After the man Shade had kicked over fell to the ground, he turned into black foam and vanished. Shade did not go looking for him, instead looking at his own right hand. The pocket watch that had been in his hand a moment ago had abruptly disappeared, yet it was now clutched in the right hand of the one-armed man who had reappeared behind the enormous Bronze Wheel.
The pocket watch was the main body of the Bronze Wheel. It seemed to be some kind of fate-type relic.
"Spatial power?"
No, the relic's properties had caused it to return automatically.
"She" softly reminded him. Seeing Shade raise his hand, the one-armed man spun the wheel again. Miss Reinhart's attack had just been absorbed, so Shade did not take the opportunity to attack once more. More than ten meters away, the witch had already helped the cross-dressed woman to her feet and sent her away first. As the witch walked toward Shade, the wheel stopped spinning for the second time. This time, the spinal-bone pointer still indicated the "smiling face."
The one-armed man was quite pleased with the second result. He aimed the pocket watch at Shade.
"Perhaps you are very strong, but the spinning wheel has foretold that this operation will not fail. As long as this wheel remains, no matter how strong you are, a force stronger than you will always appear. That is the Destiny bound to descend tonight—unchangeable. Since Time Stop cannot deal with you, then let us see a greater power."
As his confident words fell, light sprayed from the grinning mouth of the smiling face and landed on the pocket watch again.
The man lightly pressed the pocket watch. Yet as Shade and the witch cautiously assumed defensive stances, Time Stop did not occur again.