Marching Beyond Time is an S-rank Solid arc in Neverness to Everness that funnels almost every line of its skill into a single Ultimate window. It pairs natively with Hotori, whose kit revolves around recording ally skills and replaying them during Time Stop, and it scales strongly on Zero in Cosmos burst teams. The arc is offered through the Bright Moon Special Arc Research Program, which is currently the only acquisition route.
Quick answer: Pull on the Bright Moon Special program with Tri-Keys after the May 13, 2026, maintenance, cast a Redirect Skill to enter Wastelab, stack three Wastetime via different allies' Redirect or Support skills, then fire the wearer's Ultimate to consume all stacks for +48% Ultimate CRIT DMG and +12% DEF Ignore at R1.
Marching Beyond Time stats and skill
The arc is a Solid type with CRIT Rate as its substat. Base ATK and substat values scale across levels, peaking at level 80 with 570 ATK and 24% CRIT Rate. The skill, Time Beyond Time, is identical in structure across refinements; only the numeric values increase.
| Level | ATK | CRIT Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 37 | 9.6% |
| 20 | 154 | 12% |
| 30 | 227 | 14.4% |
| 40 | 301 | 16.8% |
| 50 | 374 | 19.2% |
| 60 | 448 | 21.6% |
| 70 | 522 | 24% |
| 80 | 570 | 24% |
The skill has four moving parts. A flat ATK buff is always active. A Redirect Skill from the wearer enters Wastelab, which is a personal state, not a team-wide one. Inside Wastelab, allies generate Wastetime stacks by casting Redirect or Support skills, capped at three. The wearer's Ultimate then exits Wastelab, consumes every stack, and applies the Ultimate CRIT DMG bonus plus a DEF Ignore window when three stacks are consumed at once.
| Refinement | ATK bonus | Base Ult CRIT DMG | Per Wastetime | 3-stack DEF Ignore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | +16% | +24% | +8% | +12% for 3s |
| R2 | +20% | +30% | +10% | +15% for 3s |
| R3 | +24% | +36% | +12% | +18% for 3s |
| R4 | +28% | +42% | +14% | +21% for 3s |
| R5 | +32% | +48% | +16% | +24% for 3s |
At R1 with three stacks consumed, the Ultimate gains a total of +48% CRIT DMG (24% base plus 8% per stack) and +12% DEF Ignore for three seconds. The DEF Ignore window only fires when all three Wastetime stacks are spent in the same Ultimate cast.
How to get Marching Beyond Time
The arc is exclusive to the Bright Moon Special Arc Research Program, which opens after the May 13, 2026, maintenance and runs until June 3, 2026, at 05:59:59 (UTC+8). The program uses Tri-Keys as its pull currency, which is separate from the standard Fabricated Dice pool. No alternative source has been announced.
Step 1: Complete the Episode Quest "Prologue: A New Destination — Head to Eibon Antique Shop." This unlocks access to the Bright Moon Special banner; without it, the program will not appear in your menu.
Step 2: Confirm your Tri-Key balance in the inventory before pulling. Tri-Keys cannot be exchanged from standard pull currency on the fly, so any shortage must be resolved before the program closes.
Step 3: Use the "Limited Issue" pull on the Bright Moon Special program. Each pull draws ten arcs of random quality and counts toward the same Arc pity counter shared across all Limited Issue programs.
Step 4: Continue pulling until the featured S-class arc resolves. The S-class pity guarantees any S-class arc within 6 pulls, and the featured arc, Marching Beyond Time, is guaranteed within 8 pulls.
Pity carries over permanently to future Limited Issue Arc Research Programs, so partial progress is preserved if the current program ends before you secure the arc.
| Guarantee | Pulls required |
|---|---|
| S-class arc (any) | Within 6 pulls |
| Featured S-class — Marching Beyond Time | Within 8 pulls |
Best wearers and why the skill pays off
The arc is built around a wearer whose damage is concentrated inside a single Ultimate window and who has both Redirect Skill access and an Ultimate that benefits from CRIT DMG and DEF Ignore. Two S-rank Cosmos espers fit cleanly.
Hotori is the signature target. Her Ultimate, World's Tide, replays up to three recorded ally skills inside Time Stop, which lines up exactly with the three-stack Wastetime window. Marching Beyond Time stacks multiplicatively with her A6 Awakening, Time Takes Away, which already ignores 30% of target DEF during Time Stop, and with the Lost Radiance 4-piece DEF Ignore of 25% for 20 seconds. The combined DEF reduction on the Ultimate hit is the single biggest damage jump in her kit.
Zero benefits from the flat 16% ATK and 24% CRIT Rate, which feed both their personal damage and the ATK-scaling healing from the Appraiser passive in Charge teams. Three stacks consumed on Zero's Ultimate produce a strong burst window without needing a record-and-replay setup.
| Wearer | Role | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Hotori | Burst sub-DPS, Cosmos | Time Stop replays three recorded ally skills, mirroring the Wastetime cap. DEF Ignore stacks with A6 and Lost Radiance. |
| Zero | Burst DPS, Cosmos | Flat ATK and CRIT Rate scale personal damage and Charge healing; Ultimate hit gains heavy CRIT DMG. |
Rotation to consume three Wastetime stacks
The arc only pays full value when the wearer's Ultimate consumes three Wastetime stacks at once. Anything less drops both the per-stack CRIT DMG and the DEF Ignore window.
Step 1: Open the rotation on the arc wearer and cast their Redirect Skill. This enters Wastelab and clears any leftover Wastetime from a previous cycle, resetting the counter to zero.
Step 2: Swap to the first ally and cast a Redirect or Support Skill. This adds one Wastetime stack. Each ally can only contribute one stack at a time through this trigger, so the three stacks must come from three different sources of skill casts.
Step 3: Swap to the second ally and cast another Redirect or Support Skill. Confirm the Wastetime counter has moved to two.
Step 4: Trigger a third Redirect or Support Skill from the third teammate, taking Wastetime to its three-stack cap.
Step 5: Swap back to the arc wearer and cast their Ultimate. The wearer exits Wastelab, all three stacks are consumed, the Ultimate CRIT DMG bonus applies to the hit, and the +12% DEF Ignore window is active for three seconds.
How to verify the arc is firing correctly
Three checks confirm the skill resolved as intended. The Wastelab indicator should appear on the wearer immediately after the opening Redirect Skill. The Wastetime counter above the wearer should reach three before the Ultimate is cast. On Ultimate cast, the buff bar should show the DEF Ignore icon for three seconds, and the Ultimate damage number should be visibly higher than a non-Wastelab Ultimate.
If the Ultimate underperforms, the cause is almost always one of three. The wearer cast Ultimate before entering Wastelab, so no stacks were consumed. Multiple skills were cast from the same ally instead of three different allies, capping the counter below three. Or the wearer's Redirect Skill was used after the ally rotation, which clears the Wastetime counter back to zero. The opening Redirect Skill must be the first action in the cycle, not the last.
Upgrade materials
Leveling the arc uses Beetle Coins as the currency cost alongside Drama Core and Lost Whispers material lines. Reaching level 30 from level 20 costs 20,000 Beetle Coins, four Beginner Drama Cores, and four Lost Whispers. Higher level brackets scale up in coin cost and require progressively higher-tier Drama Cores and Whisper materials.
Beetle Coins are the main weapon-upgrade currency in the game, so they should be reserved for arcs the account plans to slot long-term. Marching Beyond Time qualifies on a Hotori or Zero account, since both characters list it as their best-in-slot.
The arc's ceiling lives entirely inside the Ultimate hit, so it is a clear pick for any account building Hotori or running Zero as a Cosmos burst DPS, and a weaker pick for wearers whose damage is spread across rotation uptime rather than a single window. With the Bright Moon Special program acting as the only acquisition path, the practical window to secure it closes on June 3, 2026 at 05:59:59 (UTC+8).