Chapter 5

- [Liam] -

It didn't take more than a few minutes for the 'visitors' to arrive at the room where Liam sat in wait, seeing only the steaming bones of defeated titans.

"Y-you've got to be kidding me…" Jean muttered as he along with the rest of his squad and remaining cadets entered the room.

"He killed all of them on his own?"

"Is he dead?" A certain brown haired girl asked nervously.

"Sasha!" Another voice that Liam recognized scolded.

Liam had been seated motionlessly since they arrived and a certain potato-minded girl had jumped to conclusions.

Turning to face them, he saw faces that he could recognize. 'Jean, Sasha, Reiner, Bertholdt, Annie, Mikasa, Connie, Armin…' his eyes flickered to the rest of them. 'It looks like a lot more of them survived this time.'

"He's alive!" Sasha exclaimed, seeing Liam move.

"Hey Sasha!" Connie scolded again as Liam got to his feet.

"I see you guys finally made it. I was wondering if you already died." Liam spoke, referring especially to the three that he met earlier.

"Y-you really weren't kidding when you said you'd clear a path." Connie said with a look of awe on his face.

"You guys know him?" Jean asked, confused at the interaction.

"Yeah, he's the one that saved Mikasa from getting eaten." Armin answered, looking between them.

"Mikasa?"

"Is he as strong as her?"

"He saved her from getting eaten. Of course he's strong." The murmurs came from the other cadets who had been silent until now.

"He's also the one who took out the titans around here." Armin added, halting the murmurs as they once again went into shock.

"Wait! That was you?!" Jean asked, obviously remembering seeing a figure killing titans like prey on their way here. He didn't expect him to be as young as them.

"Yeah, it was. Enough about me. Hurry up and restock your supplies. If I remember correctly, you have to meet up with the main units." Liam said, facing the rest of them.

"R-right!" Snapping out of his shock, Jean remembered the reason they were here and so did the rest of them as they quickly went about, refilling their tanks and restocking their blades.

Liam on the other hand was stuck with a dilemma. On one hand, he had completed his mission and he could climb the wall with them to take a break for the moment.

On the other hand, this was the chance to level up using the titans that were in the city. There was also the fact that Eren was dead which meant that they wouldn't be able to block the hole unless he himself decided to do it.

Though it would bring questions for the moment, it was starting to look like the only choice if he wanted things to play out how he planned.

'As long as the gate is still broken, there will be no shortage of titans entering the city.' He could feel his mana practically begging to be called forth, bringing a small smile to his face.

Among the sound of the cadets bustling around to restock their supplies, a pair of footsteps made their way towards him, causing him to look at the owner.

"Armin, is it?" Liam asked despite knowing the answer, the other boy nodding.

"Yes. We never got the chance to thank you for what you did. If you hadn't taken out the titans on the way here, we would have suffered more casualties." Armin spoke, his appearance timid and unsure of himself.

"Don't worry about it." Liam said, waving off the praise.

"If you don't mind me asking, what regiment do you belong to?" Armin asked, causing Liam to frown in what seemed to be confusion.

"I-it's just that you're able to deal with the titans so easily. You look like you're no older than us but you weren't part of the 104th cadet corps. P-people would have heard if there was someone so skilled within the walls." Armin hurriedly added.

The survey corps had left earlier in the morning before the breach. If he was part of the survey corp, they wouldn't leave without such a vital asset.

"I understand your confusion. To answer your question, I'm not part of any regiment. I didn't attend your fancy cadet academy." He answered truthfully.

There was no point hiding it when it would come to light during the investigation after the battle was concluded. Why not build an alibi and a possible ally for when that time comes?

"You didn't?! Then how did you learn how to fight titans?!" The blond haired boy asked in shock and confusion.

"Instinct. I saw some guys doing it so I figured why not give it a try?" Liam answered a bit mysteriously as Armin froze in shock.

'Instinct?! That's crazy! That means he hadn't touched an ODM gear before today! How is that possible?!' Before the boy could voice out the many questions in his head, the shaking of the ground took their attention.

"Titans?!"

Liam sighed before quickly getting to his feet. He took a quick look around at the people in the room.

'More than half of them aren't done.' That was the consequence of having more people who survived.

"You guys hurry up and restock. Get over the wall as soon as you're done." He said to them, Jean shooting to his feet quickly.

"Hey, what are you going to do?" He questioned, seeing Liam get to his feet since the first time they arrived.

The ground shook again, this time more violently than before.

"I'm going to take care of that." He answered with a small frown. 'Something is going on.'

He then turned to Armin as he adjusted his ODM gear. "A word of advice. People fear what they don't understand. As long as you stay calm, there is a small window of opportunity." He said vaguely, leaving the boy confused as he quickly left the room.

The ground shook heavily once again.

He had a hunch on what he would find outside. The first shaking was the telltale sign of an approaching titan. The second one came not long after. The only reason why it was still shaking despite the building not being destroyed already…

'Is if a certain someone had finally appeared.' He thought as he finally got to the top floor, looking outside the broken window to see a 15 meter titan stomping on the neck of another titan.

'So you finally decided to show up.' He thought, looking at the green eyed rageful titan who tore into another titan.

Liam turned around at the sudden sound of movement only to see Jean, Mikasa and Armin rushing beside him only to pause at the sight.

"What the hell is this?" Jean muttered in shock.

"An opportunity." Liam said before shooting forward, letting his hooks attack themselves to the titan's shoulder as it finished dealing with the other titan.

It didn't attempt to grab or attack him, simply standing still in search for other titans before moving slowly in the direction of one it saw from afar as Liam landed on its shoulder.

'At least he's not trying to hurt humans, that already puts things in place. Now let's see if this works.' He thought as he stood above its nape, pure mana flowing through his hand.

Unlike the previous times he used mana, this time he gave it no elemental nature. 'There's only three outcomes I can see happening. It either does nothing to him, It may shock his consciousness awake or it might kill him.' He thought, causing him to pause for a moment.

'Even if he dies, nobody knows that this is Eren so I'm not the bad guy. It only means that I'll have to take care of that hole and the rest of this shithole myself.' After raising his stats, had gotten a bit more confident. Not confident enough to be stupid but more confident to make a few moves.

He reached down, touching the nape area where he was positive Eren lay, watching as the titan froze in its movement.

Liam walked around the titan's shoulder to see its face. The somewhat dull eyes of the titan seemed to have a more lively shine to them. "Hey titan! Why don't you help us t-"

Before he could finish speaking, the titan fell to its knees before falling straight to the ground as steam began to emit from its nape. It opened up as a panicked Eren Jaeger pulled himself out of the titan.

"What is this?! What the hell is going on?!" The boy screamed in panic, causing Liam to sigh.

'I miscalculated. Who would have thought that he'd rip himself out immediately?' He thought as Mikasa suddenly zipped down to ground level, rushing towards Eren.

His plan was to have Eren go on a rampage against the other titans for a bit until he finally exhausted himself and came out. 'Alright alright, there's always a back up plan. Plan B.'

- [Later] -

Mikasa and Armin spent the next few minutes calming Eren down from his panic and explaining what had happened.

"What the hell am I?" Eren muttered.

"An opportunity." Liam answered, seeing his cue to cut in.

"Who are you?" Eren asked only for the other boy to brush off the question.

"That's not important now. The important question is; Eren, how would you like to be humanity's savior?" Liam said with a serious look on his face as the boy looked confused.

"Humanity's savior? What are you talking about?" Eren asked, the other three cadets also looking confused.

'It's because of situations like this that I raised my Cha stat. His mentality is still a bit malleable at this stage so it shouldn't be hard.' Liam thought, his expression not betraying his thoughts. "I'm saying that there is a way to turn this disaster around."

Seeing that he had their attention, he continued. "Titans have been humanity's predators for a long time and finally, we have a way to survive. That way is you."

"Me?" Eren muttered, still confused.

"Yeah. Can you transform at will?" Liam asked.

"I'm not sure how to explain it. It's like moving a muscle, it feels natural." The boy answered, a tiny bit of him sounding mortified.

"With the power of your titan, not only will we be able to survive, we can fight back and take back Trost." He could see Armin beginning to put things together in his head.

"There's a huge boulder on the other side of this city from when the wall was breached. With your titan, you can lift the boulder and block the hole, preventing any more titans from getting in."

"What about all the titans? They're not just going to watch him do that." Armin argued, Liam turning to him.

"That's where you guys come in." He said, confusing them. "When you climb that wall, there are going to be people who will want to kill you for having that power. He said, Eren's eyes widening in realization.

"After you climb the wall, find commander Pyxis immediately and explain it to him. Have him gather the soldiers to protect Eren while he's covering the hole." Armin immediately protested with the obvious question.

"There's no guarantee that they'll believe us." The boy argued causing Liam to smirk.

Pyxis was a man who was desperate to win against the titans. "That's true, he may not believe you. In that case, give him this." Liam put his hand in the pocket of the tattered trouser, discreetly pulling out a minor health potion from his inventory.

"What's that?" They wondered, looking at the vial of green liquid.

"You'll find out. If he doesn't believe you, this is a bargaining chip. Tell him to use it on one of his injured men. That will do it." Liam explained vaguely.

"Why can't you do that? You've been saying 'you guys'. Aren't you coming along?" Jean asked, finally speaking after trying to comprehend the situation.

"I'm not going just yet." Liam answered, causing them to freeze. "The more time passes, the more titans get through the gate and the lower our chances of winning. I'll stay here and cull the numbers a bit."

"Are you mad? You'll die!"

"He's right. Even for you, there's too many of them." Armin agreed despite understanding the point he made.

"Do you really think I'll die to these titans? I've got a lot more to do before I die." He said with a chuckle.

"But-"

"Go. The more time you waste, the lower our chances of winning. Unless you want to stay behind and take over." Liam offered, shutting the two up.

"I'll stay as well." Mikasa, who had been silent so far spoke, confusing even Liam.

"Mikasa?" Armin called out in confusion. "Why?"

"If you die, there's also a chance that the plan will fail." She had seen him fight and she had to admit that he was stronger. As strong as her if not stronger.

If he died then humanity would lose a great asset. If humanity died out then so would Eren. Her decision was also partially to pay him back for saving her.

"Don't be stubborn. You're going with them too. I'll do this alone." Liam swiftly shut her idea down. "Now go!"

Without waiting for them, he took off into a fast run before zipping away with the ODM gear. As soon as he left them, a smirk surfaced on Liam's lips.

'One way to secure your safety and authority within the walls is to be too important to offend. Even if they fail to convince Pyxis, the moment he sees the health potion in action, he'll either be forced to go along with the operation or forced to send a squad or few to bring me back safely.' He thought as he glided through the air.

It was like putting himself in a hostage situation they can't refuse. Healing potions would greatly reduce the casualties and there was only one person it could be gotten from.

They would be forced to come and find him in which case he would then use it as leverage to make them go along with the plan. 'They're doing that and I can level up in the meantime. I love it when a plan comes together.' He thought as he prepared to take down a titan nearby.