Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

Gloomy turned it's head away as Sunny sent his shadow a scathing glare. It's younger siblings enjoyed the sight, mocking it with both arrogance and laughter.

'Because of you, my reputation is completely ruined! I'll be remembered as a violent, short-tempered fool who swung at a defeated enemy out of rage!'

Gloomy stared at him for a moment, before it started to move. It almost seemed like it was talking…

Sunny scowled.

'Are you repeating what I just said? That is no way to talk to your master!'

Gloomy simply shrugged, satisfied at having been able to aggravate Sunny.

Sunny sighed in defeat before turning to the deactivated shell of the electrocuted robot. He spotted Seele, who was kneeling on the floor with her face flushed from embarrassment. It seemed that Veliona dealt just as much damage to her name as Gloomy had done to his.

March and Bronya were headed towards her; most likely in order to ask if she was okay. At least, that was probably the case for the former. It was quite unlikely for Bronya to do such a thing — especially due to how clearly Seele had shown that it was impossible for them to get along.

Couldn't they just hug it out? Wasn't that what normal people did to settle their differences?

…Now he wanted a hug.

Turning his attention away from the complexities of the opposite sex, Sunny turned towards Dan Heng, who stood near the fallen automaton. The green-eyed young man was currently panting from exhaustion. Sunny remembered that other Awakened did not have as much essence as he did, as well as the fact that Soul Serpent had assisted him greatly in efficiently wielding his shadow essence.

Sunny tilted his head.

"Dan Heng… would it strange to ask you for a hug?"

The older boy sent him a strange look, pausing as he seemed to ponder his words.

"I… don't think people usually do that. Not out of the blue, at least."

Blinking, Sunny's expression brightened as if he had an epiphany.

"I get it! I have to give you a two-weeks notice!"

Dan Heng fell silent for a few moments, before saying:

"I'm not hugging you."

Sunny made a disgusted face.

"Bleh… who would want to do that? I was just asking out of curiosity."

Redirecting his gaze back to the destroyed, scorched automaton, Sunny asked:

"Did the Spell say anything when you killed it?"

Dan Heng shook his head.

"No. If I had to guess, an outsider that's connected to Svarog used their Aspect to both strengthen the robots, and repair them."

Sunny nodded. He had the same suspicions.

Summoning the Midnight Shard, Sunny crouched down next to the robots husk. Piercing the steel plates — which seemed to have lost their magical durability — Sunny delicately cut open the robot.

By understanding how they had defeated it in the first place, they would be able to save themselves quite a bit of trouble as they moved forward.

***

"Huh?! You met him?!"

Sampo flinched at shouting voice that came through his phone. With a weak smile, he asked:

"Can you tone it down a bit? I could hear you just fine."

He heard a mischievous snicker.

"Really? I would have thought an old-timer like you would have been a little hard at hearing."

Sampo's face tightened as he walked through the Overworld streets. Why were people so insulting these days?

"I don't think I've ever told you my age. For all you know, I might be younger than you."

A humorous scoff came from the other line.

"Whatever you say Uncle Koski. On to more important matters, how many thieving harlots are surrounding him?"

Sampo blinked.

"…Why did you immediately assume that there were women involved?"

"Experience."

…Sampo decided that he didn't want to know. He masterfully redirected the conversation by answering his dear disciple's question.

"There's three of them. Technically four. Two of them are my other disciples!"

Who said that Sampo Koski couldn't work honestly?

"Everyone. Also, I'm not your disciple."

Sampo dramatically raised a hand to his mouth as he looked around. The streets of the Overworld were relatively empty at this time of night, so he didn't have to worry about being overheard.

"Whoops. Did I say that out loud?"

"Nah. Your thought process is just too predictable."

Sampo's face soured.

It was all that kid's fault! Before, his ward would have simply quietly stood around with an eerie smile, and would only speak when spoken to… but now, all he ever got was snarky comments, sarcasm, and a bag full of insults!

That boy was like a herald of corruption!

After a pause, the other voice spoke:

"Anyways, give me the details."

At the strange shift in tone, Sampo replied in a teasing manner.

"What's this? It almost sounds like you feel threatened."

There was an audible click of the tongue from the other line.

"He's a manwhore."

'…Why do I have to ask such dangerous questions?'

Not liking where this was leading, Sampo quickly informed the other person about what they wanted to hear.

"First one is an extroverted, pink-haired girl. She's a bit touchy, but from what I've seen, he doesn't seem like a huge fan of it. Next one is practically a princess. I doubt she would be interested in what the aristocracy would consider a low-born, but you know how fairytales go. And lastly…"

Sampo paused.

"Actually, my two totally-not-scary disciples might really be a threat."

A bead of sweat trailed down his face as he only heard silence.

"Explain."

With a nervous smile, Sampo unnecessarily glanced around before whispering something into his phone. He heard the sound of something breaking, which was a little worrying.

What if something expensive was damaged?! Even if it wasn't his own, he didn't want to see precious money go down the drain…

"And you didn't stop it?!"

Sampo once again flinched.

"Uh… you know how it is! I can't really interrupt such a steamy moment… and I didn't think you would care all that much!"

That last part was a lie, but Sampo was in it for the love of the game. Even if a little conflict were to occur, it would be fine as long as nothing horribly wrong happened.

He had the feeling that he wouldn't be bored for a while.

"That. Home wrecking. Bi—!"

Sampo blinked as the call was suddenly cut off. He stared at his phone for a moment, before sighing as he slipped it back into his pocket.

'Sorry about this pal. It's just business. And the great, amazing, and humble Sampo Koski is all about business.'

Sampo calmly walked towards a random house. He looked left and right to make sure that nobody was watching, before twisting the knob on the front door. As it swung open, a cool breeze assaulted him — one that would only be found in the wilderness of Jarilo-VI.

Stepping through the door, Sampo found himself in a cold, desolate snowfield — one that was currently being assaulted by a rain of snow. Despite this, there was something of worth located here.

Sampo looked up at a towering figure, shadowed by the raging snowstorm around it. Walking towards it, a strange expression appeared on his face.

"Now, what should I do about you…"

***

"…This is horrible."

A black-haired girl stared at her bottle of SoulGlad with disgust. Why did people hype it up so much?

She watched in confusion as Stelle took a large bite out of her… fourth burger?

"Why are you even eating those? It's not like they'd do anything for you."

Stelle blinked at her, stared at her burger for a moment, then smiled.

"Tastes good. Want some?"

She had a pile of unwrapped burgers right next to her. Most likely for consumption.

The black-haired girl groaned as she looked out the restaurant's window. There were plenty of flashing lights, attractions that appealed to hedonistic desires, weird robot people, these little midgets with a puffy ball attached to their heads, and a whole lot of other things that she couldn't quite describe.

"No thanks. I'm starting to get sick of this place."

Stelle tilted her head curiously.

"Well, you don't need to be here. I can get Wolfie to send you back, and Kafka can help to pick up where Sunny's lessons left off."

She nodded to herself, seemingly convinced that she had made a great suggestion.

The black-haired girl paled as she recalled those hellish days. She could only imagine how much worse it would get with her teacher's teacher taking the reins.

'That woman scares me…'

"I just remembered that I love SoulGlad! I've always wanted to come to this specific restaurant! Oh, and have I told you about how much I adore trashcans?"

The black-haired girl lied as easily as she breathed. She was starting to regret making that deal…

Stelle seemed to be deep in thought for a moment.

"Didn't you say that trashcans pissed you off… an hour ago?"

The black-haired girl shook her head.

"You know… people change all the time! I've turned over a new leaf."

Stelle deadpanned.

"If you say so."

She unwrapped another burger, immediately stuffing it into her mouth.

'It's like she has a bottomless pit for a stomach… I guess it really is one right now.'

Honestly, the black-haired girl was bored.

She didn't really have much to do. She was only thirteen, and she wasn't an Awakened. She was allowed to go with Stelle since there wasn't going to be much danger anytime soon. After all, they were simply setting the stage for something further down the line.

What exactly that would be, the black-haired girl didn't know.

Stelle looked at a cartoonish clock, before sighing as she looked at her remaining burgers with regret. Realizing that it was time for them to get started, the black-haired girl stood from her seat.

Exiting the restaurant, the black-haired girl stared at Stelle for a moment, before curiously asking:

"What happened to your jacket? I haven't seen you wearing it for a whole week."

Although it would be strange to worry so much over a jacket, the circumstances around it were certainly special.

Stelle shrugged.

"Gave it back. Didn't need it anymore."

'Huh. That sounds ominous.'

Sighing, the black-haired girl tried to focus on the task at hand. The two of them simply had to sow some seeds. They would set up the stage for the grand performance… whenever that would be.

And considering that the two of them weren't known as war criminals, they would be able to complete their tasks just fine.

"Is… that a walking trashcan?"

Rain palmed her face. It seemed like this was going to be a long couple of days.