The cracked avatar abandoned its palace shell and raced toward the stretched sky route while Ferra reached the dying foundation before the divine core cleared it.
The team watched from beyond the impact line as Ferra seized the incarnation pin with insulated tongs, cut its final maker mark, and pulled the finite metal free from the shell edge.
Dominion material had grown around the damaged point, so the pin resisted until Ferra used one hammer strike along the original forge line and freed the singular artifact without breaking the hidden core.
Rumi opened a touched approach through the rubble so Ferra could retreat before the shell collapsed while the pin remained bent and burned but no longer risked disappearing inside the falling stone.
Ferra retreated beyond the basin and said, "The core is clear of the shell, Juna, release when the complete body enters the aperture."
The avatar formed a lean white-gold incarnation above the mountains while Dominion strikes lifted broken peaks around it and turned stone into weapons.
Its output remained between sixteen and eighteen effective Shards, concentrated beyond the city. Divine Eye found no mortal heartbeat, soul membrane, or palace civilian inside the new body.
Vella confirmed the absence through the Spirit Ring, allowing Hajin to treat the entire incarnation as hostile authority rather than another occupied vessel.
Juna held Daybreak Path from the distant capital while the avatar entered the sky route. Aria spoke within Hajin’s thoughts and said, "The complete core is committed, with no mortal hostage or civilian inside the stored path."
Hajin gave the signal, and Juna released Daybreak Path while tracking the change from the final roof.
Her four Wings completed the stored return cut through every certified tower, but Juna remained physically on the roof and the technique traveled only along the route she had run.
No remote presence appeared in the mountains beside Hajin. The cut traveled through certified empty towers, around the divine aperture, and across the cloud layer above the range.
It separated the avatar from the Dominion God’s escape road without touching the capital districts below, then the aperture collapsed behind the complete incarnation.
The severed road left a white-gold scar across the cloud layer while Juna’s stored cuts emptied into the closure and prevented later reuse during the mountain duel.
Juna reported completion, then began descending from the roof under ordinary strength while her four Wings remained hers with their stored route empty and no second city-scale cut waited.
No remote true god entered Ouro while the trapped avatar turned toward Hajin as he stored Breaker’s Lever and every artifact not required for the first exchange.
The divine Growth blade entered his right hand, the demonic blade entered his left, and five Rings opened around his right forearm.
The eightfold multiplier entered injured pathways without healing the Decree Wound, repairing the shoulder, or restoring spent mana. Vella held the wound’s blood through the Spirit Ring while Phase Lock suppressed its command.
Aria reduced the five-Ring endurance estimate because the wound circuit and damaged shoulder consumed capacity continuously. Hajin accepted the shorter window and opened no sixth halo that he had not earned.
Hajin crossed both blades against the first Dominion strike while every assigned support remained intact, and the divine edge severed authority from the raised mountain while the demonic edge consumed regeneration that tried to rebuild the cut.
Crossed Resonance split two stone faces, sending harmless debris deeper into the verified basin while the avatar lifted another peak and assigned its weight toward Hajin without altering the agreed sequence.
He used five-Ring speed to cross the range while keeping every exchange beyond the capital and away from the mountain passes Eirwen had closed.
One assignment sent loose stone toward Ferra plus Loccy, but Hajin crossed the divine blade through its exposed command and severed authority without destroying the rock.
Rumi borrowed the remaining traveled distance and redirected the falling debris into an empty crater. A white-gold blade carved through the ridge behind Hajin as he turned with Aegis.
The Decree Wound limited how much force his right shoulder could absorb, so Vella tightened the external brace and warned that Phase Lock strain approached its limit.
The physical blade reopened one shoulder branch Vella had stabilized. She treated it by touch from the Spirit Ring while keeping every healing action away from the decree line across his ribs.
Vella spoke through the Ring and said, "The wound remains suppressed rather than healed, and one complete seam sequence remains."
Ferra followed along the basin floor with the recovered pin while Rumi protected her route through touched distances without opening Dead Road again.
Loccy remained under treatment with both arms splinted and only two Wings sustainable. She tried to rise when the avatar targeted the treatment ground, but Vella kept her seated.
Rumi opened a short known path that carried both women behind verified stone while the relocation used ordinary Wing power rather than the burned one-use road and every assigned support remained intact.
The avatar sent regeneration through every wound Hajin opened, but the demonic blade consumed those pulses only where its edge had already struck and did not affect unrelated attacks.
The divine blade cut Dominion commands only after Divine Eye or Phase Lock exposed them. It did not erase raw stone, physical force, or the avatar’s complete presence.
Hajin met the incarnation across a shattered ridge while the team observed from its assigned positions. Five Rings drove both weapons through one visible shell seam.
Crossed Resonance carved a gold-black line across the chest, but the hidden core shifted before Ferra could pin it. The demonic edge consumed regeneration entering that false wound.
The divine edge severed only the exposed shell authority, and neither property reached the moving core. The result confirmed the need for Collector’s Grasp and Breaker’s Lever.
Aria tracked the shift and said, "False seam, the authority structure moved beneath the wound."
Hajin released rather than forcing the blades deeper, but the avatar raised three peaks at once and closed them around his position.
Five-Ring strength split a new valley through the empty basin while Aegis opened between the converging stone faces. Crossed cuts redirected their Dominion assignments away from the treatment ground.
The shock traveled across the range but weakened before the verified passes. Eirwen’s distant riders reported no settlement impact through the communication relay.
They recorded two new rockfalls inside the exclusion boundary and one dust wave beyond it. No occupied road received debris, but the passes would require inspection before reopening.
The avatar emerged above the new valley with its core still hidden and said, "A mortal challenger cannot retain an unlawful wound and sovereign stance."
The decree strengthened inside Hajin’s ribs, but Phase Lock held the sampled command. Blood crossed the bandage while he remained upright without satisfying the kneeling clause.
Ferra raised the recovered pin from the valley floor and said, "I need a true seam exposed by the Lever, because the blades alone keep wounding shells."
Hajin stored both swords while preparing the final artifact sequence, and Ferra moved the recovered pin through Rumi’s touched route.
She checked its bent point against the true seam model while Vella stabilized Hajin’s shoulder without touching the decree line. Loccy remained behind verified stone as Juna reported the capital aperture fully closed.
Five Rings had trapped the battle across the mountains and kept every strike beyond civilians. The sixth would not open unless the incarnation died.
Aria closed every premature breakthrough panel, then held the current total below the final kill receipt while Vella kept the Decree Wound suppressed with five Rings continuing active.
The pin’s maker mark stayed finite, and its bent metal could not support a second remote repair. Ferra kept it in hand because the next seam had to be exposed at close range.
Hajin’s shoulder brace held only because Vella restricted every motion beyond the approved sequence. The five Rings increased output, but they did not make the injury or the decree line disappear.
Rumi marked three safe ridges for the next exchange, and Eirwen’s riders kept the sealed passes clear while dust settled outside the exclusion belt.