Soulbound: Dual Cultivation-Chapter 442: Hail Stones

Dravok’s hand clenched fully, and in that instant, the sky seemed to fall.

The massive fire hailstones, suspended moments ago in ominous stillness, came crashing down with terrifying force, tearing through the air as though the heavens themselves had turned hostile. Each one burned violently, wrapped in compressed wind that accelerated their descent, turning them into unstoppable projectiles of destruction.

The first impact came like thunder.

The Ice Belle reacted instantly, her hands rising as a vast canopy of ice surged upward, expanding rapidly to shield both herself and Lucas, layers upon layers of frozen defense forming in a desperate attempt to withstand what was coming.

The fire hailstones struck the barrier, and the result was immediate and brutal, the intense heat overwhelming the ice with ease as it began to melt almost instantly, not cracking or shattering, but dissolving, collapsing into vapor as though it had never been solid to begin with.

It was like watching bubbles burst under flame.

The defense disappeared.

Completely.

"This..." Henrietta whispered from the distance, her voice tight with disbelief, "...this is insane..."

Nyx’s expression darkened, her eyes fixed on the collapsing barrier.

"This is the true power of a Celestial."

Back in the battlefield, there was no time to recover.

One of the blazing hailstones slammed into the ground beside the Ice Belle, and the explosion that followed was violent and immediate, a burst of fire and compressed wind erupting outward with devastating force.

She was thrown.

Her small body hurled through the air, caught completely off guard by the sheer impact.

But she hadn’t even landed before another one struck.

It exploded around her mid-air, catching her before she could stabilize, the force ripping through the space around her and sending her flying again, her trajectory broken violently as she was tossed like a ragdoll in the storm of destruction.

The same fate met Lucas.

He had barely managed to shift out of the direct path of one of the descending hailstones when another crashed down near him, the explosion sending a shockwave through his already weakened body, lifting him off his feet and throwing him across the scorched ground.

His vision blurred.

His body screamed.

He tried to regain control.

But another impact followed.

The explosion caught him mid-motion, tearing through his unstable stance and hurling him away once more, his body skidding and tumbling as the force ripped through his defenses as though they were nothing.

There was no rhythm to it.

No pattern to escape.

Just destruction.

Relentless.

Overwhelming.

From the distance, the reactions were immediate.

"Xavier!" Lira cried out, panic breaking through her voice completely.

Selene stepped forward instinctively, her hands trembling.

"They can’t keep taking that..."

Nyx’s faltered and her gaze locked onto the chaos unfolding before them.

"...This is bad."

Across the valley, Ken watched it all unfold...He smiled.

A slow, satisfied expression spread across his face as he observed the destruction raining down, the relentless barrage leaving no room for recovery, no space to breathe, no chance to regroup.

"This is how it should be," he muttered under his breath, his tone calm, almost pleased.

His eyes remained fixed on Lucas and the Ice Belle as they were tossed around by the explosions, their earlier resistance now seemingly crushed under the sheer scale of Dravok’s power.

"They’re finished."

There was no doubt in his voice.

No hesitation.

Because from where he stood, there was no way out of this.

Lucas and the Ice Belle were now doomed.

The hailstones did not stop.

They continued to fall in relentless succession, each one crashing down with devastating force, each explosion blending into the next until the entire battlefield became a storm of fire and destruction that offered no pause, no rhythm, and no escape. Lucas and the Ice Belle were no longer fighting in the traditional sense, they were enduring, surviving moment to moment as the barrage gave them barely enough time to react, let alone counter.

Lucas forced his body to move, to respond, even as everything inside him screamed in protest, his spatial shifts coming slower now, less precise, his reactions dulled by pain, exhaustion, and the lingering damage from the wound he had barely managed to seal. Another hailstone struck close, the explosion sending him tumbling again, his body rolling across the scorched ground as a fresh wave of pain tore through him.

He tried to rise...Another impact followed.

The blast caught him mid-motion, throwing him sideways, his body skidding violently before coming to a halt. His vision blurred, his breathing ragged, every inhale feeling heavier than the last as the strain reached a breaking point.

Not far from him, the Ice Belle fared no better.

Her earlier precision had been completely overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the attack, her movements no longer graceful but reactive, forced, as she was caught again and again in the chain of explosions. One hailstone detonated near her, sending her small form flying, and before she could recover, another struck, the force ripping through her defenses and throwing her even further away.

The battlefield was no longer a place of control.

It was chaos.

Pure and absolute.

And they were caught in the center of it.

Lucas felt another sharp impact tear across his side, reopening wounds, adding new ones, his already weakened body struggling to keep up as the punishment continued to pile on. Blood spread across him, staining his clothes, his skin, his hands as he tried to push himself forward again.

Even his mask has been knocked off.

Torn away in the chaos, leaving his face exposed as another shockwave sent him crashing down once more. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

The hailstones kept coming and coming for a few more minutes that seemed like a decade of torture.

Until finally....They stopped.

The sudden silence that followed was deafening.

Smoke and heat lingered in the air, the ground scorched and broken beyond recognition, the remnants of the storm fading slowly as the last echoes of destruction settled into stillness.

In the center of it all...They lay. Lucas and the Ice Belle.

Only inches apart.

Both on the ground.

Barely moving.

Lucas’s chest rose and fell unevenly, his body trembling faintly as blood continued to seep from multiple wounds, far more than before. It trickled from his nose, from his ears, from the corner of his mouth, staining the ground beneath him, while deeper injuries along his neck and left leg bled steadily, his earlier efforts to stabilize himself now undone by the overwhelming damage he had just endured.

His eyes remained open.

But barely.

Beside him, the Ice Belle was no better.

Her small body lay still, her usual composure completely stripped away by the force of the attack, her breathing faint as blue liquid seeped from her injuries, trailing from her nose, her mouth, and the wound across her chest, the color stark against the ruined ground beneath her.

Neither of them moved.

Neither of them spoke.

They had been pushed past their limits.

Their energy depleted.

Their bodies broken.

Lucas was bleeding through his nose, ears and mouth, his left leg and his neck, while the Ice Belle was bleeding through her nose, her mouth and her chest, blue liquid which was her blood seeping out as they both lay there, completely exhausted.