Jack Storm floated amid a storm of shattered asteroids, blood freezing in glittering arcs around his regenerating body. His wings beat slowly, struggling against forces that no longer obeyed normal physics. The Nether Core pulsed in his chest, keeping him alive, holding him together—but for the first time since his rebirth…
It felt small.
The S-rank hovered across from him, radiant with white authority, the vacuum of space bending around it like water around a blade.
"You are exhausting," the S-rank said calmly. "And now you will end."
It raised its hand.
Space folded.
Stars stretched into lines.
Jack felt existence itself preparing to delete him.
Then—
Everything stopped.
Not slowed.
Stopped.
No motion.
No force.
No time.
Jack's thoughts themselves hesitated, stuttering like a broken recording.
And a finger touched the S-rank's wrist.
THE THIRD PRESENCE
A being stood there.
It had no dramatic arrival.
No explosion.
No light.
It simply was.
Humanoid in outline, but not in substance—its form shimmered like something seen through too many layers of reality. Its eyes were not eyes. They were windows into something that made Jack's Nether Core recoil in instinctive terror.
One finger rested against the S-rank's arm.
That was all.
The S-rank froze.
Not from force.
From authority.
Its radiant glow flickered.
For the first time, it spoke in something close to panic.
"…You."
The cosmic presence tilted its head slightly.
"That is enough," it said quietly.
The words were not loud.
They did not need to be.
The S-rank tried to pull its arm back.
It couldn't.
Jack watched in stunned silence as the god that had shattered London, crushed asteroids, and nearly erased him…
Sweated.
Not metaphorically.
Actual luminous beads of energy formed on the S-rank's skin and drifted away like dying stars.
"I— I was correcting a system error," the S-rank stammered.
The presence sighed.
"You love to play with toys," it said. "But you grow careless."
The finger pressed gently.
The pressure was immeasurable.
Space screamed.
The S-rank gasped—not in pain, but in existential panic.
"Find someone worthy," the being continued. "Or do not play at all."
Jack's mind could not process what he was witnessing.
The S-rank wasn't being beaten.
It was being dismissed.
SS-RANK
The being withdrew its finger.
Reality resumed.
The S-rank staggered backward like a frightened animal, light flickering wildly around it.
The cosmic entity turned its gaze toward Jack.
For one terrifying second, Jack felt as if every secret he had ever buried—every fear, every lie, every fragment of his humanity—was being read like an open book.
Not judged.
Measured.
"…Interesting," the being murmured.
Then it vanished.
No distortion.
No teleportation.
Just—
Gone.
The universe exhaled.
THE GOD'S CONFESSION
The S-rank drifted there in silence, slowly regaining composure. Its glow steadied, though it never regained its previous arrogance.
Jack stared at it.
"…What the hell was that?"
The S-rank let out a humorless laugh.
"You think being an S-rank is terrifying?" it asked.
It looked toward the void where the cosmic presence had been.
"Try being an SS-rank."
Jack swallowed.
"There's a… tier above you?"
The S-rank didn't answer directly.
Instead, it looked at Jack with something new.
Respect.
And relief.
"Be grateful," it said quietly. "It did not decide you were interesting enough to erase."
Jack clenched his fists.
"Then why are you still here?"
The S-rank's eyes burned once more.
"Because now," it said, "I have something to think about."
It turned away from Jack.
"And so do you."
Light flared.
The S-rank accelerated away, vanishing into the void at a speed that left space itself trailing behind it.
Jack was alone again.
THE HUNGER
He floated there, surrounded by asteroid dust and the cold of infinite space.
The Nether Core pulsed.
Not in fear.
In hunger.
Jack's hands trembled—not from weakness, but from something far worse.
Desire.
He had seen the gap now.
S-rank wasn't the top.
It wasn't even close.
There were beings so far above him that they could stop gods with a finger.
And part of him…
Wanted to reach them.
Jack's wings flared.
"…I need more," he whispered.
Not more safety.
Not more control.
More power.
RETURN TO EARTH
Jack angled his wings.
The stars shifted as he turned back toward the small blue planet hanging in the darkness.
Earth.
Fragile.
Full of demons.
Full of souls.
Full of growth.
He tore back through space, punching into the atmosphere like a falling star, fire trailing behind him as he descended.
Somewhere below, a thousand demonic entities stirred.
Jack smiled for the first time in days.
"I'm coming," he murmured.
Hungry.
Eager.
Ready to hunt again.
This is the chapter where Jack crosses from weapon to army.
Not evil — but no longer something the world can coexist with safely.
Here is Chapter 24 — "The Devil Builds an Army" (long-form, cinematic, high-detail, dialogue-rich).
Chapter 24 — The Devil Builds an Army
The first demon died screaming.
Not because Jack Storm was cruel.
Because Jack Storm was fast.
A clawed thing crawled out of a glowing rift behind a warehouse in northern England, its body only half-formed, skin still dripping with summoning residue.
Jack's fist went through its skull before its feet touched the floor.
Purple-black fire vaporized bone and thought alike.
The Nether Core pulsed.
Warm.
Hungry.
Jack inhaled slowly, eyes glowing brighter.
"Again."
A THOUSAND DEATHS
He did not hunt randomly.
He hunted efficiently.
Rift clusters.
Possession nests.
Summoning circles buried under abandoned factories, derelict hospitals, forgotten basements.
He flew between them like a living missile, wings ripping holes through the clouds as he crossed cities in seconds.
A C-rank pack ambushed him in Birmingham.
They didn't get to finish roaring.
Jack slammed into the ground between them and unleashed Absolute Transmission outward in a sphere.
Three demons folded inward like crushed insects.
Two tried to flee.
Jack grabbed one by the spine and slammed it into the other.
Both vanished in violet flame.
The Nether Core drank again.
A B-rank spirit erupted inside a possessed man in Leeds, twisting his body into something unrecognizable.
Jack didn't hesitate.
He pierced the demon's soul with Soul Authority and pulled it out of the man's body like tearing out a parasite.
The man collapsed, alive.
The demon burned.
"Next."
He lost count after three hundred.
After five hundred, the hunger changed.
Not frantic.
Focused.
Like a predator who had tasted blood and realized the night was full of prey.
By the time the sun began to rise, Jack Storm had killed one thousand demons.
And he wanted more.
THE RETURN TO HELL
The pull came immediately.
Hell had felt it.
The Infernal Broker was already waiting when Jack landed on the obsidian platform, violet light rippling through the air.
"You have exceeded projection models," the Broker said.
Jack's wings folded behind him.
"Give me what I earned."
Hell answered.
Soul energy flooded into the Nether Core so violently Jack nearly staggered.
SOUL POINTS: Massive influx
SILVER COINS: 19
GOLD COINS: 2
The air warped.
New branches ignited.
One glowed darker than the rest.
DEMON SUMMONING
Jack froze.
"…I can call them?"
The Broker nodded.
"You no longer merely kill Hell's children," it said. "You may command them."
Jack felt the ability open inside him.
A channel.
A leash.
A throne.
Rank E — Basic Summoning
Can summon low-tier demons.
Human-killable.
Upgradeable.
Jack's pulse quickened.
"…I can build an army."
The Broker smiled.
"Or be crushed by one."
THE A-RANK BOSS
Hell didn't let him leave.
The arena formed around him.
A colossal demon stepped forward — towering, plated in infernal armor, wielding a weapon forged from condensed nightmare.
An A-rank.
"You dare seek dominion," it thundered. "Prove you deserve it."
Jack's red eyes burned.
"Come on."
They clashed.
The demon moved with godlike speed, hammering Jack through hell-stone pillars, shattering platforms with every strike. Jack countered with flight, Force Dominion, Nightmare Possession — tearing at its mind, warping its perception.
The demon roared as illusions of ancient failures crushed its focus.
Jack drove through the opening.
Absolute Transmission hit its core.
The A-rank screamed.
The fight lasted twenty brutal minutes.
When it ended, the demon lay broken, its essence unraveling.
Jack stood over it, breathing hard.
The Nether Core pulsed.
BOSS SOUL ACQUIRED
DEMON SUMMONING UNLOCKED — BOSS LINK ESTABLISHED
Jack frowned.
"Summon it."
The Broker shook its head.
"Rank too low."
Jack clenched his fists.
"Upgrade it."
Coins burned.
DEMON SUMMONING — RANK C
Jack felt the channel widen.
Stronger.
Deeper.
The defeated A-rank's essence bound to him.
"…Now?"
The Broker shook his head.
"You may summon up to C Rank."
Jack smiled slowly.
THE RIFT ON EARTH
Hundreds of demon spirits poured out of a rift over a European city.
Screaming.
Possessing.
Tearing into people.
Jack arrived like thunder.
His wings cut through the sky as he descended.
"Enough."
Demons turned.
Jack raised his hand.
"Come."
The air ripped open behind him.
Fifty C-rank demons erupted from Hell — snarling, burning, bowing instinctively to his authority.
Crowds watched in horror as demons lined up behind a demon-king.
Jack pointed.
"Kill them."
Hell met Hell.
The city became a battlefield of summoned horrors tearing each other apart.
Jack hovered above it all, directing, commanding, erasing anything that broke formation.
When it was over, nothing hostile remained.
People stared.
Some cried.
Some cheered.
Most were silent.
THE WORLD RECOILS
Crowe watched the footage.
"Jesus…"
A demon army.
Under one man.
"…We can't let this continue," an advisor whispered.
Crowe nodded slowly.
"…No. We can't."
He looked at Jack on the screen, standing in the middle of his summoned horrors.
"That's not a hero anymore," Crowe said quietly.
"That's a threat."
And Earth was no longer safe from its protector.