Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

The silence that followed his bitter internal complaint about vertical injustice stretched just long enough to become uncomfortable, then overstayed its welcome and began redecorating the room with awkwardness. Sunny shifted his weight from one foot to the other, folded his arms, unfolded them again, and finally settled on scratching his cheek as though the answer to the universe might be hiding beneath his skin.

"So... what were you ladies talking about?"

Seele’s expression flattened into something that suggested she was reconsidering every life choice that had led to this moment. One brow arched, her violet eyes sharpening with incredulity as she gestured vaguely toward the outside world with a flick of her wrist.

"Did you even glance at what’s going on out there?"

Sunny shook his head with absolute confidence, the kind that could only exist in people completely unburdened by self-doubt.

"Not a glance. I observed like the watchful individual I am. I sure hope you didn’t just take a glance before moving forward with your life."

Her eye twitched.

"You are unbelievable. Blind. Idiotic. Probably concussed."

Clara, meanwhile, brought a hand lightly to her lips as a soft giggle escaped, the sound warm and musical in a way that clashed almost comically with the apocalyptic industrial nightmare she had apparently constructed outside. Her crimson eyes sparkled with unmistakable amusement as they flicked between the two of them.

"Aren’t you two ashamed to be flirting in another’s abode? Though, I don’t mind leaving you two a room if you need it."

Seele made a sound that could best be described as a verbal system crash. Color flooded her face so quickly it looked like someone had flipped a switch, the blush blooming from collarbone to hairline as she spluttered through several aborted attempts at speech that produced nothing intelligible.

Sunny tilted his head, perplexed.

"We weren’t flirting in the first place. Actually, who even taught you what that meant? Double actually, why are you so old?"

He punctuated this tactical conversational redirection by sending Seele a triumphant smirk and a thumbs-up, the universal gesture of someone who believed he had just executed a flawless maneuver. She responded with a stare so dead it might have qualified for burial rights.

Clara watched this exchange for several seconds, her expression softening into something fond and faintly exasperated, like an older sister observing two particularly dense siblings attempt social interaction without adult supervision. Which was weird, since the two of them were technically older(?) than her.

Eventually she cleared her throat delicately into her fist.

"Well, to answer both questions, it would be a long story. Maybe a few hours... days, even? And that is only with what I remember."

Both of them straightened at that, the levity draining away as attention snapped fully onto her.

Seele crossed her arms, frowning.

"I don’t know what’s up with her either. I only came by because of the commotion outside."

Clara set her teacup aside with quiet finality and rose to her feet.

Sunny immediately noticed two things. First, she was indeed slightly taller than him, which was unacceptable and probably illegal. Second, when she stood, the air itself seemed to tighten, an invisible pressure settling over the room like the prelude to a storm.

At her full height, her Transcendent presence unfolded without restraint.

It was not overwhelming in the blunt, crushing way many powerful beings projected their aura. Instead it felt intricate, layered, mechanical in a manner that was almost... elegant. Sunny swore he could hear faint ticking buried beneath the silence, the phantom rotation of unseen gears. A metallic scent touched the back of his throat, not unpleasant, more like the clean bite of cold iron and machine oil mingled with something warm and strangely comforting.

Clara said gently:

"Come. I’ll show you why I felt the need to do all this."

Sunny immediately began policing his own brain with extreme prejudice. Beautiful or not, she was still Clara, and he had known her when she could barely look strangers in the eye without hiding behind Svarog’s leg. He was many things, most of them questionable, but he was not a predator.

Seele, on the other hand, remained entirely fair game, which was why he felt a small stab of disappointment that her hair was loose instead of tied up. Her nape had once been a work of art, a smooth pale line that practically invited appreciative staring. Fate, as usual, had robbed him.

They stepped into the corridor, Clara leading with quiet confidence while Sunny and Seele followed side by side, close enough that their shoulders occasionally brushed in the narrow sections. Each contact earned him a glare that suggested she was pretending not to notice the rest of the time.

Halfway down the hall, a voice echoed inside his mind with crisp clarity.

[Benefactor, did you forget I was watching with you?]

Tingyun’s tone carried a familiar blend of prim disapproval and barely concealed amusement.

Sunny didn’t break stride, responding through the link with lazy indifference.

’No, I didn’t. I’m simply sharing the view with you. What, don’t like it?’

A pause followed, the mental equivalent of someone pinching the bridge of their nose.

[I must admit, Benefactor, my respect for you is rapidly dropping.]

He found that hilarious, considering she had never objected to him seeing her in a far more compromising state. The Puppeteer’s Shroud he had provided was a practical measure, not a moral one, though it did spare him from constantly being distracted by the sight of his own Shadow’s unclothed form wandering around his Soul Sea like it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

’You’ll survive. Probably.’

[Besides, surely you know that you can simply ask—]

’My life has no room for that.’

He cut her off before she could finish, the words emerging with more Finality than he had intended. Even if he had room, it was not something he could pursue casually. Relationships were complicated knots that tightened the moment you stopped paying attention, and he had spent too long cutting himself free of ropes to willingly step back into them.

March, Dan Heng, Seele, Bronya, Sparkle, and others had left faint impressions despite his best efforts to remain detached. Tiny cracks, hairline fractures in the armor he pretended was impenetrable.

He knew how dangerous that was.

People were very good at convincing themselves they mattered to someone, especially when loneliness made even scraps of affection feel like feasts. Phantylia’s voice drifted through memory, smooth and merciless.

"She was well-fed. Smiling. Surrounded by affection. She had younger siblings of her own. She had parents who watched her with pride. There was nothing to rescue her from."

Rain had moved on. Built a life that did not include him.

If her happiness had not aligned with his own, he knew with chilling certainty that he might have torn it apart just to reclaim what he had lost. That was the kind of person he was beneath the jokes and indifference, a creature of terrifying intensity focused on a single point.

Would any of these people sacrifice everything to bring him back if he died?

Unlikely.

He did not resent them for it. It would be insane to expect that level of devotion from anyone.

He would have done it for Rain without hesitation, though, which was precisely why he could never allow anyone else to occupy that place. No one matched that intensity, and if someone did, it would only end in mutual destruction.

Better to keep the bonds shallow. Enjoy the good food, the occasional companionship, the thrill of battle, the satisfaction of insulting people who deserved it. Cut the threads before they sank too deep, before they wrapped around his heart and squeezed until something inside him snapped.

For a fleeting instant, his vision shimmered.

Color flooded the world, faint translucent strands stretching between people, objects, distant points in space, weaving an impossibly complex tapestry that pulsed with quiet intent. It was gone before he could focus on it, leaving behind only a lingering impression of something vast and delicate.

’Did you see that?’

[See what?]

’Nothing. Probably a hallucination.’

Clara stopped at a junction ahead, turning toward a spiral staircase that ascended into one of the newer towers. They climbed in silence, the metal steps ringing softly beneath their feet until the corridor opened into a circular chamber dominated by the enormous telescope he had seen from outside.

Its housing resembled a hybrid between scientific instrument and artillery platform, thick supports anchoring it to the floor while control panels wrapped around the base in a semicircle of glowing interfaces. The ceiling had been modified into a retractable dome, currently open to reveal a slice of dark sky dusted with stars.

Clara moved to the controls, fingers dancing across the panels with practiced ease as the machine responded with a low mechanical hum. The telescope adjusted its angle by fractions, internal mechanisms whirring with surgical precision before locking into place.

She stepped aside, gesturing gracefully.

"Please, take a look."

Sunny and Seele moved at the same time, shoulders colliding with a solid thud.

"Watch it."

He shot back, immediately attempting to elbow her away from the eyepiece:

"You watch it."

She retaliated with a shove that would have sent a normal person sprawling, though Sunny barely budged thanks to his enhanced physique. For a moment they grappled in place like two particularly stubborn cats attempting to occupy the same sunbeam, until he leveraged his superior strength to slide her aside just enough to claim victory.

"Hah!"

Seele stumbled a half step, scowling murderously while he bent to the eyepiece with a smug expression that begged to be punched.

The view snapped into focus instantly.

At first he thought he was looking at a cluster of unusually bright stars. Then the shapes resolved, metallic hulls reflecting distant sunlight, formation lights blinking in precise patterns along elongated silhouettes that drifted with deliberate grace against the black.

Not stars.

Ships.

Large ones.

Dozens of them.

His scowl deepened as recognition clicked into place, aided by the unmistakable industrial aesthetic of vessels built by people who valued efficiency over charm.

"Why the fuck are there IPC spaceships flying over my lawn?!"