The first awakened prisoner reached the tank on one working knee.

Jade caught its chain before the hook entered the pressure hose. The prisoner kept crawling, dragging her across the wet floor until Yun-Jin pinned the chain with an arrow.

"She wants the pulse moving through the hose, not the woman inside."

Palla pulled herself along the western wall while three more bodies climbed from the return shaft. Her damaged fingers left narrow streaks across the stone.

"Everything buried here wakes hungry for the strongest living rhythm."

The Reaper rose behind them with bodies hanging from its robe. Its scythe cut through the arms holding it and struck Ty across the ribs.

Ty hit the doorway beside Zunoder. The old body caught him before his skull met the wall, then shoved him back toward the fight.

"You can resent my hands after they keep you standing."

"I have enough resentment to survive one useful catch."

Kieran drove gold fire across the threshold. The awakened prisoners avoided the heat, though the Reaper walked through it with Kegaku's removed curse burning along its hook.

Kegaku strained against the raised pressure bed until its chest strap creaked.

"The curse is drawing them toward the Reaper, and my pulse draws the rest."

"That gives us two crowds and only one usable exit."

Palla reached the western wall and struck it with one of the piston rods attached to her fingers. The stone answered with a hollow knock below the tank.

"Break this wall at floor height without damaging the iron behind it."

Omina placed her hilt against the mortar. Green bars entered the lowest row of stones and pushed upward. Ty kicked the loosened blocks between scythe swings while Zunoder protected the pump sled from falling debris.

An iron rail appeared behind the wall and descended beneath the execution yard.

It descended into a tunnel filled with linked platforms. Each platform held a neck brace, a drain pan, and four clamps arranged around the shape of a body.

JJ looked from the platforms to the tank.

"Those carts will not carry a glass cylinder this heavy."

"They carried bodies while Sadle harvested everything that survived execution."

Palla hooked her piston rods into a recessed handle and pulled until her knees folded beneath her without moving the mechanism.

Erebos caught her shoulder before her face struck the floor.

Palla drove one attached rod through the back of his hand.

"I would rather fall than borrow balance from you."

Erebos removed his hand and left the rod inside until Palla used it to pull herself upright.

"The handle releases the sentence trolley beneath Kegaku's bed."

Jade saw four iron runners under the raised frame. Omina's green bars had lifted the bed without disturbing them.

"We lower him onto those runners and keep every pressure connection intact."

"The tank needs a second trolley and three flexible return lines."

Palla nodded toward the burial shaft where the Reaper had climbed out.

The nearest platform waited ten feet below the creature.

Ty followed her eyes and tightened both sickles around the scythe shaft.

"I will retrieve the cart while everyone pretends this is sensible."

"Take the old body because the collector still splits between you."

Omina opened a green path beneath Ty and Zunoder. They ran together, one skeleton and one borrowed human body forcing the Reaper's attention in opposite directions.

White lines divided along its robe and pulled toward the different bodies.

Ty slid under the scythe. Zunoder grabbed the rear platform and tore it from the linked carts while the Reaper chose which version of Ty to cut.

The Reaper chose the old body before Ty cleared the shaft.

The hook entered Zunoder below the shoulder and lifted him over the shaft. Ty caught his ankle with one hand and the platform chain with the other.

Zunoder hung between the Reaper and the moving cart.

"Release the platform before its weight takes both bodies down."

"You carried me once, so endure the accounting quietly."

Ty pulled Zunoder off the hook. The old body landed across the platform while the Reaper's white line followed him away from the shaft.

Kieran stepped into that opening and drove her blade through the removed curse on the scythe. Gold fire pinned the mark against the floor.

"The sentence belongs to Sadle, and neither Ty will carry it."

The Reaper tore backward. Kieran's blade held the curse while the scythe split around it, leaving a rusted piece of the hook trapped beneath her fire.

Ty dragged the platform into the pressure building.

Awakened bodies reached for it from the shaft. Omina built a green wall between their hands and the wheels, but the prisoners pushed until her hilt shook.

Jade and JJ rolled the tank onto the recovered trolley. The gold rim overhung both sides, forcing Yun-Jin to bind it with violet thread before the first wheel turned.

"The glass survives if everyone stops pretending speed solves balance."

JJ set both pumps beside the tank and wrapped their hoses around the rear clamps. Jade held the seventh support line above the wheel housing.

Palla crawled beneath Kegaku's bed and pulled two latches. Omina lowered the frame onto the iron runners while Erebos kept Kegaku's spine aligned with the pressure heads.

The bed settled onto its sentence trolley with four wheels aligned beneath it.

Three rigid pipes still connected it to the floor.

"Flexible returns are stored inside the first three burial carts."

Palla pointed toward the awakened bodies blocking the tunnel.

Kegaku stopped fighting his chest strap and listened to the knocking inside the pipes.

"They are following my pulse, so move my trolley ahead of the tank."

"That makes you the first body they reach."

Kieran kept her blade inside the severed scythe piece while looking back at him.

"They already reach everyone else through me, so use the honest arrangement."

Palla studied him from the floor while knocking spread beneath them.

"The condemned line carries its strongest pulse at the front."

Omina joined the two trolleys with green bars. Yun-Jin wound violet thread through the couplings, leaving enough slack for the tunnel turns.

Jade cut the first rigid pipe after Palla closed its valve. JJ attached a flexible return taken from the nearest empty cart. The tank woman's pulse held.

The second pipe sprayed black fluid across Kegaku's legs when its valve failed.

Erebos sealed the break with shadow before the bed lost pressure. Palla pushed his shadow aside and jammed one piston rod into the valve seat.

"Your repairs grow teeth after you leave, so mine stays visible."

Jade connected the second return around Palla's rod. The line held through three beats.

The Reaper recovered the remaining scythe and drove Kieran away from the trapped curse. Awakened prisoners poured around its robe and entered the building.

Ty and Zunoder overturned an empty cart across the doorway. Bodies climbed over it while the Reaper cut through the axle.

"The third return decides whether this convoy moves today."

Palla pointed at the pipe beneath Kegaku's chest. Its coupling had fused into the pressure bed.

Kegaku reached through the loosened wrist strap and placed his palm over the pipe.

"Cut the bed around it and leave the coupling attached."

Erebos formed a shadow blade. Kegaku looked toward Kieran rather than his master.

"Use the same hand that removed the curse because I trust its limit."

Kieran crossed the room while Ty held the Reaper at the broken cart. Her blade cut a circle through the iron bed without touching the pressure coupling.

Palla attached the third flexible return with both damaged hands.

All three floor pipes dropped away from the moving trolley runners.

Kegaku's trolley rolled six inches toward the tunnel, pulling the tank behind it. The pressure gauge beside Jade remained level.

"The woman keeps pressure while the condemned trolley remains moving."

Palla struck the recessed handle with both damaged hands.

The rail tilted beneath the convoy, and every trolley began to roll.

Kegaku's bed entered the tunnel first. The tank followed with JJ riding beside the pumps and Jade holding the seventh line away from the wheels. Yun-Jin ran alongside until the wall forced her onto the rear trolley.

Omina pulled Palla aboard by the back of her coat after receiving one sharp nod.

Ty jumped onto the tank trolley. Zunoder landed beside Kegaku's feet.

Kieran left her blade in the curse until the final cart passed. She tore the flute from her belt, used its metal case to strike the trapped scythe piece deeper into the floor, and jumped after Ty without playing a note.

Erebos entered last with the Reaper's remaining hook one inch behind his spine.

As the condemned line dropped into darkness beneath the execution yard, stone covers opened above the passing rails. Awakened hands reached down, missed the tank, and caught the rear coupling.

The Reaper pulled itself into the tunnel behind them using those hands as a ladder.

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