All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 272: The Order

Hajin left the southern frame before the resident bell finished, following the western loop toward a ridge above the stranded crew.

Juna remained with Hans near the locked bridge, where Dreth’s separated files could exploit another unguarded route within moments.

The final bell strike reached Hajin halfway up the ridge, followed by an ash-white pulse beneath the orchard bank.

Ground lifted beyond the road frame, throwing broken shields plus bodies above the trees before dropping them around a new furrow.

Hajin drove mana through his legs while the slope cracked beneath each step, reaching the overlook before another anchor discharged.

Sixteen people had occupied the bank when he left the southern line, but only seven were still moving below.

Nine bodies lay around iron ribs driven through the orchard shoulder, their shelter-colored armbands visible among discarded route tools.

Ressa lay across two workers near the center, her dented shield covering them despite an iron rib passing through her back.

Hajin had watched her redirect eighty-two residents around a trapped bridge without waiting for his permission yesterday.

Hans had promised her the next relay drill after Hajin pointed out the decision she made before anyone else understood the danger.

The two workers beneath her remained alive, although one clutched a torn leg while the other could not raise his head.

Three defenders crawled toward the northern face, dragging another worker whose side left blood across the orchard roots.

The final two survivors remained beside a split carrying frame, one pinned through the shoulder while his partner tried lifting it.

Divine Eyes marked their failing circulation before Hajin finished counting the bodies around them.

[ Sixth Region signatures identified: 16 ]

[ Confirmed deaths: 9 ]

[ Critical injuries requiring immediate treatment: 7 ]

Orin’s youngest route runner reached the overlook behind Hajin, then stopped after seeing Ressa beneath the raised ribs.

The runner carried three signal tubes for blocked roads, although none of their ordinary colors requested treatment across an enemy line.

"Fire the clinic flare twice, then bring Hans the number seven," Hajin said, pointing him back toward the western loop, "tell Vella every survivor is critical."

"What about the bodies?" the runner asked, fumbling the first tube open while staring toward the armbands below.

"Nine dead," Hajin replied, forcing his attention toward Dreth instead, "give Lana Ressa’s name before another report turns her into a number."

Two red flares climbed behind the ridge as the runner returned downslope, carrying the first verified casualty count toward town.

No Flint soldier had crossed the furrow to accept a surrender, although six spear carriers waited behind a portable mantlet nearby.

The white-flag board from the southern frame rested beside Dreth’s socket with its resident deadline still fixed beneath the seals.

Three firing levers surrounded that board, each connected to the ribs beneath the orchard bank rather than the road defenses.

This position had been prepared to kill anyone who remained after the bell, not to receive the surrender offered on its page.

Dreth stood beside the command socket above them, keeping his spear within the ash-white current feeding the buried ribs.

Kenny remained outside the formed files near his horse, his empty sleeve pinned beneath the same travel cloak Hajin remembered.

He had once bragged about an easy Gate before abandoning his squad inside it, then lied until another raid uncovered their bodies.

Hajin had considered him another Flint coward ever since, useful only as proof that a family name survived mistakes ordinary people could not.

Dreth pointed his spear toward the seven wounded while the nearby carriers opened a path through their mantlet.

"The surrender bell ended," he said, motioning Kenny toward the bank, "take that file down and finish whoever remains."

Kenny looked at Ressa’s body before checking the workers still trying to crawl beneath her shield.

"They cannot stand," he said, keeping his remaining hand away from his sword, "your written terms offered safe conduct if they surrendered here."

"They refused before the bell," Dreth replied, holding the command socket active, "I will not spend guards carrying hostile wounded."

One defender raised an empty hand from the northern face, although blood loss pulled him down before he could speak.

"They were trying to reach their own road when you closed it," Kenny said, turning back toward Dreth, "I will not kill them."

The six spear carriers watched their commander instead of advancing, leaving the opened mantlet path empty beside Kenny.

None lowered a weapon toward the wounded, but none stepped away from the firing levers behind their formation.

Kenny glanced toward them before facing Dreth again, finding no support among the soldiers who had heard the same written offer.

Dreth studied him for several seconds while ash-white mana continued moving beneath every body on the bank.

"I kept you beside the command group for Gate advice," he said, lowering his spear toward Kenny, "you can obey this or join them."

Kenny’s remaining hand shook once before drawing the short sword at his hip, but he pointed its edge toward the command socket.

"Then send me home in a box," he said, stepping between Dreth and the bank, "I am done helping you measure civilians."

The line carried more courage than anything Hajin remembered hearing from him, though Kenny still sounded terrified while saying it.

Fear had followed him out of one Gate with an empty sleeve, then governed every lie he told afterward.

This time it remained visible in his shaking sword, but it failed to move his feet from the wounded.

Hajin opened one Ring around his right wrist as he ran along the overlook, searching for a line that avoided the bodies below.

The shortest descent crossed a broken irrigation channel plus two anchor ribs, leaving more than a hundred paces between him and Kenny.

He could tear through the bank with Eclipse Lash, although the strike would pass across every survivor Dreth wanted executed.

Aegis could protect them after he reached the furrow, but it could not move his body across the gap.

Kenny struck the command socket with his short sword, cutting one exposed control line before the six carriers reacted.

Ash-white mana vanished beneath the northern face, stopping another row of ribs while the remaining anchors changed toward him.

"North side," Kenny shouted, pointing the wounded toward the dead section, "crawl beneath the roots before he reconnects it."

Two survivors pulled themselves toward the opened ground while Ressa’s shield shifted over the workers beneath her.

Hajin opened a second Ring around his forearm, forcing more mana through his legs before launching from the ridge.

Dreth stepped around Kenny’s sword without meeting it, turning his spear beneath the remaining arm before driving forward.

The point entered below Kenny’s shoulder from behind, passing through his chest while his warning still carried across the bank.

His short sword fell beside the broken control line, leaving the northern anchor dark as his knees struck the ground.

Dreth pulled the spear free before looking toward Hajin, who had not crossed half the broken channel between them.

Kenny collapsed beside the command socket, dying several seconds after choosing not to follow the order.