KINTSUkuroi
[Chapter XV] - Ultimatum

Eyes closed. Heavy panting. Heart pounding violently against her chest at an increasingly-rapid pace. Almost as though it were second nature to her, Siule imagined her body stretching upwards and outwards, expanding as she pictured the space around her quickly dwindling in size. A tingling sensation overcame her. Her frame seemed to react to her desires as she began to actually grow. Her lips morphed into an ecstatic smile as she broke through the roof, unconcerned about the damage she brought to her own laboratory in doing so.

'More... More! I want to grow even bigger! I want to be so big that Ciel won't be able to steal Nicky away from me!' she spoke to herself as the scenery around her seemed to sink all around her, slowly but surely giving way to the dark grey sky. In the distance, the rumbling of thunder warned that a storm was fast approaching. A big one.

By the time the tawny-haired woman's growth spurt came to a halt she was large enough to be easily seen from any location within Buenos Aires and the nearby surrounding areas. Way below her, people screamed, ran, cried and begged for their lives not to be brought to an end, their desperation completely unnoticed by the colossal woman standing proudly as she enjoyed her newfound power.

"Ciel Surelle —she spoke calmly, her thunderous voice shattering the windows of the very few buildings that had managed to somewhat survive the new Giantess' rise to power—, I knew you would reject my heartfelt generosity. I am most unpleased. Still, I would like to think that I'm a very merciful woman. Five minutes. If you bring Nicky to me within the next five minutes, I shall forgive your past transgressions and allow you to leave the Human world freely. Conversely, I assume you don't need me to tell you how dire the consequences will be if you continue to disobey my orders." the green-eyed female threatened.

"That bastard thinks I'm going to let you go back to her! Fat chance!" Ciel spat as she and Nicolas boarded the plane to Quito, Ecuador. The plan was for them to land at the capital city before driving the eighty-two-kilometre-long trip to Cayambe, a town which came to the forefront of international relevance thanks to the joint decision between Savan and the leaders of the main countries of the Human world to establish said city as one of the three frontier passways between both regions. The other two locations to share the same privilege as Cayambe were Mbandaka, Congo, and the Great Communion Passway, a route that stretched for seven hundred and twenty kilometres, connecting the Indonesian cities of Palembang, in the Human world's Sumatra, and Pekanbaru, in the Giants' world Riau.

The route, which was considered neutral territory, thus making a popular touristic destination for Humans and Giants alike, had a unique layout in the sense that it was very clearly divided in two going in each direction. Heading both North and South, the road featured four lanes, two of which were much larger than the other two, and divided by a very sturdy wall made of Krystallon, a transparent metal which was famous for both its superior endurance and its glass-like aesthetic properties. The reason why the Great Communion Passway was built like that was, on the one hand, to safely facilitate transportation both for Giants and Humans, and to allow visual communication between both species, something Savan considered of paramount importance if both species were to start building a lasting relationship of friendship.

Naturally, the criteria for the selection of these three places as frontier passways was their nearness to the Equator line, which determined the boundary between both regions.

Nicolas glanced at Ciel as the taller female firmly held his hand. She did not utter a single word, though she didn't need to; her actions conveyed her feelings more than clearly enough.

The male would have been lying if he had said he wasn't considering going back to Siule in an attempt to appease the now-colossal woman, but he didn't have the heart to tell Ciel that. After all, the black-haired female had made a very clear point that she needed him to remain by her side. After much thought he determined that even proposing to leave her side could potentially cause more damage to his beloved than anything Siule might throw at her.

Even more so than that, the time had finally come for him to protect her. After all those years, it was his turn to defend the woman he loved, and he wasn't going to let her down.

Siule stared intently at her phone, her castleton green irises witnessing as the digital clock went from 23:58 to 00:03.

"Five minutes —the brown-haired lass sighed, putting her phone away in her jeans pocket—. I guess it's time to pay a visit to the Giant world."