Chapter 652: No Foreign Heaven

High above the mountain pass, the three tracing pillars hummed with synchronized resonance as the countdown timer dipped below the final minute.

From the eastern breach to the western redoubt, radiant beams of authority converged upon the central ridge where Hajin stood.

The two clones completed their final resonance sweeps, placing their glowing hands against the granite foundations of the viaduct.

Across the mental link, their shared consciousness signaled the total capture of the foreign harmonic frequency.

"Circuit mapped and anchored," Clone One relayed, his voice calm and steady across the three-point network.

"The remote command link is isolated within our perimeter," Clone Two reported from the eastern breach.

"Commence return protocol," the original host instructed, exhaling slowly as the twelve-minute countdown reached zero.

"Maintain physical formation until the recall completes," Clone One warned before his spectral form began to fade.

The two clones dissolved into shimmering particles of radiant energy, leaving the western and eastern nodes secured in the rock.

Four physical Rings detached from the fading avatars, soaring across the canyon in high luminous arcs toward the central redoubt.

A harsh notification pulsed across his visual display, flashing in urgent runes that hovered directly before his eyes.

[ Clonal dissolution complete ]

[ Ring recall protocol: Active ]

[ Recall duration: 30 seconds ]

[ Active Ring defense: Offline during reintegration ]

For thirty critical seconds, his soul core lay vulnerable while the dispersed energy traversed the canyon expanse.

Down on the forward causeway, the Choral Incarnation sensed the momentary lapse in host authority.

The towering divine construct surged forward across the shattered masonry, sending twenty elite construct vanguards surging up the central embankment.

"Shield the summoner!" Loccy roared from the lower bastion, bracing her palms against the foundation stones.

The bastion parapet held firm under her Worldbearer grip, absorbing the initial wave of choral javelins.

"Two more flanking on the left!" Rumi called out, spinning through the dust in a blur of swift steps.

"I see them—crushing them now!" Loccy shouted back, driving her shoulder into an advancing hound.

Nari closed the distance on foot, her silver daggers pinning the enemy flank in a relentless sixty-second lockdown.

"Keep the line tight!" King ordered from above, guiding his twenty telekinetic shards like a swirling silver hurricane.

"Not a single puppet touches the ridge!" Taren barked, driving his greatsword through an armored hound.

The seconds ticked down with agonizing precision, counted by the steady chime of the system interface.

Twenty seconds remained on the clock as Loccy deflected another volley of crystalline spears with her bare forearms.

Ten seconds remained as Rumi severed the joints of two more charging vanguards, keeping the eastern stair completely clear.

Five seconds remained as King swept his telekinetic swarm through the last squad of advancing construct archers.

With a deep resonant boom, the four wandering Rings slammed back into his chest, locking into place beside the initial pair.

All six physical Rings blazed with incandescent brilliance, rotating around his heart in perfect sovereign alignment.

[ Six physical Rings: Fully reintegrated ]

[ Foreign command seam: Isolated ]

[ Sovereign authority: No Foreign Heaven activated ]

[ Duration: 3 minutes (180 seconds) ]

A dome of silent, colorless authority expanded outward from the central ridge, washing over the entire viaduct plateau.

The Choral Incarnation halted mid-stride atop the grand causeway, raising its golden sceptre toward the heavens.

"By the decree of the high throne, descend and cleanse this filth!" the Incarnation commanded, its voice echoing with divine thunder.

The empty heavens offered no response whatsoever, leaving the silent mountain air cold, desolate, and still.

The Incarnation shook the sceptre in furious confusion, attempting to channel the distant god’s infinite authority once again.

The runes carved upon the staff sputtered out like dying candles, choked by the absolute severance of the domain.

"Answer me, almighty choir!" the Incarnation shrieked, clutching its temples as the divine silence pressed down upon the valley.

"What... what did you do?" the Incarnation hissed, its fiery eyes widening in genuine horror.

"Where is the celestial choir?"

"Your choir went deaf the moment my domain expanded," he said, stepping calmly off the rocky outcrop toward the causeway.

"Within this circle, your master has neither voice nor reach, and possesses no earthly throne."

"You are just an abandoned puppet standing on stolen stones."

"Insolent worm!" the Incarnation shrieked, snapping the useless sceptre in half and tossing the fragments into the ravine.

"Even without heaven’s choir, my embodied vessel possesses enough physical might to grind your mortal bones to dust!"

A wave of choral darkness erupted from the Incarnation’s embodied shell, snuffing out the morning sunlight across the field.

The temperature plummeted as the divine creature assumed its battle form, surrounding itself with eight crystalline strike plates.

He did not flinch as the darkness rolled over the ridge, his split-colored eyes locked onto the cracks running through the construct’s chest.

"Wait—three minutes on the clock, summoner!" Aria warned, her translucent form flickering against the dimming sky.

"Three minutes is plenty of time to take your core," he replied, drawing his twin blades in a fluid, circular flourish.

"Let us see if your hollow body can withstand mortal steel."

"You think you can shatter divine alloy with mere iron?" the Incarnation sneered, raising its crystalline fists as arcs of wild energy crackled across its forearms.

"I do not just intend to shatter your alloy," he answered, sinking low into a balanced combat stance.

"I intend to take every scrap of authority you stole from this continent."

"Then come and perish, little summoner!" the construct roared, lunging forward with reckless fury.

The final countdown began, and the embodied god stood completely alone against the sovereign will of the host.

The mountain plateau shuddered beneath the ferocious clash of their gathering auras, locking mortal determination against divine wrath.

The allied lines fell into defensive formations along the outer perimeter, leaving the central causeway open for the decisive clash.

High above the battlefield, the celestial broadcast interface was flooded with deafening cheers and golden superchats.

[ Seoul_Tactician: "No Foreign Heaven is active! Can the Incarnation hear its choir anymore?" ]

[ StarlightScholar: "’Within this circle, your master has neither voice nor reach, and possesses no earthly throne.’ CHILLS! ABSOLUTE CHILLS!" ]

[ IronVanguard: "The allies held that thirty-second gap like absolute legends! Loccy and Rumi gave Hajin the exact window he needed!" ]

[ HearthKeeper: "That divine puppet just realized heaven stopped answering it. Keep the door shut, Hajin!" ]

[ ShadowMage44: "Three minutes on the clock! Six Rings spinning at maximum output! The Incarnation is trapped in the room with him!" ]

[ NewViewer_02: "An abandoned puppet on stolen stones, Hajin called it. Its face actually changed!" ]

[ TacticalNerd: "Notice how the Incarnation had to resort to pure brute physical force? Its divine cheats are completely gone!" ]

[ CringeSlayer91: "The entire pantheon just got hung up on like an unwanted phone call! Go get that core, Hajin!" ]

He stepped onto the scarred stones of the causeway, his twin blades humming with lethal readiness.

"The field severs outside command, not the creature’s claws," Hajin warned the front rank, watching the Incarnation test its own weight.

He sent the shield bearers behind a broken parapet and left the causeway clear enough for Juna to cut across his line without striking an ally.

Loccy checked the support stones beneath her feet and braced both palms against the foundation before answering his signal.

"If it hits the bridge again, I hold the foundation," she said. "You get to the core."

Hajin gave her one nod and advanced only after the civilian road behind them was confirmed empty.

The remote strings were severed, the divine master was silenced, and the hunt for the incarnation core had finally begun.