Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Under the radiant glow of the newly discovered Geomarrow vein, the five of them — Sunny, Dan Heng, March, Veliona, and Bronya — stood across from the large automaton, which was winding up it's massive fist as it prepared to dash forward.

After a few long, tense moments, it rushed at with unnatural speed — it's large mechanical legs a blur to the Non-Awakened eye.

However, the automaton was not the only thing that moved.

An arrow of ice streaked through the air, a chill passing by Sunny as he felt the temperature drop a little. The arrow was bound to strike true, it's tip pointed directly at the steel torso of the robot.

…And yet, the arrow did not hit it's target.

The hulking automaton suddenly jabbed it's hand into the ground, halting it's assault as the ground gave way for the arm to bury itself within. The joints within it's arm furled in on itself, pulling the robot along with it as it's legs rose off the ground.

Sunny couldn't believe what he was seeing. The large, burly robot that should have no business being agile in any matter… cartwheeled away from the arrow's flight path.

He snarled, feeling the destructive impulses of the gloomy shadow rise up within him.

…No, maybe he was Gloomy.

The strange nature of his current existence aside, Sunny kept his shadow sense focused on the two shadows he had attached to Dan Heng and Veliona.

Once the robot got back on it's steel legs, it once again dashed towards them with erratic movements.

Crimson butterflies manifested out of thin air, fluttering around for a moment before dissipating. A red afterimage was left behind where Veliona had been, showing her readying an attack.

She was now suddenly behind the automaton, her violet scythe in a position that denoted the end of a swing.

Suddenly, two lines were carved through the large robot, stretching across it's torso. The steel plates protecting it's chassis tore open, revealing severed wires and circuitry beneath it. Sparks flew from where the robot was damaged.

Sunny blinked. That was… easier than expected. He had wanted to tear it apart a little himself…

Before he could mourn the lost opportunity, his eyes widened as the wires and circuitry within the automaton reconnected. The steel plates elongated, closing together as the robot repaired itself.

Sunny stared at the robot in bafflement, before realizing that it hadn't halted it's movements even after being attacked by Seele.

'Robots don't do that. An Aspect? But Svarog is just another robot, so how…?'

Sunny was aware that there was something disturbingly off about these robots, which was proven by the unnatural speed and strength that shouldn't be possible for a construct of steel, wires, and circuits. However, the fact that the robot had regenerated right in front of him told him that there was something more… mystical at play.

The fingers on the automaton's hand whirled like a saw as it lunged at Sunny with terrible speed. Raising his bat, Sunny grit his arm almost went limp from the force of the attack. The shock traveled through his body, and would have normally caused him to buckle.

However, using the Silk Shroud, Sunny manually controlled his body to lock up, keeping himself stable despite the dire power the robot displayed.

He was only augmented by a single shadow and the boost provided by Bronya's Aspect, but the strength of that blow was tremendous.

'What the hell… Ascended?'

Sunny guessed the strength of the robot was around that level. The physical strength must have been around that of an Ascended Tyrant or Terror.

Which meant that if someone had used an Aspect Ability to strengthen the automaton, they would have to be quite powerful themselves in order to achieve such a drastic effect.

'Master, Saint… which one is it?!'

Angling his bat at a certain angle, the robot's hand came crashing down to the floor. The ground below shattered, almost causing Sunny to lose his footing. Twisting his body and drawing power from the Destruction, energy arced around his bat as he slammed it into the machine's torso.

Not waiting to find out if he dealt any meaningful damage, he used Shadow Step to retreat to the back line — where March and Bronya were positioned.

He fell to his hands and knees as he coughed violently. Sunny had managed to not be hit directly, but simply blocking that attack was dangerous.

Sunny watched as Dan Heng and Veliona struggled against the uncanny mech. They barely avoided being hit with any attacks — which was impressive, considering that the automaton was physically equal to an Ascended Tyrant. The average Awakened would have probably been turned into a messy pile of flesh at this point.

"…You're not dying, right?"

Sunny looked up at March with an annoyed expression.

"Probably not."

Sunny groaned as he rose from the ground. His bones creaked. His muscles cried out. And he felt numb.

A hand was placed on his chest, assisting him as he returned to a standing position. Looking to his right, he found Bronya… who's gun was nowhere in sight.

"…Shouldn't you be helping us out? Where's your gun?"

She grimaced as her hands returned to her side.

"I shot the strange machine a few times, but it barely did any damage. I dismissed my weapon to get some essence back."

When a Memory was summoned, a small amount of essence was spent. When a Memory is dismissed, the opposite happens, returning some essence as long as the Memory wasn't a too far away.

In order to keep the augmentation from her Aspect up for longer, Bronya forsake her weapon so that the rest of them could fight for longer.

However, it was still a losing battle.

Scowling, Sunny dismissed the Puppeteer's Shroud and swapped it with the Mantle of the Underworld. As the fearsome onyx armor wrapped around him, he attached the Silk Shroud to it, enhancing the charm's effect thanks to the [Underworld Armament] enchantment from the Mantle.

Stabilizing his body, Sunny returned to the fray.

Although he hadn't been fighting, he hadn't spent the time recuperating idly.

The movements of the automaton were impossible for Sunny to read — which was surprising, considering that he was a Shadow Dance practitioner.

To put it simply, the robot wasn't a living being. As such, Sunny couldn't comprehend it's alien intelligence, which functioned using an incomprehensible algorithm. Sunny didn't know a thing about robots, so there was nothing he could do to understand how it moved.

However, he could understand how a human moved.

***

Dan Heng thrusted his spear forward, his hand sliding along the shaft as he extended it's reach. He took a step backwards, barely avoiding a grab from the robot's hand.

The spear created a small opening within the chassis. Suddenly, lighting started to uncontrollably emit from the the automaton as Dan Heng's soul essence flowed into it via his spear.

The robot convulsed, smoke rising from it's body. Despite this, the robot was still moving towards Dan Heng.

It was puzzling. The machinery within it must have been completely fried, yet it still moved with the intent of attacking them.

Creating some space between the automaton and himself, Dan Heng narrowed his eyes.

'This isn't looking good…'

***

Veliona's scythe blurred through the air, severing the mechanical anomaly's fingers in an instant. However, the metal fingers simply regenerated faster than she had removed them.

[Duck!]

Seele's voice echoed through her head as her legs spread apart, allowing Veliona's body to lower to the ground in a half-split. The robot's arm swiped over her head, causing her hair to flutter from the rushing wind.

Disappearing in a sea of butterflies, Veliona completely dismantled the automaton's arm from it's chassis.

…But it just kept healing!

The robot wasn't alive. Veliona was able to tell the difference between the lines of a living being, and those of an inanimate object. And yet… no matter how many times she cut it apart, it would regenerate itself like some sort of lizard!

…Whatever a lizard was.

Her essence was being burned through at an astonishing rate, but despite that, she didn't let up her assault. Avoiding one attack after another, Veliona had something of a grudge against this hunk of metal.

Not only did it stop her from cutting apart Svarog, but it tried to steal her kill!

'You uselessly fat mech… I'm the one who's going to kill Sunny!'

[…Can we forget about that and focus on the fight?!]

She ignored Seele's embarrassed exclamation.

***

Sunny felt a shiver run down his spine.

'Isn't it a little bit too hot for that?'

Analyzing his allies movements, he picked apart their fighting styles. The core principles, the personal habits and biases…

And connected it all together.

Dan Heng's way of fighting was cautious and calculated. He used the range of his spear to keep a safe distance from his enemies, while using small movements to evade attacks. He used his Aspect in tandem with his spearmanship, using his spear as a conduit to deliver devastating attacks.

His battle art was… strangely refined. It was almost like he had spent a lifetime or two perfecting it, turning his spear into an extension of his body.

Sunny doubted that Dan Heng was much older than him, so maybe he was some sort of prodigy.

As he fought, Dan Heng prioritized keeping a distance from his enemy over all else as he delivered powerful rotational and thrusting blows. His form was fluid, yet his attacks were definite.

…However, Sunny noticed something strange. Some of his attacks seemed incomplete, as if there was something missing.

Maybe Dan Heng was replicating someone else, but wasn't able to match those movements.

Although it piqued his curiosity, Sunny turned his attention to Veliona.

To put it simply, it was dissapointing.

There was a very particular way that one should wield a war scythe. However, Veliona didn't adhere to any of that and simply swung her weapon as she pleased. She didn't spin to gain momentum, her hand was too close to the blade, and she wasn't taking advantage of the fact that she was wielding a polearm.

She heavily relied on her Aspect to inflict severe damage to her enemies, but what would she do if she wasn't able to use it?

Despite the fact that he didn't wield a scythe, Sunny felt heavily offended by her reckless usage. A war scythe should be wielded with style as a tool to bring lost shadows to their final resting place…

'…What a strange thought.'

Well, it wasn't necessary for her to be good with her scythe. Not in this current situation at least.

The shadows that had attached to them returned to Sunny, augmenting him as he felt Gloomy's ego slowly disappear.

However, he grasped onto the Destruction.

Focusing on bringing out the power of the Path of Destruction, Gloomy regained control of Sunny's body.

Or did Sunny gain control of Gloomy's personality?

…Either way, his power increased dramatically with the addition of Haughty and Happy. Not only that, but Sunny was surprised by the fact that the Destruction itself seemed to be amplified.

As power coarsed through his body, Sunny — or maybe it was Gloomy — growled in displeasure.

"You're definitely screwed now, you mindless scrap."