Chapter 764: The disturbing clue

Zero stared at him.

"What difference?"

Earth Zero walked toward another table.

He picked up a stack of papers.

Then placed them down.

One page showed a sequence.

Another showed what had actually occurred.

Zero recognized several events.

On the left—

Hiro responds.

On the right—

Mia responds.

On the left—

Hiro leads the group.

On the right—

The group follows Mia.

On the left—

Hiro becomes associated with the victory.

On the right—

Mia becomes the symbol of victory.

Zero’s expression hardened.

"You made these."

"No."

The answer came immediately.

Zero looked toward him.

"What?"

"I didn’t write the original sequence."

Earth Zero’s eyes moved toward the papers.

"I recorded the deviations."

Zero’s mind stopped for a moment.

"Then who wrote it?"

Earth Zero didn’t answer.

"Who decided what should happen?"

Still nothing.

Zero stepped closer.

"How do you know this is what was supposed to happen?"

Earth Zero’s expression changed.

Something dark passed through it.

"Because I’ve seen what happens when it doesn’t."

Zero froze.

The room became silent.

"What happens?"

Earth Zero looked directly at him.

For a moment, Zero thought he would finally answer.

Instead, Earth Zero said—

"Not yet."

Zero’s mana surged.

The papers lifted from the force of the pressure.

Earth Zero didn’t move.

"You’re hiding something."

"Yes."

"Something about these records."

"Yes."

"Something about Hiro."

"Yes."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

Earth Zero looked at him calmly.

"You finally understand something important."

"What?"

"The world isn’t moving the way it should."

***********************************

Zero looked around the room.

Hundreds of pages.

Thousands of differences.

Small changes.

Large changes.

Some barely noticeable.

Others impossible to ignore.

His presence.

Mia’s role.

Hiro’s position.

The peace treaty.

Aamon.

The Tower.

Everything.

Zero slowly realized something disturbing.

He had assumed Earth Zero was trying to change reality.

But perhaps—

Earth Zero was doing the opposite.

Perhaps he was trying to stop reality from changing further.

Zero looked toward him.

"You’re restoring it."

Earth Zero didn’t answer.

"You’re trying to put things back."

"Some things."

"Why not everything?"

Earth Zero’s expression darkened.

"Because some things can’t be put back."

Zero remembered the Earth version’s words.

I’m correcting my mistakes.

The phrase now carried a different meaning.

Earth Zero had made mistakes.

But Zero Elea had also changed things.

Without realizing it.

The thought unsettled him.

"Why does Hiro matter more than everything else?"

Earth Zero looked toward the papers containing Hiro’s name.

His expression softened slightly.

Then became distant.

"Because some changes are larger than they appear."

Zero waited.

But Earth Zero said nothing more.

****************************************

Zero walked toward another section of the room.

There were pages describing events that had not happened yet.

He stopped.

His eyes narrowed.

One sheet described a political crisis.

Another described an expedition.

Another contained only several names.

Zero looked toward Earth Zero.

"These haven’t happened."

"I know."

"Then how are they here?"

Earth Zero remained silent.

Zero picked up one.

It contained a short sequence.

A conflict emerges.

The group separates.

Hiro remains behind.

The next line had been crossed out.

Zero looked closer.

Someone had written something beside it.

Already altered.

His expression hardened.

"This hasn’t happened yet."

"It doesn’t need to."

Zero turned.

"What?"

Earth Zero’s voice was quiet.

"Some changes begin before the event happens."

Zero stared at him.

The words made no sense.

Yet the entire room seemed to prove them.

Earth Zero knew events before they occurred.

Not like predictions.

Not like possibilities.

He knew their place.

Their order.

Their position relative to everything else.

As though the future had already been arranged.

And reality was supposed to follow it.

Zero looked at the pages again.

For the first time, a thought entered his mind.

Not a conclusion.

Not yet.

Only a suspicion.

What if Edolas had a path?

Not a prophecy.

Not fate.

Something else.

A sequence.

A direction.

A way events were meant to unfold.

And somehow—

they had moved away from it.

*************************************

Earth Zero began gathering the papers.

Zero watched him.

"You’re not stopping me?"

"Would it matter?"

Earth Zero looked toward him.

"Probably not."

"Then explain."

"I already explained more than I intended."

"Not enough."

Earth Zero placed another page into a case.

"No."

Zero stepped forward.

"You said the difference is growing."

Earth Zero stopped.

"What happens when it grows too much?"

The other Zero didn’t answer.

Zero’s voice became colder.

"What happens?"

For several seconds, Earth Zero remained still.

Then he said—

"Things begin disappearing."

Zero froze.

"What?"

Earth Zero immediately continued gathering the papers.

Zero grabbed his arm.

"Explain that."

Earth Zero looked at Zero’s hand.

Then toward his face.

"You aren’t ready."

"Stop deciding that for me."

Earth Zero pulled his arm free.

"You think knowing something means you can fix it."

His voice remained calm.

"But some knowledge only tells you how late you already are."

Zero stared at him.

Earth Zero closed the case.

The sound echoed through the room.

"You’re beginning to see the path."

Zero’s eyes narrowed.

"What path?"

Earth Zero walked toward the door.

"The one you helped move."

Zero immediately followed.

"Wait."

Earth Zero stopped.

For the first time, his expression showed something close to regret.

"You didn’t know."

Zero watched him carefully.

"Know what?"

Earth Zero looked toward the darkness outside.

Then quietly answered—

"That every choice you made was changing more than the people around you."

Zero’s eyes widened slightly.

Earth Zero stepped outside.

"That’s the problem."

Zero followed him.

But Earth Zero was already disappearing.

"You’re not just changing the story."

The final words remained in the air.

"You might be changing what comes after it."

Then he was gone.

***********************************

Zero remained outside the abandoned building.

The night was silent.

Behind him, the room filled with papers remained.

Expected sequences.

Altered events.

Names.

Paths.

Differences.

For the first time, Zero felt something unfamiliar.

Not fear of Earth Zero.

Not anger.

Uncertainty.

He had spent his entire life making choices.

Entering the Tower.

Leaving it.

Traveling to the Elven Kingdom.

Learning Mana Base.

Fighting Aamon.

Protecting Lilith.

Supporting peace.

Helping the people around him.

He had never believed those choices could be wrong simply because someone expected something else to happen.

And yet—

the evidence inside the building was impossible to ignore.

Events had changed.

Not slightly.

Not naturally.

Major events had moved away from the sequence Earth Zero possessed.

And somehow, the greatest difference seemed connected to one person.

Hiro.

Zero looked toward the capital.

Far away, the lights continued shining.

Hiro was there.

Living his life.

Accepting requests.

Becoming the person people increasingly looked toward.

Unaware that someone was watching every step.

Unaware that another version of Zero believed his position mattered more than anyone understood.

Zero slowly closed his eyes.

"What were you supposed to become?"

He didn’t know the answer.

But somewhere inside that abandoned building—

Earth Zero had left behind a clue.

A clue that suggested Hiro’s importance had never been about strength.

Or politics.

Or recognition.

He belonged somewhere specific.

At the center of something.

And Zero was beginning to understand that Earth Zero wasn’t asking the world to remember Hiro.

He was trying to return Hiro to a place—

the world itself had somehow expected him to occupy.

The only question remaining was—

Who had decided that?

And what would happen if Edolas continued refusing to follow the path written for it?