Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

"...This place seems familiar."

Manually keeping himself awake through the act of manipulating his Essence, Sunny curiously turned towards Bronya, who had spoken those words.

"Maybe everything down here just blends in to you. Rich people problems and such..."

He neglected to say that he was also considered a rich person. He might have had plenty of credits in his bank account, but for all he knew, each and every wad of cash could have been obtained unlawfully.

Not like that’s going to stop him from spending it. It’s not illegal if you don’t get caught!

Seemingly indignant, Bronya mildly glared at him for a moment before looking ahead.

"Maybe it’s just my imagination."

Shrugging off her strange behavior, Sunny linked his senses to his shadows. Rivet Town was consumed by the Fragmentum, so there were bound to be a few monsters roaming around — they would probably be similar to the Shadewalkers that the Trailblazers had encountered in the Overworld.

Two of his shadows had been sent, while Gloomy — the original shadow — stayed behind in case of an emergency. It would be the most useful during a confrontation, as it would allow Sunny to wield the explosive might of the Destruction.

One of his shadows caught a glimpse of Seele, who was ahead of them by quite a bit. Observing her for a moment, Sunny’s lips curled downward slightly. His footsteps grew slightly more hurried as he and Bronya approached.

He also happened to notice something strange deeper within the town...

Once they caught up to Seele, Sunny discretely stared at her through his shadow. After a few moments, he concluded that there were no issues.

Well, that wasn’t correct. Rather, there wasn’t any issue that was Sunny’s business. Unless Seele was going to turn into a Nightmare Creature somehow, then he wasn’t going to get involved in whatever was plaguing her.

Standing on an outlook that provided a vantage point to view Rivet Town from above, the three of them surveyed the area. Through his shadows, Sunny was able to spot a plethora of Fragmentum monsters. Shadewalkers, flying bat-like creatures, floating humanoids...

None of them seemed to be above the Awakened Rank. The strongest of them was an Awakened Devil.

’...So what is this feeling?’

A cold feeling of unease rushed into Sunny’s heart like a flood of water, becoming solid before gripping it. Of course, Sunny’s heart wasn’t beating... but his point still stands!

He grimaced as he looked down at Rivet Town. There was nothing out of place — besides the building that stood at the top of the hill. Everything seemed very normal.

With a sigh, he decided to disregard this gut feeling. Calling for his shadows to return as if they were simply an extra pair of limbs, they went deeper into the town.

***

Gunshots rang through the air, bringing down a pair of flying Fragmentum monsters.

Sunny danced between the falling halberds, lashing out with the Midnight Shard once the Shadewalkers were open. The tachi easily slashed through both the chillingly frozen and glaringly molten armor, killing the Fragmentum monsters.

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

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

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

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

’Four more Fragments.’

Basking in the slightly euphoric sensation of having his Shadow Cores saturated, Sunny looked around. The ground was littered with Shadewalkers, Flamespawns and Frostspawns — the flying bat-like creatures — and Imaginary Weavers.

Flamespawns and Frostspawns were Awakened Beasts, while Imaginary Weavers were Awakened Devils.

The latter wielded a strange energy, that seemingly defied the laws of physics. Each beam they fired didn’t create any physical mark, which suggested that they might have been a soul or mind attack — although Sunny was leaning more towards the latter. He hadn’t been hit by any of their attacks, so he didn’t have any way to confirm it.

With a couple dozen Shadow Fragments absorbed, he checked in on Seele and Bronya. The former was pulling her scythe out of a Shadewalker. Her eyes were were still a light shade of purple, revealing that she was fighting without her Compound Eyes — which only activated when Veliona took over.

She had tied her hair into a ponytail, stating that it was getting in the way of her vision. Sunny wasn’t sure he believed that, since Veliona was never impaired by it.

Or maybe she just didn’t care. She certainly seemed like the type who would keep swinging even if she was blinded.

’Speaking of swinging...’

What horrible form!

He had noticed it during the fight against the freakishly powerful automaton, but Seele and Veliona really had no idea about the proper way to use a war scythe. Their hands were way too close to the blade, which lessened their capacity to spin it around for stronger, cleaner cuts. If they changed their hand positioning, they would be able to break through the guards of some abominations without having to use their Dormant Ability.

Even worse, they didn’t rotate the polearm whatsoever! They wielded it like a sword with an especially long handle, swinging it in a very straightforward manner. Such attacks were unsuitable, as there would be a large opening between the blade and the wielder of the scythe for an enemy to slip into.

Simply put, it was absolute, unarguable garbage.

Whenever Seele swung her scythe, Sunny would often see the blade completely missing the target. The handle of the scythe would get caught on the Fragmentum monster, which would shock her arms due to the sudden force that was sent back to her. Anytime she cut into one of them, it was shallow. It looked like she was trying to scoop their non-existent innards, which is not how a war scythe is meant to be used.

’Looks like anyone is allowed to have a Sacred Aspect these days...’

As for Bronya, Sunny was relatively satisfied with her performance. Despite not being a frontline fighter, as well as having an Aspect that was purely for support, her lethality was nothing to scoff at. Her ability to shoot at moving targets in quick succession was just as impressive as her ability to take advantage of the terrain as she moved between cover.

Along with the increase in strength that she had provided him and Seele with, they were able to take down the enemies without any trouble.

Sunny would go as far as to say that she was the perfect support for any group of Awakened.

’I guess this is the difference between the competent and the incompetent.’

He silently lampooned.

Now that he thought about it, Serpent had the ability to turn into any weapon. Maybe he would be able to teach Seele and her counterpart the proper way to use a war scythe himself.

After all, she was going to be his future... uh... spy! Yes, a spy. That seemed like a good position. He just had to groom her properly...

And the first step would be to buy her from Oleg, that sly old bastard!

Sunny just realized that the whole ’family’ think was just a joke! He hadn’t been taken seriously at all!

As he quietly simmered over this predicament, Seele walked over to a small crate next to a building. Opening it for a second, she said in an annoyed tone:

"Darn, how could they all be empty? Now even the monsters are gathering supplies?"

Bronya clicked her to tongue as she shook her head.

"The monsters of the Fragmentum don’t need any materials we humans use. And if they did take anything, this place would look much messier..."

Seele cocked a brow.

"You mean that someone else got here and took everything before us?"

Sunny was in disbelief.

’They... they haven’t insulted each other for five minutes!’

Oblivious to his shock, Bronya replied:

"It’s just a guess, but there are also some footprints on the ground here."

Blinking, Sunny scanned the monster ridden ground. Sure enough, there were shoeprints that didn’t belong to the three of them. The two girls were wearing heels — which he still didn’t understand the practicality of — and he was familiar with the soles of his own shoes. Even if he wasn’t, the footprints were too small to be his.

Walking over to the footprints, Seele analyzed them for a moment. Sunny questioned whether she actually had something up her sleeve, or if she was simply going to follow the trail.

She stayed silent for a moment, before she started to... sniff the air?

"The scent of dirt is still fresh. They can’t have come too long before us."

Sunny gaped in shock, his mouth forming an ’o’.

He turned to look at Bronya to check if she was also seeing this. Considering the identical expression on her face, it seemed like he wasn’t hallucinating.

"...What’s wrong with you two?"

Sunny couldn’t resist.

His shoulders shook as he laughed without constraints. He was somewhat worried that he would attract some of the Fragmentum’s spawn, but he simply couldn’t help himself. Bronya covered her mouth and turned away, stifling a laugh of her own.

"How does that even work?! What are you, a dog?!"

Sunny gasped for air, his Awakened lungs burning from his laughter.

Meanwhile, Seele just stared at him in confusion.

"What’s a dog?"

Sunny coughed, his laughter dying out as he felt the urge to answer her question.

"It’s... it’s a four-legged, furry animal. People keep them as pets."

Her eyes narrowed at his answer.

"So I’m a pet now?"

Sunny clicked his tongue. Is nobody allowed to have fun around here?

***

It turned out that a few monsters did hear the commotion. After a quick clean-up, the three of them followed the path as Seele led the way as a search dog.

Sunny made sure to not say that out loud.

What they found was:

"...Eric?"

Yes, just as Seele said. It was Eric, a kid who... Sunny did not know. It’s not like he played around with kids all day.

And since he didn’t know the kid, he stayed silent as Seele scolded him.

"Hey, brat! How could you come here by yourself. Don’t you know how dangerous this place is?"

Eric held a sack of what he could only assume was the supplies that Natasha had tasked them to get for her, hiding himself behind a dumpster. From this position, the only way to leave would be to go in the direction where the three of them had came — which was previously crowded by monsters.

The boy stuttered at Seele’s supposedly imposing tone.

Meanwhile, Sunny was just admiring the way in which the purple strands of hair gathered to expose the creamy skin of her nape.

’...Wait, what?’

"S—Seele? Y—You aren’t the boss of me! I—I can go wherever I want, it’s none of your beeswax!"

Sunny almost gagged when he heard the mention of bees — and even worse, their wax. Those insectoid demons along with their seductively disgusting honey...

’You know what? I don’t like this kid. Send him to the gallows!’

Seele scoffed.

"You took the materials and hid them all here? Not bad, kid. But if we didn’t take care of those monsters, what were you planning to do? Just stay here, shaking in your boots?"

A defiant expression was on Eric’s face, yet it was obvious that he was nervous.

"Wh—Who asked you to do anything? I was just about to escape, I didn’t need your help at all!"

"Still stubborn, huh? Then tell me, how exactly were you gonna get those big metal plates out of here past those monsters?"

The boy averted his gaze.

"Um... There’s always a way..."

’Not for a damn bee lover...’

Sunny grimaced as he said:

"Can you share the materials? They’re to help injured people."

Seele turned to him with a glare.

"Don’t be so polite to him. Everyone in the Underworld knows this brat is a no-good thief. If I remember correctly, even the clothes you’re wearing came off another kid’s back?"

Sunny’s eye twitched.

’How rude. Being a thief is a very respectable trade. In fact, thievery stimulates the economy by increasing the demand of security cameras. If only Eric was a little better than a rookie, he wouldn’t have been caught by this police dog.’

Sunny, Eric’s senior in the practice of taking things unannounced and without consent, felt a little bit sorry for the boy.

"Uh... About that..."

Ignoring Eric’s words, Seele asked:

"Tell us, what do you even want metal plates and gauze bandages for? We need them to save people."

After a short pause, Eric quietly spoke.

"...Two hundred..."

Seele raised a brow.

"What?"

Meanwhile, Sunny stared down at the amateur in astonishment. He resisted the urge to laugh at the audacity of this... madman!

’No... he wouldn’t..."

Eric gulped.

"Uh... two hundred shield..."

’He did!’

Ignoring the fact that the kid had to remind him of bees, Sunny wholeheartedly cheered the boy on with the strength of a hundred rats and a thousand cockroaches.

However, it seemed like Seele was not amused.

"...Are you kidding me? You want to negotiate?"

Sunny could no longer stand by. Turning to Bronya, he asked:

"How much is two hundred shield worth?"

With the amount of credits he had, maybe he could find a way to convert them. Although he retired from the thieving lifestyle, Sunny respected the kid’s drive to chase the money.

Bronya sighed with a troubled expression.

"...Not much, but I didn’t bring my coin purse."

Sunny blinked. It seemed like Bronya had the same idea. Unfortunately, they had returned to the hotel to drop off their stuff. He had left his phone in his room, not wanting to risk it being cracked.

It was a miracle that nothing happened to it yet.

...Of course, fulfilling her duty as a police dog, Seele couldn’t allow the thief to get away.

"You’re actually planning to give this little crook money? I’m telling you. This is his same old trick—"

Eric frantically shook his head.

"No! ...Not this time. I really need money... my daddy..."

Seele sighed in exasperation.

"Pretending to use your dad again as an excuse... If he knew about this, you’d be in big trouble."

"No..."

Just like any small child would when under excessive amounts of mental pressure, Eric started to sob.

’...You’d be a horrible mother.’

Out of annoyance, Sunny silently lampooned about Seele’s lack of maternal empathy.

"Seele! That’s enough."

Bronya walked past her, crouching down to Eric. She unclipped the ornate medal on her chest, holding it out to him.

"It’s Eric, right? Here, you can have this."

He wiped the tears out of his eyes, looking at the medal in confusion.

"What... what’s this?"

Bronya flashed him a kind smile.

"This is a medal given to me by the Architects... See that blue stone in the middle? That’s a Geomarrow crystal of the highest purity. You need money for your family, right? Take this and show it to a knowledgeable buyer, and they’ll instantly know how valuable it is."

Eric sniffled.

"...Th—Thank you! I..."

A stern expression appeared on Bronya’s face.

"But... you’ll have to promise me one thing: You’ll never steal other people’s things again. Promise?"

He quickly nodded his head.

"I—I promise! I’ll never steal things again!"

Bronya nodded, taking Eric’s hand as she placed the medallion within it.

"...Then it’s a deal. If you go back on your promise, I’m going to bring my Silvermane Guards with me and catch you myself! Here, take the medal and go back to the town. We already took care of any threat on the way. You’ll be safe."

Eric clutched the medal to his chest as if it was his lifeline.

"Th—Thank you, whoever you are! You guys can take all of these things! Y—You guys need to be careful, too! There seems to be something real scary in that house up on the hill... Oh, r—right! The road across from the market is blocked... If you wanna go further, you’ll have to go to the shopping street."

Sunny questioned how Eric was able to sneak past the monsters that roamed River Town, yet couldn’t avoid Seele’s nose. Was her sense of smell simply that strong, or had the boy not accounted for humans?

...The last piece of information wasn’t very useful. Sunny had already seen the blockade, and was planning to tell Seele if it ever seemed like they were going in that direction. As for the presence on the hill... Sunny couldn’t sense anything through the shadows. He already sent one of his shadows to look there, but there wasn’t anything out of place.

Maybe Eric was just unnerved.

Bronya thanked Eric for the information, sending him off to return to Boulder Town. Although the way there should be safe, Sunny sent the Happy shadow to follow him until he gets back.

Looking towards the hill, Sunny sighed.

’That kid sure has an imagination.’