Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Sunny and Sparkle had arrived at an island, one that was infested by Fallen Nightmare Creatures. Using his shadow sense, he could feel countless moving abominations within the island, with some of them fighting each other to grow stronger.

Before hunting a few down to gain his third Shadow Core, Sunny had a few questions that he needed answers to.

However, it seemed that Sparkle had the same idea.

"How much did you forget?"

Sunny’s train of thought froze for a second, but he decided to answer her anyways. It was only natural for her to want to know.

"The last memory I had was my appraisal during my First Nightmare."

"So that’s... four years. Does that mean you’re technically a pre-teen again?"

Sunny shrugged. It was a strange feeling, as it was like he was both thirteen and seventeen at the same time. He had the memories of a pre-pubescent teen, but his mind was closer to a boy on the cusp of adulthood.

Maybe he was just looking too much into it. Sparkle pinched a strand of his hair between her fingers.

"This look of yours probably has something to do with it."

Sunny nodded. It wasn’t a stretch to assume that his hair and eye color might have had something to do with his lost memories. Sparkle released the grasp she had on his hair, asking him another question.

"Where is your real body?"

"I’m with these people called the Astral Express. Have you heard of them?"

Sparkle hummed in an affirming tone.

"The Nameless aren’t really a secret organization or anything. They just go around exploring and helping people. You’ll probably end up seeing some crazy things if you stay with them."

She didn’t seem to have any more questions, so Sunny decided to ask his own now.

"When did you figure out I lost my memories?"

Sparkle hopped off his back, her trademark smile never leaving her face. Due to her Flaw, she was almost always in a state of joy, with the real danger being when she reaches a certain breaking point. Both to herself, and to others.

"You remember when I rode on your shoulders... I think two days ago? Normally, you wouldn’t get all flustered, Shadow Boy."

She summoned her storage Memory, a small bag appearing in her hand. She dug around it for a bit, as the space within it was larger than it seemed from the outside.

"Plus, you acted really distant and stuff. It was like all your character development was thrown out the window. So... I did a confirmation divination."

She pulled out a pendulum out of her bag, having sway while being held by the string.

"You don’t remember this, but this divination lets me confirm ’yes or no’ questions depending on which direction the pendulum swings. It told me that you were the real Shadow Boy, so I asked a few random questions to figure out what the issue is."

"...And you just happened to ask if I had amnesia?"

"Yep!"

Sunny grimaced. How could a person be lucky enough to just stumble across the right question?

"All the stuff that you know about me... did I tell you about it, or did you figure it all out with divinations?"

Sparkle waved her hand as if he hadn’t just asked her a serious question.

"You told me everything yourself. You only told me about your True Name recently though. Not that I know why you told me, with how dangerous it is."

Sunny looked at her in confusion. If she didn’t know why he had told her about his True Name, the old Sunless must have been planning something. It was almost like he was preparing for the moment that his memories would be lost.

But that didn’t make much sense either. Why would Sunny willingly lose his memories?

Well, there wasn’t much he could do about that right now. He still had one last question to ask her.

"Where was I in the past four years?"

Sparkle’s smile dimmed by quite a bit. If it wasn’t for her Flaw, Sunny was sure that she wouldn’t be smiling at all right now.

"...I can’t tell you that."

Sunny narrowed his eyes. His temper started to flare. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, trying to calm down so he didn’t do anything impulsive.

"Why not?"

Sparkle sat on her heels, resting her head on her knees as she answered his question.

"With what I know, there has to be a good reason for you to have lost your memories. If I told you about it right now, I’m sure that it would cause some problems in the future."

Sunny lightly bit the inside of his cheek, wondering what she could of meant. Just for confirmation, he asked her how much she did know.

"Just bits and pieces. Due to the... nature of your occupation, you couldn’t really tell me much."

...He wasn’t some drug lord or anything, right? It sounded like he was part of some really suspicious underground organization.

"No, you weren’t a drug lord, lol."

"...Can you read minds? Also, what’s a ’lol’?"

Sparkle got up from her sitting position. Se shook her head in exasperation as she walked ahead. Sunny trailed behind her, sending his shadows out to locate Nightmare Creatures.

"You really need to get with the times Shadow Boy. You’re not acting your age~"

Sunny scoffed, looking through his shadows. While he was doing so, his already pale face whitened to an inhuman degree. With a strange sixth sense, Sparkle turned towards Sunny in curiosity.

"What is it?"

Sunny forced out an awkward grin, pointing behind him.

"You know, I just realized that I don’t really like this island. Why don’t we check out another one?"

Sparkle blinked a few times. After a moment of realization, her ever present grin grew wider.

"Oh? Pray tell, what exactly did you see?"

Sunny shrugged, acting nonchalant.

"You know, trees, rocks, ruins — that type of stuff. For some reason, I really hate trees..."

Sparkle walked back to Sunny and wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"What is it’s Rank and Class?"

Sunny gulped, his forehead becoming damp with sweat.

"...Fallen Tyrant at least."

"Which direction?"

"...East."

Patting Sunny’s back — and with quite a bit of strength at that — Sparkle skipped over in the direction of the Fallen Tyrant that Sunny had located. Sunny whimpered as he realized that he might actually get himself killed. Sparkle turned around with a mocking expression on her face.

"What are you being a wimp for? You’ll be able to get ten Shadow Fragments; that’s not even including the minions!"

Sunny looked at the Fallen Tyrant through his shadow, shivering at the sight.

"Let’s just say... it’s not something anyone would want to see."

***

"...Wow."

"Yeah."

"That’s disgusting."

"Uh-huh."

"Are we really going to fight that?"

"...Wasn’t it your idea?"

The two of them hid behind a stone outcrop within a cave. They were close enough to the exit that they could easily sprint away in case of a cave-in. As they looked deeper into the cave, they observed the colony of...

...Spiders.

They weren’t simply spiders however. In a crude fashion expected of the Dream Realm, these spiders had something writhing out of their abdomens.

These were humans — or at least humanoids — that had their mouths gaping open, as if they were subject to eternal pain with no escape. These spiders crawled around the cave, walking around bulging eggs that were not something that spiders normally laid.

Sunny stared at the eggs, not believing that eggs of those size would be something that spiders normally lay.

In the center of the cave, was a spider of a much larger size than the rest. Although it shared most of the features with the other spiders, there was a malformed woman where the head should be. She had the eight eyes of a spider, and her jaw was completely dislocated. A pair of mandibles sprouted from within her mouth, producing a gruesome sight.

Sparkle blanched, looking at the horde of spiders with disgust.

"...Maybe we should just get rid of them. They’re kind of an eyesore..."

Sunny sighed, already committed to committing the nasty deed that he would prefer to not even remotely be apart of.

He was looking at a Fallen Tyrant, multiple Awakened Beasts, Monsters, and Demons. He could also see a pair of what seemed to be Awakened Devils near the Fallen Tyrant.

Sparkle pulled out a few sheets of paper. Among them were paper cutouts of herself. She laid the paper figurines on the ground, while carrying the sheets of paper in her left hand.

Sunny looked through his Memories, trying to figure out what would be the most useful convenient to use in this situation. He thought about sending Saint in with the Broken Oath, but there was still a good chance that she would get overwhelmed.

Memories: [Weaver’s Mask], [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer’s Shroud], [Vessel of Remembrance], [Midnight Shard], [Moonlight Shard], [Dusk Shard], [Prowling Thorn], [Mantle of the Underworld], [Ordinary Rock], [Autumn Leaf], [Blood Blossom], [Broken Oath], [Dark Wing], [Endless Spring], [Finality’s Farewell], [Thief’s Instinct], [Destroyer’s Final Road].

Looking through his Memories, he summoned the Midnight Shard, the austere tachi appearing in his hand. He also dismissed the Puppeteer’s Shroud, and summoned the Mantle of the Underworld, providing him with the protection of an Ascended Memory of the sixth tier.

Memory: [Mantle of the Underworld].

Memory Rank: Ascended.

Memory Tier: VI.

Memory Type: Armor.

Memory Description: [Vowing to never look upon the Goddess of the Black Skies again, the prideful demon retreated into the darkness beneath an unassailable mountain chain. He wasn’t the first to lead his army against the gods. However, he was the first to shed their blood, as well as learn the secrets of his own.]

Memory Enchantments: [Living Stone], [Feather of Truth], [Stalwart], [Underworld Armament], [Prince of the Underworld].

[Living Stone] Enchantment Description: "This armor can repair itself while being worn."

[Feather of Truth] Enchantment Description: "The weight of this armor can be changed at will."

[Stalwart] Enchantment Description: "This armor provides extremely high protection against physical attacks, high protection against elemental attacks, and a moderate amount of protection against mind and soul attacks."

[Underworld Armament] Enchantment Description: "This armor can accommodate a Charm Memory to inherit and enhance its enchantments."

[Prince of the Underworld] Enchantment Description: "This armor grows stronger according to the amount of opponents its wielder defeats."

Vanquished Foes: [1244/6000].

The Mantle of the Underworld was a somber set of onyx armor. It was a strange hybrid of a robe and a set of armor, but the amount of protection it provided was unquestionable.

Sunny summoned the Blood Blossom, a charm Memory that enhances the strength of his Memories, Echoes, and Shadows based on the amount of blood he spills. It was an intricate pendant in the shape of a beautiful red flower.

He attached the pendant to the Mantle of the Underworld. Sunny’s armor had an enchantment that provided a boost to any charm Memories it accommodates. Interestingly enough, he was starting to feel a little of the Blood Blossom’s effect on himself...

Summoning Saint, Sunny decided to wait before giving her the Broken Oath. Saint also shared the [Underworld Armament] ability with the Mantle of the Underworld, meaning that the Broken Oath would cause extreme damage to both Sparkle and his own souls if he allowed her to equip it now.

Using Soul Serpent to better manage his essence, Sunny waited for Sparkle to finish her preparations. She had summoned a crown atop her head, which made Sunny stare at it for a few moments. It was strangely familiar.

He unconsciously reached for the top of his head, feeling the area where a crown would rest upon. Sparkle noticed this action, turning her attention towards him.

"Oh... this is the Dawn Shard. You gave it to me a while back. It’s an Ascended Memory that boosts the power of Memories within an area."

Sunny blinked, keeping his eyes on the Dawn Shard. He had recalled seeing something like that in the Vessel of Remembrance.

A simple band of metal decorated with a single gem, an Ascended Memory. The Dawn Shard possesses a single, but also singularly powerful enchantment. It empowers all Memories around it. The area of effect of the enchantment is very large but the enhancement it provides is even larger. A Memory capable of increasing the power of another one by almost an entire Rank.

The Dawn Shard’s powerful enchantment empowered all Memories in its radius, elevating the Awakened weapons to resemble Ascended ones in lethality. The Dawn Shard could still empower Ascended Memories to a substantial degree, but nowhere near elevating them to an entire new Rank. The effect on Transcendent Memories was even more modest. There was no limit to the number of Memories Dawn Shard could enhance and it was a passive enchantment as well, meaning that no Essence was needed to power it.

Sparkle tilted her head at his gaze, poking him to draw his attention.

"I could give it back if you want. It was yours in the first place after all."

Sunny was slightly startled by the offer. The thought of being able to boost his Memories was very appealing to him. Considering the wide array of Memories he had, there was no doubt that such an enchantment would prove useful.

...But for some reason, he didn’t quite want to take it.

"...No, you keep it. I probably gave it to you for a reason."

Sparkle shrugged, standing up with Quiet Dancer by her side. Sunny did the same, quickly summoning the Broken Oath before passing it to Saint. Sunny felt some pain, but it quickly subsided as Saint walked away, inserting the Broken Oath into her armor.

Sending the Haughty shadow to augment his servant, Sunny walked out from behind the stone outcropping with Sparkle in tow. He had the Gloomy shadow doubling his physical abilities, making him much stronger than the average Awakened Monster. With Saint taking the lead, the Nightmare Creatures started to slowly surround her, moving with an organized formation.

This was only possible due to the Fallen Tyrant, which commanded the lesser abominations with an inhumane intelligence.

Saint looked around observing the spiders with what seemed to be disgust. However, instead of targeting the minions, she instead hit her shield with her sword, causing the creatures to flinch back for a moment.

Sunny stared at the reaction of the spiders, an idea springing up in his mind. White sparks surrounded his free hand, taking the form of a the Silver Bell that he had recieved in his First Nightmare. He watched as Saint got ready to rush forward...

A ringing sound echoed through the cave, causing all the spiders to writhe. The Fallen Tyrant was no exception, having lost the ability to control it’s minions with vibrations. The sounds irritated the spiders, causing them to head to the source in a frenzy — their eight limbs scrambling as they rushed towards Sunny and Sparkle.

Meanwhile, Saint dashed towards the Tyrant, preparing to attack it with a swing of her blade. Instead of attempting to defend itself or attack physically, the abomination instead manipulated countless threads that lashed out towards Saint. The stoic shadow dodged to the side, avoiding the attack that cleaved through the ground itself.

Saint watched as the two Awakened Devils rushed past her, heading towards her master. She ignored them as she focused on the Fallen Tyrant itself.

Sunny jumped onto the back of one of the spiders, continuously ringing the Silver Bell as he stabbed the Midnight Shard into it’s back. He dragged the blade down it’s body, splitting it’s human-infested abdomen in two.

[You have defeated an Awakened Monster, Web Horror.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sparkle aimed her fingers at another spider, which wasn’t paying attention to her as it attempted to attack Sunny. She snapped her fingers, shooting a bullet of air that pierced it’s head.

Quite Dancer zipped around the cave, poking holes through multiple spiders, maiming and sometimes killing the horrific beasts.

As the fight went on, rather than becoming weaker, Sunny felt himself grow stronger. The Blood Blossom boosted his Memories and Saint, and even boosted himself thanks to the [Underworld Armament] enchantment. At the same time, the Dawn Shard augmented his Memories, further enhancing the boost that they gave him.

Sunny dodged a string that threatened to pierce his chest. The Awakened Devils were attempting to kill him using the strange ability to use webs as a ranged weapon. Somehow, the webs that the Devils produced were controlled to lash out at Sunny, whether in a whipping or piercing motion.

Despite the complexity of avoiding such an ability, Sunny was able to weave between attacks effectively, almost as if it was ingrained within him. The strings felt predictable, which almost disappointed him.

He didn’t know why, but Sunny believed that there was someone who could use such an ability much more efficiently.

A paper dagger shot through the air, stabbing one of the Devils in the eye. Quiet Dancer soon followed, working to finish off the Nightmare Creature. Sunny turned to the other Awakened Devil, rushing towards it with killing intent.

Sunny felt a well of power rise from his core. He instinctively dismissed the Midnight Shard, causing him to widen his eyes at his own actions. His eyes widened even more as energy started to vibrate from his hand. That energy coalesced, taking the form of a... bat?

Suddenly, Sunny felt different. He felt anger, annoyance, frustration, resentment, and rage. Despite this, there was nothing for him to point these emotions to. It simply felt like a natural part of him.

He dismissed the Silver Bell, dragging his hand across the baseball bat. Azure energy started to radiate from the bat, radiating the the emotion that Sunny was currently feeling. He pulled the baseball bat, leaning into a swing.

With a rage-induced shout, he swung the bat in a diagonal arc, hitting the bottom of the Awakened Devil’s head. The bat crushed it’s skull, while also causing collateral damage to the rest of it’s body as it wasn’t able to contain the force expelled from the bat.

[You have defeated an Awakened Devil, Web Guardian.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Despite his confusion at what just happened, Sunny transferred the Gloomy shadow over to Saint, who was currently in a stalemate with the Fallen Tyrant. The baseball bat dissapeared, alongside the raging energy he had felt back on the Space Station. The Shadow hadn’t sustained any wounds, which meant she was doing good in comparison to the abomination.

However, Saint was not able to land a blow that allowed her to kill the Nightmare Creature, and a single blow would be enough to kill Saint.

Of course, that all changed as Gloomy augmented Saint, increasing her power threefold.

Immediately, Saint hurled her shield towards the Fallen Tyrant, creating a crunching sound as it struck the humanoid body that sprouted out of where it’s head should be. Not wasting any time, Saint rushed forward, wielding her sword in both hands.

In a frantic effort, the Tyrant released a maelstrom of strings, which could have easily diced Saint into pieces.

Saint slashed at the strings that would have hit her vitals. She ignored the less fatal ones, allowing them to inflict both shallow and deep cuts on her stone armor. A few were able to damage the statue within her armor, but Saint kept moving forward.

She thrust her sword towards the spider, stabbing through the deformed humanoid body. Saint twisted her sword, bisecting the body in two. The top half fell to the floor, a wet sound echoing throughout the cave.

[You have defeated a Fallen Tyrant, Web Empress.]

[You have recieved a Memory: Silk Shroud.]

[Your shadow grows stronger.]

Sunny grinned. He had just recieved an Ascended Memory of the fifth tier! Maybe his luck was finally starting to look up.

[...Your shadow is overflowing with power.]

Sunny looked at the announcement in confusion. His eyes widened as he realized what it was.

’Is this...?’

[Your shadow is taking shape...]

Suddenly, Sunny felt a rising heat within his soul.

[Your shadow is complete.]

Something inside of him exploded, drowning his whole being in indescribable suffering. With a startled yelp, Sunny fell down onto the cold, hard ground.