First Intergalactic Emperor: Starting With The Ancient Goddess

Maximillian sat on the edge of his bed, hunched over with his elbows on his knees, fingers gripping his phone so tight it creaked. The screen had gone black a while ago, but his eyes were still locked on it, wide and bloodshot. He hadn’t blinked in minutes.

The curtains were shut. The room was dark. Silent. Too silent. Even the AC’s hum felt loud. Unsettling.

He had watched the whole damn stream.

And now he couldn’t stop shaking.

”Lucas... Ethan... What the fuck...”

His voice cracked as he whispered to himself, like saying their names might somehow bring them back. Bring back the untouchable version of them. The version that ruled the academy. The version that made him someone.

But they were gone. Wiped.

Lucas got played like a clown. Xavier made him look like a complete idiot and turned the whole world against him.

Ethan didn’t even fight back. Just disappeared.

And Leonardo?

Maximillian swallowed hard. His chest tightened.

Leonardo was dead. And not just dead.

Xavier made him pull the damn trigger.

His hands trembled at the memory. It hadn’t felt real then. Still didn’t. But now... now it was crawling back, every second of that cursed moment. The blood. The scream. The aftermath.

”Why... why hasn’t he done anything to me?”

He stood up, pacing like a madman across his room. Hair disheveled. Breath uneven.

”I was there too! I bullied him. I mocked him. I was worse than those fuckers!”

Every time he closed his eyes, Xavier’s calm face flashed in his head. The cold look. The smirk. The way he moved like a king with no fucks to give.

And Maximillian?

He was nothing.

Was Xavier ignoring him? Was he not even worth his attention?

Or worse—was he saving him for last?

His heart skipped.

He ran to his door. Locked it. Double-checked the windows. As if Xavier would just walk in and slit his throat.

He paced again. Back and forth. Back and forth.

His brain kept repeating the same line over and over.

”He’s coming.”

Maximillian collapsed into the corner of the room, hugging his knees, muttering like a lunatic.

”He’s coming. He’s coming. He’s coming...”

Downstairs, in the grand marble-floored lounge of Dominic’s estate, Dominic sat in his leather chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin, hiding the growing storm behind his calm expression.

Across from him, John Kane— Leonardo’s father — was on the edge of losing his goddamn mind.

”I’m asking you again, Dominic!” John slammed the table with his palm. ”Where the fuck is my son?!”

His voice cracked, veins bulging in his neck. Leonardo’s mother sat beside him, eyes swollen, a tissue clenched in her trembling fingers as she quietly sobbed.

Dominic didn’t flinch. ”John, listen to me. My team is working around the clock. We’ll find him—”

”Don’t give me that bullshit!” John snapped. ”You’re the damn Chief of Police! He’s been missing for three fucking days! Don’t tell me your team is working on it. If they were, he’d be home by now!”

Dominic leaned forward slowly, calm like a man sitting on a grenade. ”I know this is hard. But you have to be patient.”

”Patient?!”

John got up, chest heaving, eyes bloodshot.

”It’s easy for you to say that. Your son’s safe. Probably sleeping upstairs without a care in the world!”

Dominic’s jaw tightened.

”Leonardo was like a son to me too.”

John scoffed.

Dominic’s voice stayed even. ”I will do everything in my power to find him. I’ll pull every string, call in every favor if I have to.”

Leonardo’s mother broke into another wave of sobs, pressing the tissue to her face. The silence stretched for a moment, thick with grief.

John finally spoke again, softer this time. ”I... I tracked his location the evening he took my car. He went to the academy. Then your house. After that... nothing.”

Dominic’s gaze didn’t shift. ”I saw him leave my house myself. I even offered to let him stay the night, but he insisted on leaving.”

”Then why the fuck was the car found dumped in a goddamn scrapyard the next morning?”

Dominic exhaled like he was tired of repeating it. ”I don’t know. But I’ll find out.”

John narrowed his eyes. ”You have cameras. Show me the footage. Prove it.”

Dominic didn’t blink. ”That night... the house security system was under maintenance.”

The silence that followed that sentence was suffocating.

John stared at him, jaw clenched. His eyes were filled with rage and desperation, but also something worse—doubt.

”I’ll give ten billion,” John whispered. ”To you. To anyone. I don’t care. I just want my son back. Please, Dominic...”

Dominic got up slowly and placed a hand on John’s shoulder. ”We’ll find him. I promise.”

Eventually, with more comforting words and shallow reassurances, Dominic managed to guide the grieving couple out. His android butler escorted them to their car.

And the moment the door shut—

”FUCK!”

Dominic slammed his fist on the wall, breathing hard.

”Xavier, you son of a bitch...” he growled, pacing the room like a trapped animal. ”You just had to start a goddamn war, didn’t you? What the hell am I supposed to do now?!”

His hands raked through his hair.

Leonardo was dead.

His own son had pulled the trigger.

And now the whole mess was on his shoulders.

He glanced up toward the stairs where Maximillian’s room was.

His teeth ground together.

”This better be worth it...”

Meanwhile, Xavier stepped into his room, shut the door behind him, and let out a low sigh.

Silence.

Finally.

He dropped his jacket over the couch, kicked his shoes off, and walked straight into the bathroom. The hot water hit him like a small mercy — washing off the noise, the attention, the cameras, the pressure. For a moment, he didn’t feel like the guy who just humiliated two elite heirs on a global broadcast.

Just a man standing under water, letting it all burn away.

After drying off, he pulled on a simple black tee and joggers, then walked toward the dimly lit altar near the corner of his bedroom.

The Fragment of the Goddess stood quietly on the polished obsidian slab. Soft blue mist rose from its base like smoke from a dying fire.

Xavier knelt down.

Closed his eyes.

And placed his hand against it.

”Goddess,” he whispered. ”I’ve returned.”

A low hum pulsed from the crystal. And then—

”Returned? Hmph!”

The voice of the goddess cut through the silence like an annoyed ex.

”You vanish for days without a single offering, no prayers, no contact—was I nothing more than a stepping stone now that you’ve tasted high-rise luxury and fine women?”

Xavier opened one eye, the corner of his mouth twitching.

”...You’re sulking.”

”I’m disappointed,” she corrected, with the cold sharpness of a scorned deity. ”You used to pray every night. Now? Not even a whisper.”

”I was... occupied,” Xavier said, standing up with a sigh. ”A lot of moving pieces. The city’s game is bigger than I expected.”

”And yet,” she murmured, her voice softer now, almost curious. ”You’ve taken your revenge on two of the four. The world sings your name. Your Unlimited Money System has reached Level 5.”

He blinked. ”Wait, seriously?” He played dumb.

”You’d have noticed... if you bothered to check,” she said, clearly still pissed.

Xavier chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. ”My bad. So what’s new at Level 5?”

”The Dimensional Store,” she said. ”A gateway to other realms. Dozens of powerful artifacts, skills, and contracts await—if you have the money to burn.”

”Dimensional Store, yeah... I forgot about it.”

She perked up slightly. ”Have you opened it yet?”

”...Nah.”

”What?!”

”I didn’t get the time,” Xavier muttered, already walking toward his bed. ”I tried to open it when it was available, but it didn’t open because I was in the VR game. And then, when I logged out of the game, I had some things to do. Too much happened. I’ll check it out tomorrow. Kinda dead tired right now.”

”You mortal swine!” she cried, voice ringing behind him. ”You dare unlock a divine storehouse and then ignore it?! Do you know how many fragmented spirits would kill to witness it?!”

But Xavier was already face planting into his bed.

”Night, Goddess...”

”...Tch.”

The Fragment’s light dimmed slightly.

But despite her sulking, she watched over him as he fell asleep.

After all, he was hers.

The night was quiet.

Xavier lay sprawled across his bed, face buried into the pillow, chest slowly rising and falling in rhythm with the silence.

Until—

His eyes snapped open.

”...Fuck.”

He sat up, eyes still heavy, hair a mess, breath dry from sleep. But the panic was real. He had forgotten to do something important.

”I almost forgot...” he muttered, rubbing his temples. ”Shit—if I hadn’t remembered...”

His hand darted across the nightstand, grabbing his phone and unlocking it with a lazy swipe. The screen glowed as he pulled up his contacts.

Angel’s name was already pinned.

”One million,” he whispered, typing with the urgency of a man sending a lifeline. ”Here, take the damn money.”

[Transaction Complete. +1 Daily Usage Recorded.]

He exhaled and tossed the phone face-down on the bed.

”I just reached Level 5 yesterday, and I nearly screwed it all up today. If I hadn’t... seriously, I can’t imagine. It would have taken me over a month to get all that progress back.”

The moment that thought passed, he let himself fall back down, the weight of the day crushing into the mattress. And just like that, he was out.