The moment should have reset.
That was how the world worked.
Death, danger, failure—each of them had always been followed by silence, darkness, and then return. A rewind to a safer point. A chance to try again.
But nothing happened.
Time moved forward.
Anos Voldigoad stood where the convergence had failed, eyes calm, presence unyielding. The city continued to breathe around him, unaware that a rule older than memory had just been tested—and had broken.
"So this is the limit," Anos said quietly.
Deep within the structure of reality, time strained. It reached backward, searching for a checkpoint, a moment it could anchor to.
There was none.
Anos's presence filled the gap where rewinds should have been.
"You delegated responsibility to repetition," he continued. "Now you must bear consequence."
The world trembled—not violently, but uncertainly.
Subaru Natsuki sat on the ground, staring at his hands.
"I… I'm still here," he whispered. "I didn't die."
His heart pounded, not from relief—but from fear.
Because for the first time since arriving in this world, he understood something instinctively.
There would be no do-over.
Anos glanced at him.
"Survival without safety nets reveals true character," he said. "Endure."
Across the capital, mages checked their chronometers in confusion.
"Temporal anchors aren't responding."
"Rollback functions are returning null."
"Time isn't damaged—it's being occupied."
High above, the Witch of Envy screamed in fury, her shadow slamming against an invisible barrier.
"Impossible," she hissed. "It always comes back."
It did not.
Anos looked toward the horizon.
"You no longer own time," he said calmly. "You borrowed it. I have reclaimed it."
The sky brightened as if relieved.
History advanced.
And for the first time in this world—
Every action became permanent.