The World of Singing Idols -1-
The growth of civilization inevitably leaves behind dark, neglected shadows beneath its brightly illuminated surface.
The planet Terakanta, named by its residents—the beings who lived there and called themselves 'humanity'—was no different.
Even though their technology had advanced enough to launch satellites into space and send people to the moon, darkness still lurked in the shadows of their cities, packed with towering skyscrapers.
It was a place where those pushed aside by poverty and neglect lived, along with those involved in work too shady to show their faces in broad daylight.
One back alley in this city was one such place.
This alley, in particular, was more abandoned than most. Even criminals avoided setting foot there, and even the homeless rarely wandered through.
And in that back alley
-Pajijik!!
Pale blue currents suddenly began to crackle through the air.
A moment later, powerful gusts of wind swept through, whipping up the trash and dust scattered around and sending them swirling into the air.
And then
-Uuung!!!
With tremendous heat, the asphalt on the ground melted in a circle, and a translucent sphere of energy began to form above it.
The sphere grew larger and larger, until it finally reached a size large enough for a person to fit inside.
-Paat!!
As if everything that had happened until then had been a lie, the sphere of energy vanished in an instant, leaving only the gusts of wind and crackling currents behind.
But proving that it had been no illusion, the melted ground remained sunken in a circle, glowing red and belching smoke.
-Hiss...
And there, atop the scorching ground, in the spot where the energy sphere had vanished, a being appeared.
She was a woman with brown skin and platinum-blonde hair. She had a wild air about her, yet possessed a beauty that drew the eye.
Her eyes closed, she had landed there on one knee.
-Sureruk
Before long, after a strange silence had settled over the scene, the woman opened her eyes, revealing mysterious golden irises.
Immediately afterward, the woman rose from her kneeling position.
"I've arrived."
Her voice was feminine and beautiful, yet brimming with confidence, strength, and resolve.
And her firm, healthy body, her brown skin, and the bodysuit draped over it—designed to reveal her genitals and nipples—
All of these were defining characteristics of the Amazoneia and the Omega Security Office, which was composed primarily of Amazoneia.
And that woman.
No—this Amazoneia was named Baldurin Sigtyr.
She was the 1,456th child born to the great Queen and All-Mother of the Amazoneia, Leona S Primus, and their creator and object of worship, the Allfather Omega Primus.
Among Omega's many children, she was especially distinguished by her looks and outstanding talent. As soon as she came of age, she became Omega's wife and was recruited into the Security Office at the same time.
Within the Security Office, she ranked among the five most powerful fighters, with only Chief Leona and the three executives above her.
And perhaps because she had inherited so much of Omega's blood, she was also unusually quick-witted for an Amazoneia.
That was why she had been assigned to this operation.
'Deus-nim said she'd set the coordinates somewhere the Prodiums couldn't detect my arrival. Sure enough, I don't sense anyone watching.'
After surveying her surroundings and confirming there were no people or even surveillance devices, Baldurin recalled the mission given to her by her great and beloved father.
Then she remembered one problem.
Her outfit.
'Hmm... The Security Office's combat uniform is something to be proud of, and wearing it is an honor, but it isn't suited to a covert mission.'
Baldurin had precisely identified a problem that would never occur to an ordinary Amazoneia—or rather, a problem they would proudly show off instead.
"Besides, this body is for Father alone. I can't let some lowly trash called Prodiums see what I've prepared for Father."
-Snap
As Baldurin snapped her fingers,
-Pajijik!!
Blue currents crackled from her body once more, and the bodysuit-shaped combat uniform was reconstructed using the combat suit's built-in functions.
A set of clothes suited to the level of civilization in this microcosm, which Deus had gathered through hacking, appeared.
"This should do."
The new outfit consisted of jeans, a tank top, and a leather jacket—a rather delinquent and wild look. What's more, she wore no bra, so the shape of her nipples and the brown color of her areolae showed clearly through the white tank top.
But as bold and provocative as the outfit was, to her, an Amazoneia, this was practically the equivalent of bundling herself up so completely that not a speck of skin showed.
No matter how quick-witted she was, she couldn't escape the culture and common sense of her own species.
Anyway, now that Baldurin had decided there would be no problem carrying out her mission, she walked out of the deserted back alley.
But the moment she left the place where she had appeared, a problem arose.
"Hey, I never thought I'd see a top-shelf piece like that around here. What a fucking lucky break."
"Kikiki, hey, noona. Come play with us for a while~?"
"Yeah, yeah. It's dangerous around here, so we'll escort you. Where to? Straight to heaven on my cock. Kihya!"
Her outfit was one thing, but what stood out even more was her appearance itself.
Given their purpose, every Amazoneia was stunningly beautiful, and Omega's wives had all been carefully selected from among the entire population of a galaxy.
Having lived alongside most of them, Baldurin took such beauty for granted and had never truly grasped just how unusual her own looks were.
But her beauty was so extraordinary that her genetic father, Omega, had taken her as his wife the instant she came of age, without a hint of hesitation and without even stopping to consider his revulsion at the thought of incest.
A beauty who seemed to transcend the limits of humanity, casually strolling through a back alley where unsavory people gathered—it was only natural that flies would be drawn to her.
Baldurin had never even considered that beings who had rebelled against humanity, like the Prodiums, might still share humanity's sense of beauty.
But unfortunately for the back-alley thugs, the being before them wasn't some weak woman who would tremble and scream after being attacked by lechers.
"You little punks..."
-Chill!!
A low voice, thick with irritation and disgust, burst from Baldurin's lips.
Her single utterance shuddered through the air like the growl of a predator, pressing down on the entire alley.
It was a voice imbued with such overwhelming presence and power that even comparing it to a tiger's roar would fall short.
The moment the sound brushed past the thugs' ears, their spines turned to ice, and their bodies froze as if they were prey standing before an unseen giant beast.
"Giyeol!!"
-Kugugung!!
And almost simultaneously, three punches were thrown with overwhelming speed, too fast for Prodium eyes to follow. They struck the thugs' heads—
Without even realizing what had happened, the thugs couldn't manage so much as a scream before they were turned into Amazoneia-ground meat.
The Amazoneia female warriors had been designed to be powerful fighters, regardless of their looks. Their homeworld was the planet Amazanne, famous throughout the Omega Galaxy for its hellish environment, and even the weakest among them possessed the strength to split a massive continent.
There was no way a bunch of Prodiums—beings who were merely a slightly improved version of Homo sapiens—could do anything to such an existence with their bare hands.
No, even if every Prodium on this planet brought all their abilities to bear, they couldn't so much as scratch Baldurin.
"Disgusting. How dare you look at me, a warrior, with such cheap, vulgar eyes?"
Apart from that difference in strength, Baldurin, Omega's daughter and wife, had always been met with looks of respect and admiration from nearly everyone.
That was why the thugs' lustful stares disgusted her beyond what she could bear.
In the end, she had acted on impulse, and the ground meat before her was the result.
'It seems the Prodiums reacted to my appearance. I'll have to conceal myself.'
Apart from her disgust, Baldurin had quickly grasped the cause of the problem. She activated the combat suit's cloaking function and concealed her appearance.
'It was an impulsive act, but perhaps it worked out for the best. I can use the bodies of these blasphemous beings to put that ability Father bestowed upon me to use.'
-Uuung!!
Having reached that decision, Baldurin used the military implant Omega had bestowed upon her, just as Leona and the Security Office executives did.
-Shaaa!!
"A... Aaaah!!"
"Gwaaaah!!"
At the same time, the three piles of Amazoneia-ground meat, the bloodstains around them, and even the drugged homeless people lying nearby all disintegrated and vanished.
There were no witnesses. Silence once again settled over the back alley, which had been deserted to begin with. After confirming that everything was finished, Baldurin walked out of the alley and into the sunlit street.
Unlike the back alley, where the darkness of civilization had gathered, the city streets—especially the major avenues—were crowded, energetic, and lively, as though they embodied civilization's bright side.
Expectations and hopes for the future shone on people's faces, and the streets were full of those living their dull yet precious daily lives.
This most prosperous city on Terakanta was decorated with endless rows of skyscrapers stretching across the sky, while all kinds of the latest electronic devices displayed their own lights and designs throughout the streets.
And as Baldurin gazed at this prosperous city, her impression was...
"Ugh... Disgusting."
Her voice was steeped in intense loathing and contempt.
The reason was simple.
The scenery and culture of this prosperous city, its technology and nation, even the appearance of this planet—all of it seemed familiar to Baldurin.
"What a crude, vulgar knockoff... No, it isn't even worthy of being called a civilization. It's an insult to Humanity-nim."
Everything here was nothing more than a clumsy copy of the traces left behind by humanity when they were still Homo sapiens and lived on Earth, twisted into something new.
It wasn't enough that beings who weren't even human called themselves humanity. They had even given their planet the rootless name Terakanta, awkwardly stitching together 'Terra,' meaning Earth, and 'Kanta,' meaning song.
And the place where Baldurin stood now was a city that grotesquely imitated Japan, one of the ancient human nations.
Its name was 'Nobon.'
Its culture and architecture were just as clumsy and distorted, as if someone had blended East and Southeast Asia together.
Among the transcendent humans of today, few took a deep interest in the history of humanity in the days of Holy Earth, unless they were old enough to be called elders by present-day standards.
Among 2nd Class Citizens and 3rd Class Citizens, even fewer knew much about that era.
But Baldurin was different.
Her father, Omega, was the youngest among humanity, yet he cherished a deeper love for the history and culture of humanity in the days of Holy Earth—and for the planet Holy Earth itself—than anyone else.
Naturally, his wives and close associates had to learn this and that about his interests so they could serve him better.
As a result, Baldurin possessed a great deal of accurate knowledge about the era when Holy Earth was still called Earth, even among the creations of humanity.
So, to her, the civilization of these rootless Prodiums was an utterly unforgivable insult to great Humanity.
'Besides, although these Prodiums call themselves humanity, they clearly have strange traits that the humans of the pre-transcendent era never possessed.'
It was commonplace here to see people with pink, green, or blue hair—colors that had not naturally existed among ancient humanity—walking through the streets.
But there was something else that seemed even more out of place to Baldurin.
[Everyone~ Karat-karat~♥]
"Ooooooh!!! Karara!! Kirara!!"
"Do a Karat-karat for me, too!!"
"Waaah!! Eonni, take me!!"
"Just wave at me once!! Please!!"
Terakanta's Prodiums were almost fanatically obsessed with beings known as 'idols.'
Here, idols weren't merely a fad or a form of entertainment.
They were already a massive culture, the very mainstream that supported society as a whole.
To Terakanta's Prodiums, idols weren't just something to enjoy.
They were practically a necessity, like food, clothing, and shelter—something without which life itself could barely function.
And even...
"Wow!! The Muse Energy generated by the performance of Karara-ssi, ranked 17th among the idols, is an incredible 50,000!!"
"Wow, that's impressive! At this rate, she could be aiming for a spot in the top ten idols!"
"That's right!! And Karara-ssi is still young, so she might even threaten the position of the Master Idol ranked number one! The current Master Idol group, Stella Heart, will have to be nervous!"
The intense emotions audiences felt during idol performances were converted into a kind of spiritual energy called Muse Energy, and that was the very foundation supporting this civilization.
The Prodiums of Terakanta harvested the Muse Energy generated at concert venues and used it as a power source for their civilization, just as ancient humanity had used oil and coal.
To Baldurin, that was the strangest thing of all.
An abnormality nowhere to be found in the history of humanity's evolution.
The Prodiums of Terakanta called themselves humanity, and believed it, too.
But that was precisely why it was even clearer.
Their roots were not human.
They were nothing more than crude imitations of humanity.
"Tch... Damn Prodium bastards..."
At that blasphemous sight, not only did Baldurin's instincts as an Amazoneia warrior react violently, but even the tiny amount of human genes mixed into her body stirred in fury.
An urge surged through her to trample and destroy this entire civilization on the spot.
But Baldurin suppressed it through superhuman restraint.
For now, she had a mission to carry out—an order she had received—and that had to come before her anger.
And so Baldurin quietly set off.
"Is this the place?"
Her destination was a luxury tower mansion in Gakyo, the capital of Nobon.
The building had a strange atmosphere, as though it blended the apartments of ancient human Korea with the mansions of Japan. But as one would expect from a luxury residence in the capital, it was where Nobon's upper class lived.
And of course, among those members of the upper class were idols with high rankings, one of whom was Baldurin's target.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm~♪"
"Found you."
And at the very moment Baldurin finally spotted her target, the destruction of this world was drawing near—without anyone in this world knowing.