Let it be known that Luke Sys was by no means a brave person, at least by Survey Corp standards.
Neither particularly strong nor noticeably intelligent, Sys was, by all means, incredibly average all across the board, which resulted in his lack of bravery. He didn't have the skills to warrant any form of bravado, and as with most others, Luke was unable to keep up with the more skilled soldiers, such as Levi or even Hanji, and because of this, despite it being their job to do so, Sys had always been opposed to charging towards danger without a good reason in doing so.
With that in mind, however… in spite of his average, above average at best, abilities and lack of bravado, none of that stopped him from pursuing the Abnormal Titan atop his horse with a scowl present on his face. Grunting a little to himself, he kicked his mare's sides, urging it to speed up, as he narrowed his eyes at his target.
The Titan was certainly incredibly humanoid in appearance, Sys would give it that, and by all means, this aspect of the Titan's appearance only strengthened the theory of it being a Titan Shifter like Eren. Unlike Jaeger, however, this Titan in particular was a lot more feminine in appearance. From where he was, Sys took note of the Titan's overall slimmer build and slightly more pronounced, reminding him of Rico Brzenska in a handful of ways, and back in the brief few seconds where he could see it head on, Luke thought that this Titan had… breasts?
Yeah, it was definitely a Titan Shifter. No Titan in recorded human history ever had pronounced breasts…
His somewhat pervy thoughts were quickly cut short, however, when he felt the ground shake a little more than usual beneath his stallion, with him grimacing as it did so. Shaking his head a little, Sys widened his eyes a tad when he saw a few chunks of dirt coming right at him, prompting him to veer his mare off to the side to avoid being struck headfirst by them all the while.
As he did so, Luke glanced back up at the Titan Shifter… the Female Titan, rather, and widened his eyes a little when he saw the blonde haired Titan staring right back at him. It's cold blue eyes glared down at the soldier, a clear warning sign to him to back off lest he wished to be buried, right here, right now, and upon acknowledging its warning glare, Sys' body momentarily locked itself up as his horse slowed down, prompting the Female Titan to turn back ahead of itself, apparently satisfied, before it continued its run.
'There's no doubt about it… this Female Titan is indeed similar to Eren!' thought Sys direly as he grimaced at the prospect of fighting this damn thing alone. His self preservation instincts were strong, stronger than most others, sure… but his duties as a Survey Corps took precedence over his own life, thus leading him to continue his chase after the Titan within seconds of him getting over his initial shock. He didn't wish to die, that much was obvious, but as a scout, he had to do all that he could to ensure the success of this mission, and as of now, he had to delay this Titan from reaching the center of the formation for as long as possible. If it attacked them now, while they were unprepared, and in a location with very little areas to grapple onto, even Team Levi would not stand a chance!
He had to slow it down, if even only for a minute… and if it would cost him his life, then so be it!
Once more, Luke Sys had forced his horse to run past its preconceived limits, with him refusing to slow down for even a second as he swiftly closed the gap between himself and his quarry. As he drew closer and closer, Sys narrowed his eyes and reached behind himself, and with a practiced flick of his wrist, he undid the strap that kept his Flare Gun from falling out of its holster and pulled it up in front of himself. Grabbing onto its barrel, Luke broke it open and fished out a specialised Flare from one of the many pockets on his person, and upon loading it in, he clicked the barrel back into place and held onto it like a lifeline.
'I don't have to kill it, per say… I just need to injure it enough to keep it from moving! Severing its achilles tendon will do just the trick… but I doubt that it'll keep ignoring me if I get too close! I'll need to make myself an opening to attack from!' thought Sys desperately as he grimaced to himself. This plan of his banked on a lot going perfectly, which he doubt it would, and one wrong move on his part would most definitely cost him his life… a prospect that he was alright with at this point as he unsheathed one of his Anti-Titan Blades with his free hand and held it at the ready. 'I have to make this count!'
Staring down the ironsight of his Flare Gun, Luke held his breath as he did his absolute best to make this shot count. His entire plan… his borderline suicidal plan, hinged on this thing quite literally blowing up in the Female Titan's face, and if it didn't, he'd lose a massive edge in the battle to subdue it!
'Here goes nothing!' thought Sys direly as he pulled back on the trigger of his Flare Gun, and in an instant, a metal tube that sparked near its edges was discharged from its barrel. The recoil forced Luke's arm to bend backwards at the elbow, and within seconds, the projectile flew up towards the Titan, coming incredibly close to the Female Titan's head, so close in fact that it ended up causing some of its hair to be blown forwards as it sailed by, though it missed it by a handful of inches, though that was a good thing, Luke thought, as the shot was never meant to hit it in the first place. No, it was meant to blind it…
… or at least, that was the plan, anyways.
In a sudden display of speed and agility, the Female Titan, upon noticing the projectile soaring close to its face, brought its hand up and caught it, snatching the thing right out the air and crushing it in its palm. As it did so, a small explosion of light could be faintly seen beneath its fingers, and as soon as it was let off, the Titan slowed its run to a brisk jog, by Titan standards at least, and turned back to glare at Sys, who had paled to the point of looking like a corpse right about now.
'... shit…' thought Sys as he watched the Female Titan come to a halt and unfurl its fingers, allowing what remained of the special flare that he had fired, a flashbang, to fall from the inside of its palm. And, mere seconds before the remains of the flashbang could even hit the ground, the Female Titan jumped towards Sys and made an attempt to flatten him underfoot.
Luckily for Luke, however, he was able to snap out of his stupor just fast enough to lunge off his horse and land onto the ground, with him dropping down in a roll that placed him back onto his feet in a crouch seconds later. As he swiftly recovered, Sys glanced back at the Titan and saw that its foot had crashed down onto his horse, killing it instantly, much to his dismay, before it turned back towards him and attempted to strike him with the back of its hand, which, considering how fast it was moving, could've left him paralyzed or dead on impact.
Out of reflex, Sys was able to make use of the thrusters that were built into his Maneuver Gear to boost himself out of the damage zone, though he had probably used a bit too much pressure as he ended up flipping himself backwards as he evaded that attack. He was able to flip himself up to his feet rather quickly, however, effectively negating the problem, though before he could recover fully, he was forced to evade once more as the Female Titan lunged at him yet again, with it sending its fist spiraling towards him with enough force to create a small sonic boom around its knuckles.
"Gah!" proclaimed Sys as the Female Titan's fist impacted a spot that was just shy of where he stood at, though the aftershock was more than enough to send him flying backwards a little. Thankfully enough, however, thanks to the adrenaline that was rushing through his body, Luke was able to recover quickly from his launch as he reorientated his waist and fired both his Maneuver Gear anchors towards the Female Titan, and though its form was mostly obscured by the dirt and dust that had been kicked up following its strike to the ground, he was still able to latch his anchors onto the Titan, with his left and right anchors latching onto the lower right thigh and left shin of the Female Titan, respectively.
Using the thrusters of his Maneuver Gear, Sys began to veer himself towards the right, with the left Maneuver Gear anchor inadvertently being detached in the process. Upon noticing his blatant flanking, the Female Titan was quick to launch the side of its closest fist towards Luke, though in an adrenaline driven state of panic, he was able to narrowly evade the swing by momentarily detaching the anchor and using the thrusters on his gear to boost himself upwards, effectively keeping himself alive, for now, as he boosted himself up higher into the air.
Seeing an opportunity in all this, Sys almost grinned as he fired his anchors towards the Female Titan's scalp, a bold move that shocked even the Titan itself, if the subtle widening of its blue eyes was any indication, leaving it momentarily stunned as Luke reeled himself in and flung himself up and over its head. Once he flew over its head, he found himself staring at the back of the Titan, and he did actually grin this time when he saw that he had a good view on the back of its ankle.
Unsheathing his other blade, Luke swiftly launched both his Maneuver Gear anchors towards the general direction of the Female Titan's ankle, with him yelling out loud as he got in close. A powerful swing of both his blades would've very well ended all of this right there and then, as, despite him not being the strongest Survey Corp, he knew that momentum being paired up with the sharpness of his blades would be more than enough to give any Titan, be they normal, Abnormal or even a Shifter, a deep cut, deep enough to sever their achilles tendon.
And as such… when his blades abruptly snapped in half as though they were twigs after impacting a five ton boulder at fifty miles per hour… Luke Sys began to assume that he was hallucinating as he stared down at his broken blades with horror in his eyes. Close by, the broken tips of his Anti-Titan Blades fell to the ground, embedding their tips into the dirt all the while as Sys held onto their handles with shaky hands.
Glancing back at the ankle of the Female Titan, Sys widened his eyes further when he saw that the back of its ankle had taken on a somewhat crystalline appearance. Its surface sparkled subtly and had a shiny, reflective sheen, and if the lack of damage was anything to go by, it had also hardened itself to the point where it could break even the sturdy metals of an Anti-Titan blade… a thought that made the bile rise in his throat.
Said bile threatened to spill out seconds later when he heard the Female Titan growling at him in irritation, and as this happened, Luke slowly turned back towards it with grim expectations. Upon turning back towards it fully, the soldier paled further than he already had when he saw the Titan grimacing at him with a shockingly emotive face, and when the damn thing had audibly cracked its knuckles, Sys began to wonder what he had done in his previous life to deserve all this.
"... is there a chance for us to talk this out?" inquired Sys as a last ditch attempt to save his skin, and when the Female Titan launched its fist towards him, he quickly amended in a panic.
"Nevermind!"
Meanwhile
Mere minutes prior, the Rear Guard had heard a strange scream that resounded across the fields, something that didn't sit well with any of them, and seconds later, twin flares could be sighted from behind their formation, courtesy of the Vanguard assisting the Rear Guard. The fact that the flares shot up were Black and Purple didn't do anything to settle their nerves, though regardless, they were swift to relay the shots within a handful of seconds.
Not a moment after their flares were shot, however, they found themselves wincing when the ground began to shake abruptly, and in response to this, a handful of soldiers turned towards the source of the stomping, and they were quick to widen their eyes at what they saw.
An entire pack of Titans… at least nineteen at minimum, all of which were sprinting directly towards them with malicious intent. Leading the pack was a humanoid Titan that was unmistakably female in appearance, and it's cold blue eyes were focused entirely on the path ahead as it barreled towards them.
In response to its approach, alongside the massive swarm of Titans that were following it, the soldiers that made up the Rear Guard began to speed up, with a handful of them moving to alert the rest of their group to the pack's approach, though they weren't able to keep themselves ahead of the pack of Titans for long. Their horses were unable to keep up their maximum sprint for too long, however, and inevitably, they were forced to slow down.
And when they did, they found themselves quickly overwhelmed.
The Female Titan, shockingly enough, made no attempt to attack them. Outside of trampling a handful of soldiers and their horses beneath its feet, it didn't seem intrigued in the slightest in attacking the soldiers, though the same couldn't be said for the Titans that it had been leading. Upon taking note of the soldiers that they were being led towards, a good majority of the pack of nineteen, about six of them, were quick to halt their pursuit of the pack head and turn their attention towards the soldiers, and within seconds, things went to Hell.
The segment of the Rear Guard that the six Titans had attacked consisted of no less than fifty soldiers, and yet, in such a terrible battlefield, there may as well have been none, as the Titans were able to wipe them out with very little issue. Ten minutes was all it took before the last of the soldiers were taken out, and though they did manage to take out two Titans, they ultimately lost this fight.
The rest of the Rear Guard didn't fare any better, as the remaining sixteen Titans, led by that Female Titan, were able to close the distance between themselves and their slowest members within a matter of minutes. Their approach alone was more than enough to sent them into disarray, though an attempt to allow their allies to survive, and to perhaps relay this information to the other soldiers present, more than half of the Rear Guard, which amounted to roughly a hundred brave men and women, slowed down in order to stall the sixteen Titans and allow their allies to march on ahead.
The outcome was to be expected.
With very little leverage to swing off and with, the soldiers were effectively handicapped severely as they faced off against the Titans. They did bring down three in the span of about five minutes, though in the same amount of time, they had lost just a little under half of their manpower.
And all that led to the present, with the soldiers on the verge of defeat as the Titans overwhelmed them completely. A single soldier struggled desperately against the ironclad grasp of a Five metre Titan that was staring at him hungrily, with it smiling like a doofus at him all the while. It would've looked comical if it wasn't planning on murdering him, and not even a second later, it did just that. By nature, the smaller Titans lacked the strength to break human bones with just their hands, though they overcompensated by having enormous mouths, large enough to swallow half a human whole… and this one did just that.
Screaming as he was shoved into its mouth, the soldier made an attempt to use his Anti-Titan blades to strike the Titan, though as luck would have it, his hands were pinned to his side by the Titan's hands, and he couldn't do anything to stop it from biting down onto his abdomen. A powerful chomp broke through his flesh, shattered his ribs and ultimately severed his spinal cord, causing him to scream in agony as his upper half began dropping down the Titan's gullet, and likewise, his lower half was disregarded by the Titan, who threw it off to the side before moving in search of a new target.
Wandering around lazily, the Five metre unknowingly kicked a cart out of the way, splintering it a little, as it scanned the area around itself. Off to its left, a Fourteen and Ten metre were ripping into a Scout, whose cries of pain resounded across the fields all the while. Neither were acknowledging the soldier that was slashing at their feet as she attempted to save her friend, with tears streaming down her cheeks all the while. To the right was a Fifteen metre, with it snatching a Survey Corp that somehow managed to take to the air in its palm and slamming him down onto the ground. On impact, his entire body blew open as his skull, arms and parts of his legs detached from the mangled remains of his body, though the Fifteen metre didn't care much for this as it brought its palm up to its face and picked at it, wishing to see if anything edible remained before it realized that nothing of worth was left, prompting it to move on to its next victim.
A choked cough caught the Titan's attention, prompting it to turn and fix its gaze on a soldier that was buried beneath the rubble of a cart. A sizable chunk of wood had pierced her thigh and waist as she remained buried beneath the rubble, and by all means, she appeared to be paralyzed as she laid there, making her a good target for the Titan, who smiled as it lazily approached her trapped figure with a steady stride.
All the while, it didn't acknowledge the sound of inbound thrusters, and likewise, it didn't even acknowledge the sound of the tip of a Longsword being dragged through the ground as a much larger opponent came into the field… and it paid the price for its ignorance not several seconds later, when the edge of Gundam Barbatos' massive Longsword slashed right through it. The Gundam wasn't even swinging the weapon, as it was simply dragging it along the ground beside it as it kept its sights on a closeby Twelve metre Titan, but even without any effort put into the strike, it was able to bisect the Five metre lengthways just by passing by it.
The moment both sides of the bisected Titan fell to the ground, Gundam Barbatos was already upon its main target, a Twelve metre, which was standing close to a Fifteen metre, which was devouring the upper half of a dead soldier whilst its lower half remained in its hands, and a Nine metre, who had another pinned down beneath its fingers, still alive and struggling as he attempted to sever them, though he was unable to get a good cut on it thanks to its close proximity.
Within a handful of milliseconds of its arrival, Barbatos closed the thirty metre gap between itself and the Twelve metre and swung its Longsword up at it. Thanks to how the tip of the blade had been dragged through the dirt, the swing had not only carved the Titan in half from hip to shoulder, but it had also launched a massive amount of dust and dirt into the air as well, effectively creating a smokescreen that shrouded them from view.
Said smokescreen was swiftly dissipated, however, when the Gundam swung its Longsword in the direction of the Fifteen metre, slashing it in half at the waist, before it swiftly reverse the swing and swung the edge of the blade towards the Titan's neck, beheading it within a split second, and before either torso or head could fall onto the ground, Barbatos heaved its Wrench Mace up into the air before bringing it down onto the Nine metre, crushing it beneath the massive hunk of metal whilst saving the life of the soldier it had pinned down.
Gasping in shock as the Titan was abruptly launched off his body, the soldier weakly scrambled up to his feet and stared up at Barbatos, who emerged from the dust and dirt that had been kicked up from the strike and turned to scan the area…
… and with a scowl plastered onto his face, Mikazuki silently lamented the current state of his unit as he stared down at its radar.
'Twelve,' counted Mikazuki flatly as he narrowed his eyes and kicked down on the thruster pedals of his unit, in turn causing all its thrusters, including the Land Boosters, to roar to life, launching the unit forwards at a tremendous speed towards a pack of three Titans, ranging from Seven to Eleven metres in height. The Titan closest to his unit, the Eleven metre, held a struggling soldier in its grasp, and for a brief moment, the pilot considered using the autocannons to blast the Titan, though thanks to the limited ammo reserves, he decided against it.
Instead, Augus simply dipped one of the arm controllers downwards, and as did so, Barbatos' Wrench Mace-wielding arm tilted down a fair bit, causing its snout to dig into the ground all the while. Its jaws were wide open, and because of this, a massive amount of dirt was gathered inside it, creating a small dirt projectile all the while.
As soon as it was within ten metres of its target, the Gundam jerked released its hold on its Longsword, causing it to clatter to the ground, before it used both its arm units to swing the Wrench Mace in an upwards motion, and though the mace itself didn't hit the Titan, it had flung the dirt that was gathered up in its jaws towards it, and thanks to just how hard it had done so, the Eleven metre Titan was hit with the equivalent of a Titan sized shotgun blast as the dirt forced it to stagger off to the side, and likewise, a handful of the rocks that were bundled in the dirt ripped through its skin, causing it to go off balance just long enough for the Mobile Suit to close in on it and clamp down onto its spindly wrist with the Wrench Mace's jaws.
Clamping down onto its wrist, the Wrench Mace applied just enough pressure to force the Titan to release its victim, causing him to fall to the ground, before Barbatos slammed it into the ground. By some ungodly miracle, the Titan's arm remained in its socket, even as it impacted the ground with enough force to shred metal, though it wasn't exactly a good thing (for the Titan, anyways), as the Gundam promptly used it as a projectile, with it dragging the Eleven metre across the ground briefly before it flung it towards the Seven metre, killing both on impact.
The final Titan of the three, an Eight metre, attempted to snatch up the soldier that Mikazuki had just saved, though before it could even come close to doing so, the Gundam noticed its approach and brought the Wrench Mace down onto it. What he didn't notice, however, was how he was holding onto the wrong end of the Wrench Mace, and instead of slamming the snout of the weapon down onto the Titan, Augus ended up slamming the sharpened pommel into it instead. The sharpened pommel of the Mace pierced the skull of the Titan with very little issue, driving itself through its head and ripping into its neck shortly thereafter, and though it had struggled a bit at first, the thing eventually went limp as the Gundam kicked its dissipating remains off the pommel of its weapon.
Scoffing a little to himself, Mikazuki turned his attention towards two of the nine remaining Titans present, with him targeting the largest of the two, a Fifteen metre, almost instantly. Right as he got up close to it, however, Augus blinked a little when the thrusters located on the right shin of his unit began to splutter a little, with them momentarily deactivating and causing the unit to bank a little to the left as a result.
In spite of this sudden shift in balance, Mikazuki refused to allow his unit to go out of control for even a moment, as he used this to his advantage and jerked the Gundam's right leg unit up into the air, and just as he got it up completely, the bottom of the unit's foot impacted the Fifteen metre's chest, puncturing a hole in there all the while. The Titan was then forced onto its back when the Gundam stomped its leg back down, and as its feet were dragged across the ground whilst it stabilized itself, the Fifteen metre was dragged along with it, and whilst the soles of the unit were able to withstand the friction, the Titan was unable to do so, resulting in its back being ripped apart, nape included, killing it shortly after.
The moment the Gundam had been stabilized, Mikazuki grumbled to himself and wasted no time in bringing the Wrench Mace down onto the other Titan, a Three metre, before an on-screen alert pinged on the main cockpit monitor. Staring down at it, Augus raised his brows when he noticed a few words and signals alerting him to Barbatos' lower right leg. He didn't understand most of what it was trying to tell him, though the Alaya Vijnana system helped him on that front, as it translated the issue for him.
'His right leg needs maintenance,' thought Mikazuki as he processed the fact that the Gundam's right knee had built up quite a bit of rust, and said rust was affecting its overall mobility and the Ahab flow, which explained why the thrusters were momentarily deactivated back there. That thought made the pilot grimace a little as he shook his head, with him mentally scolding himself for not requesting the soldiers to lubricate the unit's joints beforehand, though he couldn't cry over spilt milk now, as he shelved that thought and moved towards the remaining bunch of Titans.
In spite of its faulty right leg, the Gundam was still more than enough to wipe out the last few Titans that lingered in the area. All of them were not focusing on it specifically, however, as they were locked onto the soldiers that remained uneaten.
Seven were left for him to vanquish, and four were taken out when the Gundam launched itself up into the air and slammed its Wrench Mace down onto them. On impact, the Titan that was at the epicenter of the strike dissolved into nothing as soon as the Wrench Mace impacted it, and another swiftly lost its head when Barbatos backhanded it with the force of a small missile explosion, causing the Titan's skull to explode backwards as a result.
As the Titan's headless body staggered backwards, the unit jerked its arm out and sunk its razor sharp digits into its chest before it turned around on its heel to use its body as a shield against another Titan that was attempting to strike it from behind. The Titan, a Ten metre, jumped up and collided with the headless body in the Gundam's grasp, and before it could slide off it, Mikazuki yanked back on the unit's arm controller before jerking it forwards, in turn causing the Gundam's free arm unit to jolt forwards as well.
Barbatos' entire arm unit tore straight through the beheaded Titan's chest, and seconds later, its sharp digits wrapped around the neck of the Ten metre, and with an effortless squeeze of the arm controllers, Mikazuki had his Gundam crush the Titan's neck, killing it in an instant, before he jerked it upwards, ripping its entire skull plus its spinal cord from its body. Thereafter, the unit retracted its arm unit, pulling it out of the headless, dissipating Titan corpse, and stared down at the slowly dissolving Titan head and spine in its manipulator.
'Ugly,' thought Mikazuki nonchalantly as he stared at the Titan's inexpressive face, with its tongue out and glassy eyes staring at nothing. He didn't stare at it for too long, however, as the Alaya Vijnana spiked up once more, and reflexively, Mikazuki swung the spinal cord of the Titan towards an inbound threat, and he did so with such force that he skewered a Titan through the mouth with the dissipating spine of another.
The Titan, a Thirteen metre, swung its arms around as the spinal cord remained stabbed in its mouth, with the tail end of the spine emerging from the back of its head, a sight that amused Augus a little before he clobbered the Thirteen metre over the head, slamming it straight into its torso. The Titan appeared mildly confused at its sudden dilemma as it fell backwards, and seconds later, it dissolved into nothing as the Gundam moved to retrieve its Wrench Mace.
Three Titans remained, and without much thought, Mikazuki dispatched them with very little issue. A Twelve metre was torn apart by the Wrench Mace as it clamped its jaws onto it and slammed it into the ground. The hidden chainsaw made short work of its fleshy body, and as soon as it sawed it in half, its nape was promptly stomped on. Another Titan, a Five metre, was taken out when the Gundam stomped down onto it.
And as for the final, Fifteen metre, the Gundam had charged towards it with the Wrench Mace being dragged along behind it. The original plan was to bash it between the legs, though when he realized that it had a soldier in its grip, Mikazuki re-evaluated his options and opted to take it down less dramatically, and at that, he hoisted the Wrench Mace up into the air and opened its damaged jaws, which split apart with an ear-piercing squeak.
Mere seconds thereafter, the Gundam clamped the jaws of his weapon around the Titan's head, and not a second too soon either, as it had just thrown the soldier in its grip into its mouth. The Mace's jaws applied just enough pressure onto its skull to stop it from closing its jaws as the soldier within it gasped and fell out of its mouth, with him landing on the ground with a mild oof before he turned up to stare at the Gundam in awe, though vice versa, Augus couldn't care less about the stunned look his unit was receiving as he jolted the arm controllers upwards, in turn hoisting the Wrench Mace and the Titan up into the air.
Raising it upwards, Mikazuki had Barbatos slam the Fifteen metre monstrosity into the ground, causing the Earth beneath them to shake in the process, before it unclamped its mangled head from the jaws of the weapon. The Titan, in spite of its mangled skull, still made an attempt to lash out at the Gundam as it brought its arms up towards it, only for said arm to be stomped on by its heeled foot unit, pulverising the bone and trapping it down briefly before the other foot rose up and was brought down onto its skull.
The foot unit's heel made contact with the Titan's skull first, with the tip of the heel punching a hole into the Titan's forehead and ripping into its brain, whilst the front of the foot came down onto the Fifteen metre's neck, ripping through its neck, nape and collar in the process, and as soon as the deed was done, the beast ceased its struggling and went limp, prompting the Gundam to lift its foot up and stare at its handiwork shortly thereafter.
Though he had dealt with the Titans in a timely manner, Mikazuki still couldn't stop himself from frowning as he surveyed the area. Tapping the cockpit monitor of his unit several times over, the pilot made use of a more sensitive radar display to figure out how many human survivors there were, and to his chagrin, just a little over a quarter of them remained, with most of them undoubtedly on the verge of death.
Close by movement on the radar alerted Mikazuki to someone approaching his Gundam from behind, prompting him to turn towards the person in question. The soldier took a preemptive step back when Barbatos abruptly made eye contact with him, though he remained calm as he stared up at it with a somewhat thankful expression. His right eye was closed, and if the bleeding that came from beneath the eyelid was anything to go by, it would not be useful anytime soon, though it didn't stop him from motioning the pilot to come out briefly, to which Mikazuki huffed.
It was illogical to leave the cockpit, especially out on the field, though as of now, he didn't know if there was any way to communicate verbally without doing so, and as such, he simply tapped the cockpit monitor a handful of times before he leaned forwards and unplugged himself from Barbatos' Alaya Vijnana system. As he did so, he reached behind the cockpit seat and pulled his Maneuver Gear out. Hooking it around his waist, the pilot got it situated as best he could before he tapped one last button on the cockpit monitor, and as soon as he did so, steam erupted from the various vents located around its body as the cockpit hatch slid open, allowing the pilot to leap out of his unit with very little issue.
The Survey Corp that called him out for a chat was certainly not expecting the steam that was vented from the unit, though he didn't think too much on it as he shielded his face with his cloak, only to lower it rather hastily when he heard someone land on the ground not too far from him. His vision required a moment or two to settle as the steam slowly dissipated, and once he did, he found himself standing less than a metre away from Mikazuki Augus, who stared up at him expectantly.
"Mikazuki Augus… I'd say it's an honor to meet you, but…" began the soldier halfheartedly as he smiled meekly at the aforementioned pilot, who nearly rolled his eyes at his words. He knew that soldiers were trained to be respectful, in a sort of way, but right now, respect was the last thing that Augus needed, prompting him to cut his fellow soldier off.
"What happened?" asked Mikazuki, with him cutting straight to the meat and bones of the situation as he stared up at the soldier, who bit his lip a little at the unexpected question. He probably should've told him off for his impoliteness, though considering how he had just saved what was left of the soldiers present, he believed that it was a bad idea, prompting him to respond accordingly after a short moment of silence.
"I… I don't know, honestly. We were just riding along a moment ago when we heard a loud scream, and then… a Titan came into view. Other Titans were chasing it… but they stopped chasing it when they saw us," responded the soldier with quite a bit of gravity behind his voice as he winced. Now that the worst was behind them, the worst so far at least, the guy could let the adrenaline fade from his system, and as it did, he suddenly became more aware of what he had just survived, prompting him to sway a little from side to side as he held a hand up to his head in an attempt to stabilize himself. "O-Oh god… the Titan… the one that w-was leading the pack… i-i-it… it ignored us completely… b-but the Titans… the ones chasing it… t-they just… they attacked us…"
"A Titan being chased… what did it look like?" asked Mikazuki as he glanced behind himself briefly, with him raising a brow when he saw that a handful of soldiers were gathering themselves around his Gundam, with some leaning against its armour as they reeled from the near-death experience that they had just experienced whilst the more composed soldiers used it as leverage to survey the area for any inbound Titans. Thus far, there were none.
"It… i-it was pretty large. Fourteen metres… b-blonde hair… and… it looked distinctly female," recalled the soldier as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It moved so… s-so humanly. Almost as if…"
"As if it was a human. Like Eren," finished Mikazuki as he narrowed his eyes in familiarity. This was most definitely the worst case scenario… their traitor was upon them, and they… no… she had done exactly as he had predicted her to do. She had attacked the Rear Guard in an attempt to throw the entire formation into disarray… and though it succeeded to a certain degree, Mikazuki's timely arrival had more than likely thwarted it.
"Do… d-do you think it's like him?" asked the injured soldier as he wobbled a little, to which Mikazuki shook his head as he brought a hand up to steady the guy. He wasn't too worried about his condition, as he reckoned that he was suffering from a mild concussion and possible blindness in his left eye for now, though he wasn't cruel, and as such, he was quick to grant his fellow soldier his shoulder to lean on as he helped him stand.
"Yes. Is this what's left of the Rear Guard?" asked Mikazuki, with him getting the questions he had on hand out of the way after dropping that bomb onto the injured soldier, who paled a little at the implications of having to deal with a Titan Shifter, though when he registered Augus' other question, he shook his head.
"N-No… when the Titans came… t-t-the formation s-split in half. We're what remains of the h-half that stayed b-behind…" replied the soldier weakly as Mikazuki frowned at the implications.
"How many stayed behind?" asked the pilot, to which the soldier paled even further.
"J-Just a little under a h-h-hundred…" replied the injured man, and this time, it was Mika's turn to pale a tiny bit as he turned back towards his Gundam to count how many soldiers were currently present. His stomach dropped a little when he counted no more than twenty five, and just under half of the surviving soldiers looked to be ready for the graveyard right about now…
Their lives were ultimately meaningless to him in the long run, and yet… the knowledge of his unit having been too slow to save more of these soldiers weighed down on what remained of his conscious heavily.
"... are there any horses left?" asked Mikazuki, with him staring at the soldier as he spoke, though the pilot was disappointed to learn that the guy was unresponsive, having gone into shock at this point thanks to the events that had unfolded as he clutched both sides of his head in dismay. At that, Augus grimaced and turned away from him, with him raising his voice to be heard by the remaining soldiers all the while. "Are there any horses left?"
Upon hearing him, the soldiers that were able to turned their attention towards him, with several tilting their heads a little at his question. One in particular jumped down from Barbatos' kneepad before she walked up to Mikazuki, who dragged the soldier that was still in shock as he walked up to meet her halfway.
"We still have a handful of horses remaining. A lot of them ran off in the chaos, and some were trampled, but even so… there's more than enough for everyone who's still able to ride," assured the soldier tiredly as she shook her head. Mikazuki noticed how her eyes were red, making him believe that she had been crying before now, though he didn't point that out as he nodded.
"Carriages?" added Augus, to which the soldier winced at the mixture of his bluntness and her still recovering from the events that had just transpired.
"Only one or two survived the initial contact. Why do you ask?" inquired the soldier, though the pilot deflected the question for now as he walked past her and pointed towards her wounded allies.
"Gather as many horses as you can. If you can, ride on them. Those that can't, ride the carriages," ordered Mikazuki, with his short yet bluntly simple words wounding the soldier's pride as she acknowledged how one of her juniors was commanding her to do stuff. "There's a base close by. If you ride hard, you'll make it in an hour."
As he concluded, Mikazuki pulled a map out of his back pocket and slapped it into the soldier's chest, allowing her to stare down at it and see that it was a map of the expedition route, only with various crosses dotted all across it. A small signature near the top left of the map stated that the map was from the Preliminary Expedition, and upon noticing the closest temporary base to their location, the soldier felt her breath surge in her throat as she folded the map up and nodded.
"Thank you?" thanked the soldier awkwardly as Mikazuki and shook his head dismissively.
"I don't know if the base is safe, but there's medical supplies and some food there. It's your best bet not," commented Mikazuki, prompting the soldier to nod in appreciation, with her almost smiling all the while. She had to admit, she didn't expect the great pilot of the Gundam to act this way, but even so… this wasn't too bad…
"And what of you?" asked the soldier, with her looking past her newfound respect of the pilot in favour of professionalism as she spoke, with Mikazuki raising a brow at that before shrugging.
"There's a Titan. It's like Eren," explained Mikazuki, short and simple as he walked past her and reached behind himself. "I'm going after it."
"If it helps, the Titan was headed in that direction before we were overwhelmed," offered the soldier as Augus glanced back at her briefly, and at that, he nodded in apparent appreciation before he pulled something off the back of his hip. The soldier blinked a little when she saw that it was a Flare Gun, though she got over her initial surprise quickly when she realized that it was only logical to have him have one as well.
Breaking the barrel open, Mika loaded a flare into it and swung it back into place, and without a second thought, he aimed the gun up into the air and fired, sending an orange signal flare soaring up into the sky within seconds. The pilot recalled Erwin granting him access to that colour flare so as to avoid any long term confusion, as the other flare colours had already been taken. Orange flares, on the other hand, had stopped being used after the thirtieth Expedition beyond the Walls, though the Military Brigade never did get rid of their vast stockpile which, in hindsight, was probably a good thing, as they now had a colour to connect to Mikazuki and Barbatos.
Personally, however, Mikazuki would've preferred a blue flare, but hey. When life gives you lemons… the best course of action was probably to throw the lemons back at life, demand to see its manager and make it rue the day it thought it could give him lemons, though in this case, making lemonade was probably the more logical option.
Regardless, after he fired the shot, Augus holstered his Flare Gun and glanced back at the soldier he once spoke to, with him motioning for her to speak to her soldiers all the while. She took a moment to get the hint before she moved to get the other soldiers, injured or not, to get off the Mobile Suit, and though some were reluctant, most of them did so hastily as she marched up to them with a serious expression on her face.
"Alright everyone listen up! Mikazuki Augus has issued us a map to the closest base established during the Preliminary Expedition!" announced the soldier loudly, with her name-dropping the pilot being more than enough to make a handful of them stare at him with gratitude, something that he was rather unused to as he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked around the area for any inbound Titans. The soldier speaking didn't notice or care about this, however, as she continued. "Those that are able to, go gather the horses. There are a few carriages that are usable as well, and we'll put those that are unable to ride on them. Once we're ready, we'll make for the closest temporary base! If we ride consistently, we should be able to make it before the sun sets!"
A handful of murmurs could be heard as the soldiers processed these words, and though a good majority of them were that of agreement, one of two were quite the opposite, as they voiced out their apprehension over the issue.
"But why should we bother?" demanded a soldier that had lost his arm at the elbow as he staggered forward, frowning deeply as he spoke. "We're practically dead out here, and if we go any further, we'll just be expending more energy than required! I say we just t-turn around and head back to the K-Karanses! At least we'll be going towards a reasonable objective!"
"And desert the formation? If we do this, we'll be going AWOL, and when the Commander gets back…" rebutted another soldier as he stepped forwards to calm his ally by placing a hand atop his shoulder, to which the one armed soldier grimaced as he shrugged him off painfully.
"If he gets back! That Titan… I overheard. I-It… it works like Eren, doesn't it? That bitch… it… it fucking tore through us like tissue paper… and it didn't even touch us! That Eren brat may be strong, but I doubt he'll be able to fight that blonde one on equal footing! If he does, he is going to die!" protested the one armed soldier as he swung his remaining arm around in a desperate bid to convince his allies into deserting their stations out of desperation and fear. His words seemed to sway a small handful of soldiers as they began to voice their doubts out as well, though the soldier with the Preliminary Expedition map butted in before things could get too bad.
"We don't know if that's the case, though, and even if it was, there is no doubt in my mind that Mikazuki Augus and Barbatos will be able to handle the situation," commented the soldier as she glanced back at the pilot in question briefly, who shrugged mildly at her words before she continued. "The Temporary Base is closer to us than the gates of the Karanses, after all. We'll have a higher chance of surviving if we take this risk…"
"Bullshit! We'll all be dead before we get within a mile from that place!" protested the one armed soldier, with him unsheathing and pointing one of his Anti-Titan blades at his fellow soldier as he spoke, catching her off guard all the while. Tears brimmed in his eyes as he spoke, and no one dared cut him off as he continued. "W-When I signed up for this job, I was told to give up my life for a cause that I once believed in… but… b-but… I didn't expect this… and I won't fucking allow myself to die running a fool's errand! So you a-are going to let me leave here… I don't care if I'm g-going AWOL, I just-"
BANG!
His words were abruptly cut off when the sound of a pistol going off could be heard, and several seconds later, the Anti-Titan blade that the soldier was once brandishing broke near its base, with its broken blade dropping to the ground in a silent clatter. The sudden explosion of gunpowder was more than enough to shock everyone present into silence as they turned towards its source, and seconds later, they saw that the shooter was none other than Mikazuki Augus, who had his arm outstretched.
And in his hand… was his pistol, with its barrel still smoking as he aimed it at the loudmouthed soldier.
Everyone present was stunned, not only at the fact that Mikazuki had a firearm, one that seemed to be more advanced than any made on this world, but they were also shocked at just how quickly he had come to use it, and none were more shocked than the soldier that he was now confronting, who took a preemptive step backwards as Augus spoke.
"You're going to retreat because you got hurt?" asked Mikazuki, with his words sounding incredibly neutral… and yet, there was an undeniable undercurrent of malice beneath all of it as he narrowed his eyes at the one armed soldier. "Because you're injured? Because you're scared?"
"No, because it's the s-smart thing to do!" defended the soldier, with him suddenly acknowledging how his teammates were giving him a wide berth as they continued. "If we go on, we will undoubtedly become Titan food, so a retreat-"
"If you want to run, then run. But don't attack others because they don't want to go with you," grumbled Mikazuki, with his gaze darkening further as he recalled several past instances with CGS, instances that included the Second and Third Corps being dragged into near unwinnable odds because of the First Corp's stupidity. He didn't know about any of these soldiers present, and by all means, he didn't care about them in the slightest, but he wasn't so cold hearted that he'd allow them to turn around and follow this fool back to his death.
A handful of seconds passed before Mikazuki finally lowered his pistol, with him holstering it somewhere on his person before he began walking towards his Gundam. Before he launched himself up into its cockpit, however, he turned and glared at each and every one of the soldiers present.
"If you want to run, run. No one will stop you. But the path ahead has been surveyed by the other soldiers, and if you follow them, you should be able to avoid any Titans in your path until you reach the base," advised Mikazuki flatly. "But if you want to go back and risk bumping into any Titans along the way, be my guest."
And with that said, the pilot fired his Maneuver Gear anchors towards his Gundam's chest and launched himself up into its cockpit, with him sealing it shut shortly thereafter, leaving behind a handful of stunned soldiers all the while.
Slowly but surely, Barbatos began to power up, with steam being ejected from its vents as it straightened its body up to its fullest once more, and as soon as it was up, the one armed soldier, with a face that was somehow both pale and red with embarrassment, walked up to their temporary commander with an awkward stride.
"What more do you want, soldier?" grumbled the acting commander with a sigh as she rubbed the back of her neck in exasperation, to which the one armed soldier grimaced.
"... got any room in the carriages?"
And at that, the Gundam boosted on ahead, leaving the soldiers to fend for themselves all the while.
"Only if we can find enough horses and carriages to be used."
"Then what're we waiting for?"
Meanwhile
The panicked breathing of the rest of Team Sys was maintained as they rode across the grassy fields of Shiganshina, and as they rode on, hard, Mylius, who was at the very back of the group of three, found himself panting and sweating intensely as he glanced over at Nac, who was leading the charge.
"Nac! I'm gonna ask you again… i-is this really the smartest move we can make?!" protested Mylius once more as they rode on hard, with his face red with fear and anticipation all the while. A small part of him hoped for Tias to answer logically, as even he knew that this plan of theirs was borderline suicide, though as expected, he simply glanced back at Zeramuski to offer him a strained grin.
"And I'll repeat myself again; no! It's not the smartest idea, but it's also the only idea I'm interested in! You and Mina can back down now if you want! We're not even in range of that Titan yet, anyways!" responded Nac as he looked back ahead of himself, to which the blonde soldier paled a little in defeat while Mina grimaced a little.
"We're not leaving you, Nac! Or at least, I'm not!" assured Mina firmly as she plotted on atop her horse, with each step causing her hair and cloak to to bounce up and down as she spoke. "I'm with you all the way, a hundred percent!"
Carolina's words clearly had an effect on Tias, as he found himself grinning back at his friend as he nodded in appreciation, though his smile did look a little forced. Mina didn't think to comment on this, however, as she glanced over at Mylius, who reddened a little under her gaze but added onto her words nonetheless.
"I… I-I'm not really confident in following you into this slaughter, Nac… b-but even so… being alone out h-here without backup is even worse! At least fighting that T-Titan will let me die nobly!" affirmed Mylius awkwardly as he clutched a hand in front of his chest, with him smiling shakily as he continued. "And besides… it's better to d-die with some good teammates of mine than to die a-alone, don't you think?"
Blinking a little at his words, both Mina and Nac were quick to find themselves dumbstruck by Mylius' uncharacteristic show of bravery… for his standards, at least. The guy was never known to be a brave person by any stretch of the imagination, so to see him so determined, now of all times especially… well, it made both black haired juniors stare at him in disbelief, prompting him to shrink a little all the while.
"Erm… was it something I said…?" asked Mylius meekly as he shrunk down a tad, his bravado all but lost at this point as he spoke. In response to that, both Nac and Mina shared a glance before they laughed a little, with Tias being the first to respond.
"No, sorry… it's just… we don't always see this side of you, My'. It's rather refreshing, really, to see just how brave you can be," admitted Nac with a grin as Mylius' cheeks reddened with embarrassment and just a bit of insult.
"In t-times like these, bravery is a-a-all I can offer," defended Mylius as he stared at his two teammates in irritation, to which Mina chuckled a little, only for said chuckle to turn into a gasp when they saw the Titan they were pursuing in the distance, with its form having been obscured by a steep incline until now.
"Well, let's see more of that bravery, My', cos we're going in hot!" proclaimed Mina as she unsheathed her Anti-Titan blades, to which Zeramuski nodded and did the same. Nac, however, kept his sheathed for now as he narrowed his eyes at the Titan in the distance, with him biting his lip all the while.
"Sys… is the commander…" began Nac, only for him to be cut off when he saw the Titan, one with blonde hair and a noticeably feminine figure, strike the ground in front of itself, causing a massive cloud of smoke to form in the process. The smokescreen lasted for less than a second before a figure jumped out of it, and though he was in a precarious situation at the moment, all three juniors let out a collective sigh of relief when they saw that it was none other than Luke Sys, who, aside from a tattered Survey Corp cloak and a few tears on his uniform, was mostly alright, if not a little red in the face. "There he is!"
"H-He's not looking too hot…" observed Mylius with a grimace as he watched Luke weakly evade a punch from the Titan, dodging with a roll to the side, before he got back up to his feet and fired his Maneuver Gear anchors towards it. As he did so, the soldier boosted himself up into the air and readied his blades for a swing, only to come to a stop when he saw the Titan holding onto one of his Maneuver Gear anchors. The smile on its face told him what it intended to do, though before it could do it, Sys grimaced and used one of his blades to sever the anchor wire before it could pull him in and finish him off, causing him to fall to the ground shortly thereafter, much to the dismay of his juniors. "O-Okay if there's ever been a time to intervene, now would be it!"
"Any ideas, Mylius? You did plan that assault on the Titans back in the refueling base, after all!" inquired Nac direly as they rode on, to which Zeramuski reddened in embarrassment at that stunt of his. Opening his mouth, he was about to state that Jean Kirstein and Marco Boldt had also contributed to his plan as well, though he quickly shut it when he saw the Titan's fist looming over his senior.
"Just one!"
Gasping as he staggered up to his feet, Luke found himself groaning a little when the Female Titan's fist came just shy of striking him down, with it coming close enough to make him feel the phantom pain against the soles of his boots as he flipped himself back up to his feet.
As he did so, however, the soldier staggered backwards a little as he attempted to avoid a strike, only this time, he recovered a little too late as he felt the back of the Shifter's hand impact his side, causing him to soar in that direction before he came to a halt. On impact, the soldier coughed out a worrying amount of blood as he felt his insides shuddering from the strike, and as he did his best to recover from the impact, he could feel the Female Titan looming over him.
'What a terrible situation this is…' thought Sys as he grumbled to himself, having acknowledged how, no less than a minute ago, he had failed to sever this Titan's achilles tendon, and after it had killed his horse, he resolved to stall the thing for as long as possible. The few attacks he had attempted to inflict upon it were either too shallow to be long lasting or outright deflected when the Titan hardened parts of its body, and whereas Luke could feel himself growing more and more exhausted with each attempt, the Female Titan remained steadfast and resolute in its efforts to swat him out of the air, and inevitably, it managed to do so, just not out of the air, Sys supposed.
A huff escaped the soldier's lips as he watched the Titan raise its arm up to strike him down, with him scowling in acceptance all the while. At the very least, he reasoned, he would be able to tell the devil that he fought a damn Titan Shifter when he was dropped down to Hell…
Right before his killer could finish the job, however, the sound of a flare discharging could be heard ringing through the air, and as if on instinct, the Female Titan halted its punch and instead swung its arm towards an inbound projectile, and as with the flashbang Sys had caught earlier, the Titan caught a cylindrical projectile out of the air before it could detonate. The Titan seemed confused at this as it unraveled its fingers, though when it did so, a cloud of black smoke poured from its palm, making Sys realize that a Black Signal Flare was just fired upon it. The Titan itself didn't seem too peeved about this as it dropped what remained of the flare to the ground and turned back to face Luke…
… though when it did so, it found itself widening its eyes in shock when it saw that Luke Sys was no longer there!
Swinging an arm through the cloud of smoke, the Female Titan narrowed its eyes as it saw a trio of soldiers, all with their Survey Corp hoods up, galloping away from it. The one leading the charge, a rather tall guy, had Sys laying atop the back of his horse as they fled, and though the smart thing to do was to leave them be, the Titan ended up pursuing them either way.
It still needed to maintain at least a tiny bit of the element of surprise, after all. It had taken a risk in using the Rear Guard as a diversion to get the Gundam out of its path, and it didn't want to risk anything more by letting these four obstructions get away and confirming to the rest of the formation that it was a threat…
That and if it were honest, it really wanted to kill Sys out of spite…
After it crouched down a little in order to get itself ready, the Female Titan sprung forwards at a full sprint, with it targeting the horse that Sys was on all the while. As it ran, however, one of the three soldiers turned back and wheezed in terror when he saw its approach, with him relaying this information to the rest of his team seconds later. The girl seemed to tense up at that, though she seemed to scowl at the Titan's approach, having masked her growing fear incredibly well, whilst the apparent leader of the team didn't even heed its approach.
A fatal mistake, no doubt, as the Female Titan sprung up into the air and got ready to stomp down onto the leading horse. As it descended upon the group, however, the girl screamed something to her fellow soldiers as she veered a little to the side, and all the while, their leader and the other boy began veering their respective horses to the side as well, with all three of them clearing out of the Titan's landing zone mere seconds before it could land.
The soldier up front was too close to the impact point, however, as he was flung off his horse, as was Luke Sys, who gasped as he too was thrown up into the air. Landing in a roll, the two of them attempted to get up as the Female Titan jolted forwards to strike. The taller soldier wasn't able to get to his senior in time, and as a compromise, he fired his Maneuver Gear anchor towards his foot. He appeared apologetic as Sys let out a cry of pain when the anchor pierced his foot, though he didn't let it stop him from using it to reel him in mere seconds before he could be flattened by the Titan's fist.
"T-Thank you!" thanked the senior soldier as he was awkwardly slung over the guy's shoulder, with the Titan not quite catching the name of the taller soldier as he jumped back and away from its grasp, and as it reared its fist back to strike at them once more. The soldier was about to retaliate with either a lunge or an anchor shot as he grit his teeth below his hood, though before it could swing, it felt something latch onto the side of its outstretched arm, prompting it to turn its attention to the source and widen its eyes when it saw the girl launching herself at it.
Her cloak fluttered behind her as she closed in on the Female Titan, and for the briefest of moments, the Titan Shifter was stunned by her act of stupidity, long enough to allow the girl to get up close and swing her blades at her face. Without any time to activate her ability, the Titan accepted the swing, only to be confused, if a little delighted, at the fact that it didn't receive anything more than a minor sense of irritation from the injury. Whoever this girl was, she was probably not that much of a fighter!
Another strike was felt near the ankle of the Titan, albeit just barely as that pathetic swing didn't even pierce the thick skin of its ankle. Glancing down at its attacker, the Female Titan frowned a little deeper when it saw a small mop of blonde hair beneath his hood. It made it feel oddly nostalgic about its own for a while as it watched the blonde land on the ground in an awkward crouch, and as it did so, the Titan moved to strike him down, only to be interrupted when it perked its ears up at the sound of Maneuver Gear thrusters closing in on it from behind.
Turning around on a time, the arm the Female Titan had pulled back to strike the blonde down was now swung towards the one that was approaching it from behind, no doubt to get a strike at its nape, and as it turned, the Titan Shifter was pleasantly surprised to see the girl's grey eyes widening in shock as it snatched her out of the air and held her tightly in its hand. The girl struggled in its grip as she applied just a bit more pressure onto her body.
If anything, the Female Titan's host could at least respect the girl's tenacity, even if it was misplaced…
An enraged cry could be heard, prying the Female Titan out of its thoughts briefly, as the tallest soldier of the three, and the apparent leader, jolted forwards upon seeing his friend ensnared by the Titan. As with the girl, the Titan's host could appreciate his attempts at saving a friend, though his bravery was misplaced, and it didn't take much to subdue him, so to speak, as the Titan Shifter easily pried the twin anchors that had been shot towards its chest before it used them to yank the soldier towards itself. The junior gasped in shock as this happened, only for his entire body to impact the Female Titan's opened palm, which slammed him down against the ground, effectively pinning him down beneath its hand all the while.
Watching the soldier struggling beneath its hand brought about a small sense of sadistic pleasure for the Titan, and yet… that small bout of sadism was quickly squashed when it noticed that, with his back against the ground… his hood could freely fall back as well, especially as he leaned his head towards the Female Titan with a murderous look in his eyes. His familiar brown eyes… and topped with his black, swept back hair… the Titan found itself reeling back a little in recognition…
'It… can't be…' thought the Titan body's host as it loosened its hold on Nac Tias just a bit, with the soldier noticing none of this as he continued to spot profanities at it. All of them were promptly ignored by the Shifter, however, as it turned its attention to the struggling soldier in its hand.
The Titan's host body felt their heart skip a beat… skip many beats, in fact, as they willed their Titan body's head closer towards the girl trapped in its ironclad grip, and as it drew closer, the girl began visibly panicking as her eyes welled up in terror. Likewise, Nac struggled further beneath the Titan's hand as he yelled out various obscenities at it, and the blonde was trying to muster up the courage to attack…
And yet, instead of being eaten like she had expected herself to be… Mina Carolina felt the hood of her cloak being blown backwards as the Titan drew closer, and as it flew back, the pigtailed girl could only stare back at the fourteen metre beast with her grey eyes widened in panic… panic that quickly became a small bit of disbelief when the young woman locked eyes with the Titan Shifter.
Grey eyes locked onto blue ones with enough tension to snap a steel rod in half… and the latter found themselves widening as they acknowledged just who they had trapped in their grip… and as for Carolina, her heart thumped violently in her chest as she acknowledged something… familiar about this Titan, now that she was seeing it up close and personal…
And for as terrifying as the prospect of death was, that sense of familiarity served to terrify her even more.
Oh shit lads we're getting into the nitty and the gritty.
I have to admit that this took a lot longer than I wanna admit to get together. A handful of drafts were written up and discarded before I settled on this. Hope it was entertaining, though!
The Female Titan, whose name I won't reveal yet because even though it's very obvious, for the sake of thematic drama shall be kept secret, was nerfed quite a bit in this chapter to allow for a bit of a higher survival rate for Team Sys. No worries, though, it'll be buffed back up in the next chapter. As for Barbatos, though it may seem forced, it will be nerfed a tiny bit in order to give it a fighting chance in future chapters, though I'll try to make it seem natural.
Emphasis on try.
Regardless! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Review replies!
starscreamer11: I'll be honest with you, it wasn't worth keeping up. Writing was much worse than what you see here!
Dead344156: thanks man! And yeah while I did say that Barbatos will be nerfed a tiny bit, he will still be kicking a lot more ass than any soldier in the show.
Touhoufanatic: well not now, but soon
Jredor13: yeah it really is going to suck for him, yes? And yes, that arc will be very much different. Similar, yet different…
Kannn: aye, the thought of Team MNMA relaxing is a good thought. Who knows if that'll come to be, though? And as for their handling of that betrayal… who knows how that'll go? Who knows…
deityoftheuniverse: feels nice to be back man
pt1oef: won't lie, this review made me snicker a little thanks to the wording. As for monkey, just give it some time. And honestly, you made me think of an AOT reacts to Tekketsu No Kyojin story. It seems fun.
Guest: Team Mike? Well, a good person would assure you of their safety, but I am not a good person! Nyehnyehnyeh… their fates are uncertain for now.
Until next time!