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

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

“Y-Yes!”

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

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

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

“Yes, I-”

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

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

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

“How...How did you…?”

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you mean by that?”

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

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

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

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

“The Goddess. Please get it right.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I-I think I’ll pass on that one!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Ayamine! Not you too!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yuuko! You’ve gone too-”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Knowing those two, probably not very well…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey, it’s your fault we were-”

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

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

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

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

“Good. Move out!”