Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

"So... do you two have any idea what’s going on here?"

Based on the stifling silence, Sunny deduced that they didn’t. He sighed.

"Yeah... figured."

His shadow sense had been completely disabled, causing him to feel somewhat blind. Who knew that the absence of such an ability would feel so crippling?

The haze stretched as far as the eye can see — which wasn’t anything, since his vision was also impaired. He couldn’t see much through his shadows either.

It was quite comedic that Sunny, someone who had multiple scouting functions due to his Aspect, had completely lost his ability to observe his surroundings. If Sparkle was here, she might have cracked an unfunny joke.

Looking at his hands, Sunny found that nothing was happening to him. Unless he was being attacked at a microscopic scale, or an insidious, undetectable mind attack was being used on him, then the mist wasn’t actually being used to attack him. Assuming that this truly was being caused by a Fragmentum monster, then this was probably being used as a tool.

A tool to prey upon the blinded fools that were trapped within it’s hunting grounds.

With a frown, Sunny reached back to grab either Seele or Bronya. They would only be playing into the creatures hands if they didn’t stick together.

Not feeling anything, he took a few steps as he tried to feel for them.

"Seele? Bronya?"

...They were gone.

Sunny paled, realizing that they had already succumbed to the beasts plans. He should have known that it must have had the ability to manipulate the space inside the mist, since he already knew that it had the ability to seperate the space outside the mist. It was only natural that the monster was able to control it’s dominion.

They were sitting ducks. The three of them were blinded, while the predator that was attacking them shouldn’t be impaired whatsoever — it was like how Sunny was hidden within the shadows, but could see through them clearly.

Understanding that attempting to look through the fog was useless, Sunny augmented himself with all three of his shadows. Feeling the Path of Destruction rush through him, he formed the baseball bat in his hands.

Then, he swung.

With a blow that would crush even the most durable of armor, the chilling fog distorted. He was able to see a small distance in front of him. However, the fog immediately rushed in, filling in the empty space.

’Tch. What an annoying ability.’

Feeling gloomy, Sunny rested the bat on his shoulders, contemplating how he should go about this. For all he knew, Bronya and Seele might already be dead, and the entity that created this disturbance might have been coming for him. Maybe they were all in seperate dimensions, and couldn’t find each other at all. In such a case, the foe would have to be at least Transcendent... maybe even Supreme if they were really unlucky.

Although he was confident in his abilities, Sunny knew that it would be impossible for him to defeat a being two Ranks higher than him — even if he was an Awakened Titan with a full cohort behind him. The difference in power was simply too great.

Which was why he had to gamble that they were all within the same space, simply separated. That was within the realm of an Ascended, which would mean that there was some hope — not much though, since he was still blind.

After a few seconds, Sunny summoned Saint; his trusty Ascended Demon. There was no longer any reason to hide her, as she would be destroyed either way if he died. Haughty and Happy slid off of him, augmenting Saint instead. Her already dire might was increased to an even greater degree.

Sunny wondered if she could see through the fog. He wasn’t sure if her eyes worked the same way a human’s did, but it was worth a try.

Of course, he wasn’t going to put all his bets on whether or not Saint could see. He summoned another Memory — the Everwinter Night. Giving it to his Shadow, she attached the charm to her armor. Suddenly, her power surged to a level that hadn’t been reached before.

The charm that he had recieved from Bronya allowed the wearer to grow stronger within the cold. Considering how frigid the fog around them was, the effect was indescribably potent. Not only that, but the [Underworld Armament] ability provided a qualitative boost to any charm that Saint wore.

Saint was much stronger than her Rank and Class tend to suggest, and she was currently an Ascended Demon — one whole Rank higher than Sunny was. Her unparalleled skill in all forms of combat reigned supreme, her immunity to mind and soul attacks undeniable. And now, she was augmented by two shadows, as well as receiving an overwhelming boost in power through the cold.

Sunny would go as far as to say that her strength might have reached the level of a Transcendent Beast — one that held the intelligence of a Demon.

’Hm... maybe that’s an exaggeration.’

Or maybe it wasn’t. He hadn’t seen Saint in action ever since she had evolved. This was a good opportunity to witness his Shadow’s newfound strength in person.

Looking up at where the onyx knight should have been standing, a malicious smile appeared on Sunny’s face.

"What does this wretch think it is? It must have attacked since it hadn’t witnessed your majesty, Saint."

...Realizing that she couldn’t speak, and that he couldn’t see any of her visual cues, Sunny sighed.

"Well, I guess we should get going."

***

[Above you!]

’Damn it!’

Seele rolled to the side, her ears hearing something crash into the ground. Not wasting any time, she sprinted away, scythe in hand. An uncanny roar resounded through the strange haze, sounding as if it was bouncing off of thousands of icicles.

All the while, Seele kept her eyes open, not risking blinking even once. They were bloodshot, her head turning around aimlessly.

She couldn’t see anything whatsoever. Fortunately, she had someone who was quite adept at seeing things.

[Go right!]

Without question, Seele rolled to her right, avoiding whatever was being scraped against the ground.

Although Seele wasn’t using her Dormant Ability, Veliona had the natural ability to see the lines of death. Even through the frigid fog, she was able to see a crude outline of the creature that was pursuing them, giving Seele callouts in order to avoid it’s attacks.

[This would be easier if you just let me takeover... duck!]

Sliding, Seele vaguely felt something fly over her, threatening to lunge into her if she had still been standing.

In truth, Seele had no idea what these lines of death were supposed to look like. Whenever Veliona took over, everything seemed like she was simply cutting through everything like paper. It would have been optimal to give her the reigns, but...

’I said I’d deal with this myself!’

She didn’t like the idea of being babied.

Surrounded by blue butterflies, Seele suddenly disappeared, fluttering off to a further position. She kept running, constantly looking around despite not being able to see anything.

After a few minutes of dodging attacks, using her Awakened Ability, and running away, Seele realized that while she was slowly getting tired out as time went on, the same couldn’t be said for the strange entity that pursued her. Right now, she needed to find the others... maybe one of them had a way to deal with this thing.

’But where are they?!’

Seele suddenly bumped into something solid. A wall. She fell to the floor, but immediately got back up, running while hugging the wall. She felt a familiar staircase under her feet, almost causing her to trip. Despite this, she grinned.

Running up the staircase, she went straight, running into another wall. She hugged this wall as well, running until she felt an indent.

Rubbing her hand against the barrier, she felt a small protrusion. Twisting it, she pulled open the door, finding herself inside the orphanage.

The space within it was relatively visible, with traces of thin fog seeping in. Entering the building, she immediately slammed the door shut, running through the halls. The walls were filled with drawings and pictures of children. Seele took a moment to look at a particular picture, despite the approaching threat.

There she was, a younger version of herself. A wide grin split her childish face, revealing a few missing teeth. She remembered that a few of them were lost through normal means, while others fell out during a few scuffles she had.

In her hands was a small children’s book. It’s cover had an image of a vibrant field of flowers. She was clutching the book to her chest, almost like it was her only belonging.

Seele’s gaze shifted to the photo of a gray-haired girl, a small smile on her face.

’Huh? Who’s this?’

For some reason, she seemed quite familiar. Probably because Seele had known her during her childhood.

Somehow, that didn’t sound right.

Hearing the door to the orphanage fly off it’s hinges, Seele casually turned around, observing the creature that had broke in here — her restless pursuer.

Not just the girl, but this thing seemed familiar as well. A smirk stretched across her face.

"No wonder you were hiding in that fog so much. If my face was as ugly as yours, I’d do the same!"