The Hunting Avatar abandoned Veran’s armored body before Hajin completed Divine Sever. Its incarnation core raced along the frozen royal command, trying to enter Didi through the bloodline it had already named unlawful.
Didi drove Crowned Frost into the key while four Rings held the emptied ward network still. Silver-gold ice stopped the transfer at her sword, though Dominion’s thirteen-Shard pressure began forcing the command through three Shards.
"It is using Veran’s consent to carry itself into a different vessel," Aria warned, separating the willing soul from the moving authority, "the mortal fusion remains active until the avatar releases his core or both structures are destroyed."
Veran’s body collapsed inside the Legendary Chain without losing consciousness; white-gold channels continued feeding Dominion toward Didi, proving his consent remained present after the avatar left his armor.
"Withdraw your permission and let the transfer die here," Hajin ordered, keeping the Chain around the willing vessel while the incarnation line stretched between them, "you still control whether your soul carries it into another person."
"My rank survives through Dominion," Veran replied, locking his damaged core around the escaping authority, "Didi inherits another throne if the avatar enters her, while my choice becomes the foundation beneath it."
"You are helping a god erase the same person you claim receives power," Didi said, forcing silver deeper into the transfer, "your explanation stopped making sense before you opened your core."
The avatar drove another command through her royal channel, without crossing the protected line. Crowned Frost cracked around the key, sending blood from Didi’s wrist while her three Shards held only the relevant transfer instead of Dominion’s surrounding force.
Hajin stored the Chain after fixing Veran inside a narrow Aegis pocket. Collector’s Grasp remained on his left hand, letting him press the artifact against the exposed incarnation line without occupying his right.
The glove caught Dominion where it crossed between willing vessel and targeted blood. Its seal opened another fraction under direct avatar contact, holding the foreign authority inside Veran’s consent instead of allowing transfer into Didi.
[ Collector’s Grasp contact established ]
[ Avatar transfer: arrested inside willing fusion ]
[ Artifact unseal progress: 8% ]
"Now," Didi said, pulling her sword free from the missing key, "the royal road is frozen outside his core, so remove both structures before the ward finds another blood address."
Hajin released Collector’s Grasp after Aria fixed the avatar frequency, as Aria recorded the result. The incarnation remained trapped inside Veran for one interval, giving him enough time to summon the Legendary Chain back into his right hand.
Four Rings rotated around Hajin’s wrist without healing the pathways burned across his arm. Phase Lock aligned the Chain to Dominion’s exposed frequency, while Divine Eye confirmed no unwilling branch had returned beneath the council hall.
"Surrender the fusion," Hajin ordered once more, tightening the Chain without cutting, "close the divine connection, and Didi keeps the transfer frozen while Vella stabilizes whatever remains of your core."
Veran answered by opening his soul around the avatar; white-gold armor rebuilt inside the Chain, carrying a blade aimed through Didi’s three Shards toward the royal command beneath them.
Juna cut the final flight route above the hall when Dominion tried dividing again. Ferra’s stakes grounded every outward transfer, while Loccy released stored ward recoil through three empty foundation chambers.
Vella confirmed the last healer line remained separate from the avatar; no patient, guard, worker, or unwilling host occupied the complete incarnation target now held inside Hajin’s Chain.
"Target clear," Aria said, placing Veran’s renewed consent beside the avatar core, "Divine Sever will destroy the willing fused vessel and reclaim the attached Dominion authority."
Hajin pulled the Chain through the exposed frequency with four Rings; Divine Sever cut Veran’s mortal core, the missing foundation key, plus the Hunting Avatar along one Phase-Locked line.
White-gold armor broke inward before the foundation could distribute its death; Veran’s soul remained wrapped around Dominion until both structures separated from the ward network and ceased together inside the Chain.
The avatar’s authority tore free as gold light carrying no mortal consciousness. Hajin’s Fragment pulled the reclaimed divinity inward, while every grounded stake discharged its stored recoil into the empty chambers Ferra had prepared.
[ Hunting Avatar destroyed ]
[ Willing mortal vessel destroyed with fused incarnation ]
[ EXP gained: 50,000,000 ]
[ Current EXP: 94,480,000 / 250,000,000 ]
The four Rings around Hajin’s wrist stopped for one heartbeat before another circular current opened beneath them. A fifth halo formed without restoring mana, closing his burned pathways, or repairing Collector’s scorched palm.
Power multiplied through the existing system as the five Rings aligned around his right wrist. The newly opened halo raised his established output toward eight times his base, though every injury plus spent reserve remained unchanged beneath it.
[ Fifth Ring achieved ]
[ Current multiplier: 8x ]
[ Stat points gained: 5 ]
[ Stat points unassigned: 5 ]
[ Next Ring threshold: 250,000,000 EXP ]
Hajin closed Ring 5 before its first rotation demanded mana his body did not possess. The remaining four followed, leaving him standing through ordinary strength while Vella’s gold reached his shoulder through their contract.
"Nothing inside that evolution repaired you," Vella warned through the bond, examining the shoulder burn without leaving her patients, "five Rings remain unavailable until I finish checking what the fourth one just tore open."
"Record the restriction beside the points," he replied, allowing her borrowed gold to stabilize only the active damage, "I will assign nothing while the city still lacks its casualty count."
Juna’s contribution record entered after the Ring receipt, separating her route control from Hajin’s avatar authority reclamation. She had removed every flight path across the hunt without receiving a duplicate god-kill award.
[ Juna contribution EXP gained: 1,100,000 ]
[ Juna EXP: 7,220,000 / 7,500,000 ]
Didi closed her three Shards after the foreign transfer vanished from her blood. Crowned Frost melted around the missing key’s broken remains, leaving no fourth Shard or completed Zone after the fight.
The Dominion authority carried memory into Hajin’s Fragment as its body died. Twelve seated presences surrounded the Goddess inside an incomplete chamber, while one faceless figure insisted souls required rank before they could be preserved.
Its true name remained missing when the scene broke, without crossing the protected line. Aria retained only the authority classification already sampled through three avatars, fixing Dominion as one of the twelve figures who had betrayed the Goddess.
[ Goddess Soul Fragment Recovery ]
[ Previous recovery: 15.00% ]
[ Divine authority reclaimed: +10.00% ]
[ Current recovery: 25.00% ]
Another system layer opened beneath the restored memory; Bloodline Sanctuary became available as incomplete Fragment authority, though no endangered bloodline had entered protection and no rescue condition had been satisfied.
[ Bloodline Sanctuary: available / inactive ]
[ Current protected kin: none ]
[ Activation requirements: unresolved ]
Two linked impressions appeared inside the long-cleared Soul Selection pool beside the route descending into the palace undercroft. Aria identified separate non-humanoid souls sharing one anchor condition without naming or selecting either one.
[ Soul Selection entry exposed ]
[ Linked souls detected: two ]
[ Individual conversion warning: anchor collapse ]
[ Selection deferred ]
Hajin left every new screen open while route captains entered the council hall. The fifth Ring, Sanctuary, plus linked souls would wait until the capital counted its dead, treated the wounded, and confirmed Dominion had stopped moving through the wards.
Vella kept his injured arm immobilized while Didi ordered the last ward routes checked twice.