Didi entered the throne hall alone for the first ten paces inside the established operational boundary.
The royal blood shield covered the floor in white-gold commands. Anyone following before she opened a protected line would trigger retaliation through the King.
Loccy’s carried foundation and every remaining civilian circuit remained tied to that response. True Bearer held four Shards around Didi without assigning her as subject.
Crowned Frost spread beneath one boot and named only the ground she occupied, so no person beyond it became part of her claim.
"First pace clear," Aria said through Hajin’s view from the doorway, "and the blood shield is searching for succession authority."
Didi stepped again, and the first two paces left no permanent frost behind after she moved beyond them.
Her protected line existed only because each new step connected to her planted position.
If she fell or accepted a Court title, every previous tile would return to the blood shield.
The Court offered the title of princess-owner, promising safe passage if she accepted command over every guard inside the throne hall.
Didi rejected the role and received retaliation across her fourth Shard before saying, "I enter under my own standing, and nobody behind me becomes my subject."
At the third pace, the shield used childhood blood records to call her the King’s dependent while True Bearer froze the assigned relationship without erasing their chosen father-daughter history, with memories entering alongside the command.
Lessons held beneath armed supervision, court meals where every smile was measured, and the first time weak blood made her brother invisible beside her.
Didi allowed those memories to remain true while rejecting the law that converted them into present obedience, because a history could matter without becoming an order.
"The Court is weaponizing the relationship, not merely naming it," Aria said.
"Then I reject its use and keep the person," Didi said, taking the fourth pace.
The Crowned Avatar watched from above the throne while its white-gold armor remained cracked after Vella destroyed the choir.
The First Prince’s face appeared only as a faint outline beneath the helm. Around the throne, the King kept twelve Shards fixed across hostage circuits.
Eight others moved only enough to divert palace debris from evacuated districts while his scale filled the hall, yet the shield turned every aggressive motion toward somebody weaker.
"Royal blood seeks hierarchy," the avatar said, "but your refusal wastes the purpose inherited through it."
Didi took two more paces while every assigned support remained intact around the formation, and each step opened a silver-gold line behind her.
Hajin waited outside the shield because entering early would convert her protection into his permission and give the Court another ownership claim.
At the seventh pace, the King warned her through a strained breath while the blood shield tried to classify his warning as an order and her attention as obedience.
True Bearer separated the chosen trust between them from the enforced hierarchy.
She accepted useful information without surrendering authority over the next step, and the King said, "The next tile carries my counterstrike, so freeze the destination before your foot lands."
Didi placed Crowned Frost across the tile without moving. The shield revealed an occupied western shelter as its retaliation target.
Eirwen confirmed that shelter had emptied, but two support crews remained along the outer wall, so Didi said, "Not clear."
She waited while Juna’s roof captains moved three support crews carrying masterwork braces Ferra needed beneath Loccy’s load, and she stepped only after both names reached the safe ledger, delaying the advance.
Preserving the people mattered even if losing the tools made later work harder while Ferra confirmed replacements were unnecessary before Didi continued.
The King’s stored counterstrike discharged into the empty shelter foundation. Stone broke without touching the support workers or Loccy’s burden.
"Eight," Didi said, blood entering her bandage.
The ninth pace tried to classify her fourth Shard as property created by the Court’s pressure. True Bearer answered with the memory of how it formed.
She had protected a person her bloodline called property and accepted retaliation herself.
The Court offered to preserve the Shard if she transferred its protection to the First Prince.
Didi rejected the bargain, and a visible crack crossed the frozen tile while her progression remained four Shards without another gain or restorative effect.
The claim froze as Didi reached the tenth pace and planted both feet.
Silver-gold Frost opened a protected line from the doorway to her position.
The path belonged to no ruler and lasted only while Didi held the blood shield at its far end.
Ferra sent one inert metal gauge across first, and the shield left it unclassified through Didi, which confirmed that the line carried physical passage without command authority.
Hajin still waited until Aria confirmed the King’s hostage circuits remained stable, and she said, "Line stable, so Hajin may enter without taking Didi’s authority."
Hajin did not move yet, and Didi looked toward the avatar before demanding, "Speak with your own voice before the God answers again."
The white-gold helm turned, and for one moment, the First Prince’s mortal expression surfaced beneath the authority fused around him.
"You still need me to be your brother," he said, using his own voice rather than the avatar’s layered command, "because otherwise killing this body becomes too simple."
"I need the record to show what you choose while you can answer," Didi said, "so release the foundation key, and I will sever the divine claim from your soul if a path remains."
The Dominion God pressed behind his eyes, but the Prince remained present while Collector’s Grasp stayed away from him.
Hajin relied on Divine Eye and the clearly separate mortal voice.
Aria marked the evidence as a live seam rather than assuming every human word came from the God.
"You offer me the child’s refuge," he said, resentment sharpening every word, "a protected place beneath Hajin’s blood where I may live after surrendering everything I built."
"I offer freedom from the God, not innocence," Didi said, "and you answer for the dead as yourself."
The King held all twelve connected Shards still while listening. Loccy maintained the foundation mass below, and Juna waited above with Daybreak Path unspent.
No one attacked during the offered answer while Didi’s ten paces created time for choice, and the team accepted the risk because a reachable mortal soul remained inside the avatar.
Didi kept the protected line open without commanding Hajin to use it while the blood drain continued through her fourth Shard.
Ferra placed another mundane wrap around the planted hand while Vella remained outside the royal current and supplied no healing route the Court could exploit.
The King shifted one Shard toward an empty reservoir when the shield tested Didi’s stance, and the released pressure damaged only surveyed stone.
That gave Didi another breath without attacking his son while Hajin waited for the mortal voice rather than treating the pause as refusal.
The helm tried to answer before the Prince could. White-gold syllables struck the hall, and Didi froze the command beneath his sternum.
The sound broke into a cough. A mortal pulse followed it, uneven but strong enough for Divine Eye to separate from the God.
"Use that voice," Didi said, "before the God fills the space again."
The King shifted one connected Shard toward an empty reservoir, catching the first pressure before it could enter the civilian circuits.
Loccy’s foundation dipped beneath the throne, and Hajin watched her left shoulder take the change without releasing Worldbearer.
Didi did not look back at either of them.
She held the frost beneath the Prince’s heart and waited for the answer she could not make for him.
Under the cracked helm, the Prince finally spoke in his own cadence. "I chose this before you arrived, and I will finish what I began."