"Ethan… you didn't get it?" Henry asked, genuinely confused.
It was kind of shocking, honestly. Ethan messing up was rare.
"Bad read," Ethan said, grimacing.
His original plan had been clean: one punch to cripple the Flamebird leader, grab it, jump back onto the poleaxe—then Absolute Stasis would end right on schedule. Henry and Ethan would cover Skinny Pete while Pete used Beast Control on the leader. One smooth sequence. Done.
But Absolute Stasis ended about half a second earlier than Ethan expected.
Half a second didn't sound like much.
It wrecked everything.
"Why would it be shorter?" Ethan muttered, frowning hard.
He glanced back at the sky-filling mass of Flamebirds.
"…Was it because there were too many of them?"
He narrowed his eyes, thinking fast. "If the number of targets is too big… or if what you're trying to lock down is too strong… does that cut the duration of Absolute Stasis?"
So far, that was the only explanation that made sense.
