Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

”Ngh...”

’Sunny’ opened his eyes, groggy from his sudden bout of narcolepsy. Luckily, he wasn’t put to sleep during a particularly crucial moment, so it was really just a normal nap. Though, did sleeping for a couple of minutes even count as a nap?

Why was he so groggy, anyways?

Blinking the sleepiness out, ’Sunny’ turned his head towards Guinaifen and Sushang, who were talking about... something? He couldn’t quite hear them, but who cared? His gaze lowered.

Picking himself off the bench, ’Sunny’ walked over to Guinaifen. He noticed that her gaze was turned towards him, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care, he didn’t care, he didn’t carehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcarehedidn’tcare—

’Ah.’

There was one thing he did care about, though.

Standing before Guinaifen, ’Sunny’ raised his hand...

...And placed it on her chest.

A smile appeared on his face.

”Nice boobs bro.”

In the corner of his eyes, he absently noticed something. A strange stare? A furious stare? A baffled stare? Or perhaps it was all three? It didn’t matter, because he was already turning towards Sushang. Rolling over the wooden table, he stopped right before her astonished gaze, and reached out once more.

”Wowzers. This pair isn’t half bad eith— argh!”

Did somebody stomp on his head? Yes, no, maybe so, nice boobs bro, do the Spiderman on a hoe—

”Yeowch!”

There were a few voices speaking in hurried tone, but ’Sunny’ couldn’t quite hear them. Rather, it was more like they had become so irrelevant that his brain refused to hear them. Yes, all that mattered was doing what he liked, right? Why had he been so reserved? All these desires slamming against the marrow of his skull — wait, skulls didn’t have marrow, did they? Ah, who cared?

’...Did someone kick my balls?’

Even the pain was fading away...

Oh, but he was able to get quite the view from down here, so maybe it was fine?

***

”Pervert!”

”Lecher!”

”Scumbag!”

”Manwhore!”

”Molester!”

”Asshole!”

Standing atop the table, Guinaifen and Sushang were rapidly kicking an unmoving Sunny, who had a strangely serene look on his face. Naturally, they tried to crash their heels everywhere they could...

Somehow, they were starting to look more hurt than the man below them.

”H—Hey, Shangshang, what the hell is this guy made of?! It’s like kicking a rock, if the rock wasn’t just any rock!”

The brunette grimaced as she stubbed her toe against his tough skin.

”How should I know?! Just go for the crotch!”

”Got it— ow! This bastard has balls of steel! Literally and figuratively!”

”Excuse me?!”

Tail watched the scene with an unusual stare, before turning over to Huohuo.

”Hey, runt... aren’t you going to tell those two imbeciles that the pipsqueak is being possessed?”

Huohuo, meanwhile, was watching the scene with an eerie smile.

”H—Huh? Oh, uh... yeah, maybe? In a bit. I kind of want to keep watching him get kicked down — but please don’t tell him that!”

Tail rolled his eyes.

”As if I care. But what do you think will happen if he remembers you not doing anything when you could have?”

Huohuo’s expression froze for a few moments, before replying with shaky resolve:

”I—I cannot let this unjust misunderstanding go on! You’ll help, right, Mister Tail?”

Grumbling, the floating Heliobus glided forth... before sinking into Huohuo’s body. Tail’s being spread throughout her nerves, causing her to spasm and twitch following the loss of her bodily control.

As she stilled, her shadowed gaze rose, locking onto the beating before her without an ounce of characteristic fear — Tail’s arrogance knew no fear, after all.

***

Huohuo blinked. Looking around for a moment, she paused... then blanched.

It seemed that she had managed to subdue the three. Sushang and Guinaifen were tied together by the wrist with a single pair of handcuffs that she carried with her as a Judge-In-Training. They restricted both the flow of Essence and the usage of Aspects, which basically made them powerless.

As for Sunny...

Huohuo jolted upwards with a look of fright on her face. She had been sitting on him — rather, Tail had been. It seemed that Sunny hadn’t fought back, but now that she got up... he was doing the same.

”Tsk. Stupid brat.”

Tail, who had exited her body, lunged forward and dove into Sunny’s chest. The pale man silently stood there for a moment, before smacking his chest.

”Stupid Heliobus...”

Then, he looked up at Huohuo with the same serene gaze.

”Boo!”

Huohuo didn’t jump. Definitely not. It was impossible. Unlikely. Ridiculous. Utterly fabricated.

She did fall over, however. Totally unrelated.

Then, she ran away.

***

Tail mindlessly whistled as he fought for dominance within Sunny’s nervous system. His being was turned into pure energy formed from the Abundance, which clashed against the other Heliobus who had already taken root within Sunny’s being.

”What a coward. Waiting until the mental defenses are weakest to strike? Amateur. There’s nothing more intoxicating than a human’s battle for survival.”

A voice echoed across the plane of mind.

”What?! I’m not striking anyone! I just... I just felt this guys desires, so I’m releasing his inhibitions. It’s because of you that our kind has such a bad name!”

Tail cackled.

”Well, I don’t particularly care. Anyways, a weakling like you is soon to be devoured by me. How much time do you have? A few hours?”

With a full Rank difference between Tail and the opposing Heliobus, It was inevitable that he’d eventually purge the other out of Sunny’s body. However, since the enemy Heliobus took root, and thus had the homefield advantage, the amount of time it would take increased. It was like warfare, but with less strategy and more expressions of force.

’No inhibitions, huh?’

Humans were at their most dangerous without the laws and morals of society stopping them. They were already cunning, intelligent creatures who could scheme against beings far greater than them... so they had to ensure that they couldn’t use that against each other.

Tail knew there were a few screws loose in the pipsqueak’s head, so who knew what would happen while he was wrestling for control?

’Welp, that’s the runt’s problem, not mine.’