Enemies of Humanity's Past

by Random Crossovers

Humans had always feared the Titans, but they begin to learn that they are nothing compared to what was coming. As Humanity learned more about its past, they begin to face the aftermath of an ancient war between humans and a species that could control massive monsters. Humanity must fix its broken pieces and fight alongside the Earth's remaining monsters to save their world.

15. Rebuilding of Humanity

Chapter 15: Rebuilding of Humanity

Through the Orvud District and out towards the land in the East, Miki patiently waits in a carriage where she mind controls the coachman to take her to the Reiss Chapel, which she begins to see in the distance. As the carriage stops in front of the entrance, Miki gets off the carriage and orders the coachman to return to Orvud. The carriage then leaves and Miki slowly approaches the front doors of the Reiss Chapel, keeping up her guard as she looks around her surroundings. Miki opens the doors and enters the building, seeing nothing out of the ordinary of a typical chapel. She progresses through the chapel and searches for a secret pathway into the crystalline cave. After searching nearly everything else she found in the chapel, Miki turns to face the altar, the last thing that she needed to inspect. As Miki walks all around the altar in hopes of a secret switch of some kind, she comes upon a rug on the floor behind the chapel, which gives her suspicions on its placement. Like she suspected, Miki lifts the rug and finds the entrance down to the crystal caverns, a stairway in which she slowly descends.

After a while, Miki reaches the bottom and walks through a hallway until she comes upon two doors that reveal the crystal cavern that she has been looking for. She looks around for any guards before heading deeper into the bright cave. Miki could sense Carla nearby as well as another figure that she believes to be Rod Reiss, which gave her a bit of relief since there were no guards around. Once she could see Carla behind a couple of crystal pillars, Miki hides behind one of them and peeks to see Carla sitting in a wheelchair with Rod Reiss standing in front of her. Hoping that Rod doesn't see her, Miki sneaks closer to the two people and plans on what she wants to do to save Carla. However, Miki notices that Carla and Rod were not saying anything to each other with Carla staring down at the ground with eyes full of despair. Rod was staring at Carla with his hands in his pocket, but his eyes showed calmness as if he was waiting for something to happen. It was an odd thing for Miki to see, but she decided that it was time for action.

Miki steps out from behind a pillar as Rod and Carla quickly notice her. Using her telekinesis, Miki moves Carla towards her, surprising both Rod and Carla. Just as Miki grabs a hold of the wheelchair, she turns to see Rod continuing to stand still before looking away from her and Carla. She wasn't sure what Rod was planning, but Miki used the chance to leave while no one else was around. However, Carla surprisingly tries to stop Miki, indicating that she wanted to stay.

Carla pleads with Miki, "Please, Miss, whoever you are, I need to stay ! I cannot leave here !"

"But you realize that I'm trying to save you from this man, right ?" Miki asks, "There's no reason for you to be here."

"I can't leave. Not until I see my son again."

"You will see your son again, but not here. He's safe, trust me."

"Trust you ?" Carla lowers her head, "Why should I even trust anyone anymore ? You come out of nowhere and expect me to instantly trust your words with no proof ?"

"I…uh…no, but you need to understand that-"

"Just take her," Rod speaks out to them, "I have no more use of Carla Jaeger, but if you want to take away her wish of seeing her son again before his inevitable death, then so be it."

Miki argues back against Rod, "Eren Jaeger is not going to die. If you think that you have a chance of capturing him, then you are sorely wrong."

"Maybe I am, but I certainly have high hopes. However, if you truly believe that I have already lost, then by all means, escort Mrs. Jaeger out of here."

Carla continues to beg Miki, "Please. I don't want to leave just yet. I want to know for sure."

Miki didn't know what to do as she looked at Carla and then back at Rod. Miki could feel that Rod was truly confident about getting Eren that she became unsure of what she believed in. To be truly sure about Eren's fate, Miki uses clairvoyance to search for him at Trost. Despite feeling relieved to see Serizawa and the others together with the Scouts, Miki was unable to find Eren anywhere at the Scouts' base. Feeling more and more anxious, Miki begins to fear the worst until she hears Carla gasp before leaving clairvoyance to see Carla with a horrified face.

"Eren ?!" Carla cries out as Miki turns around to see Kenny and his Squad carrying Eren and Historia.

Eren was seen bound by ropes and a cloth wrapped around his mouth, which causes Carla to push herself out of the wheelchair and crawl towards her son.

"Eren ! Eren ! Please let him go !" Carla says to Kenny and the other MP soldiers while continuing to crawl towards them until she reaches Eren, removing cloth around his mouth and waking him up.

"Eren ! Wake up ! I'm here ! I'm here !"

"Get her back on the wheelchair," Kenny orders his Squad members as two of them pick Carla up.

Eren slowly wakes up just in time to see Carla being dragged away by the two MP soldiers and begins to struggle himself free from his bonds.

"Mom ? Mom ! Let her go, you bastards !" Eren shouts as Kenny tries to cover his mouth again.

Miki, despite being outnumbered, couldn't stand to see Eren and Carla suffering anymore and confronts Kenny and his Squad.

Kenny finally notices her, assuming that she was just a staff member of the Chapel working for Rod, and asks, "What the hell do you want ?"

With no hesitation, Miki uses her psychic powers to push Kenny and everyone else away, except for Carla, Eren, and Historia. This action surprises them all as Kenny and his Squad quickly get up until Miki uses her powers again to carry Eren, Carla, and Historia away. Kenny and his Squad pursue Miki as she tries to run back to the stairway, but they quickly reach her with their 3DMG before firing a couple of rounds at her. Miki stops the bullets in their tracks before throwing them away with her powers and continues running, further impressing Kenny. Historia slowly wakes up and widens her eyes as she sees herself floating in the air, turning to see Eren and Carla experiencing the same thing. Approaching the stairway, Miki slowly lowers all three of them in order to fit through the stairs until Caven fires a couple of shots at Miki, forcing her to block the bullets again. However, Kenny quickly gets behind Miki and hits her in the head with the bottom of his gun, causing Eren, Carla, and Historia to fall on the ground. As Miki struggles to get back up, Kenny pins her down while his Squad goes to retrieve Eren, Carla, and Historia.

"Hell of a gift you got there. You wouldn't happen to know a couple of people in silver armor with crazy strength, do you ?" Kenny questions Miki, who doesn't give an answer, "I'll take that as a yes."

Kenny gets Miki off the ground and watches Carla crawl to Eren again. Caven grabs Carla and drags her back to the wheelchair as Eren gets picked up by MP soldiers. He then turns to see Rod approaching him and pats his shoulder before moving on to Historia, where he stands in front of her.

"F-father ?" She stutters, shocked to suddenly see her father for the first time in years.

"It's good to see you again, my daughter," Rod said as he hugged her, creating confusion towards Historia.

Historia becomes incredibly confused about her surroundings as the last thing she remembered was being in a cabin, but she quickly realizes that she and Eren had been captured before turning to look for him. Not acknowledging her father's embrace, Historia looks past him and watches Carla crying her heart out as she calls out to Eren, who became unconscious again as the MP soldiers used their tranquilizer darts. Compared to her relationship with her mother, Historia felt somewhat jealous of Eren's relationship with his mom. She could see how much Carla cares about Eren and wishes for something like that in her life. Since it could no longer happen, Historia could do nothing except watch as Carla gets taken away from her son, something that causes her to cry a little. However, Rod mistakens her tears for tears of joy and smiles, believing that Historia was happy to see him again.

Rod and Historia head deeper into the cave, along with everyone else, as Miki tries to use her powers to escape Kenny's grasp. Unfortunately, the hit on her head gave Miki a headache that prevented her from using her powers for the time being. Feeling useless at the moment, Miki realizes that her only hope was Serizawa and the others. Doing nothing except wait for their arrival, Miki becomes tied up and placed next to Carla, watching as Eren was placed upon a platform.

---

"Rod Reiss…is the Wall's true king ?!" Hange asks out loud as everyone else in the Scouts were just as surprised.

"Yes," Miyuki answers, "Ozaki stole documents and files from Mitras' directory, which happen to have letters that Rod sent to the Council. They clearly show that Rod was the true king when some of the Council members refer to him as 'My Lord' in some of the letters."

"So that's why Historia is involved in all of this. She's the heir to the throne," Levi concluded, "If what Four Eyes said is true, then that means Rod will turn his daughter into a Titan and have her eat Eren in order to get his power."

Ymir becomes distressed to hear that, knowing how it felt to be a Titan, and didn't want Historia to experience that same feeling. Mikasa and Armin also become distressed to know that Eren will die from a gruesome death if they do not save him in time.

"Hold on !" Jean grabs everyone's attention, "I know that Jaeger has the ability to turn into a Titan and all, as well as the ability to speak with Godzilla, but why him ? Ymir could practically do the same thing, but why is it that the King chose Jaeger instead ?"

"Maybe the King chose Eren for a reason," Ymir argues, "Whatever that reason must be, I think it's personal."

"What are you trying to say ?" Levi asks her.

"If obtaining the power of a Titan Shifter requires you to turn into a Titan and eat a person with that power, then who did Eren eat in order to gain his ?"

Everyone began wondering the same thing as they muttered among each other, but no one was able to reach a conclusion.

Hange rubs her chin as she gives a theory, "It's evident that Rod Reiss knows the truth of the Wall and the outside world, which means his family might have had the Power of the Titans, but lost it. Someone must have stolen it and gave it to Eren."

"Oh course !" Miyuki said as she pulls out a device, which catches Hange and everyone's attention, "There was something on Rod Reiss that we found at our headquarters aaanndd…"

As Miyuki scrolls through a gallery of images Ozaki took from his espionage, Hange and the others are awed by the technology and watch curiously until Miyuki stops at an image containing information on Rod.

"…here it is. Apparently, Rod had more family members other than just Historia. Most notably, his oldest daughter, Frieda Reiss. She was supposed to be the next heir, but unfortunately died by some kind of bandit attack at the Reiss Chapel."

"Or an attack by someone with the Power of the Titans," Levi speculated, "When exactly was the 'attack' on the Reiss Chapel ?"

"Um…" Miyuki zooms in on the date, "In the year 845, the day when the Colossal Titan attacked one of your Walls."

"Wait a minute," Armin said before turning to Mikasa, "Didn't Eren's dad disappear the next day ?"

"Yeah, he did. Eren and I thought that he was treating other people, but we learned that he was just…gone."

Everyone except for the EDF immediately reach the same conclusion and unanimously believe that Grisha was the one that gave Eren the ability to transform into a Titan. Serizawa and the other EDF members knew what they were thinking and they truly don't believe that Grisha was the one that gave Eren the Titan powers. In the end, the EDF had no choice but to accept this conclusion with the Scouts and continue working with them.

"So when should we get going ?" Levi asks the EDF members.

"We just contacted a friend of ours to come and pick us up. When he gets here, we'll head out immediately," Gordon replies.

"Let's hope this friend of yours can get us to Eren and Historia quickly."

As everyone waits for Muasaka's arrival, the EDF divides its members among the Scouts, either introducing themselves or introducing their skills and technology to their primitive allies. Hange hung out with Ozaki and Miyuki, following them around like a curious puppy and asking them questions about the Mutants and even Jet Jaguar.

"Why is he named 'Jet Jaguar' anyway ? What do those words even mean ?" Hange asks the couple.

"Well, from where we come from, 'Jet' refers to an air vehicle and 'Jaguar' is an animal from the cat family," Miyuki explains.

"It's really fucking confusing. I don't know what the inventor was thinking when he made Jet Jaguar," Ozaki said to Hange.

"Well, I think it's pretty unique. The inventor must have named him like that for a specific reason. You know, it kind of reminds me of myself. I like to give things unique names just like these two Titans that I once experimented on, Sonny and Bean. They were such a cool pair until…they sadly died at the hands of…" Hange stops and decides to change the subject, "You know, I would really like to see Jet Jaguar again. Do you mind if I take a look at him again ?"

"Uh…sure," Ozaki said as he heads over to pick up Jet Jaguar's remains and brings them over to Miyuki and Hange.

Hange begins to rub her hands through Jet Jaguar's exterior after Ozaki puts the Mech down on the floor. She then removes the ropes holding Jet Jaguar together and scatters the pieces all over the floor in order to better examine the parts. As Hange kneels on the floor, Miyuki kneels with her and pulls Ozaki down to kneel as well.

"So…" Hange places her hands together, "Can you guys explain some of these parts to me ? I'm quite confused on what they do."

"Sure thing, Ms. Zoe," Miyuki nods, "What do you want to know first ?"

Hange quickly points to the vertical bar holding the glowing liquid before Miyuki answers, "That's the energy source of Jet Jaguar's height altering ability. Once injected into this heart-like piece, the liquid transfers itself through these hydraulic tubes that expands through the entire body. Otherwise, Jet Jaguar won't be able to grow every part of himself."

"What's the energy source called and how did you guys obtain it ?"

"Well, it officially doesn't have a name and it was, in fact, artificially made by Goro Ibuki, the inventor. Of course, we don't know the reason for why he made the formula and Jet Jaguar, but we did manage to find Jet's schematics in our archives and well…that's basically how we made him."

"Wait, so the liquid formula doesn't have a name ?" Hange said as Miyuki was about to answer, but Hange becomes a bit excited, "Then, can I name it ?! Please please please please please please ?!"

"Uhh…okaay," Miyuki said.

"Okay ! I shall call it…" Hange scratches her head, "Variarium. The use of the word, 'Variable,' combined with 'ium' so that it sounds like a true element."

"Variarium. That name kinda sucks," Ozaki said honestly.

"Don't worry. It'll catch on."

"I doubt it," Ozaki muttered to himself until Miyuki softly hit him with her elbow.

"Anyways, when are we gonna fix him ?" Hange asks excitedly.

"Ms. Zoe, none of us here have the experience to repair something as sophisticated as Jet Jaguar. We need to bring him back to base in order to do so," Miyuki explains.

"Oh. I see. Then, I guess it can't be helped. If anything, I can learn some things at your base whenever we get there."

"Yeah, once we do what we gotta do," Ozaki said, "Unless you ladies got anything more interesting to talk about, I'm gonna head on over there."

Ozaki leaves as Miyuki and Hange decide to talk about Titans, in which Miyuki becomes overwhelmed at Hange's excessive research details. The Mutant heads over to a large area where Gordon was examining the 3DMGs and the Mutants were showing off their skills to Levi, Mike, their Squads, and most of the other Scouts.

Ozaki approaches Gordon and joins him in his examination of the 3DMG, asking him about what he learned so far, "Whatcha make of this, Gordon ? Pretty crazy, right ?"

"I'll say. Their blades are really thin. Did you know that they call this type of metal, 'Ultrahard Steel' ? Haha. Hard to believe that they named it like that, despite it being so brittle."

"We need the blade to be thin enough to slice through Titan flesh," Levi said as he and Mike approach the two, "It also helps out with reducing the weight when we carry a lot of those blades with us in order to effectively move in the air."

"Well, now that you're with us, you guys won't have to use these weak ass blades anymore," Ozaki declares, "We got guns that can blow the head of a Titan clean off of its body."

"I doubt that. We have cannons that are barely able to take down a Titan. What kind of ammunition do you guys even use ?"

"You'll see. In the meantime, I kinda want to try out this maneuvering gear."

"With the strength you have, it wouldn't make sense for you to use it," Mike says to Ozaki, "Your friends over there prove that your skills are enough to match our skills with the 3DMG."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I mean, we're already pretty good anyway, so…I guess there's no need to show off or anything like that."

"Oh, yeah ! Put it on and let's see who's better !" Oruo shouts as he and the rest of Squad Levi approach them, "We've used this gear for a lot longer than you Mutants ever did. Who's to say that you guys won't be landing on your asses while using this gear ?"

"Alright, tough guy, you want a race ?" Ozaki accepts Oruo's challenge, "I'll beat your ass."

"Gentlemen, as much as I want to see this race happen, you idiots know that you can't go outside and attract attention from the Military Police. Not yet," Gordon scolds them, "Maybe next time."

"Alright," Ozaki and Oruo said in unison.

As Ozaki and Gordon continued making small talk with Levi, Mike, and the Scouts, the sound of a ship was heard and the EDF went outside to see Muasaka standing on the ramp of his ship, which was landing in front of the Scouts' base. Everyone in the Scouts was amazed to see a flying vehicle for the first time and as the ship landed, Hange, along with most of the Scouts, immediately runs towards the ship and examines its entire exterior. Serizawa and the EDF members approach the ship as Muasaka and the pilots walk out of it.

"I can't believe that you all actually did it," Muasaka smiles as he watches the Scouts checking out the ship, "I guess it was about time that we did something for a change."

"Have you told the superiors about this yet ?" Gordon asks him.

"I have….and they approve," Muasaka answers, surprising Serizawa and the others in EDF, "Of course, they hesitated at first, but…it was Serizawa that changed their minds."

"How so, Muasaka ?" Miyuki asks.

"After I told them what you all told me earlier…they understood," Muasaka turns to Serizawa, "They remember your story and they too don't want us to be a secret to these people anymore. They told me that…if it weren't for you to expose your secret to the world, then we would have perished long ago."

"They said that ?" Serizawa couldn't believe it.

"Something like that. You've inspired them, Serizawa. You risked yourself for the benefit of humankind, and the leaders want to do the same. It was a hard decision, but they're okay with all of this."

Serizawa sighs, "It's just…it's hard for me to believe that they think of me like that after what happened."

"They obviously know that it wasn't your fault, Serizawa," Muasaka reassures him, "If anything, Grisha is the only person to blame."

"Speaking of Grisha, the Scouts seem to believe that he was eaten by his own son," Miyuki informs Muasaka.

"Why would they think that ?"

Ozaki answers, "You know how Eren Jaeger can turn into those Titans ? Apparently, you need to eat someone with that power in order to have that power yourself. They think that Eren ate his dad, who supposedly stole that power from the Wall King's family."

"Even though that sounds possible, I doubt Grisha would do something that resulted in his death. But these guys don't know that, do they ?" Muasaka crosses his arms.

"We didn't want to say anything about Grisha until we retrieved Eren and Carla from the King," Miyuki stated, "We thought it was best if they found out about him with everyone else."

Levi approaches the EDF members and interrupts them, "Hey. We need to get going. You mind showing us how to load our supplies onto your air vehicle ?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Ozaki says as he goes with Levi to help the Scouts load their cargo while Muasaka continues the conversation.

"Are you guys even ready to spill everything to these people ? I know it'll be hard for Eren and Carla Jaeger to accept the fact that Grisha was a manipulative and sadistic person."

"They have to know eventually, Muasaka," Serizawa said, "They need to."

The EDF members notice that the ship was out of room to carry more supplies, forcing Gordon to bring out the other ship. In the meantime, Levi decides to bring his Squad along to check on Dimo Reeves. Knowing that using him and his son as bait had failed in their plan to capture Sannes and Ralph, Levi wanted to be sure that Dimo Reeves and his son were okay so that Trost could still have support from the Reeves company. Until the Scouts were finished loading supplies, Levi and his Squad stood watch of Dimo and his son on top of a rooftop for the remainder of their time. However, Petra notices something on the ground and goes to pick up wanted posters of the Scouts before returning to her Squad. After seeing the wanted letters of the Scouts and the reason for their arrests, Levi and his Squad feared the worst until they turned to see Dimo Reeves announcing to the citizens of Trost about the MP's lies. His son, Flegel, also acted as a witness, supporting his father, and they both managed to convince Trost's citizens of the Scouts' innocence. Levi softly smiles and appreciates Dimo fulfilling his end of their deal before returning back to the base with his Squad, knowing that Dimo will be safe in the hands of the citizens.

At the same time, Hange was furiously sketching the design of the ships within her notes with extreme detail from the engines to the control panels. She annoys the pilots by constantly asking them about what the controls mean and what they do before moving on to the weapons that were stored on the ship. As Hange sketches them, she notices how the weapons were similar in design yet were shown to have different uses. She compares two weapons, one with multiple small barrels in a revolving mechanism and another with one large barrel that could be considered a small cannon. Hange decides to pick one of them up, but they were surprisingly heavy, causing her to accidentally drop one on the ship's floor. Ozaki saw her dropping the weapon and went to pick it up, easily lifting the weapon like nothing and placing it on the shelf. Hange gasps in awe at Ozaki's strength, still not over the fact of how strong he and the Mutants were. She then follows Ozaki and decides to measure his strength in her notes.

As Sasha was helping out with carrying supplies, she turned her attention to a bunch of bags hanging within one of the ships. She reads the words written on the bags, which says, "MRE", and wonders what they mean.

Sasha finds a Mutant soldier nearby and asks, "Excuse me, Miss, but what do these letters spell out ?"

"Oh, those are 'Meals Ready to Eat'. Would you like to try one ?"

"Meals ready to eat ? Yeah, sure !"

Sasha watches as the Mutant picks up one of the MRE bags and pulls out a shiny brown pouch. The Mutant and Sasha went over to a wooden box crate where the Mutant began to set up the MRE. The Mutant shows Sasha the various items that were in the pouch, such as spices, snacks, utensils, and even the main food item. They waited as the main dish was cooking through the use of boiling water and a heater found in the pouch until the Mutant opened up the main dish to reveal spaghetti noodles and meatballs. Sasha begins drooling over the food and becomes attracted to the smell.

As the Mutant hands Sasha a fork, she tells her, "You know, MREs aren't really that good, so I wouldn't be surprised if…"

The Mutant widens her eyes as she watches Sasha slurping down the noodles and chewing the meatballs while burning her mouth. After Sasha was finished, she drank a water bottle that the Mutant gave her before moving on to the snacks, which consisted of chips and crackers. The Mutant then begins to feel awkward as Sasha begins tearing up while smiling.

"Thank you for this delicious food, Miss ! And I also really appreciate you giving me the chance to experience your magic water heater !" Sasha thanks the Mutant.

"Of course, Kid. Glad that you liked it. Anything else that you want to try ?"

"Oooh ! Do you have any more meat dishes ?!"

As the Mutant gets dragged along with Sasha to show her more MREs, Squad Levi returns and informs everyone about the arrest on the Scouts. This creates worry among them as they wonder what was going to happen to Erwin at Mitras.

"Before we get to that chapel to save Eren and the others, I would like for us to make a stop at the Capital first in order to see our Commander," Hange suggested to Muasaka.

"We have two ships, Ms. Zoe. One of them can take you to the Capital while the other heads for the chapel," Muasaka informs her.

"Got it. Then I pick this ship," Hange said, pointing to Muasaka's ship, "Mostly because Jet Jaguar is on here and I want to take the time to study him further on our way to the Capital."

Hange quickly runs inside the ship's cabin, along with her Squad and half of the Scouts, while Muasaka and some of the Mutants enter the ship as well. As the pilots get to their seats and prepare the ship, Muasaka stands on the ramp and turns to the others outside.

"We'll see you all there ! If things go well at the Capital, we'll join by your side when the fighting starts !" Muasaka promises before heading into the ship as the ramp closes.

The engines on the ship begin to create wind pressure as it ascends into the sky. Hange looks through a window and looks down at Levi, Mike, and everyone else in the Scouts, seeing their reactions to the ship's takeoff. She waves at them, hoping that they see her until the ship starts to fly away into the sky. The rest of the Scouts continued staring at the ship until it started to look more like a small bird.

The intensity of the ride was a bit too much for some of the Scouts to handle as they became nauseous, or completely knocked out. Hange was the only one who was enjoying the ride as she could see the land moving quickly past her from outside the window. The ship proceeded to move more steadily and the Scouts were finally able to feel relief without throwing up. Hange sits back down on her seat while screaming happily, feeling excited at the ride until Muasaka announces to everyone.

"Alright, everyone ! We're at the Capital ! Prepare for landing !"

"Whaaat ?! That's it ?! That was a quick ride, though !" Hange complains to him.

"That's the point of our ships. To reduce the travel time from traditional methods. Other than that, how was your first experience ?"

"Short, but really exciting ! Looking out this window and seeing how fast we really were is insane ! So this is what it's like to fly like a bird !"

One of Hange's squad members, Lauda, speaks up, "It's one of the worst things I ever felt."

Some of the other Scouts nod their heads in agreement with Lauda while the rest actually enjoyed it like Hange.

"Well, you'll all get used to it," Muasaka says as he goes to the back of the ship and lowers the ramp. As the ramp lowers, Hange and the Scouts could see the top of Mitras' main building, wondering what Muasaka was planning.

"Since you all got an arrest warrant, I think it's best we get off the ship from the top of the location," Muasaka advises.

"Won't they see us ? It is a big vessel in the sky," Moblit wonders.

"You'll see. Ms. Zoe, I suggest you bring whoever you need to see your Commander while everyone else stays on the ship," Muasaka says as he exits the ship and lands on the roof of the building.

Hange gathers her Squad and they leave the ship, jumping onto the roof top before looking back to see that the ship has turned invisible. Once the ramp closes, the ship had just magically disappeared in the eyes of Hange and her Squad. They could still feel the wind from the engines until it eventually died down.

"Alright, let's get going to your Commander, Ms. Zoe. Do you mind showing me the way ?" Muasaka asks her.

"Sure thing," Hange says as she leads him and her Squad to Erwin's room, "By the way, can you explain to me real quick how your ship can turn invisible ?!"

Twenty-five minutes earlier

As Erwin sat in his room, waiting for the Council to make their decision on his fate, he looked out the window of his room to see wanted posters being put up on various structures. He could already tell that the wanted posters were for the Scouts and wondered what was currently happening to them. He hears a knock on his door and goes to open it, revealing Pixis on the other side. They both sat by a small table after Erwin closed the blinds to the window, hoping no one would see them conversing.

"Sorry that I'm late, Erwin," Pixis apologizes, "I would have gotten here sooner if it weren't so busy around here at Mitras. The Military Police certainly are busy trying to get you and the Scouts arrested."

"It's alright. As long as I'm able to tell you my plan before my inevitable execution."

"You must be really serious about overthrowing the government, then," Pixis softly chuckles, "Does this have something to do with the recent monster attack and the fact that there are Titans in the Walls ?"

"Something like that. If the government were to be taken down, then humanity would have the freedom to retake Wall Maria as well as discover the mystery of the outside world. I have devised a plan that I believe would not bring harm to anyone, as long as no conflict breaks out during its execution."

"Is that so ? I expected at least some deaths, but nevertheless, I'm quite impressed."

"Actually, there are some things that I require for the plan to work. Otherwise, the Scouts and I would definitely not live to see another day."

"I see. This is just another risk to be taken. So what exactly are we waiting for now ?"

"I was expecting some of my soldiers to deliver news to me, but it seems that they might have trouble with the Military by this point. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to take the time to tell you a story from my childhood."

"Very well. It's not like I have anything else to do."

Erwin then begins to explain his story as a youth to Pixis, explaining how he was a student within his father's class. The story eventually leads to the death of Erwin's father after he and Erwin conversed about the lies of the government, to which Erwin unknowingly attracts the attention of the MP and gets his father killed. Erwin even includes his father's theory about the King erasing the minds of the people in order for them to forget the outside world.

"My father died not only by the government, but by my own recklessness. For the rest of my life, I have always taken his theory seriously and vowed to prove it one day. I'm glad to say that in honor of my father, I have met someone that proves his theory and the idea of living humans outside of the Walls."

Pixis widens his eyes, "You met someone that could prove that ? Does this person happen to be from outside the Walls ?"

"Possibly so," Erwin replies as he tells Pixis about his encounter with Miki Saegusa and how she had unexplainable powers that allowed him and Levi to talk through their minds.

"A young woman ? She wouldn't happen to be quite a looker, huh ?" Pixis chuckles, "I'm kidding. Speaking of talking through minds, I would not have believed you if I didn't witness something like that with Eren Jaeger and Godzilla."

"I was not exactly sure what her purpose was, but she did tell me that she was looking for the truth like I was. Whether or not we are seeking the same thing, I'm confident that we'll see each other again when the time comes."

Erwin and Pixis pause their conversation as they hear noises above the ceiling. They wonder if it was the Scouts trying to sneak their way into the building. After a few minutes of waiting, Erwin and Pixis turn to see the door opened by Hange as she enters the room with her Squad. To their surprise, they see Muasaka enter the room, confused on who he was and what he was doing with Hange.

Hange walks up to Erwin and sighs deeply before informing him, "Commander, I regret to say that Eren and Historia have been captured."

"How did this happen ? Was it the people in silver armor ?"

"No, it was the Interior Police. The people in silver armor are actually our friends now and they took the time to show us some of their really unique gear and...," Hange babbles until she forgets to introduce Muasaka, "Oh, right. This person here works alongside the people in silver armor. They're also the ones that controlled the Metal Man, who's actually called Jet Jaguar, during the monster attack."

Muasaka proceeds to walk up to Erwin and Pixis, "Greetings, gentlemen. I am Muasaka from the Earth Defense Force."

"Earth Defense Force ?" Erwin and Pixis said in unison.

"We are a faction known for taking on giant monsters, such as the ones that attacked your Walls. We have remained in secret from you for many years, but we have decided to reveal ourselves before the arrival of a deadly threat."

"Oh, and I guess Titans and giant monsters aren't considered a deadly threat ?" Pixis says sarcastically.

"We had our reasons for keeping our identity a secret. Just like you have your reasons for overthrowing your government. The Titans and the Kaijus are merely obstacles towards our true goal."

"Which is what ?" Erwin asks as Muasaka was about to answer.

"To beat the people beyond the sky !" Hange interrupts them.

"People beyond the sky ? That's a first out of all the strange things I've heard," Pixis confesses, "And they've turned out to be true so far."

"So not only are there people beyond the Walls, there are also people above the sky. This is certainly a lot to take in," Erwin tells Muasaka.

"Don't think about it too much, Commander," Muasaka reassures him, "Our focus right now is to save Eren Jaeger, along with his mother and Historia Reiss."

"Tell me something," Pixis asks of Hange and Muasaka, "What will happen to Eren and the other people you mentioned ? Why did the Interior Police take them ?"

Muasaka turns to Hange, who explains to the two Commanders about the Wall's true king, Rod Reiss, using Carla in order to capture Eren while taking Historia in the process. After learning that Rod is the father of Historia and that she will be used as a way to gain Eren's power, Erwin and Pixis were shocked to hear that Eren will have to be eaten in order for the power to transfer over to Historia. Finally learning about the King's true identity, Erwin turns to Pixis and revises his plan.

"Commander Pixis, with this information, we can use it to our advantage in taking down the government."

"How exactly ?" Pixis said with his eyebrow raised.

"By giving the throne over to Historia Reiss, a person with true royal blood and the rightful heir to the throne. Once we rescue her, Eren, and Carla Jaeger, of course."

Everyone, except for Muasaka, were surprised to hear Erwin's plan since they did not expect him to suggest making Historia the new ruler of the Walls. As Pixis continues thinking about participating in the plan, Erwin continues and elaborates.

"By putting this plan into action in front of other people, we will show them how corrupt the government is. All while no blood will be shed as well as any violence breaking out."

Seeing that the situation has become more than just overthrowing the government, Pixis fully decides to take a part in Erwin's plan.

"Well, Erwin, I guess I'm joining in on your gamble as well."

Erwin nods before turning to Muasaka, "I appreciate you bringing all of this information with my soldiers. If this plan becomes a success, I look forward to working with your faction in the near future."

"Let's start right now," Muasaka said to Erwin before turning to Hange, "Go and head back up to the roof and get back onto the ship. I'll stay here with your Commander and help him out with his plan."

"Are you sure ?" Hange asks, "Don't you need to be up there to order your soldiers around ?"

"No need. I can just contact them," Muasaka said as he pulled out his radio, "This is M-Leader calling out to Pilots 02 and 03. Over."

"Pilot 02 responding, M-Leader. Flying back around towards the rooftop. Over."

"WHHHAAATT ?!" Hange screams in excitement, "Did you just talk to them through this tiny box ?! Let me try !"

"Focus, Ms. Zoe ! You can try this out later once we save the captives !" Muasaka pleaded as he pushed back against Hange.

"Fine ! I'll have lots of time to try out all of your gears later, anyway ! Let's go, everyone, we have no time to lose !" Hange tells her Squad as she leaves the room with them.

Muasaka turns to the two Commanders and suggests to them, "I have a feeling that your plan might require someone from outside of the Walls. Just to show others that people like me exist."

"There is someone that I wish for you to meet. He also happens to be the person to decide whether this plan should take place or not," Pixis tells Muasaka, "I shall take you to him and you can inform him of what you know."

"Very well," Muasaka complies before turning to Erwin, "I'll be taking my leave now, Commander. It was an honor to meet you."

"Before you go, I have a question to ask," Erwin said as Muasaka listened closely, "Are you familiar with a young woman named Miki Saegusa ?"

"I am. Though, I'm curious as to how you know that name ?"

"She came to me and requested that I send a message to my soldiers through my mind. Ms. Saegusa displayed an ability that I've only learned is possible between Eren Jaeger and Godzilla. What sort of person is she ?"

"Miki Saegusa is a superhuman known as a Psychic. From where I come from, humans with abnormal levels of strength, speed, and reflexes are classified as Mutants while people like Ms. Saegusa have enhanced minds that allow them to do things without even moving their hands."

"So she can do more than just speak through her mind ? Fascinating," Erwin said with great interest.

Pixis pats Erwin's shoulder, "Well, unless you need anything else, Erwin, we'll take our leave."

Pixis, along with Muasaka, leave Erwin's room and head outside of the building. Erwin watches them get onto a carriage as they take off in a certain direction. A few minutes later, Erwin hears his door open and he turns to see Nile and a couple of MP soldiers enter his room. As Erwin gets up from a chair, Nile walks up to the Survey Corps Commander.

"It's time, Erwin. The Council requests your presence as well as determining both the disbandment of the Scouts and your fate."

Erwin follows Nile and his soldiers as he is escorted towards the throne room. As they were walking, Erwin walks next to Nile and whispers to him, "How's your family doing, Nile ?"

Not expecting Erwin to ask something like that, Nile decides to answer him anyway, "Marie and the children are doing well. Though, the recent attack by those monsters made me believe that they should live elsewhere."

"Where does your family live again ? In the Stohess District ?"

"No, they reside in Karanes. However, it's been a while since I've been home. I have to ask, but...why are you suddenly asking me about these subjects ?"

"I've met people from beyond the Walls and I entrusted one of them and Commander Pixis with something. Once the time comes, I will only be able to watch, but you and the others will have to decide on what to do."

Nile was surprised to hear that Erwin had met someone from beyond the Walls, but wasn't sure if it was true or not. Regardless, Nile decides to listen to Erwin's words and keeps an eye out for what he has planned, despite not fully trusting Erwin. As they reach the throne room, Erwin looks forward and sees the Council standing next to the false king as the doors behind him close.

---

Sitting across from each other, Miki watches Carla staring hopelessly at Eren, who was chained up on the platform while Kenny and his Squad were keeping watch. Still unable to use her powers, Miki decides to resort to her military training that she learned in the EDF. Successfully removing the rope knot around her hands, Miki looks around for nearby guards and sneaks over to Carla, removing her bonds as well.

"What're you doing ?" Carla asks Miki, "You'll get caught."

"It's as I said earlier, Mrs. Jaeger. I'm here to save you. Even your son and that other girl they captured."

"Please...get away from me," Carla begged, surprising Miki as she stopped untying her.

"Mrs. Jaeger, I really insist that…"

"No. I don't want to be saved. I just want to see my son one last time. Can't you see that they already have him ?! Not to mention your failed attempt earlier !" Carla raises her voice, accidentally catching Kenny's attention.

"That's why I'm not the only one. There are others on their way right now coming to pick us up. Even Serizawa."

"Serizawa ? So you're with him." Carla heavily sighs, "Who even are you people ? What is it that you want ?"

"I'm Miki Saegusa and I really think that we should talk more about this later. I know you're stressed out about everything that's going on, but you should have some hope that you and your son will escape."

As Carla tries to consider her advice, Kenny suddenly appears in front of the two women, "That's an optimistic thing to say in this situation, Miss. Though, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere."

Pointing both of his guns at them, Kenny threatens Miki, "You better get back to your spot, otherwise, you both are gonna be full of lead. And don't think that I won't shoot you because there's no need for you two anymore."

Miki steps away and slowly raises her hands, but Kenny quickly tells her, "Now hold on. I'm a bit curious about something. How come you aren't using those powers of yours to stop me ?"

"Why should I tell you ? Just because you're holding a gun towards me ?"

Kenny chuckles as he puts the guns away and casually walks over to Miki, pulling out another rope and tying her up again before escorting Miki back to her spot. Curious about her psychic powers, Kenny decides to question her in hopes of gaining new knowledge about it.

"I've been wondering. Before I met this one cocky guy with super strength, I didn't think that there was more than one way to achieve power. Of course, there are ways, but not all of them can lead to true power like I have witnessed. After meeting that guy and then you, with your hand thingy, it made me realize that there are other powers in this world that I have not yet discovered. So how is it that you've managed to obtain such power ?"

Miki notices that Kenny has his hand on his gun and decides to answer honestly, "If you're thinking about obtaining it yourself, then forget it. You have to be born with this power."

Kenny looks into Miki's eyes and knows that she was telling the truth, disappointed to know that he can't achieve the same power as her, "Hmm...I was afraid of that, but it was worth a shot. I'm guessing that other guy must have been born with his power too."

"If you're referring to the guy in black and silver clothing, then yes. If you want power so bad, then it wouldn't make sense for you to work for Rod Reiss."

"No, it doesn't," Kenny moves his hand away from his gun and looks around before turning to both Carla and Miki, "In exchange for answering my question, I guess I'll let you two in on a little secret. I'm only following Rod's orders so that I can obtain Eren's powers for myself."

Both Miki and Carla were surprised to hear Kenny's true intentions, but he continues, "I would take the power from your son if I could, but there's really no other way except to eat him as a Titan."

"Please, just spare my son. If you're not truly working for Rod, then at least help us and you can take my son's powers without harming him," Carla begs Kenny, "We may not know each other, but at least have some decency to consider helping others."

"Why should I help others ? It's not very fun at all. I'm only helping Rod just to get what I want. Even if I wanted to help you and your son, there's no reason for me to do so."

As Kenny and Carla were talking, Miki could feel her powers coming back recovering from the headache. However, she decides to hear their thoughts and wonders what the outcome of their conversation would be.

Carla continues, "Don't you have anybody that you care about in life ? From what I've heard, you may be a killer, but there should be someone that you love or cherished at least once in your life. Maybe you don't have to save my son and I for our sake, but you could honor your loved ones by doing so. If we were them, then you surely would have saved them in a heartbeat."

"And what makes you think that I ever cared about anyone ?" Kenny said, but Miki immediately knew that it was a lie as she could see images of people in Kenny's life.

As she searches deeper into his mind, going past memories of his killings and sadistic tortures, Miki could see a few people in his life that he holds dear in his heart. The people she found in his mind were his grandfather, his sister, Kuchel, and Rod's brother, Uri. Out of the three people, Miki could sense that Uri was the only one that Kenny felt closest to and admired greatly. After seeing in Kenny's memories of how Uri's niece, Frieda, took the Power of the Titans from her uncle, she learns that Kenny witnessed Frieda becoming exactly like Uri. Miki could tell that Kenny's motivation to gain power was mainly because of his desire to become more compassionate and peaceful like Uri since both him and Frieda turned out that way. Hopefully using that information to her advantage, Miki decides to influence Kenny's thoughts into letting her and Carla free as well as saving both Eren and Historia.

"You do care about someone. Even a few people," Miki says to Kenny, causing him to turn to her. Carla was also wondering what Miki was trying to do and listened.

"You do know that you don't have to be exactly like Uri in order to change, right ?" Miki asks, shocking Kenny as he slowly hardens his fists.

"How the hell do you know that name ? And what do you mean that I don't have to be like him to change ?"

"Kenny. You spent your life killing people, whether it was for fun or to protect someone like your grandfather, but you shouldn't have to use an excuse like gaining power in order to change yourself for the better. It's a choice."

Kenny begins to raise his voice, "Why are you acting like you fucking know me, huh ?! How do you know that I can just simply change myself to be like Uri ?! I can't see the entire world in his own perspective without getting the power that he wields ! I don't know how he sees it, so how can I see like him without getting his power ?!"

"Surely, your experience and relationship with Uri is enough for you to understand that just being in the presence of people like him can change others, even you. I can tell that despite retaining your killing nature, you've changed the reason you kill so that you can achieve peace like Uri did."

"A killer like me just doesn't change so easily, Lady ! For all you know, I might never become the kind of person you think I am ! I kill because it's fun ! Don't you understand that ?!"

"That was in the past, Kenny. When you first felt unexplainable power in your childhood and began killing Military Police soldiers. However, you've slowly changed as the years went by, but you refused to follow a better path and continue your killing behavior. Like how you protected your grandfather, raised your nephew after your sister's death, and even became friends with Uri. You had chances in your life to change, but you either never saw it as fun or felt unworthy, so you discard it."

"Well…it's true, ain't it ?! How can scum like me…ever be worthy of anything unless we take it by force ?! " Kenny was slowly tearing up, but he managed to hold them back before continuing, "I could never become a perfect parent for my nephew, just as I can never be a kind man like Uri. How can I be anything else other than a killer ?!"

"By enjoying the more simple things in life, Mr. Kenny," Carla tells him, "You need to stop thinking that you need to be special like the person you admire."

"Enjoy the simple things ? Stop thinking that you're special ? What a load of bullshit. Am I supposed to believe that doing something as stupid as that could help me change ?"

"Actually, Kenny, wouldn't that be something that Uri would do ?" Miki questions him.

Kenny didn't know what Miki was trying to say, but he decided to analyze more of Carla's words. As Kenny remembers his entire relationship with Uri from their first encounter to their time at a lake, he realizes that Carla might be right about not needing to be special and enjoying the simple things. Kenny recalls when Uri bowed down to him, wondering why the King of the Walls would do something like that for a person like him, but sees that Uri doesn't actually see himself as someone special. In the time when he was with Uri at a lake, Kenny also realizes that despite talking about creating a paradise for humans, Uri took the time to enjoy looking at the beauty of the lake as his death draws near. Carla's idea of not being special surprises Kenny as it perfectly applies to someone like Uri, who never once acted like someone of importance. However, Kenny wasn't sure if he could ever have that kind of mindset and still continues to see himself as a lowly being.

"You know, I actually have to admit that you ladies really got me," Kenny calmly confesses, "But I'm still not gonna budge, despite how good of an attempt you did. I'm going to get that power no matter what and once I see the world as Uri did, then I'll decide whether I want to change or not."

Kenny quickly leaves Miki and Carla before concealing himself behind a pillar. He takes his hat and covers his face, so that no one could see him letting bits of tears out. For the first time in his life, Kenny actually felt regret in some of his actions, such as abandoning Levi and kidnapping Carla Jaeger. He begins to have a headache as he rubs the top of his head, unaware that Miki had compromised his mind during their conversation. Kenny puts his hat back on before turning back to see Carla and Miki. For some weird reason, Kenny actually begins to see a bit of semblance between Carla and Kuchel. He wasn't sure if this was life giving him a second chance to right his wrongs by helping Carla and the others, but Kenny refused to believe it. Rubbing his eyes, Kenny looks back at Carla and suddenly sees Kuchel in her place, staring right back at him. Kenny shakes his head and leaves, returning to his Squad. Miki watches him leave, smiling at the fact that she created an illusion of Kuchel in order to further influence Kenny's mind. Miki leans against the pillar and waits for the opportunity for Kenny to betray Rod so that she can push Kenny past his breaking point and fully convince him to change sides.

"I guess we weren't able to convince him to help us," Carla said sadly, "Although, I was surprised at how much knowledge you possess about Mr. Kenny."

"It's just one of my specialty, Mrs. Jaeger, but I have a feeling that Kenny will learn to change. Just not right now."

"If you say so, Ms. Saegusa," Carla said while sighing, "I can't actually believe that I'm putting all of my hope on a killer."

"Not just him, but Serizawa and the others as well. If they can get here in time."

Carla and Miki continue waiting as they turn to watch Kenny and his Squad setting up defenses before turning to see Rod and Historia appear from the stairwell, with Historia now wearing a white dress. They both became a bit more anxious as time was slowly running out and there has yet to be any signs of rescue. Miki decides to use her powers once more to see how everyone is doing and their progress.

---

Within the throne room of the main building in Mitras, Erwin was currently defending the Scouts and how they were not traitors to humanity towards the Council. Erwin also explains how the recent monsters were not summoned by Eren Jaeger, but by another unknown group. The Council and the rest of the Military leaders obviously don't believe Erwin's words about another faction that could summon monsters, but Pixis was the only one that thought otherwise after meeting Muasaka. Despite trying to convince the Council, Erwin expects his attempts to fail and waits for the plan to commence as he listens to the Council giving him his sentence.

Aurille, after discussing with the other Council members, faces towards Erwin and the Military leaders and declares to them, "Erwin Smith, since you have betrayed humanity by summoning giant monsters using the abilities of Eren Jaeger in order to avoid handing him over to the Government as you were told, you have violated the Sixth Clause of the Charter of Humanity. Because of this violation, we have decided to sentence you to death and we will carry out your execution immediately. Take him away !"

One of the soldiers standing in the back grabs Erwin and begins to escort him out of the room. However, Nile was shocked to see that Erwin was not protesting or doing anything in order to free himself. In his thoughts, Nile felt like yelling at Erwin for simply accepting his fate, knowing that he would not have done anything like this. Nile becomes even more shocked to see Erwin smiling, wondering what was going on through his head. Just as the soldier takes Erwin to the door, another soldier bursts into the room, catching everyone's attention as she was catching her breath.

The soldier turns to everyone and loudly shouts to them while saluting, "There is a breach in Wall Rose ! Reports of new monsters have appeared in Karanes District ! Refugees are currently on their way here !"

As the Council members are shocked to hear the news, Pixis immediately orders the soldier, "Gather all the Garrison soldiers and lead them towards the East ! Create an effective path for the refugees to follow and safely defend them until they get here ! Our main priority is to ensure that everyone gets here !"

As Pixis' troops all saluted their Commander, Aurille quickly spoke out, "No ! Shut the gates to Wall Sina ! Do not allow anyone to enter !"

With everyone stunned to hear Aurille saying that, Nile was perhaps the only one that was the most shocked since Karanes was the district that his family lives in.

He argues back against Aurille, "That's basically every citizen in the District. Even the other Wall Rose Districts will succumb to the monster attacks. You really want us to do nothing and let more of humanity die ?!"

"If more people were to enter the Inner Walls, we would incite a civil war over resources, which would mean our control over the people would be lost ! We would kill ourselves before those monsters ever get to the rest of us !"

Gerald stands up and adds, "Don't forget that Ehrmich has suffered from the previous attack and dwindled our resources. We will not be able to feed every mouth if the citizens of Wall Rose enter Wall Sina."

Nile becomes upset to know that he could not go against their command, but he notices Pixis turning towards the soldier that brought the news and sends her a signal, causing him to be curious as the soldier leaves. He then turns to see the Council huddling together and discussing something in secret, making him even more suspicious of them.

"Let's just hurry and close the damn gates !" One of Nile's soldiers cried out while others began to agree.

However, Nile quickly tells them, "Hold on just a minute !"

Nile begins to think about what he wants to do. Believing his family to be in imminent danger, Nile decides to choose them rather than follow the Council's commands. He turns back to the Council as they turn to see him, ready to defy their rule.

"Why are you just standing there ?! Hurry up and shut the gates !" Aurille shouts at Nile.

"No !" Nile argues, surprising everyone, "I have a family that lives in Wall Rose and I will not allow anyone to prevent them from getting to safety !"

"Nile ! You dare to commit treason ?!"

"I agree with Nile. What a foolish attempt to separate a man and his family," Darius Zackly said as he entered the throne room with Muasaka and several soldiers, causing everyone to turn to see them.

The soldiers, armed with weapons, aimed their guns at the Council as Darius and Muasaka approached the Council.

Pixis walks up to them and asks Darius, "Was their reaction to the attack like you expected ?"

"Yes. Just like that."

"And what about you, Muasaka ? Your thoughts ?" Pixis asks him.

"They are more cruel than I anticipated, but it's something that I expected of cowards like them."

"What's going on here, Zackly ?! Who is this man ?!" Aurille questions him.

"What's going on is that the news you've heard is nothing more than a false report. There are currently no monsters, or Titans, rampaging in Wall Rose," Darius explains, "As for this man, well…I believe he should inform you of his identity."

Everyone turns to Muasaka as he introduces himself to them, "My name is Muasaka. For those of you who are curious of who I am, then you may consider me a human from beyond the Walls."

This causes everyone to become astounded to meet someone from outside of the Walls for the first time, muttering among themselves about Muasaka's clothing and odd looking gear. However, the Council were anxious about the existence of humans outside of the Walls being revealed and realized that they are losing control.

"Lies ! There's no possible way for this person to be from outside of the Walls ! What is the meaning of this act ?!" Aurille shouts once again.

"If you want to know whose idea this was, then you should know that I was the one that came up with it."

"Pixis ?!"

"Do you recall how I said that the Garrison does not support the Scouts, well…I never said that the Garrison supports you either," Pixis stated, causing the Council to gasp, "I was just as worried as Erwin, but I would've disregarded it if you were to make make the right decisions since you've possess greater knowledge about the Titans than most of us do. However, seeing as how you don't give a damn about the people, it's pretty obvious where your priorities lie. I believe that with the help of Muasaka and his faction, the Earth Defense Force, we can save more people than you ever can."

"You fool ! What makes you think that working alongside this man and his group can convince the citizens to listen to you ?! We will not accept this kind of behavior !"

"You think that this is some kind of threat ? Just for your information, this is nothing more than a coup d'etat !"

The soldier that brought the news returns and informs Darius, "The Interior Police has been taken down. They are currently being restrained."

Knowing that their only aid has been stopped, the Council becomes stunned as Darius turns to them, "As you can see, soldiers are usually loyal to their officers rather than royalty."

"Even if that so-called royalty is nothing but a fake. I think that it's best if we had a new ruler of our own," Pixis included.

Desperate, Aurille tries to continue arguing back against them, but Muasaka quickly intervenes, "Just so you all know, if there were a monster attack, then there would be nothing left. You were lucky the first time because of my organization's interference."

"Not only that, but you would have violated the Sixth Clause of the Charter of Humanity by preventing the refugees from entering the Inner Walls for safety. The same thing goes for the false king that you use in order to control the public, which I believe should mean death for all of you," Erwin adds, further creating anxiety among the Council.

After debating against Erwin and the others as best as they could, the Council realizes that their scheme has unfortunately reached its end. Aurille kicks the Fake King and apparently wakes him up from a nap. Eventually, the Military leaders apprehend the Council and the Fake King before releasing Erwin from his chains. Seeing that Erwin was still smiling from the success of the coup d'etat, Nile couldn't help but smile along, believing that the Walls might actually be in safer hands. Everyone then turns their attentions towards Muasaka, who takes out his radio and calls the pilots of his ship.

"Pilots 02 and 03, inform Ms. Zoe that the coup d'etat is a success. The Council has been detained. Over."

As Muasaka expected the pilots to reply, he was surprised to hear Hange's voice, "Really ?! That's great news ! That means we don't have to worry about being arrested anymore !"

Almost everyone in the room, except for Erwin and Pixis, were amazed by the radio after hearing Hange's radio emanating from the device.

""Ms. Zoe. What's your progress so far ? Have you reached the chapel with the others ?"

"Yup ! Everyone's here and accounted for. We're right in front of the chapel as we speak. Um…over….. Hehe. This is so cool ! I can't believe you guys are actually able to create far distance communication ! This would make our expeditions so much easier and…" Hange babbles on, not realizing that she was still talking through the radio.

"Ms. Zoe, you can let go of the button now," Muasaka says over the radio, startling Hange from the other side.

"Ah ! Oh ! Sorry !" Hange said as she finally ended the connection.

Muasaka then puts his radio away and turns towards the Military leaders, specifically walking up to Erwin and Nile while Darius and Pixis stand on the side.

"While my troops are currently rescuing the captives with the Scouts, I'll speak with my superiors and request that they finally meet you all face to face after everything has been dealt with. I think that it's best if we begin cooperating and exchanging information as well as resources and technology," Muasaka stated.

"I must say," Pixis tells Muasaka, "I'm quite curious to see what kind of people your leaders are."

"I don't expect you to trust my opinion, but believe me when I say that my leaders are capable. It's just that they've been through a lot of stress trying to keep our organization hidden from our enemy."

"Your enemy ?" Nile asks.

"My leaders as well as my allies will elaborate more on that. I, however, have limited knowledge due to certain circumstances," Muasaka confesses.

"I believe there's nothing else to do except wait for the Scouts and your troops to return. Hopefully, with successful results," Darius stated, "In the meantime, we should undo the damage that the Council has done. Starting with taking down the gallows."

"Why don't you join us, Muasaka ?" Erwin offers him, "It should keep you busy while your soldiers work on their mission with the Scouts."

"Very well. The least I can do is assist you all," Muasaka said as he followed Erwin, Nile, Pixis, and Darius out of the throne room.

As Muasaka and the Military leaders leave the building, they begin the process of exposing the Council's actions to the public while clearing the Scouts' name. They try their best to reassure the citizens that there would be no military rule and declare that a person from the true Royal family would take the throne. As Muasaka was watching Erwin and the Military leaders deal with the public, he looks up and notices the ship carrying Serizawa and the others flying above the District. Erwin and the other leaders begin to notice the ship one by one, but they disregarded it as a small bird.

---

Within the ship, Serizawa and Miyuki sat across Squad Levi while the recruits looked out the windows of the ship to see the landscape below. Before they had finished packing their gear and any other necessary items for the rescue operation, Ness had decided to stay behind with several other Scouts in order to look after the horses, despite wanting to try riding the ship. As they begin flying over the Orvud District, Gordon and Ozaki begin finding the chapel using a topographic map on a monitor, which piqued some of the Scout's interest, notably Thomas. He heads into the cockpit of the ship next to Gordon and Ozaki and looks at the map until Ozaki asks him to help search for the chapel, despite his inexperience.

In the meantime, Mikasa stops looking outside of the window and turns to Serizawa. Ever since she learns of his true identity and where he came from, Mikasa has had thoughts and questions about him specifically. She walks over to Serizawa and sits down next to him, catching his and Miyuki's attention.

Mikasa looks at Serizawa with a serious face and says to him, "Mr. Serizawa, I've been wondering about something and….I wanted to know if Mr. Shadis has been secretly working with the Earth Defense Force all of this time."

Serizawa replies, "No, he doesn't work for us. He really did request someone to look after Carla, but I pretended to be that person and sent him home. Till this day, Keith Shadis might still believe that person is still looking after Carla."

"I see," Mikasa said before thinking of another question, "So did you not really care for her since looking after her was your mission ?"

Serizawa confesses, "At first…I felt pity for her and….I actually didn't think that I was going to spend so much time with her. Eventually, she became a really good friend. We used to talk so much about each other, like how she met Eren's father and how I got into my profession. Granted, I did lie about some things about myself, but…I really did care about her."

"I'm happy to hear that," Mikasa says to him, "It's nice to know that you've put a lot of effort into taking care of her. It's a shame that you couldn't protect Mom by yourself."

Gathering the courage to tell Mikasa the truth, Serizawa hesitantly tells her, "Actually, Mikasa, I wasn't even there to protect her."

"Hm ? What are you saying ?"

"I left. I left Carla alone and she got taken away because I abandoned her."

Mikasa widens her eyes and just as she begins to get upset, she calms and decides to let Serizawa continue, hoping to know why he had left Carla.

"My mission was to get information about Grisha from her. However, since she knows nothing about where he is or his secrets, my leaders believed that she was no longer of any use to us. I tried to object, but it was too late since they sent people to pick me up. Once Carla found out about me, she told me to leave. I tried to explain everything to her, but she refused to listen. Ever since then, I don't think that she'll forgive me for leaving her."

Mikasa calms down after hearing his explanation and turns to Miyuki, who nods at her, showing that Serizawa was indeed telling the truth. Armin, who was eavesdropping on the conversation, didn't want to blame Serizawa either and believes that it wasn't his fault that he left. He heads over to them and sits down next to Mikasa before turning to Serizawa.

"I don't really think that Mrs. Jaeger will do something like that. Especially to someone like you," Armin said as Serizawa and Mikasa turned their attention to him, "You're taking the chance right now to go and save her, Eren, and Historia. If anything, Mrs. Jaeger will revoke her initial thoughts."

"How can you be so sure, Armin ?" Serizawa asks him.

"I can tell that Mrs. Jaeger has always waited for certain people in her life. Mainly Mr. Jaeger and Eren. Mr. Jaeger never came back because…you know. And Eren is usually separated from her by force. Even if she might be angry or not, I know that she's always waiting for them no matter what. Besides Mikasa and I, you're the only other person that she would wait for as well."

"So you believe that she is waiting for me ? That she still has hope that I will come ?"

"Yes, even if it seems unlikely."

Serizawa's belief that Carla hated him slowly dwindled, but remained as he didn't fully trust the chances of Carla waiting for him. Nevertheless, he appreciated Armin for trying to reassure him.

"Hey ! I found it ! I found it, you guys !" Thomas shouts to everyone as they look out the windows to see that they are landing.

As Serizawa goes to lower the ramp, the Scouts look to see the other ship parked in front of them with Hange waving both of her hands in the air. They all leave the ship as they regrouped with Hange, the other group of Scouts, and the Mutants. Everyone turns to face the chapel before dividing their entire team into groups. One to search inside the chapel, one to bring out the gear and other items from the two ships, and the last group to devise a strategy for the upcoming fight.

Levi and his Squad started their investigation on the chapel and searched every inch of the building until they found the secret stairway behind the altar. As they descend down the flights of stairs, Levi and his Squad reach the crystal cavern. They peer through the doorway leading into the cavern and manage to spot the Interior Police setting up defenses on the pillars. Although there was no sign of the captives, Levi concludes that they must be deeper inside the cavern. Levi and his Squad retreat and regroup with the others outside of the chapel, helping out with the gear until the time was right.

As the recruits work on carrying their 3DMGs out of the ship, they all turn to watch the Mutants test out their own weapons. The ones with multiple barrels and the ones with the large one. Curious, they watch the Mutants load ammo into the weapons and use them on a couple of trees in the distance. Eventually, most of the Scouts begin to watch as well since they were also curious of how effective the weapons are. As one of the Mutants puts the large barrel gun on her shoulders, a click is heard as she pulls the trigger and a large burst of fire comes out of the barrel. One of the trees in the distance then explodes and creates a windy shockwave that startles the Scouts as it passes them. The Mutant holding the weapon shakes her head to her allies standing next to her and picks up the multi-barrel gun. Worried that it would create another shockwave, some of the Scouts hid behind several objects. The Mutant loads the ammo and begins to fire the gun, which causes the barrels to rapidly spin. The gun then releases several orbs of light that destroy the rest of the trees in the distance while creating another shockwave. The Mutant shakes her head again and tells the other Mutants that the problem was that the guns were too explosive and that they should keep them for the Kaijus. As the Mutants put the guns away, the Scouts were so stunned that they could barely comprehend what they just witnessed. Hange was even shocked to see the immense power of the weapons and believes that it was the reason for their heaviness, concluding that it's best that the Mutants would be the only ones to wield them. The Scouts eventually snapped out of their shocked expressions and returned to work.

Afterwards, Ozaki, Armin, Hange, and her Squad devised a few strategies on how to handle Kenny and his Squad. The most obvious strategy that Hange and Ozaki come up with is using the Mutants to take down Kenny and the Interior Police, but Armin argues that they might think of that as well and believes that the Scouts should handle the Interior Police while the Mutants rescue the captives. It was a reasonable plan that they both agreed, despite Hange wanting to see the Mutants in action since she had missed it the first time. However, they all pointed out that the number of Interior Police was unknown and there could be ambushes if one person wasn't accounted for. With no way of knowing how many people they were going to deal with, Ozaki, Armin, and Hange kept on revising their strategy.

In the crystal cavern, Miki was watching everything take place using clairvoyance. Seeing that everyone was having trouble with planning, Miki decides to help out and increases the range of her clairvoyance so that she could see the entire cavern and the number of people present. After memorizing everything she saw, Miki begins to contact Ozaki through telepathy.

"Ozaki ! Can you hear me ?" Miki calls out to him.

"Yeah, what's up ?" Ozaki asks, "Did something happen ?"

"Yeah, uh…I managed to get myself caught. Carla Jaeger is right next to me and Eren is chained up on top of a platform. Things aren't looking so good, though. I think they're going to kill Eren soon."

"Don't worry, Miki, we're all right outside of the chapel. We're preparing to head in as soon as we figure out how many soldiers we're gonna fight against."

"Maybe I can help with that. I just need to borrow your mind for a bit, if you don't mind."

"Whatever you need to do," Ozaki says as he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.

Hange, Armin and the others pause their actions as they turn to see Ozaki standing still with his eyes closed, wondering what he was doing. Continuing to keep his eyes closed, Ozaki grabs a pencil and paper before rapidly sketching an image, displaying certain symbols on various parts of the drawing. After Ozaki is finished, he opens his eyes and turns the image around to show everyone. Hange, Armin, and the others begin to realize that the image turned out to be the map of the cavern, along with locations of where the Interior Police were guarding. Another noticeable symbol on the drawing was shown to be the exact location of where Eren and the others were kept, which proved to be essential to their planning.

"Whoa ! How did you even know where everything is ?!" Hange asks Ozaki with enthusiasm, "Can you see the future ?!"

"What ? No. One of our members just happens to be captured alongside our VIPs and she's a psychic, so…yeah," Ozaki didn't know how to explain it to the Scouts.

"Psssyyy….chic ?" Hange scratches her head as she looks to Armin and the others, hoping they would know what the term means.

Ozaki rubs his temple, "Right, I keep forgetting. So like…a psychic is a person with mind powers like they can speak to people through their minds without opening their mouths and stuff."

"Hmmm…Oh ! Just like how Eren and Godzilla can speak to each other through their minds," Hange suggested.

"No, not like….wait, Eren can speak with Godzilla ?"

"Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes. Eren told Godzilla to do something and he did it. You're saying that there's someone else just like him ?"

"Uhhh…excuse me for a bit," Ozaki says as he leaves and heads over to Miyuki, Serizawa, and Gordon.

"Hey guys, Hange Zoe over there just gave me some valuable information about Eren Jaeger."

"What more could we possibly know about Eren ? Other than the fact that he can turn into a Titan," Miyuki asks him.

"How about his ability to speak with Kaiju ? Hange witnessed it for herself and we somehow missed that during surveillance."

"You mean he's a telepath ?" Gordon raises an eyebrow, "If he can really communicate with Kaijus, then that would definitely help us out with the Xiliens."

"But we need to know if he can actually control Kaijus," Serizawa argues, "Now that Miki has her psychic powers back, she is the only person we know that can counteract the mind control on the Xiliens' Kaiju army. If Eren can do that as well, then it'll make things a lot easier."

"Yeah, you're definitely right about that," Ozaki agrees, "But do you guys think that Grisha might have done something to Eren in order for him to speak with Kaijus ?"

They were all unresponsive as they were not exactly sure how to answer Ozaki's question. While they all believe that Grisha might have given Eren telepathic powers, they had no reason to justify why Grisha would do it in the first place. All they could do is hope that Eren might be able to provide that answer when they save him. Just then, Hange and Armin approach the group while Hange carries a roll of paper with a big smile on her face.

"Hey ! While you guys were busy talking, the rest of us decided to work on the drawing you showed us and finally came up with a suitable plan," Hange said as she showed them the drawing with new scribbles on it, "Since there are a total of forty-five soldiers, plus their leader, Kenny, we believe that the Mutants aren't enough to take them all down at once because there's only like twenty-four of you."

Armin adds, "However, our biggest problem is that there's only one entrance, which means it'll be difficult for us to enter since all eyes are on it. It'll be hard to cover ourselves before we even get past a couple of feet from the doorway."

"So what're you guys thinking ?" Gordon asks them.

"I'm glad you asked !" Hange says excitedly, "We're developing a smokescreen contraption by attaching bags of oil onto barrels with wagon wheels and we're gonna roll them past the door ! Zooom ! And then we'll light them on fire and create a huge obstruction for the Interior Police !"

"Ooorrr…we can just use this," Gordon walks over to the ship as Hange and Armin watch him pick up a small cylindrical object.

Gordon walks back to them and pulls a tiny looped metal wire before throwing the object in the distance. As the object hits the ground, a large cloud of grey smoke rapidly leaks out of it and covers several meters all around, completely blocking the view in front of them. Although Armin was impressed, Hange left her mouth agape in shock.

"This, in simple terms, is a smoke bomb," Gordon explains, "It can cover up to thirty meters and lasts for about a minute and a half. We've got tons of these in the-"

Suddenly, Hange kneels on the ground and begins laughing. Almost everyone turns their attention towards her as tears begin flowing down her face while continuing to laugh.

Moblit approaches her and asks, "Squad Leader, what's going on ?"

"Oh, Moblit. Hehe. I'm just…" Hange tries to find the right words while wiping away her tears, "Even though I feel so happy to experience new technology like this, I….I feel really obsolete. I guess…I sort of wish that I was the one to invent this stuff first."

Gordon scratches the back of his head, "Damn, Ms. Zoe, I'm sorry. I…I really didn't mean to make you feel useless."

Hange gets back up and continues wiping her tears, "It's okay. Even if I didn't get to invent smoke bombs, explosive handheld weapons, these air vehicles, or even Jet Jaguar, I'm just glad that I get to see such advanced technology like this in my age. Besides, I don't think that I'll ever be able to build stuff like these during my generation anyway. It's certainly better for me to see the pinnacle of technology now before I die one day. "

"If anything, Ms. Zoe, you can see more than just weapons and military gear after we complete the rescue operation," Miyuki offers, "It's the least we can do since you've taken the effort to help us out with everything so far."

"Yeah ! That'll be nice," Hange says as she feels better.

"If you guys are done, then can we hurry this up ?" Levi asks them, "We're running out of time."

"Yeah, let's do this shit," Ozaki says as he and everyone else begin executing their plan.

After going over the final draft of their plan, the Scouts and the EDF began to grab whatever they could. As the Scouts grab their 3DMGs, the Mutants grab smoke grenades, along with regular guns. Once Sasha grabs her 3DMG, she turns to see the same Mutant who gave her MRE loading ammo into a gun. The Mutant sees her staring before grabbing another gun and walking over to Sasha, showing her the gun.

"You wanna try ?" The Mutant asks Sasha.

"Um…I don't know. The only ranged weapon that I ever used was a bow, but I only used that for hunting," Sasha confesses.

"It's basically the same thing. Let me show you," the Mutant said as she gave Sasha a quick tutorial.

Meanwhile, Levi finishes equipping his 3DMG before turning to see Serizawa, Miyuki, and Gordon carrying weapons. Worried for their safety, he walks up to them as they notice his approach.

"Are you sure you three want to come along ? This seems more like a mission for soldiers," Levi asks them.

"We have experience in combat before," Gordon reassures Levi, "Well, just me and Serizawa, but Miyuki didn't do so bad her first time."

"I just believe that it's unnecessary to bring you along since there are already a large number of us. I thought that it would be better for you to stay by the air vehicle."

Serizawa, Gordon, and Miyuki look at each other before deciding to put their weapons away on the ship.

"A fair point, Captain Levi," Serizawa asks of him, "All we ask is that you try and deal with the situation as quickly as you can. If you have to kill, then….we cannot stop you."

Levi nods as he walks away from them before heading over to the Scouts and the Mutants. With a total of twenty-four Mutants including Ozaki, along with his Squad, Mike and his Squad, Hange and her Squad, the recruits, and around a dozen other Scouts, Levi leads them to the entrance of the chapel and they all head inside. As they enter through the secret stairway and reach the wooden doors leading into the cavern, Levi looks out and surveys the area, ensuring that the drawing Ozaki made is accurate. Seeing that the MP soldiers were in their position as shown in the drawing, Levi couldn't help but be impressed by the accuracy. He then turns to everyone behind him as they are readying their gear.

"All right, I hope you all remember the plan and let's make sure this goes quickly before anything bad happens. Mutants, you're up first," Levi says as Ozaki and the Mutants all hold a smoke grenade before proceeding to pull the pins off.

---

Thirty minutes earlier

As Miki was in deep meditation while using clairvoyance to see everyone's progress, she became oblivious to the situation around her. Kenny, who thought that Miki was sleeping, softly kicks her legs before leaving her alone. Carla wasn't sure what was happening to Miki, but she was worried enough to try and struggle to free her wrists so that she could check on her. Over by the platform where Eren was chained up, Historia was looking over at Carla and began feeling pity for her, causing Rod to notice his daughter's reaction.

"If it makes you feel better, you can go over there and do what you need," he tells Historia, who heeds his words and walks over to Carla.

As Historia approaches her, Carla turns to see the heiress and stops struggling. Historia begins to remove the rope tying Carla's hands and moves her wheelchair over to the platform.

"Where are you taking me ?" Carla asks with a worried tone.

"Nowhere, Mrs. Jaeger. I just…don't want to see you in that sort of state. I figured you should at least be unrestrained and be with your son."

"But…don't you know that he's going to die ? That…that man…your father will kill my son !"

Historia tries to reassure her, "It's okay, Mrs. Jaeger. My father has just been mistaken for someone bad. He's truly an ally to humanity and once I explain it to Eren, he will understand too. I'm sorry for the way you've been brought here, but my father didn't have any bad intentions."

"I doubt that. There's no possible good reason for you to kill my son ! Please reconsider this," Carla pleaded.

"He's not going to die, Mrs. Jaeger. I'm sorry, but I already made up my mind," Historia says as she stops moving Carla in her wheelchair and returns to her father's side, looking up at Eren.

Although Eren did not struggle to free himself, he did take the time to look around the cavern and had a case of deja vu, despite not remembering being in the cavern before. Rod notices his face and believes that Eren was finally beginning to have that "feeling." Before Historia could say anything to Eren, Rod casually grabs her hold and takes her to the top of the platform.

"Father, aren't you going to explain to Eren and his mom ?" Historia asks.

"I will, after I see something first," Rod says as he turns to Eren, "You must be recognizing this place, Eren, but this is the only time you've ever been here. It's an odd feeling, isn't it ?"

"What are you saying ? My son was here, yet he wasn't ?" Carla calls out to Rod.

"You will know the truth very soon, Mrs. Jaeger. As will your son, if he remembers."

As he and Historia approach Eren from behind, Rod places his hand on Eren's back while nudging his daughter to do the same. As they place their hands on Eren's back, Eren immediately feels an electrifying sensation and begins to visualize past memories within his mind. Just like the visions he had before, these new ones had more clarity and were just as confusing. He remembers his new house in Trost and seeing his father enter through the front door before seeing images of Rod and his family within the crystal cavern as well as his father by his side. As Eren tries to figure out whose memories he was seeing, he witnesses the death of Rod's family and the destruction of the chapel. Afterwards, Eren sees his younger self in the forest speaking with his father until the memory forwards to Grisha speaking with a figure. As things weren't already mysterious, Eren could see his father disappearing in a flash of light with the figure and saw an object flying above the sky. As Eren looks at his younger self, a weird transition causes him to see through the eyes of his younger self and looks to see a familiar man with marks on his face. The man then injects a syringe into Eren's arm and watches as he slowly transforms into a Titan. As Eren remembers the details of the event, he becomes horrified to see himself eating the man in his Titan form, leaving almost nothing to waste. The memory ends as Eren emerges from his first ever Titan body and forgets everything that happened before that, wondering where his father went and how he ended up in the forest before collapsing. The shocking sensation ends as Eren widens his eyes at the memories, immensely awestruck at the events he remembers. With better insight on what his father did and the person whose memories he saw, Eren didn't know what to think of it.

From down below the platform, Carla watches as Eren's face displays a horrified look, as if he saw something unbelievable. She then turns to see the same look on Historia's face and wonders what she had seen after placing her hand on Eren's back.

Recalling certain times within her childhood, Historia remembers seeing a young black-haired woman, who had always visited her from time to time. She even remembers all of the activities that she and the young woman did and becomes confused on how she forgot it all.

Seeing his daughter putting her hand on her head, Rod asks with concern, "Is something wrong, Historia ? I understand that this experience may be a bit overwhelming."

"I remember someone, a woman with long, black hair, but…how did I forget her ?" Historia responds while tearing up, "She was always a part of my childhood. She and I always did things together like reading books and such. She was always kind towards me, but how could I have forgotten her ?"

"Hmm…you must be referring to Freida Reiss, your half-sister," Rod gives her an answer as Historia widens her eyes, "She must have been so concerned about your well-being that she would often visit you. By wiping away your memories of her, Frieda must have tried to protect you."

"Protect me by erasing my memories ?"

"Yes, it appears that by touching Eren Jaeger, you managed to get them back."

Historia, wanting to meet Frieda again, asks her father, "Do you know where she is, Father ? It's been a while, but I would really like to thank her for everything she's done for me."

Both Rod and Eren knew what Frieda's fate was and Rod hesitantly answered her question, "Freida…no longer lives, Historia. She was killed."

"What ? How ? Who killed her ?"

Rod looks down from the platform at Carla before replying, "Grisha Jaeger…he was the one that killed Frieda."

Carla, shocked to hear Rod say her husband's name as the one who killed Frieda, argues back while shaking her head, "No, you're lying. My husband wouldn't have taken a life."

"Hmm…you're right. He wasn't the one that killed my daughter, someone else did, but Grisha was the one that killed the rest of my family," Rod explains, "You see, Mrs. Jaeger, you pleaded with me not to kill your son and yet you do not realize that your husband already took my family away from me. Don't you see the irony ?"

"So that's all it is ? An eye for an eye ? My husband killed your family and you want to kill my son in return ?"

"Allow me to explain more on why your husband killed my family in the first place, Mrs. Jaeger. You see, Grisha's acquaintance had the power to transform into a Titan, just like your son here, and with that power, he challenged my daughter, Frieda. As they both fought in their Titan forms, my daughter eventually lost, despite having immeasurable power and no experience. As the man killed Frieda and devoured her whole, Grisha killed my family by shooting them with a weapon of sorts. My wife, my sons, and daughters were all slaughtered because your husband and his ally took something away from my bloodline. By sheer luck, I was the only one that survived."

Carla wanted to argue back. To say that Grisha would never do something like that, but she did not have the heart to protect him anymore. The first time in a long time that she heard anything about where Grisha went or what he did, it was something horrible and the very reason that Eren was going to get killed. At that moment, Carla felt like going past her breaking point. Despite the good Grisha had done in the past, Carla has given up on him after he turned their son into a Titan, leaving his family behind, and even murdering people for his own benefit. Even if Carla understood Rod's motivation and reason for everything he did after learning the truth, Carla still wanted her son to live.

As Historia hugs Rod after learning about Frieda's death, Kenny turns to see Carla breaking down and crying before deciding to go over to her after Rod and Historia descend from the platform. While Rod left to retrieve something, Kenny stands by Carla's side and watches as she places her hands on her face and wipes away her tears at the same time.

Despite finding it annoying for her to cry about what happened, Kenny attempts to calm her down, "So what if your husband's a killer ? It's bound for something like that to happen to people who have a goal that they can't achieve through normal methods."

Not wanting to turn towards him, Carla replies, "I don't need, or want, a killer like you to try and comfort me."

"Oh, come on now. I'm trying to have a sincere conservation. Besides, it was you and that girl over there that tried to convince me to help you in the first place."

"And why would you do it now ? You told me yourself that you have no reason to do so."

"Yeah, you're right. I don't have a reason. But for some reason…I just felt like it."

Carla perks up at what Kenny just said and listens as he continues, "Look, I don't know why you two would ever want a killer like me to change in the first place, but I guess…no one ever asked that of me before so it felt unnatural. I guess what I'm trying to say is…even if I'm a killer, I have priorities, whether it comes to my dream or to my family."

Kenny proceeds to sit down next to Carla, "I never talked about my grandfather or my sister or anything else about my life to anyone, but when that girl started talking to me about them…I can't take them out of my mind lately. I don't know how the hell she knew about them, maybe it was one of her powers. It doesn't really matter if she pretty much revealed to you some stuff about my past, I just don't want to keep being reminded of sentimental shit like that."

"Then…do you mind if I told you some stuff about my past ?" Carla asks, "We can make it even."

Kenny, who had nothing to do at the current moment, decides to suck up and listen to Carla's story. Unknown to the two of them, Historia and Eren also listened in. Kenny learns about her early life and how she once worked as a waitress in a bar, much to Kenny's surprise, which leads to how she met Grisha. It was a boring story for Kenny so far until he becomes more interested in the part where she contracted a plague, along with her parents. He was impressed how Carla was willing to sacrifice her life to save her parents, which made Kenny unsure if he would be able to do that for his own family. Just as he expected, Kenny foresaw the happy ending in Carla's story where everyone lives and believes that the story is over. However, he becomes annoyed to hear that Carla has a little bit more to tell and continues listening. As Carla moves to the part of her story involving Eren, Kenny yawns and listens how Eren always had a bit of a temper and typical children stuff. Once she is finished, Kenny gets back and fixes his hat.

"Well, it's a nice story you got there, Mrs. Jaeger, but I don't exactly see the point of you telling me this shit."

"I just wanted to show you how much my family meant to me, even if my husband is a killer of some sort, but I noticed that you were a great listener."

"Huh ?"

"I saw your reactions to different parts of my story. Even if some parts were not to your liking, you still paid attention to it."

"Like I said, what's the point ?"

"Has anyone in your life ever told you things about themselves and you just took the time to listen ? Trying to compare your life to theirs ?"

Kenny took a moment to think and the only person he thought about was, "….Uri."

"Ms. Saegusa mentioned that name earlier. Is he someone from your family ?"

"He…he…." Kenny tries to say to her until Rod returns with a satchel.

"What're you still doing here, Kenny ? Shouldn't you be assisting your soldiers in guarding the entrance ?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up with the ritual, King," Kenny said as he leaves Carla alone and heads to his Squad. After walking a couple of feet, Kenny looks back at Carla as they exchange looks before continuing to walk away.

As Rod walks up to Historia, he places down the satchel and says to her, "I know this might sound strange, Historia, but Frieda is somewhat still alive."

"Really ?"

"Yes. Her memories live on and I would like to know if you want to see her."

"I do, Father," Historia answers as she feels happy to hear that.

Rod nods as he pulls out a small box from the satchel, which contained a syringe and a vial of strange fluid.

---

After heading to the defenses, Kenny looks up to see Caven approaching him from above and landing in front of him.

"Captain, I'm afraid that no reinforcements are coming. One of our own just received news that a coup d'etat had occurred in the government and that the Military leaders are supporting the Scouts."

"Then that means Levi and the others will be here soon. Even worse, those guys in silver armor will come too."

"Fortunately, we have set up everything and are ready to kill anyone that gets through the doors."

"Good. Once they get here, I'll swoop in and take the power from Rod. After that, my dream will finally be achieved."

"And what about the two women ? Will we dispose of them ?"

"Nah. They're not worth the trouble. Just get into position and I'll see you all after it's done."

"Understood, Captain," Caven salutes before grappling away towards a pillar as Kenny turns back and walks toward Rod and the others, preparing to steal Eren's power no matter what.

As Caven regroups with her allies on wooden platforms attached to the pillars in the cave, she looks to see that the entrance door to the cave is still closed and prepares herself for a struggle. She turns to her allies and tries to motivate them the best she could.

"It's not clear how many enemies we're facing at once, whether it's the Scouts or the people with enhanced strength, but the situation that we're in seems hopeless for us at this point. However, dying in a battle with these people would be better than them locking us all up if we refuse to fight back. We joined the Interior Police and we joined Kenny in hopes that he can free us from our meaningless lives and also defeat the enemy that's ready to burst through the Walls at any time. Even if they're Titans or giant monsters. So let's keep on believing in Kenny and his dream."

Despite the odds against them, the Interior Police feel a bit motivated to fight to the end and die in battle against the Scouts and the Mutants. As they continued waiting, the entrance doors were kicked open, causing Caven and her allies to quickly put their guard up and monitor the door. Using a mirror, Caven looks at the entrance from behind the pillar and sees no one going through. Suspecting that something is off, Caven notices several small objects flying down the steps in front of the doors and tries to see what they were. Suddenly, the objects unleash a stream of smoke that quickly covers the entire ground, making it difficult to see.

"What the hell ?! What is this ?!" Caven asks herself until she catches several dark blurs going through the entrance and sees that they were moving through the smoke at a fast pace.

More of the small objects were tossed throughout the rest of the area under the defense platforms until all of the Interior Police were unable to see below them.

"Keep an eye out ! They may jump out at any moment !" Caven shouts to her comrades until she looks back at the entrance and widens her eyes as the Scouts enter the cavern.

As Sasha and several other Scouts carried advanced rifles given to them by the EDF, they quickly got behind cover and aimed at the Interior Police. Just as one of the MP soldiers tries to evade, Sasha pulls the trigger and fires two shots, each hitting both of the arms of the MP soldier, preventing them from grappling away. Caven watches as Levi quickly grapples by and subdues her injured ally before disappearing into the smoke. Figuring out what they were doing, Caven turns to see that the Scouts were firing the advanced rifles near their arms to prevent them from using their 3DMG.

"Evasive maneuvers ! Scatter around the cavern !" Caven orders the other MP soldiers before grappling away and shooting back at the Scouts.

Emerging from the smoke, Hange grapples towards Caven and tries to take her down, but misses when Caven quickly reacts to her sneak attack. However, Caven was prevented from reloading as Mike also appears and kicks her in the torso, causing Caven to slam against a pillar and fall. Quickly recovering, Caven grapples onto the pillars and flies away, heading towards the main ritual area.

"Shit. Everyone ! Head towards the final defensive area ! Nooww…huh ?!" Caven pauses as she turns to see a majority of her allies all tied up on the defense platforms with the Mutants watching over them.

Despite initially fearing that the Scouts had the upper hand, Caven fully realizes that she and the others had absolutely no chance at all. Seeing that her enemies intend to capture and subdue her and the others, Caven moves on towards the final position while dodging gunfire from Sasha and the Scouts on the ground. She quickly meets up with the ten remaining members of her team and they head towards the ritual cave together. With the opening of the cave in sight, Caven and the others believe that they have the chance to escape until a large figure swoops in and takes down two of them. Caven turns around to see Ymir in her Titan form holding her teammates before handing them over to the Scouts. Ymir then continues her pursuit and jumps after Caven and her allies, capturing two more people. Caven reloads her guns and aims for Ymir's eyes before firing them. Remembering what happened last time, Ymir quickly blocks the fired shots by covering her eyes with her arm before running after them again. Caven and her last six allies hurry their way through the tunnel leading into the next part of the cave before heading out through the other end.

"Release the net !" Caven shouts to the soldier standing on the wooden structure in front of the tunnel, who cuts a rope and drops a net covering the entryway.

Ymir stops and looks at the net before trying to tear it down with her claws and teeth. Almost making her way through, Caven and the rest of the MP soldiers fire their guns at Ymir's face in order to blind her. Unable to cut through the rest of the net while blocking the attacks, Ymir opens up the net enough to let some of her allies through. As Caven and the MP soldiers were reloading, Ozaki, Levi, Hange, and the others went through the opening of the net. Just as Caven tries to quickly grapple away, Ozaki sprints across the ground and jumps up into the air before kicking Caven down onto the ground. He lands the ground and pins Caven to the ground before tying her hands together with a cable. Ozaki lifts Caven up on her feet while she looks around to see Levi and the other Scouts restraining her allies.

"There's no point in keeping us alive," Caven informs Ozaki, "You all should have killed us."

"Sorry, Blondie. If we had no other choice, we would have killed you where you stand. Besides, we could really use your skills in the Earth Defense Force," Ozaki says to her.

"The what ?" Caven asks until Levi walks up to them.

"Hold on, you never said that you were planning on recruiting these people," Levi said with concern, "These scum should be locked up and rot in their cells."

"Look, Levi, if you don't want these guys, then you can just hand them over to the Earth Defense Force," Ozaki explains, "I'm sure we can make some use out of them instead of you guys."

"Fine, do whatever you want with them. As long as they don't bother us anymore," Levi said as he, Mikasa, Jean, Connie, Oruo, and Gunther hopped onto Ymir's back and made their way towards the ritual cave.

Ozaki hands Caven over to one of his Mutant allies and catches up with Levi and the others. Caven begins to think about Ozaki's consideration of using her and the Interior Police soldiers for another use, wondering why he decided to give them a second chance. Regardless, Caven truly believed that she and the others were going to live a dull life in prison, but secretly wondered if Ozaki and the so-called Earth Defense Force would give her a different purpose in life. She continues pondering about the thought as the Mutant escorts her out of the cave with everyone else that has been captured alongside her.

---

"Hmm…it seems that the enemy has arrived. We must hurry this up," Rod said as he began to fill the syringe with the fluid.

As Eren watches Rod fill the syringe with the fluid, he remembers the man injecting him with the same fluid and knows what will happen to Historia, causing him to struggle in his chains while crying out to Historia. Carla could see Eren wriggling around and shouts out to him.

"Eren, what's wrong ?!"

"It appears he knows what lies ahead for him, Mrs. Jaeger," Rod explains, "He knows that the power his father stole will rightfully return to where it belongs. Within my daughter."

Historia and Carla were confused about what Rod was talking about until he explained it in better detail. Rod tells them about how the cavern was built by the power of the Founding Titan over one hundred years ago. He also talks about how the power even created the three walls and controlled the people by erasing their memories. Despite the fact that only a few bloodlines were immune to the power, everyone eventually forgot the history of the world except for Frieda, who knew what the world was like because of the Titan powers that she wielded after eating Uri. Rod even elaborates on how the Reiss family has inherited the power through many years through the ritual, but includes the idea that Frieda would have been able to eliminate all of the Titans if Grisha and his friend had not stolen the power in the first place.

"Since that power is currently within Eren, he won't be able to use its full potential. Only the blood of a Reiss is able to fully control that power, but if it remains within Eren, everything would just continue as it is," Rod tells Historia and Carla.

"Hold on a damn minute !" Kenny shouts as he descends from the ceiling and lands next to Carla, "If someone other than a Reiss consumes Eren, then they can't use the full power of the Founding Titan ?"

"Yes, that's right," Rod says calmly.

Kenny grits his teeth and asks Rod once more, "So if I were to eat Eren, then the power's useless ?"

Before Rod could say anything, Kenny quickly grabs Rod by the collar of his shirt and lifts him up. Kenny then proceeds to put his gun up to Rod's face as Historia becomes worried for her father and Carla becomes frozen.

"Do you not believe me, Kenny ?"

"Of course I do, but I've been waiting patiently for this moment and yet I always had a feeling that you were just using me while knowing full well that I can't even accomplish my goal !"

"I'm thankful for your help, Kenny, but you're just a stray that Uri took in and…"

"You talk about Uri and I blow your head off !"

Historia suddenly jumps onto Kenny and tries to pull the gun away before getting pushed away by him.

"I feel a bit sorry for you, Historia, but don't you realize that your father is just using you to turn into a Titan and eat Eren for him," Kenny explains to her as Historia gets back up and glares at him.

"It's…my…duty !" Historia argues back against Kenny, surprising him, "I will eat Eren, so that I can bring Frieda back and kill every last Titan in existence !"

Although Kenny wanted to continue convincing Historia about Rod's true intentions, he looks behind Historia and notices Carla crawling towards her. Carla then grabs the bottom of Historia's dress and pulls her down to the ground before forcefully trying to grab her neck. Historia then watches Carla's face, which was full of anger and tears.

From the top of her lungs, Carla yells at Historia, "TO HELL WITH YOUR DUTY ! I DON'T CARE IF YOU PLAN ON SEEING YOUR SISTER AGAIN, OR ELIMINATE THE TITANS, OR THE FACT THAT YOU'RE ROYALTY ! I WON'T LET YOU, YOUR FATHER, OR ANYONE ELSE HURT MY LITTLE BABY !"

Historia becomes a little frightened at Carla's display of anger, but removes her hands from her neck and softly pushes her away. Kenny and Rod were also shocked to see Carla breaking down and trying to crawl towards Historia, who kept on backing away from her.

"Mrs. Jaeger, stop this !" Historia attempts to calm Carla down.

"I won't let you eat my son ! I won't let you !" Carla sobs before she begins to grow tired of crawling and stops pursuing Historia, despite wanting to keep going.

Kenny, who didn't want to see Carla in this state anymore, tosses Rod to the side. Historia goes over to tend to her father as Kenny walks towards the platform.

"I've had enough of this. I quit my service, Rod," Kenny says to him as he ascends the steps towards Eren.

Carla, Historia, and Rod watch as Kenny approaches Eren from behind and removes the gag from his mouth before pulling out a knife.

"What're you doing, Kenny ?" Rod asks as Kenny pulls Eren's hair and places the knife on his forehead.

"I'm gonna make this fair for everyone," Kenny explains, "Historia, you'll turn into a Titan and so will Eren. You two will fight and decide who gets the power. If you win, then you'll see your sister and there'll be no more Titans. If Eren wins, Carla Jaeger will get to keep her son and everything stays the way it is."

Just as Kenny was about to cut Eren's forehead and force him to transform, he hears a voice in his head and stops, "Do you really want to do that, Kenny ?"

"Huh ? Who said that ?"

"Who else, but the one who knows more about you than you think ?"

Kenny looks around and turns to see Miki, free from her bonds, staring at him. Carla, Historia, and Rod also turn around to see Miki approaching them while continuing to speak with Kenny in his mind.

"If you wish to be so much like Uri, to be compassionate, to be kind, then just do it."

"How can I ? The only way for me to be like him is gone. Without the Founding Titan, I'll never be like Uri !"

"Stop being stubborn, Kenny. If you think about it, you have that choice right now. You can free Eren and honor those you care about."

Miki then creates illusions of three people from Kenny's life, causing him to widen his eyes as he sees his grandfather next to Historia, Kuchel next to Carla, and Uri next to Rod. They all stare straight at Kenny, making him feel more unease as he slowly moves the knife away from Eren's forehead.

"What the hell is all of this ?! Why are they here ?!" Kenny shouts out loud, but only makes himself look crazy among Carla, Historia, and Rod.

"Your grandfather, your sister, your best friend. They're here to remind you of all the impacts that they made on you and how you kept on rejecting them. Your grandfather showed you the history of your people and how you have your own kind of power to wield. You cared for your nephew after your sister had died. Even in death, she gave you the chance to have a change of heart. And Uri…he showed you exactly what it was like to be him. You've always been by his side, listening as he speaks about his dream and other things in his life. And how exactly did you try to honor them ?"

Kenny remains silent, continuing to listen as Miki continues, "Nothing. You continue your original ways of living life because it's 'fun'. Despite your constant need of wanting to change into a better person, you make excuses to motivate yourself. Now that you realize that you can't even achieve that dream of yours anymore, you're just gonna give up and not even try !"

"Rrraagghh !" Kenny angrily throws the knife away before huffing and puffing his breath away.

He rubs the temple of his head as he tries to calm himself down before grabbing both of his guns and loading the barrels. Miki and the others weren't sure what he was planning, but it was certainly unexpected to them.

"Hey, Lady," Kenny calls out to Miki, "You know, at this point, everything is starting to bum me out. Just when Rod told me that I can't inherit the Founding Titan, I thought that it couldn't get any worse than that until you start pulling some kind of trick on me so that I can get all emotional and shit. Fine. I give up."

Kenny aims his guns at Eren's chains and fires, breaking them and releasing Eren. For the first time in a while, Carla actually felt hope as she softly smiles at Kenny freeing her son. Rod starts to panic and he goes to give Historia the syringe before pressuring her to take the injection.

"Hurry, Historia ! Inject the fluid and eat Eren before he escapes ! The fate of humanity rests on your hands !"

Historia quickly places the syringe's needle on her forearm, but hesitates just before the needle touches her skin. As she was shaking from the pressure placed on her, Historia turns towards the platform and sees Kenny softly kicking Eren on his back.

"Hey, Eren ! Why ain't cha moving, huh ?! You're free now, go to your mother !" Kenny tells Eren, but he doesn't budge and remains in a kneeling position.

Even Historia and Carla were confused while Rod felt a bit relieved that Eren was motionless. Historia moves the syringe away from her arm before turning to see Carla holding herself up with her arms while displaying a worried look.

Historia turns back to Eren and calls out to him, "Eren ? Why aren't you doing anything ? Why are you just sitting there ?"

Eren lifts his head up a little to show that he was softly crying as he looks at Historia and then his mother. Kenny, not knowing what to do at that point, grapples off the platform and lands near Carla and Miki as Eren starts speaking out.

"Mom…I'm sorry…but you shouldn't be proud of me anymore," Eren tells her, "You were right about me…not being destined for greatness."

"Eren…that's not true !" Carla argues.

"It is true, Mom. I was never supposed to have this power inside of me. If only Dad…didn't take away that power from here….then Historia's sister would have done something instead of me. If it hadn't been for Dad, then you wouldn't have been through so much trouble because of me. It's my fault that you're in this situation in the first place."

"You've always given me trouble, Eren, but in the end…I still care for you and love you," Carla begins crying, "Even now, I don't blame you for what happened. I've said before that…I would have faith in you to save humanity with that power…and I also have faith…that you would come back to me like you promised."

As he cries harder towards Carla, Eren shakes his head a few times before turning to Historia, "Eat me…Historia. Save humanity with this power. End the Titans like your sister should have."

Eren lowers his head as Historia tears up at the sight of Eren breaking his promise to his mother. She looks at Carla, who continues crying while lowering her head, before looking at the syringe. Historia begins to remember her conversation with Eren after her identity was revealed and recalls how Eren accepted her as herself rather than Krista. She also remembers other parts of the conversation about how Eren wouldn't have let Ymir take his place. Historia imagines a scenario in which Ymir does take Eren's place while inheriting the Founding Titan and sees her chained to the platform. She strongly believes that Ymir would happily sacrifice herself to protect her and realizes that she would also hesitate in that scenario as well. Turning back to reality and seeing Eren sacrificing himself for Carla's protection, Historia decides to follow her heart and do what she wants instead of what was expected of her.

Historia puts the syringe away from her arm, shocking Rod as he approaches her and tries to put the syringe back over her forearm. With her desire to protect Ymir instead of the other way around and living a life the way she wants, Historia tosses the syringe onto the floor and watches as it breaks upon contact.

She angrily tells Rod, "I don't know what a mother's love is like, but I'll be damned if I separated Eren from his mom !"

Rod widens his eyes at the sight of the broken syringe before lunging himself at Historia.

"How could you ?!" Rod shouts until Historia flips his body over her and slams him onto the ground.

Her actions surprise Eren, Carla, Miki, and even Kenny as she continues to insult her father, "You're nothing like Mrs. Jaeger, who cares so much about her son ! Do you expect me to believe that you actually cared about me when all you've done is try to manipulate me ?!"

Historia proceeds to head over to Carla and picks her up before putting her in her wheelchair. Miki then runs over to them and assists them by pushing Carla in the wheelchair. Afterwards, Historia heads up the platform and tries to drag Eren towards the stairs.

"Heh. I didn't expect that," Kenny softly chuckles.

"Historia ? You should've eaten me and saved my mother from me !" Eren cries out as Historia argues back.

"Shut up ! Not everyone can get a caring mother like yours ! Not even me ! You should be happy that she cares about you enough to put herself in harm's way for you ! Now get up and go to her, you idiot !"

At the same time, Rod was slowly crawling over to the spilled fluid on the ground and placing his face on it.

He whispers, "I'll…be there…soon…Father…Uri…Freida…"

Once Rod licks the fluid, he begins to glow and starts manifesting a Titan body, with the spine crashing into the ceiling until a full skeleton is formed. The shockwaves created by the transformation pushes everyone back as Kenny grapples onto a pillar and holds on tightly while Miki creates an invisible shield to protect herself and Carla. Eren and Historia are pushed back against the wall above the platform as Eren was struggling to get to Carla.

"Mooomm !" Eren cries out as Miki was trying to get Carla up the steps of the platform while continuing to maintain the invisible shield.

As Rod's Titan body continues growing, chunks of the cavern begin to fall and get blown away. Kenny dodges some of them before landing back down on the ground and sees Rod's satchel, picking it up before running and grappling away. As the crystal chunks fall straight on top of Eren and Historia, Ymir immediately puts her Titan body over them and endures the impact of the debris. Levi and the others leap off of Ymir's body and land near Eren and Historia before trying to get them up onto Ymir's back so that they could escape.

"Hold on ! My mother is still down there !" Eren yells as everyone turns to see Carla and Miki halfway up the stairs.

Just as Mikasa and Levi attempt to go after them, a boulder blocks their path before rolling down the stairs, forcing Carla to jump off her wheelchair and hang from the side of the steps. Miki lifts the boulder with her powers and tosses it aside before going over to lift Carla up. However, more debris continues falling and increasing in numbers, preventing Miki, Mikasa, and Levi from getting to Carla. Just as Carla begins to slip off, Kenny arrives and swings by to carry Carla to safety, bringing her to the top of the stairs. Although Levi and the others were surprised to see Kenny's selfless act, Miki smiles and sprints up the steps to meet up with them. Reluctant to bring Kenny along to escape, Levi keeps his grudge aside and helps him bring Carla onto Ymir's back. Mikasa then helps Miki onto Ymir's back as well.

"Everyone's here ! Let's get the hell out of here, Ymir !" Jean yells as Ymir nods and tries to run back towards the entrance.

However, Ozaki appears and jumps onto the platform before telling them, "Hey ! The entrance is fucking blocked ! We can't go back !"

"Shit ! What the hell do we do ?!" Connie shouts as debris continues to fall on them.

With no way out, everyone begins to fear for the worst except for Kenny as he looks through Rod's satchel and pulls out a vial. He taps Eren's shoulder and hands it to him, hoping that he could put it to good use. Eren hesitates before taking the vial and reading the label, which states "Armor." Unsure what it would do to help, Eren looks to Kenny, who shrugs, indicating that he doesn't know either. Holding the vial tightly, Eren looks over to his mother and sees her holding onto Mikasa and Armin. He moves over to them, causing Carla to turn her attention over to him before embracing him in a tight hug.

"There's no escape now, Eren," Carla says to him, "In these last moments, I'm glad that I get to hold you one last time."

"Mrs. Jaeger, don't say that !" Levi cries out, "We're not gonna die here !"

Ymir quickly decides to go towards the walls of the cavern and softly pushes everyone off before putting herself over them. She continues to endure the boulders and rocks falling on top of her, eventually receiving cuts and bruises on her body. As Carla continues to hold onto Eren, he begins to think about all the times his allies had been helping him out and protecting him while he sat back, contributing nothing. Whether it was Minilla, Levi and his Squad, or even Mikasa and Armin, Eren felt like he was useless.

"Not anymore !" He thought to himself as he removed his mother's arms from his body before leaving from under Ymir.

"Eren ! Come back !" Carla and Mikasa shouted as Eren stood in front of Ymir and everyone else.

With the "Armor" vial in his hand, Eren bites the top end of the vial, breaking the glass before ingesting the fluid within. As Eren tosses the empty vial away, he begins his Titan transformation and everyone watches as crystal veins start emanating from the transformation. Eventually, Eren finishes his full transformation, yet the crystal veins continue to grow and surround him and everyone else behind him. Ymir grabs everyone with her arms and gets underneath Eren's legs as the crystal completely shields them from the cavern's total collapse.

---

Outside of the chapel, Gordon and the pilots waited for the Scouts and the Mutants to gather their prisoners inside the ships before flying up into the air. The chapel and the ground around it becomes completely destroyed and the surrounding area becomes heated up as Rod's Titan body crawls out of the ground, with mountain sized smoke filling the sky. The Scouts, the Mutants, and even the Interior Police witness the scene from the ships, shocked to see a Titan of such a large size in their lives. While Rod begins to crawl in a certain direction, Gordon and the pilots hover above the collapsed area in order to find the others still trapped in the caverns.

"Gordon, can you see us ?" Miki calls out to him through telepathy.

"Not yet, Miki ! We're trying our best to avoid the hot areas ! This whole damn plane is steaming right now !"

"Did you see anything else up there ?"

"Other than that giant ass Titan…nope," Gordon said as he continued flying the ship across the burnt land.

Using a piece of crystal on the ground, Ozaki uses it to smash the hardened nape on Eren's Titan until he manages to free Eren. Ozaki then carries Eren out of his Titan body and brings him down to the ground with the others. While Mikasa was carrying Carla on her back, Miki stood by their side as everyone else surrounded Kenny. With his hands up in the air while kneeling on the ground, Kenny looks at everyone's faces before ending up staring at Levi, who was glaring back at Kenny. While waiting for Jean and Connie to find a way out of the cavern, Levi decides to take the time to question Kenny for his recent action.

"Why did you rescue Carla Jaeger ?" Levi asks Kenny.

"Would you believe that I'm starting to become a better man, Levi ?" Kenny says rhetorically.

"Bullshit, Kenny. I know for a fact that you wouldn't do something like that without benefiting yourself in the process. You think that just because you saved Carla Jaeger, we would take it easier on you ?"

Kenny slowly moves his eyes over to Carla and then back to Levi before replying, "Ah, whatever, Levi. I'm done playing around."

Kenny starts removing his 3DMG and his guns, along with a knife he kept in a pocket, kicking them away before resuming a surrender position. Levi and the others were surprised that Kenny was refusing to resist, but Levi insists that he was still messing around. Although Miki wants to try and defend Kenny, she stays back and allows Levi to continue.

"What exactly is your endgame plan, Kenny ? Your soldiers are all captured and there's no one left in the government to help you out. I also doubt that there's anyone else in the Walls to bail you out of prison."

"Prison ? Is that really all you're gonna give me ? I expected something more like execution."

"There's some things that we need to learn from you, especially since you're somewhat close with someone in the Royal family."

As Ozaki helps Eren over to Carla and Mikasa, he heads over to Levi, who turns to him and asks, "After we're done with him, you guys want him too ?"

"Hmmm…..sure, why not ?"

"Just so you know, he's basically an infamous killer in the Walls. Don't blame us if he backstabs you or steals things when he gets the chance."

"He won't get that chance, Levi. Trust me," Ozaki said with confidence as he heads over to Kenny and cuffs him before getting him off the ground.

Trusting Ozaki enough to allow him to handle Kenny, Levi and everyone else head over to check on Eren while gazing at Eren's hardened Titan body. Oruo goes over and kicks the hardened body before nodding his head in approval while Ymir starts to exit her Titan body. She jumps off from the nape before quickly running over and hugging Historia tightly.

"I should have been there with you to protect you," Ymir says to Historia, "I should've trusted my gut and ignored my orders."

"It's okay, Ymir. I'm fine. Really," Historia says as she struggles to breathe from the hug.

"I just can't believe I allowed myself to let you be taken away like that. From now on, I'm not letting you out of my sight !"

As Ymir continues holding Historia, Levi walks up to them and asks, "Ymir, are you able to do anything like what Eren just did ?"

Ymir lets go of Historia before replying, "I'm not sure, Captain. I've never used that kind of power before during my time as a Titan."

"I see," Levi says before turning to Eren, "How come you haven't used this ability before, Jaeger ?"

Recalling the vial before his transformation, Eren explains how he just got the powers and how he didn't even know it was possible to do so in the past.

Thinking about the hardening ability for a moment and trying to remember if Reiner, Annie, or Bertholdt displayed the ability, Levi concludes, "So it seems that you and Ymir not only have the hardening ability in the first place, you both did not have prior knowledge either. However, Reiner and Annie were the only ones that showcased that ability in the past, which means that they must have access to it similar to how you drank that vial."

"I guess this means that you just got a major upgrade, Jaeger !" Oruo says to Eren, "But don't you think for a second that our Special Operations Squad could still kick your ass in a human and Titan fight !"

"Though, with his new ability, Captain," Gunther suggests, "That means we could use it to plug Wall Maria, right ?"

Levi nods, "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If those Titans in the Walls prove this theory right, then that means that the Walls and the Titan hardening are similar materials."

As the idea of using Eren's hardening ability to block the hole in Wall Maria became an important plan in the near future, Jean and Connie return along with several Mutants. With the way out of the cavern discovered, the Mutants helped everyone out and led them to the ships. Eren, Historia, and Carla look at the ships in awe while Kenny smiles at finally seeing the ship again since the last time he encountered it. Serizawa and Miyuki exit the ship before meeting up with Miki, filled with relief that she was alright.

"Sorry for leaving without saying anything," Miki apologizes to them, "I thought for certain that I would have been able to save Carla in time, but it seems that I managed to get myself caught."

"As long as you're okay," Serizawa said as he hugged Miki, "I was worried that I would lose another friend."

"If we didn't find out about your disappearance sooner, who knows what would have happened," Miyuki stated, "At least we've managed to accomplish some things on the way."

"We're not done yet, Babe," Ozaki tells her, "We still got Rod to deal with and by the looks of it, he's trying to go somewhere."

"We'll find out once we get into the air. Let's hurry," Serizawa said.

As they boarded the ship, everyone struggled to fit into the main cabin since there were even more people than before due to the Interior Police being brought along for the ride. Both ships follow Rod as he continues crawling towards an unknown direction, but Gordon and the pilots were able to determine that he was heading south towards Orvud.

"If Rod's heading towards one of the cities, then we have to take him down," Ozaki said.

"How the hell do you plan on taking down a Titan that huge ?!" Oruo argues, "With its size, it's putting off a lot of heat and you can't get close enough to slice its nape !"

"Then we'll just slow it down," Ozaki said as he radios the other ship, "Hey, every Mutant that's listening right now, grab your Maser rifles and Rocket Launchers. We're gonna slow this Titan down and lower the radiation enough to get a closer hit."

"Radiation ?" Hange wonders as Ozaki opens the ramp door, causing a small wave of heated air to enter the ship.

Ozaki and several other Mutants in the ship, along with the other one, began equipping their weapons and attaching ammunition to their bodies before facing outside the ramp towards Rod.

"Everyone with Maser rifles, make sure to switch the mode to ULT. We want to cool down this Titan as much as possible," Ozaki tells his allies, "Let's go !"

Ozaki and the Mutants jump off of the two ships, falling down towards Rod's back. Sasha turns to the EDF members and asks, "What's ULT ?"

"Ultra Low Temperature," Miki answers, "It's meant for Kaijus that can't withstand the cold."

"Oh, okay."

Ozaki, holding a Maser rifle, turns a dial on the weapon and fires a series of bright blue beams from the gun. Several other Mutants with Maser rifles follow his lead and proceed to fire bright blue beams as well. Upon contact with Rod's back, the blue beams create multiple explosions before cooling down the area of impact. Ozaki and the Mutants land on Rod's back without facing the intense heat and they continue firing the Maser rifles all over Rod's back, reducing his temperature further. Despite the attack that he was receiving, Rod continues crawling without flinching and ignores the Mutants' attacks. Ozaki and the others make their way towards the nape while cooling the path in front of them. However, the areas that were hit by the Maser rifles were quickly heating back up, causing the Mutants to slowly become surrounded by the heat. They all immediately jump into the air before falling off of Rod's back completely and landing on the ground as Rod crawls away.

Ozaki radioes back to everyone on the ships, "It's no good. He's producing way too much heat. We can't get close enough to the nape. We're switching back to regular Maser and we're gonna blow this guy up."

"You sure it's gonna work ? He'll just regenerate back," Serizawa asks.

"Nah, not really. We're just gonna blow the arms off so that he can't crawl for a while. Try to warn the city or something."

Ozaki and the Mutants divided themselves into two groups as those with Maser rifles went with Ozaki to the right arm and those with Rocket Launchers went for the left. Staying careful as to not get hit by the moving right arm, Ozaki and his group of Mutants begin firing their Maser rifles at Rod's shoulder, causing a large wound as the Maser beams penetrate the body. The joint in Rod's shoulder becomes disabled and prevents Rod from further crawling. Ozaki and the Mutants continue their firing barrage at the wound until the entire arm comes off. The same thing occurs on the left arm as the Mutants with Rocket Launchers successfully remove the arm on their side. With only his legs left to push him, Rod still continues to crawl despite moving even more slowly without his arms. While effectively slowing Rod down, Ozaki and the Mutants had no actual way of getting close enough to directly attack the nape.

Meanwhile, in the air, Gordon was contacting Muasaka of the situation and warned him of the incoming Titan. Erwin, Pixis, and Nile were listening in the background, prepared to head out for the Orvud District with Muasaka and rode a carriage together. While waiting to reach Orvud, Muasaka and the Military leaders are strategizing on what to do when Rod arrives towards the district.

"A hundred and twenty meter Titan. That's the biggest one in history. Two times bigger than the Colossal Titan and we all thought that he was the biggest of them all, but it looks like we were wrong," Pixis stated.

"These uh….Mutants of yours," Nile says to Muasaka, "Are you sure they can take down a Titan that massive ?"

"No, but they are currently reducing its speed. The last thing that they reported was that they completely removed the arms from the Titan's body and were trying to see if they could get to the nape."

"At least that gives us more time to mobilize our forces and prepare an evacuation of Orvud. By the time the Titan gets there, we'll be able to attack without having to worry about any civilians," Pixis says with confidence.

Erwin looks out the window of the carriage to see that they were approaching Orvud and turns to Muasaka, "It's been a while, what's the status of our soldiers ? Are they almost towards Orvud ?"

"Let me check," Muasaka says as he pulls out his radio and calls Gordon, "This is Muasaka. Checking in. What's the situation ? Over."

Gordon replies on the other end, "It's still the same over here. The Titan is moving even slower with both of his legs gone. The Mutants are trying to blow up the neck right now, but it's too thick for them to penetrate the nape from where they're standing. The heat is just too much, even for the Mutants."

"Not only that !" Hange joins in the conversation, "But it's acting a lot like an Abnormal Titan ! The Mutants did so much damage to Rod, but he doesn't even seem to care ! It's like he really wants to get to Orvud so badly."

"It's probably because of the mass amount of people. Instead of heading to other Districts, Orvud is definitely the closest one that Rod could get to," Nile deduces.

"Which means we shouldn't commence the evacuation yet," Erwin informs everyone, surprising them all.

"What are you talking about, Erwin ?" Pixis widens his eyes, "What exactly kind of risk are you planning on taking this time ?"

"I'm not saying to stop the evacuation. I'm just saying that we should evacuate the citizens when Rod reaches Orvud. If he is truly making his way towards the District, then it's better to keep everyone there instead of making them head into Mitras. Otherwise, Rod will change directions and head for Mitras, which has the most people in the Walls."

"So you just want to use the people to lure that Titan to Orvud ?" Nile asks, "That's a huge risk for us to be doing that."

"I concur with Erwin Smith," Muasaka speaks out, catching everyone's attention, "I think that there's another way to deal with Rod. If I'm correct about this, then it'll mean that we won't have to evacuate the city and it'll also mean that our soldiers won't have to face him."

Possibly knowing what Muasaka was talking about, Erwin asks him, "I'm assuming that you have some sort of technology to use against Rod ?"

"We do. I just need to confirm something first," Muasaka uses the radio again, "Gordon. What's the status of Jet Jaguar ?"

"He's pretty messed up. There's no way we can use him in battle for a while."

"What about the other Mech units ? How long would it take to get them ready ?"

"Not long, but it just depends if Komura can get a copilot fast. Give or take, at least twenty minutes to get one of the units ready."

"Good. Let Komura know immediately. We want to get one of them over here before the Titan reaches the city."

"You got it," Gordon agrees as he switches the radio channel.

In the EDF base, Komura was conversing with the engineers in the hangar. They were discussing the design choices of the Mechs after looking over old blueprints from their archives. Their discussion stops when they hear a nearby radio with Gordon's voice calling out to them. Komura walks over to the work bench and picks up the radio before replying.

"This is Komura here. What's going on ?"

"Hey, we have a situation involving a 120m Titan. It's releasing heat and smoke like a volcano."

"Let me guess. It's time for another Mech ?" Komura says rhetorically.

"Can you get one ready ? We need it before it reaches one of the Wall's cities in about…three hours."

"Three hours ? Sure thing. Let's hope these rookies that we've been training are ready for action. I'll let you know when we get there," Komura said as he put down the radio before turning to the engineers, "Hey ! I want you all to do a diagnostic check on the Mech units and see which one we can send out first."

As the engineers went to work, Komura heads deeper into the base and searches for the leaders. As he meets them in the surveillance room, he sees live footage of Rod's Titan regrowing its limbs before making its way towards Orvud. He gets the EDF leaders' attention and salutes before them.

"Ma'am, I would like to ask for your permission to authorize the launch of one of the Mech units into battle against the Titan."

"Permission granted, Komura, and make sure to prevent any casualties. After hearing that our secret is revealed, I'd like to earn some trust with the leaders of the Walls by protecting their people," Namikawa stated as Komura nodded before heading out.

"Do you really think that we can come to an alliance with them, Namikawa, after hiding ourselves for so many years ?" Naotaro asks her.

"We must unite at this point," Namikawa replies, "It doesn't matter anymore about whether there are Xilien spies in the Walls, what's important is that we bring humanity back together and it starts by gaining their trust. Besides, we can tell who's an Xilien by looking at their eyes."

"Then there is no point in denying it," Naotaro agrees with her, "We spent many years trying to plan our rematch against the Xiliens and now…we're so close to uncovering Grisha's secrets."

They turn their attention back to the surveillance monitors as they watch Komura running through the halls of the base, alerting every pilot that he and Gordon trained about the situation. The pilots gather at the hangar where the engineers had finally selected a Mech unit for Komura and the pilots to use. Komura puts the pilots in a straight line before standing in front of them as they assume position.

"All right, listen up ! We've got a Kaiju level threat heading towards one of the cities at the Walls ! It's creating a bunch of heat that's making it difficult for the Mutants to get close towards its weak point, the nape ! They tried to subvert this obstacle by using long ranged weapons, but they need more firepower to penetrate that weakness from the outside !"

Komura signals the engineers and they pull up an image of a bipedal robot with a silver and blue color scheme. The arms of the robot are shown to be cone shaped while the front of the face has a drill bit sticking forward. It had yellow eyes, an oddly shaped antenna on top of its head, and also tank treads substituting for feet.

"You should all be familiar with the Moguera unit, previously made by our organization's predecessor, the G-Force," Komura tells the pilots, "I need two volunteers to assist me in piloting this Mech and going out to stop the threat from getting to the city."

The pilots begin muttering amongst each other as they decide on who has the most experience, or the better understanding of controlling the Mech unit. After a few minutes of debating, two pilots stepped up. A boy and a girl in their mid 20s. The boy, Spencer, and the girl, Aki, were seen to be slightly shaking as if they were regretting to volunteer.

"You two, huh ? Alright, let's suit up and head for the Moguera. The rest of you, assist the engineers in prepping the launch sequence of the Mech," Komura orders as he leads Spencer and Aki towards the locker area where they began equipping suits and helmets.

Komura, Spencer, Aki, and everyone else head towards a different section of the hangar where the Moguera was seen, along with another mech and several other ships that were in construction. Most notably, there was one large ship in the hangar that was the biggest out of the other ships and its defining feature was a large drill on the front. The engineers and the pilots begin the Moguera's launch sequence as a bridge extends towards an opening on Moguera's body, allowing Komura, Spencer, and Aki to walk across. They entered the Moguera, reaching a small cabin, and went into their positions with Spencer and Aki sitting in the front and Komura sitting behind them. As they slowly activate and power Moguera up, the pilots and the engineers open a massive circular door above the Moguera until it fully opens, revealing the outside. The engineers began to remove several large tubes connected to Moguera and withdrew them from the launch area. As everything was in order and the Moguera ready for flight, Spencer and Aki grab a pair of switches as they breathe deeply.

"You two got this," Komura reassures them, "Remember what exactly we're fighting for."

Spencer and Aki nodded as they pulled the switches. A big shockwave of air explodes in the area as the Moguera ignites rockets on its feet and its backside, causing it to fly out of the hangar. The pilots and the engineers cheer as the Moguera successfully takes flight into the sky. Under the instructions of Komura, Spencer and Aki steer Moguera's direction towards the Walls and slowly gain speed as they increase the thrusters' power.

Turning on his radio, Komura calls out to Gordon, "One Mech unit on the way. I hope we're not too late."

---

On top of Wall Sina at the Orvud District, Muasaka, Erwin, and the Military leaders stand and watch as a massive smoke trail was seen in the distance and a glimpse of Rod's Titan body was seen. Before the Garrison becomes shocked to witness the largest Titan ever and goes to defensive positions, Gordon calls Muasaka through the radio.

"I just got a call from Komura. He's currently bringing a Mech over to deal with the Titan," Gordon says to him.

"Hmm…these….Mech units of yours…how many does your organization have ?" Pixis asks Muasaka.

"Only three."

"That doesn't seem like a lot. I hope that it doesn't end up breaking like that other one you sent," Pixis said as he remembered Jet Jaguar.

"Highly unlikely. Our other two units are not like Jet Jaguar. In terms of firepower, the other Mech units excel at it."

"In that case, we're all looking forward to it. Let's see what sort of firepower your organization possesses."

Rod continues dragging himself across the ground, regardless of his limbs being stumps. In the meantime, Ozaki and the Mutants fall behind Rod as they run out of ammunition for their weapons. They wait as Gordon and the pilots land and retrieve them before flying back up into the air. As the two ships fly ahead of Rod, Hange discusses with Gordon on the plan to kill Rod for good. Gordon explains Moguera's firepower and how the Mech will blow up Rod's nape, but Hange suggests that the Scouts will deal the killing blow since she believes that blowing up the nape wouldn't be enough. Agreeing on the new plan, the Scouts begin checking their gear before heading to the back of the ship's cabin. The ramp of the ship opens again and the Scouts wait for the right moment to strike as a loud hum was heard in the distance.

Everyone from inside the ships and on top of Wall Sina watch as Moguera appears from above the sky. Moguera flies through the large smoke cloud and clears the sky, causing the Mech to shine brightly as it flies back around before heading towards Rod.

"Fire Plasma Laser Cannons !" Komura orders as Aki fires the weapons.

Moguera's yellow eyes begin firing a barrage of yellow energy beams that explode upon Rod's back. Moguera quickly flies back up and lands on its feet behind Rod. Spencer and Aki raise Moguera's arms and fire a pair of blue energy streams that continue to damage Rod. The result of Moguera's weapons creates a smokescreen that prevents Komura, Spencer, and Aki from seeing Rod's current status until Rod suddenly emerges from the smoke. Using one of his fully healed arms, Rod grabs one of Moguera's arms and begins to carry himself up. Eventually, Rod puts all of his weight on top of Moguera, slowly causing the Mech to lean backwards. Missing the front half of his face and body after dragging it across the ground, Rod begins to leak tons of blood all over Moguera's face while his internal organs drop to the ground. As Komura tries to move Moguera away from Rod, Spencer and Aki move Moguera's arms and try to push Rod's body away. Rod starts to attack Moguera by slamming his fist on Moguera's face, causing Komura and the others to shake around in the cabin. Once Rod slams on Moguera's face again, he gets hand stuck on Moguera's face drill, allowing Spencer to activate it. Rod's hand gets torn apart, preventing him from holding onto Moguera anymore. This creates an opportunity for Komura and the pilots to push Rod to the side before firing their weapons once more. Rod roars and growls in pain as his entire back becomes filled with holes until his lower body separates with his upper body.

"Let's finish this you two," Komura tells them as they nod.

As Rod tries to crawl away, Moguera tilts its body forward and aims its chest at Rod's neck. A satellite shaped object emerges from Moguera's chest and begins glowing. Spencer and Aki fire the weapon together and fire a maser beam, resulting in Rod's entire upper body to explode in a way that causes bits and pieces of his flesh to fly everywhere.

As the Scouts were awed by the extreme weaponry power that Moguera possesses, Levi shouts at them as he draws his blades, "What're you all doing ?! Now's our chance to take Rod down !"

Listening to Levi, everyone with 3DMGs jumps off of the ships and grapples onto Moguera's exterior. Spencer and Aki watch the Scouts in action as they also were amazed to see the Scouts flying through the air like superheroes. The Scouts begin to slice the pieces of Rod's flesh through the air, but the only problem was that they were not sure if they were actually killing Rod. As some of the flesh lands on Moguera's body, the Scouts grapple around and start slicing the rest of the flesh. Historia flies across Moguera's arm and searches around for the true location of the nape. Although everyone else was slicing nearly all of the flesh pieces, she turns her attention to a large piece of flesh still falling towards the ground. Historia begins to have a strong feeling that it was where her father was and decides to follow it. Hooking onto the flesh bit, Historia didn't hesitate to go full speed and slice the still burning flesh, sensing her father in great pain as she landed on the ground. Historia turns to her allies as they slowly begin to cheer as Rod has finally been taken down.

Even those on Wall Sina were cheering after witnessing Moguera defeating Rod and the Scouts finishing the job. Erwin smiles, knowing that the Walls have gained a powerful ally, before turning to see the reactions of his colleagues. While Pixis was very impressed, Nile was a bit shocked to see such a powerful advanced weapon in his life, yet he couldn't help but be impressed as well. Muasaka and the Military leaders continue standing on the Wall as Moguera and the EDF ships approach Orvud.

The citizens in Orvud, after going through an evacuation drill, were discussing news of the Military's coup d'etat and how they might undergo military rule from now on. Suddenly, they begin to feel vibrations from the ground, worried that it might be monsters from the recent attack coming to hurt them. The citizens witness the sight of Moguera's upper body appearing over the Wall as its exterior was steaming from the evaporating Titan blood and shining bright all around. At first the citizens were worried, but they quickly calmed down as they saw the Scouts, Garrison, and even the Mutants standing along the edge of the Wall, staring down at them. The citizens were now confused until everyone went down the Wall before approaching the crowd gathered in the streets. Erwin turns to Historia before walking up to the crowd and loudly announces to them.

"For many years ! Humanity has always believed that there were no more of us outside of the Walls ! What you see here today is proof that what we know and learned is wrong ! There are still surviving humans in the outside world, thriving and possessing technology beyond our imagination ! They have revealed themselves to us now, prepared to fight the Titans on our behalf and reclaim the land we lost to the enemies many years ago ! By removing the false king and the corrupted Council, we, the Military, will install someone from the true Royal Family ! She will lead us to a better future, one that starts by forging an alliance with the humans from outside of the Walls !"

Historia walks towards Erwin until she turns to see Ymir, who is staring back at her. Ymir softly smiles as Historia continues walking towards Erwin before facing the crowd. She stands proudly in front of the citizens as they were unsure of who she was.

Breathing deeply, Historia shows a serious face as she reveals herself to the people, "I….am Historia Reiss. The true heir to the throne and the rightful leader of the Walls."

---

Closing in on Earth, Minilla, Gamera, and the other Kaijus fly past Mars as the Facility continues its journey to Earth. Minilla and Gamera steer the Facility in just the right direction so that they will land in water. Once they reach the Moon, King Caesar, Anguirus, and Rodan hold onto the floor of Facility 4 while Minilla and Gamera continue pushing the entire vessel. Upon entering the atmosphere, the Facility begins to break apart at a fast rate as heat builds up within the metal. Minilla and Gamera stop using their abilities as they brace impact on the water. The Facility suddenly breaks in half, making the Kaijus flinch and loosen their hold. With the exception of Rodan and Gamera, Minilla and the rest of the Kaijus begin free falling until they roughly splash into the ocean, along with the entire Facility. Minilla, King Caesar, and Anguirus float above the water as the Facility sinks into the ocean. The Kaijus make their way towards an unknown land and gather at a beach where Rodan, King Caesar, and Anguirus begin to breathe in the fresh air that they've missed so much.

"We are home," Anguirus says to the others.

"Let's take the time to embrace this moment before we fight once more," King Caesar suggests, "The Xiliens will return to fight us again."

As the three Kaijus continue enjoying their time back on Earth, Gamera turns to see Minilla heading into the ocean again.

"Where are you going ?" Gamera asks Minilla, "We must band together to fight the Xiliens once they arrive here. We can defeat them together."

Minilla stops before turning to Gamera, "I have a friend that needs to know about the Xiliens. He will be in danger and I wish to be there to protect him and his people."

"You're referring to the human race. There is no point in trying to protect them."

"What do you mean by that ?"

"…..The human race is not worth protecting as is any other species like them. They have the potential to be just like the Xiliens if given the chance."

"The human race is different."

"Prove me wrong, Lizard. If you were to return to them, what do you expect to happen ?"

Minilla knew the answer was not to his liking. The last time he was with the humans, it did not end up well and Minilla hesitated to return. However, after witnessing the might of the Xilien Kaiju army and knowing that they are stronger Kaijus, Minilla can't help but gain the courage to return once more and be at humanity's side when the Xiliens arrive. Minilla disregards Gamera's question and decides to head for the island where the Walls reside. Gamera watches as Minilla sinks into the ocean and swims away while the other Kaijus watch him as well. Gamera couldn't understand what Minilla sees in humanity, but he knew what it was like to defend a race like the humans.

Gamera remembers many centuries ago from when he was first created by the Seatopians in an effort to combat the Xilien's Kaijus. Within their kingdom, the Seatopians were attacked by several Kaijus, one with dinosaur-like features and yellow fins called Titanosaurus and another that was akin to a dragon called Dagahra. Although Dagahra was originally the Seatopians' creation, the Xiliens managed to secretly install M-Base and took control of the Kaiju, making it change sides. The Seatopians took more careful measures and created Gamera, ensuring that no M-Base was implanted. Once the Seatopians sent Gamera into battle, Titanosaurus and Dagahra proved to be a tough match. Yet, Gamera became more aware of everything outside of his creators' control, becoming confused during his first battle and why he was fighting creatures similar to him. Gamera fought the Xiliens on behalf of the Seatopians for years after barely defeating Titanosaurus and Dagahra on his own, but he soon became overwhelmed by the ever increasing number of enemies. Despite relying on his creators for help, Gamera recalls how the Seatopians would abandon him for their own survival instead of supporting him, causing Gamera to believe that they had exploited him. Once the Seatopians were fully extinct and defeated by the Xiliens, Gamera flees and decides to fight for himself and other Kaijus that were not a part of the Xilien army. His experience of protecting the Seatopians made him believe that Kaijus will be exploited by the Xiliens, humans, or any other species similar to them.

Though, Gamera was curious about Minilla's relationship with the humans and how it compares to his relationship with the Seatopians. With nothing else to do, Gamera decides to be by Minilla's side, hoping to assist him when the time comes. Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar felt the same way and decided to follow their new Kaiju allies. Eventually, all five Kaijus journey towards the Walls together, determined to fight side by side until the inevitable battle against the Xiliens arrives. Whether or not they would win or lose, the Kaijus knew that they would not go down without a fight.

---

Staring outside a large window alone, Historia looks at the crowd gathered outside of the Mitras Capital building where her friends, the Military, the citizens of Mitras, and even members of the EDF stood by. Historia was wearing a white gown along with a large red cape and her hair was tied up in an elegant fashion. She was unsure of whether becoming Queen was the right decision at first, but she felt free and relieved that she made this decision on her own. Just as Historia was preparing to head out, a door opens into the room she was in, causing Historia to turn and see Ymir walking in.

"Wow. Looking very fancy, Historia," Ymir compliments her.

Historia tugs on the cape before replying, "It's actually pretty uncomfortable. I prefer our uniform over this."

Ymir makes her way over to Historia before stopping and patting her on the head, "To think that you would actually go through with this. Even though I'm proud of you for doing this, I just can't understand why. What made you go through with this ?"

Historia looks back out the window again before turning back to Ymir with a serious expression, "You and Eren. Out of everyone I know, you two made me feel better about my own identity. You made me feel strong while Eren made me feel…like I can be myself around everyone. Becoming Queen is the only way that I can repay the both of you while also making the Walls a much better place. It's the only way that I can allow you two to be free as you are, without anyone trying to exploit your powers. I can create a relationship between us and the Earth Defense Force so that we can share resources and everything else to bring humanity back together."

Ymir, recalling how people treated her in the past when she acted as an important figure, asks Historia, "What will you do if the people don't accept you ? What happens if they try to tell you that you don't deserve to be Queen or if they believe that you'll end up becoming a tyrant like your father ? They might hurt you or even worse…"

Historia holds Ymir's hand and calms her, "Then I'll have you…Eren…and everyone else by my side. I know for a fact that you guys will have my back…just like I'll support you all by being Queen."

"But…Historia…"

"Ymir, I've always wanted to tell you this after you tried to take Eren's place and get sent to the Military Police and…" Historia takes a deep breath, "I know that you want to protect me however you can, even if you're willing to sacrifice yourself. But I don't want that. I want to be side by side with you in any situation. I want to protect you too !"

Ymir widens her eyes to hear Historia make an unexpected declaration and listens as she continues, "You want me to live a proud life ? Then by becoming Queen, I can be proud to know that I can protect you this way and make sure that no one would ever threaten you. Even in battle, I support you and cheer you on ! Please…don't be an idiot and go sacrificing your life just for me ! Please…be with me."

Ymir thinks about Historia's words and decides to compare her past to Historia's future as Queen. Ymir imagines a scenario where someone tries to threaten Historia on the throne, but she swoops in and protects Historia while remaining by her side. In another scenario, Ymir imagines herself walking the streets as a random bystanders begins to scold her for being a Titan and harasses her, but Historia intervenes and defends her. Although it was unlikely for those situations to happen, Ymir felt happy to know that she could live happily with Historia by her side, truly giving her a second chance to be someone important in the eyes of another.

Ymir begins to smile and tightly hugs Historia, "If you want me to stay so badly, then I'll stay. However, I can't guarantee that I wouldn't give up my life for your sake. No matter what happens in the future, I'll be sure to fight for your honor. I'm proud that you decided this for yourself. I know you can make a difference by showing others how important you really are."

Historia hugs Ymir back as they both embrace the moment. A few minutes later, Ymir escorts Historia out to the front where everyone was waiting for her. Ymir heads over to Eren and the others, moving into position as they watch Darius Zackly holding a crown and Historia bowing in front of him. Darius proceeds to announce Historia as the new Queen before putting the crown on Historia's head. Historia then faces everyone before saluting as everyone follows along, even the EDF. Seconds later, a strong wind blows through the ceremony as everyone turns to see multiple EDF ships arriving from above. Once the ships land and their ramps open, Namikawa, Naotaro, Kunikida, and many more EDF soldiers exit the vehicles while Historia and the Military leaders go towards them. As the two sides of humanity officially meet for the first time ever, Namikawa, Naotaro, and Kunikida went ahead of their troops as Historia, Darius, Erwin, Pixis, Nile, and the other Military leaders did the same. Once they stopped at a certain point, there was an awkward silence since no one was sure who should be the first to speak.

Historia breaks the silence as she clears her throat before speaking to the EDF leaders, "Welcome to our home, Earth Defense Force. We, the people of the Walls, appreciate your efforts on protecting our citizens and while we do not understand your reason of concealing yourself from us…I, Historia Reiss, the new Ruler of the Walls, would like to extend my hand and ask of you to bring humanity back together again as a whole. By combining our resources, our numbers, and even our cultures together, we can rebuild humanity to what it once was."

"Has she been practicing that ?" Sasha asks Ymir, who shrugs.

"I don't know, honestly."

As Erwin and the Military leaders waited for Naotaro's response because they believed that he was the EDF commander due to his clothes, they became surprised as Namikawa was the one that walks up to Historia and shakes her hand.

"My name is Reiko Namikawa. I am the commander of the Earth Defense Force. The organization and I would gladly work with you and your Military on reforming humanity," Namikawa says to Historia, "I apologize for our organization's secrecy, but once we get to discussing further plans on our alliance, you and your people will understand everything."

"I hope so, Miss. With what's going on lately, we would all like to know what's going on."

"Of course, your highness. Where would you like to discuss…"

"Hold on just a minute," Darius interrupts them while turning to Namikawa, "While I understand that there are some things that your organization wishes to share with us, but if you truly wish to work alongside us, then allow us to finish the mess that our previous government left behind and we'll get back to you."

Darius escorts Historia back to the others as Naotaro approaches Namikawa, "That was quite unexpected. I guess we must continue waiting until we tell them everything and retrieve that key."

"Unfortunately so. However, there's nothing we can do about it. We just need to let them take a break from everything that happened for a bit. In the meantime, we should see what we can do to help."

Namikawa, Naotaro, and the rest of the EDF proceed to assist the Military in any way possible. The first thing they did was assist in the clean up process of Historia's crowning ceremony. In the midst of the whole thing, Carla sat in her wheelchair next to Eren, looking around at everything from Eren's friends to Serizawa and his colleagues to everyone else. For the first time in a while, Carla was finally smiling as she felt relaxed after everything she and everyone else had to endure with Rod and the corrupted Government. Carla leans her head on Eren's hand while continuing to look around. Carla and Eren begin to notice Serizawa approaching them with Miki by his side. Serizawa and Miki stand in front of Carla and Eren before Serizawa begins to bow. Wondering why he was bowing, Carla and Eren become confused until he begins to explain his action.

"Carla…" Serizawa sighs, "I'm…terribly sorry about what happened. I didn't want to make it seem like I was abandoning you like Grisha did. I hope you forgive me for leaving you like that. I didn't have any other choice."

"I'm sorry too, Serizawa. I…overreacted about you leaving. I shouldn't have acted so coldly against you," Carla then turns to Miki, "You too, Miss. I know you were trying to help me, but I was rude to you during the first time we met and…I wasn't a very cooperative person."

"It's okay, Carla. You were stressed out about everything and I just wanted to bring you some hope. Although, I did ultimately fail in rescuing you and your son. Serizawa and my other colleagues had to finish the job for me."

"It was a good attempt, Miss. Especially when you somehow lifted us into the air. It was surreal," Carla reassures Miki.

"Thank you. I hope that we can get to know each other better once the Walls and our organization fully come to an agreement."

"I hope so too. And Serizawa," Carla turns to him, "I hope you wouldn't mind making another pair of legs for me. If it's not too much trouble."

"Of course, we can get started soon. Once everything is in order."

The conversation ends as a commotion is heard nearby, causing Carla and the others to look and see the Scouts and the EDF handling the Interior Police. They watch as Kenny's Squad and the rest of the Interior Police soldiers are being put onto the EDF ships. They could hear some of Kenny's squad members shouting and freaking out, worried that they were going to be tortured with advanced tools by the EDF. However, Kenny was the only one that was excluded as Levi was watching over him with Mike. Remembering what Kenny did, Carla asks Eren to move her over to Kenny and Levi. Eren reluctantly nods before pushing her in her wheelchair over to them. Miki, curious to know what Carla was going to do, follows them with Serizawa following her lead. As Levi was about to move Kenny someplace else, he and Kenny noticed Carla and the others approaching them.

"Wait, Mr. Levi ! I need to speak with him for just a minute," Carla asks of Levi as he and Kenny stop.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jaeger, but I need to put this guy where he belongs," Levi tells Carla, who nods.

"I understand that, but I just want to give him my thanks," Carla said, catching both Levi and Kenny off guard, "Specifically, for saving my life. Back at the cavern."

Kenny stares at Carla with a dejected look before replying, "Don't mention it, but I really prefer if you didn't do that."

"Yeah, killers like you don't deserve thanks from people like her," Levi remarks, "Now move your ass."

"Hold on, I still want to say one more thing," Carla quickly says, making Levi and Kenny stop once more, "Mr. Kenny, I know that you don't have a good reputation and all, but…I really appreciate your selfless action. Even if you're not the type of person to do that sort of thing, I just wanted to know what compelled you to save me."

Kenny sighs, not wanting to break his sadistic ego and answer Carla's question. Instead, he turns away and nudges Levi to take him away. However, Miki stands in front of Kenny and glares straight into his eyes.

"This is your chance to make things right with your past. A chance for you to redeem yourself. Why are you just throwing it away ?"

"Heh…look, Lady. I ain't looking for recognition or praise or anything related to that bullshit. I simply made a choice out of my own free will, but that doesn't mean I would do that for everyone. Besides, people know me as Kenny the Ripper and they'll fear me for many years to come. They don't give a shit about me saving a damsel in distress or any other good thing that I happen to do."

"You can change that, Kenny. You can change yourself for the ones you've lost. This is what you desire most, isn't it ? To finally become kind and compassionate like Uri."

"I can never be like Uri. I admit that. And I can't obtain ultimate power, whether it's your mind tricks, or those Mutants' strength, or even the Founding Titan. Maybe I should just take Carla Jaeger's advice and realize that I'm not special like people born with powers, but it doesn't mean that I have to see myself as scum of society…because there are some people out there who don't see me that way. That's fine with me."

"So what now ? You're just going to accept your fate instead of trying to redeem yourself ? To become better ?"

"Maybe that's for the best. Hell, if I'm bored enough, I'll find some way to entertain myself before I grow old and die the boring way. But hey, at least I saved a life instead of killing for once in my life and it felt….nice. Then again, that's probably the only time I'll ever do something for someone else rather than my own personal interest. Thanks for trying to redeem me. Both you and Carla Jaeger. But it's not something that a guy like me should deserve after everything. I lost my chance to change years ago and I can't undo it."

Kenny turns to Levi and tells him, "Get me away from this chick ! Her staring is creeping me the hell out of here !"

"Quit your complaining, Kenny. You'll be in your cell soon enough," Levi said as he took Kenny away.

Kenny looks back at Miki and Carla before nodding his head in respect before turning away. In the end, Miki and Carla were a bit disappointed to know that Kenny made his decision to remain the way he was. However, they still have some bit of hope for Kenny, that one day he will learn to be better.

Within a few hours, the crowning ceremony was fully cleaned up and the Military was able to fix most of the problems caused by the previous government with the help of the EDF. Soon, people were able to get their money back from the nobles, orphans from the Underground were given a new place to stay, and the EDF were able to share their resources, mainly food, to the refugees, and more. Eventually, night arrives as everyone in both the Military and the EDF finally have their meeting within the Mitras Palace. Within the throne room of the building, Historia sits upon the throne as her friends sit on the steps in front of her. Carla sat in her wheelchair next to Serizawa, Miki, Ozaki, Miyuki, and Gordon while Komura, Spencer, and Aki stood next to them. The Military leaders stood on one side of the room as the EDF leaders stood on the other. Along with the Scouts and the Mutants, Garrison soldiers, MP soldiers, and even EDF soldiers stood on the sidelines and watched the scene take place.

"You know something, Miss Namikawa," Darius tells them, "I'm quite surprised to see that despite your best efforts, you chose now to reveal yourself and your organization. Although many people would appreciate that you're finally helping the Walls, I, for one, believe that you are nothing but cowards to begin with."

"What makes you say that ?" Namikawa replies.

"The fact that you hid yourselves from our society for who knows how many years and you suddenly show up now, expecting that we'll just accept you without considering why you never helped us in the past. You could say that this action is quite similar to that of the Council members."

While some of the soldiers murmured, Namikawa argues, "Unlike the Council, we in the Earth Defense Force have the best intentions for humanity. We chose not to reveal ourselves because of the potential chance of spies in your ranks."

"What sort of spies are you referring to ?" Nile asks her, "Who are they and why are they such a big deal that prevented you from fully cooperating with us in the past ?"

"Because they infiltrated our ranks years ago and defeated us to the point where only a small fraction of our organization remains. We were called the 'Earth' Defense Force for a reason."

"Not only that," Kunikida adds, "But Eren Jaeger's father, Grisha, is one of those spies."

Everyone from the Walls becomes shocked to hear about Grisha being a spy, most notably Carla and Eren.

"So you're saying that Grisha Jaeger infiltrated the Walls and then what ? Gave his own son the ability to turn into a Titan in an effort to attack the Walls ?" Darius questions them.

"We honestly don't know the reason for him doing that to Eren Jaeger, but some of our members have personal knowledge of his cruel deeds and his real identity," Namikawa explains, turning to Serizawa as he steps up to the center of the room with everyone locking eyes on him.

Before he said anything, Serizawa turned to Carla and Eren, hoping to make sure that they knew something first, "I'm so sorry that this is sudden and unexpected, but it's true. Grisha is indeed an evil person. I knew him from a long time ago when we were originally colleagues, but things had happened that made me regret meeting that man. I was hoping that he had some heart that he actually cared for the two of you, but it's obvious that he doesn't regard your feelings and resulted in Eren being an innocent victim of his experiment."

"Mr. Serizawa, I don't care what happened to me. These powers of mine are the reason that I was able to save my friends from the cavern and I chose to use it for the good of humanity. All I want to know is exactly who my father really is," Eren tells him.

"I agree with Eren, Serizawa," Carla added, "Before Wall Maria fell, I never thought much about my husband and believed that he was nothing more than a kind person and a wonderful father. However, the fact that he made Eren this way and abandoned us years ago made me realize that I barely knew him at all. Please tell us everything you know about him. We deserve the truth."

Serizawa sighs before turning to everyone else, "Very well. I shall explain my story, but it's not the only thing that I'll be telling everyone. Some of my colleagues and I will also explain everything before the Walls you lived in even existed. Our history and how we ended up here after many years."

"How far back are you going to explain your story ? One hundred years ago was when the Walls were first built. That doesn't make any sense considering that you are in your 30s," Erwin stated.

Everyone from the Walls agreed with Erwin and wondered why Serizawa was going to explain events that occurred from a century ago. Their answers were answered as Serizawa, with a serious face, tells them all.

"Because my story takes place much further than you think. In a time when the Earth wasn't inhabited by Titans and giant monsters were first discovered. When technology from the Earth Defense Force wasn't invented or developed yet. My story….takes place nearly 2000 years ago. In the year 1954."

---

Crazy. I honestly didn't expect to write this much for one chapter. This is my new personal record. However, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this again, but I have high hopes because it is certainly better than when I used to do 3000 words per chapter back then. It's a nice improvement I must say, but it is more difficult to proofread and make final edits to long chapters at once before uploading because it actually lags my computer a bit. I even considered making this chapter a two parter, but I chose not to.

Moving on to other things, you guys might be surprised by the last line and it is no typo. The next chapter will explain how Serizawa, Miki, and the EDF ended up where they are now, which will start 2000 years in the past. It'll include stuff from the first Godzilla movie, some of the Heisei movies, and Final Wars. I have a general idea on what I'm going to write, but I just hope the execution goes well. The next chapter might not be what you guys might expect, but I hope it makes enough sense. If not, then you're welcome to complain about it. Let me know about any concerns or anything that seems odd in this chapter and I'll see you guys in the next year.