Chapter 41: Thankless Mission
"So you're requesting a few days leave to help with a family issue?" Levi said, sitting down at his desk as he faced Mina who sat on the other side of him with Alphonse next to her and Petra standing behind Levi.
"Yes sir." Mina replied.
"Is it something I should be concerned about, something which might affect you in the future?" Levi asked.
"No sir." Mina assured him. "My house had caught fire and they need someone to help repair some damages."
"Okay, while I'm fine with you leaving it's a different story with him though." Levi said turning his head towards Alphonse. "Why the hell are you going too?"
"Mina told me about what her family were up to and I offered to help." Alphonse replied. "I also thought it would be nice to visit them and thank them for being so nice to Ed and I the last time we met them."
"How thoughtful" Levi said coldly "And you're just alright with leaving Ed behind to do all the R&D work and help Hange and Armin with their alchemy?" Levi questioned. This didn't feel like a lecture but it was clear the captain was trying to steer Alphonse out of this. "There's only a small window of time before we go off for the expedition to retake Shiganshina, are you totally fine with leaving your current responsibilities behind?"
"Captain, while I understand your concerns, we've been given a small break and I don't want to spend all that time continuously working right after a stressful time." Alphonse replied. "I'm only human after all."
"Captain, if I may interject." Petra said "They have been working hard ever since their arrival into the squad and God knows how many times they'd bailed us out of sticky situations, I'm sure a few days leave won't go amiss."
Levi picked up the cup of tea from the small saucer and sipped on it "I know I can act like an asshole, and it's not my intention most times, but we're currently at a critical point in our entire operation; its five years worth of work and sacrifices, if something were to happen and one of our greatest assets wasn't immediately available then what happens then?"
"If Reiner, Bertholdt or the Beast titan wanted to attack then they'd have done it during the revolution." Alphonse argued. "Also you've known us long enough that both my brother and I are capable by ourselves."
Levi was silent for a few seconds, likely mulling over the request "Okay… if you want to go that desperately then go but you've got until the end of the week, understand?"
"Yes sir." They both replied.
"You're dismissed, pack up your shit, you're running on a short window." Both Mina and Alphonse hurriedly saluted Levi as they quickly scurried out of his office. "Close the door; you weren't raised in a barn."
"Well I was raised in the countryside." Alphonse joked as he closed the door "I'll meet you at the stables." Mina said.
"Of course, see you there." Alphonse replied, they quickly parted ways as Alphonse made his own way towards the barracks. Inside his quarters along a row of three beds was his chest which sat at the foot of his bed. He opened the chest and began rummaging through his belongings and clothes, placing them on his bed ready to be packed away.
As he gently placed a neatly folded coat on his bed a thought crossed his mind One day... I'll be packing my belongings and leaving this place for my home.
"Hey." Called a voice from the door, Alphonse lifted his head up to see Ed leaning up against the doorway. "So you're going away for a days?" Ed stated "Would have been nice if you'd had told me."
"We just decided yesterday." Alphonse
"And you're going Mina." Ed added, his voice was slightly accusing.
"It not what you think." Alphonse told him "I'm helping her family with something." Ed continued to stare at him "I know brother, you don't have to worry."
Ed sighed as his head dropped slightly "Okay..." Ed conceded "I trust you, Al."
"Thank you, brother." Alphonse replied as he shut the chest and stood up onto his feet. "If it's too much to ask, I need you to fill in for me as Armin and Hange's mentor for a little bit; they've got the basis of it down just need to ask them about what area they want to focus on." Alphonse began placing his clothes into a brown leather suitcase. The two then began walking through the castle as Ed escorted him to the stables.
"Alphonse…." Ed said as he walked up to his brother, he placed his hand on Alphonse's shoulder "Just be careful."
"I will, brother." Alphonse reassured him; Ed brought his hand off Alphonse.
"Good, the last thing we need is for some screw up now." Ed commented "Won't be long till we head out to plug that hole in Shiganshina. We'll be home before you know it."
Alphonse head drifted off to the side as he caught sight of both Hange and Armin demonstrating their alchemy for Levi, even from the second floor he could see Hange's excitement and Armin trying to calm her down. He felt a knot in his stomach as the thought began to rear its ugly head.
I'll never see them become the alchemists I know they can be… I'll never get to see them take alchemy to new heights in this world… I'll never get to see them again after we're done…
Hange flicked the end of the syringe as she stared into the clear contents inside. She stood behind Eren who had his shirt off and had his back facing her with Ed, Levi, Petra, Armin, Mikasa and Moblit in front of him to observe inside Hange's office.
A day had passed since Alphonse had left for Karanes.
"Are we sure this will give him the ability to create armour around his titan?" Petra asked "What if we're injecting something that could harm him." Mikasa visibly grimaced at the thought.
"That what I'm worried about too honestly." Ed chimed in.
"I'm not worried." Eren stated "I trust squad leader Hange's judgement on this."
"Big mistake on your part then" Levi muttered.
"Well the bottle did say 'armour' and it was in that bag with all the other titan fluids and syringes so…" Hange then aimed the needle into Eren. She push the needle through the upper half of Eren's back as she injected the fluid into him, as the syringe emptied into him she removed the needle and quickly swopped the open wound with an alcohol soaked cloth. As she removed the cloth the small wound had already healed.
"Eren, how are you feeling?" Mikasa asked, slightly concerned.
"I feel fine." Eren replied "I mean I pretty much feel the same as before." He looked at his hand as he pulled his fingers into a fist and out again.
"Give it a while, we don't know if there might be any side affects to this serum, then we'll run some tests with your titan again." Hange explained. "We'll meet up back in the open space near the castle after a few hours. Mikasa and Armin, you keep a close eye on Eren for the time being."
A few hours had passed, it was now in the middle of the afternoon with the sun peering down over the grassy lands, and the group convened once again to watch Eren titan. Eren stood more than a couple meters away from them, Hange began waving her hand "Go for it!" she yelled.
There was a bright flash of light as a bolt of lightning struck the ground and from the smoke raised a familiar fifteen meter tall titan with a muscular form, bright green eyes, sharp teeth and oily black hair. "Alright now try and focus on your hands, see if you can form some armour around your fingers like Annie." The group began to approach Eren's titan to closer observe.
Eren titan looked at its fingers for a few seconds before a crackling sound, like glass clinging together, as the top half of his fingers were covered with a thick dull crystal like surface. Eren's titan presented the demonstration to the others as it knelt down.
"Amazing…" Petra muttered as he got a closer look while Hange and Moblit furiously took down notes of the findings.
"It's almost like he's wearing titan sized brass knuckles." Levi commented
"You think it's the same composition as both Annie and Reiner's armour?" Armin asked.
"Only one way to find out" Ed said as he clapped his hands together and placed them onto the thick, there were bright sparks of blue light as Ed pulled out a halberd made from the titan's armour. "Yeah looks like it."
"Test them out." Levi ordered "Remember the purpose of you getting the armour ability was because you need to handle Reiner, the beast titan or anyone one else when we head back into Shiganshina."
Ed tossed the Halberd to Levi who caught the long staff weapon as Ed once more placed his hands together, knelt down and pressed them into the ground. Two large titans made of dirt and stone stood a few meters away from Eren. Eren titan turned to face them, raised his fist up towards his face a swung his fist towards the head of the fake titan, the crystal surface colliding with the stone as his fist went through the titan.
Eren looked at his fingers; there was no sign of smoke or any kind of healing after bunching from a hard surface. He then continued to demolish the fake titan before him as he swung and struck them with his fists until them were just a pile of rubble on the ground.
"Eren, let's try something else now!" Hange suggested. She looked down at her notes on Eren's hardening abilities and then towards the crystal halberd in Levi's hand. "The walls…" she muttered "They used this stuff to build the walls…" She turned back towards Eren. "Eren come out of your titan, we're gonna start over and try something else from the beginning."
Eren's titan fell down to the ground as he emerged from the nape of the titan as Hange gather everyone around near his now rapidly decomposing titan to explain. "The walls are made from the same element as the titan armour so it must be possible to create structures using this." Hange looked at Levi and indicated for him to toss her the halberd. Levi tossed the weapon to Hange and she caught the weapon by the staff "If you can master this power then we might be able to build upon our defences."
"Alright let's do it." Eren replied eagerly.
All throughout the rest of the day, Hange pushed Eren to the limit of his new powers as he began to form large crystal mounds using his titan which gleamed slightly from the setting sun. Hange closely examined the mounts of crystals. She pressed her hand onto the mounts as her imagination ran wild with ideas on what could be made using this.
Suddenly a loud crash brought her back to reality as Eren's titan collapsed onto the ground as he once more emerged from the nape, as he slid down the neck of his titans his legs wobbled when his feet hit the ground and collapsed to his knees.
"Eren, are you okay?" Mikasa asked as both she and Armin rushed to him. A trail of blood ran down his nose.
"So I guess this is the limit to his power." Levi commented as he handed Eren a cloth to clean his nose. "Or at least the limit of his own body."
"Sit down for a while, there's no rush." Ed assured him.
"Eren... I'm sorry about this." Hange said as she bent down slightly to face him "I'd gotten so caught up on-"
"There's no need to apologise." Eren replied. "I'm just a little tired is all." He looked up and around at the small mounts of crystal scattered around. "All this can be used to make defences and weapons, it was worth it."
"So what are you planning on doing with all this exactly?" Petra asked.
"I'll think of something but until then I'll have the Reeves transport this to a warehouse." Hange replied. She turned towards Ed "Ed, think you can turn these mounts into piles of bricks for the mean time?"
Ed sighed before rolling up his sleeves "This is gonna take a while."
Ed rubbed his eyes slightly, trying to stave off the feelings of sleepiness, as he once more found himself in Hange office along with Moblit, Levi, Armin and a small group of scout engineers at the dead of night.
"Sorry it's a bit late everyone." Hange apologised "But I just want to wrap this up today, there's some coffee on the table so help yourself." She laid out a few large sheets of paper; on it were the designs for ODM gear.
"When we raided the anti-personal squads' bases we discovered a treasure trove of tech more advanced than ours." Hange stated "One such being a prototype for ODM which is more efficient and lighter than the original." Ed looked at the design; it didn't resemble their own one with its simple barrel shape when compared to the metals ears and intricate design of the newly discovered prototype.
"If it's better than the one we have then why not just make a shit ton of those ones and replace the old ones?" Levi questioned.
"I imagine that those at the top also want ideas on how to improve the rest of the gear attached to this new design." Armin added.
"That's exactly what's happening." Hange said "Ever since the revolution, the introduction of automail, all the other tech hidden away and the lectures that you and Al have been doing" She said looking at Ed who was now slipping on his mug of coffee "everyone's just can't get enough of it, apparently a single street in Trost gets packed almost every night because the lights are the first powered by electricity, and Darius is no exception."
"I've got an idea." Ed stated "The blades are made from ultra-hard steel, effective but that stuff is brittle and heavy I think we can all vouch for that." Ed then took a piece of paper and began scribbling down a rough drawing of the scarab and the blade. "You could do something as simple as changing the type of metal used for blades, I'd suggest using titanium alloy which weighs less but his much stronger." He then began to write down the atomic equation for titanium. "If the blades last longer than you could afford to carry less which means changing the scarab into something more compact and lightweight."
"That would be brilliant." A scout engineer commented.
"I'd have to teach your guys some basic alchemy for you to form the weapons and the metals." Ed said rubbing his forehead "That's a whole new headache."
"We're all busy." Levi replied "Rest in your own time."
"I don't have 'my own time.'" Ed whined through his hand which was now covering his face.
"Then rest when you're back in your own world." Levi retorted. "Is there anything else now? Anyone else got anything they wanted to bring to the table?"
"Captain Levi, I have something." Armin said raising his hand up slightly. Armin then placed his hand into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolding it as he laid it onto the table.
"What's this?" Hange asked as she looked at the note. "It looks like a cage."
"It's exactly that." Armin replied. "The cage can only be opened through the bottom and that's only by something pushing it upwards."
"And once it's trapped there's no possible way it can escape on its own?" Levi inquired.
"The only way out is something strong enough to push the panels upwards and hopefully into some kind of storage area." Armin added. "I haven't got down most of the details but I thought maybe twenty meters in height and possibly five to seven meters wide and made from Eren's crystals making it indestructible in a fall."
"This is… this is brilliant!" Hange exclaimed.
"Capturing titans? Never knew you had a fascination with those things, Arlert." Levi commented.
"Not particularly, Captain." Armin replied "But since there is so little we know about the titans I thought that creating an easier and less dangerous way of capturing them would benefit any future research about them."
"The titans are also humans…" Ed added "if it means not killing them then we might be able to spare some of them and maybe save them." Ed seemed to get the attention of everyone in the room "If we can save just some of them and find a way to reverse people becoming titans in the future…"
"Of course… that's what I had in mind..." Armin replied, he turned towards Hange "Squad leader Hange, I-"
"Armin I want to make this design a reality." Hange quickly interjected "You have my approval."
In the afternoon of a new day both Ed and Armin stood out into an empty field near the castle, before them were the burned hay and wood from Armin's previous attempts. Ed stared at that those burnt targets; in the past he had heard and watched as Armin's attempts to master flame alchemy ended in uncontrolled destruction but now watched as Armin shot controlled bursts of fire at the wooden targets… and real ones.
"So these are all your notes on flame alchemy?" Ed said as he looked down and read through Armin's extensive set of notes. "I may not be a flame alchemist but these notes… this kind of research are on the level of a skilled alchemist."
"That is high praise, Ed." Armin replied "Thank you."
"Oh yeah, I forget to ask but how do you choose which type of flame alchemy you want to perform?" Ed asked.
"I just face the circle I want into the palm of my hand and light the match." Armin replied.
"Can I see the match box?" Ed asked as he held out his hand. Armin handed Ed the matchbox and Ed began to examine the markings and symbols written on it. The box had been crumbled at the edges likely from constantly holding the box tight on so many occasions on both sides was a transmutation circle each similar in some ways but slightly different in others. "I'd make a slight modification to the symbol, my former hard ass boss use to work closely with Al and I, me especially, I've got a good memory of that transmutation symbol."
"Thank you Ed." Armin replied as Ed handed him back the match box. Armin took out a pencil and began scribbling new symbols into the circle. "Try it out."
Armin took out a match from the box and skid the match head onto the striker, as the match was lit a burst of fire came forth from the quick motion and set the dummies on fire. The heat from the burning fires was strong and all too familiar as the black shadows of the dummies were slowly engulfed by them. Ed heard the accounts of him setting fire to the MPs and he wondered whether this was but a glimpse of what the others saw.
"Do you get a new matchbox every time you run out?" Ed asked.
"No I just replace the matches, it's easier that way." Armin stated.
"That's probably a lot easier." Ed said with a light chuckle. "Armin… Alphonse told me you wanted to make a philosopher stone."
"I did." Armin replied, there was a lack of emotion in his voice.
"He also said he talked you out of it." Ed added. "But I want you to tell me that you won't be pursing that."
"He did." Armin replied. "He told me that the stone was made from the souls of humans, trapping them inside it. Describing it as evil."
"The stone… it does more harm than good." Ed said "I don't care about the power it possesses, those who created it became broken individuals, they hated what they done, and those who didn't were monsters… the homunculi."
"I understand, Ed." Armin said, facing the burning dummies. "If we're going to fight for humanity then we can't resort to using people in such a way." There was a short pause "Its just... aren't you afraid, even with all this, we could still end up losing, that we might still be powerless and we just don't know it?" Ed could see the concern in Armin's face and the fear in his voice.
"Whatever comes our way, we'll find a way to deal with it, we'll win." Ed replied, confidently. "Armin… I have something for you." Ed reached into his own pockets and pulled out a pair of white gloves. "Made these myself, I had to get the materials separately since you don't have ignition cloth yet." He handed the gloves over to Armin "If you want to start a fire then you'll have to snap your fingers together to create a spark."
Armin stared at the white gloves before putting them on, stretching out his fingers and then pressing his middle finger and thumb together.
Click!
A small solitary flame sat on the tip of Armin's index finger and flickered before he blew it out.
"This way you won't have to worry about flipping the box over and running out of matches." Ed stated "But make sure when it rains you have a plan B cus' this thing won't work.
"I'll keep that in mind." Armin replied with a soft smile "Thank you, Ed."
Mina sat at a small round table next to Alphonse; beside them was the entrance to a small café, in front of them were three cups of tea on small plates with the third sat on the other side of the table.
"She's late." Mina said as she looked down at her pocket watch.
"You sure this is the place she said to meet?" Alphonse asked.
"As sure as I can be, I'm not from Stohess." Mina replied.
"I'm not even from this world." Alphonse joked with an innocent smirk.
"Guess that makes us both clueless here." Mina joked back; they both looked at each other and giggled.
"Hey!" came a voice not too far away. They both turned their heads in the direction to see Hitch jogging towards them. She rushed over to their table and sat down at the empty seat in front of them. "Sorry I'm late, I had to get the files and that was a pain." She handed Mina the file.
"Thank you for doing this." Mina replied.
Mina opened it, inside was the profile of sketched picture of Annie and her information. Her birthday, her description, her height, her hair colour, her eye colour her posting… and attached was another piece of paper with the words 'TITAN SHIFTER' written above and a description of her titan and the list of people she killed… among them were the names of both Levi and Petra's former squad mates.
Eld Jinn
Oluo Bozado
Gunther Schultz
And a large list of damages to Stohess…everything that was done by titan shifters had been placed onto her.
There was a sinking feeling in Mina's gut as she looked over Annie's file. "Is this all there is on Annie?" Mina asked looking up at her. "Why are the damages done to the city written down as her crimes?"
"Beats me, it was the Armoured and Colossal titan." Hitch replied "The rest of the file is not very flattering is it?"
"That's putting it lightly…" Mina replied. This just got a hundred times harder… "Is there… anything at all positive? How was Annie as an MP?"
"As an MP she was…" Hitch paused for a few seconds "Well there was this one case about a missing girl and she took it off my hands in exchange for a favour, I'd report her being sick for a patrol the next day… she joked about having a date with a fifteen meter titan."
"The expedition…" Alphonse said, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair as he remembered the battle.
"Should probably leave that out." Hitch commented.
"What about the case itself?" Mina asked. "Did she manage to solve it?"
"I don't know, the case file on the missing person is an entirely different report itself." Hitch "Of course that morning was also the last time I saw her but I do think Marlowe might know where to find them, I can tell him to go meet you guys at the mess hall tonight to run you through the file if that's what you want."
"That would be great." Mina replied.
"Just out of curiosity, what do you have now, what's our case?" Hitch asked.
"So far what we have is that the information she gave us helped Hange's research on titans and even revealed certain things about Eren's titan; there's still so much more we could learn from her if we keep her alive. Also I've spent a lot of time with her and I believe she can change, she'll come over to our side and when she does we'll have another shifter on our side. And… back in the cavern under the Reiss family church she saved us; when the roof was collapsing and a Titan bigger than the Colossal titan was being formed she was the one to stop it. She could have transformed, saved herself and left us to die but she didn't."
"I'm not a legal expert but that sounds like a good case." Hitch commented "But it does need a bit more."
"Which is why we need to see that case file" Mina replied. "Anything that can help will help."
Just then the screeching of some chairs behind them caught their attention as two guards wearing the red rose of the garrison, sitting only a few feet away from them got up and left.
"You can count me in on this case." Hitch said. "I may not have known Annie for that long but I know there's someone soft under that cold exterior of hers and I'd like to meet that person."
"Thank you." Mina replied. "Maybe when this is all over someday we can all go out as friends."
"Confident your case will win?" Hitch asked smiling. "I'd like that."
"Considering all the crazy odds we've been up against and somehow coming out on top, I don't know, I feel a bit lucky." Mina replied laughing a little bit.
That night both Mina and Alphonse sought out Marlowe inside the large barracks of the district. They entered into the massive mess hall, candles and lanterns illuminating the wide space as hundreds of guards, MPs and officers sat around wooden long tables eating and conversing with each other. As they made their way through they both couldn't help but notice some of the looks the others in the hall were giving them.
It was either disdain, annoyance or passive anger.
A loud sea of voices and clattering plates filled their ears as they walked through the spaces in between tables looking for Marlowe.
"There he is" pointed Alphonse, spotting a figure dressed neatly in his uniform and sporting a bowl cut haircut. He looked to be focused on his work while he sat at a table alone eating his meal. Both of them quickly walked towards his table and slid into the seats opposite him.
He looked up towards them. "Hello, Alphonse, Mina, it's been a while."
"Yeah it has." Mina replied. "Last time I saw you we just ousted Rod Reiss."
"I read the report about what happened in that cavern, you guys were incredibly lucky to make it out in one piece, let alone alive." Marlowe commented.
"We weren't lucky; we had Annie looking out for us." Mina replied.
"Good thing too, apparently that thing was larger than any titan ever recorded, or at least that what squad leader Hange wrote down." Marlowe said "Can't imagine the damage that thing would have done if it got out."
"Marlowe, do you have the file on the missing person's case, the one Annie was in charge of?" Mina asked.
"Right, here." He said, pulling the folder from under the other paper. "The case is about a girl called Carly Stratmann; daughter of a wealthy merchant in Stohess went missing at some point."
Mina looked through the file "Woman ran off with her boyfriend out of the district?"
"That's what she found out, also managed to expose some drug dens which is where she must have gotten her information from." Marlowe added. "No one wanted that case and she ended up putting it to bed."
"This will help, thank you." Mina replied. She noticed some people walk behind Marlowe; they glanced over towards Mina and Alphonse with a look of disgust.
"Hey… why's everyone so hostile here?" Alphonse asked.
"Apparently some of the people here caught wind of what you guys were planning, after what happened to the district with the titan attack they're still kinda sore about the whole thing." Marlowe explained, he voice slightly hushed "And to be honest, can you blame them? A lot of them are from this district after all."
"But Annie wasn't the one who did it." Mina replied "It was the armoured and colossal titans."
"That doesn't matter to them, to them she's a shifter and she's with them." Marlowe "Guilty by association."
Mina pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration before taking in a deep breath and exhaling. This wasn't getting any easier. "That's okay, thanks for the file." She said as she lowered her hand.
"Hey, you guys are in the scouts, I was wondering if you'd recommend changing divisions?" Marlowe asked. "I'm thinking about joining the scouts."
"Well what do you want to know?" Alphonse asked.
The three discussed things further, answering each other's questions.
"Thanks you two." Marlowe said as he got up from her seat, her tray in hand. "I'll keep everything you said in mind."
"Thank you for the file, and if you decide to join then feel free to contact us at any point." Mina replied as both she and Alphonse got up from their seat. By then the hall was half empty as they left for an inn to stay.
As the two walked through the barracks, they drew closer to a group of garrison soldiers walking to their side. As the two groups walk past each other and single word is muttered by one of the members.
"Traitors…"
In the late hours of the night, both Armin and Hange sat under the dim candle light as they read over their alchemist notes. A small stacks of science books crowded around them.
Armin closely looked at the symbols on his new ignition gloves, the small lizard and the flame within the centre of the circle. Hunched over the wooden table as he wrote down more notes on air density and manipulating it.
Hange let out a loud yawn "How's it going for you, Armin?" she asked, with heavy eyes and her arms folded on the table.
"I think I'm making good progress on my flame alchemy." Armin replied.
"That's good." Hange replied. "I think I've got earth alchemy all down but I'll carry out some tests when I have the time." She said shuffling around pieces of paper with scribbles and little notes filled to the brim of each side and corner. "Anyway I'm going to head off now." She stood up from the table and pushed in her chair "By the way, I'll make sure that titan trap of yours gets made, I'm almost jealous of the fact I didn't think of it first." She joked.
Armin smiled in response.
"Goodnight, Armin." She said as she walked off.
"Goodnight squad leader." Armin replied. He watched her leave the library, shutting the door behind her.
Armin waited for a few seconds before pulling out a notebook, inside were various notes on flame alchemy he thought of and mission briefings that he attended. But as he flicked through the pages he stopped at one.
Emergency plan
Underneath the header were the different ideas he heard from the Elrics and from Hange… about the philosopher stone.
From the supposed power of the stone and its abilities… to the ingredients to make a stone.
Human souls…
The idea of using people, their very energy and being, to create a powerful weapon which trapped them there for eternity left him feeling uncomfortable and a little sick. Ed and Alphonse were right, it was pure evil.
But the thought of the Beast titan leading his titan horde down on Utgard castle played in his mind, the memory of the initial hours of Trost and the fall of Shiganshina… they all weighted heavily on him.
The powers of coordinate and alchemy should give them an edge over whoever was controlling the titans he thought to himself but if our enemy's capabilities allowed them to cause this much destruction and death… what exactly haven't they showed us yet?
To his knowledge, the enemy they faced had a whole world to their disposal…
Armin picked up his pencil and wrote on the page,
'Philosopher stone requires people in order to create it.'
'However, from our recent discoveries, the titans have been found to really be people who have transformed into the monsters that have pushed humanity to extinction.'
'People = Titans = Philosopher stone'
He wondered if possibly he found the perfect substitute.
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the wait and the somewhat slow and short(ish) chapter.
I've posted an update on my profile as to why I've been absence for a while, but one thing I want to say is I won't be abandoning this story. I do intend to see this through.
I wish you all the best and a happy new year!