"Hey, have you heard? Robin's finally holding a concert here!"
"What do you mean 'here'? There are four hundred shows across the country! It's all over the news—something about cutting-edge holographic projection technology. It's a massive event, even international!"
"Huh? Holographic projection? That sounds incredible!"
"I'm not sure how it works, but it's officially confirmed. It must be real."
For days, the entire country buzzed with excitement. The hype was unprecedented. While most people didn't fully understand the "holographic technology," the official endorsement made it seem undeniably legitimate.
Regardless, attending a Robin concert was the ultimate dream for most fans.
Tickets for all four hundred shows vanished in an instant, leaving the ticketing staff stunned.
Normally, tickets for a single concert would be snatched up quickly, but this was different. Four hundred concerts—and they still sold out instantly! Many fans, unable to secure tickets domestically, resorted to using VPNs to compete with international buyers on foreign websites.
One staff member stared blankly at the computer screen, then glanced down at his phone, which displayed the dreaded "Sold Out" message.
Yes, even the staff member himself had tried to snag tickets, but of course, he'd failed. He muttered to himself, "Seriously, back when there was only one concert, were those who managed to get tickets all gods or something?"
Nowadays, while it might be an exaggeration to say that every single person in the world was a Robin fan, at least half the population likely was, the only question being the degree of their fanaticism.
In other words, if you randomly stopped two young people on the street, chances were high that both would be Robin fans, deeply fond of her music.
The remaining half consisted almost entirely of children and the elderly—no exaggeration there.
Meanwhile, governments around the world declared a full day of holiday on the concert date, halting all work and advising that even those who couldn't secure tickets could enjoy the free live stream online.
Instantly, a carnival atmosphere gripped the globe. Smiles lit up faces everywhere—who wouldn't welcome an unexpected day off?
It was remarkable. Despite the looming "end of the world" in just a week, instead of sinking into despair, the world had grown even more vibrant. But then again, that was exactly the effect Robin had intended.
On the same day Robin shared the full details with Zhong Wanhong, Director Kong Zhiwang of the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations approved the plan. Five hours later, after undisclosed negotiations between the Dragon Nation and the Bear Nation, the latter agreed to host the concert.
Simultaneously, the European Union granted White Eagle's request, and Great Britain, with Herta's involvement, proceeded smoothly with their preparations.
With this, the world's five most powerful nations mobilized their full resources, and all preparations advanced swiftly and methodically.
Time flew by. A week later, on the day of the concert, Sparkle dispatched a thousand clones, each transformed into Robin, to perform the singer's iconic song, "Hope Is The Thing With Feathers," across the globe.
[Hope Is The Thing With Feathers]
The song perfectly embodied the themes of hope and beauty:
[We rise together as our destiny unfolds.]
[We face the darkness and our trials are yet untold]
[Through the shadows of despair]
[Oh, in silence, hopes we share, woah-woah]
As Robin's debut song, this melody was intimately familiar to all her fans, having been played countless times. It was the perfect choice to open this concert.
Meanwhile, in an empty stadium in Longcheng, Dragon Nation, a young girl with long, pale cyan hair stood alone, wearing a white dress.
Without a doubt, it was Robin herself, not Sparkle in disguise.
This was where she had held her first concert in this world. Though the stands were empty now, she softly hummed the melody.
Across the globe, concert halls overflowed with cheering crowds. Yet here, only Robin stood, alone in the vast, deserted stadium.
As Robin's song filled the stadium, the power of Harmony began to manifest, drawing together the hopes of people from across the globe.
In the Honkai: Star Rail storyline, Robin had sung this very song to aid the protagonist group, attacking the Dominicus summoned by her brother. Yet now, she sang the same melody to summon Dominicus herself.
An indescribable Great Power descended upon the stadium! A colossal golden figure slowly materialized—the Emanator of Harmony!
The Harmony Choir's Dominicus of the Harmonious Choir!
Outside the stadium, Zhong Wanhong, Lü Heng, and others had been silently waiting. The moment they sensed this overwhelming power, they looked up and saw the figure wielding a conductor's baton, identical to the one they had witnessed in the Dream Realm.
Zhong Wanhong silently swallowed hard, while Lü Heng stood frozen in place, utterly stunned. "It actually summoned it?" Lü Heng exclaimed in shock. "That thing from the Dream Realm..."
Then, Dominicus's power began to manifest. Centered on the Dragon Nation, it swiftly enveloped the entire planet. Robin could clearly sense that this wasn't even Dominicus's full strength.
Simultaneously, with their defenses in place, Little Herta activated her mirror in the black-and-white world before the Source, ready to cross over once more.
The instant Little Herta arrived on the other side, an unknown force surged through her, reaching Herta Herself in the Main World. It spread like a highly contagious super-disease, infecting everything it touched with a single touch.
In the blink of an eye, the entire planet shattered into fragments, exploding like an overinflated balloon with a loud pop, dissolving into cosmic dust.
But... White Eagle, the Prophet, blinked. When she looked up at the sky again, it was still the same vast azure expanse, as if everything she had just witnessed had been an illusion, nothing more than a dream.
No, more precisely, what had just happened had become a dream.
Under Dominicus's power, the concepts of reality and the Dream Realm had been inverted. Reality had transformed into a dream, and the Dream Realm into reality.
A planet had indeed shattered, but what should have been a real event had now been relegated to a meaningless dream.
The Prophet's prophecy had come true, but only within the confines of the Dream Realm.