Ten - The collapse 2

"What are you doing!?"

The dunes extending over the horizon made up the scenery of that distortion of a world. An illusion built upon the parasitic properties of an organism that held the characteristics of a hive mind.

Watching from behind, Eren cried in anger, surprise and loss of what to do.

That sword that had long been engraved into the hearts of the Eldians be they from past, present or future shone under the light of the Elden Tree.

"I'm punishing an evil that afflicts humanity." The cold murderous voice of a man rang out in the desert. "You are fool, Eren. For giving in to her desires. She is everything wrong with the human race. Complacency, dependency, feigning ignorance, victimizing herself. She is a worthless trash, an inferior parasite that rather than fighting for her freedom, choose to uphold the system in order to latch out from its benefits just because she got addicted to what it provide to her despite what it cost for everyone who was forced to sustain it against their will, condemning generations of good men and women to suffer."

Holding her by the neck he lifted her off the ground. The little girl struggled to breath and tried to break free, but his grip remained firm.

"You! Stop it!" Eren cried.

"You are a hypocrite, Eren. Claiming Armin was being manipulated only to let yourself be manipulated in the end. I, on the other hand, have remained true to myself all this time. I shall bow to none, and those who would stand on my way will always meet the edge of my blade."

And before he could act, blood was spilled, and the head rolled down the sand, lying lifelessly on the ground.

Staring coldly at her body, the man took off the mask covering his face, revealing his glowing red iris and a scarred face. "Tsk. If only this was the end..."

...

Shattered Heavens has become some sort of urban legend in the last year. As their numbers grew, more and more people started taking notice of them and the accounts were frightening.

"Wraiths with silver claws instead of hands, shining silver skulls with bright red eyes and smoke coming out of their mouths, as well as claws in their feet haunt the night." The people would reminisce under the embracing atmosphere of the bars and the influence of alcohol.

It was inevitable that their people would get noticed with time, but what made them special was the effect that their equipment caused in the people who saw them at night.

Under the cover of the night as well as the large black hooded coats, their armor easily struck anyone as being something out of legends.

And not without reason. Using large bursts of compressed gas through an opening in their boots, his subordinates were capable of moving in ways that only lost to the 3d manuever gear depending of the circumstances. Otherwise it was quite better.

The claw-like greaves and gauntlets worked as means of getting oneself attached to the walls while the openings underneath the greaves were meant to expell the bursts of compressed gas that propelled them upwards with high speed.

Unfortunately he had little to no access to the strange fuel used by the military. So he had to make do with small backpacks carrying a few cylinders full of gas to fuel the boots. However it was quite better compared to what the military used since there was no need to attach anything to the boots in order to activate then.

Using a simple radio communication device inbuilt inside the gauntlets, they only needed to press a button on the side of their index finger using their thumbs to activate the gas burst.

Richard's gauntlets also had them. He did this for various reasons, most being to even the playing field between his organization and the military, and the other was as way to fight against Titans without having a manuever gear.

Standing near the trees outside, Richard watched as a squad belonging to the first division approached. It was a group of five being led by Tobias himself.

Everyone had adorned their equipment and looked just as terrifying as he had envisioned. After all, in war, one most use any tools available for them. And psychological warfare was part of this. Thinking of this, Richard chuckled to himself, sometimes a man greatest enemy is his illogical fears and insecurity. That's why demons always made up for great allies in ancient human history, it was the fear they struck in the hearts of their enemies that made them such terrifying opponents.

It's not without reason that demon masks were first created by soldiers for use in wars.

"Commander!" Giving a military salute from Richard's previous world, Tobias greeted him.

The others followed suit while also bowing their heads.

Nodding, he calmly explained the plan for them. With everything set, they left the hideout and moved towards the Yeager family house.

The team this time was already looking very different from the original one. Many young adults had joined them and were slowly becoming a part of the 'family'.

Right now, Tobias and Richard himself were the youngest between everyone in this small group of six. The others were between 14 and 17.

Unfortunately it's only been a little more than an year since they joined so they had yet to reach the limits of their abilities. Thankfully, he was quite a good teacher and everyone was quickly able to learn.

Moving above the buildings they slowly approached the target. As they did so, the group started spreading out.

Flanking the place from all sides, four of them stayed hidden while the other two went searching for Hannes.

Once they found him, they started the plan. Taking off the armor and wearing the clothes of normal men, they pretend to be drunk troublemakers and started causing problems with him. Once Hannes decided to lock them down, they rushed away.

They would lead him towards the children of the Yeager and cause some trouble with them to make sure that they wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

As for Dr. Grisha? They wouldn't have to worry about him.

"Let's go!" Richard's voice rang on the tactical radio attached to the masks.

Just as he took a step forward though, something he never could have predicted happened.

With a loud rumbling noise, the earth shook followed by a flash of light that painted the world white and yellow.

Struggling to keep themselves standing, the group almost missed a particular peculiarity on the horizon.

Trembling, Tobias pointed over towards the side of the wall that led outside and screamed. "W-what's that?!"

Caught off guard, Richard followed his hand and turned his eyes towards the wall only to seem what seemed like five fingers. They lacked skin, but the muscles were completely visible because of the slightly glowing surface of the hand. With smoke rising from it, it seemed like an hallucination. The wall was over fifty meters tall, what could possibly reach that size?!

But then it appeared, a head with dead cold eyes, a mouth larger than any he had seen before and an imponent aura that struck fear in the depths of his heart.

"Titan..." Richard whispered awe-struck at the sight of the creature.

Before he could even think about it properly, another extremely loud sound rang out followed by a wave of air pushing everything on its way. Like the shockwave of a nuclear warhead, the area nearest to the wall was completely destroyed while extremely large pieces of ruble flew over, hitting the streets and the houses.

Screams could be hear everywhere on the destroyed landscaped that once made up part of Zhiganshina. He noticed that the Yeager house had been demolished by the rubble, and to make matters even worse, it seemed that...

"Run! The wall has been breached by the titans!" It was the cry of a soldier using his maneuver gear to rush towards the entrance to Wall Maria.

Standing there without moving, he could only stare at the creature. His heart raced and sweat poured down his face. He rose his shaking hand and held it over his heart as his face contorted in pain. 'AGAIN! Just like that time... just like that damn girl! How could this be happening!'

Countless thoughts coursed through his mind but he couldn't focus on anything, should he flee? Should he stay and fight? Could humans even deal with that creature without modern weaponry?! Frozen by the fear, he was almost falling into a mental breakdown but then he heard the voice of his subordinate.

"C-commander?!" Tobias voice woke Richard out of his sturpor.

Looking around him, he spotted the figures of the people who followed him here. They were shaking, some were kneeling and a few were even crying in despair. Nobody knew what to do, he could tell that they felt lost and without hope for living. With a creature as big as that, how long would it take till all walls were breached? Could this be the day of the end for humanity? This was the though that crossed their mind.

Bitting his lips, Richard forced himself to turn all his fear into pure rage.

"Stand up, you damn weaklings! Did I train you to kneel down before the enemy!? If that's the case, then tell me now and I'll kill you myself!"

Richard's words made them all shudder. Somehow though, the threat reinvigorated their spirit and caused then to mostly recompose themselves.

Seeing them finally calming down, he took a deep breath and looked towards the Yeager's house once more. He was so close, he couldn't give up on that now. But the district...

Bitting his lips, he cursed inwardly and activated the main radio installed on his mask, this was for emergency use only and could reach every single one of his subordinates.

"Every member of the Shattered Heavens is to adorn their armor and prepare for operation Search and Rescue! The newcomers will search for the members that might have been injured and then take them to the safety of Wall Maria. The veterans are to follow us in battle! Strike down any Titans who stand on your way while helping the people retreat! I hereby declare the end of Order Shadow 1, we now leave the shadows and work in the light!"

Closing the channel, the recorder on the mansion started replaying the message. After it was repeated three times, it stopped and Richard nodded to himself. It was time to act. No matter what, he wasn't one to take a hit lying down. He would turn misfortune into opportunity no matter what happened. Thinking for a moment though, he turned towards his nearby subordinates.

"Tobias, take them all and go fetch my parents. You are to help them leave this place safely. I don't care how you do it, but if any of them are to die, I'll kill you all myself. Am I clear?"

Hearing Richard's cold murderous voice, Tobias shuddered in fear and nodded while gulping. Feeling like he was about to lose all the strength in his legs he turned around in anger and cried. "C'mon you bunch of girls! You heard the Commander's order, let's move!"

"Yes!" They cried in unison and followed behind Tobias towards Wall Maria.

Seeing their dissapearing backs, Richard reassured himself and moved. No matter what, everything must go according to his plans.