The Monarch-Chapter 700: Traitor

Chapter 700: Traitor
Kayden listened for several long minutes; the explanations were thorough. The king was no idiot—he had spent millions of years studying his opponents, learning every detail, seeing all their strengths and weaknesses. After some time, a few things became clear to Kayden.
The first was that the two enemies were soul masters; their techniques relied entirely on using their own souls to fight. Not only that, but their power was divided between them. One example made this especially clear: their strength had a very stable average, yet they were capable of becoming nearly twice as strong in certain moments. Besides that, the one who attacked the kingdom was always the weaker one.
The second thing was that these two individuals had their souls united. Killing one of them meant absolutely nothing. A theory appeared in Kayden’s mind—perhaps they were not two souls joined together, but the same person in the end. That meant something insane, something Kayden could certainly take advantage of.
"I’ll take the mage Evan on the right side," Kayden chose randomly, simply following his instincts about what he felt like doing. Quickly, the two formed a simple plan.
Kayden advanced through the narrow corridors of the castle, his silent steps echoing like a whisper of threat. He found Evan at the edge of an arched window, studying floating runes that pulsed in deep blue. The candlelight flickered when Kayden approached, his eyes fixed on the mage as if he could already see beyond his soul.
Evan had pale skin marked by long nights of study, contrasting with the intense brightness of his blue eyes, sharp as blades. His silver hair fell to his shoulders, wavy and always messy from wind or magic. His thin body was strange—he was twice as tall as a normal human.
"A truly dangerous mage," Evan said before Kayden could begin. "To be able to get here without alerting anyone... I wonder what old monster you are?"
Kayden did not respond immediately; his mind was entirely focused on understanding the soul in front of him. It was a bizarre thing of nature—both incomplete and complete, one soul and at the same time two. Kayden was completely fascinated by it.
"Kayden Heart," he greeted with a common gesture. His name no longer had any real weight, simply because his legend had inspired many mages to name their children after him.
No one feared a mage named Kayden Heart anymore; the name had become completely common. There were tens of trillions of them scattered across the universe. It was difficult for anyone to associate his name with the legendary god-slayer.
"What can I do for you?" Evan replied politely in the same manner and greeted Kayden. "A pleasure, Evan Kerian." Kayden remained silent for a few seconds as he weighed all the possibilities at that moment.
"I believe you’re already being informed of what’s happening," Kayden said, and Evan nodded calmly. "You two are strong, but not strong enough to deal with the king and me at the same time." Evan raised an eyebrow and attacked Kayden directly.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The entire castle they were in was destroyed when Kayden bent reality to his will. It was as fast as Evan’s attack and yet superior. Kayden used a single beam to defend himself and at the same time destroy Evan’s first defense.
The attack wasn’t Kayden’s full power. It was only a demonstration—a small invitation to talk. This became extremely clear to the mage after seeing Kayden’s expressionless reaction to the attack.
"I understand. It seems we’ve reached our end. It was a good battle," Evan said without expressing any fear or regret for his actions. It was a simple, cruel acceptance.
He knew he could not defeat Kayden—not without using his complete strength. But that was impossible, because his other soul fragment was fighting the king in an absolutely insane battle. That would take at least a few hours, and by then Kayden would probably have already killed him.
"You’ll become complete when your other soul fragment dies, won’t you?" Kayden asked, leaving the mage in front of him startled. He had been completely read; his soul’s secrets seemed to be entirely revealed.
"Who exactly are you? There are no soul-reading mages left in this world anymore. I made sure to kill them all," Evan said, fishing through his memory for dozens of names. He didn’t know which one could have survived.
The more he thought, the more impossible it became. There were no survivors. Not even memories of techniques remained. Nothing. He had made sure to destroy everything—completely. It had been one of the greatest hunts this world had ever seen. The names continued flashing in his mind, yet he could not say a single one.
"I’m older than this world, Evan," Kayden said distantly as some memories passed through his mind. "Now the question is, what will you tell me in order to have your life spared?"
Kayden was direct. There was no hesitation on his part. Not only that, but he had betrayed the king directly without even thinking. Their agreement was thrown completely away, and new thoughts were arriving in his mind.
"What do you want to know?" Evan clung to his only chance. He knew this was a decisive moment in his life. All the strength of his soul had been shifted to the other side; even speaking was difficult for him now.
"Everything. I want every detail of your technique, every small piece of it—everything you can tell me about souls. In exchange, I’ll let you leave alive, and not only that, I can open the path for you to kill the king right now." Kayden smiled; his offer was extremely tempting.
He would put an end to a war of millions of years solely for his own interest, and there wasn’t a single soul capable of stopping him. Little did the king know that he had brought the greatest misfortune possible into his own home. He himself had invited his own ruin and called it a friend.
"Let’s start with the basics, then. We’ll have a long conversation," Evan sighed with exhaustion after a single word. Meanwhile, his other half was facing the king in the most insane battle of their lives. The king had never felt such pressure from one of them as he did at that moment.