He took a slow step forward, his gaze sweeping across all of us, making sure he had our full attention.
"There are many universes in the cosmos," he continued, "countless, in fact… but only eleven of them truly matter. Eleven universes," he repeated, raising a finger slightly, "where beings can go beyond the Saint rank… or whatever equivalent exists in their respective systems."
He paused briefly.
"And among those eleven…" his voice lowered just slightly, "…there is one that stands above all the others. That universe," Amun said, his eyes locking onto mine, "is the reason the Crimson Zone exists in the first place."
"All the known universes combined," he continued calmly, "would not be enough to deal with what cos from there."
"And that universe…" he said, a faint smile returning to his face, though this ti it carried none of his earlier playfulness, "…is known as—"
He stopped.
"—well," he added casually, "nas don't really matter right now."
I narrowed my eyes slightly, he was holding back deliberately.
"But what does matter," he continued, his tone steady once more, "is this…"
"The Crimson Zone you're looking at…is not the source."
"It's just a leak," he said. "A side effect. A spillover from sothing."
"What is that sothing?" I asked, my gaze fixed on him, no longer interested in half-answers or vague implications.
Amun didn't answer imdiately. Instead, he tilted his head slightly, as if considering how much he actually wanted to reveal, before letting out a quiet breath.
"Not sure," he said at last, giving a small shrug, though the seriousness in his eyes didn't match the casual gesture. "There are… rumors."
I waited.
"So say it's an artifact," he continued, "sothing so powerful that even its presence begins to overwrite everything around it."
He paused briefly before adding, "Others believe it's the core of that universe itself… sothing fundantal, sothing that shouldn't even be exposed."
"And then," he said, a faint smile returning, though this ti it carried a hint of sothing darker, "there are those who claim it's neither of those."
I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Then what?"
He looked directly at .
"The aura," he said quietly, "of the Monarch of that universe."
"Just… the aura," he added, almost casually now, as if he hadn't just dropped sothing absurd. "Not the Monarch himself. Not his full power. Just what leaks out naturally from his existence."
I didn't respond imdiately, because if even a fraction of what he was saying was true, then whatever existed at the source of all this wasn't just powerful in the way we understood strength. It operated on an entirely different scale, one that made everything we had faced so far feel… smaller.
Amun watched for a mont before continuing.
"Now the reason I'm telling you all this," he said, "is because there is no direct way for us to deal with the Crimson Zone. It expands… and it devours. That's all it does, and nothing we do can truly stop it."
He took a slow breath, then went on.
"So, a long ti ago, the strongest beings across the cosmos gathered together. Not just from one universe, but from all the major ones… and they went to et the Monarch."
I frowned slightly. "They confronted it?"
Amun let out a quiet laugh. "Confronted?" he shook his head. "No… they didn't confront anything. They went there and begged."
"They asked for rcy," he continued. "They asked the Monarch to spare their universes from being consud."
"And?" I asked.
"Rumor has it," he said, raising a finger slightly, "that the Monarch told them… they couldn't help them. Whatever this thing is, it's not entirely under control or the Monarch simply does not care."
He paused briefly, then added, "But they did give them sothing."
"A way out?" I asked.
"Not just a way out," he replied, a faint smile forming again, "but an opportunity. A system. A set of rules."
He leaned slightly forward.
"Gas."
I narrowed my eyes. "Gas? Why would sothing like that even care about gas?"
Amun shrugged lightly. "Again… rumors. But the most common one is that the Monarch enjoys collecting souls."
"Not just any souls," he continued, "but the souls of strong individuals. People who fight, struggle, grow… and then fall."
I frowned. "So if you die in these gas…"
"…your soul stays there," he finished calmly.
"If the Monarch is that powerful," I said, my tone steady, "why not just wipe everything out and take whatever they want? Why go through all this?"
Amun spread his hands slightly. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's not like I was there. All of this happened eons ago. What I know are fragnts… stories passed down, pieces of information gathered from people who got a little too close to things they shouldn't have."
He straightened slightly, his gaze returning to .
"But the important part isn't why," he said. "It's what."
I stayed silent.
"You can't deal with the source directly," he continued. "No one can. Not you, not , not anyone in the universe you know."
His voice lowered slightly.
"The only way… is to participate in those gas."
A brief pause followed.
"And that," he added, tapping his chest lightly, "is where I co in."
I looked at him, already knowing what he was about to say.
"I have the ticket," he said with a small, satisfied smile, "that can get you in."
"And what will we gain by participating in those gas?" I asked.
"You'll get rewards," Amun replied. "Not the usual kind. You can ask for what you want, and based on your performance, it will be granted."
He paused, then added casually, "For example, your Null Core… I got that from them after doing quite well."
He winked.
"That thing isn't simple, Billion. It lets you gather souls and bind them to yourself. That wasn't luck."
He continued without waiting.
"Theras participated as well. You know what he won?"
I didn't respond.
"He made a deal," Amun said. "Every soul that dies in the Pri Universe… belongs to him."
"What?" I said before I could stop myself.
Even North reacted. "Doesn't that an–"
Amun's expression turned serious.
"Yes, it does. And that's exactly why phantoms and abominations exist the way they do. They're created using the souls of our dead… because soone made that deal with the Crimson authorities."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"The Eternals were never capable of doing sothing like this on a universal scale. But the Monarch…" he shook his head slightly, "…for them, this is nothing."
His gaze locked onto mine.
"So to answer your question, Billion… if you want your parents' souls back, or if you want to free your universe from this curse…"
"…the only way is to go there, participate in those gas, and win."
A faint smile returned.
"Win big enough… that you get to make a deal of your own."
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