General Fa’s brow twitched as she listened to Gao’s report. She sat within the mountain fortress of Xanxi, her seat carven from the bones of fallen warriors melded together by magic. Naturally the bones were countless in their number to be able to hold up her two hundred meter tall form. She crossed her right leg over her left as she looked down at the man kneeling before her. Her expression was not one of anger with him, rather of frustration it seemed.

“What an absurdity. Why in the name of the gods would some vagabond giant throw in with Princess Rei?” Had she been standing by to rescue Rei? Had she somehow miscalculated the assets of the forces against Prince Zazia? It didn’t sit well with her.

“I do not know, great General. However her strength… it was unreal. Even for a giant it was an absurd thing to look upon. She shattered the ground with a single strike of her spear and crushed us in but a few seconds. It is my deepest shame that I fled to report this.” Gao said.

Fa snorted. She was very certain he felt *nothing* but sorrow at tucking his tail between his legs and whimpering away from a giant. It had taken him a few days to make it here, probably because he was considering running rather than facing potential consequences from her. “It is of no consequence. I will arrange for one of my elites to handle her. A giant should be fought with another giant.” She said. “You are dismissed.”

With that wave of her hand the man bowed and groveled his thanks before leaving her sight. Probably grateful that she hadn’t reduced him to a mere stain upon the floor. Not that it wasn’t a tempting thought; however it would serve little purpose. Killing one’s own subordinates for understandable failures was not something she was keen on. Gao had simply been outmatched. It was hardly his fault she had not taken into account the possibility the rebels might have giants of their own. Besides, he had done his job helping to bring Tang to heel.

Fa stood up from her throne and swept out of her audience chambers, her thick black robes scraping the floor. Her guards bowed low as she walked, her booming footfalls shaking the ground beneath them. They had adapted to it well in their service. She walked to her quarters and threw open the vast doors. “I am not to be disturbed unless it is an emergency.” She boomed to the women posted outside the doors. Doors which slammed shut.

As soon as they did the General slumped down in a bed massive enough to hold three women of her scale in it. She let out a groan into the plush pillows of the bed as she flopped out in a very undignified way. She turned over in her bed and looked up at the canopy, sighing as she ran her fingers through her silky silver hair. It was bad form for people to see her like this of course; she was the Witch General Shi Fa. General Fa did not laze, she languished in an imposing manner that had men piss themselves in terror.

“Ugh… I should have just gone after her myself. Stupid mistake on my part.” She sighed, speaking to herself.

She felt a weak squirming in her boot and idly started pushing them off of her feet, wrapping her toes around the pale and naked form of Princess Yui as she kicked her boots off. The First Princess of Xing looked very worse for wear for her captivity. Her form was covered in a faint bit of sweat and her hair was messed up. There was bruising around her toned form, the warrior princess very much having been battered under the feet of the General.

Fa propped her head up on a pillow and looked along the length of her massive form, dropping the princess from her grip. She fell in a heap upon the plush mattress of the bed, taking in great gasping breaths of air and coughing. The beautiful giant rolled her eyes and let the pitiful thing catch her breath. Without her Imperial Grace she had weakened considerably. No real surprise Fa supposed. It was probably one of the main factors of her strength.

“Enjoy the outside time while you can, my dear. It’s the exception with your current status in life.” Fa remarked.

“Yo-you… ah… monster… you killed Tang.” The woman coughed and gasped out.

“Prince Tang opposed Prince Zazia, the rightful ruler of Xing and the strongest claim to the throne after the death of the Empress. As Prince Zazia’s servant it follows I would kill him.” Fa stated without much remorse in her voice.

“You enjoyed it… you made me listen.” Yui said accusingly.

Fa lowered her right foot down upon Yui, who let out a squeak as she was smothered under the sole of her foot. The General pressed her into the mattress and chuckled as she felt her little hands pushing up against the soft flesh. “A woman should always do work she enjoys. My enjoyment of the matter doesn’t change the results of my duty.” She said with a shrug.

She toyed with Yui for a bit before lifting her foot up and sitting up. She hopped off of the bed and walked over to pour herself a cup of wine. The gallons upon gallons it took to satisfy her were considerable these days. One of the downsides to her current size she supposed. She sipped at her cup and watched Yui stand up and try to jump off of the bed. She stopped at the edge, looking down the vast distance to the ground with clear vertigo. Fa rolled her eyes at the display.

Her booming steps shook the bed under Yui and caused her to lose balance, falling forward off the edge. She gripped into the silken covers and flailed, trying to keep herself from falling down far below and splattering on the smooth floor below. “Try not to fall. I can bring you back, however the stain would take forever for the servants to get out.” Fa remarked as she took another sip of wine.

Yui actually started sliding down the covers and toward the floor, managing to land safely upon the ground. She was looking around frantically and saw the door in the vast distance. It only took a second for her to start running in a full sprint in that direction. Perhaps, Fa supposed, if she had her Imperial Grace she would have been able to use such speed as Tang had and maybe make it. As it was however, it was literally like any other human trying to run from Fa. Painfully slow and ponderous.

Booming steps sounded behind Yui as she ran, the bare feet of the General slamming down upon the ground as she walked after the fallen princess. Fa was actually moving quite slow and still managing to catch up. Yui stumbled a few times as her legs moved too fast for the rest of her body. She was halfway to the door when…

BOOM!

A massive wall of flesh rose up in front of her and she smacked face first into the soft sole of General Fa. The giant had her foot planted down much as one might when trying to reach a high shelf. Above Yui could see the arch of her foot and her heel, the fallen Princess paling. The dark haired beauty scrambled to her feet and started running in the opposite direction. Something that had Fa roll her eyes.

“Predictable.” She brought her foot down upon the fleeing woman.

Fa brought her foot down hard and fast, Yui barely having time to react and simply falling to the ground. Fa could feel her quivering under her foot as she was just safe under the arch of her foot. Just as Fa had intended.

“Let’s suppose you actually did manage to make it out of the room. You wouldn’t really have gotten far since my guards would have caught you and brought you back anyway. Poor planning on your part. Were I in your current position I would be trying to curry favor with me. Making it seem like I was a devoted servant that had fallen for my power and intellect. Would cause me to lower my guard and thus increase the chances I’d have for escaping.” Fa remarked as she lifted her foot up and reached down. Black painted nails gripped around Yui’s naked form and lifted her up.

The woman was gasping and panting and writhing much more weakly now. “Hate me if you wish, Yui. What I do is for the good of Xing. Logically speaking, Prince Zazia is the best of the batch of siblings to rule the Empire. He is a cunning administrator and a brilliant politician. He is also smart enough to know that in matters of military and battle he is woefully weak, small, and frail. Hence why he left me to do what I do best.”

Yui let out a stream of explicative that had Fa cluck her tongue. “Now my dear, you still seem to not understand your position. Perhaps I should remind you. You aren’t a princess anymore.”

Fa walked over to one of her fallen boots and stooped over, holding Yui over the opening before dropping her down into the depths. “You’re my insole and once I have your sister in my hands she’ll be the matching set. Once I deal with this other giant helping her.” Fa stated. “Acceptance of one’s place in the universe is an important step in having a happy life.” The general said with a mean little laugh. She walked away and instead refilled her cup. A contemplative look took her face.

Yes. Prince Zazia was the ideal ruler of Xing. He was brilliant man, not a good person of course but few rulers could claim that. The Empress’s soft rule had seen much of their outer territories taken by savages. By rival nations and horselords. His siblings were less suited to the challenges that lay ahead of the nation. Fa was not going to sit by and watch her country fall to invaders. She had not served for years to watch all they had worked for vanish between her fingers. Just a nice bonus she could put the spoiled imperial brats in their proper place. Beneath her feet. No stupid foreigner was going to get in the way of that.

A knock sounded at her door and her brow twitched. “Enter.”

The massive door opened and it was one of her commanders, a shorter giant by the name of Rika. “Pardon the intrusion, ma’am. However, your guards said you could be interrupted in the case of an emergency.”

“Correct. What is the issue?” She asked, gathering her regal presence.

“Well, ma’am, there is a strange foreigner that appeared outside the gates with Princess Rei tied on a rope around her neck.”

Fa stared at Rika for a few moments before blinking. “…Come again?”