Willy Tybur roamed within the halls of his own mansion, as Erwin had walked behind him. There were no guards following them and no maids or butlers cleaning within the halls. Erwin remained quiet the whole route as he followed Willy on a what seemed-to-be an endless path. After four minutes of walking, Willy then stopped and led to a random door in the hall.

Willy had stopped and faced the door and grasped the doorknob with his right hand. "Before we enter, do you need me to remind you what would happen if you fail?" he slightly turned his head back so the corner of his left eye can see him.

Erwin had shaken his head to Willy. "No. I am aware, that if I fail this test of yours... you will not only have Levi, Hange and myself executed... but, then you will also consider a Declaration of War during tomorrow's festival and the fate of Paradis will cease to exist."

"Precisely. Now, before we start, let me introduce you to somebody." Willy had slowly turned the doorknob, then, slowly pushed the door open and led Erwin into the Tybur Family's main room.

As Erwin had taken a few steps inside of Willy Tybur's main room, he remained silent as he not only noticed the fine and rich furniture in the room, most importantly, Willy Tybur's family, as they were dressed casually.

Willy Tybur's wife and five children sat down on two different long couches like a mature family and stared directly at Erwin. His elderly parents leaned and sat in individual chairs in front of the fireplace. They did not utter a word as they raised their heads and glanced at Erwin as well, for only a second. Lara Tybur stood by a wall with her hands in front of her apron. She did not smile as she looked over to Willy and Erwin.

"As you see before you, Erwin. This is my lovely family." Willy began introducing Erwin to his family. "First and foremost, my wife whom I can't live without..." Erwin's eyes begun to follow Willy's right hand and he walked and pointed his hand at his family." My five children, whom I trust the future of the Tybur name to..." Willy then pointed to Lara, who's by the wall." Over there is my sister, whom I look after..."

Erwin and Lara had locked eyes with one another for a moment, before Willy had moved on.

"And finally, these two youthful cheering elders are my parents. Whom had given me and my sister life." Willy had introduced Erwin to his parents as he walked over to them and rested each hand on their singular shoulders. "Now, that you have gotten to know of my family," Willy had walked over towards Erwin, again, but this time leaving a gap of six feet between himself and Erwin. "The final test has begun." Willy had raised his arms up to his sides.

'So, it's come to this.' Erwin's eyes had largened by a centimeter.

"Yes. The final test has now begun. Now, all you have to do is answer one simple question of mine, correctly." Willy raised his right index finger. "And you can only answer it, once. You cannot change your answer."

"I am prepared for whatever question you ask." Erwin simply answered.

"Good." Willy replied and cracked a smile. "Which one of us possesses the Warhamer Titan? I will give you ten minutes to come up with an answer."

Erwin Smith had remained silent for a moment. He closed his eyes and slowly thought of all the past events that had occurred during his youth. He had remembered the moment he witness one of his comrades being eaten by a Seven-Meter Titan as a teenager... to what happened four years ago, when he lead a charge against Zeke Yeager. 'Dedicate your hearts! Push forward!'

"Ah-" One of Willy's young sons tried speaking, but was quickly hushed by their mother as she placed a hand over his mouth.

"Quiet." Willy's wife whispered as she hushed one of her young sons.

Willy stared at Erwin, knowing that he 'He's deciding, isn't he?'

Within Erwin's mind, he knew that he would carry the weight and fates of everyone on Paradis Island, ever since before he sailed towards Marley. To him in that particular moment, he knew it was the ultimate gamble and his one answer could either lead Paradis to victory or total destruction.

Everything around him went black. Until, suddenly, a random flashback played had played before him like a film. He saw an image of a classroom and his father was teaching. A small doppelganger of himself was sitting in a desk and decided to ask his father, "Teacher? How do we know there aren't any people living outside the walls?" after seeing that image, Erwin knew what to do. After a minute of thinking, Erwin relaxed his tightened fists and opened his blue eyes.

'Oh?' Willy noticed a change within Erwin's facial expression as he stared at Erwin's blue eyes. He noticed that there was a fire behind those blue eyes.

The first person that Erwin glanced at was Willy. Then he looked over to Lara Tybur, who stood still by the wall. She can see the fire within Erwin's eyes as much as Willy. This earned a gasp as she had never expected seeing Erwin's current expression. Then Erwin looked at Willy's wife and children. And finally, his parents. After taking a moment of glancing at each member of Willy's family, he finally looked back to willy with a bold face.

"Have you decided your answer?" Willy asked.

"Yes." Erwin nodded after taking a few seconds to answer. "The person whom I pick..." Erwin paused for six seconds as he raised his hand in the air. The entire Tybur Family were wondering who would he pick. "Is your sister, Lara." he pointed towards Lara.

After hearing Erwin's answer, Lara's eyes had opened at least.

Willy's wife and children had paused.

"Are you sure it's her?" Willy had asked with a confident smile.

"I am." Erwin simply responded.

After hearing Erwin's answer, Willy Tybur depressingly sighed and lowered his head an inch. "Erwin Smith. I have to be honest with you. I am sorry..."

Willy's wife and children stared at Erwin's facial expression to see how he would react.

Erwin decided to wait for Willy's full his response, rather than assume the worst. He knew that if he failed, he had let Paradis down.

Willy then raised his head. "You're correct!" he said in a positive tone.

"You mean..."

"Congratulations, Erwin Smith. You passed the test. Which means, Paradis will be safe from harm." Willy said.

After learning that there will be no Declaration of War, Erwin felt very relieved. He knew that he had completed his life's mission as in protecting Paradis Island from the outside, and without suffering a single casualty.

"I understand."

Suddenly, is wife and their eldest daughter, Fine began clapping. Willy's parents didn't clap, due to their old ages.

Fine looked at her younger siblings, who weren't clapping. "Clap, you guys!" she muttered to her younger siblings. Afterwards, they started clapping after Fine, but didn't know why they were clapping.

As Willy and his wife and children were clapping, Lara couldn't help but let out a small smile.

A Few Minutes Later

Erwin and Willy talked outside on the balcony.

"Do you know why I picked, "Which one of us is the Warhammer Titan?" as your test?"

"No. I don't. Not the slightest." Erwin simply answered.

"It's because I wanted to see if an Eldian from Paradis Island could tell whom is which."

"You wanted to test my knowledge to see if I had have heard or known of the Warhammer Titan?"

"Yes. You've already convinced half of me I have asked about a hundred people-even Theo Magath that same question. And out of all the people I've asked, individually, you're the only person to ever get it right. You should be proud of yourself." Willy had stated.

"I am." Erwin said.

"Ewrin," Willy suddenly thought of a random question on his mind. "Do you mind if I ask you another question?"

"Not at all."

"What drove you to join the Survey Corp.?" Willy asked in a curious tone.

Erwin gave Willy's question a moment of thought before answering. "Along time ago, when I was a child in school..." Erwin began reminisce during his youth as a kid. "I had always spoke whatever came to my mind. My father was a teaching in school. I was lucky to be part of his class. One day, I thought of a curious question, so I stood up and asked, "Teacher, how do we know there aren't any people living outside the walls?" My father didn't answer me, directly, during class. But later that night, he did sit me down and brought up some conspiracy theories of how there were actually people living outside the walls. More than we could ever imagine. And years later, my father's theories were proven to be correct." Erwin had thought back of when he, Eren, Hange, Mikasa and Levi had discovered Grisha's books.

"How do we know there aren't any people outside the walls?" Willy had quoted as he sat up and gave Erwin's words a thought. "I like that."

Willy and Erwin continued their conversation.

One Hour and a Half Later,

Erwin Smith and Willy Tybur stood face-to-face with one another inside of Willy's office. Levi and Hange watched them after being released from custody. Lara Tybur stood by the door and watched as well.

"Erwin Smith. Can I trust you with protecting the hope and future of humanity?" Willy asked and raised his right hand in front of Erwin for him to grasp.

Erwin stared at Willy's hand for six seconds, then looked to Willy's face. He slowly raised his right hand in attempt to grasp Willy's right hand. But before his hand could make contact with Willy's right hand, Erwin decided to use Paradis' military solute, instead, in front of Willy Tybur, Lara and many of the guards in the office.

Some of the guards in the room quietly gasped after watching Erwin solute.

Lara Tybur lightly gasped as well, as she witnessed Erwin boldly solute in front of everyone in the room. She can see the fire within Erwin's blue eyes burn, once again as she stared deeply into them.

Within Lara Tybur's Mind

Without warning, Lara had gotten lost within her mind. Everything was pitch black all around her and everyone in the office that she was in, including her brother, Willy had all disappeared. Everyone, except for one person.

Suddenly, Erwin Smith had appeared before Lara in her mind. He wore only brown pants, with no shirt or no shoes on, revealing his bare chest and feet to Lara. A large wall of fire had formed in front of Erwin, separating the two Titan Shifters. Without fear, Erwin walked through the large wall of fire at ease and continued pushing forward.

Lara stood and watched the large wall of fire burn, until she saw Erwin exit from the wall of fire. She gasped noticed that Erwin's pants, his hair and skin had not been harmed, marked, scorched, singed, damaged or burned by the fire.

After successfully exiting the large wall created by fire, Erwin had continued walking until he had caught up with and stood before Lara Tybur. Erwin did not utter a single word to Lara as he stared at her.

Lara stared deeply into Erwin's blue eyes and noticed how pretty they were. She began to blush in front of Erwin as she had admired blue color.

Erwin had suddenly raised a hand towards Lara Tybur and whispered, "Lara..."

Lara gasped after hearing her name chanted. She stared at his face, briefly and noticed that Erwin had moved his his right forearm forward. She looked down at his body to his right arm stretched out and his right hand was open for her to take. At first, she hesitated to pull out her left hand out. She blushed after looking into his blue eyes, once more.

Erwin had worn a mild look on his face. He did not smile, nor frown. He looked at her with a normal expression.

Lara Tybur waited a moment before suddenly gaining courage to pull out her left arm and placed her left hand into Erwin's right. In the next moment, Erwin gently grasped her hand, which causes a warm and comforting gasp from Lara Tybur.

After grasping, Lara looked to Erwin and smiled. Her eyes had watered in joy and comfort.

Back in Reality

Willy became a bit amazed of what he was witnessing. Not only does he know that solute that Erwin is using, but learned it had a meaning. Willy once again saw the fire burn within Erwin's blue eyes and his right hand being placed on his heart. He didn't know the definition of what the solute meant, but deep down he could tell that it meant something special.

In the next second before Willy could mimic Erwin's movements by saluting back to him, he had already beaten by another person to do it. He looked by the doors to see Lara Tybur saluting to Erwin Smith with a warm smile and blush on her face.

Hange and the guards were a bit surprised to see Lara salute, first as they thought Willy was going to salute to Erwin.

Levi keeping his normal composure didn't really care what was going on.

In the next moment, Willy Tybur decided to salute towards Erwin Smith. Then Hange, then the guards, one by one. In the next thirty seconds, everyone saluted towards Erwin, except Levi, who then sighed and followed what everyone was doing.

Erwin stood and looked around to see everyone saluting towards him. He was bold and proud.

Author's Note: This is the second half of the flashback chapter on how Erwin had convinced Willy Tybur. I had to go and read and think it through over and over again, so it could make sense.

I made Erwin Smith's final test be a guessing game, because in the original story, no one figured out who was the Warhammer Titan before Eren attacked Marley. So, yeah. I chose Erwin to get the question right.

Now we can finally move on to the current plot.