When the small group led by Flex began making their way towards the refueling station of Trost, they had expected it to be an easy journey.
The Titans, for as fast as they were, couldn't have gotten too deep into the District in such a short amount of time, especially with the Mechanical Titan tearing them apart close before they could even get in. If anything, the commander had expected several other Trainees and Garrison members to already be in the refueling center before them, restocking their Maneuver Gear with gas as they prepared to scale the Wall.
So it came as quite a shock when they saw a rather large group of soldiers, a mix of Cadets and senior Garrison, all gathered atop a handful of buildings that stood rather far from the refueling station, looking defeated as they lingered around. Confused, Flex had her team make a quick detour to check up on them, with the commander herself landing behind a Garrison she recognised.
"Commander," greeted Flex as soon as she landed, frowning at the despair that was painted all over her fellow Team Commander's face as she began questioning him. "I'd like a full explanation in regards to this crowd."
As for the rest of her team, they landed close to a group of fellow Cadets that they recognised. Mina and Nac in particular landed behind Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner. They didn't seem to notice their arrival before they landed, the gentle thud catching their attention. Immediately, the three of them whirled around to face the trio, looking somewhat startled at first, though their expressions noticeably softened when they realized who had landed behind them.
"Mina, Nac," greeted Annie as she turned herself around to face them, her expression mostly unreadable, even if a small amount of relief was apparent. Bertholdt and Reiner hung back and watched as Mina rushed forward to give Annie a shockingly tight hug to greet her, prompting the blonde girl to blink in surprise as their taller friend approached them with a half smile.
"You're alright!" proclaimed Mina, sounding relieved as she tightened her arms around her friend, who visibly winced at the amount of force that her twintailed friend was using to hug her. "I was worried about you! You're not injured, are you!?"
As she asked, Mina released her blonde friend and began checking her for any form of injuries, much to the chagrin of Leonhardt, who rolled her eyes as she focused her attention on Nac, who was giving a small smirk, doing his best to lighten in spite of the current situation. His efforts were impressive… and it hurt something inside Annie when she noticed that.
"I'm fine," insisted Annie after a moment of staring at Nac, frowning as she began pushing her friend away before she could get too touchy with her. As soon as Mina was away, Annie turned towards Nac and eyed him as flatly as she could before continuing. "Mikazuki…?"
Nac's expression visibly fell as soon as he was asked that question, as did Mina's, though it didn't stop him from taking a deep intake of breath and replying. "Mika's… still missing. We don't know where he went off to… but knowing him, he'll be fine."
Annie nodded in response to Nac's explanation as to where Mikazuki was before she swiftly changed the topic. "And you two? Any broken bones or busted kneecaps?"
"Well, nothing that severe. We still have all our bones intact and our kneecaps aren't busted. Even so… well… how do we put this… we've been through some interesting stuff quite recently," replied Nac, uncertainty creeping into his voice as he finished speaking. Before he went on, however, he cleared his throat and briefly changed the topic. "Hey, uh… Ann? What's with this big crowd, anyways?"
After raising an eyebrow, Annie gave a small nod as she pointed in the general direction of the Trost refueling station. Turning towards it, Nac and Mina narrowed their eyes rather drastically to get a good view of it, and they widened them rather immensely when they realized the problem.
"The refuel station is overrunned by Titans," explained Annie as realization dawned on Nac and Mina, prompting them to turn and stare at their blonde friend, who crossed her arms as she continued. "We don't know how, but several Titans broke through the Vanguard and got inside the place."
Blinking as soon as he processed that information, Nac took a step forward, eyes wide in denial as he spoke up.
"Heh… and here I thought your sense of humor was miniscule," muttered Nac, chuckling weakly as he gestured rather unnecessarily with his hands. Annie could only watch with mild irritation as Mina nodded in agreement with Nac, a weak smile on her face that told Leonhardt that she was also doing her best to distract her from the truth. "Titans breaking into the Refueling Station, pshhh… as if!"
"Y-Yeah…" agreed Mina, the growing hopelessness in her voice sending a small wave of guilt through Annie's body, prompting the blonde to grimace as she clenched one of her fists tightly. "Nac's right! That's a g-good joke… but-"
"This is NOT a joke, Mina Carolina, Nac Tias!" shot Annie, raising her voice above its usual volume as she took a rather menacing step towards Nac, causing the boy in question to take a step back. Mina did the same as she felt a massive lump grow in her throat, and even Reiner and Bertholdt both appeared taken aback by her sudden shift in tone. "The base is fucking overrunned by Titans!"
Hearing their current worst fear be confirmed to them was more than enough to stun both Nac and Mina into silence. Annie herself grimaced as she took a step back, her eyes shut as she took in a deep breath. Their current situation was starting to get to her, no doubt. The stress that she had went through earlier in the day, the close calls she had with the Titans, the worry that she felt for her only friends and now her worrying about the fate of Mikazuki… it was enough to make her snap, if only for a moment.
Even so… her justification for raising her voice was not enough to stop her from feeling a mild pang of guilt when she opened her eyes and saw the expressions of her friends. Defeated would be putting it mildly. They appeared utterly hopeless, with Nac lacking the usual glint in his eyes and the rather worrying slouch that Mina had on. If anything, it was enough to make Annie extend an arm towards her two friends, an apology ready to be released… only for it to be interrupted when Mina spoke up.
"How is this even possible?!" proclaimed Mina, scratching her head as she attempted to find an answer to their current problem, an answer that was nearly impossible to find. "The Vanguard is made out of mostly Cadets and backed up by Garrison, but we aren't incompetant! How'd we even let this happen?! We even had the Mechanical Titan fighting out there!"
And as soon as she finished that sentence, everything around them seemed to grow silent as Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie all turned to fix their gaze on Mina, prompting her and Nac to breath in and out rather sharply as the tension began piling on rather hard. Reiner and Bertholdt both appeared rather tense as well after hearing the name of a Titan that was supposed nonexistent.
Annie, on the other hand, took a second or two to process that information, and by the time she had, her eyes had widened to the furthest Mina had seen them, with her pupils constricting further as she approached her friend.
"Mina," began Annie as soon she was in front of the girl in question, grabbing Carolina by the shoulders to keep her from moving as she addressed her. "What did you just say? What exactly is fighting out there?"
Annie's tone of voice… it made Mina's blood freeze up, so much so that she couldn't even find the confidence to reply to her friend. Even Nac, who wasn't the primary target of Annie's outburst, felt a sharp chill go up his spine as he took a small step back, his eyes wide as he found his already dwindling confidence drop even further.
"Mina Carolina, speak up," continued Annie, her tone of voice beginning to grow a lot more frantic as she spoke. If anything, it sounded as though she was slowly starting to let her stress get the better of her, but no one really considered that, as they were too distracted by Leonhardt's uncharacteristic moment of emotion. "What did you say was fighting out there?"
"T-The Mechanical Titan!" repeated Mina, her eyes widened in fear as she responded to her blonde friend, who tightened her grip on her shoulders. "Ah! A-Annie! That-"
"Where did you see it?!" demanded Annie, her voice much more frantic now as she jerked her face right in front of Mina's, up to the point where their noses were close to touching. Gulping at that, Carolina could only stutter out gibberish as she fumbled for a response, something Annie didn't respond to kindly. "Dammit, Mina! Speak up!"
This wasn't like Annie. Annie was a calm young woman… she never caved in to stress, and no one knew this better than Bertholdt, Reiner and Nac. Something serious had to be going on with her to make her this agitated, agitated enough to get this physical with someone she considered a friend, though they opted to question her later as they attempted to make their blonde friend stop.
Before they could, however… Annie blank as she seemed to realize what she was doing, and soon enough she found herself loosening her grip on Mina. And, as soon as she was released from her grip, Carolina took an instinctive step backwards, her eyes wide with fear as she began hugging herself. She took several more steps back until her back collided with Nac, who flinched, but he didn't complain. If anything, he barely noticed Mina backing up into him, as his attention was fixed entirely on Annie.
Annie was never exactly the best at reading expressions… if anything, she was pretty terrible at it… but even so, the fear that was reflected in the eyes of both Mina and Nac was extremely apparent. And, while Leonhardt was never one to feel, well… bad for her actions as she typically had her own justifications as to what and why she did something in particular… the blonde couldn't help but feel just a small pang of guilt as she stared into the fearful eyes of her friends.
"Mina… I-" began Annie, her usually cold facade gone, however briefly, as she took a step towards Mina and Nac, a hand extended towards them as she spoke. "I'm…"
"I'm strong."
Blinking as she heard that familiar voice, Annie found herself cut off mid-apology as she turned to spot none other than Mikasa Ackerman standing over by the edge of a close by building, one of her Anti-Titan blades held high up in the air as she spoke out, seemingly attempting to rally the soldiers around her.
If anything, it seemed to be working.
"Stronger than all of you."
Blinking as she listened, Mina allowed some the lingering treads of fear fade away as she stared at Mikasa, who confidently addressed the once hopeless soldiers before her. Something about the words that left her mouth reignited a small spark of hope within Carolina, and it was more than enough to get her blood pumping.
"I alone am able to kill all the Titans within the Refueling Station."
Nac found himself, much like Mina, strangely inspired by Ackerman's words. Her confidence in her abilities in spite of the current situation was admirable, and the competitive side within him was more than willing to assist her in her endeavour. And yet… something about the way she spoke irked him… though he allowed himself to ignore that… for now…
"You're all either incompetent… or you're all spineless cowards."
Annie found her previous worries buried as she eyed Mikasa with a hint of envy. If even someone like her could remain calm in such a bleak situation… then what did it say about her? Ackerman was easily twice the soldier she was…
"Pathetic. That's what you lot are. Pathetic. You may sit here and suck your thumbs for as long as you wish. You shall all die cowards deaths."
A mild uproar was heard as soon as she finished, with several other Cadets and Garrison members demanding to know if she was seriously intending to charge in alone… and her answer…
"If I can't, then I will simply die. But if I win, then I shall live. Unless I fight, I cannot win."
With those words uttered, Mikasa Ackerman turned on her heel and sprinted straight off the edge of the roof she was on. Mina could hear her Maneuver Gear activate in the distance, and within a second, she was gone…
It didn't take long for the fighting spirit of several of the Cadets and Garrison to be reignited thereafter. And within a handful of seconds after Mikasa left, several other soldiers bolted after her, all willing to either prove Mikasa wrong or to simply have a chance to live to fight another day.
Nac and Mina themselves found their energy renewed rather quickly, and, rather apparently, it was more than enough to make them forget the minor issue they just had with Annie, as they turned towards said blonde, who flinched at the sudden attention, before she raised her brows when she saw them motioning for her and her two friends to ready themselves.
"We won't be doing much by standing around, now will we?" proclaimed Nac as he sprinted straight off the edge of the roof and activated his Maneuver Gear, going alongside the other Cadets and Garrison towards the Refueling Station. Mina herself watched as Tias headed off first before rushing over to her blonde friend, who was fully expecting Carolina to perhaps tell her off for what she had done to her.
What she did not expect, however, was for her to grab her by the hands and give her a serious stare.
"We'll make it out of this, Annie!" promised Mina, her jaw squared and her eyes burning with determination as she spoke to Leonhardt, who was still rather shocked at how quickly her mood had changed after that speech from Mikasa. "I promise! Now, let's go!"
With those words said, Mina released both of Annie's hands and sprinted towards the edge. Reiner and Bertholdt both walked towards it, both seeming rather impressed at Mina and Nac's sudden bout of optimism.
"She's something, isn't she?" muttered Bertholdt as he walked past Annie, smiling rather sadly as he did.
Annie had no response to Hoover. Instead, she did her absolute best to keep her jaw squared and her expression neutral as she raced towards the edge of the building. She would have time to think about her sudden outburst later. For now, she had to keep her head straight.
The sound of the bell was the first signal to Mikazuki that the soldiers were about to retreat.
He wasn't one to pay attention during the lectures during his time as a Trainee, but Augus knew that in the event of an emergency, IE a Titan invasion, should the bell at the center of every district be sound, it meant that all soldiers in the area were to retreat. It was essentially common knowledge to every Trainee, and he knew that.
If he were honest, the Pilot didn't give a damn about the bell. The only thing he really cared about was the fact that the soldiers were retreating. He knew for a fact that Mina, Nac and Annie were no pushovers, far from it. Hell, the latter was a part of the top 10 in the 104th Trainee Regiment for crying out loud…
And yet, it came as a relief to him, knowing that they would most likely be off the field within the next few hours. Now all he really needed to do was to keep the Titans at bay before he moved in to clear up the inner parts of the District, without having to worry about his friends…
With that in mind, and after taking a quick intake of air, Mikazuki fired up all six boosters on Barbatos and rammed a Fourteen metre muscular Titan with Barbatos' shoulder. On impact, the Titan was sent flying back into a still intact building, causing said building to cave in on itself. The thing somehow survived, though Barbatos quickly rectified that by slamming the Wrench Mace down onto the thing.
The Alaya-Vijnana system almost immediately warned him of an approaching Titan from behind the unit. In response, the Gundam spun on its heel and swung its Longsword at the approaching Titan, and with a single swing, Barbatos promptly bisected the Titan from the top of its head to between its legs.
The next Titan to come at him was most certainly an Abnormal. A lanky bastard to be sure, the Abnormal moved so spastically that Mika almost immediately identified it as one. The way his instructors had talked about it made it so much more… menacing sounding, he supposed.
Supposedly the most dangerous Titan type, discluding the Armoured, Colossus or perhaps even Barbatos itself, Abnormals allegedly possessed higher brain power when compared to the regular Titan. The Pilot still remembered Nac telling him that this information was crucial to anyone who wished to be a Scout and that no single soldier should attempt to take it down on their own.
Admittedly, Mikazuki had to force himself to remember that these things were meant to be the most threatening type of Titan, as he got rid of the thing with a simple swing of the Wrench Mace. On impact, the Abnormal was completely pulverised, and Augus could only snort in amusement as he watched the insides of the damn thing splash onto the ground.
After watching the Abnormal's body dissolve for a handful of seconds, Mika turned and aimed Barbatos' Autocannon at a Five metre Titan that was attempting to pounce onto the Gundam. The shot, assisted by his Alaya-Vijnana, went right into the Titan's opened mouth. The 170mm Autocannon round tore straight through its entire body and coming out through rear, and right as it did, the Titan almost immediately went limp and crashed down not too far from Barbatos' feet unit.
Huffing to himself as it dissolved, Mikazuki had Barbatos make its way deeper into Trost. He knew that even though he was doing what he assumed to be a good job at keeping the Titans away from the inner parts of Trost, there were still bound to be some who managed to slip by his unit's sensors.
That thought of his was swiftly confirmed when the sensors of his unit informed him of a pack of Titans that were wandering around roughly five hundred metres away from where Barbatos currently was, somewhere at the center of Trost. Upon detecting them, Mikazuki lowered his brows and turned Barbatos to face them.
The fact that the Titans Barbatos' sensors had picked up stood nearly five buildings away from the Gundam meant almost nothing, as Mikazuki, after stopping his unit for a moment and crouching it down, had Barbatos leap straight over all five buildings and crashed down onto a Fourteen metre Titan, crushing it under its feet unit as soon as it landed, kicking up a massive amount of dust and smoke in the process.
A Fifteen metre muscular Titan made the mistake of coming close to the cloud of smoke, smiling lifelessly as it did. And its smile remained even after Barbatos' Longsword bolted out of the cloud of smoke and stabbed it straight through its mouth, emerging from the other end of its skull within a split second.
While the Titan simply ignored its injury and attempted to claw at the Gundam, Mikazuki stood Barbatos up to its full height and glared down at the Fifteen metre. And, with a motion as simple as lowering the arm controller of his unit, Mikazuki had Barbatos bisect the Fifteen metre Titan from its jaw to between its legs. Before long, both halves of the Titan dropped down onto the ground with some rather unsavoury squishy noises accompanying them, though Augus thought nothing of it as he turned towards the remaining Titans.
Without missing a beat, Mikazuki rammed Barbatos straight into a Thirteen metre, the impact alone obliterating the entire Titan's body. Quickly following up from that, Mikazuki swung Barbatos' Longsword at the closest Titan, a Ten metre, striking it directly in the neck and beheading it, in turn ripping the nape apart.
The next trio of Titans to be taken out were three that stood over the Ten metre height range. Huffing as soon as he saw them, Mikazuki had Barbatos pull back its Longsword-wielding arm and, with all the strength he had, he had his Gundam jerked it back forward. At the last second, Barbatos released the Longsword, sending it flying towards the three Titans at an angle.
The first two Titans to be struck by the Longsword were sliced in half from their necks to their hips. As for the third Titan, the Longsword had lodged itself straight into its skull and sent it tumbling backwards.
While the Titan attempted to stand itself up in spite of the Longsword lodged in its skull weighing it down immensely, Mikazuki had Barbatos approach it. The Titan continued to wave its arms around in an attempt to get itself back up as the Gundam approached it, and its efforts were rewarded when Barbatos slammed its foot onto its nape, killing it with a simple motion.
A mild thud against Barbatos' side caught Mika's attention, prompting him to turn his unit around to glance behind his unit and spot a Fifteen metre Titan behind it. The Titan's arm seemed to be broken, making Augus believe that the damn thing had struck his unit and got its arm snapped in the process, something that amused the Pilot greatly.
After the Pilot got over his amusement, he had Barbatos grab the Titan by the neck and, with the greatest of ease, had his unit crush its entire neck, in turn destroying its nape, before tossing the dissolving body of the Titan down onto the ground.
While its body dissolved, Mikahad Barbatos rip the Longsword out of the side of the head of the dissolving Titan and had his unit rest it on its shoulder before turning his unit out towards the inner section of Trost, frowning deeply as he did.
'There are a lot more Titans here than I expected…' was the first thought that ran through Mika's mind as he observed the built in scanners and rader. He had also made Barbatos swing the Longsword at a Titan that was coming at Barbatos from the left, slicing it in half, before he paused for a brief moment to count how many Titans were in the inner part of Trost, only to grimace when he finished. 'Well over fifty Titans in the deeper end of Trost.'
Focusing a little harder on the rader, Mikazuki noticed how several Titans seemed to be gathered around one place in particular. That one piece of information surprised Mika for a moment, though his surprise quickly became a rather sizable pit of dread as soon as he realized where they were gathered around, prompting him to widen his eyes and turn Barbatos towards the place in question.
'The Refueling Station!'
Nac Tias was never a great Maneuver Gear user.
If anything, he was probably somewhere at the bottom of the barrel in regards to this type of activity. He wasn't as capable as, say, Eren Jaeger or even his pal Mina, and he was definitely not as good at maneuvering around as Mikazuki Augus or Annie Leonhardt.
However, that was under normal circumstances. Now, Nac found a massive amount of Adrenaline pumping through his body, adrenaline that enabled him to to narrowly dodge several Titans that attempted to block his way to the Trost Refuel Station and probably put him on par with Mina in Maneuver Gear mobility. There were several close calls to be sure, but for the most part, Nac was able to keep himself away from a majority of the Titans.
Not far behind him, Mina herself was also holding up rather well, though it had more to do with the fact that Annie was watching her back. Her adrenaline levels were rather high, but even so, it wasn't enough to help her dodge several strikes, with Annie having to save her skin at least once.
Of course, they weren't the only soldiers who were having difficulty with getting to the Refuel Station. Behind and in front of them, other Cadets and Garrison struggled to make it past the Titans that were in their way, with several being snatched out of the air, much to Nac and Mina's dismay. Annie herself did her best to ignore it all, as did Reiner and Bertholdt.
After several close calls and Nac having his foot be snagged by a Titan but promptly freed after he sliced apart its fingers, the faster members of the group headed towards the Refueling Station narrowed their eyes when they saw the windows near the top of the building. Wasting no time, they launched themselves high up into the air, aiming themselves straight at the windows.
By some ungodly miracle, every one of the fastest soldiers managed to crash through the windows of the Refueling Station. Jean Kirstein was the first to come crashing in, with Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Nac, Mina and several others coming in soon after. Upon seeing them come in after him, Jean seemed to instinctively release the breath he was holding in, though before his guilt could settle in, the boy widened his eyes when he saw Nac crash against the wall beside him, propelled by the immense momentum of his entrance into the Refueling Station.
"We… made it!" proclaimed Mina as she recovered from her entrance, breathing heavily as the adrenaline slowly left her system. Beside her, Annie took the liberty of patting her friend's back as she breathed in and out heavily. Leonhardt herself remained almost unphased and appeared barely winded, much to the shock of Mina. Over with Nac, the tall boy got himself up on his feet after a handful of seconds, appearing somewhat shaken over his rocky entrance into the Refueling Station. Even so, he recovered after some time as he wobbled over towards his pair of friends.
"Yeah… we did make it… some of us better than others…" added Nac as he nearly toppled over to the side, only for Bertholdt to support him upright. After quickly thanking him with a nod and a smile, with Bertholdt himself mirroring that gesture in response, Tias went on. "But not everyone was so lucky…"
The despair in Nac's voice was rather apparent to Annie as she and Tias turned towards the already shattered windows which led to where they were now, where about two more Cadets and a single Garrison came crashing in. Nac held his breath, hoping for more to follow, only to release it when he realized that wouldn't be happening, prompting him to grimace. Before they began heading towards the Refueling Station, there had been roughly fifty or so Cadets, all prepared to fight their way to safety. Now, however, less than half their numbers remained, and it was enough to make the tall boy grasp part of his face in despair.
"Damn it all… is this everyone who made it?!" proclaimed Tias. A small handful of soldiers stared at him when he did, though most of the others were more focused on Jean attempting to beat a member of the Supply Team into a bloody pulp for abandoning them. "Just a handful of stragglers?!"
Mina herself couldn't find a proper response to Nac's question as she turned to count how many survived the journey, her frown deepening as soon as she got her answer. As for Annie, she closed her eyes, took in a deep intake of breath, before opening them. "There was nothing you could have done, Nac. The soldiers who were lost simply weren't good enough. It was their fault for that, not yours."
As soon as she finished that, Nac turned and gave Annie what she considered to be the coldest glare he could manage. While not threatening, per say, it was so sudden that Annie flinched, and even Mina and Bertholdt seemed shocked at the sudden change in Nac's aura while Reiner, who observed everything from the sidelines, pursed his lips as he watched it all.
Out of the corner of the massive blonde's eye, however, he saw something approach the room of the Refueling Station they were currently in. It took him less than a second to recognise it, and as soon as he did, he widened his eyes.
"TAKE COVER!"
Those words were more than enough to pull Nac's attention away from the conversation and turn towards Reiner with a confused look. His expression, however, swiftly morphed into one of shock as soon as he realized what Reiner was warning them of. And right as it did, the wall that a handful of Cadets and Garrison were standing by promptly exploded, sending the soldiers who were standing closest to it flying backwards while the others shielded their eyes from the dust and debris. Nac himself took a step in front of Mina and Annie, using his larger frame to shield them from the dust before the three of them shielded their eyes with their arms.
As soon as they recovered from that, the soldiers who were still standing lowered their arms and stared out at the new hole in the room they were in, only to widen their eyes tremendously when they saw a pair of Titans staring right back at them. Both stood well over Ten metres in height, and the mere sight of them made the entire room of soldiers panic. Mina would be lying if she said that she didn't let out a scream, though Nac himself remained at least a little composed when he saw them, not as much as Annie, though, who simply grimace whereas Nac gasped and stepped back in shock].
"Shit!" thought the boy as he backed away, grimacing madly as he glared at the Titans staring lifelessly at them. However, while the Titans were indeed his main concern, the fact that Jean Kirstein was so engrossed in staring at them instead of running was also a cause for concern.
"J-Jean!" proclaimed Nac, taking a step forward before he began sprinting towards the frozen teen. However, right as Nac was about a step or two away from Jean, the boy noticed something… strange coming into contact with the two Titans staring in at them.
And just like that, time seemed to slow to a crawl as a strangely shaped and massive hunk of metal collided with the side of one of the Titan's faces, in turn causing it to crash into the other. Upon seeing it, Nac instinctively slowed down until he came to a stop, though by then, that hunk of metal had sent both Titans crashing down from the side of the Refueling Station.
"WHAT THE?!" proclaimed Jean right as both Titans were slammed off to the side, his eyes wide and mouth agape as he took a massive step backwards, almost backing up into Nac in the process. Neither boy acknowledged that fact, however, as they both stepped towards the massive hole that was now in the side of the building…
… and both widened their eyes when they saw the Mechanical Titan right outside the Refueling Station. It was now crouching down on one knee, with its massive Mace-like 'weapon' slammed onto the ground whilst its other, Longsword wielding arm remained in the air. Beneath its Mace were what remained of the two Titans, who were slowly dissolving into nothing.
"T-That's…" muttered Jean as he eyed the Mechanical Titan, his voice barely keeping together whilst Nac simply watched as the 'Titan' in question began standing itself up to its fullest extent. "That… no… it's not possible! It shouldn't… it couldn't…!"
"But it does," muttered Nac, interrupting Jean, prompting him to turn towards the taller boy with widened eyes.
"The Mechanical Titan does exist… and from what I know… it's on our side."
As soon as he processed those words, Mikazuki couldn't help but give a soft snort as he turned Barbatos' head unit just a little to the side, just enough to catch a glimpse of Jean Kirstein and Nac Tias. Though his expression was neutral, something inside him felt rather good when he heard those words.
If anything, it probably renewed his energy to fight, if only by a little, whilst Jean and Nac retreated back into the Refueling Station.
Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?
Something something, blah blah blah… that's not a good starter to an outro.
Aphem… so, this will most likely be my final chapter of 2019. Sorry for that. I've been feeling rather tired recently and maybe a little uninspired (and I may or may not have been updating all previous chapters. Who knows?). The fact that I have some Gunpla to build is also probably a reason as to why I didn't update this so soon.
Oh and the Master Grade Barbatos is out. I have it now and am gonna build it. But first, I'll reply to the reviews.
blacksoul123: heh, thanks!
ExTrEmE42: Well, I did my best to write the action, so I'm glad you enjoyed it! And here's the new chapter!
noobie53: definitely, it won't end well. So let's pray for him.
Setsuna Rizky: Firstly, inner conflict is always a thing I enjoy writing in spite of difficulty so I'm glad you liked it! Second, yes, we're finally getting some Barbatos action. And third, I shall pass on your condolences to Mina. and regarding Enen No Shouboutai, I am somewhat interested in it, but I'm very bad with watching animoos.
DivineBahamutXZ: there's a thin line between holding back the opposition and absolutely crushing them, my friend. If we brought over the Lupus Rex, the story would be over pretty quick.
Rein Tenebres: well, here's the continueation
Doctor Snake Eater: here's the update, my good doctor!
Touhoufanatic: I'm glad you find this enjoyable! And as for the truth behind Barbatos and Eren's predicament, well… we'll get there soon enough
Yare Yare Daze… I feel rather tired. I'll have a sit down…
But before then, did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?