Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Out there in the sky, the bloody disk of the moon was slowly being devoured by darkness, as if drowning in a vast and impenetrable shadow. One of its edges was already gone, and with each moment, more and more of it was being erased by the shadows. It looked...

Like an eclipse.

Noctis paled, and at the same time, Sunny suddenly felt reinvigorated. It was as though every shadow in the world had just become deeper and darker, and as one of them, he did, too. The feeling was strange and euphoric.

But Sunny knew that this eclipse was an ill omen for all of them.

Turning to the sorcerer, he asked:

”What is going on?”

Noctis stared at the disappearing moon with a dark expression, and then shivered.

”I... I guess Sevras had a trick of his own up his sleeve. I did not expect him to get his hands on a piece of Shadow’s domain, though... how is this even possible?”

Seeing a lost expression on the sorcerer’s face, Sunny growled:

”How severe is your Flaw? How weak are you going to be when the moon is fully gone? What do we do now?!”

The fleet of the Ivory City was still closing the distance to obliterate them, so there was no time to waste. They had a few moments before the clash, at best. He had to know what was going on...

Noctis glanced at the dimming moon for one more second, then turned away and sighed.

”Well...”

A pale smile appeared on his lips.

”...Do you guys remember how I told you that I will take care of both Solvane and Sun Prince while you distract their armies?”

The sorcerer’s smile grew wider, a mad glint appearing in his eyes.

”Change of plans! You will have to keep the Prince busy for a bit, too. I, uh... will try to deal with Solvane. Best of luck to you, my friends! And to me, as well...”

With that, he stepped out of the magical circle and gestured for Dan Heng to grab the oars, which she hurriedly did. A moment later, Noctis was already standing on the bort of the ship, his raven black hair dancing in the wind.

With that, he simply took a step forward and fell down, disappearing in the darkness and the howling wind without a trace.

Just like that, Noctis was gone.

Sunny stared at the empty space where the sorcerer had been just a moment ago with a stunned expression. His momentary stupor was broken by Dan Heng’s shout:

”Sunny! There are only a few seconds left! What do we do?!”

He hesitated for a moment, then turned away and let out a resentful growl.

”We follow the plan. Nothing really changed...”

***

A large fleet was closing in on a swift vessel, its formation in a mess because of the fourteen ghastly stone abominations wreaking havoc on the flying ships. Each of the massive gargoyles bore the soul of a vile Corrupted creature, so their might and ferocity were terrifying — not entirely on par with the original fiends that Noctis had slain, but close to it.

And yet, they alone were not enough. In fact, the fourteen gargoyles were merely a distraction.

The main strike was yet to come.

As the graceful ship came within range of the fleet’s siege weapons, it dove down, and at the same time, several figures jumped off its deck into the air.

A few moments later, the air was suddenly filled with the smell of blood.

The captain of one of the vessels shouted something, pointing upward. Then, however, he swayed and fell down, his neck pierced by an arrow, frost coating his neck. At the same time, something fell from above... it was a young girl carrying what seemed to be a pair of massive claws, held by long chain links.

A cacophony of shouts and muffled screams followed.