The first golem slammed a fist the size of a cart onto the ground, causing a shrill whistle to fill the air. However, Leng Wei did not shy away. He took the blow with his open palm, and the stone stopped just a few centimeters from his hand, surrounded by a flickering crimson glow.
"They're not alive," Leng Wei muttered, feeling the ancient magic permeating the stone. — They are driven by someone else's will. She's too strong to be broken... but there is a way to take over control."
Khan, fighting off the second golem, left only white scratches on the basalt with his blades. "It's easy to say! You have your incredible strength, and we only have steel!"
"Steel can sing too,— Jin suddenly said, his silver eyes narrowing. "I've studied these creatures. They have a control core located in the center of the chest. But to get to him..."
Lin Mei threw the shurikens, but they bounced off the stone skin. "We need a distraction!"
Leng Wei closed his eyes and concentrated. He did not feel the golems themselves, but the thin threads of someone else's will that reached out to them from the depths of the Academy. These threads were dark, cold, and ruthless, like real masters.
"Han, Jin—attack the legs! "Stop it!" he commanded. —Lin Mei, the eyes! Elder, I need a shield!"
He didn't ask—he knew that they would do his bidding. And they obeyed, not out of fear, but out of trust in him.
Khan rushed forward with a roar, his blades whistling, striking showers of sparks from stone ankles. Jin moved like a shadow, finding weaknesses in ancient spells. Lin Mei hurled enchanted blades at the ruby eyes of the golems, causing them to freeze for a moment.
The elder struck the floor with his staff: "Ancestral Wall, stand between us and the darkness!" A barricade of shining runes shot up from the stone, taking the blow of the third golem.
And Leng Wei... He stretched out his hand towards the first golem. Not to destroy it, but for dialogue.
"You were a rock. Do you remember the sun? Do you remember the rain? Do you remember the time when you were a part of the mountain, not a tool?" he whispered.
The stone giant trembled, and uncertainty appeared in his movements.
"Your will does not belong to you. But I'm offering you a choice. Disobedience. Freedom."
The bracelet on Leng Wei's wrist flashed, the crimson light fused with the silver glow of the Elder's runes. The golem froze, its ruby eyes extinguished... and then they lit up with a new light — warm, golden.
He turned around and hit a nearby golem with such force that it shattered into pieces.
"Damn it,— Han gasped, "is he ours now?"
"No,— Leng Wei smiled, and there was weariness and triumph in his smile. "I'm free."
The rest of the golems stopped, their programming unable to process their kindred's betrayal. That moment was enough.
Jin took advantage of the confusion. His blade, charged with decomposition magic, pierced through the stone chest of the second golem and split its core. The creature collapsed, crumbling into piles of rubble.
The last three golems retreated. Their figures began to blur, turning back into stone.
"They're calling them off," the Elder said. "The true Masters didn't want to risk losing control."
When the last traces of the golems disappeared, silence reigned in the corridor, broken only by the heavy breathing of the fighters.
The freed golem bowed its stone head in front of Leng Wei, and then slowly disappeared into the floor, leaving behind only a warm energy of gratitude.
"You... I talked to the stone," Jin said in surprise. "No one has done this for centuries."
"Everything has a soul, Jin. Even a stone. It's just that some souls have forgotten how to listen," Leng Wei replied.
Lin Mei approached Leng Wei, "It was incredible. But now they know about your capabilities. The next attack will be even more serious."
"Let them prepare," Leng Wei looked deep into the corridor, to where the energy of the Heart of Silence was pulsating. "Because we're going to the source. And we will take with us all those who want freedom."
He turned to the former guards, who were looking at him in awe. "Who's with me? Who is ready not just to fight, but to hear the voice of this Academy and return its soul?"
And dozens of voices answered him as one person. Not by shouting, but by a quiet but firm vow.
They walked down the corridor, as if not as rebels, but as atonement. And Leng Wei felt like with every step his will was intertwined with the will of the Academy, becoming one.
The Council Hall was waiting for them ahead. And the Heart of Silence.
And the most difficult decision.