Puck hovered silently beside Emilia as they followed Anos through the quieter streets of the capital. The spirit's usual humor was gone, replaced by something closer to caution.
"I don't like this," Puck muttered. "Not because he's dangerous. Because he's… correct."
Anos stopped.
The air shifted.
Spirits in the vicinity withdrew instinctively, contracts loosening as if embarrassed to exist.
"You are bound," Anos said without turning. "But not willingly."
Puck stiffened. "Oi. Careful."
Emilia blinked. "Puck?"
Anos faced them.
"The contract protecting you," he said to Emilia, "was written to compensate for a world that feared you. It was never meant to empower you—only to contain the damage."
Emilia's breath hitched. "That's not—"
"It is accurate," Anos replied.
He looked at Puck.
"You were installed as a limiter. A failsafe. Not a guardian."
Silence.
Puck's eyes darkened. "…You see too much."
"I see contracts as they are," Anos said. "Not as they pretend to be."
Subaru watched nervously. "Uh… is this bad?"
"That depends," Anos said calmly. "On whether they wish to continue lying."
Emilia clenched her hands. "If the contract is wrong… then what happens to Puck?"
Anos did not answer immediately.
He raised one hand.
Symbols—older than spirit magic, deeper than authority—briefly surfaced in the air.
"This contract should not exist," Anos said. "Therefore, I will not bind you with another like it."
Puck's fur stood on end. "You're saying you can rewrite it?"
"No," Anos replied. "I can nullify it."
Emilia gasped. "You'd erase him?!"
Anos shook his head once.
"No. I will ask."
He looked at Puck.
"Do you wish to remain bound as a limiter," he said, "or exist as yourself?"
The question hit like a blade.
Puck's smile faltered.
"…If I choose freedom," he asked quietly, "will she survive?"
Anos met his gaze.
"Yes."
Puck closed his eyes.
"…Then I choose her," he said. "But not as a chain."
The contract shattered.
Not violently—cleanly.
A pressure Emilia had carried her entire life vanished in an instant. She stumbled, catching herself as her magic stabilized into something quiet.
Puck drifted back, smaller, lighter.
"Huh," he muttered. "That feels… new."
Emilia stared at her hands. "I don't feel… watched anymore."
"Because you are not," Anos said.
Subaru exhaled. "You just did something even the witches couldn't."
"Witches enforce," Anos replied. "I liberate."
He turned and began walking again.
"Come," he said. "The world will respond."
Above them, unseen but very aware, the Witch of Envy felt something slip permanently beyond her grasp.
A bond broken.
Not by hatred.
By consent.