Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

’What do you mean Rain doesn’t exist?!’

The other Sunless didn’t speak for a second.

[It’s not anything too crazy. My parents died earlier than yours did, so she never had the chance to be born.]

Sunny glanced at Seele, who was piling meat into her mouth. Did she have a black hole for a stomach?

The thought of Rain having never existed — even if it was in another world — really flipped a switch deep in his mind. It brought his thoughts back to his own Rain, and caused him to wonder if she was doing fine...

[...You know, I’m surprised that you haven’t asked why I’m here in the first place.]

It was an obvious attempt to redirect the topic, but Sunny decided to indulge his alternate self — if he could even be called that.

’...Fine, I’ll bite. What are you here for?’

[A guy I know suddenly disappeared from my Universe. I used you as a way to find him.]

Sunny wondered who this person could have been. Why would anyone need to travel to another universe? To escape something? Or would it be to find something?

The possibilities were endless.

[...Well, I found him. After this, you’ll probably never hear from me again.]

Sunny had a confused expression on his face.

’...What do you mean?’

The other Sunless suddenly laughed. Sunny didn’t know what was so funny about his question.

[Sorry, but I’m only talking to you right now because I felt that it would be rude to just not explain anything. As a functioning adult, I have way too many brats running around to waste time watching a short, evil version of myself.]

Sunny wasn’t short, nor evil! He was a very benevolent gentlemen of a respectable height!

He saw Seele look at him while chewing on her food. She swallowed, making a strange face for a moment, before suddenly calling out:

”What’s wrong?”

Sunny froze in place, realizing that he had been making weird facial expressions while talking to a voice in his head.

”...Just a voice in my head that insists that he’s me but not really me. He’s kind of an asshole.”

[Hey!]

Seele’s eyes widened, before nodding in understanding. Why did she look like she came to an epiphany?

’...So, who are these brats you’re talking about?’

A long silence consumed the flower field, where only the sounds of eating and rustling flowers could be heard.

[...If I tell you, you’d probably lose it.]

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

’C’mon, just tell me!’

He heard the other Sunless sigh.

[You’re both extremely lustful, yet also someone that blushes at the mere mention of handholding. If that isn’t a recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is.]

He paused, his voice suddenly becoming confused as he added on:

[...Wait a minute, is that the secret? I was also like that once — even if it was to a lesser degree. I thought it was because I was the only guy around...]

Sunny had absolutely no clue what the other Sunless was talking about.

[R—right, sorry. Anyways, I’m going to leave now. Forever, probably. Oh, and one last piece of advice...]

Advice from someone who was equivalent to a Divine Rank human? That wasn’t something that Sunny would turn down.

[...Use protection.]

At those strange words, Sunny felt something within him snap. Not in the emotional sense, but in the mental sense.

The connection between the two was completely severed. He hadn’t even noticed that it was even there before!

His last words slightly baffled Sunny. He was already wearing the Puppeteer’s Shroud, so what protection could he have meant?

’Bastard. Being all cryptic.’

Sunny stood up, brushing off the dirt from the Puppeteer’s Shroud. He turned towards Seele, who stared at him in confusion.

”We should leave now. Who knows how long the Nightmare Creatures would leave us alone for?”

For some reason, this flower field was completely safe from the horrors of the jungle. The beasts within it simply stalked them from the edge, never exiting the embrace of shadows cast by the trees and vines.

Seele looked down at the flower field for a second, before redirecting her gaze back towards him.

”...But you’re injured. I don’t think you can fight like that.”

Sunny casually shrugged.

”You don’t need to worry about that. I have a secret weapon up my sleeve...”

***

Seele watched as Sunny tried to move his body. It looked a little awkward, but he was somehow able to move just fine.

He had equipped a Memory that had a symbol reminiscent of a spider. Somehow, he was able to use it to move like he hadn’t been injured in the first place. Considering his wounds, certain parts that are required to move his limbs should have been destroyed; or plucked out completely.

Yet, he still moved like all his tendons, ligaments, and joints were still in place. Seele had quite a few Memories from when she had first been sent to the Dream Realm, but none of them did anything so drastic.

After getting used to moving, Sunny suddenly summoned two more Memories. The first of which was the bracelet that was attached to a kunai with a metallic string, while the second was a cloak that reminded her of a fly’s wings.

Sunny’s shadows crawled up his body, with one of them going towards the bracelet while the other went to the cloak. Seele had seen his shadows strengthen both himself and his Echo to an astounding degree. Being able to use them to enhance things seemed very versatile — to an almost horrific degree.

That wasn’t even accounting for the fact that he could become a shadow himself, being effectively untouchable.

’I wonder what his Flaw is.’

Earlier, he had seen him mentally conversing with another entity, which was eerily similar to her own Flaw. Considering that they both seemed to have strange souls, Seele thought that their Flaws might have also been similar.

[Another reason why you sho—]

’Shut up!’

Seele was completely tired of her Flaw’s ridiculous suggestions.

[...Fine, but you’ll understand soon.]

’I don’t care, just stop talking!’

”Seele, come over here.”

At the call of her name, Seele glanced up to see Sunny waving a hand towards himself. She hesitated for a second, before taking a few steps towards him.

A seed of guilt sprouted in her heart; for a few different reasons.

Once she got close to Sunny, she watched as he threw the kunai at a tree, allowing it to pierce the bark with surprising power. Suddenly, his Echo exited from his shadow, revealing a female stone statue wielding a broadsword and a shield.

His third shadow enshrouded the Echo, enhancing her strength drastically. The Echo looked at Seele for a second before it marched over to the other side of the flower field, standing right next to where the clearing ended and the trees began.

Sunny took a deep breath — maybe to calm down his nerves. He seemed to be disturbed by something.

”Listen. While Saint goes off to distract the Nightmare Creatures, you and I are going to use the trees to escape.”

Seele studied him for a moment, before asking with a frown on her face:

”Why? Can’t we just... run on the ground?”

Sunny chuckled, but he didn’t sound very amused at all.

”No... even the ground is out to kill us. Do you understand how Nightmare Creatures are classified?”

Seele nodded. Once she had Awakened, all the strange abnormalities surrounding her was explained. Aspects and Flaws, Attributes, Memories and Echoes, the Dream Realm... everything that had to do with the Nightmare Spell was crammed into her head by the most annoying teacher she could possibly have.

Sunny continued:

”The creatures in the jungle are all being controlled by a Tyrant. There are two types of Tyrants that I know of: those that create their own minions, and those that enthrall others.”

His eyes darkened.

”When it comes to the former, the minions are always at least one Rank lower than their progenitor. I believe that anything born in this jungle is a spawn of the Tyrant. And since we were fighting Fallen Nightmare Creatures...”

He tiredly sighed.

”That means that they are being controlled by a Corrupted Tyrant in the best case scenario. Not only that, but it might also have the ability to enthrall people — although I’m not too sure about that theory.”

He stared at the flowers below him.

”I think... that this flower field is the heart of the Tyrant, or at least an equivalent.”

Seele blinked. Was that really possible?

Her face took on a grim look. She didn’t know much, but she knew enough to know that fighting a Corrupted Tyrant was the same as a death sentence.

Sunny suddenly smiled, almost like he had found a semblance of hope in this situation.

”But I’ve found out the best way to avoid the leader. As long as we avoid touching it in any way, we should be fine.”

Seele frowned.

”But what exactly is ’it’?”

Sunny pointed at the ground.

”The soil. Maybe it’s the entire island. Anyways, I figured it out when I couldn’t use Shadow Step while standing on the ground. It doesn’t work when I’m making contact with living creatures.”

Seele paled. They had been standing on such a danger this whole time?

”Anyways, we just need to use the trees to travel. I was able to use Shadow Step on them earlier, so I know that it’s not really a part of the Tyrant. Saint will be a distraction while we escape.”

Seele looked in the direction of the taciturn knight. Could she really survive long enough for them to escape? How would she even attract so many Nightmare Creatures.

Saint suddenly walked into the jungle, banging her sword against her shield. Seele could hear the rustling of leaves from all over the area...

An arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, causing Seele to yelp. She felt herself being pulled into the air, before something rough grounded against her.

In a blur, she was suddenly atop a tree. She immediately looked around, making sure that nothing was nearby. Sunny whispered to her:

”Everything is going after Saint. We have to move as fast as possible.”

”R—right.”

Although she was somewhat disoriented due to being dragged up a tree, she quickly got on her feet before summoning her scythe. Even if they were safe, it was better to be prepared for anything.

Sunny seemed to have the same idea as a bat appeared in his hand. Out of the corner of her eye, Seele spotted one of his shadows moving in the direction of Saint, most likely to augment her.

As they leaped from branch to branch — almost slipping off a couple times — Seele saw a change in Sunny’s demeanor. He seemed to be a little angry, considering the snarl on his face.

[A ’little’ angry?]

...He seemed very mad. Seele wasn’t sure what could have caused this, so she pondered the matter for a bit...

The guilt within her only deepened.

[You won’t feel guilty if you would just listen to me!]

Seele’s face reddened. Why was she stuck with this deranged, unhinged, psycho of a pervert again?

After a couple of minutes, they had arrived at the same spot that they had entered the jungle. The two shadows that Sunny had sent out came back to join him...

Was it just Seele, or did the shadows greet each other?

’I’ve got to be seeing things.’

She lightly panted due to the speed in which they ran. Seele had spent quite alot of Essence to strengthen her legs, which almost caused her to run dry.

She caught the bottle of water that was tossed towards her. She greedily drank from the Memory of infinite water, before passing it back to Sunny. She narrowed her eyes when his lips made contact with the bottle.

[It’s just some water. Don’t think too much about it.]

’It’s just gross, you idiot!’

[...We share the same thoughts, so I don’t know why you’re lying to yourself.]

Seele’s eyes slowly shut before opening again. She covered her red face with her hands, groaning as she thought:

’Can’t you just mind your own business?!’