Honkai: Star Rail — Kamen Rider! [30]
It all began with a meteor—streaking across the stars like a blade through the dark.
Facing the annihilation of a planet and the certainty of their own death, one lone Galaxy Ranger fired a final shot before their consciousness faded completely.
That bullet—granted only to Rangers who had distinguished themselves in battle—was no ordinary projectile. When its light appeared across the galaxy, it signified that a giant star had fallen.
And where it fell… the flames of the Hunt were kindled.
Anyone who saw it, no matter where they were in the galaxy, would come. No questions asked. No cost too high.
Thus began the great campaign to hunt down Lord Ravager Zulo.
To ordinary eyes, it was utter madness.
The Galaxy Rangers were, after all, nothing more than Pathstriders blessed by the Hunt Aeon—no divine emissaries, no cosmic titans.
Zulo, on the other hand, was an Emanator of Nanook, the Aeon of Destruction. A legend forged across eons.
A force of extinction incarnate.
How could ants defy a wildfire?
Zulo had reduced countless Pathstriders to ash across countless planets. Never once had he been threatened. He extinguished stars, collapsed entire systems, spread Destruction's will like a plague.
If Pathstriders were capable of killing a Lord Ravager... then surely Zulo would've fallen long ago.
And yet, he hadn't. He continued to roam the stars, a walking calamity in Nanook's name.
So when the Galaxy Rangers announced their crusade, most dismissed it as suicide. At best, a noble sacrifice. At worst, a brief, pitiful blaze of martyrdom.
"The enemy's unbeatable. What's the point? The Rangers are throwing themselves away."
That was the sentiment across the galaxy.
And they were wrong.
Because they weren't facing an unbeatable enemy.
They were facing one that could be beaten—if enough people stood and chose to fight.
And in doing so, the Galaxy Rangers left behind a firework more dazzling than any other across the galaxy.
Lord Ravager Zulo—slain.
By the time the news reached the stars, many had already forgotten the initial signal.
But then came the announcement—a death toll, a declaration, a thunderclap in the void.
The spark of the Hunt had burned Destruction into the abyss.
And yet... there was no celebration.
The Rangers who survived vanished.
No parades. No songs. No grand retellings.
They disappeared from the galaxy entirely.
Even the site of the final battle remained unknown.
No one ever found Zulo's corpse. No one ever found the battlefield.
Because the Rangers refused to build monuments atop their fallen comrades.
The galaxy remembered the victory. But not the cost—fifteen thousand six hundred thirty-two lives.
15,632 bullets.
15,632 fallen Pathstriders.
Each one became a spiritual blade, a fragment of will that bound Zulo in death.
Even now, with his mind extinguished and his flesh long gone, their lingering wills remained—guarding, restraining.
Only when his final essence was erased would they finally rest.
His broken husk drifted through the galaxy, swallowed by black holes, scorched by radiation, bombarded by debris...
Until one day—accident birthed a miracle.
From this impossible remnant—life began.
A contradiction made real.
From the corpse of a herald of Destruction, new life bloomed.
A planet formed.
How? Why?
No one knew. Was it the entanglement of imaginary energies? A cruel joke from the void?
Only one truth remained:
Life began.
And from the moment it emerged, it was nurtured by the lingering wills of the fallen Rangers.
Their consciousness gently shaped the empty husk into a beautiful cradle.
The planetary debris drifted to a stable system, where sunlight nourished the soil and civilization slowly rooted itself into being.
"…So this is the 'Blessed Star of the Goddess of Life'? This is what a living planet truly is?"
Then who was the 'goddess' in this story? The Hunt Aeon… or Destruction?
At least now, Sora understood the riddle that had plagued him.
Kaemomiar ↗↘↗↘
The truth behind the name was clear:
Why could a single planet spawn five Doomsday Beasts?
Why could it perform Path summoning?
Why had it been targeted by the Annihilation Cult?
Because there was only one possible answer.
Kaemomiar ↗↘↗↘
You are the first planet in the galaxy... born atop Destruction.
Cough cough cough...
The revelation was so absurd, Sora could hardly process it without laughing.
So that "Path Simulation" was just the royal family firing a bullet and yelling:
"HELP! I'M GETTING JUMPED!"
And the Ranger spirits—fused into the planet's will—answered:
"WHO?! Point me to 'em. I'll bury them."
Then a thousand phantom arrows rained down and nailed the enemy into the ground.
"…No wonder the Hunt Aeon's followers are so good at calling for backup," Sora muttered.
Other Aeons might remain aloof—unwilling to intervene in mortal affairs.
But not the Hunt.
When summoned, it responded.
So did its people.
The Xianzhou had the Jade Abacus—able to summon fleets.
The Galaxy Rangers had the Final Bullet—able to summon fallen comrades.
Even the Aeon itself could answer in kind.
This Path didn't just allow reinforcements—it thrived on them.
Top to bottom, from deity to disciple—they were all one shout away from charging in.
Strangely, that thought filled Sora with… comfort.
But then another question entered his mind:
Why was I shown this?
This didn't feel like a normal visit to the Planetary Library. By now, his brain should've been on fire.
And then—
A voice.
Dozens of them. Hundreds. A chorus of men and women, old and young, layered into one.
[For thousands of years, our will has withstood decay. But now, His remnants begin to stir once more.]
The voices spoke as one, both everywhere and inside him.
[So we ask you—no, beg you… fire the final bullet again. Let it light the heavens once more.]