Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 500: Am I allowed to enter now

Lucas narrowed his eyes slightly, not in concern, but in understanding, because he had seen that expression before, and it never appeared without consequence following it.

The empress finally took a step forward.

Then another.

Her movement was unhurried, controlled, and almost casual as she advanced toward the walls, the distance closing steadily until she was no more than two hundred meters away from the outer gates, where the defensive arrays were now fully synchronized and active, their energy humming in layered resonance across the entire province-scale dome.

The guards above stiffened immediately as she approached within that range, their formation controllers reacting instinctively as pressure readings spiked across multiple nodes, and the commanding officer’s voice cut sharply through the defensive network as he ordered full stabilization across all layers.

Yet the empress did not stop.

When she finally came to a halt at approximately two hundred meters from the walls, she tilted her head slightly upward, her gaze fixed on the gates and those standing above them, and her voice carried clearly across the distance without effort, calm but absolute in its delivery.

"Unlock the gates," she said, her tone light but carrying undeniable authority, as though she were requesting something already decided rather than demanding it.

A brief silence followed, broken only by the faint hum of the active formations responding to her presence.

Then she continued, her expression unchanged, that faint confident smile still present as she spoke again.

"I have come to speak with your king," she said evenly, "and I will do so without unnecessary obstruction."

A pause.

Her eyes narrowed just slightly, not in anger, but in certainty.

"Or," she added calmly, "I will be forced to break through your defenses."

The empress did not wait for a response from the lower ranks any longer, and with the same calm control that defined her presence, she rose again into the air, ascending slowly this time, deliberately, as though giving them every opportunity to understand who stood before them. Her gaze lifted toward the highest point of the wall where the commanding chief of defense stood surrounded by his formation masters and elite guards, all of them braced behind layers of glowing runic protection that pulsed with reinforced energy.

Lucas followed at a distance, his eyes fixed on the unfolding scene, already aware that whatever happened next would not be subtle.

The empress came to a stop in mid-air, now level with the command position atop the wall, her presence pressing directly against them without restraint, her voice carrying clearly as she addressed the man in charge.

"Open the gates," she said again, her tone calm, almost patient, as if repeating something obvious. "I have no interest in wasting time."

The commanding chief of defense stood his ground despite the pressure, his expression twisted between defiance and strain as he forced himself to meet her gaze. The runes beneath his feet flared brighter as if reinforcing his resolve, and when he spoke, his voice came out sharp, laced with open hostility.

"Fuck off," he spat, the words cutting through the tension with crude defiance.

A few of the guards beside him shifted uneasily, clearly aware that this was not an opponent one dismissed so lightly, but the chief did not stop there. He drew in breath, his mouth opening again as if to continue, to assert authority, to threaten, or perhaps to order an attack.

He never finished.

The empress’ expression did not change.

Her eyes did not narrow.

Her smile did not fade.

But in the next instant, the air itself seemed to collapse.

A burst of celestial qi erupted from her without warning, not released wildly, but controlled, condensed, and impossibly dense as it expanded outward in a violent surge that struck the defensive formations head-on. The layered runic arrays that had been activated moments ago flared in resistance, lines of energy scrambling to redistribute the force, but the difference in power was absolute.

The formations shattered.

Not gradually.

Not under strain.

They broke instantly, like glass struck by something far beyond its limit.

The reinforced gates exploded inward under the impact, the massive structure tearing apart as if it had never been meant to withstand anything at all, while the walls on either side fractured violently, deep cracks racing through the stone before entire sections gave way, sending massive chunks of debris flying outward and downward in a chaotic cascade.

The shockwave alone threw bodies into the air.

The commanding chief of defense was lifted off his feet before he could even react, his body hurled backward as the force tore through his position, his earlier defiance silenced completely. Around him, cultivators and guards were scattered, their formations broken, their footing lost as they were thrown in every direction, unable to withstand even the residual pressure of what had just been unleashed.

Dust and fragments filled the air.

Stone rained down across the broken gate.

The once-imposing defensive structure of Blackmare’s inner provinces now stood breached in a single instant.

Lucas hovered behind her, his eyes steady, though even he could not deny the sheer scale of what he had just witnessed. The formations he had recognized, the ones designed to withstand celestial-level assaults, had not merely been overcome, they had been erased as if they held no real significance.

Below, the guards who remained conscious stared in stunned silence, their belief in the impenetrability of their defenses shattered alongside the walls themselves.

The empress remained exactly where she was, unmoved, untouched, her presence still calm as if nothing extraordinary had just occurred.

And in that moment, it became undeniable to everyone watching.

Blackmare’s strongest defenses...

were nothing in front of her.

The dust had not fully settled when the empress stopped her advance entirely, remaining suspended in the air just beyond the shattered gate, as though the destruction beneath her feet had not altered her position or intent in the slightest. Her expression was calm, almost pleasantly composed, and her gaze rested on the broken remnants of the defensive formation with a kind of detached patience that contrasted sharply with the chaos she had just caused.

Below, among the cracked stone and fallen debris, movement began again.

The commanding chief of defense pushed himself up from the rubble, his armor damaged, his breathing rough, but his eyes still burning with disbelief and fury. Around him, surviving guards struggled to regain formation, some still disoriented from the impact, others staring at the ruined arrays with shock as they realized how quickly everything they had relied upon had collapsed.

The empress tilted her head slightly as she looked down at him, her tone light when she spoke, almost conversational, but with an unmistakable edge of sarcasm beneath it.

"So," she said, her voice carrying clearly through the broken air, "am I allowed to enter now."

The question was not asked with uncertainty.

It was asked as if the answer was already expected.

The chief of defense’s expression twisted instantly, his fury overriding caution as he spat a string of curses at her, his voice hoarse with anger and humiliation. "You think you can just walk in here after that," he shouted, gesturing sharply at the ruined gate and shattered formations. "You think Blackmare bows to that kind of display."

The empress listened without interruption.

A faint ripple passed through the air.

And another section of the defensive formation, still partially active and struggling to stabilize after the first collapse, suddenly fractured under invisible pressure, its runic structure breaking apart as if something had reached inside it and simply undone its foundation. Energy lines flickered violently before dispersing, and a nearby reinforcement pillar crumbled into fragments, scattering across the ground in a second wave of destruction.

The chief of defense froze for a fraction of a second, his eyes widening as he watched yet another section of the system fail.

Then his expression shifted.

Anger remained, but now it was joined by something far more dangerous.

Fear.

Because he understood what was happening.

The empress was not trying to breach the defenses quickly.

She was dismantling them selectively.

Piece by piece.

Controlled, deliberate, and without urgency.

As if she had all the time in the world.

And worse than that, as if she intended to continue until there was nothing left worth defending.

Around him, the remaining formation operators began to panic slightly, realizing that each destruction point was not random, but strategic, targeting structural anchors that held the larger province-wide dome in place.

Every loss was expensive.

Every collapse weakened the entire system.

And the cost was not just material, but foundational, because these were Blackmare’s pride, its deterrent, its declaration of security.

Now they were being erased in real time.

The chief of defense clenched his fists, his voice lower now, strained between fury and realization. "You’re insane," he muttered.

The empress did not respond to the insult.

Instead, she simply looked at him again, her expression still calm, still faintly amused, as if waiting for something very simple.

An invitation.

Because it was clear now.

She was not forcing entry through strength alone.

She was forcing acknowledgment.

She would continue dismantling their defenses until they either accepted her presence...

or lost everything trying to deny it.