Honkai Star Rail: Make Honkai Great Again Chapter 157: It’s Because of You

Herta's Space Station.

After persuading Acheron that day, Kiana, carrying her lingering worry, boarded the Xianzhou's Starskiff bound for the Space Station.

Of course, she didn't spend the trip idly.

She poured all her focus into developing her teleportation ability—researching, learning, and experinting along the way.

She hoped to complete this crucial skill as soon as possible, to save all the ti she kept wasting on travel.

Ruan i had told her not to co.

But Kiana couldn't rest easy—so she ca anyway. She waited until the day before arrival to send Ruan i a ssage letting her know she was on her way.

A classic case of acting first, explaining later.

Ruan i never replied.

Kiana didn't know whether she hadn't seen it, or whether she had seen it and was displeased by Kiana's lack of trust.

When Kiana arrived and saw the Space Station still intact, she braced herself for the possibility of having to wait a while before seeing Ruan i.

But to her surprise, the mont she stepped off the platform, she spotted that familiar figure she'd been thinking about day and night.

There was no mistaking it—Ruan i.

And right now… was she waiting for her?

Kiana's eyes lit up. After greeting the people who had escorted her, she hurried toward Ruan i.

It wasn't anxiety over the Propagation issue that drove her—it was pure joy at seeing Ruan i again.

When she was only a few ters away, she finally called out, her voice brimming with happiness: "Ruan!"

Ruan i had already sensed her approach and wasn't surprised by her call. She simply turned slowly, gazing at the girl she hadn't seen for so ti.

It hadn't been long, but Kiana looked exactly the sa as when she'd left—unchanged in the slightest.

Ruan i didn't speak. Instead, she extended her hand toward Kiana, as if signaling sothing.

What was this about?

Kiana blinked in confusion, then hesitantly placed her own hand in Ruan i's elegant one.

Ruan i's fingers closed around hers.

Kiana's mind was filled mostly with confusion, though beneath it all was a current of joy at seeing her again.

Holding Kiana's hand, Ruan i finally spoke her first words since they t again. "I'll keep my promise to you. You really didn't have to worry."

"Even if it wasn't about that, I should still co see you! I missed you!"

Sweet words ca naturally to Kiana. Their joined hands shifted slightly until her fingers slipped between Ruan i's, lacing together tightly.

"Ruan, didn't you miss too?"

Her expression was pitifully soft. She was worried Ruan i might do sothing reckless behind her back—but she wasn't lying.

Ruan i was hers, after all.

She missed Ruan i, so she ca to see her. Was that so wrong?

Of course not!

Ruan i glanced down at their interlocked fingers. Kiana's grip was firm—as if afraid she'd slip away.

She knew that wasn't the main reason.

She could tell.

Still…

"Let's talk sowhere quieter."

Ruan i didn't want to stand here too long. She could make others overlook them if she wished—but there were still too many people passing by.

Too distracting.

"Anything you say~"

Kiana followed her, side by side, into the elevator. They took several winding routes, moving deeper into the Space Station.

The number of people they saw dwindled rapidly.

Eventually, there was no one else in sight.

"Herta temporarily granted control over this section. No one will disturb us here."

Ruan i led her into a lab in the restricted sector. Kiana found it oddly familiar—then realized it resembled the background she'd seen in their last call.

"You must've been really busy lately, huh?"

Kiana glanced briefly around the lab, but her gaze soon returned to Ruan i. She reached out and gently brushed her cheek, concern soft in her voice. "I ca on my own… I didn't cause you any trouble, did I?"

"No trouble."

Ruan i caught her hand, eting her gaze. "I'm just a little unhappy."

"Because… I didn't listen to you?"

"You don't trust ."

Ruan i lowered her gaze, tightening her hold on Kiana's hand. "I understand why you didn't trust ," she said softly, "but that doesn't make it feel any better."

Kiana instantly felt awkward, fumbling for an excuse. "It's not that I don't trust you. It's just… I couldn't rest easy without coming to see for myself."

"That is a lack of trust."

There was no arguing with that. Any explanation would sound hollow. Kiana bit her lip, her voice small as she lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

She really had doubted her, at least a little.

After all, Ruan i was a genius.

"When I make a promise to you, I'll always keep it."

Ruan i gently lifted Kiana's chin, leaning forward slightly so their eyes t. "If there's sothing you don't want to do, we can talk about it."

"Between us, honesty and understanding should always go both ways."

A faint warmth flickered in her blue eyes.

Her fingers brushed across Kiana's cheek, the gentle touch soothing the unrest in her heart.

"I do still have so ideas," she murmured.

"About Propagation."

Kiana whispered, "I know."

The distance between them was dangerously small now. Ever since Ruan i started speaking, she'd been steadily moving closer.

Now, Kiana found herself backed against the edge of the lab bench, trapped in a corner with nowhere left to retreat.

"I know your greatest passion has always been the life sciences," Kiana said quietly. "To reach the peak of that field, you'd inevitably need to study the Aeons—especially Abundance and Propagation."

Ruan i's eyes rippled faintly, reflecting Kiana's thoughts. After a mont of silence, she replied, "You're right. Honkai energy and my field of study differ greatly. But the reason I beca interested in the Honkai…"

She paused there, as if hesitating—or perhaps deliberately teasing her, letting curiosity build.

"What is it?"

Kiana couldn't hide her anxiety. Her eyes were full of worry, tension, and curiosity all at once.

"It's you."

Kiana froze, her breath caught. She had expected so complicated revelation—sothing she didn't know.

But that answer left her completely dumbfounded.

"...? Are you joking, Ruan?"

Ruan i's interest in Honkai energy was because of her? That didn't sound right at all.

She rembered clearly—

Ruan i had decided to study Honkai energy first. That was why she'd taken in Kiana, who'd lost her mory, and made that promise with her.

She'd always thought Ruan i had kept her around for her Honkai research. But now Ruan i was saying she'd beco interested in Honkai because of her…

That was completely backward!

So was Ruan i saying this just to charm her?

When Ruan i sensed that thought in her mind, she blinked in mild surprise, then corrected her calmly. "No, that's not what I ant."

Kiana: "..."

Kiana's mood flipped completely in an instant, embarrassnt flooding her entire body until her face burned hot.

Mortified, she tried to pull her hand free from Ruan i's grasp, desperate to end this soul-exposing conversation.

This was social death!

Why didn't she ever learn her lesson?!

Ruan i's grip only tightened, especially after sensing Kiana's urge to escape.

"Our conversation isn't over yet."

"...Mm."

Damn it, damn it—this was serious talk! Her brain needed to stop running wild right now!

She forced her face blank, willing her thoughts to clear.

She couldn't go through that kind of embarrassnt again.

"I think this way, our conversation is more efficient. Don't you agree?"

Kiana gave an awkward laugh.

Efficient, sure—but it left no privacy at all.

Her innermost thoughts, every mortifying idea she'd ever tried to bury—Ruan i could see them all!

"I don't mind," Ruan i said simply.

You don't mind, but I do!

She was the one dying of embarrassnt here…

That thought barely ford before Kiana cut it off, too flustered to even look Ruan i in the eyes. "Let's just… get back to the main topic."

She didn't dare think about anything else—especially when Ruan i's expression grew more serious by the second.

"Why… because of ?"

Ruan i had said she didn't an it that way, so this was the truth. But what did she an exactly?

Kiana had no recollection of any such reason.

She rembered their first eting clearly—Ruan i in her secluded laboratory, absorbed in research. Everything else from that ti was a blur.

"The reason…"

Ruan i paused, her eyes softening with mory. "It was beautiful."

Beau—what?

That didn't sound like an explanation at all!

Kiana stared, bewildered. Both of Ruan i's last statents sounded strange. Just as she was about to ask what she ant, the surroundings suddenly shifted.

She was now seeing through soone else's eyes—standing in an unfamiliar place, looking down at a sleeping figure.

Herself.

Her fully Herrscher form—divine, transcendent, and silent.

"There's no doubt—you were extraordinary. The first mont I saw you, I was captivated."

Each word sounded like a confession.

But Kiana didn't misunderstand this ti. She could tell that wasn't Ruan i's intent.

The vision faded quickly, and the lab returned to normal. What she had just witnessed must have been Ruan i's mory from that day.

"Do you know what I saw?" Ruan i asked.

"W-What?"

Kiana couldn't guess. All she'd seen was her unconscious Herrscher self.

But clearly, that wasn't what Ruan i ant.

"Perfection—and truth."

"When I saw you, it was as if I'd witnessed a miracle."

Ruan i's voice trembled slightly with emotion. "It's strange, isn't it? Even when I stood before the Erudition, I never had such a thought. But when I saw you, my mind went utterly blank except for that one word—"

"'Miracle.'"

"That's why I beca so fascinated by you—by the Honkai energy within you."

"I was desperate to understand why—why I felt that way at first sight. I wanted to uncover your secret, to unravel the mysteries of the Honkai itself."

Curiosity was the best teacher of any genius.

At first, Ruan i had believed that what was special was the Honkai—that Kiana was rely a unique Self-Annihilator, her divine presence the result of Honkai's influence.

But over ti, as she spent more days with Kiana, she realized she'd been wrong.

The miracle she had seen wasn't the Honkai.

It was Kiana.

During those two years caring for her, she had never expected that she would be changed—unwittingly influenced by Kiana, rediscovering emotions she'd long dismissed as unnecessary.

The mory faded.

Ruan i, seeing Kiana's dazed expression, kindly said nothing more. She slowly released the hand she'd been holding so tightly.

"Miracle? ? So it's because you saw a miracle in that you beca interested in the Honkai?"

Kiana tried to calm herself and make sense of it all. This was sothing she had never heard before—no one had ever said such a thing to her.

To her, Honkai had always ant disaster.

But now Ruan i was saying that she had seen a miracle in the Herrscher of Finality.

Kiana's thoughts tangled in confusion.

She was certain she hadn't been conscious at the ti—Ruan i's mory of her ca from a mont she herself couldn't recall.

"This is really…"

Kiana scratched her head, unsure what to say. She could only follow Ruan i's reasoning. "So… did you discover anything from your research?"

At her question, Ruan i's faint smile dimd slightly as she shook her head. "No."

"Honkai and miracles… I really can't connect those two. Ruan, have you ever thought that maybe… it was just an illusion?"

Kiana hadn't fully grasped what Ruan i ant. The miracle she spoke of wasn't the Honkai energy she'd observed back then.

It was the Herrscher of Finality—it was Kiana herself.

During the ti they lived together afterward, Kiana's influence on her had beco unmistakable.

But Ruan i still hadn't figured it out completely—whether it was because of that so-called miracle, or because Kiana herself possessed so inexplicable charm.

No… whether it was the forr or the latter—

It was still a kind of miracle.

With a faint sigh, she said, "To , Honkai energy is a miracle. No matter what field it touches, it always brings about unexpected results."

That, Kiana understood.

"So that's why you wanted to combine Honkai energy with the power of Propagation?"

"Mhm."

Kiana groaned inwardly, her head aching. She had never once thought of Honkai energy as anything miraculous, and even now the idea didn't quite sit right with her.

But that was actually Ruan i's reason.

For a mont, Kiana didn't know how to respond.

"If it worries you, I won't conduct the experint," Ruan i said softly, the conversation finally circling back to its beginning. "If the power of Propagation were to spiral out of control, it would indeed be troubleso."

"Exactly!"

Kiana nodded quickly, deciding to set aside everything else she couldn't make sense of. All she wanted was for Ruan i to completely abandon this idea.

"If Propagation's power runs wild, countless people could be affected!"

She added eagerly, "Even if you're really curious, we can start with sothing else—maybe another Aeon's creation, like… the Antimatter Legion!"

Her eyes suddenly lit up as she rembered the still-dormant Antimatter creatures on Jarilo.

Wouldn't that make perfect test material?

And it wouldn't even take much effort!