Ferra’s three grounding stakes forced the Hunting Avatar into the abandoned western council hall. Veran waited inside a ring of overturned seats, carrying the missing foundation key through armor joined directly to his willing core.
Hajin entered with Didi while Loccy held the connected ward recoil outside. Vella remained at the infirmary, Juna protected her route, while Ferra repaired the stakes before the finishing operation.
"I want Veran’s answer without Dominion speaking over it," Didi said, leaving Crowned Frost beneath her ordinary mana, "he renewed evidence holds through his own office before accepting this descent."
"Collector can confirm whether his soul still chooses the fusion," Hajin replied, keeping his left hand bare, "but touching the avatar means entering range of every occupied anchor still attached to him."
The white-gold armor opened around Veran’s face when they crossed the hearing boundary. Dominion remained present inside his core, yet the mortal man’s expression moved without divine correction.
"You asked for my answer," Veran said, resting one armored hand upon the foundation key, "I have given it through every ward your undisciplined strength failed to control."
"You held evidence from the Sun Emperor case," he replied, approaching with one Ring around his right wrist, "the same council obstruction protected people using divine material before this avatar appeared."
"I renewed a lawful hold while the Crown determined whether your impossible claims were real," Veran said, watching the Ring rather than Hajin’s face, "the fact that one god noticed you does not make every prior delay treason."
Didi placed the archived renewals across a surviving council desk; Veran’s seals appeared on three holds issued after guards confirmed the divine remains, plus two witness restrictions that kept the material away from Ferra; "Your last renewal followed the avatar’s first survey pulse," she said, keeping each document beyond his armored hand, "you knew the material was answering another authority, then continued feeding it palace access."
"I knew power had entered a system built to contain power," he replied, allowing Dominion gold to spread beneath his skin, "your father rules through twenty Shards, while blood granted you attention before your first achievement."
"That does not explain the healers you attached," Hajin said, closing the distance until Collector’s Grasp reacted on his left palm, "or the patients carrying wounds from a body they never invited."
Veran turned one ward circle toward the hall, trying to place an occupied anchor between them. Didi froze the royal address before it completed, leaving the mortal soul reachable through the armor’s exposed seam.
Hajin opened his second Ring before crossing the remaining pace; Aegis stopped the avatar’s right hand, while Collector’s Grasp pressed against Veran’s chest with no glove between skin and divine plate.
The artifact bypassed the armor after recognizing another soul held inside an ownership structure. Hajin felt Veran’s human core, Dominion’s attached authority, plus the consent line binding them together through the missing key.
[ Mortal vessel assessment ]
[ Soul present: yes ]
[ Initial incarnation consent: voluntary ]
[ Current fusion renewal: voluntary ]
[ Coercive override upon mortal choice: none detected ]
Collector’s Grasp also exposed what the fusion had already cost him; Veran’s natural mana core had been cut into channels shaped for Dominion, leaving no safe return through ordinary healing if the divine authority withdrew without preparation; The damage made separation difficult without making consent meaningless; Vella could stabilize a willing retreat after the anchors were removed, while Ferra could contain the abandoned incarnation material before it entered another ward; "Withdrawal will hurt, and your core may never recover its former function," Hajin said, giving Veran the actual consequence instead of an easy promise, "you still receive treatment if you release the connection now."
"A damaged life beneath judgment remains the same offer with fewer years," Veran replied, hardening the voluntary line around Dominion, "I did not open myself to this authority so healers could preserve my weakness afterward."
Veran looked through the artifact contact and recognized that Hajin had found the willing line. Fear entered his core without changing the consent holding Dominion inside it.
"Withdraw into what?" he asked, tightening his soul around the foreign authority, "a mortal life spent watching inherited monsters call restraint virtue while deciding every rank above mine?"
"Into a trial for what you chose," Didi replied, allowing no promise of forgiveness, "you would survive to answer the patients, council, plus families whose wards you inverted."
"Your offer returns me beneath the same blood that denied me significance," he said, while white-gold armor closed around Hajin’s wrist, "Dominion offered a rank that cannot be voted away by frightened officials."
Collector’s Grasp found earlier reinforcement inside Veran’s core; he had served Dominion before the physical descent, carrying instructions through the council while believing the distant authority would reward successful access.
The renewed Sun Emperor holds had therefore protected more than bureaucratic caution. Veran had kept divine evidence away from Hajin’s specialists while waiting for another god to establish a route through the capital.
"How long have you worked for it?" Hajin asked, refusing to let the armor force his left hand away before Aria finished recording the consent line.
"Years before your Fragment learned to speak," Veran replied, with pride replacing the fear beneath his core, "the palace contained servants capable of recognizing natural hierarchy before you brought dead women back as equals."
Didi drew her sword when his occupied ward circle moved again; Crowned Frost stopped the royal address, while ordinary frost fixed the chair line beneath Veran without pretending three Shards could overpower the complete avatar; "You have answered enough," she said, sealing the council records through her commission mark, "your collaboration began before this attack, while every later renewal preserved the same purpose."
Hajin removed Collector’s Grasp after Aria captured the mortal consent; the avatar closed its armor immediately, sending burning pressure across his left palm without raising the artifact beyond its current seven-percent seal.
"The vessel remains willing," Aria confirmed, placing the result beside Didi’s records, "removal against his choice would require destroying the fusion, though involuntary anchors may still be separated first."
Veran drove the foundation key into the council floor before they could withdraw. Five occupied ward circles entered the hall, each carrying living signatures that made an immediate killing strike unacceptable.
Hajin opened three Rings, using Aegis to keep the circles apart while Didi froze their royal addresses. The willing vessel attacked through every line, showing no surrender after receiving a direct path back toward mortal custody.
"You wanted an answer," Veran said, raising a white-gold blade above the key, "I choose the order that makes my power permanent."
"Then you answer for the choice with Dominion still inside you," Hajin replied, summoning the Legendary Chain into his right hand, "we remove every unwilling anchor before cutting the core you renewed."
Ferra’s three dark markers appeared across the ward map when her repairs finished. Juna’s route closed behind the hall, Loccy accepted the connected recoil outside, while Vella reported the last healer branches free.
The Hunting Avatar had lost its possession choir, three transfer districts, plus every construct capable of reopening them. Veran remained willing at its center, leaving the eight anchors as the only lives Dominion could still force between itself and Hajin.