BOOM!!!
With a deafening roar, the massive starship slammed down onto the still-slumbering planet.
Its forced descent sent it skidding violently across the surface, shredding the hull and scattering metal like confetti. What remained of the already-ruined city was ground even further into rubble.
By the time Sora arrived, the fire trail left by the ship's impact stretched far into the distance.
Though wrecked, the starship's exterior systems were still flickering—clearly broadcasting a distress signal.
"So this is an interstellar ship..." Sora stared at the charred wreck, awe rising in his chest. Witnessing a crash landing firsthand, the sheer weight of it was overwhelming.
Flames crawled across the hull, heat warping the air. The scorched scent of burning metal choked the wind.
This is something I'll remember for the rest of my life.
"…But seriously, why'd this thing decide to land face-first?"
The front of the ship had scraped along the ground all the way down. If this were a person, it would've been a faceplant from orbit.
Which raised the question: what the hell caused the ship to crash like this? Did it get into a fender-bender in the middle of space?
Sora glanced up toward the paling sky.
He didn't see a second wreck, though.
What he did see made his blood run cold.
From the fading night emerged a shadow—an enormous beast blocking out the sky as it swooped toward the crash site.
It had to be at least a hundred meters tall. Wings like a living stormbeat the ground into a dust-laden whirlwind.
In its chest glowed a massive energy core. G3X's AI immediately locked on and began analyzing.
[Analyzing target energy source...]
[Analysis complete. Energy level: @#￥!@%!]
"…WTF."
Sora stared, dumbstruck.
The analysis system spat out gibberish.
The thing's energy output was so far beyond G3X's sensors that it broke the readout entirely.
The Doomsday Beast swooped overhead, not even glancing in Sora's direction. It descended instead on the downed ship.
Then it attacked.
With wild, almost gleeful brutality, it tore into the hull like a beast ravaging its prey.
Sora could only watch as the creature pounced again and again—snarling, clawing, smashing the vessel to pieces.
It's like watching a brute beat the crap out of a luxury car...
Every swipe of its antimatter claws sent shrieking metal through the air. The ship's armor shattered like dry bark.
The beast bellowed as it pounded the ship again and again, its bulk crashing down with force enough to warp entire sections of the structure.
The scene unfolding before Sora was a grotesque clash between technological civilization and primal savagery.
A ship, symbol of interstellar advancement, being dismantled like a toy by a monster.
Its outer shield flared once—then blinked out in seconds.
The next time it activated, the glow barely lasted a heartbeat before fading entirely.
Meanwhile, the Doomsday Beast only grew more frenzied, tearing into the ship as though it wouldn't stop until every last piece was obliterated.
It's like Pacific Rim—but in first person. And way worse.
Sora gritted his teeth, weighing his options.
If that thing noticed him, it'd be instant death.
G3X didn't stand a chance against something that could reduce a starship to scrap metal.
One strike, and the armor would fail. He'd be paste.
Unless… I get a different Rider draw. Then maybe I'd have a shot.
His gaze sharpened.
This thing… could be the final boss keeping me from leaving this planet.
Not entirely unusual—wasn't the Doomsday Beast the standard opening boss in the game too?
Maybe, just maybe, he'd roll a power like Decade or Eternal next and could chuck the damn thing into a black hole.
But for now, all he could do was watch helplessly as the ship continued to be ravaged.
Suddenly, a violent explosion shook the entire wreck.
Flames shot into the air, briefly staggering the beast.
But it recovered almost immediately—and resumed its assault.
Minute by minute, the ship was reduced to scrap.
Only after utterly demolishing the entire vessel did the Doomsday Beast calm down. With one last flap of its wings, it rose into the air and flew off.
Sora waited. And waited.
Only when he was sure the beast was completely gone did he move.
He hurried into the wreckage, hoping to scavenge anything of value.
No Voidrangers showed up, even after all that noise.
In a strange way, the Doomsday Beast's rampage had bought him time.
He sifted through the debris, though the deeper he went, the less hopeful he became.
The place was a furnace. Bodies still smoldered in the fire.
His stomach lurched at the sight, but he forced it down and kept going.
Eventually, he found something—something intact.
A sealed chamber. One of the few untouched sections left.
"Escape pod?" he read the label aloud.
Its door hadn't fully closed—likely damaged in the blast. Faint light seeped out from within.
That means there might be supplies inside.
After all, escape pods were supposed to support survivors. There had to be rations. Medicine. Something.
After what he'd just eaten—that caramel earthworm nightmare—Sora didn't need more motivation.
Gripping the warped door, he summoned G3X's strength and pulled.
The servos in his armor groaned in unison with his effort.
Clang. Groooan. Squeeeal…!
Driven by the hope of real food—and the desperate desire to never taste caramel worms again—he pulled harder.
Until—
BOOM.
With a final wrenching crack, the twisted door broke open.
At that exact moment, a system notification echoed in his mind.
[G3X armor energy depleted.]
Sora blinked.
"…I thought I was gonna get an achievement or something."
At this point, he deserved one. "Master of Structural Destruction" or something. Enough to earn the attention of Nanook themself.
Or worse—draw the gaze of a certain pink-suited street delinquent.
He shivered and shook that thought right out of his head.
The G3X armor had done its job. He recalled it into his system space for recharging and peered into the pod.
The emergency power still functioned, casting the interior in cold white light.
And there—lying unconscious beneath it—was a woman.
Sora froze.
She lay motionless in the escape pod, the open door like a twisted cage around her.
Robin.
There was no mistaking her.
A trail of blood ran down her cheek, somehow making her appear even more delicate—beautiful, even.
The cage. The wreckage. The songbird, fallen from the stars.
Sora stood silently at the threshold, staring at her sleeping form.
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T/N: hopefully no one else is translating this :D