Return to Shiganshina(9)
Erwin took the longest breath he ever had in his entire life.
It was probably going to be his last as well.
"GO!"
He lifted his gun and shot a single green flare into the air.
Behind him, he could hear the sobs and hysterical yells and prayers as the sound of flares being fired rang all around him. He truly was the greatest conman, to be able to convince so many people to die with him.
A case of telling people to die without telling them you want them to die. He reckoned. And he actually pulled it off.
If he had become a businessman, he could have become quite successful. Could have married Marie. Could have had kids. Could have …
... but he gave it all up.
He kicked his horse, urging it to gallop forward.
With each second, the basement was further and further away from him.
Perhaps Miche and the rest would live to tell the tale. To tell the tale of how the Heroic Erwin Smith laid down his life to save humanity. His name would be immortalized as the greatest-ever commander of the scouting legion.
Erwin continued to charge forward, he saw the bearded ape grinning.
This monstrous being was enjoying this. They were like birds in a cage, being slowly toyed with to death.
His thoughts drifted to how he had caused his father's death. He recalled the tears, the sobs as he knelt at his tombstone, alone. The weight of the raindrops on that day never felt so heavy.
He wanted to find the truth, the truth of this world - That his father was right.
But it was over. He would never know the answer. He would die just like this. Guilt forever gnawing at his soul.
At least, his final action would bring meaning to his comrades who had died.
He would die trusting the living who follow to find meaning in their lives.
This was the sole method they could fight against this cruel world.
"MY SOLDIERS, RAGE!"
The beast titan was already holding a rock in his hand.
"MY SOLDIERS, SCREAM!"
He stared down at the hideous gaze of the titan.
"MY SOLDIERS … FIGHT!"
He screamed admist the barrage of rocks that flew at him.
One hit him squarely at the side, tearing a part of his body with him.
His horse tumbled and he was thrown off to the ground. Darkness began to cloud his vision.
Miche, Levi, Hange …
Humanity's fate, I entrust to you.
He smiled faintly. Impressed with how his final thought was about mankind and not the basement.
Perhaps he was not as selfish as he thought after all.
The world turned black around him.
===
"Yes! Game … Set!"
Zeke laughed as he was sure his attack had been a one-hit KO. He had even changed his pitching style. Those poor souls … at least they served their purposes as target practice.
He couldn't comprehend the reason behind the scouts' suicidal charge. Erwin Smith .. that guy wasn't as smart as he thought after all.
Displeasure swelled out as amidst the smoke, he counted several more remnants of the Scouting Legion. They were screaming in horror and firing their flares right at him.
"Again? What exactly are those things supposed to do? "
He would finish them off for good this time. Zeke reached his right hand to grab …
… nothing.
"Huh, I've already run out of rocks? Pieck should have been diligently finding new boulders for me. I will have to speak with Reiner about his performance after this."
As the leader of the Warriors Unit, he expected a level of competence from them.
Reiner never gave the signal by screaming. This forced Zeke to keep the Cart Titan by his side all this while, until he finally ran out of patience waiting for it and flung Bertholdt into Shiganshina. It shouldn't have taken that long for it to happen.
Those missteps messed up his plan.
It was queer too - why wasn't Berthold transforming. Could it be that they had failed?
Perhaps he had to shoulder some of the blame. Zeke had been enjoying himself so much that he lost track. There were still the titans that surrounded Shiganshina. He simply needed to order them to …
… move?
Zeke turned to his right, expecting to find titans there.
But they were dead.
Impossible! He had surrounded Shiganshina with a hundred 10 to 14 metre class titans in a semicircle, fifty on each side.
Someone had snuck up to him and killed all the Titans on one side? That was beyond logic, This had to be a bad joke.
However, it was reality. As if to confirm his worst fears, he saw two hooks shooting through and latching on to him. A figure covered in blood burst through the cloud of smoke.
Before Zeke recovered from his shock, the figure was already barrelling towards him, leaving the nearest titan tumbling to the ground in its wake.
Was this the Levi that Reiner spoke of?
He would put this midget in his place.
The Beast Titan let out a roar and punched at Levi with incredible speed.
However, it missed. Levi roared back, his blades drawing lines of blood across the Beast Titan's arm like a hot knife through butter.
'M-my legs!'
Zeke barely processed what happened as his titan collapsed, immobile. He swore Levi was just at his arms moments ago. When did he get to his legs?
Then his vision went dark.
'M-my eyes!'
This was bad. Extremely bad.
'HARDENING! I HAVE TO-'
There was pain everywhere and the next moment, Zeke found himself being stared down by Levi; a blade thrusted right in his mouth.
"You look like you were enjoying yourself back there."
Levi's blades pushed further into his mouth, stabbing deep.
"Hey answer me. You sure are rude."
Zeke wanted to cry. How was he supposed to answer with a blade stuck in his mouth? How about he show him how it's done? This was ridiculous, he barely had time to respond to Levi when he was struck, and before he knew it, he was already carved out of the nape.
It was close. They almost lost but it would be …
… his victory.
There was a look of astonishment from Levi as he jumped to his right. Barely evading Pieck who had used the smoke as a cover to go for him.
It was unfortunate that she didn't get Levi. But at least he would escape.
The Cart Titan swooped him up in his mouth.
"You're dead meat, Levi! It was close, but we came up on top." He yelled. "All of you, go kill that man!"
He still had fifty titans that stood in the perimeter from his left. They immediately turned their sights towards Levi, running straight at him.
There was no way he could kill all of them. Levi was only a man. A human. He'd have to be a monster to defeat them all.
One human vs fifty titans.
Who would win?
The answer is obvious.
It was their victory.
Zeke smirked.