Veran drove the missing foundation key deeper into the council floor as five occupied circles closed around him. Three more lines remained outside the hall, connecting the Hunting Avatar to healers, guards, plus unknown bodies beneath the western wing.
Didi planted her sword across the first royal address before Dominion could move it. Crowned Frost arrested the blood-authorized commands while leaving every attached person’s circulation outside her technique.
"I can hold the destinations together for one interval," she warned, opening two Shards beneath silver-gold frost, "once the key changes address again, the living branches split across the city."
Ferra activated her three repaired grounding stakes from outside the hall, while Hajin tracked the change. Witness Avatar metal caught the shared transfer interval, giving every occupied route an empty foundation chamber where recoil could enter without striking its host.
The Hunting Avatar attacked the stakes through all eight anchors at once. Loccy planted beyond the western wall with four Wings spread, taking the connected recoil through Worldbearer before the old foundation carried it into occupied streets.
"I have the ward structure, not the people attached beneath it," she reported, holding her hammer against the hall support, "separate every living line before asking me to drop Veran’s recoil anywhere."
Vella entered the first remaining anchor through a healer who requested removal. Her gold traveled only along existing treatment contact, finding the white-gold hook that kept the unwilling practitioner inside Veran’s transfer law.
"The healer branch is separate from the old choir," she said through Hajin’s contract, "Dominion rebuilt the anchor through a royal ward claim, so I need Didi to freeze its address while I sever the foreign circulation."
Didi extended one Crowned Frost thread through Ferra’s grounded interval; she physically named the healer record and arrested the royal command defining that person’s body as a valid ward support.
Vella cut the stopped hook without touching natural gold mana; one living signature disappeared from the Hunting Avatar’s map, leaving its human core alive beneath ordinary treatment.
[ Unwilling anchor released: one ]
[ Remaining occupied anchors: seven ]
Dominion sent Veran’s blade through the council floor before they reached another branch. Hajin opened three Rings, catching the physical strike inside Aegis while refusing to sever the willing core carrying it.
Juna ran the hall’s outer roofs with one Wing, following the aperture forming above Veran. The Hunting Avatar had begun preparing a flight route toward an ungrounded palace monument in case the living anchors disappeared.
"Its escape line crosses three occupied roofs before reaching the monument," she reported, keeping Solar Vanguard away from the complete route, "I need the route guards to clear them before I cut anything."
Captain Roen moved guards through Didi’s ordinary authority rather than foundation signals. The rooftops emptied one building at a time, forcing Juna to hold position while Vella separated the next anchor below.
Two trapped palace guards shared a corridor route beneath the council hall. Crowned Frost froze the command around their service seals, while Ferra’s western stake grounded pressure released when Vella removed both foreign hooks.
[ Unwilling anchors released: three ]
[ Remaining occupied anchors: five ]
Loccy’s carried burden became lighter when the corridor stopped feeding Veran; she kept Worldbearer active, because the avatar stored every failed transfer inside the ward structure waiting beneath her hammer.
The fourth anchor carried Didi’s evacuated district marker without a living person attached. She froze the royal address before cutting its authority with her sword, allowing Ferra’s mint stake to absorb the empty branch.
Four unknown bodies remained beneath the western wing after the district marker vanished. Vella could not reach them through treatment magic, leaving Hajin to expose their connection before anyone severed the complete line.
Collector’s Grasp entered the council floor through his bare left palm while the Chain remained stored. The artifact followed Veran’s shared consent structure toward four weak souls held inside foundation alcoves.
They were palace workers trapped after the inversion, each attached through service records rather than willing contracts. Hajin surfaced their positions on Didi’s map without pulling their cores toward the avatar.
"Release teams know those alcoves," she said, sending ordinary runners toward the western stairs, "hold the addresses until guards reach physical contact, then Vella can use the workers’ own treatment bands."
Veran tried collapsing all four rooms before the teams arrived, as the surrounding witnesses watched. Loccy carried the connected wall pressure away from their bodies, while Ferra directed its stored force toward three grounded chambers instead of the occupied alcoves.
Route guards reached each worker before Worldbearer exceeded Loccy’s planted limit; Vella entered through their treatment bands after receiving separate consent, while Didi froze four service claims one at a time.
The remaining foreign hooks separated together without disturbing natural circulation; Eight living anchors had become zero, leaving only Veran’s willing vessel plus the missing foundation key inside the Hunting Avatar.
[ Unwilling anchors released: eight ]
[ Occupied ward anchors: zero ]
[ Mortal casualties during separation: zero ]
Royal release teams confirmed all four workers had reached the western stairs under their own movement. The two guards entered treatment for ward burns, while both healers remained beside patients after their foreign hooks disappeared.
Nobody received freedom through a summary alone, so Didi kept every signed release beside the frozen address she had removed. The completed record left Veran unable to hide another living route beneath the final target.
Dominion pulled every disconnected line back toward Veran; Ferra’s stakes fixed their destinations, while Loccy carried the ward recoil that would otherwise strike the capital when the empty branches collapsed.
"All roofs clear," Juna reported, manifesting her second and third Wings above the hall, "the flight route contains no person, so I can cut it when the avatar commits."
"Wait until Phase Lock draws the remaining authority together," Hajin ordered, removing Collector’s Grasp from the floor, "Veran still has one core and one key, but Dominion can divide those across the hall unless every empty anchor becomes one line."
He summoned the Legendary Chain into his right hand after closing Aegis around Veran’s physical body. Three Rings maintained the barrier, while the gray lines on Hajin’s right arm turned gold-purple around the sampled Dominion frequency.
Phase Lock caught the Hunting Avatar’s transfer law without accepting its command. The Chain matched that sampled interval, giving every loose link the same frequency as the empty routes returning from Ferra’s stakes.
Hajin opened Ring 4 only after the last worker cleared the foundation. Four halos drove the Chain around Veran’s body, pulling eight former anchors, the missing key, plus the willing core into one incarnation line.
The avatar tried escaping through the prepared aperture before the line closed. Juna cut its only flight route across the empty roofs, forcing Dominion’s withdrawing authority back into Veran instead of another district.
Didi froze the royal transfer command at the key, while Vella confirmed no unwilling branch remained inside the line. Ferra locked all three stakes, giving Loccy a clear empty boundary for the recoil held beneath the hall.
"One body, one willing soul, one incarnation core," Aria confirmed, marking the complete target inside Hajin’s Chain, "the Hunting Avatar has no remaining involuntary host or transfer destination."
Veran raised his own face through the white-gold armor as the Chain tightened. Dominion remained fused inside him by renewed consent, leaving the next strike free from every life it had used as protection.