HADOM
Heartbeat-power: how many actions a soul can fit inside one heartbeat.
Measured in a dog
HADOM is measured in Mingus. One HADOM is one of his heartbeats. A fighter's tempo is how many actions they can take inside that single beat, and every one of them has a heartbeat technique: a feat inside one beat that nobody else can do.
Mingus's own tempo is 1, by definition. He is the unit, and the unit can't exceed itself.
Overflow
Every heart can hold only as many actions in one beat as its soul can count. Force more through it, by borrowing beats, burning beyond your tempo or fighting from many places at once, and the beat overflows: light pours out of the chest, the heart can't close, and the soul bursts. Every full burn flirts with it.
Mingus's beat can never overflow.
The crew's tempos
| Who | Tempo | Heartbeat technique |
|---|---|---|
| Vigolas | uncountable (∞−1) | The Minus One: every action but one, and he names the one he gives up |
| Kompis | 12 · Subtick lives thousands of versions in one beat | Shared Beat: lends his timing to a friend |
| Rougeina | 120 | The 12,001: once in a lifetime |
| Trollmage | 2 | The Banked Beat: saved heartbeats all fire at once |
| Smurjan | 600 (×3 when the three agree) | The Triple Pulse: three hearts, one beat |
| Kali | 210 | The Borrowed Beat: borrows the owner's home tempo too |
| Bakasura | 1 | The Whole Bite: whatever fits in one beat is gone |
| Bali | 420 | The Glass Step: through every reflection in sight |
| Mingus | 1, by definition | The Beat: everyone's metronome |