The command entered every accepted rank label before its final word left the armor. White-gold threads tightened from the Witness Avatar's raised hand toward each Shard counted inside the room.
The downward pressure did not strike every person in the room equally. It entered through the labels above their bodies, using the number as a measure of how much force the law believed each core could bear.
Both councilors struck the nullstone floor first beneath their smaller, poorly conditioned cores. The succession councilor caught himself upon one palm, although his two Shards dragged his other shoulder down beside it.
Six royal guards followed both councilors toward the floor according to their displayed readings. Two-Shard guards reached both knees immediately, while the four and five-Shard veterans remained upright for another breath before heavier pressure entered their stronger cores.
