APOCALYPSE LIVESTREAM: I GET RICH ON GLOBAL PANIC

Chapter 8: Breaking The Leaderboard

POV: Gideon Vance

The cold concrete slab weighed on my chest like a mountain, but the sting of metallic blood in my throat tasted like pure, high-octane fuel.

Through the cracked lens of my camera Orb lying sideways in the grey dirt, I could see Victor Sterling’s smug face on the global split-screen projection above Herald Square. He was still gloating to nine million viewers, waving his manicured hand, telling the world that I was just another dead fool who tried to play action hero without Apex backing.

*User_801 (Human): "HE'S NOT MOVING! IS HE DEAD?!"*

*User_441 (Human): "GET UP GIDEON! DON'T LET THIS CORPO TRASH WIN!"*

*Syndicate_Betting_Bot: "Finalizing payout parameters for Participant Vance termination..."*

"Beneath the second chest plate..." Lyra’s voice crackled through my earpiece, trembling with a sharp mixture of terror and fierce determination. "Gideon, listen to me! The Behemoth’s armor plates overlap! When it rears up to deliver a downward stomp, the soft tissue at the sternum expands to vent heat! That’s the only unarmored point on its entire body!"

The ground shook violently as the Tier-2 Iron-Hide Behemoth took another crushing step toward me. Its four glowing red eyes locked onto my pinned body, its massive jaws opening to spit a volley of emerald green plasma heat.

"Victor," I spat, coughing up a streak of red onto the dust, my voice carrying clearly through the cracked microphone. "You talk too much."

I wedged my titanium stunt knife into the narrow gap beneath the concrete slab. With a ragged scream that tore through my raw throat, I threw my entire weight into the leverage. Pain flared white-hot across my broken left collarbone, but the heavy slab shifted just three inches—enough for me to drag my legs out from beneath the stone.

The Behemoth reared up on its massive hind legs, twenty feet tall, exposing its broad chest to deliver a crushing downward stomp.

Right beneath its second stone armor plate, a pulsating ring of exposed, pale flesh expanded as it drew breath.

"Nova!" I roared, rolling hard across the shattered floor as the monster’s heavy foot smashed into the exact spot where my head had been a fraction of a second ago. "System purchase! S-Rank Concentrated Plasma Charge! Deploy now!"

*"Panic System Points deducted: 50,000!"* Nova’s purple text box flashed frantically in my vision. *"High-yield item generated in primary hand! Host Gideon, please do not vaporize yourself!"*

A heavy, glowing blue cylinder dropped into my right fist, humming with volatile thermal energy and ozone heat.

I didn't try to stand. I didn't try to run.

Relying on years of stunt training and fall-reaction muscle memory, I slid flat on my back across the slick concrete dust, shooting straight between the monster’s massive front legs as its heavy body came crashing down. I jammed the blue plasma cylinder straight up into the soft, unarmored tissue beneath its chest plate, twisting the detonation key with my thumb.

"Clear the set!" I shouted into the mic.

I kicked off the monster’s left leg, back-rolling away across the dirt just as the core ignited.

*BOOM!*

A blinding flash of electric blue plasma light erupted from deep inside the Behemoth’s ribcage. A deafening shockwave shattered every remaining piece of glass within three blocks, sending a shower of burning green plasma and stone armor plating raining down across Macy's department store.

The massive beast let out one final, earth-shaking screech before its mountain-like body collapsed sideways, slamming into the concrete with a force that rattled the subway lines below.

A torrential column of gold particle light erupted from the corpse, pouring upward into the purple sky like a roaring bonfire.

*"CRITICAL REGIONAL BOSS DEFEATED!"*

The System AI voice boomed across Sector 1, loud enough to echo off every ruined skyscraper in Midtown.

*"Participant Gideon Vance has slain the Tier-2 Iron-Hide Behemoth!"*

*"Massive Experience Allocated! Global Leaderboard Updating..."*

My floating camera Orb rose from the dust, its damaged lens auto-focusing on my face. I stood in the center of the ruined mall concourse, covered in ash and scorched plaster, blood dripping from my lower lip, my broken left arm tucked tightly against my chest harness.

On the floating holographic display projected above Herald Square, the global rankings flickered, spinning rapidly as millions of system points recalculated.

*Rank #2: Victor Sterling (Apex Guild) — 980,000 Points.*

*Rank #1: Gideon Vance — 1,250,000 Points.*

Silence fell over the global chat for two full seconds before the viewer interface shattered completely under the sheer volume of incoming transmissions.

*User_991 (Human): "HOLY SHIT! HE TOOK THE #1 SPOT ON THE PLANET!"*

*User_112 (Human): "THE STUNTMAN DID IT! HE KILLED A TIER-2 SOLO!"*

*Admin_Xylar (Syndicate): "Unprecedented broadcast resonance! Rating spike: Historic!"*

*Apex_Officer: "Impossible... this feed has to be glitched!"*

*User_303 (Human): "VICTOR IS #2! THE FRAUD GOT PASSED BY A GUY WITH A BROKEN SHOULDER!"*

*"Panic System Points Earned: +650,000!"* Nova sang out, her purple avatar dancing wildly around my head with tiny golden confetti graphics. *"Global audience engagement: 100%! You are officially the most terrifying human broadcast host on the planet!"*

**POV: Victor Sterling**

Victor Sterling froze.

The whiskey bottle slipped from his trembling hand, shattering against the Persian rug in his penthouse suite. On the massive display wall, his own name had just been pushed down to the second slot, painted in embarrassing grey numbers beneath Gideon Vance's bold, glowing gold rank.

*"System Notice,"* a cold, dark blue window opened in the center of Victor’s desk display, displaying the shadowy, faceted silhouette of Administrator Xylar. *"Participant Sterling. Your stream metrics have suffered an unacceptable forty-five percent decline. Your authority claim over Sector 1 is hereby suspended pending Syndicate evaluation."*

"No!" Victor screamed, his face turning an unsightly, blotchy crimson as he slammed both fists onto his desk, knocking his monitors sideways. "He cheated! He's using an unauthorized tool! Turn his feed off! Xylar, listen to me—"

The Administrator's icon simply faded to black, ignoring him completely.

On the lower screen, Victor saw Gideon looking straight into the camera lens, wiping the blood from his mouth with a slow, cold smile.

**POV: Gideon Vance**

I looked directly into the floating camera Orb, knowing millions of human eyes—and one deeply terrified corporate executive—were watching every breath I took.

"You told everyone that Herald Square was a death sentence, Victor," I said, my voice quiet, but carrying through every speaker in the sector. "You told them no one survives without bowing to your enforcers and giving up their freedom."

I stepped over the smoldering skull of the dead Behemoth, pointing my good hand straight at the lens.

"To every survivor hiding in Victor's cages, eating his scraps, and taking his abuse," I continued, "I'm dropping a sanctuary at Sub-Level Zero beneath Herald Square. No fees. No guards extorting your food. No locked doors when the monsters come."

I let out a low breath, my cardiac monitor finally settling back down toward my steady baseline. Fifty-six beats a minute.

"Come join the rebellion," I said softly. "Let's show Victor who really owns this city."