Soulbound: Dual Cultivation

Chapter 559: Severed bond link

Ken stood in the ruined interrogation chamber for several seconds without speaking, the silence around him feeling heavier than the violence that had just taken place.Lucas lay on the floor near the shattered wall, barely conscious, breathing in shallow, uneven pulls as blood slowly pooled beneath him. The suppressing ring around his neck still pulsed faintly, keeping his cultivation locked down even as his body fought to recover on instinct alone.

Ken didn’t look at the guards.

He didn’t look at the interrogator still recovering from being thrown across the room.

His eyes stayed on Lucas.

Not with rage anymore.

With something sharper.

Realization.

Because the report had not just been about Lechia.

It had been confirmation of a pattern.

Lechia had been taken back.

The emperor of Rus had been rescued.

And both operations had been tied to the same infiltration group.

Ken slowly exhaled, forcing himself to steady his emotions as the weight of what had just happened settled fully into place.

They had been outmaneuvered.

Not once.

Twice.

On two different fronts.

And that was what made it dangerous.

"This is not a raid," Ken said finally, his voice low but controlled. "This is coordination."

One of the celestials near him shifted slightly. "My lord?"

Ken turned slightly, his expression cold again, but now focused rather than chaotic.

"They are not reacting to us," he said. "They are moving ahead of us."

The room went quiet.

Ken stepped closer to Lucas and crouched slightly, studying him as if trying to understand what kind of man could survive what had already been done to him and still manage to smile earlier.

Lucas’s breathing was weak, but steady enough that he was still alive.

Barely.

Ken’s gaze narrowed slightly.

"They took Lechia from us," he said quietly, almost to himself. "And they extracted the emperor of Rus under our control."

He paused.

Then his voice hardened.

"That means they are not finished."

Ken slowly straightened up.

"Valerion’s army are not done yet," he continued. "Blackmare has joined them. Lechia has already fallen out of our grasp."

His eyes sharpened.

"If they push forward now..."

He didn’t finish the sentence immediately.

Because everyone in the room already understood it.

If the alliance advanced while Rus was destabilized internally and externally...

There would be nothing left to defend.

Ken finally spoke again, colder this time.

"Rus will fall next."

One of the officers nearby clenched his jaw. "We still have the capital defenses. The celestials..."

Ken cut him off immediately.

"The celestials are not enough if they have already destabilized our system," he said sharply.

He glanced down at Lucas again.

"This man alone proved that."

Lucas didn’t respond.

He barely could.

But even through pain and exhaustion, he was listening.

Ken straightened fully now, his expression fully composed again.

"If they retake Rus," he said slowly, "then everything collapses."

He turned toward the others.

"And I will not allow that."

A heavy silence followed.

Ken’s aura subtly expanded through the room, not explosive like before, but controlled, oppressive, the kind of pressure that signaled decisions already being made.

"Strengthen all inner defenses," he ordered. "Seal every weak route. Double surveillance on every external border."

Then he paused briefly.

"Call every remaining celestial back to the capital."

The soldiers stiffened slightly.

"That includes patrol divisions," Ken added.

One of the celestials frowned slightly. "My lord, that will weaken the outer provinces."

Ken’s eyes turned cold.

"If Rus falls," he said simply, "there will be no outer provinces left to worry about."

That ended the discussion.

He looked once more at Lucas, who lay broken but still conscious enough to exist as proof of what had happened here.

Ken’s voice lowered slightly.

"This is no longer a containment war," he said. "It is survival."

Then he turned and walked toward the exit.

"Keep him alive," he ordered without looking back. "We may still need answers."

The door closed behind him with a heavy echo.

Leaving Lucas alone in the broken chamber, bleeding, restrained, and barely conscious...

While outside, an entire war was quietly shifting into its next and far more dangerous phase.

——————

Back in Lechia, the city was alive again.

Soldiers moved through the reclaimed streets with cautious pride, banners had been raised over broken walls, and the palace that once belonged to occupation forces now carried the quiet weight of victory. The air outside was filled with scattered celebration, relief spilling through ranks that had fought too long under pressure to believe it was finally over.

But inside one of the inner halls, the mood was different.

Selene stood near a tall window overlooking the capital, her gaze unfocused as she watched people below begin the slow process of rebuilding. Lira sat nearby, unusually still. Henrietta leaned against a pillar with her arms crossed, while Nyx stood slightly apart from them, her expression gradually tightening as something subtle but unmistakable settled over the group at once.

It wasn’t confusion.

It wasn’t uncertainty.

It was recognition.

All of them felt it at the same time.

The connection was gone.

Not weakened.

Not fading.

Gone completely.

Nyx was the first to react outwardly, her eyes narrowing slightly as she focused inward again, as if willing the familiar presence to return, to reappear in the space she had always known it to occupy, but there was nothing there to reach for.

No trace.

No echo.

No lingering thread.

Selene slowly turned her head toward Nyx, already sensing what the silence meant. "You feel it too."

Nyx gave a slow nod, her expression tightening. "Yes."

Lira stood up immediately. "That can’t be right. The link doesn’t just disappear."

Henrietta pushed herself off the pillar, her tone lower now. "It can under certain conditions."

No one responded to that.

Because they already understood what those conditions usually meant.

Nyx exhaled quietly, her gaze lowering slightly. "It’s completely cut off."

Selene’s hand tightened against the windowsill. "Not distance?"

Nyx shook her head once. "No distance feels like this."

She paused for a moment, as though carefully choosing her words.

"This is absence."

The room fell silent.

Outside, distant cheers still rose faintly through the palace corridors, soldiers celebrating a victory that had cost them everything to secure.

But inside the chamber, none of them felt the same relief anymore.

Lira’s voice was quieter now. "So what does that mean?"

No one answered immediately.

Because the answer was already forming in all of their minds, even if none of them wanted to give it shape.

Henrietta spoke first, her voice steady but heavy. "It means something happened to him."

Nyx’s gaze sharpened slightly at that, but she said nothing.

Selene looked back out toward the city, her expression unreadable now, the celebration outside suddenly feeling far away.

For a long moment, no one spoke again.

Because whatever victory they had just won in Lechia...

No longer felt complete.