...
(3rd Pov)
The slave traders had finally exited the city. After slipping past the outer checkpoint, they had split into three separate groups, each heading in a different direction in an attempt to hide their movements and reduce the chances of getting caught. Clearly, they thought they were safe now that they were beyond the city walls.
Subaru, however, had been watching from the shadows the entire time. He had deliberately waited for them to leave the city limits. He didn't want to stain the streets of the town with their blood or risk damaging private property during their inevitable demise.
After all, Subaru had lived as a middle-class citizen in both of his previous lives. Even though he hadn't been born into a world like Marvel or DC, he still understood the frustration and heartbreak of innocent civilians when their belongings got caught in the crossfire between heroes and villains.
'Imagine spending your entire savings on a brand-new car,' Subaru thought, 'only for Hulk to smash it to pieces by chucking it at a villain and missing completely, on top of that you have no car insurance. That kind of emotional damage should be illegal.'
The Pain is real.
Just imagining it gave Subaru chills, he shook off such random thoughts and focused on the task.
Once all three groups had put enough distance between themselves and the city, Subaru made his move. With a thought, he activated his Authority of Lust. The moment his power surged, all the slave traders collapsed simultaneously, dead before they could even register what had happened.
Part of him had wanted to make them suffer—to drag them through the pain and torment they had inflicted on countless others. But in the end, that would have just been a waste of time. The slaves needed saving, and every second mattered. Torturing the culprits might have brought momentary satisfaction, but it wouldn't undo the damage already done.
'Better to spend time healing the wounded than hurting the guilty,' Subaru told himself firmly.
With the slavers dead, an eerie silence followed—broken moments later by cries of shock and surprise from the enslaved victims. Most of them were still shackled, while a few who were stronger or possessed supernatural traits had been confined in enchanted cages or magically reinforced restraints.
Stepping forward with calm confidence, Subaru addressed them.
"I am Zero," he announced loudly, his voice clear and steady. "The hero who defeated the White Whale and the Great Rabbit. I've come here to rescue all of you."
At the same time, he subtly manipulated his aura and released a controlled wave of psychic energy. It was a small but deliberate nudge, designed to make him seem more trustworthy and charismatic—an instinctive reaction for most people, drawing them closer to him emotionally and mentally.
"Alright, Aqua, it's time. Let's get them healed," Subaru said, calling forth his water spirit.
"Yup! Spirit Aqua reporting for healing duty!" Aqua chirped brightly as she manifested next to him in a burst of water particles, her cheerful energy cutting through the grim atmosphere.
Subaru hadn't spent the previous day idly. He had used that time to experiment further with his abilities. What he discovered had been nothing short of shocking—he now had access to all six elemental attributes.
He had already formed a theory about how it had happened. Technically, all humans are composed of six elements at a fundamental level. Most, however, naturally gravitate toward one or two elemental affinities, with the rest remaining dormant or inaccessible due to lack of talent or compatibility.
But when Subaru's talent had been amplified 1024 times, those latent affinities didn't remain dormant—they surged forward and fully awakened as major elemental paths.
Even though he wasn't equally suited to all of them—his affinity still leaned more heavily toward Yin and Earth—the difference in performance was negligible when compared to the average magician.
His spellcasting ability had skyrocketed. His mana control, already impressive, had also increased 1024 times. When combined with the boost in elemental affinity and the raw power flowing through his gate, the result was simple:
Subaru had become an absolute monster in terms of magical capability.
Even his weakest attribute—Yang—was several times stronger than that of a typical advanced mage. In the magical system of this world, most magicians would either have a full 100% affinity or none at all. The actual strength of a mage usually depended on the quality of their gate, mana reserves, control, and technical mastery.
But Subaru was different. His Yin affinity alone had now reached a theoretical value of 102400%—a ludicrous number by any standard.
That was why he could use top-tier Yin spells without needing weeks or months of practice. His very first attempts were already equivalent to those of battle-hardened mages who had trained for years.
Now, with healing spells infused by both Yin magic and Aqua's water-based restoration abilities, Subaru got to work. Wounds closed rapidly. Broken bones realigned. Color returned to pale cheeks. Though many of the rescued individuals still bore scars and remained weak, none of them were in any immediate danger of dying anymore. That alone was a major victory.
With most of the healing complete, Subaru extended his shadow hands and began breaking the iron restraints that still bound the prisoners. Cages were cracked open like brittle shells, and shackles disintegrated under the pressure of his power.
Then, as things began to settle, one of the rescued individuals stepped forward. A demi-human woman with brown hair, dog-like ears, and a matching tail approached him hesitantly. Her daughter stood beside her, still trembling slightly, her body marked with faint scars.
The woman bowed low, her voice trembling with emotion.
"M-My Lord... I am truly grateful to you," she said, her voice catching mid-sentence. "If not for your grace... my daughter and I... we would have been sold off. Probably to some brothel or some twisted noble with sick tastes. We don't know how to thank you enough."
Subaru looked at them silently for a moment. The daughter met his gaze, her eyes filled with a mix of fear and awe. She didn't speak, but her expression said everything.
He didn't reply immediately. He didn't need to. The air around him radiated intent. He wasn't just here to rescue them—he was here to change things.
Her daughter had seen it happen.
She had been there when they raped her mother in front of her. Heard the cries. Heard the begging. She knew exactly what was happening, even if she wasn't supposed to understand at her age.
She was made to witness her mother being raped, reduced to a way to vent their lust.
The only reason those sick bastards hadn't laid a hand on her was simple: they saw her as more valuable untouched. In their twisted, disgusting minds, her "purity" increased her price. They wanted to sell her for a higher bid, and any physical violation would ruin that chance.
Her mother, on the other hand, was already "used goods" to them. They didn't care what happened to her. No, she was just something to relieve their filth and frustrations on.
They broke her in every way imaginable. And the girl had been forced to watch.
Subaru didn't need to be told. The moment he lightly read the surface of the girl's thoughts—just enough to understand her silence—it all came crashing down on him like a hammer.
A child forced to stand there and witness the total collapse of her only family. A girl who was spared not out of mercy, but out of greed.
His body tensed.
'Those fucking slave traders... they made a kid watch that? They did that to her mother in front of her?'
He turned his gaze back to the corpses—those same slavers he had already executed. For a moment, even death didn't seem like enough.
He wasn't done with them.
He had already decided. Their bodies would be reduced to ash—nothing left but dust. And then, those ashes would be scooped up, collected like garbage, and flushed down the dirtiest, most foul-smelling latrine in the slums. One of those open, unclean public toilets used by drunkards and street filth.
'Let their afterlife begin the way they lived: worthless, degraded, drowning in shit and piss. That's what they earned.'
He sighed, not to calm himself but because even anger this powerful couldn't change the past. Then he knelt down slowly in front of the girl.
She flinched. She didn't run, didn't scream, but her body shook—tense, alert, ready to flee at the slightest movement.
Subaru reached out slowly, gently patting her head with care. She didn't react, didn't even lift her eyes to look at him.
He gave her a soft smile. Not forced, not fake—just something genuine, even if small.
"You don't need to be afraid anymore," he said quietly.
Then he stood up and turned to face the rest of the freed slaves.
"FOR I AM HERE!" he declared with a bold, confident voice, one that carried reassurance, if All Might was here he would have given him a thumbs up.
Silence.
Most of the rescued slaves stared at him like he was some kind of messiah. Their eyes glimmered—not with blind worship, but with stunned hope. They didn't know who him personally, but they saw what he'd done. They saw the corpses. They saw the freed cages, they have heard of his heroic deeds.
Slaying the Whale, killing the Archbishops.
To them, that was enough.
But the girl? Her expression didn't change. Not one bit. Her face remained blank. Her eyes empty.
'Words don't fix everything,' Subaru thought grimly. 'You can't just slap a quote on trauma and expect it to disappear.'
He turned his attention to his spirits.
"Sylphy, stay here and guard them," he said, his voice returning to a calm command. "Aqua, return to me."
As he spoke, his wind spirit Sylphy appeared in view—an orb of glowing white mana floating gently in the air beside him.
The sight made several of the demi-humans flinch in surprise. Some gasped. Others whispered in disbelief.
Seeing a spirit with one's own eyes was rare. Spirit Arts were far more scarce than standard magic, and magic itself was rare enough. Most fighters never encountered a true Spirit User in their entire lives.
Subaru addressed them once more. "There are still other slaves being moved through the outer routes. I'm going to go deal with that. Please wait here. Sylphy will protect you until I return."
With that, he activated his teleportation magic. In an instant, his figure disappeared from the clearing—reappearing near another group of escaping slavers who had taken alternate paths to avoid detection.
This time, Subaru didn't offer quick death.
No. This time, he was in a different mood.
He activated his Authority of Sloth, and with it came the manifestation of Invisible Providence—the unseen hands of destruction that moved at his will.
They didn't see it coming.
The first one dropped to his knees, clawing at his chest, gasping and wheezing as Subaru gripped his heart from the inside. The invisible force squeezed with agonizing pressure until it ruptured. Blood poured from the man's mouth, and he collapsed.
Another slaver tried to run. Subaru reached out with his unseen arms and grabbed the man's limbs—twisting, snapping, bending. His joints cracked like brittle wood underfoot. He fell to the ground screaming, every cry louder and more pathetic than the last.
He begged. Subaru didn't care.
They were getting the famous Rem treatment, invented by Petelgeuse Romanee Conti!
He repeated the process for each one—some had their bones broken slowly, others suffocated, a few even dragged through the dirt by invisible force until their skulls cracked on nearby rocks.
No one survived.
But this time, unlike before, the slaves that had been with these traders saw everything.
When Subaru turned to face them, many flinched or outright collapsed from fear. Some thought they were next.
To them, he looked like a monster. They didn't understand. They just saw a man who slaughtered everyone around them without lifting a finger.
'Shit… I overdid it again,' Subaru thought, realizing the panic he had caused.
He immediately activated a psychic suggestion—subtle, soft, just enough to calm their thoughts. At the same time, he began suppressing his aura, reducing the pressure he was radiating.
Slowly, his presence shifted from terrifying to calming. The fear began to ebb away. The crying stopped. One by one, their expressions softened from terror to confusion.
Then, recognition.
This was the one who freed them. Not the one who captured them.
Subaru took a deep breath and began healing their wounds. He didn't speak unless necessary. He made no sudden moves.
He approached gently, like someone tending to frightened animals.
It took effort, but eventually, the new group accepted his help.
They were still nervous—still shaken by what they had seen—but they weren't screaming anymore. They weren't backing away like cornered prey.
'That's enough for now,' Subaru told himself. 'They're safe. The rest... I'll deal with later.'
One group at a time. One life at a time.
After safely escorting the second group of rescued slaves with Gaea's help, Subaru teleported once more, this time to eliminate the final stragglers among the slave traders who had tried to slip away unnoticed.
They didn't last long.
By the time he was done, there were no slavers left alive. Every last one of them had been dealt with—either crushed, torn, or ripped apart by his Authority of Sloth and Invisible Providence. Their screams would never echo again.
With the last of them gone, Subaru gathered up all three groups of freed slaves. The children, the women, the elderly, and even the battle-scarred fighters who had been caged like animals—all of them were escorted outside the city limits, far enough not to alarm the inner districts, but close enough to return them to civilization.
Gaea and Sylphy who were waiting there with the first and second groups. The reunion was a quiet one, filled with tired but relieved expressions, for them who didn't understand human emotions properly, dealing with traumatised humans radiating negative emotions was exhausting.
Subaru meanwhile could see in the slaves' eyes—they didn't quite believe they were truly free yet.
Together, they approached the city gates.
The guards stationed at the entrance—bored, relaxed, and not expecting anything unusual—froze when they spotted Subaru leading an enormous group of people toward them. Their confusion quickly turned to concern. The crowd looked like trouble.
Dirty, ragged clothing. Collars. Branded arms. Starved bodies.
They looked like slaves.
The guards exchanged glances, suspicion rising. One of them leaned toward the other and muttered under his breath.
"Should we stop him? Looks like some kind of illegal transfer. Could be a rogue slaver with connections to the nobles."
The other one frowned, uncertain. "Maybe. But they're not chained. That doesn't make sense..."
They were hesitant. Nervous. Unsure whether they were supposed to intervene or keep their mouths shut.
They ignored Slave traders as long as they were out of their vision, after all slave traders had connections with rich merchants and Nobles, unless one was part of Royal Guard no one dared to go against Nobles.
Subaru didn't waste time. He stepped forward and raised his voice.
"I am Marquis Zero," he announced firmly. "These people have been freed from slavery. You are to escort them to the city's secure shelter immediately."
With that, he pulled out his Noble Insignia—a finely engraved emblem that glowed faintly with magical verification. The moment the guards saw it, their faces went pale. They froze in place, eyes wide.
The authority he held was not something they could argue with. And yet, their minds struggled to process the situation.
A marquis? Personally rescuing slaves? Escorting them through the gate without an escort squad?
It didn't add up.
In panic they forgot that Subaru was previously a commoner, and he was a hero who killed two of the great clamaties himself.
"Did I stutter?" Subaru's voice snapped them out of their trance. His sharp tone carried weight, and the guards immediately straightened and saluted.
"N-No sir! We'll handle it right away!" one of them replied, voice cracking slightly.
They moved into action, calling for additional support to escort the refugees. However some of them recognized Subaru from the day before.
'What the hell?! Isn't that the guy who was with that smoking hot blonde yesterday?' the guard thought, panic settling in his chest. 'Shit… is it too late to give the money back?'
'He recognizes me,' Subaru thought, locking eyes with the man.
The guard's face said everything. Panic. Guilt. Recognition.
"You there," Subaru said, pointing at him. "What's your name?"
The guard's spine stiffened like a rod. His skin turned pale. He opened his mouth with difficulty. "M-My name is Jack, sir."
"Good. You're fired," Subaru said flatly, then added, "And so is the one who was working with you yesterday—the man who accepted the bribe."
The other guards froze, their expressions shocked. Some looked between each other, as if hoping it was a joke. Jack's mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, unable to respond.
Subaru, however, wasn't finished.
He had already used his ability 'Memories of the World' to trace their personal histories. Neither of the men would starve—both had farms registered under their family names. And considering most of their bribe money had been wasted on alcohol and gambling, there wasn't much pity left to spare.
'They won't die poor. They'll just have to work like honest people for once.'
The other guards were frozen, silent, unsure whether to speak. Subaru turned his gaze on all of them.
"I know what you're all thinking," he said sharply. "What did they do wrong?"
He raised his voice slightly so there was no confusion.
"You didn't check me for identification. That alone would've been excusable—maybe. But you took a bribe. You let someone pass without proper procedure because you were paid under the table. That's where you crossed the line."
His voice hardened.
"If yesterday, either of those two had rejected the bribe—even slapped me in the face for offering it—I would've respected them. But no. Instead, they compromised the entire security of this city for a handful of coins."
The silence among the guards was thick. None of them dared move.
"This is your final warning," Subaru continued. "From now on, no bribes. No backdoor entries. Every single person coming through these gates—whether they're a merchant, a noble, or a damn spirit in human form—will be checked and verified. Is that clear?"
"YES SIR!" they shouted in unison, standing straight.
Subaru nodded, satisfied.
He wasn't cruel. He wasn't even particularly strict. But when it came to the safety of the people and the law of the land, there was no room for negotiation. If he didn't make an example out of Jack and his partner, the rest of the guards would continue their casual corruption behind closed doors.
But this? This sent a message.
And it wasn't a biased judgment. Not even close. He had checked everything—every recorded bribe, every abuse of power, every time Jack and the other guard had used their position to intimidate, cheat, or manipulate civilians.
In fact, among all the gate personnel, they were the worst offenders.
Subaru always made his judgments based on truth. Not on emotion. Not on appearances. But on the facts laid bare by the world itself.
'I know exactly how devastating an unjust judgment can be. Even if it hasn't happened to me, I've seen what it does to a person's life. And I'll never let that kind of rot fester under my watch.'
At this very moment, standing firm at the gates with dozens of freed slaves behind him and trembling guards in front of him—Subaru didn't just represent authority.
He was authority.
He was justice.
Because Natsuki Subaru didn't wait for the world to become right.
He made it right.
To be continued...
(A/N: If we reach 350 powerstones by tmrw I will upload bonus chaps.
If we reach 600 powerstones I will upload two bonus chaps.
If we reach 1000 powerstones I will upload another bonus chap.
Only if we reach this goal by tmrw, if not I will give you another goal tmrw.
The boring part will soon end, I will wrap up this volume in another 10k or 20k words.
Multiversal part will come soon!
Reina V/S Reinhardt
Subaru V/S Reinhardt
Subaru V/S the Witch Cult
Subaru V/S All the fiver camps
Subaru helping Subaru
Subaru torturing Subaru(Pranking)
You name it! You get it!
Get excited!)