The first upper ward pin cleared its stone channel before Hajin reached the gallery stair. Three more followed across the archive supports while four matching releases answered from the undercroft below.
Divine Eye joined all eight empty channels through one white-gold load circuit. The palace had distributed the archive’s weight across physical lintels plus ancient ward pins, allowing either system to compensate when the other weakened.
Every surviving survey shell held one extracted pin inside its measuring rod. They moved back toward eight statue niches arranged along the western load wall, carrying the stolen supports into one connected line.
The western archive roof dropped before the shells reached their final positions along the wall. Slate, shelves, ceiling beams, plus the central lintel descended together toward Didi and the restricted catalog bay.
Loccy entered beneath the lintel with her hammer raised across both hands. Her feet planted upon the central paving course while the first pale-gold Wing opened behind her shoulders.
"Eastern recorder threshold stays outside my boundary," she said, watching cracks cross the ceiling above Didi, "everything connected west of that line falls through me."
Her second Wing spread through the archive aisles without touching any shelf. The third unfolded toward the undercroft, its dark fault lines matching the continuous load circuit inside Hajin’s sight.
Three insignia rings locked around her hammer before the central lintel struck its face. The impact buried her ankles inside the paving, but the stone stopped before reaching her lowered shoulders.
Every other connected section halted with it across the boundary she had declared. Shelves leaned beneath arrested ceilings, divided floor slabs hung above the undercroft, plus the restricted catalog remained sealed behind Didi.
[ Burdenfall: connected collapse impact stored ]
[ Valid structure: western archive frame / undercroft support course / statue plinth line ]
[ Excluded boundary: eastern recorder threshold ]
[ Release available: one ]
Dark-gold force entered Loccy’s third Wing while the complete archive weight pressed into her hammer. She could store the first connected impact, although any movement now would release the unsupported fall through her body.
"I cannot take a step," she said, keeping both hands around the shaft, "clear the eastern line before these things choose another support."
The guard captain still occupied that passage with two recorders plus the certified evidence case. Several copy clerks and both preservation porters waited farther down the same narrow retreat route.
Hajin descended through the suspended dust with his first Ring still rotating. Aegis covered the eastern passage ceiling while his Legendary Chain pulled the fallen outer door away from the retreat lane.
"Captain, keep moving until the bronze floor mark ends," he said, widening the barrier beyond the recorders, "Juna takes the rear after every archive worker crosses."
Juna reached the nearest porter beside the archive door before another ceiling joint shifted. She carried him plus one side of the document cart through the opening while the second porter pushed from behind.
The copy clerks followed beneath Aegis without releasing any sealed folio from their hands. Both recorders kept the certified case between them, preserving Didi’s evidence while the guard escort withdrew beyond Loccy’s declared boundary.
Didi remained beside the restricted bay with the original Gazel prayer case beneath one arm. The First Prince’s withdrawal ledger rested under her personal seal against the other side of her coat.
"Move behind the eastern load wall," Hajin said, holding the passage clear, "Loccy saved the archive so you could carry its truth, not stand beneath it."
She accepted the instruction without arguing over whose royal authority controlled the aisle. Didi crossed behind the stable wall while keeping both original records visible to Ferra plus the retreating recorders.
Ferra stayed beside the unsupported pin channels with eight ceramic replacements suspended inside her forge-light Wing. Each divided wedge matched one empty load seat without completing the ancient incarnation geometry beneath the floor.
"I can catch each opening after the shells lose those pins," she said, positioning every replacement outside the moving white-gold current, "Loccy must break their line before I seat anything."
The eight surveyors entered their original niches while Loccy continued holding the collapse. White-gold material filled the inactive statues from within, leaving smooth divine faces above stone bodies carrying the stolen pins.
Their rods connected along the western plinth course, preparing to record the archive’s destruction through every occupied statue. The same joined surface gave Burdenfall one uninterrupted route toward all eight constructed shells.
Aria counted the eastern passage through Hajin’s expanding barrier. The final guard crossed the bronze threshold after Juna, leaving no servant, recorder, or escort member inside Loccy’s release structure.
[ Eastern retreat lane: clear ]
[ Occupied release points: eight survey shells ]
[ Mortal souls within release structure: none ]
"Eight points," Hajin said, closing the retreat count inside Divine Eye, "the statue course connects every one."
Loccy lowered her head beneath the hammer shaft while fault lines blackened across all three Wings. The stored fall pressed through her arms, leaving only the planted stance plus her chosen route between the archive and complete collapse.
"You took the roof," she said, glancing once toward Juna beyond the boundary, "these eight belong to my floor."
She turned the hammer inside the lintel’s weight without lifting either foot. Its lower edge struck the connected paving course, sending the entire stored collapse sideways through the western wall.
Burdenfall passed beneath the sealed shelves without dropping them another finger toward the floor. The force entered the continuous statue plinth, then rose through all eight occupied niches during the same heartbeat.
Stone surveyor bodies burst outward while white-gold shells folded around their stolen pins. Every smooth face shattered against its own measuring rod before any instruction channel could preserve the collapse.
Ferra drove her eight divided supports into the empty ward seats as the hostile current vanished. Ceramic wedges accepted the lowered archive load without joining the old incarnation circuit or disturbing the original pins among the debris.
The central lintel settled against Loccy’s hammer, then transferred its remaining weight into Ferra’s emergency supports. Shelves returned against their braces while the ceiling stopped moving above the preserved western index.
[ Constructed divine survey shells eliminated: 8 ]
[ Mortal souls harmed: 0 ]
[ Individual contribution value: 65,000 EXP ]
[ Summon Loccy contribution reward: 520,000 EXP ]
[ Survey-formation reward remaining for Hajin: 390,000 EXP ]
[ Loccy — Wing Progress: 6,140,000 / 7,500,000 EXP ]
[ Hajin — Ring V Progress: 27,630,000 / 50,000,000 EXP ]
[ Survey-shell formation ledger: closed ]
No fourth Wing opened behind Loccy after the reward entered her ledger. Her three existing Wings held the lintel steady until Ferra confirmed every ceramic support carried its assigned share.
Both of Loccy’s arms dropped when Burdenfall emptied, leaving the hammer trapped upright between her shoulder plus the stabilized stone. Juna crossed back only after Ferra marked the floor safe, then secured the shaft before it could tilt.
"My fingers still move," Loccy said, testing them beneath her numb forearms, "the next falling palace belongs to someone else."
Didi returned with the recorders once the eastern load wall received Ferra’s temporary clearance. The Gazel prayer, demonic-core withdrawal ledger, plus every restricted shelf remained intact beneath separate seals.
Hajin closed his first Ring after Aria reconciled all fourteen survey shells. Six lay across the open rain court, while eight more surrounded the broken statue line inside the saved archive.
Their instruction channels had ended before delivering the stolen measurements outside the palace. The white-gold residue inside those broken channels remained active, however, climbing through the wall toward the sealed coronation storage above them.