The Hunting Avatar shifted its next attack into the canal district before Ferra finished grounding the mint. Three ward pylons struck the bridge foundations together, turning the evacuation span beneath four hundred residents into a connected weapon.
Loccy remained planted at the center where Burdenfall carried the pressure through both arms. The first impact lifted one side of the bridge, forcing her hammer downward until its head caught the rising structure within her declared boundary.
"Keep walking," she ordered, without looking toward the families behind her, "the bridge still belongs beneath your feet, and I will tell you before that changes."
Route guards passed the order along both lines while patients crossed through the middle. Nobody ran, because a crowded retreat would give the pylons more bodies to drive against their own support columns.
Hajin reached the western bank with Juna while the second impact entered from the northern ward. He opened two Rings, placing narrow Aegis rails along the civilian lane instead of covering the complete span.
"The pylons are using bridge contact to share force," Aria said, marking six divine nodes beneath the canal, "breaking a support line will redirect its stored pressure through every connected section."
"Then nobody breaks anything until the last person reaches ground," Hajin replied, directing Juna toward the eastern line, "clear the banks and leave Loccy’s boundary untouched."
Juna crossed above the crowd with one Wing, cutting ward chains forming between people rather than chasing the constructs beneath them. Each severed restraint vanished before it could identify another resident as bridge property.
A third impact came through the infirmary tower after Ferra’s earlier grounding blocked the mint. Loccy received it across the same planted stance, storing the recoil while dark fault lines spread through her three manifested Wings.
Her feet remained on the center marker, but the bridge shifted beneath them by half a pace. Hajin extended one Aegis rail toward her shoulder before she stopped him with a sharp look.
"Do not connect your barrier to my burden," she warned, pushing the bridge back into alignment, "the avatar will use your Rings as another pylon and give me everything behind you."
He withdrew Aegis from her boundary before the ward could copy it. The rails remained around civilians only, leaving Loccy to carry the connected structure without adding Hajin’s active system to its load.
"Western bank count?" he asked, watching route guards move chalk markers after each group arrived.
"Two hundred eighty-six clear, one hundred nineteen still crossing," Captain Roen reported, carrying a child after surrendering his recognized sword, "the eastern approach is closed behind the final clinic cart."
"Leave the cart if another impact begins," Hajin ordered, shifting the western Aegis rail beyond the bank, "patients move first, records after them, then equipment if the bridge still allows it."
The Hunting Avatar appeared above the northern pylon while the remaining group reached the center. Veran’s body had become a complete white-gold shell again, although living signatures remained attached through three distant wards.
"The carried structure will fail when its assigned bearer exceeds rank," Dominion announced, directing one hand toward Loccy, "release the burden and return to the function measured by your three Wings."
"I decide what my arms carry," she replied, keeping her hammer planted while the avatar’s pressure entered the bridge, "your rank can wait until the road is empty."
The fourth strike did not hit the bridge directly, while every assigned support remained intact. Six occupied pylons linked their foundations into one descending mass, adding every monument support to Loccy’s Burdenfall boundary while civilians still crossed behind her.
Her knees bent as connected architecture entered the carried load; Cracks traveled through the bridge surface, yet the civilian lane remained level between Hajin’s rails because Loccy held the pressure beneath it.
Aria’s warning covered half his sight before he could reinforce her; the new connection exceeded Burdenfall’s release limit, threatening to move all six pylons through the bridge when her planted boundary failed.
[ Burdenfall connected load: rising ]
[ Additional hostile structures: six divine pylons ]
[ Safe release route: unavailable while civilians remain ]
"Forty-three residents remain," Roen reported, putting the child into a healer’s arms before turning back toward the eastern side, "two stretchers have lost carriers near the final approach."
Hajin crossed the lane with two Rings, carrying Aegis only beneath his own steps until he reached the abandoned stretchers. Juna returned from the eastern bank and took the second without opening another Wing.
They moved both patients while the avatar drove pylon pressure through Loccy’s arms. Her three Wings spread farther behind her, carrying fault lines that deepened whenever the bridge tried joining another ward monument.
"You can release the pylons once we clear," Hajin said, reaching the western bank with his stretcher, "hold the bridge as the declared structure and separate everything the hunt added afterward."
"The six are inside the same burden now," Loccy replied, blood running from one palm around the hammer shaft, "I need their feeding constructs destroyed before Worldbearer can tell the bridge what belongs to it."
The name entered her voice before any system designation appeared; Divine Eye found six constructs beneath the canal, each fastening one hostile pylon to the span through a separate white-gold cable.
Juna placed the second stretcher beside the treatment line before joining Hajin at the western edge. Every civilian had crossed, leaving only route guards who cut the final clinic cart loose and ran without its royal seal.
"Bridge clear," Roen shouted, jumping from the eastern approach as its first support rose, "all four hundred five residents accounted for, including nineteen carried patients."
Hajin removed both civilian rails when the last guard reached ground; Three Rings opened around his right wrist, strengthening one precise Aegis wedge beneath Loccy without touching her declared burden.
Juna manifested her second Wing before diving below the bridge; she cut three fastening cables from their constructs, while Hajin’s wedge exposed the remaining lines without breaking the pylons above.
Loccy received the fifth impact after half the hostile load separated; Burdenfall failed to release because she refused to drop the bridge, forcing every stored strike into her arms while the last constructs tried reconnecting their cables; "Kill the feeders," she ordered, keeping the bridge level through the next fracture, "I can carry the road after they stop deciding what else belongs to it."
Hajin summoned the Legendary Chain into his right hand after closing Aegis around the exposed cables. Three links entered the canal, binding the remaining constructs without touching Loccy’s burden or the bridge they had claimed.
Juna cut the final routes behind them as the Chain dragged all six feeders above the water. The constructs opened white-gold blades instead of surrendering, turning their connected pylons toward the cleared banks for another strike.
Loccy lifted her hammer one finger from the center marker while four pale-gold points formed behind her existing Wings. The incomplete light waited for the hostile constructs to die before deciding whether the bridge could become one burden she carried.
The fourth point widened whenever the feeders struck, but no new Wing opened before their destruction supplied the missing threshold. Loccy ignored the unfinished light, treating it as another warning while the bridge remained inside her hands.