Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons

Across every continent, military forces scrambled into emergency deployment.

China mobilized three million troops.

NATO forces activated joint defense protocols despite American objections.

Russia quietly moved nuclear assets to enhanced security positions.

The world's greatest military powers were preparing for an enemy they couldn't identify.

Every major network interrupted programming.

"This is an emergency announcement. Government officials recommend remaining indoors during the next hour while authorities investigate recent security threats…"

But people weren't stupid. Arthur's video had provided context their governments couldn't deny.

Arthur stood by Charlotte's window, watching his countdown timer.

Thirty-two minutes until everything changes.

Gates approached, his usually immaculate appearance disheveled from coordinating global crisis response.

"Arthur, we're as ready as money and preparation can make us."

"Good. Because ready or not, it's coming."

And when it arrives, the old world dies.

Outside the hospital windows, sirens wailed in the distance.

Emergency vehicles raced through streets as authorities implemented protocols for threats they couldn't comprehend.

It was what they called the calm before the storm.

Arthur's reflection stared back from Charlotte's window - determined, unbreakable, carrying the weight of two worlds on his shoulders.

Twenty-nine minutes until I can save her.

…

Another world - Demon Realm

Vex'haros clawed desperately at the dimensional barrier, his malformed fingers leaving gouges in reality itself.

Unlike his superior brethren, his demonic heritage was diluted—barely ten percent pure demon blood coursing through his twisted veins.

Must… break… through…

The compulsion burned in what remained of his mind like molten iron.

The Great Ones had spoken, their will echoing through every defective demon in the realm.

The greater demons had already broksn the laws, now the barriers were left. Open the way. Prepare the path for true conquest.

Five minutes early. Before the humans gain their power.

Their was plan was evil, just like always. Their strongest would use their power to help facilitate the portals and ge them opened before their due time.

Around him, hundred of his kind pressed against the weakening dimensional walls.

Defective demons—the failed offspring of demons, the corrupted souls who'd lost their sanity to demonic influence, the expendable fodder deemed worthless by their pure-blooded masters.

Zar'kin, another defective, shrieked as his claws finally punctured the barrier. Black ichor sprayed from the dimensional wound, reality bleeding where it shouldn't.

"BREACH! BREACH!" his inhuman voice cracked with mad glee.

The way opens. The way opens.

The Great Ones watched from their obsidian thrones, eyes filled with cold calculation. Lord Malthor, his four arms folded in satisfaction, observed the cannon fodder preparing for sacrifice.

"Send them through," his voice rumbled.

"Let the defectives soften the prey before the merge completes."

The dimensional tear widened, reality splitting like overripe fruit. Through the gap, glimpses of the human world flickered—a hospital, city streets, unsuspecting mortals going about their final moments of ignorance.

Sweet, weak mortals. Soon, you will know fear.

Vex'haros pressed his grotesque form through the breach, agony lancing through every nerve as dimensional forces tried to reject his presence.

Behind him, the horde followed—hundreds of defective demons pouring through tears in space-time.

We go first. We die first. But we serve our purpose.

The Great Ones' laughter echoed through the abyss as their expendable army surged toward an unprepared world.

-----

Hospital Room - Earth

Arthur's countdown timer pulsed in his peripheral vision.

[00:05:17]

Five minutes left.

Gates burst through the door, his usually composed demeanor shattered by panic.

"Arthur! Look outside! NOW!"

What now?

Arthur spun toward the window, his enhanced perception immediately cataloging the impossible scene unfolding across the city skyline.

Those are…Rifts. Dimensional tears.

Dark portals split the air above downtown, each one disgorging creatures that defied description.

Not the organized demonic forces he'd encountered in Armageddon—these were something else entirely.

These dekond are defective and they have a low concentration of demon blood purity, still…We need to be careful.

"What the hell are those?" Gates breathed, his face pressed against the glass.

Through the nearest portal, Arthur watched as dozens of grotesque figures spilled into the streets below.

Their forms were humanoid but corrupted—limbs bent at impossible angles, flesh that shifted between states, eyes that burned with mindless hunger.

Defective demons. The cannon fodder.

One creature landed on the hospital's parking structure, its impact cracking concrete.

BOOM!

CRACK!

Arthur got his first clear look at the enemy.

The thing stood seven feet tall, its skin a mottled gray-red that seemed to absorb light.

Two arms sprouted from its torso—they were both bestial, all ending in claws designed for rending flesh. Its face was a nightmare amalgamation of features that shouldn't exist together.

"They're early," Arthur muttered, his mind racing through implications.

"The merge isn't supposed to happen for another five minutes. This…shouldn't be happening."

Which means we don't have our powers yet.

Below them, the defective demon let out a shriek that shattered every window on the parking structure's top level.

The sound carried inhuman harmonics that made Arthur's teeth ache.

More portals tore open across the city. Through each one, the horde continued pouring—dozens becoming hundreds, hundreds threatening to become thousands.

They're everywhere. Can humanity survive thise five minutes?

Gates fumbled for his phone, fingers shaking as he tried to coordinate with his security teams. "The weapons—are they going to work?"

"Only one way to find out."

Arthur was already moving, his instincts trying to activate his talent before crashing against the limitations of unmerged reality.

He couldn't teleport. Couldn't manipulate space. Couldn't summon his legendary army.

Shit… i'm powerless. For the next five minutes, completely powerless.

"We need to get to the armory," he commanded, grabbing Gates by the shoulder.

"Whatever weapons you've stockpiled—we're going to need them all."

Because five minutes might as well be eternity when hell comes to Earth.

Through the window, more defective demons landed on nearby buildings. Their impact sent tremors through the hospital's structure. In the distance, screams began echoing through the city streets.

GROWL!

It's starting. The real war begins now.

Arthur's countdown timer continued its relentless march.

[00:04:43]

Four minutes until the merge.

Four minutes until everything changes.

Four minutes to survive hell with nothing but mortal weapons and desperate hope.

The defective demon on the parking structure turned toward their window, its burning eyes locking onto Arthur's position.

The creature's mouth split into a grin that revealed its rows of serrated teeth.