Juna followed the Hunting Avatar’s constructs across the western roofs while Ferra repaired three grounding stakes below. One Wing carried her between cleared buildings, reserving the other two until the shells threatened a route people still needed.
The first formation crossed above the evacuated mint and ignored every empty monument. Its white-gold bodies moved toward the canal infirmary, where ordinary healers were still treating patients freed from Vella’s possession choir.
"They are not chasing Ferra anymore," Juna reported through Hajin’s route plate, keeping the shells inside her sight, "the hunt wants an occupied district it can reopen behind the stakes."
"Protect the infirmary route and leave Veran to us," Hajin replied, following the willing vessel through the grounded map, "cut the return line when the constructs commit, not before they expose where it turns."
Juna crossed the first roof without increasing her Wings; the formation divided around her, sending four shells toward the patient entrance while six climbed above the canal marker to open an aperture.
She let the upper group begin its white-gold circle before drawing Solar Vanguard. One pale-gold cut marked the lower edge, preventing the route from closing until every construct entered the same return path.
The four ground shells attacked the healers instead of surrendering their weapons. Route guards pulled patients deeper while Juna removed two divine blades through one crossing strike, leaving the active bodies intact until their shared destination became visible.
"Aperture turning toward the western ward," Aria said through Hajin’s system, carrying the map back to Juna, "if they complete it, the avatar can bypass Ferra’s canal stake and restore an occupied transfer point."
Juna manifested her second Wing when the upper six committed their cores. Solar Vanguard carried her across the open circle, cutting three support lines without closing the route beneath the remaining formation.
The shells below followed her upward after failing to reach the patients. All ten entered the aperture together, bringing their continuing attack into the clear sky above the canal.
"Stop the ward assault and close your weapons," she warned, placing her blade across their return line, "the district behind you is evacuated except for healers; nobody there belongs to your hunt."
White-gold blades turned toward her instead of closing; the formation tried crossing through the western route while using Juna’s body as the final living address.
Her third Wing opened as the first construct entered the marked line. Two pale-gold planes fixed the aperture around its active shells, while the last carried Juna through every opening the formation still possessed.
She cut the return route rather than Veran’s distant body; the aperture separated from the ward foundation, trapping ten constructs above the canal where no civilian, healer, or occupied anchor remained.
The shells attacked through one connected order after losing retreat, as the surrounding witnesses watched. Juna crossed their formation in a single descending path, severing active cores from divine blades before the broken pieces reached the roofs below.
Pale authority entered her insignia only after all ten constructs stopped; their destroyed route collapsed above the grounded canal stake, leaving Ferra’s circuit untouched beneath the cleared district.
[ Hunting constructs destroyed: ten ]
[ Juna Arc 9 EXP gained: 650,000 ]
[ Juna EXP: 6,120,000 / 7,500,000 ]
[ Hajin EXP gained: 650,000 ]
[ Hajin EXP: 44,480,000 / 50,000,000 ]
[ Hunting-construct ledger: closed ]
Juna landed beside the infirmary entrance with three Wings still spread; Ordinary healers confirmed every patient remained alive, although the roof had taken two blade strikes before the formation committed upward.
One broken shell had fallen inside the cleared courtyard without crossing the patient line. Juna checked its empty chest through Hajin’s shared assessment, confirming the construct carried no mortal host before route guards moved the remains toward Ferra’s evidence circuit.
"The authority traveled through the aperture instead of remaining inside these bodies," Aria reported, placing the dead route beside Ferra’s three grounded marks, "closing this formation removed the Hunt’s final mobile construct group without changing the occupied anchor count."
"Then the ten kills advance Juna and my ledger without freeing anyone below Veran," Hajin replied, keeping the distinction visible after the EXP receipt, "do not let the system make the route look solved."
The healers had heard enough through the ward to understand what attacked them. Several patients watched Juna’s three Wings retract toward one, while route guards covered the damaged windows with ordinary clinic screens.
"Will the god return when she leaves?" one injured healer asked, keeping pressure against a patient’s bandage instead of looking at the roof.
"The canal stake blocks its old entrance, but I remain until every patient crosses that line," Juna replied, lowering Solar Vanguard without storing it, "if another route opens, I cut the opening before following the body behind it."
Captain Roen reorganized the treatment carts around her decision, without altering the agreed sequence. The most stable patients moved first because they could clear the grounded marker without stopping, leaving critical cases under Vella’s direct gold until their carriers reached position.
Ward pressure moved along the outer roofs while the first cart entered the road. Juna smelled divine metal around three turns without finding another constructed body, proving Dominion still tested the route through distant infrastructure.
"Route clear," she reported, checking the windows before dismissing her second and third Wings, "the avatar cannot return through the canal unless it destroys Ferra’s stake directly."
"Keep one Wing until the patient transfer finishes," Hajin replied, with battle pressure carrying through his voice, "we found Veran inside the western council hall, and the remaining anchors are contracting around him."
Juna turned toward the distant hall without leaving the infirmary; Chasing Hajin’s fight would remove the only fighter protecting the route she had just closed.
"I remain here until the last treatment cart crosses the grounded line," she said, watching route guards prepare the first patient group, "tell Ferra to repair the stake before she follows you into another ward."
The Hunting Avatar sent no replacement shells after the construct ledger closed. Instead, ward pressure gathered around the infirmary from three distant monuments, testing whether Juna would abandon the patient route to attack its source.
She kept one Wing manifested and moved beside the first cart; the ward lines followed along the roofs, revealing each turning point without finding a cleared entrance Ferra had left ungrounded.
"It wants you angry enough to chase," Vella said from beside the final patient, maintaining direct gold treatment after her range loss, "Veran’s voice used the same trick against Hajin inside the mint."
"I know," Juna replied, keeping Solar Vanguard low while the cart crossed, "it keeps putting the body where we can see it, then hides the route behind someone we cannot."
Vella looked toward the pale marks where Juna had cut the aperture. No patient wound reopened when the ward pressure moved, proving the possession choir remained dead despite the avatar’s attempt to surround them.
The second cart crossed after Captain Roen signed its count; Juna stayed beside the treatment line while Dominion appeared above a distant monument, giving her a clear sightline toward Veran’s armored chest.
She refused that target without looking away; Solar Vanguard cut another forming route behind the carts, preserving the road instead of spending her full three-Wing output upon a body attached to unwilling lives; "The route is the hunt," she said, following the next white-gold line across the roofs, "Veran can wait until every exit he stole belongs to nobody."
The final patient cart crossed Ferra’s grounded marker before Juna left the infirmary. She dismissed her remaining Wing only after ordinary guards occupied the cleared entrance, then ran the marked roof line toward Hajin without allowing the ward to reopen behind her.