Parallel Memory

The leader of the assassins escaped successfully as he ran away in fear.

"Dammit! He is a monster. We should not have messed with him. I need to quickly tell Master Victor."

In fact, today he thought it would be the day when his name would spread in the underworld. If he could assassin a world-famous character like Hiro, his name would have certainly spread.

He was confident that he could easily kill Zero as he had even killed Rank-B Explorer in one shot. Never did he expect that his entire squad would be killed by Hiro ( Correction 4 of them were killed by him).

"Yes, we could use his sister to threaten him. Haha… Just wait! I will torture you before killing you!"

The leader of the assassins thought as he increased his speed. He had already thought about the countermeasure against Hiro.

*****

-BANG!

"Useless! You can't even kill a kid who is just Rank-C. What is the use of having you?"

Victor screamed angrily as he kicked his men on his head. He seemed pissed that the assassins that he had cultivated were only at his level. However, even knowing that Hiro had killed his men and had to face him, he was not nervous at all.

His rank was B and he deemed it unqualified for him to make a move himself. He didn't expect that his assassins would turn out to be useless and lose to one boy.

"M-Master, please forgive me! J-Just give me one more chance"

The leader of the assassins begged. He told Victor about his defeat and his plan to use Yui to threaten Hiro. However, Victor was not interested in the idea of some defeated slave who came running away.

"Humph! I don't need a useless slave!"

-SLASH!

Victor showed no mercy as he coldly killed the leader of the assassins. Failure to execute his command was equivalent to death and no loyalty could save his subordinates from his wrath.

"In the end, I had to take care of him myself!"

Victor muttered, quite irritated. His mood of victory was ruined by the appearance of his men who ran away in defeat. He thought that the leader's plan was just an excuse to escape his punishment.

"What a waste of resources!"

The assassin squad was assembled by him and it took much of his resources to have 10 Rank-C + assassins working for him. Today, he lost them.

However, he did feel that terrible about it. As long as he gets Williams' favor and wins the position of guildmaster, endless resources would be his. The assassin's squad was also made for that purpose. Using the guild resource, he knows that he could have a more powerful assassin squad.

Victor then took out his wine bottle and poured it into a glass. He drank the wine as he waited for Hiro to appear.

-BANG!

Hiro entered as he broke down the door. He saw Victor nonchalantly drinking wine without any care in the world. Then Victor glanced at Hiro before keeping his glass on the table.

-CLAP! -CLAP!

"I didn't expect that you could make it past my assassins. Honestly, I am surprised! However, it does not change the result and you will have to die here."

Victor said as if stating a fact.

"Are you the one behind Yui's kidnapping?"

Hiro asked.

"Yes!"

Victor answered as if he didn't commit any crime and was acting as if he had done something good.

Hiro gritted his teeth and glared at Victor hatefully. He would love nothing more than to beat up the man in front of him but he had to wait until he got information about Yui.

"Where is my sister? You will pay if something happens to her."

"Haha… Rather than your sister, you should worry more about yourself."

Victor said as he began releasing his mana aura.

-SWISH! -BANG!

Victor dashed towards Hiro and kicked him on his abdomen, sending him flying. Hiro crashed into the wall behind him. Hiro was able to react in time and block Victor's kick, however, his power exceeded Hiro's expectations and he was sent flying.

"Weak!"

Victor said as he went back to drinking his wine. He could have continued to attack Hiro and given no chance for him to rest. But Victor didn't put Hiro in his eyes and wanted to torment him until he was bored.

Hiro immediately got up as he was ready to defend himself from Victor's attack but Victor didn't attack him. Hiro didn't expect Victor to be so powerful. However, the damage done to him was minimal. His body was protected by a mana barrier and the impact of his crashing into the wall was negligible.

After Hiro got up, Victor began to prepare to attack once more.

"Let's see if you can keep up with me!"

Victor said as he dashed forward with a sword in his hand.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANG!

Hiro and Victor's swords collided with each other, creating a loud metallic sound as sparks flew. Hiro could feel the power behind Victor's strikes, but he was not intimidated. He had trained for years and had faced many powerful opponents before.

Victor could be considered one of the strongest that he ever faced. But if he used System Double Power, he could easily defeat him. However, before he defeats Victor, he needs to get information about his sister.

Hiro tried to get some information about his sister while keeping up with Victor's fast pace. He asked

"Where is my sister?"

But Victor just sneered.

"Your sister is safe, for now. You might be able to see her if you are able to defeat me."

Victor said confidently. After a few clashes, he was able to push back Hiro and he thought that Hiro was not a big deal.

Hiro failed to get any information about his sister and it didn't look like Victor was going to give him the information unless he was killed. However, he was going to try a few more times to get the information.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANK!

Victor had the upper hand as he continued to overpower Hiro with his Rank-B stat. However, it didn't look like the battle was going to end any time soon.

Even Victor got irritated by how persistent Hiro was. In fact, he thought that as long as he fought seriously, Hiro would be instantly defeated. However, even after he used his full power, he failed to give Hiro any injuries.

While it looked like Hiro was losing, he actually never lost and was able to fight back. He would always dodge Victor's fatal attack at the last moment.

-CLANG! -CLANG! -CLANG!

Victor indeed had an advantage with his Rank-B stat, however, in terms of swordsmanship and fighting experiences he was nowhere close to Hiro. One could see that Victor's rank was all thanks to potions and lacked proper training and fighting experience.

Victor relied on his brute force to fight. As someone who would only fight with those weaker than himself, Victor's fighting style consists of nothing more than him swinging his sword without any planning.

Hiro was easily able to predict Victor's move and counter it in time.

[ "Firestorm Slash" ]

Victor attacked Hiro with his Firestorm Slash. It looked fiery and explosive which contained destructive power.

[ "StarShatterer Style: Complete Annihilation" ]

However, Hiro easily counters his attack. No matter what Victor did, he was not able to kill Hiro. As the fight raged on, Victor got angrier and made several misjudgments allowing Hiro to do a number of damage to him.

"Tell me where my sister is!"

Hiro said it again.

"YOU THINK YOU HAVE WON? You are lucky to be able to die from this."

Victor screamed angrily as he took out two pills from his storage ring. The pill emitted Dark Energy and didn't look like something that could be eaten.

Victor swallowed the pill.

-WHOOSH!

Victor's mana aura completely changed. Not only did it give off a stronger feeling but it was also sinister, similar to that of Dark Energy.

( Is it the Abyssal Pill? )

Hiro thought about the pill that Victor had taken. He did not know for sure but he had heard about certain pills that Dark Contractors and some criminals use as a last resort to increase their pills.

It is said to be able to raise one's strength immediately in addition to increasing Dark Energy in the user's body.

No matter what Victor took, Hiro was able to sense that Victor's power was something that he could not handle without using System power.

[ "System Double Power. Activate!" ]

-WHISH!

"Haha… I can feel the power! I should have used this already and killed my brother. Anyway, after I deal with Hiro, he will be next."

Feeling the power swelling inside of him, Victor felt that he could achieve anything. His brother was someone who was probably going to be the guildmaster of the GreyRat guild because his brother was a Rank-A Explorer.

However, after taking the pills, Victor felt that he could easily beat his obnoxious brother and take his rightful place as the guildmaster of GreyRat. However, it didn't mean that he was going to let Hiro off.

Obtaining William's favor could be his extra insurance and Hiro has enraged him because of the earlier fight. He was going to rip Hiro into pieces.