Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

”Do you know what Svarog thinks makes the Overworld more dangerous than the Underworld?”

This was something that had been bothering Sunny. The bottom side of Belobog was already a dangerous place — one where Fallen Terrors roam around freely. Despite this, Svarog was under the belief that there were more vicious dangers in the Overworld — a place that is constantly defended by the Silvermane Guards.

Naturally, this brought a deep sense of unease within him. If whatever was up there was bad enough for the ancient robot to completely forbid passage between the two sides, then it was a necessity that Sunny learned what it was before making any rash moves. As a shadow, it wouldn’t be in his nature to act without a substantial grasp on the situation.

’Because I’m an assassin!’

...He might have very few moments in which he acted as one, but it was undoubtedly true!

Clara seemed a little bit distracted when he had asked her his question. She turned to him as the two of them walked through the snow, moving towards the Robot Settlement.

”...Mr. Svarog never told me. He said it was an important secret. Terrible things are happening on this world... Mr. Svarog thinks that the Overworld will end soon.”

Sunny couldn’t stop his eyes from widening in alarm. Although he vaguely assumed that the Overworld would become dangerous, he wasn’t expecting it’s destruction to be imminent!

Clara continued in a somber tone:

”His plan is to keep the Underworlders away from the source of the disaster, so they can survive for longer...”

Sunny grimaced, realizing that things were even worse than they seemed.

’Isn’t that just putting everyone in a cage? It’s ridiculous — what difference does it make if their deaths get postponed a couple of days? How is that better than putting up a fight?’

A robot’s calculations could not be be all-knowing. The reason for that was because there was always a margin of error, no matter how small it is. Not only that, but the ability to comprehend the mind of a living creature had it’s limits — limits that a machine couldn’t possible breach.

Every living organism harbored an amount of irrationality within them. As long as they had the ability to take unreasonable actions, there will always be a certain amount of randomness in the world. This randomness wasn’t something an automaton would be able to efficiently calculate, as it didn’t exist within the rules of logic. Even if the world seemed to function off of a certain order, there would always be a sliver of chaos lurking in the background.

And so, as long as the citizens of Belobog fight, there was still a chance — no matter how minuscule — that they may fight off their demise. However, Svarog didn’t seem to share that mentality.

Suddenly, Clara stopped walking.

”Um, Mr. Sunny? Could you please hold these for a bit?”

Holding out the four Ascended Soul Shards she had been harvesting earlier, Sunny found himself confused by her request. He accepted the Soul Shards.

”This might be a little rough...”

Suddenly, he felt a pair of tiny hands grab at his waist. He was hoisted up, the Soul Shards being clutched to his chest. There was a small moment of stillness, one in which a single thought passed through Sunny’s mind:

’Eh?’

The world quaked as he felt himself flying through the air at tremendous speeds. Sunny couldn’t comprehend what he saw around him, as everything meshed together in a makeshift overlay of scenery. The world blurred past him, before suddenly coming to a halt as he felt himself be placed on the ground.

He stared down at Clara for a moment. Somehow, he was still holding onto the Soul Shards that she had entrusted him, clutched against his chest as his body locked up completely. After a few moments, Sunny relaxed his body, falling to the ground as he violently coughed.

An alarmed look of concern appeared on Clara’s face.

”I—I’m sorry! I thought that...”

Her words didn’t register in his ears as Sunny tried to comprehend what had just happened. His first instinct was to assume that she had leaped through the air — which was a very ridiculous scene to imagine. However, the sensations he felt were abnormal, borderline mystical.

”Huh? Sunny?”

Letting out a few more coughs, Sunny slowly turned his head. Finding a certain pink-haired idiot. March’s arms were encased in ice that held a pinkish tint, and she seemed like she was preparing to get into a rough brawl. Opposite of her was Svarog, who just stood there.

Menacingly.

Meanwhile, Clara kept apologizing about the backlash that she caused to Sunny when she... did whatever she did.

”Uh... Clara? I’m fine now, so you could stop...”

She paused in the midst of her rant, hesitantly nodding when she found that Sunny wasn’t dead, dying, sick, or injured. She then turned towards Svarog, her expression brightening slightly.

”I’m back, Mr. Svarog.”

The cyclopian beast of steel simply looked back at her, imperceptibly nodding. It slightly turned it’s head to Sunny.

”I see that the energy supply system is back online and that you’ve brought the necessary materials. Thank you, Clara, but... why have you brought him?”

She replied:

”Mr. Svarog... Mr. Sunny wants to talk to you about going to the surface.”

As he got up to his feet, Sunny looked towards March. A look of confusion was plastered on her face as she rapidly looked between Svarog, Clara, and himself. As he looked around, he found multiple piles of crushed robots.

He frowned, looking at March in annoyance.

’So it wasn’t Sampo, but this idiot instead!’

He had plenty to complain to her about, but Sunny was interrupted by Svarog’s modulated voice.

”Analyzing... Analysis result: Target does not belong to Wildfire. Background: Unknown. Classification: Unknown. You have arrived on Clara’s recommendation. I will give you an opportunity to speak.”

Both Sunny and March perked up, with the latter turning towards the former.

”Hey, sounds like he’s willing to communicate! Quick, Sunny, time to smooth-talk him!”

He narrowed his eyes. Why was he the one who was being forced to do this? Couldn’t they call Dan Heng first?

Under the heavy gaze of the ancient automaton, Sunny formulated a response.

”...Do you know what a Stellaron is?”

Svarog’s singular eye flickered as it processed the keyword.

”Stellaron... Searching database... Access denied. Discussing ’Stellaron’ with unauthorized targets: Prohibited. You are broaching a secret that lies at the heart of this world. A secret that should remain unknown to humanity. Reassessing targets... Threat index raised. I demand that you reveal your true intention.”

Sunny was a little bit worried, but he was not surprised. It was expected that Svarog was aware of the Stellaron, and that I would be a highly restricted topic. So, in order to explain the problem and solution, he explained everything he knew to the robot. This included all the information he gleamed from the Ghastly Hunger’s description, which revealed that Alisa Rand had used the Stellaron to trigger the Eternal Freeze. He hoped that revealing his extensive knowledge would gain the automaton’s trust... if it had the ability to give it.

”...The Stellaron is still in the Overworld somewhere, right? Chances are, it’s probably with Cocolia. If you let us go back to the Overworld, we’ll seal it away.”

His explanation held no flaws, and was very likely to be deemed acceptable by Svarog.

”Historical records state that humanity has already made multiple efforts to engage with the Stellaron. Without exception, these efforts have been motivated by human greed — attempts to secure the article for a selfish end. As instructed by the Architects: Any attempt to engage with the Stellaron will result in grave consequences. Reassessing... Target threat index critical.”

’...Excuse me?’

Sunny head spun to look in March’s direction. The girl simply looked back at him with horror on her face.

”What should we do? This is going from bad to worse!”

’That’s what I want to know!’

Sunny couldn’t believed that he failed! What kind of unreasonable world is this?!

At that moment, he had the urge to jump into the depths of hell to gut open Svarog’s creators. Who even programmed this guy?

Sunny formed a smile of mock-confidence.

”Well, unlike those old fossils, we actually know what we’re doing... supposedly.”

Adding the last part, he turned towards March in suspicion. He’s never seen a Stellaron be sealed before, so could they actually do it? He doubted that they didn’t have any measures in place, but maybe the effectiveness wasn’t perfect.

Sunny realized that he placed to many bets on the unknown sealing method that was used on Stellarons.

Svarog computed his response.

”Statement ended with uncertainty. There is no evidence to suggest you are an exception. Calculation result remains unchanged. Peacekeeping protocol temporarily disengaged... Requesting extermination protocol launch.”

Both Sunny and March squeaked in horror.

”E—Extermination? In the literal sense?”

”March, you’ll be my meat shield, right?”

”Why is that the first thought you have?!”