When two A-ranks stood on opposite ends of the skyline, reality itself stopped pretending it could survive intact.
Jack Storm stood between them.
Red eyes glowing steadily now, not flaring, not raging—deciding.
The Hollow Tyrant advanced without urgency, each step collapsing gravity into obedient lines. The Screaming Queen hovered above the eastern districts, wings of faces shrieking as possession rippled outward in waves, civilians dropping to their knees screaming as shadows tore into them.
Crowe watched from a reinforced command bunker miles away.
"…Storm," he whispered. "Please don't do this."
Jack didn't hear him.
Or maybe he did—and chose not to care.
TWO GODS, ONE MAN
The Hollow Tyrant moved first.
A single step forward detonated the street beneath it, gravity folding inward with the force of a meteor impact. Jack met it head-on, Force Guard screaming as pressure tried to crush him flat.
Jack punched.
Absolute transmission slammed into the Tyrant's chest.
The air exploded.
Shockwaves tore through six blocks instantly, flattening buildings and hurling vehicles like shrapnel. The Tyrant staggered—but did not fall.
It learned.
"Your force is inefficient," it intoned. "You rely on consequence."
Jack wiped blood from his mouth, regeneration already stitching torn tissue back together.
"Funny," he said. "That's what everyone says before they lose."
The Tyrant raised both hands.
Gravity inverted.
Jack was hurled upward, slammed through three floors of a high-rise, and punched out the roof into open air. He twisted mid-flight, stabilizing himself—
And the Queen hit him.
THE SCREAMING QUEEN
Psychic agony tore into Jack's mind like claws.
Thousands of voices screamed at once—fear, hatred, worship, hunger—layered so densely it almost drowned his thoughts. Her wings wrapped around him, faces biting, mouths whispering promises and accusations.
You enjoy this.
You like being feared.
You don't miss them.
Jack screamed—not from pain, but from fury.
Soul Authority flared.
The voices collapsed.
The Queen shrieked as Jack drove his fist into her abdomen and slammed her downward, riding her like a meteor into the street below. The impact obliterated an entire intersection, the ground liquefying under the force.
Jack landed in the crater an instant later.
Both A-ranks recovered immediately.
They were not injured.
They were testing him.
Jack stood still.
Breathing slow.
Controlled.
And for the first time since his rebirth—
He felt something cold and heavy settle into place.
THE REALIZATION
He could not win cleanly.
Not while protecting everything.
Not while holding back.
Jack's Nether Core pulsed—not urgently, not desperately—but patiently.
A new awareness surfaced.
A mechanism.
He hadn't noticed it before because he hadn't needed to.
A failsafe.
A final answer.
Jack looked around.
Four city blocks still hadn't evacuated.
People were running.
People were trapped.
People were too slow.
The Queen laughed, psychic pressure returning.
The Tyrant stepped closer, gravity tightening.
Crowe shouted into every channel. "Storm, fall back! We'll—"
Jack cut the feed.
He looked at the demons.
Then at the city.
Then inward.
"…I'm sorry," he said.
He wasn't sure who he meant it for.
THE SELF-DESTRUCTION CORE
The Nether Core opened.
Not explosively.
Deliberately.
The void-violet flame at its center inverted, collapsing inward until it reached a singularity-like density. Jack felt everything compress—his power, his regeneration, his force control, his soul authority.
The Queen felt it first.
"What are you doing?" she screamed.
The Tyrant paused.
Too late.
Jack raised his head.
Red eyes blazing like dying stars.
"Ending this."
THE BLAST
There was no sound.
Sound cannot survive that kind of force.
The explosion erased concepts before matter.
Gravity collapsed inward, then detonated outward in a perfect sphere four blocks wide. Buildings ceased to exist—atomized, folded into nothingness. Streets vanished. Air ignited into plasma.
The Queen screamed once.
Then stopped existing.
The Tyrant didn't scream.
It simply fractured—its crown collapsing, its form disintegrating under absolute annihilation.
The blast wave continued outward, flattening everything within its radius.
People died.
Not screaming.
Not slowly.
Instantly.
The city lost four blocks of history, memory, and life in less than a second.
And at the center—
Nothing remained.
AFTERMATH: THE CRATER
When the shockwave faded, there was silence.
A perfect circular crater sat where the city had been—smooth, glassed at the edges, descending into darkness.
No body.
No movement.
Only one thing remained at the center.
A sphere.
The Nether Core.
Floating.
Intact.
Still burning.
REGENERATION FROM NOTHING
The core pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
Then matter began to grow.
Bone assembled first, knitting itself outward from nothing. Muscle layered on in precise symmetry. Organs formed without error. Skin sealed last, smooth and unblemished.
Jack Storm reassembled in the center of the crater.
He inhaled sharply.
Coughed.
Sat up.
"…Okay," he muttered hoarsely. "That's new."
He looked around.
At the crater.
At the absence.
At the smoke columns rising in the distance where a city had been.
Something twisted in his chest.
He waited for the guilt.
It came.
But it was… quiet.
Manageable.
And underneath it—
Relief.
That was worse.
THE PART THAT DIDN'T CARE
Jack stood slowly.
He felt stronger.
The explosion hadn't weakened him—it had refined him.
The Nether Core pulsed, stable, satisfied.
Jack clenched his fists.
The realization hit him with terrifying clarity.
If this happens again… I will do it again.
And a part of him wouldn't hesitate.
Wouldn't argue.
Wouldn't beg for alternatives.
That part scared him more than the S-rank ever had.
CROWE ARRIVES
Crowe reached the crater an hour later.
Nothing prepared him for what he saw.
"…My God," he whispered.
Jack stood at the center, coat gone, eyes glowing red, body unmarked.
Alive.
Crowe approached cautiously.
"How many?" Crowe asked quietly.
Jack didn't look at him.
"Enough," he said.
Crowe swallowed. "Did you have another option?"
Jack finally turned.
His eyes were still red.
But tired.
"…Yes," Jack said.
Crowe closed his eyes.
That answer hurt more than no.
THE WORLD BREAKS
Satellite footage leaked within minutes.
Four city blocks erased.
Two unknown entities gone.
One man standing alone in the crater afterward.
The headlines were no longer confused.
They were afraid.
GLOBAL ALERT: CITY-LEVEL ANNIHILATION EVENT CONFIRMED
WHO IS JACK STORM?
SAVIOR OR EXTINCTION EVENT?
Governments mobilized.
Religions fractured.
The world stopped pretending it could control this.
HELL IS QUIET
For the first time in eons—
Hell did not speak.
The Infernal Broker watched the crater through unseen eyes.
No smile.
No laughter.
Only calculation.
"…He crossed it," the Broker murmured.
Something ancient shifted.
JACK STORM
Jack sat at the edge of the crater as night fell.
Sirens echoed in the distance.
Crowe stood behind him, silent.
Jack stared at his hands.
They didn't shake.
They didn't burn.
They just… waited.
"I saved the city," Jack said quietly.
Crowe didn't answer.
"And I destroyed part of it," Jack continued.
Crowe exhaled slowly. "Both can be true."
Jack nodded.
Then whispered something Crowe barely heard.
"…And part of me didn't care."
The red glow in his eyes dimmed slightly.
But it did not go away.