Fate's Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

The fortress sat at the edge of the valley, worn down by time and neglect. Its outer walls were cracked in several places, sections having collapsed entirely to reveal the empty halls within. The towers were mostly intact, but their tops had caved in or been stripped by storms, and the banners that once flew there had long since rotted away.

Grass had overtaken the main courtyard. Weeds sprouted between broken cobblestones, and puddles had formed in shallow craters where the stone had eroded. Old tools and shattered crates were scattered around, rusted through or buried under dirt and leaves. The smell of damp stone and mold clung to the air.

At the center stood the keep — a squat, square structure with most of its roof missing. Its walls were blackened in places, likely from fire. The windows had no glass, just narrow slits or empty holes, and the doorway had lost its door entirely. Inside, the floor was littered with debris: fallen beams, broken furniture, and the fallen carcasses of Nightmare Creatures Sunny had took the time to kill earlier.

Beneath the keep, a staircase descended into the ground. Unlike the rest of the fortress, this entrance had been kept shut by a heavy iron grate. The hinges were still stiff, and the scratch marks on the stone suggested it hadn’t moved in years before that. Faint runes had been engraved into it, ones Sunny couldn’t decrypt.

’It’s hot.’

The heat seeping through the seems of the door were reminiscent of when he fell into the Sky Below, where he fell through a sea of divine flame. Fortunately, this was nowhere near that intensity.

With Seele by his side, he stood before the door for a few moments. He hummed for a moment, before sighing.

”I can’t sense anything. Guess we’re going home.”

As he turned around to leave, Seele stared at him in indignation.

”We haven’t even done anything yet!”

Sunny shrugged.

”Until I know what’s in there, I’m not going to try to open that door. I’m not even sure I can.”

There was a clear dismay on her face, reasonably so, considering that she had been dragged over here just to be told that there was nothing they could do. She scowled at him, then turned to the metal door.

Within a breath of time, her eyes flashed crimson. Veliona’s fingers swiped against the door a few times, causing it to collapse into rubble and debris.

She grinned.

”There! Now there’s no problem!”

Sunny gaped, looked at the scraps piling where the door used to be, then sneered.

”You idiot! What if that door was the only thing keeping whatever was in there from escaping?! Even if we run away now, it could still follow us if it wanted to!”

Her gaze lingered on him for a few moments. Shrugging, she hopped over the debris.

”Hey! Are you even listening?!”

Sunny shouts echoed for naught. With an annoyed look, he hurried after her.

’This place... goes really deep.’

Now that the strange door was gone, his shadow sense had returned to normal, no longer obstructed. Sunny guessed that the runes carved into the door had something to do with it, but he had more pressing things to worry about. He sent two of his shadows to gain a more detailed view.

The corridor they were walking through had a slight decline, so they were slowly moving deeper into the earth. This stretched on for a few kilometers, meaning that by the time they reached their destination, they wouldn’t be under the fortress anymore. The direction was obviously the opposite of the Chained Isles — otherwise, the corridor would be cut off, leading to the Sky Below.

At some point, the corridor began to branch, and split, and weave, and twist...

Sunny blinked, then frowned.

There seemed to be a complex labyrinth hidden beneath the earth. Unfortunately, as Sunny’s shadows explored, they located the remains of multiple humans — charred bones. He couldn’t figure out what they had been doing before, since there were no tracks or hints left behind.

Suspiciously little, in fact.

Veliona froze as Sunny suddenly grabbed her wrist. He had a dark look on his face.

”We need to leave. Whatever’s in here is smart enough to cover it’s tracks.”

That alone wouldn’t have been too much of a deterrent, but Sunny didn’t know what Rank and Class the being was. He didn’t even know if it was a Nightmare Creature, or some demented human that was sealed down here until the only thing they knew was the pragmatic methods of murder.

Even Saints haven’t been able to escape. What chance did the two of them have if they encountered the being hiding down here?

Veliona frowned for a few moments, before nodding. With a disappointed smile on his face, Sunny turned.

’Huh?’

There was a wall of blood-red flames, destroying their path of escape. There was no heat being expelled. It was just... there.

Sunny almost thought it was a mind attack of some kind. A poorly fabricated one, at that.

Then, those same flames began to dance around, flying towards Sunny and Veliona’s faces as they flinched.

The flames halted before them, shifting into a set of symbols. The Nightmare Spell began to translate the floating, and certainly burning, runes.

Sunny read through them a few times, then scoffed.

”Seriously? That’s what this place is?”

He shook his head in disbelief. He still couldn’t comprehend that there were people who actually went out of their way to set these things up — both in the Dream Realm’s past, and even in the modern day!

A few moments later, Veliona’s scythe cleaved through the wall of flames. They disappeared down to the very last embers, as if they never existed in the first place. The pair were given the opportunity to leave despite the fact that the place was designed to not allow for any escape.

An hour later, Sunny and Veliona had left the underground corridor. The former stared dejectedly at the broken door, knowing that if anyone happened to walk by, they’d know for a fact that there were people here.

Once they reached the surface, Veliona sent him a confused look.

”So... what’s that all about?”

Opening the Covetous Coffer, Sunny pulled out a bag of chips. He looked back at the ruins one last time as they walked towards the chain leading to the Chained Isles.

Plenty of thoughts rushed through Sunny’s head — including thoughts of treasure and secrets. Despite that, he didn’t have much of an urge to check it out.

”Didn’t you read the weird fire runes? It’s an inheritance, idiot.”

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