Parallel Memory

Chapter 687: Dragon Force Awaken

The golden light of the Saintess’s miracle had not yet faded from the horizon when Zero felt it—a shift.A tremor in the air so faint it almost hid beneath the clash of blades and the roars of dying devils.Aamon’s aura faltered.

It happened like a crack forming across the surface of a black gem—small, almost invisible, but world-shaking to the one who truly knew how to see.

Zero stood in the shattered remains of the Devil King’s courtyard, breath unsteady, body shaking from hours of nonstop fighting. His hands were numb from blocking Aamon’s strikes. His veins felt like fire from sustaining Dragon Force earlier. Every muscle screamed.

But when the holy mana washed through the kingdom, even reaching this corrupted heart of the palace, he felt it.The devils had grown heavy.The air had thickened.And Aamon—Aamon was no longer walking like a sovereign of night.

He was... adjusting.Rebalancing his stance.Tensing his fingers in a way he never had before.

Zero narrowed his eyes.He felt that. Even him...

The Emperor of Destruction noticed it too.He lifted his gaze from where he was locked in a grapple with the devil lord and smirked, something sharp and arrogant flashing across his face.

"Well, well," the Emperor murmured, twisting Aamon’s arm and hurling him across the courtyard. "Looks like even your kind is not immune to the Saintess’s little temper tantrum."

Aamon growled, shadows swirling around him but wobbling—no longer perfectly smooth.

"You think this changes anything?" Aamon snarled. But his voice, once resonant like abyssal bells, now rasped slightly. "You think this divinity can touch me? I—"

He staggered.

Only for half a second.But Zero saw it.

And so did the Emperor.

Zero’s fists tightened.

He remembered his Earth self’s words—the reminder that soul stability, not brute strength, dominated the realm of darkness and memory.He remembered the three selves standing in that dimension, the Emperor pressuring even the souls of gods, the Earth self overpowering everything with sheer will.

He remembered his own weakness.

But he was not weak here.Not in this world.Not against Aamon.Not now.

Zero inhaled sharply.

Dragon Force... if I force it open again now, even if it hurts me... I might reach it. SS rank—physical realm... even if only for seconds.

Aamon straightened his posture, regaining composure, but the Emperor stepped in front of Zero, blocking the devil’s path.

"Move," Aamon demanded coldly.

"No," the Emperor of Destruction replied simply.

Aamon’s eye twitched.

Zero stepped forward, placing one hand on his chest. His heartbeat thundered, but it wasn’t fear—not anymore. It was hunger.His body remembered the power.His soul remembered the fire.

And the Dragon Force answered.

He whispered the words like a confession:

"—Dragon Force: Awaken."

The world shook.

A blinding silver-and-blue aura exploded outward, swirling around Zero like a storm breaking from chains. Dragon blood—thick, heavy, primordial—roared through him like a second heartbeat.

Scales of metallic silver rippled across his forearms.Azure flame flared behind him like wings made of light.Veins glowed like molten sapphire.

His pupils narrowed into slits.

His teeth sharpened.

His bones, muscles, and mana pathways expanded violently, tearing and reforging within seconds—each pulse of power forcing him closer to the physical stat realm of an SS rank being.

Pain shot through him. A deep, ripping ache that made the edges of his vision blur.

But Zero only smiled.

He stepped once.The ground cracked.

Aamon flinched.Not out of fear—But because for the first time...Zero’s presence was equalizing the battlefield.

The Emperor laughed. "About damn time."

Zero exhaled, steam rolling from his mouth.

"Let’s finish this."

And the two charged.

Aamon was fast—lightning fast. But the holy mana weighed on him like molten lead. His shadows, once liquid and lethal, sputtered and recoiled as if repelled by the lingering radiance still clinging to the battlefield.

Zero reached him first.

Crack—!His fist slammed into Aamon’s ribs with the force of a meteor striking earth.

Aamon’s body bent unnaturally from the impact, his chest caving before his regeneration forced the bone back into place. But the devil lord hissed in genuine pain.

"You—"Zero didn’t let him speak.

He spun, tail of azure flame lashing behind him, and delivered a roundhouse kick directly to Aamon’s jaw.The devil crashed into a pillar, pulverizing it.

The Emperor blurred beside Zero in the same instant.

"Keep his right side open," he ordered.

Zero nodded once.

The Emperor struck with a punch fueled by pure destructive will—cracks ran across space itself where his fist traveled. Aamon tried to block but—

Zero grabbed his arm.

Not just held—His grip overpowered a devil lord.

Shock flashed across Aamon’s eyes.

"You—"Zero twisted his arm.

The Emperor’s punch landed cleanly into Aamon’s exposed side.

The explosion shook the entire palace.

Stone walls collapsed.Columns shattered.The entire courtyard was swallowed by a dome of black-and-white collision energy—Aamon’s abyss clashing against the Emperor’s destructive force.

Zero shot upward through the debris, wings of blue flame spreading wide.He launched back down like a falling star, fist first, crashing into Aamon’s abdomen.

The devil coughed black blood.

The Emperor grabbed Aamon’s head, slamming him into the ground once—twice—before Zero landed beside him, both moving in perfect tandem, their movements synchronized not by training but by raw instinct.

Aamon erupted with a burst of shadow to push them back, but the burst was uneven—It wavered.

The holy mana outside still weakened him.

Zero wiped blood from his mouth, body heavy from the strain of maintaining Dragonoid form.His chest rose and fell rapidly; the pain was increasing.But he endured.

Because for the first time—

Aamon was bleeding.His regeneration was delayed.His eyes... were narrowing.

"You insects think this is enough?" Aamon rasped.

Zero lifted his fists again.

"It’s enough to hurt you."

Aamon lunged at Zero, claws elongating, but the Emperor intercepted with a hand-to-hand clash that sent shockwaves rippling outward.

Zero darted behind Aamon, grabbing the devil’s wings. The moment he wrenched them back, Aamon roared, staggering.

The Emperor delivered a spinning kick to his skull. Zero followed by slamming an open palm strike into Aamon’s spine—

The devil lord crashed forward, bringing down an entire corridor with him.

And for the first time since the fight began—Aamon didn’t immediately rise.

Zero panted, steam leaking between his teeth. Pain scratched at the edges of his consciousness. Dragon Force was nearing its limit.

But he could still move.

He prepared to launch again when the Emperor spoke without looking back:

"Zero... keep pushing. He’s starting to panic."

Zero’s eyes sharpened.

Because he had noticed it too.

Aamon was no longer fighting with the casual confidence of an immortal.He was defending.

He was reacting.

He was stressed.

The holy mana weighing on the battlefield—the sudden empowerment of the humans—the miracle that shifted the war in an instant...

Even the devil lord could not fully ignore the consequences.

Zero stepped through the dust cloud, scales shimmering.

"You’re not untouchable anymore."

Aamon growled, rising slowly, shadows trembling around him.

"Do you really believe this changes the outcome?"

Zero exhaled.

"No."

He crouched slightly.

"It changes the battlefield."