First Intergalactic Emperor: Starting With The Ancient Goddess

”What...?”

Before Dominic could even process what he meant, the living room’s glass wall blinked, shimmered, and the playback started rolling.

The recording was crystal clear. The sound. The angles. Everything.

Leonardo standing stiff. Mug on his head.

Xavier’s smug voice in the background: ”Only twenty seconds left, Max.”

Maximilian: ”Nothing will happen.”

Bang.

The bullet.

Leonardo’s head whipping back. Body hitting the floor. Blood pooling.

And then... Xavier catching the mug and casually telling Max to be careful next time.

Dominic stood frozen.

Anyone with half a brain—or none at all—could see what the clip said: Maximilian shot Leonardo in the fucking head. On record. With motive. With intent. It didn’t matter how panicked he looked after—it was over. If that footage went public, Maximilian was done. No academy, no future, no daddy to save him.

Maximilian finally found his voice, a broken rasp that barely cleared his throat. ”What the hell— you recorded all of it?”

Xavier’s expression shifted to the picture of fragile innocence. ”Was gonna send the highlight reel to you. But then you missed the mug and...” He let out a disappointed sigh and shook his head, like a teacher fed up with a slow student.

Dominic’s fist slammed into the back of the couch. ”Xavier! You’ve crossed every damn line. I’m out of patience!”

”Hey, dumb fuck. Why are you yelling at me, huh? Are you saying that I knew Maximilian was going to shoot Leonardo in the head and kill him?”

”Of course!”

What the fuck? How would I know that? Use your fucking mind, you corrupt cunt. Wait, lemme say it your way.” Xavier cleared his throat, put on a fake serious expression. ”Where is the proof? What’s the evidence?”

Dominic scoffed. ”The recording. It’s obvious. You incited Maximilian. Blackmailed him. That’s the evidence.”

Xavier just stared at him. Didn’t say anything, like he was letting Dominic dig his own grave.

”You forced him to shoot,” Dominic continued, louder now. ”You backed him into a corner with that timer. You manipulated him. In cases like this, it’s the person behind the curtain that takes the fall. The mastermind. You.”

He looked at Maxmillian. ”Don’t worry, son. We got the proof. You’re safe. That motherfucker—” he pointed at Xavier, ”he’s going down for murder.”

Xavier tilted his head. ”You done?”

Dominic grunted. ”What?”

”I said, you done talking shit?” Xavier stood up straight. ”Let’s go over this again. Yes, I asked Maxmillian to shoot a coffee mug. A fucking mug. Not Leonardo. I never said ’shoot him in the head’. I never said ’kill him’. I didn’t put the gun in his hand and pull the trigger. He chose to shoot.”

Maxmillian growled, ”You said you’d send the videos to Lucas and Ethan. You said if I wanted to stop you, I had to shoot.”

”And I was gonna send the videos anyway,” Xavier said, completely unfazed. ”I told you the timer was running. You could’ve just let them go. Or—here’s a wild idea—not pulled the fucking trigger.”

Dominic looked like he was about to explode. But before he could open his mouth again, Xavier let out a sigh, tired and cold.

”This isn’t how it was supposed to go,” he muttered. ”I was just playing. Having some fun. But now? Whatever.”

He turned to Dominic. ”Arrest me. Go ahead. Throw me in a cell. Beat me up. Interrogate me again. I don’t care. You think I’m scared of that anymore?”

Dominic stepped forward. ”I will arrest you. I’ll call my team now. You’ve gone too far.”

But then Xavier’s voice cut in again.

”Oh, but wait. Forgot to mention—I have insurance. I will be freed in no time.”

”Heh! You clearly don’t know how insurance works. There is no insurance that will—” Dominic froze, hand halfway to his device. He remembered what happened in the morning when he fulfilled Xavier’s second order. And then Xavier gave him all the evidence, but then he refused to delete the evidence and called it insurance.

Dominic slowly put his device down. One push, and Dominic’s whole empire could burn.

”What do you want?” Dominic asked, the edge gone from his voice, replaced by weary dread. ”If it’s more money—”

”You think I want money?” Xavier chuckled. ”I don’t need your dirty cash. Leonardo’s death? Not my fault. Maxmillian shot him. It was an accident. Sad, sure.” He scoffed. ”But still an accident.”

Then Xavier turned to Maxmillian, gave him a pitying smile. ”You’re safe now.”

And just like that, Xavier tapped a few things on his glasses and brought up the recording file. A moment later, the deletion prompt popped up. Without hesitation, he wiped it.

Dominic and Maxmillian stared in silence.

”I deleted it,” Xavier said. ”No proof now. You’re off the hook, Max. Congrats.”

Xavier stepped forward, patting Maximilian’s shoulder on the way past like they were school buddies. ”Let’s just call it a bad day. We’ll reset when your suspension is over. Drinks on me.”

Maximilian flinched under the touch, gun limp at his side.

Xavier strolled to the door, paused, and glanced back. ”See you at the academy. Try not to shoot anyone else before then. Or maybe take some training and practice a bit more so it doesn’t happen again.”

He walked out, calm as ever, leaving Dominic kneeling by a corpse and Maximilian staring into the middle distance—shattered, speechless, and very much alive to feel it.

Dominic let out a long, tired sigh and rubbed his face. ”I need to clean this mess up before Stacey comes back,” he muttered. Then he pulled up his device and ordered a cleanup crew to his house.

He turned to Maximilian and spoke, this time calmer but heavier. ”You and your friends... you never should’ve messed with Xavier. You don’t even know what kind of demon you dragged out.”

And with that, Dominic walked off to his room to get changed.

Maximilian stood there for a moment, eyes stuck on Leonardo’s body. The blood had started to pool, the smell mixing with everything else that was already wrong in that house. He didn’t flinch. He didn’t cry. He just stared. And then he turned away.

He walked upstairs like a ghost.

Cindy was still on the bed, naked and out cold, the sheets a mess beneath her. Her body hadn’t moved since earlier. And even now, there were still signs—Xavier’s marks, smeared and leaking. Her pussy was still dripping Xavier’s cum The sight twisted something inside Maximilian. Not anger. Not grief. Just something exciting. Stupid. And fucked up.

Maximilian forgot everything the moment his cock got hard. He yanked his pants off, climbed onto the bed, and started fucking Cindy without a second thought.