Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

The entity that had been pursuing Seele was abnormal, not having the same aesthetic as the usual Fragmentum monster. It was a feral thing, one that was more reminiscent of a Nightmare Creature.

However, Seele found that she recognized the creature.

'…No way.'

The Fragmentum had assaulted Rivet Town without warning, not having a gradual corrosion of the surroundings like it should have. The reason for this was due to a certain Fragmentum creature — one that was powerful enough to corrode it's surroundings upon arrival, extending the reach of the Fragmentum.

That creature had abilities that were very reminiscent of the entity before her, but she had failed to recognize it due to the fact that she couldn't see, and that she was too busy running for her life.

Snarling, Seele gazed at the transformed abomination with hatred, ignoring the acid that went up her throat as she resisted the urge to vomit.

Initially, it appeared as a simple cold entity, a curious anomaly that floated with elegance and enigma. A deep, ethereal frost wrapped around it, glittering like starlight, hypnotic in its beauty. But now, the thing had become something darker, far more insidious.

The wraith-like creature, born of the same chilling cosmic forces, had mutated into something feral. Its once-sleek, crystalline form had splintered, twisted into jagged shards that protruded from its body like vicious, frozen claws. The creature's body, once shimmering with a clean, icy radiance, was now a nightmarish amalgamation of sharp, cracked ice and an oppressive, unnatural darkness. Its translucent skin no longer glittered — it had become murky, clouded, like a frozen river obscured by endless snow.

The shadow of the wraith danced against walls, flickering like a cruel, half-formed specter, though nothing in the world could have prepared them for the cold, hollow eyes that now gleamed beneath its frozen crown.

It stalked, no longer gliding, its movements erratic, sharp, as though its very existence was borne of hunger. Its presence was an overwhelming force of nothingness, swallowing all warmth, draining life, and leaving the air suffocatingly still. The air around it froze solid, turning into a jagged veil of sharp ice that tore through the air with a violent hiss whenever it moved.

Every small movement it made caused Seele to flinch, her scythe lowered to cover her abdomen as she bit her lip.

[You're too weak. Just let me kill it.]

'Shut up!'

The malformed wraith crawled on the walls, it's claws penetrating through it's layers without any resistance. A small haze circled around it, sharp icicles forming — each of them pointing directly at Seele with the intent to rend her flesh.

Although she knew that it could easily corner her, it was cautious, moving with the ingrained instincts of a predator that was stalking it's prey. And yet, the revenant was anything but quiet.

The terrifying screeches it emitted echoed through the empty corridor it passed, a sound like cracking ice, but laced with a guttural scream — something too ancient, too primal, to be of the natural world. Each step it's bestial form took came with the eerie sound of of ice scraping against another surface.

It's empty gaze pierced through Seele's very soul, watching her every move as it waited for a clear, easy opening. She took a deep breath, her lungs freezing from the frigid mess that the specter exuded.

Then, something snapped. Seele ran. The wraith chased.

Disappearing among a sea of violet butterflies, Seele fluttered through the halls — constantly looking back at the specter that leaped around like a panther.

Not that she knew what a panther was.

Wherever it wandered, the darkness spread, swirling with the suffocating cold, and as the wraith's form continued to shift, it seemed to bleed in and out of reality itself, flitting from one place to another as if pulled by unseen hands. It was no longer a mere phenomenon — it was an ancient horror, alive with hunger, instinct, and an endless craving for warmth.

And in this frozen hellscape, the warmest thing it could find was Seele.

The creature lunged, brandishing it's claws in an attempt to voraciously tear through her everything. She dodged to the side, pulling back her scythe as she prepared to dig it through it's crystalline shell.

Just as she was about to pierce through it, there was nothing. The space where it had been was empty, causing a cold dread to rise in the pit of Seele's stomach.

Out of nothing but instinct, she activated her Awakened Ability, phasing herself to the ceiling. She was upside-down, her legs using the ceiling as a platform.

The entity swiped it's claws from behind her previous position, which would have certainly severed her spine if she hadn't avoided it. Not wasting a single second, Seele launched herself down, using her legs as a spring to dive at the wraith from the ceiling.

She swung her scythe down in an arc…

'Huh?'

The handle of her scythe got caught on her torso, halting all the momentum of her swing. Instead of carving through the specter, her cranium ended of crashing into it's body, causing a layer of frost to coat her face.

She fell on her back, but quickly got up to avoid another attack. A few strands of her hair were cut, the ends of them now frozen.

Seele fluttered away, running through the corridors of the orphanage as she attempted to evade the wraith.

'This weapon… is so annoying!'

Why was this the only weapon Memory she had? Shouldn't she be using something simpler, like a sword or a dagger?

***

Sunny felt like he was walking in circles.

He and Saint were strolling through the fog for what felt like hours. No matter how far they went in a single direction, they couldn't reach a boundary.

Were they in an endless pocket dimension? If the strange entity that brought the haze with it was powerful enough to make something that ridiculous, then the three of them were as good as dead.

However, the fact that he wasn't being targeted yet meant that this was either a phenomena brought by the Fragmentum, or that the creature was still struggling to kill the other two. If the latter was true, then they were going against an Ascended being at best.

Which was why Sunny wasn't fazed too much by the situation. The only thing he was worried about was that he couldn't see the enemy, making things extremely difficult to fight against.

'Eh, I'll figure it out.'

Gunshots rang in the distance.

Sunny paused.

'Bronya?'

Was she fighting something?

Fortunately, this confirmed that they were all in the same space.

He turned in the direction of the noise, contemplating whether or not he should rush in there. If he didn't know what the enemy was, then he might end up bringing both of them to their deaths.

Then, he noticed something strange.

Each shot had the same interval between them. This was something that Sunny found highly abnormal.

If the interval between shots was the exact same, then it would be easy for an enemy to be able to predict when and where the bullet would fire. As such, guns tend to be fired at an inconsistent rate in order to make the shots more unpredictable. Naturally, Bronya did the same thing.

However, there was a set rhythm between each gunshot, which should have been impossible and suboptimal in the midst of fire combat. So… he figured that Bronya wasn't actually fighting anything.

Sunny grinned.

'She's sending a signal!'

Holding out his hand, sparks gathered and coalesced. A silver bell was formed within his hands.

The Silver Bell.

It was one of the three Memories from his First Nightmare that he still had — along with the Vessel of Remembrance and the Puppeteer's Shroud. The rest must have been either destroyed, or fed to Saint.

This particular Memory had a seemingly useless ability, one that was perfect for this particular situation. When the bell was rung, the sounds that it expelled would stretch for long distances, sounding the same as if one were right next to it.

Holding it up, he gently rang the bell. The melodious ringing echoed through the fog, bringing sound to the eerily quiet void.

The gunshots temporarily stopped, before starting again. This time, they were getting louder — signaling that Bronya was approaching his location.

So, Sunny decided to do the same. He and Saint walked in the direction of the gunshots.

Suddenly, he had a dark thought. He turned to Saint with a crooked smile.

"It would be pretty funny if this wasn't actually Bronya, but an illusion fabricated by the mist. Then, when I get over to there, I'll get torn apart before I even knew what hit me!"

"What?"

A voice that was not his own spoke.

Sunny froze, looking through the fog where Saint should be. He narrowed his eyes.

"…I wasn't aware that you had the ability to talk. Why wasn't I made aware of this?"

After a long pause, he heard a cough from the side, which wasn't where Saint was standing.

"Sunny, it's me, Bronya."

Looking in the direction of the voice who claimed to be Bronya, Sunny questioned how they were able to find each other so quickly. Was this really not an illusion?

Frowning, he reached out his hand. There was only one way to find out.

He felt his hand cup something soft.

"Ah!"

Hearing a gasp in Bronya's voice, Sunny figured out what he was grabbing.

So, he squeezed one more time. Just to make sure it was real.

"Stop squeezing!"

'Not exceptionally large, but quite firm!'