still not time to be happy, the second round was still there.

Professor gathered the students who were qualified for the selection.

"Congratulations to all the students who got through the first test. Now, to select the 20 participants from 100 of you, we are going to hold a knockout tournament tomorrow."

The professor went on to explain the rules and how one should go easy on their fellow students.

Basically, the rule for the selection is that the 100 students will be grouped into 10 groups and they will fight with each other.

The Top-2 students will be selected as participants. That means that as long as you are lucky enough, you can get selected. If the group that will be generated includes only Rank-E, then the chance of winning will go up.

But there might even be a chance of all strong students being concentrated in one group. For example, getting into a group that consists of Lisanna, Ren Dreyar, Hiro, Toby, and Lyon could be bad.

Even Hiro could not guarantee that he could be selected as a participant with those guys as his opponent.

But judging by the interest of the Academy, there was no way the second assumption could come true. I mean if the academy wants to win in the Tournament of Academies, it will need the help of the strongest students.

There is no way they could make it a competition where only two of their best students get selected and the rest of the strong students are eliminated. I think that the students will be grouped according to their strengths.

Students with the highest power will be grouped separately so that they do not encounter each other.

As the professor announced the group and its members, I knew my assumption was correct.

All the top rankers of third years were separated and no group was filled with all-powerful people.

For example, in the Hiro group, he was the strongest and the next strongest was one of the Top-10 third years. Other than them, no one was particularly strong as others were just in Rank-E +.

"In group 5 will be Dexter, Brett, Lyon… and Zero."

I was placed in group 5. In my group, the only one that I need to be a little wary of was Lyon, the second ranker of Third Year.

After finishing the announcement of groups, we were allowed to go to our room and rest.

'Tomorrow is when the battle truly begins'