Save in the Name of True Greed

(awesomex18 and Kuroneko)

Chapter 1

It was the day of the Comprehensive Combat Evaluation Examination for the members of the United Nations’ 11th Force, 207th Training Unit. Hardened by the draconian regimen of their instructor, Sergeant Marimo Jinguuji, the all-female combat squad had been molded into the best future TSF pilots in the unit’s history. Led by their captain, Cadet Chizuru Sakaki, the unit consisted of Cadet Kei Ayamine, Cadet Mikoto Yoroi, Cadet Miki “Tama” Tamase, and the group’s rising star, Cadet Meiya Mitsurugi. With the completion of the multi-day training exercise in the tropical jungle setting that the examiners had chosen, the individual unit members would be promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant and would all be reassigned to a TSF squadron on the front lines of the BETA Wars.

The “proctor” of the examination was none other than Professor Yuuko Kouzuki, the Vice-Commander of the United Nation’s Yokohama Base and head of the Alternative IV project. In reality, however, Yuuko’s best friend, Marimo, was the one directing the examination; the brilliant physicist simply came along to relax and enjoy a much deserved break from her duties and research on her own Quantum Causality Theory.

Upon the unit’s arrival to the training grounds, the five cadets found their commanding officer stretched out in a navy blue zero-gravity chair, clad in a risqué bikini and soaking up the sun’s rays, all while a glass of ice cold lemonade for her personal refreshment rested upon a small plastic table to her left and a chilled bottle of alcohol sat in an ice bucket upon a similar table to her right. The physicist’s outfit was a simple purple design, using as little material as possible to cover her sultry form. Twin strips of violet triangular straps covered only the center of her massive breasts, leaving her cleavage and most of the sides of her bosom completely exposed. Her bikini straps drew upwards instead of simply over her shoulders, criss-crossing directly below her neck before being tied gently behind her back. A lone matching bikini bottom gracefully accented her curves, splitting into four mini-strips around her hips and butt for support. What truly made Yuuko’s choice of beachwear unique was the golden choker that hung around her neck: a long gilded chain fell from its center, tracing directly through her ample cleavage until it stopped just below her navel, where it then split into a circle to surround her posterior to further accent her incredible beauty.

“Oh, good, you all made it here,” the sly professor grinned as she addressed the candidates, slowly bending her left knee as she playfully wiggled her bare toes in glee. “I’m letting Marimo handle your exam, but I guess I should tell you good luck and all that, right?” Yuuko extended her left arm and grabbed her lemonade, bringing it to her lips and gently sipping the cool liquid through a bent straw. “Ah, it’s nice to take a break now and then,” she sighed contently. “I’ll be here while you’re off in the jungle, so make sure to take a while, hmm? Marimo, they’re all yours.” 

After Yuuko “officially” began the examination proper, the five cadets were instructed by Marimo as to the requirements in order to pass their final evaluations and the forty-eight hour time limit on the exam’s completion. With the conditions for success outlined, Marimo sent the unit on their way, each of the cadets heading out on their separate paths into the depths of the tropical jungle in the hopes of completing their tasks and emerging as a qualified TSF pilot.

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An hour had passed since the 207th Training Unit commenced their Comprehensive Combat Evaluation Examination. In that period of time, Professor Kouzuki had done nothing but enjoy her time off by taking in the luxurious coastal scenery before her, having since put up a large beach umbrella and donning a pair of rose-colored sunglasses to shield her from the blinding sun as she enjoyed her various beverages.

“This is nice and all, but I think it’s time for something stronger,” the bikini-clad scientist sighed as she raised her arms backwards over her head, closing her eyes in comfort as she crossed her fingers along the back of her head. “Marimo, mind grabbing me some of the high-quality alcohol I brought along?”

Usually, a “Sure, Yuuko-chan!” or some variant thereof could be heard within seconds of the violet-haired vixen’s requests, but at the present moment, Marimo was nowhere to be found.

“Marimo, are you there?” Yuuko called out again after she failed to receive a reply from her only friend, opening her eyes to take a look at the surrounding area. “I guess she went to go check on her students to make sure they’re doing well on the exam,” she sighed, taking off her sunglasses as she slowly swung her feet off her chair and made contact with the warm sand below her. “She definitely was meant to be a teacher. Must be hard knowing I purposely made their test significantly harder so they’d be guaranteed to fail.” The physicist stood up to her full height, stretching her arms over her head and yawning nonchalantly. “Oh well, guess I’ll just have to grab it myself. I just hope it’s still where I left it, though I doubt Marimo’s had any herself.”

Yuuko took a few steps towards the inner portion of the tropical isle, her bare feet gradually taking her from her makeshift lounge on the coast to the small encampment Marimo had set up for them near the jungle’s outskirts. Once she had arrived at their lodging, Yuuko began to search for the expensive bottle of spirits she had brought along on the trip specifically to enjoy with Marimo, ultimately not finding it in the cooler where she last remembered placing it.

“Huh, it’s not like Marimo to go off and drink on her own. Maybe I underestimated how stressed out she might be?” The thought was immediately dismissed from her well-grounded mind. “Or maybe I just left it somewhere else.”

Having no luck inside her lodging, Yuuko made her way around to the back of the campground, finding nothing on the unkempt ground as well. As she was about to give up the search and go look for Marimo, Yuuko’s right foot bumped into a hard object, a small black bottle that appeared to be a vintage wine, the cork still lodged in its opening.

“Hmmm? This wasn’t here before...” Yuuko noted as she picked up the bottle, examining its exterior for any signs of what the contents inside might be. Her scientific curiosity taking over, the genius scientist popped the cork off the container, only for an opaque black mist to escape from the container. “Is this...poison gas?!” Quickly dropping the bottle onto the jungle floor, Yuuko immediately took several steps backwards as she covered her nose and mouth with her hands as a precautionary measure, letting the gas dissipate in the open area in front of her. As the Vice-Commander was about to return to her lodging to radio Yokohama Base about a possible coup d'état, she stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar voice coughing in the location from where the gas was clearing up. Yuuko cautiously watched as the remainder of the dark cloud gradually vanished, leaving in its place an auburn-haired teenager that the physicist knew all too well.

“...Shirogane, is that you?”

As Yuuko had correctly guessed, Cadet Takeru Shirogane of the 207th Training Unit lay unconscious on the wild grass where the plume of unknown gas had just finished dissipating. The only male of the rookie squadron, Takeru had joined the 207th Training Unit a mere month ago after stumbling into Yokohama Base from the ruins of a town long-since annihilated by the BETA. In that brief period of time, he repeatedly failed at every task assigned to him despite his best efforts, no matter how much private instruction he received from Sergeant Jinguuji to strengthen his physical core. As a consequence of his failure to improve, Takeru was held back from participating in the two-day examination, ordered to remain on the military base as the rest of his squadmates went on to attempt to achieve their promotion to officer status. However, despite the orders given to him by his superiors, here he was now at the examination site, dressed in what appeared to be a clichéd genie outfit in the colors of his combat fatigues: a black vest that exposed his toned upper body, a dark blue pair of parachute pants with a brown belt wrapped around his waist, and a dark pair of Arab-style shoes on his feet. Even for Yuuko, a woman who had studied the complex, disgusting inner workings and organic mechanisms of the BETA in incredible depth, the sight was quite the strange one to behold.

“Kou...Kou...Kouzuki-sensei? Is...Is that you?” Takeru asked as he slowly regained his senses, awoken by the sound of Yuuko’s inquisitive voice. Within a few seconds, the young man staggered to his feet, attempting to remain standing as his temporarily weakened leg muscles struggled to keep him upright.

“Of course it’s me. Who do you think it is, the BETA?” she sarcastically asked. “Mind telling me why you’re disobeying a direct order and-”

“Oh, Kouzuki-sensei, thank goodness you were the one that found me!” the trainee exclaimed, a sudden feeling of relief filling him with a burst of energy as he ran towards his commanding officer and began hugging her tightly.

“EHHH?!” Yuuko raised an eyebrow, letting her subordinate embrace her.

“I came back to...to make sure Alternative V doesn’t happen!”

Quickly pushing the young man away from her, the scientist immediately began to scan over Takeru’s body with her piercing crimson eyes, a cold glare of suspicion falling upon the cadet as she began to look for any anomalies in his features, triggered solely by his mentioning of the name of a top secret plan known only to high-ranking members of the United Nations: Alternative V. Humanity’s final gambit against the relentless BETA invasion on Earth, Alternative V involved the institution of a modern-day Noah’s Ark, selecting a mere 100,000 humans to flee the planet via immigrant spaceships in search of another hospitable planet somewhere in the depths of space, while the rest of the human race remained on Earth to fight the BETA to the bitter end, using a large number of G-Bombs in an attempt to end the decades-long conflict once and for all. It was Yuuko’s sole goal in life to avoid the implementation of the Alternative V plan by attempting to complete her research into the final stages of the Alternative IV operation that she herself had initiated, and any mention of the plan’s name instantly put the usually calm, calculating woman on edge. “Who told you about that plan?” she demanded.

“You did, Kouzuki-sensei,” Takeru answered as he pointed towards the bikini-clad woman. “Well, a lot of you did, actually.”

“Huh?” Yuuko blinked, dropping her guard at the outrageous statement.     

“You’re probably not gonna believe me, but just hear me out first, alright?” the cadet asked.

“Why I should even take you seriously in that outfit of yours is another thing entirely, but for the moment, you have my attention,” the physicist agreed, placing her right hand below her chin as she began to listen intently.

“Alright, so here goes…” Takeru began as he took a deep breath. “I’ve been through this whole thing way too many times to count by now. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen it happen, but no matter what I do, no matter what happens, I can never help you complete Alternative IV. No matter how hard you try, Kouzuki-sensei, you’re never able to get 15 billion semiconductors to fit in the palm of your hand. I lived through it, I’ve seen Alternative V be implemented...over...and over...and over again...and each time, I stay behind, only to die and end up starting back from square one. But even then, only the same result happens: there is no way of stopping Alternative V. However, this time, I was given a chance, a chance to make history right! After probably the millionth time I’ve seen Alternative V implemented, I’ve been given the chance to finally deny that false future and put humanity on the proper course of survival. Kouzuki-sensei, I’m here because I was given a gift to specifically help you complete the Alternative IV plan: I’m here to grant you three wishes to bring about humanity’s ultimate survival and to destroy the BETA once and for all!”

Yuuko simply blinked, never removing her hand from her usual inquisitive posture. She had listened to the cadet’s farfetched ramblings merely to humor him, and in the off-chance he actually had something relevant to the completion of the Alternative IV plan, to possibly take him seriously, but after the truly inane nonsense Takeru had just sprouted, the bikini-clad genius had to control herself from bursting out in hysterical laughter. “Do me a favor,” she asked in a sarcastic monotone, “repeat that last part for me, one more time.”

“Um, alright,” he complied. “I’m here to grant you three wishes to help humanity destroy the BETA forever!”

"...Shirogane, did you hit your head or lick any strange frogs?" Yuuko inquired, returning her hand to her side. “It was mildly amusing before, but that’s really not funny anymore if you honestly believe that nonsense,” she sighed, shaking her head in disapproval. “Listen, I know you wanted to participate in the exams, but this is taking it a bit too far, don’t you think?”

"I'm serious, Kouzuki-sensei! C'mon, you have three wishes to save the planet!" the teenager implored her. “There’s nobody I’d trust more than you to make it happen. You’re the only one who can make it happen!”

“And I’m just supposed to believe you can, what, magically do whatever I ask of you, hmm? Do you honestly take me for a fool, Shirogane? There is no such thing as magic. The only thing close to it is science, and even that has its limitations.”

“Kouzuki-sensei, please, I’m begging you, you have to believe me,” Takeru pleaded with his superior. “Please, make a wish for anything right now and I’ll grant it. If I’m lying, you can do whatever you want to me when we get back to Yokohama.”

“Oho? Anything, you say?” Yuuko’s eyes perked up, a devious grin forming on her beautiful visage. “In that case, you’ll be my guinea pig for all sorts of experiments when we get back...for the rest of your life. Are you that confident in yourself, Shirogane? I’ll give you a moment to back out if you’d like, but if you refuse, know that I absolutely intend to follow through on that promise.”

“No way!” the young cadet confidently shook his head. “I won’t back down at all! I’m telling you the truth, and when you make your first wish, you’ll know I’m not lying!”

“Alright, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Yuuko chuckled slightly as she shrugged her shoulders. “Now then, supposing I do believe you, give me a moment to think of something…” In the professor’s mind, it was completely obvious that Takeru had either gone mad or was on some sort of hallucinogen from sampling the local fauna, but considering that he had agreed to her condition, it would not hurt her to wish for something so trivial that there was no reasonable way for it to occur. “Alright, Shirogane, I have my wish,” she stated flatly. “I wish for a full bottle of high quality alcohol.”

“Y-You’re going to waste your first wish on getting drunk?!” Takeru exclaimed, his jaw practically hitting the floor from the shock of his commander’s outrageous desire.

“Considering the price of a single bottle these days is easily in the thousands of dollars range for exceptional-quality alcohol, it’s a reasonable request,” the scientist reasoned. “Not to mention mine has gone missing for some reason, so I could really use a replacement right about now.” Yuuko paused for a moment, giving the teenager a moment to get over the simplicity of her initial request. “Well, Shirogane? I made my wish, so why aren’t you granting it, hmmm?”

“I...I can’t believe you’d waste a wish on something like this, but...but fine! Your wish has been granted!”

Both Yuuko and Takeru simply stared at one another for several seconds, nothing out of the ordinary occurring in the area around them. “What’s wrong? I thought you had granted my wish?” the snarky woman teased. “And here I was thinking that my day was going to be terrible without my alcohol. However, now that you’ve agreed to be my labrat, my day has become much better.”

“I granted your wish, Kouzuki-sensei,” the trainee calmly replied. “Don’t you see it? It’s right by your feet.”

“Ehhh?” Yuuko took a step backwards as she looked down at the ground below her, finding that a clear, sealed bottle of high quality spirits had suddenly appeared between her legs. Gently bending downwards to pick it up, the trained scientist began to examine the container upon returning upright for any irregularities, pausing her inquiry when she noticed the name of the manufacturer on the side of the bottle. “This label...it’s the rarest quality alcohol on the planet,” she observed, recognizing the maker with ease. “This bottle alone goes for $25,000 at the very least at the liquor auctions, and there’s only been a limited release of their products outside of America…”

“Go ahead and try it,” Takeru grinned confidently. “It’s the real thing.”

“Oho? Cocky now, are we, Shirogane?” the researcher fired back. Holding the bottle in her left hand, Yuuko slowly opened the bottle with her right, proceeding to sniff the contents of the bottle’s insides. “It smells like the real thing, but…” Bringing the bottle up to her lips, Yuuko took a brief sip of the liquid within, swishing the fluid around in her mouth to analyze its contents as her lips left a stain from her fuchsia-colored lip gloss on the bottle’s exterior. As she swallowed hard, the physicist noticeably perked up, smiling as she let the remaining flavor of the alcohol dance upon her taste buds. “There’s no doubt about it. This is Rosewood Rum, the only flavored spiced high-quality alcohol produced on the planet,” she affirmed. “I’ve only had it once at an official UN gathering a few years ago, but there’s no mistaking that taste. This is the genuine article.”

“Ha! I told you!” the auburn-haired teen gloated. “Looks like I don’t have to be your labrat after all, huh?”

“Shirogane...how did you-”

“It’s like I told you, Kouzuki-sensei, I granted your wish,” he interrupted. “Now do you see that I’m not lying? You have two wishes left, so I hope you’ll take me seriously now that you know what I can do and wish for an end to the BETA.”

Yuuko was unsure of what to make of the whole situation. The well-versed physicist knew that magic and wish-granting was just a myth, a device used in fairy tales to inspire hope in children that anything could happen from such extraordinary powers, and that the so-called “magic” that once existed in the world before the BETA arrived - card tricks, illusions, and the like - could all easily be explained with enough scientific reasoning. However, at the present moment, all her years of training and research seemed to be for naught, as the young cadet before her dismantled the fundamental scientific principles she had always relied on in an instant with his sudden manifestation of the rarest liquor on the planet. Yuuko knew that what she had acquired was an impossibility, yet here it was staring her in the face, a concrete, physical bottle of flavored rum that she held in her hand and tasted like the real thing.

How...How did he do it? she asked herself, closing her eyes in deep thought. What he did was definitely impossible, so how did he get it here? Is he...No, that’s nonsense. He probably stole it from General Radhabinod’s quarters or something. Still, I can’t rule out the possibility that he might actually be telling the truth. Shirogane - or whoever this is pretending to be him - knows about the Alternative V plan, something that very few people on this planet know about. If he’s telling the truth, then perhaps I should test him on that point…

“Um, Kouzuki-sensei, are you alright?”

“Shirogane!” Yuuko exclaimed, dramatically pointing at the cadet with her right index finger. “You will grant my second wish.”

“Oh, so you were thinking about what to wish for?” Takeru assumed. “I thought you were, Kouzuki-sensei. Alright, what is it? Just, uh, please don’t-”

“You say you’ve come back to prevent Alternative V from happening, right?” Yuuko interrupted, glaring at the young man with a burning passion behind her crimson eyes. “In that case, it’s time to put your words to the test: I wish for a weapon that I can use to crush the BETA and end their invasion here on Earth once and for all.”

“A weapon that you can use, huh?” the cadet pondered. “Hmmm…”

“What’s wrong, Shirogane? You can’t do it?”  the violet-haired scientist smirked, mocking her underling yet again. “Making a bottle of alcohol appear out of nowhere is child’s play for illusionists, but actually devising a weapon capable of annihilating the BETA? Not even my research has reached that point. This is where you lay all your cards on the table: Are you able to give me the weapon I asked for right here and now?”

“Hey, what did I say about underestimating me earlier?” Takeru fired back. “You want your weapon, Kouzuki-sensei? Fine! Your second wish is granted!”

“This oughta be good…” Yuuko chuckled to herself. “Let’s see what you came up with, shall we?”

As Yuuko finished her sentence, the shrill sounds of piercing feminine screams rang out across the training island, voices that the Vice-Commander knew all too well. “Marimo and the others? What the...Are the BETA attacking?! No, impossible! This island is far behind the front lines, so there couldn’t be any BETA anywhere around here. Just what exactly is going on?” A few seconds later, the ground began to quake uncontrollably as Yuuko realized exactly why her subordinates were panicking. “Shirogane...What...What have you…?"

Chapter 2

From the depths of the tropical jungle, five towering female forms began to rise into view from different corners of the island: Chizuru Sakaki, Kei Ayamine, Mikoto Yoroi, Miki Tamase, and Marimo Jinguuji. Each of the rapidly enlarging women was clad in the swimsuits they had brought along with them for the free time that they had hoped to enjoy after passing their exams, the outfits somehow growing along with their expanding frames: for Chizuru, a simple forest green one-piece; her rival, Kei, sported a maroon-colored bikini that amplified her ample chest and curvaceous figure; Mikoto and Tamase donned a yellow one-piece and pink bikini, respectively, each of which did their best to mask their petite features; and lastly, Sergeant Jinguuji was wearing an amber-colored one-piece that did little to mask her heaving bosom and well-sculpted body that she normally kept neatly suppressed in her United Nations uniform. 

Yuuko could only watch in both awe and disbelief as the exam candidates and her only friend continued to effortlessly enlarge, acres upon acres of fertile land bulldozed in an instant by their expanding feet, all to make room for them to continue their unexpected growth. To her classically-trained mind, what was occurring before the professor defied the laws of physics: each of the towering women were in clear violation of the square-cube law; their bodies should have collapsed beneath the pressure of their enlarged forms seconds ago. However, considering that they seemed to be growing without incident and remained perfectly fine all the while, Yuuko quickly theorized that something out of the ordinary - no, an impossible process - had to be occurring within their internal structures, an inexplicable organic activity that caused their skin and bones to become astronomically tougher at a linear rate to keep up with the difference between the square and the cube, thus allowing them to sustain their bodies as if they had never enlarged. However they had started to grow, and how they had managed to sustain their present forms, was a mystery that the scientist could not figure out despite her mastery of the laws of physics.

A full minute had elapsed from the time Yuuko heard the screams of her allies to the realization that they were growing larger with seemingly no end in sight. Out of the five titaness, Marimo was the closest one to Yuuko’s location near the encampment, the brown-haired teacher’s gargantuan tan toes plowing through the land before her best friend’s eyes, rapidly inching closer and closer with each second that passed.

No...This can’t be how it ends. Death by Marimo’s toes? I would rather face the BETA then to die in this… impossible way! Yuuko mentally steeled herself for the imminent death before her as the walls of Marimo’s toe flesh continued their relentless advance, the physicist refusing to believe she would perish before her work on this planet was complete. The violet-haired genius simply stared at the bulldozing feet before her as she found herself swallowed up in the gap between Marimo’s left big and index toes, accepting that escape was impossible. However, just as the instructor’s foot was about to run her over, Marimo’s growth, along with the rest of the members of the 207th Training Unit, came to an abrupt halt, leaving the bikini-clad scientist face to skin with the sergeant’s toe cleavage.

“Ehhh?” Yuuko blinked, taking a step back in utter surprise at her stroke of luck in somehow miraculously escaping death. Craning her neck upwards, Yuuko observed that Marimo’s toes towered over the commanding officer on all sides, each plump tan digit large enough to be a skyscraper all its own. “There...There’s no way this is possible. I have to be dre-”

“UOOOOO-WOOOOAAAAHHHH!” Tama’s childish, now-powerful voice exclaimed, her words easily echoing for miles. “Look at how huge we are! This is so amazing!”

“I know!” Mikoto enthusiastically agreed, letting her toes gleefully dance against the forest floor. “This is so cool! I wonder if I can see the base from here?”

“This is no time to be fooling around!” Chizuru commanded, the squad leader adamantly stomping her right foot into the earth as she adjusted her large bifocals, causing shockwaves in the surrounding area that almost caused Yuuko and Takeru to lose their footings. “This isn’t part of the test. This isn’t normal!”

“Big...” Ayamine observed her usual monotone, gazing down past her colossal chest at the miniscule jungle landscape beneath her.

“Everyone, just...keep calm!” a flustered Marimo took charge, her natural teacher’s instincts taking over and quickly calming her mind to lead her students, even though she herself was unsure of what to do in such an unusual situation. “Don’t move or do anything out of the ordinary. We need to figure out why this happened, so don’t take any unnecessary movements until we do. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” the trainees answered in unison as they saluted their instructor.

Yuuko had clutched her ears from the initial sound of Tama’s voice, anticipating the feeling of some sort of aural pain, yet she oddly suffered none. In fact, it was almost as if something had passively happened to the professor’s body as well without her knowledge, allowing her to listen to her gigantic soldiers without the drawbacks that a normal human would suffer in such close proximity. Whatever was going on, this spectacle before her was truly outside of the realm of scientific explanation, a phenomenon that not even the world-renown physicist could begin to ground in logic in any fundamental theorems of the myriad scientific fields.

I...really am not dreaming, Yuuko told herself, beginning to accept the gravity of the situation. This...should not be possible, and yet... No, I will find an explanation to this! This has to be an illusion or something. There’s no way someone like Shirogane could cause something like this to occur. Magic does not exist!

Determined to prove herself right, the bikini-clad genius began to conduct an impromptu analysis on the titanic women before her, using Marimo’s gargantuan toes as the main subject of her experiments due to their relative closeness and general familiarity with the researcher. The scientist began her observations by moving towards the sergeant’s big toe, finding herself cast in the shade given off by the immense digit. In comparison to the local trees around it, Marimo’s toes were easily several times larger than most of the island’s foliage; using a rough assumption of simply how much the colossal toes dwarfed the trees and cross-referencing it with her knowledge of Marimo’s height before her enlargement, Yuuko estimated that Marimo, along with her trainees, were 2 miles tall each, a fact that both astounded and alarmed the professor simultaneously. With the height calculation complete, it was time for Yuuko to proceed to the next phase of her research: making sure Marimo was actually physically present and that the toes that surrounded her were not mere mental hallucinations. Yuuko cautiously placed her right palm against the tan wall before her, lightly pressing into the soft flesh several times to observe its textures and elasticity while doing her best to not yet alert her massive friend to her location. “This is...actually Marimo’s foot…” she observed, watching as the wall of toe continually regenerated to its normal shape whenever the professor retracted her hand. “All of them… are real…” Yuuko took a few staggered steps backwards in defeat, craning her neck upwards as far as she could look, finding her view above blocked by two gargantuan orbs that were Marimo’s breasts, denying her the image of her best friend’s most-likely worried face.

“Um, Kouzuki-sensei…?”

Takeru’s concerned voice snapped the scientist back into reality, causing her to turn around to face the oddly-dressed cadet. Yuuko had no intention of ever admitting defeat to the teenager, but considering the spectacle of watching five low-ranking soldiers enlarge into multi-mile behemoths before her eyes, she was honestly interested in his explanation of the events that had recently unfolded. “Shirogane!” Yuuko commanded, her piercing crimson eyes glaring with a convincing burning anger at the trainee. “What is the meaning of...of this?!” she emphasized, pointing her right index finger at the towering group of women behind her without ever taking her eyes off of the young man.

“Oh, that? I granted your wish, of course,” Takeru smiled confidently.

“How is this granting my wish?!” the professor scolded.

“Well, you asked for a weapon that you could use to crush the BETA,” he explained. “I thought about what you wanted, and I realized something that even you know about yourself, Kouzuki-sensei: you’re a brilliant scientist and tactician, not a fighter. You’re meant to command others and have them do the fighting for you. It’s why you’re the Vice-Commander of Yokohama, so that you don’t have to go out there like everyone else on the front lines. You serve humanity better from the rear, ordering everyone to take the best actions possible to ensure that humanity has a future, and-”

“I see now…” Yuuko chuckled lightly to herself, her faux anger gently subsiding. “Because I wished for a weapon that you thought I personally could use, you took my words literally and thought of a means to make it happen. Hmmm...I see now…”

“Yes, exactly,” her subordinate nodded. “You’re always one step ahead of me, Kouzuki-sensei. Well, usually you’re several steps ahead of me, actually, so I’m not surprised you figured it out.”

Finally accepting that what Takeru - or rather, whomever this Takeru was - could do was real, the scientist began piecing together the events of the day in her head, beginning to lay out a rule structure of how the auburn-haired teen’s “wish system” worked. Earlier in the day, Yuuko had used her first wish on a “full bottle of high quality alcohol” without any further specifics, and she received a full bottle of the rarest liquor on the planet. In her second wish minutes earlier, the physicist had asked for “a weapon that I can use to crush the BETA”, a statement that the cadet interpreted based on his knowledge of the professor and her skills, resulting in the enlargement of his squadmates and instructor to their present heights. Based on the results of both wishes, Yuuko now had a basis of how to structure her final wish in order to achieve the best possible results without any error of interpretation on Takeru’s part. Now, all the bikini-clad genius had to do was come up with her final wish...

“Hey guys, I just realized something!” Tama suddenly and cheerily noted, causing both Takeru and Yuuko to gaze over at the titanic pink-haired catgirl, breaking the latter’s chain of thought. “Where’s Meiya-sama?!”

“She’s right,” Marimo nodded in agreement. “I don’t see Mitsurugi anywhere. She didn’t get killed during the process, did she?”

“No way!” Mikoto piped up. “There’s no way Meiya-sama would be defeated by something like this! MEIYAAAAAA-SAMA!” the young girl began to shout as loud as possible. “WHERRRRRE ARE YOU?! COME OUT ALREADY AND STOP HIDING!”

“She’s right!” Tama smiled. “Meiya-sama, if you’re alright, please say or do something to let us know you’re safe!”

Far down below on the forest floor, a small form studied a tan-colored wall that loomed before her. “To think… such an incredible thing could occur…” The woman reached out, extending her hand carefully to touch the towering structure. Her delicate fingers pressed into the slightly pale skin, indenting into it lightly, though too lightly to be felt by its owner. “Such scale, and such softness…” she quietly noted as she stepped back and tried to take in more of the epidermis before her, the skin that bulged out slightly rounding upwards over her head to cast her in shade. The woman’s breasts bounced gently in her own swimsuit - black on one half, white on the other, alternating sides between bikini top and bikini bottom - as she continued to backtrack, her long blue hair, done up into an impressively high tail, swaying behind her in the gentle breeze. She continued to move backwards, her long, well-trained legs clearing jungle plants beneath her as more of the foot came into view - the side of it, to be precise. What she had just touched was, in reality, the outer side of a foot that, as she looked upwards along towering, powerful legs, revealed itself to belong to a girl with black, short hair and an incredible bust.

“Ayamine, this is truly impressive,” Meiya Mitsurugi said as she turned and studied the other giant figures nearby. They towered over her similarly, especially the woman with ruffled brown hair. “And Instructor Jinguuji…” She counted off her other squadmates, identifying them nearby from where their towering legs rose upwards from the jungle into the sky - a very full sky at this point, considering all of the legs and bodies looming over the island. There must have hardly been any room left. “I should contact Shirogane, and find Professor Kouzuki,” Meiya said firmly, nodding to herself. “If anyone can discover a solution, it would be h-” The cadet stopped as her body suddenly shook, the powerful surge coming not from an external source like the footstep earthquakes caused earlier. Meiya fell over, gasping slightly as the jungle floor rushed up to meet her.

The blue-haired trainee turned and threw her arms out to catch herself before the impact, her hands digging into the black dirt of the land. However, her perspective was wrong. She blinked, her sapphire eyes scanning the thick greenery below her: it was… farther away from her than she expected? Her arms were clearly touching the ground, even if the ferns below that had been knee-high were now only equal to her mid-forearms… and receding quickly. “And me as well?” the young girl said in alarm as she turned and glanced to the side, noticing that the trees seemed dramatically shorter. Meiya felt something leafy on her back and raised her hand just in time for her head to pass through the jungle foliage. A warm wall thumped into her from behind, or more precisely, she thumped into it. Meiya turned to look at what she had impacted, viewing the side of Ayamine’s foot; her own rear end had rammed into it as she neared its height, the trees already starting to dwindle below her. “Ah-” she began before she was interrupted by a thundering noise.

“Mitsurugi,” boomed the voice of her fellow cadet as she carefully squatted down. Nearby, Ayamine’s heel lifted along with a large part of her foot, the sole raining tree, rock, and dirt down beneath it. Even as Meiya’s size continued to rise, the heel soared up above her, causing a chill to run down her spine. If she was beneath that when it came down… “You okay?” came the thundering voice again as Meiya turned and saw huge fingers swoop in towards her.

“Ayamine, I am well! You don’t need to-” Meiya called, but her voice was plainly too quiet to be heard. Acting on reflex, the swordswoman quickly somersaulted to the side, putting all of her combat training to use. Huge fingers that had been carefully coming in to scoop her up instead dug into the earth, tearing up a huge swathe of jungle. Meiya rolled, thankfully away from the heel, and into Ayamine’s toes. She turned and scrambled onto the barrel-sized pinky toe, climbing across the neighboring digits as she evaded yet another grab. The smaller girl perched herself on the larger’s big toe and waved at Ayamine, yelling up at her. “I do not need assistance!” she called, but her voice was again not loud enough for her comrade to hear her assurances.

“It’s dangerous if you crawl around like that,” Ayamine said, a small smirk on her face as it loomed above the star trainee. The look did not inspire a great amount of confidence in Meiya; she turned as if to run, only to feel the ground shake. A huge foot slammed down before her; it was smaller than Ayamine’s, but still huge. The impact knocked her back onto the big toe, which was still a bit larger than her.

“Meiya-sama! You’re so small!” Mikoto exclaimed as she squatted down to look at Meiya from above her. The boyish young girl was normally dramatically shorter than Meiya, but right now, she filled the sky. A TSF, or even a battleship, would be like a toy to the girl! Even a Hive might be little more than an anthill to one so large. The toes that surpassed Meiya’s whole body in size curled before her, and Meiya was now fully aware of how easy it would be for someone even at her size, to whom the jungle treeline was below ankle-high now, to be crushed by those casual movements. And then, a THUNK sounded from above. As survival savvy as Mikoto usually was, common sense often evaded her. With her focus on Meiya, the teal-haired girl paid little attention to the also-squatting Ayamine. Their heads met with a resounding sound as Mikoto tried to stand back up to her full height. Mikoto made a great amount of noise, Ayamine much less so, but both of them fell backwards onto their rears. Swimsuit-covered asses slammed into the jungle island, shattering much of it and obliterating a large amount of the jungle itself both underneath them and through shockwaves.

The sudden overturning of Ayamine sent Meiya herself tumbling, rolling down Ayamine’s foot. She could feel her own size increasing still, faster now it seemed as she hit Ayamine’s ankle with a grunt and fell aside. She stood slowly after taking a second to catch her breath, turning and noticing that she was now the size of Ayamine’s foot as it stood on its heel. Thunder sounded again as not one, not two, but four other huge feet slammed down before her. Instructor Jinguuji and Miki, Meiya noted as she looked up at her colossal allies.

“Mitsurugi, Ayamine, Yoroi, you alright? Yoroi, you need to pay more attention to your surroundings,” the busty sergeant said as she leaned over to look at the three. Breasts that compared rather favorably to Meiya’s entire body filled her sky as she waved up at the woman.

“I am fine, Instructor Jinguuji!” Meiya called. Her body rumbled again, and she nearly fell over. A familiar feeling ran through her entire being.

“Mitsurugi?”

“Meiya-sama?”

A second later, Meiya’s head slammed into and between Marimo’s chest as her body rose like a rocket launched for orbit. The softness of her instructor’s bosom was beyond her expectations, raining down all around her, yet it only lasted for a few seconds before Meiya trembled yet again and rose past Marimo, her own chest enveloping the Sergeant’s head. “Even larger?!” Meiya exclaimed as she turned, looking downwards. She had already surged beyond the size of anyone else, yet Meiya’s body continued to grow, her feet rumbling across the remains of the island and flattening the jungle as Miki suddenly found herself needing to jump aside. Behind her, Ayamine and Yoroi scrambled to escape heels that were surging towards them. “What in the world could be happening?” Meiya exclaimed, her eyes widening as her body added thousands of feet a second onto her powerful, toned frame. Her height had already been in the miles, but now it was erupting into the dozens.

Down below the growing woman, her squadmates quickly splashed out into the ocean. “Shirogane? Commander Kouzuki?” Meiya asked as she looked down at the shrinking world around her. Tiny bits of the island poked out from before her toes, but not much. Her heels already felt dampness behind them. Other nearby islands looked more like green splotches in the brilliant blue ocean beneath her. Her body rumbled on, unstoppably. If her squadmates had answered her question, it was now she that was too large to hear it.

“Shirogane, are you trying to kill us both?! Stop her!” Yuuko turned and yelled at the young man as Meiya’s toes began to rapidly encroach on their position. Unlike when she believed she would face certain death at the hands of Marimo’s expanding form, the professor could instinctively feel that the still-expanding cadet before them would not give them the same luxury.

“Relax, Kouzuki-sensei,” Takeru smiled, seemingly calm about the impending doom before them, “Meiya would never hurt us.”

“Have you gone mad?! I order you to-”

Before Yuuko could give her command, the unstoppable wall of flesh that was Meiya’s right foot engulfed the duo, crushing them both instantly beneath her ever-increasing weight as her growth continued unabated.

So, this is how I die…Not by bullet or BETA, but by...this…?

“Kouzuki-sensei?”

Shirogane...I’ll make sure to make him pay eternally for this in the afterlife, if there even is one…

“Um, Kouzuki-sensei?”

I can hear his voice even now, haunting me from the grave…

“Kouzuki-sensei, are you alright? Come on, wake up…”

Yuuko could feel herself back in her body, a force tugging on her right arm, urging her to awaken as her eyes began to reopen, her vision focusing on the area around her. The genius scientist found herself lying on the jungle floor, the area around her still perfectly intact and free from any signs of destruction.  “What? I’m...still alive?” she blinked, placing her right hand over her forehead to gather her bearings. “What...happened?”

“The sudden impact knocked you out for a moment, Kouzuki-sensei, but we’re fine now,” Takeru explained, helping the Vice-Commander back onto her feet. “You protected us, actually. Go ahead and take a look around us.”

“Where...Where exactly are we?” As Yuuko slowly stood up, the realization of what had happened to her slowly began to reveal itself as she immediately noticed that, absent the small area of jungle around them, they were surrounded by a moving sea of tan that surrounded them on all sides, the endless wave of flesh somehow forbidden from entering an invisible spherical ten foot area around the duo. “Don’t tell me we’re actually...under Mitsurugi?”

“Yep! I told you Meiya would never hurt us. Well, not that she could ever hurt you at least anymore,” the cadet chuckled lightly.

Curious as to what mechanisms were actually in place, Yuuko extended her right arm towards the edge of the safe space around her, attempting to feel the expanding flesh that was Meiya’s growing sole. As she was about to touch the still-growing foot, Yuuko could feel a transparent barrier blocking her from proceeding with her experiment any further, keeping the physicist’s hand safe from being ripped off and crushed into oblivion were she to poke outside of the zone of protection.

So they can’t hurt me no matter what happens now, hmm? she theorized. I was right, Shirogane did something to me as well in bringing about this wish, though what properties he gave to my body were hidden compared to the others. Quite the unexpected boon. However, I grow tired of all these surprises, and if there’s anything else he’s done to me without my knowledge, I’d rather not have to find it out the hard way a second time... “My my, you’re certainly quite full of surprises today, aren’t you, Shirogane?” Yuuko grinned slyly as she turned back towards Takeru, placing her left hand atop her head as she bent her right arm so that her elbow rested against her waist, her palm facing upwards as she took on her usual faux-amazement stance. “Not once, but twice today you’ve nearly had me killed. Don’t think I’ll forgive you for this so easily.”

“I’m sorry, Kouzuki-sensei,” Takeru apologized, “but I didn’t want to ruin the surprises until your wish was complete.”

“Oho?” the scientist feigned disinterest, though she was secretly intrigued by the plural word in the cadet’s sentence. So there may actually be some left he’s still not telling me about… “Well then, since we can’t really go anywhere until Mitsurugi has finished enlarging, whenever that may be, mind explaining what you’ve done to me? Am I to suddenly find myself exploding outwards from this barrier at any time like the rest of them as well, hmmm?”

“No, of course not, Kouzuki-sensei,” the teenager explained. “Like I said, you’re meant to take charge from behind, so it wouldn’t make any sense to do that. But what I did to you? Well, let’s see here…” Takeru paused briefly as he scratched the back of his head for a moment, trying to recall the full gamut of abilities he bestowed the Vice-Commander of Yokohama. “Well, I just pretty much made sure Marimo-chan and the others couldn’t really hurt you in any way. After all, with them being so large and strong, they could accidentally crush you or something, and then how would they be able to carry out your orders? That’s what this barrier does, it pretty much makes sure that you’re invincible, Kouzuki-sensei. I got the idea from Kaiser’s shields from Valgern-on. Pretty neat, right? Oh, and don’t worry, the others can’t really feel your barrier either, so I’m pretty sure Meiya has no idea she’s accidentally crushing us beneath her right now. Without it, we’d both be dead by now for sure!”

“I see,” Yuuko nodded, tapping her right index finger against her chin, though knowing not what this ‘Valgern-On’ Takeru spoke of was - she immediately assumed it was another creation of the boy’s avid imagination without wanting to inquire further into the matter. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about any future assassination attempts in case the UN begins to protest the progress and methods of my research… So, I’ve got my own personal barrier that pops up whenever I’m in danger, hmmm? Anything else you’re keeping from me?”

“Hmmm...Not really,” Takeru shrugged. “Oh, that’s right! I remember from watching these old giant monster movies as a kid of how loud the monsters’ voices were, so I made sure that you could hear them all just fine without getting hurt by their voices too. Other than that, I think that’s pretty much it.”

“...Shirogane, are you absolutely sure that’s all you did to me?”

“Yep, that’s everything. I’m pretty sure of it,” he affirmed.

He didn’t bother giving me a way to coordinate with them at all? Yuuko visibly frowned. How am I supposed to communicate with them when they can’t even hear me at their heights?! Shirogane, you fool…

“Hey, Kouzuki-sensei, I think Meiya’s slowing down!”

The human-sized duo looked upwards as the sea of growing flesh surrounding them began to decelerate, gradually coming to a grinding halt as Meiya’s incredible growth spurt came to an end. By the time she had finished enlarging, the island vanished beneath her toes completely, ground into oblivion under her vast weight. She was not sure what her size exactly was, but it was truly huge. The others clustered around her feet, her toes towering over them. “And if you are miles tall yourselves...” Meiya pondered out loud. “How vast does such a situation make me?”

Below, her toes wiggled slightly. Huge tidal waves were spawned by the mundane motions, an incredible amount of water surging out and swamping nearby islands or bowling over her squadmates. “Apologies,” Meiya boomed. “But such destruction…” Her jaw set. “Such strength has a proper application.”

Meiya’s eyes turned to the mainland, looking off into the distance. The world unfolded beneath her like a map, the sheer altitude of her head - which she noted did not require oxygen anymore, somehow - making her vision clear. Towers rose from flattened earth in the distance: the scourge of humanity known as the BETA Hives. The cadet’s feet lifted off of the ground, raining ocean water beneath her as she began to march powerfully towards the home of her enemies, her mighty footfalls knocking her allies off-balance with every step she took as her impacts sent shockwaves across the globe.

“Meiya-sama, where are you going?!” Tama called out to her much larger squadmate, hoping that she would receive a reply from the blue-haired goddess.

“Tamase, there’s no point in trying to reach her,” Marimo quieted her trainee as she and the remainder of her squadron watched their star soldier stomp off into the horizon. “Just as we were unable to notice her before, the tables have now turned on us. It would be impossible to get Mitsurugi’s attention at her vast size. All we can do is hope she knows what she’s doing…”

“Meiya-sama…”

Meanwhile, back on what little remained of the obliterated examination island, Yuuko and Takeru watched Meiya’s abandonment of the rest of her unit from their significantly lower vantage point, the invisible barrier protecting them dissolving into nothingness once the largest of the cadets had taken several steps away from their location. Yuuko surveyed the extent of the damage caused by Meiya simply standing in place as she grew: save for the small patch of land preserved by the barrier, the entirety of the island had been ground into nothingness against the sea floor, a perfectly-preserved, massive multi-mile imprint of the swordswoman’s sole now in its place, while its sister print could be seen several miles away, an equal amount of devastation evident in its permanent etching into the planet’s surface.

“All this damage...and Mitsurugi did not even have to move a single inch…” Yuuko noted aloud, impressed with the level of destructive capabilities the titanic warrioress possessed, even when she was not trying to cause any harm.

“Pretty powerful weapons, huh?” Takeru smiled, hoping Yuuko would compliment him on a job well done for granting her second wish with aplomb. “With our friends this strong, the BETAs’ days on Earth are numbered with you in command of them, Kouzuki-sensei!”

If only there was a way in which I could control Mitsurugi, then perhaps you’d be right, Shirogane… the scientist quietly thought to herself, not wanting to completely prove the naïve cadet wrong in his assessment of the situation. Yuuko closed her eyes in deep thought as she turned away from Takeru, who himself was presently fixated on the massive bikini-clad Meiya slowly moving further towards the mainland. So, Marimo and the others are titanic, and I’m supposed to lead them without a means to contact them? No, this won’t do at all, Yuuko shook her head in disapproval of her own thoughts. I could simply use my last wish to do just that, but that leaves a myriad of problems left unsolved - bringing them all under control, making sure they follow my orders, the various controversies that are probably already beginning to bubble in the UN and around the world through sightings of Mitsurugi, and the larger problems left of the remaining BETA not only on Earth, but on the moon, Mars, and elsewhere. A solution to all of these problems cannot be pinpointed through a narrowly-tailored wish, and if I am to use my last wish properly, only a truly comprehensive answer will suffice. I would need absolute authority and power in order to-

Suddenly, the violet-haired vixen halted her train of thought. Of course, that’s the only answer... she smirked wickedly. It was always my goal to rule the world like its goddess if I needed to in order to make sure I could successfully bring about Alternative IV, but…if Shirogane can actually do this correctly, I can mold myself into an absolute - no, the absolute Goddess - of everything and everyone. With the mess he’s created and the lingering problems still left to solve, this is the only logical wish I can make...especially if he’s right that no matter what I do, I won’t be able to figure out a way to complete Alternative IV in time...I will not let Alternative V be put into operation, no matter what! I will succeed where the other mes have failed! I simply have to frame my wish in such a way that even Shirogane’s wild imagination won’t be able to screw it up... Yuuko turned around, facing the young man whose eyes were still glued to the sight off in the distance, sighing as she noticed his teenaged tendencies making themselves known. Honestly, Shirogane, at a time like this? she visibly sighed before composing herself. “Taking pride in your work, are we?” Yuuko teased, attempting to grab the young man’s attention.

“H-Huh?!” the cadet stuttered as he was brought back to reality by the voice of his commanding officer. “I-I was-”

“Relax Shirogane, I’m only kidding,” she smirked, asserting her dominance in the conversation yet again. “However, considering the gravity of what you did for my previous wish, I shouldn’t waste any time between my second and third. So, Shirogane, I’m ready for you to grant me my final wish.”

“Already?” Takeru blinked. “Well, Kouzuki-sensei, since this is your last wish, please, for the sake of humanity, you must wish for the BETA to have never existed!"

"Oho? Are you giving orders to a superior officer, Shirogane? I already have my last wish in mind, so I order you to grant it…” A sinister grin formed on Yuuko’s face as she spoke her wish slowly and carefully, emphasizing each syllable so that Takeru would understand her clearly:

"I want the power to wipe out every last BETA in existence, so… I wish for you to make me into an all-powerful, unrivaled goddess - the one and only supreme Goddess that rules over all."

Chapter 3

The magical cadet was taken aback by the vice-commander’s wish, evidenced by him physically taking several steps backwards to comprehend exactly what she had demanded. “Kouzuki-sensei...You...You want to become a goddess? W-Why?!”

“Not a goddess, Shirogane - the Goddess, as in ‘I have no equal, nor will anyone ever come close to matching a fraction of my power’. What part of ‘unrivaled’ did you not understand?” the scientist corrected him with a smug grin. “Really, must I have to explain everything?”

“Y-Yes!”

“And here I thought you had said earlier that you loved how I’m always several steps ahead of everyone else…” Yuuko sighed, shaking her head as she crossed her arms beneath her sizable mounds. “Alright, I’ll only say this once, but after I do, I expect you to grant my desire and then some. Understood?”

“I...guess so…” Takeru reluctantly agreed. It was not that the young man did not trust the professor - in actuality, she was the one he could trust the most in every iteration of the world he experienced - but he was honestly curious as to her reasons for such a wish before granting her such unparalleled strength.

“Good. Now then, where shall I begin…” the bikini-clad beauty pondered aloud, moving her right hand to her chin as she took on her usual inquisitory posture. “Let’s start off with the results of my second wish, hmmm? Shirogane, you made Marimo and the others into massive versions of themselves as weapons I could use to destroy the BETA, did you not?”

“Yes, I-”

“Then answer me this: How exactly am I supposed to control them to do that if they can’t see or hear me? You gave me a passive barrier of sorts to prevent them from killing me, as evidenced earlier, but given that you didn’t give me a way of direct communication with them at all times, they’re pretty much free to do as they please at the moment. Sure, Marimo is among them, but we both saw Mitsurugi stomp away towards the mainland on her own, did we not? Are you telling me that either Marimo or myself ordered her to do that?”

“No, of course not!” Takeru answered, his affinity for Meiya causing him to immediately jump to her defense. In all of the countless iterations of the world he had experienced, he had chosen Meiya as his wife each and every time, always making the ultimate sacrifice by staying on Earth while giving her his ticket to board the immigrant ships during the Alternative V plan so that she could live the rest of her life in peace and safety. “Meiya was only-”

“And that brings me to my second point: Mitsurugi herself,” Yuuko interrupted. “For what reason you decided to make her much larger than the others is beyond me. Yes, out of the group, she’s by far the most qualified, but I wonder why you did so? Was it her relation to the shogun? Her qualifications? Or perhaps it’s because...you prefer her over the others?”

“How...How did you…?”

“You’re predictable, Shirogane. It wasn’t hard to nail down the options, and given that you responded as you just have, I’ve gotten my answer,” the scientist chuckled slightly over her minor victory. “Regardless of that, Mitsurugi could now pose a bigger threat than the BETA ever could, and there’s nothing on this planet that could stop her if she decided to turn against humanity.”

“How could you say that?!” the auburn-haired teen once again defended the noble swordswoman. “Meiya would never do such a thing, and you know it!”

“Do I? They say power corrupts, and right now, Mitsurugi is the most powerful thing on the planet. If she can survive at her height without breathing, you’ve obviously made her immortal. How long do you think it’ll be before she decides to take over the world herself, hmmm? With nothing to stop her, we’re all just her playthings at this point whenever she decides to indulge herself. You’re relying on only what you know of her, but don’t forget that people change, Shirogane. Left unchecked as she is, humanity will be subject to her whims whenever she desires to explore them. You know, it’s quite funny, actually: the weapon you ‘made’ to fight the BETA might be the one to destroy Earth by herself.”

“There’s no way Meiya would ever purposely destroy the Earth!” Takeru growled, becoming increasingly frustrated by Yuuko’s logic. He knew that everything the bikini-clad professor said was correct, but he could not bring himself to accept her conclusions.

“Oho?” Yuuko mused. “Purposely? When did I say it was just purposely she could destroy the planet? You’ve brought me to my third point, Shirogane, that Mitsurugi doesn’t even have to try - she can simply wipe out humanity simply by existing.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Come now, Shirogane, you can’t be this blind,” she scolded. “The impact from her toes alone earlier caused some large tidal waves in the area, not to mention the earthquakes generated by her footfalls. Tell me, how many people do you think she’ll have killed on accident by the time she reaches wherever she’s headed, hmmm? And of course, that’s only merely one example, mind you.” Yuuko paused for a moment to let the cadet mill over the death count caused by Meiya’s most basic actions before continuing. “What if Mitsurugi trips, hmmm? Considering her head is above the atmosphere, she’s obviously several hundred miles tall. Mitsurugi could kill more people in a few seconds than the BETA have in the entirety of the war if she’s not careful. Are you telling me you could live with yourself if that happened? What if that simple action would turn the tide of the war back in the BETA’s favor? Despite her size, Mitsurugi is still human - she’s not infallible, so every action she takes will now have a massive impact on the planet. Not to mention the effects of her body heat on the-”

“Alright, alright! I get it!” the teenager protested, finally having enough of the mental pictures the professor was painting in his mind. “You want me to make you into a goddess so you can control Meiya, right?”

“Once again, Shirogane, you’re missing the bigger picture,” Yuuko shook her head. “Mitsurugi’s every move could possibly reshape the Earth’s surface forever. Don’t you think someone should be able to, oh, I don’t know, repair the damage somehow? Considering I only have one wish left, why should I narrow my choices when giving myself such a broad range of authority could solve multiple problems at once, some of which you’ve caused.”

“Nngh…” Takeru gritted his teeth, knowing the professor was absolutely right, as she normally was. “Fine, you’ve made your point, Kouzuki-sensei, but answer me one last thing before I grant your wish: how will making you a goddess-”

“The Goddess. Please get it right.”

“Ahem...the Goddess allow you to annihilate all the BETA across all of space?”

“Shirogane, you should know by now that I am one of the few people on Earth who know how the BETA operate to a sensible degree,” the physicist reminded him. “While that doesn’t necessarily qualify me for having this kind of power, neither does simply wishing for them to be gone accomplish that goal. Tell me, do you know a means to destroy the entirety of the BETA? And not just simply from this world, but in every other world you’ve supposedly been in simultaneously? The answer is that you don’t. I, however, do, but in my present state, I’m incapable of doing just that. That is why I need to become omnipotent, to possess omniscience that I may tap into as I see fit - after all, it wouldn’t be fun for me to immediately know everything, now would it? - to have absolute control, to have no equal in my power, and for my will alone to trump all else. This is the only wish that will guarantee humanity’s survival in this and all other iterations of the world. Anything else will doom us all due to your failure in knowing the answer as to how the BETA will disappear forever. This is why you must make me into the Goddess humanity needs. I am the only one with enough intelligence and foresight to successfully bring about an end to this war, but I need the power to do so.” Yuuko paused briefly, dropping her arms to her side as she looked directly into the cadet’s eyes. “Shirogane...will you grant my wish and give me the power I seek, or will you disobey my direct order and once again let humanity fall to the BETA, and now possibly Mitsurugi as well?”

Takeru found himself at odds with his conscience as he digested the researcher’s final explanation. On the one hand, granting the vice-commander such unchecked power would leave  her as unrivaled as she desired, a force that not even Meiya could dare challenge even at her gargantuan stature. On the other hand, however, it was the only sensible wish he knew the professor could make; she had been playing him like a fiddle throughout their entire conversation, knowing exactly what to say to garner support for her wish, and ultimately, he knew she was right. Yuuko was always right in every iteration of her he had ever encountered. Even now as he had doubts as to granting her final wish, Takeru knew that Yuuko’s plan was the only plausible course of action: she had squandered her first wish on alcohol, and he had erred in her second with Meiya’s excessive height, so by being able to do as she pleased with her last wish, there was an actual chance that the goal he had in mind when he ended up in this world would finally be achieved. An end to the infinite cycle of failure and the implementation of Alternative V were just moments away from finally becoming reality...

“Kouzuki-sensei…” he began, still unsure of himself, “...if I grant you your wish, will you make me a promise?”

“A promise, huh?” Yuuko smirked, intrigued by what he could possibly have in mind. “I have no duty to agree to it, but I don’t mind hearing you out. If it’s something I can do, then I’ll promise it.”

“Promise me that...that if I make you into the Goddess you want to be... you’ll annihilate the BETA. Every last one of them, in all worlds. And that you’ll make sure to keep the Earth safe despite any damage Meiya or the others might cause.”

“Oho? Is that all? My my, Shirogane, I thought you were going to ask for my hand in marriage or something more extreme. Then again, I don’t date guys younger than me anyways, so it’s a good thing you didn’t ask for anything like that,” the genius scientist sarcastically replied with a chuckle. “Of course I can make that promise. After all, that’s the main reason I want this power. You have my word on that, Shirogane.”

“Kouzuki-sensei...T-Thank you…” Takeru smiled in relief, holding back a wave of emotion within himself and trying his best to keep from crying. With the vice-commander’s promise to him, he no longer had any doubts about granting her wish; no matter which version of Yuuko he encountered, the gorgeous scientist always kept her word. Finally, an end to the BETA…An end to this war...An end to all this suffering... “Alright then, I promise I won’t let you down with your last wish!” the teen grinned confidently as he quickly composed himself, ready to work his magics for the last time. “You want to be the Goddess you desire with absolute power and control? I’ll do you one better and give you more power than you’ll know what to do with! Nobody’ll ever be or can be as strong as you! Your final wish has been granted, so get ready to keep your end of the deal, Kouzuki-kami-sama!”

“Kami-sama, huh? Has a nice ring to it…”

Time seemed to stop completely for all but Takeru and Yuuko as the latter began her apotheosis. An unknown force caused the purple-haired vixen to slowly float above the ground several feet in the air as her body began to emanate a bright golden glow. Before the woman knew what was happening, Yuuko yet out a moan of absolute bliss as she could suddenly feel herself gaining dominance over all the powers of all existence, countless abilities and skills becoming hers, along with the limitless strength and power to go with them. The genius professor could feel every fiber of her being transcending her human form while simultaneously retaining her beautiful figure, becoming an immortal, invincible, ethereal being that truly would never have any equal. In the back of her mind, Yuuko could feel as if she had just gained access to an ancient locked library, containing all information that was, is, or would ever be known; omniscience was hers to peruse as she saw fit, now able to unlock and gain access to information beyond her wildest dreams whenever she so desired. Yuuko’s ascension seemed to last for an eternity, but with time itself at a standstill in reverence of her rise to power, neither of them truly knew how long the process had continued, Takeru himself believing that it had been a good twenty minutes or so since he had granted her wish. The rush of absolute power continued to flood her entire being and very essence, assimilating into her effortlessly until finally, after what seemed to be another eternity of waiting, Yuuko was everything, everyone, and then some more, giving her dominance and control over all and none, for these had become mere concepts that she could now change at a moment's notice. As the glow began to fade from her body and Yuuko regained full control of her senses, the newly born Goddess gently descended from above with her apotheosis now complete, floating a few inches off of the ground so as to bask in her new godly state for a little while longer.

“K-Kouzuki...K-Kouzuki-kami-sama…?” Takeru stuttered, unable to fully grasp what he had just seen and done to the bikini-clad scientist-turned-Goddess. To him, the professor looked just as she had before her ascension, yet at this very moment, the young cadet could feel something greater than countless infinities emanating from her entire being. “K-Kouzuki-kami-sama, h-how do you...how do you feel?”

“How do I feel?” Yuuko asked slowly, grinning wickedly as she fully lowered herself to the ground, allowing her bare soles to once again touch terra firma as her toes danced gleefully against the destroyed island soil. “I feel...complete,” the Goddess answered, her voice seemingly echoing from everywhere at once. “There is nothing I cannot do, nothing I cannot control, nothing that can ever challenge my authority. If I wish to, I could know everything at any time I’d like, but there’d honestly be no fun in that. What sort of scientist would I be if I simply gave myself all the answers, hmmm? And yet, even despite my absolute power, I feel as if I’m...getting stronger even now. I take it that this little bonus was what you meant by giving me more power than I’d know what to do with, hmmm? My thanks, Shirogane; the sensation of feeling myself constantly surpassing my own already unfathomable might is a truly indescribable pleasure deserving of the supreme being. You should be proud of yourself, Shirogane: you successfully turned me into the Goddess I asked to become without messing up my wish. Now I’ll have no problem dealing with the BETA threat and eliminating them once and for all...among other things...”

“T-Thank goodness,” the trainee sighed in relief, a great weight taken off his shoulders upon realizing that his granting of power had been a success and that the brilliant genius before him largely had remained the same in terms of her personality. “I had no idea what to do, so I just thought of literally everything I could think of to make your wish come true. But, um, Kouzuki-kami-sama, would you mind turning down your voice a bit? You’ve become really loud all of a sudden.”

“Oh? I hadn’t noticed. Still getting acclimated to my new body and power,” the professor shrugged, focusing on reducing her all-encompassing tone to her natural volume. “Better? Wouldn’t want your head to explode in my presence, now would I?...Then again, it would be quite the experiment to see how much pressure the human skull could take of my booming voice before exploding…”

“I-I think I’ll pass on that one!”

“Relax, Shirogane, I was only joking,” Yuuko chuckled, absolutely loving the ever-increasing power she now possessed. In the midst of her laughter, however, the devious goddess suddenly noticed something amiss with the boy who had granted her supreme divinity. “Shirogane...Your body…” her voice took on a serious tone, “...it seems as if you’re fading away…”

“Huh?” Takeru glanced down at his body, finding that what the deity had said was true: his entire being was in the process of fading away into nothingness. “Are you doing this to me, Kouzuki-kami-sama?”

“Of course not. I might be a bit harsh to those on base on occasion, but why would I want to kill you after all you’ve done for me?” the goddess empathized. “If I had to guess, I’d say that since your duty here is complete, your body is trying to return to your own version of Earth, with your friends and that version of myself as normal as you remember them,” she theorized. “If you really are like a genie in a bottle, Shirogane, it makes sense you would exit this world in such a fashion once you’ve granted someone their wishes. Additionally, considering that a Shirogane Takeru already exists in this version of Earth, reality is fixing itself so that there is only one Shirogane in this world as it should be. I could stop the process if I wanted to, but...well, I believe it’s for the best for you to return to your own world now, Shirogane. You’ve given me the power to affect all worlds, not just this one, so know that even when you return home, I will keep my promise to you. Even if you are dimensions away, I will annihilate the BETA in your world single-handedly with the slightest of ease.”

“Kouzuki-kami-sama…” the teenager sniffled, tears welling up in his eyes as his body continued to become more and more transparent by the instant. “I...I look forward to seeing exactly what you’ll do to kill them all!” he confidently shouted, wiping the tears from his eyes and recomposing himself. “I know you won’t let me down! You never do!” he smiled as he fistpumped with his right hand.

“Even in your last moments in this world, Shirogane, don’t you think you’re overdoing it on the flattery?” Yuuko smirked. “Regardless, you can go back now knowing that everything will be fine. Humanity now has the ultimate trump card: the Goddess of this and all worlds on their side. Go back and wait for me to do my job, and let me worry about the rest. For now, this is goodbye, Shirogane. Thank you once again...for everything.”

Nodding to his superior, the young cadet proceeded to stand at attention, giving the Vice-Commander a final salute of respect, despite the fact that Takeru was now little more than a specter. “I believe in you, Kouzuki-kami-sama. I know you’ll give it your all and do just what you promised! See you later!” With a final farewell wave, the bizarre counterpart of this world’s Takeru Shirogane finally dissipated into nothingness, leaving the newborn deity alone in a world presently frozen in time.

With her power now unchecked, the worst event imaginable in all iterations of Earth had finally become reality: Yuuko was the Goddess of all, the one being who should never be trusted with such monstrous, unrivaled strength. “Now that Shirogane’s gone...I can do anything I want…” Yuuko laughed sinisterly, taking the time to bask in her own infinitely-increasing power. “Such a foolish boy. Oh well...I suppose I should get acclimated to my abilities and fix some things before I mess around with Marimo for a bit. After all, I’ve got all the time in the world…”

The Goddess spent roughly a total of two hours experimenting with her various powers and beginning to assert her dominance, even though not an attosecond of actual time had passed during her entire training session. Even though she could master her powers instantly by simply tapping into her limitless intellect to discover how they worked, the professor found such a shortcut to be rather boring, enjoying instead the trial and error nature of the scientific method in understanding the full extent of her abilities. The deity focused mainly on using her grander powers - reality manipulation and control of space and time - along with extending her control across all planes of existence. Yuuko’s first act of assuring her total and eternal supremacy was to forbid the existence of any and all “magics” that existed across the dimensions save for the unrivaled power she alone possessed; the beautiful genius knew herself better than anyone, and she knew that if another Yuuko were given the chance to obtain power as well, she would not hesitate to exploit such an opportunity. Now, with the Goddess sealing off such an event from ever occurring, she had made sure that she alone would truly be the only powerful force in this and all other universes.

“It never hurts to be too careful…” the bikini-clad deity nodded to herself, proud of her precautions. “Let’s see...I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp of what I can do by now, considering that I can literally do anything at any time now, so I think it’s the perfect time to have a bit of fun with my new powers. I can’t wait to see the look on Marimo’s face...”

With a devious grin, Yuuko teleported herself directly in front of Marimo’s right foot, gazing up at the towering toes before her with a bit of an envious glare. Hmmm...I should remind myself to give Marimo such a nice view as well before this is all over. When she was ready, the goddess unfroze time with no effort whatsoever, watching as Marimo and her trainees resumed their panicking over Meiya’s unintentional annihilation of the training island.

“So you’re saying that without Vice-Commander Kouzuki, there’s practically no chance we can go back to normal?” Chizuru asked her instructor.

“If there’s anyone who would know how to fix this, it would be Yuuko,” the buxom sergeant nodded. “Unfortunately, seeing as how Mitsurugi destroyed the island when she enlarged, there’s no way she could’ve survived that.”

“So we’re stuck like this...forever?” Tama curiously inquired.

“I’m afraid so,” Marimo answered. “We could consult with the remainder of the scientists at Yokohama to see if they could do anything, but in reality, without Yuuko at the helm, it’d just be a wasted effort. Besides, the amount of damage we’d cause simply by returning home would be too great a risk to everyone else. I’m sorry, but until we can figure out what to do, we’re stuck here indefinitely.”

“What are we gonna do about Meiya-sama?” Mikoto wondered aloud.

“She looked determined,” Ayamine noted. “Mitsurugi knew where she was going.”

“I...haven’t really thought of anything on how to contact Mitsurugi,” Marimo admitted, crossing her arms beneath her heaving chest in thought. “She’s just so much larger than us. I don’t know if I can-”

“Marimo, aren’t you supposed to always be strong for your students even when you don’t know the answer?” a smug, familiar voice rang out in the minds of all five women.

“No way…” Chizuru muttered. “Did you guys hear that, or was it just me?”

“Yeah, I heard it too! It sounded like Kouzuki-sensei!” Mikoto cheered. “She’s alive!”

“Yay…” Ayamine enthusiastically agreed in her usual monotone.

“Y-Yuuko?! Yuuko, you’re alive?!” Marimo flustered for a moment, unable to comprehend how her best friend had survived the unstoppable bulldozer that was Meiya’s expanding sole. “Where are you? How did you survive that?!”

“Well, I suppose I could explain from here, but I think it’s better if we talked face-to-face, wouldn’t you agree?” the violet-haired woman relayed.

“Face-to-face?” Tama wondered. “What’s she mean by that?”

I guess now is a good time as ever to try this out. I wonder what it’ll be like? Focusing on enhancing her physique, Yuuko simply willed herself larger, her body responding to her desires and causing her to grow rapidly. The goddess took several steps backwards as she quickly soared past the once-monumental toes before her, giving herself plenty of space to complete her expansion. As she delighted in the pleasant sensation of her pristine feet soaking in the cool ocean waters below, the remainder of Yuuko’s body pulsed with increasing amounts of bliss as she experienced the dual delight of her own growth combined with her eternal ascension. No wonder they were all quaking with power as they grew. This is actually quite refreshing…

“Hey, look!” Mikoto pointed towards Marimo’s bare feet. “I can see Commander Kouzuki! She’s growing just like we did!”

“Hopefully she doesn’t pull a Mitsurugi…” Chizuru worried.

The four trainees gathered around their instructor as the professor continued to rise higher and higher, passing Marimo’s ankles, knees, thighs, and breasts in a drawn-out process that seemed to last for roughly a minute, until she finally stopped at the same 2 mile height as the rest of her subordinates, now looking the ruffled-haired woman square in her amber eyes. “Well, that was certainly fun,” Yuuko commented as casually stretched her arms above her head. “None of you told me how fun it was to grow like that in the first place.”

“Oh Yuuko!” Marimo exclaimed as she gave the violet-haired goddess a strong hug, their huge breasts squishing against each other in their embrace. “I thought you were dead! I don’t know what we would’ve done without you!”

“There, there, Marimo,” Yuuko smiled warmly, returning the hug as she patted the natural-born teacher on the back of her head. “I’m sorry to have worried you like this. Still, don’t you think you should pull yourself together in front of the others? It’s unbecoming of a squad leader to seem vulnerable in front of her students, don’t you think?”

“Yes, you’re right, but I’m just...I’m just so glad you’re alright,” Marimo nodded, letting go of the head of the Alternative IV project. “Now, Yuuko, you have some explaining to do,” her voice shifted, taking on her usual strict drill sergeant’s tone as she often did with her trainees. “You know about all of this, don’t you? Us, Mitsurugi, how you survived and grew just now - I know you have something to do with all of it, so out with it.”

“My, my, Marimo, always so quick to jump to conclusions,” Yuuko chuckled slightly as she brought her right hand to her chin, flashing a haughty grin as she found herself amused by her only friend’s efforts. “Perhaps I did, and perhaps I didn’t - does it really matter how it happened? I’d really love to give you a detailed explanation, but I believe we have bigger problems to deal with at the moment. Your star student just went AWOL, did she not? After Mitsurugi is brought under control, then we can possibly discuss how this all happened, but for now… How shall I deal with her…?” Yuuko mused, gently tapping the tip of her index finger against her chin in contemplation.

“You can’t seriously believe you can stop her on your own, do you?!” the ruffled-haired woman exclaimed. “Yuuko, I know you’ve said some crazy things before in your life, but there’s no way you could possibly do this. We might be gigantic, but we’re still only human.”

“True, you are all still human, but I’ve recently taken the ultimate step in evolution,” the deity smugly replied. “Such a feat will be absolutely trivial before the Goddess of everything…”

“A...A goddess?!” Marimo blinked. “Yuuko, have you completely lost your mind?!”

“Not a goddess, the Goddess,” Yuuko corrected her. “Calling me ‘a goddess’ would imply that others may possibly exist, while saying ‘the Goddess’ is far more definitive, meaning I’m the only one with such unimaginable powers. But, to answer your question, I’m perfectly in my right mind, my dear Marimo. Perhaps a quick demonstration is in order? You’ll have to forgive me, this is the first time I’ve ever done such a thing.” The goddess proceeded to nonchalantly turn towards the cadets standing some distance behind their instructor. “Are any of you hungry for something? You must all be starvingfrom your exams earlier…”

“Commander Kouzuki, this is no time to be joking arou-” Chizuru suddenly stopped mid-sentence, her growling stomach belying her chastisement of her commanding officer. “Um, well, I, uh…” the nerdy girl blushed, nervously grasping her waistline.

“We’re all hungry, Sakaki-san,” Tama smiled at her squad leader. “Maybe she’s telling the truth?”

“I could go for some free snacks!” Mikoto agreed.

“Hungry…” Ayamine added. “Yakisoba-flavored ration bar would be nice…”

“Ration bars it is then,” Yuuko nodded. With a minimal amount of effort from her will, a gray, grainy bar-like substance suddenly appeared in each of the five women’s left hands, the words ‘PX-Deluxe’ printed on the center of both sides of the mysterious objects. “There you are. Now, eat up quickly. The longer it takes to do these formalities, the longer Mitsurugi gets to do whatever she wants,” the goddess encouraged with a confident grin.

“Yuuko, h-how did...how did you…?” Marimo was at a loss for words, unsure of how the ration bar not only appeared in her hand, but was proportioned for a woman of her present stature. Even with her limited knowledge of science, the natural-born teacher knew that such a feat was impossible, but considering her long-standing relationship with the violet-haired demoness known for making the impossible a reality, she quickly began to realize that Yuuko was not lying at all.

“UOOOOO-WOOOOAAAAHHHH!” Tama screamed in excitement, already having taken a large bite from her snack. “I can’t believe it! These are those deluxe flavored meal bars that you can get in the PX vending machines! Only higher-ranking officers with enough salary to spare can afford these things!”

“Tama, don’t just-” Chizuru began, only to be interrupted by her rival.

“Yakisoba…” the raven-haired cadet drooled, gently sucking on the silvery nutrition bar in her mouth. “I haven’t tasted this in a long time.”

“Ayamine! Not you too!”

“Mmmm! It’s really good!” Mikoto nodded, holding her treat in both hands as she gently nibbled on the supplement. “Just try it, Sakaki-san!”

“Hmph…” Bringing the bar in front of her oversized glasses, Chizuru’s emerald eyes took a cautious examination of the magical snack, slowly rotating her wrist clockwise to observe it on all its sides. After finding nothing out of the ordinary - despite the fact that it was large enough to fit in her hand in the first place - she warily bit into the bar, her eyes immediately lighting up in surprise. “Mmmm~”

“See? I told you it was good!” the teal-haired cadet nodded.

“So Yuuko, you...really are a-er, I mean the Goddess now?” Marimo asked, still astounded over the sudden appearance of the proportionally-sized food that was provided to her and her cadets. “I...I can’t believe it. I mean, you had always talked about such a thing before, but I...well, I never thought something like this would actually happen! I mean, the BETA are one thing, but this...not even you could have thought this was possible even in your wildest dreams!”

“True, but it’s happened now, so it’d be best to just accept it,” Yuuko chuckled slightly, wanting to save the sergeant from any further mental headaches. “Don’t worry, I have big plans in store regarding the BETA, but as I said earlier, Mitsurugi is my top priority at the moment.”

“What do you plan on doing to stop her?”

“Kouzuki-sensei, please don’t hurt Meiya-sama!” Tama pleaded.

“Relax, I would never dream of harming one of Marimo’s students,” the goddess assured her. Well, not directly, of course... “I’m simply going to talk to her as her commanding officer. Mitsurugi respects authority, so it’s the perfect, and probably only logical, tactic to bring her back, besides simply forcing her to with my abilities, of course.”

“Just talk to her?” Chizuru blinked. “She’d never spot you if you just used your mind talking like you did earlier.”

“You assume far too much, Sakaki,” Yuuko shook her head. “I could simply force her to notice me, but there wouldn’t be any fun in that, now would there? Of course not. That’s why I’ll be meeting her face-to-face…”

“Oh no...Ohhhh no!” Marimo panicked. “Yuuko, don’t you dare!” With a cheshire grin on her face, the violet-haired deity vanished, causing the instructor to fall back onto her natural teacher’s instincts to guide her students. “Everyone, gather around me! Hurry!”

As the majority of the 207th Training Unit did as commanded, Yuuko had teleported into the center of what was Meiya’s right footprint, the cadet’s sole having etched a noticeably deep crater into the planet’s surface and leaving a perfect impression of the damage she had done by simply standing in place and enlarging. “Well, it’s in even better condition than I had thought,” the scientist nodded in approval. “I could simply find out Mitsurugi’s height at any time I desire, but...this will be far more fun…”

The goddess proceeded to gently lift her left foot off of the ground, placing the majority of her weight on her right leg as she rested her hands against her hips. Next, with a content smirk, Yuuko willed her body to grow, a demand which it immediately granted, causing her to immediately explode outwards, doubling her size before doubling it again the next second. The world rapidly diminished around her as the deity ascended higher and higher, filling in more and more of Meiya’s footprint with each passing moment. Marimo and her squad could only watch on in both awe and terror as the Vice-Commander of Yokohama became a towering goliath right before their very eyes, enlarging herself even further as she suddenly doubled to her present 16 mile height. Another explosion of size brought Yuuko to 32 miles, then to 64 miles, and yet another still boosted her to 128 miles, a look of dissatisfaction evident on her visage as she noted her sole had not yet filled in the footprint of her subordinate. A massive burst of growth catapulted the physicist to 256 miles, her expression changing for the better as she found herself now filling most of Meiya’s imprint.

Hmmm...One more should leave me around Mitsurugi’s size...However, I think Marimo and the others deserve to see me do so up close…

In an instant, Marimo, Chizuru, Tama, Ayamine, and Mikoto suddenly found themselves clustered several dozen miles away from the front of Yuuko’s enormous foot, summoned by the goddess’s will, the massive digits nearly as large as they were, with the tan mountain that was her big toe surpassing them by a slight margin.

“H-Hey, h-how did we suddenly get here?!” Tama exclaimed.

“Everyone, brace yourselves!” Chizuru warned her squadmates and instructor.

“Yuuko, don’t!” the ruffled-haired sergeant pleaded as she took several steps in front of her students and outstretched her arms in an act of protection, even though she knew she stood no chance of challenging the desires of her goddess of a friend. “Everyone fall back, now!”

With her audience in place, Yuuko prepared for her final display of power, chuckling lightly as she surged outwards, purposely slowing her growth so it would be noticeable yet not so delayed as to lose out on the fun of watching the world diminish before her very eyes. The goddess’s unstoppable tan toes plowed through the ocean floor before her only friend’s eyes, rapidly swelling closer and closer with each passing moment. Massive tsunamis were spawned by Yuuko’s relentless expansion, the water rising high and flooding any nearby landmasses that had been spared the first round of Meiya’s chaotic growth. During the entire process, Marimo stared intently at Yuuko’s foot without flinching, audibly gulping to steel her nerves so as to not seem afraid in front of her students.

“Jinguuji-sensei, get outta there!” Mikoto called out.

Just as Yuuko had experienced earlier, Marimo quickly found herself engulfed in the gap between her big and index toes, now able to both hear and feel the goddess’s body become stronger with every inch gained. In the true spirit of karma, however, just as Yuuko’s foot was about to collide with the frightened teacher, the Goddess had reached her desired height, ceasing her growth immediately upon becoming 512 miles tall.

“Well now, I think I’m actually a bit larger than Mitsurugi…” Yuuko noted aloud. Before paying attention to the humans in front of her toes, the bikini-clad goddess slowly lowered her left sole onto Meiya’s other footprint, triggering earthquakes across the planet along with another round of record-breaking tidal waves emanating from her point of impact. Wiggling her toes in delight, Yuuko was extremely satisfied in sensing that her foot extended outwards in all directions from the original crater, noting that she was now taller than the star trainee as her own incalculable weight now caused her to gently sink into the land and remodel the cadet’s handiwork.   

“I...I can’t believe she actually stopped…” Marimo told herself, dropping her bravado and letting the realization that she could have been flattened under the growing foot settle into her mind.

“So, Marimo, what do you think?” the booming voice of the Goddess asked the relatively tiny woman trapped between her colossal digits, zooming in on her with her supernatural vision to observe her reaction.

“I don’t...I don’t believe this…” the sergeant blinked, letting her right hand touch the soft flesh that was Yuuko’s index toe to confirm that she was actually between her friend’s toes. “Yuuko, you’re as massive as Mitsurugi!”

“Larger actually, but that’s not really important,” Yuuko grinned down at her only companion as she bent her right leg slightly inwards, causing the gap between her digits to narrow significantly as Marimo quickly found herself having to fight off the gentle pressure of her superior’s toes. “How’s the view from down there, Marimo?”

“YUUKO!” the drill sergeant yelled in frustration as she attempted to futilely fend off the sudden pincer attack of the perfect appendages, though quickly realizing that they were far too strong to even push back against them in the slightest. “Stop this! Didn’t you say we had to deal with Mitsurugi as soon as possible?”

“I did, yes, but not in those words exactly. I’m entitled to have a bit of fun with my powers for a bit, aren’t I?” the deity smugly replied, enjoying the squirms of the captive between her digits. After a few more seconds of watching Marimo struggle, Yuuko returned her knee to a resting position, releasing the teacher from her mighty grip. “There, wasn’t that fun?” she teased. “Hmmm...You know, it wouldn’t be fair of me to leave out the rest of your squadron from such fun, now would it?”

“Yuuko, leave them aloooooooooo-AHHHHH!” Marimo screamed as she suddenly found herself floating off the ground by an unknown power, rapidly rising hundreds of miles into the air in mere seconds before she quickly stopped, her brief journey leaving her hovering atop two enormous round mountains that were the Goddess’s divine breasts.

“Nonsense, Marimo,” Yuuko assured her as she inserted the relatively tiny woman towards the far end of her cleavage without lifting a finger to do so, giving Marimo the perfect view from high above of the show that would soon take place. “Consider this the conclusion of their examination since it was interrupted earlier. I think it’s an equivalent amount of difficulty, wouldn’t you agree?”

Before the remaining members of the 207th Training Unit had a chance to react, the four young cadets found themselves teleported into the same gap between their commanding officer’s toes as their instructor had recently visited: Mikoto and Tama paired together on Yuuko’s left foot while Chizuru and Ayamine were segregated onto her right foot.

“What the...How did we get here?!” Chizuru exclaimed as she suddenly found herself surrounded by the walls of the deity’s toe flesh, larger than she herself was tall.

“Woah! Commander Kouzuki definitely looks even bigger up close!” Mikoto said in amazement.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” Yuuko teased with a wicked chuckle before slightly bending both of her knees inward, trapping the rookie soldiers between her toes. “I must admit, this does feel quite relaxing. A shame the exam couldn’t have been something like this from the start, eh Marimo?” she addressed her only friend, glaring down at the ruffled-haired teacher nestled safely between her breasts with a cheeky grin. 

“Yuuko! You’ve gone too-”

Marimo, can you hear me? the voice of the Goddess resounded in Marimo’s mind, causing her to lose her train of thought. Don’t say anything aloud. Just answer me with your thoughts only.

Y-Yes, I can hear you, she responded, unsure of why her friend had suddenly switched to mental communication.

Excellent. I need you to listen to me very closely, Yuuko began. What I’ve been doing with you and your squad for the past minute or so…has merely been a ploy to fool those eyes and ears that don’t need to listen in and observe my true intentions.

Wait, what?! Marimo exclaimed, simultaneously angry and dumbfounded at what she had just been told. You mean all of... this... is for some greater purpose?! she emphasized as she pointed to her trapped form, struggling to free herself from the city-sized mounds keeping her in place.

Well, I must admit I am rather enjoying all of this, the violet-haired demoness chuckled slightly, but there is a reason why I’m doing so. In fact, the reason I separated you from the rest of your squad for the time being is because I can only trust you with the specifics of what I want to keep concealed from the rest of the world. Now, Marimo, I want you to listen to me very carefully and do exactly as I tell you…

“Ugh, Ayamine! Get your boob out of my face!” Chizuru growled, using her left hand to fruitlessly press against the unstoppable wall of Yuuko’s index toe, while her right hand was presently gripped on her fellow cadet’s face, attempting to push her away to free up some room in the tight space they both shared. Not only did the leader of the 207th Training Unit have to put up with her commanding officer’s toes practically crushing her to death, but being smashed together in such close quarters with her arch-rival only exacerbated the situation. 

“You should get your face away from my boob, Sakaki,” Ayamine angrily fired back. The raven-haired trainee was in a mirrored posture as her back pressed up against the Goddess’s largest digit while her ample chest was thrust in the face of her most despised comrade, her right hand tugging on Chizuru’s left braided ponytail to accommodate the complaint in her own unique manner of compromising.

“This...is definitely not as fun as I thought it might be!” Tama groaned as she and Mikoto suffered a similar fate together in-between the toes of Yuuko’s left foot. “At least we stand a pretty good chance of survival with our combined skills, right?”

“How do you think Sakaki-san and Ayamine-san are holding up?” the survivial-savvy tomboy wondered aloud.

“Knowing those two, probably not very well…”

“I swear, you’re impossible, Ayamine!” Chizuru complained, the situation now worse than before as she now found her head in the middle of her fellow cadet’s cleavage. “If we make it out of this, I’ll make sure you-”

So, did you get all that? Yuuko inquired of her subordinate.

Yes, I’m absolutely confident I can get it done, Marimo nodded. But Yuuko, how on earth did you-

You said you can do it, right? That’s all you need to know for now, the Goddess interrupted her. Simply do as I told you and everything will work out exactly as planned. Now then, I believe it’s time to reunite you with your students, hmm? You won’t be able to make the necessary preparations without them, after all.

“As much fun as this has been, I think that’s about long enough,” Yuuko chuckled slightly as she returned her knees to their regular position. With but a simple thought, the Vice-Commander of Yokohama teleported Marimo and her subordinates directly in front of her toes once again as she grinned down from high above them. “Congratulations, you all managed to complete the modified  Comprehensive Combat Evaluation Examination. Marimo and I can discuss the results with you another time, but for now, I have business with the remaining member of your squad who didn’t complete the exam. I trust you can handle things in the meantime, Marimo?” she raised an eyebrow as her face took on a more serious expression.

“Of course, Yuuko,” Marimo saluted. “You can always count on me.”

“Excellent, I’ll be taking my leave then. Don’t worry, I’ll bring Mitsurugi under control. I’m the only one who can after all.” Yuuko chuckled lightly as she took her first step at her 512 mile height, shaking the land to its core and causing tremendous tidal waves that nearly swept her allies off their feet as she proceeded towards her target, following Meiya’s path of destruction to easily track down the rogue soldier.

“I’m glad that’s over,” Chizuru sighed in relief as she watched her commanding officer stomp off towards the mainland. “I don’t think I could’ve lasted another second.”

“Maybe if you had just gotten your face out of my chest, you would’ve had more room,” Ayamine snickered.

“Hey, it’s your fault we were-”

“Atten-tion!” Marimo loudly commanded, her powerful, loud drill sergeant’s voice heard across most of Japan as her unit immediately obeyed her order and stood at the ready, ceasing the frivolous bickering between her students. “Alright girls, listen up! We’re heading back to Yokohama as quickly as we can. We’ve been given a new order to carry out, and we’ve got a lot of work to do in a short amount of time.”

“An order?” Mikoto wondered aloud. “From who, Jinguuji-sensei?”

“That’s not important, Yoroi,” she immediately silenced the young girl, wanting to keep Yuuko’s involvement as secret as possible. “What is important is that we are the only ones who can complete this task. This may not be easy, but I have faith in all of you that we’ll be able to carry this out successfully. Are you ready?” 

“Yes ma’am!” her cadets replied in unison.

“Good. Move out!”

Chapter 4

A figure gradually grew in the distance as Yuuko walked towards the mainland. Even as the coast of China began to spread out before her, the trail of footprints led onwards inland towards the blue-haired titaness - possessing a divine form to match her own, her body tight and fit - who was currently standing, staring downwards at the surface as she seemed to study something distasteful. As the first bits of flat, evened land - leveled by the BETA - were crushed beneath Yuuko’s bare feet, the head of Mitsurugi Meiya swung up and looked at her equally-massive superior with widening eyes.

“Commander Kouzuki!” Meiya exclaimed, her feet shifting as dust clouds rose around her footsteps. “You have been affected as well?” Yuuko noted as she approached that the BETA-leveled terrain, in fact, made the trail of perfectly-formed footprints Meiya had left incredibly conspicuous, as if she had been walking in wet cement that had then hardened. The contours of Meiya’s feet were readily apparent, and as Yuuko’s godlike eyesight tightened in on one of the footprints, she noticed swarms of BETA pouring into them. Perhaps they were attempting to dig into them? To fill them? It was an interesting question, but Yuuko only had an academic interest in the answer. The deity had no small amount of other grudges to override her curiosity, so her own slightly larger feet in turn aimed perfectly and landed upon Meiya’s footprints, enlarging them slightly as she smashed the BETA swarms into oblivion beneath her skin.

“Mitsurugi, it seems like you’re having second thoughts?” Yuuko said inquisitively, studying her subordinate and ignoring her question. In front of the blue-haired girl’s massive toes stood a towering, compared to its surroundings, structure: the BETA Hive. The Hive itself barely even compared to the cadet’s toes; a casual step or even Meiya simply moving her foot forward would completely annihilate the structure.

“What?” Meiya blinked, her voice abrupt in surprise as she looked at Yuuko, then down at the Hive. “No, no. I was simply thinking, Commander Kouzuki, how something so small and powerless compared to me has done so much to those I love. The defeat of humanity at their hands… And yet I have crushed millions of them simply by walking, and now have their Hive before me helpless. It is a feeling I could not have imagined before today. True strength is… This situation complicates everything I have ever thought on the subject.” Meiya crouched down, a knee slamming into the ground a few miles from the Hive and throwing out a huge dust cloud. “Everything has become confused now.”

“Mitsurugi, you really are an idiot, you know that?” Yuuko lightly chuckled, stepping up to Meiya and looking down at her from the other side of the Hive. “It’s simple. We have become strong. Does there really need to be much else to it?” she asked as her voice took on a more serious tone. “We have the ability to make things right now. The only advice I’ll give you now is to make sure that you step down hard enough to collapse the Stab as well. There’s no point in just destroying the Monument.”

Meiya paused, looking up at Yuuko for a second in thought. And then she nodded. She stood once again to her full height, straightening her long legs. “I don’t know, Commander Kouzuki, but… You are correct. This is what I came here to do. I will not be turned aside by such things.”

The blue- and purple-haired women both focused downwards, watching the tiny monument between their feet. The duo bracketed the Hive completely, their toes nearly touching; the only escape route would be between their heels, but BETA as usual had no interest in self-preservation or fleeing. High above, ample breasts hung what seemed to be only centimeters away from each other, even if in reality the gap between them could not have been bridged by any building or bridge ever built. A slight sway closed the gap just as a satellite zipped between the two titans, massive avalanches of flesh reducing the man-made orbiter to atoms between them without their notice as nipples met for an instant.

“Do it, Mitsurugi,” Yuuko commanded, tapping her toe on the ground below them. Meiya responded by lifting a foot, menacingly hanging it over the Hive. The cadet moved her big toe, maneuvering it so that it aimed down at the Hive; it completely filled the sky above the silver tower that poked out above the Hive, the only blemish aside from footprints on that perfectly flat plain. Meiya glanced up at Yuuko, and then let her foot fall: the toe speared the Hive head on with explosive power. Dust and debris blasted everywhere, and when it cleared and Meiya slowly pulled her foot away, a perfect indentation, complete with a gorge created by her big toe, remained.

“It was so… easy… Commander Kouzuki,” Meiya said, her breath short as she looked down at her handiwork. It seemed as if tears were brimming in her eyes as the reality of the situation settled in, the power to defeat her worst foes finally becoming realized. What happened next made her jump, however: Yuuko lifted her foot quickly and struck like a viper, slamming her foot down heel-first on the indentation. With power beyond any weapon ever conceived, the area around the former Hive was obliterated, a huge crater all that remained.

“Mitsurugi, I told you to strike hard,” Yuuko chastised. “You have to destroy the entire Stab as well. The level of kinetic force required to collapse the tunnels is fairly high, you know. We need to be sure. I trust that you can handle the rest?” the Vice-Commander asked as she turned and looked into the distance, farther into the continent.

Meiya smiled and nodded. “Yes! Leave it to me, Commander Kouzuki!” The massive cadet snapped a salute and, after one last glance down at the crater that was formerly a Hive, jogged off towards Kashgar, the Original Hive, her massive feet pounding into the flattened earth below her.

“Such an obedient soldier…” Yuuko chuckled to herself as she watched the titanic cadet stomp off into the distance, effortlessly annihilating thousands upon thousands of swarming BETA with each earth-shattering footfall. “Now that Mitsurugi is tasked with wiping out the other Hives here on Earth, I suppose it’s time I finally got around to the extinction of the BETA from this and every other world out there as well…”

With her plans for Marimo and her subordinates now fully set into motion, the bikini-clad goddess was ready to fulfill her promise to Takeru by annihilating any and all traces of the BETA from every last reality once and for all. Yuuko, of course, could accomplish this feat with as much effort as it took to achieve her present stature, but once again, she decided against unleashing the full brunt of her powers to achieve her goal. The BETA have made humanity suffer relentlessly over the past 30 years...It’s only right to undo some of the damage they’ve done to the planet and thin out their numbers a bit here before I wipe them out completely… Yuuko turned her head upwards, bringing her right hand to her chin and tapping her index finger against it as she fell deep in thought. As she gazed off towards the heavens in contemplation, a gray spheroid not too far away from Earth’s surface caught the deity’s attention, her crimson eyes locking onto it as she immediately began to formulate a plan of action as to how to begin her genocide. Perfect. This should be quite the interesting experience…

Taking into account her most recent orders to the gargantuan Meiya, Yuuko decided to proceed in an unconventional, though somewhat clichéd, approach to the first phase of her plan. As she had done when she had initially ascended, the goddess began to float off of the ground, gazing down below at her handiwork with satisfaction, the deep imprint of her heel forever embedded into the Earth’s surface. Rather impressive when I see it from above like this. I’ll have to make a note to make it a landmark of my presence on the other Earths as well. Yuuko proceeded to rise higher and higher off of the planet, several UN satellites in the nearby orbit quickly finding themselves on a collision course with her succulent thighs. Luckily for these hunks of metal, their course was averted, instead finding themselves obliterated against the smooth, supple skin of Yuuko’s toned posterior. As she neared the outer boundaries of Earth’s gravitational pull, the goddess began to implement a measure to mask her presence somewhat until she was ready for the show to begin: using her limitless power, Yuuko manipulated the fabric of reality around her so that her body would not cast a shadow, insuring that her presence in the heavens would only be noticed by gazing directly at her superb body. I don’t want to give away my gift to the world this early, now do I? the Goddess internally mused. 

Now completely unrestrained from the planet’s natural forces, Yuuko floated freely in the endless void of space, the blue and green sphere of life laid out before her very eyes. From her viewpoint above it all, a lone figure caught the goddess’s attention: Meiya Mitsurugi had finally reached the Kashgar Hive acting on the Vice-Commander’s orders, preparing to deliver a critical blow to the alien forces by destroying their largest and original colony on Earth.

It was a curious aspect of the flattened nature of BETA-occupied territory that no mountains, hills, or valley formed any kind of disruption under the vast stomping feet that crossed what had once been China, and then India, with a speed thus far unimaginable by humans. It resembled more as if the blue-haired titaness was walking on some kind of bizarre giant table, and all that really existed to disavow her of that belief was a few, quite miniscule, Hives and the distant horizon lines and oceans. From her towering perspective, Meiya could see the outline of the continent and almost imagine how it had been before everything had perished in the flames of war and invasion. In its present state, the Asian continent looked almost like a tactical planning map, which was something the cadet was thoroughly familiar with to the point that her beautiful sapphire eyes flowed naturally towards her target.

As she walked, thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of Laser-class blasts intensified upon her. The fearsome weaponry lanced up at her feet and shins, a torrent of firepower that could have reduced anything ever created by mankind to ash. And the effect it had upon her was absolutely nothing. Meiya smiled as she lifted her foot, watching the lasers paint her sole as she took the final steps. It was more that she imagined the tickling impacts than actually felt them as her sole hung in the air, filling the sky near Kashgar. The relentless bombardment scored hit after hit, running the contours of the flawless foot. From heel to instep, arch to ball, and all of her toes, the lasers accomplished less than a mild breeze’s worth of irritation. And then, Meiya lowered her foot downwards: it slammed home, ruining the flat landscape with a perfect footstep impression. Millions of BETA were crushed instantly as if they were nothing, obliterated by the simple act of her step. And then, she repeated the process with the other foot, the righteous anger within her warring with the sheer joy of obliterating the hated enemy.

“Commander Kouzuki!” Meiya called out, not caring if the person in question could hear her. “Cadet Mitsurugi Meiya will now accomplish her mission!” her voice boomed, echoing across Asia. The noble swordswoman looked downwards; her feet bracketed the Hive, which was now only slightly behind her immense form. “Everyone… Takeru...” she said solemnly, a smile crossing her face. Meiya looked towards Japan and the island where she had left her squadmates, and after a quick breath to steel herself, she let her legs go out from under her. The blue-haired titaness fell to the ground below, an unstoppable mass rushing downwards towards the Original Hive. It was a titanic structure…on a human scale. To Meiya, it was hardly anything; if not for its sheer significance in her and every human’s life, it would be something that at her current size and power would never have even registered as more than a curiosity. However, as Meiya’s shapely rear crashed downwards, the firmly toned rump that had been honed by thousands of hours of training had no interest in significance or mercy. The sheer mass of a 500 mile tall goddess slamming into the Original Hive was as effective of a weapon as could be imagined. A small, to her, thump could be heard as her rear sank into the ground. Everything collapsed, the weight too much for even BETA tunnels. Cracks spread outwards as she sank into the Earth slightly, earthquakes tremoring at the catastrophic damage done to the tectonic plates. Even as far away as the Russian Hives, the towering structures tottered and tunnels collapsed. Meiya sat there in the middle of the vast wasteland as she officially confirmed the annihilation of the Kashgar Hive, eyes closed, relishing the feeling.

Excellent work, Mitsurugi, Yuuko grinned, nodding slightly in approval at the cadet’s handiwork. I believe it’s time I did you one better…

After performing a series of quick mental calculations, the violet-haired deity willed her body to enlarge, growing rapidly over the planet. Unlike her previous bursts of height, Yuuko grew at a relatively steady pace, increasing her stature by several hundred miles with each passing second. The divine scientist began to take up more and more of the space above the Earth, her heavenly figure becoming progressively more noticeable by the general masses by the moment. In addition to humanity witnessing the goddess’s revelation, the countless BETA gathered throughout Eurasia took notice of the growing humanoid figure in the celestial sphere, though per their survival mechanisms, largely ignored her for the most part.

A glowing pink dot emanating from southeastern Mongolia caught Yuuko’s interest as she surpassed 6000 miles in length, considering she could spy the anomaly without using her enhanced senses. Zooming in on the flare-like beacon, Yuuko was able to easily identify the signal as a massive gathering of a Heavy Laser-class BETA Corps with numbers easily exceeding 100,000 units. With her natural unparalleled knowledge of the workings of the BETA, the goddess almost immediately concluded that given the amount of Magnus Lux BETA present and their naturally low production rate, she was most likely gazing upon the majority of the species present within northern Asia.

Back on Earth, as she was finishing off the remnants of the Chongqing Hive with a combination of powerful, pinpointed toe thrusts and heel stomps, Meiya had noticed the bright light a relatively short distance away from her, immediately recognizing the familiar eerie glow from her combat training lectures. “Heavy Laser-class, and lots of them,” she noted aloud, her mind already made up as to her next actions. “They are obviously planning on striking Commander Kouzuki. I will not let them get the chance!”

Before she could complete a single step, Meiya stomped hard with her right foot as she quickly ceased her momentum, shaking the entire planet as she stopped dead in her tracks, her large breasts jiggling wildly in her black and white swimsuit top. Mitsurugi, I gave you an order, Yuuko’s stern voice scolded the cadet in her mind. Let them do as they wish. I’ll demonstrate to the entire world that the BETA are no longer a threat to humanity…

The noble swordswoman craned her neck upwards, taking in the view of the colossal 15000 mile Vice-Commander who could now be seen from anywhere on the planet, walls of tan flesh consuming the entire skyline as her growth only intensified. Thirty-six seconds had elapsed since Yuuko’s observation of the BETA Corps, the amount of time needed for the Heavy Laser-class monsters to charge their deadly beams for optimal range and to achieve maximum destructive impact. In perfect synchronization, the entire Corps unleashed their plasma cannons simultaneously a second later, aiming for the massive human far above them. The deity had been mentally counting the seconds in her head since spotting the BETA mass, timing the moment of the offensive perfectly with her next move. Yuuko watched the beams merge together into one super attack, smiling in amusement as she casually moved her left sole over the lasers’ path, effortlessly blocking the assault with her foot. The goddess pretended to yawn in boredom as the lasers continued to pound her growing foot, dealing no damage to her invincible form and not even tickling her sole in the slightest.

“Is that really the best you can do?” Yuuko scoffed at the Magnus Luxs’ efforts, the growing woman accelerating her rate of enlargement to a few thousand miles a second as she passed 20000 miles in length. “I didn’t even feel a thing. I won’t even justify this with a proper counterattack. It was just too pathetic…” she sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she shook her head in disappointment. “Here, I’m done playing around with you. You can have your beams back…”

Now 45000 miles tall and rapidly rising, Yuuko moved her left foot back a relatively small distance, positioning her big toe to take the full brunt of the assault. At 57000 miles, the goddess slowly curled her toes, gathering power in her foot, and at 70000 miles, Yuuko flicked her toes forward, her colossal digit reflecting the countless blasts back at the BETA Corps on Earth. The results of the counter were immediate as rose-colored hellfire rained down upon southeastern Mongolia, the usually thick skin of the Magnus Lux BETA Corps pierced easily by their own returning fire. Meiya could only watch on in awe as a meteor shower of lasers annihilated thousands upon thousands of Heavy Laser-class in a matter of seconds, every last Magnus Lux killed by its own powerful laser attack. A series of countless tiny craters, dismembered alien remains, and over a hundred-thousand gallons of putrid black blood littered the already-leveled terrain, forever to be a reminder that an entire Heavy Laser-class Corps was eradicated in one swift, simple movement from the almighty Goddess.

“Such incredible power…” Meiya thought aloud, taking in the unbelievable amount of carnage laid out in front of her eyes before proceeding to turn her head upwards towards the still-enlarging omnipotent deity. “Is there truly no limit to Commander Kouzuki’s strength?”       

Meanwhile, the unstoppable Yuuko began to curtail her expansion, beginning to reduce her rate back down to a mere few hundred miles a second after she passed the 125,000 mile marker, before halting her ascension altogether a half minute later at a truly massive 150,000 miles tall. The Earth, once a titanic ball of life that was greater than the goddess could ever dream of becoming, was now naught but a small spheroid that rivaled her own impressive breasts in size, allowing her glorious visage to now be seen clearly all across the globe. Yuuko’s crimson eyes glared down at her home world as she floated in the void of space, facing the Asian continent as a confident grin formed on her face.

“I think this should be large enough,” the genius physicist noted aloud. “But, just to be safe…” Yuuko suddenly exploded outwards in a colossal burst of size, increasing her height by a third as she now stood at her final height of 200,000 miles. “Ah, much better. Now then, it’s time to begin...”  With her desired stature achieved, Yuuko proceeded to locate the catalyst that would begin humanity’s ultimate revolution against the BETA on her home world: the Moon.

Chapter 5

As Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon was considered by all presently-living humans as the BETA’s secondary command center in the fight for Earth outside of the Kashgar Hive. With the outbreak of the First Lunar War in January 1967, man’s first encounter with the extraterrestrial BETA would herald the beginning of the BETA Wars, a conflict that no one would have ever believed would lead to a decades-long struggle against the alien invasion. Humanity attempted to control the scope of the invasion as best they could, but the BETA were far more resilient to the harsh surface conditions of the Moon, as well as to damage that would kill their human adversaries. Despite humanity's efforts, the BETA continued to spread like wildfire, lunar bases in key strategic positions lost to the BETA on a consistent basis. After years of exhausting their resources in attempting to keep the BETA from invading the Earth, humanity ultimately withdrew from the conflict in April 1973 when a BETA landing unit launched from the Moon and landed on Earth in the Kashgar Autonomous Area in western China, signaling the beginning of the BETA outbreak on Earth with the construction of the Kashgar Hive. Since then, the Moon has become a breeding ground for the BETA, covered in countless Hives that have reached the Phase 5 stage or greater, a natural spawning point for countless reinforcements to push humanity further and further towards the brink of extinction.

Yuuko now hovered in front of the infested satellite, the gray spheroid now smaller than her toes as the goddess’s colossal digits towered over it. Using her powers over physics itself, Yuuko created physical barriers made of the fabric of space near her hands in order to push herself backwards slightly, allowing her to surround the Moon with her pristine soles in relative comfort.

Marimo, it’s almost time… the Goddess signaled to her best friend below on Earth. You may begin on my signal…

Slowly encircling the infested gray orb with her feet, Yuuko's soles gently began to apply an increasing amount of pressure, watching as the satellite slowly began to crack before her very eyes. On the surface below, chaos ensued as magma fissures began to rapidly become more and more visible upon its surface, the tan soles of the Goddess effortlessly continuing in their task of annihilating the doomed celestial body. Various lower-phase Hives were engulfed in flame in an instant - generously helped along by the masterful physicist’s sudden addition of oxygen into the Moon’s atmosphere to literally add more fuel to the fire - the embers brought forth from its non-rigid mantle spreading out in all directions and burning everything in range. Before Yuuko's mere touch, the population of BETA on the Moon numbered at least 100 million, but now, that amount was rapidly dwindling as a sudden apocalypse commenced, already half of their numbers now deceased by either being consumed by magma, dying under a collapsed structure, or falling to their deaths in a fissure leading deep into the Moon’s inner layers - half of the population was annihilated in Yuuko's initial touchdown alone. These 50 million BETA casualties, however, were the lucky ones: their deaths were swift compared to the fate their surviving allies would soon encounter. After what seemed like an eternity to the observers far below on Earth - though in reality, it was but a mere few seconds - Yuuko finally increased the pressure between her feet immensely, slamming them together as the natural satellite was reduced to space debris in a fantastical explosion that did not even leave a single mark on her immaculate soles.

As the Goddess held her feet in position tightly, Yuuko grinned in satisfaction at her work, knowing that absolutely no BETA had survived the intense pressure of her soles colliding, thinning out their total numbers in the Earth BETA Wars by approximately 25%. Slowly, the deity began to relax her feet, gradually rubbing them against one another to cleanse them of any lingering debris from the impact. After a few more seconds, Yuuko separated her feet completely, her soles once again pristine of any rubble as she returned to an upright position, floating before the planet and gazing down at the remnants of the obliterated Moon. Knowing exactly what disastrous effects her destruction of the satellite would have on the planet, the brilliant physicist wasted no time in her next steps: as she willed the various fragments of the former Moon to surround the Earth’s atmosphere, Yuuko brought her right fist in front of her breasts, opening her palm and summoning another Moon identical to the one she had just destroyed with but a single thought. This new iteration of the Moon, however, differed from the original in two respects: first, Yuuko had crafted the Moon’s surface so that it would be inherently toxic to all strains of known BETA, making their deaths relatively swift and further long-term mobilization to Earth an impossibility; and secondly, in case her preemptive measures did not kill the alien creatures within minutes of landing, the goddess also hardened its surface significantly to make it impossible to dig through by conventional means, thus preventing the future creation of any Hives on the new satellite. Proud of the specifics of her latest creation, Yuuko gently curled her fingers over the gray sphere before proceeding to fling her right wrist forward, hurling and willing the new Moon into its natural orbit around the Earth with minimal consequences to the planet from its minor absence.

“I...I can’t believe it…” a stunned Marimo looked upwards in bewilderment from her present position at Yokohama Base as her closest friend single-handedly wiped out the entirety of the BETA forces on the Moon before recreating it less than a minute later. “Yuuko just...she just stopped the BETA’s main line of reinforcements like it was nothing!”

As the citizens of Earth rejoiced at Yuuko’s grand spectacle, the goddess began to will the fragmented pieces of the former Moon to simultaneously fall into Earth’s atmosphere from all across the globe, burning up upon reentry. However, just as the remnants exploded a mile below the Kármán Line, a truly magnificent display appeared in the thermosphere: each of the fragments erupted into countless ethereal sakura blossoms in the atmosphere, immune to all physical forces as they showered the Earth in a majestic pink radiance, a symbol from the Goddess herself of a renewed era of hope for humanity in the conflict against the BETA.

“UOOOOO-WOOOOAAAAHHHH!” the two-mile Tama pointed upwards in excitement, her glittering emerald eyes enraptured at the sight of the cherry blossoms falling from the heavens. “This is so beautiful! It reminds me of those old picture books I used to read of the times in Japan before the BETA arrived.”

“I can’t believe Commander Kouzuki is capable of such amazing feats!” Mikoto concurred, taking in the sight along with the rest of her comrades. “She’s so cool!”

“Pretty…” Ayamine nodded in agreement.

“With the Vice-Commander on our side, we really do stand a fighting chance against the BETA now,” Chizuru smiled, adjusting her oversized glasses with her right index finger.

Cherry blossoms… Marimo thought, attempting to derive meaning from her best friend’s activities as she, too, stared at the glorious spectacle in the atmosphere. From their many years spent together, the sergeant knew that Yuuko would not perform any action superfluously without having any reason for performing it, so all she needed to do was figure out why sakura petals now rained down upon the Earth from the heavens. Could it be that...Yes, it has to be! This isn’t a spectacle for all of humanity, it’s…

“Attention all units!” Marimo’s authoritative tone commanded all the soldiers at Yokohoma base, along with the nearby members of her 207th Training Unit, to stand ready as she shouted as loud as she could, her booming voice carrying for miles to make sure it would be heard by other Yokohama brigades in the distance who were presently away from the base performing training exercises. “As of this moment, we will be commencing Operation Ouka! All ground forces mobilizations will be under the command of General Radhabinod, while my unit and I shall lead the charge to reclaim the mainland from the BETA. All support teams are to prioritize getting in contact with the other UN bases across Europe and Asia as soon as possible to let them know that the operation is being carried out immediately. This is humanity’s most opportune time to strike at our adversaries, so let us bring this war to an end once and for all through the successful completion of this operation!”

A roar of enthusiasm emanated from the base far below the swimsuit-clad drill sergeant as tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers rallied in support of the implementation of the grand operation, quickly making their way to their assigned posts to either await further instructions or to begin carrying out Marimo’s orders. As she watched the base forces scramble to commence the operation, Marimo turned around to face her trainees, the four towering cadets still standing at attention.

“Alright girls, listen up,” she began. “Our orders are to act as the vanguard of this operation to thin out the number of BETA for the ground troops. With our distinct size advantage and power, this should pose no problem to us at all. However, we must make sure to act with the utmost caution so as to not cause any more friendly casualties than necessary - at our height, it’s only natural that some will occur regardless of our precautions, so we can’t worry ourselves too much over this. Once we’ve made a large enough path of destruction for the ground forces to march through and clean up any BETA we’ve missed, we will attempt to rendezvous with Mitsurugi and continue the operation with her in tow. Are you all clear on what our part in this operation will be?”

“Yes ma’am!” the titanic cadets replied in unison as they saluted their instructor.

“Excellent. Prepare to move out in two minutes!”

“Roger!” the collective girls nodded.

Operation Ouka, also known as Operation Cherry Blossom, was the Goddess’s grand plan for the removal of the remaining BETA on Earth. Contemplated in great detail during her apotheosis where she had stopped time itself to master her abilities, Yuuko had devised a grand stratagem that consisted of using her newly acquired “weapons” along with United Nations forces to conduct a planetary-wide military operation on all known Hives around the world. In essence, the Vice-Commander’s plan was threefold: First, Meiya, following Yuuko’s direct orders, would strike the BETA Hives themselves, reducing them to ruins and destroying their reactors with her sheer size and power to significantly reduce the number of active BETA functioning on the planet. In the second step of her scheme, Marimo and her smaller cadets would lead the charge to wipe out large swathes of BETA hordes that still continued to show signs of life as they cleared a path of safety for the Japanese forces to approach the mainland. Once the 207th Training Unit had accomplished this task, they were to meet up with Meiya and garner her assistance in killing any active remaining BETA Corps once the larger swordswoman had finished annihilating the last Hives off the face of the Earth. Finally, in the third phase of the operation, humanity’s ground and air forces - now that the number of Laser-class BETA would be heavily reduced - would act as the clean-up battalions, combing the Eurasian and African landscapes for any straggling BETA units somehow still alive and eliminating them on contact. Through the successful annihilation of the BETA’s Hives on Earth, along with the genocide of the vast majority of their ranks, Yuuko had ensured that if the operation were to be carried out successfully - which she knew it would be given her steps leading up to its implementation - all traces of BETA resistance on Earth would fade within thirty-six hours at the most, with all BETA ceasing to function entirely within the week. With her masterful strategy in place and humanity itself acting as her pawns, the Goddess guaranteed an end to the BETA Wars without ever launching a direct attack herself.

Marimo… Yuuko’s voice called out in the enormous sergeant’s mind, prompting her to turn her attention skywards towards the deity that encompassed the heavens above the planet. Everything is in place. I leave the rest up to you…

“Don’t worry, Yuuko, humanity won’t let you down! I’ll personally make sure this plan is carried out to the letter!” the swimsuit-clad teacher nodded, a burning passion of determination evident in her amber eyes as she saluted her commanding officer.

Excellent. I know that you of all people would never let me down, the Goddess smiled down slightly at the tiny sphere of life before her, the faint grin focused upon her only friend. As much as I’d love to stay and watch my plans come to fruition, I have greater things to attend to, things that only I as the Goddess of all can accomplish. How you proceed after the operation is complete is entirely up to you and the General. This is farewell for now, Marimo. Good luck, and give my best to Mitsurugi and the others.

“You too, Yuuko. If there’s anyone that can get rid of the BETA all across the universe, I know you can do it. We’ll do our part, so go do yours,” Marimo smiled. “Cadets, a final farewell to Vice-Commander Kouzuki!” she commanded, her unit immediately standing at attention and saluting the violet-haired deity in perfect synchronization.

With her plans set into motion, Yuuko’s grand form disappeared immediately in a godly flash of light, a sight that mystified and awed billions of souls across the planet. In reality, Yuuko had merely teleported herself to Earth’s neighboring galaxy, Andromeda, completing the 2.5 million light year jump with the utmost ease and once again blatantly violating the laws of physics she thought she had mastered in her mortal days.

“This should be a safe enough distance away,” the violet-haired Goddess estimated aloud. “Now then, it’s time to see just how vast the cosmos truly is…”

As a sinister chuckle escaped her lips, the omnipotent scientist suddenly exploded outwards in height, enlarging herself by millions of miles a second as several nearby planets quickly met a swift end against the smooth skin of her toned thighs. Yuuko pushed her body to enlarge exponentially faster, accelerating her growth every other second by a factor of ten, observing the ever-shrinking existence of the cosmos as her divine form consumed more and more of its space by the instant.

 -------------

Time passed as Yuuko’s relentless growth persisted indefinitely. Entire solar systems, galaxies, clusters, universes, and even multiverses met their fate against myriad portions of the Goddess’s perfect body, both intentionally and merely as a consequence of her ascension. After all, Yuuko rationalized as she halted her growth momentarily, trapping her latest test subjects - several multiverses - in the golden chain between her breasts, I might have become the Goddess of all, but what sort of scientist would I be if I didn’t attempt to tinker with the heavens for a bit to better understand the things that exist outside our universe? A slight chuckle escaped her lips as Yuuko placed her hands atop her massive orbs, slowly squeezing them together until her mountainous spheres made contact with one another, obliterating her subjects instantaneously and leaving not even a single iota of their existence in the wake of her experiment. It seems that everything, even entities with undefined natural boundaries, are subject to destruction with enough force applied to them. Well, everything except myself, of course… With an amused smile, the Goddess exploded outwards once again, expanding her divine form larger by countless light years per second before putting that rate to shame another moment later through the unparalleled acceleration of her enlargement.

After what seemed like an eternity of ever-hastening growth, Yuuko finally noticed an endless void of nothingness surrounding the vast majority of space that she currently occupied, pure darkness visible for countless gigaparsecs as her godly vision would affirm. Perhaps I’ve finally done it… For the first time since her apotheosis, the deity tapped into a fraction of her omniscience to confirm her own observations, unlocking the infinite well of knowledge in her mind and pinpointing that sole point of information. As I suspected, this really is everything, the Goddess mused, a confident grin on her face quickly turning to disappointment. And here I thought there would be more to it all. Oh well, I suppose I’ll just have to fix that later…

Slowing her expansion to a relative crawl, the violet-haired deity proceeded to grow and float out of the existence she had just conquered, finding the shape of it all to be an amorphous hazy white blob of reality, continuously expanding outwards along with the deity, though at a significantly more gradual rate. Now free of its confines, Yuuko proceeded to enlarge herself further, eventually stabilizing her rate of growth in perfect synchronization with all of existence once she had made sure it would never dare attempt to become a fraction of the size of her smallest toe. The Goddess now floated above the omniverse itself, the combined ball of all that was – countless multiverses, incalculable universes, an indeterminable number of galaxies, an endless amount of planets, and an infinite amount of humans, BETA, and other creatures – hovering before her big and index toes upon her right foot.

“So, this is truly everything?” Yuuko asked herself aloud, taking on her inquisitive posture as she brought her right hand to her chin in boredom. “Not very impressive to say the least, but at least it’ll make what I have in mind that much easier to accomplish.” Before she proceeded with her godly plans at her current ever-growing height above all else, an idea popped into Yuuko’s mind, one that caused a truly wicked grin to form on her divine visage. “Now that I’m truly alone out here, I no longer need to hide my true goals - it’s not as if anyone else can hear me anyways unless I wanted them to. With my supreme might, there is nothing stopping me from my ambitions. I thought I could never be the Holy Mother...but with my divine power and present size, I think it’s time for me to finally take the title that I have longed for years to attain for myself..."

A powerful wave of darkness began to surround Yuuko as she began to undergo a divine transformation, her unlimited and eternally-increasing power taking physical form as it coated her in a deep purple aura fitting of a goddess of her supreme status. A grand, ethereal golden throne began to manifest itself behind the bikini-clad deity, its exquisite aureate material borne from Yuuko's inherent wickedness and unparalleled avarice, beyond space, time, and reality, a testament to the Goddess’s superiority beyond all things both tangible and not. As the throne fully materialized, Yuuko found herself floating onto her seat of ultimate power automatically, her divine rear resting in perfect comfort on her perch high over all else. The Goddess crossed her luscious, toned thighs arrogantly, resting her left leg atop her right as she basked in her growth, her ethereal seat growing along with her to forever support the almighty deity. Finally, Yuuko’s eyes now began to glow brightly, her once dull crimson irises now giving off a true effulgence of her divine position as her transformation came to a close. In her newly upgraded form, Yuuko now had truly become her ideal of the Holy Mother, the supreme creatrix and destuctrix of all, now and forever.

“Ah, now this is much better…” the Goddess chuckled slightly to herself, approving the new changes of her external appearance as she wiggled her rump slightly in her throne. “Far more fitting of the Holy Mother. Now then…” Yuuko’s bright crimson eyes gazed down at the omniverse below her, still hovering before her incalculable digits, her soft, plump toes wiggling in anticipation to play with the ultimate toy. “There are so many ways to officially commence my reign...I honestly can’t decide on only one…” the Goddess mused, setting her right elbow upon the arm of her throne as she rested her right cheek against her fist in intrigue. “Hmmm...I suppose a little bit of experimentation is in order on the grandest of scales before I make my rule official. After all, I have the feeling I’ll be playing with my domain rather often, so it’s good to learn how to repair it once it’s become broken…”

Uncrossing her legs to obtain a better view of the show that was about to take place, the physicist-turned-Goddess teasingly circled the entirety of existence with her big toe; although the entirety of its masses were unaware of their possible doom, Yuuko relished in the thought that people across all multiverses were subject to her absolute control, able to be manipulated or even killed at a moment’s notice should she will it, or simply out of boredom. After several rotations of taunting, Yuuko was ready for the main event. Positioning her largest digit towards the very edge of her domain, the Goddess aimed to annihilate only half of all that was, a substantial portion to destroy in which to test out her restorative capabilities. If she so wished, the full might of her big toe would crush the omniverse with plenty of room to spare. But I suppose I’ll have to save that for later…

“There’s only one way any part of existence deserves to go: beneath the single lowest part of its Goddess...” Yuuko addressed her test subject, flashing a sinister grin at the doomed omniverse as she suddenly and viciously scrunched all her toes simultaneously as hard as she possibly could, chuckling wickedly in triumph as she did so. The omniverse never stood a chance: in an instant, roughly 57% of its contents collapsed under the insurmountable pressure placed upon it by the infinite wall of soft tan flesh that was Yuuko’s toe, exploding in a surge of cosmic essence; whatever force it was attempting to unleash was immediately silenced as it was halted against the bottom of Yuuko’s foot, the suffering lasting for as long as she held her toes in place. Countless multiverses perished instantaneously, and with them, untold amounts of BETA, along with the myriad counterparts of all who Yuuko once knew in her mortal life - Tama, Mikoto, Chizuru, Ayamine, Meiya, Takeru, and Marimo - and even the iterations of her lesser selves who would never acquire the godly presence she alone had achieved. After holding her foot in place for a solid minute, the violet-haired deity gently relaxed her foot back to its normal prone state, revelling in her absolute supremacy and dominance as she observed the omniverse at less than half its former glory.

“That was...as wonderful as I thought it would be,” Yuuko affirmed her inner thoughts, her feet seemingly acting on their own as they began to encircle the remaining remnants of the omniverse, her divine soles encompassing it completely. “As much as I’d love to finish off the rest of you, that’ll have to wait for now…” Moving her legs to rest against the bottom of her throne, the Goddess began to focus on restoring what had just been destroyed, her divine will acting on her thoughts and beginning the restorative process. Though Yuuko cared not for the individual multiverses in her domain - as concerning herself with absolutely anything outside of her interests was a mortal’s flaw, far below someone of her ultimate stature - her supreme powers would restore them to their former state as slowly or as quickly as she desired, along with any modifications she wished to add to them as well. As her passive might reformed the shattered portion of the omniverse, Yuuko decided to add two substantial alterations to their revised counterparts. Yuuko’s first alteration was an obvious one, fulfilling the promise she had made to Takeru just before she had begun her ascension: in the revived cosmic entities, the alien creatures known as the BETA had never existed nor would ever come to be, ensuring that the single known threat to her countless subjects in their revived states would be free from their harm. The Goddess’s second change was a bit more narcissistic, however, acting upon her limitless greed and long-sought desire for ultimate power: each revived lesser iteration of Yuuko in the countless parallel Earths would be a miniature goddess of her own, towering over all humans at a base stature of thirteen feet tall and possessing absolute power and control over their individual world, able to change her size at will and rule over humanity as she saw fit. Despite their power, however, Yuuko had added the condition that her lesser selves would never become any stronger than they already were, forever solidifying her own reign as the ultimate ruler. With these changes applied, the Goddess simply watched as existence was fully restored with her additional modifications, not even needing to lift a finger to accomplish the impossible effort.

“Perfect. I must say even I impress myself at times…” Yuuko chuckled, patting herself on the back as she admired her recreated work. “However, having to recreate it all the time will be rather tedious. Let’s fix that…” Willing her power to comply with her desires, Yuuko’s will would now automatically repair all that she would destroy almost instantly unless she desired to savor the moment of her divine actions. A fresh omniverse would passively appear in the place of the old one, a brand new toy for the Goddess to enjoy until it would become broken as well, repeating the process ad infinitum to ensure the deity would never need to concern herself with such a trivial act on a constant basis.

“It seems that everything is finally in order…” Yuuko mused from her seat above the heavens themselves, a smug expression on her glorious visage, crossing her legs once again as her glowing crimson eyes stared at her territory. “To think that deification was an actuality after all, but I suppose finding out that magic itself existed in the first place shattered all limitations on the realm of the possible. Humanity, the BETA, and whatever other creatures may exist within the cosmos, all are subject to my ultimate power, as it should have been in the first place. Everything is mine to do as I wish - to mold, shape, create, destroy, amplify, reduce, absolutely anything my heart desires. My personal revolution is complete, but to think, had I known I would become the Goddess of all on my day off, I would have done far more on my journey here...though I suppose getting Marimo to try on that embarrassing bunny girl cosplay again that she wore back in college should be a breeze to pull off now. I don’t even have to get her drunk!” An amused chuckle escaped the deity’s lips, imagining the limitless possibilities, both serious and personal, she had in mind for the future of her everlasting reign. “The Holy Mother Yuuko, the Goddess that sits above all worlds… With my rule eternal, my power and stature forever supreme and ever-increasing, and my will permanently unchallenged, I can finally bring about the reality I’ve always wanted now that I’m truly in command of absolutely everything. Now, all that’s left to do...is start from the very beginning…”

The ethereal, sinister laughter of the Goddess could be heard across the omniverse and all through Yuuko’s personal realm beyond it, her voice piercing reality itself to ensure that every living creature experienced the heralding of the ultimate and true age of creation: the Coming of the Holy Mother. Yuuko steadily accelerated her growth rate as she slowly surrounded all of existence with her feet, the beautiful, infinite walls of her perfect, pristine soles eager to indulge in her first formal act of her eternal reign as the Holy Mother.

END