Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Dan Heng sighed as Sunny complained about the constant onslaught of Fragmentum monsters.

"Was this really the best place to run off to?"

After Sunny’s little... performance, they took Bronya’s unconscious body along with them as they tried to escape law enforcement. Considering the situation, Dan Heng thought that it was quite important to have some form of leverage against the Supreme Guardian.

Sunny wasn’t aware of it since he was asleep, but March and Dan Heng had went around as he slept in his hotel room. Thanks to this, they had found a restricted section of Belobog: the Fragmentum.

Of course, it would be quite dangerous due to the Fragmentum monsters, but it was better than having to fight humans. At least, that was how Dan Heng rationalized it.

March glared at Sunny.

"What are you complaining about? You’re not even fighting!"

The boy’s arms were occupied with the task of carrying the Supreme Guardian’s daughter around. As such, Sunny was in no state to be swinging a sword around.

Sunny scowled.

"Why don’t you try carrying a hostage around? She keeps squirming around, and the monsters aren’t helping!"

...This must have been at least the twelfth time that Sunny and March had started an argument since they entered the Fragmentum. Dan Heng wondered why Welt couldn’t have dealt with this instead.

His thoughts were disturbed when Sunny suddenly stopped walking. Dan Heng and March both stopped as well, understanding what his sudden halt of movement meant.

"Two of them around the corner. They’re both one of those fire soldiers."

They had encountered quite a few monsters that were produced by the Fragmentum. They generally fell into two categories: soldiers and bats. These soldiers and bats would either wield ice or fire. The latter would be the perfect counter to March’s Aspect, so she tended to stay back and provide support against them.

Thus, Dan Heng would have to be the one who engaged them.

Flourishing his spear, he prepared for the Fragmentum monsters to round the corner. The orb imbedded into his spear started to rotate, enhancing his Aspect.

The spear — Cloud-Piercer — that he wielded wasn’t a Legacy Relic. Actually, Dan Heng couldn’t quite recall where he had recieved either of the two...

His Legacy Relic was actually the orb that connected the shaft of the spear to the blade.

The spear itself had a few effective enchantments engraved into it. The first of which was that any living being pierced by the spear would have a minuscule, yet gradual lethargy to any and all biological functions. Of course, the effect wasn’t very powerful unless he landed multiple attacks on a single enemy.

Considering that many battles could end in a single attack, it was only useful for extremely drawn out encounters, or against enemies much stronger than Dan Heng himself. Even then, the effect is weaker the higher his enemy’s Rank and Class is.

The second enchantment that the Cloud-Piercer had was a sharpness enchantment. It wasn’t anything special, but it was still a universally useful enchantment. It was much easier to fight when you didn’t have to worry about your weapon not being able to pierce armor.

The third enchantment... was a little special. Dan Heng didn’t plan on using it unless there was some sort of emergency, as it took quite a long amount of time to prepare the enchantment for use.

His Legacy Relic had the ability to merge with any weapon Memory he wanted, allowing him to turn it into a pseudo-Relic. The Cloud-Piercer had become a soulbound Memory, being able to progress alongside Dan Heng.

It also had a few more functions, but those weren’t relevant currently.

As the burning soldiers peeked out of the corner, Dan Heng rushed forward. The air around him parted, allowing him to completely ignore air resistance.

A common misconception was that Dan Heng’s Awakened Ability allowed him to control the weather. Although that was how he had explained it, that was simply because it was somewhat complicated.

His Awakened Ability allowed him to transmute Essence.

For example, he could turn his Essence into wind that he could completely control. This allowed him to displace the air around him, increasing his movement speed.

Dan Heng’s Essence can be transmutated into anything; as long as he had a deep understanding of it’s chemical structure.

He tended to use his Aspect to manipulate the elements, which seemed to be much easier when he was outdoors. Dan Heng couldn’t quite understand it, but his Awakened Ability tended to be less potent while in places like the Herta Space Station.

Looking at the positioning of the two burning Frangmentum monsters, Dan Heng dashed past the one closest to him, instead impaling the one that was further from him through the skull.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Incineration Shadewalker.]

Quickly removing the spear, Dan Heng dodged to the side to avoid the burning halberd that threatened to split him in two. He immediately lunged back into the fight, swinging his spear like a pole.

The Incineration Shadewalker blocked the blow with it’s halberd, halting the momentum of Dan Heng’s spear.

Despite this, Dan Heng did not attempt to disengage. Instead, he simply put more pressure where their weapons intersected. Using his spear as a conduit, he channeled his Essence through it...

Sparks started to fly.

The crackling of electricity resounded across the Fragmentum as the Incineration Shadewalker started to convulse. With a simple thrust, Dan Heng stabbed the immobile Fragmentum monster in the chest, slaying it once and for all.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Incineration Shadewalker.]

***

"Ah... I didn’t even get to do anything."

At March’s voice, Sunny sent his shadows out further. There was no longer a reason to keep them here, since the imminent threat was subjugated.

Looking through the different perspectives of his shadows as they glided across the Fragmentum, Sunny suddenly froze.

’...How persistent.’

Turning towards Dan Heng and March — the former was returning to where the other two stood — Sunny bared grim news.

"We’re being chased by multiple search parties. They’re being led by some girl with glasses... seems like an Awakened."

March frowned.

"Why are the Silvermane Guards after us in the first place? I mean, I don’t think we committed any crimes..."

She leered at Sunny.

"Not until you got involved, at least."

Sunny simply shrugged.

"Cocolia was pretty suspicious from the start."

Dan Heng blinked.

"Really? In what way?"

Sunny paused for a few moments.

"Uh... my intuition told me!"

It was quite unfortunate that Sunny had to have fallen unconscious. If he hadn’t passed out from narcolepsy, he would have been able to leave one of his shadows behind to monitor the Supreme Guardian. Maybe they wouldn’t have been in this situation...

Either way, that didn’t change the fact that the trio was surrounded by multiple parties of Silvermane Guards — probably to retrieve the girl in his arms. Although they don’t want Bronya to die, they also didn’t want her to be kidnapped by people who could do anything they wanted with her.

His shadows circled the area around them, monitoring both the Silvermane Guards and mapping out the area. Despite this, Sunny found an issue.

If it was just himself, he would have been able to easily escape — even if he couldn’t use Shadow Step. However, not only was he not alone, he was holding an unconscious woman in his arms. The gaps between the search parties was enough so that they could watch each other’s back.

Even though they could easily outrun the mundane soldiers, they knew the area much better than them. It would be much more difficult for them to escape against people who were native to Belobog.

...Therefore, Sunny could only come to two conclusions.

He wasn’t too sure whether he could use Bronya as a hostage again to get away. As such, Sunny decided to take more drastic measures.

"...Alright, let’s take a vote. Option one; kill them. Option two; let me get captured while you two retreat... with our hostage, of course."

March and Dan Heng stared at him for a moment, before the latter asked:

"I don’t think I heard you correctly. What did you say?"

Sunny tilted his head.

"We should either let me distract them until they capture me, or just kill them."

March’s lips parted slightly, a perplexed expression on her face.

"Wait... what exactly do you mean by ’kill’?"

Sunny frowned. What was there to explain?

"You know... ending their lives. I’m not sure what’s so confusing about this."

Dan Heng studied him for a moment.

"Okay... so you think that we should kill them. Using our weapons to take their lives."

Sunny smiled.

"Yeah! Do you get it now, March?"

Dan Heng palmed his face.

"No... Sunny, we can’t just kill them."

March’s gaze swiveled between the two of them as Sunny blinked.

"Of course we can! I mean, if you two don’t think that you can take on some mundane soldiers, I could deal with them myself. Besides, I just said that I could be distraction!"

***

March was starting to get confused. Why were they suddenly having a conversation about killing? That wasn’t something people should casually be talking about...

"That isn’t what I meant! It just isn’t right!"

It was rare for Dan Heng to raise his voice. He only ever did that when something really ticked him off...

Sunny had a confused look on his face.

"It’s not like they could fight back against us. There’s only a single Awakened among them, and there are three of us. As long as they die instantly, then they won’t even feel it. Again, if you don’t like that idea, then just send me over! I’ll be fine."

March was slowly getting more and more disturbed. Due to her Flaw, she knew that Sunny had a few screws loose, but this disregard for human life was simply insane.

Both for others, and himself.

Biting her lip, March hesitantly asked:

"Do you... do you really not care if they die?"

A look of realization appeared on Sunny’s face. Just when March had thought that he might have seen the problem here, Sunny suddenly scowled.

"Of course I care if they die! That’s why we have the other solution! Letting me attract their attention would let you guys escape, and I’ll just find my way back! It’s not like they could hold me..."

Dan Heng visibly grit his teeth.

"Okay... let’s say that you did captured. I’ve heard of special shackles that can restrict Aspects. What will you do if you can’t escape?"

Sunny paused, seeming as if he realized a problem.

"That’s a good point. In that case, I guess killing the guards is the only foolproof way... how unfortunate."

Dan Heng massaged his temples.

"So, in a scenario where you can’t escape, you’d rather just... kill the Silvermane Guards? What would you do after that?"

In response, Sunny blinked.

"Well... yeah? I mean, they chose to pursue us. They’re voluntarily risking their lives... and if my guess is correct, they probably have the means to hurt us."

He suddenly shuddered as he coughed after a long stretch of silence. He blinked.

"Oh, right. After that, wouldn’t it make sense to go for the source? She’s the one who’s actually sending these guys to their deaths... who thought it was a good idea to send normal people into a Fragmentum?"

That last question seemed to be directed towards himself. With a sigh, Dan Heng mostly calmed down as he listened to Sunny’s reasoning.

At the same time though, there was a stiffness, as if he couldn’t go through with the plan.

"...No. We won’t let you get captured, and we won’t kill any of the guards. As for the Supreme Guardian... who knows how that would affect Belobog as a whole?"

Sunny scoffed.

"Well, if you have any better ideas, feel free to tell me. We’re starting to run out of time, and once we do, then we’ll have no other choice."

Dan Heng seemed as if he was going to accept that outcome as he opened his mouth, before unnaturally stiffening as he hesitantly denied it.

"...No, we can’t do that. They’re only normal people. Somehow, we need to find another way to escape."

Sunny seemed confused, as if he noticed that moment of acceptance as he pursed his lips. Then, he shook his head as he shrugged.

"I guess that’s fine. Then, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to rush over to Qlipoth Fort to get rid of the Supreme Guardian. I doubt things will get too bad, since she seemed to leave her heir behind... who’s right with us after we held her hostage. Damnation... wouldn’t the same thing repeat itself then?"

He frowned in contemplation.

"Uh... I guess we just have to fight the guards then. If it was just me, I could have easily avoided them... but that’s probably not going to happen. The lady in the glasses is coming directly for us, and she doesn’t seem worried at all. We can’t hide, we can’t run... and holding back will definitely get us killed. It looks like you two are going to have to throw away your grievances if you want to live. After this, getting rid of the Supreme Guardian will be the next goal so that the chain-of-command, then we look for the Stellaron, get rid of it, and everything will be fine!"

After rambling, Sunny looked between Dan Heng and March — who both wore expressions of disbelief. He blinked a few times, before smiling.

"Don’t worry. It’s just a Master. I’ve killed a Great Devil before, you know?"

The sound of flesh being struck resounded across the Fragmentum.

***

Pain bloomed in Sunny’s cheek. Looking for the source, he saw March with her hand outstretched and tears that threatened to flow from her eyes. Dan Heng stared at her with widened eyes.

"You...! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Sunny narrowed his eyes.

"I hope that you did that because you saw a bug. And to answer your question, there isn’t anything wrong with me."

His face scrunched up.

"Actually, what’s wrong with you?! Both of you! We’re not kids... every night, we get sent to a world full of monsters that want nothing more than to kill us! This isn’t some fairytale where everyone gets a happy ending!"

He paused.

"Why are you even crying anyways?"

March didn’t say anything for a moment, before a wry smile appeared on her face.

"You know, I don’t think Rain would be proud of her brother being a murderer."

There was a long pause.

Dan Heng swiveled over to her, seemingly having realized something.

Nothing registered with Sunny however, as he recalled his shadows back to him. They slid onto his body, quadrupling his strength. His golden eyes faded to an endless pit of darkness, with a warning deep within it’s depths.

"...You have five seconds to explain how you know that name."

Before March could say anything, Dan Heng spoke:

"March, don’t say anything..."

He was cut off by the extroverted girl.

"It’s my Flaw! Sometimes, other people’s memories get shoved in my head... it’s really confusing, but it felt like I was you."

Dan Heng finished his sentence with a sigh.

"...Stupid."

Sunny’s fingers dug into Bronya’s skin, which could have caused him to draw blood if he didn’t notice what he was doing.

What type of Flaw was that? This must have been the second time that he has seen a Flaw that doesn’t really have any obvious negative impact. The first of which was AR-26710.

Honestly, it seemed more like a blessing than anything else. Being able to see the memories of others...

Looking down at the knocked-out body of Bronya, Sunny huffed before tossing her at March. Due to the suddenness, she almost dropped the Supreme Guardian’s daughter.

"I’m leaving. If you two end up in danger, don’t count on me to rescue you."

Using Shadow Step, Sunny disappeared from their sight. He was still nearby, but March and Dan Heng didn’t need to know that.

After a moment of silence, March awkwardly inquired:

"I kind of messed up, didn’t I?"

Dan Heng sighed. He was starting to look decades older at this point.

"That would be an understatement."