Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 266: You will have to kill us First

The blue light from the runes pulsed softly through the dark dungeon, washing over Lucas’s face as he stood before the gate. His eyes were sharp, his mind locked on the intricate web of celestial runes that made up the restraint on the Empress’s neck. Sweat traced lines down his temple, but his focus never wavered. Every flicker of Qi in the air, every pulse of energy around the lock, he felt them all...learning, adapting, and adjusting his technique in silence.

The Empress stood just behind the bars, calm but tense, her posture regal even in defeat. Her veil was still covering her face but her hair was disheveled, yet her gaze beneath the veil held that same quiet strength that had once commanded an empire. The faint glimmer of hope had returned to her eyes as she watched Lucas work. "You are close," she said softly, her voice low but steady. "I can feel the binding weakening."

Lucas nodded slightly, not daring to waste a breath. "It’s unraveling from the inside," he murmured. "The celestial energy is layered like a barrier of thoughts. Every rune carries a command... if I can remove one in the wrong order, the restraint will seal itself again...or worse, it will destroy your spiritual core."

Seraphina was pacing behind him, her hands trembling, "Xavier, please tell me you’re almost done," she whispered, glancing at the passageway. "I can feel his presence... he’s close. He’s here."

"I know," Lucas replied through clenched teeth. "Just keep your eyes on the door. I’m not stopping now."

Before Seraphina could answer, the torches along the walls flickered...and then the temperature dropped. The pressure in the air shifted, heavy and suffocating. A wave of spiritual energy rolled through the dungeon, so thick and oppressive that even the walls seemed to groan under its weight.

Seraphina froze mid-step, her breath catching in her throat. "He’s here," she whispered.

And then Ken appeared, his tall frame emerging from the shadows like a phantom of arrogance, his face bore that same infuriatingly calm smile as if he had walked into a game he already knew he would win.

Beside him was a woman, elegant and cold, her white hair falling to her waist like liquid light. Her expression was unreadable, though her eyes glowed faintly with celestial energy.

Ken let out a small chuckle as he looked at Lucas and Seraphina. "Well, well," he said, his voice smooth and condescending. "I see the rats finally crawled into the trap."

Seraphina stepped forward, fury burning in her eyes. "You bastard!" she spat. "You dare to desecrate Lechia and imprison the Empress, and now you mock us for trying to free her?"

Ken laughed softly, the sound echoing in the dungeon like a cruel melody. "Desecrate? No, my dear... I brought order. The Empress was too blind to see the decay within her own empire. Her son understood that. He saw the future and made the right choice."

Seraphina’s voice cracked as she shouted, "Khan will burn for what he did!"

Ken tilted his head with a look of mock curiosity. "Will he? The boy has more sense than all of you combined. Unlike your friend there," he said, gesturing lazily toward Lucas, "who still believes he can play hero against a force he cannot comprehend."

Lucas ignored him. His fingers continued to move across the runes, his Qi intertwining with the faint celestial energy. He could feel the mechanism responding now...resisting, yes, but loosening bit by bit. He was halfway through, and he knew he couldn’t stop, not even for a heartbeat.

The woman beside Ken finally spoke, her voice soft but sharp as glass. "He’s persistent," she said. "But foolish."

Ken smirked. "Exactly. Let him tire himself out. I’d rather see his spirit break before I end him."

Seraphina glared at them both. "You’ll regret stepping into this dungeon."

Ken raised a brow. "Will I?" He took another slow step forward, his aura thickening until Seraphina could barely breathe. "Do you really think you can stop two Celestials on your own, little Diva?"

The Empress’s voice cut through the air, calm yet heavy. "For all your power, you speak too much."

Ken’s smile faltered slightly, though only for a moment. "Ah, Your Majesty... still regal, even in chains. Tell me, how does it feel to watch your world crumble before you?"

She said nothing. Her gaze only shifted toward Lucas, who was now glowing faintly with spatial light, his body surrounded by threads of silver Qi.

"Almost there," Lucas muttered. "Just a few more..."

Lucas’s hands trembled as the runes began to fade one after another. The light dimmed around the restraint, and a sound vibrated through the air. He was so close now. He could feel it.

Seraphina’s breath hitched, her voice breaking the silence. "Xavier... hurry, please."

Ken’s smug smile returned. "You’re wasting your time," he said coldly. "You’ll never finish before I..."

"Shut up," Lucas said flatly, his voice cutting through the dungeon. His gaze never left the runes.

Ken’s wicked smile widened, "You are foolish to cling to hope in a place like this, I have already sent a Celestial to find the others, I entrusted him with a slow, exquisite task; to torment them, and end them long before you can run back to their side, so you may watch their deaths from the safety of your chains and learn what it is to be powerless."

The words landed like a physical blow in the cramped corridor, leaving a hollow ache in Lucas’s chest that had nothing to do with fatigue, yet despite the chill of dread that crawled up his spine and the knowledge that neither he nor the freed prisoners nor the girls nor even Theron could hold against the might of a Celestial in open combat, he would not allow fear to steal his focus, and so he pressed his hands harder to the glowing runes as if force alone could coax the pattern to yield and he continued to work with a stubbornness that tasted like both desperation and resolve.

Ken watched this unfold and his voice lowered into a venomous mockery as he stepped a half pace closer, the aura around him thickening like a storm front, and he said, "You think yourself clever because of tricks with space, boy, but tricks cannot unmake what the Celestial Order binds; you believe you are a problem in the future, so I will ensure you never live long enough to become one, and I will enjoy proving to everyone that your pride was nothing more than a child’s folly."

Lucas heard the words, each one a promise of death aimed at him, and somewhere inside his chest a cold whisper of doubt threatened to unravel his concentration, but he tamped it down, forcing the currents of spatial Qi through the lock with the slow, meticulous patience of someone deciphering a language that was never meant for human hands, and when Seraphina thought she could bear it no longer she stepped forward, voice cracking with fury and raw fear as she spat back at Ken and the woman beside him, "You will have to kill us first before you kill him, before you silence any of us, because if you touch one hair on the Empress or one life under her protection you will answer to all of us."