Flying toward the musicians, the pellets quickly attached themselves onto the heads of the musicians, transferring Tali's voice by capturing the vibrations of his voice and sending it out via the same vibrations.
...
"What is he doing!" Shelt dropped her formalities as she raised her voice in suspicion of the message she just received.
Shelt was reluctant from the start, but she felt that there was probably a reason for their leader's orders, but after their leader's most recent statement to them, Shelt couldn't justify his commands anymore.
"We can't really go back now, can we, so let's just trust him." Kanum said in a relaxed tone, trying to calm down his wife.
Kanum felt reluctant as well, but because of his optimism, he tends to give people the benefit of the doubt. However, if anything were to go wrong later, he'll be the first to confront Tali, even if he lacked the power to even make a scratch.
(You better be planning something good...) Kanum thought as he glanced at Tali with a serious face.
Looking at his wife, Kanum knew that she wouldn't leave by herself until she got an answer to what Tali's plans were, so he had no choice but to pull his wife away from here himself.
"H-hey, we can't leave here yet!" Shelt argued and tried to resist.
...
Meanwhile, while the musicians were leaving, Tali prepared himself for the next part of his plan, anxiously waiting as each of his musicians left until the final pair left.
(Onto the next objective...) Tali thought, still feeling reluctant about his next actions.
Tali's plan is extremely risky, if he were to lose concentration for even a second during his execution, then the lives of hundreds of thousands of people could be over in just a blink of an eye.
*Cruuuk cruuk*
Suddenly, without any signs, the ground beneath the couple hundred thousand people that made up the crowd began to silently and unnoticeably vibrate, forming precise cracks all around below the ground.
"Screw it, even if I have to be out for weeks or even months, I'll make sure nobody else dies under supervision today!"
As the carving began to finish up, Tali spoke his words out loud to no one but himself, trying to harden his will as much as he could before he truly committed himself to executing his momentous plan, as it is vital that he stay fully conscious and aware during the entire process.
*Szuuuuuk*
As soon as Tali was done, the next part of his plan immediately started. Suddenly an incomprehensible amount of clay shot up from the ground and began encasing itself all over and around the legs and lower bodies of every single one of the hundreds of thousands of people Tali targeted.
*Shhhuuuckk shuuck*
The moment the clay captures a person, the clay around their bodies will instantly harden and lock them in place while also connecting itself tightly into the ground, which eventually leads to the thousands of dead bodies below these people's feet being covered up.
The clay didn't just encase one person at a time; instead, it all just appeared and completed its role all at once within the blink of an eye before anyone could react to it. This method took up significantly more power; however, the gains here significantly outweigh the risk, because if he did that, he would've wasted too much time that he can't spare for something so trivial.
"Haaaaaaaaahhhhhh-"
Finally, Tali took one deep breath, and right afterwards, he spun both of his hands in circles, and after the third loop, instead of going around again, he lifted both hands to the same height as his head, like he was holding up a basin.
Slowly and gradually, the ground with the couple hundred thousand people on it began to detach inch by inch, revealing how great of a scale this operation truly was.
As the area that Tali cut out began to take off, it was revealed that the area that Tali was trying to lift off the ground was larger than two whole districts combined into one; this area is so large that it's comparable to a whole island.
*BooouUUUUUKKKkkkk BUUUUCCKK*
Slowly lifting off from the ground and into the air, people in the crowd began to notice an oddity with their elevation, which caused some people to panic even more. However, no matter how much they moved or tried to break out, the hold on them never even gave them an inch.
"BOOOOOCCCCCKKK BRRRRRRKKKKKK"
Right at the thickness of the district, Locce detached from the ground was revealed to be 3 times as tall as an average adult male; the platform that was just sliding out perfectly smooth just moments ago suddenly began to crack.
Before, during the Sky Whale's dying wail, it secretly shook and cracked the ground below the crowd, but no one truly felt that because Tali forcefully restrained the ground from taking in new victims during that time, but now, it came to bite back because even though he was able to completely stop large cracks from forming, all he did was hold it together, sort of like how glass forms cracks but doesn't shatter until another force makes contact with it.
"Urg, dammit" Tali grunted and swore as his eyes widened in horror of his mistake.
At that moment, Tali went into a state of accelerated thought, watching the districts of land that he was holding crumbling apart in slow motion.
Thinking quickly, the two hands that Tali held up inched closer together, and as he did so, both of his hands began to shake slightly, kind of like if someone were to be holding onto something extremely tightly that could crumble if constant pressure was not applied.
"Ziiiik" Tali clicked his touch and made a strained sound.
Before, even though Tali was nervous, he was still confident about executing his plan. But now, as the unexpected hurdle revealed itself, this task had grown significantly harder.
Due to the collapse, Tali had to overexert himself. While his movements looked simple, Tali secretly spread tens of thousands of strong metal beams all throughout the crumbling ground, securing the whole area. Meaning that Tali essentially has to support two different weights at the same time now, stretching his control to its limit. In turn, causing him to expend way more power than he had expected.
Predicting his inevitable Node deficiency, Tali split a tiny part of his thoughts, risking his control over the floating districts to create a small pallet just like the ones he shot out before.
"I NEED MORE NODE CANISTERS; IT'S LIFE OR DEATH!" Tali screams into the pallet, stressing more and more with each word he spoke.
As he finished his plea for help, Tali had already begun to send the vibrating metal pallet away before he even finished his last word. Tali gave it a command and objective to find one of his musicians, no matter who it is. But the person it chose wasn't someone Tali would've willingly chosen in this situation.
...
Despite his earlier banishment from the evacuation field, Locce's confinement broke earlier than expected when Tali retracted the power he had bestowed onto the musicians under his command, but right as he did so, he accidentally retracted the power that was keeping Locce trapped as well, allowing him to easily escape.
"Damnit, Tali, why'd you keep me for so long?" Locce said in a voice filled with concern as blood occasionally dripped from his soaked makeshift bandage.
Since Locce was locked in solitude for a couple of minutes, he had time to reorganize his thoughts, and upon his escape, he did not hesitate to go back into action.
Because he didn't receive the command like the rest of the musicians did, Locce, even after realizing that Tali's mode of flight was cut off, used his own power and cluelessly flew toward his friend Tali.
Incidentally, as Locce was now the closest musician within Tali's radius, the metal pallet that contained Tali's message flew and attached itself to his forehead.
I NEED MORE NODE CANISTERS; IT'S LIFE OR DEATH! Tali's voice repeated as the pallet reflected the same frequency.
...
Gritting his teeth as his eyes sharply stared at the floating districts that held the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, Tali focused every last bit of his consciousness on maintaining its flight.
Currently, even though the floating districts looked like they barely made it off the ground. In actuality, however, it flew at just above the height of a three-story building.
*Cruuuck cruuk*
Suddenly, the movements of the floating districts halted. Part of its ledge was caught by the Slette, so unless that part is broken off, the entire thing wouldn't be able to move an inch.
"Damn!"
Tali grunted as his focus broke for a millisecond, causing the floating districts to tilt slightly for a moment. But thanks to that, it inadvertently broke off the part that trapped it, freeing it once again.
Since the Slette is this close now, Tali couldn't lift the floating districts perpendicularly anymore, so he had to change his plans since it is still not high enough to avoid all the remaining buildings in the area.
In an effort to avoid the Slette, Tali changed its trajectory by making it ascend diagonally like an elevator.
The process of ascending the floating districts was fairly slow, barely escaping with the Slette in hot pursuit. However, even with that, the Slette grazed the edge from time to time, nicking bits of concrete off the sides.
Finally, after about 2 minutes, the floating districts finally flew high enough to not clash with any buildings in their way, creating a mesmerizing scene, as it looked like a whole island had been pulled out of the ground and defied all conventions of nature to fly above a city.
"Haaah, hafff, hah."
Large puffs of air left Tali's lung, but yet his eyes never wavered for even a millisecond. However, as evidence of the strain it took for him to get the floating districts to that point, Tali's hands, which were lifted up high when he started, now descended all the way down to his chest.
Even though Tali was nearly tuckered out, he didn't have a choice, because if he rested for even a second, the Slette would catch up and cause the flow to break.
All he could do now was absorb the remaining Node canisters he had left to alleviate only a portion of his fatigue.
...
Now that the floating districts had achieved the appropriate height, they stopped ascending and instead moved in a perfect horizontal trajectory toward the safe zone.
(Goo-good, n-now go) Tali's thoughts stuttered, having trouble articulating each word despite only thinking about it.
Now that the crucial part is done, the true evacuation can finally begin. Tali continued to hold both of his hands out, but his mindset changed. Although the pathway in front of the humongous floating districts was mostly clear, some navigation is still needed.
At that moment, it was almost like Tali's vision had split, one for close sight to keep his attention on the floating districts so he doesn't drop it, while the other sight looked far and wide at buildings and any potential disturbances.
As the floating districts made their way to the safe zone, an odd imaginary image began to take form.
It looked like a golden, transparent giant with his back hunched was carrying a whole island in his hands as it walked and protected the island full of people with its body. The giant had a noble face that didn't lack any empathy, but despite its calm face, its entire body was shaking with exhaustion.
The imaginary imagery was not too far off from the actual situation Tali is in, because if someone were to see Tali in the situation he's in now, they'll no doubt imagine the same image.
Despite the floating districts not making it too far from their original point, Tali's hands that were on the same level as his chest now lowered even more, down to his crotch, and soon, he might end with his back hunched just like the imaginary giant.
Noticing his own state as well, Tali thought of two different options. Either he accelerates the floating districts moving speed by 10 times to achieve more distance or slows down the acceleration to conserve the limited node he has left to stall for time.
Unless someone appears right now in this instance, the first option is completely out of the question. However, Tali didn't have the luxury to wait, so he chose the latter option and lowered the movement speed of the floating districts.
During this whole time, Haze had been flying by the side of the floating districts itself, but now he couldn't even maintain that anymore, so, after finding an appropriate place that still gave him full vision of the situation to land, he jumped down from the earth platform he had been flying onto the roof, causing him to almost fall in the process due to his fatigue.
"Aaaahhhhahhh" Tali produced a strange noise that sounded like a fusion between screaming and a large exhalation of air.
...
About 5 minutes after Tali landed, the floating districts were only about halfway into the safe zone. However, there were still at least a hundred thousand more people on the other side, so he can't give up now, but yet...
Tali wasn't standing anymore; he crouched down on the ground, or more specifically the roof, with his left leg in the fetal position as support for his left arm while his right leg lay crossed.
Currently, Tali is in the worst state he can be in. If his hands were to touch the ground, then it'll be over, and all his effort would've been meaningless.
Tali's hands were just inches off the ground, and each second that passed, his hand dropped by an inch.
3 inches away... 2 inches away... 1 inch away…
*CRUUK CRUK CRRUUUUK*
The floating district that was once floating so smoothly and gracefully just moments ago suddenly began to descend.