Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 417: The truth

The silence that followed Ken’s declaration hung over the valley like a storm that had already begun to break.

"You will all die here today."

The words still lingered in the air long after he finished speaking. They were not spoken with anger or excitement. They were spoken with the calm certainty of someone who believed the future had already been decided.

Lucas felt something inside him tighten.

He had met arrogant cultivators before. Pride was common among powerful men, especially those who had climbed high through the ranks of cultivation. But there was something about the way Ken carried himself that stirred a deeper irritation.

It was not just arrogance.

It was dismissal.

Ken did not see them as opponents. He did not even see them as obstacles. To him they were simply people standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lucas slowly lifted his head.

The mask still hid his face, but the change in his posture was obvious.

"You speak as if the battle has already ended," Lucas said calmly.

Ken glanced at him with mild curiosity.

Lucas continued, his voice steady.

"Perhaps you should remember something."

Ken waited.

"You already tried to kill me once," Lucas said.

The general beside Ken shifted slightly, remembering the encounter Lucas was referring to back in Lechia.

Lucas’ voice grew firmer.

"And yet here I am."

Ken’s expression remained neutral.

"You failed to kill me then," Lucas went on.

He took one small step forward.

"And you will not kill me today."

His gaze hardened slightly behind the mask.

"Neither will you kill anyone standing behind me."

The general beside Ken let out a short laugh.

Ken’s lips curled upward as well.

Lucas did not stop.

"If you are so certain of victory," he said, his voice carrying clearly across the quiet valley, "then there is a simpler way to settle this."

The King glanced toward him immediately.

Commander Alexander did the same.

Lucas spoke clearly.

"Raise a champion."

Ken’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Lucas continued without hesitation.

"Your army raises a champion. Valerion will raise one as well."

He gestured lightly toward the usurper lines behind Ken.

"It could be you," Lucas added calmly. "Or anyone from your side."

For a brief moment the valley remained quiet.

Then the general burst into open laughter.

"Have you lost your mind?" he said between laughs.

Ken himself chuckled softly, shaking his head as though amused by a child suggesting something absurd.

"You propose a duel?" Ken said slowly.

Lucas did not move.

Ken’s eyes glinted with mild amusement.

"You truly believe that will change anything?"

Lucas answered simply.

"If you are so confident that we will all die today, then it should not matter."

Ken laughed again.

The general beside him crossed his arms with a grin.

"You hear that?" the general said to Ken. "He thinks a champion can save them."

Ken looked back at Lucas with clear amusement.

"I could kill anyone from Valerion with a single strike," Ken said casually.

His tone carried absolute certainty.

"One movement of my hand would be enough."

Behind Lucas, the King frowned slightly.

Commander Alexander leaned closer to him.

"This is reckless," Alexander murmured quietly. "Your Majesty, we should not entertain this."

The King did not answer immediately.

Ken’s gaze shifted toward him.

"Do you support your man’s proposal?" Ken asked.

His voice was calm again, though the faint amusement had not fully left it.

"If I agree," Ken continued, "then you will be placing the fate of your entire army on the shoulders of one champion."

He tilted his head slightly.

"Is that really what you wish to do?"

Commander Alexander spoke again, more firmly this time.

"Your Majesty, this is madness."

Lucas did not look back.

He simply stood there.

The King watched him quietly for several seconds.

He had seen Lucas do impossible things before. Battles that should have been lost had turned because of him. Situations that had seemed hopeless had somehow shifted under his guidance.

Trusting Lucas had saved Valerion more than once.

But this was different.

This was Celestial Ken.

The most dangerous man on the field.

Alexander spoke again under his breath.

"We cannot gamble the entire kingdom on a single fight."

The King’s gaze moved briefly to Lucas.

He simply waited.

Finally the King exhaled slowly.

Then he nodded.

"I approve."

Commander Alexander turned sharply toward him.

"Your Majesty..."

But the King raised one hand slightly.

"I have seen this man do the impossible before," he said quietly.

His gaze remained fixed on Ken.

"I will trust him one more time."

Ken watched the exchange with clear interest.

"Very well," he said.

The faint smile returned to his face.

"Let us discuss the terms."

Lucas remained silent while the two sides spoke.

Ken’s voice carried calmly across the valley.

"If our champion wins," he said, "then every Valerion soldier will lay down their weapons."

He paused briefly.

"And you will retreat."

Commander Alexander frowned.

"Retreat where?"

Ken’s answer came without hesitation.

"You will never return to Valerion."

The King’s eyes hardened slightly.

Alexander stepped forward immediately.

"Why would we accept such a condition?" he demanded.

Ken looked at him as though the question itself was unnecessary.

"Because," Ken said calmly, "the kingdom you are trying to defend no longer belongs to you."

The King’s gaze sharpened.

Alexander frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

Ken reached into the folds of his robe.

Then he pulled something out and lifted it into the light.

Gold glinted beneath the afternoon sun.

The object rested easily in his palm.

Every eye fell on it instantly.

The King’s crown.

Ken held it up slightly so they could see it clearly.

"This," he said calmly.

For a long moment none of them spoke.

The golden crown glinted faintly in the daylight as Celestial Ken held it between two fingers, as casually as though it were nothing more than a decorative trinket rather than the symbol of an entire kingdom.

Lucas stared at it without moving.

Commander Alexander stared as well, his brow tightening as if his mind was struggling to make sense of what his eyes were seeing.

But it was the King who felt the blow the hardest.

His breathing grew uneven as his gaze locked onto the object in Ken’s hand.

That crown was unmistakable.

It was the royal crown of Valerion.

There were certain marks on its rim that every member of the royal court would recognize. A small dent on the left edge from a ceremonial fall years ago. The engraved sigil of House Highmoor at the center. The faint lines of wear along the inner band where it had rested on the heads of kings before him.

It was real.

The valley suddenly felt colder.

Lucas slowly turned his eyes toward the distant horizon behind the usurper army.

If Ken truly possessed the crown of Valerion, then there was only one possible explanation.

The capital had fallen.

Valerion had been taken.

While they had been marching across battlefields and chasing enemy forces through Rus and Lechia, the heart of their kingdom had already been seized.

Commander Alexander finally found his voice.

"That is impossible," he said.

His tone was not angry. It was stunned.

"The capital is heavily fortified. Even if your army attempted a siege, it would take months."

Ken watched their reactions calmly.

"You assume there was a siege," he replied.

Alexander’s jaw tightened.

Lucas said nothing.

The truth was beginning to take shape in his mind, piece by piece, and it did not look good.

Ken lifted the crown slightly, letting the sunlight reflect from its polished surface.

"Lechia has already fallen," he said casually.

Lucas felt his chest tighten.

"Rus followed soon after."

The Celestial’s gaze drifted lazily across the valley.

"And now Valerion."

He looked back at the King.

"The continent is changing faster than you realize."

The King felt his legs grow weak.

His posture shifted slightly as if the strength had momentarily left his body. For a moment it seemed he might actually collapse there among the bodies scattered across the valley floor.

Commander Alexander noticed immediately.

"Your Majesty," he said quietly.

The King did not answer.

His eyes were still locked onto the crown.

Lucas clenched his jaw behind the mask.

They had believed they were still fighting for their homeland.

Every step they had taken, every soldier who had died on this battlefield had believed the same thing.

But now it seemed the truth had been very different.

The usurpers had been moving faster than anyone realized.

They had always been ahead.

While Valerion’s armies marched here believing they were defending their kingdom, the kingdom itself had already slipped from their grasp.

Ken watched the King carefully.

Then he spoke again.

And the next words he chose were far worse than the last.

"It was your wife."

The King’s head slowly lifted, refusing to believe what he had just heard.

Ken’s voice remained calm.

"The Queen betrayed you."