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{3rd Pov}
When Subaru first came face to face with Zero, the version of himself from another reality, his brain nearly short-circuited from confusion.
He honestly didn't know what to think at first. In fact, his very first suspicion was that Zero might actually be a Sin Archbishop in disguise.
After all, Subaru had already heard disturbing rumors that one of the Sin Archbishops possessed an ability that allowed them to take on the form of anyone they wished.
That kind of nightmare scenario was the only explanation that made sense in his panicked mind.
However, before Subaru could process anything or demand answers, Zero suddenly yanked him forward by the arm.
"Sorry, but I'll be borrowing your boyfriend for a while," Zero announced casually as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
He held Subaru firmly while Subaru screamed and flailed, yelling in a shrill and undignified voice that could only be described as pathetic.
The next moment, both of their bodies disappeared completely from where they had been standing.
Rem stood frozen on the spot, blinking several times in disbelief.
Her blue eyes darted between the space where Subaru had just been and the air where his double had vanished.
She didn't know whether to panic, scream, or give chase.
On one hand, her beloved Subaru had just been kidnapped by someone who looked exactly identical to him—down to the last detail.
On the other hand, the fact that this mysterious double had teleported away so effortlessly implied that he was far from an ordinary threat.
In fact, to achieve such a feat of magic so casually meant that he was a highly powerful individual.
For a brief moment, Rem's mind even entertained the possibility that this stranger could be Subaru's twin sibling, some secret relative that he had never spoken of.
But since she couldn't confirm anything, and since the situation had happened far too fast for her to react properly, she ultimately decided to remain where she was.
She clenched her fists tightly but forced herself to wait, reasoning that running blindly after such a person would only make things worse.
…
"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Subaru's shrill scream echoed through the forest as he stumbled forward, terrified out of his wits.
His fear didn't lessen even after realizing that he and Zero had reappeared outside the city, in a wide, open clearing surrounded by tall trees.
He looked around frantically but quickly realized they were utterly isolated from civilization.
What's more, as if to cut off any possibility of outside interference, a translucent barrier of roaring wind instantly formed around the area, encasing the two of them inside a sealed zone.
"W-Who the hell are you?!" Subaru shouted, stumbling backward and creating distance between himself and his uncanny double.
His voice cracked halfway through, betraying his fear. Zero had just released Subaru's arm, letting him go without resistance, and Subaru pointed a trembling finger at him accusingly.
"I can… Return by Death."
Subaru's entire body locked up instantly as those words reached his ears.
His breath caught in his throat, his pupils dilated, and he felt like the ground had been ripped out from under him.
He froze completely, unable to even twitch.
His mind screamed in denial.
Those words… he had never expected to hear them spoken aloud by anyone else.
"Did… did you just say—?" Subaru stammered, his voice breaking as the panic surged inside him.
"I can Return by Death!" Zero repeated loudly, his expression almost unnervingly calm. Then, with sudden emphasis, he spread his arms wide, as though proclaiming the statement to the world itself.
"I can Return by Death! I can Return by Death! I can Return by Death!"
Each time Zero repeated those cursed words, Subaru flinched harder.
His body trembled, his teeth clenched, and he waited in dread for the inevitable punishment.
His eyes darted around wildly, searching for signs of time stopping.
Any second now, he expected the world to go silent, the temperature to plummet, and that horrific black hand to clutch his heart and crush it like always.
But nothing happened.
No voice whispered in his ear.
No shadowy hand pierced his chest.
No suffocating terror engulfed him.
For the first time in his life, Subaru heard those forbidden words spoken aloud without consequence.
And that fact terrified him even more.
"I have been stabbed," Zero began in a grim and steady voice, his eyes narrowing as though he was replaying every horrific memory inside his mind.
Then he continued without hesitation, his tone growing heavier. "I have had my guts spilled out, I have felt my bones crushed into fragments, I have been blown apart with my body blasted to pieces, I have been burned alive in flames that ate through my skin, and I have had my life force drained completely until there was nothing left of me. I have died more times than I want to count, in more ways than you could imagine."
Subaru's entire body went stiff, his heart pounding violently in his chest.
"H-How… How the hell do you know that?!" Subaru shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice breaking with fear and anger.
His breathing grew ragged as he pointed at Zero with a trembling hand. Subaru couldn't understand it.
Why did this man—who not only looked exactly like him but also carried himself in such an eerily familiar way—know about his darkest, most closely guarded secret?
The secret of Return by Death was something he was never able to share with anyone due to certain restrictions, he wasn't even capable of exposing this ability.
And yet this stranger, this lookalike, was speaking of it openly, and no taboo was triggered!
"Because I am you." Zero's answer was immediate and absolute, his voice unwavering.
He stared directly into Subaru's eyes, expression sharp and firm. "I am the son of Kenichi and Naoko. I was born in Japan. Just like you, I was dragged into another world against my will, taken here by a certain yandere witch. And just like you, I was given the cursed ability to return to the past through death."
Subaru's mind went blank for a moment, his breath catching in his throat. His body trembled violently as shock spread through him like cold water.
'Kenichi… Naoko… He knows my parents' names?! I have never told anyone in this world what they were called, not even Rem, not even Emilia, not anyone! And he's saying he's from Japan too? And he claims he has the same power as me?' Subaru thought frantically, his mind racing at impossible speeds.
His eyes darted left and right as if searching for an explanation that didn't exist.
This couldn't be real.
It didn't make sense.
The possibility hung in his mind like a nightmare: wasn't this just… him?
But if that was true, then how in the world could there be two Subarus existing at the same time, standing face to face?
It defied every rule he understood about Return by Death.
"Who… Who exactly are you supposed to be?" Subaru demanded at last, his voice shaky.
His chest tightened as he asked the question he didn't want the answer to.
Should he even believe this other Subaru? Was it some elaborate trick, an enemy messing with his mind, or was this truly another version of himself?
If this had been the Subaru from his early twenties—the Subaru who had only just arrived in this other world and still had his otaku habits fresh in his head—he might have accepted the claim without hesitation.
He would have said, "Oh, I get it, parallel worlds! This is just like the light novels I used to binge."
That version of Subaru might have even found it exciting.
But the Subaru standing here now was no longer that person.
He had lived far too long.
His mind carried nearly half a century of memories, battles, losses, and regrets in this world.
The days of clinging to his old otaku fantasies were long gone.
His memories of Japan, of the old world he came from, had become hazy, faded like a half-forgotten dream.
Light novel plots and anime tropes meant nothing to him anymore—those were fragments of another life, a life that had been buried under decades of pain and survival.
The only things Subaru trusted now were the lessons he had carved into his bones through blood and suffering in this world.
"Have you ever heard of parallel timelines?" Zero suddenly asked, throwing the question like a stone into the silence between them.
Subaru froze again, blinking in confusion.
The phrase was familiar, but his tired mind couldn't immediately grasp the meaning.
He searched his memories desperately, trying to recall when he had last thought of such things. His brain stalled, failing to make the connection.
"Ah, let me help you," Zero said, his tone confident as his psychic suddenly flared.
A pressure burst out of him, like a storm in the air, as his psychic power surged outward.
The force struck Subaru's mind directly, almost like a physical blow, jolting something awake inside his head.
Subaru staggered, clutching his temples as wave after wave of old, buried memories flooded back into him.
Forgotten conversations, images of glowing screens, late nights spent binge-reading stories about alternate dimensions, games that had explored branching timelines—all of it rushed back into his mind at once.
Memories of the old Subaru, the young man from Japan, mixed violently with the hardened Subaru who had endured countless lifetimes in this world.
By the time he managed to steady his breathing, Subaru realized with a shudder what Zero had been talking about all along.
"How… how did you do that?!" Subaru stammered, still clutching his head after the flood of memories Zero had forced into him.
His brain was spinning, but he tried to steady himself, holding up a hand as if to physically push away the confusion.
"Wait—no, never mind. I… I remember it now." Subaru drew in a shaky breath and spoke more clearly, as though repeating the definition would help him anchor himself.
"Parallel timelines… they're alternate realities. Worlds that split apart because of different decisions, different outcomes. Each choice changes something, and those changes stack into entirely separate worlds where events play out differently."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Subaru's face drained of all color.
His eyes widened, horror dawning on him as a sickening thought struck his mind.
He staggered a step backward and raised both hands in panic.
"Wait… wait, wait, wait! Does that mean—does that mean all the loops I've lived through… all the deaths, all the resets… are those all separate parallel timelines?!" His voice cracked as his breathing quickened, the beginnings of a full-blown anxiety attack threatening to overwhelm him.
Before Subaru could spiral any further, Zero stepped forward and cut in firmly.
"Nope," he said bluntly, shaking his head.
"Our loops don't work like that. They're not creating new parallel timelines. What happens to us is… real time travel. We're truly sent back into our pasts. There aren't alternate versions of those loops continuing on somewhere else."
His expression darkened slightly, and his tone grew heavy with regret. "And unfortunately… it also means all those fifty years you've lived through? They're gone. Completely erased."
The words hit Subaru like a sledgehammer. He stood frozen in place, his body trembling. His fists clenched tightly as his breathing turned shallow.
Zero came closer, his footsteps soft in the grass, and placed a reassuring hand on Subaru's shoulder. His voice softened as he added, "I know it hurts. I know it's cruel. But… I've come to terms with it myself. I've lived through so many loops, died so many ways, and at some point, I accepted it. In fact, I was prepared to die countless times over. So time for us... it's painful, yes, but in the end, it doesn't change much for people like us."
Subaru let out a shaky laugh, though his face twisted in visible pain.
His lips curled into a bitter smile, but his eyes were glassy with suppressed emotion. "Don't worry about me. I… I already came to accept it too, more or less. I knew I was going to die when I was at the end of my lifespan. I was ready to die and leave everything behind, it's just... Everything I made is gone. So… other than being even sadder than before, it doesn't really change anything for me."
His voice faltered, and though he tried to sound tough, anyone could see the cracks in his facade.
The way his shoulders trembled and his throat tightened revealed just how much he was struggling to keep his emotions under control.
"Betty cannot believe it! How shameless! Where is this world's Betty? And why is she letting down this world's Subaru so horribly?!"
The sudden voice startled Subaru, and before he could even process it, a flash of light burst into existence nearby.
Out of the glow appeared a tiny girl with drill-like blonde hair, her eyes sparkling with butterfly-shaped pupils.
She hovered slightly above the ground, her small arms crossed, glaring with indignation.
"W-Wait a second… Beako?! Is that really you?!" Subaru blurted out, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull. His jaw dropped as he pointed at the tiny figure.
Zero, however, didn't seem surprised at all.
In fact, he reached out casually and patted the girl's head, causing her to squeak adorably in protest.
Subaru froze in shock, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.
Zero then explained matter-of-factly, "Yes. Beako is one of my contracted spirits. In the timeline I come from, she chose to form a contract with me and became my partner."
Subaru's mind nearly short-circuited. "Wait, wait, wait! Contracted spirit?! Beako is your spirit?!" His voice went high-pitched with disbelief, his brain struggling to connect the image of the prideful, stubborn little spirit he knew with the scene in front of him.
Zero smiled faintly and said, "Why don't we all sit down and talk properly? There's a lot to discuss."
"Sit down? Here?!" Subaru snapped, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. "Are you serious right now?! We're literally in the middle of a jungle! In the open! Anyone could jump us from the shadows! This is not exactly the safest place to have a deep heart-to-heart conversation!"
He looked around wildly, noticing for the first time the strange shimmering green aura that surrounded the area. "And what the hell is with this weird green barrier thing anyway?!"
Zero tilted his head calmly. "That would be my other spirit's magic at work. Why don't you all say hello to him properly?"
As he spoke, multiple presences suddenly made themselves known.
Subaru flinched as four glowing orbs of pure mana floated gracefully into view, circling them like watchful guardians.
And then, right beside him, a young woman's figure appeared.
She had flowing golden hair and eyes that gleamed like polished amber. She radiated an aura of elegance and composure, her beauty almost ethereal.
"My name is Sylphy," a bob of white mana introduced herself, her voice calm and melodic.
She looked directly at Subaru as she continued, "Subaru from another reality… it is I who erected this barrier. It will shield this place from outside interference and ensure that our conversation remains completely private."
If she had possessed a physical body in that moment, Subaru had no doubt she would have been bowing politely.
Subaru stared at her blankly for a moment, his mouth hanging open.
Then he turned his eyes awkwardly toward one of the orbs floating near him. "Uh… thank you, I guess?" he muttered, clearly out of his depth.
But then his brain caught up to what he had just heard, and his eyes shot wide again. "Wait a damn second—SHE CAN TALK?!"
As if mocking his bewilderment, the four mana orbs all gave off a light, melodic giggle in perfect harmony.
"Umu! I am Agni!" the red orb of mana bobbed up and down energetically, its fiery glow flaring like sparks from a campfire. "I am Father's contracted Spirit of Fire, proud and strong, the flame that burns with his will!"
"Yup! That's right, we can talk," another orb said cheerfully, this one radiating a deep blue hue that shimmered like the surface of a lake.
"I am Aqua, Father's contracted Spirit of Water. I'm also the best healer in our entire team, no matter what anyone else says!" The blue orb puffed itself up proudly, glowing brighter as though daring anyone to disagree.
Finally, a light brown orb floated forward, its earthy aura pulsing steadily, like the heartbeat of the land itself. Its voice was calm and grounded. "Introducing myself, I am Gaea, the Spirit of Earth. Nice to meet you, Subaru from another reality. It is a rare honor to meet you father from another timeline."
Subaru, still overwhelmed by the strange family of spirits suddenly surrounding him, tried his best to respond politely.
He straightened his back, forced a nervous smile, and bowed slightly. "Ah, nice to meet you all as well. I am Natsuki Subaru, from Ban—" He stopped abruptly, his words catching in his throat.
His expression faltered, and his eyes darkened for a moment. "…No. Not Banan. Not anymore." He muttered the correction bitterly, realizing he no longer had a home, no longer truly belonged to that nation.
That part of him had been stripped away along with everything else.
Awkward silence lingered for a beat, so Subaru immediately tried to shift the topic before his emotions could be laid bare any further.
His eyes darted toward the spirit who was clinging tightly to Zero's arm—pressing it right between her breasts with a smug little smile.
Subaru's eyebrow twitched violently as irritation rose inside him.
The spirit in question smiled sweetly, her golden hair flowing elegantly as she leaned even closer into Zero's side.
"I am Gloria," she introduced herself, her voice carrying a mixture of pride and playfulness. "The strongest contracted spirit of Father. Not only that, but I am also his lover. It is a pleasure to meet you, slothful Subaru."
Subaru nearly tripped over his own feet.
His face reddened with outrage, his eyebrows twitching harder. "Oi, oi, oi! Was it absolutely necessary to rub salt into my wound like that?!" he yelled, throwing his hands into the air.
"Do you have any idea what I've just gone through?! I literally just lost everything I held dear, every last thing, and now you show up proclaiming you're my other self's spirit-lover and calling me slothful?!" His voice cracked in frustration, equal parts embarrassed and annoyed.
Gloria chuckled softly at his reaction, clearly enjoying teasing him. "Indeed, you have lost much," she admitted, her golden eyes glimmering with understanding even as her lips curled into a mischievous grin.
"And that is why I must praise you. To stand here and converse with us so casually despite your suffering… it proves you are truly strong. You are, without doubt, my Father's alternate timeline self."
"Tch…" Subaru clicked his tongue, turning his head aside, clearly flustered but unable to deny her words.
His pride bristled, but at the same time, he felt strangely acknowledged.
Still, he wasn't about to let her get the last word.
He jabbed a finger toward Zero, scowling. "Well, ignoring the fact that all of these little guys keep calling you 'Father'—and let's not forget one of them with an actual body is shamelessly proclaiming her forbidden love for you—I think it's about time you explained what the hell is going on. Why are you even here in the first place?"
Subaru's voice cracked as his frustration spilled out. "I mean, yeah, I can kind of tell you're here to help me, but I still don't understand anything! Why me, why now, and what's the point of any of this?"
Zero, in stark contrast to Subaru's flailing anger, remained calm and collected.
His expression softened into a faint smile, though there was a knowing sharpness in his eyes. "Ah, so you really want to know, huh? You must be wondering why I am here, why I've crossed over into this place and why we are even bothering to help you at all. Perhaps right now, deep in your heart, you're thinking of yourself as nothing but a useless, pathetic man who can't do anything right. Isn't that so?"
The words pierced Subaru like a dagger.
His eyes widened as he flinched, visibly shaken by how accurately Zero had read his mind.
He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms as he glared at Zero.
"…Yes," Subaru admitted through gritted teeth.
"Yes, I can see it clearly. The difference between us. It's like night and day. Look at you—you have six spirits by your side. And not just any spirits either."
His voice trembled with awe. "I don't know why four of them haven't taken human form, but I can tell. They're all True Spirits. And the other two…" Subaru's eyes flicked toward Gloria and Beatrice. "…They're Great Spirits."
Subaru glanced toward Beatrice, his eyes softening for a moment before narrowing again as his gaze shifted to Gloria. "I know Beako was always a Great Spirit in my previous loops," he said slowly, his tone carrying both certainty and a hint of melancholy.
"But…" His expression hardened as he stared directly at Gloria, scrutinizing her presence.
"The intensity of her mana…" Subaru continued, his voice low but sharp. "It's extremely powerful—honestly, equal to or maybe even stronger than Zarestia's. After spending so much time with Zarestia, I've gotten incredibly sensitive to the flow and density of mana. I can feel it clearly. There's no doubt about it. She's a Great Spirit too, isn't she?"
Gloria smirked at the recognition, her lips curling upward with satisfaction. "Impressive," she said smoothly, her golden eyes glimmering as though she were testing him. "As expected of my Father's alternate timeline self. Indeed, you are correct. I am a Great Spirit—the Great Spirit of Yang."
Subaru's jaw dropped slightly, his eyes widening in disbelief. Yang. Of all things, Yang.
His mind raced as he processed the revelation. "You're kidding me… The Yang element?" he muttered, stunned.
Yang was not an ordinary attribute.
Alongside Yin, it was one of the rarest and most powerful elements in existence.
That kind of power was in an entirely different league compared to what most people could ever hope to touch.
"I see…" Subaru exhaled, his voice carrying a strange mix of awe and resignation. "But well, this just proves how much better your condition is compared to mine. Julius alone had six quasi-spirits representing every element, and because of that he's considered one of the strongest spirit users in the entire Kingdom."
Subaru's fists trembled as he clenched them at his sides, his tone sinking lower, heavier.
"And then there's me. Compared to someone like him, I'm nothing. Just a pathetic loser. And now looking at you, who has True Spirits and even Great Spirits by your side, I can't help but wonder… what's the point? What could you possibly gain by helping someone like me?" His voice cracked, his words spilling out laced with raw self-deprecation.
For a moment, Zero remained silent.
He stared at Subaru with an expression that was somewhere between pity and irritation.
His lips pressed into a thin line as his thoughts churned. 'Even after fifty years of living in that world, even after all that experience, he's still the same damn idiot, as expected of myself,' Zero thought, his head throbbing slightly from the frustration.
He let out a long sigh.
Finally, Zero spoke, his voice carrying firm weight. "Tell me something, Subaru. If you saw someone who felt like your brother, someone you knew was suffering through the worst day of their entire life… would you really just stand by and ignore them?"
The question hit Subaru harder than he expected.
He blinked, taken aback, before letting out a weak chuckle.
"Heh… you know, I seriously never thought I'd get lectured like this by a guy who's technically half a century younger than me," he admitted, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
Zero smiled faintly at that, the corners of his lips tugging upward.
Before either of them could continue, the ground rumbled lightly.
Gaea moved her mana, and with a calm but deliberate motion, she raised a table and several chairs out of the earth itself.
The surface was smooth, polished, and sturdy, almost like carved stone.
"Please," Gaea said in her grounded, calm tone, "take a seat."
Zero nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Gaea." He then turned his attention toward Gloria. "By the way, Gloria… could you go check on Rem? I don't want her to panic while we're out here talking."
Gloria smiled brightly, bowing her head slightly. "Do not worry, Father. This concubine shall faithfully carry out your order."
Without hesitation, her form shimmered, and in an instant, she transformed into pure golden light.
Her body shot forward at blistering speed, so fast that Subaru's eyes could barely track her movement. Within the blink of an eye, she was gone, leaving only faint ripples of residual mana in the air.
"D-Damn…" Subaru muttered, still processing what he had just witnessed. "She moved like… like light itself." His eyes widened as the reality sank in. "That's insane…"
Zero chuckled quietly at his reaction. "Well, you are certainly me after all," he said, smirking slightly. "It seems you even went and seduced one of the Four Great Spirits."
Subaru's expression immediately dimmed at those words.
His shoulders slumped as he looked downward, his face shadowed by the weight of his thoughts. "I didn't seduce her," he said softly, almost bitterly.
"But… I did love her. I still do." His fists tightened as his voice wavered, trembling with a mix of sorrow and longing.
"Just imagining her not remembering me anymore—it's already unbearable. If I go looking for her now, if I force an encounter, she'll kill me without hesitation. That's her nature. That's who she is."
His lips curled into a strained, pained smile. "It's almost absurd when I think about it. The fact that in the last loop, I somehow managed to make her my wife of all things… it feels like an impossible dream now."
Zero said nothing. However, he had a glint in his eyes as he looked at Subaru and then smiled.
Subaru exhaled deeply, shaking his head to ground himself again.
"…Anyway," Zero muttered, lifting his gaze toward Subaru. "Let's sit down and have a proper chat."
Subaru's eyes sharpened, his resolve steadying even as his heart still ached.
For the first time, he looked at Zero not just with confusion or jealousy—but with the determination to hear him out.
Zero nodded quietly, taking a seat at the table Gaea had provided.
The two versions of Natsuki Subaru, from different realities and different times, finally sat across from one another—ready at last to have the conversation that would change everything.
To be continued.