Chapter 50: Enemy's Ace
Fifteen minutes before
"War chief Yeager." The war hammer titan spoke, just behind the Beast titan. The Beast turned its head slightly to see the figure of a fifteen meter tall titan in clear white skin just behind its left shoulder, shielding itself from the view of the others.
"Lord Tybur." The Beast replied "It is a great honour to meet you and an even greater honour that you would join us here in combat."
"The fate of Marley and perhaps the rest of the world may rest upon who becomes victorious in this battle, to sit out on this would be costly to everyone." the war hammer replied. "That being said, the Tybur family will not risk our titan else it fall into our enemy's hands, the devils of Paradis or otherwise."
"Understandable." Zeke replied, he looked back at the village ahead, still firing shells at them and fortifying their position. "Our enemy appears to remain settled in their position, content with just bleed us out."
"They have modern artillery? Interesting," the war hammer observed as a shot struck one of the titans in the line, cutting them into pieces.
"Possibly thanks to those Elric brothers." Zeke replied.
"Pests… demonic creatures." The war hammer spoke "No divine deity, no Gods, would aid those behind the walls and threaten all of life, truly only the devil would seek to aid them."
"They're Alchemists, scientists not angels or demons." Zeke replied.
"It matters not what they are, only that they are tools for our enemy." The War hammer brushed off.
"Lord Tybur, I need you to destroy their defences and keep them occupied while Pieck and I shuffle ourselves around for our next move. Currently we can't move onto the next part of our plan with their incessant cannon shots."
"I understand." The war hammer responded. "If time is what you need to win, than I shall give you plenty of it."
"Be careful of our enemy's weapons; who know what else they may have up their sleeve." Zeke advised.
"I assure you, whatever or whomever stands in my way will be destroyed." The War hammer replied as it began to walk off, a long string connected to its foot. "Titan shifters or alchemists."
"Focus your fire on that titan!" Ian ordered, his voice straining as he his voice tried to stretch across the battlefield. "Move the outer artillery inwards!" A chaotic rush of people flying and running around occupied the space and the noise as a white fifteen meter titan armed with a long war hammer continued to slowly approach them. "Team one and two, reinforce the front and distract that titan, hold it off for the artillery to reposition!"
A couple of scouts and garrison troops zipped over the cover as they flew straight towards the fifteen meter titan. The titan drops the war hammer from its hand with a loud thud, holding its hand in the air, a bright light, like it was hold a glowing moon, emanated from its hand as a loud cracking so like glass shattering echoed and a crossbow took form in its hand. It pointed the crossbow straight down.
Ian reacted quickly "Get down!" he commanded. It wasn't a singular bolt which was fired off the crossbow; instead multiple shots were fired across all at once. The bolts tore through the buildings, ripping them to pieces and throwing the immediate counter attack into complete disarray as a bolt strikes the wall and almost breaks through, the wall rumbles, causing everyone on it to stumble slightly. "Fall back! Get to cover!" he ordered.
People begin to fall back to the barrier or hide behind the rubble as they brace themselves for another attack. The titan continues to watch them, its crossbow facing the floor unconcerned by anything they could do to it.
Both Armin and Ed fall back to the wall helping others jump over carrying wounded seeking cover.
"That thing… is it using alchemy?" Ian questioned his eyes still on the titan.
"No… that's nothing I've ever seen…" Ed replied as he dusted himself off.
Armin could only look at the thing; his eyes nailed to the titan and his face an expression of confusion and terror. "Ed… is that titan… using… the ston-"
"No." Ed stated "It's not; I know alchemy when I see it and that thing isn't using alchemy." Ed pointed his finger at it "Whatever the hell that thing is, it shouldn't be able to do that… there's no way."
"Whatever it is, it's tearing through our defences." Rico stated "we need to do something about it and quick."
"Captain Ian" Armin called out "Ed and I could distract the titan long enough for the artillery to launch an attack."
"Could you?" Rico asked.
"We'll try and keep it from wrecking the place further." Ed replied "Just get the cannons in position."
"Do what you can." Ian ordered them, they both nodded their head as they jumped off, zipping towards the titan. "Rico, pass the word out to reposition towards the titan, hurry."
"Yes, Captain." Rico replied, she jumped off the wall and swung away.
Ian continued to watch the titan, slowly turning its head as it seemed to survey its surroundings yet still with an air of confidence, like it felt it was untouchable. It began to step forwards slightly and further approach the town, its crossbow still facing the ground.
As it stood just thirty meter away from the outskirts of the village, the ground behind it began to shake slightly as a fist of brown stone erupted from the ground and struck the titan in the stomach, breaking upon impact in a pile of rocks and dirt, pushing the titan back slightly.
A ball of fire then struck the titan's face; the titan waved its hands around as a cloud of smoke engulfed its face, dropping the crossbow onto the ground.
"Demonic creatures!" the titan yelled out, in a slight raspy echo to its voice.
"It talked…" Ian muttered "The titan… it talks!" The titan takes a few steps back as its face was still covered in smoke, blinding it. Snapping out of his shock, Ian points at the titan. "Now! Fire!"
The titan raises its hand upwards to its face, a familiar crackling sound echoed as a shining light like the sun reflecting off a mirror shun and a pale shield began to form in its empty hand.
A scattered fire of artillery struck the titan, the shells striking the shield to an explosion of orange and yellow light as a lone shell struck its leg, exploding and forcing it onto one knee.
As the smoke cleared, the shield which covered the titan was a wreck of holes and dents, peering through one of the hole.
The titan clenches its hand into a fist and slams it into the ground, the artillery positions which fired upon it were quickly upended as a crystal white pillar burst from the ground, and it peered above the shield and shook its head from side to side, as if searching.
"Show yourselves!" it challenged "You monsters of demonic illusions!"
Trying to bait out Edward and Armin for a fight Ian watched.
"You little deceivers, you evil insects!" the titan called out.
The ground shook underneath the titan as a stone fist burst from the ground once more and struck the titan on the side of the face hard, causing it to stumble further.
"Talk and see what happens!" came a familiar angry voice.
"Should have known…" Ian muttered, he noticed the wound on the titan's leg and the gaping holes in its shield. "This titan is still vulnerable to our attacks, we can still win this."
Huddled around the ruins and remaining standing buildings of the district, what was left of Hange, Dirk and Levi squads began to formulate a plan; Hange drew on the dirt with a stick in the dirt, a large stick man flanked by two smaller stickmen and swarmed by even smaller ones.
"Let's go over this one more time." Hange stated "Alphonse, you need to stop the colossal in its tracks for just a couple seconds for this to work."
"I think I've got an idea on how to do that, so leave that to me." Alphonse replied, raising his arm up slightly to everyone.
"My squad will fight thunder spears at the Achilles, Eren and Mina, when the colossal titan is in place; you need to strike at its Achilles tendon, cut into it as deep as you possibly can."
"Dirk squad will hit the titan behind the knees with the thunder spears, with any hope the damage done to its tendons will force it to collapse onto its knees." Hange then pointed to Petra "Levi squad will then go for the kill when the colossal has fallen, giving you what should be our best chance to kill Bertholdt."
"Right." Petra replied
"But what if Reiner shows up?" Jean asked, concerned "We still don't know where he is or if he's alive or just stuck somewhere."
"If Reiner shows up then we'll have to split up our forces, the closest squad and titan shifter will have to." Hange stated "Hypothetically we could achieve this with one squad alone, but we'd need everyone to pull it off quickly or at least before Bertholdt catches on to our plan, less people could mean more time and more risk, so for now all hands will focus on taking down the colossal before it reaches the wall."
"Everyone form up into your teams and prepare to move; Mina and Hange squad are heading left, Dirk squad and Eren will move right and Levi squad goes straight." Petra commanded "Move between the buildings, ten meter apart and don't let the colossal spot our numbers."
The squads quickly began to move and disperse across the district as they made their own way towards the colossal titan, quickly and swiftly moving between the buildings and ruins approaching the colossal titan.
Mina crept through the rubble as the scouts of Hange squad continued to move through the district, the smoke from the initial explosion of the colossal had now cleared and the titan was now in clear view, they kept a watchful eye on it, hiding between the rubble if Bertholdt had so much as turned his head at their direction.
"We're close now." Hange stated as she landed onto Mina's shoulder, they felt the rumble of the Colossal's footsteps as they moved around. Moblit watched the others through his telescope as he signalled to the rest of his squad to keep moving.
As they approached the colossal titan, just a couple houses away from its path, a bolt of lightning struck the ground a couple streets behind them, they all turned back. A defiant deep roar rang through the air. The colossal titan turned its head around, catching sight of them and the others.
As it turned, its eyes lingered on Mina for just a few seconds before it let out its own cry.
"Damn it!" Hange exclaimed as she reached over to her flare gun "Squads Dirk and Levi, continue the plan, my squad move towards the armoured titan!" she commanded, firing the flare off towards the direction of the armoured titan.
Mina took one glance back towards the colossal titan, catching it staring at her before it turned its head back and continued to walk away towards the wall. She and Hange squad began to race towards Reiner. Even inside the layers of muscle she was anxious and scared by the prospect of battling Reiner, even with the support of Hange and her squad.
In the distance, Reiner began to run away from them, moving through the rubble as Hange squad gave chase.
"What the hell is he doing?" Nifa questioned watching him run from them.
"Think he's trying to avoid us? Maybe he's trying to dodge our thunder spears?" Moblit suggested.
"We're not even close enough to hit him." Hange replied sitting on Mina's shoulder as she continued to give chase. "He must think that forcing us to splitter our forces will hurt us." Hange rubbed her chin "But if that's the case…" she looked up.
Another barrel soared through the sky, passing over the colossal titan.
"Titan above!" Hange yelled out, everyone take cover!" Her squad scatter around into the different houses as Mina knelt down and hid. The barrel exploded into a mass of bright white light as a titan, possible five or seven meters tall fell onto the ground, a couple streets behind the main attack.
"Damn it…" Hange muttered angrily, knowing the danger now posed. She took out her flare gun and fired it in the direction of the new titan. "Nifa, tell Dirk squad to head to that position and neutralise the titan we'll go support them."
"What about the armoured titan?" Moblit asked turning back to face the armoured titan who now vanished from sight.
Hange was silent, no doubt deliberating over the decision. "Mina…" she called out, Hange hopped onto a nearby roof and looked at her "Listen, I know you're new to this but we're gonna have to depend on you to handle Reiner here, if only just to buy us time to handle this new titan."
Even inside her titan, it must have been clear to everyone how anxious she was, maybe the titan copied everything down to the expression of fear on her face.
"Just keep him occupied we'll be back to help you as soon as we can." Hange tried to reassure Mina.
"Squad leader, Dirk squad looks to be heading towards the new target." Moblit stated as he watched through his telescope.
"Good luck, Mina." Hange said she turned back to the rest of the squad ordering them to move, leaving Mina alone to face Reiner.
Alphonse hopped over onto the other building, he turned back to see the dying smoke of the red flares as they pointed towards the directions of the titan shifters entering the battle.
It's just us now…
He spotted the other members of his squad zipping around the colossal like small flies hovering around someone's legs.
Hange said that only a squad of us could possibly take down the colossal but… our chance of doing this quickly is almost gone.
He turned towards the direction of Hange squad, he gripped the top of his collar tightly as he sighed.
He looked back at the colossal titan as it continued to walk towards the wall; he looked down at its legs as he thought about how he could halt its advance.
A giant spike through the stomach? No that would take too long…
He fired his hooks onto a nearby building as he stared at the legs of the colossal titan, its feet breaking into the large road.
A trap…
He watched the pattern of the footsteps, watching when the feet would both touch the ground and for how long.
I have an idea…
He burst forward ahead of the colossal titan's path, blasting onwards and cutting inside onto the street.
He came face to face against the colossal.
It wasn't that long ago, I froze when coming close to that titan in Trost he thought back to that encounter, Armin's plan to get the cadets out of the district and how close he came to one. Now he stood before the colossal titan, the rumble of its footsteps shaking his body as he held firm. His eyes drifted to the side of the road as he spotted his teammates lurking around the ruins and Eren just behind Bertholdt.
He turned back to the colossal titan and watched for that moment, two feet on the ground. He pressed his hands together in anticipation
Before the large foot of the colossal titan pressed into the ground, Alphonse slammed his hands into the ground as a massive Caltrop formed from the ground as the colossal stepped on it, the titan stumbling slightly as it is halted in its tracks.
He spotted the others, beginning to make their moves as Eren came in from behind the titan to aim for its Achilles.
With his hands still on the ground, Alphonse formed more traps holding down the Colossal's feet in place. The colossal laboured as it tried to escape, Alphonse once more clapped his hands together and placed them onto the ground, the floor underneath him began to elevate as the pavement and dirt was lifted upwards receding around the thin tower until it reached the estimate height of the colossal titan, catching Bertholdt's attention.
Kneeling down, Alphonse checked his equipment; his ODM and fuel tanks gear while he began to attach the thunder spear. He lifted his head up to look at the colossal staring at him and the colossal sized pillar standing in his way.
Petra and I have one shot at this… aim for the neck and hit him with the spears; if it works it'll save Ed, Armin and the others of the other side.
He gripped the handle of the ODM gear which had the thunder spear attached to it.
I don't understand why you're doing this, Bertholdt but whatever orders you have or whatever reason you have, we'll do what we have to, to protect the others.
Alphonse stood up, for just a second he felt like a giant as the cool breeze of the sky's air pushed against him. "Bertholdt!" Alphonse yelled at the colossal titan, straining his voice to its limit. "I killed Annie, me! I fed her to a titan, you want to avenge her? Then come at me, I'm right here!" he hoped that his bold declaration would keep the colossal titan's attention on him.
The colossal titan stared at him for a second before leaning forward, dropping its jaw… and letting out a deep, shaking and visceral scream which seem to ring around the district.
Petra watched as the colossal titan continued to roar at Alphonse, her eyes drifted down towards her squad members as they moved into position; she raised her hand up slightly as they watched her.
Pointing outwards towards the Colossal's legs, Connie and Sasha burst forward from the roof tops as they fired their hooks onto the calves of the titan, reeling forward and firing their spears towards the ankles of the colossal titan.
There was a loud explosion as the spears burst, destroying the back of its feet as both Connie and Sasha flew away.
"Eren!" Petra yelled pointing at their target. Eren's titan charged forward, passing by her, she caught the familiar sound of crackling crystal being formed and the hint of light gleaming. Eren pulled back his fist and struck it deep into the open wounds of the colossal titan, ripping and tearing through the muscle and flesh on one foot and quickly turning towards the other. The colossal titan slowly shifted its head downwards towards Eren who was ripping at the insides of its feet.
"Jean, Mikasa!" Petra commanded "Go now!"
They sprang from the walls and fired their hooks onto the leg joint of the colossal titan, pulling themselves forward and firing their spears behind the knees before pulling away, the explosions bursting its legs before the colossal titan could react to their attack.
He's picked up on our attack…
The colossal titan slowly began to fall forward, like a great tower collapsing, the titan fell down to its knees, the force of impact destroying anything nearby as the titan then landed onto its hands to stop itself from falling flat on its face. A large cloud of ash, smoke and dust clouded around it.
Petra reached for her flare and raised it to the air, pulling the trigger as a red flare was shot into the sky.
Our turn!
She dropped her flare onto the roof of the building as she fired her hooks onto the colossal titan, bursting forward and swinging around the body of the titan towards its back, scaling the colossus. The heat for the titan pressing against her as she moved towards the nape, the sound of distance hooks and cables zipping around caught her attention as she spotted Alphonse moving to the nape too.
She fired her hooks at the nape of the colossal and swung upwards, Alphonse copying her movements. They fired their hooks onto the nape of the colossal titan and zoom down towards the nape, pointing their spears at the nape.
"Now!" Petra yelled, she pulled the release, the spears shot towards the nape. As the spears soared, the colossal titan, still and weak, burst into a violent cloud of hot smoke. Blowing them back, their hooks quickly detaching from the nape and their thunder spears thrown into the other direction, their direction.
Petra saw the spears thrown into their direction, the latches to their spears still attached. She gripped the handles to her ODM gear and threw herself towards Alphonse as she grabs him and pushing him to the side as the thunder spears shoot pass them just barely. The latches attached to the spears breaks off, the explosion almost consuming them as the heat of the flames scorches her cape and the force pushed against her.
She pulled at the trigger of her ODM gear still and sends off, falling towards the roofs of a nearby house; Petra gripped the trigger of her handle tightly, trying to slow their descent as they crashed into the roof.
"Petra! Alphose!" came a yell as they both slammed into the tiles, Petra skidded to the side. Her head falling to see Alphonse lying on the tiles, his eyes closed as her own eyes began heavy. Before she shut them, she caught a glimpse of her squad reaching them, tending to Alphonse and then rushing towards her.
"Lieutenant!" one yelled, she didn't know who. "Petra! Someone help!"
"Alphonse!" another yelled "Get them out of here!"
Mina ducked her head below the level of the roofs as she stalked Reiner who continued to move away, her hands gripped into a fist as she slowly moved along the blocks of houses. Reiner then stops, standing still. Mina continues to watch.
Suddenly the sound of a boom and a deep rumble catches her attention as she turns to see the colossal titan falls to its knees.
They're doing it!
Suddenly the house that she hid behind was smashed to pieces, rubble flying around as she herself was rammed to the side from a rampaging force which burst through the house on the other side.
Mina was flung to the floor, crashing into the ruins of the street of houses, she quickly moves her head upwards to see the armoured titan, Reiner, standing tall, looking down at her as it stood over the house it destroyed.
Reiner watched her for a few seconds before sounding out a loud roar, vicious and deep, into the sky like a wounded animal, his fists clenched as he moved into a running stance in her direction.
Mina quickly got up from the ground as Reiner began to charge towards her, she threw herself to the side, crashing onto the overgrown cobblestone streets as Reiner passes by her, only just by mere meters, he plants his feet into the ground to slow his charge.
Mina gets up from the ground again, placing her hands above her face, her fists clenched with crystal gleaming off it, standing up a fighting stance she was taught in her years during the 104th corps.
Reiner turned his head back towards her, steam seeping through his mouth with every breath the armoured titan took; he walked towards her and around her like a predator circling its prey trying to find an opportunity to strike. Reiner stopped and then charged towards her again.
Mina dodges, stepping to the side and then swinging at the side of Reiner's body, pushing off balance slightly and sending him stumbling to the side, she moved in and began swinging at Reiner; hitting his stomach, his chest and then his face, his armour cracking with each punch.
She swung her fist again, Reiner grabbed her fist with his hand, crushing the crystallised fist in his hand, Mina tugged at her trapped hand before trying go for another hit with her free hand, instead in her deliberation, Reiner struck fist, throwing a punch into her chest which ripped her from her trapped hand and sent her flying into a pile of destroyed house. Her hand missing replaced by a smoking stub and her chest releasing clouds of smoke into the air, her titan's body doing what it can to repair itself.
As she lay onto the ground, dazed and battered, she could only think in both fear and frustration…
Hit after hit, I couldn't beat him down… one hit and I'm sent flying…
Mina stands back up, back slightly hunched as she faced down Reiner, walking confidently towards her, his footsteps heavy crushing anything beneath him. Mina lifted up her one hand while tucking her stub close to her body as if to shield herself.
I'll have to change my titan if I had to…
She focused on her remaining hand, a thicker layer of crystal forming on the knuckles of the hand as Reiner prepared once more to charge towards her, the ground scraping underneath his feet as Mina began to dig in and stand her ground.
Mina stared him down, scared but determined, in an act of defiance she yelled out towards him, her roar echoing out. Reiner charged toward her once more and she moved forward and swung her fist aiming for his face.
"Keep your eyes open, stick to the rooftops!" Hange ordered as her and Dirk squad arrived at the location of the third enemy titan. "Report back anything you find!"
The scouts spreading across the area in teams as they surveyed the surrounds searching for the titan, Hange hopped across the nearby roofs, she turned towards the colossal titan, spotting the large pillar which stood in its path. In the distance she heard the roar of the colossal titan.
Everything is in full swing she thought to herself it wasn't supposed to be like this…
Separated and battling on multiple fronts as their numbers are being spread thin.
To think… of all our advantages…
She thought back to the appearance of the new titan, the image of a five or four meter titan falling to the ground played in her mind, she immediately thought back to Ymir's titan; a titan with a similar height.
Is Ymir back… is she working with them now? No… she quickly remembered the transfer of the Female titan from Annie to Mina Who's to say they didn't already do that…
Despite the roaring battles occurring around them, the operation to take down the colossal titan, the clash between Mina and Reiner's titans and the distance echo of cannons from outside, the area was quiet. Hange felt uneasy.
If we're facing Ymir's titan… then its going to be a struggle to use the spears.
"Squad leader." Moblit called out behind her, she turned her head to face him.
"Moblit." Hange replied. "You find anything?"
"Some of Dirk's squad might have found the landing area of the titan, there's some debris leading to a trail on the left but it stops immediately." Moblit explained. "Nifa and her team are continuing the search from there."
"You think the titan is on its way to supporting another one of their allies?" Hange asked.
"It looks like it, perhaps we should split back towards either supporting Mina or Levi squad." Moblit advised.
"Still though, the best move is to do whats happening now; splitting our forces and picking us off…" Hange continued "It's like we're walking into an ambush and the titan is just waiting for us..."
"Squad leader, should we-" the sound of gunshots interrupted Moblit as they quickly turned their heads towards the direction of the flares, the echoes of buildings being torn apart and people shouting and crying out caught their attention.
"Who was that?" yelled one of the scouts.
"That was team four!" yelled another.
"Where's the titan?" a third yelled. There was a soft gallop, then another series of cries and yells followed by an explosion before everything went quiet.
Hange quickly reached for her flare gun as she fired it into the air "Its picking us off!" she yelled out "Everyone rally together, twenty meter spread!" the scouts quickly rallied around Hange. As she watched the sound of hard thudding behind her caught her attention, like an oversized cat climbing a wall.
She and Moblit turned their heads to see a titan with large teeth in an oversized jaw, long blond hair and crystal like claws climbing and reaching out. The titan pounced at them, both Hange and Moblit quickly ducked to the side just narrowly avoiding the gaping jaws of the titan.
Nearby scouts quickly fired onto the titan, aiming their spears any part of the titan's body, the titan evaded the attacks as the spears struck the buildings and the ground, the latches pulled as explosions almost engulfed the titan. More scouts attempted to swarm the titan, firing their hooks onto the monster but were thrown to the side as the titan, into the side of buildings or splattering into the floor.
Hange could only watch as the titan ran circles around them, too quick for them to effectively strike and fully aware of how they operate.
"All teams go on the defensive!" Hange ordered "Stalk the titan, do not chase!"
If we can't catch you then you'll have to get us…
Hange darted and swung her way towards the titan, just meters behind it as the scouts continued to play cat and mouse with it. The titan would chase some scouts as other tailed it, their thunder spears explosions just nipping at its heels as the titan just barely escapes their attacks, tearing apart the retreating scouts.
Hange stops onto the roof of a house and kneels down, watching frustrated as they tried to outsmart the titan to make up for its speed and agility. Hange reached into her front pocket, picking out a piece of chalk, she placed it on the tile of the house as she began to draw the outline of a circle, taking her eye off the titan for just a few seconds to fill in the details.
If I can make a stand, distract it, then I'll give the others a chance….
"Hange!" Moblit yelled, straining his voice.
Hange lifted her head up for a second as the edge of the roof she stood on was burst open, the titan underneath her raising over her as her and parts of the house came falling down, she grips the handle of one of her ODM gear, the gas slowing her descent into the floor.
As she crashed onto the floor, the debris of the house and roof fell onto of her, she raised one arm to her face.
Before everything went black.
Hello everyone,
Sorry it's been a while; I've had a mixture of writer's block and trying regain that love for writing again, no promises but hopefully I'll get the next chapter out before the end of the year.