Creation began on 05-18-21
Creation ended on 05-29-21
Attack on Titan
The Devil Unleashed: Epicenter of Carnage
No matter how far Eren ran, he couldn't keep up with the flying, three-headed nightmare that had destroyed his hometown. He couldn't even find a single survivor from Shiganshina District; everyone had either been buried under rubble, drowned in flash floods or burnt to death by this creature. And the worst part was that it this thing wasn't even done with Paradis; it wouldn't stop until every last trace of life on the island was destroyed, people and all. He needed to find Zeke, make contact with him, release the Wall Titans and stop this thing before it was too late to save whoever was left.
FLASH! From afar, the Attack Titan could see that somewhere else had been attacked by the creature, meaning that the people there had been slaughtered.
No! He realized; it either had to be Trost District or a village in between Walls Maria and Rose. Where are you, Zeke?!
-x-
Levi had never seen such a horrible creature like this before as it flew over the forest, spitting lighting from its mouths and causing chaos.
"We can't fight something like that!" One of the corps members expressed their truthful opinion as they were taking shelter in the tall trees. "It's not a Titan we've ever encountered before! This thing has three heads and can fly!"
"It's far bigger than the Colossal!" Another member added.
Even Levi had to admit that they were completely unprepared and caught off guard by such an unprecedented factor. If this had been a Titan Shifter and one of the Nine Titans, it might've been a different story, but this wasn't associated in any way to Eldia's past. If it was associated with Eldia at all.
"Oh, you'd be surprised at how right you are!" He heard the voice of the girl from before, seeing her standing on the end of the branch he was holding onto. "This beautiful embodiment of doom has absolutely nothing to do with your history or culture. It's only here to do one thing: Destroy all of you."
"Why?"
"Why? Why, indeed. I could tell you…except that…would be telling."
"You little bitch!" One of the corps members called her, revealing that everyone saw the girl. "This thing's out to get us, and you withhold information?!"
"Don't shoot the messenger, lady. I didn't make Marley desperate to be rid you Eldians to the point where they would release a monster they had no understanding of. That's on you. Well, one of you now that the other one is dead. But Marley's not really benefiting from this creature's release from its ancient imprisonment; they were forced to pay a high price before it came here…and in many respects, they're still paying for it."
-x-
Everyone they knew was dead in Liberio. There wasn't a trace of any survivors, not even in the ships by the docks. It was as though the instant that creature they had been ordered to release from that wall of ice in Kalte Hölle showed up here, it killed everyone in its vicinity and beyond, and the storm around them just continued to get worse, causing the streets to flood.
"We shouldn't have released that thing from the ice," went Galliard to Reiner and Pieck as he and Pieck hung on to the armored plates of Reiner's Titan as he waded through the flooded streets. "We might've been following orders, but we had no idea of what that thing was capable of, even if it could defeat Paradis and prevent the Rumbling. This…is much worse than what the Titans are capable of."
"Yeah," Pieck agreed with him.
Reiner was the only one that couldn't voice his opinion, but he also agreed with them. They never should've released that monster from the ice. Marleyans might've known more than the Eldians ever could've about it, but they clearly had no control over it. If anything, it was just something meant to be released as an absolute last resort when the power of the Titans failed to defend Marley from the scourge of their enemies…and all other methods to restore the balance of power failed. And now, they had lost the people they had been fighting for; their parents, their families, their very homes, all gone.
There was nothing left for them…except for revenge. If they knew where this thing was going, they could follow it, and they only had a hunch on where to go: Paradis. It had been released to destroy Paradis, and if it was there, it was probably doing just that, just not in the way it had been expected to. Either way, these three had to fix their mistake of letting it out…before the Curse of Ymir claimed them as it did their predecessors, and if by some miracle that bastard Eren Yeager was still alive, then it would be a bonus to kill him, as well.
-x-
It made Levi think that they should've killed Eren long before he had run off to hide in Marley. Maybe then, they wouldn't be facing a crisis like this.
Sister Deception jumped off the branch and grabbed onto it with her hands, swinging on it.
"One of you made a move on Marley that convinced them the power of the Titans had lost its potency," she told Levi and the other corps members, "and it left them feeling hopeless and trapped in desperation for a solution. And as the pressure builds, they made a choice that they didn't fully understand, that had consequences they wouldn't be able find solutions to. But this was the only solution they had to get rid of their enemies; sometimes, to fight a devil, you have to release another devil. However, there's an old saying that Marley never heard about that I'm going to share with you, Mr. Ackerman: Raise no more devils than you can lay down. Unfortunately, the young man whose father stole from a family he then butchered…raised a devil that would force people that feared him to raise another devil that may be worse than him. Their hope was snuffed out the second that young man made his choice to murder those people, and now they made sure to return the favor by snuffing out your hope…not that you ever had any, that is."
Levi was about to cut this girl's hands off and let her fall to her death, but she had let go of the branch and was now floating in front of the Survey Corps members present.
"What the Hell are you?" He asked her.
"I'm just a girl that spends her time watching people all over the place fall," she spoke cryptically. "Children get sacrificed, turned into martyrs, cast to the wolves for the sake of others, never knowing that the lives they have to forfeit their own for are just as expendable as their own. We are all expendable, no matter what we say. Nobody's exempt from the end of all things in existence. You, your comrades, that girl you chose to martyr, even the rest of the world. You're all going to die soon, and all you can do…is face the end with dignity and hope to whatever gods you believe in that you get to live again someday."
And then she floated away with the harsh winds as the sky lit up with lightning.
"It's like the damn sky's on fire," Levi heard one of his men say.
"That's because it is," he told them.
"Rrrraaurgh!" They heard one of the creature's heads roar as it continued to fly further inward.
-x-
It had only been a precaution, but Historia was taken to the basement of the house she was dwelling in as the storm got worse with each passing minute. She didn't think this storm was one of those kinds that would pass after a few hours; a storm just felt like an act of God that you couldn't fight against, and this storm just seemed to intensify, like it had no intention of going anywhere in the near future. Her first concerns had been the orphans, but she was told that she couldn't worry about them right now, not when she had a baby to take care of.
"Everything that you think matters won't matter, anymore," she recalled what the little girl had told her a few days ago. "It's nothing personal."
Except it kind of felt personal, Historia thought, just not from you.
Thud! Something big and heavy made the ground shake.
"What's going on out there?" One of the midwives questioned.
"I'll go see," Historia's husband uttered as he went up the steps to see. "Aaahh!"
He came back downstairs and shut the door, looking like he saw something he wished he hadn't.
"What is it?" Another midwife asked him.
"There's something out there," he told them. "Something big, bigger than a Titan. It had wings. Big wings. I think it saw me."
Thud! The ground continued to shake, as though…something was walking around.
Meanwhile, outside the house, in the fury of the storm, the three-headed beast had landed on the ground and saw several small structures scattered around the area. Its center head looked at the lone house that was further away from the others, as if it was trying to hide or something…and made a move to raise the stakes.
"Rrrrraaurgh!" The heads shrieked, releasing several bolts of its electrical energy into the area, causing the nearby trees to burst into flames. "Rrrrraaaurgh!"
The winds fanned the flames generated by the burning trees spread towards the nearby houses and caused them to burst into flames.
-x-
They saw the Attack Titan running across the front of the forest and wondered what chance did a fifteen-meter Titan stand against a creature that was over twice the size of the Titan Rod Reiss had turned into and was seemingly a force of nature. It wasn't even a match for the Colossal Titan, which was sixty meters, which ended up kicking it across Shiganshina and to the top of the wall. With the exception of, perhaps, the Founding Titan, nothing was a match for the Colossal Titan…even if it was a dozen or so other Titans.
"Even if he had some other ability," a female corps member told Levi, "what hope does he have against that monster?"
"Even if we had a whole army of Titans, I doubt that thing would fall," he responded; it was just the way this creature did anything that made him rethink how unlikely it would be that they would be capable of beating it or even hurting it.
"Aaaah!" He heard a female scream, sounding like Historia's.
The Attack Titan stopped running and howled into the air.
"What was that?" One of the corps members questioned. "Did everyone just hear a scream?"
-x-
The whole place went up in flames and crumbled into itself. Anyone that wasn't killed immediately was buried under charred debris. Unfortunately, Historia wasn't among the few inside the building that received the lesser of the two evils; when the burning debris fell on her, death was instantaneous.
Sister Deception, just accessing the carnage, dragged her remains out of the debris and into a clearing, examining her injuries and discovering the exact cause of her death: A solid piece of debris, probably from one of the walls, broke off and fell into the basement, striking the young queen on the head, causing her neck to break. Still, even when she didn't have to, she crossed the woman's arms on her chest and sat beside her as the rain poured into the room.
"It wasn't really personal, you know," she told the dead girl.
FLASH! Lightning flashed, and for a moment, just a moment, her face's pale complexion was replaced by a skull with a depraved jaw structure that mimicked a cruel smile.
"To good people that didn't deserve it, it was never personal. You, your half-sister, your lady friend, that meat-craving potato girl, even the people that paid a cold price for my own enjoyment, you were all just in the wrong place at the wrong time. For whatever it's worth…I do hope that you get a chance to live again in some other life. Your end did come swiftly, though. I doubt that you felt anything. My brother, he'd throw a fit over any number of lives that were taken for any inexcusable reason. He'd move Heaven and Earth to restore each of you to life. But the world isn't cruel, it's just the people that believe in might being right, that power has to be taken and all your enemies must be crushed in order to achieve a better future…they're no better than predators that hunt when they're not hungry. You're the only person I'll ever say this to…but I am sorry that your life ended this way."
Then, she disappeared again. But then she reappeared again and took the young queen's remains with her; for reasons unknown to anyone that wasn't Sister Deception, the girl couldn't leave the lady in this ruined house.
-x-
Mitras the center of the land within the Walls, had finally been visited by this great beast that brought a storm with it, and it was causing great damage to the buildings and forcing the people to flee to wherever they could hide from it.
"Iiiiee!"
"Rrrrraaurgh!"
"Grrraugh!"
There was no place to run as the three-headed nightmare flew around Mitras, releasing hurricane-force winds and lightning from its heads.
Within minutes, nothing remained of the innermost location of Paradis. Slamming down atop the top of Wall Sina, the mighty beast marveled at its handiwork, seeing nothing left of the people that once resided within this place that had once been believed to be unassailable by Titans. Unfortunately, they didn't count on a threat that wasn't human or Titan…and now they went to their graves knowing that they weren't untouchable. If anyone could say something about this mayhem, it would've been, "Sorry, people, you've been evicted from your homes and whole life. You need to stop doing what you're doing and face the end and know who the new land master is taking possession." There were fewer humans left to remove on this patch of land in the water, but in due time…in due time, they would all be removed. This world only had room for one ruler, and it was already decided who would be on top.
The middle head looked across the wall and saw a little girl just standing on the other side, watching with amusement. It felt no intimidation from the child, as she had no intention of making any attempt on trying to stop its progress. They were two of a kind; they took what they wanted and left the leftovers that served no purpose to them.
-x-
Eren didn't want to believe it, but what he saw flash before his eyes was too horrifying to disbelieve. Somehow, due to the three-headed creature's presence in this intensifying storm, Historia Reiss was…no longer among the living. Even worse was that in the vision he received, people he knew and betrayed, Armin and Mikasa, included…were in Shiganshina District when the creature attacked, sealing their fates.
No! He thought as his Titan continued to run as fast as it could in an attempt to find the monster that had caused more death and destruction than he ever could fear being caused by Titans. This isn't what I wanted! Not this! Not this!
But no matter how fast his Titan ran, he couldn't keep up with a giant creature that could fly. And worse was how all he had left to fight for was his freedom. But what was freedom when the people that mattered to him were now dead? The Attack Titan fights from the freedom of Eldia, but if this creature viewed all of humanity as some kind of hindrance, then this included Eldians, and it was killing them with a storm so strong that it only made Eren realize that this beast was more menacing than whatever he thought was possible of other people that feared and hated Eldians because of the past atrocities committed by them.
Then, just because he looked down to the ground, Eren saw Sister Deception, and the girl looked at him as the rain soaked her to her bones.
I don't know why you're in such a rush, he heard her voice in his head. Nobody is exempt from this mass extinction, Eren Yeager. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is going to the same place in the end, and that's the afterlife. It's pointless to persist, but then again, that's what you'll do, so I see no further reason to speak of your relentless inability to deviate. I can let you know this, however: I've been enjoying the devastation caused with such delight. What will always be your eternal arrogance is your perverse belief that you can control the forces of nature…when it's the other way around; nature's forces have control over each and every one of you. It's a food chain, a fact of life, a hard lesson that eventually makes itself leaned, whether or not people want to learn of it. But you'll find out the hard way. In the end, those that choose to be stubborn, relentless in their pursuit of whatever ambitious goals they have, always face the brutality of the paths they choose.
I didn't choose this! Eren yelled at her. I didn't want any of this!
Of course, you did. You're the Attack Titan, after all. You fight for freedom. No matter what the time or generation you ended up in, you chose to push forward. For freedom. It's only because of your endless pursuit of freedom that you choose to fight. But freedom, like all other things, Eren Yeager, come at a cost. It comes with a cost because it's not for free. You knew that from the very beginning, that the freedom you sought came at a price. You knew…and chose to make sure that it was paid for in order to obtain it. You paid in blood. You paid in bone. You paid…in the lives of others…and, oh, what a price it was for you to pay.
You're wrong! You're wrong! I didn't choose this! I didn't choose to let my home get wrecked by a monster!
Which monster would that be? The Colossal Titan? The Armored Titan? The Beast Titan? The people of Shiganshina? Trost? Liberio? What monster are you referring to? A monster is a relative term, you know; anything and anyone can be a monster. I once had this canary for a pet, and during that time, I had a big cat. To a small bird, a big cat is a monster. You humans are just used to being the big cat. So, tell me, which monster are you referring to?
Eren couldn't answer her question; in his mind, they were all the same: The enemy, the monster that caused the people he grew up around to live behind a walled-in community. No matter what he said to this person that may hide behind the guise of a little girl with dark eyes, she would always find a way to counter his reactions.
The girl sat on the ground and continued to look up at him.
"Rrrrraaurgh!" A shrieking roar in the distance was heard, and the Attack Titan saw the three-headed beast flying in the air.
Still, I can't stop you from wanting to do what you want to do, Sister Deception told him, and I don't really want to stop you at all, so I'll let you try with every fiber of your disgraceful being to endure the struggle that is this mass extinction.
The beast soared down and its feet connected with the ground.
"Eeeehhh!" The middle head cackled as lightning flashed behind it, looking down at the Attack Titan…and giving a semblance of a twisted smile.
He'll even let you have the first move, she told Eren as she laid back onto the muddy surface, sinking into it. What will you do? What will you do?
What could he do? Even with his Titan's ability to harden its body, there was no way he could best this creature's size. He only had the strength of two Titans because there was longer anybody, human or Titan, with royal blood that could be used to implement the Rumbling; if this storm was only getting worse and this beast was able to destroy an entire city like Shiganshina, Eren had to assume that his half-brother was among the people that were dead now, meaning the Beast Titan was no longer around, either killed in this storm…or fed to someone else because Levi and the others had lost their faith in he and Zeke. Still, all he had was his Titan power, forced upon him or stolen by him, and his drive for freedom…to stand up to this devil.
"Rrrraaugh!" Its left and right head roared.
To be continued…
A/N: I had decided that despite her soullessness towards most people, Sister Deception does demonstrate some measure of sympathy to at least one person. But she's not ruled by any sense of humanity, morality, not even basic compassion. She's just someone that is out to cause pain and suffering indirectly and enjoy it in however way she can. Evil takes on many forms, can be spoken in many tongues, demonstrated in multiple ways…and felt in any sense that causes pain. Still, I want your feelings on the scene where she's with Historia's remains. What were your thoughts on her? Until the next chapter, stay safe, healthy, sane and alive.