"You what!?" The old emperor shouted, his voice echoing through the vast and empty hall.
In front of him, the left and right ministers were sweating profusely, unsure of how to face the emperor. They had delivered the news that made the emperor foam with rage: they had lost the unlimited cube, and a fleet of dozens of soldiers had died at the hands of the alien boy.
"My lord, the boy was stronger than we imagined!" said the right minister, and the left one added, "Exactly, Your Majesty, according to the general of the southern region, the boy showed no aftereffects from the self-destruction that occurred at Base 15."
The emperor, shocked, retorted:
"How is that possible!? The recordings clearly showed the boy had been completely incinerated!"
The right minister raised his hand, signaling a Thraxan soldier, who brought a large screen displaying a video. In the footage, a boy of small stature but great physical build could be seen. The recording was made from approximately 3 km away. In the video, the boy brutally massacred tens of thousands of soldiers with little difficulty.
"We have the soldiers' recording, and he was unscathed, my lord, and apparently stronger than before. Moreover, he realized our weapon wasn't ordinary, and that's when he stole our cube used as its power source," concluded the right minister, pointing to the large screen.
"It's over for my people. That cube was left by our ancestors, it's our only large-scale weapon!" the emperor muttered, placing his hand over his face, speaking to himself aloud.
"My lord, we can still ask for help from other races..." the left minister said, raising his head with a look of hope.
"Impossible!" the emperor shouted, then, sincerely with hatred on his face, continued: "I'd rather die than ask for help from other planets. They would surely demand at least half of our planet as a reward for dealing with a threat of this level."
"Then what shall we do, Emperor?" asked the left minister.
"Send all planet visitors back to their respective worlds and gather all soldiers from each region. Issue a decree to recruit all the empire's youths!" shouted the emperor toward the two ministers, then with his wrinkled hand on his face, said: "My final days are coming. When I pass, I want you to resolve the matter of succession through battle, just like in ancient times. There can be no prestige war in a moment like this."
Hearing this, the ministers nodded.
Elsewhere, in a vast mountain range, a young man was conducting experiments with a small blue cube inside a small cave.
'This is really interesting. How did those useless Thraxans get their hands on something like this?' Léo thought to himself.
Placing a fist-sized animal onto the blue cube, Léo watched as the creature evaporated on contact with the cube, as if it had never existed.
Even though the cube showed no change, Léo knew what had happened: the animal's life energy had been absorbed and converted into pure energy. This explained why the cube held so much energy and why the Thraxans were so confident they could kill him with such a weapon using this cube as its source.
'So they were trying to fire a beam of pure energy at me. That definitely would have vaporized me.' Thinking this, a chill ran down Léo's spine.
"These Thraxans are really stupid. Such a weapon, if integrated into someone's body, would allow them to absorb energy and nourish their body, which would surely enhance one's potential by absorbing the vitality of others or living beings." Léo shook his head, realizing how foolish the Thraxans were.
'This weapon could rival the infinite beam of the Spatial Corridor if evolved correctly. With such a weapon, conquering multiple solar systems wouldn't be impossible, but the Thraxans were using it in a small weapon incapable of unleashing the cube's full power.'
'I need to keep this well protected for when I dominate this planet. I'll run a few integration tests on some Thraxans, and if it works, I'll use it on myself.' Léo thought silently, opening a macabre smile.
Months passed since the test with the cube. Léo was now in a part of a large forest. The moon reflected on the waters, and he rested atop a large tree branch, chewing on a bitter-tasting leaf.
Spitting out the bitter leaf, Léo stood from the trunk, jumped down, and grasped a branch with his tail to descend slowly. His tail was half his height and entirely black, like a black kitten's.
Upon releasing the branch and landing, he lightly clenched his fist, feeling as though he could do anything. He had just turned 7. His appearance had upgraded again; now he looked like a 14-year-old, the tallest among them. He was 1.78 meters tall and felt that his strength had increased slightly.
Feeding on the meat of wild animals on this planet greatly helped his body's development. Unfortunately for him, he was nearing his adult form—at least physically—and would no longer experience such spontaneous power increases every two years.
In recent months, Léo had been hunted many times by the Thraxan army and had killed several squads sent to eliminate him.
During that time, he avoided exposing himself too much. He was waiting to evolve more so that he could handle the millions—if not billions—of Thraxan soldiers at once.
And that day had finally arrived. With the new strength increase he'd gained in recent months, he felt capable of completely overwhelming the Thraxans and dominating this planet.
Preparing to fly over the forest, Léo thought to himself:
'Time to put plan A into action. If everything goes right, I won't even need to fight the many soldiers on this planet.'
After thinking alone, in the dark night, Léo soared upward, increased his speed to the max, and headed toward the Thraxan Empire—specifically, the emperor's palace.
Because Léo was constantly attacked by Thraxan squads, he had gathered some information by torturing them. He learned where the emperor resided.
Of course, he was always careful. He always checked if the soldiers had hidden cameras that could capture him torturing them for information. If the Thraxan emperor found out he was seeking his location, he would surely hide somewhere else.
And that was Léo's plan: capture the emperor and take his place. Simple, but certainly much more effective than killing millions of soldiers, completely destabilizing their communication network, or slowly cornering them.
Not long after, Léo was flying over the Thraxan capital, above the imperial palace.
Along the way, he encountered a few aircraft, which were easily avoided due to his speed. He didn't want to draw much attention, so he didn't destroy them to avoid being exposed.
Then, slowly, he descended to a high part of the palace and passed through its wall as if walking through an invisible door, even leaving the outline of his body behind.
Apparently, the imperial palace was a completely private place for the emperor, as there were no cameras anywhere, only a few guards securing it. For them, no one would be foolish enough to invade the palace—and for Léo, this was perfect.
He secretly began killing the guards protecting the emperor's palace and extracting the information he needed from them.
By torturing a high-ranking officer, Léo discovered where the emperor was. He was in his harem, enjoying himself with his many concubines. After learning this, he killed the officer who had pointed out the location and headed there.
Upon arrival, two guards stood at the door. Léo, with little effort, didn't even give them time to think before taking their heads—silently.
Entering the room, Léo saw at least 10 Thraxan women and one Thraxan man who looked about 50 years old by Earth standards. Many of us would recognize him as the former right minister, now emperor.
"You're really having a good time, huh?" Léo's voice echoed through the large room.
The emperor, startled and stopping his act, turned and looked directly at Léo, shouting:
"It's you! What the hell are you doing here!?"
He rose from the bed still naked and tried to run, but his legs trembled in fear, making him fall before he could flee.
"Emperor, what happened? Why are you so afraid of this person!?" a young concubine, scared, tried to help her emperor to his feet.
Nothing had ever been disclosed about Léo to avoid causing panic among the population, so the emperor's young women didn't know about his existence—let alone what he was capable of.
"Get away from me!" the emperor screamed, slapping the hand of the young woman trying to help him, turning his back and trying to crawl away.
"Where do you think you're going, old man?" Léo said in a neutral tone.
Before the emperor could move more than two meters from where he was, Léo moved like the wind and grabbed the old man by the head, applying just enough force to leave his finger marks.
The young concubines, terrified, stepped back and turned to run.
Seeing this, Léo looked disappointedly at the Thraxan women and said:
"So young, yet already tainted by such a wrinkled old man—you all deserve to die."
His emotionless tone sent chills down the women's spines, making them run even faster—but compared to Léo, they were far too slow. Still holding the old emperor, Léo rushed toward them with his hand raised, slicing through them all like a knife through tofu.
His clothes and body now completely soaked in purple blood, Léo wore a sinister expression as if he had enjoyed it as much as some enjoy sex.
The old emperor, witnessing this, showed exactly what he felt inside: fear.
"What do you want? I'll give you anything: women, cities—whatever you want!"
"I do want something. I want this planet for myself," Léo replied, still holding the old man.
"Alright, alright!" the old emperor agreed immediately, without hesitation.
Two days later...
In a meeting room, several imperial advisors were discussing matters with the emperor.
"Emperor, is it really wise to let him take over the empire?" the imperial advisors questioned the emperor's decision.
With rage in his eyes, the emperor responded:
"Are you all stupid? He could kill us at any moment—we have no choice. Spread the news, we will choose the new emperor in a few days and announce it publicly!"
Watching from afar, a young boy with a spectacular appearance calmly observed and thought to himself:
'Good thing he wasn't stupid enough to defy my orders.'
Three days later...
In a large square in the Thraxan imperial capital, Thraxan men, women, and children could be seen conversing in front of the imperial palace, beneath a large platform. Everyone looked upward toward the stage, discussing who the new emperor would be.
A few days ago, they received the news that the emperor was going to retire and pass his position on to the next emperor.
"Who do you think will be the new emperor? It hasn't even been that long since the last emperor was chosen and he's already decided to give up the throne?!" A young Thraxan was speaking to a friend beside him.
"I don't know. I hope the Minister of the Left becomes the new emperor," replied another Thraxan.
Another, hearing this conversation, decided to jump in as well:
"No way, the new emperor has to be the Minister of the Right. He's been accomplishing great feats since he became Minister of the Right. The Minister of the Left hasn't done anything comparable."
Before they could argue back, the old emperor appeared on the platform to say a few words. In front of him was a microphone and, looking closely, one could see completely well-formed finger marks on his head.
"I come, in the midst of this official announcement, to choose the new emperor of the Thraxan Empire," he said, opening a small piece of paper.
"For a long time, I have led this great empire toward progress. But as all good things must come to an end, I have decided to retire."
"Our new emperor was not chosen by me alone, but by the entire imperial council. He's not exactly from Thraxan, but he will surely be better than anyone else to take the role of emperor!"
His second-to-last sentence caused a complete uproar among the millions of Thraxans listening to his speech from afar.
"What do you mean he's not exactly from Thraxan?! The new emperor isn't Thraxan?!" An old Thraxan shouted from below, with a tone of revolt, prompting others to follow his example.
Several people began shouting for an explanation. The emperor, seeing the people screaming, didn't know what else to do but try to calm the situation, but that didn't last long—before a being with a tail appeared flying over the area and slowly descended toward the platform.
Seeing this, many of the people who had been shouting in protest quickly fell silent, trying to understand what was happening and to find out who that person was.
Landing on the platform and pushing the former emperor away from the microphone, Léo gave a small cough to clear his throat and then said:
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Léo, and I will be your new emperor."
"I come from a very distant planet, and my intention in coming to this planet and becoming emperor is to help your race evolve completely," he said, giving a wide smile that even made him seem decent.
"My people are known throughout the galaxy as a race that brings knowledge to other species and helps them evolve. The only thing we ask in return is your cooperation." Still smiling, he turned around and entered the imperial palace, the former emperor following behind him.
His short speech was enough to plunge the empire into chaos. Many people didn't understand what had just happened. Their people now had a new leader—and he wasn't Thraxan. On top of that, this person was capable of flying on his own. They began to wonder how many other abilities their new emperor possessed.
Many in the empire believed the new emperor's words, but others were skeptical of him. The empire became divided between those who supported the new emperor and those who believed he didn't deserve to be emperor for being an alien.
"I can't believe this—this bastard became emperor of my planet?!" The young general of the southern army could be seen muttering aloud after watching Léo's speech.
She was a tall woman, 1.67 meters in height and seemingly 18 years old if we were to use Earth standards. She wore battle attire that accentuated her humanoid curves beautifully, even by human standards.
"Angela, why are you muttering there alone? Do you know this person by any chance?" The general of the north spoke to Angela.
Approaching the two, another general said:
"It's strange. Just a day ago we were forced to stop hunting that alien, and now this person shows up as the new emperor."
"It's not just strange. He's the one we were looking for! The one who killed my family and gave me the resolve to endure all the experiments done on me—it was him!" Angela gritted her teeth as she spoke.
Her eyes filled with fury as she remembered the experiments she had gone through and how painful they were. She endured everything for the sole purpose of vengeance. She nearly died many times, but in return, she was now practically immortal compared to the lifespan of other Thraxans.
Her strength now rivaled that of hundreds of Thraxans combined. The perfect Thraxan soldier, the only successful experiment among thousands ever conducted by the Thraxan Empire.
Shocked by Angela's confirmation, the general of the northern army spoke:
"It's really him!? What are we going to do? Now he's the emperor, and probably the entire imperial council is under his control."
Without answering the northern general, Angela turned and walked away alone until she disappeared into the crowd.
'I know exactly what to do. I'm going to do just what he once told me: I will kneel before him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to kill him,' Angela thought to herself, her mind a complete mess.