An infected Anchor pulsed in front of them like a dying heart. Gray spots of Emptiness were slowly but inexorably spreading across its crystalline surface, and with each of their movements, the zone of stability around them was shrinking. Dozens of Echoes stood in a silent semicircle, turning their gazes to the crystal, like vultures waiting for their last breath.
"We can't get past them without a fight," Ling Mei said softly, gripping the hilts of her blades. "There are too many of them.
"That's exactly what they're waiting for,— Jin objected. "Our rage and our struggle are their food. Direct confrontation is useless.
"And just watch him die?" Khan grumbled.
Leng Wei did not take his eyes off the sick crystal. He felt his pain like his own—dull, corroding from the inside. The Archon's lesson came back to him: "Don't fight the void. Mend the hole. Fill it up."
"We will not fight them,— he said firmly. — We will treat you.
He turned to his friends.
— Last time, we created reality from scratch. Now... Now we have to do something else. It is necessary to help him remember who he is. Enhance his own song.
"How?— asked Lin Mei.
— Just like we did it for ourselves. Together. But this time we will direct our will not outside, but inside him. We will... with a tuning fork. Let's help him find his own note.
It was an even bigger risk. If their will collides with the distorting influence of the Void inside the Anchor, the consequences can be unpredictable. The anchor could simply explode, unable to withstand the internal conflict.
But there was no choice.
Leng Wei took a step forward, to the border where the influence of their little bubble ended and the zone of the infected Anchor began. The Echoes did not move, but their faceless "faces" turned in his direction. The pressure has increased.
—Xiao Fei,— he called. "Do you hear his true song?" The one under the veneer of Emptiness?
The girl closed her eyes, her face contorted with concentration.
"Yes, it's very weak, but it's clear, like the sound of crystal before it was covered with dirt.
"Hold on to her. Lead the way.
He turned to the others.
— Remember our common feeling. Our connection. And now imagine that we are not a shield, but a ray of light that we direct into the very heart of this crystal. We're helping his own song get louder.
They closed ranks. Han, Lin Mei, Jin, and Leng Wei stood shoulder to shoulder, while Xiao Fei positioned herself in the center, her soft singing becoming the thread connecting their wills together.
Leng Wei closed his eyes again. This time, he didn't create anything new. He was searching inside the damaged Anchor for the very vibration of stability that had once made it unshakable. And he found her, a thin, fading trickle of light in a sea of gray mist.
And he directed their entire collective will at her. Not as an attack, but as a support. Like a hand extended to a drowning man.
The echoes stirred. Their gray forms began to move, gripped by anxiety. They felt the threat that hung over their meal. Not a physical threat, but something alien—not destruction, but healing. Several echoes separated from the general mass and headed towards them, but, meeting no resistance, they slowed down, as if not understanding what to do.
Meanwhile, a real struggle began inside the Anchor.
The clear, crystal sound that Xiao Fei made collided with the hissing indifference of the Void. Light and Darkness came together in a battle for the soul of an ancient artifact. Leng Wei felt this battle as an unbearable pain tearing him apart. Next to him, Han let out a strangled groan, and Lin Mei shuddered all over her body. Jin stood motionless, but his face was as white as a sheet.
— Hold on! Leng Wei hissed through his teeth... It's getting louder!
It was true. The dim light hidden in the depths of the crystal grew brighter. The gray spots on its surface stopped expanding. One of them, the smallest, trembled and disappeared with a soft hiss, leaving behind a clean and shining area.
The Echoes took a step back, their shapeless outlines frozen in disbelief.
However, the Void wasn't going to retreat. A new wave of gray mist, more concentrated and purposeful, poured out of the crimson sky. She hit the Anchor and... them.
The pressure became unbearable. Leng Wei felt his mind being dragged into a quagmire of apathy. "Why fight? It's going to end in silence anyway. It's easier to let go..."
Nearby, Khan collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily.:
— Don't... can't...
Their common spirit cracked. The beam of light that they had aimed at the Anchor dimmed.
And at that very moment, when it seemed that everything was lost, the Anchor itself answered.
He absorbed the hope they gave him. The clear ringing that they had helped him amplify broke through the veil of Emptiness not as a request, but as an order. A flash of blinding white light, incredibly ancient, shot out from its core.
This outburst wasn't directed at the Echoes. She's just... was.
A wave of absolute, unshakable reality swept through the area. The gray spots on the crystal disappeared. The echoes, faced with this purity, simply crumbled like dust. The crimson haze around them receded, and for several hundred meters in all directions, the world became black and white, stable, and real.
The lights went out. The anchor was shining with its steady, healthy light again. His song was pure and confident.
Leng Wei and his friends were lying on the ground, completely exhausted, but alive. They did not defeat the Void in battle. They healed her victim. And that was enough to throw her away.
They lay and looked at the sky, which for the first time in a long time was not purple, but dark gray, almost normal. They found not just a shelter, but a weapon. And these weapons were not destructive, but creative.