Amy’s hands shook uncontrollably as the airman responsible for ensuring her ‘safety’ on the voyage strapped her into several pounds of specialized equipment. At this altitude, precautions had to be taken to prevent her from passing out. 

It was a lot more than basic skydiving equipment, and had more in common with what an astronaut most likely wore in the cold void of space. 

In her thirty years as a crisis negotiator, she had never received an assignment like this. After a rude awakening in the middle of the night by government agents that belonged to some organization that was above her need-to-know, she was practically dragged out of her suburban home in the dead of night in the midst of what she and her family thought was a severe earthquake. 

Once they were airborne and she got a better view through the window into the starry night sky, Amy realized the horrifying truth of the matter was actually strolling in the distance. The grim looks on the faces of the nearby soldiers and analysts sent to accompany her could not have compared to the abject horror written across her own expression. 

I’ve walked into burning buildings to negotiate with demented suicide bombers, talked down terrorists that had entire neighborhoods held hostage with explosives, negotiated the release of captives from pirates… Amy thought and tried to hold herself together as the high-altitude aircraft began to slow down. 

None of her experience could have ever prepared her for this. The possibility of speaking with a woman currently estimated to be almost nine-hundred miles tall was never in any guidebook or manual. Beyond the utter impossibility of the circumstances presented to the country -of which their top scientists were simply stumped with no conceivable explanation- there were also the logistics to work out. 

They would attempt to establish a line of communication with a titanic woman using an extremely powerful speaker fashioned from a military-grade sonic cannon, and get her attention with some harmless but brightly colored flares fired near her peripheral. Hopefully she would not consider it an attack and respond with violence. 

Although we already tried to bomb the shit out of her feet and ankles while she was wading across the Atlantic… If she didn’t take missiles, torpedoes and carpet bombs as a threat then hopefully some pretty colors won’t either. Amy considered.

Even if by some miracle this insane plan worked, and they managed to communicate with the giantess who was currently stepping across the state of Maryland like it was a cramped closet, what could they possibly do or say to persuade her? What could she even want? There had been no attempts of demands for surrender to promises of destruction that they knew of. She had not even spoken at all. 

Can she even speak? Amy thought despairingly as the reality of the situation slammed into her with each rotation of the propellers outside. They had made an educated guess that the woman was likely Chinese, judging by her features and clothes. 

Amy Tao was fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese, hence why she had been selected for this role. The government had decided that a woman of about the same age as the giantess who shared the same language would hopefully be someone she could relate to. As if Amy, who was less than a microbe in comparison, could ever hope to ‘relate’ to the gargantuan woman. 

As a precaution if the woman was from somewhere else, there were a few other translators on board as well in case she spoke Malay, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai… Every single woman looked similarly terrified, and Amy could tell they all sincerely hoped they did not have to step up to translate or negotiate instead. 

Finally the plane came to a halt. An airman walked down the narrow corridor and Amy desperately wished she could find the ability to pass out and wake up in a hospital. Unfortunately she received no such blessing, and was instead summoned to take her position. 

Clumsily she passed a hastily written letter to one of the other potential translators. “I-If something happens to me and you make it back… Please give this to my husband.” 

Jisoo noticed the small, strangely shaped aircraft approach from her peripheral. Its shape was vaguely reminiscent of a dragonfly. It featured six total propellers. Three one each side for each long, angular wing. She surmised it was meant to be able to hover. 

The fact that it could ascend as high as her belly-button was actually quite impressive given that it was almost five hundred miles off the surface of the earth. She watched it attempt to rise towards her, then decided it might be simpler if she lowered herself. This was the first non-threatening high-altitude aircraft she had seen since her stroll began, and admittedly she was very curious to know what the people of the world wanted to say to her. 

Her descent caused a bit of commotion as the plane struggled to stay aloft from the sudden motion. Hundreds of miles below entire forests on the American East Coast were completely uprooted and the trees sent flying in different directions as the simple action generated a terrible shockwave. 

Oops… I’ll probably have to remember to fix that later. Jisoo thought as she inspected the damage she had done. Her spell ensured that nobody was hurt, and she was careful not to plant her feet in any spot that might threaten an entire city. The smaller patches of civilization such as medium-sized towns and suburbs were a far easier thing to shroud in protection magic. 

Unfortunately she had not paid quite as much attention to the landscape and environment itself. Gigantic craters were left behind in the wilderness from where she had walked across the earth thus far like prints in wet sand. 

Once the tiny aircraft had regained some measure of normalcy, it hovered a few thousand feet away from one of Jisoo’s eyes. To the people on board it was akin to staring at the surface of the moon from mere yards away. If not for her ability to sense lifeforms coupled with her godlike sight, Jisoo might not have even noticed the ship at all. Much less the tiny passengers. 

Suddenly there was a series of bright lights and smoke. She raised a brow elegantly and saw little flashes of light go off over a rather large area between herself and the plane. 

Flares? Oh! They’re trying to get my attention. I guess they don’t realize I can see them all perfectly fine. Jisoo thought and considered the perspective of her tiny counterparts. To show she had indeed noticed them, Jisoo slowly raised one of her nation-sized hands and waggled her fingers hello. 

For a few moments there was total silence, until she could hear the faint noise of radio feedback emanate from the vehicle. She cocked her head and patiently waited for them to sort out the technical difficulties, then expressed some measure of surprise when she heard the voice of a young woman boom from the aircraft, enhanced thousands of times by the force of some kind of sonic sound cannon that projected her words.

It was not necessary whatsoever, but Jisoo thought it might be rude to interrupt the clearly petrified microbe-sized lady on the other end of the powerful microphone. “H-Hello… My…. My n-name is Amy T-Tao..” The woman stammered. 

Oh, they found someone who speaks Mandarin! To the clear surprise of everybody on board, Jisoo smiled widely and waved cheekily once again as if this was all a very fun encounter. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Amy!” She boomed, her voice thunderous but held back by her own magic as not to crack the continent in half from the intensity. “My name is Jisoo. That’s a military aircraft. So you must be a representative of the American government?”

“C-Correct!” 

“If that’s the case, shall we speak in English? I don’t know if everybody on board can speak Mandarin as well.” Jisoo offered earnestly. She repositioned her colossal feet slightly, after a mountain peak started to jut into her toes like an annoying splinter. “I’m sure they would not want to be left out of our conversation.” 

Amy blinked when she heard the thunderous response from the giantess. Her first words to her were nothing like what she expected. Then again she had no basis for what to expect since this entire situation was completely unprecedented, but regardless it came as a surprise for the colossal woman to be so… polite. 

She was one of the few people on board who spoke fluent Mandarin, and as such the only person who knew what ‘Jisoo’ had actually said in response to her first contact. Everybody looked at her, desperate for answers as she considered the offer Jisoo had made. 

Hesitantly, Amy deactivated the microphone for a moment and turned to the rest of the cabin. “She… She says her name is Jisoo, and she offered to speak in English so we can all hear the conversation.” Amy revealed, which sparked a mixture of confusion and disbelief from the others. “And… If it matters she said it was a pleasure to meet me.” 

“Maybe… She’s not hostile?” 

“She’s likely killed millions under her feet at this point. Even if she’s not outright hostile, she’s extremely dangerous.” Some barked back at the optimistic suggestion. The same agent looked back at Amy. “Fine, have her speak in English. Find out what her motivation is and determine how to send her away immediately. Enough with the pleasantries.” He demanded. 

That’s not how crisis negotiation works… Empathy, rapport, similar interests… That’s how you talk someone down. Amy thought, and contemplated what she said next. She eyed the agent who had ordered her to ask the questions. Her decades of experience told her to do the opposite; the last thing you ever wanted to do in a situation like this was to become interrogative, especially when the other party had such a stacked hand. 

Amy cleared her throat and turned the microphone back on. This time she spoke in English and her words were not so terrified as before. “Very well. You said your name was Jisoo?” She asked conversationally, and looked through the window into the endless golden sea that was the goddess’s left eye. The woman nodded and smiled once again in affirmation. “That’s a very beautiful name. Korean, I believe?” 

“Yes! Although my mother is Chinese, I was raised in Busan by a Korean father.” Jisoo replied, once again in a casual, conversational tone. “I consider myself to be Korean even if ethnically I am not.” She remarked. 

There goes the theory that she’s an alien sent to destroy us all. Amy thought and ignored the incredulous looks from the nearby crew as she continued to speak as if meeting a new friend at the grocery store. “...What brings you to the United States?” Amy asked gently. “I emigrated with my husband a long time ago, a lot of my family lives here now.”

“You’re married?” The giantess asked, and for now ignored the initial question. “How long have you and your husband been together?”

“Thirty years come next month.”

“Congratulations! I hope I can say the same thing one day, I was just recently engaged to a wonderful man and am a little nervous about married life.” Jisoo admitted sheepishly and scratched the back of her head in a clearly anxious display. 

The small action gave Amy a very bizarre feeling. She chuckled slightly over the microphone, which prompted a quizzical look from the titan. “You… You remind me of my daughter. Her fiance proposed to her last month.” Amy mentioned, for a moment completely forgetting the circumstances. “Now that all the initial excitement has worn off she’s a bit worried. I think she still feels like a kid sometimes, even though she’s a young professional with a career and has not lived under my roof in quite some time.”

“I completely understand how she feels.” Jisoo said sympathetically. “I’m sure she loves her fiance a lot, and they might have even lived together for a while, but to be married is a different kind of commitment compared to dating.” She murmured. 

Before Amy could reply, another microphone was patched into the frequency. She frowned and looked over her shoulder to see the same agent who had been staring daggers at her earlier when she did not treat this like an interrogation had connected himself to the loudspeaker. 

When she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out of the sonic cannon they had used to empower her voice to communicate thus far. “What are you doing?!” Amy hissed and walked over towards him, but was coldy rebuked by a different soldier. “I was just establishing a relationship with her!”

“There are potentially millions of casualties around the world and you’re talking to her like some girl you bumped into at a coffee shop!” The agent shot back angrily. “We need to find out what the hell she’s doing here and send her away from the coastline, before more lives are lost.”

“And what exactly is your plan to do that?! Talk down to her like she’s some common street thug?! You’ll just piss her off!” Amy shouted, but was pulled away as the man opened communication lines. 

The titaness, Jisoo, furrowed her brow when the voice she heard was not Amy. Instead a gruff, masculine voice several octaves deeper boomed into the speaker. “Uhh Amy? Having more technical difficulties?” She boomed innocently and watched the plane intently. “I can’t hear you anymore.”

“Hello. My name is Commander Dominick Kowalski. You will be speaking with me from now on.” The agent said authoritatively. Amy stared daggers at him in frustration, but Dominick was staring at the microphone itself. 

He’s avoiding eye contact to keep himself composed… But the jackass doesn’t realize the change in her expression! Amy thought and glanced out the window. Given that the woman’s inhumanely beautiful face was literally miles across, every small twitch or emotion was amplified tenfold. 

For now she fortunately did not seem angered, but certainly a tad confused. “Hello Dominick… Or should I call you Commander Kowalski?” Jisoo asked, then stifled a giggle. “The alliteration makes that title quite catchy.”

“Whichever you prefer.” The middle-aged career airman remarked with a hint of disdain. “Let’s get down to business. Who are you and what is your intention in coming here? This is considered an act of war.”

“Hmm… Is it so difficult to believe I just wanted to go birdwatching? At this size it’s quite breathtaking.”

“For us to work together I need you to take this seriously, ma’am.” Dominick replied curtly like a parent scolding a petulant child. The frustration dripped from his words. 

There was an all encompassing laugh that rattled the specialized aircraft to the point the lights flickered. Miles below on the planetary surface, the same harmonious sound shattered windows and concrete alike from any buildings within range. 

Jisoo smirked as the very casual reminder of her power silenced any further remarks. “Watch your tone, little one. Just who are you to talk down to me?” She asked curiously as a bead of nervous sweat began to run down Dominick’s forehead as he realized he had overstepped his bounds. “You are hardly even a mite or a flea… Less than even a microbe crawling around in my shadow.”

“M-Ma’am I~!” 

“Know your place. Now let Mrs. Tao speak to me again before I lose my temper and decide that your country would look far better flattened beneath my feet.” Jisoo threatened with a gorgeous smile. 

No sooner had she finished her sentence when Amy found herself with the microphone re-activated. Dominick stared at her as if he had just seen death itself and said nothing more for the duration of their conversation. 

Amy nervously looked up at Jisoo through the glass. Her golden eyes sparkled brightly, and for a moment she was curious to know if the giantess could see her. “…I apologize on behalf of my colleague.” She murmured. “He’s not a very bright individual.”

“Ooh, please tell me what the look on his face is like!” 

“I think he just pissed himself, actually. Someone should probably escort him out of the cabin to get cleaned up.” Amy replied loudly. Another round of laughter thundered around them all as Dominick reluctantly took the cue to leave the communication room. 

Okay… Just calm down. It seems she likes you for now. Amy thought and tried to see her daughter once again in the goliath. Jisoo was a younger woman than Amy by a few decades, although she would not dare address her like an inexperienced young lady. “Although I am curious as well.” Amy mused, her tone still very respectful. “You mention that you have a fiancé… A family as well.”

“They’re back home while I’m away handling some important business. I suppose you are curious about the proverbial elephant in the room though?” Jisoo asked knowingly. “Let me guess… You’re planning on asking something about whether or not I miss my fiancé? Then try to turn the conversation to figure out why a nine-hundred mile tall woman suddenly appeared and waltzed into your country?”

“I did not want to be rude… The last thing I would want is to offend you. And I mean that with all the sincerity in my heart.” 

“But you are curious? Sure, I completely understand that you are absolutely terrified right now, however there must be a part of you that’s dying to know how any of this is possible. Among other things too! Why I’m here, what I intend to do now that I have a captive audience…” Jisoo remarked with a clever smirk.

She’s more than just a giant with godly power, she’s intelligent and her intuition is uncanny. I honestly can’t tell if she’s just enjoying this little exchange like a cat playing with its food… Or if she’s actually going to let us live. Amy thought and forced the fear back down her chest. “If you are comfortable sharing that information with me, then feel free. But I won’t ask you to.” Amy replied. “I simply want to ensure the safety of as many people as possible. Do you have any demands or requests?”

“I do, as a matter of fact. It’s quite a simple request! If you fulfill it, I’ll be on my way and leave the rest of your lovely home alone.” Jisoo replied. 

Amy hesitated. “…And if we cannot do as you say?” She asked, although she dreaded the answer. “What will you do?” She inquired.

The golden eyes gleamed brightly, like a pair of twin suns. Suddenly the soldiers and agents in the same room as Amy began to shrink rapidly all around her, until she was the only normal sized person remaining in the cabin, whilst the rest of the crew was completely flabbergasted by their newfound diminutive stature. 

She looked back out the window in horror to see Jisoo smiling still. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan to kill anybody regardless of what happens or the decision you make. It’s totally up to you to tell me.” Jisoo promised. “However if you don’t tell me, I’ll turn the entire population of the country into specks. Then I’ll just take what I want regardless…”

“W-What kind of choice is that?!”

“It’s the only one you’re getting, I’m afraid. My patience and my mercy both have limits and I have an entire world to tend to before the end of the day.” Jisoo chuckled as Amy suddenly felt even more vulnerable. At any moment the giantess could simply reduce her to the size of a speck with a mere thought. 

She’s… She’s a goddess, isn’t she? I’m speaking to a goddess. Amy realized as she looked around the plane at all the now tiny soldiers trapped beneath bundles of their own clothes. “It… It was you…” Amy found herself murmuring. “The Diminution.”

“I shrank only half of humanity last time. Now I won’t hesitate to shrink every last one of you. I don’t care either way.” Jisoo replied and shrugged. “But you seem nice, so I’m giving you a choice to save your people, or the parasites that control all of you.”

“P-Pardon?”

“President Bauchmann and his little subordinates. I want to speak with them immediately, so you will give me their location.” 

Compared to the other regional headquarters around the world, the Amrita Corporation building in Tokyo was rather quaint. It was still the biggest building in the city, but not by a very large margin compared to most others owned by the company.

That made the elevator ride to the top floor rather short. Not long after Satsuki stepped inside, the lift came to a halt and she stepped out onto the marble tile. Two more security guards stationed at the top looked back at her quizzically, since nobody was allowed in or out. 

Once again her eyes glowed bright green, and quickly they dissipated within their own clothes before either man could react. Down the hall a few more men, some of them guards and others members of the board of directors or other such elite staff, noticed what had happened. With a glance they were reduced as well and Satsuki carried on with her task.

Her foot crashed down on one of the first men she had shrunk just as the foolish little speck managed to escape the confines of his own suit. The last thing he saw was the bottom of her sole seconds before it crushed him into a pulpy pile of innards. 

Satsuki espied another man, this one a portly and old speck whom she imagined was once one of the most powerful men in the company. She swung her other leg forward and crushed him beneath it as well. 

Delicate little things… Satsuki thought idly, and continued across the corridor through the hallway. With each step she made sure to crush another person as a twisted form of entertainment. 

Some of the specks towards the end of the hall had noticed her trajectory and were forced to make a choice between running away, or getting on their knees to beg for their lives. Satsuki ignored their pathetic pleas and stepped on them regardless. With a single stride she caught up to the fools that had attempted to flee, then flattened them too.

By the time she was at the door to her fathers office, the pathway behind her was quite bloody. With each step she took her heels left wet prints upon the pristine white marble. Eventually they would find some survivors amongst the sanitation crew to clean it up. 

The veil is weaker than it has been in centuries. I can access my own abilities more easily now. Satsuki thought and opened the door to the expansive, but sparsely decorated office. Immediately her father turned to see her, and offered only a curt nod of approval once he recognized who it was.

Shingen Nishidate was a fairly hale man despite his age. His slightly wrinkled face was clean-shaven and his hair a natural shade of black. Like Satsuki he had high-cheekbones and piercing dark eyes which many cowered under. He was dressed in a very simple suit and tie, and Shingen’s minimalist design preferences also extended to the rest of the office.

Despite his wealth and status, Shingen did not care much for flagrant displays of power. The walls were painted a glossy shade of black and there were no statues, plaques, or other decorations with the sole exception being a long curved sword mounted on the wall behind him. 

Satsuki eyed the family heirloom briefly, before she turned her attention back to her father. “I trust you’ve seen the news.” She remarked simply. “The kitsune crossed the ocean and is currently en route to conquer the west. Afterwards I imagine she will turn her focus to the pretenders cowering in Singapore.”

“The veil is thin. As we had anticipated, the kitsune’s magic is ripping the barrier apart.” Shingen replied knowingly, and observed his daughters glowing green eyes. “I can see you’ve felt the effects as well.”

“Without the veil to keep my magic suppressed, I do feel a bit stronger… But I am still quite weak. It will take at least another day for me to be ready for the transference ritual.” 

“Very well. If that is how long it will take then so be it.” Shingen murmured and rose to his feet. He was considerably shorter than his statuesque daughter, but exuded an authoritative presence regardless. “The omikami has been sealed away for over four centuries. I am sure she will be able to wait for another day.” Shingen proclaimed, and seized the sword from the wall behind him. 

Respectfully, he passed the blade to his daughter. “Go to the shrine and break the seal when the time is right. Afterwards you need only ensure the kitsune acts as a vessel for the omikami as we planned.” Shingen stated. “You’ve done well, Satsuki.”

“And you? What will you do here?” Satsuki asked and accepted the sword. “You have served your purpose.” 

“I wish to see the omikami return with my own eyes before I pass on. It has been the greatest regret of our clan that she was sealed away in the first place… I wish to see the failures of our ancestors finally undone.” 

“As you wish. By this time tomorrow the world we once knew will return and you shall have your chance to witness her revival. Farewell.” Satsuki said, and bowed courteously to her mortal father, then turned to exit the building.

With each minute that passed, Satsuki could sense the ethereal barrier that separated the two realities’ weaken. Completely unbeknownst to Jisoo, there were consequences to displays of power such as this. The world existed in a perpetual state of balance between their kind and humanity.

For the past several centuries that balance had been broken in favor of humans, who had painstakingly exterminated their kind over millennia. Now it had suddenly flipped and magic had been utilized to an unprecedented degree. The veil that formed the thin line between two spheres of influence had blurred. 

And soon this opportunity could be exploited to annihilate that boundary altogether. It had taken generations to reach this moment, but it was almost here. All Satsuki had to do was wait a little longer.

Minutes after her first appearance, the National Guard had been mobilized to quell the expected series of frantic riots and general panic from the population. Thousands of troops took to the streets to maintain some small semblance of order as the nation prepared for the worst. 

The panic never arrived though. As soon as the initial shock wore off, field officers reported that a strange trance seemed to have overcome the populace. Nobody seemed remotely bothered by the gigantic woman that had crossed the oceans and left a trail of unfettered destruction in her path within enormous country sized footprints. Nor did they seem to even notice the carnage from the earthquake. 

President Bauchmann received reports by the minute. Despite the circumstances they had to be ready to treat the survivors of the catastrophe. Every doctor, surgeon, and even veterinarian was summoned and shelters established across the east coast. Patiently they waited for the influx of bleary eyed survivors of the horrific attack to pour in. 

They never came. 

Minutes continued to tick by. Bauchmann felt every second and patiently waited for his first casualty estimate. Initial projections calculated by the square footage of the giant woman’s feet and the amount of steps that she had taken would have left several million casualties around the globe. With a single footstep, from heel to toe, her feet flattened over one hundred miles each time they landed upon the earth like meteorites. Not to mention the endless series of earthquakes, tidal waves, and winds generated by her mere movement. 

Slowly more reports came in. Optimistic ones. So optimistic that Bauchmann considered them unrealistic and tossed them aside until the actual numbers came in. There was no way the reports were to be believed. Only after similar information started to flood in from other national defenses around the world did he begin to realize the good news might actually be true.

“We just heard back from Berlin, there have been no reported casualties caused by the woman that they can confirm.”

“Paris is reporting trillions in property damage but no influx in hospitals. Currently awaiting to hear the official report from London.”

“Does anybody have a direct line of communication with Madrid?”

Not a single casualty? There’s no way that can be accurate. Bauchmann thought wistfully and clenched his hands together tightly. “What does this mean?” He asked a nearby advisor. “These reports mention the civilians to be in a ‘trance’ over and over again.”

“We… Don’t know sir. Our officials are saying that the general population doesn’t seem to know what’s going on.” She replied. “It’s like they can’t even see her and don’t notice the disaster whatsoever. Some have even expressed confusion by the enforcement of martial law to keep the peace.” 

“That’s impossible…”

“There are videos of people going out to bars and delivery drivers making their nighttime stops in Maryland, New Jersey, and New York. Even though those are the states she has walked through thus far.” The same advisor revealed. “I’ve never seen anything like this, but it’s almost as if only some government officials and those nearby are actually panicked by the attack. We have no logical explanation at this time.” She murmured.

It was then that a stout man with a goatee and haggard appearance stumbled towards them in the bunker. “Sir! Crisis negotiation managed to make contact with the giant.” He blathered. “She was speaking with them earlier but she’s now on the move again. Current trajectory just changed.”

“To where?” Bauchmann asked nervously, just as the world around them shook uncontrollably. Several secret service members leapt into action to save the President as he lost his balance and toppled to the ground haplessly, whilst others jumped on top to protect him from any falling debris. 

Numerous people inside the room screamed in terror as the bunker experienced the worst of the earthquakes they had gone through thus far. Soldiers tried to keep everybody calm, but it was clear to see that even the most hardened among them were also terrified. 

Alarms went off inside the protected bunker, and Bauchmann heard the layers of steel and iron screech loudly. He screamed and covered his ears, but the sound of his own cries were completely overshadowed by the deafening sound of the roof of the subterranean bunker shattering. 

Hundreds of tons worth of metal and solid concrete were effortlessly ripped away by some unfathomable force of nature, until the cold air of the midwestern night sky flooded into the chamber. There was a bit of commotion as numerous cabinet members fainted whilst other people screamed senselessly. 

Someone hollered for an evacuation, but the entire underground bunker was in shambles and too much debris covered all the exits. The several dozen individuals realized, to their horror, that they were all trapped in a large gaping hole with no way out but up. Beyond the newly carved giant hole where the ceiling had once been, a moonlike face looked down at them all ominously. 

Bauchmann felt his veins turn to ice and a bit of warm liquid began to soak through his pants. He could not tell whether or not he had pissed himself, or if it had been one of the secret service agents. Perhaps it was both. 

The giantess gazed down at the highest authority of the land like a hungry fox might gaze down at a trapped clutch of baby chickens. Bauchmann had seen occasional glimpses of her on their way to the safety of the American interior, and several times through the comfort of a camera, but this was something else entirely. 

Her eyes alone were miles across. Likely bigger than the town he grew up in by several orders of magnitude. Every pore and imperfection was visible, but frankly even with such a magnified view of the titan, it was impossible not to appreciate her beauty. 

None of the livestreams did the woman the appropriate amount of justice to demonstrate just how perfect her features really were. A soft button nose, smooth porcelain skin free of any blemishes no matter how miniscule, inviting supple lips… Bauchmann realized now that he felt enchanted by her physical appearance alone, aside from her immensity.

*bang*

In the dead silence of their first encounter, the sound of a gunshot from mere feet away made Bauchmann yelp in alarm. He looked around to see the source of the noise, and realized that it had come from the barrel of a pistol wielded by one of the secret service members. The man looked scared shitless, but bravely, or perhaps foolishly, he had drawn his weapon and fired up into the sky at the colossal woman’s face that hovered above the bunker.

Frankly, Bauchmann doubted the bullet actually reached the woman. If it did, she likely had not even noticed. However she did raise her brow, clearly amused by the pathetic attempt to assault her. Then there was another great crashing noise like the sound of thunder which shook the entire nation and perhaps the core of the earth.

She stood up from what was revealed to be a seated position. Perhaps she had even been laying down on her stomach and her body was so massive she could simply reach the bunker from whichever state she had been in moments before. Bauchmann whispered a small prayer as he and the rest of the cabinet stared up at the woman’s feet which were lost in the atmosphere.

Her ankles were not even visible. They reached higher into the sky than any plane could ever fly. 

Bauchmann was too terrified to do anything more than wait for the inevitable when the colossal foot began to move. He did not even hear anything, since it might as well have just been a celestial occurrence. The woman’s divine sole eclipsed the night sky until all he or any of the other cabinet members and secret service members could see was the underside of her slightly wrinkled, soft sole. 

Her bare foot was now the sky itself. Bauchmann could see nothing beyond it or around it. She was the horizon, the heavens, the stars themselves. Mountain-sized chunks of earth and gravel that had been stuck to the bottom of her foot plummeted to the ground around the bunker, although fortunately none slammed into the cabinet. Some small part of him realized that even if he had taken the earlier generals’ advice to employ their full nuclear arsenal, it would have done absolutely nothing to this woman. If the entire world banded together and fired at her simultaneously, she might not even notice. 

Humanity’s strongest nations and militaries represented no more a threat to her than the mightiest grain of sand. 

The foot began to descend upon them. 

Bauchmann closed his eyes and patiently waited for the end. The President of the United States sat still with his trousers soaked in urine and his expression one of unadulterated fear and despair. There was no pride or resilience. Just defeat, shock and fear. 

“Do I have your attention now?” A voice suddenly boomed from above. Bauchmann opened his eyes slowly in response. 

He looked around and realized that he was still very much alive, still in the bunker surrounded by his cabinet and subordinates. Slowly he looked up and blinked in surprise to see that the immense sole was no longer there. Instead he saw the gigantic woman, although she was far smaller than before. 

She was still a giantess, but no longer the size of a continent. Instead she had taken on the form of a much more ‘reasonable’ stature that appeared to be less than one hundred feet tall. Somehow it was even more terrifying to see her like this as she lorded over the shattered bunker and looked down upon the petrified cabinet members caught in her shadow.

Bauchmann gulped as he felt her piercing golden eyes fall upon him. The room was utterly silent, and he could feel the pressure to make a stand before the creature. His secret service agents were too shell-shocked by the visage before them to stop him from rising to his shaky feet. 

He was the only one standing in the room to look up at the goddess, after everybody else had fallen to the ground from her earlier arrival. 

The President nodded slowly. “Y-Yes. I-I believe you do.” Bauchmann said in agreement to her words in the bravest voice he could muster. “Who… Who are you? W-What do you want from us?”

“Your administration is built upon a series of lies and false promises. Like your predecessors, you are just puppets for powerful benefactors that promise you a lofty position as a god-king when the world shrinks again.” The giantess said coldly and ignored his inquiry. “The plan to shrink the remaining portion of humanity required a fraction of the population to be untouched. To serve as servants, administrators, and guards to corral the masses of newly shrunken specks.”

“Am I wrong?” Jisoo asked knowingly as the realization of who she was dawned on the executive cabinet. 

Don’t tell me she’s one of them… Bauchmann thought, but could only nod in affirmation at her question. To lie now would cost him his life. “Y-You’re correct.” He admitted. 

Jisoo crossed her arms. “So to ensure the current specks would be cruel masters and care more about vengeance on the microspeck population upon their creation, you turned a blind eye to their suffering.” She muttered darkly. “You even encouraged it through propaganda and policies aimed to make their lives even harder and more miserable.”

“W-We only~!”

“Silence. I’ve seen the way this country treats specks firsthand. It’s wrong, but you don’t care to stop it because all you care about is pleasing your masters.” Jisoo snapped. “The Amrita Corporation sees you all as pawns and you know that. But you don’t care because it suits your own needs to be their sycophants and bootlickers. The reason I’m here is to demonstrate what will happen if you continue on this current course. From now on you’ll sever your relationship with the Amrita Corporation and the Fang Dynasty, or I will be far less merciful in the future.” 

“O-Of course! Anything you say!” 

Jisoo watched the pathetic excuse for a leader grovel at her feet with thinly disguised contempt and disgust. Their fear and desperation was almost palpable. She felt the strong urge to simply raise her foot and smite them all to smithereens and be on her way, but resisted the temptation. 

Even killing all these people was the right thing to do, it wouldn’t change anything. More loyal puppets would be found and take over the administration in the future. At least this way the successors for future leaders will know from their predecessors what happens if they step out of line. Jisoo thought, and ignored the mewling and caterwauling from the other cabinet members at her feet who were on their knees now as well, promising their loyalty and obedience. 

When faced with certain doom by ‘god’ as they undoubtedly saw her now, weak-minded and spineless bureaucrats were quick to fall in line and prostrate themselves. By doing so they hoped to curry some measure of favor from her. 

All of them were equally wretched and disgusting. Jisoo trusted them only to be spineless enough to be more afraid of her than the remnants of the Amrita Corporation. Fear was after all a suitable weapon, and if she intended to fix her mistakes without getting anymore blood on her hands it was her only option lest she decide to dominate humanity with her magic. 

However at that point she would have robbed humans of the most precious gift imaginable; their freedom of self-determination. She would play the role of a ‘goddess’ to the extent of influencing others, but to alter minds with her magic felt wrong. Jade had done the same thing to Maeve and Eren, and it had left them traumatized. There was no justification for that. 

Which is why the second order of business is a bit more tricky. Jisoo thought as she hesitated to make her next decree. If I order these politicians and dignitaries to legally protect specks rights… It won’t actually do anything to help them. 

Even if she made the politicians promise to take better care of the twenty percent of the population that was shrunken, it would be generations before the hatred people had for specks went away. Maybe even longer. Perhaps it would never happen.

The population had been trained to despise specks past the point of blind ignorance. They willingly ignored evidence to the contrary of the smaller population, and Jisoo had seen firsthand the level of hatred specks received. Not only by her childhood tormentors, but the ones who had assaulted Eren and Maeve for their entire lives.

From the entire group of young men that gang-raped Eren’s mother and killed his father while he watched, or the toddler that pulled of Maeve’s leg while her parents did nothing, to the girls that had left Jisoo to die on the sidewalk when she was in school… Even Maddie before she had turned a new leaf had attempted to kill Eren, and she represented the best of humanity. 

That kind of animosity did not just go away because the government asked people to treat others with kindness. Especially not when the enforcers of that new rule came from ineffective, cowardly, spineless politicians such as these men and women that were desperate to win her favor. 

No matter how terrified they were of Jisoo, they could never protect the rights of the population of people they had taught generations of people were scum and bugs. Even if Jisoo allowed the people of the world to retain their memories of this day and promise their absolute destruction if they continued to harm specks, what would that accomplish? If anything specks would be treated with fear by the population instead amd they would never unable to receive the help they needed.

Moreover she could not hope to enforce that rule by herself. The cruel people who really wanted to hurt specks would find a way to do so secretly, one way or another. Nothing would change. 

If… If only there was a way for me to undo The Diminution. The only limit to my abilities is that I cannot reverse the effects of shrinking. If I could, then I could just make the speck population into normal-sized people. That would be the best solution for everybody. Jisoo thought, and cursed her own weakness in that regard. There were few things she could not do with her power, but that was one that was unchangeable. 

Once a person was reduced, unless they were a part of her own bloodline they could never return to their original size. And even then those of her bloodline as she had discovered could be shrunk permanently if the xirang was removed altogether. 

A thought occurred to her. A dark, forbidding thought that might solve her dilemma. Although once she committed to it, Jisoo could never turn back. Never in a thousand years. 

Operation Deliverance was intended to make microspecks, even smaller than normal specks and put them at the lowest rung in society. At the highest caste the Amrita Corporation and their servants would let specks and microspecks constantly war while they lived in never-ending luxury as arbiters of divine power. 

At its core, the goal of Operation Deliverance was to segregate humanity into different sizes and by default create a rigid social hierarchy with size as the ultimate factor. That’s the reason why it’s an evil… insane plan… All it does is create more ways for humans to hate each other. Splitting humans into three sizes to make a lower, middle, and upper class based strictly on size and power.

Jisoo tried to ward off the suggestion that had popped into her mind, and desperately tried to come up with a solution that was not quite as morally bankrupt. Given the choice between magically robbing humans of their free-will… 

What if she simply shrank all of humanity to the same size?