Now in his Titan form, Eren picked up a bundle, slung it over his shoulder and began to barrel towards Rod Reiss. As we watched him from a distance, it was like the whole world slowed down. Eren's Titan reached the face – or, what was left - and smashed the bundle into its gaping mouth. The rope snapped and barrels of gunpowder were tossed into the cavity like confetti. The giant groaned at the impact and shifted its head slightly.
There was a pause, before the mouth erupted into flames.
A deafening roar erupted the air as the gunpowder ignited from the sheer heat and sent pieces of wood out like shrapnel. Giant bubbles of air bubbled through the body before the flesh could hold it no more. In one ginormous explosion, followed by a huge column of smoke and a powerful wave of force, Rod Reiss burst into hundreds of smaller chunks of flesh. It was like hell had opened its gates once again and sent down numerous pieces of meat upon the unsuspecting citizens. Every piece arched through the air and bombarded the district of Orvud from above.
"All troops! Finish it off with 3DMG!"
Somehow Erwin's commanding voice carried over to us on the otherwise, and at his order, every single Garrison guard and Scouting Legions soldier leapt to the skies.
"I'll race you." I teased, winking at Levi as we soared through the air. He rolled his eyes and smoothly sliced through a chunk of Titan.
"It's not a race, Rina."
I flipped mid-air and also cut through some Titan piece. It was a race against time, but who needed to point that out?
"Isn't it?"
The Captain sighed and left in a different direction, but not before I caught a hint of a smile on his face.
Grinning, I turned my attention back to my surroundings. Still high up in the air, bits of Rod Reiss' Titan continued to rain down. Shooting my grappling hook to another piece, I reeled it towards me before slicing through. Excess gas puffed out at me and I winced in surprise. Despite being scattered in hundreds of different slices, each piece of flesh remained relatively hot to the touch and brimming with burning gas. I'd have to watch myself handling them.
Resuming with my spree, I carved through piece after piece, zigzagging my way across the sky. Unfortunately, none of them began to melt, meaning that Rod Reiss' human body was still intact somewhere. Then a petite blur of blonde hair shot past me, cutting into some other portion of Titan.
"Historia?!" I called, stunned. I thought I overheard Erwin mentioning that he was to persuade her to stay behind the front lines. However, with more pressing matters to attend to, I refocused. Grappling to another mass of body beneath me, I smoothly slashed through and squeezed in between the gap made.
"Shit!" I swore when there was another soldier directly beneath. Immediately triggering the gas, I barely twirled away and spied the face of the poor fellow I almost rammed into. He didn't even bat an eyelid and hacked through another piece of Titan.
"Watch where you're going, Rina." Levi side-eyed me, hints of both annoyance and teasing in his warning. I chuckled and gave him a quick shrug.
"Sorry Captain."
Then Levi did something unexpected, grabbing my wrist and yanking me towards him. My eyes shot wide open at the action as I collided harshly with his chest. I barely made out his next words over the rushing air and pounding heartbeat.
"Someone got him."
"What?" my mouth dropped open at the news and I roughly elbowed out from his chest.
Looking around, the solid chunks of flesh had began to disgustingly melt in their paths, now raining steaming goo over the district. Levi had managed to pull me out from underneath a passing fragment, now liquifying and sending cream-coloured blobs to the ground. I made a face, now thankful the Captain had saved me from scrubbing my hair for three hours.
Our momentum took us to some random rooftop and we separated just in time to land safely. I made a noise of annoyance and took a step to the right just as another watery slush of Titan splattered where I just stood.
"Who do you think got Rod Reiss?" I mused, squinting up at the sky. At the sight of the wide blue and the sun now visible to all, it felt like a heavy weight just lifted off of my shoulders. Of the Scouting Legions'. Of Humanity's.
Levi joined by my side and also looked over the mess the district was covered in.
"Doesn't matter. At least this is over."
The entire area resonated with cheers as the townspeople realised the Titan had been defeated. The remaining forces of the Survey Corps and the Garrison continued to double check the flesh pieces, making sure they were dissolving away properly. It wasn't for another 2 hours while in my run that I found out that Historia had actually dealt the final blow to Rod Reiss. Plus the fact that a ton of people had witnessed it firsthand.
Indeed a poetic ending.
The next few weeks continued to be hectic. With the entire government being turned over, the leaders were constantly discussing, bringing people in and out of positions. The Orvud district, with most of the Garrison's help, were cleaning up the damage caused by the Rod Reiss fiasco. The entire Interior Military Police Squad and a few others in the Military Police had been arrested immediately and were currently being processed through the system. I almost blew my fuse when Fuji was arrested on false charges. When Steve came running up to me and told me the news, my eyes had widened manically.
"Where the fuck is he?"
With Steve hot on my heels, I dashed down to Wall Sina's main government building basement, where the general cells were hidden. There were several MP officers, Levi and Military Officer Nile Dok down below, gazing at the faces behind bars. I flew past them, my eyes searching for that familiar friendly face.
"Fuji?" I called, ignoring Steve as he explained to Levi what was going on.
"Rina?" a face popped out of a cell and hands grabbed the bars in front of them. I sighed in relief and moved towards him.
"Fuji! My god, I'm so sorry you've been caught up in this shit."
My friend shrugged. "At least I survived that whole Corps versus Police situation. Oh, and that massive Titan fiasco too."
I spun around to face Levi and the MP head.
"Investigator Fuji is one of my trusted friends, he had nothing to do with the Interior MPs."
"You can't get emotional about this, Hazura." Levi dead-panned, blinking slowly.
"Emotion has nothing to do with it. You wouldn't be here if Fuji didn't help me in the MP. Hell, I wouldn't be here without him. I'll vouch for him! And we both met him while this internal war was going on and he left us alone. You owe him at least that."
Levi took one long look at Fuji, who simply tilted his head in response. The silence dragged on as Levi collected his thoughts.
For too long.
"Levi."
"Tsk. Fine. Let him loose."
I grinned in victory as an MP officer rushed forward and unlocked the cell, allowing Fuji to squeeze out. I leapt forward and slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Apologies for all that, Fuji."
He gave me a smile and shook his head. "Nonsense. They were simply doing what they thought was right. Besides, you got me out."
"A word then, Investigator Fuji. We'll get you updated with what's been happening." Nile nodded at my friend before heading back out of the basement. Fuji sighed.
"Maybe I should have taken a longer break in the cell…"
My jaw dropped. After all the effort I went to-
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding." Fuji chuckled after seeing my face before hurriedly following his superior. I turned to the Lance Corporal and also followed him back upstairs.
"Thanks for doing that Levi."
"It's fine. I thought the case against him was a little dodgy anyway. I just never want to see his face again."
I laughed out loud at this, shaking my head in amusement. I guess bad habits were hard to overcome.