<🎧 Song Recommendation: Holy Grail by Jay Z ft Justin Timberlake (inspiration track!)>
...
The house lights died, plunging the Star Theater into an abyssal darkness. And for a moment, the only sound was the anticipatory breathing of a over thousand people.
After all, this was the moment the entire season, perhaps the entire franchise, had been building toward. The stage, stripped of its usual props and backup dancers, felt incredibly vast and dangerously intimate all at once.
By an earlier coin toss done backstage, it had been decided: Julian would perform first, to set the bar, while Von would close the show.
A single, booming drumbeat echoed through the hall, and two spotlights snapped on immediately.
On stage left, a warm, golden beam illuminated a circle on the floor. Standing in the center of it was Julian West, looking like a deity in his white and gold suit.
