The Birth of the Dissonant Stars

(Shhh...!)

The closing of the heavy doors of the private chamber left behind a dense silence, a sustained note that vibrated in the temples of the five present.

"I am Melioris, a pleasure to meet you~!"

And in front of them, sitting in the center of a marble altar, Melioris did not look at them directly, but rather tilted her head, as if she were tuning an invisible instrument while her feet hung from the table...

"From now on you are legally under my care!"

To immediately after break the tense atmosphere in the place while her eyes scanned the group, stopping at the air that surrounded them.

"But my... Now that I have you all in front of me... I can only say that you are quite a strange composition~"

Finally, after seeing each of those present, Melioris murmured, breaking the silence with a voice that rose and fell in pitch like a whimsical flute.

"There are too many notes out of place. A drum that wants to be a frying pan, a blessed flute that sounds like dry leather... and that violin string in the back, so taut it seems it's going to break from the weight of an entire forest... How worrying...! Oh, so worrying!"

In that way, with exaggerated gestures, Melioris covered her face with a handkerchief she materialized in an instant, drying her non-existent tears of affliction.

"... Master... I'm not sure what is happening... But I think it's clear I shouldn't be here..."

Interrupting Melioris's performance, however, a confused Lionel tightened his headband, being the "only man" present in the place.

"...."

On the other hand, at his side, Linker felt how Asmodeus's corset became a dull and rhythmic heartbeat under his skin of Saint Pamela, trying to camouflage himself among those present, appearing as an image of calm and dignity.

"Come on, don't say that, my dear apprentice! Or rather, strangely, you fit in more than the others... Although, in the same way... are you also the one who fits in the least...?"

But ignoring Saint Pamela's behavior after a brief look, Melioris, in response to the confusion of the disoriented cook Lionel, jumped from the table with a movement that produced no sound upon touching the floor.

"But leaving that aside, the black attire of a witch certainly stands out more in this kind of place than everyone else's!"

Immediately after, sliding among them in a blink, Melioris inspected the imposing figure of Noelle, surrounding her with pure curiosity...

"Mmm... this chord sounds like old paper and silk, but the background has a... dirty echo. As if someone had forced the lock of a piano and now tried to play a mass. It's such a bold sound!"

Only to instantly lose interest after uttering those words.

"Bold...? I am only a humble servant of knowledge who has come to answer the call... Lady Melioris."

In response, however, Noelle, trying to maintain the composure of the great witch despite her internal annoyance at the provocation, sinking her fingers nervously into the softness of her own thighs.

(You damn, insolent brat!)

Thus maintaining her facade despite seething with rage inside...

"Oh, a servant! What a well-rehearsed melody! But be careful, if you press the keys too hard, you could break the internal mechanism~"

In response, Melioris let out a childish giggle and, without prior warning, moved towards the Saint Tsarina, who was hiding timidly behind the great witch.

"And here we have a deathly silence. A note that should be very high, but simply refuses to vibrate. Did you perhaps lose your sheet music on the way, little Saint?"

Focusing her complete attention on the young Saint Tsarina who did not respond, merely lowering her head while clenching her hands tightly...

(Damn! What should I say?! No, forget it, I must appear silent and receptive... But why does she not stop looking at me?!)

Although the reality was that the soul controlling Tsarina's body began to break into a cold sweat; without his memories and without magic, he knew that a bad pronunciation could easily reveal his true personality before the eyes of the girl who observed him fixedly.

(This woman is scary!!)

However, what he did not know was that such a panic reaction was provoked by the body of Saint Tsarina who, compatible with all divinity, was reacting to the presence of a goddess's gaze.

"Lady Melioris... Could you leave my companion alone?"

But at that moment, when panic invaded the soul of the man inside Tsarina's body, it was the great witch Noelle Nostrade, controlled by the soul of her "older brother," who intervened just in time.

"Oh, my! I apologize for the sudden approach! After all, silence is also part of the music!"

Succeeding in making Melioris stop...

"But you... Oh, you are the masterpiece of dissonance!"

Only to appear next to Queen Galadriel, speaking into her sensitive ear.

"Should I call you 'you'... or do you prefer 'you all'...?"

At that moment, before Melioris's soft and comforting words, Queen Galadriel...

"....."

Kept her gaze fixed on the horizon, trembling slightly.

"I-I... My duty is to my..."

Was what he felt at that moment fear...?

(What is this feeling...?)

... Or perhaps... was it longing...?

(... What is she?)

That reaction was the pure result of Divine Compatibility.

"Your rhythm is the loudest of all~"

Beliefs do not only give shape to the gods, but they create a bond of visceral attraction or rejection. Just as a just man feels an overwhelming peace before a God of justice, or a madman is attracted by the whispers of a deity of madness, the "pilot" inside Galadriel was trapped in his own web.

"Doesn't that constant buzzing under the skin tire you, 'Majesty'?"

Being a man inhabiting a corpse, whose mind danced between obsession and panic, his spiritual frequency fit dangerously with Melioris.

"... A-aah... I am... WE ARE..."

She represented what he tried to hide; she was the mirror of his own irregularity.

"Oh, don't be so shy, my dear 'Majesty'!"

That is why, while a sane person would feel an instinctive rejection in the presence of the fallen goddess, he could only experience an involuntary submission, as if his soul had finally found its "north" in the chaos.

"There is no need to vibrate with such intensity, at least not yet."

At that moment, after those words and after injecting her "poison," Melioris moved away with a light smile, letting the Queen catch her breath while she headed back to the center of the group.

"It's fascinating... Each one of you emits such an... honest sound."

Finally, after observing each of those present, Melioris murmured with an almost maternal satisfaction as she returned their gaze.

"What is she talking about...?"

However, Galadriel was not the only one who had been affected by Melioris's presence.

"There is no need to pretend anymore... So to make that clear... Zae'thir vash-nariel amun-re."

In that instant...

"¡¿?!" "¡¡!!" "¡~!" "¡A-Aahn~!" "....."

That room had become a resonance chamber where Divine Compatibility dictated the rules.

"Tell me how you feel!"

What Melioris had done in that moment and place was to stop suppressing her presence, limiting the area to that room.

"What did you do... I...?"

Because of that action in that place, regardless of their mental state or position, everyone was being passively affected.

"I didn't do anything... Or rather... I stopped doing something~?"

Despite it being the first meeting for some, no one doubted or tried to stop her; the harmony with the forbidden was an anchor that kept them fixed to the ground.

"Hey, brat... I don't know what kind of trick you're using, but I like how this body vibrates when you talk."

Breaking the silence, Noelle crossed her arms, causing her generous bust to shake beneath the witch's robe.

"Or rather, right now you look so sexy!!"

The soul of the "Older Brother" controlling the body of the great witch Noelle Nostrade, unable to hide the lewdness that Melioris awakened in his new usurping nature, directed his most perverse desires, feeling an obsessive charm toward the girl before his eyes.

"Exactly! I like it too, Older Brother! It feels like... like I've finally woken up from a boring dream... No, I feel better than that!"

Beside him, Saint Tsarina gave a little jump of excitement, scratching her cheek with a roughness that ruined her porcelain image.

"It's nonsense to pretend to be the original when I should have violated all kinds of nuns and saints using this body to shape them in my image!"

The accomplice, inside the youthful body of the young saint, looked at Melioris with the devotion of a dog that has found a master more cruel and fun.

"Silence, you two... We are supposed to be sacred figures. A bit of decorum, for the love of the gods... if they even still listen to us... No, who cares about that...?"

Beside him, Linker, in Pamela's body, sighed heavily while adjusting his silk glove.

"So you weren't what you appeared to be either... Haaa... We must act with decorum to avoid being discovered and follow the great will of the divine..."

Although Asmodeus's corset forced him into a euphoric submission, his hunter's mind desperately tried to maintain a facade of dignity, even when his eyes betrayed a dark fascination toward the goddess, letting out the most negative side of his being.

"Oh, but decorum is the most fun part to break! Isn't that right, my dear apprentice?"

In response to those words and feeling a certain degree of danger to his "chastity," Melioris turned toward Lionel, who remained with a furrowed brow, clutching his chef's headband.

"Master... I keep saying this is madness... Obviously, I shouldn't be here?!"

And letting out a cry full of confusion that tore through the atmosphere, Lionel asked:

"I don't understand what the hell is going on! Nor why these women are acting as if they've seen a ghost! Master, get me out of here right now!"

For Lionel, nothing had changed because Melioris's passive influence only acted as a catalyst that released the purest and most repressed part of the others, causing them to align more with the essence of their own existence.

"What are you talking about, my dear disciple?"

Therefore, since he cared about nothing but cooking, his personality underwent no change at all, being completely immune to Melioris's effect.

"Do you not wish to cook better and better? Are you not seeking the absolute flavor that makes the heavens tremble?!"

However, precisely because of that, his compatibility with Melioris's essence was the second highest among those present in the place.

"Well, of course I do! Obviously! That's the only reason I live!"

And because of that, Lionel's fate would be sealed before Melioris's smile...

"In that case... it's a deal!"

Who, taking advantage of the confusion, extended her hand and, before Lionel could react, they shook hands.

(Poof!!)

Causing an explosion of blinding brightness, loaded with golden particles and sweet aromas, it flooded the private chamber.

"BUT WHAT THE HELL...?!"

In that way, the voice that emerged from the epicenter of the light was no longer that of an impetuous young man, but a delicate, high-pitched, and purely feminine voice that shouted with comical indignation.

"WHAT IS THIS?!"

When the brightness dissipated, in the place where the cook had been, a girl of radiant and energetic beauty appeared.

"Hey! Why does my clothing feel so light?! And why does my voice sound like I've swallowed helium?!"

She wore a pompous and colorful outfit, full of ruffles that brought to mind layers of cream and strawberries, with a stylized apron adorned with lace and a headband that now held a high, shiny ponytail.

"CONGRATULATIONS~!!"

She was the living image of a culinary "Magical Girl," ready for a dessert festival.

"Guh... ah...!"

But at the same time, while chaos erupted with Lionel's transformation, the air in the private chamber became heavy, saturated with a scent of withered flowers and ancient sap.

"She is so... so warm... My lady... My everything..."

In the corner opposite the screams of the new magical girl, the sound of a body collapsing against the marble briefly drew Melioris's attention.

"... OUR... EVERYTHING..."

Queen Galadriel was on her knees, hands clutching her own chest, sinking her fingers into the white silk of her dress.

"Uf... hahaha... Yes! Now I understand..."

The rustic "pilot," that man who lived hidden among roots and dead viscera, had finally broken before the absolute harmony of his goddess.

(Now everything is clear!!)

Tears began to well up from his amber eyes, sliding down his porcelain cheeks and staining the sacred floor.

(Everything that happened to me... was for this moment...)

They were not tears of sadness, but the byproduct of a devotion that had just mutated into something dark and obsessive.

(I was destined to meet her... Oh, my goddess!!)

For the man inside Galadriel's "case," the outside world, the elves, and the Sacred Kingdom had vanished; there only existed the vibration of Melioris, the only being who knew his true and disgusting nature and, even so, allowed him to exist.

"Anyone who bothers you... anyone who plays out of tune before you... I will tear them out by the root."

Thus, the Queen raised her head, and though her face was that of a divine sovereign, her gaze was unhinged.

"I will spread your name among the ignorant lambs!!"

On that day, Stella Obsessio (The Star of Inextinguishable Obsession) was born.

"My... perhaps I do have a gift for creating yanderes..."

At the same time, seeing the radical transformation that the Elven Queen had undergone, Melioris could not help but genuinely reflect for a moment...

"Forget about that, Master, and focus on returning me to normal?!"

In turn, the second star, Stella Culinaria (The Star of the Transmuting Banquet), lamented.

"Ehehe... How cute she looks~"

With a smile that ruined her pretty features, Tsarina, the 5th star, Stella Corruptio (The Star of Putrid Innocence), drooled.

"That's right, Asmodeus... It will be a headache to deal with this..."

On the other hand, the third star, Stella Cupiditas (The Star of Repressed Desire), Pamela/Linker, se quejó...

"Come on, don't say that and better let me touch those huge breasts!"

And finally, Noelle Nostrade, the fourth star, Stella Voluptas (The Star of Usurped Pleasure), gloated.

"... Anyway, what's done is done~"

That day, in the most improbable place, the cult that would inspire the greatest chaos and terror in the world of Ky'lar formally emerged.