Parallel Memory

Chapter 613: The Devil Kings Fall

The pages turned themselves again, as if the chronicle no longer required Zeroʼs hand. The parchment whispered like dry leaves, yet the sound carried a strange weight, echoing in the chamber as though the walls themselves wished to listen. Zeroʼs chest tightened. He could feel Lilith watching him from across the table, her silence a tether, but her presence unable to ground him fully.

The words emerged in black fire across the parchment, bold strokes that seemed carved rather than written:

”On the seventh night, when strength had withered to embers and hope was a blade dulled with use, the Devil King faltered.”

Zeroʼs fingers hovered above the text, trembling. His heart drummed against his ribs, not only from the gravity of the tale but from the gnawing thought that this story—this history—was less a record of what once was and more a prophecy reborn.

He read on.

The two swordsmen, shadows of light and darkness, fought side by side. One struck swift, carving with starfire arcs that seared flesh and stone alike; the other melted into veils of black, reappearing to cut from angles unseen. Their blades did not merely clash against the Devil Kingʼs hide but against his dominion itself, shattering the chains of dread he wove into the battlefield.

Around them, the Devil Kingʼs throne room was a ruin of flame and bone. The healer, battered but unbroken, poured what remained of her strength into her companions. Her light burned dim but steady, her hands trembling as she mended wounds faster than death could claim them. The mage, hair singed and garments in tatters, hurled storms of fire and shards of ice, every spell meant not for triumph but for survival. The spear user planted himself like a wall of steel, intercepting the waves of fiends that poured in when the Devil King roared for reinforcements. Beside him, the shieldbearer bled from every joint yet stood unwavering, barrier after barrier forming only to shatter, reform, and shatter again.

The battle had ceased to be mortal. It was no longer a clash of strength but of will.

Zero swallowed, his throat dry. The words of Xalvar echoed like a poison in his mind—”You were the reason your friends died.” The parallel was too sharp. These heroes, united in their balance, had endured seven nights without falling to despair. He had not. He had crumbled in that cave as a boy, and his friends had been torn away.

Lilith shifted slightly, perhaps noticing his breath hitch, but said nothing.

The chronicleʼs ink pulsed as though alive.

”At the dawn of the eighth day, the Devil King rose with fury enough to blacken the skies beyond the palace walls. His wings, vast as storms, spread wide, and his voice thundered with curses of eternal dominion. Yet his body betrayed him—each strike slower, each shield more fragile than before. The days had carved away his endlessness. He was still mighty, but not invincible.”

The swordsmen pressed. The Shadow Sword became more reckless, vanishing into streaks of black to slash at the Kingʼs joints, each strike designed to wear him down. The Starlight Blade became the anchor, radiant arcs forcing the Devil King to defend on two fronts. They moved in perfect rhythm—one overwhelming, one precise. Light and darkness entwined not as rivals, but as necessity.

And then came the moment.

The chronicleʼs words seemed to flare brighter, burning themselves into Zeroʼs sight.

”They combined their arts—the brilliance of starlight woven into the endless hunger of shadow. Their blades crossed in unison, and the power that burst forth was not mortal but something greater: a union of paradox, a strike that was both everything and nothing.”

Zeroʼs breath caught. The description pressed into him like a weight. Light and shadow—two forces bound by fate, one compensating for the other, neither able to win alone. The very balance the fortune teller had warned Aamon about.

The Devil King gathered his might, conjuring a shield wrought of every soul he had consumed. Faces screamed in silence upon its surface. The strike of the heroes landed against it with the force of heaven splitting the earth.

The shield cracked.

The Devil King roared.

The shield shattered.

And in the collapse of his dominion, the twin swords pierced his chest. The union of light and dark rent through his form, unraveling the corruption that bound him to eternity. The Devil Kingʼs scream shook the heavens. Then silence fell, heavy and absolute.

The heroes stood swaying, their bodies wrecked, their spirits hollowed by the cost. The healer wept as she rushed forward, light pouring from her palms though she had nothing left to give. The others leaned upon their weapons, watching as the Devil Kingʼs vast form crumbled to ash and scattered across the ruined palace.

”Thus fell the Tyrant of Shadow and Flame, by the hands of those who were not gods, but dared to fight as though they were.”

The chronicle stilled. Its glow dimmed, as if exhausted by retelling the weight of such a battle.

Zeroʼs hands clenched so tight the bones in his knuckles ached. He could hardly breathe. The parallels were undeniable—the balance of light and darkness, the unity of two swordsmen. Was this what the fortune teller had seen in Aamonʼs time? Was this what the gem was meant to reveal?

Was he—Zero—part of this cycle?

He remembered the cave, his childhood friendsʼ screams, Xalvarʼs mocking laughter. His chest felt as though it would split open under the pressure. He had thought gaining the SS-rank skill had bent destiny, carved a new path for himself. But the chronicle whispered otherwise. This was no detour. This was a track laid centuries ago.

And Hiro… Hiro with his brilliance, his fire, his indomitable will. Could he be the other sword?

Zero shut his eyes, but the images burned there still—the Devil King collapsing, the heroes triumphant yet broken, the cycle repeating across generations.

”Zero?” Lilithʼs voice was soft, careful. She had moved closer, her hand hovering just above his shoulder, as though afraid to touch. ”Are you alright?”

He didnʼt answer. Not yet.

For the truth was heavier than any battle he had ever fought. The Devil Kingʼs fall was not merely history. It was a mirror—and the reflection staring back was his own fate.