The world had adjusted to the silence of the Void, but for Einstein Jacob, the quiet was an illusion. He sat in a small, unassuming café on the outskirts of London, wearing a simple hoodie and jeans. On the table sat a single, half-eaten sandwich and his phone, which still displayed that mocking balance: $1.50.
He had purposefully let the trillions vanish. To the global banking systems, the Jacob fortune had simply evaporated into the ether during the "Pacific Anomaly." It was safer that way. A man with ten trillion dollars is a target; a man with two dollars is a ghost.
"You look far too relaxed for a man who just lost the GDP of several continents," a voice teased.
Felicity sat down across from him, sliding a fresh cup of coffee his way. She looked radiant, her business attire replaced by a simple sundress. She had stepped down as CEO of the global firms, handing the reins to a board of trusted Vanguard veterans.
"I've never felt wealthier," Einstein said, taking a sip. "No alarms, no assassins, no Sovereign Elders demanding I rewrite the laws of physics before lunch."
"Don't get too comfortable," Felicity whispered, her expression turning serious. "Elara found something in the debris of the Void Engine. It wasn't just a machine to reset the Earth's core, Einstein. It was a Beacon."
Einstein's hand stilled. "A beacon to what?"
"To the people who gave the Council the original technology. The ones my grandfather called the 'Architects.' They aren't from the Offshore, Einstein. They aren't even from this planet."
The Shadow from the Stars
The sky over London, usually a dull grey, suddenly turned a bruised, electric purple. It wasn't a storm. It was a localized atmospheric displacement.
In the center of the city, a pillar of white light descended, striking the Jacob-Vanguard Plaza. There was no explosion, only a hum that resonated in the marrow of every human being within a hundred miles.
Einstein stood up, his $1.50 phone vibrating with a frequency that shattered the glass of his coffee cup. A message appeared on the screen, written in a language that shouldn't have existed, yet he could read it perfectly:
[LOAN OVERDUE: THE SUN-GOD SEAL IS PROPERTY OF THE ORION SYNIDICATE. REPAYMENT COMMENCES NOW.]
"Rhea!" Einstein shouted into his collar-comms. "Status!"
"Sir, the Plaza is under a stasis field!" Rhea's voice was strained. "The Vanguard can't move. It's like the air has turned to lead. And Einstein... they're taking the vault. Not the money. The Physical Seal."
The Return of the King
Einstein looked at Felicity. The peace had lasted exactly six days.
"Stay here," he said, but he knew it was a useless command.
He stepped out into the street. The 18th-level power, which he had tried to put to sleep, roared back to life. But it was different now. It was no longer gold; it was a shimmering, translucent white—the Sovereign of Reality phase.
He didn't walk; he folded space. In a single step, he was standing at the base of the Plaza.
Floating a hundred feet above the street was a craft that looked like a jagged shard of obsidian. It didn't use engines; it seemed to be "falling" upward, defying every law of terrestrial physics. Three figures descended on platforms of solid light. They were tall, spindly, and draped in robes made of woven starlight.
"Einstein Jacob," the center figure spoke. His voice didn't come from a mouth; it resonated directly inside Einstein's skull. "Your ancestors brokered a deal. They were given the Seal to jump-start human evolution in exchange for a 'Tribute of Essence' to be collected in the tenth generation. You are the tenth."
"My grandfather didn't mention a debt to space-bankers," Einstein said, his aura flaring so brightly that the purple sky began to peel back.
"The debt is not in currency," the Architect replied, raising a hand. "The debt is in your sister. Elara possesses the Violet Sight—the only lens capable of navigating the Great Rift. She is the tribute."
The 21st Level: The Galactic Sovereign
Einstein felt a cold fury that made the 20th-level Void feel like a warm bath. They had taken his father, they had hunted his mother, and now they wanted Elara to be a navigator for a galactic syndicate.
"You're not taking her," Einstein said.
The Architects didn't argue. They simply raised their hands in unison. The gravity in the city didn't just reverse; it vanished. Cars, buildings, and screaming people began to drift into the sky toward the obsidian ship.
Einstein realized then that his 20th-level power was a "Local" power. He was a King of Earth, but these were Sovereigns of the Stars. To beat them, he had to reach for something beyond his DNA.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the black pearl he had taken from the Mariana Trench. He didn't use it as a weapon. He crushed it into his own chest.
"21st Level: The Universal Anchor!"
The white light of his aura expanded, turning into a deep, celestial blue. He wasn't just anchoring himself to the world; he was anchoring the entire city of London to the core of the planet. The floating cars slammed back to the ground. The obsidian ship groaned as Einstein's will began to pull it down like a hooked fish.
The Board is Universal
Einstein launched himself into the air. He breached the hull of the obsidian ship without a sound. Inside, he found Elara in a glass coffin, her violet eyes wide with a cosmic terror.
The Architects were waiting for him. "You would sacrifice your species for one girl? If the debt is not paid, we will de-atomize this solar system."
"Then you'd better start looking for a new job," Einstein said. "Because I'm not paying. I'm Closing the Account."
Einstein didn't strike the Architects. He struck the Ship's Core.
He used his 21st-level power to do something he had learned as a delivery rider: he found the weakest point of the package. Every star-ship had a resonance frequency. Einstein matched it with his own heartbeat.
Vibrations. The obsidian ship began to vibrate. Not just the metal, but the very atoms of the Architects themselves.
"What are you doing?" they screamed.
"I'm the Chairman of the Board," Einstein said, his eyes glowing with the light of a thousand suns. "And I just declared you Bankrupt."
The ship disintegrated into harmless stardust. Einstein caught Elara in mid-air, her violet light merging with his blue aura. They drifted down to the roof of the Plaza, landing softly as the purple sky finally returned to a normal, rainy London morning.
The New Balance
Einstein stood on the roof, holding his sister. Felicity and Rhea ran toward them.
The obsidian ship was gone. The Architects were gone. But the message remained on his phone. He looked at the screen.
[ACCOUNT CLOSED. STATUS: SOVEREIGN INDEPENDENCE.]
And then, the balance changed one last time. It didn't show $1.50. It didn't show Trillions. It showed a symbol: ∞ (Infinity).
Einstein looked at the symbol and then at Felicity. He realized that he had moved beyond money. He was no longer a billionaire in the human sense. He was the guardian of a planet that had just been freed from a cosmic debt.
"Is it finally over?" Felicity asked, looking at the infinity symbol on his phone.
Einstein looked up at the stars, his 21st-level sight seeing the distant fleets of the Syndicate, now retreating in fear of the "Blue King."
"It's just the beginning, Felicity," Einstein said. "We have a whole galaxy of debt to collect."
He pocketed the phone and smiled. "But first... I think I still owe you a sandwich."