Ritsuka found her body pinched between the rubbery ridges of Yu Mei-ren’s digits. There was no hope of escape in struggling, and Ritsuka did not want to further fuel her senpai’s anger, so she made no attempt to. The young woman was sure that it would have been an anti-climactic endeavor that would have only been rewarded with further misery. No. Any fight left in Ritsuka had left her body. She trembled as she felt the familiar sensation of brine coat the pads that held her. The slick film rubbed against her soaked body with much less intensity than when the young woman was buried under tons of muscles of her senpai’s weight. Yet, the constricting pressure of the older woman’s digits left her feeling similarly violated.

But…what did Yu Mei-ren mean by my role of being Chaldea’s master being over…

The gusts of wind, the firm pressure between Ritsuka’s sides, and her downward destination to the towel floor had revitalized her mind. In a better state of mind, she could have mustered up words. Some words. They could have made the situation worse or salvaged the misunderstanding and reconcile cultural differences and personal values between the two. 

But it could have also been too late. As Ritsuka was already turned away from Yu Mei-ren. The millennia-old woman had a smile that slowly grew the farther away that the insect that called herself a master of Chaldea got from her. The same petulant hussy that had not only gotten in the way of her time with Xiang Yu in this life, due to her Mecha fetish, but also in Yu Mei-ren and her mechanical lover’s past life. The two of them just wanted to live sweetly with each other alone until the end of their Lostbelt. Until the end of their world. No. Instead, that foolish master, with all her hubris had put all her heart and effort into burning up her senpai’s dreams. Going so far as to ensure her beloved Xiang Yu’s premature demise right in front of her eyes. 

After today, you are just going to wish that I just crushed your body into a bloody paste between my toes.

The Crimson Beauty’s toes flexed, and she pulled her knees to her chest and extended her arm past her toned legs. Pillars that glistened with sweat that slowly dripped down and off the rubbery pastures of Yu Mei-ren’s feet. The dark intentions that were repressed up to this moment began to bubble over. Simultaneously, fear still gripped Ritsuka’s heart. Courage failed to swell up in her chest and she instead looked forward to the false sense of comfort of being able to stand on solid ground again, like a normal human being, and not being smashed down with the full weight of a human being.

haah—

A slight gasp escaped Ritsuka’s lips as the grip of the whorled pads left her body. She then plummeted what felt like a couple of feet for her body. Such a drop, for a body that was compressed by a hydraulic press of flesh, was not one that the young woman would happily endure. Several cricks and cracks sounded off as the long shafts of calcium in her limbs strained to contain the impact. The master’s orange hair blew to the side, from the idle current of coastal air and an impromptu roll and blocked her vision. Fortunately, such a landing was able to partially minimize the stress that Ritsuka’s skeletal structure had to withstand. However, escape was not an option at this point. Even if Yu Mei-ren was distracted for an extended period, Ritsuka wasn’t sure she could make the distance to find another giant to help her with her legs in this condition.

Hah…a giant…they’re just normal people…I’m the one that is small…wait…is there anyone else here?

Ritsuka looked around but found difficulty in inspecting facets of reality from afar from her diminished perspective. Everything looked like distant mountains from afar. The young woman was unsure if what she was looking at was in fact a mountain or a small hill of sand. The waves that crashed in the shore were too far away to properly use as reference.

“HEY! OVER HERE CUNG ZAI!”

Ritsuka covered her ears as the booming thunder manifested in the air. The young woman half expected to see lightning in the distance. Rather, when she turned her head in the direction of the loud disturbance that her head began to retroactively piece together as words, she was met with an awe-inspiring sight. The sun shined a yellow shine off Yu Mei-ren’s shades. The pair of sunglasses were pushed up and over her brown bangs. The dense brown cloud of hair was now accompanied by a thinner white fog that seemed to emanate from the giantess’s mouth.

Is that the moisture expelled from Yu Mei-ren’s mouth when she talked?

The blanket of moisture showered down along the nondescript mountain range of the senpai’s body. Her arms were pillars placed on both sides of her body. The Crimson Beauty’s body must have been resting on her hands while she sat on the boulder size cheeks, as the length of her torso was reclined away from Ritsuka. Such a posture allowed the True Ancestor to push her feet outward and right in front of the young woman. Thereby, blocking the tiny’s view of the divine being’s lower torso.

“DID YOU HEAR ME CUNG ZAI! I EXPECT YOU TO POLISH THE SWEAT OFF MY FEET!”

Ritsuka shook her aching head and felt her eardrums pulse hotly from the physical force of her senpai’s unrestrained voice. The young woman wondered if she heard the older woman correctly. If their difference in scale and the distance made the words heard differently from how they actually came out of the True Ancestor’s lips. 

What is cung zai? Is that what she said?

It was that word that made Ritsuka hope that she had misheard Yu Mei-ten’s ridiculous request.

Can’t she see that I can barely move.

However, this hope that the young woman desperately clung to diminished as she gave it further thought. The toes in front of Ritsuka scrunched and unfolded with soft cracks. She could almost imagine her own bones breaking if she were caught in between those bulbous structures. They fanned out and then flexed back inward almost as if they wanted to chew something. To grip a toy in its grasp and test its limits. Until those bulbous monsters, shifting from a reddish hue to a flushed white with each scrunch, make a cracking sound from the toy that was louder than the small bubbles hidden within the internal infrastructure of the doughy whorled digits. 

All the while, Yu Mei-ren observed expectedly from afar. Her demeanor slowly growing a bit darker. Like the sun setting over a natural landscape.

Is she angry? Maybe that is what she said. No, my bones will break. And my guts will spill out.

Ritsuka winced at the negative thought. But the more that she ruminated on these commands, the more she convinced herself of the abysmal nature of this reality. The tone and cadence of Yu Mei-ten’s voice, even though they were hard to decipher with the naturally deeper timbre of the giantess’s voice, communicated a commanding and indignant air.

A fury that was matched by the physicality of the underside of Yu Mei-ren’s feet. Her feet’s skin tone was naturally creamy in color, but that was a conclusion that Ritsuka made by extrapolating from observations made of the edges of the sole and the depression of the True Ancestor’s arch. The ball, heel, and toes were naturally a vibrant pink that bordered on red. The color that one would envision on a scoop of ice cream. Red, creamy soles that brimmed with vitality that stood in contrast to the lack thereof within Ritsuka. A woman who felt like a worm that could barely wriggle. However, it would seem that Ritsuka would be given the inspiration that she needed. As even though the distance between the diving being’s face and her own were literal miles, Ritsuka was finally able to detect a shift on her senpai’s visage. Whatever form her lips had taken before, they were now replaced by a scowl.

Then she yelled words once again. With such a volume that Ritsuka, on her knees, was forced to fall on her back. Some of those words was that phrase cung zai again. Before Ritsuka could grind the wheels in her useless pile of gray matter, the answer was enlightened to her in a simple, devastating manner. 

The young woman’s gaze was still trained on the divine being. Thus, Ritsuka saw the True Ancestor lift her left foot off the towel and moved it forward. Right in the direction that Ritsuka was laid prone on the towel fibers. Then the whorled pad of the largest toe stopped and loomed over Ritsuka like a scabbard poised to strike. The young woman’s eyes were glued onto the spiral pattern of the bottom of the big toe. It was as if the ridges held within the misery that the kouhai had experienced in these short moments. Finally, the meaty scabbard descended to strike Ritsuka’s unmoving body.

Ah— I get it…cung zai…it means “bug”.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The edges of Yu Mei-ren’s lips, which were turned upward, began to descend as time passed. Until an ache in the True Ancestor’s head emerged as she waited for the kiss of her kouhai’s lips against the underside of her foot. Instead, a vexed scowl spread on her face as the only kisses she felt were from the coastal wind. Repressed emotions swelled up like a blazing fire within the center of Yu Mei-ren’s chest. The older woman tried to be mature and understanding of the young woman who had up to this point only acted selfishly. When she had killed her love. When she had robbed her of the recent time that she was reunited with him. And now that Yu Mei-ren was taking out the time to try to instruct her on the nuances of respect and social awareness, the young woman instead ignored her words.

I only chose this method because of how bull-headed you are!

The True Ancestor fumed as she felt like she was at her wit’s end. True, she could have tried asking Ritsuka why she was not listening, but even the excuse of having her body battered and broken to the point of not moving would not have been good enough. Many mages have sacrificed more and accomplished more. Yu Mei-ren endured millennia of isolation just for the astronomical chance of an impossible of being reunited with Xiang yu. It infuriated the Crimson Beauty. That such an uninitiated individual, that was unwilling to learn and used her own failings as excuses, had so greatly affected her life. Someone whose life would only last a several decades. Who would just be there for one second and gone the next.

“Fine then cung zai! If you want to ignore me then I’ll ignore you as well. If you aren’t willing to appreciate the value of my instruction, then I might as well clean up this beach of any pests.”

Yu Mei-ren said with an elevation in the volume of her words. In the small chance that Ritsuka did not hear the older woman, then she sure as hell did now. The edges of the ageless woman’s lips crawled upward again. A glee that was fueled by righteous fury and justified sadism. She lifted the foot that had yet to enjoy the company of her kouhai and moved her toe forward and over the pathetic cung zai. The True Ancestor wiggled her big toe for emphasis before slamming it down as forcefully as possible on her supposed student. The only hope that she had for the master was that they were going through as much pain as possible in this moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like a ram, the firm muscle and abrasive skin slammed down on the middle of Ritsuka’s torso. The blood, that had pooled in the foreign spaces of the young woman’s body, once again splashed onto her sensitive organs. Such a sensation elicited an electric wave of pain that coursed through her body. Meanwhile, the rough orb of flesh rolled over, and drove its salt-covered ridges onto Ritsuka’s bare body. Ulcers and welts punctured and the blood that had been bathing her insides began to seep out. Tears from abused lacrimal ducts poured out again. A fear that Ritsuka did not think was possible as her vision was blurred. This agony was enough to wake up the young woman’s leaden limbs. They flailed and jerked to the master’s sides before her senses returned to her. 

I…I’m going to die if I don’t do…

Blurgh

Ritsuka was unable to finish her thoughts as fresh blood spilled out of her mouth. If the young woman didn’t do something soon, then the bottom of her senpai’s toe was sure to reduce her abdomen to protein caught in the whorled ridges. Thus, with as much willpower and strength that she could muster, the master moved her limbs and tried to push the titanic pressure off her body. A Herculean effort that Ritsuka thought might have worked. As the smaller size of the toe, relative to her experience with the entirety of Yu Mei-ren’s entire foot, had led the master down that conclusion. However, what the disoriented young woman did not consider was that her senpai was just casually walking back then. The pain and agony were not a concerted effort on the True Ancestor’s part. Unlike now. The ageless woman, whose existence had existed for far longer than many countries in the world, wished for nothing more than for this little girl to splatter as a bloody grease on the firm dough of her toe. For death to be brought about by a soft and dainty structure, and for Ritsuka to realize how close her status was to dirt that Yu Mei-ren treaded on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thus, the pressure did not stop due to mercy or because Ritsuka was able to summon a great amount of strength. Rather, the True Ancestor had focused her attention to the writhing of the cung zai below her toe.  The older woman imagined that she could feel the master’s forceful breaths. For the moisture that collected at the front of her toe was either from those erratic and retch-ridden exhalations, or from the salty coastal breeze. Such a sensation was soon supplanted by what felt like the dull edges of a paper clip pounding against the sides of her toe. This stimulus was without a doubt the limbs that Ritsuka had so selfishly did not allocate the power to move earlier.

Hmph~ and you could have avoided this if you had just worshipped my feet as I had ordered earlier.

sqlch

That sensation was short lived. Yu Mei-ren’s eyes widened as she felt her toe sink down about an inch. Her heart thrummed, like a tightly wound drum, in her chest. The older woman’s own breathing became erratic.

I guess that I did it.

A strong blaze of red flashed across her face, but it was not out of shyness or embarrassment. No, she did not feel any shame for what might have just happened. The thought of not holding back on the one that had slighted her so many times, the True Ancestor’s act of deliverance onto Ritsuka, had been a euphoric moment for her. 

I won’t say that I’m beyond reproach, but my kouhai didn’t even put forth a lick of industriousness.

Yu Mei-ren moved her toe and leaned her body to inspect the work that her mere plump digit did on the master. A perfect cap to a powerfully sadistic denouement of the young woman’s life. 

Huh~ This is surprising.

The True Ancestor pursed their lips before speaking.

“It seems that you are still alive. Count your blessings and consider this a lesson on the dangers of being slothful.” 

Ritsuka’s body was still intact. Her body had not squished into a stain on the towel. Although, there was a very small patch of red blood that colored the ridges of Yu Mei-ren’s toes. But that was just bleeding from a small wound in Ritsuka’s body. A nearly untouchable stain that would be washed away the next time the older woman took a shower. However, that is not to say that Ritsuka’s body was not worse for wear. In fact, the damage to her body might require surgical attention. The squish that Yu Mei-ren had felt was due to two reasons. Firstly, a clump of sand under the towel broke apart. Secondly, a tear had opened in Ritsuka’s diaphragm. An opening better known as a hernia that pushed some of the young woman’s abdominal organs up into her thoracic cavity.

The pain that Ritsuka felt was excruciating. Unlike anything that she could imagine. But she had learned her lesson. The words that left from the domineering visage from above shook her body literally and figuratively.

I…have…to get up.

Ritsuka could feel her throat clog with hot blood. The young woman tried to ignore it as she stood back up and looked at Yu Mei-ren. Her senpai had returned to her former position: reclining on her hands and her creamy red soles thrust forward. The expression on the True Ancestor’s ageless face was unreadable. But the master was certain that a hot fury bubbled underneath that peach complexion. There was an expectation and she had to fulfill it. 

“CUNG ZAI! MAKE SURE THAT YOU USE YOUR TONGUE TO CLEAN OFF EVERY WRINKLE OF MY FEET. I WON’T SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS.”

The older woman’s expression did not break, but Ritsuka couldn’t help but imagine that she was restraining a pleased smile upon setting the rules of this engagement. The young woman dragged her body forward, one weak step at a time. All it took was a wriggle of her toes for the cung zai’s body to stiffen and for them to hasten their pace.

Finally, Yu Mei-ren was able to close her eyes in peace. The True Ancestor felt the first drags of cool wetness against the bottom of her heels. It was truly a minuscule delight. One that was barely noticeable, but she relished in the mental pleasure of utterly dominating the cung zai. The emotions that the older woman felt from figuratively and literally stomping over a petulant child that did the same to her…was oh, so…resplendent. Yu Mei-ren resolved to contemplate more on how she wanted this day to end. As even though the earlier thought the older woman had, of snuffing out that cung zai with just the brunt end of her toe, was an exquisite one, she was sure there were ways to not sacrifice the instruction for her own indulgence. 

After all, Yu Mei-ren wasn’t some young child who wasted her time on efforts in vain. She had a wealth of experience to rely on. 

Now, the older woman felt that her heel was sufficiently soaked with cool saliva, and rid of the grime that littered the creases of her rough heels. A roughness that was owed to the dynamic movements and feats of superhuman athleticism that her body performed. But there was still the rest of the foot.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was like licking concrete. That was the only thing that Ritsuka could compare the grainy sensation of what must have been dead skin that collected at the bottom end of the heel. Unlike the soft red that blanketed the sole above the one to two-inch tall woman, the heel’s surface was covered with a cross-cross of chalk white. Natural abrasions of a seasoned warrior. And a grainy surface that flaked and scraped against the edges of the master’s tongue. The young woman’s eyes moistened upon feeling the grimy skin and stale sweat that collected on her tongue. Ritsuka had half a mind to just massage the surface, but she didn’t have the courage to test Yu Mei-ren’s superhuman senses. Thus, even when the rough surface of the heel robbed the young woman’s mouth of moisture, her tongue now dry, she continued to lick softly. Meanwhile, the master busied her hands and arms by rubbing them against the rough surface until the surfaces that weren’t marked by welts were also red. It seemed that the abuse sufficed for the divine being’s pleasure.

MMHHH~

Like a good instructor, the True Ancestor let the cung zai know when she had done a good job. The unit of five obelisks, a fleshy hydra, rolled in approval of the young woman’s work. All that Ritsuka understood from this was that her earlier fears were spot on. If she were to slack for even a moment, then her body would be seconds away from becoming a very red pancake. 

Shit…senpai isn’t expecting me to scale her foot to lick the arch and ball.

Ritsuka would have attempted it sooner before hesitating, but the sharp throbs originating from the hole in her diaphragm told her otherwise. Such an injury made such a feat even more difficult due to the relation between diaphragm and lungs. Even though the master was back in the mephitic atmosphere of Yu Mei-ren’s soles, her breaths were shallow and slow. The muscles in her neck strained to compensate for the work that the young woman’s diaphragm simply couldn’t provide anymore. 

“CUNG ZAI!”

Fortunately, Yu Mei-ren displayed her magnanimity. She slowly began to flex her leg: raising her knee and dragging the heel away. Thus, the once vertically oriented football field of flesh was now slanted. An action that brought the wrinkled softness of the older woman’s arch in front of Ritsuka and her tongue. Through clenched teeth, the young woman gave a shaky breath. Whether it was one of relief or pain, it was hard to tell. She took several uncertain steps underneath the shadow of the now looming building of flesh. Unconsciously smacking her dry lips, hoping to find moisture to cool the divine being’s arch, Ritsuka then shoved her tongue deep into a wrinkle before dragging her defaced tongue along the moist hot flesh.

It was a welcome change in pace from Yu Mei-ren’s heel, but in some respects, it was a return to an old purgatory that Ritsuka thought she had escaped. The kouhai’s tongue was met with a pool of sweat that was caught in the wrinkles. A volume that felt and tasted less stale than the dried-up brine that added to the flakiness of the heel. Such a viscous liquid was dense with the sharp and bitter taste of refuse and grime. Microscopic dirt that Yu Mei-ren could not see on her pristine body, but coated Ritsuka’s tongue all the same. The young woman had to either spit the fetid liquid once it had saturated her mouth or be forced to swallow the swill. Especially if she felt that spitting was not enough to rid her oral cavity of the dirt blockage. The clogging of the master’s esophagus was less of a concern this time around. Almost as if her body had forgone its natural reflexes in lieu of submission to a higher being.

A cung zai. I’m a cung zai. But at least I’m not dead.

Meanwhile, the True Ancestor was finally able to enjoy the gentle pleasures of the summer heat and cool coastal breeze. A mixture of arid heat, brine, and cool moisture. The same components of Ritsuka’s torture composed Yu Mei-ren’s relaxation. She couldn’t help but crack a smile now that her face was well and far away from the one being instructed, being punished, or possibly being prepped for a permanent fate. The older woman was still deciding how to handle this instruction going forward. 

But now, she had her own part to play in this current activity. Yu Mei-ren gave another appreciative coo. A deafening noise that had a slight tincture of the sadistic pleasure. Pleasure derived from this reality the two of them found themselves in. 

The Crimson Beauty then repeated her earlier motion. 

The True Ancestor dragged her heel and lowered her foot closer to the cung zai. This continued with each subsequent section that the senpai felt was sufficiently cleaned until they found themselves back at step zero. The older woman’s foot oriented nearly horizontally, with the younger woman lying on her back as she pushed her mouth into the orbs of foot flesh that were the balls of the former’s foot. The only thing missing was the sandal underneath Ritsuka

For Ritsuka, it was a terrifying sight. The thought that at any moment, at the slightest displeasure that Yu Mei-ren attributed to her, she was this close to being squashed back against the powerful muscle was petrifying. 

HMMM?

A petrification that was noticed by the ageless divinity. Without a second to spare, Ritsuka pushed through and dived her tongue and nose into the worship of the springy rubber. Even paying attention, in her service, to the individual ridges of the ball. The refuse that built up on her tongue was swallowed up and collected in the now swollen stomach. A digestive system that cried as the fetid matter sloshed within. But visceral pain did not impede the master’s muscles that were motivated by the visceral fear of instantaneously being ushered back into a worse hell. 

Finally, the foot backed away and Ritsuka was out of the shadow of the foot. The young woman was able to see the late afternoon sky. The sun’s rays a lot gentler now that high noon had passed.

Oh. Oh…finally it’s over.

Ritsuka wasn’t sure if she had done a good job or not. If she was going to be squashed again and possibly for the last time. All she wanted to do was cry as she felt her body begin to give up. If the young woman was allowed the luxury of looking at the gentle sky for a moment longer then her body would have most likely shut down.

“CUNG ZAI! MY OTHER FOOT IS WAITING!”

There was no anger behind those words. There was no happiness in those words. There was simply a confidence and self-assuredness that Ritsuka simply did not possess in this crazy reality. That only someone privileged like Yu Mei-ren, an ageless beauty who had lived in human society far longer than others that Ritsuka had known of, was allowed to possess.

I’m just a cung zai…serving my divine senpai.

That became Ritsuka’s mantra as she lifted her body up and walked towards the other plain of sole flesh. Yu Mei-ren’s toes drummed against her ball as if to taunt the young woman that would be servicing them. The slave whose body knew nothing but only pain in these and the following moments. Thus, the senpai and kouhai repeated the same dance. 

Tongue and bleeding arms for the rough grain of heel, a shift of the foot. 

Tongue and swallow for the moist rubber of the arch, a shift of the foot. 

Tongue and full worship for the oppressive bulge of the ball, a…

The foot did not shift. 

Rather the toes that were just above Ritsuka’s head curled repeatedly. As if the bulbous hydra was plotting something. What the young woman did not take notice of was that the isolated coast had now become populated with a couple other servants. Yu Mei-ren rolled her toes against each other as she contemplated what to do next.

Hmmm~ I guess that I can go for a cool walk along the shore this time.

With a minor change in orientation, Yu Mei-ren moved her toes and grasped the warm body of the cung zai in between them. Rotating her leg outward, she then released the package over the insole of the sandal placed to the side of the towel.

“Continue your worship as I get something cold to treat myself cung zai.”

And with that, Yu Mei-shoved her feet back into the enclosure of her sandals. The master back into the pocket of leather and flesh that had ushered her into hell.