"Arcana Realm: Idol Stage!" Alex shouted so the whole cafeteria could hear, pointing his finger up to the sky. Multiple lines of bright mana veins appeared under Alex's feet.
"Sir Alex?!" Mira exclaimed in surprise as Alex suddenly activated his Arcana Realm. She had never thought that Alex would actually use his advanced spell inside the cafeteria. She tried to find a reason behind his sudden action in his expression, but all she saw was his confident smile.
Then, the mana veins started to grow longer. The growth was slow at first, but it slowly sped up, covering almost all of the cafeteria floor and even creeping up into the walls. The demons started to panic at seeing these weird mana veins suddenly appearing.
"Mamma Mia!? What now?!?" Uncle Orso protested in frustration again. Previously, he had to shield his eyes from the intense bright light that was coming from his dear Mira. Now, his beloved cafeteria was filled with strange lines of bright mana veins coming from Signore Alex.
But a few demons were relatively calmer than the rest, as they remembered what these mana veins meant.
"Ah, this is the same thing that happened last time!" One demon who was part of the Battlefield of East Game commented. He had seen the exact mana veins that appeared on the battlefield.
"Wait, you don't mean that, do you?" Another demon asked for confirmation, also knowing the source and meaning of these mana veins spreading through the cafeteria.
"That's right... That! It's going to happen again!" The previous demon confirmed, but he somewhat had an excited tone, as if he were anticipating something fun.
"Oi, you lads! What are you talking about?!" Uncle Orso demanded answers from these demons who seemed to know what was going on.
"Kahaha! Don't worry Uncle Orso, the reviews of Alex's Arcana Realm seem to be quite highly praised!" Casey interjected, having heard previously of Alex's Arcana Realm from those who had experienced them directly. "This is my first time getting sucked into one too, so let's just relax and enjoy the show!" She assured the large demon bear man with excitement in her voice, much to the said demon bear man's dismay over the thought of his cafeteria getting involved.
Meanwhile, Mira continued to stare at Alex's confident face, her own expression a mix of melancholy and frustration over the very thought of what Alex was about to force her to do.
Soon, their world was enveloped in light. Everyone shielded their eyes once again from another bright light, except for both Alex and Mira, who kept locking their eyes together.
< | X | >
The intense bright light slowly died down. Every one of the demons in the cafeteria could see again. But... they were met with darkness... Almost darkness, at least, as there were a few dimly lit sources that allowed them to see slightly around them. They could see that all the demons that were in the cafeteria were now together.
Then they noticed the place where they all ended up. They saw that they were in a large, spacious room that almost rivaled the cafeteria in size. On the ceiling of this spacious room were metal structures whose purpose the demons still didn't understand. For the most part, many of the demons here were relatively calm about being sucked into Alex's Arcana Realm, but a small part of them were a bit anxious, and some were even panicking from being suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar place.
"Hmm...? What is this...?" The voice came from Uncle Orso, asking his fellow demons. He was one of the demons who had never actually experienced Alex's Arcana Realm. He wasn't particularly scared, but he was confused by suddenly finding himself in this situation.
"Oh, Chef Orso! Is that you?" One of the few demons recognized his voice. They also saw and recognized his large, fluffy bear silhouette in the dim darkness.
"Yes, it's-a me," Uncle Orso confirmed to his fellow demons. "Where are we, lads?" He asked them, seeking an explanation for their current location.
"Oh yeah, you weren't there participating in the Battle of East Gate, huh?" One of the demons said to Uncle Orso, which unfortunately didn't answer his question but instead asked him back.
"Obviously, you idiot. Chef Orso was in the Demon Queen's castle, giving out rations and meals to our citizens who had evacuated there!" Another demon interjected, explaining to the previous demon why Uncle Orso wasn't at the Battle of East Gate.
"Oi, don't call me an 'idiot', idiot!"
"Huh?! You wanna go, punk!?"
These demons started bickering and fighting with each other instead of answering Uncle Orso's question. An angry tick appeared on Uncle Orso's brow.
"OI, YOU MAGGOTS! QUIT YOUR YAPPING AND TELL ME WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW!!!" Uncle Orso yelled in anger as he activated his fearsome demonic aura, causing many of the demons around him to be scared and panic, especially the two demons who had been fighting but were now quite frightened by Uncle Orso's direct anger.
"Y-YES, CHEF ORSO!!! WE ARE INSIDE SIR ALEX'S ARCANA REALM, CHEF!" They both finally and quickly answered Uncle Orso's question out of fear.
"Signore Alex's Arcana Realm...?" Uncle Orso pondered over what his fellow demon just said. He knew Alex had a unique power as a summoned hero, but he never thought that he would have an Arcana Realm spell of his own. Not only that, he got thrown into it as well.
"That's right, Uncle Orso," a voice confirmed his pondering. The voice came from the jovial lizard lady, Casey.
"Casey, my dear-a? Do you know what this is all about?" He asked for confirmation from the lizard lady.
"More or less. I never actually witnessed the inside myself until now, but I have talked with those who have experienced them firsthand before," she began her answer to him. "You heard about the rumor of our Demon Queen Anna singing at the Battle of East Gate, right?" She asked Uncle Orso.
"Indeed, I heard about that."
"Well, we are most likely going to see something similar to that," she simply answered his question.
"Hold on, Casey, my dear-a, are you saying we are going to witness-a someone performing? In this Arcana Realm?" Uncle Orso inquired further. "Wait... don't tell me... Mira's...?" Before being thrown into Alex's Arcana Realm, he saw that the source of all of this was from Alex and Mira, thus he quickly put together all the information and came to his conclusion.
Casey didn't say anything further to Uncle Orso but instead just showed him a large grin of excitement. They were going to witness something amazing; she was sure of that.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? The Idol Concert is about to start." A loud voice suddenly echoed through the large spacious room, the very same announcement that many of these veteran demons had once heard.
"Signore Alex? Is that-a his voice?" Uncle Orso quickly recognized who was the source of the voice. "Idol Concert...?" He repeated the words that Alex had just announced, confused as to what they meant.
A few moments after hearing Alex's announcement, beams of light suddenly appeared, seemingly coming from the metal structure on the ceiling above their heads. These beams of light were at first directed in random directions, with some even highlighting some of the demons, but then they all moved with fluid motion, as if they were dancing. The beams of light slowly came together into one place at the edge of the spacious area, revealing a performance stage. But that was not all they revealed; they also unveiled one important figure standing in the middle of the stage: Mira, the mage cat beastkin.
"Mira...!" Uncle Orso muttered her name. He was surprised to see Mira suddenly appear on the performance stage. But... he had already figured out that she was somewhat involved in this whole fiasco with Alex... and she was most likely going to sing, just like her majesty, Demon Queen Anna, had done on this very magical stage that Alex had provided for them both.
Mira herself had an expression of anxiety and fear mixed into one. She was unsure of herself, forced into something she didn't want to do. Her vision slowly became blurry, as if she was about to pass out. But... her blurry vision then landed on one person: Sir Alex.
Sir Alex was standing in front of the crowd of demons, just like before when he had used his Arcana Realm with Demon Queen Anna. He had... a face full of confidence and determination as he looked directly into her eyes.
His gaze had always made a strong impression on her, but this time... it was more than anything she had felt before. His gaze was telling her to do it. He was telling her... to sing.
Music suddenly blared throughout the spacious room. It surprised many at first, but they soon realized what was going to happen. Mira, their beloved mage cat beastkin, was going to sing, and they all began to cheer for her.
"Mira! Go for it! Sing!"
"You can definitely do it, Mira!"
"Sing for us, Mira!"
Mira finally woke up from her distressed state. The music prevented her from passing out... and the cheers from her fellow demon brethren cleared any negative thoughts that had clouded her mind. And then...
She began to sing.