Ashtoreth sighed.

Look, said Dazel. I know you want them to like you. But this makes a lot of sense, from their front.

I know.

If someone loyal to Hell wins the monarchy, it's an instant loss for Earth.

I know.

Everything you've done for them—destroying the bastions, helping their leaders, giving them pointers for the use of magic—it's all a worthwhile trade if it gets them to trust you as a ringer in the election.

Seriously, Dazel, I know.

I'm just trying to cheer you up, boss, he said. The logic of the situation dictates that they distrust you. If we can change the situation, they'll trust you. We just have to get past the part of all this where you could, reasonably, be a plant. Once we're done that, you'll get your chance to shine, all right?

She cocked her head, considering this. "Say," she said. "That does cheer me up." She grinned. "Dazel, that was really nice of you!"

"You said that out loud, by the way," Kylie said, turning from her conversation to Ashtoreth.

"I find I'm more expressive when I'm verbalizing," she said. To Dazel, she added, Did you tell Earth that we're clear?

Yeah, he answered, this time so that everyone could hear. They haven't begged for aide in any other cities, and obviously the horsemen didn't get any reinforcements beyond Death and Famine, so I'm guessing that Earth is presently being overrun by angels.

They should probably know that we only got Death and Conquest, said Ashtoreth. War and Famine are still alive.

Saying this, she frowned. They were both almost certainly her least favorite matchups, and there was a strong likelihood she'd be seeing them during the election, where she wouldn't have access to the same tricks she had this time around.

Frost frowned. "There's a Horseman of the Apocalypse named Conquest? I thought it was Pestilence."

"Same!" Ashtoreth said. "But Dazel said that guy was Conquest, and that he's in Revelations."

"He is," said Kylie. "Well, he sort of is. Only Death is actually named in the Bible, but the other three are pretty easy to pin down."

Both of them looked at her.

"What?" she asked. "Is it shocking to you guys that I've read the most popular book in the world?"

"Well… yeah," said Frost. "Kind of. You don't strike me as religious."

Kylie glanced over at Ashtoreth. "I wasn't before, but maybe I am now. If I believe in Ashtoreth, does that me religious?"

"Nah," Ashtoreth said.

"Actually, I have a better question," said Kylie. "You said that people's dreams and imaginations begin to mirror reality more and more as Earth draws closer to the inner realms. Wouldn't that mean that the more recent conceptions of Heaven are the more accurate?"

"Uh, hmm. I don't know," Ashtoreth said. "The mirroring is only one force at play when it comes to humans telling each other stories. Plus, Heaven and Hell are prominent enough that you guys got a bearing on them very quickly, then sort of riffed on what you'd already established."

"So Revelations could be right."

Ashtoreth frowned. "That feels wrong to me," she said. "It's so specific. The horses, their iconography, everything. They were definitely angels, but it feels more like we're getting it backwards—Heaven sent them, but they adopted the symbols of Earth."

"So they're not really a Heaven thing?" Kylie asked. "Heaven doesn't have a special squad of middle aged archangels with a garage band called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who go around killing strong fighters before a monarch election?"

Ashtoreth shrugged. "Sorry, guys, but I really don't know. You can trip balls and just… make up the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They really don't need to exist in Heaven for that to happen. What I want to know is why they were our level but clearly fighting with a lot of experience. Hell works very, very hard to get experienced low levels."

"Could they have used a shard, like you did?" Frost asked. "Would the system let you de-level a group of powerful fighters?"

Ashtoreth shrugged. "Probably?"

"They looked like humans," said Hunter. "They had wings, but they only conjured them when they were in trouble. And they didn't have halos or anything."

"I don't really know what angels are supposed to look like," said Ashtoreth. "I'm just shocked they had human ears, but maybe that's because they took on the forms of this planet's natives."

"They weren't the biblically accurate angels, that's for sure," said Hunter.

"What does 'biblically accurate' mean?" Kylie asked. "Angels take a lot of forms in the bible, from four-faced beasts to concentric rings of eyes to regular people with no wings or halos."

Hunter shrugged. "I just saw online that real angels are supposed be weird."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"I don't know if you got a good look at Famine," Kylie said. "He had strong Marilyn Manson vibes to me. That's at least as weird as the rings of eyes. But this is all beside the main point."

"Which is?" Frost asked.

"Ashtoreth," said Kylie, looking over.

"Yeah?"

"Be real with me, okay?"

Ashtoreth smiled. "I'm always real with you, Kylie."

"Is that actually the rapture?"

Ashtoreth laughed. "No. This isn't even what happens during the rapture."

"Look, I just want to know if there's any divine judgement coming up, okay? That might affect my future behavior."

"No!" Ashtoreth said. "You've just got to think of Heaven and Hell as very powerful cosmic countries that happen to sometimes remind you of your religions." She shrugged. "Maybe the Horsemen just looked the way they do because having one of them win the monarch election would cause further confusion. They took the form of apocalyptic figures from Earth's most popular religion to sow chaos."

Kylie eyed her suspiciously. "Okay, sure. You just made it sound like Heaven stayed out of things, is all."

"They do!"

Kylie arched a brow.

"I mean, they usually do! What would Heaven possibly want with Earth? They already have unchallenged dominion over everything they choose to!"

"I think that's the really important question here," said Frost. "Unless those archangels weren't with Heaven at all."

"Look," said Kylie. "If you know Jesus, just tell me, all right?"

"I don't know Christ Jesus!" Ashtoreth said, crossing her arms.

"Would you pinkie swear?" Kylie asked.

"Would that mean anything?" Ashtoreth said.

"With you? Absolutely."

"Can we move on?" Frost asked.

Kylie shrugged. "I don't want to end up going to Hell for all of this, okay? I just found out that the guy I was making fun of for choosing a scythe as a weapon is actually an archangel."

"I use a scythe as a weapon," Ashtoreth said pointedly.

"Yes, Ashtoreth. You do."

"Well, what about it?" she said defensively. "It's a spellcasting focus!"

"So was Death's."

"That makes it okay, though!"

Kylie tilted her head. "Does it though, Ashtoreth?"

"Nobody can damn you to Hell, okay?" Ashtoreth said. "I mean, unless you count dragging you through a portal or something. I told you guys before, I don't know what happens to your soul when you die."

"Okay but look: are we screwed?" Kylie asked.

"If I can weigh in," Hunter said over his shoulder from where he sat almost twenty feet away. "I also want to know the answer to that."

"We're not screwed," Ashtoreth said. "There's always hope."

"Okay, yeah, great," said Kylie. "Thanks, Dumbledore. But are we actually screwed? Because you said that Heaven was unstoppable."

"Well clearly, I exaggerated!" Ashtoreth said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Be real with me, Ashtoreth," said Kylie. "That giant hole in the middle of the big metal city, there? That's where you killed two out of the four guys they've sent our way. The other two actually got away. Be honest, okay? Are we doomed?"

"We can't think like that, Kylie," Frost said.

"I can!" she said. "I can definitely think like that, Frost!"

"But what's the point, Kylie?" he asked.

"What's the point?" she asked. "Look, I—" she let out a noise of frustration, shaking her head and looking away. "We were supposed to be overpowered, right? There was a plan. And suddenly we're fighting a cosmic hyperpower that gets to tell Hell what to do, and they can drop soldiers like those guys on us. What happens to me if victory is impossible? What does Heaven do to Hunter's family when they finally get what they want?"

"And you're suggesting what, that we give up?" Frost asked, raising his voice.

"I want to know our future possibilities!" Kylie said, throwing out her hands. "That's all, okay? Stomping out Hell's invasion so that Ashtoreth can become the monarch and hold shut the doors sounded reasonable. But facing down impossible odds is hero shit." She deflated a little, then said, "And like… I mean… you know me."

"I already said that Sir Matthews knows we're clear," said Ashtoreth. "If there were angels appearing all over the world, I'm sure they'd be asking for help. Even if we meet those two again, we can prepare traps for them, use the fact that we've got a planet full of support to potentially help us. We're not doomed, okay?"

"Sure," said Kylie. "Fine. I just… I want this to go well, okay?"

"Don't worry," said Frost. "The more time passes, the more the rest of humanity will come up to speed. I'm police, but you and Hunter have both already been asked to do more than you should ever have had to. You won't have to fight forever."

Kylie said nothing, but she looked at him with a kind of tired relief, as if she was deeply grateful that he wasn't criticizing her instead.

"Right now we just know that four archangels showed up looking and acting like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," Ashtoreth said. She shrugged. "I wish I knew what that means, but I don't. Sorry, guys."

"Shame you didn't get War's heart," Hunter said to Ashtoreth, standing and coming over. "We could at least learn what's going on, and you'd be the best person to steal his blade skills."

"Yeah, it's too bad," she said. "I bet they all had really nice gear, too. Speaking of, we've got two cores to eat!"

"Do archangels give any kind of special rewards?" Hunter asked.

Who knows? said Dazel. Maybe you can pick up a pair of dark feathery wings to match your… literally everything.

Hunter scowled. I already have wings, he said. His scowl deepened. Have you been listening to this whole conversation? he asked.

Yes.

Why?

I think that's pretty self-explanatory, Hunter.

"All right, let's spend these cores!" Ashtoreth said. "I'm thinking one for me, one for Frost—levelling his aura is like levelling the team. After that, I want to talk to Matthews."

"About what?" Frost asked, frowning.

"Oh, you know," she said. "Just about why we didn't get any reinforcements out of the many level 300s we've helped them build. It's pretty hard to make me unhappy… but right now, I think I'm actually very unhappy."

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