The appearance of the Titans was rather surprised, and now they were completely surrounded.

"Commander," said Eret approaching Stoick. "He's about to climb."

Stoick's eyes turned towards Dogsbreath, who are now risen himself to his feet. He then began hardening his hands and toes before charging towards the Wall.

"Soldiers! You are not yet to engage the Armoured Titan!" Stoick ordered. "Maintain a safe distance!"

"Yes, sir!"

Dogsbreath was now beginning to climb up the Wall.

"Why doesn't he have a tack?" Snotlout asked. "What's he thinking?"

"The enemy prepared quite a welcome," said Valka. "He's watching their movements for now. Stoick doesn't want to act until he understands their strategy."

Stoick examined the Titans surrounding the outer city, and among them, he saw a Titan on all fours carrying cargo on its back, standing right behind the Beast Titan.

'That quadruped type as some kind of cargo on its back,' he noted. 'Which tells me it didn't transform just now. It's also likely that this was the enemy Scout, but for us to take notice of our approach and relay it that information to Dogsbreath. That must mean…'

"They have one more intelligent Titan," said Stoick to the other Scouts. "It's that quadruped type, though there may well be others."

Hiccup had noticed the quadruped as well. 'That Titan is carrying cargo, but what could it be?'

They then watched as the beast Titan raised its hand and then slammed on the ground, roaring. Birds immediately flew out of the trees, and a few seconds later, all the smaller Titans charge towards the outer city.

"Get ready! Multiple 2 to 3 m approaching!" Valka warned.

'This is just like the siege at Harold Castle,' said Stoick realising their plan. 'They'll start by targeting the horses. Their primary objective is still to capture Ragnar, but towards that end, they tend to eliminate our only chance of escape. As of five years ago, Wall Maria's perimeter is deep within Titan territorial, so they do wipe out horses we will have no means of getting back. Not only will this blockade our escape route, it would cut off supply lines.

It might take a week or a month, but there will come a point which none of us can move. They'll forego the risks of a proper battle and instead take Ragnar once he's too weak to resist. I'm sure of it now; the proof is in the fact of those larger Titans are still standing in formation. Their only purpose is to prevent our retreat.'

Dogsbreath was just about 30 seconds away from reaching the top of the Wall.

"Dad, what now?" Hiccup asked. "The Armoured Titan is almost up. Clueless hasn't shown, but he must be nearby."

"Yes, I'm well aware," said Stoick.

'At this point, the thing that I fear most is that Dogsbreath and Clueless will reach horses and slaughter them unchecked. Therefore…'

He then took in a deep breath.

"You finally ready to say something, Stoick?" said Eret. "I've been waiting so long I could have made breakfast."

"Dagur Squad and Mala Squad too, join Gobber Squad and protect the horses at the gate!" Stoick ordered. "Eret Squad and Valka Squad, I need you to take down the Armoured Titan! Employ the thunder spears at your own discretion! Do whatever it takes to achieve your objective! This is our moment, our chance to strike; the fate of humankind depends upon this battle! Lay down your hearts and lives! One final time for humanity!"

"Yes, sir!" the Scouts yelled as they jumped into action.

Gobber turned to the new recruits. "Hear that? We'll turn the tables of the Titans when they come far horses!"

"Sir!"

Eret and Hiccup began making their way to join up with Valka and the others.

"Hold on, you two," said Stoick, and the two of them stopped in their tracks to face him. "Valka can lead both your squads. I'm gonna need you right here, Eret."

"So I'll protect the horses instead of Ragnar?" said Eret.

"That's right, and when the chance arises, you will strike him down," said Stoick pointing his blade at the Beast Titan. "You're the only soldier who I can trust to dispatch the Beast Titan."

"Understood, sir," said Eret. "I wasn't fast enough to finish the Armoured one earlier, but I will atone for that by taking the Beast Titan's head."

He then jumped off the Wall and went to join up with the other three squads.

"Hiccup, I have a plan for the Armoured Titan too," said Stoick.

"Dad?" Hiccup blinked.

"We have to win on two fronts to secure victory; I can handle one the other I will leave to you and your mother."

Dogsbreath had finally reached the top of the Wall and had a good view of the battle. He looked across the city and saw few Scouts engaging the smaller Titans, and then his eyes fell upon the horses.

"There they are," he said. "Gathered up in one place. I'll kill the horses and make a break for it. That's good enough. No matter how strong Captain Eret is, he still no match for our war chief."

Eret's sword was still embedded in his neck, and he used the flesh within the Titan in order to remove it.

"That was a close one; if I was any slower in transferring my consciousness to my body, I would have died instantly. How do they even think to check inside the Walls?" He then remembered seeing Hiccup. "It had to be Hiccup; he's the only one to come up with such an idea. Regardless, it doesn't matter now. Once this is done, our long journey will reach its end."

He then stopped when he suddenly saw Stoick standing there.

"Hiccup's old man, I can't let it distract me," he said. "I've got to kill the horses."

Then suddenly there was a flash of light, and he wouldn't turn round he saw that Ragnar had transformed within the city.

"Ragnar? Why would he show up when he doesn't have to? They should be painfully aware that abducting him is our main objective. What is he thinking?"

If that wasn't confusing enough, he then saw Ragnar running in the opposite direction towards the outside world.

"Will he run south and climb over the Wall? As it-he could circle around and escape to Trost without a horse. Were that to happen, we would have no reason to stay here and fight even if we did manage to annihilate the Scouts. Ragnar masted hardening within two months; we can't let him back into the Walls; if he learned how to harness the coordinates full power, we're finished."

He then suddenly realise that something didn't add up. "Hold on, something is off here. If his goal was really to skating, use ODM gear to scale the south wall and then transformed, but instead, he transformed right in front of me in the centre of town."

He then realised what was going on. "I get it; he's a diversion. They're trying to change my target from horses to Ragnar."

He then looked at Stoick, who merely lowered his hood and gave him a silent look. "You're not giving me any time to think, commander. You clever bastard, making me get down when I just climbed up."

He knew he had no choice; he had to go after Ragnar. With that in mind, he began skidding down the surface of the Wall back towards the ground.

"Good, he went through it," Ragnar smiled.

Hiccup had explained Stoick's plan to everyone.

"He wants us to use Ragnar as bait?" said Valka.

"Yes, that was the commander's order," said Hiccup.

"Hold on, he's willing to risk Ragnar's capture just to protect the horses?" said Valka.

"Please tell me you're kidding; even if we try, Dogsbreath could just go after the horses anyway," said Astrid.

"No, I'm sure that he will chase Ragnar," said Valka confidently. "If Dogsbreath does go after the horses, then Ragnar could continue running north and wrap around the Beast Titan's formation. With Eret, the Scouts and Ragnar, they can catch the Beast Titan in a pincer attack. Stoick must have said something as much himself, right?"

"More or less," said Hiccup.

"Even if things don't go as we hope, the enemy does not expect Ragnar to flee, so it might confuse them enough to get them to break ranks. The only question is can Dogsbreath see that far ahead?"

Ragnar remembered that Dogsbreath had asked Hiccup a few tips about leadership skills. One of the tips Hiccup gave was forcing your enemy to follow the choice you want.

"Knowing him, he should be able to work it out pretty quickly," said Ragnar.

"Okay, this is where we will bring down the Armoured Titan," said Valka to everyone.

"Wait a sec," said Hiccup. "There's one more factor we need to consider. He's still hiding, but Clueless must be nearby. The last time they fought, Ragnar outmanoeuvred Dogsbreath and had him on the verge of defeat, but then Clueless caught him in a surprise attack, and he ended up there captive. As a simple countermeasure, do what you can to keep the bike away from the Walls."

Ragnar succeeded in drawing Dogsbreath to the square; being in the centre of town, they were far away from any of the Walls.

'I was always better when it came to hand-to-hand combat, when up against you,' said Ragnar as he circled around the square. 'And I'm stronger now than I was before. One-on-one, I can win. Compared to Eir, you're weak.'

Ragnar then hardened his fists, and Dogsbreath then charged in towards him. He then swung her fist at Ragnar, but he was able to avoid it, and then he quickly spun around in order to jump at him. Ragnar predicted this and dodged once again and then shoved him forwards, making him lose his balance.

Dogsbreath charge at him once more, swinging his fist, but Ragnar was able to duck and then countered with a blow of his own. His heart fist was strong enough to crack the armour around his face. His punch was awesome powerful enough to send him flying across the ground.

'I also have a home-field advantage, and after everything you and your people pulled, I'm not pulling my punches,' said Ragnar. 'And I'm not the only one; we've got a few little surprises for you and your friends. We're going to give you everything we've got, so you better ready yourselves.'

Wartihog and a few other recruits were moving the horses around as it was dangerous, leaving them in one spot.

"Recruits, keep moving the horses!"

"We'll keep the titans of your backs!"

"Hey, Wartihog," said Floch. "Where do we tie the horses?"

"We were told to avoid them putting all of them in the same place," he said. "Just keep going all right."

"Two more small ones are coming from the east!"

Wartihog turned his head and saw two 2 meter Titans heading their way in the Scout was already intercepting.

"So those are Titans?" he said.

Eret appeared out of nowhere and cut the two Titans down in no less than five seconds.

"It's Captain Eret!" said Wartihog and look to the others. "Now is our chance!"

Wartihog and the recruiters immediately took the horses away.

"Finish killing the small ones already; get it done before the Beast Titan moves!" Eret ordered. "And no casualties! Don't you dare get eaten!"

"Sir!" said the Scouts.

Eret had been working the hardest cutting down the Titans. Aside from him, Dagur and Mala, everyone else virtually had no experience in dealing with Titans.

"Shit," he said as he looked around at the carnage. He then turned up and looked at the Wall. "Who in the hell am I kidding? These kids are going to drop like flies; we should have let them up there."

Stoick was looking down the battle, and he had the same thought, normally they would already be done with the small fry by now if back when they were at full strength. However, they've only killed less than half of the Titan so far.

'We struggle even with the smallest Titans now,' he said. 'The Scouts have grown weak; most of our veterans have been buried, burned or…' He then lifted his stump. 'Still, if it weren't for the lives we sacrificed, we would never have made it half this far.

When I was a cadet, I told the others about my father's theory, my faith in it. I told him that once I was a Scout, I would prove that he was right, but once I actually joined the Scouts, I stopped talking about it. When I witnessed what the Scouts had to go through on the front lines, I realise that this was much bigger than my family, possibly even bigger than humanity itself. Then I came to lead my comrades, gave them orders and inspiring words, be brave, give your hearts to humanity. Everyone gave their lives in the pursuit of protecting humanity, and now I'm standing on a mountain of brave corpses. I have quite the view.

Regardless I have not stopped pursuing my family's goal, and we Haddocks have never gotten this close to discovering the truth. I don't know whether I will see the truth of our world of our past, my son I will do whatever it takes to make sure that at least he can carry on our legacy, even if it means my life.'

Ragnar was still battling against Dogsbreath and then struck him once again with his hardened fist. Dogsbreath blocked the blow with his hands, but that didn't stop him from crashing into one of the buildings.

'Those experiments paid off,' said Ragnar as he hit again. 'With this new power, I can beat you!' Ragnar then struck him in the face once more, crushing the armour around it. 'When I focus my hardening on one point, it gets stronger. Since his armies spread across his whole body, I can smash it like thin ice.'

Dogsbreath then launched himself at Ragnar, but he was able to grab his face.

"You will be able to beat you at that speed!" Ragnar yelled as he swung his fist down at him.

However, Dogsbreath then suddenly launched himself at Ragnar and grabbed his foot.

"Damnit, no!" Ragnar yelled as Dogsbreath lifted him up.

Then using all his strength, Dogsbreath tossed him over his shoulder and right down on one of the buildings. He then lifted him up and then struck him in the face so hard that the ground cracks upon impact. However, when the dust settled, it turned out that Ragnar had moved his head a few inches to the right, so the punch only grazed him.

Ragnar then quickly grabbed hold of his hand, and soon the two of them found themselves in a wrestling match.

At the same time, everyone else was getting into position, and all of them seem to be wielding some sort of spear.

"He looks like he needs help," said Astrid.

"Not yet," said Valka. "Everything rides upon our first attack; we need a way to entrust Ragnar to give us a good opening."

Before they set out on their mission, Valka began to explain the newest weapon.

"Our newest weapon is a big pointy stick?" said Snotlout.

"It's pointy; that makes it a spear," said Ragnar.

"Hiccup, Fishlegs and me have been going through a treasure trove of technologies kept hidden by the Interior Police," said Valka. "And this is just one example of our labours."

"In theory, these weapons should be able to be effective against the Armoured Titan," said Hiccup.

"Our blades may as well been made of paper against that armour of his," said Valka. "All we could do in our last battle was watch Ragnar find the Armoured Titan from the sidelines. There just aren't enough openings in the plating for us to cut through."

"Even at close range, we can do anything to make that go, Ragnar," said Fishlegs.

"If it hadn't been for the Commander drawing that hoarder Titans towards him, he wouldn't have let go, Ragnar," said Heather.

"Right now, the only attacks that could hurt Dogsbreath with those that went around his armour," Valka explained. "I'm referring to Ragnar's grappling techniques. Also, Ragnar has been experimenting with a new hardened punch for which we have high hopes. With that said, if those were our sole weapons, this mission will be doomed to fail. It is vital that we plugged the holes in Wall Maria, but what matters most here is that we eliminate Dogsbreath and Clueless, ensuring that they cannot reach the Wall again."

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Astrid asked. "We stabbed the armoured Titan with those spears?"

"I think I'll just show you; let's go outside," Valka smiled.

Valka demonstrated the power of the spear outside; once she tossed it, there was a huge explosion, almost like thunder. The Scouts that had gathered were gobsmacked, as the spear had completely demolished a tree.

"It's powerful, as you see," said Valka, who was hiding behind a shield. "Not far from a lightning strike hence are calling them Thunders Spears. They're good weapons, but are they enough to bring down the Armoured Titan? There's no way to be sure until we try. These can tear a normal Titan part, but to do real damage against the Armoured Titan, it will take some extra work."

Ragnar was now practically wrestling with Dogsbreath, who was now on top of him. Ragnar wrapped his legs around his waist and placed him in a lock just like before, keeping him restrained. Dogsbreath found himself struggling to break free; Ragnar was just too strong for him.

'Shit!' he said as he finally freed himself from Ragnar's grip and ended up rolling across the ground.

'It doesn't look like biting Ragnar out of there's something I can handle by myself,' he said as he sat up. 'Guess it's on to Plan B.'

It was at that moment that he noticed the Scouts immediately sprung into action.

"Go, now!" Valka ordered.

Dogsbreath was surprised, to say the least. 'They're making a move? I knew they had gradually surrounding me, but how exactly do they plan to hurt me? I've got hardened plate armour covering every vital point in my body. Their blades can't even scratch it.'

He then watched as both Astrid and Valka moved in towards him until they were practically right in his face. They then launched their Thunder Spears, which shot out like a bullet from a gun. The Spears themselves pierced his eyes which was a surprise in itself.

Then both Astrid and Valka pulled on the pins that released the explosion mechanism. Seconds later, they exploded, completely destroying his eyes.

'Did we do it?' Ragnar stared.

'This just might work,' said Valka. 'The Thunder Spears are so destructive that they pose a danger to those who fire them. If you anchor to the Titan itself and move in as if to slash it with your blade, you'll end up caught in the resulting explosion. Which means the only chance to use Thunder Spears is when the target is surrounded by multiple tall solid structures. We can only attack with Thunder Spears in situations exactly like this. Right here and now, we have to end it!'

The rest of Eret Squad immediately moved in and fired their Thunder Spears directly at Dogsbreath's nape. They then pulled on the pins, creating a series of explosions, Tuffnut who was closest, was flown backwards.

"We've got," said Hiccup. "The Spears work the armour on his neighbours and splinters now!"

Tuffnut was able to control his descent and crash onto the roof of one of the buildings. "Whoa, it really worked."

"We could actually do some damage," said Ruffnut.

"Do it again!" Valka yelled. "You each still have a Thunder Spear; use them to end this."

Everyone just looked at her, stunned as they still have very fond memories of Dogsbreath, even if he was pretending to be their friend.

"But it's Dogsbreath," said Heather.

"Come on, guys!" Snotlout yelled. "We said we do it if there ever came down to this! So let's go!"

They all nodded and made another go at Dogsbreath, who was now completely helpless. They all launch their Thunder Spears piercing Dogsbreath's flesh once again.

"No, I don't want to die!" Dogsbreath yelled.

Then suddenly, there was a series of explosions around his nape.