After the scream - 900 million universes remaining

'Death will never heed your plea.'

A Monarch must draw closer to the laws to understand them better. Gaël had experienced this himself. In his early years as a Monarch, he had to bury all anger, suffering, and empathy deep within his soul, at times becoming insensitive to the pain others might feel. If he had been the Monarch of Death, he might resemble the creature facing Zhang Shi. A mere shell, as dead inside as outside, moving only through the laws of Death present within it.

Gaël had only heard him speak once in his life, on the day of the creation of Promise. However, he likely wouldn't speak today.

He simply stared at Zhang Shi with the two dark cavities that probably served as his eyes.

Without saying a word, the Monarch simply nodded his monstrous head, as if he had understood the implication in Zhang Shi's question.

Apparently satisfied with his response, the martial arts Monarch nodded back before returning to Aurore and Gaël.

Among the Monarchs, only the relatively young Anna still seemed confused by Zhang Shi's actions. He owned none of the artifacts being sold, as they all came from the Director's personal collection, so he didn't receive any Promis from their sale. He also wasn't doing this to eliminate some of the competition for the following artifacts since he probably possessed more Promis than all the other Monarchs combined.

While she was busy searching for a reason to explain Zhang Shi's actions, a voice snapped her out of her stupor.

It was Gaël's voice asking her a simple question:

"Do you want me to explain the simple reason behind his actions?"

"Please, enlighten me."

"There's no need to be so formal. I'll answer your question with another question. To you, what is the value of these artifacts?"

"Inestimable," she answered immediately.

"And what would have been your first bid?"

"Maybe a few million Promis to test the waters and see if another Monarch would bid," she replied after a moment, a note of confusion in her voice.

"That's where you're wrong. If another Monarch were to bid to try and win this lance, it would create animosity between you for an object of no interest to him. If you thought some might want to buy it to limit your growth, let me tell you that no one here fears you, with or without this lance."

There was no contempt in his voice, nor any desire from Gaël to belittle her. It was the simple reality that Anna perhaps hadn't yet understood.

He continued after giving her a few seconds to absorb his last words:

"If no one outbids, then this inestimable artifact would be sold to you for only a few million Promis. Zhang Shi just wanted you to use your entire fortune as a gesture of respect for its true value."

As if to emphasize his words, the auction for the book began and the Monarch of Death placed the first bid.

Anna watched in astonishment as the bid instantly soared from zero Promis to a 22-digit figure, likely representing the entire fortune of the Monarch of Death.

None of the Monarchs present were surprised by the immense figure now displayed on the screen.

Below, the silence was perhaps more telling than a great commotion. It was the highest bid so far, surpassing even the total of all previous bids.

Mortals and immortals expected a bidding war between the mysterious figures above their heads, but after a minute that seemed to last for hours, they realized there would be no further bids.

The presenter had already understood this, as he had already prepared the next artifact.

Indeed, even as the book was not yet sold, the next artifact had already appeared at his side. Behind the glass case, on a leather display stand, was a bracelet. It was made of a single material of an emerald color, without any pattern. It had no distinctive features that made it special, but the information on the screen confirmed otherwise.

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[Forged from simple materials, this bracelet will protect its owner for ten seconds from attacks that would normally be fatal to them. It will work against any attack as long as it doesn't come from an Unleashed. It cannot be repaired, unless with the direct assistance of Anything.]

This was the first artifact all the Monarchs could use, so most of them would participate in this auction. Since the artifact worked regardless of the power level of its holder, the first few minutes saw, for the first time, Monarchs, eternals, and mortals bidding for the same object.

However, the auction quickly reached a price far too high for mortals and eternals. The Monarchs continued to bid, wishing to give the bracelet to a family member. Among them was Zhang Shi. He bid with a slight smile on his face, not even caring about the exorbitant price.

The other Monarchs gradually withdrew from the auction, leaving Zhang Shi to win the bracelet for a 20-digit figure.

The bracelet disappeared from its display case and was teleported into Zhang Shi's palm. Without even looking at it, he placed it in a storage ring on his index finger.

After winning the auction, he received an approving look from Gaël. The latter knew very well that Zhang Shi had no close ones besides Aurore and himself. Since they were both nearly invincible against other Monarchs, the bracelet would be of no use to them. The only person in the room who didn't seem to realize this was, of course, the Monarch for whom he had bought the bracelet. Aurore looked at Zhang Shi with a big smile before saying:

"With this bracelet, you can at least survive ten seconds if a Monarch attacks you! That will give you time to call dad for help! Though I'm not sure he could get there in time."

She had spoken the last part of her sentence in an almost inaudible voice as if she didn't want to discourage him.

Monarchs normally enjoyed these kinds of discussions, which often served to fuel gossip for millennia to come.

But all that had to wait because the next artifact had already arrived at the presenter's side. Nearly five hundred Monarch-grade artifacts were auctioned one by one over a few days. There were weapons, armor, and various accessories that everyone could use, as well as artifacts benefiting a single Monarch like Anna's lance or the Monarch of Death's book.

The auction for a coat had just concluded. It was currently the most expensive artifact sold, its price exceeding 30 digits. It had the peculiarity of using invisibility laws as fabric, making its wearer invisible to most Monarchs. It also had the ability to teleport its wearer to a random door in the universe, leaving no trace. This ability was limited to the universe in which its wearer was located but remained particularly life-saving and therefore coveted by most Monarchs.

Zhang Shi would have liked to buy it for Aurore, but a certain remark that she found the coat sad to death due to its pronounced black shades made him give up on buying it.

After the artifact was retrieved by the winner of the last auction, the presenter spoke:

"I hope everyone has enjoyed the auction so far. The last artifacts are infinitely precious, and the organizer of this auction session wished to present them himself. I wish you all good luck, and I must say I myself am eager to know the artifacts that will be presented in a few moments!" he added with a jovial laugh before leaving the stage and another person took his place.

The Unleashed, like Arden who stood apart with his eyes closed, opened them. They seemed interested in so few things that it was rare to see any emotion on their faces. Yet, they now seemed interested in the rest of the auction when they saw the figure that had appeared on the stage.

A simple white hooded garment revealed nothing of his identity, except for the badge on it: a pristine white salamander on a black background that seemed to devour everything in its path.