Chapter 444: Golem… controlled by something?

The golem recoiled, its body shaking from the impact of Vergil’s blow to its shoulder. The runes glowing there now flickered like embers about to go out, sparking in disjointed patterns. It was as if something inside it was screaming in rage and confusion, as if it had been forcibly awakened from a long sleep.

Vergil landed softly on the ground, sword still in hand, his eyes fixed on the creature. The silence that followed was brief, thick as fog, and soon broken by his voice:

“What was that?” he asked, frowning. “Did I… turn something off?”

Zuri slid from his shoulder to his collarbone, her voice echoing directly in his mind with a thoughtful tone.

“Many of these golems have weaknesses carved into them,” she said, with the calmness of someone reciting from an ancient manuscript. “They are mechanisms designed to ensure that they can be controlled. Like emergency valves.”

“Controlled?” Vergil turned slightly toward her, without completely taking his eyes off the stone colossus. “Are you saying that thing isn’t fighting of its own free will?”

Zuri hesitated for a brief second. Then she replied dryly:

“Of course not. If it were a golem with even the slightest consciousness, it wouldn’t have that kind of flaw. There would be no weak point. It would react instinctively, animalistically… or even rationally. But this one… this one is a puppet.”

Vergil narrowed his eyes, feeling a chill run down his spine. A puppet. A huge body of stone and magic, acting as an extension of something—or someone.

“Wait,” he took a step toward the golem, which was now rising again, the runes on its body slowly reigniting. “Are you telling me that someone is controlling this thing now?”

Zuri did not answer immediately. She just lowered her head slightly, as if preparing for an inevitable scolding.

“Get down…” she began, hissing.

Vergil reacted purely on instinct. He leaped backward just as the golem’s fist smashed the spot where he had been standing, cracking the ground into dozens of fragments. Earth and dust flew through the air. If he had hesitated for a second…

“I would have dodged!” Vergil grumbled, rolling on the ground and then getting up. “You could have said that with less urgency.”

Zuri curled back around his neck, looking indifferent.

“And you could have paid attention from the start.”

The golem turned again, its movements more violent now, as if it had become more aggressive since being hit on the shoulder. Its eyes—those red slits—burned more intensely.

Vergil twirled the sword in his hand, analyzing the enemy’s pattern. But this time, he didn’t rush to attack. He was thinking.

“So if it’s being controlled…” he muttered, “…what exactly am I facing? The golem or whoever is behind it?”

Zuri replied, this time bluntly:

“Both. But the body is just the medium. The will that moves it is elsewhere. Somewhere in these ruins… or the forest. Perhaps watching. Perhaps testing. And if I had to bet…” she looked up at the top of the golem’s head “…that’s where that will connects.”

Vergil followed her gaze. The top of the golem’s head had a subtle, almost imperceptible crack, with small arcane lights pulsing in sync with the creature’s eyes. A command center.

“Destroy the head…” he murmured, with a slight smile. “A classic.”

“It’s not just the head,” Zuri corrected. “It’s the link. The anchor. If you break it, the bond between the controller and the golem should be severed. And maybe… just maybe… whoever is behind it will appear.”

The golem roared again—that deep, mineral sound, like tectonic plates folding—and advanced with its crystal blade raised.

Vergil took a deep breath. His eyes flashed for a second and his energy grew. It was no longer time to play. He ran toward the creature, dodging the attack from the side, like a living shadow.

He had to get to the head.

The creature tried to crush him with its free fist, but Vergil climbed up its arm as if it were a living wall, bracing himself against the grooves and runes that covered its surface. The golem tried to sway to throw him off balance, but Vergil was already on its shoulder. With an agile leap, he jumped to the top of its head.

There was the link.

A black crystal, pulsing in crimson tones, surrounded by fragile circular runes. Ancient magic. Complex. But fragile, if the blow was at the right intensity and angle.

The crystal on top of the golem’s head pulsed like a dark heart. Vergil watched the core for a second, calculating. Then he raised his sword and brought it down hard—the impact made the sound of breaking rock echo throughout the arena, but the crystal resisted.

“Tch…” he growled, taking a step back. The crystal trembled, but did not yield.

Zuri watched, curled up on his shoulder, her pupils narrowed.

“The magic is adapting,” she murmured. “It’s a defense system. The controller knows you’re close to breaking the link.”

“Really? It doesn’t seem like it!” Vergil grunted, attacking again with another brutal blow.

Sparks of energy flew. The runes around the crystal glowed brighter—an extra layer of protection formed around the stone, like an arcane glass shield. Vergil leaped back just as an explosion of energy burst from the top of the golem, forcing him to retreat.

The colossus roared. Its limbs grew thicker, its legs firmer, and its once-sluggish arms began to move with greater precision. The runes, which had previously flickered, now pulsed at a frenzied cadence, as if something—or someone—were pouring power directly into it.

Zuri hissed softly, concerned.

“Its consciousness is increasing. They’re injecting more magic. They’re… amplifying the connection.”

“Is it getting stronger?” Vergil asked, spinning his sword into a defensive position.

“Not just stronger,” she replied. “More alive. More resilient. Maybe even… more intelligent.”

Vergil felt the change. The golem now not only attacked him with brute force, but tried to anticipate his movements. Each blow seemed strategically calculated to surround him, trap him, crush him. He jumped, retreated, attacked the joints… but nothing worked.

“Okay…” Vergil said, panting, “…this is going too far.”

One of the golem’s blows almost hit him squarely. He spun in the air, slid down one of the walls of the ruin, and landed on his knees, his eyes fixed on the creature. The sword glowed with energy, but even so… it wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t break.

“This crystal won’t yield to steel,” he muttered. “Then…”

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, the demonic energy in his body exploded.

His eyes turned red, his arms were covered with incandescent black veins, and his hands glowed with a hellish glow. The aura that surrounded him was dense, suffocating, like the very essence of an abyss contained in human form.

Zuri slid away, instinctively hiding behind his shoulder. She hissed:

“Are you going to use that? Are you really going to…?”

“If you don’t want to become part of the forest furniture,” he said with a crooked smile, “you’d better hold on tight.”

The golem backed away for a second, as if sensing what was about to happen.

Vergil flexed his fingers. Demonic energy ran through his veins like living lava. He did not raise his sword this time. He sheathed it.

“If it can withstand blade strikes… then it’ll have to deal with this.”

With a cry that reverberated across the field, Vergil lunged toward the golem, his arms wrapped in raw energy. He leaped onto the monster again and punched its chest with such force that a crater formed in its stone shell.

The golem tried to react, but it was too late.

Vergil grabbed the creature’s shoulders, dug his feet into its collarbone, and thrust his hands, now deformed by demonic magic, into the top of the monster’s head. His fingers pierced the stone like a knife through hot butter, making their way until they touched the crystal.

“No more defense…” he growled, his face contorted.

And he began to crush.

His fingers closed around the black crystal, and with the sound of glass cracking under pressure, he squeezed. Energy was released, trying to stop him, trying to burn him, like a desperate security system. But Vergil ignored it.

With a final roar, he crushed the entire core, as if it were a rotten fruit in his palm.

The golem’s body froze in that instant. The runes glowed bright white for a brief second… and then went completely dark. The structure shook, cracked… and began to collapse.

Vergil jumped before the creature collapsed entirely. The stones fell with a crash that echoed through the trees, leaving only dust and fragments of what had once been a living war machine.

He landed on his feet. Panting. The demonic energy began to recede, slowly evaporating. His hands, once monstrous, returned to human form.

Zuri crawled back to his neck, still silent for a few seconds.

“…You crushed a golem with your bare hands,” she said, finally.

“I warned you,” he replied, rubbing his wrists. “There comes a time when talking is useless.”

Zuri chuckled. “This forest will kill you, Vergil.”

He smiled wearily, looking at what remained of the monster. “It will try. Good luck to it.”

Before silence could settle once and for all over the smoldering ruins, a faint red glow began to swirl around the fragments of the fallen golem. It was subtle at first—a wisp of light floating like embers in the wind. But soon it began to hiss, spin faster, and become a living, vibrant spark, full of contained fury.

Vergil raised an eyebrow and instinctively reached for the hilt of his sword again.

“Zuri… is this normal?” he muttered.

The little snake curled up slightly on his shoulder, watching the light with narrowed eyes.

“No. This isn’t normal. This… is annoying.”

The spark spun faster and then, as if gathering all its pent-up anger in a single moment, exploded in a high-pitched, shrill scream:

“YOU BASTARDS! WHY DID YOU DESTROY OZOB?!”

The voice was thin, with a timbre that sounded like a mixture between a hysterical child and a squirrel with a megaphone. The echo of the scream reverberated between the broken columns, scaring even some distant birds.

Vergil slowly turned toward the voice, his eyes half-closed, trying to understand what, in the name of everything he had ever fought for, had just happened.

The light began to take shape. Small legs. Translucent wings. A tiny body, about six inches tall, floating a few feet above the ground. She had short, spiky scarlet hair, a tunic made of petals, and an expression of genuine hatred.

Zuri tilted her head to the side. “…It’s a fairy.”

“It’s a fairy?” Vergil repeated, almost in disbelief.

The creature now hovered over the golem’s destroyed chest, its tiny fists clenched.

“OZOB WAS A LOYAL WARRIOR! HE WAS CREATED TO DEFEND THIS FOREST! A PROTECTOR! AND YOU SIMPLY CRUSHED HIM LIKE HE WAS JUST A ROCK!”

Vergil crossed his arms, staring at the fairy with a mixture of weariness and bewilderment.

“He tried to kill me for almost fifteen minutes.”

“YOU INVADED!” she shouted back. “HE WAS JUST DOING HIS JOB!”

Zuri clicked her tongue. “That explains why he was controlled. He wasn’t a war automaton… he was a magical sentinel, kept alive by… probably her.”

The little fairy puffed out her chest.

“I AM THE DIGNIFIED QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES, TITANIA!”