Void.
No walls. No sky. No horizon. Just blackness—endless, oppressive, alive. And within it, everything burned in red flame. Not heat. Not light. Just the sensation of something ancient screaming in silence.
Into that abyss, Jack fell.
He dropped like a puppet with its strings cut—no resistance, no grace. And then—impact. Not on stone. Not on earth. But something—a surface without texture, invisible, unreal, yet crushing in its certainty.
He landed hard.
For a breath, he lay still. Then—he stirred.
He had changed—his face inhumanly human, flawless to the point of unease.
Snow-white hair floated around him like threads of ice, and his crimson-black eyes glowed with something ancient.
He wasn't just stronger—he was becoming something beyond human, beautiful and terrifying.
Jack rose slowly, blood trailing from both ears like threads of sacrifice.
His body wore only a tight, torn black cloth—his pale chest rising with ragged breath. His snow-white hair drifted unnaturally, as if submerged in water that didn't exist.
His eyes glowed, soft but deep—red-black, like a dying sun caged in shadow.
And then...
It arrived.
The presence didn't approach. It declared itself.
Space bent. The air thickened. And out of the darkness stepped The Entity.
A towering figure—twice Jack's size, humanoid in shape but utterly wrong.
Shadow muscles flexed beneath spectral bone armor, etched with symbols from forgotten tongues. Writhing tendrils of light coiled around its limbs like chained comets.
Its face... featureless, save for two hollow white eyes burning like judgment.
Jack stared up.
And smirked.
"So... youre the gatekeeper." His voice was dry, tinged with arrogance. "That's cute."
The Entity didn't respond.
It moved.
BOOM!
Before the smirk could fade, the Entity was already there—instant, inevitable.
A knee crashed into Jack's gut with the force of a collapsing star. His body folded around the blow, spit and blood erupting from his mouth.
No pause.
A follow-up backfist—like a hammer from a god—crashed into his jaw.
CRACK.
Jack flew through the void, spinning like debris in a hurricane. He hit an unseen wall—a wall of force, or maybe thought—with a sickening crunch.
His body fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and breathless pain.
He rolled. Coughing. Spitting blood.
And then—he laughed. Bitter. Raw.
"Okay..." he rasped, wiping his mouth, "that one hurt."
His smirk returned, but thinner now. Less pride. More resolve.
And then—his aura ignited.
Red-black fire exploded from him, seeping out like liquid rage. It didn't roar—it pulsed, like a second heartbeat.
The ground—or whatever passed for it—cracked beneath him. Even the void recoiled.
Jack stepped forward. No more swagger. Just intention.
He vanished.
One blink—and he was already in motion. Afterimages rippled behind him like fractured time. His fist snapped forward, carving through space itself.
CRACK!
The punch landed.
The Entity blocked—but the sheer force of the impact sent shockwaves screaming in every direction.
Its bony armor cracked—spiderweb fractures spreading across its chest.
For the first time, The Entity reacted—head tilting, acknowledging the strike.
Jacks confidence roared back like wildfire given wind.
His eyes gleamed crimson-black, and the corner of his mouth twisted upward in a smirk that tasted like victory.
"You bleed."
He struck—fist after fist, each one fueled by rage, memory, and defiance. The void trembled under the weight of their clash.
Every blow lit the darkness like divine thunder meeting shadow.
For a moment, it looked like Jack was rising above it—his movements precise, fast, merciless. He wasn't just fighting.
He was commanding. The Entity, for all its power, staggered under the sheer weight of Jack's will.
But then—SNAP.
Without warning, a spectral tendril lashed out of the dark and coiled around Jack's ankle mid-air. Before he could react—
SLAM. SLAM. SLAM....
Ten devastating impacts in under two seconds.
Jack's body was thrashed against the ground like a discarded doll, each slam sending shockwaves through the space between reality and thought.
The floor beneath him cracked like glass under pressure. He groaned—low, pained—but forced himself to lift his head.
Then the Entity descended.
No grand entrance. Just presence. Unavoidable. Absolute.
It wrapped one massive hand around Jack's throat and lifted him like a broken weapon.
This time, it spoke.
"You are a mistake."
But it wasn't just a voice—it was a command, a truth delivered straight into his marrow.
The words hummed in Jack's bones, unraveling the confidence he'd just begun to rebuild.
He struggled, teeth clenched. "You're not real... I'm in control..."
The Entity squeezed tighter, lifting him higher.
"You were never in control. You wore strength like a mask... only to hide the fear underneath."
And something in Jack's eyes—shifted.
Then—CRASH.
The Entity hurled him across the void. He hit something invisible, hard—reality itself, maybe—and fell limp to the ground.
Blood dripping from his mouth, Jack laughed—a broken, bitter sound.
He stood slowly, aura flaring violently around him. The air cracked as it rose—red and black flames twisting like a storm around a sinking star.
"Alright..." he muttered, wiping blood from his chin. His voice carried arrogance again, but something darker beneath it. "Let's see what kind of nightmare you really are."
He charged—more flame than man—
But the Entity met him halfway.
A single palm strike.
Not fast. Not complex. Just pure inevitability.
It struck his chest like truth incarnate.
Jack's ribs folded inward. He gasped—blood spraying from his mouth—and was driven into the ground, deeper this time, like the world itself was trying to bury him.
The fire above swirled violently, reacting to his pain. A vortex of rage and instability—a soul unraveling.
Still, the Entity didn't pause.
It moved forward. Cold. Surgical.
No hatred. No triumph. Just precision.
Jack retaliated, but every strike missed. His aura snapped and lashed like whips of fury, but none found their mark.
He was always a second too slow, always half a breath too late.
Then came the punishment.
A knee to his jaw, snapping his head back.
An elbow to the chest, driving air and spirit from his lungs.
A fist to the spine, folding him forward with a choked gasp.
He wasn't being beaten. He was being broken.
Jack collapsed to his knees. His hands trembled. His aura flickered—unstable, retreating.
And then, in one final motion, the Entity grabbed him and threw him.
But this time, there was no wall. No ground.
Just endless fall.
Jack spiraled downward into nothing—no direction, no time, just weightless agony.
His own scream tore from his throat, echoing, bouncing back at him—distorted, multiplied, twisted—until it wasn't just his scream anymore.
It was all of them.
Everyone he'd failed. Everyone he'd lost. Everyone he couldn't protect.
He kept falling. Deeper. Faster.
And in that descent, he wasn't fighting the Entity anymore.
He was fighting himself.
And he was losing.
Memories surged like lightning behind his eyes.
A flash of his childhood—bare feet, scraped knees, laughter. Then Leo's death, that broken silence. Iris, screaming his name through tears.
Jasmine, smiling in the sun... and then—himself.
Bloodied. Laughing. Empty.
Was this how it ended?
The void hushed. Stillness.
Then—barely audible—Jack whispered, voice torn and raw:
"Even if I fall... I'll claw my way out."
WHOOM.
His aura didn't just ignite—it detonated.
A red-black supernova ripped through the realm. Violent. Devouring. Alive.
He wasn't on the ground anymore—he was floating mid-air, arms loose, head down, body cracked like shattered stone.
But his eyes...
They glowed. Brighter. And darker.
Like stars dying just to be reborn.
The Entity lunged—silent, monstrous, final.
Jack caught the punch.
With one hand.
You're powerful..." he said, voice calm, steady, terrifying.
"...but I'm inevitable."
BOOM.
He surged forward like a force of nature—forehead crashing into the Entity's skull.
Shockwaves screamed out across the void. The Entity staggered.
Jack didn't stop.
Elbow to throat. Knee to ribs. Palm to chest. Headbutt. Again. Again. Blood flew. Armor cracked. Space warped.
"This is MY mind!" he roared.
"You don't get to win here!"
The Entity screamed, gathering all remaining energy into a final devastating blast—a tidal wave of erasure, light, and death.
But Jack... walked through it.
Slowly.
Step by step.
His body leaking black fire.
Aura disintegrating everything in his path.
His breath ragged. Smile gone. But his eyes—unchanged.
One hand rose.
He pierced the Entity's chest—right through the core.
Leaning in close, almost gently, he whispered:
"Sleep."
And crushed the light in his hand.
The Entity screamed—no sound—just vibration, then shattered into black dust, collapsing like forgotten fear into the void.
Silence followed.
A silence that felt earned.
—
REALITY — 98th FLOOR
SLAM!
Jack's body plummeted from the air, hitting the stone like a corpse flung from the heavens.
Blood poured from his nose, ears, lips—his face pale, barely breathing.
But then—his eyes snapped open.
Glowing purple-black.
Aura flickering softly off his skin, like embers off a dying star.
He didn't rise. Not yet.
He just laughed.
Loud.
Broken.
Triumphant.
Mad.
He rolled onto his back, arms spread wide, the cold floor grounding him.
Not because it was funny.
But because he was still alive.
And after everything...
That was enough.
Fade out.