The trial

(3rd person's POV)

(1 hour after the trial)

In a large courtroom, a boy was tied to a pole and put on display for everyone to see. He was here for being accused of treason against humanity. A stupid reason to say nonetheless.

The boy named was Eren and in front of him, was the judge Darius Zackly, also known as the chief in command of the military. On his left was the Survey Corps, here to defend Eren from the Military Police and persuade the Chief Zackly that Eren was an ally. On his right side, though, was the accuser. They were mostly composed of the Military Police, some noblemen, and a couple of church pastors.

And for the last hour or so, everyone was bickering at each other for the custody of Eren.

"Eren Yeager, do you got any to say regarding these allegations that are held against you?" After listening to the arguments from both side, he finally asked the boy who was the center of everything.

Eren was only able to grit his teeth this entire time, barely able to say anything. Luckily, the turn to talk had finally come to him.

Then taking in a deep breath, he cried out, "No you are all wrong!! I may be a monster, but I am not an enemy of mankind! Those words you have all been saying are mere speculations! Those are no truths!! I can perfectly control my power. Think about it, with my power, humanity can go way farther than we could ever hope to accomplish! I have seen titans before. Those don't hold a candle against my power!

"Objection! Your honors, if he's so strong. Then why would he lose to a cadet? I suggest we use him as an experiment!"

"Bullshiet! What the f**k did you say? I bet you would fking shit your pan—"

"Objection! Your honors! He's showing aggression. I ask this boy to be restrained!"

Having enough of it for the last hour or so, the judge finally flipped out.

"Silence!!! Eren, of all the key witnesses here, I see no one named Athanatos Ackermann among them. So using the testimonies from the bandits who had earlier explained your dangerous behavior, though reluctantly, I can only judge that you are a threat to humanity. Any objection?"

"Wtf!! They fking got their a** kicked by a girl. You can't even trust them. They're bandits for f**king god sake!!!"

"That's where you are wrong Cadet Eren Yeager. While it may be true that they lost to one of your fellow peers, one of the bandits was someone hired to specifically test the capability of the Southern 104th Cadet Corps Division. His words can be trusted, thus from all the descriptions during your rampage, so far, all I know is that you can be dangerous to this country."

Silence descended throughout the room.

Unfortunately, nearly no one was on Eren's side. According to the testimonies from the witnesses, including both from the cadets and the bandits, Eren was not in control of his titan form for the first few minutes. Even though the cadets protested that Eren was stopped by someone, that still doesn't change the fact that he nearly got them all killed.

Thus, using all the information available, even if Eren can control his titan form, there's still the risk of him killing his fellow teammates.

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Meanwhile in Armin's mind.

'This isn't supposed to be how it plays out. Didn't Erwin said everything is under control? Then why are things taking such a dark turn? Why aren't any of you helping?'

'What should I do? What should I do!!'

'Someone tells me, please. I want to help but I can't! They won't even allow me to talk!'

'Think Armin. What can you do? '

'Alright. Let's organize my thought carefully. Defending Eren's innocence is useless. He had already shown off his ferocity, thus we can't say he's under complete control even if he is. We also can't prove Eren's titan strength, as everyone is thinking that Eren is weak since he can easily be defeated. Goddamnit. Where are you when we need you Thana-kun? '

Taking in a deep breath, Armin tried to calm himself down.

That was the right decision. Times like this he can't be too hot-blooded. There was still something that Armin didn't try yet.

Revealing Eren's capability while remaining under control.

But for some reason, the Survey Corps was taking any strong action. It was like they're hesitant about something. Or more accurately, Commander Erwin wad planning something. But no matter what they're planning, Armin can't wait for them to dilly dally around. He needed to take action, or at least inform with Commander Erwin about his plan.

On the other hand, the reason why the Military Police is taking this lightly is because they don't know Eren's real power. All they know is that Eren is dangerous, but not the point that he can't be defeated as evidently, he was defeated solely by Athanatos.

But if they know his real power, an absolute strength that is so strong that even the strongest human might not even stand a chance, then they will definitely back off. Then that should buy some time for Athanatos to come and showcase of his strength, proving that he is the only one capable of restraining Eren.

Then after that, Armin can convince them by showing Eren's usefulness to humanity. Or at least, this sounded like a doable plan for Armin.

Or else if he's not doing anything, looking at the rate of where the situation is going, there wouldn't be any good outcome.

Armin then walked up to Commander Erwin and tried to reason it out.

His action seemed to have gotten the attention from a couple of people, but he didn't care. His face remained stoic and while he kept on explaining his plan. He assured Erwin that nothing can go wrong and that Eren won't go berserk as he should also know the gravity of the situation. Armin explained to him all the pros with as much charisma as He could possibly show.

At first, Erwin seemed a bit hesitant but slowly, he was convinced of Armin's ingenuity. But from the look of Erwin's eyes, he was also planning something.

Regardless, if Armin doesn't do anything, how could he even called himself Eren's friend?

"Dear your honor, I have something to propose."

The judge, who had already expected Armin to speak up after seeing him with Erwin, allowed him to.

With a resolute manner, he confidently spoke, "There's a big misunderstanding happening here. In truth, I can confidently claim that Eren's titan form is definitely the strongest I have ever seen. Based on my own experience from the Shiganshina's breach, none of the normal titans that I have seen were as fast, strong, and tall as Eren. In fact, I would even go as far as believing that even the Armor Titan won't even hold a candle to Eren's titan. Leaving it to the Military Police would be highly unwise, and would likely to predictably cause an unwanted situation and may put the entire country into jeopardy. So I propose that w—"

But before he could finish, he was interrupted by the commander from the Military Police.

"Objection! Dear your honor! Please consider it again. If Eren is so strong then wh—"

*Bam*

"Silence! I am aware of where you are coming from, Commander Nile Dawk. But let hear the proposal from the cadet first, shall we? Cadet Armin Alert, please continue."

"Yes! I propose we let Eren turns into a titan, and do a few test runs. As I said earlier, Eren's titan form is actually very powerful. The fact that he lost to Cadet Athanatos Ackermann is not because he is weak, but due to the fact that this cadet is undoubtedly the strongest person within the wall. If you check his files, you will, in fact, see that this cadet had broken every single record within the school. Even I'm surprised that no one even knows about him after all this time."

"Cadet Armin Alert, please wait. Someone, go get all the files related to Cadet Athanatos. Now Cadet Armin, please get to the point."

"Yes, sir! Now if we show off Eren's ability, it will allow everyone to observe all of the capabilities of Eren's titan form and thus make a clearer direction for Eren's future. Isn't it better to see his strength first before judging him so soon? And pardon me if I'm rude, but I cannot entrust my friend to a group of people who have never even fought a titan once!"

"Hoh? There are a lot of assumptions in your words Cadet Armin and a lot of things can go wrong. What if Eren is as strong as you said, and he lost control? Many people would be killed. And what if this sparks a civil war within the walls? You do aware that peace had returned back to walls after for so long right? What do you have to say about that Cadet Armin?"

But Eren didn't like what he was hearing. He definitely wasn't a lunatic and these accusations had been irritating him the entire time.

"Oy!!! I'm not that insane! I can perfectly control my power! Rather than talking ifs so much. Let me show y—"

"Objection! Your honor! He is showing aggression! Please give orders to release him!"

Eren being Eren, of course, would bark at these people.

Luckily, it was then that Commander Erwin had finally stepped up. Though his original plan had failed, hopefully, his back up plan would work.

"Your honor. I will take on full responsibility for Cadet Armin's plan."

"Hmm? Please continue."

"Yes. Since in the future, Eren's capability will be tested regardless, it's better to conduct a test when security is at its maximum. My Survey Corps is willing to take that risk."

"You have a point. Please continue."

"Though this may not necessarily be of the highest importance. We should note that Cadet Armin Alert and Cadet Eren Yeager are the adopted sons of the Trost's Heroes, Karl Ackermann, Mikan Ackermann, and Alfred Alert. If it is known that one of their sons is being accused without a fair trial, things might just get out of hand once the words get out."

Murmurs began to spread throughout the courtroom. If what Erwin said was the truth, that would spell trouble for the Military Police.

In fact, it's not that the Military Police is trying to use Eren for themselves. They're genuinely wanting to protect the wall and its people. This was all due to Athanatos' effort, and after he reformed the entire country, the Military Police had been fully concentrating on protecting the citizens rather than corruption.

This was why the judge had been leaning onto the Military Police's side, rather than the Survey Corps. But Erwin's words became the game-changer. This now meant that they would need to take things more seriously and give Eren a chance unless they wanted to bear on the full brunt of hatred from the Trost's Heroes.

*Bam*

Suddenly... the courtroom gate was opened, and with that, a group of 7 people walked in... in slow motion. 3 of the people among the group was in the uniform of the Survey Corps, indicating that the other 4 is also affiliated with them.

At that moment, the judge, Darius Zackly's face began to pale with a color so white, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him a corpse.

Some of the noblemen and merchants, who are now 'good' people, also had a big reaction. Contrary to the scared expression that the judge had shown, these people's face was blooming with excitement.

Trying to keep his cool, the judge cried out while shivering uncontrollably, "Everyone! The trial is over. Eren is now in the custody of the Survey Corps. No need for further discussion! Goodbye!"

With that, he ran out to the back door as if he was being chased down by the grim reaper himself.

Everyone suddenly got quiet. Most expected the judge to be furious and kicked the group out, but instead... they got this. Why?

"Hey come back! Why are you running away! I still need you for something!"

And fortunately, or unfortunately, it seemed that the reason why the judge ran away came in the form of the boy in front of them.

As to what did Athanatos do to make the judge feels so miserable? That would be a sad story to tell for another day.

Meanwhile, on where the influential resided, a group of people was chattering among themselves. These people were the 'good' people, that for some reason, suddenly had a change of heart more than a year ago. Though out of necessity, they aren't using their 'real' names and instead were using their alias, which were actually used to be real names.

"Is that Zero?" (Joe Mamma 37)

"Yes, that is Zero." (Joe Mamma 14)

"Praise Zero, for he is the most benevolent." (Joe Mamma 68)

"I trust his decision. It seemed like he is with the Survey Corps, let's support them." (Joe Mamma 11)

Thankfully, it wasn't too long before they convinced (not threatened) the Military Police of not opposing Athanatos, or who they referred to as Zero.

"Hey Eren, why are you on the ground? Come on get up!" Athanatos said while walking toward Eren.

"Thana-kun... you're here..." Eren's eyes were teary. His friends came for him, and thanks(?) to him, he was finally a free man. He was extremely grateful, but then he realized he was chained and couldn't get up. Thinking that Athanatos was coming for him, he relaxed.

But then Athanatos turned left and walked toward Armin.

"..." Eren turned speechless. '*Sigh*, I guess I will still be chained for a while then. Well, at least I won't be used for experimental purposes.'

Arriving at the Survey Corps, Athanatos didn't even give a glance at others.

"Hey Armin, I saw what you did there. Good job." Athanatos spoke with encouraging words. Armin who heard that, was relieved that he was being recognized, but then he realized that if Athanatos just walked in, then how did he even saw his speech?

"Huh? Thanks, I guess, hahaaha." Armin laughed wryly, but in his mind, he was rolling his eyes. 'God... I wanna go home already.'

Armin then saw that Athanatos raised his arm toward him. He thought that he was probably going to get a slap or something. He resigned himself to his fate, but then realized he didn't do anything wrong. If he didn't do anything wrong, why should he be weak?

Straighten his back, he looked straight into Athanatos's, but he was still slightly nervous. However, instead of receiving a slap, he saw Athanatos' eyes turned serious. It was times like these that he actually speak properly.

"I'm not joking Armin. You stood up for Eren. That's good. Your grandpa would be proud of you. And I'm proud of you as a friend." Athanatos was actually praising Armin! He did not receive a slap, but was given a pat on the shoulder, signifying that Athanatos was actually satisfied by his performance.

Armin's turned blank. This was unusual. The Troll God was praising him for real, not just a joke.

"... thanks."

"Hahahaha. It should be me who said thank you. I didn't do much, you solved almost everything on your own. Good job. Keep it up and maybe you will get a girlfriend one day." Athanatos said encouragingly, before whispering something.

"Look behind you, there are already some eyeing on you. Good luck *wink*"

"Huh?" Hearing Athanatos' words, Armin turned around. Expecting to see a bunch of hotties looking at him, he saw a bunch of old middle-aged man instead.

"Kiddo, those are some nice muscles." (Soldier 1)

"You should join the Survey Corps! You got guts! Join and you will get more muscles!" (Soldier 2)

"Muscles!!" (Soldier 3)

Inside Armin's mind, he was mentally crying.

'F**k my life. I ain't gay.'

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"Levi. Why were you late to the courtroom? Things have almost taken a bad turn. But I'm glad it turned out alright and we didn't have to make that boy 'suffer', I'm sure you won't like it either."

"... I was drugged..."

"Huh?"

"Erwin... don't mess with that boy, especially if he ever given you any food or drink. Refuse at all costs. You will thank me later."

Looking at Levi's appearance, you can tell that he had gotten some good sleep that the dark circles around his eyes are gone. But instead of feeling happy, Erwin saw that Levi was actually quite angry, with a hint of being traumatized by something.

And whatever Levi experienced, Erwin should also definitely avoid at all cost. Whatever happened that day, would be another story for another day.

Trust me... even the author wouldn't want find out what happened to Levi.