Chapter 20

-[Liam]-

Flying high in the air under the effect of an invisibility potion, he watched as Bertholdt snuck out of the Survey Corps castle, going for the stables.

The tall boy came out soon, riding atop his horse and heading out at top speed. Liam almost grinned as he followed.

He followed the boy until he reached the Trost district, tying the horse to a post. It was night so there was next to nobody to complain as he left the animal, hurrying to a bar nearby.

Using the darkness of the night, Liam lowered himself into an alley, throwing [Mastema] into his inventory and taking another potion to undo the invisibility.

With that done, he walked into the same bar Bertholdt entered, [Stealth] at full force. With the other boy not taking notice of him, he took a seat not too far from him. The bar was mostly empty but Bertholdt didn't seem bothered about that, having a look of anticipation on his face.

That look turned to joy as a certain blonde girl walked into the bar. Bertholdt almost jumped to his feet at Annie's arrival, watching as she moved to sit opposite him at the table.

The plan was simple and wouldn't even require him to lift a finger. With Bertholdt now nudged to be more than obsessed with Annie, she didn't even need to try hard to convince him to sneak out and meet her here.

He couldn't hear what they were saying but he was partially amused at the look of sheer joy on Bertholdt's face despite Annie's apathetic expression.

The girl herself admitted that she was terrible at anything related to seduction but it wasn't needed here. He watched as one of the workers brought drinks to their table.

Annie said something to him, causing Bertholdt to chug half of the cup in one go. Before he could drink anymore, the titan shifter's eyes began to droop.

No longer was Bertholdt sitting upright, the concoction doing its thing as the boy stumbled, falling from the chair to the ground. Within mere moments, he was unconscious.

Despite all of this, nobody in the bar was alarmed. A figure walked out from behind the counter, moving to stand over Bertholdt's unconscious body.

"Are we sure he can't transform?" Erwin said as he turned to Liam who he already deactivated [Stealth].

"Assuming you fed him the correct mixture, he's going to be out for at least five hours. He's going to be exhausted for another five even after he wakes up." Liam answered, causing the customers to release a breath of relief.

The 'customers' were all elite members of the survey corps who were ready to act at any moment.

"So what do we do with him until then?" Levi said, walking out from the back room, fully decked out in ODM gear.

"They need energy to transform into their titans so as long as he's given a regular dose every few hours, he's practically harmless." He answered, turning to Annie. "Just what exactly did you say to him?"

He was curious as to why Bertholdt suddenly tried to down the entire cup.

"Nothing special. I told him I'd kiss him if he drank the whole thing." Annie said with a straight face.

Erwin, Levi and Liam as well as all the other soldiers paused at that, turning to the downed boy. "Now that's just sad." Someone muttered.

"That just leaves Reiner." Erwin said, reminding them of the other titan shifter. "Where is he?"

"He said that Reiner knew he was sneaking out. He should still be at your headquarters." Annie answered.

Liam used discreetly [Search], making sure he was actually there. It was a convenient quirk as he saw the vestige of Reiner in the castle within Wall Rose.

None of the other cadets were informed about this operation and he'd made it an important note that Eren of all people shouldn't find out until they were done. The boy's refusal to accept that one of his 'friends' was a titan was something that would only hinder them.

He could remember his state of denial in the original timeline, not wanting to accept it even with all the evidence given to him.

"Let's go."

-[Later]-

-[Reiner]-

It had been a few hours since he helped Bertholdt sneak out to meet Annie. Even he was surprised when Annie snuck all the way here just to ask to meet Bertholdt privately.

Basically everyone knew that Bertholdt had the hots for the blonde girl but he wasn't aware that she would feel the same way.

As happy as he was for Bertholdt, he was getting worried. Morning had come and he wasn't back yet. They had to avoid drawing any form of attention like this and Bertholdt know this very well which was the main reason for his concern about his comrade having not returning yet.

'Just where is he?' He thought as he looked out the window. 'Wait a minute! What's going on?'

Outside, he could see the members of the survey corps exiting the stables with their horses. They mounted their horses and quickly took off but that wasn't what caught his attention.

What caught his attention was that among them were his fellow cadets. 'Don't tell me…!'

At that moment, he made eye contact with Levi who was staring directly at the window while his horse rode away. 'They know!' He realized as Bertholdt's disappearance was becoming clearer.

"Damn it!" He screamed as he quickly took out a knife from the table, making a cut on his hand, a large spark of energy exploding out of him as he transformed into the armored titan.

*BOOM!*

The headquarters was destroyed as the armored titan emerged from the rubble, running at full speed towards the fleeing group of soldiers.

Reiner caught the surprised expression on the faces of his fellow cadet before noticing the lack of it on the other soldiers who were decked in ODM gear.

'How did they find out!?' He asked himself as he began catching up.

Suddenly one of the soldiers turned around, riding their horse in his direction. He immediately noticed that the soldier's face was hidden by the hood of the survey corps cloak.

'Is this guy an idiot?' He wondered as he prepared to squash them only for the soldier to get up, standing on the horse's back as it continued running.

The soldier jumped into the air, the wind blowing the hood down to reveal their features. 'You-!'

There was a burst of energy and lightning as another titan formed from the soldier, revealing their identity as the female titan who continued running forward.

'Annie! You traitor!' Those were his thoughts as the female titan's hardened fist smashed into the armored titan's face.

-[Liam]-

He couldn't help the chuckle that almost escaped his lips as he looked behind him, watching as Annie transformed into her titan, her punch sending Reiner back.

He and Erwin had the soldiers silently evacuate all the people from the castle with the exception of Reiner. Questions were asked about their absence but they were ignored.

He glanced at Eren whose mouth and hands had been bound to stop him from making a fuss. The boy had almost ruined the plan with his attempt to call out to Reiner and Bertholdt who he wasn't aware of his fate.

The boy was currently on Mikasa's horse with the girl who wasn't happy with his treatment of Eren. The plan was supposed to be to evacuate the cadets but Reiner had transformed before they could finish.

That was entirely his doing. He had left a clone hidden in the castle who toyed with Reiner's emotions and thus his rationality, forcing him to transform before they could complete the evacuation.

He needed Reiner to transform to cement his position as humanity's enemy and reveal his identity.

"RRROOOOAAARRRRR!"

The armored titan roared as it got to its feet, preparing itself to fight the female titan. The cadets were in shock, intentionally made aware that Reiner was the only one left in the castle.

"I can't believe it." He heard Connie mutter.

"Reiner is…the armored titan?" Armin said in a questioning manner, unable to believe it.

"Yes, yes he is." Liam confirmed, turning to see Eren's utterly shocked expression as he watched the battle that was about to occur.