They remembered everything that had happened in the half a second that the Time Lock erased. That means they can use the time loop to acquire infinite time while the world will be the same around them. So using the Time Lock is not a complete waste of effort.
Unfortunately, so did ANNIHILATION. As an ABSOLUTE, ANNIHILATION is an entity unbound by time. It too remembered everything that happened in that half a second that time was rewound.
Maybe things would be different if ANNIHILATION were asleep. But it is awake and active now. It can never forget what has happened to it.
It said to them with a sneer, "ANNIHILATION THE GIVE. IS END UP. INEVITABLE IS YOUR. FATE NEAR STRUGGLE."
Time was rewound so the damage to their existence rewound to the time just before they gained control of the Time Lock.
But ANNIHILATION also remembered what happened. This meant that the rate at which they were being destroyed by the power of ANNIHILATION in their bodies hadn't reduced at all.
