She probably wouldn't have ti in the short term.
With complicated emotions, Kiana chatted with Robin for a few monts. Although Robin felt sowhat regretful, she expressed her understanding and extended an invitation for her to co to Penacony to attend the Charmony Festival.
Kiana pinned the conversation. She could guess what Robin wanted to talk to her about.
At the sa ti, she glanced toward Acheron.
"Hm?"
"... i, you ntioned before that you wanted to find the Galaxy Ranger, right?"
"I once t a special person in the depths of Nihility and promised to return sothing to its rightful owner."
Acheron nodded. This unfinished matter had always remained in her mory. Even when she used to be forgetful, she had never forgotten it, and she certainly would not forget now.
She also took promises very seriously.
Kiana looked at her phone with a hint of emotion and said softly, "No rush. Maybe we'll run into them soti soon."
She had slept for a very long ti. Fortunately, she didn't have too many social connections, so handling everything wasn't as troubleso as she had imagined.
However, when Ruan i heard that she planned to go ho for a while—especially to retrieve the Stigmata—she accompanied her back and handled so matters along the way.
"Herta already knows about your situation and wants to et you at the space station. Do you want to go see her?"
On the eve of departure, Ruan i—who was planning to return to Herta Space Station to continue her unfinished research and temporarily wrap up a project—ntioned sothing unexpected to Kiana.
"Herta?"
"Mm. She ntioned it to a couple of days ago."
Kiana felt a little puzzled. Hadn't she already t Herta before? Why would Ruan i specifically say that Herta wanted to et her—again?
She knows about my situation.
"Is she interested in Honkai too?"
"Herta... for her, anything that is a difficult puzzle will attract her interest."
A difficult puzzle...
Well, Honkai certainly counted as one. Even in her current state, she couldn't claim to fully understand it herself.
"What do you think, Ruan?"
eting Herta wasn't a problem. Besides, what she planned to do next might require discussions with certain people.
She could retrieve the Stigmata from Jyahnar at any ti, but using her own power to bring the Stigmata world into reality...
Her thoughts were still unclear.
And Ruan i... she already had too many research topics to handle. Kiana felt embarrassed to bring this to her imdiately and planned to figure things out on her own first.
"Would you like to hear my suggestion?" Ruan i said. "Personally, I recomnd that you go talk with her. Herta... her talent is indeed astonishing."
"Alright. Then I'll postpone going to Belobog to find Jyahnar for now."
Kiana trusted Ruan i's judgnt unconditionally. Since she felt Kiana should talk with Herta, she imdiately pushed back her plan to go to Belobog.
There weren't many things she needed to do at the mont. She planned to go to Belobog to neutralize the Honkai there and check on Jyahnar—who had been left on her own for quite so ti—and retrieve the Stigmata crystals left behind by Izumo.
After that, she would accept Robin's invitation.
Make a trip to Penacony.
Once those things were done, there seed to be nothing urgently requiring her attention anymore. She could fully devote herself to researching how to recreate the Stigmata world in reality.
When she returned to the space station again, several days had already passed. It looked much the sa as when she had last visited.
What surprised her was the Astral Express docked at Herta Space Station. Kiana hadn't expected to encounter the Astral Express again so soon after waking up.
Truly worthy of being the protagonists.
Such a strong sense of presence.
Silently giving the Astral Express a ntal thumbs-up, Kiana didn't plan to look for the Naless this ti since she was here to et Ruan i.
As before, the one she t was Herta's puppet. Kiana was actually quite curious about what Herta's real body looked like.
Being stared at constantly by the puppet—even though it was cute—still gave her an unsettling chill down her spine.
Rubbing her arm uneasily, Kiana took the initiative to break the silence. "Miss Herta? Maybe say sothing? Just staring at isn't helping anyone."
"Let study you."
Herta not speaking would have been better; once she did, she dropped a bombshell that made Kiana's head buzz.
Wait, is that sothing you can just say casually?
Ruan i and Acheron both instinctively turned their gazes toward her. Ruan i's expression remained as unreadable as ever, while Acheron's reaction was far more direct.
A frown.
Displeasure.
"I must refuse!" Kiana rejected Herta's sudden request without hesitation.
"Tsk, I knew it," Herta said irritably. "Last ti I asked you to help test the Simulated Universe, you reacted the sa way."
"... If you don't want your Simulated Universe anymore, maybe I could satisfy your curiosity," Kiana replied helplessly. "I don't know what kind of strange reactions Honkai energy might produce with your Simulated Universe, but it definitely won't be anything good."
"Honkai energy... what a strange na," Herta said. Through Ruan i, she had co into contact with this new phenonon and showed considerable interest in it. "According to Ruan i, you're already walking the path toward ascension?"
Kiana glanced at Ruan i beside her and nodded. "I guess... you could say that. Honestly, I don't know how to accurately describe my current state to you."
"Honkai, Honkai energy... your path doesn't seem related to Aeons at all. It doesn't resemble a Path either, and it doesn't have its own defining trait."
As long as one could endure the erosion of Honkai energy, anyone could use its power. And the power itself was extrely peculiar—it could erode and affect living beings, the dead, machines, and even intelligent constructs. There was almost nothing it couldn't influence.
It could even erode the power of Paths, including the notoriously troubleso Path of Nihility. That alone had surprised Herta for quite so ti.
No wonder Ruan i had suddenly beco interested.
With sothing like this placed right before them, she thought, no genius could possibly suppress their curiosity.
"That's true," Kiana agreed with a nod. Even now, she didn't feel that Honkai energy had anything similar to a Path.
How did that saying go? The Aeons in this universe felt more like embodints of philosophy.
Honkai had nothing to do with that.
Even the destruction of worlds wasn't Honkai energy's original intent—it was rely a side effect.
"So then..."
Before Herta could finish speaking, the space station suddenly trembled. Imdiately afterward, everyone present felt a sudden wave of heat.
Her words interrupted, Herta's mood worsened instantly, and the sensation of heat allowed her to quickly lock onto the source.
"This is... an Antimatter Legion invasion?"
Kiana spoke in surprise. Even without seeing what was happening outside, that sensation could only make her think of one thing—Destruction.
Were these guys really bold enough to attack the space station?
No—
Kiana suddenly jolted awake to a realization.
Wasn't this exactly when the ga's main storyline officially began?
The Legion invades the space station. The Stellaron Hunters secretly infiltrate it and place the Stellaron restrained by Herta into the protagonist's body.
And then, the story truly begins.
Right. When they had just arrived at the space station, they had seen the Astral Express docked there.
Which ant—
Stelle, or Caelus, was about to appear.
"Miss Herta, it seems your space station is under attack by the Antimatter Legion," Kiana said, sounding rather eager. "Do you need any help?"
"You seem excited," Herta remarked.
"I am," Kiana said seriously. "I'm very curious—and very interested. This is your territory, Miss Herta. For the Legion's foot soldiers to dare attack the space station without even a single Lord Ravager showing up… they must have completely lost their minds."
"I really want to see what kind of Voidranger they are—what species could possibly be this hard-headed."
Thinking about how the plot was now officially starting, Kiana couldn't help feeling a spark of excitent.
The Legion of Destruction knows no fear. To destroy enemies—or be destroyed—is all part of walking the Path of Destruction.
Kiana's way of putting it was rather amusing.
Attacking her space station—weren't they just brainless?
Brainless.
Yes! morize that one. Next ti she t so idiot who couldn't understand human language, she'd use that exact phrase.
"Then go take a look," Herta waved her hand. "As long as you don't flip my space station upside down, do whatever you want. Oh, and Ruan·i—I still have so things I want to discuss with you."
After bidding farewell to Ruan i and Herta, Kiana impatiently prepared to head out and see what was happening outside.
As for what Herta wanted to talk to Ruan·i about, it was probably academic matters—or her own situation.
She wasn't particularly curious.
Many areas of the space station were already showing Fragntum phenona. Along the way, Kiana spotted quite a few Legion Voidrangers.
This wasn't her first ti encountering such a situation. Back when she had been searching for i, she and Robin had gone on tour performances across various worlds to help where they could. She had encountered worlds facing Stellaron crises—and Legion invasions—more than once.
"I'll handle it," Acheron said, seeing the Voidrangers ahead, her hand resting on her sword hilt.
"Then I'll leave it to you, i~"
Co to think of it, since reuniting, Kiana hadn't actually seen Acheron fight with her own eyes.
In an instant, the entire space seed to lose all color. By the mont the space returned to normal, the Voidrangers wandering the corridor had already turned to ash and vanished completely.
Sheathed her blade, Acheron asked, "Where do you want to go next?"
Kiana closed her eyes and sensed outward. With her as the center, the entire space station ca into her perception.
"This way," she pointed in a direction. "Aside from the Legion, there are other uninvited 'guests' on Herta's space station. Let's go see what's going on."
Stelle had already appeared. Without teleporting, if they walked over now, they likely wouldn't run straight into Kafka or Silver Wolf.
But she didn't need to et them.
She simply wanted to see Stelle—the protagonist of Honkai: Star Rail.
As for the Stellaron Hunters—
They were parallel lines that would never intersect.
There was no need to provoke them. She wasn't a Naless, and getting too deeply entangled with the Stellaron Hunters probably wouldn't be a good thing.
"So you offered to help because you sensed those uninvited 'guests'?" Acheron asked.
"Yep!" Kiana nodded, not hiding anything from her, smiling as she said, "They're the Stellaron Hunters. They're in the room where Herta stores her curios, ssing with her collection."
"Stellaron Hunters…"
Acheron seed thoughtful—though in truth, she didn't recall having heard of such an organization.
"That's not important. What they're doing is… quite interesting. I want to take a look. Maybe this even counts as witnessing history."
Witnessing history?
What kind of event could deserve that title?
With a trace of curiosity in her heart, every Voidranger they encountered along the way was erased by Acheron's blade, leaving no trace behind.
They barely needed to fight at all. The only trouble was navigating the maze-like corridors. Before long, Kiana arrived at their destination.
"Who's out there?"
Just as they drew near, a girl's voice rang out from inside.
From the sound alone—it was a familiar voice.
Kiana had deliberately co here after they had already t. Upon entering the room, her gaze imdiately landed on the clear-eyed girl standing beside March 7th, her expression innocent and slightly bewildered.
Smiling, she greeted the familiar faces. "March 7th, Dan Heng—long ti no see."
"Miss Kiana?!" March 7th stared at her in shock, rubbing her eyes. "Why are you here? No, wait—when did you wake up?!"
Seeing that it was a familiar face rather than a Legion enemy, Dan Heng relaxed his guard slightly. Whether it was Kiana or Acheron, both were powerful allies.
"Just recently. I haven't been awake long," Kiana said. "Ruan ntioned that Miss Herta wanted to et , so I ca along today. I didn't expect to run into a Legion invasion of the space station, though."
"Yeah, it was super sudden! There are Legion thugs all over the station—we took out a bunch on the way!"
Kiana nodded, then shifted her attention to the girl who seed completely unaware of the situation.
"And this is…?"
"Oh! She said her na is Stelle. We just t her here," March 7th explained. "But she seems to have amnesia. We were planning to take her back to the Master Control Zone with us!"
March 7th then invited them warmly. "Do you want to co with us? Station Head Asta and all the evacuated researchers are there."
"Are you searching for researchers too?"
"Not exactly. I sensed that there were so uninvited guests here, so I ca to check it out."
"Huh?"
Dan Heng glanced at Stelle.
Stelle, being stared at, scratched her head and pointed at herself. "?"
She rembered that when she first woke up, she had heard Dan Heng talking about how her coordinates hadn't been sent from the space station.
So… was she not from the space station?
Then who was she? Where did she co from?
Kiana shook her head. "Those two guests have already left."
Two guests… could it be—
Stelle fell into thought. When she had just awakened, she had seen two people standing before her.
Was that who Kiana ant?
She couldn't quite figure it out.
"Then shall we head back to the Master Control Zone together?"
"Sure."
Dan Heng judged that the girl they had just t—Stelle—was unusual. Or rather, far from ordinary.
Seeing how Kiana's curious gaze kept drifting toward Stelle from ti to ti, he couldn't help but wonder.
Had she co here specifically for Stelle?
With questions in his heart, Dan Heng decided he'd need to pay closer attention to this newly acquainted girl going forward.
"Then let's go!"
March 7th said cheerfully.
Last ti, she had asked Kiana to help find Mr. Yang. They did find him—but Kiana herself had t with an accident and fallen into a deep sleep. That had worried them sick.
Even though Miss Acheron had said it wasn't their fault, no matter how you looked at it, they were the ones who had asked Kiana for help.
And then she ended up in a coma.
How could they not feel guilty?
—
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