Chapter 646: Nari Closes Distance

Nari crossed the outer aqueduct masonry toward the third tracing station, keeping her route below the exposed northern bluff.

Mountain gusts whipped through the abandoned aqueduct trenches, stirring loose dust and dried pine needles along the ramparts.

Nari glided along the exterior masonry of the third tracing station, her lynx tail low and silent behind her.

Her four Wings were drawn in tight against her back, their ruby radiance dimmed to prevent any premature magical glare.

She checked the footing along the weathered coping stones, keeping her balance centered as the river roared hundreds of feet below.

Down inside the arched console rotunda, an elite Choral vanguard captain stood waiting behind a reinforced heater shield.

Behind the captain’s back hovered a shimmering spatial escape ring, pulsing with ready teleportation mana.

’He wants me to jump through the ceiling or flicker behind him,’ Nari deduced, crouching beneath the stone parapet.

’Rumi warned me they are watching the landings... so I am not touching spatial roads at all!’

She did not summon a single spark of teleportation mana, choosing to advance on foot like a wild mountain predator.

She stepped through the shattered window embrasure, keeping her weight balanced over her toes to eliminate sound.

The captain kept his shield angled toward the central landing plate, expecting a flashy burst of beastkin teleportation.

Instead, Nari closed the final thirty feet along the perimeter wall, her daggers resting lightly in her palms.

A loose pebble skittered across the flags, catching the captain’s sharp ears as he spun around in sudden panic.

"Behind me?!" the officer shouted, raising his short spear while stepping back toward his spatial escape ring.

"Back up all you want, captain," she purred, her golden eyes narrowing with icy, playful focus.

"Nobody leaves through that ring today... not while I have my daggers drawn!"

She signaled the allied technicians waiting in the hallway, barking a sharp warning to stay clear of the doorway.

"Stand back, everyone!" she commanded. "Enter only when I call you, then stay inside until my boundary ends!"

Her four Wings flashed ruby as she kept her daggers ready between the captain and his waiting escape ring.

"You will have to get past me before you reach that ring," she warned, watching his spear hand.

The captain glanced at the ring, then at the console, unwilling to abandon the station while his men still needed its feed.

Nari blocked the shortest route to the circle, forcing him to clear her blades before he could jump away.

The physical doorway remained clear for the technicians, but she held her signal until the captain was disarmed.

The captain snarled in fury, realizing his prepared retreat route was dead, and thrust his spear with desperate speed.

Nari did not flinch for a second, dipping beneath the whistling iron tip with seamless, fluid grace.

She stepped inside his guard, deflecting his second thrust with the curved crossguard of her right dagger.

Her left blade struck upward in a lightning arc, shearing the leather straps of his reinforced heater shield.

The shield tumbled to the floor with a resounding crash, exposing the captain’s armored torso.

Before he could reverse his spear grip, Nari spun on her heel and drove the heel of her foot into his sternum.

The concussive physical impact lifted the captain off his feet, throwing him back against the brass console frame.

His spear slipped from his numbed fingers, clattering across the flags as Nari’s dagger touched his jugular vein.

"Now we lock the ring," she told the technicians, keeping her dagger at the captain’s throat.

"Bind him first, then step inside the room before I close the spatial routes."

The defeated captain raised his hands while the technicians tied him and crossed the threshold with their grounding clamps.

Nari planted both feet, drove four ruby spatial pins into the room’s corners, and called, "No Exit!"

The escape ring died behind the bound captain while Nari kept still for the full minute of the technicians’ splice.

The allied technicians secured their grounding clamps to the third console, watching the amber diagnostic lights pulse in perfect synchronization.

Sunlight broke through the churning storm clouds above the gorge, illuminating all three completed tracing stations in a vast triangular arc.

"Third station secured and locked in!" the lead technician announced, turning the brass master key in the socket.

"All three tracing points are fully online and transmitting clean frequencies to Lord Hajin’s redoubt!"

Nari wiped a bead of sweat from her nose, sheathing her twin daggers with a crisp, satisfied click.

Across the gorge, the three tracing towers formed a radiant equilateral triangle of golden light against the darkening sky.

She jogged down the spiral stairs toward the lower courtyard, where Hajin and Rumi stood waiting by the parapet.

Seeing her sister skip down the steps with an arrogant swagger, Rumi broke into a broad, teasing grin.

"Look at you, standing still for a whole minute after beating one spearman," the elder twin teased, flicking her tail.

"I finished him in forty seconds, sister," Nari retorted, puffing out her cheeks in mock indignation.

"The extra minute kept his escape ring dead while our engineers finished their splice!"

"Your sixty-second boundary gave our engineers the exact window they needed to splice the feed," Hajin noted, admiring the console readout.

"I timed it to the half-second, summoner," she purred with a playful wink, flicking her tail back and forth.

Hajin laughed out loud, extending both arms as the two feline summons bounded forward in unison.

Nari waited until her boundary expired before leaving the console, then caught Rumi by the wrist and ran to Hajin.

"Both of you were extraordinary," Hajin praised sincerely, feeling the vibrant affection of his two divine scouts.

"Thanks to your independent victories, all three tracing stations are completely under our control."

"Now the Incarnation has nowhere left to hide its true frequency," Juna observed, stepping up with her glaive in hand.

A deep subterranean rumble shook the valley floor, vibrating through the bedrock as thunder rolled across the central span.

"The choral beast is furious," the wolf warrior warned, pointing her crescent blade toward the middle aqueduct pillars.

"It is driving its physical mass directly into the central foundations to bring down the whole structure."

"And when it strikes, Loccy will be waiting right in the middle to bear the thunder," Hajin said with quiet, lethal confidence.

High above the secured viaduct, the celestial broadcast interface was flooded with an avalanche of cheering messages.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "ALL THREE TRACING STATIONS SECURED! The tactical triangular network is 100% operational!" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "’Sixty seconds was more than enough time!’ Nari’s solo combat mastery is utterly breathtaking!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "Bounding in on foot to bypass the landing trap... the twins’ tactical adaptability is peak!" ]

[ HearthKeeper: "The twins purring around Hajin’s arms while teasing each other... pure domestic perfection!" ]

[ ShadowMage44: "Loccy is on the main span. If the Incarnation strikes that bridge, she will feel all of it!" ]

Hajin smiled down at the purring sisters, his split-colored eyes turning toward the turbulent clouds gathering in the center.

"Keep your positions until I confirm the middle span," Hajin ordered, unwilling to give the Incarnation an unguarded exit.

The net was cast, all three anchors stood firm, and the stage was set for the divine clash.