The End had come.
The Devil had been unleashed, and his armies, which number as the sands of the seashores, were waging war upon the countries of mankind.
As soon as his demonic armies appeared all over the planet, world order started to rapidly disintegrate. Within a matter of hours, chaos reigned supreme around the world and humanity was instantly pushed to the brink of utter defeat.
Of nearly two hundred countries, a hundred and fifty fell on the first day, forty two were under siege and would soon fall.
Only three countries, against all odds, still stood strong against the Devil.
New Zealand, Australia and the Indonesian Archipelago.
However, without a world-shaking miracle, it was only a matter of time before they too, fell into the clutches of The Devil King, Black Lucifer.
Arland Bower served as a fifty four year old Sniper Captain in the Fiftieth Battalion of the Seventh Regiment in the Third Army of the South Pacific Countries.
He was lying prone on the rooftop of a deserted apartment, his eyes trained on Dark Justice, a notorious Blood Daemon General who commanded the million-strong Blood Daemon Army which was making its way into Perth.
Victoriously.
Perth had fallen.
It was the first Australian city to fall, and no one doubted that it would definitely not be the last.
The armies of humanity which had gathered in Australia had no desire to stand their ground in big, open cities such as Perth. The demons had proven themselves extremely adept in city battles, utilizing the sewers and the air with great finesse, and not a few human armies had found themselves completely surrounded within a few short hours and devoured without a trace.
Traditional fortresses and walled castles were the only way to resist these demon armies properly, and as such, they had made a roaring comeback.
But although open cities were pure nightmares to defend, it was also a nightmare to truly control, especially against suicidal soldiers such as Arland Bower.
General Dark Justice wasn't the only high ranking Daemon Officer to fall that day.
But he was the first, and he was of the highest rank.
It would become exponentially more difficult to strike at the Daemons after the first attempt, and the human leaders wanted to make that first shot count.
They had given their most veteran sniper a very simple instruction.
"Kill the highest ranking demon bastard you can find, and then as many officers as you can. Die with honor."
"Worth it." He thought fiercely even as the first Blood Daemon Captain appeared before him, howling its maddened shrieks and thrusting its blood-tipped daggers into his body.
Click.
His finger pressed down on the delayed timer of the powerful bombs in his backpack.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The claws of several other Blood Daemon Captains reached him and very easily sliced his body into many bloody pieces.
Graaaahhhh!!!
The Blood Daemons roared triumphantly, before every single high ranking officer rushed to Arland Bower's location.
Blood Daemons believed that if they could eat the killer who killed a higher ranking daemon, they would be able to absorb the blessing and the strength of the dead daemon.
Such a unique belief had served them very well for thousands of years, making the Blood Daemons constantly fight and eat each other, slowly but surely producing a Daemon Race that was extra aggressive and extra bloodthirsty, both very useful traits in the demonic race.
However, that belief was also the sole source of their downfall that particular day.
As the seconds ticked by, tens then hundreds of powerful Blood Daemons started to fight among each other as they tried to determine who had the right to eat Arland Bower.
They failed to notice the massive backpack that was placed inconspicuously nearby.
KABOOOOM!!!
An explosion the strength of at least a thousand TNTs erupted and turned the hundred or so high ranking Daemons to nothing more but chunks of flesh spread out all around the apartment rooftop!
That explosion served as a signal for the hundreds of expert snipers all over the city.
As one, they opened fire and killed almost every single high ranking Blood Daemon Officer!
A roar of excitement surged from all over the city as Blood Daemons rushed towards the positions of the snipers and fought among each other to eat them.
KABOOOM!!!!
Hundreds of large explosions sounded once more from everywhere in the City.
The final gifts of the snipers exploded with glorious power and cleaned up all the remaining Blood Daemons strong enough to compete for their dead superiors' killers.
In one fell swoop, the snipers of the combined armies of Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand had killed the entire command structure of the Blood Daemon Army, leaving it in complete disarray!
And without letting up even for a second, those explosions served as the signal for the human army to attack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Massive artillery cannons opened fire and pounded the city.
Vrooom!! Vroooom!! Vrooooomm!!
The last of humanity's air force were put to good use that day as hundreds of Gen 5 bombers dived out of their high altitude cruise, and carpet bombed the City of Perth, wiping out a vast majority of the Blood Daemon army.
Finally, tanks, helicopters and the infantry moved into the city to clean up after their first major victory.
But for Arland Bower, all those developments had nothing to do with him anymore. His story in the physical realm had ended.
Mere seconds after he died in complete agony, he opened his eyes once more.
He gasped in surprise as his senses tingled with extreme pleasure.
A soft, cool breeze blew gently and caressed his skin.
The refreshing smell of flowers and green grass filled his nostrils.
The relaxing sound of many waters flowing, trees rustling in the wind and birds chirping joyously everywhere made for a perfect background music.
And most glorious of all…
The sight of endless angelic warriors in full armor kneeling down before him.