She had always been watching.
From the moment the boy arrived.From the moment death first rewound.From the moment the world learned to rely on her silence.
But this—
This was different.
The Witch of Envy felt the contract break not as pain, but as absence. A thread that had always been there—one she did not create, yet depended on—had been cleanly removed from the system.
No backlash.No corruption.No scream.
"…Impossible," she whispered.
Her shadow stirred violently, spreading across a space that was not a place, crushing lesser concepts beneath its weight. Authorities flared instinctively, searching for leverage.
They found none.
"He does not resist," Satella realized. "He does not corrupt. He does not submit."
Her love—twisted, absolute—reached outward.
It found a wall.
Not a barrier.
A boundary.
"You see me," she said softly, voice trembling with awe and rage. "Don't you?"
Anos Voldigoad stopped walking.
Subaru, Emilia, and Puck froze as the air grew unnaturally still. No pressure—no threat—just the sensation of being noticed by something vast.
"So you finally speak," Anos said calmly.
The world dimmed.
Not darkness—attention.
"I loved this world enough to save it," the Witch said. "I broke myself to protect him. I endured eternity."
Anos turned slightly, eyes cold.
"You imprisoned time and called it love," he replied. "You enslaved a soul and called it mercy."
Silence followed.
Then—
"You took him from me," she said, voice cracking. "You took my only way to reach him."
"I removed your leash," Anos corrected. "If your bond was real, it would not require death."
Her shadow surged.
Authorities screamed.
Every sin tried to assert itself at once.
Anos did not move.
"Observe," he said.
The shadows halted.
They did not freeze.
They hesitated.
"You are not the ruler of this story," Anos continued. "You are its malfunction."
Her presence trembled.
For the first time since her fall, Satella felt uncertainty.
"…What are you?" she asked.
Anos met the void where her eyes would be.
"I am the origin," he said."And origins do not repeat."
The attention withdrew—slowly, reluctantly—like a tide forced back by land it could not erode.
The sky brightened.
Time continued.
Emilia exhaled shakily. "Was that… her?"
"Yes," Anos replied.
Subaru swallowed. "And she just… left?"
"She is recalculating," Anos said calmly. "Obsession requires control. She has lost it."
Far away, in the deepest layer of shadow, the Witch of Envy curled inward.
For the first time—
She was afraid of being irrelevant.