Honkai Star Rail: Saving the World with a Mobile Game — Chapter 97

Chapter 97: Version 3.3 Launches, This is Hell!

“It’s hell in there, Guinaifen!” Sushang’s voice cracked, her hands hovering frantically over the mouse. “Don’t look! Absolutely do not click that!”

Guinaifen paused her playthrough of the version 3.2 epilogue. She glanced over, startled to see Sushang’s face completely drained of color. Confused, the street performer switched her monitor back to the official social media feed. Her eyes widened. The new version promotional video had already dropped?

“Version 3.3 PV?” Guinaifen read the title aloud. “‘Falling When the Dawn Rises’?”

Her fingers twitched with the urge to click play right then and there, but she still had to finish the final segment of the current story. All that remained was the epilogue featuring Herta, Welt, and Sunday.

Naturally, the lore implications hidden in this brief wrap-up were explosive.

First, the scene shifted to Himeko and Black Swan. The two women stood in quiet deliberation, discussing the troubling news regarding March 7th’s slumber and its connection to the Garden of Recollection. Black Swan’s tone grew heavy as she revealed her suspicion: Fuli, the Aeon of Remembrance, had cast Their gaze upon Amphoreus.

Then came the strategic summit between Welt, Sunday, and Herta. After a brief exchange of theories, the genius of the Space Station made her ruling. She would personally project a data spirit entity into Amphoreus to investigate the anomaly herself.

[So there really is more of Madam Herta’s plot later?!]

[Lord Herta is here! We’re saved!]

[Madam Herta is unmatched in the world! Madam Herta is exceptionally brilliant! Madam Herta is stunningly beautiful!]

The screen transitioned, following Herta’s data projection as it materialized inside Amphoreus.

Her drop-off point was a desolate, ruined landscape eerily similar to the Creation Vortex Core. As far as the eye could see, massive petrified corpses of Titan kin littered the ground. Amidst the stone giants stood the frozen, shadowy silhouettes of Stelle, Dan Heng, and even the menacing outline of the Flame Reaver.

“Oh, found your… shadows,” Herta’s voice chimed, dripping with her signature casual arrogance. She twirled her hammer effortlessly. “Who else could make me come out here personally? Get ready. You two are going to be free labor for the Simulated Universe for the rest of your lives.”

She strolled forward, her dainty heels clicking against the ruined earth, fully intending to cross the threshold into Amphoreus proper.

Then, the air shifted.

A cold, mechanical voice cut through the silence.

“My apologies, noble lady. I am afraid you cannot proceed any further.”

Guinaifen leaned so close to her monitor that her nose almost brushed the glass. The bullet chat exploded into a frenzy of question marks.

A figure stepped into the light. Though the name above his health bar displayed three ominous question marks, the gorgeous, complex mechanical design and the iconic, glowing hollow in his chest gave his identity away instantly.

It was Lygus.

“Why is he here?!” Guinaifen gasped, clutching her head. “Lycurgus, Lygus… it really is him!”

Lygus stood firmly in Herta’s Path. As he spoke, his tone carried an unsettling familiarity, indicating he knew exactly who Herta was—a stark contrast to the ignorant natives of the isolated Amphoreus.

With measured, synthetic precision, he listed three distinct reasons why Herta’s advance ended here.

First, Amphoreus was entirely sealed off; her data spirit could not force entry. Second, he claimed to have drawn the gaze of ‘Erudition’ itself, granting him the precise calculations needed to achieve mutual destruction with her avatar.

[For real? Who is this guy? The Author must be high on their own lore to think he can mutually destruct with Madam Herta!]

[We Herta mains are staying quiet. We aren’t dead yet!]

[Author, don’t just invent random power scaling! How does an original character dare to step over a fan-favorite genius?!]

“Third,” Lygus continued, his glowing optical sensors locking onto Herta. “Even if you used every conceivable method to break past me… once you learned the inevitable consequences of such an action, you would abandon the attempt.”

He tilted his head slightly. “After all, in your long life, even if you refuse to admit it aloud… ‘conscience’ has played an extremely vital role.”

The dialogue lingered in the air.

Surprisingly, this psychological read on the aloof genius completely won over the player base.

[This is the perfect way to write her! As expected of Madam Herta, she truly is great!]

[Waaaah, giving up the chance to study an Aeon just to spare innocent lives… what bad intentions could she possibly have?]

[Suspected Madam Herta propaganda, but I’ll allow it.]

Then came the final, crushing revelation.

Lygus delivered the ultimate warning, confirming the last of the Triple Paths predicted before the Express crew had ever set foot on this doomed planet.

Destruction.

“If you insist on ignoring my advice,” Lygus warned, his voice dropping an octave, “you will shatter the shackles binding a ‘Lord Ravager.’ And its rage will swallow this entire galaxy.”

The screen faded to black.

The main story of version 3.2 officially concluded.

Guinaifen sat frozen in her gaming chair, her brain overloading as she tried to process the sheer scale of the threat.

Miles away, Welt Yang was experiencing a similar revelation. Since Herta had been offline for an extended period without returning, he had resorted to watching Guinaifen’s stream to monitor the situation. He certainly hadn’t expected to uncover such critical intelligence before Herta even reported back.

“The Triple Path… Destruction… a Lord Ravager?” Welt muttered, his brow furrowing deeply behind his glasses.

[Are you kidding me? I thought the Author forgot about that setup! The Triple Path wasn’t just flavor text!]

[The final Path is Destruction?! Amphoreus has a Lord Ravager locked up somewhere?!]

[This Lygus guy is definitely not simple. He doesn’t look like a native at all.]

[Wait, do you guys remember that hidden easter egg? If you chose to leave Amphoreus early, an Automaton helped fix the train coach!]

[Don’t say it. Seriously, don’t say it. Could it be…]

Guinaifen swallowed hard. Everyone in the universe knew exactly what a Lord Ravager represented. Total, uncompromising annihilation.

But for a fan-made game? No matter how polished Ash’s narrative was, programming a boss fight against an entity of that magnitude seemed impossible. Games were restricted by their engines; they couldn’t replicate the cosmic terror of a true Lord Ravager.

Could Ash actually pull it off?

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long for an answer. The version 3.3 PV was sitting right there in her background tabs.

Having survived the emotional wringer of the past two updates, Guinaifen felt a surge of misplaced confidence. The promise of the ‘Re-creation’ phase was right in front of her. What else could possibly break her now?

“Alright then, family,” Guinaifen announced, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s see what the new version has in store for us.”

“Guinaifen, are you absolutely sure you want to watch that?” Sushang pleaded, tugging at her friend’s sleeve.

“What’s the big deal, Chang Chang? What kind of storms haven’t I weathered by now?”

[Exactly! Do you know how strong our Guinaifen’s mental fortitude is?]

[Is Chang Chang looking down on our streamer? Guinaifen, show her how brave you are!]

Empowered by her chat, Guinaifen brushed Sushang’s hand away and clicked play.

The video opened with a soft, nostalgic glow.

“My ancestor, the ‘Sun-Thunder Knight’ Seneos.” Hyacine’s gentle voiceover narrated the opening shots. “She held her spear high to challenge the sky, initiating the Fire Chasing era that continues to this day.”

The screen showcased Hyacine in a bright, cheerful animation, holding Little Ika in one hand and a magical wand in the other. The scene transitioned to Cipher, running wildly through a sunlit field alongside Zagreus.

The entire aesthetic—especially during Hyacine’s segment—was bathed in a warm, comforting pink hue.

Guinaifen leaned back, scoffing lightly. “Is it Dear Jin and Cipher’s turn to shine this version? Doesn’t seem like much of a threat.”

However.

Without warning, the vibrant colors violently drained from the screen. The audio warped into a low, oppressive drone.

“Kindling…”

The Flame Reaver materialized from the shadows.

He casually tossed a single cat coin onto the ground. Before the coin even finished ringing against the stone, he moved. A brutal, kinetic blur of motion ended with his fist buried deep into Cipher’s abdomen, slamming her fragile body against a reinforced wall with a sickening crunch.

The instantaneous transition was so violent that Guinaifen physically flinched, unable to process the sudden cruelty.

The sky above Okhema—the eternal, shining sky—shattered like glass. Countless Meteor Fires rained down upon the city in an apocalyptic cascade.

The camera whipped to the other side of the battlefield. Phainon and Hyacine were locked in a desperate, bloody struggle against a colossal, winged beast.

Then, the montage accelerated, flashing a series of devastating images.

Under the cold moonlight, Cipher lay collapsed in the dirt, her body soaked in a pool of glowing golden blood.

Tribios, reduced to nothing more than a lifeless doll, floated face-down in the dark reflection of a stagnant pool.

And Mydei lay sideways in the rubble, his eyes wide open, his pupils completely out of focus.

The music swelled into a tragic, desperate crescendo.

The final shot framed Phainon, battered and broken, hoisting his longsword toward the falling sky.

“I am the blazing sun that will eventually rise—!”