Chapter 37 Attack

Steel cut through the air and carved straight into the skull of the Beast Titan. Levi's blade cut through the fur and flesh like wind until it hit the bone. Through the muscles in his arm he felt as it bit and chipped the bone, his strength and Ki pushing further into the skull until the blade finally snapped. The blade itself had lodged in entirely, leaving only a scrap of steel remaining in its handle.

Levi lost no time in his follow up attack, slashing horizontally with his second blade and making a cut that bled down its forehead. At the same time he ejected the remains of his broken sword and drew another from his spares. With his gas, hooks, and Ki, he began to move, descending down the Titans body and slashing at everything in sight.

Eyes, tendons, muscle, flesh, it didn't matter. He weaved around every inch of the Titans body until the sky was raining blood and gore. By the time he landed on the ground to assess his damage, the beast Titan was only a patchwork of remaining flesh. The creature, no the person inside, was beyond shocked. He could see it in the inhuman face.

A face so unnatural and so clearly not human, yet the expression was still so familiar. Fear. A roar of satisfaction swelled inside of him. A part of him knew it was wrong, and yet it felt so right, so perfect. To see the face of his foe, to see their mightiest form and to inflict upon them such devastation. To see them fear as so many had as they'd fought so valiantly yet died all the same. To see fear, yet something even greater. A sense of… hesitation.

This creature, whoever the man or woman was inside, Levi had wanted them to feel a truth that had so recently come into existence. The people on this island, the Eldians of Paradis, they were strong. Before their strength had been from their determination, their drive to fight in the face of such horrific odds. Now, thanks to Gohan, their inner strength was made manifest.

Levi felt the Ki that burned inside of him, felt the raw power that had elevated him beyond human, and he would unleash every ounce of that power upon his enemy. The Marleyan who had wished genocide upon him and his comrades, who had unleashed death upon his friends. Upon Furlan and Isabel.

He charged forwards again.

"I don't know what to do."

Gohan leaned back and considered Chri- Historia's words. It had taken her a long time to explain everything that Ymir had revealed and then explain her own feelings about it all. It had been… a lot. He had already known that the Titans had been willingly unleashed upon these people, without knowing why or truly who. Now that he had a name to put to them and knowledge about the rest of the world, it had left him with three major realisations.

The first was that protecting these people was going to become much harder for him now that there was an entire nation responsible for such acts, the most powerful in the world by the sounds of it. The second, was far bleaker. Each and every Titan he had killed had been, was still, a person. One not in control of their horrific actions. He had killed so many, he had hated them, yet they had been suffering.

He was no stranger to murder, as terrible as it was to say. He had helped to kill some of Frieza's soldiers and fought to kill so many other villains. But he'd done so against those who had known their actions, knowing what they were doing and still choosing to do so. Now, every Titan he had killed felt like a victim. He didn't regret them, he couldn't when he considered how many lives he'd saved, yet he still felt guilty over every one of them.

The third, was Eren. The curse of Ymir would affect him too, meaning he had eight years of life left within him. He had no words to describe how devastating that had been to hear. When he'd been told, he was suddenly back to the time when his father had been infected by a heart virus. Standing there helplessly as he watched him potentially die.

It had taken him some time to fully digest the truth, and Historia had been kind enough to give him that time before continuing. He would need to deal with these revelations further in time, but for now his focus was on Historia. He would be lying if he said he had any experience in giving advice, but he did have experience.

"I… miss my mother." He didn't look at her as he spoke, instead staring into the distance as he remembered her face. "I know we had some rough times, and she hated so much of what I had to do, but… every day, I miss her. I miss her love, her care, the safety I felt with her. It's been years, and I still miss her every day. With Mrs Jaeger, Eren, and Mikasa, it's felt like I have a family again. With them, and with time, it's become easier to live without her, without my father… easier, to live each day. But I've never stopped missing them, I've never stopping longing to have them back, and I never will."

"To truly love someone, it hurts that much?" He looked to Historia and saw the uncertainty in her eyes. She'd told him of her birth mother, the one who had hated her very existence. Historia had yearned for an affection she'd never had and didn't know if she would survive if she embraced it, only to have it taken away.

"It does. But it was always worth the cost. I don't think there's anything I wouldn't do to see them again. For you and Ymir, that would be eight years you could have together. Eight years of love, and a lifetime of memories. I can't decide what you should do, and I don't want you to follow my suggestions if you don't feel the same way. But I think you should still go for it. Do you love her?"

"I… I do." There was only the slightest tinge of red to her cheeks as she admitted it. The closeness between the two of them had been evident to all, though Gohan imagined that there would still be surprised that the romantic affection Ymir showed was returned.

"Ymir most certainly loves you too. Talk with her, decide how you want to proceed, but don't fear what may happen in time. This world is beautiful, and so is the life and love it provides. Don't spend your precious time hiding from it."

She nodded in gratitude as she mulled over his words. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he reached a hand up to slowly stroke her hair. He had interacted little with Historia over his years of knowing her, which he now deeply regretted knowing how lonely she had been. Still, he felt he knew her quite well now, the real her.

"You know for someone who is so blind to romance, you seem to know it quite well."

He blushed and rubbed at the back of my head. "Oh you know, I just speak from the heart is all."

"Haha. That is certainly you Gohan, you've always had your heart openly. What do you think-… Gohan?"

Historia stopped as she noticed how rapidly he had tensed, his breath pausing as he turned to look behind him and towards the window. She opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong before he quickly swept her up in his arms and sprinted towards the door.

The strike of lightning outside the window was blinding, followed quickly by the deafening boom and crash as a figure tore into the side of the headquarters. A wave of debris and steam washed through the building, Historia keeping unharmed as Gohan's unyielding body protected her from damage. They were lifted from their feet and thrown out into the hallway, Gohan rolling in mid-air to take the impact for them both.

As the sounds of the explosion faded away Historia began to pick out the sounds of screams and agony. She saw one man stumble into the hallway from an adjacent room, his body scorched and steam wafting from his skin. Gohan was on his feet in a flash and looking back into the wreck of his room, the wall crumbled away and revealing the fleshless form of the colossal Titan was visible.

"Bertholdt…" His shock of the boys actions did not stopping him from snapping into action and forming a plan. "Historia, help the wounded. Stay out of the fight and keep yourself safe."

He ran quickly into the room and grabbed a pile of papers that had now scattered to the floor, bundling them up and then thrusting them into her arms. "Keep these safe if you can, leave them if you can't. The people are more important and I can reproduce them. Historia, please keep yourself safe."

His eyes looked to the ceiling as he heard the loud crash, Gohan's mind and Ki senses tracing the form of the Colossal Titans arm as it swept across the roof of the headquarters, catching several Scouts in its path. He winced as he felt their lights flicker out and none survived his attack.

He tightened his grip on Historia as he raised her to her feet. "Go Historia, stay safe."

With that, he turned and ran back into the room, past his wrecked bed and leaping out of the hole in the wall. The heat that Bertholdt's Colossal Titan form was emanating washed over him. It was intense, and he quickly realised it was potentially lethal to any of the Scouts if they tried to engage him. But Gohan could take it, and he flew unabated into the Titans leg with full force.

He struck it with a side kick, and even through the thick flesh and muscle he felt the bone beneath crack. He landed back on the ground just as Bertholdt shifted, his body adjusting to sudden change in support. Gohan leapt high into the sky, reaching the Titans waist where he struck again. His fist tore into the flesh before the power behind it boomed throughout the Titans body, a shockwave of energy pushing it backwards.

The Titan fell back slowly at first, before finally hitting the ground and shattering the earth beneath him. Dirt showered the sky, the pieces of grass bursting into flame as the Colossal Titans temperature set all it came near ablaze. It was as if the sun had risen again, between the bright light of the fire and the moonlight, Gohan had a clear view of his opponent.

The moonlight…

He had sensed it coming. With practice, he had learned to feel the slight twitches in his tail, the anxious feeling scratching at the back of his mind when the full moon grew near. He hadn't transformed in years, but his time in this new world had taught him how to better avoid the trigger. Avoiding gazing at the full moon was a flimsy rule in theory, however he had a few advantages. The first was that night-time operations were rare in the military, even when the full moon was out, so avoiding it had rarely been needed. The second was that a passing glance was not enough to trigger the transformation, he had to actually stare at the moon for anything to occur. He would have to be careful during his fight with Bertholdt, but he could avoid it.

With the brief pause of combat, Gohan used his Ki senses to reach out for Reiner, sweeping past all the Scouts rushing around in a panic, some moving to attack while others helped the wounded. Moving quickly in between them, Gohan detected Reiner, already inside of the building and making his way towards the basement where Annie laid.

Alarm flooded his body and he turned to pursue before freezing at the sound of Bertholdts Titan beginning to move. The boy had recovered quickly, in part due to his healing but largely due to the relatively small amount of damage that Gohan had inflicted upon him. With his body landing on his back, Gohan knew there wasn't going to be anyway for him to get to his nape and began trying to figure out what his next move would be when Bertholdt struck first.

Steam exploded from the Colossal Titans form, the heat so intense that Gohan had to shield his eyes with his arms. He felt parts of his wraps begin to ignite and quickly patted a hand to put them out as the steam attack began to subside. When he had opened his eyes to look, he saw the Titans arm sweeping through the ground to launch a huge wall of burning earthen debris at him. He leapt upwards and away to try and avoid it, but there was too much to avoid entirely as a large chunk of dirt smashed him back into the headquarters.

He landed with a slide on his feet, his back crashing into an interior wall and cracking his head backwards into the brick. The wall itself dented, as brick and mortar crumbled away around his head. He shook off the blow and rushed back to the open hole in the wall. The sight that befell him was horrifying.

Everything was on fire. The steam from Bertholdts Titan body had ignited every scrap of grass or wood that he had thrown in his attack and spread that across the entire side of the headquarters. The walls were wreathed in flame, and smoke was beginning to cloud around the building. Gathering his Ki carefully, Gohan thrust his hands outwards and released a pulse of energy, not in the form of an energy blast, but as a wave of invisible power that snuffed out the fires as they began to build.

The smoke disappeared to reveal a giant fist heading straight towards him. Instead of simply dodging away, Gohan leapt towards it, landing on top of Bertholdts arm as it tore into the building. With careful footing, he began to sprint up the length of it and sent a ki blast into Bertholdts face.

It exploded more as a distraction, as although the flesh and skull were blown apart and a large chunk of his jaw was sent flying away, his colossal skull was so large that it was very resilient to his attacks. The Colossal Titan reflexively raised his arms in defence, unwittingly bringing Gohan much closer to his target, as he leapt through the air and past his head.

Every step along Bertholdts Colossal flesh had been agonising, and the brief window of cooler air had been amazing to feel as he soared through it, the wind washing over his hot and stinging skin. With no ODM gear, he was forced to act using more Ki, and flew towards Bertholdts nape. He landed and was immediately hit by the searing heat again, it slowed him none as he raised a powerful fist and punched straight into the flesh.

Bertholdt panicked, billowing steam from his body with all of his might to try and get Gohan to let go. The sheer force of the steam did begin to push Gohan back, however with his other hand he gripped tightly on the muscles on his neck. The flesh and muscles themselves began to tear, forcing Gohan to use his Ki as flight and keep himself pressed against the nape, all the while his hand was digging deeper and deeper into the Colossal Titans body.

His skin was burning through it all, but he refused to move, forcing his hand closer and closer until he could almost… His hands brushed against the back of Bertholdts clothes, his fingers struggling to try and grip them. As his fingers managed to grab just the barest inches of fabric, his senses screamed in alarm as he felt the massive arm approaching towards him. He leapt away mere moments before the Colossal Titans hand slapped over its nape, only a shred of fabric in his hand as he soared backwards and away.

He landed softly, looking with disappointment at the small section of cloth in his hand which had begun to burn. He let it fall to the side and focused his attention on the people he'd landed near, a group of terrified scouts who stood uncertain of whether to attack or not.

"The steam is too hot, it'll kill you." He could see their questioning gazes as to just how the hell he was alive, not to mention that he didn't have any gear on. "Evacuate the headquarters, but beware that Reiner is heading for Annie."

"W-what!?" The looked to one another in brief shock before they snapped into action and turned back towards the building. Whether they were going after Reiner or evacuating, he didn't know, his attention would have to stay on Bertholdt.

"This… this is bad."

It seemed redundant to point out, yet it was all anyone could think as they watched the soldier battling Zeke. To call it a battle would be overly kind, as they watched the strongest of the warriors, the strongest of the Titans, continue to be slaughtered by a lone man. He moved impossibly fast, a spinning wheel of death and destruction as Zeke's Titan form was shredded with every touch.

They could see Zeke was trying to fight back, to gain some distance or throw the man off balance somehow, yet it seemed like nothing would work. Zeke managed to heal enough of his ankles and legs to make a jump backwards, yet the man followed somehow. He must have had some kind of extremely potent gas to fly at the speeds he did, as he was on Zeke not even a second later, re-cutting his ankles and dropping him to the floor again.

He was going to kill Zeke, would have already if it wasn't for the crystalline armour, or the death grip Zeke held over his nape with his hands when he still had movement over them. It wasn't just cutting however, whatever those glowing light bombs were that the man had, they were incredibly potent. Again, one of Zeke's eyes exploded while there was nothing he could do in defence.

"We need to do something to help." One of the soldiers spoke up, reloading his rifle as he watched the carnage.

"I'll save Zeke." Pieck stepped forwards, albeit hesitantly. She was the same age as the rest of the Warriors, however she was significantly less experienced and combat useful. She would have to move quickly to get Zeke out of danger and hope she could do so without attracting the man's attention, otherwise she would be dead faster than Zeke. "I'll need covering fire, so be ready."

Reiner almost ran down the stairs, pausing only when he reached the corner as he hugged the wall. He had heard some people spot him and begin shouting in alarm when he'd moved through the ground floor, but his speed had meant they'd only had the briefest of moments to see him before he was gone, and it had taken them time to recognise him, then make any moves to follow him. He'd been relying on that, as well as his memory to make this plan work.

He'd only had a brief conversation with Eren where he'd mentioned about the cell he'd been kept in, and a just as short chance to look around the headquarters and see any places where access to a basement cell could have been. It seemed luck was on his side however, as he poked his head around the corner and saw two Scouts at the far end, as well as the briefest flashes of some bars.

It was a man and a woman, both armed with muskets and spotting him instantly. With all the commotion Bertholdt was making, they had been placed on high alert and their trigger fingers were ready. The man fired first, hitting the brick wall near his face and sending dust into his eyes. Reiner pulled back reflexively and blinked away the dirt before deciding to charge the two of them whilst at least one was reloading.

The woman fired as soon as he had fully exposed himself in the hallway, however she only managed to hit him in the side of his arm. It hurt, quite a lot, but it hadn't immobilised his arm and his healing was already dulling the pain. He drew his swords as he sprinted down the hallway, and the man who had been reloading his rifle abruptly dropped it and drew blades of his own. They met midway down the hall, swords hitting awkwardly as they fought with little room to swing.

The fight was awkward, with no room to manoeuvre past one another, and the pair of them hesitant in their strikes. Sword fighting had naturally been taught very little in their training, and neither wanting to risk getting an arm sliced off in the process. For the male Scout, he wasn't able to heal and obviously did not want to be potentially stabbed, as well as likely being willing to wait and see if any backup arrived. For Reiner, the simple fact was that he was outnumbered. He could heal, and he likely had more appropriate training for this type of fight, but if he slipped up and was wounded, it was entirely possible for them to overwhelm him.

He had no choice however, if he didn't take a risk and win he would be killed. When their blades next met, Reiner pressed his weight forwards and twisted, pinning the man against the wall. Despite the man being older and taller, Reiner still held the mass advantage as he pressed the man harder and harder. Eventually, their swords slid apart from one another, Reiner bringing his down to slice the man across the chest, while the Scout got a slash across his face. Reiner pulled back with a snarl and hiss of pain, the cut had managed to miss his eyes but still hit his nose and mouth.

The Scout was worse off however, one hand dropping a sword and gripping futilely at the deep laceration that ran vertically down his chest. He took a deep breath of air and plunged his other sword forwards in an attempt to run Reiner through. He succeeded only in part, catching Reiner to the side near his ribs. It was agonising, but not lethal, and so Reiner raised his own blade and swung down into his neck.

The spray of blood was instant, as was the sudden release of tension in the man's body as he began to crumple. He wasn't dead yet, but he would be, the hand that desperately tried to squeeze tightly around his neck would not be enough, and blood continued to pour from between his fingers.

There was only a shocked gasp from his side as the dying mans comrade watched him slump, her arms moving furiously as she rammed the musket ball into place. Reiners eyes went wide as he stumbled forwards, his body weak but urgent. As she threw the rod away and raised the rifle, he charged towards her. She cocked the hammer and squeezed the trigger just as the tip of his blade came up to bat the gun away. It fired, the ball tearing into Reiners shoulder as he was just moments too slow.

He slashed clumsily at her, his sudden gunshot wound making him stumble onto one knee. The sword missed, and she wasted no time in changing the grip on her rifle to slam the butt of it into his face. His nose broke and he fell backwards, briefly dazed and confused before she was instantly on top of hi, rifle butt raised again.

She smashed him in the face again and again, Reiners face becoming bloodier and bloodier.

"Fuck!" His nose crunched again.

"You!" His eye socket shook.

"FUCK!" His jaw clicked.

"YOU!" His arm raised and his sword cut into the woman's thigh.

She yelped in pain as he rolled, throwing her to the side and climbing on top of her. He could barely see anymore, his face so ruined by her attack and blood pouring out over his eyes. He fumbled blindly with his swords, trying to bring them in close and cut her somehow, simply pressing them into her with anger.

One of her hands grabbed the blade before it could properly cut her, while the other came upwards as she plunged a thumb into his eye. He roared in pain while she roared in anger. He pulled on the other blade that was in her thigh, heard her screams of pain followed by the snapping of his sword as only part of it came loose.

With his vision obscured, unable to check the condition of his weapon, and rage flooding through his system, he instead dropped the sword handle and formed a fist, throwing a heavy punch into her face. He heard a squelch of flesh, felt the hard impact of bone in his hand, as well as the thumb pull back slightly. Then he threw blow after blow, his mighty fist swinging down again and again.

By the time he had stopped, he'd healed enough to be able to open one eye and see the mess he'd made. He'd beaten her to death and broken his hand doing so, but he'd won. He slumped to the side and looked into the cell they'd been guarding, spotting the form of a woman bound, gagged, and with wraps blinding her vision.

She was a mess. The signs of torture were obvious even if her body had healed them, as bloodied nails and teeth littered the floor. Tools of torture were spread out and all showed signs of thorough use. The woman beneath the rags that had once been a military uniform had been brutalised, but it was unmistakably Annie.

He found the keys for the cell on the woman's corpse and opened up the door to step inside. She flinched as he came near, and he could see her trying to squeeze more and more tightly into the chair. Reaching out, he pulled off the wrap around her eyes and she finally saw him.

She had been crying, tears of fear had her eyes glistening as she stared at him. Her eyes, they were not the eyes of the Annie he knew. Annie was strong, independent, and shared as many emotions as a brick. This woman, this girl, was a wreck. He saw it all in her eyes as she stared back up at him, the sheer terror and pain that she could not hide was horrifying.

"Oh Annie."

He pulled down the gag from her mouth and began to remove her bonds. As soon as her lips were free, she began trying to speak but managed only whimpers.

"Reiner…" she managed to stumble out, her lips quivering as she tried to hold back her cries. "I-I… I want to go home. I want my daddy."

He finished removing her bindings and pulled her into an embrace. She collapsed against him, and her emotional walls crumbled as she wept openly against him.

"Daddy…" she cried, begging and pleading for him to protect her. "I want to go home, please I want to go home."

"Shhh." He stroked her hair and whispered gently into her ear. "It's okay Annie. We're going home, all three of us. We're going home."

Awkwardly, he slid the bag from his bag and laid it on the floor. It was packed with all of the urgent supplies they had needed, including the spare clothes they had packed away for Annie. She would need to get changed later, as for now, they needed to finish with their escape.

The blades on Levi's swords shattered. They had been his final set, but the crystal around the beast Titans nape had proven so far unyielding. It had chipped and cracked, but not yet broken. He would fix that.

When he landed, Levi did so over the bloodied form of a comrade, the top half of his body missing and likely devoured. His supply of blades, however, was almost full. Levi ejected his broken ones, reloaded them straight from the man's sheath, and the dove in again. Slashing and ripping at every tendon and muscle on his body until his blades dulled again.

Then he landed at the fallen form of another soldier and equipped himself with their blades. Again and again, he tore the Beast Titans body asunder as he broke away piece by piece the crystal that protected their nape. When he finally managed a crack that exposed the flesh underneath, he plunged a fist deep inside. The Ki flowed through his body and into his fist, a ball of energy building before he let it go and the Beast Titans nape exploded.

He soared backwards on a chunk of flesh, landing deftly on the ground as pieces of meat rained down around him. The Beast Titan did not flail or stumble, instead it simply slumped forwards and crashed face first into the dirt. Levi stalked towards the steaming Titans form, flicking his swords to get rid of the blood.

The remains of the fleshy nape fell away, and Levi watched as the ragged form of a man clawed his way out. He moved with only one arm, the other having been blown apart by Levi's attack. As he struggled to remove himself, Levi calmly hopped onto the Titans back and approached the man, who turned to look up at him in terror.

"You- you… what are you?"

"That depends on who you ask." He thought back to all of the titles that had been bestowed upon him by the public. Humanity's strongest soldier. Humanity's rage. It had all been nonsense to him then, and worth even less since the appearance of Gohan. "You can call me Levi, and you…" He put his blade under the man's chin and raised his head to get a clearer look at him. "You are going to tell me exactly what the Marley aimed to accomplish here."

He considered killing the man then and there, one swipe of his sword would put an end to the man as a potential threat. It was tempting, very tempting. He was dangerous, and Levi knew how much difficulty they had faced keeping Annie locked up, if the man killed again then those were lives he could have saved. Though he wasn't going to lie to himself and say that was the sole reason.

He hated this man, truly.

As his blade inched closer to the man's throat, he contemplated indulging in that hate. Before finally pulling back and sheathing his blade.

Three horses rode up to him, some of the Garrison soldiers who had joined him on the attack briefly before making sure to get out of his way as he fought. He couldn't help but notice that two of them were wearing the same headwrap that Gohan wore. It seemed that his fame and influence was still spreading. He rolled his eyes and motioned for them to detain the Titan Shifter.

"Alright you bastard. You're gonna have some explaining to-"

The soldier that had been motioning to grab the man was cut off as his head abruptly exploded, a loud bang resonating out from a gunshot. Several others swiftly followed, wounding another soldier who dropped to the floor clutching their arm. Two rounds slammed into Levi himself, hitting him in the chest and shoulder and dropping him to his knees.

It hurt, excruciatingly so.

But he wasn't dead. Far from it, he tentatively touched at the spots where he'd been shot, his fingers showing blood but not as much as they should have as the bullets had failed to penetrate his skin. It seemed that Gohans Ki training had paid off more than he had thought.

"You… you're not human."

The man was staring at him in shock. It lasted a mere moment before he scrambled out of the nape and began to sprint towards the gunfire. Levi raced after him, only for another series of gunshots had him ducking behind the Titans body for cover. Peaking over, he followed the man with his eyes as he moved towards his men. His Ki senses alerted him before he saw it, another Titan breaking out of the shadowed darkness of the wall and into the moonlight, a hideous thing moving on all fours that snatched the man up with his mouth before turning to run away.

So there was a small group of them, he would have to take care of that.

He leapt onto the beast Titans body and built the Ki into his hands. Gunshots began to fire again, quickly enough that he had to wonder just what kind of muskets they had to fire so rapidly. He made his move before they had enough time to hit him again, raising his hands overhead and creating a ball of energy.

"Masenko ha!"

The beam shot out and hit his target dead centre, the group of soldiers was illuminated in a brilliant yellow light before several of them were instantly vapourised in the explosion. The rest flew away, some losing limbs but every one of them crying out in agony.

He held no sympathy for those that moaned in pain, some horrified and clutching at missing legs or arms. His eyes darted back to the wounded soldier behind him who was being bandaged up by her comrade. When he looked back, his eyes were instead focusing on the Titan that was running away, moving towards the wall with a fearful expression looking back at him.

With another ball of energy beginning to gather in his hands, he readied his attack to bring down the second Titan Shifter. That was until, he noticed one of the soldiers digging something from their backpack and throwing it towards Levi and the other soldiers. It exploded in mid-air, gas billowing over them in a near instant.

Levi's hands were over his mouth in a flash, but he knew that it was too late and that he'd already inhaled some of whatever it was. He expected any moment he was going to be choking or tired but… nothing. His confusion only mounted as the man hanging out the mouth of a Titan reared his head back and screamed.

Sparks and booms echoed from behind him, and he turned to see two Titans having appeared right where the Garrison soldiers had been. The scene at the village clicked into place in an instant. The ability to turn people into Titans had been turned into a gas, that was what they had done at Ragako village. Except, why had it not affected him?

The Titans began to move, stumbling over the decomposing body of the Beast Titan as they looked at him with their twisted faces. He put them out of their misery quickly, making a note to try and find out who they were so they could be remembered. His attention was quickly turned back to the soldiers, few of whom remained.

He knocked most of them out but left the last awake. The one who had pulled the device from his bag and unleashed the gas.

"You." He pressed a foot down on the man's knee, sending him whimpering with pain. "You and I are going to have a talk. One, you will not like."