Chapter 22: A step backwards?

"Understood Rakta, but can I ask you a favor?"

Reiner replied as he stared at Rakta, scratching his neck, slightly embarrassed.

"You don't talk much, that's strange of you..."

"I know, but it concerns those closest to me."

"Um, I don't think there's much I can do, but I'm listening."

"If you see a pink-haired, pink-eyed android named Alice, try taking me to her, she's...my...android..."

Reiner was back in that fortified trench, far from the front line he'd faced less than a few seconds ago. Even the rest of the discussion was exactly the same. The human soldiers were repeating the same actions without noticing the repetition, and so were the clones. Only the androids seemed disturbed, looking around absently. Others even took on a pained expression that immediately faded, as if they'd experienced death. None of them understood what was happening. And although many of them tried to point out the problem to their friends or superiors, nobody really took them seriously as it seemed so absurd.

The battlefield was exactly the same, the smell hadn't changed at all, the titans were the same number as before their extermination. Everything was going on in the same way, except that the androids were skilfully dodging enemies, and knew which monster to kill first to protect themselves and their allies, as if they knew in advance what was going to happen.

The only real change came when the titans were due to be exterminated. Thanks to the androids, who had excellently reduced the number of monsters, the titans didn't need to cease fire against the demon gods. However, contrary to all logic, the white silhouettes largely turned away from the titans, targeting the infantry. More precisely, the exact spot where Reiner was standing. Seeing their critical position, Rakta quickly shouted orders.

"Return fire! We must not retreat or the front will collapse!"

"Received!"

Responded the surrounding soldiers vigorously, as well as Reiner.

Shots rang out accordingly, the smell of overheating rifles becoming more and more pronounced as the charging monsters were annihilated by the fire, or became collateral damage to the demon gods' attacks. Inevitably, they ended up suffering an increasing number of wounds at the hands of the titans, as the latter screamed at the infantry amidst their destructive salvos of plasma from their imposing weapons.

"Aim for the nearest target, focus your fire on him! We'll hold them back by wounding them, finish them off!"

All the infantry listened to the titans' order, trying to target the wounded demon gods first. But their efforts were wasted as the damaged bodies regenerated as if nothing had happened, only to receive further wounds from the infantry as the titans did their best to monopolize their attention. This left only one demon god to continue targeting the infantry, clearly driven by resentment.

"All units, focus on the demon god's attack targeting us, an artillery barrage should arrive and annihilate the incoming swarms of monsters!"

Rakta shouted from his full body armor, sounding more focused than ever as his rifle was permanently aimed at his target.

"Throw explosives! If we can distract him with the explosions, we can kill him!"

Reiner quickly shouted, staring at the battalion of soldiers beside him before starting to lower his head, searching his equipment for a nuclear-charge grenade. However, just as he was about to look away from the soldiers completely, a huge sonic boom accompanied by a devastating gust of wind sounded from the direction of the demon god targeting them, sending the bodies of all his comrades who hadn't lowered their heads into the air. All infantry not wearing heavy armor were dismembered, and those wearing it, like Rakta, were left between life and death.

Reiner was shocked, even vomiting without warning as he saw all his comrades in tatters in front of him, and the pools of blood with their unbearable smell. Yet the attacks didn't stop there. The white silhouette attacked again, giving the last survivors no rest, projecting an immense electric discharge onto their positions, with the aim of finishing off the last infantrymen, as well as Reiner. But it was at this point that the artillery barrage resounded, destroying everything in its path, slightly destabilizing the demon god, who was torn to shreds by a coordinated attack from a few titans, who had to pay for the attack with their lives. Despite this, time froze again, regressing once more as soon as the demon god died. Time stopped very quickly this time, leaving Reiner screaming in the same way.

"Throw explosives! If we can distract him with the explosions, we can kill him!"

At this command, all the androids ducked with suffering faces, but the same spectacle repeated itself. The sonic boom tore through the infantry like a sheet of paper, including the slowest androids. Reiner vomited again, in shock, while the androids reacted swiftly, organizing themselves without a word and taking the survivors with them to a more remote trench. They anticipated the electric attack, but it was not to be. Only the artillery barrage sounded. The demon god who had targeted them was now once again fiercely attacking the titans facing him.

Many of the survivors were wounded, including Rakta, who muttered a final command to the androids and the few other survivors from his barely recognizable armor.

"Push the enemy back, wait for...reinforcements."

The survivors were in shock, Reiner seemed particularly affected, vomiting again. His ears were extremely sore, preventing him from even hearing Rakta's order. His limbs had lost almost all their strength. All the androids had almost instantly lost all will to fight in the face of the new change, but stepped forward anyway, many of them sinking into madness as they mumbled incomprehensible things, knowing that they would die at the slightest misstep. The egoless sentinels, for their part, had been totally annihilated along with the clones and humans. Only the titans who hadn't been targeted by the sonic boom and the rest of the front line were still fighting hard.

Rakta opened his helmet, spitting a spray of blood as he looked at Reiner, then shook it with a trembling hand, pointing with his equally trembling finger at the battlefield.

"You who want to save as many people as possible, and find your loved one, hang on, even when all hope seems lost, don't look into the abyss where they'll look into you, focus only on that small glimmer of hope that remains despite everything. Don't give up, and hang on, if you give up now, it'll be the end of you."

Rakta chuckled lightly afterwards, coughing up another small amount of blood as he slumped against the trench, unable to move, mumbling.

"Aha...I've always wanted to say that sentence."

Hearing the small chuckle, Reiner stood up. His face perpetually changed expression, manifesting his internal conflict as a tear dripped from his left eye without him even noticing it, stepping forward again. When he aimed his rifle at the demon god who had caused all this, he was surprised to see his collar electrocute him mercilessly as a small gauge on it seemed to protrude. He was unable to move, squirming on the ground while his companions protected him from the tians without too much difficulty, retaliating against these same assailants.

Reiner seized his chance, looking briefly at the androids who continued to attack the distant monsters, before firing at the demon god. He saw his abdomen melt from the shot as he continued to be electrocuted, forcing one of his comrades to carry him, off in the direction of those controlling them, not far behind, as they fired at the human lines without worrying too much about sometimes hitting one of their monsters.

The atmosphere on the battlefield soon changed. The demon gods, once aggressive no matter what the situation, seemed more wary, now regarding their prey as a potential danger, thus greatly lowering the pressure on the camp. Reinforcements from the camp arrived relatively quickly at the almost deserted position Reiner and the androids were trying to hold, ordering the androids to evacuate the wounded or stay put, while the able-bodied humans had to evacuate themselves. This left Reiner to enter the camp for a short break, time to change his weapon, which had overheated and was in a sorry state, and to lightly clean his full body armor, covered in the blood of his allies. It made no sense to clean it, yet he did so, hoping never to see such a sight again, even trying to totally forget what had just happened, shaking his head vigorously as his hands trembled.

However, as he shook his head, he caught a glimpse of a child. He stopped his head to stare at the child who had just deposited a wounded soldier in the small building used as an infirmary, asking him awkwardly.

"What are you doing here, kid? Did they enlist you despite your young age?"

"I'm over twenty, one of the last androids in my series produced and sold."

"Huh?!"

Reiner replied, clearly surprised. Then he spoke, to chase away his confusion.

"But weren't all the androids created to look like children destroyed at the same time as the closure of a large part of the clone vats?"

"Where you come from maybe, nobody needed to produce clones anymore after the population stabilized, but for us, it's different. They did stop producing us, but we weren't all destroyed, those that hadn't been activated before were even kept in warehouses. And then they were even sent to the front with all the other androids, and I've seen a lot of them still thinking like kids, so it's obligatory that they've just been activated."

"But... with all the illegal modifications your range has undergone and... all the abuse you've suffered... How did they keep you in business knowing that? Or even keep those already produced?"

"What's been bought can't be taken back, and destroying what's been produced is a waste of money, whereas meters for sale by the drop on the black market is very lucrative. In any case, you're going to make me late. I may look like a kid, but I've grown up like any other child, and now you're getting in the way of my work."

Quickly replied the child, obviously afraid of being reprimanded by his superiors who were no doubt staring at the scene from one of the cameras infesting the camp.

"A- Wait, if you're an android, can you tell me how you managed to predict our enemies' movements earlier?"

Reiner added hastily.

"You're going to be like all the others and think all the androids are crazy if I tell you, so forget it, and pay attention to your earpiece instead, you're going to find yourself isolated without them."

Reiner withdrew the earpiece he was wearing, it was similar to the one the clones who'd gone off to fight with Alice had received, except that Reiner's seemed to have taken a shock, which made Reiner stiffen.

"Thank you... finding myself in the middle of the battlefield without being able to contact anyone would have signed my death warrant..."

"You're welcome."

The child replied as he left, leaving Reiner to search the camp for a new earpiece, his head full of new questions. He then looked out over the battlefield, not wanting to go back - though he knew he should - and savored the little rest he'd been given. However, this was broken by the sound of a battalion of riftine-alloy tanks, capable of firing powerful plasma jets at anyone who got in their way, which raised a multitude of questions.

"What are tanks from the last century doing here?

"Hadn't they been destroyed by now? I thought after the Unification War and the creation of the Titans, they'd become obsolete... Plus, they've got a bit of rust on their paintwork... What's superior thinking deploying them here?"

Many more such questions emerged from the troop of camp garrisons, but soon their discourse became inaudible as tanks passed by them on their way to the battlefield, their imposing cannons seemingly ready to shake heaven and earth