I would like to give a shout-out to NaturalBornK, my only supporter. We went into good detail over certain OC characters he helped me to create, which is surely going to make this story far more interesting. I would also like to shout out Mustafa0, Wolfofhowlstreet, col. reader, sandlords123, TrashMan, and the rest of the readers that joined my Discord!

(Invite link to the Discord: dqYDqM7)

Enjoy the story.

Testament II: Catherine, Princess of Heaven

(Queue Baroque Music)

"...Pardon?"

"That's 'Pardon, Your Majesty', you ingrate!" One of the nearby guardsman berated Charlie. "You are addressing the Princess of Heaven and stand-in ruler of all the lands here and below!"

Is everyone here so intensely rude? Charlie thought anxiously. She felt as if the entire atmosphere were hostile towards her and the Slayer.

"As I was saying…" The Princess continued. "How did you two manage to enter through the Gates and come upon this holy land?"

"Erm...Your Majesty...We're not actually sure of that ourselves."

"What do you mean, you're not sure?" said one of the knights standing by the Princess, the red-haired man with the dark-blue cape. "Are you saying that you just happened upon this blessed space?"

The Princess seemed slightly irked as the red-haired man interrupted her.

"Er...yes, what he said." She stated. "And what exactly do you-"

"You two must explain how you got here." Another knight spoke up, the female with the red cape. "Surely, you didn't just find a way to skip past the entrance."

The Princess was gritting her teeth by this time.

"Yes," She seethed. "But what we want to know is what your-"

"By God!" Another piped up. "Your very presence here is a violation of the-"

"SHUT UP, I'M TRYING TO SPEAK!" The Princess shouted in a fit of anger. All the guards and vassals turned to her in confusion, and for a moment the hall went silent. Charlie noticed how there seemed to be baroque classical music playing faintly in the background, as if she were at a fancy event.

The Princess re-composed herself, adjusting her arm-cape and laying her eyes on Charlie and the Slayer once more.

"What we want to know are your names, your intentions and where you came from. Could you...please provide that for us?" She huffed.

Despite the hostile atmosphere, Charlie had an innate feeling that the Princess before her was more cordial and willing towards dialogue than her fellow cohorts. She decided it would be best to appeal to only her.

She bowed before the Princess in a curtsy, as she had been taught by her mother.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. I am Pri-"

"This is Priscilla, our companion and follower." VEGA interjected. The room's many eyes turned towards the Slayer, who was still standing in a menacing manner. "And I am VEGA, a voice module for the gentleman I am attached to."

The Princess furrowed her eyes in slight confusion.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that this man in green armor is...not inclined to speak. So I shall speak for him."

"Is...that so?" The Princess drawled, narrowing her eyes.

"That is so."

Charlie was confused as to why VEGA had interrupted and called her by a different name, but she felt that he had done so for her protection. She suddenly felt chills run down her spine, as if she had narrowly avoided a catastrophe.

The Princess blew air from her mouth in annoyance, slouching back in her royal throne. That single expression changed Charlie's viewpoint of her suddenly, and in fact, she now found herself taking a more thorough look at the Princess.

The first thing Charlie noticed were her blue eyes and dark oak-brown hair, of which was mostly tied into a single ponytail. Two strands of hair hung from both sides of her head and draped just next to her chin. She almost seemed like a beautiful doll with how brightly her blue eyes shined, like they were filled with a pure form of energy. Her hair had no frizziness to it, no stray hairs jutting out. It moved around like silk everytime she adjusted herself.

She was drop-dead beautiful. And yet, the hostile look in her eyes now only served to intimidate Charlie.

"Lots of interruptions, maybe we should all stop doing that, hmm? Anyways...go on...Priscilla." The Princess remarked, raising one hand and waving it in gesticulation.

"Er, so…" Charlie began. "We've come from, uh..." She hesitated, her heart beginning to beat rapidly as she was realizing just now as to why VEGA had given her a fake name. She was a demon in a land presumed to be Heaven. If this was where the Exterminators went, and she was not supposed to be there…

Then again, this was what she had assumed from VEGA's sudden interjection, and had an idea that this was what he might have been thinking.

"...a good land." Charlie asserted, trying to recover from her stumble.

By this point, The Princess looked as if she were getting tired of this tirade, idly rubbing the bridge between her right eye and nose with her index finger.

"...A good land, you say?" The Princess mumbled, beginning to lose interest in this whole affair.

"Yes, m'lady."

"It's Your Majest-ygh!" The nearest guard began, reaching his hand to point accusingly at Charlie. However, he was interrupted mid-rant by the Slayer grabbing his throat and forcing him to his knees as the guard clawed at his armor, having dropped the spear.

I'm getting a bit tired of you, sir." VEGA rasped. "Might I request you keep 100% of your mouth shut to preserve the remaining integrity of this situation?"

The other guards had their spears pointed at the Slayer, seemingly out of shock and fear. Charlie noticed The Princess herself was disturbed by the sudden turn of events. However, she tried to hide her surprise with a grim expression.

"Take your hands off my guard, mortal." She warned.

And yet, her tone only seemed to anger the Slayer, who tightened his grip around the guard's neck, which caused the Princess to leer back in horror, her vassals unsheathing their swords. Charlie panicked as she realized how volatile the situation was becoming.

"Slayer, please!" She pleaded. The Slayer turned his mask slightly to the right, hearing her plea. He let go of the guard's neck, the guard crumpling to the ground and gasping for air.

The air was tense as the whole room waited in anticipation for something to set off a battle. Charlie felt her nerves on edge. She was usually confident in her fighting abilities, but she was feeling especially weak in this place, around enemies of whom she had no idea of their combat capabilities.

A few more agonizing seconds passed, before the Princess raised her hand, calling off the pointed spears and swords. Her face was set in a hostile expression.

"I hardly appreciate you harming one of my subjects as your first impression." She rasped with a scathing tone. "And I don't appreciate your silence, Slayer, as your name would seem to be. What exactly are you the Slayer of?"

Her questions fell into silence as the Slayer did not respond, his visor still directed at the Princess, as if analyzing her. Her eyebrows furrowed in anger.

"I asked for an answer, mortal." She demanded. "Do not just sit there and feign silence!"

Her demands fell into silence also as the Slayer once more did not respond.

"Again, Your Majesty, I must remind you that the Slayer does not-"

"Shut up, you stupid voice machine!" Catherine complained with a red face, slapping the arm of her throne in frustration. Charlie was dismayed by her suddenly dropping her professional demeanor. "How dare you embarrass me in front of my subjects! Is his tongue cut from his mouth?"

"Not so." VEGA responded politely.

"THEN GET HIM TO SPEAK, DARN IT!"

To Charlie, it seemed like the Princess wanted to curse so badly, but something was preventing her from doing it.

| CHILDISH NONSENSE. |

The voice was without noise, and yet everyone heard it. It sent a low rumble throughout the room, before settling shortly. The Princess had turned white in the face as she heard the face.

"Wha…"

"With due respect," VEGA began. "The Slayer is growing weary of the unnecessary conversation. He would like to know where he is and what happened to this realm."

The room was silent once more. Charlie noticed the Princess gulping, her face still pale.

"Well...um…I...I told you before...You are in the land of Heaven."

"By making this declaration, you assert that this should, by reference to religious scriptures, be a bright paradise of pure and divine presence, yes? So why does the landscape not reflect this?"

The Princess' mouth was agape, as if she was trying to process the situation.

"The...landscape..?"

Charlie subtly noticed that the control of the situation had switched towards the Slayer and VEGA. It was like watching a grizzled war veteran deal with a mouthy child.

"Why, yes, the landscape. Of course, there are a countless number of anomalies that have to be addressed in the alleged 'land of Heaven'. The concept of a class society, as this throne room and your outfits suggest-"

The vassals and Princess, along with a few guards, subconsciously looked at their clothes in bewilderment.

"-would be bewildering and massively unsettling to any kind souls born in poverty-stricken conditions. After all, what is the point of escaping to Heaven if there is simply more of the class-based hierarchy on Earth? This suggests discrimination on basis of wealth or some altruistic value, which one may find horrifying if they were to discover this in their final destination. But to avoid hours of explanation, I shall simply address the landscape. It does not fit the aesthetic that one might expect in a paradise such as Heaven. And it seems as if things have...broken down. Boarded-up windows, derelict buildings, things looking as if they were tossed about- This is more reminiscent of a city that has been sacked, wouldn't you agree?"

The Princess clenched her teeth.

"...Very well, then. You've gotten your clues, detective." She mocked. "I'm sure you already have an idea of what's happened, so what are you trying to get at?"

"We did not choose to come here, Princess." VEGA responded coldly. Charlie noticed how he had dropped the polite mannerisms. "We want to leave this place as soon as possible. But we must be informed of the exit."

The Princess slouched back in her throne once more, releasing a sigh of resignation. Her vassals looked to her for an answer.

"Fine. I'll show you the Pearly Gates."

A long walk began as the Princess, the Slayer, Charlie, VEGA, and seemingly the entire guard retinue of the palace began making their way on a fixed path of marble, which began to become more gray the closer they got to their destination.

Charlie was discomforted. She was walking by the Slayer and surrounded by dozens of heavily-armed guards, all of whom were giving her the evil eye. The Princess was only a few feet away, and she decided now was a great time to try and make some conversation.

She sidled forward a bit in the marching formation to try and speak with the Princess.

"Hey, so, uh-"

Before she could get a word out, the vassals walking behind the Princess blocked her way with swords.

"It's fine, Legatiel, Gwynel." The Princess said, and they uncrossed their swords. "What is it?"

Her tone had somewhat softened on the walk, and Charlie felt a bit more encouraged to continue on.

"So, uh, I just wanted to know what your name was...Your Majesty."

The Princess sighed.

"You don't have to call me that. Just call me Catherine."

As she said this, Charlie noticed her eyes darting to her nearby vassals. Catherine seemed dismayed when they hadn't responded, only looking forward and marching. Charlie was off-put by it, but decided it was no cause for alarm.

"Alright...Catherine." Charlie said tentatively. "Um...is this actually Heaven?"

Catherine gave her a look of offense.

"By what could you mean?! Of course this is the land of Heaven! Can't you see- er…"

She stumbled over her words as she looked out at the gloomy landscape. The blackened sun still hung over the sky, accompanied by the red stars and ambience that lit the endless night, and threw an ominous shade over everything.

Catherine seemed to become openly forlorn at the sight.

"It's...just not...in a good place right now." She mumbled.

Finally, a few minutes later, Charlie sighted what seemed to be the destination: A giant set of white metal gates, imprinted into a fog-like wall, which ran from one end of Charlie's vision to the other in the distance, as if outlining the fence of a gigantic yard.

However, as they got closer, Charlie noticed that the gates were smashed nearly off their hinges, with huge bends in both gate doors.

"What...happened?" Charlie muttered. Catherine's face contorted into a grimace.

"Demons."

Charlie's eyes darted towards Catherine in worry.

"They came in one giant horde, with a titan-like demon leading the charge." Catherine continued.

The group came upon the behemothic gates, gazing at the tragedy.

"These divine gates that protected us for countless eras," Catherine said somberly. "Collapsed at just a few mere punches from the titan demon."

Charlie was curious as to this situation. She knew of no 'titan-like' demons in her Hell, but that really depended on the actual size of the demon for her to get a better understanding.

Stifled for answers, Charlie moved her gaze over to the Slayer. She was alarmed to see him thinking, and she could just barely make out VEGA's voice talking within the Slayer's visor. She assumed they were coming to a conclusion about this story as well.

"What are those grey-colored fellows over by the gate entrance?" VEGA suddenly spoke up. Charlie, perplexed, looked to where he was referring. She turned pale in the face.

"Oh," Catherine began. "Those are known as 'Exterminators'. They go through a ritual every human calendar year down to Hell and purge it to prevent it from overpopulating."

One of the Exterminators looked up from their work and straight at Charlie, who turned her face away at the last second out of fear of being recognized. The Exterminator got up from its work and began flying over towards Charlie.

"Well, rather, they were going through a ritual." Catherine prattled on. "But after the Pearly Gates were broken open, we had to stop the ritual to tend to our own mess. Unfortunately, most of them were killed during the invasion, so we left the remainder of them to guard the gates."

The Exterminator's face began to contort in wrath as it gripped the spear in its hands, flying quicker towards Charlie.

"Still, even after the invasion, there are still hundreds of them left, all elite warriors that are capable in combat and- WOAH!"

The Exterminator had suddenly lunged at Charlie once it had gotten close enough, but before its spear could impale her, the Slayer's hand had grabbed it by the side of its skull and crushed it with a sickening crunch. The Exterminator fell to the ground.

Catherine was shocked by the event.

"Wha...why did he…"

"Your Majesty! We need to go!" One of her vassals shouted, pointing his sword at the Slayer. Meanwhile, all of the other Exterminators at the gate had turned their heads and were beginning to fly over towards the Slayer and Charlie.

Catherine had a look of confusion and worry in her eyes.

"What? Why?!"

"That's the Princess of Hell!"

The entirety of the guard entourage's jaws dropped, and Catherine's expression went from shock and horror to hostility in only a few seconds. The Exterminators howled in fury as they saw one of their companions dead on the ground.

"You...you...filthy demons!" Catherine shouted in anger. "You invade my land, kill my angels, then come back again to mock us?!"

She raised one finger and pointed it at the Slayer and Charlie.

"KILL THEM BOTH!"

"Oh boy," VEGA voiced. "This situation devolved rapidly."