Chapter 245: Tour Opening (5)
<🎧 Song Recommendation: Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance>
...
Von stood at the front of the stage and let them scream until they ran out of air.
It took a while.
"Okay," he said finally, blood still drying on his face. "Earlier I asked if that was a surprise. Half of you said yes. So how’d you like this second surprise?"
The arena erupted once more, a roaring wall of sound crashing against the stage.
"The song is called Blinding Lights, and you’re all the first on earth to listen to it!"
He turned and swept his arm toward the back of the stage.
"On drums, Conor Prince!"
Conor stood up on his riser and threw both drumsticks straight into the crowd.
"On guitar and everything else, Alex Hall!"
Alex lifted a hand, grinning.
"My choreographers, Kiana Ross and Tobias Grant. Thirty of the best dancers in this country. And about two hundred people you never saw tonight who built this entire thing."
The dancers came forward in a line and pulled their mask hoods off. The arena somehow grew even louder for a group of people nobody could name.
Somewhere in that line, Max was crying in an exaggerated, sobbing manner.
"Miami," Von said into the mic. "Thank you for night one."
They all joined hands and bowed together.
The confetti cannons went first—four seconds of gold and white paper filling the air over the floor. Then the pyro rigs along the roofline let go, a rolling wall of sparks running the entire length of the arena.
And then, outside over the water, the fireworks started.
People on the causeway pulled their cars over to watch.
The outro track came up through the house speakers as the band walked off, and behind them, four stories of screen filled with the tour dates.
Von walked into the tunnel, and the noise chased him all the way down it.
Emily was already running before he cleared the doorway.
"Von!"
She hit him hard enough that he had to catch her elbows to stay upright. Her hands were on his face before he could say a word, turning his chin toward the light.
"Where is it coming from, where—" Her thumb came away red. She stopped breathing. "This is real blood."
"No, Em."
"This is real blood, Von!"
"Okay, it’s a little real."
"MEDIC!" she yelled, her voice echoing down the corridor. "Somebody get me the kit, right now!"
Von tried to refuse, but Emily wasn’t having any of it.
Somebody shoved a first aid kit into her hands. Emily tore it open, ripped a gauze pad out of its wrapper, and started cleaning his chin.
Von watched her and started laughing.
"What is funny?" she asked, glaring at him with a dead serious expression.
"You. You’re worrying way too much. It’s not a big deal."
"It’s not a big deal?" Emily pressed the gauze against the corner of his mouth harder than necessary, making him wince. "What do you mean it’s not a big deal? There’s blood all over your face! What even got you injured? Did you hit your face somewhere?"
Von gave her a wry smile. "Nah... Well, kind of. But it was on purpose. It’s all for the show."
Emily stopped and stared at him for a long moment, genuinely torn between crying and laughing.
She had worked with performers who canceled dates because the dressing room flowers were the wrong shade of blue. And this guy had thrown himself off an aerial rig twice, bitten through his own cheek, finished the back half of his show bleeding, and was now sitting on a road case laughing at her for worrying.
"...You are insane," she muttered softly, letting out a breathy chuckle.
David arrived with his tablet tucked under one arm, standing over them with his arms crossed. "Wow. That was some unbelievable stuff! I’ve been doing this for so long, and I don’t have anything to compare what you just did to."
"I told you nobody would get hurt," Von said with a smirk.
David just laughed, shaking his head at Von’s words, at a loss for what else to say.
Von looked past Emily’s shoulder to where Kiana was standing, still re-watching the show playback on the backstage monitors.
"How was it, Kiana?"
Kiana turned around, her hands pressed over her mouth. "Oh my god, Von. It was the best thing I’ve ever witnessed! Genuinely. This is going down in the history books, and I’m not even exaggerating."
She took a breath and shook her head in disbelief. "But just what was that opener? My crew had nothing choreographed for that track, and it almost made me panic! I’m hearing rumors that you were the one who told them to freestyle on the spot, and it still turned out that well?"
"They’re elite dancers," Von replied casually, leaning back against the road case. "I knew if I gave them room, they’d make it look intentional."
Before Kiana could respond, Max shoved his way dramatically through the crowd of dancers, wiping sweat and theatrical tears from his eyes. He pointed an accusing finger straight at Von.
"You!" Max yelled, gasping for air. "You went behind our backs and learned this awesome trick! You almost got me there, man, it really looked like you were flying! I thought gravity had completely given up on you!"
Max gestured wildly with both hands, rambling to the entire hallway about how he thought Von had either gained actual superpowers or was about to crash straight into the mixing desk.
Von laughed, shaking his head, and gestured toward the far end of the corridor. "Don’t give me all the credit, Max. Talk to Tobias."
He called Tobias over, and the veteran movement coach stepped into the circle with a proud, rueful grin.
"Don’t look at me," Tobias said, spreading his hands. "All Von and I did was practice those wire drops and flight angles a few times this morning. Truth is, all the credit goes to Von’s raw talent. I’ve never seen a faster learner in my entire life. His body control in the air is just impossible, even I can’t wrap my head around how he maintained that level of balance. Let’s not even talk about the electric guitar he caught mid-air, I still don’t believe that happened."
Tobias then straightened his back, slipping into his instructor persona. "Which brings me to my next point. You need ice on your body, three full square meals, and absolute rest tonight. You’ve got another stadium to destroy in just three days."
Von smiled wryly at how fast the next date was approaching, but he nodded respectfully. "Yes, sire."
Emily finished tapping the last band-aid over his lip and rubbed her stomach. "Speaking of meals... I am absolutely famished. What about the rest of you?"
Nobody had the energy to hunt down an open restaurant at midnight, but Emily was already three steps ahead.
A local food truck she had contracted earlier delivered a literal mountain of hot food straight to the production office, boxes of gourmet burgers, street tacos, loaded fries, and drinks for every single person on the team, from the lead staff down to all thirty dancers.
The entire crew piled into the room, eating like they hadn’t seen food in days.
As they ate, somebody connected their phone to the Bluetooth speaker and put the raw arena audio recording on repeat, specifically the moment thousands of fans sang the final chorus of Blinding Lights back at the stage.
The wall of sound echoed through the office, giving everyone chills all over again.
Alex bumped his shoulder against Von’s while holding a taco in his other hand. "Since when did you become this good with the electric guitar? That solo was disgusting, man."
Alex then turned and poked Conor in his stomach. "You too, Conor. Watch out, he’s coming for your title as the best drummer next."
The joke sent the trio into a fit of laughter.
Between mouthfuls of food, they discussed preliminary plans for the next city and agreed that they were going to sleep straight through the night and half the morning.
"This was my first time performing in a stadium show like this," Alex admitted, leaning his head back against the wall with a satisfied grin. "The crowd reaction was just so infectious, man. I can’t wait for the next one."
"It’s not usually like this at regular gigs," Conor added, shaking his head. "That’s what makes a Von show special. The masses are really obsessed with the show, and I don’t blame them."
By the time they finished eating, midnight had long passed, and the exhausted crew finally parted ways to head back to their accommodations.
Bunny drove the Cadillac Escalade back to the Pinecrest Mansion with Von and Emily in the back, while Max and Olivia tagged behind in Max’s car.
When they arrived, the estate was quiet under the warm Miami night air. Emily was practically walking in her sleep, barely holding her eyes open as she headed toward her room.
"Get straight into bed," she muttered softly, giving Von a quick shoulder squeeze. "No late-night reviewing."
Their temporary vacation had officially ended once the full house staff returned, so they were no longer sharing a room.
Von gave her a quick nod and pat. "Goodnight, Em."
He stepped into his room, kicked off his shoes, and went straight into the bathroom. He took a long, hot shower, letting the steamy water wash away the sweat, hairspray, and dried blood from his jaw.
When he stepped out in a pair of loose sweatpants, drying his hair with a towel, he noticed Loki curled up on the edge of the bed.
The black cat was fast asleep, practically bloated with the massive wave of emotional energy she had absorbed from the performance earlier.
Von smiled faintly, opting not to disturb her, and sat down on the edge of his bed.
It was time to clear the System notifications he had been delaying all evening.
He tapped the corner of his vision, and the dark blue panels unfolded cleanly in the air.
[Ding!]
[SHOW 1 OF 26: COMPLETE]
â—Ź Venue: Kaseya Center, Miami
â—Ź Attendance: 19,842
[Evaluating performance...]
[PERFORMANCE SCORE: 99]
â—Ź Remark: You have inched towards perfection. For this great achievement, you have earned a bonus reward.
Von blinked, staring at the glowing number.
Ninety-nine.
He had never gotten close to that on any evaluation score before, and getting a 99 on a full arena concert was beyond insane.
Immediately, he realized what he had just done to himself. He had set his own bar impossibly high on night one. If he wanted to maintain this momentum across twenty-five more shows, he was going to have to push himself to the absolute brink every single night.
"Well," Von muttered to the empty room, letting out a small, quiet laugh. "There’s still a 100 to try for."
He said it more to motivate himself than out of genuine confidence, but the fire in his chest flared up anyway.
The primary panel slid down, and the next log opened beneath it.
[Condition met: Score of 90 or above.]
[MOMENTUM: x1]
[BONUS: THE UNSEEN]
â—Ź Detected: "Blinding Lights" >> never performed before an audience.
â—Ź Detected: Electric guitar >> never played before an audience.
â—Ź Conditions satisfied. Two additional Momentum tiers granted immediately.
[MOMENTUM: x3]
Von let out a low whistle.
Night one, and the multiplier was already at 3x. Even though he couldn’t collect his EXP payout until the quest ended, he could only imagine the mind-boggling stack of points waiting for him if he cleared all twenty-six shows.
’I just have to make sure I don’t slip up along the way and fail the quest,’ Von thought, running the harsh failure penalties through his mind.
Then he remembered the bonus reward promised for scoring a 99, and he tapped the notification box.
A single pulse of white light rolled across the border of the screen, and Von leaned in with wide eyes. A bonus reward for the highest performance score of his entire life... it had to be something incredible!
"Come on. Give me something crazy. An S-grade skill."
[Bonus Reward: 3x Zone State Pill (A)]
"...Dammit."
Von flopped backward onto the mattress, hitting the bed hard enough to disturb Loki. The cat made an offended noise, glared at him with half-open eyes, and rolled over away from him.
"I raised my hopes way too high," Von groaned at the ceiling, covering his face with his hands.
He lay there in the quiet room for a moment.
Then, slowly, he started to reconsider.
A single Zone State Pill cost a thousand EXP in the Star Shop, meaning the System had effectively handed him three thousand EXP worth of high-tier consumables for free.
He was currently broke in EXP, and if he planned to deliver 90+ performances every three days, he was going to need those pills desperately down the line.
"Okay," Von admitted, a small smile returning to his face. "Okay. That’s actually useful."
He swiped the reward window away and pulled up his main Status interface out of pure habit, half-paying attention, until his eyes locked onto a single line, and he froze.
[â—Ź Current Fans: 17,575,999]
Seventeen and a half million total traction.
He had walked into that arena today sitting around thirteen million.
In the span of a single evening, he had gained over four and a half million new fans. Actual, registered fans.
It made zero sense to him. The Kaseya Center only held twenty thousand people, where had four point five million people even come from in five hours?
Von sat up in the dark, the glowing interface casting a soft purple tint across his face. Curiosity finally overcame his exhaustion. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his phone.
The screen lit up his face.
And as he opened his social feeds, Von’s mouth slowly fell open.