Six months had passed since the fall of the Himalayan Spire. To the public, the global financial "hiccup" had settled into a new era of unprecedented prosperity. Poverty rates were plummeting as the Jacob-Vanguard foundations poured trillions into infrastructure.
Einstein Jacob sat in his private study at the London Plaza. He wasn't looking at spreadsheets. He was staring at a holographic projection of his father's DNA sequence, provided by Elara.
"There's a fracture, Einstein," Elara said, stepping into the room. Her violet eyes were shimmering with a faint light. "The 18th level isn't the peak. Our father didn't die because of the Accountant or the Council. He died because his body couldn't contain the 20th Level: The Absolute Void."
Einstein looked at his hands. Occasionally, they would flicker, turning transparent for a micro-second. He was becoming too powerful for the physical world to hold.
"And the Council?" Einstein asked.
"They've gone quiet, which is worse," Elara replied. "But our intelligence suggests they've reached out to the 'Offshore'—the hidden lunar colonies and the deep-sea cities. There are masters out there who haven't stepped foot on the mainland in a century."
The Arrival of the Messenger
The peace was shattered when the Plaza's primary security sensors flared red. A single man had bypassed the Vanguard's perimeter, walking through the reinforced glass of the lobby as if it were water.
Einstein met him in the main atrium. The intruder was a young boy, no older than twelve, dressed in rags. But his eyes were ancient, cold, and silver.
"Young King," the boy said, his voice echoing with the power of ten men. "I represent the Elders of the Void. You have disturbed the balance of the planet with your wealth and your light. We have come to collect the 'Life Tax'."
"I don't pay taxes to ghosts," Einstein said, his 18th-level aura flaring.
The boy smiled. He raised a hand, and suddenly, the gravity in the London Plaza reversed. Nick, Simon, and dozens of staff members were pinned to the ceiling.
"Every billion you spend to save a life, we take ten lives in return," the boy whispered. "That is the law of the Void. If you want to stop us, come to the Mariana Trench. Bring your trillions. We want to see if gold can float in the deep."
The boy vanished into a cloud of silver mist, leaving a single black pearl on the floor.
The War Room
Felicity walked into the atrium, her face pale. She had seen the gravity shift. She had seen the boy.
"Einstein, we can't fight the ocean," she whispered. "The Offshore... they control the world's tides and the undersea cables. If they flip a switch, the global internet—and our entire banking network—dies."
Einstein picked up the black pearl. It was a data storage device, pulsing with the coordinates of an undersea fortress.
"They don't want the money, Felicity," Einstein said, his eyes turning a deep, dangerous gold. "They want the Sun-God Seal to power their 'Void Engine.' If they get it, they can reset the Earth's core."
He turned to Rhea, who was already mobilizing the Vanguard. "Prepare the 'Leviathan'—the deep-sea submersible we bought from the Russian Navy. And Rhea... tell Nick and Simon to stay behind. This isn't a 7th-level fight. This is a 20th-level extinction event."
The Deep Strike
The Leviathan cut through the midnight-blue waters of the Pacific. Inside, Einstein sat in a meditative trance, his Qi vibrating at a frequency that matched the crushing pressure of the deep.
As they descended into the Mariana Trench, the sonar began to scream. Huge, bioluminescent shapes were circling the sub—beasts of the deep that had been genetically modified by the Offshore masters.
"Sir, we're being scanned by a 19th-level pulse!" Rhea shouted over the groaning of the hull. "The pressure is exceeding our limits!"
"Open the hatch," Einstein commanded.
"Sir? We're at seven miles down! You'll be crushed!"
"The Void doesn't recognize pressure," Einstein said.
He stepped out into the water. For a second, his body flickered violently. Then, he stabilized. He wasn't swimming; he was walking on the molecular density of the water. His golden aura created a bubble of breathable air, a pocket of Sovereign space in the heart of the abyss.
Before him rose the City of R'lyeh, a sprawling metropolis of coral and titanium. Standing at the gates were three giants, their bodies covered in silver scales.
"The King of the North has come to drown!" the giants roared, their voices vibrating the very water molecules.
Einstein didn't use a palm strike. He didn't use a kick. He reached out and grasped the water itself.
"19th Level: Ocean's Lament!"
He twisted his hand, and the massive currents of the Pacific followed his command. A whirlpool of terrifying proportions formed in the trench, sucking the giant guardians into a vortex of their own making.
The Void Engine
Einstein breached the city's central spire. Inside, the "Accountant" was waiting. But he wasn't alone. Beside him sat a man who looked exactly like Einstein, but older, his skin translucent and glowing with a cold, silver light.
"Father?" Einstein whispered, his heart stopping.
"Not your father, Einstein," the Accountant sneered, holding a glowing violet core. "A clone. A perfect 20th-level vessel. We've been using your father's DNA to build the 'Absolute Void.' And now, we just need your spark to turn it on."
The clone opened its eyes. They were empty. No soul, just raw, 20th-level power.
"Einstein Jacob," the clone spoke, the sound causing the walls of the spire to crack. "Give me the Seal. Become part of the Void. Or watch as I boil the oceans."
Einstein stood his ground, his 18th-level power feeling small against the infinite cold of the 20th level. He realized then that he couldn't win with force. He had to win with the one thing the Council and the Offshore could never understand.
He reached into his mind, touching the memories of the five years of humiliation. The smell of the delivery bike's exhaust. The cold floor he slept on. The pride in Felicity's eyes when she signed the Iron-Core contract.
"You call it the Void," Einstein said, his aura changing from gold to a soft, warm white. "But I call it 'Humanity.' And humanity doesn't belong in a machine."
Einstein didn't attack the clone. He attacked the Accountant's servers.
He poured his $10 Trillion worth of "intent" into the City's electrical grid. The sheer weight of his will—the will of a man who knew the value of a single dollar and a single life—overloaded the Void Engine.
The silver light of the clone began to flicker.
"No!" the Accountant screamed. "The stability! We need the Seal!"
"The Seal isn't a battery!" Einstein roared. "It's a heart!"
Einstein lunged, bypassing the clone, and smashed the violet core with his bare fist. The resulting explosion of energy sent a shockwave across the Pacific, triggering a "Gold Aurora" that was visible from space.
The Return to the Surface
When the Leviathan finally breached the surface, the sun was rising. Einstein stepped onto the deck, his body finally solid, the transparency gone. He had tapped into the 20th level, but he had anchored himself to the world through his love for his family.
Felicity was there, waiting on the recovery ship. She didn't ask about the money or the engine. She simply held him.
"It's over, isn't it?" she asked.
"For now," Einstein said, looking at the black pearl in his hand, which was now glowing with a peaceful, white light. "The Void is closed. The Offshore is silent."
He looked at his phone.
Current Balance: $1.50
He laughed. The trillion-dollar war chest was gone, sacrificed to overload the Void Engine. He was back to being a "loser" with less than two dollars in his pocket.
"Felicity," he said, leaning against the railing. "I think I need a job. You wouldn't happen to be hiring a delivery rider, would you?"
Felicity smiled, pulling him close. "I think I have a better position in mind. How does 'King of the World' sound for a starting salary?"
"I'll take it," Einstein said. "But only if I get weekends off."
As the ship sailed toward London, Einstein knew the world would never be the same. He was a billionaire without a penny, a god without a temple, and a husband who finally knew the true price of power.