Ferra converted the bridge repair forge into a temporary anti-avatar workshop before the mint pressure settled. Witness Avatar metal occupied one side of the furnace, while certified palace iron waited separately until she proved neither carried a living soul.
Vella remained at the healer station and confirmed the divine pieces through Hajin’s contract. Their authority had died with the empty avatar, leaving material that still remembered resistance against the capital foundation.
"I need three stakes before the Hunt moves again," Ferra said, sending one floating tool through the heated palace iron, "each grounds one transfer interval, and a fourth would connect more force than my Wing can survive."
Hajin arrived with Juna after clearing the mint; he kept every Ring closed while Ferra joined the first divine fragment around an iron shaft, because construction required her craft rather than his battle output; "Where do they go?" he asked, studying the eight-anchor map beside her forge.
"Mint, canal, plus western archive," she replied, rotating the unfinished stake between two tools, "those districts are empty or cleared, so stored pressure can enter prepared ground without crossing another resident."
The locations remained separated by sufficient distance for the Hunting Avatar to intercept any visible installation route. Ferra therefore needed transport through active wards, while Juna had to keep return paths closed behind them.
Hajin lifted the forgemistress after she sealed the first stake inside a carrying brace. Ferra objected only until she secured her tools, accepting that her shorter stride could not outrun constructs between districts.
"Do not open more than one Ring while carrying me," she warned, tightening the brace around her shoulder, "your circulation will interfere with the avatar metal before I place it inside the node."
"One Ring handles movement," he replied, letting the first halo turn around his right wrist, "tell me before the stake enters a foundation line, and I will close it before touching your circuit."
Juna left first with one Wing, cutting every construct that reached the empty mint route. She marked the cleared roofs through Solar Vanguard, giving Hajin a path that avoided occupied streets plus royal signal plates.
They reached the mint before Dominion understood which object Ferra carried; Hajin closed his Ring outside the monument boundary, then placed her beside the exposed transfer interval without touching the stake.
Ferra drove the first shaft through the shared royal pin while her Wing stabilized its divine shell. Stored ward pressure entered the stake, grounding one movement route into an empty foundation chamber beneath the square.
"Mint fixed," she reported, sealing the interval before Hajin lifted her again, "the avatar cannot use that district as a turning node unless it destroys the stake physically."
Four constructs formed above the northern road when they moved toward the canal. Juna cut their first escape line, while Hajin opened two Rings because their white-gold blades reached Ferra before one could handle the formation.
Aegis caught the active shells inside a narrow corridor between cleared buildings. Hajin kept them alive until Divine Eye confirmed no mortal soul, occupied ward, or surrender response existed inside their shared order.
"Continue the attack and you die here," he warned, holding all four inside the barrier, "close your weapons before Juna removes the route behind you."
The constructs drove their blades through Aegis instead of stopping; Juna cut the return aperture, giving Hajin a valid closed formation he crushed against its own active pressure.
Four shells died without adding to Ferra’s ledger, because Hajin supplied the killing force while she remained protected inside the route. Their small authority fragments entered his fixed Hunting-construct total without changing the planned avatar reward.
The second stake went beneath Loccy’s restored bridge after route guards cleared both banks again. Ferra closed the canal turning node, forcing every later transfer away from the connected span Worldbearer had preserved.
"Archive route next," she said, with her Wing showing strain from two active stakes, "the third circuit completes only after all pieces recognize one maker, so nothing is trapped before I install it."
Hajin carried her across the western roofs while Juna protected the line behind them. Ten more constructs entered from three ward apertures, trying to break Ferra’s carrying brace rather than attacking the empty roads.
Juna used one Wing to cut the first six from their routes, dropping them inside a courtyard Hajin had confirmed clear. Ferra ordered him not to kill those shells until her third stake could use their active pressure.
They reached the archive monument with all ten constructs following, as Aria recorded the result. Hajin closed his Ring before setting Ferra beside the final transfer interval, then used ordinary Aegis from his base circulation to keep the shells beyond her tools.
The third stake entered the royal pin while the constructs attacked together. Ferra’s first Wing spread forge-light through every piece she had made, joining mint, canal, plus archive into one grounding circuit.
All fourteen surviving or newly arriving constructs became connected when their pressure entered the finished stakes. Ferra closed her hand around the archive shaft, turning their white-gold assault through three empty foundation chambers instead of occupied wards.
"Release your weapons and leave the circuit," she ordered, giving each shell one interval before the ground path locked, "the route remains open until my Wing closes around the third stake."
None stopped; Divine blades struck the completed circuit together, allowing Ferra to return their active force through the avatar metal wrapped around every personally forged shaft.
Fourteen shells broke across three districts after choosing the continuing assault; their divine material remained inside the empty chambers, while Ferra’s contribution became the complete circuit that killed them.
[ Ferra EXP gained: 84,000 ]
[ Ferra EXP: 192,000 / 300,000 ]
[ Hajin EXP gained: 84,000 ]
[ Hajin EXP: 43,830,000 / 50,000,000 ]
[ Grounded districts: three ]
The Hunting Avatar tried entering the mint after the stakes settled; Its transfer law struck Ferra’s circuit, lost the destination held by the stolen key, then returned Veran’s body toward the western ward without finding an occupied replacement; "Three districts unavailable," Aria confirmed, marking the grounded nodes across Hajin’s map, "the avatar retains five occupied anchors and one willing vessel, while the connected ward recoil remains inside Ferra’s empty chambers."
Backlash entered Ferra’s Wing after the avatar tested all three stakes; Hajin caught her before she fell against the archive monument, keeping his Rings closed until her personally forged circuit stopped vibrating.
"The stakes survive another transfer," she said, checking each material response through Masterwork Sense, "but I need repairs before asking them to hold a finishing strike from the avatar core."
"You will get the time," Hajin replied, lifting her away from the foundation line, "Juna is cutting every route that tries bringing Veran back into a cleared district."
Above them, pale-gold afterimages crossed the roofs as the Hunting Avatar sent its remaining constructs toward Ferra’s installation path. Juna followed their return line instead of chasing the willing vessel, refusing to let the hunt reclaim ground already emptied.
Ferra’s three stakes remained visible on Hajin’s map as fixed dark points. The avatar could break them physically, but it could no longer treat those districts as invisible doors beneath another attack.