Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 562: Confident Ice Belle

Ken didn’t move yet.

His eyes stayed locked on the Ice Belle, reading her stance, the pressure radiating from her, the way the air itself seemed to stiffen around her presence. Even at this distance, even mid-flight, it was obvious this was no longer the same opponent they had seen before.

Not the same level.

Not the same threat.

Something had changed.

His voice came out low, controlled, but carrying clearly to the others behind him.

“Be careful.”

The four celestials behind him adjusted instantly, their auras tightening as they spread slightly wider in the air.

Ken didn’t take his eyes off her.

“She’s grown stronger.”

One of the celestials frowned. “How much stronger?”

Ken’s jaw tightened slightly before he answered.

“Enough to freeze a formation mid-cast without preparation,” he said coldly. “Enough to break through layered castle defenses in a single descent.”

A brief silence followed that.

Then he added the part none of them liked hearing.

“I saw it at Lechia.”

That name alone shifted the mood.

Lechia.

The loss.

The unexpected collapse of their position there.

The retrieval of the empress’ forces and the emperor’s rescue operation that had already thrown their entire strategic structure into chaos.

Ken’s voice lowered further, becoming more precise now.

“She wasn’t at this level during earlier encounters,” he continued. “What you are seeing now is a compressed evolution.”

His gaze narrowed.

“She adapts quickly. Faster than most celestials.”

One of the figures behind him exhaled slowly. “So she’s not just strong… she’s improving in real time?”

Ken didn’t answer immediately.

Because that was exactly what bothered him.

Finally, he said, “Yes.”

A beat passed.

Then Ken’s eyes flicked briefly toward Lucas in her arms.

“And she values him enough to ignore everything else.”

That was the critical point.

The celestials shifted slightly in formation again, now less confident in brute interception and more cautious in approach.

Ken raised one hand slightly.

“Do not underestimate her ice domain,” he ordered. “It is not just elemental freezing. It disrupts movement, slows reaction time, and stabilizes into lethal immobilization if prolonged.”

His aura darkened subtly.

“And she’s already angry.”

The Ice Belle’s expression remained unchanged across the distance, but the temperature between both sides dropped another degree as she continued holding Lucas tightly, preparing to move.

Ken exhaled once.

Then gave the final instruction.

“Do not engage recklessly.”

His eyes sharpened.

“Force her direction. Not her defeat.”

The celestials behind him nodded, adjusting instantly into a containment formation rather than a direct assault posture.

Because now they understood something clearly.

This wasn’t just a retrieval anymore.

It was a high-tier interception against a rapidly evolving enemy.

And Lucas, unconscious in her arms, had just become the center of a confrontation even Ken was no longer willing to treat lightly.

The sky above Rus became a fractured battlefield of pressure and cold.

The moment the celestials committed, the air itself seemed to split into competing forces…each movement sending ripples through the atmosphere as power clashed mid-flight. Wind howled in unstable currents, space bending slightly under the weight of multiple high-tier auras colliding at once.

The Ice Belle didn’t retreat.

She didn’t rush either.

She simply shifted.

A subtle adjustment of position—barely noticeable at first—but enough that the first coordinated strike from the celestials passed just inches behind her, missing Lucas entirely as she moved with unnerving precision.

Ice bloomed in her wake.

Not as a blast.

Not as a wave.

But as traps.

Thin, invisible layers of freezing energy embedded themselves into the air around her, forming zones that reacted the moment an enemy crossed them.

One celestial lunged forward, attempting to flank her from the left, but the moment he entered a certain radius, his movement slowed drastically as frost spread across his arm mid-motion, forcing him to retreat instantly before his entire limb locked up.

Another tried a direct approach from above, only to find his descent abruptly interrupted as a rotating shard of condensed ice intercepted his path, forcing him to twist violently mid-air just to avoid a lethal impact.

The third attacked with elemental pressure, trying to destabilize her movement field with force alone, but the Ice Belle simply rotated slightly in mid-air, adjusting her trajectory with Lucas still secure in her arms, and the attack slid past harmlessly as if the space around her had refused to align with the strike.

It wasn’t that she was overpowering them with brute strength.

It was worse.

She was controlling the battle itself.

Every exchange they initiated was answered not with equal force, but with denial—routes cut off, angles invalidated, momentum stolen before it could fully form.

From the outside, it looked less like she was being pressured…

And more like she was deciding how much they were allowed to do.

One of the celestials clicked his tongue in frustration. “She’s reading us.”

Another responded sharply, “No—she’s predicting us!”

A counter-blast of wind and water surged forward in a coordinated attempt to break her formation, but the Ice Belle tilted slightly, and Lucas’s body was shifted just enough to shield him from the turbulence while she released a low pulse of cold that instantly destabilized the incoming technique.

The attack shattered before it reached her.

Fragments of elemental energy scattered into the sky like broken glass.

Still, she didn’t counterattack directly.

She simply moved through them.

Efficient.

Controlled.

Unbothered.

And that was what unsettled them most.

Because she wasn’t fighting like someone trying to survive.

She was fighting like someone managing time.

From a distance, Ken observed everything without moving.

His expression remained unchanged, but his eyes tracked every exchange carefully—the way she neutralized angles before they formed, how she repositioned without visible strain, how every defensive response doubled as spatial control.

One of the celestials attempted a synchronized strike again, this time with tighter coordination.

Three directions.

One timing.

But the Ice Belle rotated mid-air, and a circular field of frost expanded outward from her body, not explosive, but suppressive. The attacks hit the field and immediately lost cohesion, slowing, dispersing, and falling apart before they could converge.

She slipped through the gap they had just created for her.

As if she had known it would appear.

A faint crack of frustration came from one of the celestials. “We’re not landing anything on her cleanly!”

Another narrowed his eyes. “She’s adapting every exchange!”

Ken’s voice cut through them immediately, calm but firm.

“Stop overcommitting.”

The celestials hesitated slightly, but complied, adjusting their formation again.

Still, none of them broke her position.

Not even once.

The Ice Belle remained centered in the sky, Lucas held close against her, her expression unchanged despite the continuous pressure around her. Her movements remained minimal, but every motion served a purpose—redirect, evade, isolate, conserve.

And always protect.

Ken’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He finally spoke again, quieter this time.

“She’s not trying to win quickly,” he said.

The celestials glanced toward him briefly.

Ken continued, still watching.

“She’s trying to leave without opening herself to a fatal exchange.”

A pause.

Then, almost like an afterthought:

“And she’s confident she can.”