Chapter 38
(Flashback)
"I already told you Annie is doing fine." At night on top of the Wall in Shiganshina District, Bertholdt and Reiner wait for the Scouts' arrival along with Zeke. "I'm sure. There's no way she's getting tortured. For starters, don't you think that's unlikely? With powers like ours, one scratch, and we can pretty much handle anything."
"But we can't say it for sure. Aya Neumann must have taken her female Titan powers...And they did mention Annie being captured." Reiner says.
"And Armin doesn't seem like the type of person that lies to us..." Bertolt says.
"Oh? Does this mean you're not fully committed yet?" Zeke asks them flatly, no sympathy in his demeanor. "Is that right? And what about the agreement we came to? Was that all for nothing? We can go at it again if you want, Reiner. But the next time you lose, you give up your armor to another warrior."
"N-No, that's not what I meant."
"Then pull yourself together," Zeke says to Reiner with a tired face. "We only have one goal. To recover the Coordinate and the Neumann and put an end to this cursed history. Let's…end this. I want to end all this, with us."
"Understood," Bertolt replies. "I'll try to keep Annie out of my head for now. There's no need to put anyone else through this hell but us. Let's end this."
"Bertolt…" Reiner stares at him. "War Chief Zeke, so far Aya Neumann has the power of 9 Titans, if you get in contact with her, then it will be 10 and with the Cart it will be 11...What will happen to her if she manages to get all 12 of them?"
Zeke has other plans already, and he says, "We'll make sure to be careful if that happens. With 12 powers inside Aya Neumann, she will become the perfect soldier that protects the Coordinate."
"War Chief Zeke," a garbled-up voice says and the three immediately run to peek over the edge. Pieck says, "Enemy troops are approaching. They've reached the foot."
"My brave warriors." Zeke clinks his mug with theirs. "It's time to settle this here and finish our mission once and for all."
(Flashback Ends)
Bertholt is still in hiding, waiting for Reiner's signal despite the fact earlier he was told to start acting on his own and not always wait on Reiner. He is unaware that the Scout Regiment is currently cheering over having blown Reiner's head off with their Thunder Spears. The nape of the Armored Titan has been blown open with Reiner's partially decapitated body protruding from the back of its neck.
Jean lets out a nervous laugh. "We did it… You were such a pain in the ass for us. Serves you right, scumbag!"
He notices that Conny Springer and Sasha Braus have begun crying and he yells at them to try to get them to accept that they are the ones who killed Reiner.
Eren says, "It isn't over yet."
"I agree. Ready your equipment for the next round!" Hange says.
Meanwhile, Mikasa Ackermann notices that Armin Arlelt is being quiet, and he tells her that they did not have any chance to negotiate. Their side lacks so much information and they do not have the power to capture someone who can turn into a Titan, so there was nothing they could do.
Suddenly, Reiner's Armored Titan lifts its head and lets out a roar. In a barrel on the Cart Titan's body, Bertholdt recognizes it as the signal.
"Peter! He's calling Bertolt! Zeke is going to toss him in!" Eren warns.
"I know." Peter says as he starts to form the water balls in his hand. Armin says to Hange, "We need to get away from Reiner! The Colossal Titan is coming!"
Bertholdt prepares to transform, but he spots Reiner's Titan and sees that the body of his friend is exposed. Abandoning the plan, Bertholdt bursts out of the barrel and uses his ODM gear to reach Reiner, landing on the Armored Titan's shoulder. He discovers that Reiner is still alive, thanks to redistributing his consciousness from his head to his Titan's body as a last resort.
"But that was…a last resort," Bertolt thinks. "To think he'd actually do it… It's hard to believe they cornered you like that. Reiner… I need you to do something for me. You're going to have to move a little. And if you can't, I'm sorry… Prepare for the worst."
Armin decides to negotiate and he says, "Bertolt, let's talk this over!"
Inhaling, Bertolt yells back, "If I agree to talk, would you all agree to die?! We only want three simple things! We want Eren, Aya, and the demise of humanity in the Walls! That's the harsh truth of reality, Armin! It's all been decided already!"
"Wha—? Wh-Who decided any of that?!" Armin asks.
"I decided it!" Bertolt repeats, louder this time. "Your lives are coming to an end right here!"
Armin tries to use Annie to persuade him, but it is no use the second time. "Did you think that if you talked about Annie, I'd lose my cool again? That since I'm the meek and timid Bertolt, you could fool me into letting my guard down?"
He understands that Armin is trying to buy time, letting the Scout Regiment soldiers surround them and allowing others to finish killing Reiner. Armin asks why Bertholdt bothered talking with him if he knew what they were doing, and Bertholdt admits that he needed to know whether he would break down and start whining and begging for forgiveness if he faced his old comrades again. He discovers that he no longer feels conflicted about his duty, and tells Armin that, though he still considers the Scouts his comrades, he has no qualms about killing them all.
"Is that…because you think we're the spawn of the devil? You rather believe Marley, who has been treating you guys miserably, than us?" Armin asks with a sad tone.
"No. None of you have done anything wrong, and you're not devils either. But you all still have to die. That's just how it is."
Without warning, Mikasa leaps up behind Bertholdt and tries to go for the killing blow, but Bertholdt gets his blade up fast enough to block her, only losing an ear as he kicks her off the roof. He tries to finish off Armin, but Mikasa throws one of her blades and forces Bertholdt to retreat.
"Katrina!" Peter yells, and Katrina quickly sets up the rain around Shiganshina to prepare Bertolt's transformation.
"Armin! Don't give chase! There's no knowing when he'll transform. If we don't keep our distance, we'll get caught in another explosion." Mikasa says.
"I don't think Bertolt intends to just yet. Reiner's on the verge of death, so if he did, he'd finish Reiner off. We could take Reiner as a hostage and fight him straight on with swords."
Mikasa wonders if the person they just saw was really Bertholdt, because he seemed like a completely different person, as he has a plan and was more determined.
Meanwhile, Hange's squad approaches the Armored Titan to finish off Reiner, but they find the Titan laying on its back with its nape protected, so they are unable to get to him.
Good thing that Katrina sets up the rain while trying to kill the Titans, the damage made by Bertolt isn't that much, but still, some people die because of the explosion, especially the Hange Squad, except for Hange and Moblit.
"Damn it..." Aya yells as both she and Levi are on the same standing ground. Eren, Dina, and Peter are also inside the water bubble with the Dina and Levi Squad.
Odom gets back to Eren and Dina's side, Odom says, "The Hange Squad was dead except for Hange and Moblit. I'm sorry, the rain isn't enough..."
"Don't blame yourself, you've already done a good job." Dina says. "Right now we rally at the commander for new orders. We'll engage the Colossal Titan in a battle of attrition as originally planned."
"But it'll be a disaster if we let Bertolt near the wall and the others," Jean says, "If the houses in the inner gate catch fire, they'll be sandwiched between the fire and the Beast Titan."
"But we have 4 Titans here, and we'll have to defeat Bertolt right here right now." Eren says.
At the same time, Aya looks at the explosion and says, "That's it... I'm not going to let Bertolt live after that. Dad, you use that syringe and let someone eat him."
"Aya..." Levi is surprised to see how angry Aya is, but he can only sigh.
Connie then says, "Those houses will drop on us. Do you think one of those houses…is Eren's? Eren's house…is eavesdropping!"
Sasha smacks Connie to take him back to normal, and Katrina says, "I don't think he knows our location."
Yeah," Armin says. "He's making Shiganshina a sea of flames by scattering burning debris."
"That bastard! This time, you think you can burn down my city?!" Eren growls. "You're not going to live after this. I'm sure Aya is feeling the same thing."
Dina says, "Everyone, conserve your gas! And we have to make sure he doesn't see us!"
Outside Shiganshina, Dirk informs Levi and Aya Ackermann that all of the small Titans attacking their forces have been eliminated except for the ones at the very front of their line. However, the Beast Titan is still sitting far out of reach without any buildings nearby for the Scout Regiment to use.
"It seems he's a coward. Not like he's ever had balls, to begin with."
Katrina rushes towards them and says, "No, it seems my brother is going to chunk some rocks..."
As the rocks are coming at them, Katrina tries to lessen the rock by creating rain, but it is not good enough as some of the rocks kill the scouts.
"Hmm…" Zeke says, "That one was a little bit high… Well, the first pitch was a warm-up. I'm going for a perfect game!"
Just then, he throws the rocks again, and Erwin yells, "Frontal bombardment! All troops, take cover!"
"Shit! You guys!" Levi yells as Katrina tries to create a lightning net, making the rocks smaller, but some of the grunts are still killed and some are wounded.
"What the hell was that sound?!" Floch asks.
"Does the enemy have cannons?!"
"If so, there's a hundred of 'em!"
"Calm down!" Marlowe tells them. "You're scaring the horses!"
Levi also arrives with Aya resting in Katrina's hands. "The Titan's throwing boulders! All of you, retreat to the Wall with the horses!"
And the attack appears again, and they are trying to retreat back into the walls. Floch falls to his knees and clutches his head. Levi says, "Hey! Stand up! You wanna die?!"
Then they all rush back into the walls and find Commander Erwin. He informs Levi of the situation: the front line of houses has been completely destroyed by the Beast Titan's throws. It will only be a matter of time before the Beast Titan levels the rest, and then the Scouts will have nowhere to hide. They cannot even go to the other side of the Wall because the Colossal Titan is heading their way. Aside from that, scaling the Wall would mean leaving the horses.
"If we retreat here, there's no hope for victory." Erwin says.
"What happened to Hange's group and Dina's group?" Levi asks.
"I don't know. But the majority of them were caught in that explosion." Erwin says. "We've been dealt a serious blow. The Beast Titan directed the small Titans so our soldiers would group up in one place. As such, while engaging the small Titans, Dirk Squad, Marlene Squad, and Klaus Squad were all wiped out by the bombardment. In other words, our remaining forces on this side of the gate… consist of you new recruits, Captain Levi, and…me."
Everyone is panicking, and Katrina asks, "Commander Erwin... Do you have any sort of plan? Right now my Thunder net can block some pieces of rock, but not all of them..."
At the same time, Peter and Odom are trying to fight against the Colossal Titan, but much to their surprise, both Titans are kicked to the wall.
"Mother, I think we should do this." Eren says to Dina, who nods and he touches her.
"I command you to not move!" Eren yells, and much to Bertolt's surprise, Bertolt stops his movement.
"What the... I can't move..." Bertolt is surprised. "The Founding Titan's powers... damn it... I have to get out of here!"
But just as Jean, Connie, and Sasha try to attack with Thunder spears, Bertolt unleashes the stream and causes them to fall back.
"Damn it..." Eren says. "Even though we manage to make him unable to move, we can't make him stop the steam..."
And at the same time, Reiner is back up and he's ready to fight. "And we have the Armored Titan as well." Dina mutters.
Meanwhile, Levi suggests that if Erwin does not have a way to counterattack, the Scouts should prepare to flee. That way, at least a few people would survive.
"Hey! The horse got away!" Marlowe grabs Floch's elbow. "That was your job!"
"Shut up!" Floch yells, still sitting. "Like it matters!"
"Excuse me?!"
"Those veteran soldiers were insanely strong and they died in an instant!" Floch continues. "You know as well as I do! What good is protecting horses…when there's nobody left to ride them home?! It all made sense at one point…" Elbows on his knees, Floch clutches his head. "If humanity just hid behind the Walls, we'd someday get slaughtered by Titans out of nowhere. But I never thought…that being sent to my death…would turn out to be so utterly meaningless in the end! "Now that I think about it, I bet almost everyone ends up saying the same thing as me. Why did I ever think that I'd…somehow be different?"
"What if whoever's left of the recruits and Hange's group scatter on horses…and try to make it home?" Levi proposes a plan of escape. "By using them as a decoy, you guys could escape with the Dina Squad."
"Levi, what would you do?" Erwin asks.
"I'm facing the Beast Titan. I'll draw him away—"
"Impossible. You won't even get close." Erwin says.
"Dad! What are you thinking?" Aya asks with horror.
"If you, Erwin, and Eren return home alive, there's still hope."
"No! I don't want to lose you!" Aya yells.
"Kid I was always supposed to go out before you." Levi says.
"But I already lost my mother and I don't want to lose you as well!" Aya says, "Sorry for being selfish, but I just can't..."
"Isn't that the best we can ask for at this point? What a huge defeat... To be perfectly honest, I doubt a single one of us is making it back alive." Levi turns, looking at his hand.
"Yes, assuming we had no way to counterattack." Erwin says.
"Is there a way?" Katrina asks.
"Why didn't you say that sooner?" Levi demands as the Beast Titan launched another attack. "Why'd you keep your shitty mouth shut?"
"If the plan goes well, you may be able to take down the Beast Titan. But it will take the recruits…and myself to give our lives."
The more they say about the plan, the more Katrina and Aya have to frown. They also listen to what Erwin wants, and Levi says, "You've fought well. It's all thanks to you that we've come this far. I'm making the choice. Give up on your dream and die. Lead the recruits straight into hell. I will take down the Beast Titan."
"I'm going too." Aya says, "Katrina will protect me and I'm going to get the two powers in me."
Katrina says, "And I'll try to create all kinds of shields to protect the recruits! I'm going to minimize the damage!"
Erwin smiles as they all charge. Zeke says, "Well, I figured they wouldn't lie down and die, but… A suicide charge? Here I was thinking they could do better than that…"
"Now, fire!" Erwin yells as they all use green signal flares as the scouts are charging. Levi and Aya are using their ODM gears, with Katrina giving Aya a spare one so that they can make it back.
Katrina has been continuing to use Sandstorm to block the rocks, which surprisingly works, and she also manages to block some with the lightning, but they couldn't stop the rocks from killing some scouts.
When Erwin falls off the horse, Katrina widens her eyes and creates a lightning shield to protect Erwin's body from further damage.
"Commander Erwin!" Floch yells.
"Don't look! Charge!" Marlo yells.
"How pitiful." Zeke says, "To never learn from the mistakes of history… It's a tragedy how King Reiss stole their memories of the world. That's why they're repeating the same mistakes. In the end, they'll send every last person in the Walls, down to the children and elderly, on a suicide charge. Saying if they're going to die, they may as well die proud. Bullshit!"
He accidentally crushes the rocks to dust, but at the same time, Katrina is already in front of the Beast Titan. She lets out a roar and tries to attack using the Thunder.
"Shit... the Weather Titan is here..." Zeke says.
"Sorry that our first meeting is going to be like this..." Katrina says while making a Fire Spear and shooting at the titan, causing him to fall back to the ground. "Brother..."
The Cart Titan tries to interfere, but Katrina uses the Hail to create blocks of ice that harm the titan.
The Beast Titan gets back up and throws more rocks, not only hurting Katrina, but also the scouts behind her.
"Yeah! Game Over!" Zeke yells.
"You're going to pay for that!" Katrina growls as she blasts Zeke with water. "Now! Aya! Levi!"
Just then, both of them appear and Aya yells, "I'll take the power of the Beast and the Cart!"
Just then, Levi slashes at the Beast Titan and Aya touches the monkey before the Cart. Katrina is also forming a shield to block the Cart Titan's attacks so Aya can touch it. Aya's hair starts to turn Red and then pink.
Zeke is also facing Levi and he says, "Is that... Levi? Aya's father?"
Zeke covers his nape with his Titan's hand, but Levi's next attack takes out the Beast Titan's eyes, followed by its legs and remaining arm, sending Zeke crashing to the ground.
"What happened to all that fun you were having?!" Levi asks.
Zeke tries to harden when he realizes Levi is going for his nape but does not have enough time before Levi tears into the Beast Titan's form with such force that Zeke is ripped out of his Titan. Levi jams his blade into Zeke's mouth, taunting him by reminding him that he cannot transform while his body is regenerating.
The Cart Titan tries to grab Aya, but Katrina blocks it with the hardened knee. "You're not taking my sister-in-law away from me!"
Pieck grits her teeth and says, "Shit..." She notices Zeke and says, "Damn it, I'll have to get the war chief first."
Pieck manages to slam Katrina to the ground and rushes toward Zeke, having him in the mouth.
"Get back here!" Aya yells as they chase after the Titan.
Katrina says, "You guys go ahead, I'm going to find the survivors."
Zeke yells, "All of you! Go kill them!" But he is horrified that the Titans aren't moving. "Damn it... the Founding Titan overrules my powers...But their weapons have to be all used up! With this, you'll all be wiped out! That might've been a close one, but victory is ours!"
Katrina rushes to Commander Erwin and changes back into human form. "Good thing I have been learning medics from my father." Then she tries to heal Commander Erwin's wound. While at the same time, Levi and Aya are still fighting the pure titans.
Floch wakes up and mutters, "Why…am I alive? The others..."
Katrina notices Floch and says, "Floch! I need your help. Commander Erwin is still alive, but I need your help!"
Floch widens his eyes and Katrina wants him to carry Erwin, as she is going to transform into the Titan and quickly rush back to Shiganshina.
At the same time, Reiner is still trying to approach Bertolt, Armin stares at Bertolt and says, "He's thinner. The Colossal Titan has gotten a little skinnier. It's just like Hange said! The Colossal Titan is weak in a battle of attrition!"
"Yeah... the Colossal is weak in a battle of attrition. It eats up a lot of its own body mass when it uses its attacks, particularly the steam emission, and given that I could only transform three times in succession, the Colossal Titan, being much more massive, would be unlikely to transform again for quite some time." Eren says.
"I have a plan. You all need to draw Reiner away. Eren, Odom, and I will defeat Bertolt ourselves." Armin says.
The others nod as they work on Armin's plan. Reiner is heading for Eren, so the Levi Squad and Dina are focusing on trying to kill Reiner, while Eren gets out of his Titan form and rushes towards Odom with Armin, telling him the plan.
Mikasa cripples his Titan with a Thunder Spear to the back of the knee so he falls to the ground. Though Jean is initially upset with her, he agrees with her assessment that distracting Reiner is no longer an option. However, their squad has only three Thunder Spears left.
Reiner looks at them in confusion, wondering what took out his knee. "I don't know what's going on and I don't have much strength left. But I know Eren's over there. And as long as we capture Eren, that should still mean that we win. Isn't that right, Bertolt? I'll deal with these guys quickly and come running to back you up."
Seeing Eren, not in the Titan form, Reiner tries to get to him. Closer to the Wall, Bertholdt finds it strange that their former comrades from the 104th appear to have been the only ones who survived his explosion. He hoped to have killed everyone with his initial transformation but finds he has gotten used to things being harder than expected. Bertholdt sees Armin talking to Eren and Odom ahead of him and wonders what Armin hopes to accomplish when both of them are so clearly in a weakened state.
"I know it's a plan I thought up myself," Armin says softly. "But its success mostly depends on how long I can hold out for."
"But..." Eren frowns.
"Eren, I'm sorry, but I can't die until I get to see the ocean. So I'm going to have to pull back once it gets life-threatening." Armin says. "The rest is up to you. Y-You know, because I'm just not a hero."
As they begin the plan, Eren transforms and slips off the wall and lands harshly on the ground, Bertolt seems to have seen that coming due to the condition he believes him to be in. Deciding to end it once and for all, he lifts an arm and swings at Armin. Armin dodges and grapples onto the Colossal Titan's body with his ODM, propelling himself up to its face. Bertholdt acknowledges that Armin has fought well, up until the very end, and emits a blast of hot steam.
"Eren! Armin!" Mikasa sees the blast, but she decides to focus on Reiner.
Jean goes in first himself, acting as the decoy, and leaving Reiner open to attacks from Conny Springer, and Sasha Braus, who is to strike either side of his jaw with their Thunder Spears. Once his mouth is open, Mikasa can send the third and final Thunder Spear straight down his throat, hitting Reiner from the inside. Though it initially seems to work, Sasha is knocked away by some of the debris from Reiner's attack against Jean, and only Conny's Thunder Spear hits. Though Mikasa is temporarily rattled by the plan going awry, she resolves that she still must try to kill Reiner.
A massive amount of heat radiates from the Colossal Titan. In front of him, Armin hangs on, wires of his gear shining, attached to the Colossal Titan's teeth, correctly concluding that they would not be consumed like the rest of the Titan's body. More importantly, while the Colossal Titan is emitting so much steam, Bertholdt is unable to move. Despite the pain from his body roasting in the heat, Armin struggles to hold on and buy more time.
"What's he trying to accomplish? A diversion? Did you really have no better ideas? He closed his eyes. If this is really your final effort, then I understand. I'll put you to rest."
He can only see that Eren is not moving, but he didn't notice Odom sneakily flies away. He turns up the intensity of his steam, causing Armin's clothes, hair, and skin to burn away.
"I entrust it to Eren! My dreams. My life. Everything! I have nothing left to lose! I'm sure… Eren will be able to reach the ocean! He'll have to…" Armin yells before his burned body falls to the rooftop far below.
In the battle with Reiner, Conny tries to get Mikasa to stop her attack, thinking it too risky. But out of nowhere, two lone soldiers arrive, with one of them having another Thunder Spear, and hurl it into the other side of Reiner's jaw, which detonates and causes his mouth to fall open.
"Hange! Moblit!" Mikasa gasps.
"Now, Mikasa!" Hange yells.
Mikasa lands right in the Armored Titan's mouth and fires her Thunder Spear inside. It explodes, sending Reiner flying out of the back of the Titan's nape, putting him out of commission.
At the same time, Bertolt says, "It's over. Now to deal with Eren and the horses."
But just as he notices Odom and Peter missing, he also notices that Eren's Titan is just a hardened shell.
"Now!" He looks up and sees that Eren jumps from Odom, who has Peter on his back, and cuts into the Titan's nape. He pulls out a shocked and dismembered Bertholdt, who realizes too late that Eren was just pretending he could not move and that Armin was a diversion so that Eren could harden and make a decoy while hidden by Bertholdt's steam. The Colossal Titan collapses and smolders now that Bertholdt is no longer inside it.
In the aftermath of the battle, Eren drags Bertholdt behind him as he walks along a rooftop. Peter has been trying to pour water on Armin's body, but it is too late. "Damn it... Armin. I knew you were more of a hero than any of us."
And I'll end the chapter here. I hope you like this chapter.