All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 304: The Chain Takes the Zone

Aria compressed every surviving Zone branch into a single overlay while the four Rings turned around Hajin’s right forearm.

The routes met beneath Dreth’s command socket before separating toward buried anchors across the ridge. Ferra’s Solar Anchor mark followed the shared section, but two Sixth shield groups still occupied its projected cut.

"The line is coherent for sixty-three paces," Aria warned, marking both friendly positions, "Divine Sever will continue through the ground after it cuts the circulation."

"Hans, clear the gold marks," Hajin ordered, tracing Aria’s projected cut across the ground with narrow Aegis strips, "everyone else stays outside whatever opens between them."

Hans sent one shield group north while Mila carried the signal frame south. Flint soldiers nearest the visible marks withdrew without waiting for Dreth to order them back.

The commander drove his spear into the socket, forcing three branches to change depth before the evacuation finished. Each route moved separately beneath Divine Eye, trying to break the coherence Ferra’s charge required.

Hajin kept the Chain loose in his right hand instead of chasing any branch. The Solar Anchor mark moved with all three, remaining fixed upon the structure they still shared.

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 94 seconds remaining ]

The final Sixth shield crossed the northern mark as Dreth lifted another ground section behind them. Aegis caught its edge, giving Mila enough time to drag the signal frame beyond the southern boundary.

"Line clear," Hans reported, raising both white boards where the armies could see them, "nobody crosses until the ridge stops moving."

Hajin closed his right hand around the Chain, activating the gold mark stored beneath Divine Bind.

[ Solar Anchor activated ]

[ Target: Dreth’s coherent Zone structure ]

[ Solar Anchor charges: 0 / 1 ]

Sunlight ran through every dark-gold link before entering the ground beneath the command ridge. The mark appeared across each surviving branch at once, fastening them to the Chain without closing or breaking anything yet.

Dreth pulled his spear sideways, ordering the western anchors to abandon their return path. Their mana stretched toward separate terrain, but the Solar Anchor kept each route attached to the shared command circuit.

"You tied your weapon to my ground," he said, opening his burned core behind the damaged plate, "I will pull your arm apart with it."

"You are standing in the part I need to pull," Hajin replied, planting both feet beyond the marked trench, "that saves time."

The Chain tightened as four Rings fed force through his right arm. Buried circulation rose toward the surface, pulling fitted ground upward wherever Dreth had hidden an anchor.

One road section lifted beyond the western shields, exposing iron ribs plus ash channels beneath it. Another tore through the empty siege approach, turning the ridge into connected raised lines around the command socket.

Dreth forced stolen mana back through every route, making the anchored structure pull against Hajin from six directions. His wound opened farther under the strain while the fourth rotation held its corrected path.

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 61 seconds remaining ]

The Chain moved one pace toward the commander, dragging all surviving branches with it. Terrain folded behind the links, leaving nothing fitted enough for the Zone to redirect.

Flint companies retreated from their own standards as buried anchors surfaced beneath them. Hans kept both white boards raised, preserving the empty corridor while militia shields covered anyone leaving it.

Dreth answered by releasing every anchor’s stored pressure toward the Chain at once.

Ash-white mana crossed the bound structure, reaching Hajin through Divine Bind before Aegis could filter it. The backlash tore through his injured pathways, then burst from the ground along both sides of the marked line.

Mila raised the signal frame over two defenders when the southern burst reached them. Its remaining braces stopped the first pieces, but mana crossed her shoulder plus five people behind her.

All six fell outside the severing corridor with pathway burns serious enough to enter Mara’s treatment registry. None of the six crossed the gold marks or entered the rising trench.

Hajin widened Aegis from his left hand, catching the next backlash before it reached either army. Holding that barrier left only his right arm to finish pulling the Zone together.

"Six living casualties, corridor still clear," Hans reported, dragging Mila behind his shield, "finish before he sends another return."

The four Rings accelerated around Hajin’s forearm, multiplying his remaining strength through the Chain. Every exposed anchor shifted toward the command ridge, carving routes across terrain that could no longer hide them.

Dreth bent over his spear as the western line reached the eastern branch beneath him. The complete Zone narrowed into one raised circulation path running through his socket.

[ Zone structure aligned ]

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 29 seconds remaining ]

Hajin turned Divine Bind inward, locking the Solar Anchor around the unified route before Dreth could divide it again. The anchored gold mark tightened as Divine Sever entered the first link.

Light crossed the unified circulation line before the surrounding ground could settle. Every anchor split through its center, releasing stored ash upward without finding another route into the Zone.

The severing edge reached Dreth’s socket last, cutting beneath his spear before continuing across the command ridge. Ground opened behind it from the broken siege approach to the northern anchor field.

The trench widened along the chosen sixty-three paces, carrying shattered anchors into a cut too deep for the fitted terrain to close. Across the field, both armies could see anchor ribs exposed along its walls while ash drained harmlessly from them.

Dreth’s socket broke from beneath him, throwing the commander onto the remaining ridge outside the edge.

His spear landed in two pieces while the ash structure above both armies lost its shape. Every ground section still pressing against Aegis fell away as ordinary terrain.

[ Dreth’s Zone: destroyed ]

[ Remaining buried anchors: broken ]

[ Zone destruction EXP: 0 ]

[ Chains of the Goddess: Legendary / 0% damaged ]

[ Solar Anchor charges: 0 / 1 ]

Mara reached Mila plus the five burned defenders after the last backlash disappeared. Each remained alive while her crews attached six separate serious-wound tags for transport.

{Sixth campaign update: 0 deceased / 6 new serious injuries.}

[ Sixth campaign ledger: 32 deceased / 119 serious injuries ]

The third-standard captain stared across the trench toward Dreth without another command route connecting them. He cut the ash cord from his armor, then placed his sword beside the lowered standard.

Soldiers around him followed before the commander could stand, passing the decision through companies that had watched him drain their reserve. More soldiers laid down their weapons beyond the trench before Hans reached the surrender lane.

"Standards flat, weapons stacked by company," Hans ordered, keeping his militia outside the surrender lanes, "officers remain beside their own rolls until custody reaches them."

Flint captains repeated the order without Dreth, turning scattered surrender into a field capitulation Hans could count. The remaining companies stopped moving toward the Sixth line and lowered their standards.

[ Armed Flint soldiers entering field capitulation: 704 ]

[ Four-Ring manifestation: 18 seconds remaining ]

Dreth pushed himself upright beyond the trench, one hand covering his burned core while nobody returned his standard. His broken Zone no longer answered when he drove half a spear into the ground.

Hajin lowered Aegis after the last surrender lane cleared, keeping the Chain in his right hand as the fourth Ring approached its limit.