The silver casing of the Stolen Moment pocket watch hummed against Hajin's palm with a quiet, ancient resonance.
Hajin held the watch where Didi could see its casing, making the cost of another borrowed moment visible.
Across the shattered dais, the avatar's golden conduits pulsed with blinding energy as the finite incarnation pin reached its absolute mechanical limit.
"Five seconds remaining on the wedge—do not let that seam snap shut!" Ferra screamed, her knuckles white around her forging tongs.
The avatar raised its massive right gauntlet, gathering a swirling vortex of white-hot divine wrath to crush the summoner into dust.
Hajin did not flinch or retreat, depressing the silver winding stem of the watch with the deliberate tip of his thumb.
A microscopic shockwave of distorted time rippled outward through his bloodstream, isolating his physical biology from the surrounding reality of the hall.
