i'm not familiar with this game so idon't know if this is helpful in the slightest but it's still cool i found it (on accident btw)

I don't think you need to die for this. I pressed Go To Hub right after entering the boss room and I went straight to the star

yeah i knew this setup wasn't optimal, i was just trying to replicate what i had done on accident and this was the result. definitely a lot of room for optimization