Fate’s Slave - Shadow Slave X Honkai Star Rail

The cadence of battle shifted when Sunny rejoined the fight. Previously, Dan Heng and Veliona were constantly on their toes, avoiding a senseless barrage of attacks from the large robot.

The automaton moved with uncanny dexterity considering it's large and wide build. Not only that, but it's steel body must make it weigh much more than a living creature of the same size.

Despite this, it showcased overwhelming agility and power as it moved around like a monkey at a circus. It's fingers functioned as saw blades; whirling around at tremendous speeds as it attempted to strike the three Awakened.

The ground was littered with small craters and scratch marks. Throughout the battle, they had moved around quite a bit in order to avoid the wide, sweeping attacks the automaton. Not only that, but their attacks did nothing to permanently damage the feral robot.

It was as if they were fighting against an unstoppable force that was also an immovable object.

However, now that Sunny was able to read Dan Heng and Veliona's style of fighting, things would change.

From what Sunny could tell, Shadow Dance was the ability to observe, dissect, analyze, steal, and enhance the combat techniques of others. For example, he would be able to watch the movements of a combatant, replicate their fighting style, and make it better than it was before.

It was a formless, unpredictable way of fighting. And things that could not be predicted were the most dangerous.

Even though Sunny had been attempting to gain insight on Dan Heng and Veliona's style of fighting — while using his shadow helpers along with shadow sense to accelerate the process — he was not attempting to use them. After all, Sunny didn't have a spear or scythe on hand.

While he could have used Serpent to take the form of those weapons, it would have been more beneficial for him to use the Legacy Relic as an efficiency multiplier for his essence control. This would not only decrease the rate in which he ran out of essence, but would allow him to gain more power at a lower cost.

So… Sunny only wielded the bat formed from the Destruction. He was focusing completely on brute force, which was quite unusual for him. After all, he had survived up until now using his crafty nature as a weapon.

At least, he would think so. It's not like he remembered the past four years.

Sunny's pupils dilated as he swung his bat at a swinging metal arm. The recoil was heavy, yet Sunny was not blown back.

Instead, the steel plates on the automaton's hand shattered… before quickly regrowing.

Sunny smiled darkly.

'Is that all you got? As expected of a pile of garbage.'

With all three of his shadows augmenting him, as well of the boost provided by Bronya's Aspect, Sunny was able to withstand the attacks automaton to some degree. Unfortunately, that did not mean that the pain of blocking such powerful attacks dissipated.

However, if it is just pain, Lost From Light will not stop.

Sunny's eyes darted around — not just to observe the automaton's body, but also to keep track of his allies.

Veliona took a step back while swinging her scythe, cleaving through it's chassis. The automaton suddenly spun around with an arm extended, which would have most likely struck her. Considering the fact that she had just attacked, there would not be enough time to avoid it from her current position.

Fortunately, she did not need to.

Reacting within a split second, Sunny smacked the arm down with his bat, bending the elbow joint at an unnatural angle.

This was why Sunny looked into the movements of the other two front-line fighters. Acting as an anchor, he would be able to ensure that they would not be punished heavily by any mistakes, while giving them opportunities to attack.

Not only that, but his own blows were nothing short of devestating. The Path of Destruction truly lived up to it's namesake, giving him enough raw power to completely decimate portions of the automaton — even if it was as physically powerful as a Fallen Tyrant that specialized in close-range attacks.

Unfortunately, the robot kept restoring itself — and it did not look like it would be stopping anytime soon.

But that was not to say that they couldn't destroy it before it had the chance to regenerate.

Sunny surveyed the tools that they had on hand.

He stared at the chassis of the automaton, staring at a specific point that seemed to be both deconstructing and reconstructing itself. It was exactly where Dan Heng had pierced it with his spear.

'It's… decaying.'

Dan Heng's insidious Aspect was seeping into the machine, slowly destroying it from the inside out. The problem was that he would need to land more hits in order for the decay to outspeed the regeneration.

Not that it was necessary. Even this was good enough.

"Dan Heng! Chest! Weak spot!"

Sunny's shouts were interrupted when he swatted away an arm that got too close to him. He wasn't sure if Dan Heng heard him over the sound of battle, but he had no opportunity to check.

An arrow of ice flew through the air, piercing it's chassis around the point of decay. Frost spread across the automaton's body… which was not something that it could heal.

The movements of the robot started to grow sluggish as it's mechanical parts started to freeze over, losing it's functionality.

But even with this drastic decrease in speed, it was still terrifyingly quick.

At least, when compared to a mundane human, it moved with terrible speed. For an Awakened… it was only average.

And average didn't cut it.

Dan Heng's spear flashed forward, penetrating the point where the steel plates were constantly being destroyed and repaired.

***

His spear cleanly penetrated the steel plates, reaching deep into the now-damaged circuitry. He pushed it in deeper for good measure, before he initiated his plan to destroy the automaton.

Dan Heng hesitated for a moment. He hadn't done this in a while… and he hoped he wouldn't have to.

His essence surged through the Cloud-Piercer, reaching the very top of the spear before it was transmutated into a substance he was once familiar with.

Deep within the robot, water spouted from the tip of his spear, covering the machinery within with liquid. Sparks started to fly, as this would have indicated the loss of functionality for any other device that ran on electricity.

Unluckily, this was not a simple robot. Despite the constant damage being dealt to the circuitry, the machine was regenerating at an astonishing rate. In fact, it restored itself so quickly, that the damage done to it didn't mean a thing.

The robot raised both of it's arms, which moved at a much slower pace than before due to the freezing and submerging of water. It's joints creaked as if they withstood untold amounts of pressure.

As it's arms raised to crush Dan Heng, he quickly focused on making his essence take on another form.

He grit his teeth.

'Not enough time!'

Just as he was about to retreat from his position, the raised arms of the automaton were suddenly broken and cut off. The strangely wrathful Sunny and the strangely murderous Seele had leaped into the air, wielding a bat and war scythe respectively.

They both had mad grins on their faces, as they shouted out in sync:

"Wait your damn turn!"

'…Did they practice that?'

Although Dan Heng questioned how they said the exact same line at the exact same time, as well as why the world was filled to the brim with bloodthirsty lunatics, he still had a job to do.

He would not waste this precious opportunity.

With the conductivity within the automaton raised to an astronomical degree, there would be no better time than now to hopefully destroy it for good.

Lightning traveled down his spear, flowing into the drenched automaton. An innumerable amount of crackling bolts were visible on the outside of it's body, and even more were visible within the small pool within it.

Dan Heng's soul essence plummeted as he put every last drop into frying the monstrous machine.

And then… he stopped.

Pulling out his spear and stepping back a few steps in caution, Dan Heng looked at the robot.

It didn't move.

'…I guess tha—'

"I'll rip you to shreds you wretch!"

"Let me join in~"

Dan Heng stared blankly as the other two started to mindlessly hit the the robot with an expression of either rage or murderous glee on their faces.

Digging her hand into the chassis, the supposedly bipolar Seele tore out a few wires.

"Sunny, look! It's robot guts!"

Sunny, who also seemed to have some sort of personality disorder, growled as he sent her an annoyed look.

"Shut up! Your voice pisses me off!"

At the same time, he was repeatedly swinging his bat at the automaton, which was both unmoving and permanently damaged — it had lost it's ability to repair itself at some point, either due to overwhelming damage or some other factor.

Looking at the two that had helped him defeat the automaton, Dan Heng wondered:

'I'm not getting paid enough for this… or at all… Could I ask Himeko to pay me?'