All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 303: One Unstable Halo

The outer Ring slipped ahead again while Hajin kept Aegis locked against Dreth’s ridge-wide strike.

Aria projected four rotation paths around his right forearm, placing a correction point wherever the new halo crossed an injured pathway. Each adjustment pulled power away from the barrier for less than a second.

Dreth felt those changes through the Zone, driving his spear harder whenever the gold surface weakened. The ground gained a finger each time before the next Ring returned it.

"Hold the same output," Aria warned, moving the final correction beneath his wrist, "changing force now will drag the fourth rotation away from me."

"You have ten seconds," Hajin replied, keeping his left hand open beneath the barrier, "after that, I change whatever Dreth makes necessary."

The correction passed through all four Rings, pulling the outer halo into line without restoring his body. His wound stayed open while depleted mana remained beneath the critical mark.

[ Fourth Ring rotation stabilized ]

[ Safe manifestation window: 171 seconds ]

The next Zone push reached Aegis without throwing one halo ahead, letting Hajin stop the ridge before his arm moved. Dreth released the pressure instead of spending more stolen mana against the same barrier.

Ground dropped between them, revealing Corven’s body plus the split circulation bank beneath the retreating ash. The surviving branches remained connected through buried anchors, but none could change routes as quickly without the cylinder.

Hans moved his shield line toward the nineteen Flint patients, preparing to carry them beyond the command ridge. Mara’s crews approached from the opposite side with empty frames beside seven Sixth patients awaiting evacuation.

Dreth turned his spear toward both groups before anyone reached the first treatment panel.

Four ground sections opened beneath the custody lane, aiming fitted edges through surrendered guards waiting behind Hans’s shields. Another section rose behind Mara, cutting across the route her crews needed for withdrawal.

"Leave the Flint bodies," Dreth ordered, forcing the edges closer, "anyone who chose their line can remain beneath it."

Several bound guards threw themselves away from the rising sections, unable to move their hands from behind their backs. Hans placed shields over the nearest pair while Mara dragged a frame around the fifth edge.

Hajin spread Aegis from his left palm, catching all five sections before they reached either group. Gold crossed the ridge in separate panels, forcing the Zone to carry their combined weight through his remaining mana.

Ring 4 multiplied each response without reducing the number of places Dreth attacked. Hajin held one panel above the prisoners, two beneath the Flint wounded, plus another pair around Mara’s withdrawal route.

"Take the surrendered first," he ordered, keeping the Chain ready in his right hand, "the treatment panels can move after their feet clear."

"You heard him," Hans said, cutting the nearest prisoner’s ankle restraint while leaving his wrists bound, "crawl west until somebody gives you room to stand."

The first prisoners crossed behind his shield line as Dreth shifted pressure toward the Flint patients. Hajin lowered both panels together, carrying nineteen bodies toward Mara without letting their empty cores touch the Zone.

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 148 seconds remaining ]

Mara received the first patients while her crews kept the Sixth frames moving through the same protected lane. Every completed transfer cost another second beneath all five active Aegis sections.

Dreth stopped pushing the northern panels, allowing the sudden relief to lift them higher than Hajin intended. Divine Eye found the missing pressure traveling south through one buried line beneath the command socket.

"A surviving road anchor just left the main circuit," Aria warned, following its route beyond the battlefield, "it is entering the southern registry approach."

Distance kept the Chain beyond reach, while releasing Aegis would return five Zone sections onto prisoners plus patients. Hajin kept his left hand raised as the unknown designation beside Ash opened without a request.

[ Unrequested Rear Registry Record Received ]

[ Source Link: Unknown Designation - Ash ]

Across the square, the half-built guildhall remained covered after wartime construction paused.

Ash’s record formed across his sight inside the restored registry, keeping him beside Lana behind the witness desk. Six assigned guards occupied the approaches while Nessa arrived through the south door carrying a treatment update.

Before its first visible mark appeared, the road anchor entered beneath the yard. A fitted ridge crossed the eastern approach, catching Iven as he pushed two other guards away from the door.

The impact threw him through the registry wall, stopping his body beneath the witness shelves. Three guards fell with pathway injuries while the ground split beneath Nessa’s left leg.

Lana left the desk before the anchor finished turning, reaching the runner as another fitted edge rose inside the room. Ash followed against her side without blink-stepping, his right wrist fixed upon the approaching line.

"Do not cross the floor," Nessa warned, pulling her damaged leg away from the split, "the second edge is following me."

"Then stop trying to stand," Lana replied, catching her beneath one arm, "I can move you without your leg."

The southern anchor changed angle under both girls, carrying its remaining charge through the boards toward their joined position. Neither girl could clear the room before the fitted edge reached them.

Pale geometry appeared across Ash’s right shoulder while he placed himself between Lana and the rising ground. One incomplete curve formed around his wrist, broke apart, then returned as a wider halo surrounding all three bodies.

[ Unknown local orbital structure detected ]

[ System authorization: none ]

The halo never settled into the ordered rotation of Hajin’s Rings, shaking between three broken angles as the edge struck. Pale light bent inward around Lana plus Nessa, keeping the fitted ground outside their position.

Ash raised his wrist higher when the anchor pushed again, forcing one unstable turn through the structure. Its returning pressure traveled back beneath the yard, burning every old road mark between the registry and southern approach.

The last charge died inside the anchor before the edge could find another angle. Its fitted ground fell away from the girls, leaving the broken room supported beneath the pale boundary.

Ash’s halo collapsed immediately, taking every geometric line from his shoulder as he dropped against Lana’s side. She kept hold of Nessa while pulling him against her chest with the other arm.

The three wounded guards remained conscious outside the eastern wall, leaving registry workers able to reach them once the ground stopped moving. Iven did not move beneath the shelves when the surviving guard checked him.

{Rear registry report: Iven deceased / 4 new serious injuries.}

[ Sixth campaign ledger: 32 deceased / 113 serious injuries ]

[ Southern-road anchor: burned out ]

The record ended with Lana seated between Ash plus the wounded runner, refusing to leave either person for the damaged witness desk. No second halo appeared around Ash after the southern road anchor finally died.

Hajin’s view returned to the command ridge while the last Flint patients entered Mara’s protected lane. Hans had cleared every surrendered guard from the fitted sections without removing their restraints.

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 112 seconds remaining ]

Dreth pulled the southern line back toward his spear, finding nothing beyond the burned anchor. The failed branch left one gap inside the Zone structure while its remaining routes stayed coherent beneath the ridge.

Aria sealed Ash’s record without placing the unstable halo inside Hajin’s Ring tree. She overlaid Ferra’s stored Solar Anchor mark across every branch Dreth still controlled.

Hajin lowered the empty treatment panels, keeping four Rings active as the one-use mark aligned beneath Divine Bind.

"Show me the line that holds the whole Zone together," he said, drawing the Chain across his right palm, "we finish it before this clock does."