Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Elsewhere on the Xianzhou Luofu, life continued.

The Exalting Sanctum was as lively as ever.

Warm lanternlight spilled over broad stone roads and lacquered railings, bathing the district in gold and red. Countless layered buildings stretched towards the artificial heavens overhead, their curved rooftops overlapping like scales. Elevated walkways connected entire blocks together, while banners stirred lazily in a breeze that somehow always seemed pleasant.

People moved through it all.

Street vendors shouted advertisements with practiced cheer while steam rose from food stalls in pale clouds. Families crossed the bridges spanning quiet waterways. Scholars carrying stacks of scrolls and terminals wandered between pavilions. Workers transported goods across handcarts while old men sat beneath ornamental trees and argued over games that neither intended to win.

This was all but a play, of course.

Cirrus’ play.

Every single human on Exalting Sanctum had been possessed for a while now, with the Heliobus’ fragments hiding patiently within their nerves before actively choosing to take over. They had to avoid the Foxian girl’s detection before, since one of her Aspect Abilities — or perhaps an Attribute — allowed her to sense when another being was being possessed, whether it was by a Heliobus or not.

If Cirrus had been detected early, their entire plan would have fell apart.

At this stage, however, they have already achieved victory over the Luofu. The General was possessed, the other Saints were slowly losing their authority thanks to Cirrus possessing their subordinates, and although the Master Diviner was currently fighting against Jing Yuan, she would be dealt with soon.

Her, and the oddly pesky Ascended with her.

Instead, Cirrus looked to the promising future. Although Jing Yuan was nothing like Teng Xiao in competency, though, maybe they were being too dismissive of the current General, a battle against the Marshal herself was sure to be a legendary one!

Humans believed themselves to be above beasts, with the laws and morals of civilizations... but Cirrus knew better. It was the nature for all intelligent lifeforms to construct a hierarchy, whether internal or external. For humans, that hierarchy was decided on one thing...

Power.

Would Jing Yuan have ever become the General if he wasn’t a Transcendent champion? Would the Marshal of the Xianzhou Alliance hold her position as their Sovereign if she wasn’t a Supreme?

The weak cower under, and seek protection from the strong, while the powerful make use of them as tools for labor and pleasure.

As far as Cirrus is concerned, that was how human society is run.

And that was why they still kept fragments of themselves controlling the mundane humans, despite their pitiful might. Who was going to keep Cirrus’ Awakened soldiers fed? Who was going to make sure that the Luofu’s society, under their rule whilst waging war on the rest of the Alliance, wasn’t going to collapse?

Well, even if it did, Cirrus didn’t mind. All that mattered was the thrill of battle they were searching for.

Their attention wasn’t evenly split between their thralls, but it was hard to notice when an Ascended Terror suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Eyes.

The eyes of every person in Exalting Sanctum landed on the black steed with an eerie stillness on their face.

Nightmare snorted, adamantine horns curving dangerously. His wolf-like teeth glinted in the moonlight, and his flaming eyes struck fear into the hearts of men...

And Heliobi, for that matter.

Cirrus realized the presence of a mind attack immediately, and quickly figured out the conditions for it. All the thralls present turned away, shutting their eyes for good measure. At the same time, Cirrus was still able to maintain awareness thanks to their Tyrant Ability.

Frankly, the Heliobus did not care much if the horse rampaged around and killed their thralls. They were only normal, powerless humans, after all. Still, it wouldn’t be a good idea to leave the tenebrous steed rampaging around, would it?

That mind attack wasn’t exactly dangerous, only inflicting an unnatural sense of fright and dread into Cirrus. It wouldn’t kill or enthrall them. However, the way the power of the mental assault multiplied due to the fact that each and every thrall could be affected separately, meaning that it was all redirected to Cirrus themselves, meant that it was very bothersome.

Especially because of the way the steed’s presence spiked when it was looked at, and dampened when it was not. A physical augmentation scaling off fear, it seemed.

In any case, Cirrus was able to avoid gazing at it while monitoring the tenebrous stallion through their Tyrant Ability. They coordinated the closest Awakened and Ascended Cloud Knights to intercept the Terror, even as it mindlessly skipped across the streets of Exalting Sanctum.

Cirrus would have tried to possess the creature if they could, but there didn’t seem to be any nerves within its body.

Which meant that the only solution was extermination.

How many of their forces could Cirrus spare? All of them. Unfortunately, space was not infinite, and they needed contingencies should other parties begin their assault. Cirrus expected a few weeks to a month before the other Xianzhou flagships began their assault — if they were lucky, the Marshal herself would come.

Still, it didn’t hurt to watch out for other threats. There were multiple Spiritfarers atop Fyxestroll Garden, each of them specialized to deal with Heliobi. Moreover, Cirrus was already aware of the fact that Huohuo, Guinaifen, and Sushang were on the move, and already sent a few Awakened and Ascended to safely deal with them.

Moreover, Cirrus had to get some of their forces atop Fyxestroll Garden to deal with that onyx knight, who was shooting down arrows of Destructive Light down upon Jing Yuan, making it more difficult to deal with the Master Diviner and Starkiller.

Countless trains of thought split in the abnormal concept that would be known as Cirrus’ mind, so deep and lost that the Heliobus didn’t even notice the gradual decline of their thoughts’ speed.

...As if they were beginning to grow tired.