First Intergalactic Emperor: Starting With The Ancient Goddess-Chapter 444: Opening the Vault

The reaction was instant. Static exploded out of the speakers.

"You think this is a game?" the voice roared. "Do you have any idea how long this took? How many died clearing the paths? How many waited while Bull played prophet and hid scraps like riddles for children?"

The chamber rang with it.

"I bled for this," the voice went on, words piling over each other now. "I waited while others got rich. I watched idiots burn themselves chasing half-truths while I stayed here, doing it right. And now you walk in, sleep on the floor, and demand half like you earned it?"

Xavier’s finger hovered closer to the ’confirm’ input.

"You don’t get to decide the value," the voice snapped. "You didn’t suffer for this! You didn’t prepare. You didn’t sacrifice anything!"

Xavier didn’t even look angry. He just tilted his head slightly.

"My finger’s getting tired."

The static spiked again, harsher this time.

"You think destroying it makes you powerful?" the voice shouted. "You think Bull would respect that? He wanted someone worthy, not some—"

Xavier’s finger twitched.

"Stop!" the voice barked instantly. "Stop! Don’t!"

More shouting spilled through the speakers, angry, desperate, tangled with talk of fate, preparation, and how much this vault mattered.

"Last chance," he said quietly.

The voice broke off mid-rant.

Then, forced flat through clenched teeth, the voice said, "...Fine. Your terms."

Xavier didn’t touch the panel yet. He rested his palm against the cold metal beside it and glanced back toward the speaker mounted high in the wall.

"One attempt left means no room for ego," he said. "So start talking. How many tries did this thing have when you found it?"

A short pause, then the voice answered. "Sixty-nine. That’s what the counter showed when I reached it. But there were probably more. No idea how many before that. Could’ve been hundreds."

Klatos let out a low whistle and glanced at the scorched edges of the keypad. "That explains the wear. People didn’t just test it. They lived here."

Rin let out a scoff under his breath. "Sixty-nine attempts and you still fucked it up."

The static crackled. "Watch your mouth."

Xavier ignored both of them. "Good. Then list them. Every password you tried. In order, if you remember. I want everything, even the stupid ones."

There was hesitation this time. Real hesitation.

"You think that helps you?" the voice asked.

"It helps me rule things out," Xavier replied. "And it helps me confirm I’m not walking into the same wall you kept headbutting."

The voice started listing them.

"Bull. BullOne. BullPrime."

Klatos clicked his tongue softly. "Predictable." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Prophet. TheProphet. Worthy. Sacrifice."

Arlen folded her arms tighter. "That sounds like obsession, not logic."

The voice snapped back, "You weren’t here."

"Neither were you when Bull set this," Xavier said calmly.

"SeventySeven. FortyTwo."

Rin snorted quietly at that and shook his head. "People really can’t resist numbers."

The voice kept going. "Revelation. Gatekeeper. Lockbreaker. Founder. Executor. Martyr."

Arlen folded her arms tighter, watching Xavier’s face. "That’s a lot of ego for one door."

The list went on.

"Coordinates. Variants of dates. Old ship IDs. Crew names. Mine designations. JupiterDepthNine. WardFifteen."

Klatos frowned. "Ward Fifteen isn’t even connected to this sector."

"That’s what I realized later," the voice muttered.

Xavier closed his eyes for a second, letting it all settle. He could feel the pattern now, not in the words themselves but in how wrong they all were. Too direct. Too desperate. Too focused on Bull instead of what Bull liked to do.

He opened his eyes and looked back at the panel.

"So you tried names," Xavier said. "Titles. Places. Things you thought mattered to him."

The voice didn’t answer.

Rin leaned closer. "You sound like you already know it."

"I know what it isn’t," Xavier replied. "And that narrows things down more than you think."

His fingers hovered near the buttons, not pressing anything yet.

The voice was still rattling off words, faster now, like it was afraid Xavier would cut it off.

"—BloodMark. OldFleet. PrimeLock. DepthZero. You hear me? None of those worked. None. So don’t—"

Xavier stopped listening halfway through the sentence.

He leaned in, tapped the screen, and typed. His fingers moving like this was a lock he’d already picked in his head. The last character went in, and before anyone could say a word, he pressed confirm.

Every light in the chamber flickered at once.

Panels dimmed. The air itself felt like it skipped a beat. Then—nothing.

No alarms, opening, or reactions.

Then, the silence snapped.

"You idiot!" the voice screamed, the distortion spiking so hard the speakers cracked. "Do you have any idea what you just did? That was the last attempt. The last one! You wasted it on—on random garbage?!"

Static tore through the room as the voice kept going, louder, messier, words tripping over each other now.

"I waited years for this! I bled for this place. I mapped every corridor. I watched people die in these tunnels while you slept and fucked and played hero! And you just—just—"

The feed glitched, surged, then stabilized again, angrier than before.

"I will bury you here!" the voice spat. "I don’t care how strong you think you are. Graveward will tear you apart piece by piece and I’ll make you watch—"

Metal boots thundered from the far corridor.

Rin’s head snapped up first. Then Klatos’s wings tightened. Arlen swore under her breath as armored figures poured in through the access tunnel, black plating, sigils etched deep into their chest guards. Graveward Corps. Dozens of them, rifles already up, ready to start a war.

The voice laughed, sharp and ugly. "You hear that? That’s the sound of consequences."

Xavier didn’t turn around.

He was still looking at the panel.

A soft mechanical click echoed through the chamber.

The vault door shifted.

Just a fraction at first, metal grinding against seals that hadn’t moved in years. Pressure vented in a sudden rush, air blasting outward hard enough to rattle loose debris and snap cloaks and feathers back. The lights surged white, then settled.

The door cracked open another inch.

The Graveward troops froze.

The voice cut off mid-rant.