Chapter 393: Closed Hunt
Hajin followed the child’s frequency before the First Prince could fortify another prison around it. The trail descended beneath the ruined orchard through a foundation corridor hidden behind three false royal seals.
Didi froze each blood-authorized closure while Ferra tested the ancient supports. Loccy carried the unstable ceiling where the transferred chamber had torn through it, and Juna cut divine perimeter bodies without crossing the child’s preserved signal.
Five perimeter shells tried to collapse the stair behind them, so Hajin’s Chain held the lowest support while Ferra replaced magical joints with iron braces.
Juna destroyed only the empty divine cores Vella cleared, which added valid experience to Hajin’s fixed laboratory total without exposing another mortal remnant, and the descent left no bodies uncounted.
Didi sealed each freed host for recovery crews, while Loccy kept the corridor open until royal medics carried them beyond the orchard. Rumi and Nari maintained only the retreat route Ferra had verified.
Their first Wings remained closed until the corridor divided around two occupied lateral mechanisms, and Vella said as she read the hostile circulation, "Two bodies inside the walls, mortal remnants remain attached to both divine cores."
"Separate them before destroying anything," Hajin ordered, opening three Rings, "the laboratory ledger counts mechanisms, not lives we could still free."
Vella entered the first circulation through Hajin’s Spirit Ring and drew one unwilling remnant away from the core while Didi froze its royal command as Juna severed the empty shell.
The second remnant had already lost every independent pathway, leaving only dead soul residue inside the mechanism. Vella preserved that residue in a sealed Spirit vessel rather than allowing destruction to erase it.
The victim might never be named, but the court would not count an occupied defense as an object merely because rescue arrived too late. Ferra marked the active joints after Vella confirmed no recoverable person remained.
A route opened beneath Rumi and tried to drop her into the extraction chamber while another closed around Nari, using their linked anchor to pull both sisters apart.
Their first reaction dragged both Wings toward the same threat as Rumi corrected first and trusted Nari to survive the closing edge while she captured the opening beneath herself.
Nari moved in the opposite direction, widening the distance between their bodies so the linked anchor could not be compressed into one target, while Rumi spread her amber Wing and touched the first route before it completed.
Instead of choosing its hidden destination, she folded the attack’s traveled distance sideways into the second mechanism.
[Developing Technique: Borrowed Distance]
The spatial assault emerged inside its companion’s body within the established operational boundary. Ferra watched the transferred pressure cross her gauges before marking the technique safe for this configuration.
Borrowed Distance reused only a route Rumi had physically touched. It neither invented a destination nor moved the unseen chamber beyond the known corridor.
Nari fixed both exposed exits with her smoke-gold Wing, and her closure did not crush the routes inward because it designated the two known escape points as the last places either mechanism could use.
[Developing Technique: Last Exit]
"Closed," Nari said, claws spread across both spatial marks.
Last Exit fixed only exposed spatial routes and left the ordinary corridor open behind the team. Loccy could still walk backward with her supported ceiling, while Juna retained a physical flight line through the stair.
Nari’s technique trapped the mechanisms’ special movement without claiming all motion around them as Rumi crossed the borrowed distance and struck the first blue joint.
The second mechanism tried to retreat through Nari’s fixed edge, exposing its occupied core to Vella. She withdrew the final mortal residue before Ferra’s prepared wedge separated the dangerous housing.
The sisters circled the two mechanisms through separate bodies, with Rumi supplying every approach while Nari removed only verified retreats.
Their Wings bounded the fight without claiming ordinary space or trapping the team beyond marked routes as Rumi said, "Hunt closed," with her amber plane cutting outward.
"Only them," Nari said, holding the inward edge.
Both mechanisms crashed together inside their own transferred attack as Rumi tore both marked cores from the walls and Nari closed the hostile routes after every living current withdrew.
Amber and smoke-gold pressure formed one bounded structure around the active bodies.
[Combination Recognized: Closed Hunt]
Both mechanisms shattered, stopped moving, and sent no recoil toward the child.
[Rumi - Experience Gained: 150,000]
[Wing 2 Threshold Reached: 300,000]
[Current Progress: 0 / 1,500,000]
[Technique Stabilized: Borrowed Distance]
[Nari - Experience Gained: 150,000]
[Wing 2 Threshold Reached: 300,000]
[Current Progress: 0 / 1,500,000]
[Technique Stabilized: Last Exit]
Second Wings unfolded behind both sisters while Rumi’s new amber plane crossed behind the first at an outward angle, allowing touched distance to move between known routes.
Nari’s second smoke-gold fold settled closer to her spine, which strengthened closures around verified exits, while neither evolution restored spent mana.
Rumi lowered herself against the wall while the new planes stabilized, and Nari accepted water from Vella before attempting another closure. Aria recorded the zeroed threshold and new target without adding a recovery effect.
The combination vanished when both women dismissed their Wings, because Closed Hunt had required two active mechanisms, known routes, and their coordinated positions.
It had not created a Zone or permanent territory as Rumi tested the floor beneath her new human feet before taking another step while Nari moved several paces away and maintained the retreat mark alone.
Their evolution did not require constant physical contact as Rumi said while looking toward the child’s frequency, "Good hunt, not done."
"Not done," Nari agreed, closing the last hostile side route.
The corridor beyond contained no unreconciled defender as Aria matched every destroyed perimeter mechanism against the laboratory ledger while preserving separate counts for Hajin’s valid rewards.
[Laboratory Defense Ledger Updated]
[Cumulative Hajin Experience: 1,824,000 / 2,720,000]
The complete extraction chamber waited behind one blood-authorized door, and Ferra found no hidden attack line in its frame because the First Prince had moved every remaining defense inside around the child while Hajin reconciled the destroyed shells before advancing.
Its fixed ledger included perimeter constructs, cleared occupied bodies plus paired lateral mechanisms, with empty housings receiving no reward, while the remaining amount matched the visible defenses as Juna inspected the cleared retreat.
Juna said, "Nothing followed us through the orchard," while keeping her eyes on the cleared retreat.
"Keep the route open anyway," Hajin replied, "the Prince expects everyone to chase him after entry."
Loccy set mundane braces around the final corridor while Didi placed her palm near the royal command without activating the ownership response.
Vella carried no healing light, so the child’s body kept its recognized neutral state while Hajin opened the door with the stolen frequency rather than royal blood.
Inside, the prison occupied the center of a deeper chamber connected to the ancient foundation. Extraction tools covered every wall, and the First Prince’s gallery stood above them behind white-gold glass.
Within the four layers, the child counted toward another twelfth needle before noticing Rumi and Nari.
At opposite sides of the doorway, Rumi and Nari raised two walking fingers while the child’s trembling hand copied them against the floor before she looked toward Hajin.
Every defender had been reconciled, every retreat remained known, and the complete rescue chamber offered no separate enemy left to blame for failure, so the operation continued at once.
Hajin kept the door open only as far as the stolen frequency required. The movement revealed the prison’s four layers without sending royal blood through them, and Ferra’s marks remained visible on every approach.
Rumi held the first known route while Nari held the retreat, each sister controlling her own side of the doorway. Didi waited outside the ownership line, and Vella kept the child’s neutral rhythm ready without turning it into treatment.
The girl counted toward the twelfth needle, then looked at the two walking fingers she had copied, and that small response did not grant permission for entry.
It gave the team a point of contact that belonged to her rather than the prison.
"We begin when she shows us the next step," Hajin said, keeping the Chain stored, "the walls have lost their defenders, but they have not lost their ability to punish haste."