My Honkai Star Rail: Reversing All Phenomena

The Defense Department researchers withdrew from the front lines on Hua Yi's orders, leaving either the Monitoring Room, which contained numerous surveillance feeds and offered a panoramic view of the Space Station's exterior, or the Obstacle Interception Console and Defense Projection Console, and entered the Safe Zone.

"Fireworks" continued to blossom outside the Space Station, dazzlingly brilliant, even brighter than the starlight that had spilled down throughout countless past System Times.

Amid the alternating glow of flames and lights, Emily, a Level II Researcher from the Department of Secret Scrolls who was not very good with words, ran in the opposite direction, clutching [Hua Yi's Coin] tightly in her hand.

She had not been frightened senseless by the Antimatter Legion and gotten lost in the Space Station. Rather, while evacuating toward the Base Zone Safe Zone, she had happened to feel the Herta Coin she treasured in her pocket.

Not long ago, before Hua Yi had fully made his name on the Space Station, he and Emily had played a coin game over who would treat the other to a meal.

Miss Researcher had guessed three rounds that day and lost all three. That was not the important part. The important part was that she and Hua Yi had happened to be in the Reception Hall.

The latest defense project had been personally announced by Madam Herta. Every department and every worker had attached the utmost importance to it, and everyone had memorized the 26 emergency response measures by heart. Every member of the Space Station knew where the Safe Zone was.

But one group did not exactly count as members of the Space Station—visitors who had submitted access applications through online channels, passed the review, and traveled here aboard interstellar transport to tour the place.

The only areas they were permitted to stay in were the Space Elevator and the Reception Hall. They knew nothing about defense projects, Safe Zones, or disaster response measures. When an unimaginable catastrophe struck, how could those tourists know which way to run?

I'm not that kind. I won't willingly put myself in danger just to point strangers who don't know the way in the right direction.

But Hua Yi insisted on playing the hero. How could I let the epic of a hero saving mankind be stained by a shadow?

Clenching the coin in her palm and desperately gathering her courage, Emily ran and ran until she reached the Reception Hall.

There was no one inside.

As expected. If any tourists had been stranded in the Reception Hall, the researchers would surely have guided them toward the Safe Zone.

The girl ran outside the hall. Fortunately, the hatch had not been damaged. After sensing her researcher clearance, it still opened and closed normally.

Then, just as expected, Emily saw the visitors stranded between the Space Elevator and the Reception Hall.

This was an Observation Corridor. Its broad view took in part of the Space Station's main structure and the vast universe beyond, and it had once been a famous attraction that left visitors marveling in awe.

However, once the Antimatter Legion launched its attack, the Observation Corridor became the most terrifying area of all. Those specially selected lucky people, who had merely come to visit the Starry Sky Museum renowned across the universe, suddenly became the unluckiest of souls. Panicking, they fled back into the corridor, only to gain the clearest possible view of the countless dark armies beyond the transparent barrier, facing the claws and fangs of Legion Fiends directly.

"Monsters! There are so many monsters!"

"Ahhh! Fuck, I want to go home! I want to go home!!"

"Waaah... Mom, I miss Mom."

Seeing that these unlucky people could still cry and scream, and that the outer wall of the Observation Corridor had not been damaged, Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

"Follow me. I'll take you to the Safe Zone."

She was about to say that when she suddenly realized that the visitors collapsed on the ground might not even have the strength to stand. It was not as simple as saying a few words and leading the way to get these pitiful people—who had crossed star systems to visit Herta Space Station, brimming with anticipation to observe the Wisdom Gathering Place, only to be caught up in the terrifying disaster of a Legion Attack—out of danger.

Boom!

The explosion overhead made the girl's body tremble. She could already imagine Voidrangers slicing through the corridor's outer wall with their blades, charging inside, and beginning a slaughter.

A tiny Level II Researcher naturally had no ability to fight the Antimatter Legion.

Am I... going to die?

Before that despairing thought could fully take shape, a familiar voice sounded beside Emily's ear.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here."

The cries in the Observation Corridor stopped at that instant. Everyone looked toward the figure holding a Flame Sword, and beyond him, against the backdrop of the vast universe, a blazing sea of fire that used countless dark monsters as kindling, producing continuous explosions.

Flames... no, it was him. He shone more brilliantly than stars that had glittered since time immemorial.

The hatch behind Emily opened once more. Neat, swift footsteps came to a halt, and the fully armed Defense Department researchers stared blankly at Hua Yi, at this warrior who seemed like a lord of flame and radiated an incomparable aura of power.

The lone beam of light in darkness was always captivating, and heroes who stepped forward amid chaos possessed an extraordinary charm.

They were utterly captivated, filled with boundless admiration. Their voices carried barely restrained, almost fanatical worship, along with a trace of panic.

"Sir, we... we were..."

"No need to explain. I understand. After withdrawing from the frontline defensive positions, you remembered that a group of tourists might still be stranded in the Observation Corridor, so you came despite the danger. You came at the right time. Escort them into the Safe Zone. They are the last batch of non-combat personnel still outside."

"Yes!"

The Defense Department researchers hesitated to speak. They wanted to stay and follow the hero 613, willing to face even an endless Antimatter Legion without regret.

But as they listened to the strange sounds of blazing flames incinerating Voidrangers and witnessed the astonishing sight of the sea of fire swallowing the dark legion without damaging the Space Station in the slightest, the Defense Department personnel knew they would not be of much help.

Letting the fully armed researchers organize the tourists, who had broken free from their fear and were staring at him in a daze, to evacuate, Hua Yi walked over to Emily and rubbed her head.

"It's all right now. Go back, brave girl."

"...What about you?"

"My duty is not yet complete."

Knowing she could not persuade Hua Yi to change his mind, Miss Researcher stomped her foot and turned to leave.

She understood that any unnecessary sentimentality would only waste time.

Before long, all those stranded in the Observation Corridor had made their way to the Safe Zone. No crying unlucky souls remained on the floor. Outside the Space Station, only the Hellfire that had burned for so long continued to scorch the endlessly emerging Voidrangers.

At some point, the Space Elevator, abandoned amid the disaster, suddenly activated. It ascended level by level before finally stopping at the Base Zone.

Buzz.

The elevator doors opened, revealing two people inside, one tall and one short. The person in front wore a pair of asymmetrical black boots, her heels tapping softly against the corridor floor.

Stellaron Hunters

With a black coat draped over her shoulders and sunglasses resting atop her head, the purple-haired, pink-eyed beauty looked no different from an ordinary Space Station visitor apart from her exceptionally beautiful face and mature bearing. In truth, she was the renowned Stellaron Hunter, Kafka.

Kafka raised her eyes, easily taking in the straight Observation Corridor. Through its outer wall, the dark Antimatter Legion and crimson Hellfire possessed colors that outshone the stars themselves, drawing the gaze of anyone who set foot there.

"Was this sea of fire in the script? It looks like Herta Space Station may have been attacked, but the Antimatter Legion suffered even heavier losses. This corridor does not even have any obvious damage."

"It wasn't mentioned, so it doesn't count as the script being wrong."

The silver-gray-haired girl with spiral curls stood beside Kafka. Though she lost comprehensively to this mature older sister in both height and figure, she was still the renowned super Hacker, Silver Wolf.

"The Legion's attack began two System Times ago. Since then, the Space Station has been cut off from the outside world. But from the looks of things, the local network here is still functioning normally, and internal order has not collapsed."

"There aren't any injured people on the ground. There isn't even any blood."

Walking through the corridor, Kafka's gaze sharpened slightly as she studied the blazing fire in space, which seemed to be judging the Legion.

A vacuum lacked suitable conditions for combustion?

Anyone who understood what a terrifying disaster the Antimatter Legion truly was would know that flames capable of burning Legion Fiends were no ordinary flames. This was the power of a Path, and it did not need to obey ordinary physical laws.

She had originally believed that, under the assault of the most vicious creations in the universe, this Starry Sky Museum that gathered so much wisdom would be on the brink of collapse.

The Anti-gravity Shield, which emitted blue-violet radiance across space, would be shattered. The superalloy bulkheads capable of resisting cosmic radiation would become riddled with holes. Researchers who had lived in space for ages, unfamiliar with and terrified of weightlessness, would drift toward the abyss of the universe, only to be torn to dust by monsters halfway there.

Kafka had prepared to fight Voidrangers. She had expected to run into plenty of Legion Fiends on the way from the Space Elevator to their destination, yet the Space Station seemed to be maintaining an unbelievable calm.

"Things omitted from the script are often unimportant, but I don't think it's insignificant that something powerful enough to halt the Legion's advance turned a tidal wave of Destruction into Hellfire that keeps throwing itself into death."

"I'm not a Slave of Destiny. Don't ask me if you have questions."

Silver Wolf chewed her gum and blew a pink bubble.

"If the script has omissions, what should we do next? The Astral Express will arrive soon. Add the owner of that Hellfire, and this might really become troublesome."

"The mission remains unchanged. We only need to put the target in. Where is the target location?"

"Let me look."

A virtual touchscreen appeared before the girl. Silver Wolf, the super Hacker renowned throughout the universe for her extraordinary skills, operated it with movements so dazzling they blurred the eye. Without realizing it, she stopped chewing her gum, and her pretty brows gradually furrowed.

"Something's wrong. Since when did Herta Space Station's Database Firewall get strengthened? Even I'll need several times longer than expected to get around it."

"Let's search while we move. At least the target cannot be hidden in the Observation Corridor."

"Key defense project, emergency response measures, All-Department Level IV Researcher, a warrior wielding a Flame Sword... Where did this guy named Hua Yi come from? The mission has changed, so why didn't the script mention it?"

Listening to Silver Wolf mutter to herself while browsing the Space Station's internal information after hacking into its Database, Kafka became increasingly aware of how serious the problem was.

"How long will it take to find the [Stellaron]?"

"Go through the Reception Hall, continue deeper along the corridor behind the door on the left, and there's a room containing some Curio. It can tell us where the Stellaron is."

The playful expression vanished from Silver Wolf's face, replaced by several degrees of seriousness as she started running.

The tightly shut hatch was forcibly opened by the Hacker. Seeing the empty Reception Hall and finding that the person outside the script was not lying in wait for them, the girl who had always treated the universe as a large immersive simulation game and played within it inexplicably let out a breath of relief.

Kafka did not waste time either. She followed close beside Silver Wolf, her pink eyes sweeping over the reception desk in the middle of the hall, as well as the surrounding benches and Holographic Projections.

The tabletop was not messy. Unlike the chaotic scene they had imagined, the hall suggested that people had maintained basic order during their evacuation.

This was not something that could be summed up with a simple "high personnel quality." As one of the three great disasters of the universe, the Antimatter Legion was something Space Station members could not possibly be ignorant of. The survival instincts of so many individuals had not come at the cost of trampling order, which could only mean they still had hope.

Who had given those weak people without combat abilities the confidence to survive?

Hua Yi...

Turning over the name Silver Wolf had mentioned, Kafka deliberately paid attention along the way and found no human corpses anywhere.

"Not a single person. The evacuation was incredibly thorough. Did Herta personally give the order?"

"Other than specifically praising acting Station Master Asta once and proposing the defense project, that woman did not issue any other orders on the Space Station. Now that communication with the outside world has been cut off by the radiation pulses produced by the Legion, she is even less likely to be directing the evacuation."

"...Have you found the Stellaron?"

"The script did not mention the Stellaron's exact location. That means we are not meant to find it through physical means. Let's try using a Curio to lock onto the Stellaron."

The two Stellaron Hunters entered the empty Monitoring Room and began investigating the instruments inside.

"The terminal's storage device is gone."

"A Monitoring Room, huh? Delete the Database and make a run for it—a classic industry tradition. Just kidding. Since the Space Station has not descended into true chaos, the staff here probably took all the important things with them when they evacuated."

"The Curio isn't important?"

"It is, but ordinary researchers have no authority to know that Herta placed one of her toys here."

Silver Wolf continued operating the virtual touchscreen. The monitors covering the walls reported errors one after another, making the only screen on the desk that had not errored especially conspicuous.

"Curio [Blind Spot]. A simple refracted light field that makes things in the area less likely to draw attention, but once anything else changes as a whole, it gets exposed."

The entire room was immersed in flowing data light. A hollow appeared in the corner, leading directly to the Genius's Vault.

The Birth of a Stellaron Spirit

In No Heavens Left Unspoken, Herta's Curio collection room, Kafka and Silver Wolf stepped inside and saw the figure who had turned the tide amid disaster.

A sword in his right hand, Hua Yi used his left to fiddle through the containment chamber with a data construct that resembled a greatsword's projection.

"Hua Yi? I thought you were supposed to be outside fighting the Antimatter Legion."

"They can't get in."

Hua Yi turned around and looked over the renowned Stellaron Hunters, his gaze lingering on Silver Wolf for somewhat longer.

"At my request, Herta's puppets had an emergency response mode added. Most of them have gone to the Safe Zone, so No Heavens Left Unspoken has instead become a weakly defended area. Naturally, I need to help her watch over this Curio collection room, lest the exhibits be lost or damaged."

He can see through destiny too? Did he already foresee that our target would be here?

Though she did not know why Hua Yi was paying special attention to her, Silver Wolf prepared for battle, placing her fingers on the virtual control panel as she gathered her strength.

Kafka, who had not been moved when they passed through the Observation Corridor and took in the Antimatter Legion obscuring the starlight, also changed expression slightly and drew a specially made submachine gun and long blade.

"So, you're here to stop us from obtaining the Stellaron?"

"Herta stopped researching the Stellaron long ago. She sealed the Cancer of All Worlds deep within the Space Station not as a collectible toy, but to keep a dangerous object within her control. If 677 you have a way to properly handle the Stellaron, I will not stop you. I would even welcome it."

"..."

As Kafka and Silver Wolf listened to Hua Yi's declaration, their gazes fell in unison upon the crimson greatsword in his hand.

It was a weapon they had never heard of before, but the blazing flames coiling around the blade and its intent of destruction proclaimed danger. The sea of fire outside the Space Station, still fiercely battling Legion Fiends, proved as much.

This situation was not in the script. The Stellaron Hunters would need to adapt on their own.

"I'll place the Stellaron into the most suitable vessel, leave her there, and depart. Would that count as proper handling?"

"It would."

Hua Yi stepped aside and made way.