Thaddeus slipped the watch onto his wrist and watched as the red engravings on the stopwatch began glowing a bit brighter, almost as though the watch had sensed its new user.
But just then, a black screen with crimson text hovered in front of Thaddeus.
{{New User Detected.}}
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Thaddeus' face, then Dr Moss instructed him on what to do while taking a few cautious steps backwards.
"Now, press the button on the side and you'll feel like a god walking among men."
Hearing this, Thaddeus's grin broadened even more, and he swiftly pressed the button, anxious to see what the device could do.
But to everyone's surprise, Thaddeus suddenly disappeared and in the next moment, his voice rang out from behind them as he burst into laughter.
Everyone turned to the far end of the room and found him bent over with laughter while holding something that belonged to each one of them.
"Ha ha ha… amazing. This watch is simply amazing," Thaddeus declared proudly.
"Huh?"
"What?....How?"
"When did he take my purse?"
"Whoa."
The crowd's eyes widened in shock when they realized what Thaddeus did.
He had removed all of the men's coats and taken the women's purses without them even knowing when he did and it hadn't even been a minute since he pressed the button on the watch.
"Amazing," a female elite said in amazement.
"Indeed, I have never seen anything like this."
"With such a device, I won't have to worry about my wealth deteriorating."
"That's right, and with it, I can do anything I want."
"I wonder if it has any restrictions."
"Who cares, I'll be glad to have the stopwatch regardless of any limit it might have."
"Me too."
"Me three."
"Me four," Everyone expressed their inner thoughts with a look of excitement in their eyes.
Some were even eager to know if there was more than one prototype, so they could try it out as well, while others were already devising diabolical and naughty ways to use it in their minds.
Seeing all these, Moss couldn't help but feel more proud of his invention.
His smile widened even more because he knew that from now on, no one in the world would dare question or doubt his intelligent mind ever again.
However, his smile vanished and turned into a frown when Thaddeus posed a certain question to him.
"Hey Doctor, why is the watch warning me of unstable synchronization?"
"Huh?"
"It keeps saying insufficient temporal energy. What does that mean?" Thaddeus elaborated and Moss furrowed his brows.
But just before Moss could reply to his questions, Thaddeus suddenly groaned in pain, causing Moss to be puzzled, along with all the other elites in the room.
"Ugh… Argh!!" He groaned once again as the watch tightened around his wrist. While Moss was still standing a few steps away.
But one of the elites stood up and rushed towards Thaddeus.
"Lord Thaddeus, what's wrong?" He asked.
"It's the watch. It suddenly… ahhh!!!"
Thaddeus screamed as several tiny, sharp needles pricked his wrist at the same time.
"Dr Moss! What is happening?!!" A female elite screamed out, but the doctor seemed to be just as shocked as everyone else.
"I-I-." He stammered, trying to explain, but he still couldn't understand what was going on.
Meanwhile, Thaddeus' scream heightened in pitch until he couldn't bear it anymore and ultimately collapsed to his knees, clutching his arm in pain as the agony spread from his wrist up to his arm.
"H-help! Help me!!" Thaddeus pleaded in a pained voice, but before anyone could do anything, his veins began to glow with a red hue, just like the engravings on the stopwatch.
He screamed even more as he cried out to the ceiling with his eyes slowly losing their colors.
Unable to withstand the pain anymore, Thaddeus eyes rolled to the back of his head as his body began to convulse violently.
Then the stopwatch began to emit a high-pitched whine until Thaddeus' body imploded right in front of everyone, and within the blink of an eye, his body was reduced to nothing but a red puddle.
Now, only the stopwatch remained on the floor, and its ticking grew louder with each passing second.
*Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock….*