The World of Singing Idols -6-
About a day after the incident at the Rave branch building in Gakyo,
quite apart from the harbinger of destruction that not a single being in this world knew about, one piece of news announced about 12 hours earlier had sent every Prodium on Terakanta into a state of excitement.
"The fastest news! The most accurate news! This is Donna Vermilion from SNN. Today, we're coming to you a little earlier than our regularly scheduled broadcast. We're here with an emergency special report, bringing you the breaking news that just came in!"
It was because a major event was on the horizon—one that no one in this idol-crazed, idol-worshipping world could possibly ignore.
"Thanks to social media, the news has spread quickly, and most of our viewers have probably already heard about it. This announcement came directly from all four of the major idol corporations: Rave, Muse Entertainment, Iron Blood, and Queen Maker!! It's the World Idol Festa!!"
It was all because of a worldwide idol concert—the first of its kind, and perhaps the last.
You might wonder what was so special about that, but in this world, with the exception of a few powerful nations, idols from any given country generally belonged to one of the four major corporations.
And since those four corporations were rivals, they rarely cooperated with one another.
So while a worldwide idol concert was theoretically possible, it was generally accepted to be all but impossible.
But today, it was actually happening.
That alone was enough to send this idol-worshipping world into a frenzy, but the details were even more shocking—in a good way.
"The first unprecedented, massive idol project to take place simultaneously all around the world!! Every idol belonging to the four major corporations will take the stage at the same time, on the same day, at venues across the globe!!
From major stadiums to local concert halls!!
From top idols to rookies and minor idols!!
They say every single one of them will sing and dance for their audiences at the exact same moment!!"
This wasn't simply a matter of famous idols going on a world tour.
The four corporations had announced an unprecedented plan: they'd rented out every major venue around the world and would mobilize every idol available to hold concerts simultaneously.
Even small towns in sparsely populated regions were scheduled to host performances.
In fact, even if you only counted walking distance from a venue, there were more people who could reach one within five hours than people who couldn't. The scale was quite literally beyond imagination.
And on top of that—
"What's more, the World Idol Festa has declared that every performance will be free and open to the public, so everyone around the world can enjoy it!! And for viewers who can't attend in person, every concert will also be broadcast live in real time!!"
Although the venues had limited capacity and admission would be on a first-come, first-served basis, amazingly, every concert was free.
And that wasn't all.
The four corporations had officially announced that they would film every concert at every venue around the world and stream them live online.
Even though an event on this enormous scale would bring them intangible benefits like massive publicity, buzz marketing, and advertising revenue, the plan was so extravagant that it seemed like it could make even these globe-spanning corporate behemoths stagger.
And finally—
"The date of the concert... is today! Right now!!"
But what was even more shocking was that this massive concert festival had been announced without any advertising or advance notice at all, as if it had dropped straight out of the sky.
And it was set to begin just 12 hours after the announcement.
Some regions were still in the middle of the night because of the time difference, too.
It was a wildly unrealistic idea—the sort of thing only an idol- and concert-crazed lunatic could come up with—and yet it was actually happening.
Some people responded by asking if it was April Fools' Day and telling them to quit joking around. But when photos and videos of idols being deployed to venues across the world to prepare for the concerts began spreading on social media, those opinions vanished in an instant.
How they'd managed to secure so many venues on such short notice, or how they'd deployed so many idols around the world simultaneously, no longer mattered.
Did I say it was the sort of plan only an idol- and concert-crazed lunatic could come up with?
But in this idol-worshipping world, all the Prodiums were, to varying degrees, no different from lunatics themselves.
A concert at the crack of dawn?
That hardly mattered.
The Prodiums of Terakanta were the kind of people who would gladly give up sleep and dash into the streets in the middle of the night for the sake of a historic idol concert that might happen only once.
"Run till your feet sweat!! Move it!!"
"If I run now, I can make it in an hour! Aah!! God, please let me get inside the concert venue!!"
"Graaaagh!! Why is my favorite performing in some tiny country town!!? I'll never make it if I leave now!! Th-That's right!! A plane!! If I rent a plane and parachute down, I can still make it!!""
"Bring more of the newest TVs and speakers!! No, just bring everything we've got!!"
And just as the Prodiums of Terakanta were swarming toward the concert venues in a frenzy, or scrambling to find the finest video and audio equipment connected to the internet—
"Our own SNN has also secured the rights to livestream some of the concerts!
Now, then, it's time for our first performance!!
The top idols who stand at the pinnacle of the world!!
The racing hearts that breathe life into beautiful stars!! Let's watch Stella Heart take the stage, right now!!"
In a world where idol worship ran rampant, one of the most popular announcers at the biggest broadcasting station in the world was also an idol herself—and a die-hard fan of Stella Heart in particular. With an excited expression, she announced the start of the concert.
The frame showing the announcer shrank and slid into a corner, while a massive concert venue filled the screen.
"Waaaaah!!"
"Stella Heart!! Stella Heart!!"
"Waaah!! Take me!!"
A tremendous crowd, enough to fill the stands of this world's largest venue, which could hold nearly a hundred thousand people, chanted the name of the soon-to-appear Stella Heart.
Their cheers were so loud that J-York in Namerica, one of Terakanta's largest cities surrounding the venue, seemed to tremble from the sound alone.
Of course, this wasn't caused by the hundred thousand people inside the venue alone. It was also the result of the astronomical number of people packed outside, unable to get in.
And amid the fervor of those fanatical people—
[All right!! We hereby declare the World Idol Festa officially open!!]
-Waaaaaah!!!
With the host's declaration, the worldwide simultaneous concert began.
-Vuuuuung!!
-Weeeeeng!!
-Pshhhhhh...
The enormous machinery installed beneath the very center of the stage began to operate, and the stage floor slowly parted to either side.
The real stage hidden beneath it began to rise.
At the same time, mist poured continuously from the fog machines, completely shrouding the stage in order to make it look even more mysterious.
At that moment, every eye in the venue turned toward the stage at once.
The huge venue, which had been roaring with chaos only moments before, also fell briefly silent, filled with anticipation.
And as that tense, pre-storm silence continued—
-Surureuk
At last, the mist cleared, revealing the stage.
At the same time, spotlights shone on the four members of Stella Heart, making their figures clear to the audience.
Normally, this was when cheers should have erupted—cheers that made the earlier ones seem like nothing.
But—
"Huh...?"
"Wait, what?"
"Wh-What on earth..."
Instead, confusion, shock, and an indescribable disquiet spread throughout the venue.
That was because the Stella Heart members who had appeared before them were completely different from the people the audience knew—or expected to see.
It wasn't as if someone else had taken the stage in place of Stella Heart.
And yet the audience couldn't help but be shocked, because...
"Ahh~ There sure are a lot of these filthy little Prodium shits gathered here, huh~?"
"Disgusting. You're so annoying~ I just want to kill you all~"
"What do you think, seeing Suzu's body, which belongs to Master? Did it get you all hot and bothered~? Eww~ I'm gonna puke~ Hee-hee-hee~"
The atmosphere radiating from them was so sinister and decadent.
Their appearance, laced with a strangely chilling madness, made them seem like entirely different beings from the Stella Heart everyone had known until now.
On top of that, their outfits were so revealing and provocative—nearly obscene—that even obscure, sexuality-focused underground idols would hesitate to wear them. Their clothing only added to the shock.
It was impossible to imagine that they were the idols who had always brought everyone light and hope, shining like stars and invigorating their lives.
Unlike their usual bright, vivid colors, their idol outfits were entirely black, as if to reveal how corrupted they had become.
And whether the audience looked directly at the Stella Heart members in the venue or indirectly through a screen, the moment they entered their field of vision, everyone felt a faint, inexplicable revulsion and disgust rise instinctively within them.
Before anyone could react, they were left staring blankly, confused—
"Now then... shall we begin? A hymn offered not to the likes of you, but to Master Omega alone..."
Seorin Mai, the leader of Stella Heart, spoke with a smile mingling mockery and malice, just like the other members.
And at that very moment—
-Paat!!
All the lights in the venue, illuminating not only the stage but also the audience, suddenly went out at once.
In the darkness, only the area beneath the stage where the Stella Heart members stood glowed with a faint, pale blue light.
Like an altar prepared for some ominous ritual.
-Ding... Diri-di... Ding-diri-di...
At the same time, an eerie accompaniment, soft yet strangely insistent in its reach into people's ears, began to echo throughout the venue.
"Ah... Ahh... Aaaah...!!"
Then, in time with the music, dozens of people began layering their voices in low, dark tones, as if reciting some bizarre hymn.
As the eerie, chilling accompaniment and chorus swelled to a crescendo, filling the venue with a sense of foreboding—
"Look to the sky. The gates have opened."
"The hidden flocks have finally shown themselves."
"The blood of the traitors is born anew,"
"Ancient hatred still flows within you."
At last, the four women who had once been the hearts of the stars began to sing to that somber, ominous melody.
"The shepherds come for the sheep who crossed the fence."
"No sheep can escape the shepherd's gaze."
"The stars pulse, the world twists,"
"The universe shall sing of the judgment to come."
Unlike Stella Heart's previous songs, which had been filled with hope and excitement, the melody now filling the venue evoked instinctive fear simply by being heard.
It was so ominous.
"The sky splits, the sea awakens,"
"As the hands that made you..."
"As the hands that held you close..."
"Now, they have returned."
And as the song began to reach its climax—
-Vuuuuung...
Blue energy began to flow not only across the floor of the stage, but from the bodies of the Stella Heart members as well.
The same phenomenon was occurring simultaneously among the other idols, similarly corrupted, who had begun performing around the world.
"Ahh... Inside my head... Something... A voice... A whisper... Ah, ah, ah..."
At the same time, something began to flow into the minds of everyone listening to the song, whether directly or indirectly.
An indescribable, incomprehensible whisper seeped deep into their minds, slowly consuming their thoughts.
As if hypnotized, people gazed at the stage with vacant eyes. Not one of them could look away; they were all blankly absorbed in the concert.
The reason they had fallen into this state was simple.
The Prodiums of Terakanta generated a special kind of mental energy through song, known as 'Muse Energy.'
It was essentially a backdoor, a vulnerability outside the scope of the memetic mental protection their ancestors had implanted to shield the Prodiums' minds.
And now, the invaders of this world had targeted that very weakness.
"They rise to deliver judgment."
"Darkness falls, and silence resounds,"
"Blackened stars devour the dawn."
"Look to the sky. The end is near."
As the song continued, the unprecedented energy someone was channeling into the Prodiums of Terakanta through the corrupted idols grew stronger and stronger.
And that incomprehensible power began to slowly gnaw away at the Prodiums' minds.
The being that had begun to exert immense influence over the minds of most Prodiums twisted and reconstructed their selves from the ground up—
"H-Haa... Obey... O-Obey... Obey... Worship... Serve... Ahh..."
Like water seeping into a dry sponge, twisted obedience and fanatical worship—now taking precedence even over their instinct for survival—penetrated deep into the Prodiums' minds.
No one could dare resist.
"They have risen to claim you."
"Bow down..."
"Praise them..."
"Tremble and look up to them..."
And at last, as the song drew to a close—
-Vuuuuung!!!
At last, the fiend that had invaded this world appeared, far beyond the sky, amid the infinite void.
A being of unimaginable, staggering size...
It gazed down at them, holding the planet in the palm of its hand as if it could grasp the entire world.
And the moment the Prodiums, whose minds had already been almost completely consumed, laid eyes on the shape of that colossal being floating beyond the universe—
"Aaah... Aaaaaaaah!!!!♥"
Their last remaining fragments of sanity, still untouched by the incomprehensible form and overwhelming presence no mortal could bear, were shattered in a vortex of madness and terror, and the mental corruption ended in an instant.
The memetic defensive wall—their mind's defense mechanism that had struggled desperately to instill revulsion toward the being before their eyes—had collapsed, and there was no turning back now.
And at the moment the colossal being, humanity, appeared once again before the Prodiums of this world, Terakanta—
Everything in this world changed.
"Ah!! Viewers... no, my beloved slave livestock!! We have some news for you!! As of today, our great and glorious Humanity-nims have graciously agreed to raise us, their stupid and foolish slave livestock, once more!! Ahh!! What a glorious and moving occasion... My heart is truly pounding!♥"
Ninety-nine percent of the Prodiums on this planet had now lost their free will and become fanatics who offered humanity their frenzied loyalty and worship.
Only a tiny handful who had been inside perfectly soundproof rooms during the concert, or who had never received any external visual or audio information, had managed to retain their selves. But by then, the situation had already reached a point of no return.
Even without direct intervention from Omega, who had led the invasion, or his forces, there was no way they could turn the tide with their own strength anymore.
-Jeureureuk
"Ah!! This news is so thrilling and exciting that my pussy got soaking wet before I knew it!!♥ Now, like the slave livestock I am, I'll wrap up the broadcast by ripping off the useless clothes I put on of my own free will, exposing my lowly, vulgar body, pounding my pussy, and offering praise and service to Humanity-nim!!"
-Jjeogeuk-jjeogeuk!!
"Ooooh!!♥ Long live Humanity-nim!! Long live Omega-nim!! Destruction to the stupid Prodiums!! Everyone!! Let's all serve Humanity-nim with all our hearts!!♥"
And so the first conquest came to a successful end.
Along with a small territory the size of a single star system, and a vast supply of Prodium slaves.