Chapter 89: Star's Background
The battlefield instantly ignited into a white-hot frenzy.
Summoned by the Abyssal-Eroded Golden Wolflord, a relentless tide of Rifthounds surged forward like an endless sea of black sludge, crashing wave after wave toward the motorcycle squad desperately trying to close the distance to the pillar of light.
Brilliant flashes of elemental energy bloomed violently across the once-silent expanse of the Night Kingdom.
Wise planted his feet, effectively transforming himself into a living flamethrower. Terrifying lines of highly compressed, superheated fire swept across the battlefield like searing lasers. Wherever his flames licked, the Rifthound Whelps did not even have time to shriek before they were carbonized and evaporated into ash, carving out a massive, smoking vacuum in the beast tide on their left flank.
Beside him, March 7th became a relentless ice cannon. Dense volleys of frost-tipped arrows whistled through the air, their trajectories precise and deadly. She pinned down the pouncing hounds, freezing them mid-leap into jagged ice sculptures, creating the perfect shattered obstacles for Wise's inferno to sweep through.
On the right flank, Mualani wove through the chaotic beast tide with the fluid grace of a water snake. She darted between snapping jaws and slashing claws, continuously applying hydro marks to the charging monsters, setting them up for devastating elemental reactions.
Working in perfect tandem with her, Iansan held the line. Armed with nothing but her spear and sheer grit, the diminutive warrior unleashed an explosive torrent of energy that completely belied her small stature. Every thrust and sweep of her weapon sent shockwaves through the enemy ranks, effectively pinning down the entire right side of the battlefield.
Lumine anchored the center. Her blade danced in a deadly rhythm, smoothly weaving between Anemo, Geo, and Electro. She repelled any stragglers that managed to slip past the vanguard, her golden eyes constantly darting upward to keep a vigilant watch on the colossal monstrosity dominating the sky.
Kachina, possessing the deepest familiarity with the treacherous terrain of the Night Kingdom, hung back. She provided crucial rear support, her sharp eyes catching blind spots and ensuring no one was flanked in the chaos.
At the very heart of their defensive perimeter, Stelle vaulted off her motorcycle.
Her boots hit the dirt with a heavy thud. With a sharp exhale, she slammed her Lance of Preservation deep into the cracked earth. Reaching out, she summoned one of March 7th's Liuli Swords into her grip. The moment her fingers curled around the hilt, the scarlet power of Preservation erupted around her, roaring to life like a tempest of physical, burning flames.
Her amber eyes narrowed, stripping away her usual chaotic demeanor to reveal an absolute, razor-sharp focus. She murmured a quiet incantation under her breath. Instantly, an energy fluctuation—far grander and violently more intense than her previous Golden Light Demon Subduing strike—began to madly converge upon her.
The scarlet flames swirled, whipping into a localized hurricane that faintly outlined the majestic silhouette of a divine bird being reborn from the ashes.
Stelle's feet slowly left the ground, levitating on the sheer updraft of her own power.
The beast tide faltered, momentarily suppressed by the powerful aura. High above, the Abyssal-Eroded Golden Wolflord paused its assault. Its massive, floating skull shifted, its hollow gaze locking onto the blinding energy source below that triggered a primal, instinctive thrum of threat within its corrupted core.
"Phoenix Nirvana!" Stelle's eyes snapped fully open, practically bleeding liquid fire.
She let out a clear, ringing battle cry that echoed across the wasteland. Gripping the Liuli Sword with both hands, she swung it upward with the unstoppable momentum of a raging wildfire, aiming straight through the surging beast tide and directly at the colossal shadow blotting out the sky.
"Kreeee—!!!"
Accompanied by a piercing, resonant cry that seemed to descend from the highest heavens, the energy gathered around Stelle detonated.
This was no longer just the condensed golden light of her previous attacks. It was a magnificent, towering scarlet fire phoenix forged entirely from pure, unadulterated flame.
The fire phoenix spread its blazing wings, so vast they seemed to blot out the sky. Carrying a majestic, divine power meant to incinerate all worldly filth and purify the universe, the avian construct first swept low across the battlefield. It moved with the devastating speed of a flash fire.
Wherever its wings brushed, countless Rifthounds and Whelps were instantly reduced to drifting white ash, their bodies vaporizing in the extreme heat before they could even utter a whimper. A massive, burning highway was carved straight through the heart of the beast tide.
Without losing a fraction of its momentum, the fire phoenix angled its head upward, let out another long, trilling cry, and soared straight into the sky.
With an indomitable, world-shattering force, it slammed directly into the massive, floating body of the Abyssal-Eroded Golden Wolflord.
BOOM----!!!!
The deafening explosion threatened to rupture the eardrums of everyone present, the shockwave echoing across the entirety of the Night Kingdom.
Dazzling crimson-gold light instantly swallowed a massive portion of the Wolflord's serpentine body. Its dark golden carapace emitted a sickening, grating series of cracks under the scorching divine fire. Viscous, corrupted black liquid sprayed outward like boiling blood.
Struck as if by a meteor from beyond the heavens, the colossal beast let out a roar of absolute agony and fury.
The heaven-burning, sea-boiling strike completely shattered its levitation. It was sent hurtling down from the sky, slamming heavily into the distant earth with enough force to trigger a violent, localized earthquake.
Plumes of pulverized rock, thick smoke, and pitch-black Abyssal energy soared into the sky.
"We got it?!" Kachina cried out, her eyes wide with hopeful surprise.
"Stay back! Be careful!" Lumine's sharp warning cut through the celebration instantly.
Deep within the pervasive, billowing smoke, an even denser, far more violent surge of Abyssal energy suddenly erupted.
A roar dripping with endless rage and pure malice tore through the dust cloud.
The massive, serpentine figure of the Abyssal-Eroded Golden Wolflord swayed, then violently tore itself back into the air. The sections of its body scorched by Stelle's attack were ruined—large swaths of its dark-gold carapace were shattered and charred black. That foul-smelling, viscous black liquid continued to gush from its wounds, painting a picture of a severely injured beast.
However, the cruel, playful glint that had previously danced in its scarlet eyes was entirely gone. In its place was an overflowing, maddened malice—a desperate urge to utterly tear the tiny ants below into bloody ribbons.
Yet, beneath that pure destructive will, Lumine could sense something else: a faint, almost instinctive submission and helplessness directed toward some higher, unseen existence. It was fighting like a cornered animal forced into the fray.
What made everyone's hearts plummet into their stomachs, however, was the new defense it manifested.
A completely different kind of shield instantly snapped open around its massive body. This barrier was a deep, constantly twisting and shifting dark purple. Countless deep, bizarre runes flowed across its curved surface, emitting an ominous, suffocating aura that felt as though it could isolate all matter and dissolve any energy it touched.
It was a Void Realm Shield.
"It's back up! And it activated some weird new shield!" March 7th exclaimed, her bow drawn taut.
"Don't panic! It's heavily injured!" Wise ordered, his voice dropping into a calm, analytical register as fresh flames condensed in his palms. "Strike while it's weak! Stelle, do it again! Shatter that barrier!"
Lumine stared at the deep purple barrier, her brows knitting tightly together.
This shield felt completely different from the one the Wolflord had used back on Tsurumi Island. This one was far more eerie. Denser. Sturdier.
But there was no time to analyze the mechanics of the Abyss. High above them, the massive beam of light representing their only exit was shrinking and dimming at a terrifyingly visible rate.
The passage was closing.
"Stelle! Charge up again! Focus entirely on breaking that shield!" Lumine made the decisive call, her sword flashing as she deflected a leaping Rifthound. "Everyone else, form up and cover Stelle! Clear out the remaining mobs! Where are Dan Heng and the others?!"
[Genshin · Lumine]: "@Honkai: Star Rail · Dan Heng The exit light is shrinking! You guys need to speed up!"
[Honkai: Star Rail · Dan Heng]: "We are already at the edge of the battlefield! Give us thirty seconds!"
Stelle glanced down at the Liuli Sword in her grip. The blade was violently humming and trembling, the metal warped and superheated from channeling the sheer magnitude of her previous strike.
Without a second of hesitation, she shouted over her shoulder. "March! Toss me your other sword! This one is cooked, it'll definitely shatter if I push it again!"
Hearing the request, March 7th executed a nimble backflip, narrowly evading a set of snapping jaws. Mid-air, she drew her spare Liuli Sword and threw it in a perfect, spinning arc straight toward Stelle.
Snatching the flying blade out of the air, Stelle did not pause for even a fraction of a second. Immense energy immediately began to converge around her once more.
The true, terrifying power of the Stellaron within her chest became glaringly evident—she would never suffer from a lack of energy.
Perceiving the strange, isolating nature of the Void Realm Shield, Stelle decisively abandoned the wide-area, high-consumption thirteenth form, Phoenix Nirvana. Instead, she opted to condense her power into the far more concentrated, armor-piercing twelfth form—Golden Light Demon Subduing!
Dazzling golden light rapidly converged at the very tip of the blade. The energy was refined, compressed, and concentrated until it resembled a miniature sun of judgment rising over the silent wasteland.
"Break—!"
Stelle roared, thrusting the blade forward. The golden pillar of light, condensed to its absolute physical limit, tore through the air like a blinding comet. It crossed the distance in a fraction of a heartbeat, striking the Void Realm Shield on the Abyssal-Eroded Golden Wolflord's body with devastating precision.
Boom—!!!
A second deafening explosion ripped through the sky! The piercing golden light and the twisting purple-black Void Realm Shield fiercely collided, erupting into a blinding sphere of pure, chaotic energy turbulence!
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]