As the massive pearl gate finished its transition to our reality, one final toll of a bell rang out sending a pulse of pure heavenly might throughout the world. The gates started to slowly open causing brilliant golden light to bathe our position and beyond in its gentle and righteous glow.

If you were able to look beyond the light, you’d see an unending sea of white-light winged angels armoured in brilliant golden plates with pearl-white weapons at the ready. And leading this heavenly army were numerous angels with 12 pairs of wings. Interestingly enough, their wings varied in colour and aspects compared to their lesser peers. Some were golden, some were made of holy fire, etc.

As the tidal wave of angels started to descend towards us, I tilted my head and softly mumbled, “Huh. Why does it feel like we spent almost a month watching these gates open…”

Aldwyn must have heard my mumble a bit as she asked, “What was that, Master?”

I simply shook my head and answered, “No, it’s nothing.”

Catching her bow slightly out of the corner of my eye she said, “As you say, Master.”

Turning my attention back to the angels I was impressed by how coordinated they all were, as if they had practised this for eon’s. They landed elegantly in large groups and all kneeled in massive lines, one line at a time.

One of the 12 winged angels, and the only one that had holy fire-type wings, did a salute I was not familiar with and said, “We have answered your call to war, Our Goddess Divine. Direct us to those that have earned your wrath, and not even ashes will be left of the heathens.”

Pandora fluttered her wings, taking up a position in front of the heavenly army and kneeled. Clasping her hands in prayer she gazed at me and exclaimed, “My wrath is my Goddess's wrath. Please, direct us.”

Looking at Aldwyn out of the corner of my eye, I could see her hiding her smile behind her fingertips as she tried not to giggle at how awkward she knew I felt at the whole thing. I took a look behind me at the toy army for a second before turning my attention back to the unending numbers of Heaven's army before me and thought, ‘Did I overdo it? Everyone is so serious, I just wanted to have some fun…’

Soon as I decided to say fuck it and just roll with it, a yell interrupted me, “Hey! No fair!! You’re cheating! That’s cheating!”

Turning around towards the voice, I saw a little girl floating slightly in the air just behind us. She was positively adorable and had on quite the expensive-looking black and purple gothic Victorian-styled dress. Her large round golden eyes and long pure white hair made her look like a perfect porcelain doll.

But despite the adorable meat suit she had on, I was able to see the real her. A colossal “thing” that was larger than galaxies. Eyes, tentacles, limbs from all manner of creatures phasing in and out on its body. All stuffed into this tiny little, innocent-looking girl in front of me.

She brought up her hands to her cheeks and said, “Nooo, stop looking so deeply! We don’t know each other that well!”

I, and everyone else I rightfully assumed, blinked dumbfoundedly at her as she wiggled a little under everyone's gaze.

She suddenly stopped her little act before pointing a finger at me and saying, “No wait, that doesn’t matter. You cheated!”

Seeing as I tilted my head in confusion she continued, “You summoned additional troops! I only converted what was already here! Therefore, you cheated!”

Looking past her at her admittedly tiny army compared to the literal might of Heaven in this reality, I could only smile slyly at her and say, “Ops?”

As she gave me a deadpan stare I added, “Well, to be fair, I didn’t know the rules?”

She raised a finger and opened her mouth before stalling in the middle of the action. A few seconds later she closed her mouth, lowered her hand and then said, “Okay, that’s fair, and my bad. I wasn’t expecting you to pull Heaven into this though! I thought it’d be a nice sudden surprise game.”

Turning around and looking at the still kneeling Pandora and all the extras I said, “Also fair. But, they are already here, yeah? Sending them back… well, I don’t want to. Hmmm…”

I tilted my head from side to side a few times as I stroked a fake beard in thought for a moment before asking Pandora, “Pandora, what is your favourite thing to fight and kill?”

Raising her head to look at me she answered, “Anything that earns your ire, My Goddess.”

Ignoring the fact that she kept flipping between calling me “master” and “goddess” I said, “Right….”

Looking beyond her and back up to the massive gate that still had a deluge of angels pouring out of it, I suddenly had an idea.

Turning around to the little girl I said, “I have an idea! But before that, what should I call you?”

She brought up her right hand and rested her left elbow on it while she tapped her finger on her cheek in thought. A few moments later she said, “How about you call me Stralia for now? This reality can not handle another one of us pronouncing our name and title, so that will do for now!”

I had the decency to blush a tiny bit, and completely ignored Aldwyn’s soft giggling, as I said, “Got it! Stralia it is! So, here is my plan. One simple word. Apocalypse!”

She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head as she asked, “Apocalypse?”

With a shit-eating grin on my face, I answered, “Yes! We have all of Heaven’s might here, yeah? And what can match Heaven’s might? Hell of course!”

Understanding dawned in her eyes as they lit up in excitement. With an ethereal giggle, she said, “Yes! YES! You mean Armageddon! That is a perfect idea, Lilly!”

I panicked a little as my true name left her lips, causing me to look around quickly in anticipation of the normal weirdness that happens when it has been uttered. I failed to notice anything beyond the look of pure glee on the heavenly army.

Turning back to Stralia with confusion on my face I asked, “Why didn’t something happen when you spoke my true name?”

With a small giggle, she answered, “Because I didn’t want anything to happen~.”

Blinking a few times I asked, “It’s that easy?”

Smiling at me she said, “Eventually, yup yup!”

I simply nodded before I froze for a second then asked, “But wait, if that is true, why didn’t you tell me your true name and title?”

She tilted her head to the right, stuck out her tongue playfully and bonked herself on the head as she answered, “You got me~.”

She barked a laugh at my deadpan stare before saying, “One day, I’ll tell you! Promise! Just wait! Also, if I did tell you, and you repeated it… well.”

She waved her hands all around us, and I got what she meant, causing me to blush lightly and nod while saying, “That’s fair.”

Giggling again at me, she simply waved it off and turned to look at her army and said, “Whelp. Time to kick off the end times. LET THE GAME BEGIN!”

As she yelled, she brought her arms wide to her sides and then slammed her hands together. Instead of a clapping sound, what rang out was a thunderclap along with the sounds of billions of angry, and hungry, howls of rage.

I looked up at the sky, and it looked like the world was split as a line was formed between heaven's gentle golden light and an ominous red glow. Whatever she did, it acted almost exactly like Pandora’s spell, but with a demonic reskin. Instead of chimes, bells and hymns, what echoed out across the lands were demonic howls and screams of agony.

And just like before, a colossal gate started to form in the sky. This one, however, looked truly sinister, with large chains crisscrossing across the red oak doors and two massive skeletal forams and hands. The doors let out an ungodly creak as they slowly opened, pushing against the hands that held them shut.

Unlike the bright holy like the heavenly gate released when it was opening, this one released a black-purple smog-like mist that slowly fell to the ground. Everything it touched became warped and corrupted; plants, animals, or toy soldiers. Even the toy castle was taking on a new form as the plastic was replaced with pitch-black bricks. The smell of sulphur wafted through the air, and the air became noticeably hotter as well.

The sound of the chains becoming taught drew my attention back to the hell gate. The door continued, however, slowly pushing against the futile resistance of the skeletal hands and chains. The creaking of bone and metal alike was soon replaced by the sound of metal tearing, and bone cracking.

The entirety of the world seemed to hold its breath for a moment before the chains and hands failed and were blown apart by the pressure of the door. The broken bits of bone and metal faded away into black smoke long before they fell to the earth, however. What came next was like a river of lava pouring out of the gate. Demons upon demons, some howling in rage others in glee at their newfound freedom.

As we all watched the new army poor from the gate, I looked at the princess and her lover and asked, “Well, Emily, Rachel? Excited? Or are you scared and mad at what I have done?”

They both turned their full attention to me, and both had a fanatical gleam in their eyes as they simultaneously said, “Excited!”

Raising an eyebrow I asked, “You do realise your world may very well end today, right?”

Emily nodded her head and said, “We do, Lady Sakura. And if that is the fate of this world, we will simply conquer another to give to you instead.”

She and her entire guard suddenly kneeled and bowed low before simultaneously yelling, “All is for Lady Sakura! She who is the truth of realities lies!”

I just blinked dumbly a few times before saying, “Uwaahhhh, why does it suddenly feel like I am looking at a bunch of floor guardians?”

I looked at Aldwyn with pursed lips as she giggled at my situation. A few moments later she said, “Lesson learned, Master?”

I simply turned my head away and humphed, which caused me to pout slightly as she giggled once again.

With a sigh and a dismissive wave I said, “Whatever.”

A snicker from Stralia drew my attention to her, and when she noticed my gaze she said, “Growing pains, it happens to everything. Don’t worry about it! Now!”

She then directed her gaze to Emily and co as she said, “You have several special units,” then looked at Pandora and continued, “and an elite Hero unit.”

Turning her attention back to me she said, “And I assume you and your maid will not be fighting?”

I hummed in thought for a moment before shaking my head and answering, “Nah. We’ve fought enough demons for a while. I’d rather watch the show.”

Aldwyn bowed and added, “As my master says.”

Nodding her head, Stralia said, “Great! Then to match you…”

She turned around and snapped her fingers. A gentle mist started to form in front of the army of demons that was still flowing from the gate. Not long after, four sinister and imposing figures on horses trotted out of the mist. All of the horses reared back and released a rather loud and ethereal neigh as one, as their riders raised their weapons and screamed out war cries of their own.

With an excited clap, Stralia said, “There! Now I have a few special units of my own. What is an Armageddon without the four horsemen? And as for my hero unit… hmmm… Oh!”

After snapping her fingers again, she turned to Emily and said, “I’ll do your new toy a favour! You, mortal woman! I turned your brother into my hero unit! He’ll be much stronger than you and your lover, but if you manage to kill him your powers will skyrocket some more. I am so nice, I know. You don’t need to thank me. But please, be welcomed too~.”

Seeing Emily glance at me, to which I only gave her a shrug, she said, “Thank you, Lady Stralia. I will make my Goddess proud and devour his soul for strength!”

With a hum, Stralia said, “I am sure you will~. Now then. For real this time.”

She took a deep breath, and then yelled, “L̸̫̈͝e̸̳̍ţ̸͙̥͙͐͂͌ ̶̜̗̂̉͑t̷͚̫̱̿͑̈́̿h̶̢̙̀̑̑ͅë̷̠͔̱́̓̏͆ ̸̳͕̱͌̈͒̕g̵̡̜̬͚̊̑̂̍a̶̧̫̤͉͂̽̃̀m̶̰̦̾̉͂̚è̴̻̘̞̌́/̵̢̱͛e̵͈̗̟̓̚̕n̸̡͚̤͑̋͝t̶̟̻͗͊̐e̴̜͖̬̚r̵͖͔̫̟͝t̴̤̞̍ą̷̺͚͙̉́̂ĭ̷̯̏͜n̷̤̎ͅm̵̟̆̓̎͝ȅ̷̮͗́̋ṇ̷̉͆̕t̶̢̗̠̫͊̒/̷̪̜͔͙̊͂̽a̸̯̩̝̦̍̀̔͌r̴̰̔̓͑̀m̵̮̞͉̉a̵̜͠g̵͇̤̃̐̓̕e̵̱̬̣͋͂d̶̡͕̭̠̀̔d̶̹̾o̸͇͓̩̦͘͠͠n̵̸̼̝̖̼̈͋̑̂͑̀͘͘b̴̫͎͐̈́́ę̴̰̘̗͌͊ǵ̴͉̗i̸̛͕̥͉̬̓̕n̶̨͖̣͙̏͛̊̏!̵̖̱̝̋̕”¹Let the game/entertainment/armageddon begin!