Oddly enough, Rhea felt like something was weighing down on her. It shuffled all around her. She first thought it was an effect of the ring's power surging within her body, but then realized it was something different. Her eyes still needed to adjust from the shockingly bright light that still shone from the ring's brilliant jewel, so she couldn't tell exactly what was going on. However, she did feel strangely exposed all of a sudden.
This weird sensation only lasted for a moment before passing, though. When it was over, Rhea couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that something had gone horribly wrong. She stood still, unsure of what else she could do at the moment while her eyes adjusted slowly back to normal. For all she knew, she was currently standing in the rubble of what used to be the goddess tower, mere steps away from Edelgard and the army of the Empire.
As a large, soft sheet fell onto Rhea, she yelped. An actual, little squeaky yelp come out from the holy woman's lips. Undignified as it might have been, the green-haired woman did not think on it too much. She was far too preoccupied with escaping from under whatever it was that had landed on top of her body. From what she could tell, it was all white. Not just the titanic tarp that overtook her totally, but everything she could see was pure white. Different shades of the blank color, yet unmistakably white surrounded her.
By the goddess, has Edelgard thought of everything!? That the Empire could prepare and deploy such a massive sheet to trap me within... how has it gone unseen until now? Rhea wondered. It didn't make sense. She had to be well over a hundred feet tall at this point, well over 300 feet tall, at the absolute least!
And yet, somehow it seemed that the Imperial army had been prepared for such an occasion. How they could have known Rhea would enlarge herself to massive proportions was unknown, but it seemed to be the only explanation that made sense. Another factor in the as of yet unexplained mystery was when they had the time to launch such a massive sheet to trap her inside. Her growth had seemed almost instantaneous, so unless they were using the fastest fliers in the world, it was impossible for them to set this insane trap on her.
No matter, I'll simply use the ring to grow myself even bigger and tear through this pathetic sheet! Rhea thought, but when she glanced down to her finger, she gasped - the ring had gone missing!
She briefly wondered if the ring simply did not grow alongside its wearer, but then noticed that it was not just the ring she was without. Indeed, everything the archbishop had been wearing had seemingly vanished. Rhea's eyes widened, a slight blush on her face as her cheeks reddened with embarrassment. By far, this was the most humiliating thing to happen to her since... well, since Byleth had chosen Edelgard over her.
What is this madness!? H-How could this all have gone so wrong..?! Rhea's thoughts were panicked, in stark contrast to the confidence she'd felt when initially wielding the lost relic for herself.
Sent into a frenzy, Rhea began to crawl furiously through the gigantic tarp, pushing aside the droves of white 'walls' that surrounded her. No good options were left to her. If she stayed put, she risked being captured. If she attempted to leave, she risked exposing her ginormous body to the thousands fighting below. Put into perspective, the latter was still far better an outcome than the former.
So, Rhea fled. As she did, she realized how tough the fabric used to put together this tarp trap was. There was no way she'd be able to tear her way out of it, even with all the strength gifted to her from the virtue of being a giantess. Everything inside the sheet looked the same. Rhea had no way of knowing which way was out. She picked one direction and kept at it.
Until she bonked her head against something quite hard and quite massive. Rhea groaned, rubbing the aching spot through her green locks. She only stopped momentarily, wanting to get out as soon as possible. She'd not let something as minor an inconvience as that stop her. Still, it baffled the archbishop's mind that she actually managed to run into something that, at least seemingly, was so much bigger than herself. Perhaps she was not as big as she thought?
Headed off in another direction, it did not take long for Rhea to reach the edge of the sheet. She felt a rush of relief exiting her supposed trap. As prepared as the Imperials were, they sure seemed to take their time in catching her fully. Not that the holy woman minded. Once she was out, she had more than enough rage left to go on a stomping spree, her own nudity be damned. If it came to it, Rhea was fine with repurposing the sheer size of the sheet as a sort of makeshift dress to cover herself.
"At last, Edelgard, I've had more than enough of your games! You shall now feel the full wrath of-" Rhea was slow to stumble her way out of her malleable prison, but had shouted her threats all the while. Until she fully got out and took in her surroundings. At which point she became too stunned to speak, or do anything at all - beyond just idle there on her hands and knees.
Because what Rhea was now looking up at was the lost relic she'd thought gone for good after her transformation. That ring with its unmistakable blue jewel, which had fit quite nicely onto her slender finger, now nearly matched her in size. And this was not because it had 'grown' alongside her after all, but rather because of something more the opposite. A startling fact that could not be denied, despite how horrifying it was, when the archbishop looked around the rest of the still in-tact goddess tower.
It was not merely just the ring that had become so large, but indeed this whole section of the tower seemed to have expanded to massive proportions. Rhea's mouth was left agape as she looked behind and saw that what she'd just 'escaped' from was no trap at all. That white sheet of fabric had merely been her own gown, now gigantic enough in size to swallow her up.
"It cannot be..." Rhea said in bewildered disbelief.
Rhea had not grown into a powerful giantess at all. Instead, the effects of the ring had done exactly the opposite of what she'd hoped for... she'd shrunk!
"What is the meaning of this?!" Rhea glared at the ring, as if expecting an answer from it in return. She'd gone through so much in the last few minutes or so. Her patience was wearing thin now that the shock of what had really happened began to wear off.
Calm yourself, Rhea. This is just a minor setback. All I need to do is use the ring's powers again to restore myself back to normal. Rhea thought, taking a breath. Being so pitifully small was humiliating to the normally commanding and authoritative green-haired woman. And judging her height against the ring, she estimated she couldn't be more than about an inch tall.
One single inch. That was all that was left of the most powerful woman in all of Fodlan. Almost all of her height sapped away from her by a simple mistake and an accursed ring. She would be completely powerless and fully at the mercy of Edelgard's forces, should they have a chance of encountering her in this pathetic state.
Rhea shook her head, stepping up to the ring which now matched her in size; seeing it now almost made it hard to believe such a thing ever fit onto one of her fingers. She'd have a hard time trying to wear it around her waist at this new size of hers. Not that she'd ever do such a thing anyways.
Rhea walked over to the ring, placing her hand on it and once again invoking the power of the relic jewel embedded within its center. After a blunder like this, rare as it was coming from her, she wanted to just grow back to normal size and forget about trying to turn herself into a giantess. It was not a complete waste of time, though. She'd learned it was possible to shrink with the ring, and if she could somehow figure out a way to perhaps trick Edelgard into making the same mistake she had, then the lost relic might have a purpose yet.
Yes, in time I will figure out how to have Edelgard as small as I am now and in the palm of my hand... Rhea plotted some uses out of this ring. Still, it was not out of the question entirely that she couldn't grow herself to hundreds of feet tall. Just a matter of timing. For now, she was content with returning to her full height and pocketing the ring for later...
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