The Army of Marley slowly ambled their way through the city streets. The general population lay barred in their homes, weapons in hands, as the greatest military in the world marched forth.
Their commander, a man named Adolf, raised his voice as he addressed the surrounding streets:
"We know there are Eldians here." He rumbled. "You cannot hide them from us."
He raised his hand and men holding rifles stepped forward.
"We will be searching each and every home in this city." He said. "We will rip you from your homes and then have you tested for Eldian ancestry. If you are pure, you will not be harmed. But if you are not…"
He chuckled, shaking his head.
"Do not resist. Do not try to fight us. This city will be razed to the ground, if even a single one of you resists."
A pebble hit his cheek. He flinched slightly, as a trial of blood ran across his face.
A young boy, perhaps five or six years old, was standing defiantly before him. In his hand was another stone.
"Get out!" He snapped. He threw the second rock and again it hit the general. "We don't want you!"
General Adolf stared down at him with an evil eye. Without warning a door to a nearby house burst open.
"No, boy-"
A young woman raced out, skirts flailing everywhere, as she wrapped her arms around the boy.
"No, he didn't mean it!" She cried. "He was only playing, he doesn't know what you fight against!"
The general stared down at them both with a dark gaze. "How many more children in this town fail to honor the might of the Kingdom?" He asked. "How many more would defy us… If left unchecked?"
The woman recoiled, dragging the boy along with her.
"Men." General Adolf said. "Kill the boy and rape the woman. Make them understand that we mean business."
The soldiers of Marley started to smile sinisterly as they advanced upon her. The woman backed away, child in hand, still screaming.
"No, stop!" She cried. "We didn't mean it! We didn't- We love Marley!"
"That's enough."
The general and his men raised their hands. To their very great shock a man, perhaps twenty five to thirty years old, was standing before them. He was dressed modestly, in the local farmer attire for the area, but he was a big man. Although he was unarmed, he towered over Adolf. So much so, that the general was not sure just where the man had even come from.
"You too wish to be killed?" Adolf asked, his voice coming out in a hiss. "Our intelligence was right. This town deserves to be destroyed."
The man lowered his head. The glasses on his face glinted in the dying sunlight.
"I will only give you one chance." He said, his voice cold. "Return to Marley. Now."
The General stared. And then he began to laugh.
"You?" He crowed, his voice becoming increasingly high pitched. "You? A single man from a powerless country, stop me?" He raised his hand. "I suppose we should have not bothered with a warning. This stinking city should have been burnt to the ground the instant we learned of the Eldians living here."
"Last chance." The man said.
The General lowered his hand. "Fire!"
The men behind him opened fire. The most powerful automatic weapons in the world fired, all at once. The woman screamed, throwing herself and the child on her ground, covering him completely as the bullets soared harmlessly past her, towards the tall man in the suit.
The General did not even bother to see the results. Smiling to himself, he turned to the population.
"See what has become of this man, foolish enough to oppose the Kingdom of Marley?" He asked the buildings. "See how he lies there, drowning in a pool of his own blood and organs for daring to defy-"
There was an intense muttering coming from the men behind him. The general paused, his breath hitching in his throat, unable to fathom just what had happened.
He turned back around.
The man was still standing there. The glasses on his face looked as if there were about to fall apart, the clothes on his shirt had ripped somewhat to expose his undershirt, but he was still standing there.
THERE WAS NO BLOOD!
"What are you doing?" The general snapped. "Kill him! Kill him!"
The troops opened fire. Every gun in the army shot at him at once. The woman on the ground sobbed uncontrollably at the barrage of shots again soared past her, and again slammed right into their target. But this time the General could see just what had happened.
THE BULLETS BOUNCED OFF.
The bullets that would penetrate and tear apart dozens of men at a time bounced off of his skin. Even the pebble that had contacted his own skin had drawn blood. But this… this entire barrage of bullets… was not doing any damage to their enemy at all.
"Who… are you?"
The very last bullet fired slammed into the man's glasses and they fall apart at the seams. He reached for his chest.
"I'm Superman."
He ripped apart his shirt, and a red flowing cape erupted from his back. The General took a step back as the god among men stepped forward. He could not take his eyes off of the symbol on his chest.
"S-stop-"
"Stop?" The man who called himself Superman asked. "You ask me to show your mercy? No, General… I am about to show you just as little mercy as you show the people you oppress."
…
"They call this man Superman."
The leaders of the most supreme military unit in the Kingdom of Marley, the people who had spent the past ninety-five years preparing to seize the Progenitor Titan from the Eldian King from behind the walls, had gathered together in one place. They stared at each other, as if daring one among them to confess that this new threat was nothing but a prank, a bizarre what-if scenario conjured up to test their mettle.
"Our forces in all foreign regions of have eliminated." The man reading the report stated. "Our based have been seized and occupied by local populations, our greatest warships have been sunk, and our greatest generals have fallen. One after the other."
An old man leaned forward.
"We have no choice." He rasped. "We must utilize those wretched Eldians. Surely they will make short work of this… Superman."
There was a very awkward silence.
"Superman has completely eliminated our Titan forces." The man admitted. "Every warfaring Eldian has been liberated and set free, running amok the general population. The only ones who remain are those preparing to infiltrate the island of devils to save us all from the Founding Titan."
There was a shocked silence. The old man stared.
"Even those accursed devils…"
"None can match him." The man said gravely. He turned around and stared at the only image they had captured of the Superman. "Our weapons are ineffectual. Our best troops have failed. And more and more the tight control we have maintained over Ymir's chosen people… it is about to break."
He turned around and glared.
"Another year of this and the Devils will escape their island, and destroy us all."
The Old man gasped. He leaned forward, clutching his chest. When he was examined it was discovered that he had died of shock.
"We must not lose heart, gentlemen." Another man said, as the body was wheeled out of the room. "This is a man who does not fear the Titans. Surely he will destroy the people of Ymir for us?"
"To think that is naïve." Another man said, his voice cold. "No, it is essential that we maintain our absolute control over world affairs. Any other government would allow the Eldian people to live and thrive, free to terrorize us to their hearts content. No, make no mistake… this man… The Superman… is the greatest terror to ever befall the Kingdom of Marley."
"Perhaps if our Eldian agents could seize the Coordinate from those wretched… we could perhaps destroy him?"
"Perhaps." The man's voice was cold. "But I would hate to entrust our future to those wretched Eldians."
…
Eren Jaeger felt his breath hitch up in his throat. The people of Shinganshina stared up in horror as the Colossal Titan leered down at them.
It clutched the wall with its fingers. The stone of the wall, said to be have been blessed by God himself to keep out the Titans, shattered under his grip. He raised his leg, and prepared to shatter the wall.
BOOSH!
An intense force fell against the Titan's Cheek. It reared back from the sheer force. As it was standing on one leg, it fell to the ground with a sickening crash.
Eren stared.
Standing on the wall, high above the people of Shinganshina, was a man. This man, dressed all in blue, stood tall and strong, facing the outside world with determination. The red cape on his shoulders billowed in the wind.
"These people are under my protection." He rumbled. Eren felt his heart stop. Protection… It couldn't be true…
Was it all over?
The people of Shinganshina stood, completely enraptured in shock and awe as the man cast a single look behind them.
Eren felt as if the man above them was looking right at him.
"People of Ymir!" The man shouted, as he turned to face them. "You have been lied to!" The outside world… it is alive and well!"
Eren felt as if his heart was about to leap out of his chest. He had never heard of Ymir, but something inside of him said that that name had some great significance… not only to him and his family, but his entire culture.
But before he could wrap his mind completely around this revelation, the man leapt forward, and to his shock flew through the air. He soared down to where the Colossal Titan had landed.
Eren did not get to see what happened next. But you do.
The colossal Titan lay on the ground. The armored titan and Female were surrounding it, trying to fend off the horde of incoming titans, who could clearly sense the prey inside them. Super raised his fist and smashed one at such an angle that the entire horde went flying. The female and Armored stopped, looking up at him, as the pilot of the Colossal Titan ripped himself from his Titan, gasping.
The female titan moved first. It swung an expertly timed fist at him, but Superman neatly dodged. In one smooth movement he made for her neck and reached inside. Annie Leonhart let out a surprised cry as she was ripped straight from her titan. She struggled vainly, punching and quickly, as the Armored Titan came in for a blow. Superman held Annie close to protect her from the strikes from her own ally as he landed on his shoulder, reached down, and ripped off the armored plating. The titan swerved, trying to throw him off as Superman reached inside, and grabbed Reiner as well.
The three children, nothing more than troublemakers in his eyes, were thrown unceremoniously at his feet. They stared up at him, in fear and awe. Due to the nature of their operation, they had not been informed of the terror of the Man of Steel. They had come here with the honest belief that the only thing they would have to fear was the Eldians themselves
"You three." Superman said, as he landed at the feet of the shocked would be infiltrators. "Are going back where you came from."
"But-"
"I can't allow you inside these walls." Superman said firmly. "Because you intend to do these people harm. But I won't leave you here to die either."
He raised a hand and pointed to the wall.
"But if even a single person had died today… it would be a different story." He said. "If you return here again. I will stop you."
It was Bertolt who spoke first.
"If we return now, we'll be killed." He said softly. "We can't go back."
Superman's expression softened.
"You always have a choice to do the right thing." He said gently. "I understand that you were forced to do this. But that is no excuse for what you've done."
He wrapped his arms around all three of them and rose into the sky.
And then they were gone.