[A/N: Creative block is a bitch.]
———
[Lumine_Chan: What the fuck.]
[MiniMessi: That...wasn't what I expected.]
[TrashCan: Ya think? I didn't expect a past like that! Poor little baby...come here and let Mommy pamper you.]
[MiniMessi: Gross.]
[TrashCan: Shut up, can't a woman be a little thirsty?]
[MiniMessi: You would dry the ocean in a day.]
[TrashCan: Fuck off.]
ButterPufferFish was live streaming the new episode that ended with the appearance of the new monster, becoming thoughtful. Ace's past was unexpected but at the same time brought great interest to him. "I can't wait for the next episode." Cliffhangers were always a pain in the ass, but with an ending like that? Is horrible.
[Your_Dog: Hey! The new banner for Star Rail just launched! You need to see this.]
ButterPufferFish frowned in surprise; opening his game, a small cutscene began to play. Two shadowed figures jumped side by side, making a synchronized movement. With a set of orange and purple lights, the splash art revealed itself: Ace and Stelle side by side. "No way." Just by seeing the splash art, he already knew what was coming, going to the gacha and starting to pull, after losing the 50/50 to Clara, he finally got the new character.
[5 ☆ Ace & Stelle]
[Destruction/Preservation]
[Fire/Physical]
ButterPufferFish As many other streamers gasped when they saw what the new character was, it wasn't just one but a duo.
[LigmaMan: Yoooo, what the hell, man! Put him in the team and test it, please, please! I will lick your shoes.]
[TunaKaslana: And I will kiss your dog!]
[MiniMessi: Why is everyone here so weird?]
[TrashCan: Become one of us; you can't run away forever, normal person.]
[MiniMessi: Hell no.]
Ignoring the chat antics, ButterPufferFish went to the characters tab, and when clicking on the icon, Ace and Stelle appeared. Stelle was with her back turned, holding an object, and Ace was in front, transformed. After clicking on the new option, the screen spun to Stelle, now she is the one transformed.
[Mamamia: Yohoho, now that looks amazing! Two characters in one? And two paths too? How will this even work?]
[TrashCan: Don't ask, just vibe with it.]
[SolaireMyMan: To be fair, it's not made by hoyoverse anyway, so we can't really complain.]
[TrashCan: I still want to know what the hell is even happening.]
———
Golden Wolf, a streamer focused on Star Rail, also just got the new characters. First it was Ace being the first character in the Elation path, and now a duo character with two different paths in one place. "Huh, first time the MC is in the banner." She was talking to her chat while heading towards a random enemy from Herta Station.
[Hierophant_Green: Yeah, that's for sure; let's see how this works out.]
[BrolyInYourBody: I'm kinda curious now.]
The battle began. Above Ace's icon was Stelle's, but a little grayed out after clicking on the option, Ace and Stelle switched places. "Huh, so this is how it works. Let me try it with the skills." First was the basic attack, Stelle advanced towards the Voidranger, punching him using her cannons as brass knuckles, giving the Voidranger a weird debuff stack on top of his head, the symbol looked like a bomb.
[SitUpKing: Oh? A unique mechanic too? This looks like the Herta stacks.]
Golden Wolf didn't respond, just waited for Stelle's turn to come back, now being her turn again, she used the skill. Stelle pointed her cannons, releasing a fireball in the direction of the enemy that exploded everything around, dealing damage to all enemies, and the stacks on top of the Voidranger disappeared. "Oh, I see, the basic attack plants a bomb, and the skill detonates it." a simple mechanic, but with a little setup it could cause devastating damage. Now it's time to use Ace.
Ace was in his Purple Ranger form, carrying his huge purple sword. The basic attack was nothing remarkable, he just advanced on the enemy and attacked, implanting the bomb stack, but his skill is the key. He placed the sword on his chest, which shone, making the enemies suffer a taunt, and Ace received a shield. After all the enemy's attacks happened, Ace started a follow-up attack by dashing towards the enemy, hitting the sword on the ground, and causing an explosion. "Looking at the skill description, I understand now. Ace causes a taunt and receives a shield equal to 60% of his HP. He absorbs damage from enemies, and when it is Ace's turn, his shield disappears, returning 100% of the damage received and 140% equal to Ace's HP." The kit was simple, Stelle dealt massive damage, and Ace was the sustain, making the duo have their own jobs in battle.
[Malenia's Servant: Nice, a sustain and DPS in one? This can help both in teams without sustain or without a sub-dps.]
In his supreme skill, Ace raises his sword, causing pillars of light to appear around him. All the Rangers appear side by side, placing their weapons together and using their finishing attack from the series, but there is no signature lightcone available for both at the moment, but they are still quite strong.
———
The creature claps its hands and smiles, somewhere between friendly and aggressive. "But don't worry too much, i'm not an enemy, After all, you have yourself to fight today." She was a mix of owl and human, falling in an uncanny valley.
Her walk was graceful, giving a contrast to the previous monsters, with Ace still in high alert looking at the monster. "You don't need to trust me, and that's what I expect from you...I just want to know, why? Why are humans so...different?" Her aggressive approach died down, giving free rein to her own curiosity.
Ace raised his eyebrow, finding this whole beginning strange, but before he could answer, the owl jumped beside him, looking at the horizon. "There is no way to define humans; there are bad people who do evil out of pure selfishness, and other altruists who only want to see the good, and...there is you, who don't know even what you are."
Those words hurt Ace more than any blow he had received, but it's not a lie.
"But that's why humans keep going, isn't it? I want to know more about it, so...what do you say? Want to give me a hand?" Seeing the skeptical look on Ace's face, she laughs wholeheartedly. "You don't need to give me an answer now; we can wait, and I will be waiting for you." And so she jumps off the mountain, starting to fly off towards the sky.
"What a weird encounter, but for some reason, I feel this is not a bad thing." His head still heavy with thoughts of what happened, he needs to cool down and maybe calm down a little of his worries.
———
[A/N: I know this chapter is way smaller than normal, I'm putting my story ideas in order and tidying up the future so it's not so rushed, and I never thought it would be so difficult to think about game mechanics lol.]