[Few minutes before Anna's Idol Debut]
All of the demons and humans that were on the battlefield of the East Gate had been transported inside Alex's Arcana Realm: Idol Stage spell. In particular, one mage cat beastkin was also sucked into this advanced spell of Alex's.
When the intense light died down, Mira could finally see where she had been caught. It was quite dark with no light source whatsoever, and she could barely see her surroundings. "Where am I...?" she asked herself, as if she was waiting for someone to respond, but to no avail. She tried to scan and feel out her surroundings. Suddenly, she felt something oddly smooth but also quite sturdy. Then she realized something, "Ah...! I should activate my night vision! Hmm..." She quickly remembered that her beastkin race had a bloodline ability for night vision as she closed her eyes and began to focus. Then... she opened her eyes and could finally see her surroundings.
Multiple humanoid-sized mannequin dolls surrounded her. "AAHHHH!" Mira screamed in shock and fear at the sudden appearance of these mannequin dolls. "... eh...?" But she quickly realized that these mannequin dolls were not moving at all and should have been practically harmless. She blushed a bit from realizing her blunder in being scared by a bunch of mannequin dolls. She quickly composed herself and tried to scan her surroundings.
It seemed that she was in some sort of quite large, spacious storage room. The mannequin dolls were neatly lined up inside this room. There were also what seemed to be musical instruments neatly stored here, but some of them were quite unfamiliar to her.
She saw some that looked like a lute or a violin, but their shapes were different, and the neck part was longer. Then there was something that looked like the pipe organ's keys, but the shape of the instrument was small and slimmer, with none of the pipe organ's wind mechanisms to be seen. There were also what seemed to be percussion instruments, but none of them felt familiar compared to what she had seen before. Oh... and there were some trumpets as well, which she at least recognized.
But then suddenly, all of the mannequin dolls started moving. "AAAHHHH!" Mira screamed again in shock and fear. She was about to pull out her staff for self-defense but then realized that the mannequin dolls weren't moving towards her. Instead, they all began to pick up the musical instruments that were stored alongside them. Then, they all began to walk, dividing into left and right, toward the sides of the room. She then realized that the "room" she had entered wasn't exactly a room but more like a huge hall as the mannequin dolls started to disappear into the corridors of the hall.
Out of curiosity, she followed the 'left side' route of the mannequin dolls and realized that she was on some sort of a performance stage. She saw that many of the demon and human soldiers from the battlefield were mixed together in the large crowd at this stage's venue and were all equally confused about where they had ended up. The mannequin dolls she had been following before were preparing themselves as if they were about to perform for this large crowd. But there was one important figure that stood out the most to her: Her Majesty, Demon Queen Anna, standing in the middle of the stage.
"Your Majesty...!" She exclaimed as she found her Demon Queen standing alone and... fidgeting? Seeing that the Demon Queen seemed to be in distress, she was about to approach her and assist her. But... an armored hand blocked her path. The owner of the armored hand seemed to be telling her not to interfere. She was about to protest to the armored person. But then she realized again... this armored person was none other than Hero Yulia.
"AAHH-!" She was midway through screaming before the armored Hero Yulia immediately put her armored hand to cover Mira's mouth. She then made a hand gesture in front of her knight helmet, a pointed finger crossing what should be her mouth, signaling Mira that she should be quiet. Reluctantly, Mira nodded in response to Hero Yulia's request out of fear.
The Hero Yulia herself returned to just... watching the whole thing. She wasn't trying to attack the Demon Queen or anything hostile, which confused Mira to no end. The only thing Mira could do right now was watch Demon Queen Anna standing there, while also keeping an eye out for trouble, especially if her Demon Queen needed help.
She then noticed that the crowd was getting uneasy, and saw that some of them were even about to start a fight, but... a loud booming voice echoed through the spacious room, catching their attention and halting the would-be battle.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? The Idol Concert is about to start," said the loud voice, echoing throughout the spacious room.
"Sir Alex?!" She quickly recognized the owner of the voice. She scanned the whole stage to find him and saw that he was standing between the crowd and the stage where Demon Queen Anna was standing.
"Idol..."
Mira heard someone muttering. She tried to search for the source of the muttering, but the only one near her was Hero Yulia. 'No... it couldn't be from her, could it...?' she thought to herself. But before she could dwell more on this, beams of light suddenly appeared. These beams of light then all gradually moved towards the stage, specifically towards the Demon Queen. Everyone in the spacious room finally noticed the Demon Queen who had been standing on the stage from the very beginning. Mira herself had to turn off her night vision skill because of how bright those beams of light were.
"Your Majesty!?" the demons shouted in recognition.
"The Demon Queen!?" the humans and heroes shouted as well.
Then soon after, a fanfare of trumpets and percussion instruments started, followed by a musical arrangement neither she nor her fellow natives of this world had ever heard of. Except, of course, for the summoned heroes from the other world. They seemed to recognize this musical arrangement.
But... the most surprising thing was that Demon Queen Anna started singing with the music.
"Uniting the world with hopes and dreams... World Conqueror..."
< | X | >
The Demon Queen finished her singing, along with the musical arrangement.
Mira shed tears of happiness after hearing her Demon Queen's beautiful singing. "Y-yes, Your Majesty! Let's unite the world! Let's conquer the world together, my Demon Queen Anna!!!" She shouted passionately, trying to hold back her tears and wiping away the snot from her nose. Meanwhile, Hero Yulia stood beside her in silence, still observing the performance without much reaction.
Many in the crowd shouted their excitement and support towards the Demon Queen as well.
"Demon Queen Anna!"
"Your singing was amazing!"
"We love you!"
"Let's unite the world, Your Majesty!"
"Let's conquer the world together!"
They all shouted with passion to Demon Queen Anna. Anna herself was speechless from the amount of support she received. She couldn't exactly hide her blush of embarrassment. Although she tried to conceal it, her vision soon landed on Alex, her 'Mr. Producer'. He showed a genuine smile towards her and gave her a thumbs up, signaling that he was proud of her. She was stunned from seeing Alex's reaction to her because somehow, being appreciated by Alex alone felt like the most intense feeling of happiness inside of her.
Soon, a bright light enveloped everyone in this spacious room, blinding them once again. The light slowly died down, revealing that they were all back on the devastated battlefield, with everyone returning to where they had been standing before being sucked into Alex's Arcana Realm.
"We're back...?" General Bella asked herself. She had witnessed the most confusing events in her life and was left a bit stunned. She did enjoy the Demon Queen's singing, though.
But unlike her, the previous crowd was still shouting their love and support to the Demon Queen, as if they were still charmed by her performance. General Bella was speechless at their actions.
"Anna-chan~~~" She also saw Roxane joining in the cheer for the Demon Queen, but General Bella knew full well that Roxane was doing it willingly out of enjoyment.
Alex, Mira, Demon Queen Anna, and Hero Yulia were also standing in the middle of the battlefield where they had been before. Though Mira herself was also one of those cheering for the Demon Queen.
"Demon Queen Anna~! I love you~!" Mira shouted her love to the Demon Queen. Demon Queen Anna herself was hiding her embarrassment from being cheered on by so many people. As usual, there wasn't much of a reaction from Hero Yulia.
Sensing that the Demon Queen needed some help, Alex then pulled out a cone-like device from his item box. He tinkered with it a bit and then put the cone-like device in front of his mouth.
"Everyone~. Thank you for attending today's concert. We hope you enjoyed it. Please exit the premises in an orderly fashion. Have a wonderful day~!" Alex said into the cone device, which amplified his voice across the whole battlefield.
"Yes~~~" everyone said in unison. They all miraculously left the battlefield, both demons and humans. Mira also joined in as well. The only ones left on the battlefield now were Alex, Demon Queen Anna, and Hero Yulia. Meanwhile, on the sidelines, General Bella, Roxane, and Judith also stayed, observing and anticipating anything that could happen between their Demon Queen Anna and Hero Yulia.
Anna soon realized that everyone had left the battlefield except for the people mentioned before. Alex quickly attended to her side to help her if Hero Yulia started attacking again. But... Yulia only stood there, staring at both Anna and even Alex. After what seemed to be an eternity, Yulia turned her back and began walking away. Both Anna and Alex were surprised by Hero Yulia's sudden departure without much of a word. Nevertheless, it seemed that the battle was finally over.