Rise of the Zillionaire Star

Chapter 60: Burn Them Back

The foundry was still glowing with fire when Jaylen stepped forward. A long sweat ran down his face but he maintained a steady voice.

The flames of fire crackled behind him like angry serpents coiled in steel. The lighting went across the stage like an eerie figure with a molten crown. The audience buzzed. They were unsure if they had just witnessed brilliance or a crime scene.

Jaylen raised the microphone. His voice cut through the crowd like a blade.

“You came for a fire show. What you didn’t know is that the star tonight wasn’t the fire. It was the lie.”

The crowd froze for a moment, then they followed by lifting up their phones. The livestream chat exploded with different set of question marks and fire emojis.

Zova Red Clain was still half-hidden behind the wreckage of her rig. She stiffened. She had been preparing her shocked-act expression. The innocent performer was betrayed by bad luck. But Jaylen’s words sent a ripple of unease through the arena.

Zee’s mechanical voice buzzed in Jaylen’s earpiece. “Deploying footage now. Stay at the center stage.”

The venue’s enormous screens lit up. At first, they replayed the fiery footage, the explosion and the near-miss that should have crushed Jaylen. Then the feed glitched, rewind, and cut to something else - the security camera footage.

Gasps broke out as the crowd saw Zova hours earlier, sneaking across the stage floor. She knelt by the pyro console, her red hair was loose and wild and fingers working with a wrench. The next clip showed her slipping cash into the hand of a trembling technician. Then another, Zova laughter as sparks showered a backup dancer during a rehearsal months ago.

Zee’s captions rolled across the screen in stark white text, “Incident 1: Insurance Payout, $2.3M. Incident 2: Rival Career-Ending Injury, settled out of court. Incident 3: Tonight. Intentional detonation sequence.”

The foundry erupted with shouts. People pointed, shouted her name in fury. Online, hashtags went out of control, #ZovaTheArsonist, #FireFraud, #StageSaboteur.

Screenshots of receipts followed. Screens displayed PDFs of insurance claims, offshore wire transfers, and Zenith shell company logos. Every damning detail was revealed above the stage.

“No!” Zova’s voice cracked through the speakers. She snatched her mic and shrieked at the audience. “This is fake! He hacked the system. These are just deepfakes, all of it! He’s jealous of me!”

Her eyes burned with insane desperation as she jabbed a finger at Jaylen. “He wants my career destroyed because he can’t compete with me. He is nothing but a fraud in designer shirt!”

Jaylen didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. The silence pressed heavier than any retort, because the footage kept rolling and now, it was showing timestamped contracts, Zova’s signature and Wire transfers marked Zenith Collective Holdings.

The crowd’s murmurs swelled into rage.

“Fraud!” someone shouted.

“Arsonist!” another voice cried.

“Get her off the stage!”

Security began to close in with their radios crackling.

But Zova wasn’t done. Her composure snapped. She ripped a burning torch from one of the decorative braziers and hurled it across the stage at Jaylen. The flaming projectile streaked past him, searing the air by his cheek before crashing into a speaker. The blast of sparks sent the front row screaming.

Cameras caught it all. Millions watched as Zova, the so-called queen of avant-garde fire, lashed out like a cornered animal.

Jaylen’s heart pounded, but his reflexes sharpened with the system’s bonuses. “Stage Reflex +20%.” His body moved before thought. He sidestepped as another torch came flying at him. He landed in rhythm with the beat still echoing from the broken sound system.

The crowd didn’t see fear. They saw a performer refusing to break.

He lifted his mic again. His voice went out raw and alive over the chaos. He let the anger of the betrayal pour into his song. Every lyric blended into a roar.

The system’s overlay activated, golden fire erupted behind him, shaping itself into big phoenix wings. They stretched wide as the feathers burned with light, dwarfing Zova’s frantic flames.

The audience lost its mind. Phones shook as people screamed, recording history in real time.

Zova hurled one final blaze, but Jaylen didn’t flinch. He let the note comb, his voice sliced through the fire itself. The sound reverberated like steel under the pressure of a hammer, forcing silence into the room.

The phoenix wings exploded outward in a shockwave of flame. It was pure illusion but real enough to leave the crowd stunned.

Jaylen stood tall, untouched and haloed in firelight. Zova, on the other hand, was dragged down by security. Her mascara streaked as she shrieked denials no one believed.

The contrast was devastating. One artist was purely untouchable. The other, revealed as a saboteur burning out before the world.

The system chimed in Jaylen’s ear. The voice was calm amidst the chaos,

“Sub-Quest Complete: Burn Them Back. Rewards: +2 Fame Levels. Trait Upgrade: Stage Immunity – Performance Sabotage Resistance +30%.”

He didn’t smile and he didn’t gloat. He simply lowered his mic, letting the silence say everything.

On the big screens, sponsor logos began vanishing one by one. Companies scrambled to issue press statements cutting ties with Zova. Within minutes, streaming platforms posted bans.

It was over for Zova.

Jaylen turned, walked offstage through the smoke without looking back. Each of his steps echoed like a gavel strike. His silence carried more weight than any clapback ever could.

Backstage, Marcus and Toni came to meet him. Their adrenaline was still rushing through their veins. The arena outside vibrated with chaos as fans chanted his name and others booed Zova as she was escorted out in handcuffs.

Zee’s voice broke through, “Warning: Zenith escalation continues. New hostile detected. Codename: The Director.”

Marcus spoke under his breath. “This is just the opening act…” His jaw clenched as he stared into the smoke-filled horizon. “… the real show is about to begin.”

Jaylen didn’t answer. He simply closed his eyes as the weight of what happened burned in his chest.