The royal carpet was stained in the blood of their comrades, once charmed by the winged stranger, now lifeless bodies. It wasn’t their fault, but there was no saving them once they had joined her forces. Eliminating them left a sour taste on everyone’s tongue, still, mourning could be saved after the creature had been killed.

But even as they reached her, her devilish smile remained.

“Are you all reaaaaaaaaally ready to give your lifes for her? I promise the Dark Lord will be gentle~” For such nightmarish words, the succubus’ voice was as sweet as honey. Yet, all could identify the venom hidden among her saccharine tone.

“You may have forced us to cut down our own allies, nevertheless your schemes end here! Ahrensbach will not yield! Ahrensbach will not lose!” Her words sparked courage in the surviving knights. Despite their wounds, they prepared to strike at the monster. Indeed, even prepared to die. 

“Aaargh! You’re such an infuriating lot! I don’t know why he wants you so badly, but you underestimate me!” A bright, purple light formed in the center of her chest. Unsure what to do, the knights stayed in formation, waiting for their commander’s order. “I might as well do this myself!” Her hideous laughter continued to echo through the castle.

Until, it didn’t. 

And then, everything was silent.

---------

Serena weaved her way between two tree-sized carpet fibers. Much to her dismay, there was still an endless horizon of purple. The grand cleric sighed. “Where is it…” As a priestess, she was not used to this level of exercise. It felt like it had been hours since she began walking. And she still found herself on the carpet.

“If I could just find my staff…” But her ivory relic was nowhere to be seen. “..Then I could call Elyos. I’m sure he…he’ll protect us.” Serena was a grand cleric, a title given only to those with a special bond with a deity. In her case, Elyos. No matter when, where or why she prayed to him, he would always listen. But in order to reach him, she needed her staff first. 

And yet…all Serena had managed to encounter in her microscopic journey — besides dust so small the palace servants would never clean away — was the fallen bodies of her turncoat comrades. Serena hated that the plan had been to kill them, but her resistance gave away when she understood they would be resurrected right after the succubus was defeated.

Or they would have been, if Serena still had her staff. 

“You would think it would be easy…finding something blue in this sea of purple…” She spoke to herself, pushing away another purple ‘tree’ in her path. “If only Ygella was here, I’m sure she’d know the best way to get out of this situation…” Serena went quiet, unsure of what to say next. The silence was suffocating. Then, she slapped both of her cheeks at once. “No, don’t think like that! You’re super important! Once you talk to Elyos, he’ll resurrect everyone AND revert us back to our size. You can’t give up no-”

The deafening sound of creaking wood stifled her words, and night turned into day. Serena protected her eyes from the piercing sunlight. “Oh my Elyos, what is-” As her eyes became accustomed to the light, she started to realize what was happening. For the first time, she could see something other than the carpet.

She could see a giant. 

Towering in the doorway was an armored titan. Barely seen amidst the purple horizon was a pair of leather boots. Looking further up, he wore gray cotton pants, barely seen beneath the armor on his legs. Past above his belt was his metal chestplate. His arms were unarmored, giving Serena a distorted view of his muscles. From this distance, they seemed normal, but she knew that they would become mountains of flesh upon closer inspection.

Finally…his face. The titan had a handsome face. And the combination of unruly blonde hair and striking blue eyes were very familiar. So familiar that it only took a second for the cleric to put a name to him.

“Caspar?!”

Caspar was an experienced knight employed in Ahrensbach. His strength was second only to the knight commander herself. The proof of his achievements was the fact that the grand cleric herself, who would usually have nothing to do with the palace knights, was aware of his existence. She even knew Ygella, the knight commander, was planning on making him her successor. 

If memory served right, he was sent on a mission right before the succubus attacked. The timing seemed perfect, since he didn’t fall to her charms. And now, he was the only one unaffected by the shrinking spell. “Y-Yes! C-Caspar!” This must have been Elyos’ divine intervention! “I’m right he-”

Her words were drowned out by the overwhelming sound of an earthquake. Falling back by the seismic forces, Serena rushed to protect her ears as a deafening sound threatened to rupture her eardrums. “Ack!” Serena closed her eyes, not out of necessity, but by the sheer intensity of the situation. Like a frighteningly close thunder, Caspar’s words roared above. She tried to comprehend it, but she couldn’t. 

“S-Stop!” She wailed, slowly opening her eyes…and seeing that Caspar was now closer. And just like that…the dots started to connect.. Caspar had taken a step forward into the seemingly empty castle. “A…step…” That was all it took. There was never an earthquake. “C-” Serena stopped talking when something caught her vision.

Between the smallest gap of carpet fibers…she saw a hint of blue. “It must b-” A wet pain burst from her ears. Serena wailed in agony as she reached to protect her ears…but was instead met with the warm sensation of blood dripping from them. The sound of his next step had proved too mighty for her. “Augh- ack!” She felt herself getting weaker from the pain. And yet, she was so close to salvation. So close to her staff, so close to Elyos.

In a desperate attempt, Serena stood up. She took one step forward…before another earthquake sent her to the ground. Caspar was walking. There was little time between each step, and they were growing more and more intense. “Fuck!” She uncharacteristically swore. “I’m not gonna…let them down!”

Despite the pain from her ears or the pessimistic situation, Serena stood up again…and just as Caspar was about to step down again, she jumped forward. She landed right on top of her staff. 

She…had done it. She had beaten the odds. But she had no time to celebrate. She still had to pray. Holding her staff, she closed her eyes and focused solely on her thoughts. ‘Elyos, I plead for your assistance once again. Reverse the flow of time and heal back what was lost. Spread your mighty light and lift the curses from us.’

…

…

It should have worked. But it didn’t. She could still feel her bleeding. But…she had always reached Elyos. No matter the situation, whether it was saving the world or healing an orphan girl, he always replied. Then…what…what had changed?

“N-no…” Serena slowly opened her eyes. The sky was leather. And once again, she connected the dots. She was too small to reach Elyos. It wasn’t like Caspar, where he physically couldn’t hear her voice. No, it was more like…

Like her existence was too pathetic to be noticed.

“E-Ely-”

And Caspar stepped forwards. For what it had taken hours for Serena to transverse, Caspar had covered it in this one single step. For a split second, his boots were touching not just Serena, but every single corpse they had killed. The people that Serena was supposed to heal once the battle was over. All that was required was Serena to cast a spell over their mostly-intact corpses. And in that one nanosecond, that was still viable.

And in the next one, it wasn’t.

Under his boot, the corpses were all equal. It didn’t matter whether they were guards clad in metal gear or unarmored servants, there was no resistance. Those unprotected were instantly crushed flat. Their organs, bones and other bodily structures were completely demolished. Leaving behind but their skin, now wet from their blood. Even if someone with a trained eye managed to locate their remains, it would look no different than an extremely thin piece of red fabric. The armored ones had their own armor work against them, pressing it down onto their body until their internal pressure couldn’t take it anymore. They exploded outwards from the armor like a geyser of blood. And even after, their own armor was simply crushed flat into a worthless piece of metal.

And for Serena…well, she posed as much resistance as the corpses themselves. Which is to say, she was also crushed instantly. Seconds before her death, Serena was holding her staff up above her chest. As the leather sky crashed down, Serena’s arms were the first thing to go. They snapped back towards her chest, with the bones in her lower arms piercing through her skin. Serena would have felt pain, but by the time it would take for her neurons to send the stimuli to her brain, Serena’s brain would already be pulverized.

Next, her staff was pushed down onto her chest, and as her staff was made out of adamantium metal, it blasted its way inside her. If Caspar had stopped there, Serena’s would have a staff-shaped hole in her thorax and abdomen. But of course, he didn’t. Despite being made out of adamantium, it couldn’t withstand the immense pressure that Caspar exerted with his step. And thus, it broke into tiny pieces. And as Caspar’s step continued, the internal pressure made those tiny pieces pierce out of her body.

Through her legs, through her chest, one was even propelled towards her head before coming out of her eyeball. Of course, by now ,Serena was dead. But much like the corpses before her, Caspar finished the job by erasing her carcass out of reality. His grimsly massacre adorned the underside of his boots, and would remain there for a long time, being practically invisible to the naked eye.

To Caspar, this step was no different than the others. In fact, he was much more focused on the absence of life in the castle than what was happening beneath his sole.

“That’s…weird.” Caspar scratched his head as he looked around. It was eerie seeing the castle empty. “Why would they evacuate? It must be something the high oracle saw, right?” Caspar spoke to himself as he tried to evaluate the situation. “But why wasn’t I notified? They could have sent someone for me…”

After spending a solid two minutes thinking, Caspar sighed. “Maybe I’m supposed to look after the castle? Or maybe they left me a clue behind…” But the truth was, that Caspar was tired. He really needed to get off his heavy armor and find something to eat. “Whatever the case, I trust the commander! This must be all some elaborate plan of hers.” 

As a knight, Caspar had unwavering loyalty. He was sure that his commander wouldn’t have left him behind. Even if they had to depart suddenly, she would send him an explanation when things calmed down. So he should stay put in the castle and wait for a letter. And in the meantime, he would look for any clues she might have left for him. And the best location to leave a clue for him would be in his room, right?

But try as he might, Caspar’s room remained unchanged. “Perhaps it was too risky.” He concluded. “Any hint left for me could also be used by our enemies…” Not that he felt great, being left out like that, but he still held true to his loyalty. And now that he had fulfilled his duty by searching his room, Caspar was satisfied enough to shift his priorities to himself. First, he began removing his chestplate, revealing a shirt coated in sweat.

“Aaah…that’s much better.” Looking down, he still had to remove his poleyns and his greaves, which protected his knees and lower legs respectively. While he could remove those standing up, it was much more comfortable by sitting down. So without giving much thought, Caspar took a seat on his wooden chair. Unknowingly killing thirty eight people in the process.

Caspar had no way of knowing that his direct boss — knight commander Ygella — had rounded up most of the shrunken maids on Caspar’s chair. Her plan was risky, but simple. She would get everyone on the chair’s top rail and, once Caspar sat down, they would jump onto his back. 

Ygella knew that the chances of Caspar recognizing them as anything but bugs were practically none. They couldn’t rely on his vision, and would have to get inside his ear for any meaningful communication. But climbing anyone at their size would also be an impossible task. While an experienced fighter like her had a chance, even she would take hours. And by the time she did reach her ear, it was very likely he would have unawarely slaughtered many. 

Of course, there was only one situation that would ruin her plan…the same situation she was facing right now. They were too slow.

“N-No! No! This can’t be happening!” One of the maids yelled.

“We’re not gonna make it! We’re doomed!” Another cried.

“Commander! W-What s-should we do?” 

Besides Ygella, there were thirty eight people on the wooden seat. And while they had been diligently following her plan, it took one glance at the sight before them to break their resolve. The horizon was overtaken by a wall of gray. With each passing second, the wall moved towards them, threatening to bulldoze their pathetic bodies with it.

The knowledge that they were staring at the back of Caspar’s pants did nothing to quell the eldritch fear in their hearts. There was a deep, primal horror of the situation. Not knowing if they would survive. Not knowing if they could hope to survive. Not knowing if they could even dare to hope. If they told themselves it would be alright, could they convince themselves? Or would their unconsciousness reject the lie?

“We…” A voice broke out through the eerie atmosphere. “We get behind his thighs…” It was Ygella’s. Of course. She had escaped enough inescapable situations to not drown in despair. Her words were a beacon of light, repelling the hopelessness in their hearts. But a beacon can only shine so far. Most of the maids didn’t dream of surviving. They accepted their fate. What else could they do besides get on their knees and pray?

So while they made peace with their gods, a small group sped past them. The entire drama happening underneath Caspar’s behind went entirely unnoticed by him. And thus he fall back into his seat with an audible thump.

Faster than the others, Ygella was the only one who wasn’t turned into a gorey paste. Rather, the impact of his body crashing into the wood propelled her upwards, sending her flying among particles of dust. And yet, she was the lucky one.

As his thighs touched the chair, it steamrolled over those that ran alongside Ygella. Ironically, following her plan ensured an early death compared to the majority that stayed behind. The first to go was a young maid. Her youthful stamina meant that she was right behind the commander, but the difference between a maid and a knight was substantial. Instead of reaching safety, she reached the very first point of contact instead.

She was rewarded with an instantaneous death. She didn’t feel her bones cracking under his supple thighs. She didn’t realize her body flopped down once her skeleton was pulverized into dust. One second, she could think, and in the next, she was dead. Turned into a bloody stain. 

Seeing her death, those running towards Caspar attempted to turn around. But they were too slow. Caspar’s thighs continued to descend, easily catching up with the rest of them. His muscles would fall down on top of their head. If they were lucky, their heads would explode under the pressure and give them a quick death. Their bodies quickly following suit. The unlucky few would be pushed down and steamrolled by his fat. Each individual death under him would depend greatly on their exact location and whether they were crushed more by his fat or by his muscles.

Either way, the minute they were consumed under the incoming gray, there was no chance of escaping. It didn’t matter if they were slowly steamrolled under him, having to hear their own body crunching. The chilling sound growing closer and closer as more of them were disappearing…until their entire body disappeared under him. A final, resolute crunch signaling their demise. It also didn’t matter if the pressure detonated their bodies from the inside out, causing them to explode like bloody water balloons. 

Either way, their ‘corpses’ simply filled up the natural fissures in the wooden chair. Completely disappearing from reality.

The ones that didn’t dare run in the first place had already accepted their mortality. Not that it made it easy on them. Most of the women were crying and begging for Caspar to stop. They either relied on his noble personality or on the bonds they had formed with him. But their cries didn’t manage to reach a single decibel. 

To Caspar, it was pure silence. Although even if he heard it — and not mistaken the noise for the creaking of the chair taking his weight — it would have been too late for him to stop his motion. And so, his ass simply came down. 

Similarly to those under his thighs, there was absolutely no escaping their demise under Caspar’s bubble butt. The one who made it furthest was one of the palace chefs. Instead of being smushed under the unbearable weight of his rear, her body was positioned just right so that she managed to slip between the gaps of his pant’s fabric. 

Except, her arms weren’t. So as inertia left them behind, they were ripped off her shoulder. There was a second of excruciating pain as she slipped inside his pants. Only for his bare body punched her entire body. The initial impact broke all of her long bones, cracking them into different shapes. Her face was turned into a bloody mess. Her nose folded back into its socket, while her eyes were blinded from the force.

Surprisingly, she was still alive…until his ass naturally shaped itself into a more comfortable position. It wasn’t that Caspar moved, but rather, that the fat of his body spread onto the flat surface. And in doing so, she was pushed just slightly back against his pants…and unfortunately, she didn’t find herself in another gap. Instead, being crushed between his ass and his pants. 

Most of the workforce found themselves directly under Caspar’s cheeks. Even before touching them, his butt was already overwhelming the shrunken women. While unperceptive to normal-sized people, the tiny women were suffering from an intense phenomena. His body heat completely warped the climate. It was unbearably hot, and the increased humidity made tiny women sweat. In addition, as his butt pierced through the air, it dislodged it towards them. The atmospheric pressure grew in intensity until it was too much to withstand. Every one of them was forced to the ground, completely unable to lift themselves up, no matter how uncomfortable their new positioning was. And finally, everything became dark, as his body blocked up any sunlight from reaching them. In their last moments, all they could hear was the screams of their fellow coworkers.

It was armageddon. 

And then finally…he sat down. There was a cacophony of pops and crunches. The sound of bones breaking and insides erupting. A gorey song of their demise, as each of them met their grimsly fate. Caspar certainly wouldn’t hear it, not when the soft sound of the wood accommodating his weight was tens of times louder. And he certainly didn’t feel it. No matter how many sharp bones attempted to pierce him, almost as if seeking vengeance for their owner’s demise, they stood no chance of even slicing his cotton pants. Even if they did, his own body fat would simply crush them down into nothing. A mosquito would have had a better chance of piercing his skin.

His massacre would have been complete, if not for one specific gardener who found herself in a slightly different location. Rather than underneath his massive ass, she found herself underneath his massive bulge. With an oceanic amount of cum squeezing the life out of her. While alive, she was practically a shell of a person. The cosmic impact had rendered her both blind and deaf. The concussion she had suffered muddled her sensations, a minor grace considered all of her limbs were bloody stumps. 

Even then, the unsupportable conditions around her were too strong to ignore. Face-first against his bulge, she was forced to breathe in the noxious scent of his musk. It wasn’t that Caspar was an unclean person, but even if he hadn’t spent hours walking to the castle, the gardener was simply in an inhumane situation. Capable of discerning what the normal human nose couldn’t. No matter how many times he scrubbled himself clean, she would still find herself in the hellish situation she was in.

So then, it was perhaps a mercy that Caspar shifted ever so slightly. And in doing so, there was a microscopic movement of his balls. One that was capable of skinning the tiny gardener alive. It wasn’t just that her skin was pulled alongside him, but that the entire front half of her body was scrapped off. Leaving a bloody husk behind, which was quickly disposed of and absorbed by his pants.

And with her death, he had killed thirty eight people. Although his chair massacre wasn’t quite over yet. One single person had managed to escape him. After flailing in the air for a couple of seconds, Ygella finally landed on the inner side of his left thigh. “Oof-” She grunted to herself as she managed to hold onto the cotton wall.

Somehow, her plan had worked…and yet…

“I failed them…” Ygella’s voice was meek. She hadn’t felt this way before in so long. It reminded her of when she was a kid, and she lost track of her parents in the market’s crowd. She was scared, she was alone, and she wanted her parents. Despite her body’s stiffness, Ygella managed to turn her head just slightly to look at the titan before her. Once a knight under her command, now a completely unknown beast.

What separated a knight from their commander was not just skill — although, yes,  Ygella was the strongest knight in the entire castle — but their intelligence. A good knight needed two things: Strength and loyalty. He wasn’t expected to tell the difference between a cockatrice and a basilisk. Nor be able to identify at sight a dragon, a drake, a hydra and a wyvern. 

That job was for the knight commander. Not just masters at battle tactics, but walking monster encyclopedias. They needed to know a monster’s exact strengths, abilities and weaknesses. That was the only way to defeat them while minimizing the casualties. 

Ygella was assigned to Ahrensbach because she was an excellent commander. Even when facing unknown foes, she adopted strategies from similar creatures to defeat them. It was at her call that they killed the castle’s male staff, fully knowing that succubi used their charmed victims to attack, while safely casting spells behind them.

Trying to kill a succubi without first defeating their army was a feat rarely accomplished. Ygella knew she could have done it, even if she was alone, or rather, only if she was alone. She couldn’t risk a single one of the entranced men to reach the princess and kill her.

But there was no strategy for the monster before her. Right…monster. Caspar was a knight once. Someone who she had bested multiple times in mock combat. Someone who not only respected her, but clearly had a small crush on her when he first joined the castle. But now…he was no knight.

He was a monster.

“How…”

How was she meant to defeat him? Swing her sword over and over until she reached inside and aim for the vital arteries? No, he would crush her like an annoying mosquito prickling at his skin. A poisoned meal? That wouldn’t do it, she would have to enter his mouth and toss it inside his esophagus, and crossing the treacherous saliva-coated tongue would take hours. His eye? But what if he blinked?

“There’s…no way…” 

For the first time in her life, Ygella felt hopeless. Caspar had become a monster far more dangerous than a litch and far bigger than a titan. In the face of such a mighty foe, Ygella stood frozen. Caspar, on the other hand, remained undeterred and lifted his left leg towards his lap. Bringing both the poleyns and greaves closer to his hands.

This was an unfortunate change for Ygella. After years of training under her strict regimen and mostly feasting himself on meat, he had developed quite muscular thighs. Perhaps if he was skinny, she would have met a different fate. But as he brought his leg up, his thighs met. For just a brief moment, and only near his crotch.

And yet, that was the exact location of the commander. And a single second would prove too much for her to handle.

Ygella’s full-body armor crumpled like a piece of paper. Bending into an unnatural shape. While to Caspar, he barely felt the soft touch of his thighs coming together, the strength in which they did was capable of fusing the armor together. And as her armor was contorted into a thin Z shape, Ygella found herself fully encased inside. 

And as she was compressed between Caspar’s thighs, unable to get out of her metal coffin, Ygella’s body simply…conformed to the shape of her armor. Her bones cracked at the very sharp edges. The metal walls around her crushed her pelvic bone, seconds before she bifurcated into a lower and upper half. Each of them slipping away to opposite sides of the Z, only maintaining connection by her intestines.

Were Caspar to keep his thighs together for a second more, he would have undoubtedly crushed her further, likely making her into nothing but blood and viscera. But the moment was very brief. Ygella’s torture stopped, but she remained  stuck to him. One part of her armor had found itself lodged between the gaps of his cotton pants. While most of her body hung limp outside it, the lower end of the Z managed to hook itself in one of the stitches. 

Ygella was certainly dead, as evident from the streaks of blood coming out from small gaps of the armor, but she wasn't discarded like the victims before her. Instead, she became an invisible medal on his clothes. Like a warning for victims to come, but one that certainly would have never been noticed. Her body easily hidden from view by the hills of body fabric around her.

Completely unaware of the thirty nine people he had killed in the last minute, Caspar continued the menial task of removing his armor. As a knight, it was something he had done countless times before, in a few seconds, it was done. 

“Maybe I should take a shower.” Caspar’s thoughts sprung free from his mouth. Without anyone else present, there was no need for etiquette to filter his actions. While speaking to oneself was not considered elegant, there was nobody else to judge him. And if anything else, there was a sliver of a chance that someone else would hear his voice and explain the whole situation.

Then, his stomach growled.

He hadn’t eaten since he began his journey back to the castle. “Or…I should see what rations they left behind.” Caspar rationalized his thoughts, convincing himself that was a better option. So, Caspar lifted himself up. A few strands of gore from his previous victims snapping as his butt moved away, leaving them to be absorbed by the wood.

Caspar left his room and paced towards the kitchen. His short trek proved that, indeed, the castle was deserted. But upon opening the door to the pantry, he found something curious. It was fully stocked. With how speedy their evacuation was, he expected to see some perishables left behind. 

“But…it’s almost like they didn’t take anything…” 

Not only that, but the furniture was untouched. There wasn’t any toppled off furniture or missing cutlery. It’s almost like they didn’t have time to take anything with them. Almost as if something nefarious had happened to them, before they had the chance to react…

“No, that can’t be it.” Caspar reassured himself. There were so many incredible people inside these walls, that it was impossible for all of them to be defeated. A grand cleric capable of bringing people back to life, a beast of a commander capable of defeating any monster…and even their strongest weapon. An oracle capable of foreseeing disaster before it happened.

With so many talented women working for the princess, how could disaster ever strike them?

“It’s still odd…” Caspar looked around the pantry. Crates filled with apples, barrels of wine, shelves filled with a plethora of ingredients. While he wasn’t a frequent visitor of the pantry — he didn’t want to cause trouble for the chefs — they hadn’t taken anything. “...But I’m sure Ygella had her reasons. At least I won’t have to worry about scavenging for my own supplies.” 

With a soldier’s mentality, Caspar was taking mental note of the quantity of food lining the shelves. He would eat the fruits and vegetables first, as those expired quicker, and save the salted meats for later. Then, something caught his attention in the middle shelf, between two wheels of cheese.

It was…dust.

Unimpressive, commonplace and unremarkable speck of dust. “Huh.” An involuntary sound escaped his mouth. Were this place abandoned for days, he would have batted an eye at the speck of dust in front of him. But considering how spotless everything else was, it certainly caught his attention. 

Or perhaps, it was better to say that the castle was always spotless. The maids in charge of cleaning — all of which were already eliminated under his body — worked rigorously under head maid Meredith's schedule. As the head maid of Ahrensbach’s castle, Meredith was expected to work with royal standards. And she didn’t just meet them, but exceeded them. All maids were screened by her personally, and she had no compassion for the lazy ones.

Although her job was mostly supervisory, she had no qualms about getting her hands dirty. The only places where one could expect to find a mess was in the kitchen and in the barracks, since they were also managed by the head chef and by the knight commander respectively. And yet, it never stayed messy for too long. 

With the kitchen being neatly organized and the pantry well-maintained, it was clear that Meredith’s maids had already passed through here. It surprised Caspar that Meredith didn’t spot the dust on the middle shelf. She had an eye for detail. “Honestly, I always felt bad for the maids. Whoever was in charge of the pantry last would surely get a scolding loud enough to wake the whole castle.” 

Ygella was quite demanding herself, but he understood why. One mistake in the battlefield could cost a limb, or worse, a life. But he would take a year of Ygella’s training than one day with Meredith.

“I should probably help them out.” Thinking he was sparing a maid from a reprimand, Caspar moved his right hands towards the dust’. Of course, he wasn’t aware that there wasn’t any maid left to spare. Nor that the particle of ‘dust’ in front of him was none other than Meredith herself.

“N-no…no…no, no, no, no!” Meredith’s panic was warranted. The sight before her would break anyone’s will, let alone someone who never faced this kind of disaster. A gigantic boulder of a fingernail, accompanied by a pillar of flesh. To her, Caspar’s entire body had disappeared, being replaced by his hand. 

“Oh god- I can’t. No! Stop!” Meredith took two steps back. She wanted to move further back, she wanted to run away. But she couldn’t. It was as if weights were tied to her legs, and she already over exhausted herself with those two steps. “You can’t-” Meredith sobbed between her words. Tears formed in her eyes. “You can’t do this!” 

As if this was Caspar’s reply, he flicked Meredith. 

To the knight, the friction between his fingers produces a small noise. If there was anyone else next to Meredith, they would have heard a nuclear blast. But Meredith herself didn’t hear anything but the faint ringing in her ears. Caspar’s middle finger thwacked the entire front part of her body. The difference in speed of her thorax — now traveling at the speed of Caspar’s flick — and her limbs — still bound by inertia — were so strong that they were almost ripped straight off their sockets.

Almost. 

Instead, Meredith’s limbs still clung to her body by a flimsy thin tendon. Obviously, she couldn’t feel or move anything past the tendon. In addition, Caspar’s finger had done just as much damage to her insides. The epithelial membrane that connected her organs to their cavities, which kept them in place, were immediately ruptured. Now loose, her organs were also influenced by the impact. They were all sent towards her back, being sliced by her bones in the process.

And then…her body was sent flying.

Meredith maintained consciousness. Despite her heart being sliced through her ribcage, and her lungs being filled with blood, she was still, somehow, awake. She wanted to plead for her life, but all she could feel was the warm blood coming up her throat. She wanted to stop herself from free-falling in air, but she couldn’t reach anything. And even if she could, with what arms? The ones flailing in front of her vision?

In the end, she could only cry.

Without her heart, blood would eventually fail to reach her brain. And she would die. In the end, Meredith was spared from such death by one second…as she instead splattered against the stone ground. Her body turning into a wet, red slop. Her limbs miraculously survived the fall by barely being attached to her body. Instead, their tendons snapped, freeing them to roll elsewhere.

Not that Caspar — or anyone else for that matter — would notice. While her intact limbs were more noticeable than the microscopic stain on the ground, what chances did they have when Meredith herself was seen as dust? If Caspar didn’t stomp them down, the rats would likely feast on it instead. And Meredith would join Caspar’s many unnoticed victims. 

Up above, Caspar let his hand fall to his hip.

Satisfied with his act of goodwill, a smile formed on Caspar’s lips. He knew his kindness would go unnoticed, but kindness is its own reward. Never realizing the unintended consequences of his act of charity, Caspar’s thoughts moved on. He came here to eat, after all.

After observing his choices carefully, Caspar set his eyes on an apple. He wasn’t sure how long they lasted, but knew it would go bad before the cheese and meats. Not only that, but as a male who spent most of his free time swinging swords, Caspar had…a lack of knowledge in the culinary arts. An apple was a simple snack that didn’t need to be prepared.

And so, he picked the closest apple to him, not giving much further thought. And as an unfortunate effect of his choice, he carried two shrunken women with him. It’s not like picking a different apple would cause fewer fatalities, only change their victims. As it happened, most of the kitchen staff found themselves on the pantry’s produce. 

Adeline and Dorothea were just unlucky enough to be the firsts. 

“W-Why?!” Dorothea yelled, although her words weren’t aimed at anyone specifically. She just needed to yell, whether at Caspar, Adeline, or at one of the many gods. As one of the castle’s new hires, she didn’t even recognize the knight lifting their red world. “I d-didn’t sign up for this!” She tried her best to hold onto the apple as it was lifted up.

To caspar, lifting up the fruit was the equivalent of moving a few centimeters in a couple of seconds. But to the shrunken duo, those centimeters were the equivalent of kilometers. Traveling multiple kilometers per seconds kept them stuck to the apple, unable to withstand the gravity. 

“I don’t deserve this!” Dorothea continued, feeling as if her head would crack against the fruit’s skin. 

“Just hold on!” Adeline replied. Adeline was almost double the gardener’s age, as one would expect from the head chef. While she didn’t know much about physics, she had enough life experience to know what would happen the moment Caspar stopped his movement. This is why her nails were digging into the apple.

And then, Caspar stopped, with the fruit right in front of his chest. A whiplash flung Dorothea up in the air, while Adeline managed to remain still. The gardener screamed as she flew upwards…and then began her fall downwards. Hitting the ‘ground’ with an inaudible thumb, Dorothea began to slide down the apple’s curved shape. 

“Hold onto it!” The head chef repeated her statement, but Dorothea couldn’t compute her words. How could she? The adrenaline was numbing her brain to logic. All she knew at this point was fear. And all she could do was scream. Whether that was for Caspar to hear her, for Adeline to help her or from godly intervention…it didn’t matter. Nobody was going to save her.

Meanwhile, Caspar brought the apple towards his chest. He didn’t know the logic behind cleaning apples by rubbing them against something, but he had seen it multiple times. In fact, he had done it multiple times too. It was ingrained in him. Usually, he would rub it against his shirt, but that was still wet from his sweat. So the next best thing was to rub it against his pectorals.

Caspar would never understand the science, although there was logic behind his actions. Rubbing it helped remove dirt and grime, and even bacteria. This time, it even helped remove a tiny gardener. 

Having fallen to the apple’s side, as the meteor-sized apple moved towards his chest, it brought Dorothea with her. She looked ahead, not realizing what was about to happen. For a second, she smiled. If she fell onto Caspar, she could hold onto the hem of his shirt…or she would find herself a safe place on her body. But as it happened, Dorothea was in the perfect area to be squished between the fruit and Caspar.

Despite being the closest victim to his ears, he never heard her bones fracturing against his chest. 

Immediately upon touching his warm body, Dorothea’s skull was crushed. Intracranial arteries opened, mixing in with brain matter. With the increased pressure inside her skull, everything inside tried to escape to someplace with less pressure. The easiest path was through her nose and mouth, but it wasn’t enough. It  also came out of her ear by rupturing her ear drum. Still, not enough. 

Without an easy path, it instead pushed her eyes out of her socket, sending them pummeling down his chest. 

The gorey scene didn’t end there, as she was further scraped against his pectorals. Her body becoming more and more grotesque with each second. Resembling less of a human, and more of a ghoul. Each sickening crunch breaking more of her down. Finally, with a final crunch, Caspar moved the apple away from his chest. 

What Dorothea was right about was the fact that he did catch her. She remained pasted against his body. As it happened, all of the sweat against the space between his pectorals was working like glue, keeping her stuck to his body. His body heat would slowly cook up her carcass until they were charred. And if he didn’t manage to crush her with the mountains of flesh around her, or with his own digits…then she would eventually be washed away by a droplet of sweat.

But Caspar had more important matters to attend to. His snack, which also happened to include Adeline.

After surviving another deadly lift, this time towards Caspar’s mouth, Adeline found herself face to face with the hungry behemoth. It was the closest anyone had made it. Her chances of communicating with him, whether by being seen or heard, were higher than all of his previous victim’s. Of course, being noticed wasn’t the same as being recognized. Meredith was the living, or not so living, proof of that.

But even then, she had the advantage of color. While Meredith’s gray outfit made her resemble dust, Adeline’s blue cloth didn’t. And luckily for her, it was a great contrast to the apple’s red. And yet…

“C-Caspar!” Adeline finally stood up. “It’s me! Adeline!” Unlike Dorothea, Adeline had known Caspar for a long time. She was always generous with the knight’s portions, so it was a no brainer they all adored her. Maybe today, it would finally pay off. 

“A-A demoness…invaded the castle! We were ordered to-” But her explanation simply fell on deaf ears. Despite the numbers going in her favor…Caspar just…didn’t see her. He already had inspected the apple when he grabbed it, so he didn’t think of examining it again. He simply focused his gaze elsewhere.

And that was enough to render her invisible. With no reason to treat this meal as different than all the others he had eaten in his lifetime…he opened his mouth. Adeline’s world changed from cold to sauna. A humid, warm blast invaded her existence. Bringing with it the faintest smell of meat that Caspar had eaten before coming to the castle. Faint to Caspar, of course. To Adeline, it was like she could taste it.

She pinched her nose, trying to unfocus her thoughts on his breath. She couldn’t. It was like the fog had ventured inside her brain. It was everywhere. It was too much. And when she finally looked forward…well, that’s when she really couldn’t think anymore.

Something broke her. Just beyond the mountains of white, and past the pink bog of saliva. She could barely make out the chasm, but it was there. And it was horrifying. She couldn’t explain why. Everything from Caspar was terrifyingly huge, but this rattled her core. Maybe because it awoke a primal instinct of hers. Or maybe…because she knew that was it.

That was going to be her tomb. 

“N-No….C-Caspar! Look dow-” She looked up…and couldn’t see his eyes anymore. Caspar had brought her forward, and now she was directly under his nose. “Oh.” Her word merely a whisper. “This is…it…” Adeline’s tears rolled down her cheeks. She was entirely correct, this was it.

She was pushed further into the darkness of Caspar’s mouth, even going past his pearly whites. Adeline’s feeble attempt of survival was looking for a safe place. But everywhere was too hostile. His tongue was drenched with lakes of saliva, and she certainly wouldn’t survive between his teeth. She had to think unconventionally. 

Under his tongue? No, she would suffocate. Between his teeth and his cheek? No, she would never make it. What about-

A world-shattering thunder. Fissures formed along the ground beneath her. And darkness consumed the world. Caspar had taken the first bite. The sauna’s intensity had risen to a thousand, but Adeline didn’t care anymore. She was in a different kind of hell. 

She didn’t know where she was, other than she was falling. There were sounds of thunder nearby, likely from further bites. She could also hear wet clashes. Maybe his tongue moving around? It was all too dark and too big. It was an alien world. No human was ever meant to be in a situation like this.

Was she still human?

Adeline never got her answer. Something wet punched her body backwards, and she found herself free-falling in another direction. She screamed. She cried. And then, she died.

She didn’t realize what killed her, well, obviously Caspar. But not the details of her demise. After being flung back towards his molars, Caspar took one final bite. As it would happen, Adeline found herself right between the gap of his teeth.

But unfortunately for her, she wasn’t small enough. Not that much would have changed if she was. At worst, he would dislodge her from his teeth. And at worse, she would find herself stuck. Having to live the rest of her short life between his teeth. But she wasn’t. Instead, both sides of her body — left and right — were shed away.

Only about a third of her body fit between his teeth. And the rest? Well, it was simply shredded past her before being pressed into paste. What was left of her were scraps. Scraps of bones, hair, muscle and organs. All compressed together between Caspar’s teeth. Yet somehow, she found herself still alive.Still able to process the extreme pain. Able to recognize…

That she was fucked.

A crooked groan escaped her mouth. Her larynx too damaged to produce any coherent human words. At this point, if Caspar did manage to find her inside his mouth, he was more likely to think she was a gross bug. But he never would.

His maxillary and mandibular teeths moved away, and Audeline’s gorey body was dislodged. This time, she landed face-first against his tongue. The numerous taste buds failed to capture her taste. Amidst the more potent apple juice, he wouldn’t be able to pick up on such a small detail to his meal. 

Adeline’s last moments were spent in agony. As Caspar’s saliva entered the many wounds in her body. A stinging sensation as the enzymes worked their way inside her. To make matters worse, she couldn’t breathe. She was face-first against his saliva, and without arms to spin her around, she could only flail around. Like a fish out of water.

Eventually, it was too much, and she breathed in. 

Adeline never felt Caspar’s tongue moving upwards and sending all foreign objects to the back of his mouth. She wouldn’t feel herself being carried with the rest of the bolus. She wouldn’t recognize the accuracy of her prediction as she was sent down his abyss of a throat. And just like everything else that was sent down his gullet, never to be thought of again. 

Caspar was always grateful for Adeline, since she often gave him extra. But this time, she had given him everything she had.

“Tasty.” Caspar mentioned it to himself, appreciating his snack. As someone with high metabolism, this wouldn’t last for very long inside his stomach, but the pantry was stocked. There was still plenty for him to eat, and plenty of shrunken girls to become his snack too. But with his hunger satiated, there was no need to remain in the pantry.

Caspar exited the kitchen and into the royal gardens. The walled garden was still within the palace, satisfying the need for the outdoors while still providing safety. Caspar rarely came here — knights had other duties to attend to — but in the rare moments that he did, he always found it soothing. The faint breeze carrying the scent of flowers…the gentle rustle of the leaves. It was almost perfect. The only thing missing…

“Would be company…” Caspar’s voice came through as a low whisper. After a sorrowful sigh, he finished off his apple and tossed it into the garden’s hidden compost. He appreciated the garden’s peaceful vibes for a little longer before finally returning inside.

This time, his visit had the opposite of its usual effect. Usually the garden lifted his mood up, but today it had brought it down. And the many things that cheered him up — sparring with his fellow knights, drinking with his comrades  in the barracks, helping the head chef in the kitchen — were impossible today. So he decided to resign himself to his room. 

But in the corridor, Caspar felt a draft. If he was still in the garden, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but he didn’t expect it in the hallway. He looked to his left to find the culprit. An open window. Without giving much thought, Caspar approached the windowsill, ready to close the window…when he saw something. A small, flying black dot. 

Said dot was none other than Minago, the winged succubus that had terrorized the castle just moments ago. “Finally!” She exclaimed, a smug smile on her lips. “Sorry princess, but this heartbreaker isn’t done charming your servants.” Minago was looking down at the windowsill, where the miniscule princess resided. Along her was another shrunken woman, but Minago didn’t care about some commoner.

She flew away from the duo and towards the blonde knight. “Not baaad…” She flew around, admiring his physique. In her state, any man would do, but she had lucked out. He was quite handsome, for a human. And judging by his muscular body, he could hold his own in a fight. Now, kidnapping the princess would be an easy task with his size, but she would likely need him to protect her from the other demons back in the demon lord’s castle.

There was no way they wouldn’t take advantage of her weak state. Some would crush her to climb up the army’s ranks, while some…she didn’t even want to think what they’d do with her.

“Ugh, but how am I going to reverse this?” Minago didn’t intend to shrink herself, or anyone other than the princess for that matter. The demon lord had been capturing princesses from multiple nations, and then shrinking them down. She thought that learning the shrinking spell would earn her master’s favor.

But that holy bitch just haaad to cast a spell as well. Everything got fucked up after that.

…Although admittedly, she hadn’t mastered her own spell either.

“Whatever, that’s all in the past now!” Minago focused her attention on the giant human in front of her. “You, my delicious snack, are much more important.” Her pink eyes began to glow as she started charming Caspar. Capturing men like this came naturally to succubus. It was less like casting magic, and more like an innate ability.

It only took a few seconds for it to be complete. She saw Caspar raising his hands towards her, almost as if reaching out for his lover. “Hah. Men are so easy~.” Her smirk grew as she looked back at the two figures on the windowsill. 

“Capture the princess. You can crush the other one for all I c-”

SLAM.

Her haughty speech was replaced by the blasting noise of Caspar’s hands coming together. It completely drowned the visceral squelch of Minago’s body crumbling within. 

What Minago hadn’t realized is that Caspar hadn’t fallen for her tricks. All he could see was a black dot. He would have never identified it as a powerful succubus, not when she resembled more of a gnat. Thinking the insect had flown in from the open window, he simply raised his hands around it.

It didn’t even move away.

Not wanting to let the opportunity go to waste…he simply…clapped his hands together. 

Caspar’s hands were as callused as any other knight’s, but they were still soft. After all, they were made out of flesh, body fat and currently relaxed muscles. But in Minago’s reality, their softness disappeared. They weren’t just hands, they were an entire domain. They were as sturdy as the ground. Which meant that Minago was currently being crushed between two worlds.

Were she a human, she would have popped. No mortal force could endure such an ordeal. But her demonic body could. Of course, it didn’t prevent her bones from breaking. Her ears, still ringing from the blast, faintly picked up on the sounds of her own body shattering apart. Her skeletal system becoming dust. Her body crumbled without its support system, and her insides hung loose inside her.

Minago couldn’t believe what was happening. She was going to be killed by a human? She was supposed to be stronger than them! And by a male, nonetheless? Minago tried to speak…but instead, blood gushed from her mouth.

Then, something popped. She wasn’t sure what it was, but blood came gushing. It stuck to both sides, temporarily gluing her to his hands. Due to the pressure and body heat from Caspar, the blood dried quickly, becoming sticky. All these events were happening in the brief seconds that Caspar kept his hand together.

But he was clapping, not holding her. And he spread them apart. The spot of blood caking his hands tried to hold them together, but the weak strands snapped. And as they were holding Minago, she plummeted to the windowsill. Her wings too unnaturally bent to do any flying. By the time her paper-like body hit the ground, Minago was already dead. Not that her remains resembled a corpse.

More like…a heap of flesh.

Caspar wiped both hands against his pants, spreading Minago’s blood on them. The streak of gore far too imperceptible for him to ever notice. It would either get absorbed by the fabric or washed clean anyway. 

There was a gentle smile on Caspar’s face as he nobly defended the castle against another pest. But that expression changed as he watched the “gnat’s” body spiral down. There were two other creatures on the windowsill. Having encountered two more bug-sized insects, Caspar almost raised his hand to slap them down.

But something caught his attention. One of the creatures looked…purple. 

“Huh?”

Caspar cocked his head. He had never seen a purple ant-sized bug before. Part of him wanted to crush it anyway. He knew the maids would appreciate his help with the castle’s infestation. But another part of him, a much more curious one, bent down towards the windowsill. Ygella had always drilled him about knowing his foes before battle. Even if said foe was a bug.

So he placed both hands on the window — making sure not to demolish them yet — and leaned down. As he came closer, both fleas became more detailed. Firstly, he noticed the other insect was blue. And secondly, they weren’t monocolor. No, in fact, there were traces of yellow and peach.  By the time he could recognize what creatures they were, their entire sky was replaced by his eyes. 

The purple bug was none other than the princess Catherine herself. And much further to her left, in a blue hood, was the high oracle Ilyana. 

Caspar blinked. And he blinked again. And a couple more times. Each blink sending gusts of wind to the shrunken women below him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. His mind kept repeating the same sentence over and over. ‘T-The princesses?!’ 

Unable to compute, Caspar opened his mouth and gasped. 

While he tried to understand the sight before him, a small commotion was happening. Despite discovering their identities, Caspar still couldn’t hear them. He would have to truly shove them inside his ears to even hear their squeaks, let alone interpret them. Catherine had been struggling under the sharp winds, unable to move. 

“I-I’m sorry sister.” She spoke, already resigned to her fate. Her tone was confident, as always, but the tears in her eyes betrayed her bravado. She was so scared…but she tried her best to hide it. She was the big sister, after all. Despite knowing what was going to happen, her lips curled into a smile. And…she spoke. She spoke a truth buried deep inside. It was locked away and chained by societal expectations and hidden secrets. “I love you, sis…”

“NO!” Was her sister’s reply. Catherine knew Ilyana wasn’t denying her love, but denying reality.

Her words came just as Caspar gasped and the flow of air reversed. Instead of breathing down onto Catherine, he was breathing in. The princess was picked up by the windblast. Her body floated for a split second before it was violently sucked in towards Caspar. The sharp air cut through her skin like paper. And just like that…Caspar accidentally breathed her in.

Catherine’s nasal trip was short, but eventful. As a foreign body, her main obstacles were hair follicles and mucus. Despite being sturdier than her, the hairs didn’t slow her down. She bumped through them, but the air kept her going forward. Her dress was ripped away, and bruises began to accumulate among her skin. Catherine didn’t have time to understand what was happening. Now that her sister wasn’t watching, she just screamed and cried.

Then, she was hurled through a droplet of mucus. Her bones barely withstood the impact as entered the liquid face-first. Her entire body aching from the slap. If this is where her story inside Caspar had ended, perhaps there was a chance she would have survived. Caspar could sneeze into a napkin, and if she managed to survive the atomic blast, she would live. But unfortunately, her collision dislodged the droplet…and it traveled down his nose and down his throat.

Caspar did not have time to react. In just a single second, he inhaled the princess through his nose. If he had felt the princess going down his body, he would have instantly found a place to throw up, but unfortunately, the mucus encasing her body never touched his esophagus. And thus, Caspar was only partly aware of the fate he bestowed her. Not that Catherine herself was aware either. Falling unconscious, she would simply drown inside that world of snot, before it would be digested inside him. At least she was spared of the painful digestion.

“A-Ack!” Caspar brought a hand to his nose. There was a moment of discomfort as something solid entered his airway, but he quickly composed himself. He glanced over at the surviving woman, his feelings of guilt and worry clear across his face. “E-Excuse me for a moment!” Moving away from the window, Caspar turned around and tried his best to sneeze against his own shirt. 

Ilyana witnessed his attempts with tears in her eyes. She knew it was futile. Her sister was gone. One way or another, the knight that swore to protect her killed her. “Sister….s-sister…no…oh please no!” Ilyana fell to her knees. She felt like this was all her fault. What was the point of being the high oracle if she couldn’t protect the person she loved most?

Ilyana and Catherine were half-sisters, united only by her scoundrel father. But while Catherine was of noble origins, Ilyana was a bastard child. A fact that never bothered Catherine, but it definitely bothered her royal parents. Despite being hated and mistreated, they never allowed her to leave the castle. Perhaps because they didn’t just hate her, but loved to hate her. They enjoyed the torment. 

Incidentally, that’s when her visions began. When their cruelty went too far, when she would have died…she would foresee it. She would witness her own death. And through it, she prevented it. She persisted. Despite the horribleness of the world…she did it for her sister. But she wasn’t the only one fighting. While Catherine didn’t seem to do anything to stop the abuse, she was biding her time. Waiting. Then one day, she overthrew her parents. Poisoned them until they were unfit to rule, and took the throne. They were still alive, but couldn’t even speak without puking blood.

On that day, Ilyana’s life of torture ended.

It was Ilyana’s decision to hide her bloodline. She pretended to be an oracle — not that it was a lie — and used her powers to stop the death of her sister. Sure, the condition to her visions was her own death, but as long as she was willing to die for her sister, then she knew when Catherine was in danger too. She stopped assassinations, wars and even coups. 

But she didn’t witness herself shrinking. That’s probably because there was a timeline — even if just one — where she lived despite her size. What she did see was the many ways that Caspar would have killed her. She used her knowledge to avoid being crushed by his footsteps, scratched by his fingers, encased inside his earwax, sliced across his teeth, drowning in his sweat or saliva. Ever since shrinking, Caspar had already killed her eighty three times. For anyone else, they would have lost their will.

But Ilyana could do it as long as she had Catherine. As long as she…had…Catherine.

Booming noises brought the teared-eye girl back to reality. Caspar’s words were muffled. Not because of any difference in size, but because she genuinely couldn’t hear anything in her state. She didn’t even have the energy to yell at him. If she did, she would have pleaded for him to just kill her. Of course, Caspar wouldn’t have heard her.

“Princess Ilyana…” Caspar’s words were soft, and they were dripping with his regret. “I truly apologize for your sister. I implore you to understand that it was not my intention! I would never dare to dream of harming either of you!” His voice went silent for a moment as he looked down.

Caspar’s feelings were complicated. He was crestfallen, of course, but he also…accepted the situation. At her side, the princess was far too fragile. Even a single breath from him was enough to send her god knows where. And he tried to save her! His shirt was a mess! But no matter how much he searched, and he truly did search, he couldn’t find her.

He didn’t know much about the human body, but he knew someone so woefully small wouldn’t be able to endure his body for thirty more minutes. No matter where they were, in half an hour she would surely be dead. And Caspar didn’t have any idea of how to rescue her before then. The only plan he came up with was unsuccessful. Maybe he was overestimating the princess. Maybe she couldn’t even survive a minute inside him, and was already dead.

He had quietly uttered a word of apology to her, but understood there was nothing left for him or her sister to do. Still, his mission was protecting Ahrensbach’s royalty. And that included Ilyana. Caspar’s bright smile returned to his face. “I’m very grateful I was trusted with your secret, your highness. With your sister…gone, you are the only Ahrensbach royal left for me to serve.” 

Ilyana stared at the blonde man with disbelief. He was the cause of her death, and he was speaking with such…casualness. And the worst part, it didn’t look like it came from malice. 

“But in your current condition, It wouldn’t be safe to announce your rule. All an assassin would need to do is pivot their heel.” He shook his head. “Not just an assassin! A careless servant could mistake you for a vermin a-” Caspar stopped talking. The words he was speaking were setting in.  Hadn’t he mistaken the princess for a bug himself?

In fact, hadn’t he seen plenty of ‘bugs’ today? Like the one in the kitchen? “Oh…I sincerely hope that was a bug…” Realization slowly set in that the castle was never abandoned. He just failed to notice its occupants. If everyone was as weak as the princess, then he could have already decimated the entire population. A notion that wasn't too far from the truth.  

“Although I…don’t think I can be blamed.” He sighed as he scratched the back of his head. “I truly hope I haven’t claimed any other lives, but one doesn’t generally expect their companions to become so small! A-Although…I will try to trace back my steps. If I find anyone, I promise to give them a proper burial, your highness!”

Of course, the corpses of his victims were far too gone for his eyes to detect them as human corpses. They were streaks, stains, splats. Anything could have caused those. But Caspar didn’t think of that.

“Anyways, back to the matter at hand…while I may not know how to reverse your condition, I promise to take care of you as best as I can!” His smile finally returned. Perhaps if he could see Ilyana’s despairful look, he wouldn’t be grinning. But he couldn't. And getting close enough to discern her facial expression…well, he didn’t need to inhale a second princess.

“It does vex me that we haven’t found what caused you to shrink.” Caspar put a hand to his chin as he tried to think of any monsters with shrinking powers. None came to mind. And if there was any, Ygella was sure to know how to counter it. “But I do not believe it’s safe for us to stay in the castle. Our safety will be severely compromised if I’m also shrunken…and if you do shrink again…” Caspar looked at the princess, trying to imagine how small she would become.

If a normal sized human was turned into this…then she would entirely disappear from human vision. She wouldn’t be mistaken for a bug, because she wouldn’t even be seen in the first place. “If that happens not even I can guarantee your safety.” He spoke plainly. If that happened…then the matter would be out of his hands. He would have to accept that there was nobody left for him to serve. At that point, she probably wouldn’t be considered a human being anyway.

Realizing how grim he was speaking to the princess, Caspar quickly shook his head. “I-I mean…I promise to be more careful this time! No harm will come to you while I’m here!”

Ilyana was about to scream something, when she was pulled back from reality. In less than a second, flashes of what could be enveloped her vision. Her organs squeezed out of her body as he plucked her between his fingers…Caspar losing sight of her existence, crushing her under a knee as he bent down to search the floor…spasming against the wooden table after Caspar tipped his hand, thinking “Surely she won’t die from this height”.

By the time she returned to the present, Caspar’s golden retriever smile filled her vision…

Her death count had gone from eighty three to three hundred and forty seven.

---------

In another part of the universe, in a gothic castle filled with demons, one man opened his mouth. Amidst a blob of his saliva, a dwarf woman managed to poke her head out, just in time for the entire droplet to fall off his tongue and inside a glass jar. “Delightful as always, princess Glolgura.” The man smiled. The dwarfs were his favorite snack. They had such an earthful flavor, it was a welcome respite from all the others that tasted like raw meat. 

With a click of his fingers, the saliva inside the jar disappeared. Leaving the woman free to breathe once again. And more importantly, it left her snowglobe-like world livable again. Satisfied, he placed Glolgura’s jar in a shelf filled with twenty two other jars. “I shall return shortly.” He spoke, although his purple eyes weren’t staring at any of them in particular

As a demon lord, Claude had many powerful relics inside his castle. One of which was a crystal ball. After two days of waiting for the succubus he had sent to Ahrensbach, he had grown impatient. Turning around, he disappeared from the princesses’ sight. The footsteps of his black dress shoe disappearing shortly after. And once again, they were left alone. In their own worlds.

In the next room, Claude sat down in front of the crystal and waved his hands over it. Instantly, the orb glowed. As he thought of the castle, purple smoke began to fill the inside of the orb…and as it slowly dissipated, the sight of Ahrensbach’s castle came into view.

Instantly, he could feel remnants of the departed souls. But they were…

“Pitiful.”

But there were so many of them that they piqued his interest. Closing his eyes, he attempted to follow where those threads were leading him. “Hmmm…they seem to be parting in many different directions.” His voice was elegant. “But most of them seem to be leading to…”

The Eternal Fields. Most mortals were unremarkable. They were born into meaningless lives and died meaningless deaths. When those people died, they would find themselves in The Eternal Fields. It was a utopia free of worry or stress. Where one could perform whatever task or hobby brought them happiness. One might worry that such immortality would lead them to despair or boredom.

But it didn’t. They were just…content. And as far as Claude knew, it wasn’t a forced happiness either. At first, The Eternal Fields looked as uninteresting as always…until he noticed the size of these newly deceased souls.

They were absolutely puny. “How interesting…” There was a delicate balance in how one appeared in the afterlife. If their body was an exact replica of how they died, most of them would be too sickly or deformed to enjoy their afterlife. Likewise, the staff wasn’t a pool of gore that Caspar had crushed, but had still kept their size.

Of course, this meant an eternal hell for them. Just from his brief glance, he had already seen the head-chef struggling to survive a pot of boiling soup, the head-maid being repeatedly dragged as she found herself stuck in a butler’s handkerchief, and a gardener stuck among the muddy soles of a boot. There were many more souls there, each finding it hard to enjoy this paradise. But he didn’t bother looking further.

He moved his gaze away from them. He was looking for more remarkable people, after all. First, his eyes found the knight commander. Her existence now resided in The Ebon Grounds. A realm reached only by the fiercest and strongest of warriors. And, apparently, the tiniest ones too. She was currently fighting a humanoid dragon male. And despite his numerous advantages — his size, his claws, his ability to flight — she was actually…holding up her own.

She was still going to lose, of course, but it was clear by the smile on her face that she was confident in her abilities. “I suppose anyone would be, if they entered The Ebon Grounds.” Even if she was miniscule, the fact she wasn’t in The Eternal Fields meant she was still a powerful adversary.

Unlike The Eternal Fields those in the Ebon Ground still felt pain, and they could even die. But in less than a few hours, they would be revived again. Their fight would resume. It wasn’t all skirmishes, there were taverns where one could get drunk and tell their tales. So overall, she was bound to have a much better afterlife. But since he wasn’t looking for her, his attention moved elsewhere.

He spotted the grand cleric, also still shrunk. Of course, such devout believer would reach Elyon’s Domain. Anyone else would have been honored to meet him. Elyos practically resembled a human, with the exception of his angelic wings and his twelve foot tall stature..  But the gland relic was an exception. He seemed completely oblivious to her existence as he mercilessly grinded her underneath his index finger as he scratched himself. He looked disconsolate, perhaps too solemn after not hearing from the grand cleric for so long.

It seemed that despite being in his domain, and quite literally plastered on his body, he couldn’t register her as a blip in reality. At least she could worship him for all of eternity now.

As he continued to search among the dead, he did notice one soul that was clearly demonic. “Is that you, Minago?” Claude spoke. It must have been her, but her soul was just as small as the others. He didn’t even bother looking into it. Regardless of who it was, it was a demon. And when dead, they simply returned to hell.

“She’s probably being tormented by other demons…they must be having a field day with a pocket sized succubus.” He contemplated summoning her back to his castle, but shook his head. “I suppose that can be her punishment for failing to failing her mission.”

Besides, it was slightly entertaining to think of what they were doing to her. 

Right next to Minago, he found another thread…and this time, he had found the princess herself. By this point, he guessed the princess must have also been dead, but it was a pity that he was right.

“The Cerulean Empire…what a shame.” As all true royals did, her after-life was the Cerulean Empire. Interestingly enough, she was actually enjoying her death. Of course, the cosmic servants would notice their master despite being as small as a speck of dust. So unlike the cleric, she wasn’t accidentally being crushed. 

To Claude, It was quite bittersweet. Seeing her order men more than fifty times her size around was quite amusing, but he had failed to collect her from himself.

“Luckily for me, you’re not the only Ahrensbach princess”. Surprisingly, the hidden child was still alive. Somehow, Caspar had failed to murder her. “Hmm…so there is still a knight by your size.” He chuckled. “I’ve never seen a princess successfully make contact after being shrunken…how deliciously cunning of you.” 

Claude bit his lower lip. He wanted to capture her as soon as possible, but he couldn’t risk sending another minion. It was more likely they’d end up doing Caspar’s job for him. “Then I’ll have to collect her myself.” He muttered to himself. “Although…you’re already on a silver platter for me. I should focus on capturing more…difficult ones first.”

Crossing one leg over the other, he smiled. “I suppose I could leave you two to bond for a month of two…”