Chapter 23: A power beyond imagination

After the tanks had passed, the camp was silent once more.

Soon enough, however, this silence was broken by the sound of imposing cannons firing on the battlefield, belonging to those same tanks, as well as periodic artillery fire. The earth shook from time to time, but all the members of the garrison seemed to pretend not to feel it, simply surveying the camp without taking part in the fierce fighting that was taking place less than a kilometer from their position.

However, the rest that the soldiers were so eagerly awaiting, even to the point of ignoring the suffering of their allies, did not come.

Surprisingly, the sound of cannon fire seemed to diminish, coming closer and closer to the camp. Then, soon, tanks firing backwards accompanied by titans, and a large chunk of infantry, appeared on the horizon. They seemed to be fleeing the battlefield, covered in flames, destroyed machinery and corpses, rising to charge the fugitives as they sought to retreat into the camp itself. An order from their superior reached the ears of all the soldiers.

"To all garrison and attack units, prepare for battle, the battlefield has been lost to a harsh enemy offensive. Your objective is to defend the camp and retake the lost lands!"

Alarms then sounded from all sides. The garrison, along with the few resting soldiers like Reiner, prepared for the confrontation, while the titan pilots entered their imposing machine through an opening in its back, revealing themselves to their commands. Even the wounded in fighting condition emerged from the infirmary, clumsily holding their rifles while their damaged armor could even at times reveal their bandaged, sometimes even bloodied bodies.

The tension filling the camp had disappeared, to be replaced by the fear of seeing enemies sweep in on the fragile camp and its barely repaired walls. But this fear could change nothing, as both allies and enemies rapidly closed in on the base, forcing the camp's snipers to fire once the enemies were within range, reducing their numbers somewhat before the head-on clash that awaited them, while all infantry moved into the fragile trenches in front of the camp under the orders of their superiors coordinating their units as best they could in this chaotic station.

All the soldiers fleeing the opposing hordes did the same. They took refuge in the trenches before firing on their opponents, while the titans positioned themselves in front of them to slow down the enemy advance and do great damage to the thoughtless monsters who charged them without heeding the dangers, even leaving their colossi behind because of their slowness. The monsters were totally disorganized, running off in all directions. However, the only silhouettes not wearing collars, but instead wearing black armor interspersed with purplish lines, were electrocuting or forcing monsters moving away from the battlefield to return to it. The tanks then took advantage of this lack of organization to position themselves on the sides of the camp, firing a coordinated salvo at the enemy commanders directing the demon gods from afar, as well as at the monsters, via instructions or electro-shock sent directly into the restrictive collar their troops were wearing.

The shots created a deafening shockwave that made every living being who heard it tremble and suffer, while the power of the concentrated plasma jet melted several centimetres of the earth where they had landed, mercilessly gnawing away at the humanoids controlling these monsters, not even giving them a chance to scream as their corpses disappeared entirely, preventing the demons from picking them up.

However, unlike the demons who were rendered helpless by the force of the tanks, or even the concentrated attacks of the titans, the demon gods were in perfect condition, protected by their shields. So they seized the opportunity to strike back, each creating a different element that crashed mercilessly into the entire enemy position. The camp was ravaged by waves of destructive lightning, so powerful that it even melted their skin and some of their flesh. An icy field that seemed colder than absolute zero froze everything it touched almost instantly. Yet, strangely enough, it created a perfect synergy with flames hotter than the sun itself that charred everything it encountered, even melting some of the bones of the corpses left in its wake free of anything but ashes. Waves of acid were even deployed, drowning certain trenches and melting all their occupants without the slightest exception, while the fine rain of acid resulting from the impact sprinkled the surrounding land, melting the flesh and sinews of those exposed to it, even burning them to the bone even though they were only tiny particles of the wave that had drowned an impressive number of soldiers. However, the strong gusts of wind that followed carried these residues over a large part of the battlefield, albeit scattered. Paradoxically, soldiers appeared from nowhere to attack their human allies, although once hit, they disappeared without a trace, creating confusion in the surviving allied ranks. What's more, other soldiers in total confusion attacked their allies, screaming.

"How could so many enemies reach this place? Why am I the only survivor here?! What...AAAAH!"

All this added even more confusion to the already discordant battlefield. However, various portals opened near the human lines, pouring out various unknown creatures that were belatedly taking shape. Simultaneously, plants began to rapidly invade the battlefield, surrounding and crushing everything they touched in a flash, then draining energy from the corpses, or the dying, around them. Leaving their withered corpses to rise again as a result of the demons' magic.

This landscape, even worse than hell, frightened away some of the few survivors who had withstood the attack. The bars on the necklaces of the demon gods seemed about to explode, some of them even being electrocuted by their merciless allies. Yet the attacks didn't stop there, with demons of all types and appearances, from those resembling humans in every way except for their wings, to the most deformed possible, hurling all manner of black magic at the humans.

These ranged from a simple black arrow piercing the target, to cursed tides of destruction, which enslaved anyone who touched them, turning them into puppets of the demons who forced their victims to attack their allies despite their resistance and desperate cries, some even begging for death when they couldn't help killing their closest friends.

Worst of all, however, was the transmutation of some humans into the worst of abominations, indulging their most primal instincts and exterminating everything in their path, ally and foe alike.

But just as the onslaught seemed at last to be over, the earth shook as if to reveal its gashes, creating huge rifts beneath some of the tanks that were unable to avoid them due to their lack of mobility, while the titans were able to escape without too much difficulty. Most of the demon gods were writhing in pain on the ground, assailed by the pain their masters imposed on them after using such powers, no doubt to prevent the same power from turning against them. However, the still-intact drones flying over the battlefield didn't miss a beat, transmitting enemy positions to artillerymen who unleashed an artillery strike even more destructive than the previous ones, destroying everything in their path as the heat created by the shells, or the small explosions produced by weak nuclear reactions, annihilated everything in their path. At least anything not protected by the shields of the few demon gods still standing.

Unfortunately, these artillery strikes could not cover the entire battlefield, leaving a large part of it more or less intact, as well as the monsters residing there.

In the face of this spectacle, not even the most hardened veteran or the most impassive surviving clone could remain unmoved. The infantry elite were horrified, desperately fighting for their lives and praying they wouldn't suffer the same fate as their allies, even shooting at the acid-melted skeletons that looked as if they might collapse at any moment without their help.

However, Reiner was not one of this elite, or one of these veterans, he was like many a simple civilian forcibly conscripted here. He had no idea what to do, it all seemed so surreal. All he could do was stare at the battlefield from his knees, his eyes absent, but who could blame him? Who would have charged headlong to his death after witnessing this most horrible hell with his own eyes?

Not even the most cowardly of those who had fled the first hour of the fight could be blamed, as all seemed lost in advance, so what was the point? Why fight? After all, why stay? Wouldn't it be better to put an end to his suffering before suffering such a horrible fate? All these questions flooded into Reiner's head, he could no longer think rationally, his reason was hanging by a thread, and this thread seemed already on the verge of breaking. No matter how much he remembered everything he wanted to do, his dreams, or even his simplest desires. He was in such a state of shock that no one who had ever experienced such a situation could understand. His eyes were empty, his body trembling irrepressibly. But in the midst of the spiral of despair that had driven him to his lowest depths, he saw a head belonging to an android with violet hair, sometimes appearing pink. It was upon seeing this pink reflection and her face somewhat resembling Alice's that his strengthless body reared up, as he screamed without even realizing it.

"ALICE!"

Then his body fell back to the ground in the next instant, but his eyes never left the decapitated head, allowing him to see the original color of her hair. Tears flowed from his eyes, while he felt paradoxically relieved as he whispered.

"There's no way I'm going to croak here without seeing them all again...besides, I've just made up with Leo, it'd be a shame to spoil it."

A light laugh then came from his lips, although his eyes kept streaming tears, and his head ached. But when he took one last look at the android's head as he stood up again, he could see a child kneeling next to the head, equipped with rudimentary equipment that had obviously been cut to fit. He wasn't crying, but the look on his face was terrifying. It was as if he didn't realize what was happening as he laughed, before being mowed down by a sound wave that signaled his destruction, before Reiner's terrified eyes. He realized that his resolution was useless, as a lone soldier would die just as meaninglessly. This left him with only two options: fight and die, or flee. Just then, orders from his squad coordinator rang in his ears.

"Heat signature approaching your positions, intercept them!"

His body stiffened accordingly. He picked up his weapon, then advanced towards the front. If he fled and the front fell, he would inevitably be caught and die, and Reiner was well aware of this. But as if to defy his resolve, a huge shockwave linked to a deafening noise made him feel as if his typant had just burst, while the wind knocked him to the ground again, nearly knocking him unconscious. But as he struggled to stay conscious, his eyes barely opening as he stretched out his hand in front of him, a great tremor threw him against one of the few rocks close to him. The impact inflicted such pain that he instantly opened his eyes, his mouth filled with blood which he tried to spit out, only to vomit a mixture of bile and blood instead, before staring at the source of the tremor. It was a titan lying flat on its stomach, trying to get up, but without success. Its rear hatch opened accordingly, letting out its pilot between life and death, spitting blood profusely as he closed his eyes and tried to speak, without success. The intensity of the sound had probably almost got the better of him, and the impact of his titan on the ground was the element that finished him off.

Paradoxically, in the face of this horrific apparition that seemed to extinguish all hope, Reiner rose to his feet, filled with unnatural hope as he made his way towards the titan's still wide-open hatch.