Nomanalive

How long can one ignore the voices in their head?

Nine years. To Mark, that was the limit. 

For the majority of his life, Mark White has been fighting a constant battle for his sanity. The voices in his head pushed him toward madness one whisper at a time, and the music he used to ward against them was gradually losing its effects. 
As his mental state slowly deteriorated, Mark spent more of his time working on a game he had been developing and lamenting his lack of romantic experience. 

One night, the voices dealt him a powerful blow, bringing their battle to an end. To his surprise, Mark won the battle, but that came at a great cost.

The voices might have disappeared, but a visual hallucination arrived to replace them, taking the form of a character from his game: Maids VS Apocalypse. Little did he know that the real apocalypse was already coming for him.

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Valkyrie Smash.

Maids VS Apocalypse

The members of Squad Four gathered one by one, and each time one of them arrived they would notice something very odd. The new member was smiling. It wasn't a fake smile as far as any of them could tell, and it wasn't a forced one.

Except for a certain dense blonde, they all reached the same conclusion without consulting the others: something is definitely wrong.

"These pancakes are really good!" He said.

"I'm glad you like them." Ben laughed and tried to act normal.

"You know, I cooked for myself all the time before," Mark said. "I thought I was pretty good, but eating the stuff you make." He shook his head and sighed wistfully. "I don't even come close."

"It takes practice, Lad." The big guy replied. "That and rare ingredients from other worlds."

"Yup. Even the taste of salt can change from one world to the other. Some people made a career for themselves trading spices between worlds."

Only once.