ALN2: ...I forgot. I literally have nothing else to say. I literally forgot about them.
NICHOLAS VERRELL: What is with these Federal Agents? Like, this practically rehashes what is in my notes, word for word.
Super Comrade: It sure is at the rate my writing is going!
Alph4Scorpion180: I'm glad you think that way!
July 20th, 851 - Avora, Grecia
"...Is…this true?!" Evangelica gripped the paper in surprise, 'There was no way…'
"It is." Theo nodded, "So far, the Shifter has been contained, and has been kept unaware of their condition until we can perform an on-site inheritance."
"Has it been decided who's to receive the titan?" Reiner asked, casting a small, unnoticed look towards Stella before turning to face Magath again.
"Yes. We've decided it will be Porco Galliard." Commander Magath nodded, "And more importantly…the package is arriving tonight."
"Just in time for our final attack on Xanthe." Stella closed her eyes, and sighed.
"Unfortunately, we can not produce more artificial titans. So far, this is the only known combination that works for unknown reasons, and we are all out of spinal fluid from the previous Jaw Titans." Magath continued to scan his own copy of the report, "They've tried injecting fluid from the new shifter, but to no avail, only the raw mixture works."
"Makes sense, otherwise we'd have countless Beast Titans running around." Evangelica scoffed before turning to look out a window,
"Still, I am curious…why? Why did this work now?"
Xanthe, Grecia - Mid East F.O.B
"(The 1st defense line is reporting heavy casualties!)"
"(Marleyan forces reported to be bearing down across the Parangeas River!)"
The situation of the Mid-East forces within Xanthe could effectively be summed up in some variation of these phrases. The Marleyan Forces had all but surrounded the city, leaving a small corridor which the main army had long given up on funneling supplies into, lest they be accosted by Marley's expanding air power. Leaving the meager force of 10,000 men to fend for themselves against all odds.
A lieutenant rushed through the chaos to approach a small commander's office.
"(Sir…?)" He opened the door, to find the commander slumped over in despair.
"(It's over…)" The officer mumbled, "(I've been left to die…)"
"(Sir…I regret to inform you that the 30th Regiment has finally been wiped out…)" The lieutenant said quietly,
"(You should leave…)" The commander mumbled, "(You all should, the Marleyans. They'll kill us all. They'll drop their titans and they'll eat us all alive.)"
"(But…General Ahmed-)"
"(...has forsaken Ecarht. They're preparing for a defense of Istantiople now, and are hoping to force Marley to concede.)" The officer placed his hands over his head, "(...we should've never started this war.)"
The soldiers of Marley gathered around a wide-open field, where a man with a bag over his head was being tied to a pole before the Marleyan soldiers quickly rushed away from him as if he was a ticking time bomb. The man tried to say something through his gag but failed.
Across the field, Porco was holding a Titan syringe and was staring single-mindedly at the man in plain brown rags with a bag over his head.
He stepped forward, casting a dismissive gaze over the man as he prepared to inject himself with the serum.
'What does this spell for us?' Evangelica couldn't help but ponder that question. The Marleyan titan powers had always been a kind of peak for…well, Eldians in general. They were the mark that meant that you had done right with your life. However, if they had figured out how to mass produce them…
Evangelica sighed, things seemed so much more complicated now.
Magath looked at Porco, and scanned the field, watching to make sure there were no soldiers within a good distance of the area. Satisfied, he fired a signal flare, and almost immediately after, Porco injected himself, lightning lighting up the field.
In his place, a 7-meter titan stood, gazing hungrily down at the man tied to the pole, who was now kicking and screaming desperately through his gag.
"Help me!" Bertholdt screamed, "Pieck! Reiner! Evangelica-!
-Evangelica!"
"Evangelica!" Pieck snapped her fingers in front of her face, "You alright? You're looking a little pale."
"I'm fine." Evangelica shook her head, "Yeah…I'm fine."
Pieck looked at her, clearly unconvinced but unwilling to push the topic further as they watched Porco devour the man alive. After a few seconds of chewing, the man's bloodied legs finally stopped struggling as they were slurped into the titans mouth, like an insect whose head was being crushed underfoot.
Satisfied, the titan keeled over, and Porco was ejected from it's nape.
Their newest shifter.
Paradis Island
Eren shuddered as if he'd just been shocked slightly.
'What…? I feel…strange. Emptier, somehow.'
"Eren?" Mikasa looked at him worriedly, and Eren scratched his head.
"I'm fine." Eren stated, and Mikasa nodded.
"How are you feeling Pock?" Evangelica asked, and Porco waved her off.
"I'm fine Evangelica." Porco stated,
Pieck shook her head, but stayed silent.
Zeke cleared his throat, "With the problem of the Artificial Titan out of the way, we have decided to proceed with the offensive immediately." He explained.
"Marleyan Forces have already begun pushing down into the city from the Parangeas River, and the Mid-East Allied forces have retreated deeper into the city. Our objective is to come from the South and catch the Mid-East with a pincer attack. Trapping them between the Balan Army and our battalion. Any questions?"
Seeing as there were none, Zeke nodded, looking out the cover of the truck. "Good. Reiner and Evangelica will take point."
The two of them stood at the back of the truck and nodded, before proceeding to jump out the back of the truck.
In the rows of trenches outside the city, Mid-East soldiers tensely awaited the Marleyan attack. In the distance, shells detonated like thunder, and smoke from the city wafted into their noses.
"(Over there!)" A soldier shouted, pointing at a truck speeding towards them.
"(It might be filled with titans! Shoot it!)" An officer yelled, but before they could do that, two people jumped out of the truck.
"(Shit! Everyone get down!)" The officer shouted, and lightning suddenly struck when the two people landed on the ground.
Evangelica raised her Warhammer Titan, and stared at the fearful soldiers below her before rushing forward and slamming her fist into an MG nest.
'I need to clear those MG nests. Otherwise the rest of the battalion can't advance.' Evangelica thought. Summoning a warhammer she twirled it around deftly before slamming it into the side of an HSA and sending it flying and tumbling in the air.
Beside her, Reiner slammed his fist into a bunker, crushing it.
"(Fire!)" A Mid-East soldier shouted from the cupola of an HSA, and fired a 3.7mm shell at the foot of the Armored Titan, causing it to stumble, but Evangelica quickly kicked it aside, killing the entire crew.
"Hauptmann!" A soldier came up to Stella, "The Armored and Warhammer Titans have wiped out the central part of the enemy defensive line!"
"Good. Have the battalion follow behind the Female. Have Zeke shell the outskirts of the city." Stella ordered, she hesitated before adding. "Have the Artificial Titan join the Armored and Warhammer at the head."
"Yes ma'am!" The soldier replied, "Prepare for a charge!"
The soldiers around them nodded, and lined up in their opposite trench. Some of them seemed fearful, others had steely determination.
Suddenly, a shrill whistle cut through the air, and they swarmed over the trench line as lightning struck down in front of them, bringing the Female and Beast Titans into existence.
'Here goes nothing…' Porco nodded, and sliced his hand open, and lightning engulfed him, in his place was the artificial Titan.
'So this…is a titan…Marcel, is this how you felt?' Porco wondered as he rushed forward with incredible speed. Launching himself at the enemy lines, he sliced an armored car open with his claws alone, before proceeding to dig into a bunker with his teeth.
Porco rushed around the trenchline, wiping out entire squads of soldiers with singular broad sweeps of his claws.
Annie came up to him and partially ejected herself from her Titan's body. Through his Titan, Porco looked at her with one eye.
"Porco, I'm glad you're having fun, but Stella has ordered an advance into the city proper." Annie explained.
Porco nodded in his Titan form, and rushed ahead, leaving the remaining soldiers to be dealt with by the rest of the battalion.
Annie kicked a resistant group of soldiers aside as she led the battalion into the southern area of the city. Beside her, Evangelica's Warhammer and Reiner's Armored watched the buildings beside them as Porco showed off the great mobility of the Artificial as he lept from building to building.
'Now he'll have an even bigger ego…' Annie thought to herself cynically.
Without warning, however, a grenade flew out of a nearby window and detonated on the side of her head.
"Shit! Ambush!" Evangelica roared, summoning a shield to defend herself as the Marleyan soldiers immediately took cover, firing into the windows to return fire at the Mid-Easterners within.
Reiner charged at a building, using one of his own arms as a shield as he swung the other around wildly, throwing it into wherever opposing gunshots or ordinance came from.
Porco went wild, slashing and tearing into the buildings below him as Annie hardened her fists and kicked an apartment in, causing it to collapse.
Eventually, the gunfire stopped, but not before they'd practically levelled the entire street.
Inside her titan, Evangelica looked around. Her breath suddenly hitched as she remembered a scene:
She was falling through the air. She had just been shot.
Panicked, she reached for her ODM gear handles, fluttering mid-air, she managed to grab them and activate the thrusters on the back, slowing her descent but not stopping it, she crash landed into what used to be a house and-
-the scene changed.
She was fighting the Flare Titan, but had managed to achieve a stalemate against it when, without warning, the Attack Titan came from behind and began to choke her.
Several seconds afterwards, people flew up from the buildings beside her. All carrying flying bombs, as they prepared to-
"Evangelica!" Reiner yelled, he'd left his titan. "Come on."
"Right…sorry." She shook her head inside her nape. She wasn't there anymore. Right now, she was here, with the Warrior Unit, her friends. And right now, she had to fight.
"(Sir! The Warrior Unit has appeared! They're in the Southern area!)" The lieutenant barged back into the room, but gasped at what he saw next.
On the wall to the left, a painting was splattered with blood, in front of the lieutenant, the officer was slumped over, clearly dead and bleading from a large bullet wound straight through his head.
"(You…you committed suicide.)" The lieutenant said in horror. The officer was the last ranking officer left, there was nothing here except staff officers now.
"(We're doomed…)"
Evangelica looked around in her Titan, watching for enemy soldiers, when suddenly a shell pierced straight through her heel.
"Enemy armored car!" She shouted as she stumbled forward, immediately, Reiner moved to crush it.
"Ahead of us!" A Marleyan soldier shouted, and the soldiers spread out, now caught in a firefight. The Mid-East soldiers had set up in front of a large building.
'That might be their staff headquarters!' Evangelica realized, her foot healed, she charged into the fray. Summoning a large sword, she sliced an HSA in two before morphing it into her signature Warhammer.
"It's over!" She screamed as she brought the sword down on the large building in front of her.
Excerpt from the c.915 textbook: "Embers in the Ashes - The forgotten Pre-War of 850 to 854"
The Battle of Xanthe solidified what was already inevitable. Following the battle, the Mid-East frontlines in Ecarht saw a complete collapse as the Mid-East Alliance General Staff ordered a full retreat to a defensive line around the city of Istantiople, also known as the Gate to the Buran Sea.
A deciding factor in this battle is the disorganization within the Mid-Eastern ranks. There was no singular commanding officer in this battle, but rather, defense was headed by a coalition of middle-ranking Mid-East officers. This - combined with the high death rate of Mid-East officers in recent weeks, their lack of supply, and poor morale - condemned the city to it's fate.
Combatants:
Combatants: The Marleyan Empire
2nd Buran Army
40,000 soldiers
250 7.7cm Type 48 Infantry Guns
Warrior Unit
Jaw Titan
Beast Titan
Armored Titan
Warhammer Titan
Female Titan
Artificial Titan
1st Independent Support Company
250 soldiers
20 Type 45 mortars
Marleyan Air Force:
30 Einecker D.1 Fighters
Combatants: Mid-East Allied Forces
Allied Army:
13,000 soldiers
100 HSA-49 Type G Armored Cars
50 HSA-49 Type C Armored Cars
120 49-yazin infantry guns
Olturka Air Force:
150 AVU.51 Fighters
Leaders:
Leaders: The Marleyan Empire
2nd Balan Army
Generalmajor Howard Teren
Warrior Unit
Kommandant Theo Magath
- Warchief Zeke Yeager
• Vice Chief Evangelica Tybur
Leaders: Mid-East Allied Forces
Allied Army:
Various Majors, Colonels, and Captains
Northern Marley, Liberio - July 22nd, 850
'Today is that day…' Johanna thought to herself anxiously.
It had been nearly nine months since Johanna had 'joined' the Warrior Unit, and a great deal had changed for her. Physically, she was more mature. She'd grown taller, and she was slightly more muscular as well. She wasn't the small and frail girl she was going in to the program.
That brought her to today. Today would measure how much she'd grown, and whether she would live up to Marley's standards as a Second-Year Warrior.
Seeing as she was up early, before many of the other kids who also lived on base with her for various reasons, Johanna had quite a bit of time to herself.
"Johanna!" A girl's voice called out to her.
"Fine, you're up early." Johanna said pleasantly, and the girl nodded.
"I wanted to spend some time with you, before the morning rush." Fine said to her friend.
While the Tyburs had more than enough money to pay for a hotel in the nicer parts of Liberio, Fine had purposely chosen to live with her friend.
"So…do you think you made it?" Fine asked, the dreaded question on all of their minds.
Johanna shook her head, "I'm honestly not sure. I'm worried about the previous exam."
Fine smiled, "Even if you flunked that, I'm sure your grade in things like marksmanship will make up for it."
Between Fine, Falco, and Johanna. The three of them made up three positions top five of the Warrior Class. The other two were held by Gabi and another girl named Zofia.
"Hello!" A blonde haired boy ran up to them,
"Falco! I was wondering when you'd show up." Fine smiled at her friend,
"Yeah…sorry about that." Fine scratched his head
Fine nodded and turned back to Johanna "Well, there's no use in just talking about it. Everyone else is starting to get up and they announce it first thing in the morning." Fine took her friends hands, and led her to the mess hall for breakfast.
Following a rather uneventful breakfast, the full Warrior Class assembled in the courtyard.
"Alright you Eldian bastards. I'm going to make this quick. A shit ton of you didn't make the cut. Go home, and reevaluate your worth to us Marleyans." The officer said dully, "Anyway, here's who did make the cut."
"Anna Halberg."
"Stella Deien."
"Damien Hoa."
The officer proceeded to list off names, Fine, Falco, and Johanna waited anxiously for theirs until finally,
"..and finally, Johanna Hajime, Falco Grice, Gabi Braun, and Fine Tybur." The officer finished, "The rest of you, get out of my sight."
The trio breathed a collective sigh of relief at the ordeal finally ending.
They had made it.
A/N: And we end off with a little cameo from our Warrior Cadets. I wanted to touch on them since we haven't seen them in a while.
Wiki Link: the-official-flare-titan .fandom. com
