Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 438: Stupidly Dangerous

Lucas could feel it with painful clarity now, not just in his body, but in the flow of the battle itself, in the rhythm that had completely shifted out of his favor. Every exchange pushed him further back, every movement demanded more from him than the last, and every breath he took felt heavier than it should have. The Dragon’s Inferno continued to gnaw at him from within, while Dravok’s wind attacks carved at him from the outside, leaving him caught between two relentless forces that showed no sign of slowing down.

He understood it.

At this rate, he would lose.

Not just him.

Even with the Ice Belle at his side, even with her speed and precision allowing her to avoid the worst of the storm, they were not closing the gap anymore. They were surviving again, just as they had at the beginning, except now the cost was far greater.

Dravok had adapted.

And he was winning.

Lucas exhaled slowly, forcing his thoughts to settle despite the chaos around him, despite the pain, despite the growing heat inside his body that threatened to spiral out of control.

If he could not overpower him...

Then he would outthink him.

Another wind blade came.

Lucas shifted, barely avoiding it as it sliced past his shoulder, drawing another thin line of blood. He did not counter this time. He did not press forward.

He watched.

Carefully.

The angle.

The speed.

The timing.

Another came.

He moved again, slower this time, more deliberate, allowing it to pass closer than before.

Then another.

Each attack he evaded, he studied.

Each pattern he observed, he stored.

Dravok’s control over wind was different from his earth. It was faster, less predictable at a glance, but not without structure. There was intent behind every strike, a sequence, a flow that guided how the blades were formed and released.

Lucas began to see it.

Not perfectly.

Not completely.

But enough.

At the cost of more wounds, more strain, more risk, he pushed himself to understand it, allowing the attacks to come closer, cutting it finer each time, until the margin between life and death became razor thin.

Across the valley, the tension rose sharply.

Lira’s hands trembled.

"What is he doing..." she whispered, her voice tight with fear.

Selene’s eyes widened, her breath catching as she watched Lucas narrowly avoid another blade that came far too close for comfort.

"He’s letting them get closer," she said, disbelief creeping into her voice. "Why would he..."

Princess Nyx’s gaze sharpened, her expression shifting as realization began to form.

"...He’s reading him."

Henrietta clenched her jaw.

"That’s insane. One mistake and he’s dead."

Back in the battlefield, Lucas continued.

Another wind scythe came.

He didn’t move immediately.

He waited.

Just a fraction longer than he should have.

Then shifted.

Barely.

The wind scythe sliced past him, close enough that the force of it brushed against his skin, drawing another shallow cut.

His eyes locked onto Dravok.

And for the first time since the tide had turned, he finally got the pattern.

The timing between strikes.

The brief moment where control transitioned from one attack to the next.

It was small.

Almost nonexistent.

But it was there.

And that was all he needed.

Lucas inhaled deeply.

Then...He stopped moving completely.

A powerful wind scythe formed in front of Dravok, larger than the previous ones, denser, sharper, carrying enough force to cleave through flesh and bone without resistance.

It launched.

Straight toward Lucas.

Fast.

Unavoidable.

From the distance, panic erupted instantly.

"XAVIER!" Lira’s voice broke as she stepped forward without thinking.

Selene’s eyes widened in horror.

"He’s not moving!"

Henrietta’s breath caught sharply.

"Is he insane?!"

Even Nyx’s composure cracked slightly, her gaze tightening as the blade closed in.

It was too close.

Far too close.

At that speed, at that distance, there was no time left.

The scythe was already at his neck.

For a split second, it looked certain.

His head would be severed.

Then...Space tore.

A rift opened.

Not in front of him.

Not behind him.

But precisely at the point of contact.

The wind scythe vanished into it....

And in the same instant...

Another rift opened.

Right at Dravok’s throat.

The attack reappeared.

For the first time in the duel...Dravok’s eyes widened.

His body reacted instantly, his reflexes far beyond normal comprehension, his instincts as a Celestial kicking in without delay. His head snapped to the side at the last possible moment, his body shifting just enough to avoid the full impact.

But not entirely.

The wind scythe grazed his neck.

Deep.

A sharp line tore across his skin, blood spraying outward as the blade passed, missing his throat by the narrowest margin possible.

The battlefield stilled.

For a fraction of a second, everything froze.

If he had been slower...

If his reaction had been even slightly delayed...

His head would have been rolling on the ground.

And what a sight that would have been.

A Celestial...

Killed by his own attack.

The entire valley fell into a silence so deep it felt unnatural, as though the world itself had paused to comprehend what had just happened, and even the wind that had once howled through the battlefield seemed to hesitate, leaving behind a tension that was no longer just heavy but stunned in its stillness. No one spoke and no one moved because they were all caught in the same realization, that what they had just witnessed should not have been possible, yet it had happened right before their eyes with a precision that defied both logic and fear.

Back within Valerion’s ranks, disbelief spread like a wave as expressions froze between shock and something far more difficult to define, because it was not simply amazement but a deeper understanding that Lucas had willingly stepped into death’s path and returned from it through sheer calculation. Lira’s lips parted slightly but no sound came out, her eyes locked on him as though she needed reassurance that he was still alive and standing, while Selene’s hand rose halfway to her chest, her breathing uneven as she replayed the moment in her mind over and over again, each time reaching the same terrifying conclusion of how close it had truly been. Henrietta exhaled sharply, her voice low but filled with disbelief as she muttered that it had been insane, while Princess Nyx remained silent for a longer moment, her gaze sharper now as the full weight of what had happened settled into her thoughts, and when she finally spoke her voice carried a quiet certainty that made it clear she understood the depth of it far more than most.

"That wasn’t just instinct," she said, her tone steady despite the tension. "He calculated that."

Behind them, the king stood unmoving, his presence steady even in his weakened state, yet his eyes had narrowed slightly as he observed the battlefield with a different kind of attention now, because whatever doubts he had held before were no longer untouched, and what he had just witnessed forced him to reconsider the limits he had placed on Lucas’s capabilities. There was no praise in his expression and no open acknowledgment, but there was a shift, subtle yet undeniable, as though something he had dismissed as unlikely was beginning to take shape before him.

Across the valley, the reaction mirrored theirs in its intensity, though it carried a different kind of weight, one shaped not by hope but by recognition. Ken stood still, the usual ease in his posture gone as his expression hardened into something far more serious, the smugness that had defined him from the start completely absent as his eyes remained fixed on Lucas without blinking. He replayed the moment in his mind with sharp precision, breaking it down piece by piece, the timing, the positioning of the spatial rift, and the sheer audacity required to stand still against an attack that should have ended everything in an instant, and the more he examined it, the clearer it became that this was not recklessness alone but something far more dangerous.

"...What did he just do," he muttered under his breath, though the answer was already forming in his mind.

"That was dangerous," he continued quietly, his tone lower now as the weight of the realization settled in. "Stupidly dangerous."

A brief pause followed as his gaze flicked toward Dravok before returning to Lucas, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"And brilliant."

His lips pressed together faintly as his thoughts deepened, because he understood exactly what that moment represented, not just a near victory, but a warning, a glimpse of what Lucas could become if left unchecked, and that thought alone was enough to strip away any remaining trace of amusement.

"If he was even a fraction too late," Ken added, almost to himself, "his head would’ve been gone."

Another pause followed, quieter this time, heavier.

"But even then... he nearly took him with him."

For the first time since the duel began, there was no arrogance left in his demeanor, only recognition, because what stood in the valley was no longer just an opponent to be watched but a variable that could not be easily predicted or controlled.