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{3rd Pov}
A few days passed. During that time, his Beatrice finally woke up, and Subaru had already finished creating the Magic Circle required for traveling to another world.
After having a long discussion with her, Subaru learned something important—Reina had fallen into the swirling space-time before he did. Based on the analysis of their timeline coordinates, which had been recorded as imaginary seven, they deduced that Reina could have ended up in any one of the six timelines that came before their current one.
That discovery gave Subaru a huge amount of hope. With that information in hand, he made his decision. He would travel through those six timelines one by one to search for Reina. If, after all that effort, he still failed to find her, then he would return to his original timeline and try to develop or discover a different method to locate her.
He also finally understood why he had lost consciousness during his previous time-travel. His supersenses—which were highly enhanced to begin with—had overloaded with information due to the chaotic nature of swirling space-time. The endless, incomprehensible data had crashed into his mind all at once.
The only known solution was to suppress or weaken his senses as much as possible during the travel process, allowing him to maintain consciousness next time.
With that problem noted and resolved, Subaru proceeded to search this world for Legendary Weapons. To his surprise, he managed to find the Life Sword and the Yin Sword of this timeline.
Unfortunately, his Authority of the Memories of the World couldn't help him locate the other Legendary Weapons, because he had never seen them with his own eyes. Without that personal experience, the Authority couldn't reference or trace their locations.
He did consider fusing these swords with the ones he already had. Since all versions of the swords shared the same essence, fusion would have been possible and would've enhanced their power. However, Subaru chose a different path.
He gave the swords away instead.
The Life Sword was entrusted to Ram, while the Yin Sword was handed over to Emilia. Despite neither of them having a specific magical affinity aligned with the weapons, it didn't restrict their ability to use them. Sure, having a matching affinity would provide some perks and advantages, but it wasn't a necessity.
Subaru's decision was partially inspired by a past incident in another timeline—the 'Revenge If' world—where his alternate self had successfully used the Life Sword to kill Petelgeuse, proving that affinity wasn't an absolute requirement.
As Subaru continued preparing for some tests with the Magic Circle, an unexpected event occurred between the two Beatrices—his own Beatrice, and the Beatrice of this world.
Apparently, when his Betty tried to explain the truth to this world's Beatrice—that the person she had been waiting for over 400 years didn't actually exist—it triggered an emotional meltdown.
Beatrice of this world snapped.
"Shut up! What do you know?!" she screamed, her voice shaking with emotion. "You think you have the right to say that to me, when you have him?!"
She pointed directly at Subaru, her expression filled with frustration, sadness, and envy.
"You have a contractor who loves you! Someone who doesn't give up on you! He fought the Sword Saint—and killed him—because he hurt you!" she shouted.
The words hit Betty hard. She was left stunned, standing frozen as the emotional weight settled on her. In that moment, she fully understood—this Beatrice was jealous of her.
The Beatrice of this world broke down, her voice shaking as tears rolled down her face.
"Why don't I have someone like that? Why does your version of Beatrice get to have everything?! Why am I the one who's left alone, waiting endlessly for someone who was never going to come?!"
Her shoulders shook violently as she sobbed, venting centuries of loneliness and hopelessness in front of them.
Subaru let out a deep sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He honestly didn't know what to do.
This situation was complicated. He couldn't just offer a solution and pretend it would be fine. It was clear that Beatrice of this timeline had been suffering for far too long, clinging to a belief that was nothing more than a cruel fabrication.
He couldn't possibly make a contract with this world's Beatrice as well… right?
"I know… I know exactly how it feels," Betty said as she slowly walked toward her counterpart.
"For four hundred years, I stood guard over the Forbidden Library. Just like you, I was waiting for 'that person.' That's exactly why… that's why I want you to understand! I want you to stop waiting for someone who may never come! I want you to leave this stupid library behind! Step outside! And—choose someone! Someone who will become your 'That person'—no, someone better than the one who kept you waiting for four hundred years!!" Betty shouted, her voice filled with raw emotion.
Beatrice froze in place, staring at Betty. Then her eyes slowly shifted toward Subaru.
He met her gaze and gave her a calm nod.
Subaru's eyes had remained golden ever since his battle with Reinhardt. Everyone of Subaru's spirits had noticed the change, yet none of them cared much about it—because they didn't need to.
They just told him he looked more dashing with golden eyes.
He wanted her to choose someone who would love her unconditionally—no matter how she changed, no matter how long it took.
"I know it won't be easy. In fact, it'll be difficult and completely unfair. You'll meet people who only want to use you, manipulate you… but I believe you'll find someone. Someone who'll love you for who you truly are," Subaru said, his voice calm and sincere.
Betty stepped forward and embraced Beatrice. The two stayed like that for a long moment, no words exchanged—just the comfort of presence.
After that, Beatrice didn't say anything. But from the very next day, she started dining with the rest of them.
Rem, who had finally regained consciousness, was still struggling to adjust. Two entire years had passed since her death, and so much had changed during that time.
At first, she couldn't suppress her instincts. She attempted to attack Subaru due to the overwhelming Witch's scent clinging to him. However, Ram firmly scolded her, and as things settled down, Rem slowly began to realize how misplaced and unjustified her hatred had been.
The very man she lashed out at—he had saved her sister. He had brought her back from the dead.
How could someone like that be evil, just because he carried the Witch's scent?
Meanwhile, Subaru focused all his attention on further tests with the time-travel mechanics involving Yggdrasil magic. When he decided a marked block to be sent into the past, an identical block appeared before him—confirming that the spell had worked.
Then, he sent the block into the past again, which returned to become the current block.
After that, he repeated the experiment by sending a block into the future—it reappeared a few hours later, right where expected.
Finally, he wrote a letter and sent it across timelines, directing it to Echidna's workshop in his original world.
For a while, there was no response.
But eventually, a reply came through.
Echidna had received his letter and assured him that, now knowing he was safe, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief. She agreed with his plan to travel across the remaining six timelines in search of Reina before returning home.
In the meantime, she promised to continue refining the Yggdrasil magic and to investigate alternative methods to track Reina, in case Subaru's efforts didn't succeed.
A heavy weight lifted from Subaru's heart. With that reassurance, he could now fully dedicate himself to rescuing Reina.
After a few more successful tests, it was time to say goodbye to Emilia.
She was preparing to be officially crowned as queen. To support her in the future, Subaru compiled and gave her several notebooks—guides filled with knowledge and strategy. They covered everything from royal governance to Witch Cult subjugation, even advice on how to manage the political fallout from Reinhardt's and the Sin Archbishop of Pride's deaths.
Everything she would need, he had written down.
Now, all preparations were complete.
Subaru packed the broken Reid Sword with him. His plan was to eventually reforge it into a powerful weapon for Gloria in the future.
Standing together on the magic circle, ready to leave, Subaru gave everyone final instructions.
He had already warned Emilia and the others—under no circumstances were they to activate the circle once he and his companions were gone.
"Alright, girls, time to get inside my soul space," Subaru said calmly.
One by one, his contracted spirits disappeared into his soul space.
Subaru then began suppressing his senses—deactivating his Psychic and Aura Sense abilities.
He shut his eyes and used his control over Ki to dull his remaining senses. That was the only way to survive time travel without falling unconscious.
Finally, he activated the magic circle.
A brilliant light engulfed him.
And just like that, Subaru and his companions vanished from that world.
To be continued…