"So next, I'm going to take it apart."
Toneri instinctively retreated three steps as those words fell. The remaining emerald fragments of his six wings of light barely coalesced behind him, while the Tenseigan's white pupil frantically contracted and dilated, like an overloaded machine making its final struggle.
"You can't touch the Tenseigan." Toneri forced the words from his throat, his voice carrying a tremor even he hadn't noticed. "It isn't just my ocular power. It's the core that holds the moon's internal structure together. If you destroy it, the moon will shatter."
"Shatter?" Shengu Xuan kept walking, stepping over the rubble on the lunar surface as casually as if he were strolling through his own backyard. "Weren't you just saying you were going to smash the moon into Earth? Now you're afraid it'll break?"
Toneri bit his lower lip. He realized the other man had cornered his logic with just a few words.
"That would be a controlled descent." He tried to preserve the last trace of reason in his tone. "But if you destroy the Tenseigan outright, the released energy will trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction. The entire moon could disintegrate within minutes, scattering fragments across Earth's orbit and causing a disaster worse than a direct impact."
Shengu Xuan stopped and tilted his head as he considered those words. Golden ripples circled twice in his chaos-colored eyes.
"That sounds pretty reasonable."
Toneri's expression relaxed a fraction.
"But," Shengu Xuan raised his extended index finger and wagged it at Toneri, "you seem to have forgotten something."
"What?"
"I said take it apart, not smash it."
Before Toneri could grasp what those words meant, Shengu Xuan vanished from where he stood. By the time he reappeared, his index finger was already pressed against the very center of the Tenseigan's pupil