Rewind With A Superstar System-Chapter 67: Grand Finale (3)

<🎧 Song Recommendation: Holy Grail by Jay Z ft Justin Timberlake (inspiration track!)>

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The audience, for some reason, we’re loving the song’s intro. And the way Von built suspense by taking off his glasses commanded a lot of aura.

They expected to see tear filled eyes, instead, they saw violet eyes burning with a cold intensity. There was no sadness there. There was only the look of a predator who had finally cornered its prey.

Von dropped the glasses. They hit the stage floor with a clatter. And there was silence afterward, until — BOOM.

The beat dropped.

It wasn’t a piano anymore. It was a heavy, distorted, aggressive 808 bassline that shook the stadium’s foundation. It was a trap beat, dark and menacing, the kind of rhythm that signaled a rap battle not a performance

Von walked toward Julian’s circle. He wasn’t rapping to the crowd. He was rapping at Julian.

🎶 🎤

Uh, uh, uh.

Truth told me remind you sinners, uh.

Fuck that tape y’all talkin’ ’bout, I’m the loser, uh.

🎶 🎤

The crowd roared. They didn’t understand the specific context, but they felt the energy shift. They thought it was a metaphor for a toxic friendship. But Julian? Julian gripped the edges of his jacket. Masquerade. The word were still in his head, and his intuition told him otherwise as to what the song’s intention was. It hit him like a slap.

Von sped up his flow to match the cadence perfectly. He circled Julian’s spot, prowling like a wolf around a trapped sheep.

🎶 🎤

Caught up in all these lights and cameras, uh.

But look what that room did to manners, uh.

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Von leaned in close to Julian’s circle on the word room, looking like he was going to assault him again.

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Goddamn it, I strike it.

The bandage is enticin’, but who did the slicin’?

All that acting in one night, one mil’ for one fight.

But soon as all the money blows, the investigation goes...

🎶 🎤

The crowd cheered for the clever rhyme, but Julian’s face was pale already. He instinctively raised a hand to cover his nose, realizing too late that the movement made him look guilty. Von grinned seeing his reaction.

🎶 🎤

Touch the flower, keep creepin’ on me.

What I do? I pushed you back.

Fool me twice; that’s my bad, I can’t even blame you for that.

Enough to make me wanna murder.

My homie Zack always get my bail.

I know nobody to blame; you dropped the charge, to save yourself. Uh.

🎶 🎤

Von delivered the line with a sneer and Julian was sweating now seeing the mistake Von was not supposed to be making. The golden light around him felt less like a halo and more like an interrogation lamp. He couldn’t leave the circle and he couldn’t grab a mic to defend himself either. He had to stand there and take it.

The beat broke down into the bridge, the music swirling and chaotic.

🎶 🎤

And we all just play the savior...

And we hide the bad behavior...

And we all just play the savior...

🎶 🎤

Von mock-saluted Julian and then the chorus hit again. The crowd didn’t care about what was happening. They were loving the song, it felt too different from anything they would have expected.

🎶 🎤

And, Brother, it’s amazin’ the games I play with you.

I just can’t read your script.

One day you’re screamin’ you love me loud...

The next day you’re so stiff.

One day you’re real, one day you’re fake, one day you’re fair...

You’re so unfair.

Dancing with the lie ’til the party’s over... Masquerade.

🎶 🎤

Von stopped dancing. The beat stripped back to just the drums and the bass. He walked slowly toward Julian again. The atmosphere shifted from a concert to a confrontation.

🎶 🎤

Now I got shadows in the lobby.

Playing victim is a hobby.

I got haters in the paper, photo shoots with paparazzi.

Can’t even tell the cops the talk...

See you by the bottle store.

I feel like I’m cornered off.

Enough is enough, take the costume off.

🎶 🎤

Von mimed ripping a mask off his face and throwing it at Julian’s feet.

🎶 🎤

Who the fuck I’m kiddin’ though?

You let me go, kept it low.

Slidin’ by on that waiver, secrets all in your window.

🎶 🎤

He leaned forward, his voice dropping an octave, becoming menacingly conversational.

🎶 🎤

This fame hurt, but that face work?

I think back you asked the same person.

If this is all you had to deal with...

Brother, deal with, that bridge ain’t hurt.

This light work, camera snappin’, my eyes hurt.

🎶 🎤

A collective gasp rippled through the front row. The camera zoomed in on Julian’s face. His confidence had gone, replaced by the panic of a fraud about to be exposed.

Von turned his back on him, walking center stage for the finale.

🎶 🎤

Real ones dyin’ back where I was birthed.

Fuck your stylist and your net worth.

Get the hell up off your high horse.

You poured the shots that minors die for, dry yours.

🎶 🎤

Von threw his hands up as if challenging him.

🎶 🎤

Why you mad? Take the good with the bad.

Or throw the baby out with that bath water.

🎶 🎤

You still alive, still that figure.

Brother, you survived, you still gettin’ bigger.

Brother, living the life, vanilla wafers in a villa.

Illest liar alive; Xander Jackson’s Thriller.

🎶 🎤

The beat cut out abruptly, leaving only the haunting piano melody from the intro.

Von stood center stage, his chest heaving. He turned his head slowly to look back at Julian one last time.

🎶 🎤

And, Brother, it’s amazin’ the games I play with you.

I just can’t read your script.

One day you’re screamin’ you love me loud...

The next day you’re so cold.

One day you’re real, one day you’re fake, one day you’re fair...

You’re so unfair.

Dancing with the lie ’til the party’s over... Masquerade.

🎶 🎤

Von held the final note, a low, resonant hum that vibrated in the chests of everyone in the room. Then, he simply dropped the microphone.