The shock on Nian Shi's face was fleeting, smoothed away by eons of practiced control. A mere setback, however surprising, would not deter the God of Time.
His shock transformed into cold, focused intensity. He acknowledged her counter not as a defeat, but as a data point. The Moon God's power was more profound than he had calculated. So be it.
"Cycles can be broken," Nian Shi stated, his layered voice resonating with absolute certainty. "Everything has a beginning. And every beginning has an end. I am that end."
He did not lunge forward again. He did not need to. The battle shifted from a contest of force to a war of cosmic principles.
He raised the Hourglass of Beginnings. The sands within, now infused with the essence of his countless selves, glowed with a complex, multifaceted light. He focused his will.
"Severance of Origin," he intoned.
The attack was invisible, silent. He did not target Yue Bingyao's form. He targeted the concept of her connection to the moon itself.
