Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

”...That means we just have to burn this place down, right?”

Four pairs of questioning eyes landed on Guinaifen, who suggested that absurd idea.

The idea of an entire building being taken over by a Heliobus was strange... after all, buildings didn’t have nerves. Every Heliobi, no matter the Rank or Class, can infiltrate the bodies of living things by invading their nervous system. It was like hijacking the control center of a spaceship. Phantylia, as far as Sunny was aware, had only taken over organic bodies. Those being Tingyun’s body as well as the one formed from the powers of Abundance.

Heliobi, as much as Sunny would derogatorily call them, were not actually ghosts. Even if they were, they would not be the kind to take over an inanimate object.

Just as Tail said earlier, Heliobi fed on emotional stimuli. What emotions could they possibly feed on when possessing a building?

Ignoring Guinaifen’s suggestion, Sunny turned towards Huohuo and Tail.

”Just to be sure... there isn’t some sort of living house situation going on right now, right?”

There wasn’t. Sunny made sure of it. The shadows of the mansion were the same as those from all other objects — cold, wild, and unmoving. Those shadows did not necessarily have an owner. They only existed due to the absence of light, unlike the shadows of living beings.

So, it was fair to deduce that the house itself wasn’t actually alive. At the same times, Heliobi didn’t have shadows, so their influence couldn’t change how his shadow sense perceived the rotting building.

Tail grumbled as if he wasn’t getting paid enough to do this — though, Heliobi didn’t use any kind of currency as far as Sunny was aware. It was Huohuo who answered his question.

”Erm... outside of racial traits, Heliobi usually develop different Abilities. Like how Tail can strengthen his hosts.”

The foxlike Heliobus glowered at Huohuo, though she didn’t seem to notice.

”The house itself is probably not alive, but this Heliobus might have gained the power to possess inanimate objects... which is really bad!”

It looked like the direness of the situation was a bit too much for her. Tail clicked his tongue(?) as he picked up where she left off.

”What she means to say is that you’re in for a lot of pain. If this Heliobus is the violent type, they’re likely going to try to kill you all using the place itself. Torture, possibly, if they’re really sick.”

Sunny stroked his chin in thought. He could easily escape using Shadow Step — the mansion wasn’t alive, after all. He could still sense the shadows outside the building... as well as how everything within was slowly shifting around. Rather than panic about his survival, he considered the best way to deal with this predicament.

Meanwhile, Sushang was staring at the walls with utter fright in her eyes. She glared at Guinaifen:

”I told you those creaks weren’t normal!”

The streamer nonchalantly waved her hand, as if she hadn’t just heard that she was about to get digested by a building possessed by a ghost born of an eldritch entity’s Path — the Abundance. Instead, she took a look at her phone.

AURA_snake: ”Lil Gui lowkey has a point. Just blow it up.”

TheStrongestBug: ”Even if you’re a weakling, you can’t get eaten! Sunnyyyyyyyy”

bosterflaming: ”yo someone tell @TheStrongestBug to keep it in their pants lol”

TheStrongestBug: ”???”

TheStrongestBug: ”I’m not wearing pants?”

DrGrimly: ”son I’m crine”

There was a whole string of reactions to that statement, causing Guinaifen to raise a brow. She then turned to look at Sunny... or where she thought Sunny was, considering the darkness surrounding them made it difficult to tell.

”Hey, Mister Starkiller... you’ve got some pretty weird fans, you know?”

Snapped out of his train of thought, he turned towards her.

”I have a name— wait, let me see that!”

Snatching the phone stick at speeds she failed to react to — though, the fact that he was covered by the darkness of the corridor wasn’t helping — Sunny looked at the chatbox.

devilgamer221: ”freaky ahh insect”

Chris_Watches: ”bro’s doing tricks on it”

LordArbiter: ”Ain’t no way someone’s gooning to that emo kid”

LordArbiter: ”nvm I’m gooning to him too lol”

Guiltythree: ”@TheStrongestBug he’s not going to let you Propagate lil bro. Fake can’t beat the original anyways”

TheStrongestBug: ”@Guiltythree where do you live? I’ll put your head on a pike for you :)”

TheStrongestBug: ”Heyyyy Sunnyyyyyyyy!!!!!”

TheStrongestBug: ”Sunny Sunny Sunny”

”TheStrongestBug has been temporarily banned from chat for spam-like behavior.”

’...Is this guy having a stroke?’

Since when did he have fans, anyways?

While Sunny watched in confusion as the rest of the chat flamed his supposed fan, Guinaifen grinned towards Huohuo.

”So... if we just blow this place up, mission accomplished, right?”

Huohuo frowned, before turning towards Tail for a moment. Then, she looked towards Sushang, who shrugged. The Cloud Knight answered:

”Listen, Lil Gui. You’re not from around here, so you wouldn’t have heard... normal Heliobi could take over corpses just by forcing the nerves to send signals — I think that it’s uncommon, though, since a dead person can’t give off emotions. That means that we’d only need to limit their possible targets before sealing them in most cases, which would be the four of us. This one is different...”

She grimaced as she continued:

”Even if we destroy the house, that wouldn’t harm the Heliobi. They’re immune to physical and soul attacks, as well as elemental attacks. It wouldn’t even force them out of the house, since they could just possess the remains instead. Even if they didn’t, they’d have an infinite amount of options.”

Tail scowled, cautiously eyeing the shaking floorboards. Then, he gestured his floating body towards Huohuo and Sunny.

”The point is that turning tail and running is the best option. This one is probably as strong as these two pipsqueaks, which means that nobody here has the strength to attack it. Except for me, but I don’t feel like helping you.”

Sunny looked up from the stream, glancing at Tail.

As far as he was aware, the only way to directly attack a Heliobus was to use the power of an opposing Path. Moreover, the power of the one wielding the Path needed to be at least one Rank higher than the Heliobus... which meant that this one, who Tail implied was of the Ascended Rank, couldn’t be harmed by anything that isn’t at least a Transcendent Pathstrider of The Hunt or the Destruction. Or any other Paths that oppose Abundance.

Like the Nihility, which opposed any and all Paths.

Using the Weaver’s Eye granted by Blood Weave, Sunny glimpsed under Tail’s being. He saw four Ascended Soul Cores... with a trail of Essence flowing between him and Huohuo. A curious sight, considering he didn’t know what her Aspect did.

In any case, Sunny caught on to something in Tail’s words. Himself and Huohuo, who were both Masters, were compared to the Heliobus that was haunting this mansion. Which meant that it was likely of the Ascended Rank, though its Class was unknown. Probably a Devil, at least. That meant that Sunny and Huohuo couldn’t harm it, since Heliobi couldn’t be damaged by those of the same Rank.

...But Tail implied that he could have done something about it.

How could that be the case? Tail was of the same Rank of the Heliobus, so there shouldn’t be any way for them to harm each other...

A spark coursed through Sunny’s mind.

”Hey, ghost.”

Tail raised a brow.

”Whaddya want?”

”You said you could hurt that Heliobus, right? How?”

Tail simply stared at him like he was an idiot.

”What do you mean, how? That’s just how it is!”

Sunny shook his head.

”Is it because you’re both Heliobi that you can attack each other, or are you guys vulnerable to mind attacks?”

It was Huohuo that answered, instead.

”...Both?”

Sunny stared at the windowless walls for a brief moment, before tossing the phone stick back to Guinaifen. He then looked towards Huohuo, sending her an awkward grin.

”You... might want to close your eyes. Otherwise, you’ll get a heart attack.”

Her eyes were already closed, surprisingly.

”A—Already on it! I, uh... really don’t like looking at your face, anyways. Sorry?”

She paused.

”...But now it’s even darker than before!”

Sunny shook his head. Stepping deeper into the shadows, away from the light of Sushang’s flashlight, Guinaifen’s phone, and Tail’s body, a wicked grin split his face.

”Nightmare.”

A terrifying neigh echoed off the walls of the corridor.