Parallel Memory

"What are you going to do with me?" she spat out, her voice filled with venom.

Zero didn't answer.

Cardinal Hildred, who had already lost her mind, seemed to have also lost the sense of fear. She didn't fear and she only had destruction in mind.

Even if her head was bleeding or she lost a limb, she wouldn't care.

Zero looked at Cardinal coldly. He put his hands on her face and then muttered.

[ "Endless Despair" ]

Endless Despair, a skill that creates a constant stream of nightmare-like illusions or visions that the target is unable to escape from. These illusions would be tailored to the individual fears and vulnerabilities of each target, making them particularly effective at sapping their will to fight.

Using their fears and showing them hundreds of times would mentally break them. A perfect skill when wanting to exact revenge on others. Even if the target wants to kill themselves, they can't as it is just an illusion.

A torture that one couldn't escape. Truly an endless despair!

Even the devil had something to fear. Even if one had forgotten their fear, this skill would let them remember it. The only flaw of this skill was that it was a mental skill and needed to be in contact with the target for a period of time to activate.

"ARGHHHHH!"

Immediately Cardinal Hildred began screaming in fright. In a second, tens and hundreds of nightmares were shown to Cardinal Hildred repeatedly. In spite of Zero's inability to control what he showed to her, the skills automatically showed them pictures of their worst nightmares.

"ARGHHHHH!"

Cardinal Hildred could only scream in fear. She couldn't resist and she didn't even know whether what she was seeing was real or fake. From her perspective, everything happening to her was real and she didn't know that she was trapped in an illusion.

And she couldn't get out of the illusion either. She was powerless and helpless. No matter what she did, the nightmare would continue again and again.

Tears dripped from Cardinal Hildred's face. However, Zero didn't stop and continued using the skill on her. Only after she was mentally broken did Zero stop.

"Looks like time is up!"

The Emperor Of Destruction muttered as he felt Zero's consciousness coming back. He also didn't fight back the consciousness.

Before that, he glanced at Saintess Amelia who was helping people. He looked at her feeling kind of nostalgic. He gave a rare smile, as if relieved of something, then closed his eyes.

"ARGH!"

Zero opened his eyes. He then looked at the surroundings and was startled.

The last thing he remembered was being captured by Cardinal Hildred in the Cathedral. And the next thing he saw was the Cathedral being destroyed.

There were also many bodies lying around. He scratched his head as if something was missing. But no matter how much he tried to remember, he didn't remember anything other than getting beaten by the Cardinal.

"Just what happened?"

He muttered in confusion. His body was hurt but his condition was much better than when he was handcuffed.

He looked around searching for someone who can fill in some information about what transpired.

He saw Saintess Amelia helping around. He immediately approached her and asked, "What happened?"

???

Saintess Amelia looked at him in confusion.

( What happened? Isn't that what you did? )

She wanted to say that. However, with her eyes, she saw that Zero's mana seemed to have reverted back to normal. She didn't fully understand what was happening with him but she explained to Zero about the event that had happened.

"What?"

Zero exclaimed. He had no idea whatsoever of what had happened. However, he knew that Saintess Amelia wouldn't lie to him. Moreover, he could already guess what might have happened.

( Looking at things done, The Emperor Of Destruction might have taken over my consciousness. )

Zero thought. After having lost himself to the Nexus Scepter power, Zero thought that his consciousness might have been controlled by The Emperor Of Destruction.

There was also the possibility of the Earth-self having taken over his body but looking at how things were handled, he was certain that it would have been The Emperor Of Destruction. Only he could have such control over the Dark Energy.

Even so, the scale of destruction doesn't match what he was capable of. If Zero remembers right, then most of the Church people should be dead by now. However, they were not, which meant that he spared them.

( Why? I mean it is good that he didn't kill all the innocent people but why did he spare them? Was it really him? )

Zero thought in confusion.

"So what happened to you? You seemed to have lost yourself or something there."

Saintess Amelia asked. She looked at him strangely though not with hatred.

"I'll explain later!"

Zero said.

He could not really tell her the truth and it was not like he knew what really happened. So, he decided to come up with something later. Moreover, this was really not the time to talk as some people seemed to be dying.

Although with the help of the Saintess, they were getting better.

-THUD! -THUD!

Zero looked at the rumble trying to search for something.

"Oh, I finally found it!"

Zero took out the Morphic Mirror from the rumble. He was searching for the Morphic Mirror as he needed to change his appearance before others woke up.

However, looking at the appearance of the artifact, he didn't think it was usable. It was already quite damaged when Cardinal Hildred hit it and it seems to have taken more damage when Zero fought with the enemies.

Zero felt it was a pity as the artifact was very helpful but didn't think much about it.

Zero reached into his Spatial Ring and pulled out a small, intricately crafted mask. The mask was made of a deep blue metal, with intricate silver designs etched into its surface. The eye holes were narrow and slanted, giving the impression of a fierce, almost predatory gaze.

It was the Rank-A Mask crafted by an elder dwarf. It has good endurance while also hiding the appearance of the wearer.

Zero wore the mask. Even though he couldn't change his appearance, he could at least hide his identity with this mask. Although he looks quite shady but with Saintess Amelia explaining, he could easily hide his identity.

Moreover, with the enemies gone, he didn't think that he would need to be around Saintess much longer. He needed to find out what was happening to him.

Anyway, before that he still needs to make sure that the danger around Saintess Amelia is gone. He slowly approached Cardinal Hildred.

Her appearance had drastically changed from what he remembered and she was also giving off Dark Energy. And it seemed that she was not only broken physically but mentally also.

"Hey!"

Zero called her. However, she didn't respond. He lifted her head and tried to check whether she was even alive.

( She is still breathing! However, her condition- )

"Looks like asking her would be out of question!"

Zero thought it was a pity. However, not so much as he had an alternative. He glanced at the side where one woman was lying on the ground, trying to hide herself.

"Priestess Helena!"

Zero called out. Luckily for him, Priestess Helena who had been helping Cardinal Hildred from the start had survived.

"Eh!"

Priestess Helena was startled. It was clear that she was afraid of Zero so much that she didn't even think about running away from him. She just shivered and quietly lay on the ground.

"..."

( Now this is awkward! )

Zero thought. He looked like a bully who likes to beat women. If someone were to see the scene, they would call The Authorities about women's abuse.

"Don't be scared! I will not do anything as long as you answer some questions."

Priestess Helena slowly lifted her head and looked at Zero. She clearly remembered his face from minutes ago, where he was slaughtering people left and right. His killing intent was so intense that she didn't dare look at his face.

Though Zero didn't have that same aura, she was still scared. Even so, she couldn't dare ignore him as she was scared of losing her life in the process.

Priestess Helena nodded her head.

"Good! Answer all my questions honestly otherwise, you will end up in the same situation as the Cardinal!"

Zero said. Even if she looked pitiful, Zero didn't forget who his enemies were.

Priestess Helena looked at Cardinal Hildred in horror before nodding her head.

She had seen what had happened to Cardinal Hildred though she didn't understand the situation clearly.

She had seen Zero grab Cardinal Hildred's face before Cardinal Hildred started screaming like crazy. After a minute or so, she seemed to have lost her mind and also all her energy. She couldn't even scream and she looked like she had aged to 100 years old.

If possible, she didn't want to end up like her at all.

After she agreed, Zero immediately went down for business and asked,

"So, who are you working for?"