Didi froze the royal blood shield around herself and her brother inside the limits they had verified.
True Bearer named both people without declaring either subject while Crowned Frost separated the First Prince’s mortal blood authorization from the King’s remaining hostage circuits.
This separation reduced the city discharge enough for one fraction of royal power to move while retaliation struck Didi’s four Shards.
The shield tried to define isolation as ownership of her brother.
Didi revised the refusal and froze only the blood pathway while naming both mortals as separate people.
That adjustment consumed more mana but prevented rescue language from becoming another claim while she held the tenth pace with blood covering her forearm.
This frozen boundary lasted only through physical contact while it could not free every city ward at once.
"One motion," Didi said toward the throne, "so choose the shell, not the incarnation core."
He loosened his right hand after his fingers had remained fixed around the throne circuit since the capital inversion, releasing accumulated pressure through eight available Shards as golden cracks crossed the dais.
His other hand tightened around twelve hostage channels, so the motion could not reach civilians while twenty-Shard pressure entered the throne hall.
The force entered without striking the hidden divine core.
That force did not solve the blood shield through superior rank while it pinned the Crowned Avatar’s physical palace shell against Loccy’s carried foundation.
Its weapons stopped moving while Hajin stabilized Phase Lock around the decree wound and Loccy absorbed the change in physical weight through Worldbearer.
His pressure did not remove her burden while it prevented the shell from moving inside it and gave the other specialists an interval.
Ferra monitored both forces and warned whenever their contact approached a civilian support. The other royal hand remained connected to the city discharge.
Twelve Shards held hostage circuits while eight supplied the fraction pinning the shell, and Aria said inside Hajin’s thoughts, "Maximum interval fourteen seconds, because beyond that, outer ward failures exceed the King’s remaining containment."
Eirwen’s captains counted the same interval through district ward gauges. Three reservoirs, two empty squares, and the western wall received controlled overflow.
Every location had been verified before use while Hajin tracked the change and the King’s right hand remained free.
He placed the divine blade against the white-gold command inside his ribs. Phase Lock held the sampled frequency Stolen Moment had allowed him to capture.
The edge severed exposed decree branches without attempting to close the physical wound while Vella suppressed blood through direct touch.
Her lost demonic range prevented remote stabilization while ordinary healing still fed the order, and Ferra said, "Eleven seconds," using the mundane battle clock.
The King increased pressure by one fraction while the physical shell cracked beneath his hand, revealing no mortal hostage outside the First Prince’s fused heart.
Dominion authority remained deeper than the force he applied, and Divine Eye found only constructed armor in the broken pieces.
Vella confirmed that no mind or soul remained inside those fragments. Ferra marked them for later destruction without another host audit.
"He could crush the palace body," Aria said, "but the incarnation core would escape through the sky route or redirect into the foundation unless the remaining locks fall."
"Hold only," Hajin said toward the King, "because Juna keeps the sky route, Loccy carries the mass, and Didi isolates the blood."
The King obeyed the team sequence despite possessing greater raw strength than anyone present. He shifted one strike away from the visible core.
Aria warned that the strike would cross Juna’s sky route, so the correction cost another second of the interval but preserved the prepared escape lock.
Didi’s frozen boundary cracked. The First Prince’s blood tried to order his father back into the throne, using royal hierarchy in reverse.
"You are not his subject either," Didi said, extending True Bearer around the King’s freed hand, "so choose what you carry."
The King held the shell and answered, "I choose the city first and this fraction second."
The wording denied Dominion an inherited obedience claim while one Shard returned to the city circuit.
That shortened the shell pin but prevented an eastern ward collapse as the eastern captain reported that the failure threshold had dropped after injured workers evacuated.
The returning Shard stabilized the ward before masonry reached the street while property damage remained and no additional casualty followed.
"Seven seconds," Ferra said.
Hajin completed one Resonance circuit around the wound while tattoo lines stabilized the decree frequency and the divine blade cut its exposed authority.
The demonic blade consumed only the regeneration entering that cut. The wound stopped widening, though white-gold light remained beneath the bandage.
Blood loss fell to a controlled rate while Hajin could move without the decree progressing toward his core as Phase Lock held.
Closing the circuit would let the command resume immediately, so it did not heal the wound while white-gold words remained inside the ribs.
"Decree contained," Aria said, "with physical wound open, external command active, and progression toward the core halted."
Vella tightened the pressure bandage and withdrew healing light while Ferra said, "Four seconds."
Didi directed Crowned Frost through the blood shield toward the remaining outer Court nodes. Frozen lines exposed which connections Loccy could release through Hajin’s safe direction.
The map showed where impact could move without entering civilians. Ferra numbered each exposed node and separated central foundation links from outer mass.
Vella confirmed that no unwilling host remained in the selected structures. The release map became evidence-based rather than a guess made during the King’s interval.
She transferred that map into Masterwork Network while Rumi plus Nari strengthened the palace and mountain marks without opening the road.
Juna watched the sky aperture tighten above the pinned shell. Daybreak Path remained held because the incarnation core had not committed to escape.
"Release," Didi said.
The King withdrew his fraction before the fourteen-second limit while his right hand returned to the throne circuit with visible burns across the palm.
Vella could not reach him through the blood shield while the King bound the injury with his own sleeve and resumed containment.
The action preserved credibility without removing its cost while eight Shards returned toward the city circuits as the physical palace shell remained cracked and off balance.
Outer wards shook without collapsing while the King resumed containing the full discharge with both hands.
Didi’s frozen boundary loosened around him but stayed around her brother’s blood. Hajin stood with the Decree Wound suppressed through Phase Lock.
Ferra marked the outer nodes exposed during the pin while Vella checked each selected core for an unwilling mind.
Rumi and Nari kept the mountain direction unactivated. The receiving mark held its shape after the King’s release.
The King reopened his burned hand around the city circuit, and Didi released only the frost surrounding him.
Fourteen seconds ended with the palace shell cracked above the throne, leaving one outer node visible through the damage.
Eirwen’s captains confirmed that every designated discharge point stayed empty. Loccy shifted the foundation toward the marked route.
The King wrapped his burned palm in his sleeve and resumed containment while Vella recorded the injury for treatment later.
Didi drew the exposed node into Crowned Frost and traced its connection toward the shell.
"That is the joint," Ferra said, copying the route.
"Break it after the next pressure change, not before," Ferra said, copying the route.
Hajin held the decree at its measured frequency while the protected child remained outside the operation’s authority.
Loccy lowered one section of Worldbearer toward the marked route, and the palace answered by opening a second crack beneath the throne.
Didi kept the node map frozen beside her and waited for the next lock to show its weakness.