The Witch did not retreat.
She adapted.
That alone made her dangerous.
Anos Voldigoad felt the shift immediately—an alteration in how the world attempted to justify itself. The pressure no longer came from the seams of time, but from rules written into the foundation of existence.
Authorities.
Conceptual permissions masquerading as power.
"So you abandon looping and move to enforcement," Anos said. "A predictable evolution."
The air thickened.
In the capital, people suddenly felt uneasy. Not fear—confusion. Spells misfired. Minor blessings failed to trigger. Contracts stuttered as if their clauses were being re-evaluated.
Anos stood still and allowed the world to act.
A mark attempted to form above him.
Invisible, absolute, parasitic.
The Authority of Envy tried to declare him an exception that must be corrected.
Anos raised one hand.
"No."
The word was not spoken loudly.It did not need to be.
The authority shattered on contact, fragments of conceptual law collapsing into meaningless data.
The world screamed.
Not audibly—but structurally.
Buildings cracked. Mana streams twisted violently before settling into something calmer, purer.
Far away, in the darkness where Satella's shadow ruled, chains snapped violently.
Her breath hitched.
Impossible.
No being had ever denied an Authority. They resisted, obeyed, twisted—but denial was not an option written into reality.
Anos lowered his hand.
"You confuse permission with law," he said. "Authorities exist because the world allows them. I exist regardless."
The pressure vanished.
For the first time since her creation, the Witch of Envy failed to act.
Across the capital, the effects rippled.
A spirit failed to answer its contractor.
A divine blessing misfired.
A knight's protection did not activate when it should have.
And a black-haired boy—standing alone in an alley—felt the weight on his soul lift entirely.
"…It's gone," Subaru whispered, unaware of what had just been taken from him.
Anos turned toward the royal castle.
"So this is a kingdom upheld by borrowed miracles," he said. "How fragile."
He began walking again.
"This world will no longer be governed by exceptions."
The sky cleared.
Time continued forward.
And somewhere deep in the system of reality, a line of code—older than any prophecy—was rewritten.
Authority: Invalid.