After the scream - 900 million universes remaining

The man hadn't turned around. He kept staring at the stars of his universe shining gently in the distance. He had never cared about them in the past, but today, he couldn't look away. He needed a few seconds and an intense effort to look at Jason.

The man had a sad smile on his lips.

"So this is what it feels like to be powerless ? This is what it feels like to know that you won't be able to save every single one of them ?"

Jason didn't answer. He had a deep frown on his face and was now giving the Monarch a questioning look.

When he saw his reaction, the man turned to look at Arden. His gaze was now ferocious and his voice had intensified.

"So even he knows nothing."

He started to laugh. It was a hysterical laughter that the man didn't try to contain. He was laughing so hard that one could hear it a few light-years away. Space around them had been ripped apart due to the Monarch's emotional outburst.

His study, the Backrooms and all the planets around them had imploded in a heartbeat sending gasses and dust flying through the void.

The human civilization they had come across on their way had also disappeared, swept away with a wave of a god's hand, rendered to ashes with the laugh of a Monarch.

Only one man had survived. Jason had stepped forward with his translucid stick to protect the mortal that had been with them inside the Backrooms. Just by raising it, a golden dome had appeared around the man to protect him from the otherwise deadly attack.

Once the dust settled, the smell of mold had disappeared.

In fact, everything around them had disappeared.

Only the void remained and the stars glowing dimly far in the distance.

"Why ?"

Jason's voice had become abnormally deep and grave. An ancient, mysterious and otherworldly aura was coming out from his figure. The Monarch hadn't even reacted while Arden was looking at it with his indifferent gaze.

It had filled the surrounding void almost immediately but Arden could see that it had covered the entire universe.

"Why ?"

Jason had asked the very same question and the whole universe had quaked. The Monarch that was still having the laugh of his life had felt silent. His face was displaying horror beyond comprehension. But abruptly, it changed. Terror became anger. A rage so potent that the old man couldn't hold it back :

"Since when do you give a shit about our lives ?!"

He had spitten these words with so much hatred that Jason got stunned.

Without even giving him the time to collect himself, the old man kept talking :

"You could have saved all of them… you could have saved all of us !"

His voice had broken at the end.

"You could have done so much, but you did nothing."

The Monarch was laughing again. But this time his laugh was hollow, filled with pain.

And no one interrupted him.

The void seemed to become gloomier, heavier and eerier.

After a few seconds, silence came back.

"Hypocrite."

The Monarch seemed now perfectly calm, as if nothing had just happened.

But this time, Jason didn't remain silent.

"I don't think you have reflected on yourself for a very long time Hammond."

He continued before the Monarch could interrupt him.

"What happened to you ? It's weird for a chosen Monarch like yourself to lose control like that."

He was speaking to himself at this point.

"You destroyed all the Promise's hotels in your universe to make us come here, but why ? You're clearly desperate but not dumb. You know that you stand no chance in a fight against Arden but you still chose to risk it. It's like you're one of these Singularities : going berserk because you have nothing to lose."

At this point the Monarch had tried several times to interrupt Jason, but a mysterious power had interfered.

"But you aren't one of them. You are a relatively young Monarch and a chosen one on top of that. Weak but sane, prideful but knowledgeable. You know what to do, and especially what not to do."

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Jason was now gazing far in the distance.

"You will die in a few moments."

It was the only option remaining, but Jason's question remain :

"Why ?"

His whisper had echoed in the void, ripples slowly forming in the surrounding space.

"Because everyone here will die."

Hammond had finally answered his question. His voice was serene, as if he was sitting beside a lake of Eternity or seeing the end of his journey.

"The planets, the stars, the blackholes, everything will disappear. Everything will return to nothingness, as if it never existed. The door was sealed, and with it, our fate.

- Why are you so cryptic ? Jason asked in a low voice.

- Why do you think Arden is here ? To execute an already dead man ?"

The Monarch had gently lifted his hand

"No. He is here to silence me, and, maybe, every single one of them."

His hand was wide open, as if he was trying to have the universe in his hand.

"Poor souls, may all of you find peace in the Creator's embrace."

He had slowly but surely closed his hand. The look in his eyes hadn't wavered.

His pupils were reflecting the universe he had yearned to protect, now void of life.

Neither Jason or Arden had tried to stop him. Jason had said that Hammond was weak, and that was true relatively to his standards. But the chosen Monarch was still strong enough to do whatever he wanted to the inhabitants of his universe.

The fact that he was a chosen Monarch gave him a vast array of knowledge on different laws, but like every other Monarch, he had a speciality.

His wasn't space but links and It was one the most complex and mysterious laws that existed.

Links were intangible threads with two main functions.

Firstly, they connected every person in a universe acting like a spider web. Some thought that it was a representation of fate but only the Monarch of fate or Hammond could answer this question.

Secondly, they were the very reason for the people's soul to be able to control one's body.

Once a person loses control of all the threads linking him to the universe, his soul would cease to have any connection to the world.

At that moment, their bodies would either become a puppet of the person controlling the threads or remain inert without standing up ever again.

If one couldn't control its own threads, death could knock at their doors without them even knowing.

And this is exactly what happened just a few moments ago.

Hammond had grasped every single thread of his universe in his hand before crushing them.

At this point, the souls had been completely separated from their bodies. It would stay that way forever unless the Monarch of Life or the Monarch of Souls stepped in.

But none of them would because none of them knew what was happening.

However, Hammond seemed to have prepared for this as he slowly took out a box.

It was an iron metallic case, so small in fact that it fitted in the palm of the old man's hand.

The craftsmanship was rough but Jason could tell at a glance that Hammond had spent a long time creating this tiny box.

As for its use, the Monarch opened it without hesitation.

All of a sudden, the links of fate across the universe began to shake before gradually converging toward the Monarch of Links and the box in his hand.

Every single link of fate came with its own soul and in just a few seconds, the void around them was filled with them.

Souls came with different sizes and colors. They could be black pitch and as large as a star or a pure white the size of a fist.

There were in fact so many of them that one couldn't see the stars anymore. But the box wasn't done yet.

As soon as all the souls had gathered around it, it began to suck them up.

Endless amounts of souls began to pour into the iron case without stopping. As if it was a bottomless pit, every soul in the universe entered the tiny box in just a few seconds.

Once Hammond could see that every single one of them had entered, he finally closed the lid before tossing to Arden.

"I hope he will keep his promise and send them to the afterlife."