Chapter #18Byleth vs. Shez by: Kooplan   (A storyline based on this image  )
After all these years, her revenge was close at hand. Shez and her allies had worn down the Ashen Demon. Now, locked in battle alone with her hated rival, all she needed to do was finish him off. Victory seemed so close that she could almost taste it. Not bloodthirsty by any means, but seeking to avenge her former comrades and her own pride after many losses against the enemy mercenary, Shez gripped her blade tightly. There was not even an ounce of pity in her eyes or demeanor as she took a moment to recall in silence what this cruel and uncaring warrior had taken from her, even with him on his knees and wounded. One might consider it to be going too far, but after all these years of craving revenge against this suppoed "Ashen Demon" the purple-haired female mercenary couldn't care less about the optics of how this fight was going to end. She just wanted to closure at long last.
Shez thrust her sword. A final strike that would surely be fatal. However, just before she could deliver the coup-de-grace, Byleth suddenly vanished into thin air. Confused, Shez stumbled forward, nearly losing her grip on her weapon. Without warning, the Ashen Demon reappeared from out of thin air and swiftly delivering a cold, hard punch to her gut. Overwhelmed by the sheer force of the blow, Shez was knocked away. She tumbled to the ground, but wasn't about to give up.
Shez didn't know how it was possible, but this strange technique had been used by Byleth before. She'd witnessed the awesome power of warping without the use of magic with her own very eyes. Struck down to the ground, she panted and glanced up to see the Ashen Demon glowing with a strange green light. Power radiated from this mysterious aura. Enough to make the female mercenary's veins run cold. She gasped, fearing the worst.
"What the...!? H-He transformed! Does he have power like mine? Shez wondered, glancing down at her own hand, clenched in rage. She snarled and shot up, not ready throw in the towel. In her mind, it didn't matter how many tricks this wicked man had up his sleeve. She'd power through all of them and finally show him who was boss!
"Such vexing arrogance for one so small." Byleth spoke, but strangely sounded completely different. Almost as if the voice of someone else was emanating from his lips, like a man possessed.
Up until this point in their fight, Shez was sure she had truly gotten the upper hand. She was ready to end the demon forever after their long and arduous battle. Now, that strange power emanating from him made victory seem further than ever before. She could hardly stand without her legs shaking. Byleth stood over her with such poise and confidence, as if none of her blows had ever connected.
"...you should pay for your misdeeds with your life!" Again, it sounded like someone else had puppeteered Byleth's body, a foreign voice not fitting a man of his stature speaking seemingly out of nowhere.
Byleth lunged, swinging his sword towards Shez. She barely evaded with a deft and awkward roll, scrambling to her feet and raising her blade. She wanted to end this, and knew it had be done quickly, lest yet another unknown power reveal itself from her opponent. And yet, she couldn't stop her hands from shaking. Not from fear, but from the sheer force radiating from this Ashen Demon, who was living up to his title more then ever in this very crucial moment.
"So, you plan to continue fighting? Surely you must see that you cannot hope to grasp victory?" Byleth taunted. Shez had to close her eyes and turn her head to the side. Unable to focus, even as he continued to taunt her, "Or perhaps I should show you how puny and pathetic you really are!"
A wave of green light burst forth from Byleth, so fast and wide that Shez couldn't possibly evade. She raised her arms defensively, yet it washed over her all the same. A tingling feeling spread over her, from head to toe, and she felt herself sinking into the ground, grass around her seemingly rising up and tickling her exposed thighs. Byleth let out a derisive huff, but even through his odd new voice he sounded oddly deeper and more distant.
"Even you will be able to see how inconsequential you are from your new perspective." One last taunt was given from the Ashen Demon, who watched smugly as his female opponent slowly began to catch on.
"Stop taunting me, or I'll-" Shez glanced upwards to see the Ashen Demon, ready to curse him out. Only to be met with the underside of his knees. She felt weird and disorientated, and tried to stand up to her full height. However, no matter how much she tried to stretch her legs, she did not get any higher.
"What the?!" she exclaimed in a breath. Worse was that Byleth was still getting bigger. So were her surroundings, as she noticed in a moment. Rather than everything around her growing, it became obvious that it was more like she was the one who was shrinking. Impossible as that seemed. By the time she realized, she didn't even reach the top of his boots, and was rapidly getting even smaller.
"That is better, is it not? Now your stature better befits your significance!" Byleth's strange new voice echoed down from above. Shez had to crane her neck up to see his face; to her credit, she did not cower in fear from the suddenly uneven odds this strange fight had taken.
"You... you shrunk me!" she gasped, struggling to comprehend how insane this all was. Not to mention how unfair it was, considering just how close she'd been to finishing their rivalry. Just as before, she didn't let her confidence waver. Sword in hand, the shrunken Shez was still riding high off the adrenaline she'd accumulated during the battle. She shouted and braced herself to charge, even if all she reach to attack was the toes of Byleth's boots, she'd still give it her all. "Rraagghh!"
"I could crush you underfoot," Byleth mused, lifting his boot and allowing it to hover over Shez's tiny form, "it would be as if you simply vanished from the world."
With great force and blinding speed, Byleth's foot came crashing down. Shez was reduced to a pitiful height, but had retained some speed. She dived out of the way, narrowly escaping her demise. She coughed up as dirt was kicked up into the air and all over her tiny body. All in all, this short experience was a stark and humbling reminder of just how small and weak she'd become.
Without mercy, a huge finger and thumb plucked her into the air. Screaming and squirming, Shez battled to get free. Ignoring the great drop she'd have to endure if she fell from this height, which surely would have been too far for a girl as tiny as she was to endure. Not without serious injury, even with the best luck.
"LET ME GO!" Shez squeaked, thrashing her limbs around like crazy. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, her struggles were no use. She was helpless, lifted so high into the air so easily. She flew upward until she was before the demon's smirking face. Shez slowly stopped struggling, realizing she would only exhaust herself. She was almost in tears at this point.
How could this fight have turned around so suddenly and so decisively? Truly, she felt powerless. Was it even worth trying to escape anymore? Getting out of Byleth's giant hand was one thing, but what then? Surely she'd be caught and picked up again before her tiny legs could carry her any reasonable amount of distance. Even if she manged to fully escape, how would her life go? She'd still be only a few inches tall, and with no way of knowing how to unshrink herself... she knew she should try and make a break for it, but the huge and smug smirking face of the Ashen Demon contrasting against her tiny body was weakening her willpower... to say the least.
"Damn it..." Shez whimpered in a whisper, dreading what sort of future was in store for her at her new diminished size.
"A drop from this height will surely... hmm, what's that? Are you objecting?" Byleth spoke to himself, just his voice alone sent shivers through Shez's reduced body. She wondered about the change in his voice, but only briefly. It was odd that he seemed at odds with himself. After a moment, he chuckled and added, after giving Shez a little squeeze, eliciting a pained squeak from the tiny girl, "... Very well. I suppose it would be a waste to destroy one so adorably tiny. We shall keep her as a pet instead!"
Shez gasped as she glared up at the huge man's face, squarely in front of her downsized point of view. If he truly intended to keep her, that might be a fate worse than death. She couldn't bare to become the so-called "pet" of her sworn and most hated foe. Although, it was entirely possible that going along with this would allow a chance for her to escape to present itself. On the other hand, she felt like she could also just try and slip through his huge fingers again, getting more used to her tiny size, like a cornered animal thrust into an impossible situation. Even if it killed her, that still sounded better than being reduced to a tiny plaything for someone like Byelth...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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