Chapter 258: Chapter 258: Betrayal 2
The leader of the Celestials stepped forward, his expression composed yet filled with cruel amusement. The flicker of golden light in his eyes betrayed a hint of satisfaction as he turned toward Khan.
"Show us your loyalty, Prince," he said. "Prove that you are fully with us."
The words struck like a thunderclap. Khan’s hands twitched at his sides, and his breathing grew shallow. For a moment, his resolve faltered, his eyes flickering toward the Empress...toward the mother who had raised him, loved him, believed in him.
"Don’t," Seraphine hissed under her breath, her voice trembling with fury. "Don’t you dare."
Lucas stood frozen, watching every motion, his chest tightening with disbelief. Even he, who had little fondness for Khan, could see the turmoil in the prince’s face...the battle raging behind his eyes between guilt and fear.
"Khan," the Empress said softly, her voice carrying through the devastation like a faint echo of warmth. "You don’t have to do this. Whatever they promised you, it isn’t worth your soul."
Her words hung in the air for a heartbeat, trembling like a fragile thread between them.
But the Celestial leader’s gaze darkened. "Now," he said sharply.
Khan’s entire body went rigid. His hand moved almost mechanically. From within the sleeve of his robe, he withdrew a small orb...black and smooth, etched with faint runes that pulsed like dying embers. The air around it distorted slightly, and a low hum filled the hall.
The Empress’s eyes widened. "Khan," she whispered, her voice breaking. "What are you doing?"
He didn’t answer. His grip on the orb tightened until his knuckles turned white. His lips trembled as he whispered something inaudible...perhaps an apology, perhaps a curse upon himself...and then, with a sharp motion, he threw the orb directly at her.
For a fleeting second, time seemed to slow.
The Empress could have dodged it. Her instincts screamed at her to move, to evade, to protect herself...but she didn’t. She stood rooted to the spot, her eyes locked on the son she once cradled in her arms, disbelief and heartbreak freezing her in place.
The orb struck her squarely in the chest.
A burst of black energy erupted outward, dissolving into a mist that sank into her skin. Her Qi flared violently for a moment before sputtering and collapsing entirely. The golden aura that once surrounded her faded like dying light, and the strength in her limbs vanished as though ripped away by invisible hands.
"Your Majesty!" Seraphine cried out, rushing forward, but Lucas grabbed her arm, holding her back. The air was still thick with lingering energy, poisonous and cold.
The Empress staggered, her vision blurring, her breathing shallow. She could feel her cultivation unraveling within her, every trace of power being drained away until even the faint spark of Qi within her core flickered out. Her legs buckled, and she fell to her knees, then collapsed fully onto the ground.
Her veil fluttered down beside her as her trembling hand reached weakly toward her son. "Khan..." she breathed, barely audible. "You... attacked your own mother?"
Her voice broke on the last word, the sorrow in it sharper than any blade.
Khan’s eyes widened with horror. He took a step forward, his lips parting as if to speak, but the Celestial leader raised a hand to stop him.
"Do not touch her," the man ordered coldly. "She is no longer your mother. She is just another relic of a dying age."
Khan froze in place, the conflict tearing him apart from within. His fists clenched, his breathing ragged, but he didn’t move.
Lucas felt his heart twist in disgust. Seraphine stood silent, tears streaming down her cheeks, her entire body trembling with anger and sorrow.
And on the shattered floor of the grand hall, the Empress lay motionless, her strength gone, her heart broken beyond repair.
The mighty ruler of Lechia had been brought to her knees...not by the strength of her enemies, but by the betrayal of her own blood.
"Arrest them," the leader of the Celestials commanded, his deep voice reverberating through the ruins of the grand hall. "Kill them if they resist."
At his word, the cultivator warriors advanced, their auras flaring with pressure that shook the air and splintered the marble beneath their feet. The lesser soldiers followed instantly, forming a loose circle around Lucas and the others. The cold light of their weapons reflected in their eyes as they prepared to strike.
Lucas’s body went tense. The energy around him rippled violently as his instincts screamed at him to act. He could feel the overwhelming difference in their powers, the suffocating presence of them pressing down upon him like mountains. He knew that if they stayed another second, none of them would make it out alive.
Selene’s voice trembled beside him. "Xavier... what do we do?"
He didn’t answer immediately. His eyes darted toward Seraphine, who was still trying to rush toward the fallen Empress, her face streaked with tears. "Seraphine!" Lucas shouted. "Come back!"
She didn’t hear him at first, her focus fixed solely on the Empress lying motionless on the ground. Her cry echoed painfully through the grand hall as she tried to reach her, her hands trembling with fury and grief.
"Don’t you dare touch her!" one of the guards barked, stepping forward, his blade gleaming with energy.
Lucas didn’t think twice. In a single instant, the air around him twisted. His aura flared, a distortion in space spiraling outward like ripples through water. With a burst of power, he leaped forward, seizing Seraphine by the arm before she could get too close.
"No...let me go! Your Majesty."
"I can’t," he said sharply, his voice heavy with pain. "If we stay, we’ll die here too. I’m sorry."
Her struggles slowed when she met his eyes. She could see the same grief in them, the same helplessness that she felt. Nyx, Lira, Selene, and Mirielle gathered close instinctively, understanding what he was about to do.
The Celestial leader’s voice cut through the air again. "Seize them!"
At that very moment, Lucas drew in a deep breath. His hands formed a quick, intricate pattern, weaving through the air as the space around them began to hum with unstable energy. The marble beneath their feet fractured, and faint streaks of light twisted through the distortion forming at their center.
The leader’s eyes widened slightly. "What..."
"Hold on to me!" Lucas yelled.
In an instant, the world folded.
The sound of the collapsing palace, the flickering torches, the roar of the Warriors...all of it was swallowed by a blinding flash of silver light. For a heartbeat, everything went silent, and then they were gone.
The energy burst left behind a hollow echo, distorting the air where they had once stood. Only the Empress remained on the cold marble floor, her body frail and motionless, her veil fluttering lightly from the tremor of displaced air.
For a long moment, none of the Celestials moved. The soldiers stood frozen, their eyes wide with confusion and disbelief.
The leader...Ken...narrowed his eyes slowly. His calm composure wavered, and a faint scowl crossed his face as realization dawned upon him. "Space Element," he muttered, his tone low and dangerous.
One of the other Celestials approached cautiously. "He escaped through a rift, my lord. I sensed the pull for only a second."
Ken’s hand twitched, his jaw tightening. "So... that was the boy."
The name came to him a moment later, buried in memory...an old report, a letter sent months ago by Marquess Scott, one of their agents in Valerion. He remembered now. The boy who wielded the power of spatial manipulation. The one Scott had warned him about.
He had dismissed it then. A youth of insignificant cultivation, someone not even worth the attention of the Rot’s higher order. But now, as he looked at the faint remnants of distorted energy that lingered in the ruined grand hall, he understood that he had made a mistake.
"Xavier," he murmured, his voice cold."
His eyes hardened as he turned away from the shattered gate. "Marquess Scott was right. We should have either drawn him into our cause... or erased him completely."
Ken glanced down at the fallen Empress, her body weak and lifeless under the dim light of the ruined hall. His lips curved into a faint, sinister smile. "No matter," he said quietly. "He won’t get far. Power like that always leaves a trail."