Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 561: Five versus one

The Ice Belle cut through the sky like a falling blade.

By the time Rus came into view beneath her, she didn’t slow down.

She didn’t search.

She didn’t hesitate.

She simply felt him.

Faint and suppressed but there.

Her expression tightened instantly as she locked onto the exact position beneath the palace structure, and without waiting another second, she dropped.

The impact was catastrophic.

She hit the upper layers of the castle complex like a meteor wrapped in freezing pressure, stone and reinforced wood exploding outward as entire sections of the structure buckled under the sheer force of her descent. Floor after floor collapsed beneath her as she tore downward through the building, not taking stairs, not taking corridors, just brute force movement through resistance that couldn’t withstand her momentum.

Guards reacted too late.

By the time they realized what was happening, she was already inside the inner chamber system.

A final crash shattered the last barrier.

She landed in the interrogation chamber with enough force to split the stone floor beneath her feet.

The room went silent for half a heartbeat.

Then panic.

The remaining guards turned toward her instantly, weapons raised, but their movements froze midway as her aura exploded outward in an instant wave of absolute cold.

Not ordinary ice.

Not environmental freezing.

Something deeper.

Something that didn’t just cover surfaces, but invaded circulation itself.

In seconds, the guards stiffened mid-motion, their bodies locked in place as frost climbed over them from the ground upward. Their expressions froze in shock, weapons dropping from numb fingers before their bodies fully turned rigid.

They didn’t even have time to scream properly.

And then they collapsed as lifeless ice-statues.

The chamber fell into dead silence.

Except for Lucas.

He was still there.

Barely conscious.

Hanging between awareness and darkness, slumped against the broken remnants of the restraints and the shattered floor near the far wall, his body barely responding even as the sudden drop in temperature washed over the room.

The Ice Belle moved instantly.

She crossed the distance in a blur and dropped to her knees beside him.

“Xavier,” she said sharply.

No response.

His breathing was faint, uneven, and strained under the suppressing ring still locked tightly around his neck, its runes pulsing steadily as it continued to choke his cultivation and distort his energy flow.

The Ice Belle’s eyes narrowed immediately.

She lifted him carefully, her hands steady despite the urgency in her movements, pulling him slightly upright so she could assess his condition properly.

Blood.

Wounds.

Suppression injuries.

And exhaustion layered over everything else.

Her gaze darkened.

Without wasting time, she reached toward the ring around his neck.

The moment her fingers touched it, she understood.

It wasn’t just a lock.

It was layered alchemical sealing, reinforced with command authority signatures tied to the castle’s core system.

Her cold aura flared slightly as she tried to force it open.

It didn’t move.

She tried again, applying more force, precision replacing brute strength.

Still nothing.

The ring resisted her completely, its inscriptions pulsing faintly in response to external interference.

Her expression tightened further.

“Tch…”

Lucas’s head tilted weakly against her arm, barely conscious, his breathing shallow.

The Ice Belle paused for a fraction of a second, then looked down at him properly, her grip steadying.

“I’ll get it off,” she said quietly.

But even as she said it, she realized something important.

This wasn’t something she could simply break.

Not quickly.

Not without triggering countermeasures.

And in a place like this…

Time was the problem.

Her eyes sharpened.

She adjusted her grip on Lucas and lifted him fully into her arms.

Outside the chamber, distant alarms had finally begun to echo through the palace structure, delayed but inevitable.

Reinforcements were coming.

And she had arrived alone.

The Ice Belle stood slowly, holding Lucas carefully against her, her expression calm again, but now far more dangerous than before.

She looked toward the exit.

Then toward the corridors beyond.

“I found you,” she said quietly.

And the temperature in the entire chamber dropped another degree.

More guards were pouring into the chamber system by the time the Ice Belle shifted her stance.

Alarms had fully awakened the castle now.

Bootsteps echoed through distant corridors.

Shouts layered over each other as reinforcements converged on the collapsing section she had torn through. Steel scraped against stone as squads rushed in, weapons raised, formations forming too late to matter.

But none of them even made it close.

The Ice Belle didn’t wait.

Lucas was already secured in her arms, his weight light from exhaustion and injury, his breathing faint against her shoulder. The suppressing ring around his neck still pulsed with dull light, but she no longer focused on it. Not yet. That problem would come after.

Right now, she only needed distance.

The guards lunged as she moved.

A wave of ice erupted from her feet the moment she pushed off the ground, freezing the first line of soldiers instantly where they stood. The second wave barely had time to react before the temperature in the corridor plummeted so violently their movements slowed mid-step, joints locking as frost crawled up their armor.

She didn’t even look at them.

She was already moving upward.

The ceiling above shattered as she launched herself through it, breaking into open air in a violent burst of cold wind and debris. Stone fragments scattered into the sky behind her as she shot upward, holding Lucas securely against her as she gained altitude.

For a brief moment, it seemed like escape was possible.

The castle below grew smaller.

The chaos dimmed.

The wind shifted around her as she prepared to accelerate fully northward.

Then she felt it.

A pressure.

Not behind her.

Ahead.

Her eyes narrowed instantly.

From the horizon line in front of her, five figures were closing in at terrifying speed, cutting through the sky like descending judgments. Their auras were unmistakable even from a distance, each one carrying a different oppressive signature that warped the air around them.

And among them—

She recognized him immediately.

Ken.

The Ice Belle’s expression hardened at once.

So fast.

They had responded faster than expected.

Ken was at the front, his face cold and focused, not the chaotic rage Lucas had seen earlier, but something more controlled now. Something sharpened by realization. Behind him, the other celestials formed a loose but lethal formation, spacing themselves strategically to prevent escape routes.

They were not chasing blindly.

They were intercepting.

The Ice Belle tightened her grip on Lucas slightly, adjusting her position mid-air as the distance closed rapidly between them.

Ken’s voice carried across the wind first.

“Stop.”

It wasn’t a request.

It was command.

The Ice Belle didn’t answer.

Cold energy began to gather around her immediately, the temperature in the sky dropping as frost formed along the air currents around her.

Ken slowed slightly, his eyes locking onto Lucas in her arms.

His expression shifted the smallest amount.

Recognition, then irritation.

“You’re trying to save him under my nose?” Ken said flatly.

The Ice Belle’s voice was calm.

“I don’t give a shit what you think.”

That landed like a blade.

One of the celestials behind Ken moved slightly forward, anger flashing across his aura, but Ken raised a hand to stop him.

His eyes never left Lucas.

Behind them, the sky trembled faintly as the other four celestials spread out, beginning to form a loose encirclement pattern in the air.

Ken’s gaze sharpened further.

“You are not leaving with him,” he said.

The Ice Belle’s aura shifted dangerously.

The air around her turned sharper, colder, heavier.

Lucas, still barely conscious, shifted faintly in her arms at the change in pressure, but did not wake.

The Ice Belle lifted her head slightly.

Then spoke clearly.

“Try to stop me.”

The moment the words left her mouth, the sky itself seemed to fracture with cold intent as both sides fully locked in.

And in that suspended instant above Rus…

Five celestials prepared to intercept.

And one Ice Belle prepared to break through them.