Star Rail: The Aeon Hunters

"And they just let me tag along, no questions asked," Lynx muttered to herself, both impressed and concerned at how gullible these guards are. Then she turned towards Stella, who's already taking notes on the state of Backwater Pass.

Lynx doesn't have much memory of this place, though the corrosion happened very recently, she never really went to this place often. School takes up most of her childhood and the snow plains become more of her home than the city itself.

Now, however, surrounded by the dilapidated walls and buildings, Lynx found a sense of quiet and danger not unlike the ones she found in the Snow Plains. Not only that, but she also found strange golden growth jutting out from the ground and the walls.

"What is this?" Lynx asked, curious.

Stella took a picture of it. "What is this Mr. Yang?" she typed into her phone before sending it. After a moment, a message came to her.

"It is a Calyx, a strange entity born from the phenomenon of space distortion. Be careful, as it contains a pocket dimension salvaged from the fragments of the world around it. Please mark your coordinates, Herta and I will properly seal and retrieve this object for further research," Stella read Yang's reply.

Lynx nodded. "So that's what those things are," she turned to Stella. "I also saw one in the Snow Plains, I can show it to you later,"

"Thank you,"

With that, the two plus the Silvermane Guards walked deeper into the Backwater Pass. Along the way, they saw abandoned phone booth, fountains, plaza, and more. They also saw glimpses of Fragmentum Beast, though none have tried to attack them so far.

Until one of the bigger ones spotted them. It is a large one, resembling the ones Stella found in the Snow Plains. Not only that, but a few more with a humanoid shape emerged from the shadows. There's even one in the distance that resembles a horse.

The Silvermane Guards tensed up the moment they saw it, one of them already getting ready to retreat.

"We're spotted," the guard said. "We must retreat immediately, follow me,"

Stella narrowed her eyes. "Retreat? Without a fight?" she twirled her bat. "Not in my book, I'll handle this don't worry,"

Though Lynx already saw what Stella is capable of, she's still worried about seeing her facing that many fragmentum beasts all at once. I mean, Stella is just a human, like her, right? How can she possibly fight off that many monsters at once?

There was a bang and the biggest one were sent flying off to the wall with a swing of Stella's bat. Then she jumped back to dodge an attack from the humanoid ones, before batting one of their heads off. She swiftly dealt with the other one with a powerful round house, followed by smashing her bat on top of its head.

Finally, Stella gazed at the final opponent, the one resembling a centaur. It was then that, unexpectedly, the centaur took out a bow and arrow and start aiming at her.

Except, it wasn't aiming at her, it was instead aiming at Lynx.

The little girl watched with wide eyes as the green arrow flashed before her. She closed her eyes, bracing for the worst, only to felt a warm embrace instead of piercing pain. She dared to open her eyes and saw Stella crouching in front of her, shielding her from the attack.

"STELLA!" Lynx shouted.

"N-not a scratch!" Stella stood up and turned around. "Stay behind me, don't worry, I can handle it,"

Stella dashed towards the centaur, tanking the hits from the arrows, before delivering a blow right at its face. Then she smacked it again, and again, and again with her bat before delivering a final kick right to its chest.

When all is done, Stella stood victorious surrounded by numerous remains of the fragmentum beasts. She shouldered her bat and took a deep breath. "Phew, not bad," she said with a grin. "Anyway, Lynx, sorry for that close call, I think we should hurry before something bad happen,"

Lynx stood there in mute silence. Both in awe of her power and for that close call with death. She knew without a doubt, just how powerful Stella is. But, even that is beyond her imagination. What could've took an entire squad of Silvermane Guard, Stella took it by herself effortlessly.

With that, they continued their expedition. Even the Silvermane Guards are effectively unnecessary due to how powerful Stella is compared to them. They all just tag along behind her, for protection instead of for protecting her.

"Wait, huh?" Stella paused for a moment, looking around in confusion. "Did you saw that?"

"Saw what?"

"It seems like a child, very young…" Stella muttered to herself. "I mean, I saw them, but…" she shook her head. "Must've been my imagination."

Lynx tilted her head. "Did you get hurt during the fight?"

Stella twisted her body and craned her neck. "No, doesn't hurt," she turned around, showing a tear on her jacket, but little to no damage on her skin. "See? I'm fine, don't worry," she looked around the place. "Wait… what are those?"

The group walked towards a bunch of boxes scattered across the clearing. One of the guards walked up towards one of the boxes. "These are armory crates," the guard explained. "They contain supplies for the Silvermane Guards,"

The guard opened one of the boxes, when…

"GYAAAH!" the guards fell down and scrambled away from the box. "Th-there's a… a corpse…"

The other guards quickly checked the box, but they simply tilted their heads. "There's nothing here Jim, are you okay? You haven't slept in a while," they closed the box again. "We'll report about these missing armory boxes to Captain Dunn later, let's see if the other ones have anything of value,"

Despite this, the group does feel an unsettling aura in the area. Not only from the rumbling growl of the Fragmentum Beasts, but also from the soft howling of the wind that sounds strangely like a whisper.

"Found something," one of the guard says. "It's someone's proof of citizenship,"

"Can I see it?" Stella asked.

The guard handed it to her.

"Hmm… This matches with the ones that man asked me to retrieve… but why is it here? He told me it's in his home," Stella muttered to herself. "Well, I got what I came here for, time to go back."