He Who Feels Guilt [Honkai: Star Rail]

Narrator's Pov

"What the hell is that human doing?"

"Who cares? Looks like he's delusional"

Ryan slowly dragged a big stick across the snow making a trail behind him, he was walking around the edges of the village, he let out a short sigh as he heard the two men looking at him from the distance.

He stopped dragging the stick when he realized he had reached the start of the trial, he had made a circle around the village of the Ice Spirits, he looked the long trial he had made and let out a short sigh before throwing the stick to the side and then slowly walking away from the place, getting into a forest he looked upwards seeing how the sky had already started to get dark.

"I can't do it...I'm sorry, Emperor"

Ryan softly hit his forehead against a tree, he looked slightly to the side, seeing the village of the Ice Spirits on the distance, he sighed deeply and backed away from the tree sitting on the snow driving his hands to his head.

"If the negotiations fail, take care of them, Chevalier"

As he remembered the voice and order of the Emperor he let out a small grunt, grabbing his hair, he has gotten his orders, he had already set up the perimeter where he'd lift the barrier so no one left the village when he starts...no one would survive.

Could he really kill everyone in there? Could he kill HER?

"Why are you doubting?"

He immediately stood up and grabbing the hilt of his katana he quickly turned around and unsheathed it throwing a cut but the blade of his katana was stopped by 2 fingers grabbing it.

"Rising your weapon against a god is very rude"

Ryan frowned a bit seeing Turzina smirking lightly at him, she let go of his weapon and he quickly sheathed it back, crossing his arms over his chest he looked at the woman.

"It's you again...haven't seen you in a while"

"I was mad at you, after all, you did kill my most loyal pawn"

"I just followed my orders...Uncle Dunn was killing innocents, and the Emperor didn't like that" he frowned a bit angry at the woman.

"Yeah, orders, you doubted on killing Dunn, and now, you're doubting on killing that Ice Spirit you love~"

"What do you want, Goddess?"

"I want to help you"

"I don't need help...I'm not doing it, I'll tell the Emperor to find another way" he looked away from her.

"So you're just going to let them continue their plans? Many will die, they could even take over the entire island and kill everybody if they aren't stopped now" she grinned a bit and slowly levitated until she stopped in front of Ryan. "And their queen...she's in process of becoming a Demi-God"

Ryan suddenly stopped walking. "...you're lying"

"Why would I lie? I'm only giving you valuable information, I care about you~"

"....you gods don't care about us mortals, that's something that history has proven again and again" he frowned at Turzina. "Barely a few gods gaze upon us, and even less do it with appreciation, you're no better than those that see us as mere pets"

"You should be grateful that I even come down here to talk to you"

"You only do so because you know I won't let you control me so freely, without Uncle Dunn, I'm the only one that holds a pact with you" he again started to walk, walking right through the ethereal form of the goddess. "I'm not killing the Ice Spirits"

"You let them kill innocent people...what would that dirty crow think~"

She immediately turned around and used her hand to catch the blade of Ryan's katana, the boy had attacked the woman directly with a cut to her neck, she let out an amused chuckle and pushed the sword away.

"The Crow would be disappointed if you simply left allowing the Ice Spirits to kill more people"

"No...Mr.Teo would understand" he frowned looking away as he sheathed his katana. "He'd understand why I can't do it..."

"Ryan Chevalier can't do it." She grinned and leaned close to his face. "But what about Ace Chevalier? The one that caused the Roclis Incident, the one that killed Dunn Chevalier."

"I'm not Ace, my name is Ryan..."

"You might have been tainted by Quantum Leonis when you turned into an Moon Spirit, but you will always be a Chevalier, you will always be my dear Ace" the woman smiled as she started to slowly caress his cheek.

"I promised Mr.Teo that I wouldn't allow anyone to see..."

"No one will, after all, there won't be any witnesses, no one will tell anyone about Ace Chevalier, don't be afraid, I'll look away while you work"

With those final words she simply disappeared in black smoke, Ryan stood still and drove a hand to his face, as much as he hated the goddess, she did had a point, he couldn't just leave and allow the Ice Spirits to harm more innocent people...he had received his orders, he had to fulfill them, it was what was expected of him.

"Will it really be okay if no one knows?..."

He drove his hands to his head, taking off the ornament he used to tie his hair, he looked down at the ornament and softly rubbed it with both hands, Teo and Orly had given that to him for his birthday, it belonged to Ryan...not to Ace.

"I'm sorry...Mr Teo"

He slowly put the ornament inside of his kimono and looked at the village of the Ice Spirits in the distance.

The mark under his left eye started to glow lightly, his skin slowly turning gray as a black cloak appeared around him, he looked at his own hands for a few seconds before looking again towards the village...then he slowly started to walk towards it.

...

Ryan jumped to dodge the tackle of a flamespawn, he fell on top of a Shadewalker stabbing its head with an ethereal katana, turning around he threw a quick slash killing an Icespawn that tried to tackle him from behind, two Incineration Shadewalkers sweeped their halberds towards the boy but he ducked under both attacks kicking their legs making both Fragmentum monsters fall, 2 ethereal swords appeared over the prone monsters and stabbed their heads killing them.

Various swords appeared around Ryan and started to shoot towards approaching monsters while the boy created two additional katanas in his hands and ran towards the monsters starting to weave between them slashing their bodies precisely.

Ryan clapped his hands, a strong gust of wind purchased all the monsters away from him, but then he rolled to the side dodging a purple lighting that almost fell on him, he looked directly at the Guardian Shadow that waved her staff making more lighting fall towards him.

Ryan quickly opened his hands making a big ethereal axe appear on his hands, he spun around and threw the axe towards the Guardian shadow that tried to move her staff to defend herself but the weapon moved too fast and it hit her on the stomach.

She tried to attack Ryan yet again but a quick cut to her neck decapitated her, Ryan made the ethereal katana disappear from his hand and quickly jumped backwards dodging a golden beam that an Imaginary Weaver had shoot at him, various Imaginary Weavers accompanied by a Decaying shadow surrounded him and started to attack.

Ryan started to run and jump, quickly dodging the multiple waves and beams of energy thrown at him, the Decaying shadow spun her staff before holding it, various golden spikes appeared around her and quickly flew at Ryan that tried to dodge them, but these simply turned around to try to hit him again an again so he kept dodging these spikes alongside the multiple attacks thrown at him

Eventually a few spikes hit him, a golden and. Lack energy surrounded him making him feel his body heavy and hard to move, a few Shadewalkers started to quickly run towards him to attack him, he let out a small grunt and the mark under his left eye started to glow, his skin slowly turning gray as he freed himself from the energy around him with a magic pulse.

The Imaginary Weavers were about to start attacking him again alongside the other monsters but Ryan lifted up his hands and then put it down on the snow, a big magic circle appeared under him, the mark under his left eye glowed brighter and the magic circle grew almost twice in size, the circle spun a bit before stopping and turning blue, various ice spikes came out of the magic circle impaling the Shadewalkers and some Imaginary Weavers.

Ryan slowly lifted up his hands from the snow, a small lighting coming out of his palm, he got both palms close and the lighting formed in a sphere between his hands, said sphere started to throw multiple lighting bolts that hit the Fragmentum monsters and bounced between them hitting various of them, killing most imaginary weavers and Shadewalkers.

The magic circle started to quickly spin almost uncontrollably, various monsters started to approach Ryan, while the Decaying shadow yet again prepared to throw her spikes at him, an Incineration Shadewalker tried to sweep at Ryan but the boy's hand grabbed its head.

His hands surrounded by a black glow and adding a small amount of strength, he ripped off the Shadewalker's head, at the same time a black cloak appeared around him, he let the head go and turning around he split in half another Shadewalker using his hand as a blade, the bodies of the monsters disappeared in a black smoke instead of the usual blue particles.

The Decaying Shadow pointed her staff at Ryan and the spikes went flying at him again, this time, instead of dodging Ryan decided to punch the spikes, the black glow around his hand disintegrating the energy the spikes were made of breaking them completely, he approached the Decaying shadow as he slapped and punched the spikes, being close enough he lunged at her burying both hands into her chest, before spreading his hands to the sides tearing apart the Decaying Shadow's torso.

As a few flamespawns and Icespawns tried to attack him, he lifted up two fingers in front of him, the magic circle finally stopped spinning turning green, all the monsters inside of the magic circle area started to move slower until they got almost completely still, Ryan started to calmly walk towards the Fragmentum monsters to tear them apart one by one with his hands.

After taking out quite a few of the slowed down monsters, he sqw how a few others had enterrd the area also gettijg slowed down, he again lifted up two fingers, this time the magic circle spun and stopped turning red, the monsters started to move at their usual speed but we're quickly stopped by a sudden burst of flames that came out from around Ryan, it was as if huge waves of fire covered the place melting the snow on the ground and momentarily causing a small rain on the place because of the temperature.

The small rain lasted just a few seconds as it again started to snow when ryan stopped the fire around him, a lot of the remaining monsters had been burnt down because of the fire and barely a few remained, he walked to the monsters that tried to attack him but Ryan simply teared through them with his hands like if they were made of paper.

Eventually a lone Shadewalker remained, Ryan quickly grabbed its head with one hand while the other one grabbed its throat, he gripped it's neck tightly and then pulled his hand away ripping off the monster's throat.

"Hey Ryan! Take off the edgy cloak!" The voice of Stelle was heard from afar.

He let the Shadewalker's body dissapear in black smoke, his skin returned to its normal colour as the cloak slowly disappeared around him, he looked towards his companions, now accompanied by Gepard, the mark under his left eye stopped glowing.

"You guys finished too?"

He approached the group as he took from inside of his kimono the ornament he had out inside, taking it to his head he again tied his hair in a high ponytail.

"You could say that...Gepard is in our side now" Serval sighed softly but held a little smile.

He looked at the blonde and nodded his head. "Good, will you be joining us then?"

"No...I have to stay here, you might have taken care of the monsters now...but more will come, my comrades are hurt and weakened, I have to stay here and defend the frontlines...I'm sorry" Gepard lowered his head a bit.

"Ryan...what was that?" Seele asked a bit curious.

"They saw..." He let out a short sigh. "It's not the time for that, Seele, we have to look for the Stellaron"

"Ryan is right" Dan Heng nodded his head. "Serval, can you guide us?"

"Brother, will you be able to hold all this in your own?" Serval asked to her brother.

"Yes...my comrades are strong, they'll recover in no time, you guys continue, I'll be fine" Gepard nodded his head softly.

"...fine, but if I return and I find a single scratch on you, I'm slapping you" Serval spoke patting Gepard's head a bit before starting to walk. "Let's go!"

The group slowly started to follow Serval, Ryan was going to follow them too, but Gepard patted his shoulder softly.

"Ryan"

"Yes, Gepard?"

"I wanted to apologize...you and your friends truly came to help, and I only complicated the situation..."

"You were just following orders, Gepard..." He looked at the captain a bit serious. "Orders are important, I know that... we'll talk again after everything is over"

"Yes, be careful, the Fragmentum will get stronger the deeper you go" the blonde wanred him.

"I will Gepard, be careful too"

Gepard nodded his head and started to walk towards the gate, Ryan let out a short sigh and rubbed his forehead a bit...he really messed up and got carried away against the Fragmentum monsters, he looked towards his companions and quickly joined them.

...

"The Fragmentum has really swallowed this place..."

March looked around anxiously as they walked into an alley, Serval frowned as she too looked around, they walked down a set of stairs and found themselves on a small plaza.

"This is worse than what I expected...last time I came here the Fragmentum here wasn't as strong as it is now" she bit her lower bottom softly. "No matter...let's go, we can't waste time"

"Wait..."

Seele frowned a bit and ran slightly ahead, she kneeled down and picked up an item from the ground, she held a small snow globe on her hand, she looked at it and stood up with a worried expression on her face.

"This belongs to Bronya..."

★ ★ ★

A/N: And that's today's chapter, I feel like writing past midnight makes me either write faster to either sleep earlier or because I have before sleep motivation.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed!