Rika took an involuntary step back. An intense feeling of vertigo was overcoming her as she looked down upon the tiny city below. Her heart thundered in her chest, filling her skull with the sound of a constant drumbeat. Every part of her rejected the sight before her as being unreal, a fantasy. The young woman felt her balance threatening to falter as her legs wobbled unsteadily. This wasn't real. This wasn't real!

She could make out little minute details of the city from a closer inspection. The buildings were so very miniscule and the roads resembled infinitely thin lines drawn upon the surface of the mound. Around the outer edge... were those walls? She couldn't make out the people, not in the dim light of the cavern and likely not even if she possessed light. Was that what she had once been? Now that she had a proper scale to compare, namely herself, Rika realized just how little she had been.

A chuckle sounded to her side and she glanced over to her escort. The scale of her power was now much starker to Rika. The woman had taken a little fleck of dust like her and made her infinitely bigger. What kind of raw power did that take? Certainly this woman was an actual goddess; it seemed the only logical answer to her. Daiyo smirked at the wide eyed expression upon Rika's face.

"You know, the look on your face already makes my efforts worth it." She remarked.

"H-H-Ho-!" Rika stuttered, feeling her head swim as she tried to keep from fainting.

Daiyo shrugged. "The theory was simple enough. Enough energy can change anything; I just needed to give that change direction. There was some difficulty with the stabilization element; hence it might take some time before you fully acclimate to being... big as it were." The sorceress explained.

Energy? Direction? Stabilization? What the hell was the woman talking about? Her confusion must have still showed as Daiyo rolled her eyes. "Simply put I used magic to make you bigger."

"M-Magic? So you're a sorceress?"

Daiyo smiled an enigmatic smile. "That is one term for it."

So not a goddess then, though honestly as far as Rika was concerned she was pretty damn close to it. Her gaze returned to the tiny city once more as she struggled to wrap her head around what she had become. She wasn't a fleck of dust anymore; instead she stood at the same height as these veritable beings of destruction. Overwhelmed didn't even begin to describe what she was feeling at that moment.

"You likely can't see them down there, not with your naked eye at least. Or without getting in close. Fortunately I have a way around that."

Rika felt a rough stone hand grip her by the shoulder, jolting her from her thoughts. Immediately it felt like someone was stabbing at her eyes repeatedly, like hot pokers were being inserted in again and again. She screamed and writhed trying to get away from Daiyo's iron grip, grabbing the stone arm to wrench it away. It was no use however; the sorceresses strength clearly still outstripped her own.

Her writhing had consequences for those below. She kicked up massive waves from her movements, endless gallons of water crashing into the port of the city. Piers cracked and splintered, fishermen and sailors alike were dragged out to sea, and homes on the outskirts of the city were flooded or destroyed. Her screams were deafening and on a decibel almost unreal in how loud they was, rupturing eardrums for those closest and leaving the lucky with ringing in their ears.

"Quit your blubbering. This is a simple spell, girl. Even a child should be able to handle it." Daiyo commanded sharply.

Rika wept, squeezing her eyes shut as the pain slowly died away. "W-Why are you doing this to me!?" She cried.

"So you can see. Open your eyes."

The pained young woman forced her eyes open, her breath immediately being stolen. She could see the city, almost as if she were hovering just above it. Her eyes widened, tears still leaking out the corners as she peered down at the micro city before her. The people could actually be made out, the panic in them quite noticeable. Samurai fought to keep order though it was difficult to keep order when even they were scared. The tiny people scampered around, trying to run as fast as they could. As fast as they could though was barely noticeable to the normal naked eye.

As her gaze swept over the outskirts her heart felt like it was being stabbed. The devastation, the carnage, the weeping survivors standing over the drowned corpses of loved ones. It only took her a moment to realize she was the cause. Homes were buried under mud, ships smashed to bits of floating debris, the once sizeable port was gone and with it hundreds of lives. She couldn't hear the cries of the dying and the mourning but she could fill in the blanks easily enough. Once upon a time, that had been her.

Rika wrenched herself away from Daiyo's grip and ran towards the shore of the lake, tripping over herself and soaking her kimono further. As soon as she hit the shore she promptly emptied the contents of her stomach, retching as her head spun. Her sight returned to normal quickly enough but that wouldn't take away what she had just seen. Nothing could take that memory away from her now.

She was a monster. She was as bad as those two women had been. How many like her did she leave in her wake from her little splashing? It hurt her head and heart just to think about. So many dead and she hadn't even tried to kill them. She was worse than that woman, Momo. Rika had known what creatures this massive could do, she had witnessed it with her own eyes but still she had killed so many.

"Interesting. Hadn't expected that reaction to be honest."

Daiyo's voice cut through her thoughts and self-loathing, the woman now standing near her. She waved her stone hand and the water soaking them both as well as the vomit on the cavern floor vanished. Being dry certainly didn't make her feel any better. She turned her gaze up to Daiyo, her eyes wide and haunted by what she had just witnessed brought about by her hand. Fresh tears were in her eyes.

"T-t-they... I-I... Oh spirits, what have I done?" She lamented, a few moments away from curling up into a ball.

Daiyo shook her head, walking over to Rika and forcing her to stand on wobbling legs. "Stop sniveling. You're making me regret ever having made you bigger." She said, not an ounce of pity or remorse in her tone.

"W-Why did you even make me bigger? Just torture me!?" Rika demanded, sorrow crushing at her insides.

Rika didn't see the backhand coming until it slammed right into her cheek. The young woman cried out as she was sprawled upon the cold floor. When she tried to rise she found Daiyo's flesh and blood bare foot crush into the side of her head. She squirmed weakly, trying to push the sorceress off her though to no avail. The woman ground the sole of her foot in against the side of Rika's face, keeping her on the ground.

"You really are so weak it makes my stomach churn. A mewling, weeping, bed wetting mess of a wretch. I'm not even trying to keep you down, and I went to the trouble of making you big but you can't even escape. Weak shit." Daiyo hissed.

Suddenly the pressure against the side of her face was gone, letting Rika turn her head to look up at those fierce and unnatural golden eyes. "However. That is only what you are now. I made you big because I felt potential in you, Rika. Potential I've rarely felt upon my travels. What I am, what power I wield. Do you want that?"

The young woman stared up at Daiyo, still rather in shock from her effortless destruction. She was still being unclear on what this potential was but the power she had... it was frightening. Frightening, but at the same time she could see it being able to help her in her revenge. Momo. She was the cause of all of this, of all of her pain and suffering. If she hadn't come along her family would still be alive, so would Asami. Her and that samurai companion. Everything that had happened, all the destruction and death was their fault.

"W-Would it help me set things right? Could I save my home?" She asked.

Daiyo smirked. "With that power you could make your home however you wanted it. I have no interest in this pitiful spit of land, no personal stake in it. I just want Momo's mistress. Shouldn't be over difficult given her injuries. I'll let you do whatever you want to Momo. Of course in accepting it, you would owe loyalty to me and the Jade Court."

Rika thought on it, her eyes drifting to the mound over in the center of the tiny lake. If she helped Daiyo remove them then Daiyo herself would leave. Admittedly she would likely have to go as well, but if they happened there would be no more destruction. No more ruined lives. No more widows or widowers. This was how she could save this land. This was how she could make Asami's sacrifice worthwhile.

"How can I get this power?" She finally asked.

Daiyo's lips curled back into a smirk and she gestured to Rika's arm. "Hold out your arm."

Rika swallowed hard and held out her right arm. The sorceress held out her stone hand and took out a knife from within the folds of her cloths, one that looked more like a chisel than anything else. She jammed it against her arm, chipping away a small fragment of her beautiful stone arm. The fragment fell to the ground and hummed with power. Daiyo put her knife away and picked up the nail sized fragment before gripping Rika's offered arm. With that done she promptly inserted the fragment into the back of her hand.

Pain was something she had thought would never bother her after the pain of having grown forcefully. Rika now realized that whatever pain she had felt before was absolutely nothing compared to this. Her blood felt like it was on fire and her muscles started to spasm uncontrollably, a raw scream forcing its way from her throat as she gripped her right hand and held to her chest. She screamed and screamed, until what came out was more akin to a croak than anything resembling coherence.

Daiyo chuckled. "It will take a day and a night to settle. If you think that pain is bad, just wait until the hallucinations start." She said as she walked away.

_______________________________________________________________________

Rika wasn't certain how long it had been since Daiyo left. Minutes? Hours? Days? Months? Years? Time had ceased to matter much when in so much pain. She had been right though. The pain she could deal with. When the hallucinations started Rika had a very difficult time keeping her sanity from fraying entirely. It was as though every dark corner of her mind was coming to haunt her.

Her eyes flitted opened, groggily looking around. Her heart froze. White all around her, wrapped around her limbs and body. A sea of soft fabric spanning as far as the eye could see. No. Not here, anywhere but here again! She reached to her sides, instinctively looking for Asami's comforting hand. There was nothing. She was utterly and completely alone, stuck and trapped like stray lint to her captor's tabi.

Panicked eyes searched upward, finding the long endless expanse of a kimono above her. The same floral pattern as before. The figure stooped down this time however, eyes staring right back at Rika. Her heart skipped a beat as she stared up at her captor's face, one she knew well but not for the correct reasons. The gentle and once comforting face of Asami stared back down at Rika, a cruel smirk upon her lips.

"You weren't fast enough, Rika-san. You killed me." She boomed.

Rika shook her head, trying to force that thought away. "No! I-I did everything I could! I'm sorry Asami-san!" She cried, tears springing to her eyes.

"That wasn't good enough. I still died."

Rika wept in her prison, tears streaking down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Oh spirits..."

Asami shook her head before her gaze turned up. Across from her was another familiar figure, Momo. The young woman smirked at Rika. "Huh, so pathetic. I can't even make her out down there. Talk about worthless."

Asami sighed and wriggled her tabi clad toes, rocking Rika's pitiful little world. "True, however she can't help it. Don't worry Rika; you'll have plenty of time to atone for your failure as you'll be spending the rest of your tiny life down there."

Rika cried and writhed on the floor of the cavern, the illusion one of many created by the transformation her body was undergoing. Unnoticed by her was the pulsing green infecting the veins of her hand, stone starting to replace flesh and blood. Also unnoticed was Daiyo leaning against the nearby wall, golden eyes watching Rika as she cried out incoherently. A smirk was plastered across her face as she watched her suffer, knowing well that her hate would burn all the brighter after this.