The Crowned Avatar detached the western palace foundations while six hundred people still used the archive shelter beneath them.
Stone towers shifted away from their supporting wards while entire corridors descended as one connected section, aimed toward Didi’s released street and the quiet archive room where the rescued child remained.
Eirwen said through the garden network, "Evacuation requires nine minutes, but the section reaches the shelter in less than one."
Loccy manifested four Wings without crossing the protected line around the active operation. Worldbearer spread from her planted feet through the only support column still connected to the falling structure.
The ability recognized the occupied western section and its physical load without claiming every civilian wall around it. Loccy named the exact boundary aloud while Ferra traced it across Masterwork Network.
Empty eastern towers remained outside the declared burden while garden walls already supporting themselves stayed separate as well.
That precision prevented Worldbearer from pulling more of the capital into one impossible load. Loccy could carry the chosen section without pretending the entire palace had become one object.
Loccy said while setting both hands against the column, "I carry the palace section, and nobody removes this support until the archive is empty."
The descending foundation stopped above the shelter while loose stone continued falling inside the boundary even after the primary mass halted.
Ferra’s physical collars caught smaller fragments while Eirwen’s garden crews guided evacuees beneath reinforced arches.
Loccy carried connected structure, not every independent piece released from it. Aria recorded the distinction while the formation absorbed the first wave of stress.
Weight entered Loccy’s four Wings and transformed them into broad bearing planes behind her while cracks ran through the street beneath her feet.
She could neither move nor attack while Worldbearer maintained the declared structure. Every change in her posture changed the load above the shelter.
Hajin reached her with his right arm still recovering from the pylon circuit, opened three Rings instead of five, spread Aegis beneath the nearest collapsing arch, and asked, "Load distribution?" while following the connected palace mass through Divine Eye.
Aria said, "Loccy carries seventy-one percent through the support column, while the remaining weight travels across four unstable approaches, and any direct strike against the foundation enters her declared burden."
The Crowned Avatar sent executioners down both open streets while Juna took the northern approach with three Wings and Hajin guarded the southern route.
Ferra connected her remaining masterworks beneath Loccy’s support while Vella stayed inside the archive and moved patients through ordinary corridors inside the established operational boundary.
Rumi opened a known route between two archive rooms, shortening the evacuation without attempting to carry the entire section. Nari closed Court seams around the child’s quiet room after everyone inside chose to leave.
The child refused the treatment cot again as Loccy’s absence from the room made her retreat beneath the records desk until Vella showed the falling dust and the open door.
Sanctuary transmitted the core seizure into Hajin while he guarded the southern approach. He kept the connection open and closed one Ring, allowing Vella to stabilize the child without sending a command back.
The reduced battle strength forced Ferra’s grounded stakes to absorb another executioner strike while the workers in the archive heard the impact but continued lifting only when the structure settled.
Vella said while extending her fingers toward the desk, "The room will not remain safe, so you may walk, crawl, or let someone carry the desk around you."
The child gripped one desk leg as Ferra sent four workers with mundane braces, and they lifted the small desk as one frame.
They preserved the child’s chosen shelter while moving it into the corridor, and Rumi opened no spatial road around the unstable furniture.
The workers announced every lift before moving, then lowered the desk immediately when the child struck one brace in panic and waited for Vella’s signal.
The second attempt advanced only three steps before another pause, so evacuation became slower while the shelter remained recognizable to the child.
Outside, the first executioner struck Hajin’s Aegis as white-gold pressure traveled through his recovering right arm and forced one Ring closed.
He stored the Chain after binding the spear, then used physical position to keep the enemy away from Loccy’s column.
Vella confirmed that the body contained a willing divine core. Hajin retrieved the Chain and destroyed it with Divine Sever, adding the valid kill to the Court node ledger.
Two more executioners entered from the southern roof while Ferra marked their empty joints through Masterwork Network, but she could not redirect force while her fixtures supported Loccy.
Hajin used the Chain to pull both enemies away from the bearing column while Collector’s Grasp remained unworn and became available only after he stored the Chain.
He relied on Vella’s classification before committing Divine Sever because both cores carried willing possession and no recoverable host.
Hajin opened the third Ring again after Vella cleared his pathway. Aegis turned both attacks into the empty road rather than striking the palace mass.
Juna fought four bodies along the northern approach while keeping every solar cut below the carried foundation because damage above would increase Loccy’s burden.
Her afterimages remained on the route she physically crossed, and she recognized that the marks only showed a path through the capital rather than forming a new technique.
Eirwen said through the network, "The first archive level is clear, but four hundred nine people remain below the western gallery."
Loccy’s arms shook against the support column while the nearby formation held, but Worldbearer restored no stamina and provided no automatic protection from strain.
Each adjustment carried the palace’s connected weight through her bones while four Wings prevented immediate collapse without making the burden harmless.
Cracks appeared along Loccy’s forearms where the column’s load changed direction, and Vella could slow internal bleeding through careful touch.
She could not heal structural strain while Worldbearer continuously reapplied it, so Loccy accepted stabilizing treatment and rejected any promise that it reset the burden.
Loccy said through clenched teeth, "Do not ask whether I can hold, but tell me how many people still need time."
Hajin said, "Four hundred nine."
Loccy replied, "Next count in sixty seconds," while keeping her hands against the support column.
The child reached the archive corridor inside her lifted desk. Rumi and Nari walked on opposite sides, guarding known doors without treating her as a mascot.
When a Court label entered through the ceiling, Nari closed the special route and Vella severed the ownership command while the desk remained a desk.
Loccy heard the update through the team channel but did not turn her head. Changing posture would shift the palace mass toward the shelter.
She asked for the child’s location once, received the exact corridor count, and returned attention to the column while her restraint kept the support stable.
Ferra reinforced Loccy’s column with three physical collars. Masterwork Network moved heat away from the loaded metal, though the supports could not carry Worldbearer’s supernatural share.
The Crowned Avatar detached another corridor above them while Hajin and Juna caught both approaches before the new mass reached the bearing column.
Juna cut the empty connection after Ferra confirmed that no occupied room remained inside it. The severance reduced Loccy’s load by one small wing.
"Two hundred eighty-six people remain," Eirwen said through the network.
Loccy held the palace where it had started to fall as her feet sank deeper into the street, but the column did not move.
Eirwen’s captains split the remaining archive occupants among four exits so one corridor failure would not trap the entire count.
Rumi and Nari checked each destination they had touched while ordinary guards marked stairs unavailable to spatial transfer, so the evacuation stayed physical where the building required it.
Vella moved the lifted desk through another controlled pause, keeping the child’s chosen shelter level beneath falling dust. Hajin closed a Ring when Sanctuary carried the resulting core panic into his chest.
The next update reduced the count to one hundred ninety-four while Eirwen did not call anyone safe before a name reached the ledger.
The city-scale weapon had become a rescue burden, and Loccy could not release, move, or attack until the final person cleared.
Loccy’s feet sank another inch as the next escorted group cleared the shelter. She held the palace above them and refused to release it before the last name left.