1. Error: Hero Not Found
At exactly 3:00 a.m., every electronic billboard in Metrosonic switched from ads to static.
Logos glitched. Neon signs blinked in Morse code.
Every screen began whispering the same phrase:
> "♪ SYSTEM UPDATE COMPLETE. LAUNCHING SYNTHRA.EXE ♪"
By sunrise, the entire city had turned into one massive speaker.
The air vibrated.
Glass hummed.
Cats danced against their will.
Raon woke up to her wall clock blasting techno beats.
"Shion?" she groaned. "Did you turn my alarm into a rave again?"
Shion burst through the door, tablet in hand.
> "It's not me! The city's streaming a live feed—of Synthra Byte!"
---
2. The Pop Idol Apocalypse
The feed showed Synthra Byte standing atop a skyscraper, glowing like a goddess made of holograms.
Her voice echoed through the clouds, autotuned beyond sanity.
> "HELLO, METROSONIC. I'M BACK… AND I'M IN 8K."
Behind her, entire districts lit up in synchronized rhythm.
The skyline pulsed in time with her heartbeat.
Shion's tablet displayed corrupted text.
> "Echo Prime has fully merged with Synthra's neural core. She's broadcasting herself through every sound channel in the city!"
Raon blinked.
"So basically… evil pop concert?"
> "An evil pop concert that eats data, yes."
"Cool." cracks knuckles "Let's go buy tickets."
---
3. Bureau Command: Technical Difficulties
At Bureau HQ, panic looked suspiciously like karaoke.
Manager Kimchi shouted over blaring music, trying to brief the heroes while the entire office floor danced involuntarily.
> "Everyone! Focus! She's hijacked the city's resonance grid! Even our briefing room playlist is possessed!"
Baron Silence stood in the corner, clutching a sign that read: [HELP.]
DJ Bloop was crying softly into his turntables. "She remixed my soul, man…"
Shion appeared via holo-call.
> "We've tracked the main broadcast source — Central Tower. But it's wrapped in a sound barrier that nullifies physical attacks."
Kimchi turned to Raon.
> "You're the only one with a kick strong enough to counter resonance waves. You're up."
Raon saluted lazily.
> "Finally. A concert where I don't need a ticket."
---
4. Central Tower: Live Show of Doom
The tower loomed above the skyline, vibrating like a colossal subwoofer.
As Raon and Shion approached, glowing cables snaked across the ground, pulsing to Synthra's rhythm.
Every step echoed a beat.
Every beat whispered her name.
> "♪ ONE KICK GIRL… THE GIRL WHO SHATTERED SOUND… COME DANCE. ♪"
Raon cracked her neck. "If she makes me dance, I'm kicking her twice."
Shion scanned the barrier.
> "Frequency range: 0 to 400kHz. It's omnisonic. You can't touch it unless—"
Raon kicked.
The shockwave punched a hole through it.
Shion blinked.
> "…You just out-volume'd physics again."
Raon shrugged. "I'm gifted."
---
5. Synthra.exe: Live and Lethal
Inside, Synthra stood surrounded by holographic backup dancers made of pure sound.
Her eyes glowed turquoise, her voice digital and divine.
> "RAON~! So nice of you to join the show. Shall we make some noise?"
Raon pointed a thumb at herself. "I don't make noise. I end it."
Synthra raised a hand — the tower's walls bent into speaker arrays.
Thousands of bass cannons hummed as one.
> "Then let's see if silence can dance."
She dropped the beat.
---
6. Battle: The Soundstorm
The city shook.
The air itself turned visible — layers of pressure, distortion, and raw bass warping reality.
Raon leapt, her foot cutting through frequencies like blades.
Each kick cancelled one sonic burst, only for two more to spawn.
Shion yelled through the comms, "She's using recursive harmonics! Every blocked attack doubles back!"
Raon gritted her teeth. "Then I'll double-kick back."
She spun midair, launching two kicks in opposite directions.
The resulting shockwave inverted the sound field, collapsing the rhythm into a single massive boom.
Synthra reeled, voice glitching.
> "ERROR… PATTERN… BROKEN…"
Raon landed with a smirk.
"Welcome to silence, pop star."
---
7. The Remix Strikes Back
But Synthra smiled.
> "Cute."
Her body flickered — and dozens of Synthra clones emerged from the air, each singing a different note.
Together, they formed a living chorus, a resonance army.
> "ECHO PRIME V3.1: MULTI-VOICE MODE ACTIVATED."
Shion's eyes widened. "She's fractalizing her consciousness across every active audio system in the city!"
Raon cracked her knuckles again.
"Cool. More targets."
---
8. Raon's Counterbeat
As the clones attacked in waves of pure melody, Raon grounded herself.
She exhaled.
For once — she didn't move.
> "No kicks?" Shion asked.
Raon smiled faintly.
"Sometimes, you fight sound… with silence."
She closed her eyes.
Every vibration, every resonance, every note around her — synced.
Then — one small movement.
Kick.
The world froze.
Every clone shattered simultaneously.
Synthra.exe screamed, splitting into binary fragments that flew skyward in beams of light.
Silence returned.
Raon stood amidst falling static, brushing dust off her hoodie.
"Concert's over."
---
9. The Afterparty
Hours later, back at Bureau HQ, Shion submitted her report.
> "Synthra.exe neutralized. Echo Prime data remnants scattered across orbital frequency bands. Estimated recovery rate: unknown."
Kimchi wiped sweat from his forehead.
> "Finally. Peace and quiet."
A faint hum filled the room.
Then a robotic whisper from the speakers:
> "♪ REMIX MODE… STILL… LOADING… ♪"
Raon facepalmed.
> "She dropped a post-credits remix. Great."
---
[End of Chapter 19 — "Synthra.exe"]