Ken's eyes remained fixed on Lucas, studying him carefully beneath the pale moonlight.
The valley had grown quiet again. Even the distant sounds from the two armies seed to have faded, as if the land itself was listening to the conversation unfolding between them.
"What exactly are you planning?" Ken asked again.
Lucas did not answer imdiately.
Instead, he looked directly back at the Celestial with the sa calm expression he had carried all night.
Then he spoke.
"Why should a Celestial fear what I am planning?"
Ken's brows pulled together slightly.
Lucas continued without raising his voice.
"The odds are heavily in your favor."
His tone remained even.
"You have a Celestial. We do not."
Alexander remained silent beside him, though he could feel the tension growing in the air.
Lucas went on.
"You command the stronger army. You already hold our capital. From your perspective, this duel tomorrow is rely a formality."
Ken's expression slowly hardened.
Lucas held his gaze.
"So why should soone like you be worried about whatever tricks you think I might have prepared?"
Ken's eyes narrowed.
The words had struck exactly where Lucas intended them to.
A faint chill seed to settle over the valley as the Celestial's expression darkened slightly.
"You speak boldly for soone standing in front of without protection," Ken said slowly.
Lucas did not step back.
"My boldness should not concern a Celestial either."
Alexander glanced briefly toward Lucas, though he still said nothing.
Ken studied him for several seconds.
Then he let out a quiet breath and gave a small laugh.
But there was no amusent in it this ti.
"You are provoking ."
Lucas remained calm.
"I am stating facts."
Ken looked at him again, his pride clearly stirred now.
A Celestial cultivator being questioned like this by soone beneath his realm was not sothing he enjoyed.
After a long mont, he spoke.
"Very well."
His voice had grown colder.
"I accept your conditions."
Alexander's eyes flicked toward Lucas imdiately.
Ken continued.
"If Valerion wins this duel, the Emperor of Rus will be released into your custody."
He lifted a finger slightly.
"And your army will be allowed to withdraw from this battlefield without interference."
Lucas gave a small nod.
But Ken was not finished.
His gaze sharpened.
"However…"
Lucas waited.
Ken's voice beca quieter.
"This ti, I will set a condition of my own."
Lucas already felt a faint unease building in his chest.
Ken looked directly into his eyes.
"If Valerion loses…"
He paused.
"…you will co with ."
Lucas felt the aning imdiately.
Ken continued calmly.
"You will beco my prisoner."
For the first ti that night, Lucas was slightly taken aback.
Alexander's head turned sharply toward him.
Ken watched Lucas closely, clearly enjoying the reaction.
"I have been curious about you for so ti," Ken said lightly. "You have interfered with too many of our operations across this continent."
His eyes drifted briefly to the scars on Lucas's face.
"You survived the Shadow Dragon's inferno."
Then his gaze returned to Lucas.
"That alone makes you… interesting."
Lucas remained silent.
Inside, however, a deep sense of dread had begun to stir.
Becoming Ken's prisoner would not simply an captivity…It would an torture.
"Well?"
Lucas lowered his gaze briefly.
For a mont, Nyx's face flashed across his mind, her tearful eyes. The way she had looked at him when she made him promise.
Even if there is only one percent chance. Do not give up. Lucas slowly raised his head again.
His voice was steady when he spoke.
"I accept."
Alexander looked at him sharply, though Lucas did not look back.
Ken smiled faintly.
"Good."
Then the Celestial rolled his shoulders slightly, as though stretching.
"Though to be honest…"
His tone carried a hint of amusent again.
"…fighting two Sage cultivators tomorrow would be rather dull."
Lucas frowned slightly.
Ken continued casually.
"After all, I am a Celestial."
He glanced toward the distant lights of the Usurper army.
"For to personally duel two n beneath my realm…"
His lips curled into a faint smirk.
"…would be stooping rather low."
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
Ken turned back toward them.
"So I will make a small adjustnt."
Lucas said nothing.
Ken's smile widened slightly.
"I will appoint a champion to represent us."
Lucas' expression hardened.
Ken spoke the final words almost casually.
"Another Celestial."
Lucas did not react outwardly, yet his mind had already begun turning rapidly.
Another Celestial.
The words echoed in his thoughts as he studied Ken's calm expression beneath the moonlight.
He rembered that day in Lechia very clearly.
Ken had not been alone.
There had been two others standing behind him at the ti. One was a white haired woman whose presence had felt as cold and distant as a frozen mountain peak. The other had been a tall man whose aura had carried the sa suffocating pressure that only Celestial cultivators possessed.
Lucas had never forgotten them.
Ken must be referring to one of those two.
The realization settled slowly in his mind.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lucas felt a small asure of relief rise within him.
Facing Ken himself tomorrow would have been a nightmare scenario.
Ken was not simply a Celestial. His aura alone revealed the depth of his cultivation. Even with two champions fighting him at once, Lucas had doubts that anyone in Valerion's camp could truly threaten him.
Another Celestial was still a terrifying opponent.
But at least the odds were no longer completely hopeless.
Even if the balance had not shifted significantly, it was enough for Lucas to feel the smallest crack of possibility open in the wall that had seed impenetrable only monts earlier.
Ken watched him quietly for a few seconds, as if trying to read whatever thoughts might be passing behind Lucas's eyes.
"You seem calr," Ken said with faint amusent.
Lucas replied evenly.
"You said it yourself. Fighting us personally would be beneath you."
Ken smirked slightly.
"Perhaps."
Alexander remained silent beside Lucas, though his mind was clearly racing just as quickly. A duel against a Celestial was already dangerous enough. Now it would be two against a Celestial whose abilities they had not even witnessed yet.
Still, the agreent had been made.
Ken lifted one hand casually.
"Then it is settled."
Lucas nodded once.
"It is."
Ken's gaze sharpened briefly.
"If your champions win tomorrow, the Emperor of Rus will be handed over to you, and your army will be allowed to withdraw safely."
Lucas spoke clearly.
"And if we lose, I beco your prisoner, and Valerion's army will never again attempt to reclaim the kingdom."
Ken's smile returned.
"Exactly."
For a mont the two n simply looked at one another beneath the moonlight, both fully aware that the outco of the duel tomorrow would shape the fate of thousands of lives.
Ken eventually turned away first.
"I will send word to my army about the new terms."
Lucas replaced the mask over his face slowly, hiding the scars once again.
Alexander glanced at him briefly.
Ken took several steps before stopping again.
Without turning around, he spoke one last ti.
"You are an interesting man, Xavier."
His voice carried faintly across the quiet valley.
"Tomorrow will decide whether that makes you valuable… or simply foolish."
Lucas did not respond.
Ken resud walking back toward the distant lights of the Usurper camp, the injured general following closely behind him.
Within minutes their figures disappeared into the darkness.
Alexander finally exhaled slowly.
"Well," he muttered.
"That could have gone worse."
Lucas stared across the valley for a mont longer, his thoughts already shifting toward the coming battle.
Then he turned.
"Let's go."
The two n walked back toward the Valerion camp, the cold night air pressing heavily around them as both armies waited for the dawn that would decide everything.
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