Lando dodged bullets coming from the Tank Titan as he was going for Zeke but he couldn't get up there without the machine gun on the Tank Titan killing him as he got up there. Lando needed thunder spears but he used them already, it was a losing battle at this point. They were running out of supplies and the Marleyean military had surrounded this sector by now. As Lando was thinking, Eren jumped out of his Titan that was stuck in the Warhammer's crystal and transformed again. Lando ducked into a building nearby as Zeke threw crushed-up pieces of a building at them. It destroyed the walls of the building but Lando only got a few cuts, he couldn't be sure about the others.

"Eren Jaeger…is not my enemy." Zeke said. "Two others come first. Show yourself, Levi…Lando you're running out of time."

"Armin needs to transform now or we're all dead." Lando thought.

Just like that a huge explosion and yellow lighting came from the sea as battleships flew up in the air.

The Jaw Titan seemed to get angry and rush Eren by himself and the Scouts would make their final assault now. Lando jumped out of the building and using his ODM gear got into the air looking around to see what the plan was.

"Distracting the two Titans…" Lando thought.

"Lando!" Levi yelled at him. "Zeke! Now!"

Levi was already going towards the Titan and saw Lando.

"Got it!" Lando replied.

Lando followed Levi and as they got to the Titan Levi sliced Zeke's nape with ease, Zeke didn't even turn around.

"Catch!" Levi told Lando as he threw something at him.

Lando caught it and it was a grenade.

"Did he really just throw an explosive at me?" Lando thought for a second before landing on Zeke's Titan.

Lando looked to his right for a second and saw two kids, a girl and a boy, and an adult.

"Zeke!" The girl yelled.

Lando pulled the pin on the grenade and dropped it before using ODM gear to escape the blast radius. After Lando blew up Zeke the other Scouts blew up the Tank Titan with Thunderspears leaving only the Jaw Titan.

Lando saw the Jaw Titan running at Eren out of the corner of his eye; he flew over there at the Jaw Titan and bit Eren's arm off. The Jaw Titan must've known Lando was coming over because he jumped off Eren and climbed one of the Warhammer's structures.

"I killed Ymir," Lando said to Eren. "How is the Jaw Titan still alive?"

"If you eat a Titan in human form soon after its death you can still transfer its powers," Eren said through his Titan.

"It's fast too, Ymir's wasn't close to this," Lando said.

"So this is the Jaw Titans' power," Eren said. "I see."

A loud noise in the air got closer every second.

"They got their blimp." Lando thought.

The Jaw Titan saw this too and jumped onto the roof of a building before running at the blimp on the roof, Lando saw an opportunity he jumped off Eren using ODM gear and when the Jaw Titan jumped off the roof Lando sliced both the Jaw Titan's legs off causing it to nose dive into the ground right in front of Eren.

Eren picked the Titan up and threw it against the ground, Eren then ripped off the Titan's left arm and threw it before doing the same thing to the left arm. The Jaw Titan opened its mouth to scream and when it did Eren shoved the crystalized Warhammer Titan into its mouth, Eren picked the Jaw Titan up by its head and crushed the crystal. Eren opened his mouth and ate the Titan, Eren picked the Jaw Titan up again and slammed its head against the ground as the Scouts watched in silence.

"Reiner!" Lando heard a little girl scream from somewhere. "Help us! You have to save Galliard! He's about to get eaten! You hear me!? Help us!"

Then another boy started to scream for Reiner and when Eren was about to eat the Jaw Titan yellow lighting came from the stage.

Reiner in Titan form ran at Eren and Eren did the same, Reiner threw a punch Eren ducked and punched him in the jaw breaking it. Reiner fell down and didn't get up after.

"He gave up." Lando thought.

But Eren exited his Titan too.

"Eren!" Mikasa said and landed next to him.

"I think the fights are over. We're out of strength."Eren said. "At this point, I can't exactly kill Reiner."

"Let's go home then," Mikasa said and grabbed Eren by his arm.

"Bye Reiner," Eren said and Mikasa flew away using ODM gear.

By this time the airship was almost at the battlefield as Jean and some Scouts protected the airship from the troops on the street. Lando hooked onto the wood part of the ship and stayed there as Mikasa did the same with Eren, Armin opened the door next to where they were and helped them all onboard.

"Damn, you're a filthy sight," Levi said to Eren. "You fall in a pile of shit?"

"Captain…" Eren mumbled.

Mikasa ran at Levi but Armin held her back.

Two Scouts held guns to Eren as Levi walked over to him.

"This brings back memories, Eren. You have such a kickable face. After you're all tied up, we'll have a chat."

"That's fine but I explained everything in the letters," Eren said. "Did you not understand it?"

Eren and Levi stared at each other for a bit.

"That face…It reminds me of the rotten shits who lived underground. Right, Lando?" Levi said.

Lando remembered those faces but he also remembered faces of hope and joy, he saw them all the time at his mom's doctor's office.

"Never thought I'd see it on you. Cheer up. Everything happened like you wanted." Levi said.

Steam started to come through one of the doors, Connie and Sasha ran over opening the door and lifting up Jean.

"The others?" Jean asked as he got in.

"Still waiting on Lima Squad," Connie said.

"As far as we know there are six casualties," Sasha said.

"I see…shit!" Jean said.

"That's nothing compared to the damage we did!" Floch said.

"In war, it was a fair trade," Lando said.

"It's a huge victory! The New Eldian Empire's first battle ends in victory!" Floch said, raising his hand.

All the other Scouts screamed in cheer and celebrated.

"A fair trade huh?" Levi said, looking at Lando.

"Yes," Lando said.

"Do you really believe that?" Levi asked.

"I do," Lando said.

Levi sighed and started to take Eren into another room.

Lando walked away towards the celebration and stood behind Jean, Connie, and Sasha.

"Isn't Lobov still out there?" Connie asked Jean.

"No, I think he came abroad," Jean said.

Lando looked for Lobov and didn't see him.

"Wait…" Lando said.

"What?" Connie said.

Lando turned around and saw a figure roll across the floor and take aim with a rifle. The girl shot it, hitting Sasha in the middle of her torso.

Lando immediately reached for Jean's pistol and shot it at the girl, he hit her in the leg. The Scouts stopped celebrating and ran at the girl and started to beat her.

"Sasha! Hey!" Connie yelled. "Hang in there! Hey!"

"You're so…damn loud…" Sasha said. "Are we…eating soon?"

"Bandages now! We've gotta stop the bleeding!" Jean screamed.

"Right!" A Scout said and threw bandages over to Jean.

"Sasha! Make it to the island!" Connie yelled at her.

Two Scouts that had medical knowledge tried to bandage her up.

But Sasha was losing blood fast.

Lando watched all of this happen, he turned around and saw Floch holding two kids prisoner with the rest of the Scouts.

"I only saw one," Lando said.

"They climbed aboard using Lobov's ODM gear," Floch said. "Lando?"

"Toss them out," Lando said. "They're enemies even if they are kids."

"You!" The girl said, looking at Lando. "You were the one who blew up Zeke!"

"Lando! Floch!" Jean said. "If we toss kids out of an airship, will the killing ever end?"

Lando didn't want to kill the kids but they were enemies, they killed a Scout. Lando had killed kids a couple of times in the underground, he never liked it though.

"Don't touch me, you devils!" The girl yelled as they started to tie them up with rope. "We haven't lost yet! The rest of our comrades will carry on the will of War Chief Zeke!"

"Time to toss them," Floch said.

Lando grabbed the girl and started to drag her over to the door of the airship.

"Us true Eldians are gonna haunt you till you die! Pass that on to your ringleader after I die." The girl yelled.

Jean knocked on the door that Levi and the rest of the top Scouts were in and opened it.

Levi turned around and saw a boy tied up, and behind everyone, he saw his son about to toss a girl out of an airship.

"Lando! What the hell are you doing?!" Levi yelled at him.

"She snuck aboard using Lobov's ODM gear," Lando said.

"She's a kid!" Levi said.

"And this kid shot Sasha," Lando said.

Levi's eyes went wide and Mikasa and Armin ran out of the room to go check on Sasha.

"Don't kill the kid," Levi told him.

"If you order it," Lando said and threw the kid away from the door.

"Zeke!" The girl exclaimed when she looked into the room.

"All according to plan there at least." Lando thought and looked into the room and saw Zeke held captive.

"Bring those kids in here," Levi said. "They know something."

Lando grabbed the girl and the boy and entered the room.

"This doesn't ignore what you did," Levi said. "But we'll talk later."

"Gabi…Falco…? Why are you here?" Zeke asked.

"You're alive?! Why did you let them capture you?!" Gabi asked.

Zeke didn't answer.

Hange entered the room from the cockpit.

"It's all you Onyankopon." She said,

"You got it Hange!" Onyankopon said.

"Well? Did everything play out how you wanted it, Zeke Yaeger?" Hange asked.

"For the most part, but there were a few miscalculations," Zeke said.

"Zeke…?" Gabi and Falco said.

"Huh? Who are these kids?" Hange asked.

"Miscalculations," Zeke said.

Jean was still in the room and must've not seen Yelena until now because he freaked out when he saw her.

"Yelena! What the hell happened to trapping the the Cart and Jaw?! People died because of you!" Jean yelled.

"I'm sorry. I assure you they fell down the hole, but it's still my fault. " Yelena said.

"And to cover for that slip up the Beast Titan chucked more rocks at us than planned," Levi said. "That was some clever improv for a clown like you. Wouldn't you say hairball?"

"Don't glare at me like that, Levi. What if I piss my pants?" Zeke said. "And you two are quite the actors as well," Zeke said looking at Lando and Levi. "Considering how you both wanted to kill me so bad."

Zeke was wrong there Lando didn't want to kill him yet they still needed him.

"I'm the kinda person who saves the best bite for last," Levi said.

"You're still alive," Lando said.

"We killed the Marley brass and destroyed their port and fleet," Eren said. "That should buy us some time."

"Until the whole world launches a joint attack on Paradis?" Hange asked. "Every time you're caught by the enemy, we sacrifice lives to get you back. No matter how many it takes. And yet knowing that you went so far as to make yourself a hostage. Just like you hoped, we didn't have a choice. You put our trust in us and we lost our trust in you."

Not everyone." Zeke said, looking at Lando.

"Eren told him." Lando thought.

"But now we have the Founding Titan and a Titan with royal blood. The cost of those sacrifices will be paid through Eldia's freedom." Zeke said.

The door to the room opened slowly and Connie stood there.

"Sasha…is dead." A tear went down Connie's eye as he said that.

Levi turned to see what Lando looked like.

"Connie," Eren said. "Did Sasha…have any last words?"

"She said…meat…" Connie said.

A quiet dry chuckle came from Eren, and almost everyone stared at him like he was trash.

"Eren…Sahsa only died because you dragged the Scouts into this." Jean said.

After Eren laughed nobody wanted to be around him besides Zeke, Lando, and Floch.

"Lando," Levi said to him before he left the room. "Come on."

Levi took Lando to the supply room where nobody was.

"Why did you try to kill that kid?" Levi asked.

"She killed a Scout," Lando said.

"That is your only reason?" Levi asked.

"Yes."

"That's not the only thing…" Levi said. "Why did you go along with Floch in blowing up the zone? There were civilians."

"We are at war," Lando said. "They have killed Eldians for generations with the Titans."

"I…I thought that all the horror hadn't gotten to you yet. You always seemed so carefree. But when you heard your friend died. Lando…you didn't even blink. Maybe you were always like this or maybe you adopted it in the last year, but you're ruthless. You always talk about wanting to live a peaceful life, but you kill innocent civilians." Levi said.

"You think I don't want a life like that for you? For myself? God, I'd love to live in a world where I didn't have to worry about killing or dying, or worrying about Titans, or worrying about the next fight. But that's just not how things fucking work. This isn't as simple as you like to make it seem." Lando said.

"So what is it then?!" Levi asked.

"It may not kill or be killed but it's awfully goddamn close," Lando said. "We kill them or they wipe us out. That's how it is, maybe we could make peace but it's a very small chance."

Levi looked at Lando and didn't say a thing. Levi left the room leaving Lando alone in there.

The Scouts took the airship back to Paradis and Eren was immediately sent to prison, and a month passed. Lando and Floch gained even more supporters for this upcoming battle, Floch started to use Lando's name while convincing soldiers because it carried a lot of weight, and Ackerman being his last name helped even more.

End of Chapter 53.