Zaybi

**Zaybi** (ゼイビィ, *Zeibī*?) is Hallow's older brother and the deuteragonist of *Versus*.

## Appearance

     Zaybi is quite petite but has a tall, masculine body type. His sky-blue hair is pulled back into a low ponytail, and long fringes that could be mistaken for side bangs hang in the front.

He dresses in a yellow, ragged, sleeveless shirt, the raggedness likely the result of his expedition around the globe. He sometimes wears a necklace made of yarn or a tie embellished with three tiny, unidentified solids. He ties what is most likely a dark long-sleeved coat akin to what the other mages at his waist which covers the back of his slack and worn-out pants. Finally, he also dons a pair of somewhat pointed heeled boots.

## Personality

Zaybi is a an optimistic, friendly and encouraging man. When he saw a distressed Hallow because of his fight against Jachi, he comforted him and behaved optimistically. He is also a conscious and enthusiastic leader who spreads hope when things get tough. Despite being optimistic, Zaybi is often scared in his heart.

## Plot

### Background

When Zaybi was a kid, he showed a 7-year-old Hallow the basics of summoning spells, using an apple as an example. He failed the summoning on purpose and got a deformed apple whose origins were unknown, but Hallow doesn't understand. He then tells his brother he's better at using his body rather than his head, and that he'd become a hero someday.

### Introduction Arc

Zaybi encounters Hallow in the riverside, explaining he's part of a plan that consists in summoning an entire world using 47 different mage squads to crate a planet spanning summoning circle, with Zaybi coincidentally happening to have found his brother. As the summoning causes a storm to spontaneously form, some demons attack them and the mages tries to defend themselves. Slowly being overwhelmed, they're rescued by a gun-armed squad with Kayla as their captain, who asks Zaybi and the rest to save them from mankind's enemies.

After hearing this, he briefly deludes himself with the thought that this was the other-worlders way of greeting others, only to have his hopes dashed. He tells Kayla about their groups roles and she takes them in stride, which causes him to ask why she's so quick to believe they are from a different world. They start having a discussion when Kayla also mentions they also summoned them through different means. The two realize they summoned each other at the exact same time, so they talk in detail about the situation. When Kayla mentions their natural enemies, the Robots, Zaybi is nonplussed at the unknown name he just learned. Kayla then goes on to explain the origin of robots and how their artificial intelligence surpassed humans. They then begin another discussion on which threat to humanity is stronger. They hear a booming sound, and Kayla tells them to hide from the coming robots. Kayla tells the others robots are also very manipulative, to which Zaybi is uncertain. The robots discover the presence of life and start advancing on them without pause even under the assault of advanced weaponry, only stymied when Zaybi decides to use magic against them. Smirking, he asks if that was the soldiers first time seeing magic, and says the robots weren't a big deal, with magic being more effective on objects which naturally lack magic power. Kayla then offers Zaybi a handshake to signify their alliance, to which he humbly accepts, complimenting the effective power of scientific weapons against the Demons.

Suddenly, they hear Demons coming to their way so Zaybi says they need to retreat and organize their forces. Freen offers to use flying magic to go back to their fort, to which Zaybi accepts. Zaybi tells Freen to continue the chant without pausing while they defend him for 5 minutes. He then uses **Electric Magic: Thunderbolt** to gain time. When Hallow wants to participate in the battle, the mage tells him to stay back since he's only for emergency cases. Suddenly, one of the robots adapts to Zaybi and Wally's continuous attacks by summoning a barrier that attracts lightning. Zaybi gets surprised by the huge power of robots and their manipulation of magic. After many of them die, Zaybi asks Freen if he's done, and the latter affirms. They all gather in the magic circle and Freen activates **Multi-Target Flying Magic: Flyaway** and they all go back to the fort.

Hallow wakes up in the fortress with Zaybi to his side. He asks his brother where are the other comrades, and he tells him about Wally's condition and the unfortunate loss of some of the gun-armed humans. To this, Hallow states he couldn't save anybody because he was weak. He then asks him what should they do from there, since they have to fight both the demons and the robots. Zaybi however recalls the situation is more dire than ever, and takes him out to see that there are more worlds connected to theirs.

After he explains to Hallow what is going on, he proposes a plan to rescue survivors from across the world with the help of magic circles. Hallow insists in going with him but Zaybi refuses because of his wounds. Hallow insists further and Zaybi accepts with the condition of Panepane taking care of him. Fast forward, Hallow, Zaybi, Kayla, and Panepane look astonished at the new, mixed landscape. Zaybi informs them that the place used to be a usual forest, implying the existence of tens of worlds. The party decides to rescue as many human survivors as possible to bring them to the fortress, but Zaybi warns them to stay close to the teleportation circle.

They're suddenly ambushed by big moles, but they stop chasing the group as they watch in fear a colossal being. Panepane insists in going back to the fortress but Hallow points out there is a survivor. However, it is a giant. After it tries to kill Hallow, Zaybi uses **Fog Magic - Noisy Fog** and distracts it for a while, and scolds Hallow for being reckless. When they pick up the survivors, the giant blows away his magic and starts chasing them. However, they reach a dead end and Zaybi watches in disbelief as the plants cut off the road. He sees Hallow watch the moles and the giant fight each other and tells him to not distract himself. When they reach the magic circle, the kid survivor spots other survivors in the distance. Hallow rushes to the scene as Zaybi follows him. When they come back to the fortress, Zaybi feels tired and goes to see the king who is in bad conditions due to a mysterious disease. He then asks another mage to call refugees from other worlds to get information and determine what they need to do afterwards.

At a meeting with 13 other worlds' humans, he proposes the term 'Natural Enemy' to refer to each human worlds's enemies. He then asks them to share information about their natural enemies. When they all introduce their worlds, the mage asks them to brainstorm on how they could get past their situation. There's only silence, which is understandable to Zaybi as each world has their own problems, and starts getting hopeless, but Hallow suggests they should make natural enemies fight each other. Everyone criticizes his idea, while Zaybi thinks thoroughly about it. He decides to force a fight between the humans, provoking them by saying Demons are the strongest natural enemy. This works, which proves Hallow's idea could work, although some doubt about it.

Zaybi is confused as he sees the human from Mad God's World suddenly getting desperate because 'they had angered God'. Somebody asks Zaybi if he has any proposal to proceed with Hallow's idea, but Zaybi disappoints them when he says he has no plan. Pakka aggressively grabs the mage and asks him if he's mocking them. Hallow steps in and demands Pakka to let go of his brother. The mage asks Hallow to let go first. While the rest are still arguing, Gyuta asks if Zaybi was busy because a person showed up to the meeting. The person in question is Garasp, a general from the Machine Rule World. He asks Garasp to manage the meeting, which he agrees to do so as long as everybody else agrees. The other humans agree and Garasp assesses the situation.

### Giants vs. New Humanity Arc

While sharing information with other worlds, Ario informs Zaybi that the Giants are approaching, which makes him angry because Ario could have said it earlier. He then joins the briefing after to help discuss the plan to deal with the Giants. Zaybi then selects people to lead the charge and helps them prepare. After Kira returns to report the situation via Panepane's translation, Zaybi alongside others are present in the room. He tells Kayla to give Hallow some private space when she wants to console Hallow.

## Abilities

### Magic Abilities

* **Earthquake Magic - Earth Tremor:** The user can create cracks on the ground to destabilize the opponent balance. Zaybi used this against the Robots.
* **Electric Magic - Thunderbolt:** The user smites its opponent.
* **Fog Magic - Noisy Fog:** The user is able to summon a fog around its opponent that serves as a distraction. Zaybi used this against a Giant in order to save Hallow from being crushed.

### Miscellaneous Abilities

* **Summoning Magic:** The user can summon teleportation circles to move around the world easily. Zaybi, alongside other mages across the world, used this ability to summon other worlds to ask for help, which triggered the merging of tens of worlds.

## Trivia

* In ONE's character design, he proposed to make Zaybi have piercings on his ears like Hallow, but this never happened. His magic stick's model was changed as well.
* An ongoing confusion is the color of his shirt. In the cover of the first chapter, he wore a yellow shirt, while in the cover of Volume 1 he wore a white shirt.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/versus\_\_info/status/1597425118182920193
2. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 1, Page 59
3. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 4, Page 22
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/versus\_\_info/status/1597425118182920193/photo/1
5. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 1, Page 49
6. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 1, Page 74
7. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 2, Page 26
8. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 2, Page 70
9. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 2, Page 75
10. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 3, Page 4
11. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 3, Page 34
12. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 2, Page 20
13. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 2, Page 34
14. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 3, Page 16
15. ↑ Versus Manga: Chapter 1, Page 54