Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Sunny shut down the illusion. His room was silent and submerged in darkness, almost like the lightless expanse of his soul.

Crawling out of the Dreamscape pod, he glanced at it, and then walked to his relatively unused bed. There, he sat down on the soft cushioning, crossed his legs, and closed his eyes.

Back in the illusory world created by the will of two siblings, the tournament was coming to an end. There were spectacles, festivities, and accolades being given to the winners. But he didn’t care.

He didn’t care about the legend of Mongrel, either. Sunny had no doubt that his inexplicable refusal of the final reward and daring challenge had created quite a stir. Were people praising Mongrel for his resolve and ambition? Or mocking his defeat and calling him a fool? In any case, the network must have been boiling right now.

Sunny couldn’t be bothered to check.

He had much more important concerns.

There was the final reward he had received, given to him by Morgan of Valor despite his failure, as well as previous rewards he had no time to study well.

And there was Shadow Dance. This was what he had to concentrate on now.

Sitting in the darkness with his eyes closed, Sunny thought back to the revelation he had received during the battle with the monstrous Saint and started to slowly digest it. He had the key now... all that remained was to absorb it, turn it from a fleeting feeling into an inseparable part of his mind, body, and soul.

That was going to take some time.

Fragments of Morgan’s battle will help him find unity in the discordant collection of battle styles he had amassed. His comprehension of the fundamental, governing principles of battle techniques was vastly elevated, allowing him to understand them on a deeper level.

This enlightenment was going to help Sunny grasp various styles much faster, as well as mirror more complex and sophisticated battle arts with ease. At this level, he needed to be able to recognize patterns of essence control from how the enemies moved, breathed, and attacked. The new understanding was going to help with that, too.

He just had to assimilate it all.

Time slowly passed. Sunny continued to meditate, making slow progress toward his goal. After a while, his thought began to wander.

The Dream Tournament... gave Sunny much more than he had expected.

Yes, there were powerful Memories and a breakthrough in his comprehension of Shadow Dance, but there was also something else. Different, but no less valuable.

Fighting the best of the best that the Dreamscape had to offer had helped him to put his own prowess into perspective. Facing formidable champions one after another showed Sunny just how much more powerful and experienced than them he was.

Under the constant threat of his enslavement, he had always been comparing himself to AR-26710. He chased after them... her?... with desperate resolve, but couldn’t catch up. SAM was an Ascended Titan after all.

But it was exactly because he had been chasing after Fading Fyrefly without rest that he had left everyone else in the dust without even noticing. Now that he had a chance to look back, Sunny finally saw just how wide the gap between himself and all the rest of the Awakened had become.

It was so wide that he had been able to cut the best of them down while barely using a quarter of his power.

He saw it clearly now.

...But he also saw how much further he had to walk.

Just as fighting the participants of the Dream Tournament had shown him his strength, fighting Morgan had shown him his weakness.

Yes, Sunny was incredibly powerful for an Awakened of his age. But there were other giants out there, no less terrifying than him. They were older, stronger, and had years of battle experience and vast resources that he lacked. In front of them, Sunny was like an ant...

A subtle smile appeared on his face.

’...Or, maybe, like a cockroach.’

Morgan was a Saint of the Great Clan Valor. One day in the future, they might have to cross swords again. And when that happened... he knew that his blade wouldn’t harmlessly bounce of her skin.

...All these thoughts traveled idly at the edges of his consciousness, while most of his mind was occupied by absorbing the key to the second step of Shadow Dance. And just as that last thought disappeared, he finally felt that the process was complete.

A moment later, the silence of his room was suddenly destroyed by the voice of the Spell. Sunny flinched.

The Spell said:

[Your Aspect Legacy mastery level has increased.]

[You have received the right to claim a Legacy Relic.]

[...Your Shadow has evolved.]